Dispatches From the Culture Wars — May 5, 2026
- May Day With a Vengeance
- The Demolition of Public Health
- Boycotting the 92nd Street Y
- MAGA is Gangster Capitalism
- Are Conspiracy Theories Just a Conspiracy?
- Progressive Faith Leaders on the Move
- Texas Tech Bans Dissertations Discussing LGBT+
- Businesses Prepare to Resist ICE Raids
- Berkeley Multicultural Community Center — A Casualty
- Wintour, Bezos and the Met Gala
By Derek Johnson, USA Herald
Hundreds of thousands of teachers, nurses, fast-food workers, students and union activists poured into the streets of more than 1,000 American cities on Friday, transforming the 2026 May Day commemoration into the largest single-day labor mobilization the country has seen in more than a decade.
The Demolition of Public Health
By Adrienne Matei, The Guardian
RFK Jr’s repeated references to spiritual forces are more than run-of-the-mill wellness vernacular. They are a signal that the Christian nationalist movement that helped propel Trump into office is now reshaping the Department of Health and Human Services from the inside.
By Brittany Allen, Literary Hub
An organized group of artists and writers announced the launch of 92NO, a collective protest directed at the New York cultural institution 92NY (aka the 92nd Street Y). Over the past three years, 92NY has hosted a number of aggressively pro-Israel speakers. At the same time, org leaders have squelched all internal dissent regarding Israel.
By Henry A. Giroux, LA Progressive
Socialism or barbarism, democracy or gangster rule, shared futures or organized cruelty. History opened the question. What remains is whether people will answer it.
Are Conspiracy Theories Just a Conspiracy?
• Suckers By Marie Newman, Marie Newman Studio Substack
• Boomerang Effect By David Pakman, The David Pakman Show
Progressive Faith Leaders on the Move
By Yonat Shimron and Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service
As the Trump administration unleashed an aggressive deportation operation and polls showed growing opposition to Trump’s approach to immigration, many moderate Protestant, Catholic and Jewish clergy moved further left, and grew more comfortable with activism. But can the broader coalitions that have been built over the past few months, and even years, be sustained?
Texas Tech Bans Dissertations Discussing LGBT+
By Erin Reed, Erin in the Morning
A new memo at Texas Tech University establishes a sweeping and draconian censorship policy toward LGBTQ+ people. The censorship regime extends beyond professors to students themselves: the memo applies a total ban on LGBTQ+ mentions in dissertations or graduate thesis work.
Businesses Prepare to Resist ICE Raids
By Emily Nonko, Reasons to be Cheerful
4th Amendment Workplaces, a framework developed by Siembra NC and launched at the James Beard Foundation’s Chef Action Summit, helps restaurants and other businesses train up on legally vetted protocols to defend employees against ICE. The idea has quickly taken hold.
Berkeley Multicultural Community Center — A Casualty
By Felicia Mello, Berkeleyside
Since 1999, the center at UC evolved into a hub for student organizing and teaching the histories and cultures of POC communities, and of LGBTQ students. In February, university administrators stripped all the artwork from the center’s walls, including a large-scale colorful mural depicting heroes of the ethnic studies movement, a poster of Martin Luther King Jr. and a “Free Palestine” sign.
Wintour, Bezos and the Met Gala
By Jennifer Barrett, The Independent
Beyond the red carpet, posters were being ceremoniously plastered around the city, on subway carriages and on lamp posts, criticising the Met Gala’s honorary chair, Jeff Bezos, for Amazon’s alleged ties to ICE and worker exploitation. Gala head Anna Wintour insisted that the Bezoses will be a “wonderful asset” to the Met museum and event.