William G. Martin teaches at SUNY-Binghamton and is co-author of After Prisons? Freedom, Decarceration, and Justice Disinvestment (2016) and a founding member of Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier; he covers local justice matters at www.justtalk.blog
A proposed minimum wage for the European Union promises to end the race to the bottom on pay — and instantly improve 25 million workers’ conditions. Faced with a cost-of-living crisis, the move is a welcome step to support incomes.
The Iran deal could easily have been maintained had it not been for a series of perverse policy choices by Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Now, with the deal scrapped, Israel and the US are once again threatening to attack Iran.
Israel’s supporters have sought to redefine antisemitism so that the term primarily refers to criticism of the Israeli state. This effort has been a great boon for Israel’s diplomatic propaganda — but a disaster for anti-racist struggles in Europe and the US.
Chile’s new constitution would’ve replaced its Pinochet-era charter with one that guarantees social, economic, and environmental rights for all. Why, then, did Chileans overwhelmingly reject it?
“Longtermism” is often associated with billionaire philanthropy. But this idea in vogue among effective altruists is perfectly compatible with a socialist worldview.
Gutsy, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s new TV series, showcases courageous women from an array of fields. But the show’s narrow lens suggests approval of women who show spunk, but not those who challenge abusive state power or capitalism.
“Dark Brandon” memes are jokes, but they express a deeply felt wish that Joe Biden would turn out to be a firebrand progressive at heart. But Biden is Biden — at his core, he’ll always be a corporate-friendly centrist.
The EU has launched a discussion about transforming its basic constitutional framework. The Left should push for changes that expand democracy at the pan-European level and make it easier to carry out progressive social and environmental reforms.
Danielle Smith’s conspiracy theories and shock-jock populist messaging have made her the front-runner in Alberta’s Conservative Party leadership election. Her campaign is a preview of the challenges to Canada’s left from an emboldened post-pandemic right.
Unionized workers at Brazil’s largest company, the oil and biofuels giant Petrobras, are organizing to resist privatization and lead a clean energy transition on their terms.
The far-right Sweden Democrats were the big winners in yesterday’s general election, rising to second place. Rooted in neo-Nazism, the party is blatantly racist — but the established parties seem less determined than ever to confront it.
An Oklahoma English teacher helped students apply for library cards so they could read banned books. Now she’s out of a job, receiving a barrage of threats from the Right, and the Republican state secretary of public education wants to take away her license.
Socialists, progressives, and the Democratic Party must all pressure the Fed to change course from its risky rate hikes — if not to prevent widespread suffering, then at least to save their own political skins.
Centrist Democrats and mainstream media would love to write socialism off the map in New York. But socialists are advancing in the state, not retreating.
Liz Truss, who has just become the next UK prime minister, calls herself a “Destiny’s Child feminist.” She is the latest reactionary hoping that her gender will distract the public from what is an appallingly right-wing agenda.
Australia’s privatized employment services system doesn’t help people find work. Instead, thanks to reforms first introduced by the Labor Party, it punishes welfare recipients with a bureaucratic maze of “mutual obligations.”
The radical idea at the heart of republicanism is a challenge to private bosses and public tyrants everywhere: that we can live free from the whims of arbitrary power. Democratic socialists should embrace the radical currents of this ancient philosophy.
The war in Ukraine provided a pretext for tight government control over this weekend’s local elections in Russia. Yet with the situation clearly worsening, the vote has given rise to signs of popular dissent.
As energy bills soar, Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, proposes short-term measures to prop up suppliers with public money. But we won’t be “back to normal” anytime soon — and it’s working-class Britons who will suffer.
For Chileans who resisted Augusto Pinochet’s regime, the election of left-wing president Gabriel Boric offered hope. Yet the rejection of a proposed new constitution threatens to hobble his government and reverse the democratic breakthrough of recent years.