Severance Is the Perfect Thriller for the Great Resignation of Our Era
Ben Stiller’s excellent new limited series, Severance, turns the corporate workplace into the setting for a new and timely subgenre: “job horror.”
19289 Articles by: William G. Martin
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
Remembering Edward Carpenter, a Victorian Socialist and Gay Rights Advocate
Historian Sheila Rowbotham remembers Edward Carpenter, a poet, philosopher, socialist, and pioneer of gay rights amid the repression of Victorian England.
The US Military Has Long Stood in the Way of Climate Change Action
The Pentagon claims it’s serious about reducing American military emissions, which eclipse those of some developed nations. But the US military has helped perpetuate the climate crisis and continues to obscure its contribution to climate change.
Boris Johnson’s Brexit Deal Has Plunged Ulster Unionism Into Crisis
The Democratic Unionist Party supported the Leave campaign, but they’ve been the big losers from Boris Johnson’s Brexit. The union with Britain isn’t in danger yet, but the DUP now faces the prospect of being overtaken by Sinn Féin in this year’s election.
Finally, a Television Show About the Damage Wrought by Austerity
The BBC’s new medical drama This Is Going to Hurt is set amid the chaos of an austerity-starved National Health Service. It comes at just the right time, as the pandemic forces the UK to take stock of the damage austerity has done to the NHS.
Boeing Would Kill Us All to Increase Its Profits
The software on Boeing’s 737 MAX was designed to override human controls — but ended up smashing the planes into the ground. Netflix’s Downfall shows how the firm’s obsessive cost-cutting ignored safety concerns and killed hundreds of people.
Stop Pretending the Left Is on Putin’s Side
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is based on obviously reactionary pretexts. The Left has nothing to do with his agenda — and should make no apologies for opposing a US military response.
Ordinary Russians Don’t Want This War
Vladimir Putin has launched his invasion of Ukraine, seemingly expecting that his forces can subdue Ukrainian resistance. But the attack could severely destabilize his regime — with Russians already showing a notable lack of enthusiasm for war.
The Belmarsh Tribunal Is Demanding Justice for Victims of the War on Terror
The crimes of the War on Terror are an assault on justice and democracy across the planet. The Belmarsh Tribunal, inspired by the Vietnam War tribunals organized by Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre, is demanding accountability for those crimes.
With Putin’s Ukraine Incursion, Hawks in Washington Got Exactly What They Wanted
The latest escalation in the Ukraine crisis requires us to hold two ideas at the same time: that Vladimir Putin bears much responsibility for the immediate crisis, and that the long-standing US refusal to accept limits to NATO expansion helped bring it about.
Nonunion Workers Made Up a Surprising Share of Strikers in 2021
New data show that approximately 140,000 workers in the United States took part in work stoppages last year. Though the reality is far from the exaggerated hopes of a “Striketober” strike wave, there has been a noticeable uptick in worker militancy.
Big Pharma Front Group to Kyrsten Sinema: “We’ve Got Your Back”
Since Senator Kyrsten Sinema started undermining Democrats’ plan to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, Big Pharma has been her BFF.
Public Ownership of Energy Companies Is the Only Way to Solve the Energy Crisis
Energy bills are soaring, and the climate crisis is worsening. The one solution for the energy sector is to bring it under public ownership.
Pam & Tommy Is the Kind of Sharp, Funny, Class-Conscious Satire We Need
In Pam & Tommy, the story of the infamous Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape becomes an epic tale of thwarted American dreams.
Charity Can’t Fix What Neoliberalism Has Broken
A British bus company recently reversed its plans to cut a bus route, but only after a wealthy local offered to fund it himself. A decent society can’t rely on wealthy do-gooders to save public services.
Higher Inflation Doesn’t Reduce Real Wages
The Fed is now considering moves to tamp down inflation that risk spiking unemployment. Supporters of the idea are claiming that inflation itself is bad for workers because it “eats away at real wages.” They’re wrong.
Poverty Is a Choice — That the US Government Is Making
The child poverty rate has exploded, with over 3.7 million children sinking below the poverty line thanks to the expiration of Joe Biden’s Child Tax Credit program. The disaster proves that poverty in a rich country is a choice its government makes.
Beltway Media Hacks’ Attacks on the Squad Are Getting Pathetic
Last week’s paint-by-numbers attack on members of the Squad, vaguely sourced to “top Democrats,” is another sign that party leaders are resigned to defeat and looking to blame the Left — and that “nonideological” Beltway journalists are eager to help.
At a Texas Community College, the Attack on Free Speech Is Coming From the Right
Community college professor Michael Phillips spent the past year speaking out against a right-wing “purge” of progressive faculty at his college. Then he was fired.
Escalation in the Donbas Risks a Disastrous War
Russian president Vladimir Putin has sent tanks into the Donbas on dubious pretexts. But a far bigger danger awaits if the West seeks an escalation that will only pour fuel on the fire.