Author: Dan La Botz

DAN LA BOTZ is a Brooklyn-based teacher, writer and activist. He is a co-editor of New Politics.

Presidential Election Amidst Conflagration and Coronavirus

Remarkably polls show that Trump core supporters—about 40 percent of voters—have not been moved by either his handling of the coronavirus or his remarks about the military. Independent voters, however, may be turning from Trump.

Presidential Candidates and Society Debate Protest and Violence

Protest, sometimes with conflict between anti-racist and rightwing groups, continues in various U.S. cities—Portland, Louisville, and Rochester—over 100 days since the killing of George Floyd. America has not seen such street fighting since the 1960s.

Subcomandante Marcos: The Last Global Ethical Hero?

If you want a handy little book of just 100 pages that reads like a long Wikipedia article, this is your book. If you want a discussion of Marcos’ ideas and his role in Mexican political life and in the global left, you will be disappointed.

The Life of A Strategist: Adolfo Gilly’s Biography of Felipe Ángeles

Adolfo Gilly’s most recent book, so far available only in Spanish, is a long (almost 800-page) book dealing with the life of a Mexican general who played a crucial role in the battles of Torreón and Zacatecas at a crucial stage in the Mexican Revolution.

On the 80th Anniversary of Trotsky’s Assassination—What If He Had Lived?

In my counter-historical novel Trotsky in Tijuana, being published on the anniversary of his assassination eighty years ago, I attempt to understand Trotsky the man and the political leader by projecting his life into a future he did not live to see.

A Life in the Shadow of the Bomb

I am a child of the atomic age. The atomic bomb, that is, the threat of nuclear war and mass destruction, has been in my consciousness—sometimes in the background but frequently in the foreground—nearly all of my life.

Yesterday’s Man Is Today’s Candidate for President

“Throughout his entire political career, Biden had cultivated and depended upon financial and corporate donors, raising money from Wall Street, big tech, and fossil fuels.” Dan La Botz reviews Branko Marcetic, Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden.

The Debate in the Left on the Elections in the United States

The far left joined the progressives in supporting Senator Bernie Sanders, a liberal in the New Deal mold who ran as a “socialist” against the “billionaire class.” But since Sanders dropped out of the race and endorsed Biden, many on the far left have felt they have no candidate.

Pandemic, Depression, and Authoritarianism

We Must Fight for the Future

The United States confronts an uncertain future in the face of an unprecedented situation.

Puerto Rico Faces Crises: COVID, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Drought

The United States has suffered 135,000 deaths from COVID-19 and has tens of millions of unemployed and both crises continue now into the fifth month, but nowhere has the economic crisis been greater than in the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico.

Mexican President AMLO to Visit Trump, both Hope for a Boost Amid Crises

Failing at home, Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) will visit U.S. President Donald Trump this week to celebrate the new North American trade pact. Each hopes to get a political boost from the visit. That seems unlikely, especially for AMLO.

Protests Against Racism; LBGTQ Pride; Continuing Crisis; Trump’s Decline

Throughout June hundreds of thousands of Americans in hundreds of cities and towns protested the killing of George Floyd who had been murdered by police in Minneapolis. But there were also LGBTQ Pride Marches in support of the protests against racism.

Trump Rallies for Reopening as Biden Strengthens His Position

Donald Trump held his first campaign rally in months on June 20 in an indoor arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma where speaking to a smaller than expected crowd of only 13,000 he minimized the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic still spreading across the country and failed to address the police racism and violence that have led to protests by hundreds of thousands.

Protests over George Floyd’s Murder Open National Debates on Racism

Polls show that 80 percent of Americans support the protests that took place in 700 cities in all 50 states and which have fostered in virtually every institution, from public agencies to private businesses, a national discussion about racism.

History Marched Past my Door Last Night Carrying the Future on Her Shoulders

A march came by my house in Brooklyn a few nights ago, a river of thousands of young people of all races, wearing masks because of the pandemic, walking together, shouting out the name of George Floyd, demanding justice. I saw history making its way through the city.

The American Working Class on Unfamiliar and Dangerous Terrain: A Fightback Begins

The pandemic and the shutdown have taken a toll, but they now provide an opportunity to rebuild the American labor movement from the bottom up.

Racist Police Murder of George Floyd Leads to National Rebellion

This article was written for L’Anticapitaliste, the weekly newspaper of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) of France. 
The video recording of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, a black man strangled to death by a white police . . .

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Trump Forever? He May Try

In the midst of the worst pandemic in U.S. history and what may be a Second Great Depression worse than the first, President Donald J. Trump’s chief concern is reelection to the presidency in November.

Class Struggle and Social Protest in the Coronavirus Pandemic

The pandemic and the shutdown have taken a toll, but they now provide an opportunity to rebuild the American labor movement from the bottom up. While the challenges will be great, working class resistance is growing and socialists with a rank-and-file strategy and class struggle perspective are involved in the fight.

Trump Will Sacrifice Tens of Thousands to Reopen Economy, Win Reelection

President Donald Trump is driving the United States toward complete loss of control of the coronavirus pandemic, a development that will lead to tens or even hundreds of thousands of deaths and further devastation of the economy.

Trump Puts Business before Health as Country Reopens

President Donald Trump has now announced a three-phase plan for reopening the country, though many medical experts have expressed doubts and 81 percent of Americans believe we should not reopen until it is safe to do so. Putting profits ahead of people, Trump puts the entire country at risk.

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