Global Left Midweek – April 2, 2025

As the world churns

Setting the Pace in Auto: Thinking Bigger Than Tariffs

In 2023, for the first time in history, nonunion auto companies out-produced the Big 3 in U.S. assembly, 4.9 million vehicles to 4.6 million.

The Worst Political Decision Since the Nixon Tapes

How the Democrats handed Trump the election on a bitcoin-plated platter—and most still don't think they did anything wrong.

Marine Le Pen’s Emblezzlement Conviction

Marine Le Pen’s victim narrative is already being constructed – but there are ways to stop her criminal conviction from benefitting her.

Three Hundred Visas Revoked for Palestine Advocacy

"Rather than silence dissent, the government's actions have only emboldened voices demanding that basic rights be respected here, in Palestine, and beyond," says CUNY CLEAR attorney Mudassar Toppa.

Media Bits and Bytes – No Fooling

Tech for the global majority

Trump Threatens Iran with Massive Bombing Campaign

Despite U.S. intelligence once again finding Iran is not currently developing nukes, the president is trying to force Tehran into a nuclear deal after unilaterally abrogating an existing one in 2018.

This Week in People’s History, Apr 2–8, 2025

At a protest against the War in Vietnam, and large photo of Lyndon Johnson with the caption: War Criminal
LBJ Wouldn’t Give Peace a Chance (1965), A Mob Stands Strong to Defend Justice (1860), March for Women’s Lives (1992), A Rare Benefit of the Great Pandemic (2020), A Brave Bid for Freedom Fails (1760)

Can Europe Stop Trump and Putin?

The world can’t afford a European retreat into a fortress. The European Union must unite with all like-minded countries against the illiberal nationalists who are challenging universal values and international law.

A Lesson From Argentina’s Dirty War for Today

My message – Those of us boomers – We have a vital role to play in organizing and fighting the MAGites march to fascism.
Read more

Culture

film

Don’t Blame Rachel Zegler for Snow White

Eileen Jones Jacobin
The press is blaming the young and very online actor Rachel Zegler for Snow White’s dismal box office showing. But Zegler’s performance as the original Disney princess is the only bright spot in an otherwise cynical cash grab.

poetry

Dear America

Marsha de la O Salt Number 7
As she travels across America, poet Marsha de la O asks her country, "Who is lost, and who isn't?"

books

The Mystery of Neil Gorsuch

Andrew Koppelman Los Angeles Review of Books
"The principal virtue of the book," writes reviewer Koppelman, "is the light it unintentionally sheds on some of the Supreme Court’s least defensible decisions."

film

Black Bag: Not Much To See Here

Eileen Jones Jacobin
Black Bag is being hailed by critics as highly sophisticated cinematic fare — rather than an unambitious rush job by a talented director eager to move on to his next, similarly unsatisfying project.

Labor

labor

Setting the Pace in Auto: Thinking Bigger Than Tariffs

Andrew Elrod Labor Notes
For the 12 million workers in U.S. manufacturing, the question is whether it is possible, under this administration and in this moment of twenty-first-century capitalism, to create a pro-worker, pro-union trade policy.

labor

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Commemoration: March 25, 1911…

UNITE HERE!
In 2023, a permanent memorial at the site of the fire was unveiled in memory of the workers. The memorial tells the stories of the victims and is a landmark site to visit, mourn, and learn at the very site where factory workers labored and perished.

labor

Unions Rise As America’s Defiant Shield Against Trump’s Authoritarianism

Euan Gibb & Ethan T. Young Public Service International
As it becomes increasingly clear what a second Trump presidency means, America's labor movement has positioned itself as democracy's strongest, most important and best-organized line of defense against a sweeping authoritarian agenda.

Friday nite video

video

I've Never Been to a Bernie Sanders Rally Like This

The Fight Oligarchy Tour is drawing larger crowds than Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign ever did, but it’s also drawing a different sort of crowd, writes Mother Jones Senior Reporter Tim Murphy.

video

Visit Mississippi | Playing for Change

Experience the magic of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads," featuring renowned artists Keb’Mo’, Kingfish, Vasti Jackson, Charlie Worsham, Sierra Hull, Cedric Burnside and a diverse array of blues and world music talents

video

Could Canada Join the EU?

As tensions rise between Canada and the US, new PM Mark Carney has made overtures to Europe in a bid to strengthen ties. It's unlikely to happen soon, but it certainly isn't impossible.

video

Musk's Family Ties to Apartheid and Neo-Nazi Movements

Elon Musk was born in 1971 in South Africa, and raised under apartheid. His family had ties to apartheid and neo-Nazi politics. We speak with Guardian reporter Chris McGreal about how Musk's upbringing shaped his worldview.