A Letter from Locked Down Italy: This is Your Future

An author in Rome describes what to expect based on her experiences of lockdown

Young Progressives Push Biden for Progressive Campaign

"Why would we want a return to normalcy? We need a vision for the future, not a return to the past."

John Prine Dies After COVID-19 Infection

Bestowing dignity on the overlooked and marginalized was a common theme throughout Prine's career; he became known for detailed vignettes about ordinary people that illustrated larger truths about society.

Bernie Ends His Campaign: The Full Text

“While this campaign is coming to an end, our movement is not,” Mr. Sanders said in a video address on Wednesday.

Global Left Midweek - April 8, 2020

On the agenda: new internationalism, and ending the war with nature. News and analysis from and about the left worldwide.

Infrastructure and a Green Stimulus: We Must Organize

Even without a Donald Trump in the White House, we know from past experience what an infrastructure bill coming out of Congress would look like absent overwhelming grassroots pressure.

'A Day That Will Live in Infamy':The Wisconsin Election

"People are being forced to risk their lives to place their vote or fulfill their right as an American to vote."

'You Can Find Us in the Break Room'

Since February, our core of stewards and activists had been pressuring management through emails and meetings to demand that the optimal personal protective equipment (PPE) of N-95 masks, and in person training be made readily available to us.

Why GE Workers Walked Out in Lynn

As employers use the coronavirus crisis to consolidate power and wealth, we need to build activism and organization.

Media Bits and Bytes - April 7, 2020

How Labor and Climate Movements Deal With Distancing, and More
Read more

Culture

books

Radical Wordsworth, Well-Kept Secrets

Freya Johnston The Guardian
The great English poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850), writes reviewer Johnston, based his groundbreaking style on the "radical claim that apparently trivial things and people, the rhythms of ordinary life, were the stuff of true poetry."

food

We Are All Irrational Panic Shoppers

Helen Rosner The New Yorker
On social media, shoppers across the country have been sharing pictures of grocery stores' denuded shelves and shopping baskets overflowing with random groceries.

poetry

On Living

Nâzım Hikmet poets.org
This extract from Nâzım Hikmet’s poetry speaks to the real crisis in these times of trouble.

books

Populism of the Left?

Federico Finchelstein Critique & Praxis
A prominent scholarly critic of the Far Right and its populist pretensions weighs in on an equally problematic stance: the unfortunate valorization of a left populist orientation.

music

I Have Joined the World in Mourning - Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis Slipped Disc
My daddy passed away last night. We now join the worldwide family who are mourning grandfathers and grandmothers, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers- kinfolk, friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances and others.

Labor

labor

Pandemics Can Mean Strike Waves

Pandemics Can Mean Strike Waves JACOBIN
During the Spanish Flu in 1919 four million workers struck, one-fifth of the workforce, a proportion never since equaled.

labor

Working or Unemployed, Construction Workers Are Screwed

Hamilton Nolan In These Times
With no firm national standards about shutting down construction projects as the coronavirus stalks the nation, building trade unions and their members are facing a grim multidimensional crisis.

labor

Shut Down Non-Essential Construction

Lauren Sugerman Submitted to Portside
It is impossible for any contractor, project owner or union steward to monitor the protection of each worker to the fullest under these conditions.

labor

In Memoriam: Healthcare Workers Who Have Died of COVID-19

Medscape Editor Medscape
Women places a flower next to a photo of Dr. Li Wenliang As front-line healthcare workers care for patients with COVID-19, they commit themselves to difficult, draining work and also put themselves at risk of infection. More than 100 throughout the world have died.

labor

What Should be Done for Workers' Rights During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Left MEPs in the European Parliament GUE/NGL Website
European Left calls for social benefit protections for all migrant and contingent workers, increased pay for health care, transport, food service, postal and other essential workers, and defense of the right to strike during the pandemic

Friday nite video

video

'My House' | Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys captures the feel of everyday life in quarantine in a way that will make every listener's day a little better

video

Sailors Cheer Fired Navy Captain Brett Crozier

Captain Brett Crozier was relieved of his command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after raising concerns about coronavirus cases aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

video

Samuel L. Jackson Says Stay the F**k at Home

While Jimmy Kimmel is in quarantine, he checks in with the great Samuel L. Jackson at his home. Sam delivers an important message to everyone - “Stay the F**k at Home!”

video

Trump Wants to Reopen America | Seth Meyers

Seth takes a closer look at the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak and the president and some his allies saying we should care more about the stock market than saving lives