United States

Empowering People with Disabilities

by Ravi Malhotra

Summer 2006

When most on the left think about the politics of caregiving, they think about finding a caregiver for their elderly parent or daycare for their preschool child. Or they think about the (frequently romanticized and flawed) feminist debates that interrogate whether there is a feminist ethic of caring and the implications of this for feminist politics.

The Wages of Care: Change and Resistance in Support of Caregiving Work

by Deanne Bonnar

Summer 2006

Industrialized societies have done some things well. They increased the standard of living for large numbers of people, they opened up opportunities for knowledge not found in most agrarian cultures and they have advanced technology to the point where we can explore the solar system and transplant a human heart. This is not to argue that there are not major problems with the systems of distribution and the exploitation of the planet's environment, but by in large they have succeeded in increasing the production of the material basis of life.

Foster Care

by Betty Reid Mandell

Summer 2006

Victorian philanthropists didn't mince words when they talked about poor kids -- those kids were dangerous or perishing -- that is, in danger of becoming criminals or already sunk in crime. The philanthropists formed charity schools, "Ragged Schools," and Sunday Schools to teach these children some morals and a little reading -- not enough to give them big ideas about their station in life, but enough to get them to work a little more efficiently and obediently. Boys got a little math; girls didn't because they were headed for domestic work.

Weather Underground Rises from the Ashes: They're Baack!

by Jesse Lemisch

Summer 2006

I attended part of a January 20, 2006, "day workshop of interventions" -- aka "a day of dialogic interventions" -- at Columbia University on "Radical Politics and the Ethics of Life."[1] The event aimed "to stage a series of encounters . . . to bring to light . . .

Socialists, Democrats and Political Action: It's the Movements that Matter

by Michael Hirsch

Winter 2007

The following is a slightly expanded text of remarks given at a pre-election debate on the topic, "Is a Progressive Democratic Party Possible." Michael Hirsch, representing the Democratic Socialists of America, spoke for the affirmative, as did Al Ronzoni of Progressive Democrats of America. The negative argument was given by Howie Hawkins of the New York State Green Party and Danny Katch of the International Socialist Organization. The event was held at New York City's Judson Memorial Church on Nov. 3, 2006.

More War, No Debate: Progressives Give Clinton a Free Pass

by Howie Hawkins

Winter 2007

1, 2, 3, 4,
Clinton voted for the war!
5, 6, 7, 8,
That was not a real debate!

Can a Progressive Democrat Make a Difference?: Running Against Hillary

by Jonathan Tasini interviewed by Michael Hirsch, and Joanne Landy

Winter 2007

Jonathan Tasini made enemies when he ran against Senator Hillary Clinton in New York State's September 2006 Democratic primary. Some liberal Democrats called his effort a quixotic and self-referential campaign, one that would accomplish nothing beyond potentially harming Clinton's own political standing. Others to Tasini's left wrote off his campaign as a diversion, a way of co-opting critics of neo-liberalism onto a narrow path while draining resources from potentially insurgent third party efforts.