Will Visual Effects Workers Unionize?
A new survey of visual effects workers in the film and television industry paints a picture of rampant labor violations and a demoralized workforce. VFX-IATSE is hoping to change that.
19592 Articles by: Karl Leffme
Karl Leffme is a socialist in New York CIty.
Florida Republicans Are Reminding Us Again: The Right Doesn’t Care About Free Speech
The Right makes a big show of supporting free speech. But Republicans are advancing legislation in Florida that is doing the exact opposite, attempting to clamp down on the free speech rights of bloggers who criticize Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Biggest Annual Right-Wing Conference Was a Flop This Year
CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, is usually one of the biggest events of the year for conservatives, but this year it was a huge flop. Has the Right given up trying to speak to anyone beyond its most unhinged followers?
Seymour Hersh on Daniel Ellsberg, the Man Who Exposed the Pentagon Papers
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh writes about his 50-year relationship with Daniel Ellsberg, the man who released the Pentagon Papers and exposed the scope of US crimes in Southeast Asia.
How the Right Gets George Orwell Wrong
Free-market zealots like Friedrich Hayek and others on the Right love claiming George Orwell as their own. That requires ignoring Orwell’s entire body of work defending democratic socialism — and denouncing the right-wing worldview of figures like Hayek.
Don’t Bring Back Mental Asylums. Instead, Build the Welfare State.
Liberals are starting to join conservatives in calling for a return to the era of mass involuntary hospitalization for mentally ill homeless people. That’s a failure of imagination. Instead we need public provision of health care, housing, and employment.
Syrian Earthquake Victims Are Paying the Price for Flawed US Foreign Policy
Rather than accept that its foreign policy objectives in Syria have failed, the United States is continuing to dig its heels in. And as the recent earthquake shows, the Syrian people — not Bashar al-Assad’s government — are the ones paying the price.
Joe Biden’s Pivot to a “Law-and-Order” Approach to Crime Is a Return to Form
Voters aren’t even telling pollsters that crime is a top issue for them. That isn’t stopping President Joe Biden from shifting to the right on crime anyway.
Greece’s Tragic Rail Accident Was Caused by Austerity and Privatization
Last week, two trains collided in central Greece, claiming 57 lives. Unions had long warned that cuts to the now-privatized rail network would cause a severe accident, but neither the government nor the country’s corporate media heeded the calls.
International Women’s Day Is a Socialist Holiday
In much of the world, International Women’s Day has become a bland and largely apolitical event. But it has its origins in working women’s struggles — including those that gave rise to a mass socialist women’s movement.
Mainstream Media Is Doing PR for Pete Buttigieg
The press is supposed to hold the powerful accountable. But Pete Buttigieg keeps getting treated by mainstream reporters with kid gloves.
Louise Thompson Patterson: “Toward a Brighter Dawn”
Today, on International Women’s Day, we’re publishing leftist organizer Louise Thompson Patterson’s landmark 1936 essay on the plight of black domestic workers. Her prescription for fighting oppression in all its forms: an interracial working-class movement.
The Ukrainian Poet and Anti-Imperialist You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Vasily Eroshenko was a blind Ukrainian poet and writer of children’s stories. He traveled around the world teaching Esperanto, railing against imperialism, and witnessing revolutions in Russia and China.
NFL Players’ Injuries Aren’t the Only Terrible Aspect of Their Working Conditions
The National Football League Players Association just released team report cards. From petty payroll deductions to rat infestations, conditions for NFL players are surprisingly bad — an indictment on the greed and incompetence of billionaire team owners.
The Anti-“Terrorist” Crackdown on Cop City Protesters Is the War on Terror Coming Home
The Biden administration’s domestic “war on terror” was sold as a crackdown on far-right extremists. But it’s left-wing activists and other dissidents, like Atlanta’s Cop City protesters, who are now facing repression and being labeled “terrorists.”
Joe Biden Is Bringing Back Donald Trump’s Asylum Ban at the Border
The Biden administration’s recently announced change to border policy effectively resurrects Donald Trump’s asylum ban. It will cause harm or suffering to thousands or millions of migrants seeking survival in the US.
This Is Exactly What Israeli Apartheid Looks Like
The explosion of violence against Palestinians, including the vigilante rampage in Huwara, West Bank last month, is a horrifying demonstration of what apartheid looks like.
Marine Le Pen Isn’t on the Same Side as France’s Pension Protesters
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has often claimed to defend France’s welfare state from liberals. But as millions strike against Emmanuel Macron’s retirement reform, Le Pen seems to be aiding Macron’s agenda rather than siding with the protesters.
Edmund Burke’s Defense of the Established Order Was Racist and Antisemitic
Right-wingers often hail Edmund Burke as a founding father of modern conservatism. His Reflections on the Revolution in France is based on fear of the mob — and a racialized worldview that blames Jews for upsetting the “natural” social order.
Millennial Anger Is the First Step Toward Class Consciousness
Millennials aren’t angry because they’re coddled. They’re angry because they know we live in a society of unprecedented wealth and capacity but are being held back from a better world by a minority of billionaires.