Hillbilly Elegy: Bad Politics, Even Worse Cinema
The only good thing we have to say about the reactionary film adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy is that it’s so boringly told you’ll forget about it in an hour.
19529 Articles by: Frances Abele
Frances Abele CM is Distinguished Research Professor and Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy Emerita at Carleton University. She is a research fellow at the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation and the Broadbent Institute. Much of her work focuses on indigenous-Canada relations.
If Australian Universities Are Going To Survive, They Can’t Just Produce “Job-Ready” Graduates
After decades of chalking up record profits, Australian universities are now mired in a deep crisis. But if we’re going to defend — let alone rebuild — the sector, its champions have to reject the subordination of education to the bottom line.
Hugh Keays-Byrne Showed Us the Danger of Demagoguery and the Promise of Solidarity
The Mad Max veteran villain actor Hugh Keays-Byrne died last week. His performances took us to the demonic dark side of politics and showed that if we dare to struggle, we dare to win.
The Last Thing We Need Is To “Go Back To Normal”
After four years of having a xenophobic reality TV host in the White House, the desire to just “go back to normal” is understandable. But a return to normalcy would be disastrous, shoring up the plutocratic status quo that gave us Trump in the first place.
Luxury Sneaker Markets Are a Preview of Capitalist Dystopia
The multibillion-dollar luxury sneaker market increasingly seems like something out of a sci-fi novel. But for all its bizarre quirks, there’s no better illustration of the way modern capitalism works, and the direction that it’s going.
Abolish Direct Provision, Ireland’s New Magdalene Laundries
Deprived of their basic human rights, asylum seekers in Ireland are taking it upon themselves to agitate for change. The system of Direct Provision needs to be abolished and replaced with a radically different policy toward refugees.
Australian Renters Are Organizing To Fight Evictions, Just Like They Did in the 1930s
In the wake of the pandemic, Australian renters are once again facing the threat of mass evictions. The militant renters’ struggles of the Great Depression are an excellent model for the movement that’s taking shape today.
Resisting Amazon Is Not Futile
Amazon represents the pinnacle challenge to union organizers and socialists throughout the country. Are we in a 1919 moment, still a generation of failures away from breakthrough success? Or closer to 1935, approaching the tipping point of winning real worker power?
Stephen F. Cohen Helped Us Understand the Russian Revolution and Nikolai Bukharin
Stephen Cohen, who passed away earlier this year, resisted ideological conformity at every turn. The great historian of Nikolai Bukharin and the Russian Revolution left behind a deep body of work that will remain invaluable for generations of socialists to come.
AMLO Isn’t Pro-Trump. He’s Proving a Point About Foreign Election Meddling.
AMLO’s decision to hold off on congratulating Joe Biden on his presidential victory has ruffled feathers among establishment Democrats. But the United States stands to learn a lesson from remaining impartial in foreign elections.
Jeremy Corbyn: Why Is There Always Money for War but Not Public Services?
The UK government has announced a surge in military spending, even as it plans a new round of austerity. As Jeremy Corbyn writes, there’s always enough money for war — but never enough for lifesaving services.
The US’s Neglect of the Elderly Has Turned Murderous
The catastrophe that continues to unfold across the US as COVID-19 spreads is disproportionately affecting older people, who are perishing in far greater numbers than any other group. In a pandemic, our routine neglect of the elderly has turned murderous.
What Liberalism Gets Right — And Wrong
The liberal tradition is a complex body of thought that socialists should grapple with seriously. But today, preserving the gains of liberalism — civil liberties, free speech, and social pluralism — means rejecting the liberal defense of capitalist private property rights.
The Liberals Are Ramping Up the Marketization of Australia’s Public Schools
Public school teachers have been working harder than ever during the pandemic. But that’s not enough for the New South Wales Productivity Commission, which wants to cut pay and conditions, while increasing productivity by pitting “value-added” teachers against their colleagues.
By Voting Against a Wealth Tax, Canada’s Politicians Have Shown Who They Really Work For
The vast majority of Canadians support a wealth tax, but 90 percent of the country’s MPs recently voted against a proposal to establish one. When push comes to shove, Canadian politicians are just as much in thrall to the rich as their US counterparts.
Sofia Coppola Wants You to Feel Bad for the Very Rich and the Very Sad
Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks is yet another meandering depiction of life as a bored and alienated celebrity.
Beltway Liberals Aren’t Fighting Biden’s Pro-Corporate Admin Picks Hard Enough
In praising the pro-corporate Washington hacks Joe Biden has chosen to staff his administration, liberal groups are betraying their missions in order to try to gain influence — despite that appeasement strategy rarely working in American history.
How William Morris Became a Socialist
The critique of capitalism was central to William Morris’s vision of an arts and crafts movement in the Victorian era. Against the alienation and exploitation of a rapacious industrialism, he advocated for a conception of art capable of restoring creativity to everyday life.
The Senate Is Leaving Americans to Fend for Themselves This Winter
Even if the new bipartisan relief proposal does pass, it will be inadequate, forcing millions of Americans to rely on the generosity of family and strangers this winter. Millions of Americans are suffering, and our political leaders don’t care.
Australia’s Commonwealth Employment Service Showed How a Welfare System Can Actually Help the Unemployed
After 52 years in action, Australia’s Commonwealth Employment Service shut down in 1998, to be replaced by the widely hated, privately owned Employment Service Providers. At its best, the CES showed that a public welfare system can treat workers with dignity and respect.