The Whitewashing of Ahmed al-Sharaa
Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa was just welcomed to Donald Trump’s White House. His visit represents Washington’s embrace of a sectarian government with little respect for democracy.
20300 Article(s) by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
The Government Shutdown Deal Is Endangering Food Safety
After intense lobbying and major campaign donations, the emergency spending bill intended to end the federal government shutdown is including language abolishing rules designed to prevent food contamination and foodborne illnesses at farms and restaurants.
Democrats Caved in the Shutdown Because of the Filibuster
For Democrats, the main issue in the shutdown wasn’t electoral backlash — it was the filibuster. Leadership feared its removal, viewing it as a safeguard to keep the party’s rising left wing in check.
How Catherine Connolly Won Ireland’s Presidential Election
Catherine Connolly takes office as Ireland’s president today. Her left-wing insurgent campaign took the Irish political establishment by surprise, winning a record number of votes and proving the Left can still triumph even in a bleak political landscape.
How the US Intervened to Sabotage Angola’s Independence
Fifty years ago today, Angola gained its independence after centuries of Portuguese domination. But US officials like Henry Kissinger were already working hard to orchestrate a devastating proxy war that snuffed out the hopes of national liberation.
Cuba’s Role in Angola Changed the Course of African History
When Angola gained independence in 1975, the Cuban military came to the new government’s defense. The mission had global reverberations, from hastening the fall of South African apartheid to reshaping Cubans’ own identity and worldview.
Calls for Central Bank Independence Are Myopic
Donald Trump’s attacks on the Federal Reserve have been met with ardent defenses of central bank independence. Yet the Fed has always been vulnerable to political pressure, something that the insistence on returning to a pre-Trump status quo elides.
Democrats Caved in the Shutdown Fight. Unions Let Them.
The government shutdown was a test showing where progressive forces are strong and where they’re weak. The results are in after last night’s Democratic capitulation to the GOP: most top union leaders are failing to meet the moment.
The Broken Promises of the Green Transition
A decade ago, Western governments pitched the green transition as a solution to reindustrialization and economic decline. The failure of these policies to produce well-paying jobs has triggered a right-wing backlash in both the UK and the US.
The Socialist Who Helped Bring Marx to America
The early-20th-century socialist and New York mayoral candidate Morris Hillquit saw liberalism and democracy as providing a foundation for a transition to socialism. Alongside Eugene Debs, he helped to forge a distinct American socialist tradition.
Francesca Albanese and the Palestinian Fight for Survival
The US sanctions against Francesca Albanese are testament to her courage speaking up for the Palestinians. If international law lies buried underneath the rubble of Gaza, truth-tellers like Albanese have implacably defended basic universalist principles.
One Day, Britain’s Monuments Will Fall
Monuments, museums, and cultural institutions were often created in the image of “militarist realism,” presenting colonialism and enslavement as eternal. Undoing this legacy is not erasing the past but combating a pernicious ideology.
William Blake Was a Prescient Critic of Capitalist Alienation
Before socialism even had a name, the poet and painter William Blake saw how the Industrial Revolution’s “dark Satanic mills” harmed humanity. His visionary work condemned the forces of commodification and cold calculation in emergent capitalism.
Diane Keaton Was Never Just Annie Hall
From The Godfather to Reds to Something’s Gotta Give, Diane Keaton moved between comedy and drama with ease, turning self-doubt and control into the twin engines of her art. Across decades of self-invention, she built a career that was unmistakably her own.
Labor’s Climate Fight Requires Public Ownership
Green politics won’t succeed if they can’t simultaneously speak to questions of affordability. And green affordability will require expanded public ownership.
How Big Pharma Turned FDA Approval Into a Rubber Stamp
The Food and Drug Administration, once a powerful regulatory agency, has been compromised by its cozy relationship with Big Pharma. Despite feigned concern for public health, the Trump administration is only worsening the agency’s decline.
How Sweden’s Social Democrats Abandoned the Working Class
The decline of Swedish social democracy is an illuminating case study in why the Left is losing the working class. It also offers clues as to how the Left might win workers back.
LA Tenants Have Won a Breakthrough Against Landlord Abuse
Since Los Angeles passed its tenant anti-harassment law in 2021, the city received over 21,000 complaints but referred just 35 cases for prosecution. Now Highland Park tenants have forced the first-ever enforcement through relentless organizing.
Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon Is a Film for Musical Superfans
Richard Linklater must have extraordinary pull to get big-screen releases for his two esoteric period movies this year, because only a small group of avid American musical superfans will find Blue Moon interesting.
“Elbows Up” in the Shadow of the US
Canada’s new declarations of independence disguise continued economic and cultural reliance on its threatening neighbor. From Mark Carney’s trade diplomacy to the literati’s self-congratulation, Canada can’t imagine a freedom that isn’t defined by the US.