No One Man Should Have All That Power
As “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk continues his campaign of censorship at Twitter, we’re getting an exhibition in the outsize power of billionaires to shape our politics.
19650 Articles by: Wouter van de Klippe
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 Right Says to Hell With Equality
The political right is a diverse intellectual tradition and world-making project. But there’s one thing that unites every variant of right-wing ideology: the belief that society will improve if we give up on the dream of a world where people are equal.
How Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus Broke the Hollywood Blacklists
Telling the story of a slave revolt in ancient Rome, the 1960 film Spartacus was penned by two blacklisted Communist writers. Its arrival in theaters was a middle finger to the McCarthyist witch hunt in Hollywood and publishing.
Boys and Men in the United States Are Struggling. The Left Should Talk About It.
From being less likely to graduate from college to experiencing much higher rates of “deaths of despair,” men and boys in the US — especially working-class men and boys — are suffering.
Big Three Autoworkers Are Getting Ready to Strike As Negotiations Come Down to the Wire
The United Auto Workers’ contract with the Big Three automakers expires tomorrow at midnight. If no agreement is reached, the UAW is ready to strike to recoup concessions made over the past two decades, end tiers, and boost wages.
The More the Pandemic-Era Welfare State Shrinks, the More Children Go Hungry
Brand-new Census data shows child poverty has exploded since the expiration of the child tax credit and other pandemic-era protections.
Elmer Benson Showed What a Left Willing to Wield Power Can Do
Elmer Benson became the governor of Minnesota in 1937. His two-year tenure, during which he called the National Guard to defend strikers while other states had police crush them, is proof of the power that a Left capable of controlling the executive can exercise.
Wisconsin Republicans Are Reminding Us Once Again That They Really, Really Hate Democracy
The Wisconsin GOP is at it again. With the party’s stranglehold on the State Supreme Court in peril following a judicial election last spring, Republicans are now seeking to impeach the new judge before the court can throw out the state’s rigged election maps.
The White House Is Blaming China for America’s Opioid Problem
The opioid crisis in the US is ravaging the country, leaving an enormous human toll in its wake. But rather than dealing with the root causes, the US establishment is using the crisis as a weapon in its conflict with China.
Billionaires Are Using an Abusive Farmworker Scam to Rake in More Profits
To find low-wage workers for their agricultural investments, billionaires like Bill Gates are using an immigration program linked to labor abuses and human trafficking. The scam is a far cry from the program’s supposed aim: helping struggling family farmers.
Striking Writer Alex O’Keefe: “A Culture of Solidarity Has Swept Hollywood”
The WGA strike is now in its fifth month. We spoke to Alex O’Keefe, former writer on FX’s The Bear, about the exhilarations and anxieties of striking and the fight to turn Hollywood into a place of solidarity and creativity rather than capitalist competition.
Medical Debt Collection Is a Vicious Multibillion-Dollar Industry in the US
Medical debt has ballooned in the US in recent decades. Hospitals and collection agencies are making a killing on it, eroding trust in the health care system and leading countless patients into financial ruin in the process.
Ecuadorian Migrants Fleeing to the US Are Refugees of Right-Wing Rule
Immigration from Ecuador to the US has spiked as political and economic instability shake the country. The culprit: right-wing policies, which have reversed the massive gains made under “pink tide” president Rafael Correa.
NBC Nightly News Is Spreading Anti-Union Propaganda
Rather than seizing the opportunity to cover one of the most important labor stories of our time, NBC Nightly News’ coverage of the potential United Auto Workers strike has checked off pretty much every anti-labor trope in the book.
Bring Back the COVID Welfare State
By many metrics, the US economy is doing well — but most voters still disapprove of Biden’s handling of it. If they want to win elections, Democrats should run on reviving the temporary COVID welfare state they let expire.
The Changeling Desperately Wants to Be a Very Important and Very Scary Show
LaKeith Stanfield is great in Apple TV+’s new horror-fantasy series The Changeling, based on the best-selling novel. The show itself, though, is a convoluted mess.
Robert Brenner’s Unprofitable Theory of Global Stagnation
Robert Brenner’s theory of the post-1973 global economy — which depicts a long era of “stagnation” caused by chronic industrial overcapacity — is logically dubious and doesn’t fit the facts. But the theory’s biggest problem is its politics.
Immediately After the 1973 Chilean Coup, US Socialists Supported Those Fighting for Freedom
The moment that Salvador Allende was violently deposed on September 11, 1973, democratic socialists in the US knew it was a crime. They joined others around the world organizing solidarity efforts and supporting political refugees.
Neoliberal Economists Like Milton Friedman Cheered on Augusto Pinochet’s Dictatorship
Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman are the founding fathers of neoliberal economics. When Augusto Pinochet overthrew Chile’s elected government, they helped devise his economic agenda and endorsed the brutal repression that was needed to force it through.
Patricio Guzmán’s The Battle of Chile Is a Masterpiece of Revolutionary Cinema
Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán and his team documented Chile’s Popular Unity government and the 1973 coup that destroyed it. Smuggled out of the country to be edited in exile, The Battle of Chile is an unforgettable record of an extraordinary historical moment.