A New War on Speech

Campaigns against Rabab Abdulhadi and other activists are calls for state-sponsored political harassment.

Liberalism = Conservatism + Time

What Hillary Clinton, Antonin Scalia, and a reactionary nineteenth-century judge have in common.

In Search of Alternatives

How I became a socialist.

Ursula K. Le Guin, 1929–2018

Ursula Le Guin's masterful works pushed readers to expand their vision of what's possible.

Capitalism and Orientalism

A new book examines the work of Edward Said in the light of Marxism, showing why imperialism can’t be understood in terms of culture alone.

What MLK Actually Thought About Israel and Palestine

Some try to paint Martin Luther King Jr as an unswerving supporter of Israel. They're wrong.

Anti-Colonialists Wanted the World

The anti-colonial struggle of the twentieth century wasn’t just about winning political independence — it was about shattering the global hierarchies that subjugated the Global South and winning an egalitarian world for all.

Why I’m Still Thinking About the Amy Cooper “Black Birder” Episode in Central Park

Amy Cooper’s calling the police on a black man in New York’s Central Park represents an extreme example of racist behavior. But it also offers a window onto the experiences of black Americans that highlights the importance of affirmative action and radical redistributive policies as central to anti-racism today.

What’s Really Driving the Azerbaijan-Armenia Conflict

The bloody conflict that has erupted between Azerbaijan and Armenia isn’t the result of ancestral hatreds or deep-seated animosity between Muslims and Christians. It is the product of a long history of colonialism, nationalism, and authoritarianism.

Sylvia Pankhurst Fought to “Make the Future a Place We Want to Visit”

British suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst was a militant campaigner for women’s right to vote. As a socialist, she also refused to uncouple the women’s movement from the fight for equality across all of society.

The Self-Determination Act Could Finally End US Colonization of Puerto Rico

For more than 120 years, the US has colonized Puerto Rico. But a new bill cosponsored by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would finally give Puerto Ricans the chance to decide their political relationship with the United States — and recognize their right to self-determination.

In Israel, Zionism Prevents Working-Class Solidarity

Despite unionization rates more than twice that of the United States, many Israeli workers continue to be committed to apartheid and the racist ideology enabling it. The Zionist project is preventing Israeli workers from organizing alongside Palestinians.

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 CIA Undermined Postcolonial Africa From the Start

From undermining national liberation leaders to playing a central role in the assassination of Congolese radical Patrice Lumumba, not enough attention is paid to the CIA’s shameful role in Africa. A new book aims to correct that.

No, the European Union Doesn’t Need Its Own Army

French president Emmanuel Macron has renewed calls for the creation of a joint EU army. The proposal smacks of a desperate attempt to reverse the old European powers’ declining influence in global politics.

One Hundred Years of Ousmane Sembène

This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. His films — dazzling portraits of Senegalese and French society — represent some of the most brilliant attempts to think about the limits and possibilities of political art.

Oman’s Revolutionary Movement Posed a Radical Threat to Arabia’s Royal Dictatorships

During the 1970s, Oman had the most powerful left-wing revolutionary movement in Arabia. A British-organized counter-insurgency eventually snuffed out the movement with massive violence, but its emancipatory legacy still endures in Omani society today.

Soldiers of Misfortune

Billionaires Are Suing the Honduran Government for Blocking Their Profit-Making Scheme

US billionaires are trying to establish a libertarian city-state in Honduras to evade democratic constraints. As progressive president Xiomara Castro resists their efforts, the Peter Thiel–backed firm Próspera is suing the country for constraining its profits.

The Radicalization of Ta-Nehisi Coates

The argument of Ta-Nehisi’s Coates’s latest book, The Message, is that Israel is not and will never be a democracy. He describes the racist hierarchy on which Israel was founded in terms that are hard to dismiss.