Sunday, December 4, 2011

La impunidad de los grandes terratenientes




Por Joe Emersberger y Jeb Sprague
En esta artículo, Joe Emersberger y Jeb Sprague discuten el documental del cineasta Edward Ellis '"Tierras Libres". El documental explora los asesinatos de campesinos y activistas asesinados por sicarios para tratar de implementar el proyecto de la reforma agraria del gobierno de Venezuela y la búsqueda de sus familias por la justicia dentro de un sistema judicial que aún está controlado en gran parte por la elite nacional.



Saturday, November 26, 2011

Interview on Anti-War Radio (this Tuesday)

I will be talking about U.S. foreign policy and my forthcoming book (on Haiti) this Tuesday (at 12:30 in the afternoon east coast time) on Anti-War Radio aired in the U.S. states of Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Texas.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Interview on KPFT

Here is the interview I did on KPFT's Human Rights Show, this last Friday (November 25th). This show airs on 90.1 FM in the greater Houston, Galveston, and upper Texas Gulf Coast (and affiliates). 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Interview on KPFK

I was interviewed about my forthcoming book on Haiti on the Sojourner Truth (with Margaret Prescod) radio show on KPFK (independent/listener sponsored radio in Los Angeles and Southern California). The interview can be heard here, it begins at 37 minutes into the show.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Interviewed on KPFA

See here for an interview of Haitian journalist Wadner Pierre and myself on Pacifica Radio's KPFA 94.1FM. We spoke on the Morning Mix Project Censored show which is hosted by Peter Philipps, Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, and Mickey 
Huff, Associate Professor of history at Diablo Valley College. 

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

WBAI Interview


Interviewed on the radio station WBAI, New York (99.5 FM) on US/UN supervision of ex-army  integration into 's police force: begins at 15mins & 30secs.
http://archive.wbai.org/files/mp3/wbai_110811_210038thurs9pm10pm.mp3

Friday, October 28, 2011

Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity

Here is the keynote talk (that I recorded on my computer) of Professor William I. Robinson at the 1st "Global Capitalism and Transnational Class Formation" conference in Prague, Czech Republic in September of 2011.


Watch William I. Robinson "Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity in Educational & How-To  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Empire, Global Capitalism, and Theory


I have a new article here looking at Hardt and Negri's theory of empire and in relation to other works of the 'global capitalism school'. It is published in the journal Current Perspectives in Social Theory. You can read the 20 page PDF of the article by clicking here.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

U.S. Embassy Cables reveal 4,795 refugees fled Haiti in 2004: a 40% increase from the year prior

 Cables from the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, Bahamas, obtained by the whistle blower WikiLeaks show that at least 4,795 Haitians fled their island nation in 2004.

 Serving as corroborating evidence for the findings of the Kolbe-Hudson (Lancet study) in addition to other corroborating human rights reports (Amnesty International, University of Miami, Lawyers Guild, University of Boston, etc), increased refugee flows - 40% increase as stated - is evidence of the major violence propelled by the paramilitaries.

See the entire Cable here:

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Emergence of the Iraqi Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC)

Here is a three part video I have put together of Yousef Baker speaking about his research on the emergence of a fraction of the transnational capitalist class in Iraq. He will have a forthcoming article on this topic and see here more on his recent MA thesis titled: Beyond the US Empire: The Political Economy of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq.

Part One

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Participation active des responsables américains et onusiens quant à l'intégration de puchistes à la PNH, selon WikiLeaks (Haïti).

Par Jeb Sprague
Haiti Liberté: Édition du 10 Août au 16 Août 2011 & CHAN.


Tout au long de 2004 et 2005, les autorités non élues de facto d’Haïti, aux côtés de fonctionnaires étrangers, ont intégré au moins 400 paramilitaires de l’ancienne Armée dans la force de police du pays, selon ce que révèlent des câbles secrets de l’ambassade américaine.

Pendant un an et demi après le renversement du gouvernement élu d’Haïti, le 29 février 2004, l’ONU, l’OEA et des responsables américains, en conjonction avec les autorités haïtiennes de l’après-coup, ont passé au crible la nouvelle force de la police du pays - agent par agent - et ont intégré des paramilitaires dans le but de renforcer à la fois le corps policier et en fournissant une «carrière» alternative aux paramilitaires.




