Big Tech Is Killing Movies
Amazon’s buyout of MGM is the latest example of the culture industry’s transformation into a Big Tech monopoly. Artists, workers, and the film-watching public suffer the consequences.
19545 Articles by: T Rivers
T Rivers is a pseudonymous journalist who covers East and Central Africa.
How Colorado State Graduate Workers Got Organized During the Pandemic
The pandemic has been brutal for graduate workers, but some have organized despite COVID. Case in point: graduate workers at Colorado State University, who, with help from the Emergency Workers Organizing Committee, demanded decent pay and treatment.
Billionaire Tycoons Are Turning French Radio Into a Copy of Fox News
For decades, Europe 1 has been one of France’s most respected radio networks — but under pressure from its new billionaire owners, it’s being merged into the Fox-style CNEWS. Last week, journalists took strike action, trying to stop a French broadcasting icon from becoming yet another far-right echo chamber.
Eugene Debs: The Red Flag “Is a Sign of Terror to Every Tyrant”
In 1907, Eugene Debs waxed poetic about the red flag, calling it “a sign of terror to every tyrant” and “the flag of Universal Freedom.” We reprint his article here in full.
Conservatives Are the Ones Attacking Free Speech at Universities
Australian conservatives claim that “woke” students and left-wing lecturers pose a threat to free speech on university campuses. But the real “cancel culture” is coming from the Right.
C. B. Macpherson Wanted a Socialism That Didn’t Lose Sight of the Individual
Canadian thinker C. B. Macpherson insisted that capitalism’s “possessive individualism” constrained human flourishing. In its place, he wanted a democratic socialist society where people could build meaningful relationships and express the kaleidoscope of human individuality.
Evictions Aren’t Just a Symptom of Poverty — They’re a Cause of It
The United States is deeply hostile to renters, especially in states like Indiana that are staring down an enormous flood of evictions. We need action immediately to avoid a humanitarian disaster of millions being kicked out of their homes this summer.
Nora Ephron Wrote Through It
I love Nora Ephron. The world needs more Nora Ephrons. There are potential Noras all around us — they, and we, deserve a society that supports and nourishes and encourages them.
How Britain’s Red Wedge Tried to Bring Pop Into Politics and Politics Into Pop
In the 1980s, British musicians like Billy Bragg and Paul Weller tried to mobilize Labour support through the group Red Wedge. The rise and fall of Red Wedge tells us a lot about how culture might be used to advance socialist politics.
The Shackles of Debt in the Global South Weigh Down Workers Everywhere
In the pandemic’s first year, poor countries’ debt rose to astonishing heights, plunging such countries into even worse austerity than before. These attacks are directed at workers in the Global South, but the fallout isn’t contained within national borders — the struggle against debt servitude belongs to workers everywhere.
The Bezos Theory of Value Is Deeply Disturbing
In his final letter to shareholders as Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos offers a novel — and profoundly disturbing — conception of value creation: a handful of visionaries are the sole source of all “real value.” This aristocracy mercifully blesses customers, clients, and even Amazon workers with social goods.
China’s Downwardly Mobile Millennials Are Throwing in the Towel
Exhausted and alienated Chinese students and white-collar workers are “lying flat” to register discontent with the status quo. For their protest to produce change, they’ll need to transform individual passivity into collective activity.
On the Pro-Democracy Bill HR 1, We Can’t Accept Any Compromises
Passing HR 1, the For the People Act, is a key step toward building a multiracial democracy where the working-class majority actually sees its priorities reflected in government policy. We can’t accept the kind of compromises centrists like Joe Manchin are pushing.
Health Insurers Shouldn’t Be Incentivized to Deny Patients’ Emergency Room Visits
The health insurer UnitedHealthcare recently sparked outrage by saying it may retroactively deny patients’ emergency room claims. But documents suggest the company has been denying such claims for years.
By Bringing Down Sweden’s Government, the Left Party Saved Rent Controls
On Monday, Sweden’s Social Democratic government lost a vote of no confidence after it tried to abandon the country’s system of collective bargaining on rents. The Left Party was decisive to the defeat — and now, the proposal to introduce market rents has been dropped.
A Newly Rediscovered Article by Antonio Gramsci on the Fascists’ March on Rome
When Benito Mussolini’s Italian Fascists pulled off their coup d’état in October 1922, Antonio Gramsci was in Moscow — and his first article responding to the events appeared in Russian. It was virtually lost for a century. We publish it in English for the first time.
Critical Race Theory Is the Right’s Latest Obsession. They’ll Have a New One Soon.
Saul Alinsky, the Frankfurt School, “cultural Marxism” — the Right regularly cycles through shadowy texts and philosophies that explain all the Left’s evil deeds. Critical race theory is the explanation du jour; soon enough, something else shiny will catch their eye.
At a Time of Emergency, ACT UP Refused to Be Bystanders
Sarah Schulman’s Let the Record Show tells the story of one of the most compelling and successful social movements of the past century, ACT UP. We talked to Schulman about the “New York Crimes,” the messy joy of political commitment, and how ACT UP changed history.
To Pass the PRO Act, We Need to Examine Past Labor Law Reform Failures
The battle for labor law reform has historically been one of the most difficult in US politics. Passing the PRO Act is crucial — but workers may not be able to win it without flexing their strike muscles.
A Guaranteed Income Can Increase Workers’ Bargaining Power
Basic income schemes are no silver bullet to make up for the loss of well-paid union jobs. But they can allow workers say no to the most thankless, low-wage work — and provide a platform from which to rebuild our bargaining power.