Don’t Cancel $10,000 of Student Debt. Cancel Every Penny.
The Biden administration has been floating the possibility of a means-tested cancellation of $10,000 of student debt. There’s no reason not to cancel every penny instead.
19523 Articles by: Yi San
Yi San is a freelance writer based in New York.
Belgium Is the EU’s Capital, but Its Own Future Is Now in Doubt
Belgium was a pioneer of industrialization, and class struggle by its workers’ movement created one of Europe’s most impressive welfare states. But with regional divisions now dominating Belgian politics, the country’s long-term survival is deeply uncertain.
Workers’ Pensions Are Funding Congress’s Far-Right Extremists
Billionaire Trump adviser and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman charges public workers exorbitant fees to manage their pensions, then uses those profits to bankroll Republicans bent on screwing those workers over.
This Year’s Champions League Final Was a Showcase for Police Brutality in France
The Champions League final is one of the biggest events in world sports. UEFA and the French police turned it into a brutal, dangerous fiasco — and Emmanuel Macron’s ministers are lying through their teeth about what happened.
Starbucks Workers Have Won 100 Union Elections. Here Are the Lessons From 5 of Them.
No one would have guessed that Starbucks Workers United would rack up a hundred union victories in less than a year, but it has. Lessons from five early victories show how workers organizing at Starbucks — and everywhere else — can keep that momentum going.
Martin Luther King Jr Dreamed of a Society Without Poverty. We Can Achieve It.
Martin Luther King Jr once said that there’s “nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American citizen.” Decades after his assassination, we can realize his vision of an economically just society.
Ron DeSantis Is Giving Nursing Home Companies What They Paid For: Deregulation
Gov. Ron DeSantis has received huge campaign contributions from Florida’s nursing home industry. He is paying that industry back by deregulating nursing homes — including by reducing the amount of care facilities are required to provide to residents.
In Colombia’s Presidential Election, Leftist Gustavo Petro Is Up Against a Right-Wing Populist
On Sunday, Rodolfo Hernández, a right-wing populist, snuck into the second round of Colombia’s presidential elections. Leftist Gustavo Petro is still the front-runner, but the Right’s unexpected success should be cause for alarm.
Britain’s Rail Workers Are Poised to Strike Against Austerity
Forty thousand rail workers across 16 companies in Britain have voted to strike. Their strike would be the biggest rail walk-off in decades, against funding cuts that would destroy Britain’s rail system as we know it.
The Biden Administration Is in No Rush to Help Ukraine Negotiate an End to the War
Almost all knowledgeable observers believe the war in Ukraine will have to end with a negotiated agreement. Yet the US, Ukraine’s leading patron, has signaled it has no patience for diplomatic efforts that cut against its hope for Moscow’s “strategic defeat.”
Turkey’s War Against the Kurds Exposes NATO’s Aggression
With all eyes on the war in Ukraine, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is planning a fresh invasion of northern Syria. For 70 years, Turkey has been a key NATO member — and NATO’s backing for its aggression shows the alliance is no mere defense pact.
Joe Biden Is Ramping Up the US’s Forever War in Somalia
The Biden administration recently announced that it’s redeploying troops to Somalia and green-lighting drone strikes in the East African country. The last thing Somalis need is more war, especially one waged in the name of the US “war on terror.”
A Better Foreign Policy Abroad Requires a Strong Labor Movement at Home
Polling shows that most Americans oppose their country’s forever wars, but this dispersed opposition has done little to alter the United States’ foreign policy. For the antiwar movement to be successful, it must build its base in organized labor.
Eugene V. Debs: Socialist Internationalism Versus Capitalist Nationalism
This Memorial Day, we should rededicate ourselves to fighting the horrors of war. So here’s a 1916 Eugene Debs piece, never before republished, about why internationalism is at the heart of socialist politics.
The Wild Life of William Morgan, Yanqui Comandante Turned Cuban Counterrevolutionary
One of the Cuban Revolution’s most colorful characters was William Morgan, a former circus performer from Toledo, Ohio, who became a commander in the rebel forces. But Morgan’s final act was his most brazen: he became a counterrevolutionary for the CIA.
Today, Colombia Votes on a Shift to the Left
Colombia heads to the polls today to reject the far-right politics of Iván Duque and Álvaro Uribe and assert that the average Colombian is much more progressive than the traditional politicians who represent them.
Will Sinn Féin’s Wins Lead to a United Ireland?
Sinn Féin’s victory in Ireland’s recent Assembly elections is the first time a nationalist party has been the largest in Northern Ireland. The win makes a unity referendum more likely than ever.
To Understand Elon Musk, You Have to Understand This ’60s Sci-Fi Novel
Elon Musk says The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is one of his favorite books. That checks out: the novel is about a lunar colony that bravely cuts off resources to its starving Earth dependents.
The Britain Project Is the Latest Incarnation of Zombie Blairism
For two years, Tony Blair has backed Keir Starmer’s war to expel socialists from Labour. Now the Blairites are launching the Britain Project — the latest bid to create an über-neoliberal force to destroy any trace of social democracy.
The Empty Promises of Pierre Poilievre’s Pocketbook Populism
Canada’s Pierre Poilievre is attempting to refashion ruling-class ideas as populist politics. He has no actual solutions for our current crises. But in today’s political environment, his message may resonate — and the consequences could be disastrous.