Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán combined talk of defending Hungary’s traditions with a promise of prosperity. When he stopped delivering workers good economic news, culture-war messaging wasn’t enough to save him.
A Tribute to Iran’s Soulful and Revolutionary Cinema
With President Donald Trump recently threatening to destroy Iranian civilization itself, the country’s filmmakers carry on their long tradition of defiant, deeply human cinema forged under censorship, imprisonment, and war.
Trump Accounts Offer Little to Families That Aren’t Rich
Instead of restoring or increasing funding to programs with a proven record of strengthening children’s long-term prospects, the Trump administration is creating investment accounts for kids that offer marginal benefit while widening income inequality.
Maple Leaf DOGE vs. the Canadian State
Instead of building a resilient economy to meet the challenges of the present economic “rupture,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals are turbocharging austerity and gutting the capacity of Canada’s federal public service.
Serbia’s Israel Problem
When UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese visited Serbia in March, the government cast her as an interfering foreigner. Yet it was happy to back the Israeli embassy’s campaign to silence pro-Palestinian speech in Serbia.
Under capitalism, technological “progress” like AI systematically deskills workers, deepens managerial control, and turns the labor process into a site of conflict rather than liberation. This is by design.
For Roman Workers, Life Was Nasty, Brutish, and Short
Our images of the Roman Empire are dominated by the monuments and lifestyles of wealthy urban elites. An important new history shifts our attention to the 90% of Rome’s population whose brutally exploited labor made it all possible.
Israel and the US Have Been Waging War on Iran’s Development
From universities to medical research centers, Israel and the US have been systematically attacking Iran’s technical infrastructure. While claiming their only issue is with Iran’s rulers, they have targeted its entire people and their achievements.
Australian Rules Football Dreams of World Domination
The Australian Football League is a corporation that longs for global expansion. But in its greed and desperation, the league is undermining what makes the game great.
An Undemocratic Union Was Key to César Chávez’s Sexual Abuse
The horrifying revelations of César Chávez’s widespread sexual abuse of young women and girls were in part rooted in the culture of unquestioning loyalty and top-down dictation that Chávez established in the United Farm Workers.
Neoliberalism didn’t win an intellectual argument — it won power. Vivek Chibber unpacks how employers and political elites in the 1970s and ’80s turned economic turmoil into an opportunity to reshape society on their terms.
Africa’s Health Care Only Works for the Wealthy
Years of IMF and World Bank reforms have created two-tiered health care systems across Africa. In Kenya, the private sector is out of reach for most, but public health care has been wrecked by budget cuts and the introduction of fees for many services.
Zohran Mamdani’s Toughest Task in 100 Days: Taxing the Rich
Zohran Mamdani’s early wins are a testament to what a talented left-wing municipal executive can accomplish even in the face of major obstacles. But much of his ambitious agenda will remain blocked if he can’t convince the state to tax the rich.
Resource Competition With China Lay Behind Trump’s Iran War
The US war on Iran may have seemed like an irrational move by a president who is as reckless and impulsive as he is destructive. But there was a geopolitical logic behind the attack, based on Washington’s desire to deny China access to vital resources.
Ben Lerner Hears Ghosts in the Wires
Critics read Ben Lerner’s new novel, Transcription, as a commentary on smartphones. But with gothic style and a Victorian temperament, it meditates on a much older technology — the spectral quality of disembodied speech introduced at the dawn of telephonics.