Unionize the Postdocs
Postdoctoral research work is poorly paid and highly unstable. It’s also socially necessary, crucial to solving big problems like climate change and pandemics. For workers and the public, postdocs must unionize.
20397 Article(s) 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 US Military’s Defense of Affirmative Action Is Hypocritical and Self-Serving
In the recent SCOTUS case on affirmative action, the US government argued for the importance of race-conscious admissions at its military academies. This isn’t about “racial justice”: the military wants to use race in admissions to strengthen American empire.
Public-Private Partnerships Are a Deal With the Devil
Recent experiences with public-private partnerships in Canadian cities, like Ottawa’s light-rail disaster, reveal how the model prioritizes profit over quality, leaving citizens with higher costs and worse services.
Steven Soderbergh’s New Crime Series Full Circle Is Off to a Bumpy Start
The new neo-noir series Full Circle, directed by Steven Soderbergh, has big ideas to share about class, race, nationality, and crime. But so far it’s a slog to watch.
Chief Justice Roberts Wants Absolute Power in the Supreme Court — If It’s Conservative
In the early 1980s, Chief Justice John Roberts, then a young lawyer, worked with the Reagan administration to strip power from a liberal judiciary. Today he has reversed course to shield the Supreme Court’s absolute power.
I Fell Down the Alt-Right Rabbit Hole. Eventually, I Climbed My Way Out.
At a time of personal confusion and pain in my life, Jordan Peterson and the alt right gave me direction and purpose. I eventually realized that purpose was spreading a cruel, antisocial worldview — but not before I inflicted that cruelty on those around me.
Finland’s Neoliberal and Far-Right Alliance Is a Sign of Things to Come in Europe
In Finland, a new government represents how compatible neoliberal and far-right politics are. The Left must answer the challenge by opposing austerity in addition to racism.
Narendra Modi Is Using Brutal Repression to Silence the People of Kashmir
For decades, the Indian state has suppressed the democratic rights of Kashmiris. Narendra Modi’s hard-right government is taking this pattern of repression to new extremes, with the complicity of Indian intellectuals who seek to toxify the cause of Kashmir.
Wartime Red-Baiting and Repression Paved the Way for Canada’s Current Suppression of Antiwar Voices
The historical repression of antiwar voices in Canada, often twinned with red-baiting, is resurfacing amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. This resurgence marks a worrying return to stifling dissent and limiting freedom of expression.
The Problem With Degrowth
We need radical change to address climate change. But degrowth needlessly shackles its vision of a socialist future to a program of aggregate reduction.
Montana Conservatives Are Stoking McCarthyist, Homophobic Attacks on a Librarian
Montana’s State Library Commission has exited the American Library Association over the sexuality and leftist politics of the association president, bringing together a toxic stew of hysterical homophobia and classic red-baiting to attack public libraries.
Amazon Teamsters Are Setting Up Pickets Nationwide to Demand a Contract
This spring, Amazon delivery drivers unionized with the Teamsters — but the logistics giant refuses to bargain with them. The workers are now setting up picket lines at Amazon warehouses across the country, joined by fellow Teamsters from other employers.
Workers Are Organizing to Demand Protection Against Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke
As the climate crisis intensifies, workers are being forced to work amid noxious wildfire smoke and in dangerously high temperatures. But workers at UPS and elsewhere are organizing to demand health and safety precautions from their employers.
How the Daughters of a Nazi General Became Communist Spies
As Hitler rose to power, two daughters of Germany’s top general became spies for the Communist Party. A new biography tells the story of how hatred for fascism and its aristocratic collaborators led them to become class traitors.
The Tragic Failure of the Soviet Experiment Doesn’t Mean We Should Reject Socialism
Like many socialists around the world, G. A. Cohen invested the Soviet Union with his hopes for a more just and equal society. In time, he grew disillusioned with the USSR — but he never stopped fighting for a better world.
The Bear’s Second Season Is Yet Another Triumph
FX’s second season of The Bear gives both dignity and drama to the realities of work.
As Amazon Refuses to Bargain, Divisions Have Emerged in the Amazon Labor Union
More than a year after the Amazon Labor Union’s landmark victory at a Staten Island warehouse, Amazon still refuses to bargain with the union. Meanwhile, a reform caucus is pushing for the ALU to hold leadership elections.
Vivek Ramaswamy Wants Everybody to Get a Piece of the Swamp
GOP presidential candidate and billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy is proposing that everyone be able to profit from our corrupt campaign fundraising system. It’s an undemocratic vision of campaign financing that insists on making the problem of money in politics worse, not better.
We Owe the French Revolution a Debt of Gratitude
On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris rose up to take history into their own hands. Because of the power of the Jacobin idea, and because enough of them lived on to fight another day, the revolution changed the world. We are all its beneficiaries.
In Defense of the Yugo
Derided as the world’s worst car, the communist Yugoslavia–made Yugo admittedly had some serious problems. But it also had spirit and a vision to aspire to: a fuel-efficient vehicle that ordinary working-class people could afford.