Noam Chomsky: In Response to Coronavirus, “You Can Do Something”
In a new interview, Noam Chomsky gives his thoughts on the coronavirus pandemic, the depravities of capitalism, and the urgent need for a new era of solidarity and labor struggle.
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Trump’s Goal Is to Suppress Votes, Not Prevent Election Fraud
Donald Trump says the SAVE Act is about stopping noncitizens from voting. But the real target is the millions of working-class citizens who don't have an updated passport or paper birth certificate sitting in a drawer.
The Countries That Helped Devastate Yemen Must Take Responsibility for Its Reconstruction
Saudi Arabia and its Western allies, including the US, spent vast sums on a war that has reduced Yemen to abject poverty. They must not be allowed to shirk responsibility for the reconstruction work that is essential for the future of all Yemenis.
Phil Ochs Wrote the Soundtrack to the New Left
The 1960s saw a stampede of lefty folk musicians, but none as politically engaged as Phil Ochs. A true activist-musician who thought of himself as a “singing journalist,” Ochs was as comfortable playing at a demonstration as at a concert hall.
The Fight Against Trumpism Can Reinvigorate Labor
The danger posed by Donald Trump’s authoritarianism means that unions can’t afford to remain in a defensive crouch. And history suggests that fighting to defend and revive democracy at moments of maximum peril can create a window of opportunity for labor.
Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson Are Elites in Populist Clothing
Donald Trump skipped the first GOP debate to chat with his courtier Tucker Carlson. Their conversation revealed the utter insincerity of their branding as opponents of the elite and the military-industrial complex.
AOC and the Squad’s List of Left-Wing Accomplishments Is Quite Long
As with any elected official, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Squad should be criticized when needed. But left-wing vitriol is unwarranted: it ignores the Squad’s many progressive accomplishments and their legislation’s aid to activist campaigns.
From Civil Wars to Neoliberalism in Central America
The end of the bloody, US-backed civil wars across Central America led to a brutal neoliberal economic restructuring near the turn of the century — which then helped produce the 21st-century authoritarianism of Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele.
George Kennan Was No Friend of Democracy
Late in life, diplomat George Kennan became known as a “dove” on US-Russian relations. But after World War II his containment strategy played a major role subverting democracies in the name of fighting communism.
No Honeymoon for Joe Biden
It’s good that Donald Trump lost. But the Left now needs to pivot immediately to opposition to the Joe Biden administration.
“Pro-Worker Conservatism” Has Only Empty Gestures for Workers
The “pro-worker” conservatism of Sohrab Ahmari has a critique of neoliberalism. But for all its ridiculing of the establishment, it has no real solutions to decades of attacks on labor.
Livio Maitan Is a Forgotten Giant of Italian Marxism
Livio Maitan belonged to a lost world of professional revolutionaries whose struggles and sacrifices left a deep mark on twentieth-century history. Historian Enzo Traverso pays tribute to one of the Italian left’s most creative activist-intellectuals.
Donald Trump Being Prosecuted for His Crimes Is Good, Actually
Donald Trump’s apologists argue that his indictment for conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election is overreach. They’re wrong. Presidents and ex-presidents shouldn’t be above the law.
Was the Ba‘ath Party Socialist?
Despite its early accomplishments, Ba‘athism was always subject to the whims of a party elite more concerned with preserving power than revolutionary transformation.
The Nonaligned Babel
In the center of Baghdad is a high-rise hotel, resembling a modernist version of the towers of ancient Babylon. Its transnational history reveals a different Tower of Babel altogether.
Chief Justice Roberts Wants Absolute Power in the Supreme Court — If It’s Conservative
In the early 1980s, Chief Justice John Roberts, then a young lawyer, worked with the Reagan administration to strip power from a liberal judiciary. Today he has reversed course to shield the Supreme Court’s absolute power.
Japan Is Building a War Machine in the East China Sea
Japan’s conservative leader, Takaichi Sanae, won a supermajority of seats in this year’s general election. Takaichi and her allies are using this position of strength to advance a dangerous militarist agenda as part of Washington’s anti-China front.
Dwight Macdonald After the Death of Liberalism
The defining feature of American imperialism is its combination of an enormous capacity for death and destruction with an equally enormous sense of self-entitlement. Cold War journalist Dwight Macdonald understood this outlook better than most.
Yes, Israel Is an Apartheid State. That Means It’s a Racist One, Too.
In yet another reality-denying ritual of fealty to the pro-Israel lobby, members of Congress absurdly voted to say Israel was neither an apartheid state nor racist. Only a few progressives, including members of the Squad, stood firm in opposing the measure.
Cautionary Tales From the New Left
In a new memoir, New Left leader Michael Ansara wants to impart lessons from his own time as a campus activist to today’s protesters. But his later role in a corruption scandal that set back Teamsters reform for decades offers its own cautionary lessons.