Medicalizing Society
The rise of psychiatry was funded by America’s Gilded Age industrialists. Their aim: to cast society’s ills as problems of individual “mental health.”
20389 Article(s) 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.
A Blueprint for Universal Childhood
Children deserve to spend their days in the company of peers, having fun, and discovering the world with the help of loving, well-compensated adults.
The Identity Mistake
Mistaken Identity claims to overcome the limits of identity politics but leads us down the same dead end.
Ecuador’s Great Betrayal
Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno was elected to continue Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution — but has set about dismantling it instead.
The Legacy of Black Reconstruction
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America thrust African Americans into the role of historical actors and showed that the black freedom struggle has always been one for radical democracy.
John McCain Wasn’t a Hero
John McCain’s greatest achievement was convincing the world through charming banter and occasional opposition to his party’s agenda that he was anything other than a reactionary, bloodthirsty war hawk.
“I Lifted Up Mine Eyes to Ghana”
W. E. B. Du Bois died on this day in 1963. Few figures were more influential in shaping the struggle against colonialism.
No Direction Home
The far right has made breakthroughs in old Communist heartlands across Europe. A new memoir blames this on the slow and painful erosion of class politics.
The Case of Richard Aoki: Berkeley Radical, Black Panther, FBI Informant
Richard Aoki was well-known as a lifelong Bay Area radical, playing key roles in the Socialist Workers Party, Berkeley ethnic studies strike, and Black Panther Party. He was also an FBI informant.
The Philanthropy Racket
Philanthropy is how the global elite cast themselves as do-gooders — the people destroying the world are posing as its saviors.
Democratic Socialists Want to Fight for Minority Rights, Not Suppress Them
Defenders of capitalism say that socialism will squelch minority rights. But the only minority groups we seek to unseat are those who trample the rights of others.
“Something Needs to Change”
On August 10, a Seattle-area airport worker stole a plane and crashed it, killing himself. Because his working conditions were so miserable, his former coworker says in an interview, the act wasn’t a complete shock.
Medicare for All and Free College Tuition Are Wildly Popular Policies
New polling shows that socialists’ demands like Medicare for All and free college tuition are overwhelmingly popular. We can’t stop now.
A British Press for the Many, Not the Few
Jeremy Corbyn argues that by empowering media workers, putting the public in control, and taking on unaccountable billionaires, the British press can be vibrant, democratic, and sustainable.
Public Transport Can Be Free
We don’t put coins in street lamps or pay by the minute in public parks. Here’s why we can make subway and bus fares a thing of the past.
Between Attica and Lee
A nationwide, 19-day prison strike is honoring the history of prisoner rebellion while demanding humane conditions now.
Why Doctors Are Warming to Medicare for All
Burnout, cynicism, and endless insurance red tape. As America’s private health care system crumbles, doctors are waking up to the need for Medicare for All.
Voting With Their Feet
Romania has the world’s second-highest emigration rates. Those emigrants are now taking to the streets and fighting to change the conditions that drove them out.
John Rawls, Socialist?
John Rawls is remembered as one of the twentieth century’s preeminent liberal philosophers. But by the end of his life, he was sharply critical of capitalism.
Infiltrating the Left
The FBI has long tried to destroy socialist organizations, but its actions aren’t limited to surveillance. In the sixties and seventies, informants were key — even at the top levels of left groups.