Fairly Arbitrary

The Soapbox, Issue 25

The Worst Person in the Room

Some people have abhorrent politics but pleasant personalities. Others are terrible people with good politics. Roger Ailes was neither.

Against “Buy American”

“Buy American” campaigns have historically done more to intensify xenophobia than improve workers’ conditions.

Will Temer Fall?

Explosive new corruption allegations could spell the end for Brazil’s interim president. What does it mean for the Left?

The Occupation’s Accomplice

Mass incarceration is a central pillar of Israeli occupation. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are waging a hunger strike to fight it.

A New Day in Philadelphia

A left-wing civil rights lawyer is within reach of becoming Philadelphia’s district attorney. Can he use the office to roll back mass incarceration?

South Korea After Park

Moon Jae-in’s presidential victory closed the door on Park Geun-hye’s scandal-prone administration, but will it create space for real social and political transformation?

Winner Take All

Even after ISIS is defeated in northern Iraq, the country won’t see an end to violent conflict.

The Imperial Bureau

The FBI embodies authoritarianism more than any other domestic agency. It can’t curb Trump’s autocratic tendencies.

“We Are Not the Dirt We Clean”

Cleaners at one of the UK’s most prestigious universities are waging an indefinite, one-day-a-week strike.

Michael Manley’s Vision

Jamaican prime minister Michael Manley died twenty years ago. What can we learn from his democratic socialism?

Communism in Words

A brief history of Esperanto, the language intimately tied to the common destiny of the working class.

Slavery, War, and Revolution

Marx’s Civil War writings wrestle with many of the issues that plague today’s left.

Dialectical Enlightenment

The socialist project isn’t to rebel against the values of liberty, equality, and fraternity, but to show how capitalism is incapable of fulfilling them.

Not Just Nuns

Catholic activists like Maura Clarke, an American nun assassinated by a Salvadoran death squad in 1980, transformed missionary work into anti-imperialist solidarity.

Rebuilding a Workers’ Movement

A new labor federation in South Africa promises to resist the country’s neoliberal kleptocracy, but it faces an uphill battle.

The Privatization Prophets

For years, millionaires and religious zealots have teamed up to preach “school choice” in an effort to dismantle public education.

Finland’s Revolution

The forgotten Finnish Revolution has perhaps more lessons for us today than events in 1917 Russia.

The Struggle for the Congo

Joseph Kabila’s second term as Democratic Republic of Congo president was supposed to end last November, but he’s still clinging to power, despite massive resistance.