Inequality is greater now than it has been at any time in the last century, and the gaps in wages, income, and wealth are wider in the United States than in any other democratic and developed economy. Yet we lack a clear and compelling account of how and why we arrived this point. Our current economic troubles have aimed a spotlight at our inequality problem, but they did not create it. What did?
Jonathan Sperber is right to portray Marx as a product of his times. But he goes astray in limiting the application and relevance of Marx’s ideas to the relatively brief time—from 1840 to 1880—in which he wrote. If a thinker discerns deeper trends within the history of his time, he may produce ideas that are relevant well beyond his passing.
Belabored talks to San Francisco-based journalist Julia Carrie Wong about Silicon Valley gentrification and with Jobs with Justice organizer Kung Feng about the response of community and labor groups to the tech sector’s growing presence. Plus, gender inequities in house work, the exploitation of temp workers, and updates on labor struggles across the country.
Egypt is often held up as a success story of civil resistance. However, as the country has slid back into a repressive and undemocratic state, this success has been called into question. Did nonviolence fail in Egypt?
Ricardo Seitenfus, a former OAS special representative, was dismissed after criticizing international meddling in Haiti’s 2010 election, less than a year after a devastating earthquake struck the country. In this interview, Seitenfus expands on his criticisms of the international presence in Haiti and describes the “silent coup d’etat” he witnessed.
In news: United Auto Workers’ defeat in Chattanooga, Tennessee, port truckers and wage theft, minor league ballplayers suing over wage violations, the U.S. government’s reliance on sweatshops, the strike by University of Illinois faculty, and why the Congressional Budget Office is wrong about the minimum wage. And Portland teacher Elizabeth Thiel on militant teacher unionism in Oregon.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee last week, we nearly witnessed what would have been a rare occurrence in U.S. labor relations: a fair and democratic National Labor Relations Board election. Volkswagen management had vowed to remain neutral and allow its 1,550 hourly …
Early in 2013, as Xi Jinping prepared to take over leadership of China, some high-profile Western analysts were cautiously optimistic about where the country was heading. But far from bringing a longed-for “easing” of controls on expression and civil society activities, the Year of the Snake often saw the ratcheting up of mechanisms of control and intimidation. As we move into the Year of the Horse, Jeffrey Wasserstrom brings together four legal experts to discuss.
This month’s “Manif pour tous” was most obviously against a law called Mariage pour tous (Marriage for All). But something bigger is stirring. Is it, as Le Monde put it, “The Awakening of Reactionary France”?
At the University of Illinois Chicago, striking faculty are recalling the founding mission of America’s great public universities.
David Caute’s thought-provoking, meticulous study tells the story of the conflict between the two dominant ideologies of the last century through the lives of two of their most eloquent adherents, and the deceptions in which each of them allowed himself to engage.
Could banking at the post office be a boon to low-income communities and a major challenge to Wall Street? Sarah and Michelle discuss with Dave Dayen. Plus the latest news on teachers and nurses organizing for workplace rights, how Wal-Mart’s anti-labor actions may be undermining its bottom line, a legal victory for immigrant guestworkers, and the crowdsourced sweatshop.
Bill McKibben’s recent writing leaves an impression of the author as a highly effective leader among leaders in the U.S. climate movement. The portrait seems credible. Why, then, is McKibben at pains to repudiate it?
The Another Self Portrait reissue comes as a vindication of the appropriateness of a “great artist” throwing off as much “product” as the market can bear. No longer a cynic for churning out releases, Bob Dylan is widely seen as wise and generous for sharing more.
Joanne Barkan has spent years researching and writing about the ideology of billionaire ed reformers. She joins Michelle and Sarah to talk about her work. And in labor news, London’s public transit workers go on strike; Tennessee may yet see a unionized auto plant; NFL cheerleaders rise up against wage theft; and workers rise up against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
