Nomadland Is a Great and Terrible Film
While Nomadland goes out of its way to avoid talking politics, its genius is in locating the emotional truth of what it’s like to be one of the many millions of Americans cast adrift by disaster.
19691 Articles by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
How a Revolution on the Tiny Island of Grenada Shook the World
On this day in 1979, the most remarkable social revolution in the modern history of the Anglophone Caribbean began. Today, we remember not only the crisis and imperialist invasion that brought the Grenadian Revolution to an end, but its tremendous accomplishments.
Don’t Be Fooled: Little Marco Rubio Is Still an Enemy of Labor
Marco Rubio grabbed headlines today by offering a strange and half-hearted endorsement of the unionization drive in Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama. Don’t be fooled, though: Rubio’s absurd “right-wing economic populism” isn’t serious about fighting for the working class.
Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Andrew Cuomo
A wave of Democratic lawmakers from across the political spectrum have now called for New York’s governor to resign. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have conspicuously failed to follow suit.
The Clock Is Ticking for the Amazon Union Vote in Bessemer, Alabama
Ballots are due by March 29 in the first warehouse-wide union drive at a US Amazon facility. The Alabama workers are up against an avalanche of anti-union propaganda, but if they win a union, it would mark a historic incursion by labor into the heart of a formidable anti-union employer.
Legendary Leftist Filmmaker John Sayles on Matewan, Working-Class History, and Left-Wing Organizing
John Sayles is one of the most talented left-wing filmmakers in US history. We spoke with him about radical politics, independent filmmaking, and his legendary 1987 labor movie Matewan.
Our Political Leaders Could Have Prevented Mass COVID-19 Deaths. They Chose Not to.
The US has never seriously considered far-reaching responses to the coronavirus pandemic like a national lockdown or a universal basic income that would allow people to stay at home without immiseration. The result: unnecessary mass deaths, with more on the way.
No, Joe Biden Won’t Give Us Social Democracy
There were many good things in the stimulus package. But claims that Biden’s Democratic Party has embraced structural change are overblown: an injection of much-needed cash isn’t the same thing as empowering workers or creating a constituency for change.
Joe Manchin Is the Poster Boy for a Doomed Centrist Politics
West Virginia senator Joe Manchin is an embodiment of centrist Democrats’ worst instincts. He says he wants to win over Republican-voting workers, but he is consistently on the wrong side of populist economic issues like a minimum wage hike that are wildly popular among those workers.
Emmanuel Macron Is the Face of 21st-Century Neoliberalism — And It Isn’t Pretty
Emmanuel Macron has revealed what the political center of the twenty-first century looks like in practice: a war on workers, authoritarian demagogy, and a further emboldening of the far right.
Joe Biden’s COVID Relief Bill is Rightfully Bringing Back Government Handouts
The newly passed COVID-19 relief bill will not solve every aspect of the crisis, and it won’t fundamentally reverse our massive wealth inequality. But the bill will make a substantial difference in people’s lives — and in the process create fertile terrain for the Left to organize.
Walter LaFeber (1933–2021)
Walter LaFeber, a giant in the field of American diplomatic history, died this week at 87. His work refused to prettify the destructive record of US foreign policy and emphasized the unacknowledged economic motives behind American statesmen’s high-flying rhetoric.
Niki Ashton Has No Reason to Apologize for Meeting With Jeremy Corbyn
Canadian NDP MP Niki Ashton has faced absurd attacks for agreeing to join an event with British Labour politician Jeremy Corbyn. Canada’s Left should see the absurd charges of antisemitism against Ashton and Corbyn for what they are: an attempt to delegitimize socialist ideas.
We Are All Living in Rupert Murdoch’s World
The right-wing media baron Rupert Murdoch turns 90 today. His news empire has been instrumental in reshaping the world in the image cast by conservative elites. The need to build a robust and democratic alternative media has never been more urgent.
Mass Layoffs at the Huffington Post Signal Doom for Journalism
A massive round of layoffs at the Huffington Post confirms that the media industry stands at the edge of a precipice. The only way it can shield itself from the whims of sadistic media baron owners who care nothing for journalism is by looking beyond capitalist ownership.
The New COVID-19 Relief Bill Is Good, But Not Good Enough
The good news: in passing the American Rescue Plan, Democrats are finally rejecting the logic of austerity. The bad news: the party did not use the bill to secure essential long-term economic protections for Americans, nor do anything that would anger the wealthy.
No One Should Be Able to Steal or Erode Workers’ Pensions
Workers’ pensions have been under attack for decades in the United States, so the passage of pension relief for over a million workers as part of the latest COVID-19 relief bill is a welcome development. Now we need to fight to defend and expand pensions for all workers.
Australia’s Rulers Are Clamping Down on the Right to Protest
As we face a mounting ecological crisis, combined with racism and violence against First Nations people and refugees, Australia’s state and federal governments are ramping up anti-protest laws and even harassing the media. We need an organized fightback.
The Stimulus Bill Is a Step Toward Aggressively Fighting Poverty
The House just passed a stimulus bill that breaks the 25-year bipartisan consensus that the very poor shouldn’t be eligible for cash benefits. It’s a watershed moment — and we should build on it by turning the US welfare state into a poverty-fighting machine.
The Ruling Class Isn’t Worried About Inflation
With the passage today of the $2 trillion stimulus bill, deficit-phobia appears to be waning in Washington. But it’s not because lawmakers have been won over to redistributive policies — it’s because they think the working class is too weak to set off inflation.