Daunte Wright’s Killing Makes Case for Shrinking Police

How many Black people have to be killed by police before politicians realize that expensive reforms don’t work? Like so many Black Americans, Wright justifiably feared police interactions. The Black fear of police is grounded in provable police bias.

The Union Battle at Amazon Is Far from Over

Drives to organize steelworkers and autoworkers took decades but ultimately succeeded.

Prelude to Tax Day

On Tax Day, there’s more than one elephant in the room, and they’re all in mansions.

Reconciliation Is Good — But Not At Any Cost

Can Democrats truly reconcile with those Republicans who called President Biden’s election fraudulent and encouraged violent attack of the U.S. Capitol?

Apr. 15, 2021-Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements

Reader Comments: Daunte Wright Murder; Jim Crow Then and Now; Georgia voter suppression; Prince Philip, Cuba, New York Health Act, "Working-Class New York" Revisited conference, African American Women, Cold War, Ben Fletcher,Black Wobblies, more...

Executive Action Could Stop Amazon-Style Union Busting

Unions need labor law reform through the PRO Act. But even if that bill remains off the table in the near future, Joe Biden can use executive orders immediately to roll back corporate union-busting like Amazon carried out in Bessemer, Alabama.

Jayapal Urges Crackdown on Wealthy Tax Cheats

"We don't just need a wealth tax, we also need to give the IRS the tools it needs to make sure the ultra-rich finally pay their fair share."

Stand with Haiti! A Call for Solidarity

Over 60 organizations call for support of the resistance by the Haitian people to the US-backed dictatorship of Jovenel Moise, and suggest concrete ways for progressive-minded people to take action in solidarity with Haiti.

Study: Declining Unionization has Depressed Wages

For the “typical” or median worker, declining unionization over the last four decades translates to a loss of $1.56 per hour worked, the equivalent of $3,250 for a full-time, full-year worker.

Global Left Midweek - Parties and Politics in Ebb and F

Breakthroughs, setbacks and challenges in five continents
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Culture

books

Eric Hobsbawm in the ‘London Review’: A Value-laden Selection

Richard J. Evans London Review of Books Blog
Eric Hobsbawm, among the most pre-eminent and valued Marxist historians of the late twentieth century, frequently reviewed for the London Review of Books. Here, a prominent British author does a dig into some of Hobsbawm’s many signal LRB essays.

books

A History of Unemployment and the Search for Solutions

Philip Harvey Jobs for All Newsletter
This book, writes reviewer Harvey, seeks "to provide an account of the nature and extent of the unemployment problem in the United States since the beginning of the industrial era following the end of the Civil War."

food

Men, Meat, and Marketing

Kat Kinsman Food & Wine
The makers of plant-based meats are up against decades—if not centuries and millennia—of messaging tying meat eating to masculinity.

poetry

Earth Shovel

Dan Albergotti Cincinnati Review
“The thing about the universe,” writes poet Dan Albergotti, “is that it seems infinite, but really it’s only a ceaseless series of extinctions.”

books

Tangled Up in Blue: Lessons for Police Reform?

Steve Early CounterPunch
Law professor and scion of a widely read radical activist/author family, Rosa Brooks went beyond the blue wall of silence in her inside view of American policing.  Among the retrograde lessons stressed in training, “Anyone can kill you at any time.”

Labor

labor

Right to Work has Failed to Live up to Conservative Hype

Rick Haglund Michigan Advance
The annual decline in the number of union members actually slowed after the a right-to-work law in Michigan took effect in 2013. And membership grew to 604,000 in 2020 from 589,000 in 2019. 

labor

Pandemic Discrimination Against Asian Americans Has Long Roots

Saurav Sarkar Labor Notes
The pandemic isn’t the whole story. Many working-class Asian American women have faced mistreatment throughout their working lives over their English language ability, class, gender, race, and immigration status.

labor

The Enormous Impact of Eroded Collective Bargaining on Wages

Lawrence Mishel Economic Policy Institute
Group of brown chess pawns facing one blue chess pawn Legislation that expands collective bargaining by enabling workers to choose union representation and strengthens union rights is critically important to restoring wage growth and wage equality.

Friday nite video

video

Biko | Peter Gabriel

“You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire.” Featuring Yo-Yo Ma, the Cape Town Ensemble, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Taiko Project, Dynamic Music Collective and Silkroad.