The State of Illinois Is Killing My Family
Once the proud land of Lincoln, downstate Illinois — devastated by unemployment, deindustrialization, and an infamously corrupt political class — is quickly becoming a failed state.
19579 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
Afghanistan’s Corrupt, Abusive Anti-Taliban Forces Need Your Help
A burgeoning anti-Taliban resistance front is begging for help from the West to take back the country. They’re hoping no one looks too closely at their histories of human rights abuse and corruption.
Never Forget: Andrew Cuomo Once Started a Sham Feminist Party
Before disgraced New York governor Andrew Cuomo was outed as a sexist boss, he was an innovator in the faux feminist space, having a fake political party — the Women’s Equality Party — for the sole purpose of destroying his political enemies.
What the Sunrise Movement Can Do Better
The Sunrise Movement deserves enormous credit for putting the Green New Deal on the national political agenda. But the organization seems to have hit a wall as of late. It may be time for Sunrise to pursue a new direction in its tactics.
Capitalism Is Making You Lonely
Long before the coronavirus pandemic, we were amid a growing crisis of loneliness. The problem isn’t social media, popular culture, or city living — it’s capitalism.
Stalin Handed Hundreds of Communists Over to Hitler
During the 1930s, many communists and socialists from Germany and Austria sought refuge from the Nazis in the USSR. But in a shocking betrayal, the Soviet secret police handed over hundreds of them to Hitler’s Gestapo.
Recent Unemployment Cuts Made People Poorer Without Increasing Employment
The media breathlessly reported on labor shortages this summer, helping generate support for unemployment benefit cuts. But a new study shows such cuts didn’t do much but devastate poor people’s incomes.
Is Joe Biden’s NLRB Helping Unions?
Despite his “working-class Joe” schtick, Joe Biden has often sided with big business over the labor movement. But his changes in the National Labor Relations Board may allow union organizers new opportunities to rebuild labor. It’s up to us to take advantage before the window closes.
The Best Way to Support Cubans Is to End the US Blockade
The Left’s approach to Cuba should be simple: oppose US attempts to devastate the country’s economy through the blockade.
The Scottish National Party Can’t Be Trusted to Tackle the Climate Crisis
Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP has teamed up with the pro-independence Scottish Greens. But Sturgeon’s rhetoric on climate change has never been matched by action.
Cuomo’s Ouster May Have Saved Public College in New York
Andrew Cuomo’s record as New York governor was marked by an undisguised personal contempt for public university education. His ouster offers a chance to roll back the attacks on higher ed.
The Contemporary US Right’s Roots in 1930s Union-Busting
The roots of the modern US right lie in the California fields of the 1930s, where large growers ferociously resisted farmworker organizing. It’s a reminder that opposing working-class power has been central to the US right from the very beginning.
America Has a Moral Obligation to Allow Afghan Refugees In
The United States has made Afghanistan its imperial football for decades. If American elites really care about alleviating human suffering, as they claim, they must open the door to refugees immediately.
Dominicans of Haitian Descent Are Living in a Stateless Nightmare
Brought to the Dominican Republic by the promise of jobs in the sugar fields, Haitian Dominicans have spent generations in a Kafkaesque trap of statelessness, enduring decades of exploitation and even government-sanctioned murder.
Jean-Paul Sartre Took a Stand Against Empire
Jean-Paul Sartre came to prominence just as France was trying to cling onto its empire in a series of bloody wars. He used his platform as a public intellectual to speak out bravely against colonial repression, risking his own life in the process.
The Best Way to Help Afghans Is to Let Them Come to the US
The idea that the United States should have stayed in Afghanistan to stop it from falling to the Taliban is dangerously misguided. But there is one thing the US can and should do: admit every single Afghan refugee.
For Many Afghans, the US Occupation Was Just as Bad as the Taliban
Pointing to Taliban human rights violations, war hawks wish US troops were back in Afghanistan. Somehow they’ve already forgotten that the recklessness and sadism of those troops is why the Taliban came roaring back in the first place.
Walter Benjamin’s “Critique of Violence” Is a Revolutionary Call to Arms
German philosopher Walter Benjamin published his famous essay “The Critique of Violence” a hundred years ago. It shows Benjamin’s commitment to a Marxist vision of workers’ revolution against a legal system that protects and mystifies ruling-class power.
Liberals Are Far Too Obsessed With Polls
Opinion polls give us important insights to build political strategy from. But the way Democrats have become obsessed with them is completely distorting the party’s strategic thinking. It’s a recipe for incoherence and defeat.
India Walton Won Big With Renters in Buffalo
How did India Walton win the mayoral primary in Buffalo? A look at the data reveals one demographic that came out big for her: renters, many of whom are suffering from a lack of affordable housing in the city.