Amsterdam Is a Mess and a Bomb and Also Sort of Interesting
Credit to David O. Russell for trying to make a movie, Amsterdam, that’s unique and compelling. He didn’t really succeed, but at least he tried.
19271 Articles by: Tanner Howard
Tanner Howard is a freelance journalist and In These Times editorial intern. They’re also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Mike Davis Showed Us What “Old-School Socialism” Looked Like
The Marxist writer and activist Mike Davis died yesterday at the age of 76. His astonishing body of work will be impossible for anyone to replicate — but all of us can emulate his example of how to live and fight as an “old-school socialist.”
To Reform Our Destructive Global Food System, We’ll Need to Tackle Inequality
We are producing more food than at any other time in human history, yet millions of people around the world are starving. The global food system is broken.
Canada’s Leftists to the NDP: “Turn Down the Suck, Turn Up the Good”
In the last few decades, Canada’s New Democratic Party has moved away from socialist politics and grassroots democracy. The party is now languishing. But turning back to its socialist roots could help revive the NDP.
A Socialist on the San Antonio City Council
Jalen McKee-Rodriguez was elected to the San Antonio City Council last year. Since then, he’s worked for greater public investment in his working-class, historically black district. We spoke to him about his work as a socialist elected official in Texas.
In LA’s School Board Race, It’s Rocío Rivas Versus Privatizers
Billionaires are pumping money into a single Los Angeles school board race in an effort to defeat the teachers’ union candidate, Rocío Rivas, and advance their agenda of privatization. We spoke to Rivas about what’s at stake.
Republicans Will Never Stop Trying to Destroy Social Security
GOP leaders are threatening to cut Social Security and Medicare if they take back the House this fall. Elected Democrats won’t have the will or power to stop them unless ordinary Americans are willing to put up a real fight.
Diego Rivera’s Resolute Socialism Is on Full Display in His Mural Pan American Unity
Diego Rivera was a champion of the socialist cause who sought to produce art that “belongs to all mankind.” Nowhere was this vision more clear than in his mural Pan American Unity, a homage to Hollywood, Mexican culture, and modernism.
Eric Adams Is Eroding New York’s Early Childhood Education Programs
New York has made some important gains in creating desperately needed public early childhood education programs. But despite the continued need for such programs, Mayor Eric Adams is threatening to weaken them.
The Constitution Can Be a Weapon in the Battle Against Oligarchy
From the US’s beginnings, progressive forces have tried to use the Constitution to expand democracy and resist rule by the rich. But overcoming oligarchical threats to freedom and democracy requires understanding the structural basis of capitalist domination.
Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Doug Mastriano Wants to Crush Unions in Pennsylvania
If Doug Mastriano becomes governor of Pennsylvania, the passage of aggressive right-to-work legislation in the union-friendly state is virtually guaranteed.
Workers Shouldn’t Have to Pay the Costs of the Energy Crisis
Olaf Scholz’s government has announced relief measures to help Germans pay their energy bills. But what they really need is wage rises — and government action that stops gas giants from profiting from this crisis.
As Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak Won’t Change the Course for the Tories
Rishi Sunak, the wealthiest MP in the British Parliament, has today officially become prime minister. After months of chaos and scandal, his task will be to steady the Tory ship. Expect more austerity as the Conservative Party continues to unravel.
The January 6 Riot Was a Spectacular Failure of US Law Enforcement
The monumental security failure that led to the breach of the Capitol building on Jan. 6 has always been something of a mystery — and it still is. But one thing is clear: there is a disturbing level of support for right-wing extremism within US law enforcement.
Privatization Helped Make Jackson, Mississippi’s Water Undrinkable
Mississippi is weighing the privatization of Jackson’s water. But parts of that water system have already been privatized — and the results have been disastrous.
Kim Stanley Robinson: We Need Democratic Socialism
Utopian thinking gets a pretty bad name. But for author Kim Stanley Robinson, we should resist the idea we’re simply doomed to climate disaster — and insist that there is a world beyond capitalism.
How Iran’s Theocrats Allied With — and Then Crushed — the Left
Sociologist Chahla Chafiq was a 25-year-old Marxist activist during the 1979 Iranian revolution. Now in exile in France, she looks back on the tensions between socialism, feminism, and anti-imperialism that have roiled Iran’s opposition politics for decades.
Socialism Won’t Get Rid of Work. But It Will Allow Us to Work Less Under Better Conditions.
Some leftists imagine a postcapitalist society will free everyone from the need to work. But the only realistic and fair way to manage production under socialism is to democratically distribute and share in the burdens of labor.
The Tories Are Trying to Cripple Rail Workers’ Ability to Strike
On Thursday, the Conservative UK government published a new bill that would impose draconian restrictions on rail workers’ right to strike — aiming to punish rail unions for their recent militancy and make future strikes as difficult as possible.
Biden Has Fired the First Shot in a New Kind of Anti-China Cold War
The Biden administration just ratcheted up “strategic competition” with China with a round of export controls aimed at hobbling China’s semiconductor industry. But the move could end up blowing back on the US and its allies.