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.
Welfare programs can’t be replaced by policies that redistribute income from some businesses to others, or from capital to labor — the primary function of the welfare state is to provide for children, disabled people, and others outside the labor force.
Labor has been stirring recently. That’s unacceptable for bosses, who never rest in their attacks on unions. Case in point: a new bill in Georgia that seeks to ensure the unionization process is as difficult for workers and favorable to bosses as possible.
The New York state legislature is calling for the revival of Mitchell-Lama, a program that built over 160,000 affordable housing units in the mid-20th century. It’s a welcome proposal — but we need bigger ambitions for social housing policy today.
FX’s miniseries Shōgun takes place at the time of first contact between Europeans and the Japanese people.
The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that private health care insurance plans cover preventive services at no cost is in danger of being rescinded.
Joe Biden and his top advisers believe that fear of a potential Trump presidency will be enough to secure the Democrats’ victory in this year’s election. Polling data does not support this view. If Biden does not change course, he’s likely to face defeat.
As the Mexican presidential campaign heats up, media outlets and think tanks are desperately trying to tie AMLO and his popular Morena party to drug traffickers. It’s a ludicrous smear that smacks of elite desperation.
The late and legendary Teamsters reform leader Ron Carey briefly succeeded in a monumental task: turning around a corrupt and conservative union. Today’s aspiring reformers looking to revitalize their own unions can learn from his career.
The new Apple TV+ miniseries Manhunt turns the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s murder into a zany crime thriller with oddball pleasures.
This month, workers at a Toyota engine plant in Troy, Missouri, went public with their campaign to join the United Auto Workers. It’s the first announced campaign in UAW’s current union drive at Toyota, the world’s largest automaker.
EU officials have moved to dramatically increase European arms spending and beef up the EU’s military capacities. This turn is coming at the expense of action to address the climate crisis or the defense of social programs.
Since he resigned last week, Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has been hailed by liberal media as the representative of a modern, forward-looking Ireland. Yet he was above all an ally of corporate elites, not people in need of housing and health care.
At the heart of the current uptick in union organizing at companies like Starbucks has been “worker-to-worker unionism.” That model could be key to scaling up organizing and revitalizing the labor movement.
Far-right Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán has claimed that his refusal to help Ukraine is a “pro-peace position.” Yet Hungary is also the only EU state that openly backs an Israeli attack on Rafah — showing the hypocrisy of Orbán’s supposed pacifism.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, the electoral arm of a Hindu nationalist movement, represents the largest and most organized far-right force on the planet. To understand its rise, we must look to India’s 20th-century history.
Israel’s attacks on Palestinians aren’t only carried out through guns and bombs. They also come through its vice grip on agriculture, including its system of “water apartheid.” We spoke to a Palestinian farmer and union leader about his labor under occupation.
The Greek revolutionary Michel Pablo had a remarkable, globe-spanning career, from wartime resistance activity to his work supplying weapons and finance for the Algerian independence struggle. He’s finally gotten the biography he deserves.
Tomorrow, Senegal votes in an election that French-backed president Macky Sall repeatedly delayed. The fact that the election is going ahead is a victory for young and poor Senegalese, whose protests resisted elites’ democratic backsliding.
For all the periodic meltdowns about foreign interference in US elections and politics by countries like Russia, it’s actually Israel, a nominal ally, that has done far more meddling in American politics — with far more influence.
Germany’s anti-antisemitism has failed to achieve its purported aim. Instead it has given license to proxy Israeli nationalism, fueled a rise in xenophobia, and compounded the challenge of addressing genuine antisemitism.