Issue 49: Misery Index
Crunching the numbers on the class war.
Search Result(s) for: “Japan”
Industrial Workers in Australia Are Leading the Fight Against War
Workers in an industrial trading port in Australia are now at the forefront of the fight against war with China, demanding that jobs and environmental protections take precedence over militarism.
Industrial Policy Isn’t a Panacea for Rebuilding Organized Labor
Faced with China’s rise, Western states are turning from free trade dogmas to active industrial policies. This turn may offer opportunities for labor — but as the electric auto industry shows, it is also producing a harmful logic of national rivalries.
We Need an Economic Bill of Rights
Political rights are not enough. Economic rights — the right to home, food, health care, a union, and a safe and stable planet — should be our rallying cry for a just country and world.
When Antiwar Activists Salted the US Military
The practice of “salting,” covertly getting a job with the intention of organizing a workplace, is receiving renewed attention lately. During the Vietnam War, activists used this tactic to build the antiwar movement within the ranks of the US military.
To Smash the Patriarchy, We Need to Get Specific About What It Means
Patriarchy doesn’t just mean sexism. It’s a concrete system of social relations that operates in specific ways. To get rid of it, we need to better understand it.
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky Built Red Vienna, Then Fought Nazis
Viennese architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky is best known as the designer of the Frankfurt Kitchen, forerunner of modern fitted kitchens. Her work was informed by her communist politics — a cause in whose name she joined the resistance against Nazism.
Pundits Keep Predicting China’s Imminent Collapse — and Keep Getting It Wrong
Frank Dikötter is the best-selling popular historian of China today. In his latest work on the post-Mao years, Dikötter joins a long line of those predicting the speedy demise of the Chinese system, letting ideology get in the way of analysis.
Understanding North Korea, Beyond Its Palace Intrigue
Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, looks destined for power in North Korea. But political dynamics in the country are far more complex than Western observers often appreciate.
A Saudi-Led Coalition Has Laid Waste to Southern Yemen With US Support
The US is threatening military action in the waters off Yemen to protect international shipping routes. The people of Yemen have already borne the brunt of a US-sponsored war that has caused devastation similar to the horrific scenes in Gaza.
British Columbia’s New Housing Legislation Could Help Ease the Housing Crisis
If handled correctly, British Columbia’s new Housing Supply Act can ease municipal roadblocks to adequate housing. In tandem with an increase in nonmarket housing, such legislation has the potential to help stave off the housing crisis.
How the Daughters of a Nazi General Became Communist Spies
As Hitler rose to power, two daughters of Germany’s top general became spies for the Communist Party. A new biography tells the story of how hatred for fascism and its aristocratic collaborators led them to become class traitors.
The Problem With Degrowth
We need radical change to address climate change. But degrowth needlessly shackles its vision of a socialist future to a program of aggregate reduction.
Issue 50: Misery Index
Crunching the numbers on the class war.
The Power Rangers Set Was a Hotbed of Labor Exploitation
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was awesome and will live in our hearts forever. Sadly, it was also a completely disastrous nonunion workplace where actors were paid pennies, worked to the ground, homophobically bullied, and nearly set on fire.
Rosa Luxemburg Anticipated the Destructive Impact of Capitalist Globalization
Rosa Luxemburg’s work The Accumulation of Capital described the havoc that capitalism wreaked upon what we now call the Global South. Today’s socialist and environmental activists can draw valuable insights from Luxemburg’s understanding of the world system.
Nolan’s Oppenheimer Shows Us the Grandeur and the Horror of Modernity
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is an evocative exploration of the contrasting dimensions of modernity. The film probes the potential horrors cast by advancing technology alongside the exhilarating heights of human achievement.
Shawn Fain Is Right: The Workweek Should Be Shorter
UAW president Shawn Fain has called for a 32-hour workweek. It’s the revival of an old vision in the US labor movement — and the sort of ambition overworked and underpaid employees need.
The White House Is Blaming China for America’s Opioid Problem
The opioid crisis in the US is ravaging the country, leaving an enormous human toll in its wake. But rather than dealing with the root causes, the US establishment is using the crisis as a weapon in its conflict with China.
Downward Slope
After decades of rapid growth, the population of China is on the decline.