Wouter van de Klippe is a freelance journalist and writer based in Europe. He is particularly interested in organized labor, social and environmental justice, and social welfare states.
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, Jonathan Blitzer’s book on the brutal history of US border policy, vividly describes the suffering that the US immigration system inflicts on individuals — and the reactionary politics that undergird it.
The musician and audio engineer Steve Albini, who died this week, defended art from the music industry’s greed. Working with famous bands and indie acts alike, he fought for every artist’s right to realize their unique sound and earn a decent living.
On taking power, Narendra Modi’s government claimed that it would address a wave of sexual violence and raise the status of Indian women. But things have got worse for women under Modi’s rule, with a culture of misogyny that flows downward from the top.
On this day in 1941, workers in Belgium launched one of the first strikes in Nazi-ruled Europe. Tens of thousands of strikers risked dire repression to stand up against poverty wages — and showed the working class’s determination to resist occupation.
Mongolia is experiencing a disastrous winter with alarming consequences for its agricultural output. Reports have highlighted the negative impact of climate change, but the country’s neoliberal transformation since the 1990s is the biggest factor.
Students at Ireland’s Trinity College organized a solidarity encampment this week and successfully negotiated an agreement with the university to divest from Israeli companies. Trinity academic David Landy tells us how it happened.
Paul Robeson’s encounters with the international labor movement inspired his socialism and anti-imperialism.
Episode 6 of Organize the Unorganized takes a deep dive into several CIO union powerhouses, including the United Electrical Workers, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and others in textile and meatpacking industries.
At San Francisco State University, students built a democratic pro-Palestine protest movement — convincing the university president to engage in open bargaining and to work on a proposal for divestment with the protesters.
Ninety years ago today, longshoremen led a militant wave of strikes that encompassed every West Coast port. In cities like Seattle, the 1934 strike became more than a labor action — it became a mass movement.
Airlines have made considerable money holding on to consumer refunds for canceled or delayed flights. New language including a refund guarantee in a must-pass Federal Aviation Administration funding bill could change that.
How should we explain the unflagging and disastrous Western backing of Israel? The Israel lobby plays a huge role, persuading lawmakers that support for Israel is still in the strategic interests of their countries.
White Rural Rage, full of tired tropes about the bigotry of rural white Americans, distorts more than it reveals about the growth of the Trumpian right. It’s a shallow exercise in pandering to the prejudices of liberals.
Holocaust scholar and pro-Palestine activist Norman Finkelstein expresses his support for the student protests, insisting on the importance of free speech and uniting the majority of Americans around solidarity with Gaza.
Today marks 125 years since the birth of Austrian-British economist Friedrich August von Hayek. He theorized the need to keep the masses away from the levers of state power — and did it in the name of defending freedom.
Italy’s Democrats have often posed as a guarantor of institutional stability and Rome’s Atlanticist line. Current leader Elly Schlein has tacked left, but it’s done little to change the party’s identity as a force for steadying Italian capitalism.
In Indiana, “hoosier” is a badge of honor. In St Louis, it’s the nastiest insult around. The reason for the difference can be found in labor history, and it reveals the intraclass prejudice that breaks worker solidarity.
On April 5, Ecuadorean police stormed into the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest former vice president Jorge Glas. The unlawful act has put the White House in an awkward position in relation to AMLO and Ecuadorean president Daniel Noboa.
Israel has begun a ground assault on Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge from the brutal war on Gaza. International observers say the attack on Rafah, now the most densely populated place on Earth, will mean mass killings of civilians.
Israeli officials just rejected a cease-fire deal that could have brought hostages back because Israel wants to continue waging war. This should be a scandal — but American mainstream media isn’t reporting on it.