Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
Neoliberals say that inflation is directly caused by high social spending and good wages, and that working-class people must sacrifice these to bring prices down. But there are other causes of inflation, and solutions to it that don’t pit us against ourselves.
After a summer of disastrous forest fires, British Columbia is now experiencing extreme flooding. As well as causing untold misery for Canadian citizens, environmental catastrophe is also exposing how few protections exist for migrant workers.
Narendra Modi has faced few serious barriers to his authoritarian, far-right agenda since taking office — which makes his backing down on proposed free-market agricultural reforms in response to mass protest from farmers all the more remarkable.
Democrats like to think of themselves as “reality-based” people who “follow the science.” But lately, they have been engaged in irrational fearmongering over Russia and China that is reminiscent of their disastrous Cold War–era paranoia about the Soviets.
With the spread of the new Omicron variant and low levels of vaccination throughout much of the world, there’s still no real end to COVID in sight. It’s bad news for global public health — but great news for big pharmaceutical companies.
Ohio retirees and whistleblowers are on the verge of exposing how hedge funds and private equity firms are abusing workers’ retirement savings.
The COP26 summit in Glasgow this month ended with a set of vague and inadequate pledges that won’t tackle the climate crisis. Real hope lies not with corporate-sponsored elite gatherings but with the popular movements linking climate action to social justice.
The Australian government has introduced a new “religious freedom” bill that enshrines the right of employers to hire, fire, and discriminate on the basis of anything those employers deem to be not in keeping with their faith.
Recent elections in Denmark saw a sharp rise in vote share for the Red-Green Alliance, making it the biggest party in Copenhagen. The result shows that the ruling Social Democrats can’t keep letting down Danes who want action on the climate and soaring rents.
Democrats are deliberately choosing to put forward a childcare plan that will be completely disastrous for millions of American families.
Spanish author Almudena Grandes, who died on Saturday, aged 61, was famed for her novels portraying ordinary Spaniards’ experience of civil war and dictatorship. Against attempts to veil the past in silence, she insisted that unearthing historical memory was fundamental to building a democratic Spain.
The US government is set to spend twice as much on the military as on Joe Biden’s social spending programs over ten years. Instead of apologizing for social spending, Biden should stop rubber-stamping defense spending and start using it as leverage.
Capitalism imposes massive suffering on the poor and working class. But even the detestable superrich are being made miserable by the sadistic things market competition implores them to do to the rest of us.
In Norway’s recent election, the Labor and Centre Parties formed a new government — but they need socialist support on crucial bills. The current battle over the budget will decide if the swing to the left at the polls will bring real change for working-class Norwegians.
After a yearlong battle, Indian farmers have forced Narendra Modi to repeal his neoliberal farm laws. The movement that took on Modi and won is a powerful blow against India’s ruling Hindu nationalists.
The last decade of Tory rule in Britain has seen a devastating rise in malnutrition. The impact of poverty and the loss of the welfare safety net have left too many without the means to access a healthy diet.
Today Kyrgyzstan voted in repeat elections after the previous results were cancelled due to protests. But new leader Sadyr Japarov’s promise to fix its corrupt politics masks his continuation of the neoliberal dogmas that made the ex-Soviet republic an oligarchs’ playground.
The drowning of 27 migrants in the English Channel this Wednesday was a record death count — prompting expressions of regret in both Britain and France. The governments that lamented the tragedy are implementing policies that make sure it’ll happen over and over again.
When conservatives claim that we can’t afford new social programs, what they really mean is that they think individuals and families should figure out how to handle the costs of necessary care on their own.
All signs now point to a full-court press by the GOP to rig state election rules in a bid to stay in power permanently. So far, Democrats have barely put up a fight.