Sunday, August 14, 2011

WikiLeaks revela: Funcionarios de EE.UU. y la ONU supervisaron la incorporación de paramilitares a la policía de Haití


por Jeb Sprague
 A lo largo de 2004 y 2005, las autoridades de Haiti, en colaboración con funcionarios extranjeros, incorporaron a por lo menos 400 paramilitares a la policía, según cables secretos de la embajada de los EE.UU. .
             Después del derrocamiento del Presidente Jean-Bertrand Aristide en febrero de 2004, la ONU, la OEA y funcionarios de EE.UU., en colaboración con el nuevo gobierno haitiano , aprobaron uno por uno la incorporación de dichos paramilitares con el objetivo de fortalecer a la policía y suministrar trabajo a los efectivos que habían llevado a cabo el golpe de estado.
             Al mismo tiempo, fueron purgados cientos de policías considerados leales al gobierno del ex-presidente . Algunos fueron encarcelados y otros asesinados, segun numerosas fuentes entrevistadas.
             Aristide fue elegido por primera vez en 1991, pero el primer gobierno democrático de Haití sólo duró siete meses antes de ser derrocado en un golpe de estado militar. El ejército masacró a cerca de 3.000 personas y fueron desplazados alrededor de 300.000 antes de que el gobierno de Clinton restituyó a Aristide a la presidencia en 1994.
            En 1995, Aristide abolió el ejército de Haití para prevenir más golpes y parar los abusos que seguían cometiendo los militares. Pero cuando Aristide volvió a ganar la presidencia en 2001 los élites haitianos reunieron a muchos de los ex-soldados en grupos paramilitares para ejecutar otro golpe de estado.
            Después de este golpe, los paramilitares establecieron bases militares oficial y extraoficialmente en varias ciudades del país. Desde estas bases se desató otra oleada de represión contra los simpatizantes del partido de Aristide, Fanmi Lavalas. Los paramilitares mataran aproximadamente 7.000 personas y cometieron otros abusos, como la violación sexual a miles de mujeres y niñas. Son estos mismos individuos que fueron incorporados a la policía nacional.
             Los detalles sobre la "reforma" a la policía se encuentran en los 1.918 documentos (cables de la embajada de EE.UU.) relacionados a Haití obtenidos por WikiLeaks y después entregados a Haití Liberté.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

WikiLeaks Reveal: U.S. and UN Officials Oversaw Integration of Ex-Army Paramilitaries into Haiti’s Police Force


by Jeb Sprague

[This article will appear this week in the newspaper Haiti Liberté]






Throughout 2004 and 2005, Haiti’s unelected de facto authorities, working alongside foreign officials, integrated at least 400 ex-army paramilitaries into the country’s police force, secret U.S. Embassy cables reveal.
            For a year and a half following the ouster of Haiti’s elected government on Feb. 29, 2004, UN, OAS, and U.S. officials, in conjunction with post-coup Haitian authorities, vetted the country’s police force – officer by officer – integrating paramilitaries with the goal of both strengthening the force and providing an alternative “career path” for paramilitaries.




Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Letter to the Guardian Regarding its Venezuela Coverage


See here a letter that myself and others have published in The Guardian calling for more attention on the hundreds of Venezuelan peasants that have been murdered by right wing paramilitaries and gunmen hired by wealthy land owners. Read the entire letter here.   The full letter with additional signatures is published on Venezuelanalysis.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A Review of Sociologist Robyn Magalit Rodriguez's NEW BOOK Migrants For Export

Jeb Sprague
Science & Society

Migrants for Export: How the Philippine State Brokers Labor to the World, by Robyn Magalit Rodriguez. Minneapolis, Minnesota/London: University of Minnesota Press, 2010. $67.00; paper, $19.00. Pp. 208.
 
From government-sponsored nursing classes in Manila to crushed labor strikes at garment factories in southeast Asia, a variety of mechanisms have been developed to manage, promote and coerce Filipino workers as a readily available cheap source of labor around the world. A book of interest for scholars or students of global migration or of the contemporary Filipino/ Filipina experience, Migrants for Export should also be of interest to those studying the state in globalization and in relation to the changing practices and ideologies of state elites.
 
Rodriguez starts by considering some theoretical issues behind the state and its interaction with migrants, and the historical roots of the novel processes of today’s global market and political economy. She explains how the modern Philippine state developed, first tightly bound to the United States as a colony and later as a component within a global system (yet, still closely aligned with the United States). It is in today’s era of global capitalism that Rodriguez seeks to understand, by way of the Philippines, the exploitive and contradictory nature of the state’s role in migration.

The book’s central argument is that the Philippine state has become actively involved in marketing its citizens to companies and labor-receiving governments around the world for low-wage and closely watched temporary jobs. The practices and ideologies of state elites have become rooted in this process — becoming active migration promoters and managers, such that the “orientation of Philippine officials and government agencies toward overseas employment reveals the extent to which Philippine citizens have become reduced to mere commodities to be bartered and traded globally”(27). 


