How San Francisco Longshoremen Made Their Union a Powerhouse
When they started strategically resisting the bosses’ divisive tactics, meeting racism with solidarity, San Francisco longshoremen went “from wharf rats to the lords of the docks.”
18508 Articles by: Enver Motala
Enver Motala is an associate of the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation (CERT) at the University of Johannesburg and of the Centre for Integrated Post-School Education and Training at the Nelson Mandela University.
We Need a New Movement to End Old-Age Poverty
During the Great Depression, a mass movement of the elderly helped pressure FDR to enact Social Security. As seniors increasingly struggle with financial insecurity today, that movement could serve as a model for a campaign to fix the program’s shortcomings.
The Incompetence of Masters of War
Western defense giants tout cutting-edge tech, but their “state-of-the-art” systems often fall short in asymmetrical warfare. From faulty missile defense systems to overpriced carriers, the only thing that consistently works is the profit machine.
Economic Overlords Are Destroying Democracy — and Our Lives
Economic power is political power. We spoke with Peter Phillips, author of Titans of Capital, about how the capitalist class is subverting democracy and controlling the lives of billions through massive investments in everything from food to war.
Tenants’ Unions Across the US Now Have a National Federation
Five tenants’ unions from across the US have announced the launch of a new national organization to take on the power of multistate real-estate capital. The Tenant Union Federation is the first major national effort at tenant organizing in 40 years.
Harris-Walz’s Good Vibes Aren’t Enough
Kamala Harris’s choice of Tim Walz for vice president doesn’t erase her corporate-friendly record. If we want her administration to implement real progressive policies, the Left will have to fight for it.
Israeli Prisons Are a Giant Torture Machine
A new Israeli human rights group report shows that Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and detention centers during the war on Gaza are subjected to torture, sexual abuse, violence, humiliation, starvation, sleep deprivation, and denial of medical care.
How Republicans Fell in Love With Crypto
Donald Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency, which is dominated by the most reactionary and stupid representatives of the tech industry, has made it a partisan issue. But it might turn out to be a misstep.
How Two Leftist Scholars Saved Nietzsche’s Archive
In postwar Europe, Friedrich Nietzsche was seen as an intellectual proto-Nazi. A new book explains how two antifascist Italian academics — one of whom was a communist — fought to recover the “real” Nietzsche for the Left.
Walz’s Pick as VP Is an Opportunity for Unions
Democrats have a history of making and abandoning big promises for labor. But Kamala Harris’s pick of Tim Walz as vice presidential candidate at least suggests the possibility of substantial pro-union legislating.
White Nationalists May Be Behind GOP Worker Surveillance
An anti-immigration nonprofit with ties to hate groups is pushing GOP lawmakers to expand the use of a government website designed to screen workers’ immigration status.
Free Palestine From German Racism Dressed Up as Guilt
A German judge claimed this week that a protester broke the law by chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” It’s the latest attempt to criminalize the speech of Palestinians by the supporters of mass killing in Gaza.
Donald Trump and the ’80s Aesthetic
The pro-Trump Zoomer sees the 2020s as a degenerate age and the ’80s as a time when men were men. It’s why their homemade videos are filled with VHS scan lines, old Gillette commercials, and Van Halen’s “Jump.”
In Lisbon, Residents Seek a Vote on Banning Airbnb
In Lisbon, soaring tourism has turned tens of thousands of apartments into Airbnbs, pushing out ordinary renters. A referendum on banning short-term rentals in residential buildings could change that.
In Australia, Labor Is Criminalizing the Construction Union
Australian PM Anthony Albanese has declared war on the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union. Labor says it’s about cleaning up the industry — but it’s really about settling factional scores and boosting developers’ profit margins.
AIPAC Bought Cori Bush’s Seat
Wealthy pro-Israel donors drove Congresswoman Cori Bush out of office because she thinks Palestinians’ lives matter.
Workers Are Bearing the Brunt of Myanmar’s Civil War
Since Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, the country has been caught in a bloody civil war. While the army fights bitterly for control over the mines and other industries that fund its war machine, workers pay the cost.
The ACLU Fired One of Its Workers for Criticizing Management
Yesterday a National Labor Relations Board judge found that the ACLU fired an employee for engaging in the protected activity of criticizing her working conditions.
No, Kamala Harris Isn’t a Marxist
Right-wing commentators are saying Kamala Harris’s endorsement of “equity” is tantamount to Marxism. This is nonsense: Democrats’ narrow advocacy of equity has little to do with the socialist goal of meeting everyone’s basic needs.
J. D. Vance Got His Faux Populism From Internet Weirdos
Vance’s political rebrand as a self-styled right-populist wasn’t an organic reaction to what he saw in deindustrialized Appalachia. He was radicalized by online discourse goblins.