Democrats pledge to fight corporate interests while on the campaign trail, yet those interests are deeply embedded in the party’s networks and institutions. The political consulting industry is at the core of this conflict.
Just as John Howard pitched to the right to attract One Nation voters, Australia’s Scott Morrison is cravenly trying to win over far-right voters today. The danger is that the tactic will backfire, fracturing the Coalition and encouraging a far-right movement.
Last week’s election in Colombia saw the best result for the Left in decades and confirmed Gustavo Petro as favorite to become the country’s first socialist president. It’s a major shift in a country that has long been dominated by US-backed right-wing leaders.
The new magazine Compact claims to fight for a “strong social democratic state” that also defends “familial and religious” community against “libertine” corruption. That combination of right-wing morals and left-wing economics is never going to happen — and it shouldn’t.
Gayle Manchin, wife of West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, helps lead a commission that distributes federal infrastructure grants. That commission recently awarded $1.5 million to a nonprofit tied to her business partner.
Canada’s Liberals are promising to introduce anti-scab legislation next year as part of an olive branch to the New Democratic Party. Unions and the Left will need to hold the Liberals’ feet to the fire to ensure that the legislation has teeth.
Last week, workers at three of Amazon’s last-mile delivery centers in New York and Maryland walked off the job to demand better pay and working conditions. It's the latest action by Amazonians United, a group organizing Amazon workers across the US and Canada.
Unlike many prominent poets of his era, W. H. Auden was crystal clear on the need to fight fascism in Franco’s Spain and Hitler's Germany, and he wrote some of the greatest antiwar poetry ever set to page.
Megafirms like BlackRock now play a huge role in shaping investment decisions, yet they’ve attracted remarkably little scrutiny. Despite claims that “passive investing” empowers small investors, the trend is driving a dangerous concentration of economic power.
As Russian troops rain terror on Ukrainians, Vladimir Putin’s ministers claim they want a negotiated peace. But with victory out of reach, the Kremlin’s war is turning to the home front, to quash dissenting antiwar voices within Russia.
The Donbas is at the heart of Vladimir Putin’s claim that Lenin divided Russia to create Ukraine. Yet the region’s real history shows how much the Bolsheviks struggled with demands for national autonomy amid the collapse of the tsarist empire.
Most have never heard of Aleksandr Dugin or his obscure Traditionalist philosophy. But both have quietly become important influences on Russian politics over the past few decades.