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A Review of Peter Dicken's Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy, 5th Edition


Jeb Sprague


Widely cited and read by scholars and students of globalization, Peter Dicken’s Global Shift is best known for its concise examination of structures of the global economy. Now in its 5th edition with over 250 newly designed figures and graphs, few texts are as effective in showing the incontrovertible changes undergone in production, distribution and consumption. Written prior to the crisis of recent years, it remains a useful guide for understanding the truly global nature of today’s world economy. However, where Dicken does a remarkable job in dissecting the structure of the global economy, he has little or nothing to say about how the state and economic structure are grounded in broader class and social relations.
 
Dicken starts, in Parts 1 and 2, by laying out distinct ways in which scholars conceptualize globalization and the importance of technological and networked development, as well as the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) and national states. Part 3 describes shifting economic sectors in the real economy: agriculture, autos, computers, textiles and logistical infrastructure. Included within Part 3 is a chapter on finance, but this is just 29 pages in a 599-page book. This chapter covers the spread of financial services but has little discussion of derivatives (p. 386) and nothing on the role of central banks or stock markets. Most importantly though, for the purposes of this review, how does Global Shift treat the role of social agency?

Friday, April 1, 2011

Toward a Theory of Global & Local Proletarian Fractions

Below is a three part video of UCR sociology graduate student Jason Stuna speaking about his theory of global proletarian fractions. I recorded this during the Fall of 2009 during his talk at the 'Historical Materialism Research Group (which existed for a year or so) at UCSB. For more on this, see his article here.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

New Article on Al Jazeera and teleSUR

Please read my new article "Haiti's Movement from Below Endures" on Al Jazeera.  Mi nuevo artículo también está disponible en español en teleSUR Rebelión.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Report on Ex-FAd’H camp near Port-au-Prince (March, 2011)


Ex-FAd'H LT Jeune Aduen Moniteur stands in front of a Duvalierist flag.
(Photos: Jeb Sprague,2011)

In March of 2011, Isabeau Doucet (a journalist writing for the Guardian & the Christian Science Monitor) and I located the ex-FAd’H (Forces armées d'Haïti--Haiti's former military) camp that was recently covered in an article by the Associated Press.  Below I describe some of what I found and related information:


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

On Martissant, Gran Ravine, and Missing the Proportionality and Chief Sources of Political Violence



Above: Commemoration of the first anniversary of Gran Ravine's Massacre.
The parents and friends of victims of the July 7, 2006 massacre walked
with tears on the one year anniversary. Photo by Wadner Pierre
Below is a response to a note posted by Michael Deibert (on the Haiti corbett listserv, post 41330) and in regard to some of the misleading reports that he authored looking at political violence in the communities of Martissant and Gran Ravine in the years following the 2004 overthrow of Haiti's elected government. It also responds to an anonymously posted criticism (on the Haiti Corbet Listserv) of the work of human rights investigators Evel Fanfan (AUMOHD) and Tom Luce (HURAH) who have been highly active in Haiti's slums of Martissant and Gran Ravine since 2005.




Sunday, March 6, 2011

More on Gran Ravine and Martissant.. The 2005 HNP Report on Lame Ti Manchet and the Involvement of Officers Within HNP Ranks






I am posting here a report that was put together by Haiti's National Police (HNP) on the involvement of some of its officers with Lame Ti Manchèt (the Little Machete Army) during the time of the Latortue interim government in Haiti. 

This report, put together by HNP officials, sheds some little light on one attack that was part of a much wider campaign of continual violent joint-paramilitary/police operations conducted throughout much of 2004 and part of 2005 (as a good deal of film evidence and testimonials by witnesses and victims attest). During this time period, following the 2004 coup, an unelected "interim" government worked with sectors of Haiti's elite and security force to crackdown on communities where support for ousted elected government remained strong in the slums of Port-au-Prince. This resulted in the killing, wounding, firing from jobs, imprisonment, and exile of thousands. Numerous studies provided detail on this campaign of violence but focused mainly on what happened in Bel Air and Cité Soleil (Lawyers Guild, Harvard study, University of Miami Study, Lancet, etc).


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Petition in the Guardian: Haiti needs the world's support

Myself and many others have signed this letter to call for an end to the political exclusion of Haiti's movement from below. It is published here in The Guardian.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

End Forced Exile

See here for a petition that was published today in the Miami Herald calling for the Haitian government, the United States, France, Canada, and the United Nations to stop blocking the return of Haiti's first democratically elected president.