Issue 44: Letters + the Internet Speaks

The Beatles and the Revolutionaries

Peter Jackson’s Get Back, the latest revisionist Beatles product, has glimpses of the political moment that made the band possible — and how distant we are from it today.

Palaces of Lost Promise

Berlin’s new Humboldt Forum is German neoliberalism in one building — retrograde, pompous, and built on the ruins of socialist modernism.

The New State Church

In our era, state capacity is faltering, and the size and scope of NGO activity is expanding.

The Media’s Breathless Shoplifting Coverage Ignores the Misery That Drives Theft

Corporate media is running constant, sensationalized stories about shoplifting — while ignoring the food insecurity and generalized desperation that is driving many people to shoplift.

The Left Should Stand for a Democratically Run BBC

Threatened with further cuts to its funding, the BBC has become ever less willing to hold the Tories to account. But while BBC news coverage has done little to enamor it to the Left, we should defend the principle of public broadcasting.

The CIA Is Still Spying on American Citizens and Lying About It

The CIA has operated above the law and resisted accountability throughout the century, and now we find out it’s been operating an illegal domestic spying program for years.

The Man Who Pushed Canada’s Conservatives Further to the Right

Ted Byfield, the founder of the far-right Alberta Report, left an indelible mark on Canadian conservatism. He was responsible for emboldening the most racist and anti-worker elements of the Right.

We Can Move Beyond Political Polarization Through a Working-Class Economic Agenda

US politics have become hyperpolarized along partisan lines. But they don’t have to be. Millions of Americans worry more about paying the rent or medical bills than what’s on cable news. They can be won over by a working-class economic agenda.

Portugal’s Communist Party Is Struggling to Return to Past Glories

Since the Carnation Revolution of 1974, Portugal’s Communist Party has helped shape its country’s destiny and defend labor rights. But the party’s setbacks in last month’s general election show how its working-class social base has drifted away from it.

Super Bowl Dancers Need to Be Paid

The NFL Super Bowl is one of the most profitable sporting events in the world — yet the halftime show continues to use “volunteer” dancers. It’s blatant exploitation of workers by an industry worth billions of dollars.

How Socialists and Trade Unionists Built a New Labor Organizing Model During the Pandemic

Millions of workers want a union. The Emergency Worker Organizing Committee, a project launched by socialists and the United Electrical Workers at the beginning of the pandemic, offers insights into how to organize them.

American Police Have Always Been Militarized

The new documentary film Riotsville, USA enriches our understanding of technologically enhanced police militarism in the United States. But militarization itself is not a 20th-century evolution in policing — it’s been there all along.

The Afterparty Is a Comedy Murder Mystery for Millennials

The Afterparty is just one of several new comedies about stressed-out millennials finding themselves trapped in a murder mystery. So what is it about this generation that makes them all want to star in an Agatha Christie story?

Starbucks Workers Need a National Day of Protest and Solidarity

In response to Starbucks’ union-busting in Memphis, firing seven workers who were organizing a union there, the American labor movement should organize protests at Starbucks locations throughout the country. The coffee giant can’t get away with this.

Starmer’s Hymn of Praise to NATO Is Bad History and Worse Politics

Keir Starmer has cynically used the Ukraine crisis to pick a fight with his left-wing opponents. The Labour leader’s denunciation of antiwar activists will reinforce McCarthyite attitudes toward dissent and make fresh disasters like Iraq and Afghanistan more likely.

Canada’s Trucker Protests Are Proof That Pandemic Culture Wars Can’t Defeat Far-Right Populists

Noxious reactionaries are leading Canada’s trucker protests in response to COVID policies. Those reactionaries will continue to gain ground as long as government pandemic responses keep ignoring how average people’s most basic needs aren’t being met.

Nick Kristof Is Being Backed by a Slew of Corporate Villains. Why Isn’t the Press Covering It?

Despite their divorce, both Gates billionaires, Bill and Melinda, are backing Nick Kristof’s imperiled gubernatorial run, along with a variety of big-money interests. Yet the mainstream press is offering almost no scrutiny of Kristof’s close ties to the ultrawealthy.

Crypto Won’t Solve Our Problems — We Need to Democratize Money

Bitcoin was not just a consequence of public disillusionment during the 2008 financial crisis — it was also a response to neoliberal monetary policies that saw money as somehow above politics. But questions about monetary policy are questions about democracy.

Emmanuel Macron’s Government Is Silencing Activist Media

France’s interior minister has announced plans to ban left-wing media platform Nantes Révoltée after it publicized an anti-fascist protest ending in a few broken windows. Based on guilt by association, the move is a troubling attack on press freedom.