Opal Lee is a writer.
Today Joe Biden became the first sitting US president to walk a picket line when he joined striking autoworkers. It says less about him than it does the electrifying effects of the strike — forcing politicians, and everyone else, to side with either workers or CEOs.
On Friday, California governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have banned self-driving trucks from being on the road without a safety operator aboard. This move followed a six-figure lobbying effort from the autonomous vehicle industry.
On September 4, Russian anti-fascist Azat Miftakhov was released from jail, only to be instantly rearrested. Vladimir Putin claims to be fighting Ukrainian Nazis — but he persecutes anti-fascists in Russia itself.
With the UAW strike spreading, GM is dispatching nonunion workers and managers to try to keep their parts distribution centers running. “I wish them luck,” one striking worker said. “They’re gonna be so goddamn lost.”
“Lean In” feminism doesn’t seem to have the purchase it did a few years ago. Maybe that’s because it is so obviously irrelevant to the lives of the vast majority of women, who need a union and decent pay, not a female boss.
El Conde is a fantastic satirical movie in which the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet stars in black and white as a ravenous vampire. Yes, you read that right.
Members of my chapter, Detroit’s Democratic Socialists of America, are mobilizing to support the United Auto Workers’ historic strike. Here’s some of what we’re doing — and what other socialists can do when the strike comes to their town.
A Clinton-era telecommunications law granted social media companies immunity from the libel laws that newspapers and TV stations have to follow. Now we’re living with the consequences: billionaires controlling what does and doesn’t count as a lie.
David Brooks, elite pundit par excellence, has been giving a master lesson for years in how to talk about class without actually talking about class. But class is about material realities, not empty cultural signifiers like one’s TV habits or food preferences.
The UAW’s ongoing “stand-up strike” represents an earth-shattering departure from the union’s recent history. It’s the fruit of decades of efforts to transform the union and return it to its militant roots.
Democratic senator Bob Menendez has been indicted for performing favors in exchange for lavish gifts. The Supreme Court justices who will hear his case are guilty of much of the same.
Former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano has died at the age of 98. A longtime member of the Communist Party, he devolved into a staunch establishment figure that made nice with the neoliberalism of the EU and Washington.
Late last night, the Writers Guild of America announced they have reached a tentative agreement with the Hollywood studios. The union’s negotiating committee is calling the deal “exceptional,” but it’s now up to rank-and-file writers to vote on it.
Last April, Hungary’s opposition alliance united socialists, liberals, and conservatives in a common front against Viktor Orbán. But it was crushed at the ballot box — showing that the Left needs to bring voters material gains, not just an anti-Orbán message.
Today the UAW is making headlines for an energetic strike, helmed by new leadership that doesn’t shy away from the language of class war. It’s happening, in large part, because a small group of workers got together four years ago to reform their union.
The recent controversy over Oliver Anthony is only the latest example of conservatives using country music to push their own agenda. But the genre isn’t inherently right-wing — it can also broadcast the struggles and aspirations of the working class.
Canada is claiming that India’s far-right government was involved in the murder of one of its citizens. The extraordinary allegation has set off a diplomatic firestorm.
When two British volunteers died in Ukraine this month, they were duly hailed for selflessly joining its fight against invasion. Yet both men had also faced terrorism charges for supporting the Kurds — showing the double standards of British foreign policy.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s “State of the Union” address shows she’s concentrating ever more power in her own hands. Not only are far-right parties on the rise across the continent, but the EU’s leading official is pushing their agenda.
Last week, several leading European politicians visited the Italian island of Lampedusa, presented as a symbol of a continent overwhelmed by immigrants. But there is no “migrant crisis” — just a political failure to create safe routes for people on the move.