“When You Arrest as Many People as We Do, You Cannot Protect Against Infectious Spread”
A new study finds that American jails — not just prisons — are a major hot spot for spreading coronavirus. The solution is simple: stop arresting so many people.
19108 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
Saudi Arabia Deserves Condemnation on Yemen — Not Gratitude
Saudi Arabia created the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen. So why is the UN praising the kingdom for tossing Yemen a measly amount of humanitarian aid?
Marseille’s Conservative Establishment Is Using Crude Anticommunism to Demonize Its Opposition
In Sunday’s mayoral elections, a united slate of left-wingers and Greens is set to win France’s second-largest city for the first time in decades. Faced with this challenge, the conservative establishment has radicalized, accusing the broad left of planning a “Cuban-style putsch” on the streets of Marseille.
“The Union Has to Be About Social Justice”
Incoming LA teachers’ union president Cecily Myart-Cruz was a leader of the city’s landmark 2019 strike. Now she explains why it’s important to get police out of schools and what the labor movement can do about it.
On Palestine, We Need More Politicians Like Bernie Sanders
Some commentators have criticized Bernie Sanders for not going far enough on Palestine. But his denunciation of Israeli land grabs in the West Bank, plus his agenda for transformative policies at home, constituted the most meaningful challenge to the status quo of US-backed Israeli colonialism.
The Supreme Court Is Still Repeatedly Ruling in Favor of the Ultra-Wealthy
The Supreme Court has made some surprising recent rulings defending rights for LGBT people and immigrants. Those rulings should be applauded — but they also shouldn’t distract us from how the court is continuing to erode democracy and worsen inequality with new rulings that are huge boons for the rich.
How Spain Shamed Itself by Leaving the Elderly to Die Under Coronavirus
Newly released emails from Madrid’s right-wing government show how authorities instructed care homes not to take elderly coronavirus patients to hospitals. The result was one of Europe’s highest death tolls — the outcome of a privatized care system that prefers saving money over saving the lives of the vulnerable.
Labour Leader Keir Starmer Sabotaged Rebecca Long-Bailey to Undermine the Left
From her earliest days as shadow education secretary, Labour leader Keir Starmer set about undermining Rebecca Long-Bailey — because her socialist politics and trade union loyalties were incompatible with his agenda.
Liberalism Is as Bad as the Economist Makes It Sound
Liberalism is often presented as a loose set of principles like reason, freedom, and the rule of law. But over almost two centuries, the Economist has provided a window into the dominant strand of liberalism in action — with imperial conquest and undemocratic regimes defended in the name of upholding “free trade.”
No, the Racial Justice Protests Are Not at Odds With Class Politics
Ross Douthat wants to tempt socialists with his argument that this wave of racial justice protest is hopelessly in thrall to the logic of woke capitalism. Don’t take the bait.
How Nigeria’s Left Helped Shape the Country’s History
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country by far, may not have a political profile to match its size. But it has a powerful tradition of socialist theory and practice that deserves to be better understood by the international left. That tradition has helped shape the best features of Nigeria’s contemporary political scene.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Opponents Burned the House Down to Stop Him — Now Keir Starmer Is King of the Ashes
By sacking Rebecca Long-Bailey on a trumped-up pretext, Keir Starmer has set the seal on a drastic shift to the right for the British Labour Party. That shift comes just as the key arguments by Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents to justify a break with his left leadership have been falling apart in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Keir Starmer Is Moving Labour Even Further to the Right
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has seized on an absurd charge of antisemitism to dismiss his former leadership rival, Rebecca Long-Bailey, from the shadow cabinet. It’s the latest indication that Starmer is steering the party even harder to the right than had been feared.
SEC Regulators: Private Equity Is on a Crime Spree
Securities and Exchange Commission regulators recently issued a scathing report that reads like a last-ditch plea for help in reeling in private equity billionaires, who have all but free rein to fleece whoever they want, whenever they want.
Vivian Gornick: “It Is Thrilling for a Small Life to See Itself as Connected to Something Large”
Vivian Gornick’s recently reissued The Romance of American Communism is in high demand these days by young socialists grappling with the meaning of their activism. In an interview, Gornick is slightly skeptical of the reborn socialist movement — and even the book itself. But although she says “I wouldn’t have written that book today, I’m not sorry I did write it.”
The US Didn’t Bring Freedom to South Korea — Its People Did
The United States claimed to be fighting in defense of democracy in South Korea. In reality, however, it propped up a series of dictatorships. The people of South Korea only won their freedom decades after the war, through brave struggles against US-backed military strongmen, like the heroic Gwangju Uprising of 1980.
Uncovering the Hidden History of the Korean War
The Korean War, which began 70 years ago today, inflicted unimaginable horrors upon the people of Korea, north and south of the 38th parallel. From carpet-bombing to mass executions, the US and its South Korean allies were responsible for some of the worst atrocities.
Don’t Get Too Cocky About Donald Trump’s Flop in Tulsa Last Weekend
Donald Trump’s satisfyingly disastrous rally in Tulsa last weekend has further cemented the consensus that Trump is toast in November. But liberal complacency allowed Trump to win in 2016 — and it could still do the same in 2020.
Last Night’s Elections Were a Political Earthquake
It’s been a tough few months in the wake of Bernie Sanders’s defeat. But after the recent explosions in the streets and ongoing down-ballot progressive electoral organizing in the last year, the Left came roaring back in last night’s primaries.
We Need a Jobs Guarantee Now More Than Ever
Unemployment in the US is skyrocketing, with the Federal Reserve predicting a long-term unemployment rate of 10 percent. Creating quality jobs for all who want it should be the chief concern of the federal government, not the bogeyman of inflation.