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Taxation by Another Name: Our Devotion to Privatization Will Cost Us

John Atcheson Common Dreams
In the end, Trump’s infrastructure plan is simply another in the long line of policies designed to benefit the private sector, and keep the public sector sufficiently small and ineffective that it can be controlled and contained by plutocrats.

The Young Marx

Scott McLemee Jacobin
The Young Karl Marx is a nuanced and surprisingly accurate portrait of the revolutionary as a young man.

Going on Offense During Challenging Times

Marilyn Sneiderman and Secky Fascione New Labor Forum
Bargaining for the common good campaigns are when union and community groups together leverage contract negotiations for broader, shared gains.

Union Membership Gains: Three Analyses

Neal Tepel, John Schmitt and Chris Hubbuch
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership on January 19th, 2018. There were several spots of bright news for unions.

Soak the Beans: India, Puerto Rico and Austria mingle in a Georgia kitchen

Anjali Enjeti Southern Foodways Alliance
Cooking their dishes can connect us to our grandparents
My childhood dinners were an international smorgasbord. The scents of these dishes beckoned me from my bedroom to the kitchen, where I’d watch my mother in the final stages of sprinkling garnish. Now, in my forties, I feel I owe it to my children, to the generations that follow, to fully and actively educate myself in my family’s food.

Cashing in on Water Crises: Public-Private Partnerships Are Not the Solution

Julia Kassem Truthout
Lebanese farmers irrigate their malt fields.
In the USA privatization practices contribute to increased water bills and jeopardize water quality, endangering one of residents' most basic needs. We can gain some perspective on the consequences of water privatization by looking to a glaring overseas example: In Lebanon, mismanagement of infrastructure has provided ample opportunity for privatization to proliferate. In both cases, the pursuit of privatization comes from cash-strapped places prioritizing cost-cutting over resource conservation and quality.

We Can't Let Hindu Nationalists Rewrite India's History

Teesta Setalvad Alternet
The absence of institutional memory when it comes to dealing with communal conflict is glaring. After independence and partition, while report after report of officially appointed judicial commissions has analyzed and indicted certain discernible trends behind escalating violence and pogroms, the formal judiciary and courts appear not to have internalized these findings and recommendations. The very fact that a significant part of the 1998-Justice B.N.

Dr. King and Ms. Baker

Ted Glick Future Hope
Dr. King and Ella Baker were the two primary leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in its first couple of years of existence, between 1958 and 1960. King was the heart, soul and speaking voice of SCLC; Baker was the Executive Secretary. Baker was a public speaker too, but she was primarily the behind-the-scenes, get-things-done, relationship-building person.