Game of Thrones’ Real Heroes Are the Peasants
What would be a good Game of Thrones ending? How about unleashing the latent Jacobin power of the “smallfolk” on all these would-be kings and queens.
20422 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Africa’s Road to Democracy
Democracy in Africa won’t come from political elites. It will come from below, in the streets and through popular movements.
Why New York’s Tenement Museum Workers Decided to Unionize
The Tenement Museum tells stories of life and labor on New York’s Lower East Side. But it’s not just garment workers from a century ago who needed unions — the museum workers themselves recently decided they did, too.
Reading Karl Marx in Beijing
100 years ago today, Chinese students launched the May Fourth Movement. While Chinese officials invoke the movement to reinforce the status quo, a new generation is rediscovering its insurgent roots.
Art for the 99 Percent
Rich kids are way more likely to grow up to be artists. And that’s because capitalism doesn’t give us all the freedom to reach our creative potentials.
A Feminist Movement for Us All
Spain’s right has declared feminism Enemy Number 1. To defeat the backlash, feminism can’t just be one side in a culture war. It must be about providing everyone with the material basis for autonomy over their own lives.
Stick With Bernie
Forget all the other Democratic candidates: the primary will come down to Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden. If we want to beat Trump, we should stick with Bernie.
“Revolutionary Cycles Are Contagious”
AMLO’s party MORENA is launching a mass popular education project. The aim: to empower every working person with the tools to transform Mexico from the bottom up.
Class Rules Everything Around Me
The socialist emphasis on the centrality of class isn’t about ignoring racial inequalities, but about crafting a politics capable of ending them.
Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger would have turned 100 today. Few figures in American history have lived as influential and deeply radical lives as he did. Let’s celebrate him today.
The Right Wing’s Antisemitism Is Lethal
The charges of antisemitism against left politicians like Ilhan Omar are a sick joke. It’s the Right that’s antisemitic — and it has blood on its hands.
Joe Biden Is Not a Blue-Collar Candidate
Joe Biden has nothing to offer workers of any race. He’s a corporate hack with a phony blue-collar veneer.
Chesa Boudin Wants to Transform San Francisco’s Criminal Justice System
Chesa Boudin is a socialist and the child of revolutionaries. Now he’s running for San Francisco district attorney on a platform of ending cash bail and undoing the war on drugs.
There’s Another Side to the Opioid Crisis
Taking pain medication away from patients who desperately need it is no way to fight opioid abuse.
How UIC Grad Workers Fought the Neoliberal University Model — And Won
University of Illinois-Chicago graduate workers recently went on strike over high student fees, poverty wages, and the corporate higher education model. After nearly three weeks, they won.
Sex Workers’ Rights Are Workers’ Rights
Sex workers don’t need saving. They need what every other worker needs: the power to dictate the terms of their labor.
May Day, Bloody May Day
On Berlin’s May Day 1929, the latent hostility between Social Democrats and Communists finally spilled over into bloodshed. A day meant to demonstrate workers’ unity instead showed tragic divisions in the face of rising Nazism.
Happy May Day! Workers of the World Are Uniting
Here’s something to celebrate this May Day: History may well look back at our era as the moment the working class finally got back on its feet.
Spain Under Strain
After their triumph on Sunday, Spain’s Socialists are pondering a coalition with the neoliberal Ciudadanos. Yet with nationalist parties on the rise, a government of the center will be anything but stable.
Crushing Franco’s Heirs
The Spanish Socialist Party swept to victory in this Sunday’s general election. Yet the risk of a liberal-centrist government shows the need to do more than just mobilize progressives against the far right.