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Why the Rich and Powerful Can't Stand Public Broadcasters

Antony Loewenstein The Guardian
Public broadcasting is under attack for elitism and bias in the UK, US and Australia. But the critics' real agenda is clear: the expansion of corporate influence into our most trusted media.

Temporary Jobs on Rise in Today's Shifting Economy

Tom Raum Times Union
"Workers increasingly serve businesses that do not officially 'employ' the worker — a distinction that hampers organizing, erodes labor standards and dilutes accountability," said Catherine Ruckelshaus, general counsel for the National Employment Law Project, which advocates on behalf of low-wage workers. A recent Federal Reserve study showed that nearly 7.5 million people who are working part time — contract workers included — would rather have full-time jobs.

The Republican War on Workers’ Rights

Corey Robin The New York Times
Inspired by business groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, they [the Republicans] proceeded to rewrite the rules of work, passing legislation designed to enhance the position of employers at the expense of employees.

Quick Thoughts: Vijay Prashad on India’s Parliamentary Elections

Vijay Prashad Jadaliyya
For the first time since 1984, a single party–the rightist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi–achieved an outright majority. Modi’s party garnered 282 seats in the Lok Sabha, while the outgoing Congress Party managed to retain a mere 44 seats. Jadaliyya asked Vijay Prashad, professor of International Studies at Trinity College and the outgoing Edward W. Said Chair in American Studies at the American University of Beirut, to comment on this election...

Socialist Strategy - Die Linke's Road to Power

Bernd Riexinger Jacobin
In this interview, Bernd Riexinger talks about strategic challenges facing DIE LINKE. Citing Rosa Luxemburg's idea of "revolutionary Realpolitik," he examines the current situation and lays out strategic ideas for the future. The interviewer, Luigi Wolf, starts by going back to the legacy of the "united front strategy," which was established by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in the 1920s, and then shifts to the challenges DIE LINKE currently faces.

Where Should the Divestors Invest?

Brendan Smith and Jeremy Brecher and Kristen Sheeran Common Dreams
The financial infrastructure of the new economy is under-developed. Waiting for Wall Street to deliver the financial instruments we need for a sustainable economy is like waiting for Exxon to build the renewable energy system we need to avert climate catastrophe. It is not going to happen. The movement needs to be equally focused on moving capital out of fossil fuels and into the new economy as it is readying the economy to absorb this new flow of capital.

Radical Art Is an Act of Uncompromising Passionate Resistance

Mark Karlin Truthout
An exhibition, "The Left Front: Radical Art in the 'Red Decade,' 1929-1940," currently running at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, offers a visual history of radical pictorial art during the Depression era. The "Left Front" is meant to initiate a dialogue about the nature of radical art through the exploration of a crucial historical period in the United States when capitalism was potentially on the ropes.

Was the American Revolution Really Just A Counter-Revolution to Avoid the British Mandate to Its Colonies to End Slavery

Herbert Calhoun Op Ed News
The "so-called" American Revolution was not so much a "revolution for freedom against Great Britain, per se," as it was a shrewd and carefully calculated set of moves on the global chessboard of Real Politik, that amounted to a "Counter-Revolution" against freedom: That is to say, it was a revolution against ending freedom for its slaves and other slaves around the colonial empire.