You Can’t Imagine Modern Cinema Without Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard was the last radical working in cinema during an era where the medium of movies still genuinely had the power to shock.
19108 Articles by: Jonathan Sas
Jonathan Sas has worked in senior policy and political roles in government, think tanks, and the labor movement. He is an honorary witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. His writing has appeared in the Toronto Star, National Post, the Tyee, and Maisonneuve.
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction Is Essential Reading
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction in America is one of the greatest modern studies of revolution and counterrevolution. It’s also an extraordinary example of a materialist and class analysis of race under capitalism.
Winston Churchill’s Legacy Is Indefensible
Despite overseeing famines in colonial India, celebrating imperial war, and sending troops to attack striking miners, Winston Churchill continues to be celebrated by the British establishment. He shouldn’t be.
The New South Wales Labor Party Is Wildly Corrupt. It Needs Democratic Reform.
Thanks to gerrymandered and malapportioned party elections, the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party is dominated by factional power brokers and bureaucrats. Until that changes, Labor will remain on the ropes.
Eric Adams Can’t Be Allowed to Scrap New York’s Right to Shelter
Mayor Eric Adams has suggested that New York’s response to Governor Greg Abbott’s busing of migrants into the city include rethinking its “right to shelter” law. But the solution to the homelessness crisis is in strengthening housing laws, not eroding them.
Canadian Law Professors Are Speaking Out in Support of Palestinian Human Rights Defenders
Last year, Israel designated several Palestinian humanitarian organizations as terrorist groups. In an open letter, 60 Canadian law professors urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make good on his professed commitment to human rights. He has yet to respond.
“Disinformation” Didn’t Bring Us Donald Trump
Since 2016, the national security establishment has tried to reframe mass disaffection with mainstream politics as the outcome of foreign meddling. But disinformation isn’t the cause of our political malaise, and fighting it won’t get us out of it.
Canadians Deserve to Vote on Breaking With the Monarchy
New polling suggests that a majority of Canadians want a vote on maintaining their country’s link to the British Crown. Imagine that: a long-overdue, democratic debate on cutting ties with a wildly undemocratic institution.
My Son Hunter Is a Total Waste of Hunter Biden’s Wild Story
Breitbart’s movie about Hunter Biden, My Son Hunter, is neither entertaining, informative, competently made, nor politically persuasive. How do you screw this one up?
Putin’s War Is Exposing the Cracks in Russia’s Communist Party
For two decades, the Communist Party has been part of Vladimir Putin’s power system, while also integrating many protest movements from within Russian society. But since the invasion of Ukraine, the party’s balancing act has become ever more precarious.
The US’s Taiwan Policy Could Provoke Another Dumb and Dangerous War
The Taiwan Policy Act has advanced through a Senate committee by a bipartisan vote. It’s the latest instance of the US chipping away at the “One China” policy. The result could be the very war the bill is meant to deter.
Illinois Is Eliminating Cash Bail. To Hysterical Conservatives, It’s the End of the World.
Cash bail creates a two-tier justice system where freedom belongs to those who can afford it. For poor people, Illinois’s new bail reform bill is a step toward justice. For melodramatic conservatives drowning in propaganda, it’s right out of a horror film.
To Solve the Housing Crisis, We Have to Increase the Housing Supply
The persistent shortage of homes is a key driver of the housing crisis. The solution is social housing, but to halt the churn of displacement in the short term, we simply need to build more homes.
Democrats Aren’t Saying How Much Their Pipeline Deal Will Increase Emissions
The Inflation Reduction Act has been widely touted as a big step on climate. But to pass it, Democrats struck a deal with Joe Manchin to accelerate oil and gas pipeline construction — and no one is discussing how much it might increase emissions.
Trumpism Won’t Be Defeated by the Judicial System Alone
It’s good that Donald Trump and his cronies are facing increasing legal pressure. But the threat of Trump’s politics won’t go away until we change the conditions that gave rise to them.
To Stop the Far Right, Sweden’s Left Has to Rebuild a Working-Class Majority
The big winner in last weekend’s Swedish elections was the far-right Sweden Democrats, who came in second place nationally. To stop their advance, the Left needs to rebuild its roots in all sections of the working class.
Mark Twain’s Sympathies Lay With the Working Class
At the height of his fame, Mark Twain schmoozed with robber barons like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. But he remained sharply critical of the unequal system they presided over.
Railworkers May Not Share Joe Biden’s Belief That the Threat of a Rail Strike is Over
A rail system shutdown was averted by an eleventh-hour tentative agreement between rail companies and union negotiators. But union members may reject the deal — the details of which are still forthcoming — making future strikes a distinct possibility.
Employers — Not Workers — Are to Blame for the Labor Crisis
Mainstream Canadian pundits claim the country is in the midst of a “labor crisis” in which workers just don’t want to work. This is absurd: workers need unions and decent wages, and right now many don’t have either.
Socialists Should Watch the Films of Jean-Luc Godard
Director Jean-Luc Godard has died at the age of 91. Many of his films explore the struggles of the post-’68 period — but even his less explicitly political work provides a utopian message of creative freedom.