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 bitter mid-20th century struggle waged by Canada’s socialists to achieve single-payer health care holds lessons for Americans today: all the predictions of disaster we hear today were made back then — yet Canadian Medicare is now the country’s most widely cherished institution.
The COVID-19 crisis has shown that markets alone can’t meet our societies’ fundamental needs. But state measures to ward off economic collapse are just the start of a battle over the future — one where the principles of solidarity must be extended from health care to all aspects of society.
Texas and Ohio have ordered a stop to abortions, saying they’re not essential medical services. Other states will follow. Right-wing forces are using the pandemic as a pretext to crack down dramatically on abortion rights. We can’t let them.
The United States could have followed the example set by countries like Denmark, which have guaranteed workers’ wages during the crisis. Instead, America has set itself up for a devastating and unprecedented wave of layoffs.
Elected mayor of Vermont’s biggest city, Bernie Sanders found himself stymied by an obstructionist local establishment at every turn — until he and the movement behind him started fighting back and winning.
The coronavirus epidemic has shown the complete bankruptcy of neoliberalism. But the neoliberal order won’t be toppled if we don’t give it a hard push.
Uber announced it will give its drivers two weeks paid leave — but only if they test positive for coronavirus. We talked to a veteran Uber driver in Philadelphia about his decision to stop driving and the company’s pathetic response to the pandemic.
As housing becomes more and more unaffordable, liberal mayors have jumped to recognize the crisis. At the same time, they’re fully committed to the status quo, giving carte blanche to developers at the expense of legitimately affordable housing.
The fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 threatened Washington’s relationship with one of its most valuable client states. But since then, US military aid has been used to build up a new machinery of repression that’s strangling the hopes of the revolution.
In chaotic times, New York governor Andrew Cuomo wants to convince you he is the calm, competent leader you need. It’s been effective — so effective you might miss that even in a pandemic, Cuomo is fighting to protect the rich and impose austerity, including devastating Medicaid cuts, on everyone else.
The coronavirus shock has shaken the world’s stock markets, imposing the need for massive state bailouts. But the measures to deal with the crisis risk spurring an authoritarian controlled capitalism — one that protects corporate interests while offloading the costs onto the rest of us.
Politicians who represent the interests of capital clearly grasp the point that a UBI would tilt the playing field in favor of workers. That’s why they’re fighting the idea tooth and nail, even amid an unprecedented crisis.
The coronavirus pandemic affects everyone, but it doesn’t affect everyone equally. Working-class neighborhoods have it much harder than wealthy enclaves — and that’s unconscionable.
With a pandemic raging, Oberlin College is outsourcing 108 unionized campus jobs in the interests of cost-cutting. Universities across the country are doing the same. We can’t let them get away with it.
The COVID-19 pandemic should be a time to reduce the military’s deadly footprint at home and abroad. We can’t let the military use this crisis to expand its powers.
Here are questions we need to ask right away: If foundational economic principles must be abandoned when things get tough, does capitalism really serve our needs? If rapid, radical change is possible when circumstances demand it, what excuse is there for failing to act with similar urgency to prevent cataclysmic climate change?
The pharmaceutical giant Gilead tried to pull a fast one by seeking a special status that would restrict the supply of its coronavirus drug and boost profits. Luckily, healthcare advocates, left-wing journalists, and Bernie Sanders were having none of it.
For decades, America’s “flexible” labor markets have been celebrated by economists and favorably compared to Europe’s “sclerotic” labor institutions — the products of a century of militant worker struggle. Now, thanks to that very flexibility, the US stands on the brink of an economic disaster.
Faced with the coronavirus shutdown, more people are getting meals delivered straight to their homes. At a time of mass panic buying, the state should step in to guarantee a smooth food supply — and start by turning platforms like Uber Eats and Grubhub into a public service.
The Spanish flu of 1918 infected a quarter of the world population and was decisive to the rise of public health-care systems. Today’s COVID-19 crisis is again showing that collective problems demand collective solutions — and a state that provides for all our essential needs.