Skip to main content

What’s Been Stopping the Left?

Dani Rodrik Project Syndicate
If progressive political parties had pursued a bolder agenda in the face of widening inequality and deepening economic anxiety, perhaps the rise of right-wing, nativist political movements might have been averted. So why didn't they?

Broad Band

Dylan Schleicher Porchlight Book Company
A "computer" used to be a job description, not just a machine. At the time, most computers were women. Dylan Schleicher reviews a fascinating history of how "computers" helped make the computer networks that are so interwoven into contemporary life.

Ladybusiness Anthropologist Throws Up Hands, Concedes Men Are the Reason for Everything Interesting in Human Evolution

Kate Clancy Scientific American
In evolutionary theory, we have this thing we tend to look for, called parsimony. What fits the data best? Fertility into old age is part of our ancestral history if menopause is to eventually evolve, yes? Then probably our closest living relatives, like say chimpanzees, don’t have menopause, unless it independently evolved more than once of course. Right.

The Unfinished March

Algernon Austin Economic Policy Institute
In this 50th anniversary year of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, we must recommit to the “unfinished march.” This includes constant vigilance to sustain the march’s clear, but still vulnerable, victories. But just as important as sustaining the civil rights goals achieved, we must confront the goals still unmet.

Graça Machel: So Much More Than A First Lady

Robert McCrum, The Observer The Guardian
As the world's thoughts turn towards Nelson Mandela, it is becoming clear that his wife too will take her place in history as a huge figure in the fight against poverty, illiteracy and injustice

The Meaning of and Perspectives for the Street Demonstrations in Brazil

Brasil de Fato Portside
Interview with Joao Pedro Stedile, of the coordination of the MST (Landless Workers Movement) for the periodical BRASIL DE FATO - Sao Paulo, 24th June 2013. Since the interview, President Dilma Rousseff has called for political reforms, and met members of the main organisation in the mobilisations.