Lorraine Hansberry Was an Unapologetic Radical
Lorraine Hansberry is best known for her classic play A Raisin in the Sun. But she was also a committed radical who insisted that black workers must be at the heart of the struggle for liberation.
19429 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 Welder Who Helped Bring Democracy to South Korea
South Korean labor activist Kim Jin-suk inspired her country back in 2011 by occupying the top of a 115-foot shipyard crane to protest worker layoffs and defend workers’ rights. Now, as she fights for her life against breast cancer, she’s demanding her job back.
Denmark’s “Democratic Ownership” Agenda Shows We Can Run Our Own Lives
Denmark’s new budget promises more state investment and welfare spending, but also a commission on helping workers take control of their workplaces. Marking a break with decades of pro-privatization dogma, the bill is a small step toward an economy that serves social need, not just profits for shareholders.
The Pain of Pandemic-Induced Unemployment in America Is Brutal and Unceasing
The lack of long-term economic aid for unemployed workers has meant that incredible amounts of suffering are everywhere in America right now. We talked to unemployed workers to hear their stories in their own words.
John le Carré Told the Truth About Cold War Espionage When Few Others Would
John le Carré died Saturday at age eighty-nine. His novels rejected the glamor and ritz of Cold War–era spy fiction. Instead, he portrayed espionage as a dreary, disturbing machine that ground up innocents for a goal that didn’t justify the human cost.
In the Wealthiest Country in History, Americans Are Desperately Struggling With Hunger
Tens of millions of Americans are struggling to feed themselves, as cases of shoplifting to obtain basic food staples surge worldwide. The pandemic is wreaking economic havoc while Congress dithers.
Steve McQueen’s Small Axe Is Pretty Damn Good So Far
The first film in Steve McQueen’s new Amazon Prime anthology chronicles the struggle for racial justice in Britain with the 1970s Mangrove Nine trial. It’s a wonderful achievement and valuable popular education on the British struggles against racist policing.
A New Senate Proposal Would Shield Corporations From All COVID Lawsuits
In a major sop to business interests, a Senate proposal would allow corporations to avoid COVID-related lawsuits from workers and patients. Corporate immunity is the last thing we need.
The Stimulus Bill Subsidizes Defense Contractors While Denying Direct Payments to Workers
The stimulus bill currently under consideration in Congress does not include direct payments to the millions of workers struggling to survive. That’s an outrage — and, as a further slap in the face, the legislation subsidizes defense contractors.
Freeman Dyson Refused to Let Go of His Optimism About the World
The renowned physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson died early this year and would have turned ninety-seven today. His eternal and unshakable sense of optimism about the world despite its myriad miseries is desperately needed right now.
Australia Has Engineered New Levels of Border Cruelty — and Exported Them to Europe
Australia’s notoriously cruel border regime once made it a human rights pariah among rich nations. Now, its policies of “pushbacks” and long-term detainment have been adopted in Europe.
“Fighting the Pandemic” vs. “Saving the Economy” Is a False Choice
US leaders are split between a hard right that would happily sacrifice millions of lives to let businesses keep operating and a liberal center that seems unable to merge the goals of stemming the pandemic and meeting the economic needs of Americans whose livelihoods have been disrupted by it. The truth is, fixing one means fixing the other.
Republicans and Industrial Policy After Trump
Some right-wing populists are making a bid to outflank the Democrats on industrial policy as part of their attempt to make the Republicans into a “workers’ party.” The best way to defeat them is to make the Green New Deal the centerpiece of progressive twenty-first-century industrial policy.
New Research Confirms It: Exploitation Makes People Miserable Mentally
We always knew mental illness was exacerbated by the stress of economic hardship. But new research confirms that the more a boss is exploiting a worker, the worse it is for that worker’s mental health.
Five Things House Progressives Can Do to Advance Medicare for All
Forcing a House floor vote on Medicare for All isn’t a bad idea. But we should prioritize wielding power over engaging in spectacles — and there are several steps progressive lawmakers like AOC can take to substantively shift power toward Medicare for All’s supporters.
Austerity Kills. PAYGO Must Go.
PAYGO, which requires legislation to be funded by either tax increases or spending cuts, is one of the worst legacies of Nancy Pelosi’s speakership. It needs to be abolished, along with the disastrous austerity politics that underpins it.
Blackstone CEO Celebrates “Huge Increases in Rents” as Millions Face Eviction
Billionaire Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman bragged that his firm “was a huge winner coming out of the global financial crisis” in 2008. Today, he’s boasting about his firm’s big earnings off high rents, even as millions of tenants face eviction.
Juanita Nielsen Was Murdered for Standing Up to Sydney’s Developers
In 1975, Sydney gangsters kidnapped and murdered the campaigning journalist Juanita Nielsen. Nielsen had been a champion of Sydney’s poor residents against social cleansing, earning herself the hatred of property developers, politicians, and their underworld allies.
The Unbearable Banality of Emily in Paris
It’s not just the berets and baguettes that make Emily in Paris insufferable. The candy-coated promise of American success is laid on thick in Darren Star’s worst show yet for Netflix.
How McKinsey, the World’s Most Elite Consulting Firm, Helped Turbocharge America’s Opioid Epidemic
McKinsey & Company’s lethal role in the opioid epidemic may be shocking, but it should come as no surprise. The company is a citadel of America’s amoral capitalist elite, whose only loyalty has always been to profit.