The attempt to remove Kshama Sawant from her seat on Seattle’s City Council through a recall petition is a blatant attack on the democratic rights of constituents — and on the emergence of a new socialist left as a current in American politics.
Category: Social protests
Hong Kong’s Fight for Democracy
Anyone interested in getting a deeper understanding of how the 2019 Hong Kong rebellion fits into the bigger China picture and what might be coming around the corner, will do themselves a favor by reading Au Loong-Yu’s important new book.
A Year of Revolt
Last year a wave of militant protests spread across North Africa and West Asia, in a sustained, historic series of popular struggles. Emma Wilde Botta reviews “A Region in Revolt: Mapping the Recent Uprisings in North Africa and West Asia” edited by Jade Saab.
The Peru Power Grab
In Peru, democracy has been usurped. A political bloc made up of the most conservative and grotesque elements of traditional politics has in a completely capricious manner carried out the impeachment of the person who was only a few days go president of the republic: Martín Vizcarra.
#EndSARS in Nigeria
A movement against police brutality has swept across Nigeria. Mass protests have brought out tens of thousands of people in cities across the country. At the center of the fury is SARS, a notoriously brutal special unit of the police. Emma Wilde Botta speaks with Lagos-based Kasope Aleshinloye.
Backing Biden Will Not Stop Trumpism
Continuing the debate on the left and the election, Charlie Post and Ashley Smith respond to Stephen R. Shalom’s criticisms of their article, “The lesser evil trap.”
Pandemic, Polarization, and Resistance in the US; an Interview with Ashley Smith
This interview of Ashley Smith was conducted by Joseph Daher for the newspaper of the Swiss socialist party Solidarités, and the French leftwing website, Contretemps.
Mexico’s AMLO Is No Leftist, as His Handling of Covid Demonstrates
Not only is AMLO’s government not socialist, it is not democratic, it is not competent, and it is not socially responsible. AMLO is a populist with a leftist image and rightist policies.
When NYC Jewish Organizations Enthusiastically Supported Boycotts
The Jewish establishment has condemned the NYC Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for asking candidates if they would forgo plans to take trips to Israel as an act of solidarity with Palestinians. Of course it’s a croc. It’s also hypocrisy.
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.
Commercial Surrogacy: A Reply to Sara Lee
This is the final entry in a debate that began in our Summer 2020 issue, sparked by Holmstrom-Smith’s review of Sophie Lewis’ recent book Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family (Verso, 2019).
Comrades and allies: An interview with Donna Murch
Sherry Wolf interviews Donna Murch, activist and author of “Living for the City: Migration, Education, and the Rise of the Black Panther Party in Oakland,” about the Black Lives Matter uprising and questions of organization, solidarity, and strategy.
“They are all implicated”: An Interview with Joey Ayoub on the Beirut Explosion
On August 4th, an explosion of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate at the port of Beirut, Lebanon, left more than 170 dead, thousands wounded, and hundreds of thousands homeless.
No Justice, No Peace! Raising the Social Cost through Direct Action!
Growing numbers of individuals and growing social movements that have broken with the ideology that there is no alternative to neoliberalism (TINA) and acting on the belief that there is a liberatory alternative to racial capitalism is central to raising the social cost.
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.
Statement on My Being Shot by Federal Troops
Since June, I’ve been attending peaceful protests in Portland neighborhoods in support of Black Lives Matter. I have gone with family and friends. I am a 52-year-old mother. I am a history professor. I was protesting peacefully. So why did federal troops shoot me in the head Monday night?
Race, Class, and Crisis in Higher Education
Higher education is structurally racist in large part because the working class needs it but does not have access to it, nor do they have the social support to succeed once they are there.
Portland Protests: A Chronology of Police Repression
Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ICE, and possibly other federal agencies are deployed in Portland as this article is being written. They are assisting the Portland Police Bureau to brutally squash the rebellion against business as usual.
The Syrian Revolution: A History from Below
The Online Summer Institute titled “The Syrian Revolution: A History from Below” is a webinar series about grassroots politics, class struggles, and state violence in Syria since the 1970s up until the present.
Lessons From Gezi Park
The experience of the 2013 Turkish uprising in Gezi Park opened possibilities for the rise of new Left in Turkey and offers lessons for the U.S. in the midst of its own anti-racists uprising
Pandemic, Depression, and Authoritarianism
We Must Fight for the Future
The United States confronts an uncertain future in the face of an unprecedented situation.
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