Modi Seeks To Calm Allies by Shackling Gen Z Protests

The “cockroach” youth movement — which began this summer over the failings of the education system and was revived this autumn over accusations that Mr. Modi is manipulating India’s election system — has become bogged down by the enormous powers of

Global Left Midweek — October 21, 2026

Reports from the hottest spots

We Are on a Path to a Global Intifada Against Empire

As the center fragments, the periphery learns the lesson that empires forget: The scattered peoples, humiliated by the organized force of a few, are beginning to recognize themselves in a common cause.

Susan Collins, Making Injured Workers’ Lives Harder

More than 30 years ago, a young Susan Collins played a leading role in a battle to cut workers’ compensation that at one point led to the first government shutdown in Maine history.

Ilhan Omar Is the Right Kind of American.

The president’s crusade against the Minnesota congresswoman, and Somali Americans in general, is certainly racist. And it’s arguably more than that.

Polls Find Israel Is the Least Popular Country on Earth

A huge global survey found Israel is the least popular country on Earth, following its genocide in Gaza. Another poll shows 67% in dozens of countries oppose Israel. Even 62% of Americans dislike it.

Dispatches From the Culture Wars — October 20, 2026

Vote yet?

‘She’s Going To Win:’ Sanders on Florida's Angie Nixon

“Trust me on this,” Sanders said. “This is going to be a spark that is going to ignite the entire country.”

ICE Planning $100 Million Domestic Spy Program

Under ERO ONE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to hire 142 intelligence contractors with top secret clearances and deploy them in cities across the country.

This Week in People’s History, October 21–27, 2026

Theater poster for the 1936 play 'It Can't Happen Here'
‘It Can’t Happen Here’ Is the Ironic Title of a Story about a Fascist Takeover of the U.S. that is Foiled in the End – Will There Come a Day When It Stops Being Ironic Because the Story Doesn’t Have a Happy Ending?
Read more

Culture

poetry

Airman

Christine Holland
Poet Christine Holland reminds us of the sacrifice of Aaron Bushnell, who performed a self-immolation outside the Israeli embassy in Washington.

books

Coal Miners and Class War: Review of Matewan Blood & Coal

Kurt Stand Portside
The West Virginia coal wars-fought between the United Mine Workers and coal operators, from 1912 to 1922 -there have been books and films about the conflict, it is little remembered. Kevin Corley’s novel, Matewan Blood & Coal, seeks to bridge the gap

books

Exit Strategy

Paige Oamek Dissent Magazine
In End Times Fascism, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor make the case that the ruling class is not lording over our future, but trying to escape it. How should the left resist doing the same?

Labor

labor

Unions Are the Key to America’s Cost of Living Crisis

Liz Shuler and Heidi Shierholz TIME
A promise of a union is that workers will share in the profit they create. As soon as wealthy executives saw their bottom lines under threat, they attacked unions. The research proves what workers have always known: It's better in a union.

labor

How To Fund a Fairer Economy—and Reduce Inequality

Nancy Folbre Dollars & Sense
How can we fund universal childcare, Medicare for All, and a green economy while reducing inequality? A new plan shows how taxing wealth and corporate profits more fairly—and cutting wasteful spending—could pay for a fairer, more prosperous economy.

labor

They Asked Themselves: What’s Missing? The Answer: A Union

Roxanne D. Brown, USW International President USW
Inequality isn’t solely measured in money or workers struggling to make ends meet while the rich get richer. It’s just as pernicious in how bosses view workers with disdain, rather than skilled people responsible for the company's prosperity.

Friday nite video

video

Death by Firing Squad

When the murderer's dead and his head's in a bag, will it help you forget the way that you got had? 

video

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor on NAZA

NAZA is the Israeli military's term for "collateral damage," that is, civilian deaths. The film NAZA, now showing in select theaters across the U.S., interviews Israeli military and intelligence officials who participated in inflicting thousands of such deaths in Gaza.

video

Dario Amodei Quit OpenAI To Make AI 'Safe.' And Now?

Anthropic is now eying a $2 trillion IPO, potentially the largest of all time. At the same time the company is trying to shield itself from responsibility by saying its AI agents are autonomous, even sentient.