Debt Collectors: We Should Be Able to Break Your Legs
The $13 billion debt collection industry is funneling huge amounts of cash to lawmakers in a bid to kill legislation that would finally put some limits on their predatory business model.
19108 Articles by: Zola Carr
Zola Carr is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, working on a dissertation on the development of experimental brain implants for psychiatric disorder.
We’re Not Self-Employed, We’re Workers
The gig economy is notorious for using bogus self-employment to skirt around labor laws and evade collective bargaining. But in Italy, strikes by couriers have forced major food delivery firms to recognize their employee status — a success that also shows how we can revitalize the wider labor movement.
Keir Starmer’s Televised Meltdown Was Decades in the Making
After last week’s calamitous election for the Labour Party, party leader Keir Starmer was asked to explain his “vision” for Britain. His humiliating inability to answer the question was a window into the hollowness of Britain’s center.
The Welfare State Isn’t About Charity
The current round of partisan shadowboxing around unemployment benefits misses the point: the purpose of a real welfare state is to free people from the drudgery, precarity, and misery of low-wage work.
On Palestine, the Media Is Allergic to the Truth
Once again, the media are trying to depict the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians as a round of meaningless violence from “both sides” of an equally matched contest — the reality on the ground be damned.
American Unemployment Insurance Is a National Disgrace. It’s Time to Federalize It.
The slow, decades-long destruction of the US unemployment insurance system has resulted in more than just personal hardship for millions of workers — it has further weakened the fighting strength of the whole working class. The solution is to fully federalize it.
US Labor Leaders Should Stand With Palestine
The American labor movement’s leadership has long sided with the state of Israel’s war crimes and apartheid over the Palestinian people. That has to change.
Have Democrats Learned Anything?
The Democrats managed to win last November’s presidential election, but what about the next one? Given the party’s dependence on white suburban voters and the threat of resurgent Trumpism, they will most likely double down on their risk-averse 2020 strategy. That will only mean inviting further working-class defections.
Pharma Giants Who Got Rich Off the Opioid Crisis Are Now Desperate to Avoid Accountability
New legislation aims to ensure the executives behind the opioid crisis are held accountable — which is why health care giants are now lobbying furiously against the bill.
There’s Nothing Complicated About What’s Happening in Palestine
We should be absolutely clear about what’s going on in Jerusalem: one of the most militarized nations in the world, Israel, is carrying out its brutal occupation using racist violence and ethnic cleansing.
The Oceans That Keep Capitalism Afloat
From maritime empires to modern logistics, capitalism has been forged on the seas.
Union Nurses in Massachusetts Are Waging the Longest Current Strike in the US
The longest active picket line in the US is in Worcester, Massachusetts, where over 700 union nurses are entering their third month on strike. Their chief demand: safe staffing for patients.
How a Socialist City Councilor Won 100% Affordable Housing in a Gentrifying Chicago Neighborhood
In Chicago’s Logan Square, gentrification has run amok. That didn’t stop socialist city councilor Carlos Ramirez-Rosa and community groups from demanding and winning 100 percent affordable housing in the community’s heart near public transit. Here’s how they did it.
Rich Democratic Lawmakers Stand to Benefit From the SALT Tax Cuts
The benefits of repealing the SALT cap would flow mostly to the wealthy. That includes House Democrats like Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Jamie Raskin, who are pushing the tax cuts and would save a bundle if they pass.
Justin Trudeau’s Government Won’t Allow the Pandemic to Ease Worker Exploitation
The COVID-19 support programs introduced by Canada’s Liberal government might seem like a break with neoliberal austerity. But while the pandemic still rages, the Liberals are putting profits above public health by trying to drive workers back into low-wage jobs before it’s safe.
It’s Obvious — Israel Is an Apartheid State
There are no “clashes” occurring in Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians. What we’re seeing is the brutal reality of an occupying power exercising its military might over a people stripped of their human rights.
How the Myths of “Progressive Neoliberalism” Hollowed Out Australia’s Left
Neoliberalism now dominates Australia’s formerly left-wing institutions, marginalizing working-class and socialist politics. Yet the center-left “progressive neoliberal” consensus shambles on, a corpse in search of a decent grave.
The US’s Failure in Afghanistan Shows the Hubris of American Empire
Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan signals the US has lost the longest war in its history. And even if the warmongers don’t want to admit it, that failure shows the US can’t just bend the world to its will.
The Debate Over Service Work and Unemployment Benefits Shows Why Marxism Is Right
More than any Marxist text ever could, the COVID-19 emergency cash relief programs — and the furious reaction to them from employers — lay bare the raw truth about capitalism: bosses’ profits depend directly on workers’ remaining terrified of destitution.
Everything in America Is Set Up to Undermine Working-Class Organizing
Everyone knows it’s extremely difficult to organize a union in the US. Two often-overlooked reasons why: media consolidation and a dearth of public spaces where workers can come together, socialize, and organize.