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.
The British sitcom Peep Show depicts the life of a 2000s unemployed guy who lives comfortably. Today, austerity has all but destroyed the possibility of such a slacker lifestyle — an option we all deserve.
At Kaiser Permanente in California, 2,000 mental health care workers have been on strike since August 15. They say Kaiser consistently fails to provide adequate staffing and wages, with patients waiting weeks or months for a second appointment.
Driven by inflation, the prices of basic goods are spiraling out of control. The Fed’s solution of raising interest rates will hurt average workers. Rep. Jamaal Bowman is proposing a better solution: price controls.
Defenders of capitalism insist that chasing profit is the only reason anything ever gets made. But when Warner Bros. Discovery killed Batgirl to take advantage of a tax loophole, it showed the opposite: the profit motive can stand in the way of creation, too.
The Crusades seem like a classic example of religious ideology triumphing over materialism. But a closer look shows that multiple class interests underpinned the crusading enterprise, from merchants seeking trade routes to peasants evading feudal oppression.
Sixty years ago, the world seemed on the brink of nuclear war before the superpowers reached an agreement. The missile crisis led Cuba’s leaders to distrust their Soviet ally — an attitude that ultimately helped their revolutionary system to outlast the USSR’s.
In the lead-up to the midterms, Americans’ number-one issue is the economy and the squeeze they’re feeling thanks to inflation. Republicans get this and are making that squeeze their top-line message. Why aren’t Democrats?
Emmanuel Macron promised he’d shorten France’s two-million-long waiting list for public housing. But the promised construction boom hasn’t materialized — and even poorly maintained housing is becoming ever more unaffordable.
The idea that workers in wealthy countries like the United States are part of a “labor aristocracy” bought off with the fruits of imperialism is nonsense. The best way to build a movement against US imperialism is to build the labor movement domestically.
As millions of Americans struggle with the high cost of living, the Democratic leadership seems out of touch. It could cost them in the upcoming midterms.
You must have an incredibly dismal view of both human agency and human nature to believe that we will continue to live in the future much as we live today.
Mike Gold was a pioneer of proletarian literature and once one of America’s best-known writers. But his refusal to capitulate to McCarthy-era blackmail saw him written out of history.
Canada is reviewing its privacy legislation, and its facial recognition technologies are under scrutiny. It’s well past time to strictly regulate their usage by both public and private actors.
A strike at France’s oil refineries is demanding pay raises that reflect firms’ soaring profits. Liberal president Emmanuel Macron’s government is forcing employees back to work — but unions insist they’ll defend their right to strike.
Despite its flowery rhetoric about transnational cooperation, Biden’s new National Security Strategy ultimately recommits to a basic principle of ruling-class foreign policy: US hegemony, now and forever.
Vancouver consistently earns top ranks in international livability indexes, yet it is brutally unaffordable. A new book plumbs the city’s history, revealing how past tensions between its elites and masses define its present — and may shape its future.
For the great labor leader Eugene Debs, socialism and freedom went hand in hand. In a 1920 article entitled “The Genius of Freedom,” reprinted here for the first time, he explained that socialism would free workers from the bonds of their capitalist masters.
Congress desperately needs more representatives from working-class backgrounds, including those who are military veterans. Unfortunately, most veterans currently serving in Congress are foreign policy hawks who want to keep the war machine running.
The British economy is in shambles. Yet new UK prime minister Liz Truss is making things far worse with a disastrous economic policy that does nothing for ordinary workers.
Anthony Albanese’s Labor government claims that it views Australia’s neighbors in the Pacific as “partners.” For this to be more than hollow rhetoric, Australia must face up to the injustices it has committed as a colonial power in the region.