WandaVision Needs More Surrealism
Disney Plus’s new Marvel show WandaVision promises a surreal spin on a 1960s sitcom reality. But so far, it’s delivered little more than winks and nods to Marvel Cinematic Universe loyalists.
21022 Article(s) by: James Bloodworth
James Bloodworth is a writer and journalist from London.
For the Corporate Press, It’s All the Spin That’s Fit to Print
The mainstream media claims to prize objectivity above all else. But for every story scrutinizing corporate power, you’ll find 10 or 20 depicting CEOs and corporations as the great saviors of America.
In 2009, Pundits Predicted a New Progressive Era. It Never Came.
We’ll have to wait to find out whether Joe Biden’s domestic agenda will actually reflect the surprisingly progressive noises he’s been making since his swearing in. But the exultant days and weeks surrounding Barack Obama’s inauguration offer a cautionary tale.
Corrupt, Right-Wing Machine Politics Are Crippling the Australian Labor Party
The ALP’s right faction is riddled with corruption and cover-ups that are holding the party back. We can’t rely on the legal system to clean out the ALP’s stables — empowering Labor members through real party democracy is the only way to break the cycle.
With Scores of Union Contracts Expiring, 2021 Can Be a Year of Mass Solidarity
A wave of collective bargaining agreements are set to expire across the public and private sector this year. It will be a perfect opportunity to build class consciousness — and for labor to show the unorganized why it’s so important to have a union.
Good Riddance to a Terrible National Labor Relations Board Head Attorney
The decisions made by the National Labor Relations Board have massive importance for workers’ ability to organize and unionize. So it’s no small development that the board’s terrible pro-management head attorney, Peter Robb, was unceremoniously canned this past week.
The Cruel Detention of Immigrants Didn’t Start With Trump — And It Won’t End With Him, Either
Since the 1980s, the US prison system for detaining immigrants has grown exponentially, under Democratic and Republican presidents alike. The “nation of immigrants” has created a pervasive system of surveillance and control that makes life hell for those yearning to breathe free.
In Defense of Brunch
As socialists, we’ve rallied against brunch for too long. What we should really be demanding is brunch for all. Consider this our apology.
As Portugal Votes, the Far Right Is at Its Strongest Since the Return to Democracy
After the Carnation Revolution overthrew the dictatorship in 1974, Portugal boasted over four decades with no fascist presence in parliament. But with a far-right anti-migrant candidate likely to be runner-up in today’s presidential election, a hard-won anti-fascist consensus is beginning to crumble.
Hunts Point Workers Went on Strike and Won
Today, a 1,400-person strike by Teamsters Local 202 ended. Workers won an immediate 70-cents-an-hour raise, and gave up no concessions to their bosses. It’s a victory worth celebrating and proof that going on strike works.
The 1970s: Decade of the Rank and File
The 1970s were a high-water mark for the US labor movement, with work stoppages, wildcat strikes, and sit-downs spreading up and down the country, involving workers in all industries.
The True Story of Indonesia’s US-Backed Anti-Communist Bloodbath
The massacre of the Indonesian left in 1965–66, backed by Washington, was one of the great crimes of the twentieth century. A new generation of scholars has uncovered its long-suppressed history of slaughter of up to a million people in the name of anti-communism.
It’s Time for Players to Tackle the Great Canadian Football Rip-Off
Team owners in Canadian football made record profits while many of their players had to work second jobs to make ends meet. Now they’re using the pandemic as an excuse to claw back wages even further — a player fightback is the only way to change the game.
Hank Aaron Was More Than a Man Who Hit Home Runs
Hank Aaron will be remembered for his astonishing achievements as one of the all-time great baseball players, not least because he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. But Aaron also ceaselessly fought to defend black people in a hostile, racist society.
The Dutch Government’s Benefits Scandal Is Rooted in Stigma Against Welfare Recipients
Last Friday, the Dutch government had to resign in scandal, after thousands of parents were wrongly accused of making fraudulent childcare benefit claims. The affair was driven by racist demonization of welfare recipients deeply rooted in the country’s politics.
After Donald Trump, the Last Thing We Need Is Unity
Joe Biden has long prized bipartisanship above all, and some of his early actions indicate he simply wants to restore the country to its pre-Trump form. That would be a disaster.
The PRO Act Could Transform the Labor Landscape
Joe Biden promised to be the most pro-union president in modern history. He has a chance to prove it by passing the PRO Act, a sweeping labor law reform bill.
Israeli NGO: Israel Is an Apartheid Regime
B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization, has taken an extraordinary step — following many Palestinian and human rights groups around the world — in calling the state of Israel what it is: an apartheid regime and thus anything but a democracy.
Bernie Sanders Is Right, and Joe Biden Is Wrong. We Still Need Medicare for All.
Joe Biden and the Democratic establishment refuse to push Medicare for All even as COVID-19 continues to ravage the country. That’s all the more reason for us to demand, alongside Bernie Sanders, that everyone get the health care they need free of charge until the pandemic is over.
Joe Biden Wants to Make Health Care “Secure for All.” He Should Just Make It Free.
In his inauguration speech Wednesday, Joe Biden promised health care that will be “secure for all.” But no amount of rhetorical triangulation can erase the fact that a single-payer system is the only viable alternative to the status quo.