Cal Turner is a writer based in Philadelphia.
As the Israeli assault in Gaza approaches the two-year mark, the extent of Israel’s crimes becomes clearer by the day. So too does the complicity of other countries who have refused to uphold international law.
For nearly two centuries, Karl Marx’s ideas have had a significant impact on US politics and intellectual life. In turn, Marx’s close study of the US informed the development of his ideas about capitalism and human freedom.
For much of its history, the AFL-CIO has enthusiastically backed US foreign policy. During the Cold War, that included actively participating in efforts to suppress left-wing labor movements abroad.
The Right has deployed attacks on LGBTQ rights, the teaching of black history, and other topics to politicize and undermine public schools. The Left has an opportunity to mobilize a broad coalition to defend public education in response to this assault.
Many have long worried that AI and robots will replace workers. But less attention has been paid to the increasing use of algorithmic systems to manage workers — creating ever more authoritarian and exploitative workplaces.
The Left’s long history of defeats has produced an equally long history of difficult emotions. Yet left-wing thinkers have often ignored the emotional experience of political defeat in service of an unrealistic ideal of the selfless revolutionary.
A surge of gang violence in Haiti has now led to the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Through its heavy-handed use of foreign aid to intervene in Haitian politics, the US government bears significant responsibility for Haiti’s ongoing instability.
Declining renewable energy prices have not led to a long-predicted renewables boom, because green energy still isn’t sufficiently profitable for private investors. Public investment and ownership is essential to driving a rapid green transition.
From HIV/AIDS to COVID-19, the pharmaceutical industry has made obscene profits by exploiting public research and denying lifesaving medication to poor countries. Building a fairer system of medicine production means breaking Big Pharma’s power.
From dilapidated sewer systems in the US and Europe to a shortage of toilets and clean water in Global South cities, poor sanitation is breeding disease and death around the world. The climate crisis will only make its impacts more severe.
In the past year, we’ve seen large, militant strikes by autoworkers, Hollywood writers, and others. It’s a promising sign that, after decades of weakness, the US labor movement is ready to take the fight to the boss.
Medical debt has ballooned in the US in recent decades. Hospitals and collection agencies are making a killing on it, eroding trust in the health care system and leading countless patients into financial ruin in the process.
It is a gross injustice that 30 million Americans lack health insurance — but the insured also face serious problems, paying through the nose for substandard care. We need a universal, automatic, free health care plan.
From waste to deforestation to drastic flooding, wealthy countries of the Global North are outsourcing the impacts of their resource extraction to poorer countries in the Global South. Call it “carbon colonialism.”
Giant asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard are increasingly but imperceptibly becoming owners of more and more aspects of our lives, from housing to roads to energy infrastructure.
Climate change–fueled displacement is often thought of as a future problem, or one that primarily affects people in developing countries. But natural disasters caused or exacerbated by the climate crisis are already frequently displacing people within the US.