Archive Image

Belabored Podcast #60: Whither Market Basket? with James Green  

Is the outcome of the Market Basket strike a victory for working people, or something more complicated? Belabored asks James Green, a former professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and the author of several books on labor history and social movements. Plus: care workers mobilizing across the country, pre-K workers and inequality in New York, and more.





Archive Image

In Memoriam: Michael B. Katz  

We at Dissent are deeply saddened by the loss of our longtime contributor and friend Michael Katz, who passed away on Saturday. Katz’s contributions to Dissent in recent years included “Why Aren’t U.S. Cities Burning?” (2007), “The Death of ‘Shorty’” …





Archive Image

Where the Promise of Preschool Ends  

This August, as I look over names of my incoming prekindergarten and kindergarten students, my attention is divided. I’m also focused on Ferguson. At an assembly on August 14 in Washington, D.C.’s Malcolm X Park, I joined the hundreds gathered …



Archive Image

Presidential ADD  

Why has Barack Obama—one of the most eloquent and thoughtful of recent presidents—become such a terrible politician? Midway through his sixth year in office, his ineptitude is pretty clear. He frustrated and demobilized the huge base he built during his …





Archive Image

The Not-So-Secret Serum  

“I guess if Washington Times prints it, it’s not totally baseless?” a colleague tweeted. For the second time in as many weeks, those of us closely following the Ebola outbreak in West Africa had to process the news that another …





Archive Image

Is Spain Ready to Abandon the Monarchy?  

The first president to take office after Spain’s return to democracy passed away this spring. The death of Adolfo Suárez was met with a significant outpouring of public sympathy, and Madrid’s international airport was promptly renamed in his honor. The …



Archive Image

Why the UN?  

One of the more unsettling developments in the Gaza conflict thus far has been the shelling of UNRWA sites by the Israel Defense Forces. On July 30, at least nineteen people died and many more were wounded when a UN school-turned-shelter in …



Archive Image

Beyond Protest: War and the Israeli Left  

Many Israelis who define themselves as “on the left” (about 20 percent of the population on a good day) support Operation Protective Edge. It’s a small and lonely subset that is both left wing and opposes the war. Over the …



Archive Image

Dear Nick Kristof: Your Palestinian Gandhis are Already Here  

Writing on July 19 in a column intended to “correct a few common misconceptions” about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Nicholas Kristof perpetuated one of his own. Offering unsolicited advice to Palestinian political leaders, Mr. Kristof wrote: “If Palestinians turned to huge …