The Workers Our Coronavirus Debate Is Leaving Out
The media and the Democratic Party establishment’s singular focus on paid sick leave leaves out millions of contract and informal workers. We need to think much bigger — now.
20423 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Joe Biden Lied in Last Night’s Debate — Italy’s Public Health Care Is Saving It From Collapse
In last night’s debate, Joe Biden claimed that Italy shows public health care doesn’t help the response to coronavirus. But the Italian health service is providing a vital defense against mass infection — ensuring that any ill person can get proper treatment, regardless of their ability to pay.
Austerity Dogmas Will Hobble Spain’s Response to Coronavirus
Spain has announced it will take over private hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to fight coronavirus. Yet in the PSOE-Podemos coalition, some ministers are still defending fiscal austerity. Their neoliberal dogma could get people killed.
Joe Biden’s Budget-Cutting Dogma Is a Threat to Public Health
Joe Biden is now pledging to “spend whatever it takes” to overcome this pandemic. But he’s spent his career putting public health programs on the chopping block as part of a decades-long crusade against government spending.
Shuggie Bain, a Window on Postindustrial Glasgow
Douglas Stuart’s debut novel, Shuggie Bain, richly conveys the harshness of life in Thatcher-era Scotland. Yet with its focus on the resilience of working-class women, this love letter to Glasgow is anything but misery-lit.
Coronavirus Should Be a Wake-Up Call
From prisoners making hand sanitizer to people forgoing testing because of cost, the coronavirus has exposed the social rot in American society. But we don’t have to live this way — we can transform society for the better.
If You Want to Stop Coronavirus, Pay Hospital Staff Properly
Cleaners at London’s Lewisham Hospital went on strike on Thursday after their outsourced employer ISS repeatedly failed to pay them. The dogma of cuts and privatization has subjected them to poverty conditions — even as they work on the front line of stopping the coronavirus infection.
The Plot Against Mayor Bernie Sanders
Elected with a mandate to transform Vermont’s biggest city, Bernie Sanders had big plans to shake up local government. A united city establishment stood in his way.
Bernie Sanders Must Take the Gloves off Against Joe Biden Tonight
It’s now or never: in his debate with Joe Biden tonight, Bernie Sanders must make clear that Biden’s track record and policy proposals are nowhere near sufficient to meet the challenge of coronavirus, our multiple crises of health care and inequality, or defeat Donald Trump. Bernie can’t hold back any longer.
Labour Should Be Exposing Boris Johnson’s Failure Over Coronavirus
Boris Johnson’s government has responded feebly to coronavirus, refusing to learn the lessons of other countries. Labour ought to be hammering the Tories for their inaction — and explaining why years of austerity are hobbling the NHS’s response.
Mike Davis on Coronavirus: “In a Plague Year”
As coronavirus spreads rapidly around the world, outpacing our capacity for testing, let alone treatment, the long-anticipated monster is finally at the door. And with global capitalism so impotent in the face of this biological crisis, our demands must be for properly international public-health infrastructure.
Burlington, March 1981: The Calm Before the Storm
After his narrow election as mayor, the fight for Bernie Sanders to carry out a progressive agenda in Burlington, Vermont was just beginning. Sanders and his allies had to fight through a recount, grapple with a looming fiscal crisis, and overcome incessantly hostile opponents in the city who refused to give Bernie an inch.
We Can Waste Another Crisis, or We Can Transform the Economy
The coronavirus has the global economy teetering on the edge. It’s a perfect time to pour massive amounts of money into green public investment, both to shore up the economy and to put us on a path toward a low-carbon future.
Defining Bernie’s Democratic Socialism
Bernie Sanders’s democratic socialism has always centered on improving the lives of working-class people and exposing how exploitation by the rich robs them of the opportunity to live dignified lives. Corporate Democrats who continue to ignore or undermine this agenda are putting themselves, the country, and the world in great peril.
“The Olympics Mustn’t Gentrify Paris”
The Olympics are coming to Paris in 2024, with Airbnb as an official sponsor. Communist deputy mayor Ian Brossat told us why development projects for the Games mustn’t be used to drive out working-class residents — and how city hall is fighting to defend social housing.
Europe Is Saving the Financial Markets, But Not Coronavirus Victims
After the 2008 crisis, European authorities saved the banks but forced welfare states to slash spending. Faced with the coronavirus, austerity-hit hospital services are under siege — yet the European Central Bank is again helping out the financial markets, not public health care systems.
Joe Biden Isn’t the Safe Bet to Beat Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders Is.
Joe Biden is a weak candidate who is more likely to lose to Donald Trump than Bernie Sanders. The best chance we have at ousting Trump is voting for Sanders in the rest of the primaries.
Bernie Sanders Can Lead the Fight Against Coronavirus. Joe Biden Can’t.
At Sunday’s debate, Bernie Sanders can make clear that the policies he has long fought for, and Joe Biden has long opposed, are the ones we need to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Sanders has a chance to hit Biden hard — he shouldn’t hold back.
Democratic Socialism Is About Freedom
Critics insist that socialists want to squelch freedom. But the exact opposite is the case: democratic socialism is about expanding freedom — and liberating us from the tyranny that pervades everyday life under capitalism.
We Already Have Public Health Models That We Could Scale Up to Fight Coronavirus
We cannot afford to come out of the coronavirus crisis without ending a health care system that decides whether we live or die based on our ability to pay the bill. Luckily, we already have working models to do just that.