Why You Should Support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Against Israel
At its core, the movement calling to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel is about defunding apartheid and military occupation. It’s a movement that’s worth supporting.
21016 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Thank You, Pablo Iglesias
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has announced his retirement. Over the last decade, he brought the radical left to the heart of Spanish politics — but its challenge to the establishment ultimately fell short.
The Legacy of Bobby Sands and the 1981 Hunger Strike
Forty years ago today, the death of the Irish Republican Army’s Bobby Sands inspired protests all over the world and sent Sinn Féin on a path toward its current position of strength in Ireland. Whether Sands himself would have approved of that journey is anyone’s guess.
On His Birthday, Let’s Celebrate the Old Man Karl Marx
Karl Marx’s final years of life are often overlooked as a period of intellectual and physical decline. But his thought remained vibrant to the end, as he addressed political questions that are still relevant to us today.
Hollywood Shouldn’t Remake the Brilliant Another Round
Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-winning Danish drama Another Round celebrates the ways in which alcohol can bring joy to a midlife crisis — but there’s no way the coming Hollywood remake can avoid American moralism.
Colombians Are in the Streets Against a Violent Neoliberal Order
What began as a massive general strike on April 28 is quickly becoming an open challenge to Colombia’s authoritarian neoliberal order.
Capitalism Is Driving COVID Disaster in the Global South
The only way to prevent devastating COVID-19 crises like the one currently underway in India is to challenge the power of Western states and corporations.
Hate Racism? Oppose the CIA
The CIA made waves this week for a video that uses social justice language to try to gin up recruitment. But opposing racism and achieving social justice means opposing everything the CIA stands for.
Egypt’s Al-Sisi Regime Is Still “Disappearing” Researchers Who Oppose Its Crimes
Last week it was announced that an Italian court will put Egyptian state security agents on trial for the 2016 kidnapping and murder of labor researcher Giulio Regeni. For years, Egypt’s military regime has refused to cooperate with the investigation — and in recent months it has continued to “disappear” researchers who defend workers’ and women’s rights.
No, We Don’t Need These Forever Wars
China doesn’t have an empire. The United States doesn’t need to saber-rattle. And we really don’t need to fight these forever wars.
To Defend Public Health, We Need More Than Lockdowns
Across Europe, lockdown measures have slowed the transmission of COVID-19, but the consequences for precarious workers and those in poor housing conditions have often been bleak. A socialist response has to go beyond telling us to stay at home — it has to challenge the deeper inequalities the pandemic has exposed.
Fentanyl Is the Genie That Won’t Go Back in the Bottle
Two bandmates saw their sons both overdose on fentanyl in the space of a few years. The synthetic opioid crisis is more out of control than many realize, and the coronavirus pandemic has only made it worse.
Sen. Chris Coons’s Defense of Vaccine Apartheid Is Obscene
Many political and business leaders are defending unethical vaccine patent hoarding. But Sen. Chris Coons recently achieved new levels of repulsiveness, invoking Red Scare rhetoric, the Capitol riot, and the Constitution to justify protecting Big Pharma’s profits.
15 Salvadoran Military Officers Could Soon Go on Trial for the El Mozote Massacre
The 1981 El Mozote massacre was one of the most horrific crimes in the US-backed dirty war in El Salvador. Fifteen retired military officers could soon go on trial for the crime — spotlighting again the blood-drenched horrors of US imperialism in Central America.
Eric Hobsbawm’s Success Was Because of His Marxism, Not in Spite of It
A new documentary on Eric Hobsbawm presents a sensitive portrait of a historian who achieved international acclaim despite his Communist politics. Yet Hobsbawm’s Marxism is fundamental to understanding his work, and why he undertook it in the first place.
Europe’s Border Guards Are Illegally Expelling Refugees
Border guards expelling Syrian refugees after they’ve already been granted asylum has shown the hollowness of European Union humanitarianism. An expansion of the EU-wide Frontex force will make things even worse.
Is the French Military a Threat to Democracy?
An open letter by retired generals warns French president Emmanuel Macron that unless he clamps down on anti-racist movements, the armed forces will step in to “restore order.” In a country with a long history of military coups, the spread of far-right talking points is undermining democracy.
The Long Struggle to Save City College of San Francisco
The fight to save City College of San Francisco from closure is a story about how educators around the country can defeat the onslaught of austerity against public schools serving working-class students.
Saudi Arabia Is Trying to Sell Its Ultra-Authoritarian Monarchy to Middle America
In recent months, the Saudi lobby has increasingly moved from K Street to Main Street — traveling widely outside the Beltway in a bid to shore up support for the country’s brutal monarchy.
Class Struggle Built the Welfare State
The welfare state wasn’t created by enlightened dialogue or “sensible” moderate politics. It was a concession won by workers against bosses through decades of struggle.