The Chasm Between Oklahoma and Connecticut

Stark differences color red- and blue-state lawmakers’ policy choices—which makes all the difference in residents’ well-being.

A Trump Win Would Bring Aristocracy to the US

This election may be America’s last stand against this country becoming, like Hungary and Russia, a full-on oligarchy run of, by, and for a small, malevolent group of the morbidly rich.

The US and Israel Set Out To Remake the Middle East

The mood in Washington today is similar to 2003 when the neocons of the Bush administration sought to remake the Middle East. This time, a joint vision shared by Israel and the Biden administration seeks to remake the region in the West’s vision.

Who’s Afraid of Democracy?

Democracy Where Art Thou? Year after year polls register those same healthy majorities in favor of everything from universal health care to tuition free college, from serious climate change mitigation to paid maternity leave. Little happens...

Dispatches From the Culture Wars – October 8, 2024

Season of showdowns

A Year After Oct. 7, JVP Says: ‘We Cannot Only Mourn'

"We must fight like hell for the living," said the anti-occupation group Jewish Voice for Peace. "Today, we recommit ourselves to that fight."

Interview: Imperialism, Putin and the Global Left

Russian socialist Ilya Matveev discusses imperialism today, the nature and development of capitalism in Russia and China, and the need for a global left alternative.

This Week in People’s History, Oct 9–15

Photo of a woman wearing and academic gown and hat climbing a staircase, with the caption: Breaking Barriers: Women and the Law
A Long Time Coming, and How! (1949), A Work of Towering Imagination (1959), August Wilson Takes Broadway (1984), The Truth Hurts (1999), If Only There Had Been More Advertising (1929), ‘We Are Everywhere’ (1979), Was Nixon Listening? (1969)

The Far Right, a Reactionary Backlash

The antithesis to the far right is the defence of feminism, the concept of class versus nation, the defence of peace, diversity, equality, social justice, solidarity, ecology, and a common world.

Goodman Theatre’s Inherit the Wind

Director Henry Godinez recognizes that today’s divisive political environment might change how the play’s themes of “questioning facts, censoring knowledge” are perceived.
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Culture

film

Hollywood’s New Sex Worker Roles Are Girlboss Heroines

Emma Paling Jacobin
In Hollywood, sex workers have become the ultimate girlbosses. The message is clear: there’s no need for collective empowerment when one can escape the low-wage economy by cashing in on the power of bootstrapping entrepreneurism.

books

Donald Trump, Sexual Predator

Lloyd Green The Guardian
This book and this review are nearly five years old. Their relevance remains undiminished.

poetry

Who’s in Charge Here?

W. D. Ehrhart
This poet has a skeptical say about the Higher Powers who control twelve-step programs.

Labor

labor

Biden’s Amazing Win Settling the Dock Strike

Robert Kuttner The American Prospect
The terms are a total victory for dockworkers and for smooth supply chain operation, as the White House faced down exorbitant shipper profits. What would Trump have done?

labor

The UAW’s Rank-and-File Takeover Isn’t Over Yet

Keith Brower Brown / Jane Slaughter Labor Notes
Rank-and-file autoworkers democratized their union, elected president Shawn Fain, and won a landmark strike. Now they will have to win local officer positions, dominated by the old guard, to hold bosses to their word and maintain a fighting union.

labor

Climate Change–Induced Disasters Are Killing Workers

Alex N. Press Common Dreams
Two people walking through flooded streets with houses in the background. Eleven of Impact Plastics’s workers were at the company’s Tennessee factory when Hurricane Helene hit. Two are confirmed dead, four are still missing. Workers say the company did not let them leave until it was too late.

Friday nite video