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.
The Irish socialist and labor leader Jim Larkin, born 150 years ago this week, was an evangelist for the workers’ movement who preached a divine mission of discontent — and sought a final reckoning with the capitalist class.
Joe Biden continues to bomb Yemen without even seeking congressional authorization. His justifications for doing so don’t stand up to scrutiny — and they mask the dangers of this operation becoming another open-ended US war.
Unlike in most of the US, solar plants in California have largely been built by union construction workers. Many of those workers toiled on the underside of a two-tier system — until bottom-up pressure led the Ironworkers to a successful push to abolish tiers.
Lainey Newman and Theda Skocpol’s Rust Belt Union Blues makes a compelling case that left-wing success in the rust belt depends on reviving the presence and stature of unions — and the sense of social connection they offer — in local communities.
The “Barbie snub” has kicked off an online kerfuffle about the 2024 Academy Award nominations. The decisions of the Academy are generally cynical and silly — but perhaps we should appreciate the fighting spirit awakened annually by the nominations.
The Jewish Communist partisan Angel Wagenstein was sentenced to death in 1944 — but he lived until 2023. From his Bulgarian homeland to postwar East Berlin, the filmmaker and novelist devoted his century of life to telling the stories of the persecuted.
Private equity, now a major presence in the US economic landscape, has been booming since the 2008 financial crisis. Its roots lie in the rise of the corporation at the turn of the century and the shareholder revolution of the 1980s.
The International Olympic Committee has declined to curtail Israel’s involvement in the 2024 games and has placed half-hearted limits on Russia. The IOC claims it opposes the politicization of sport — but the Olympics are a historically political institution.
Despite an apparent upsurge in labor militancy, unions made no gains in their share of the workforce last year. Something needs to change — and fast.
Canadian socialist Ed Broadbent died earlier this month. On the weekend of his funeral, we republish his impactful first speech in the Canadian House of Commons, in which he argued for the need to deepen democracy and move beyond the welfare state.
Defenders of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza have attempted to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism. But since its beginning, different forms of Zionist ideology have competed with varied anti-Zionisms for Jewish allegiance.
As protesting farmers drive their tractors toward Paris, many in the media speak of a rural revolt. But not all farmers are on the same side, as ordinary producers complain of being crushed by unequal subsidies and factory farms who skirt environmental rules.
For the 100th anniversary of the first Labour government, one of the party’s leading intellectuals, Labour MP Jon Cruddas, charts its history in A Century of Labour. He explains how technocrats took over the party — and how the Left can rebuild mass politics.
From Honduras to California, the dreams of the rich are reshaping urban spaces into exclusive private domains. The future of our cities must not be ceded to elites striving to construct walled utopias.
Earlier this month, Joe Biden expressed his concern for the Israelis taken hostage in Gaza. But if he really cared about their safety, he wouldn’t be sending Israel weapons for its indiscriminate and criminal bombing campaign.
The 2023 film American Fiction, starring Best Actor nominee Jeffrey Wright, aims to spark discussion through a darkly comedic portrayal of a long debate about representations of black Americans on film. It’s a worthy directorial debut by Cord Jefferson.
A former World Wrestling Entertainment employee just filed a lawsuit against WWE cofounder Vince McMahon. The details of the suit, which charges the billionaire wrestling mogul with sexual assault and sex trafficking, are hard to stomach.
France’s parliament passed a migration bill limiting birthright citizenship, but on Thursday the Constitutional Court struck down parts of the law. Some pro-government figures call this a good compromise — recklessly relying on judges to correct MPs’ votes.
Alabama executed a man last night using a method that experts have deemed too cruel for animals. It was a display of barbarism.
North Carolina’s voucher plan diverts vast amounts of public money to private schools, many of which provide substandard education and engage in open discrimination. Weakening public schools in the process, the scheme violates the universal right to education.