Pam & Tommy Is the Kind of Sharp, Funny, Class-Conscious Satire We Need
In Pam & Tommy, the story of the infamous Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape becomes an epic tale of thwarted American dreams.
19716 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.
Charity Can’t Fix What Neoliberalism Has Broken
A British bus company recently reversed its plans to cut a bus route, but only after a wealthy local offered to fund it himself. A decent society can’t rely on wealthy do-gooders to save public services.
Higher Inflation Doesn’t Reduce Real Wages
The Fed is now considering moves to tamp down inflation that risk spiking unemployment. Supporters of the idea are claiming that inflation itself is bad for workers because it “eats away at real wages.” They’re wrong.
Poverty Is a Choice — That the US Government Is Making
The child poverty rate has exploded, with over 3.7 million children sinking below the poverty line thanks to the expiration of Joe Biden’s Child Tax Credit program. The disaster proves that poverty in a rich country is a choice its government makes.
Beltway Media Hacks’ Attacks on the Squad Are Getting Pathetic
Last week’s paint-by-numbers attack on members of the Squad, vaguely sourced to “top Democrats,” is another sign that party leaders are resigned to defeat and looking to blame the Left — and that “nonideological” Beltway journalists are eager to help.
At a Texas Community College, the Attack on Free Speech Is Coming From the Right
Community college professor Michael Phillips spent the past year speaking out against a right-wing “purge” of progressive faculty at his college. Then he was fired.
Escalation in the Donbas Risks a Disastrous War
Russian president Vladimir Putin has sent tanks into the Donbas on dubious pretexts. But a far bigger danger awaits if the West seeks an escalation that will only pour fuel on the fire.
The PRO Act Won’t Solve Labor’s Woes
Let’s be real: the PRO Act isn’t going to pass anytime soon. Labor unions need to figure out how to organize under current conditions or perish.
Free Anna Delvey!
No one deserves riches, and yet we all do. This moral puzzle is key to our love for Anna Delvey, the con artist and “fake German heiress” who is the subject of Netflix’s flawed but irresistible series Inventing Anna.
After Decades of Repression, the Workers’ Party of Turkey Offers Hope for the Left
For decades, military repression and oligarchic control have kept the Left on the margins of Turkish public life. But the recently created Workers’ Party of Turkey has brought the far left back into parliament for the first time in half a century.
Alberta’s Jason Kenney Wants to Import American-Style Health Care to Canada
Alberta’s United Conservative Party is using the health care crisis caused by the pandemic to its ideological advantage. Citing backlogs in surgeries — resulting from overrun hospitals — the party is seeking to privatize the province’s health care system.
The Communist Manifesto Shows Why Capitalism Won’t Last Forever
Published this day in 1848, The Communist Manifesto didn’t offer blueprints for a communist future. But in showing that capitalism is not eternal or natural, Marx and Engels explained how the crises of the present prepare the way for our future liberation.
The Defeat of Progressive Movements in the Global South Made US Hegemony Possible
Following the Vietnam War, global progressive movements sought to refashion the world in the interests of the majority. The failure of this project, and the subsequent triumph of liberal interventionism, explains the arrogance of the US foreign policy elite.
The Antisemitic Face of Israel’s Evangelical Allies
Evangelical Zionists want Jews to move to Palestine to set the stage for the divine requital of Armageddon. This hasn’t stopped Israel from sealing alliances with even nakedly antisemitic evangelicals, so long as they support the dispossession of Palestinians.
In Latin America, the US Wants a Cold War Redux
With Cold War divisions once again rising to the fore, the US is returning to its old ways in Latin America: trying to exert influence in its “backyard” to enlist the region in the ongoing project of US global domination.
Banning Golden Dawn Hasn’t Stopped Greece’s Slide to the Far Right
The banning of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn was hailed as proof of Greece’s return to normality after the painful crisis years. Yet far-right ideas are now firmly established in the mainstream, including within the ruling conservative party.
Gig Companies Are Disguising Exploitation as Social Justice
From California to Massachusetts, companies like Uber and Lyft are promoting legislation that misclassifies gig workers. What’s worse, they’ve convinced some people that their pursuit of cheap labor is actually a crusade for equality.
Why We Need the Welfare State
You can redistribute income and power from capital to labor. But if you want to make sure that the final income distribution is sensitive to differences in household composition, there is no substitute for a universal welfare state.
“Voting With Your Dollars” Has Always Been a Flawed Idea
In the days of the British slave trade, “commercial abolitionists” urged against the purchase of slave-made goods. This business-friendly approach counseled consumer abstention as a form of political advocacy — just like the “ethical capitalism” of today.
Soviet Nostalgia Now Has Its Own Soundtrack
From brutalism to Stranger Things, Western pop culture is full of nostalgia for Cold War aesthetics and lost futures. Young people in ex-Soviet countries have developed their own version, Sovietwave — a music genre that summons up the spirit of the space age.