American lesbians are up in arms over the ”exploitation” of lesbian lifestyles, depicted in Spike Lee’s latest film. She Hate Me stands accused of creating an extensive male fantasy of having sex with lots of women — women who are usually inaccessible to most men.” Gary Younge reports from New York.
In his stump speech, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, John Edwards, says there are two Americas: ”One America — middle-class America — whose needs Washington has long forgotten; another America — narrow-interest America — whose every wish is Washington’s command.” As the US conventions begin, big business has its eye on both parties; but the poor have the ear of neither.
To find Regal Montrose cinemas in Akron, Ohio, just head down the 77 interstate and follow globalisation’s glowing signs. Using brand names as landmarks, helpful people will guide you past Chilis (”Like no place else”) and Steak ‘n’ Shake (”May I take your order?”) and warn you that when you get to Taco Bell (”Think outside the bun”) you have gone too far. Eventually you’ll find it next to Staples, the chain stationers, whose slogan, appropriately enough, is ”That was easy”.
Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last weekend. Can it win the US presidential election? The film examines the relationship between the Bush and Saudi dynasties, and offers a critical view of the experiences of soldiers and their families in the Iraq war.
Until a few years ago the name David Reimer meant little to those outside his immediate circle. But to anyone taking an interest in the development of psychology in the 1970s and 1980s, Reimer’s life story would have long been infamous, but also pseudonymous. Going by the name ”John”, and subsequently ”Joan”, Reimer had been an unwitting guinea in Dr Money’s sex experiment.
African-American women are 23 times as likely to be infected with the Aids virus as white women and account for 71,8% of new HIV cases among women in 29 American states, research shows. A non-profit health organisation has found that in 2001 about 67% of black women with Aids had contracted the virus through heterosexual sex — up from 58% four years earlier.
Ten years ago, United States Marine Staff Sergeant Mark Hardin arrived in Haiti as part of a US force to restore Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. Earlier this week, after the US had forced Aristide to leave, Hardin was back. ”It looks like nothing’s changed,” he said.
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/ 20 February 2004
Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second city, was cut off by land and air on Wednesday as police and armed supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide mounted blockades to prevent the advance of rebel forces. Barricaded within their station, the police admitted they could not repel the attacks and were terrified. ”Of course we are,” one told Associated Press.
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/ 23 January 2004
When Michael Jackson wrote the lyrics ”But if you’re thinkin’ about my baby / It don’t matter if you’re black or white” for his 1992 hit single Black or White, he could claim significant expertise. Jackson has had a fair crack at being both. After years of appearing neither black nor white, it seems he wants to reinvent himself as black, writes Gary Younge.
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/ 20 January 2004
Tyquan Haskins stands before Judge Alvin Yearwood, and a tough choice, in trial court two in Brooklyn’s criminal courts with his hands cuffed behind his back.
The young black man has been arrested on a drugs charge. The older, black judge is explaining Haskins’s options.