Dispatches From the Culture Wars – July 2, 2024
- SCOTUS: The Damage is Done
- France’s Rising Right Brings Racist Resurgence
- The Promise of Public Power
- Trump’s New Insult: “Weak Palestinian”
- AIPAC is Just Warming Up
- Southern Baptist Women Answer Challenge
- The Education Front
- Project 2025 Targets Organizing Rights
- Campus Battles
- Gen Z Voters Watch the Debate
By Chuck Idelson
Common Dreams
The Court has unambiguously embraced a principle goal of solidifying in legal precedent pro-corporate neoliberal policies that drove much of traditional Republican philosophy, especially since the first days of the Reagan administration.
France’s Rising Right Brings Racist Resurgence
By Al Mayadeen English
Human rights organizations in France have raised serious concerns over a dramatic rise in racist sentiments within the country, attributing much of the blame to the right-wing National Rally (NR) party. A recent survey conducted by the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) evaluates the NR's role in promoting nationalism through anti-immigration policies.
By Daniel Goulden
Convergence
Offshore wind power can play a key role in the East Coast’s energy transition. The Inflation Reduction Act can help build it. Public ownership can keep it accountable. But organizers trying to make this promise real face an unholy alliance that is united by a false concern for whales.
Trump’s New Insult: “Weak Palestinian”
It is unprecedented for someone to call a sitting US president a “Palestinian,” and the use of the term as an insult is a measure of how racist American society is.
By Emily Ngo, Madison Fernandez and Nick Reisman
Politico
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the country’s leading pro-Israel group, made Bowman’s race against moderate Democrat George Latimer the most expensive House primary in history. And now Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), another member of the progressive Squad, could also be ousted when she faces St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell in an Aug. 6 primary.
Southern Baptist Women Answer Challenge
By Eliza Griswold
The New Yorker
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant body in the United States, rejected a proposed ban on allowing women to be called “pastor.” The S.B.C. has officially barred women from leading churches since 2000. Yet this ban would have gone further, threatening to “disfellowship” churches that allow women to use the title of pastor in any way.
The Education Front
- Sanders Report By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams
- Vouchers War By Alec MacGillis, ProPublica
- Charter Schools Unionize By Nicole Barraza and Marin Hodges, Jacobin
- Christian Nationalists By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout
- University Endowments Suppress Dissent Sammy Feldblum and John Schmidt, Jacobin
- The Attack on DEI By Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed
Project 2025 Targets Organizing Rights
By Aurelia Glass
Center for American Progress
Workers are winning a greater percentage of NLRB-overseen union elections than at any point in the past 15 years as Biden administration appointees help protect workers' right to organize—but a conservative policy plan offers a blueprint for eroding the NLRB's ability to protect organizing workers.
- The Crackdown is Just Beginning By Adam Federman, In These Times
- A New Vision of Safety By Sarah Jaffe, In These Times
By Samuel Larreal and Tori Gantz
Teen Vogue
At watch parties in Miami and Phoenix, young Americans expressed both apathy and deep concern about the election while watching President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump face off in CNN's Atlanta studios. After a rambling debate that left no clear-cut winner, young voters say they feel left on their own in this election, with no real option that represents their vision for the future.