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.
19650 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
The PRO Act Won’t Solve Labor’s Woes
Let’s be real: the PRO Act isn’t going to pass anytime soon. Labor unions need to figure out how to organize under current conditions or perish.
Free Anna Delvey!
No one deserves riches, and yet we all do. This moral puzzle is key to our love for Anna Delvey, the con artist and “fake German heiress” who is the subject of Netflix’s flawed but irresistible series Inventing Anna.
After Decades of Repression, the Workers’ Party of Turkey Offers Hope for the Left
For decades, military repression and oligarchic control have kept the Left on the margins of Turkish public life. But the recently created Workers’ Party of Turkey has brought the far left back into parliament for the first time in half a century.
Alberta’s Jason Kenney Wants to Import American-Style Health Care to Canada
Alberta’s United Conservative Party is using the health care crisis caused by the pandemic to its ideological advantage. Citing backlogs in surgeries — resulting from overrun hospitals — the party is seeking to privatize the province’s health care system.
The Communist Manifesto Shows Why Capitalism Won’t Last Forever
Published this day in 1848, The Communist Manifesto didn’t offer blueprints for a communist future. But in showing that capitalism is not eternal or natural, Marx and Engels explained how the crises of the present prepare the way for our future liberation.
The Defeat of Progressive Movements in the Global South Made US Hegemony Possible
Following the Vietnam War, global progressive movements sought to refashion the world in the interests of the majority. The failure of this project, and the subsequent triumph of liberal interventionism, explains the arrogance of the US foreign policy elite.
The Antisemitic Face of Israel’s Evangelical Allies
Evangelical Zionists want Jews to move to Palestine to set the stage for the divine requital of Armageddon. This hasn’t stopped Israel from sealing alliances with even nakedly antisemitic evangelicals, so long as they support the dispossession of Palestinians.
In Latin America, the US Wants a Cold War Redux
With Cold War divisions once again rising to the fore, the US is returning to its old ways in Latin America: trying to exert influence in its “backyard” to enlist the region in the ongoing project of US global domination.
Banning Golden Dawn Hasn’t Stopped Greece’s Slide to the Far Right
The banning of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn was hailed as proof of Greece’s return to normality after the painful crisis years. Yet far-right ideas are now firmly established in the mainstream, including within the ruling conservative party.
Gig Companies Are Disguising Exploitation as Social Justice
From California to Massachusetts, companies like Uber and Lyft are promoting legislation that misclassifies gig workers. What’s worse, they’ve convinced some people that their pursuit of cheap labor is actually a crusade for equality.
Why We Need the Welfare State
You can redistribute income and power from capital to labor. But if you want to make sure that the final income distribution is sensitive to differences in household composition, there is no substitute for a universal welfare state.
“Voting With Your Dollars” Has Always Been a Flawed Idea
In the days of the British slave trade, “commercial abolitionists” urged against the purchase of slave-made goods. This business-friendly approach counseled consumer abstention as a form of political advocacy — just like the “ethical capitalism” of today.
Soviet Nostalgia Now Has Its Own Soundtrack
From brutalism to Stranger Things, Western pop culture is full of nostalgia for Cold War aesthetics and lost futures. Young people in ex-Soviet countries have developed their own version, Sovietwave — a music genre that summons up the spirit of the space age.
Billionaires Are Investing in Anti-Aging. Cool, But Who Will Invest in Antibiotics?
Jeff Bezos and other billionaires are investing big in anti-aging science. There’s nothing wrong with that — but there is something wrong with a world where the rich can fund their pet research agendas while ignoring crises that primarily affect the poor.
The Processor Chip Industry Is Another Ugly Capitalist Oligopoly
Processing chips have become central to our lives, running smartphones and TVs alike. But disruptions in the chip industry are driving up inflation — and exposing the industry for the ugly capitalist oligopoly that it is.
Charles Koch Is Trying to Gut the EPA’s Power to Limit Carbon Emissions
Dark money groups funded by the fossil fuel billionaire Charles Koch are lobbying Supreme Court justices to block the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
The Corporatization of Psychedelics Would Be a Disaster
We’re in the midst of a new psychedelics boom across the United States. These drugs can provide incredible healing and understanding — but not under the dictates of a pathologizing, profit-obsessed health system.
Workers Have Made Shocking Allegations of Racism at One of Elon Musk’s California Factories
California has filed a civil rights lawsuit against Elon Musk’s Tesla based on shocking evidence that the company’s Fremont plant is operating as a systematically racist, segregated facility where discrimination is the norm.
Abolish LA Rams Owner Stan Kroenke
All professional sports team owners are evil. But the sight of billionaire LA Rams owner Stan Kroenke hoisting the Super Bowl trophy on Sunday should inspire particular revulsion — he’s one of the most despicable owners on the planet.