These Are the Business Lobby’s Favorite Politicians
The US Chamber of Commerce presented “bipartisanship” awards to Democrats like Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin who blocked a $15 minimum wage. They’re not even pretending to be on your side anymore.
20389 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
People, Not “Voices” or “Bodies,” Make History
The “voice-giving” that is so central to the mission of liberal philanthropy underscores something essential about the custodial politics at the heart of the American political system. We need to do far more than “give voice to the voiceless” to win justice.
Australian Football Star Adam Goodes Took a Courageous Stand Against the Game’s History of Racism
The AFL’s most celebrated indigenous player, Adam Goodes, has declined to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. His refusal is another act of resistance against the racism that has dogged his exceptional career — and football in general.
Houston, We Have a Labor Dispute
It has long been rumored that a strike in outer space occurred in 1973. Astronauts say that isn’t quite true, but the real story is still a testament to the potential of strikes — or even just the threat of strikes — to shift the balance of power in the workplace.
Exploitation Isn’t the Only Thing Wrong With Work
Many people’s social status and identity are intimately bound up with the jobs they do. That’s not just pernicious capitalist ideology, Ruth Dukes and Wolfgang Streeck argue: it can offer the basis for worker resistance to the power of employers.
Incredibly, Joe Biden’s Russia Policy Is Reasonable
You wouldn’t know it from the belligerent media coverage, but so far, despite his record as a tough-talking anti-Russia hawk, Joe Biden has been taking US policy toward Moscow in a surprisingly reasonable direction.
Not All Labor Actions Aid the Working Class
There can be no successful left project without a rebuilt and revitalized labor movement at its heart. But that doesn’t mean that union militancy serves the interests of the larger working class in every possible context.
A Quiet Place Part II Can’t Match the Thrills of the Original — But It’s Close Enough
The sequel to John Krasinski and Emily Blunt’s horror-thriller A Quiet Place can’t deliver the same surprises as the original. But it still works.
Bringing Antonio Gramsci Back to Turin
Turin was once Italian labor’s most famous heartland, inspiring a young Antonio Gramsci to become a Communist. Today, Gramsci scholar Angelo D’Orsi is bidding to win the mayor’s office — by mobilizing the working-class voters that the neoliberalized center-left abandoned.
Logistics Workers Make Global Capitalism — and They Can Break It, Too
The logistics industry is key to the global circulation of goods under capitalism. Workers have immense power within it to grind that circulation to a halt — if they can get organized.
The Federalist’s Case for Workplace Misery Is Absurd
A specter is haunting America — the specter of negligibly higher chicken bowl prices at Chipotle. That’s the latest talking point in the conservative crusade against fair wages and unemployment benefits.
Raya Dunayevskaya’s Marxist Humanism and the Alternative to Capitalism
The Russian-born thinker Raya Dunayevskaya was an important and influential figure on the US radical left. At an early stage, she recognized the need to combine struggles against racism and capitalism — two oppressive structures that were intimately linked.
America’s Dynastic Superrich Are Rigging the Rules to Protect Their Power
A new report on the state of dynastic wealth in America explodes the myth of the hardworking, meritorious rich. If America ever was a meritocracy, it certainly isn’t now.
Education Is a Right — Not a Reward
States are giving away a handful of college scholarships in a lottery for students who get vaccinated. It’s like something out of dystopian sci-fi: only a lucky few get to avoid crushing student debt, the rest suffer. It doesn’t have to be this way.
The Quiet Radicalism of James Joyce’s Ulysses
On Bloomsday, we’re celebrating James Joyce’s Ulysses. It’s one of the greatest novels ever, and it calls forth a world where every named and unnamed minor character gets to be the hero. What could be more socialist?
Shooting Rubber Bullets at Demonstrators Is, in Fact, Lethal
Police around the world have increasingly been equipped with “nonlethal” weapons. But the myth that these weapons are harmless tools of crowd control normalizes the use of rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters — and fuels police violence that often does kill people.
The Political Establishment Doesn’t Want You to Know the Economy Is Rigged
ProPublica’s bombshell story about the financial malfeasance of the richest Americans has stirred bipartisan outrage in Washington. Unfortunately, it’s mainly outraged against the whistleblower who exposed the story.
Ontario Has Left Frontline Workers at the Mercy of COVID-19
The pandemic has exposed gaping holes in Ontario’s workplace compensations system. Sick and injured workers, often employed in frontline industries, have been left out of work without compensation.
Apple Is Not Your Friend
Major corporations like Apple want us to believe they care about the planet and are addressing their unsustainable practices. Surprise, surprise — they don’t and they aren’t.
Dems Didn’t Aid Struggling Homeowners in 2008. Trump Reaped the Rewards.
If Democrats had used their huge 2008 congressional majorities to rescue families thrown out of their homes during the financial crisis, we may have averted Donald Trump’s narrow victory in 2016.