My Year of Sedentary Existence
The past year has shattered our normal existence, forcing us to confront a deadly pandemic while trying to maintain some semblance of sanity.
56 Articles by: Belén Fernández
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Belén Fernández is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, Marytrs Never Die: Travels through South Lebanon, and Exile: Rejecting America and Finding the World. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin.
In Our Corona-Capitalist Dystopia, You Can Have Multiple Star Wars Helmets, But No Health Care
If you’ve found yourself impulsively shopping online during quarantine, you’re not alone. And there’s no shame in it. But this is our corona-capitalist dystopia: purchasing things we may or may not need while desperately needed public services are left to rot.
AMLO Hasn’t Done Enough to Address Mexico’s Gender-Based Violence Epidemic
Violence against women in Mexico, including femicides, has skyrocketed in recent years. And despite presiding over a gender-equal government and decrying machismo, AMLO has done little to address the growing epidemic.
Israel Is Refusing to Give Palestinians COVID Vaccines
Israel has been praised for launching an aggressive coronavirus vaccination drive. There’s just one problem: they’re excluding Palestinians in occupied territories.
Israel’s Honeymoon With the United Arab Emirates Is Grotesque
Since normalizing relations in September, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have teamed up to do what both do best: trample on democratic freedoms, commit atrocities, and whitewash occupation.
Israel Is an Army With a Country Attached
A new book by an Israeli scholar dissects the extraordinary hold that the country’s military — and militaristic ways of thinking — have on Israeli society, and the ideological myths that keep the project afloat.
The United Arab Emirates Is One of the US’s Favorite Middle East Monarchies
The United Arab Emirates is a US-backed monarchy that crushes dissent and viciously exploits migrant workers. Its latest assault on democracy: using the coronavirus pandemic to further erode civil liberties.
The Plague of Jared Kushner
Jared Kushner has gotten yet another nepotistic gig leading the Trump administration’s coronavirus “shadow task force.” The problem is, he doesn’t know anything about COVID-19, just like he doesn’t know anything about immigration reform or Middle East peace.
Israel Has Already Made Gaza Unlivable. Now the Coronavirus Is Coming.
Israel’s blockade of Gaza has turned the strip of land into the “world’s largest open-air prison.” And now the overcrowded enclave has its first confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Sanctions Against Iran at a Time of Global Pandemic Are Criminal
Even before the coronavirus, the United States’ sanctions against Iran were unconscionable. But now, with one person dying of coronavirus every ten minutes in Iran, the sanctions are killing untold numbers of people. They must end now.
Deporting Immigrants to Their Death Is Unconscionable
When the United States sends Salvadoran immigrants back to their home country, it’s sending them back to the very violence they were trying to flee — and that the United States itself helped create.
The Country Where Having a Miscarriage Can Land You in Prison
El Salvador shows what happens when countries criminalize abortion: women end up behind bars, and sexual violence is institutionalized.
The Mainstream Media Is a Cheerleader for War With Iran
When it comes to war, we shouldn’t expect balance from mainstream news outlets: the corporate media has never met a war it didn’t like.
Israel Is Finally Being Investigated for War Crimes
After dragging its feet, the International Criminal Court is finally investigating Israel for committing war crimes against the Palestinians over the last five years. It’s long overdue.
The Border System Is Criminal
The modern border system is an oppressive structure that boosts corporate power and divides the haves and have-nots. We need to dismantle it.
The IDF Can’t Wait to Go to War
Israel wants you to believe “Iranian-backed forces” are the threat to peace in the region. That’s pure propaganda — it’s Israeli aggression that we should really be worried about.
The US Created MS-13
The depictions of MS-13 as animals are as simplistic as they are dehumanizing. And they obscure what spawned the violent gang in the first place: US imperialism.
How the US Created Violent Chaos in Honduras
The US-backed coup in Honduras ten years ago spawned a maelstrom of violence that terrorized ordinary Hondurans and forced caravans of migrants to flee the country. It was just another instance of US imperialism wreaking havoc on the world.
Please Don’t Embarrass Our Apartheid State
When Netanyahu’s education minister defended “gay conversion therapy” and called for the entire West Bank’s annexation, critics condemned only the homophobia. Apartheid’s defenders don’t give a damn about the oppressed — they’re just embarrassed when the far right undermines their pinkwashing of a brutal, illegal occupation.
The Mainstream Media Is Aiding Trump’s Saber-Rattling
The corporate media is freaking out about Iran’s nuclear provocations. But the only reason Iran is violating the nuclear deal is because Trump already ripped it up.