Donald Trump’s “Antifa” Hysteria Is Absurd. But It’s Also Very Dangerous.
Donald Trump is attempting to drum up hysteria about antifa to clamp down on protest and dissent in the United States. Don’t let him.
19466 Articles by: James Bloodworth
James Bloodworth is a writer and journalist from London.
In Central Pennsylvania, the Bernie Campaign Was the Beginning, Not the End
For organizers in Central Pennsylvania, the Bernie Sanders campaign was an opportunity to build social-democratic politics in conservative territory. As Pennsylvanians go to the polls today, those organizers emphasize that Sanders’s unprecedented campaign was a success in putting left politics on the map in rural regions like theirs.
Here Are 10 Things Democrats Could Do If They Actually Wanted to Stop Trump’s Power Grab
Democrats have done a miserable job of acting as an opposition party to Trump — but not because they don’t have significant power to halt his authoritarianism. Here are 10 things Democrats could do to push back right now. If they don’t use their power, Democrats are complicit in Trump’s barbarities.
The New York “Progressive” Establishment Is Complicit in the NYPD’s Brutality
Mayor Bill de Blasio has been rightly criticized for letting the New York Police Department run wild with brutality in the recent racial justice protests. But he’s not the only “progressive” in New York bowing to the boys in blue — the city council, supposedly to de Blasio’s left, has long been under the NYPD’s thumb, too.
How Jewish Socialists Fought to Stop the Pogroms of the Russian Civil War
The Civil War of 1917–21 brought the third wave of pogroms in the former Russian Empire, mostly perpetrated by the counterrevolutionary forces. But even some Red Army units committed antisemitic atrocities — and independent Jewish socialists played a decisive role in forcing the Soviet state to stop them.
Rubber Bullets Are Anything but “Nonlethal.” They Should Be Banned.
US police have used rubber bullets against civilian protesters on a massive scale the past week. These projectiles actually originated in Northern Ireland — and their history is anything but “nonlethal.” There can be no justification for police use of rubber bullets.
Capitalism Was Always Like This
It’s fashionable to claim that the “rise of the robots” or the “disappearance of work” have changed everything about labor in the twenty-first century. But when it comes to extracting profit from workers, today’s era of ruthless capitalism is fundamentally the same as those of the past.
Capitalism Is Not the Solution to Urban America’s Problems — Capitalism Itself Is the Problem
The COVID-19 crisis has triggered a fresh round of soul-searching in establishment media outlets about the problems of urban America. Unless we address the root cause of those problems in the structure of our economic system, we’ll never be able to solve them.
For Murdered Honduran Organizer Berta Cáceres, “Any Injustice Was Her Battle”
Honduran activist Berta Cáceres was murdered in 2016 during a fight against a hydroelectric megaproject. In a Honduras characterized by corruption and impunity after the 2009 US-backed coup, the murder was the grand finale of a campaign of terror and violence against activists like Cáceres.
This Weekend, Police Responded to Protests Against Police Violence With Even More Wantonly Brutal Violence
In cities throughout the United States this weekend, we witnessed a terrifying spectacle: a brutal police riot, waged with frightening savagery, against average citizens whose unforgivable crime was daring to criticize police violence.
In America, the Rich Get Immunity. The Rest of Us Get “Law and Order”
America is a country that eagerly hands out get-out-of-jail-free cards to the rich and powerful, and rubber bullets, tear gas, and jail sentences to the rest. The protesters on the street this weekend were trying to change that.
Amazon Is No Ally in the Fight for Racial Justice
During yesterday’s protests against the police murder of George Floyd, Amazon declared that it “stand[s] in solidarity with the Black community — our employees, customers, and partners — in the fight against systemic racism and injustice.” But the company is no racial justice ally — not least because it has resolutely attempted to smash its workers’ organizing efforts.
When Rioting Works
Rioting is a rational response to grinding poverty and oppression. And though it’s not always the case, research shows that it can be effective in winning social change.
Young People Today Are Uniquely Radical Because Capitalism Has Failed Them
It’s a myth that young people are inherently left-wing, or that older people are always conservative. Millennials and zoomers are turning to radicalism not because they’re young, but because capitalism has failed them.
Donald Trump’s Antifa Bogeyman Has a Long, Proud History of Fighting Fascists
Donald Trump has threatened to ban “Antifa” as a terrorist organization. But you can’t ban a set of ideas. As long as we face the threat of a violent, authoritarian right, anti-fascism will remain an essential force.
Private Prisons Should Be Abolished — But They Aren’t the Real Problem
Anyone who examines privately owned US prisons has to come to the conclusion that they are abhorrent and must be eliminated. But they can also be low-hanging fruit used by opportunistic Democrats to ignore the much larger problem of — and solutions to — mass incarceration.
Minneapolis Bus Driver: “It’s Imperative That Unions Fight for All Workers”
Unions must play a central role in the fight against police brutality. We spoke with a rank-and-file bus driver in Minneapolis who is organizing his coworkers to refuse to assist police in transporting protesters — because, he says, “an injury to one is an injury to all.”
Don’t Fall for the Myth of the “Outside Agitator” in Racial Justice Protests
Whenever mass protests of any kind kick off, defenders of the status quo immediately accuse protesters as being duped by “outside agitators.” Don’t fall for it — the lie of the outside agitator is designed to weaken protests and downplay our widespread anger at injustice.
Coronavirus’s Devastation Has Been Made Far Worse by Years of Democrats’ Neoliberal Policies
Coronavirus isn’t only exposing Donald Trump’s incompetence. The crisis is laying bare the consequences of the neoliberal economic agenda corporate Democrats have been pushing for decades.
We Are Living in a Red Spring
In the Red Summer of 1919, racist violence hit America as the Spanish flu ravaged the country. With mass protests against police murders sweeping the pandemic-plagued United States, it appears we might be now living in a Red Spring.