Why We Need Free College for Everyone — Even Rich People
Centrists claim free college is a giveaway to the rich. That’s just a smokescreen for their opposition to universal social programs.
19782 Articles by: Ryan Switzer
Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
Give Us AOC’s 70% Tax Rates — But Save the 1950s Nostalgia
Pining for the high marginal tax rates of the 1950s doesn’t do us any good. The rich still avoided paying taxes in those days — and the taxes they did pay went to funding Cold War militarism, not domestic spending.
Greece’s Long Road Ahead
Alexis Tsipras’s government imposed years of suffering on Greeks, only to let the conservatives back into power. Rebuilding the fight against austerity could take years — and will be impossible without a direct confrontation with the European Union.
The US Government Should Declare Climate Emergency
The havoc that will soon be wrought by climate change is unfathomable. It’s a crisis — one which Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Sen. Bernie Sanders demanded yesterday the US government recognize. It’s a needed step towards winning a Green New Deal.
Bernie Sanders’s Campaign Is Different
A new video from the Bernie Sanders campaign is proof: Sanders has used his bully pulpit to amplify workers’ struggles around the country, in a way no national politician in the United States has done before now.
Freezing Workers of the World, Unite!
Millions of you are suffering in overly air-conditioned workplaces right now. This isn’t about remembering to bring an extra sweater to work — it’s class war. Workers should be in control of office temperature, not bosses.
Grocery Workers Stand Up
In 2003, California grocery workers launched the longest grocery workers’ strike in history — but failed to win their demands. Now, having authorized a strike in late June, they’re coming back to finish the job.
Palestinians Don’t Need Jared Kushner’s Racist Peace Plan
Jared Kushner’s plan to bring peace to Palestine reads like a real estate developer’s brochure laden with “white man’s burden” racism. Palestinians are right to view him with contempt.
Americans Actually Do Want Medicare for All
The media and the private insurance lobbyists are doing everything they can to twist the truth about public opinion on a public health system. Don’t listen: when it’s described accurately to them, a majority of Americans want Medicare for All.
Selling Out Julian Assange
By granting asylum to Julian Assange in 2012, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa made clear his country would no longer bow to US diktats. The decision this spring to allow Assange’s arrest shows how far Ecuador’s challenge to empire has faded.
The Real-Estate Developers Are the Enemy
Chicago recently elected six socialists to its city council. One organizer explains how they won: by going after the real-estate developers that are gentrifying the city and pushing working-class Chicagoans out.
Karl Marx Is Useful for Our Time, Not Just His
The financial crash didn’t kill off neoliberalism — it actually embedded its logic ever deeper in our lives. Marxist geographer David Harvey says the only way to end this system for good is to change how we fight it.
We Don’t Need Pete Buttigieg’s National Service Program
Pete Buttigieg thinks national service will solve America’s inequality and division. But what we actually need to build solidarity and improve lives are broad social guarantees to decent jobs, health care, and education.
Bernie Should Oppose Nonprofit Charter Schools, Too
By calling for a ban on for-profit charter schools, Bernie Sanders has gone further than any other candidate to confront the privatization of our schools. But we can’t fully defend public schools if we let nonprofit charters off the hook.
Vietnam Gambles on Workers’ Rights
In a desperate effort to tame rebellious workers, Vietnam is now building a collective bargaining regime. But empowering independent trade unions could backfire for the country’s authoritarian government — and allow workers to fight back against multinational capital.
Giving Amazon’s Side of the Story
The New York Times recently profiled life on the Amazon shop floor — chaperoned by Amazon management. Perhaps not shockingly, the result was a fawning portrait of work at Amazon that only a boss could love.
The Problem With Community Land Trusts
Acquiring and administering property should not be housing movements’ only goals — advocacy for affordable housing must be coupled with bottom-up control by residents. The community land trust movement has largely abandoned fighting for and expanding that control.
Why Democrats Keep Caving on Immigration
For years, Democrats have embraced hardline immigration policies in a desperate attempt to win Republican votes. But the only way to deliver justice for immigrants is to defeat the Right — with a progressive, multiracial coalition.
Academic Freedom Must Extend to All
The Pitzer College community voted to suspend a study abroad program with the University of Haifa because of its ongoing policies discriminating against Palestinians. But their president decided to overturn a democratic referendum supporting human rights.
How Community Land Trusts Can Help Address the Affordable Housing Crisis
The United States is in the middle of a massive housing crisis. Community land trusts can help address it.