The Danger of Members-Only Unionism
Tennessee unions' recent experiences show that writing off nonmembers rather than winning them over will not make the labor movement any more militant or successful.
248 Search Result(s) for: “defund”
Here’s What We Could Have If We Slashed the Military Budget
The US military budget sucks up an enormous amount of resources without making the world more peaceful or democratic. Here are a few ways we could better spend that $717 billion.
“This is a Struggle to Save Public Education”
The teachers strike wave has reached Los Angeles: teachers there recently voted overwhelmingly to strike. They are fighting against school privatization, wage and benefit cuts, and the nationwide project to dismantle public education.
Democratize Finance, Euthanize the Fossil Fuel Industry
The Green New Deal won't get far if it's left hostage to the whims of private finance. We need to set up public banks and democratize the Federal Reserve.
Defend Your Clinics
It’s time for an abortion rights movement that’s not directed from the top-down by the Democratic Party and big nonprofits. Clinic defense is a crucial part of that mass, democratic, and militant movement.
Bernie Should Declare Housing a Human Right
The right to housing should be part of the Green New Deal. And Bernie should help push it forward.
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Rural America
A toxic brew of economic suffering, racism, and community decline prepared the ground for authoritarian populism in America’s devastated rural areas. Trumpism will not be defeated unless the Left can promote a progressive agenda to rebuild rural America.
Joe Biden’s Budget-Cutting Dogma Is a Threat to Public Health
Joe Biden is now pledging to “spend whatever it takes” to overcome this pandemic. But he’s spent his career putting public health programs on the chopping block as part of a decades-long crusade against government spending.
The American Federation of Teachers’ Endorsement of Joe Biden Was Blatantly Undemocratic
The American Federation of Teachers recently announced its endorsement of Joe Biden for president. Even by the dismal standards set by the rest of the labor movement, the AFT’s endorsement was comically undemocratic.
Here Are 10 Things Democrats Could Do If They Actually Wanted to Stop Trump’s Power Grab
Democrats have done a miserable job of acting as an opposition party to Trump — but not because they don't have significant power to halt his authoritarianism. Here are 10 things Democrats could do to push back right now. If they don’t use their power, Democrats are complicit in Trump's barbarities.
A Joe Biden Presidency Will Require Mass Protests, Too
Donald Trump’s dangerous and unhinged response to the George Floyd protests shows why he must be defeated in November. But Joe Biden’s policy proposals and disturbing record on criminal justice suggests the era of resistance will have to continue with Biden in the White House.
Donald Trump Is a Menace to American Democracy. But He Didn’t Come Out of Nowhere.
Liberals are right to condemn Donald Trump for his disastrous mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic and his undisguised contempt for democracy. But Trump is no aberration: his rise was only possible because of a Republican and Democratic political consensus that has ravaged American politics and society for a generation.
We’ve Never Seen Protests Like These Before
In turnout, perseverance, and in the ethnic and racial diversity of those participating, the last month of protest in response to the police murder of George Floyd is like nothing the US has experienced before. And most shocking of all, the protests are winning.
Sweden’s Shameful Record on Racism Shows Why We Need Black Lives Matter
Liberal pundits in Sweden are quick to assert the country's Black Lives Matter protests are an “import of American racial discourse,” at odds with local realities. Yet neoliberal welfare reforms and a racialized war on drugs are eroding the egalitarian policies that have long made Sweden so distinct.
No, the Racial Justice Protests Are Not at Odds With Class Politics
Ross Douthat wants to tempt socialists with his argument that this wave of racial justice protest is hopelessly in thrall to the logic of woke capitalism. Don’t take the bait.
“The Union Has to Be About Social Justice”
Incoming LA teachers' union president Cecily Myart-Cruz was a leader of the city’s landmark 2019 strike. Now she explains why it’s important to get police out of schools and what the labor movement can do about it.
“California Is Ripe for a Revolution”
Jackie Fielder, a Democratic Socialists of America–backed candidate for California’s State Senate, is refusing to take money from police unions, real-estate interests, and the fossil fuel industry. For her, the connection between capital and police violence is clear: “Our communities face intense repression from the state because it is profitable.”
The Fight for Racial Justice Must Include Defending Public-Sector Jobs
As the financial crisis worsens, public-sector employment is coming under heavy fire — for black people in particular. Fighting budget cuts and layoffs in public-sector jobs like the post office and public transit must be an essential piece of the fight for black lives.
How Undergraduate Workers Transformed Their Union to Fight the Neoliberal University
Student workers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have used their union to fight for decent pay, better working conditions, and substantive safety measures in response to coronavirus. Three of those workers explain how they did it.
US Military Bases Are Key Pieces of the Global War Machine
We don’t hear about them very often, but the estimated 800 US military bases around the globe have played an essential role in turning the whole world into a bloody battlefield. Any effort to roll back US empire has to include dismantling the machinery of US military bases.