On finishing a particularly annoying novel, a good friend of mine once gasped in exasperation: ‘The author’s fingerprints are all over this.’ I can’t say I remember now the book he was talking about, but the phrase has been with . . .
Author: newpolitics
Peel Back Tulsi Gabbard’s “Progressive” Veneer
Tulsi Gabbard is getting a pass from people who should know better, first from Glenn Greenwald and then from the folks at Democracy Now! They describe her as “progressive except that some leftists on some issues . . .
The #MeToo Movement in the Middle East
The #MeToo movement against sexual assault and rape has animated women throughout the world. In the Middle East too, despite the wars led by authoritarian states, various imperialist powers, and extremist religious fundamentalist forces, a #MeToo movement is rising. How . . .
As Macron Prepares New Repressive Measures, Yellow Vests and Red Unions Strike Together
On Tues, Feb. 5, as the Macron government pushed harsh repressive laws against demonstrators through the National Assembly, the Yellow Vests joined with France’s unions for the first time in a day-long, nation-wide “General Strike.” . . .
The Exploitation of Part-Time Teachers in Higher Education
There are many with college degrees who endure insecure working conditions and are poorly compensated. They include part-time teachers in institutions of higher education.
Socialists and the Rank-And-File Strategy
It is a very good time for socialists and other union and left activists to take a step back and take a deeper look at some of the structures and dynamics of unions under capitalism.
A Trusteeship Diaspora: How SEIU’s Self-Inflicted Loss Became Labor’s Gain
Ten years ago this month, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) shot itself in the foot, big time.
LA Strike: Self-Mobilization of Workers and Communities
In January 2019, a massive strike of over 30,000 public school teachers stunned the Los Angeles power structure when it received massive, almost unanimous public support, especially in the city’s large Latinx and Black communities. Latinx students now make up . . .
On Capitalism, Authoritarianism and What Is New about Trumpism
Below is a revised version of a presentation given to a panel on “Mass Incarceration and the Global Rise of Authoritarian Capitalism” at the Los Angeles Peace Center on September 23, 2017.
In this paper, I would like to address four . . .
Venezuela: The Hour of the Lackeys
The tremendous economic, political and moral crisis that Venezuela is going through has not only sunk millions of people’s living and working conditions, but also the political programs that appear confronted to the death in a highly politicized stage. It . . .
Inequality and the Ecological Transition
Last month Branko Milanovic published a blog post about the Yellow Vest movement against the fuel tax in France. He was worried – like many analysts – that the uprising proves it will be virtually impossible to roll out the policies necessary . . .
Why no socialism in Sweden?
The Wage-Earner Funds in Sweden is one of the few serious attempts in an advanced capitalist society to socialize the means of production. Developed by Rudolf Meidner and Anna Hedborg, two economists at the powerful social-democratic union confederation LO, the . . .
The People No Longer Want Maduro–and No One Chose Guaidó
The following statement was issued by Marea Socialista, a Venezuelan organization.
Only the sovereign mobilized people can decide its destiny, in a referendum and general elections
The Venezuelan people, mobilized along all social sectors and taking to the streets from the poor . . .
Who Shut Down the Shutdown?
Who ended the shutdown? The Democrats? Nancy Pelosi? Mitch McConnell? None of the above.
The shutdown got shut down when workers took Laguardia Airport off-line on Friday, January 25. A rolling disaster of massive commercial disruption was about to unfold for . . .
The Venezuelan People Must Decide, Not Trump
Right-wing opposition leader Juan Guaidó has declared himself interim president of Venezuela against sitting President Nicolás Maduro, and he was immediately recognized by the U.S. government and a range of authoritarian leaders in Latin America. Here, the International Socialist Organization states its . . .
A Labor Movement 2020 Election Strategy
Organized labor has an opportunity to play an important role in the upcoming selection of a presidential candidate in the Democratic Party’s primaries and the eventual November 3, 2020 U.S. presidential election. The stakes couldn’t be higher, not only for . . .
Forgotten voices in Venezuela crisis
Things are approaching a crisis point in the long battle of wills between Venezuela and the White House. Juan Guaidó, president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, swore himself in as the country’s “interim president” before a crowd of tens (by . . .
Against the coup intervention in Venezuela!
This statement was issued by the PRT, Mexican section of the Fourth International, on 23 January 2019.
The Workers’ Revolutionary Party (PRT) stands emphatically against the new attempted coup d’état and imperialist intervention against Venezuela. In an open and cynically orchestrated . . .
What do Trump’s ‘withdrawal’ from Syria and the Gulf’s rapprochement with Assad have in common?
In the days since Donald Trump’s announcement that the US was to rapidly withdraw its 2,000 troops from Syria, an enormous amount of speculation about what this means has taken place. In my initial piece, I expressed a number of views that are not widely shared.
New York Progressives Must Demand More
I campaigned for governor with the slogan of “Demand More!” because Gov. Cuomo has governed as a social liberal but as an economic conservative. Although he touts the agenda he outlined in his January 15 State of the State and Budget presentation as “progressive,” New York progressives should not be satisfied. It is still a conservative economic program. Progressives must demand more.
100 years after the death of Rosa Luxemburg
The deaths of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht have haunted the imagination of the left for a century. Joe Sabatini reviews a recent publication exposing the events of their deaths, Klaus Gietinger’s The Murder of Rosa Luxemburg, as well as providing an introduction to some of the literary works inspired by the events of 15 January 1919.
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