A movement is needed more than ever to defend a woman’s right to choose The United States Supreme Court, in another sharply divided abortion rights decision, struck down a Louisiana statute that would have required doctors performing abortions in that state to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. The requirement […]
Month: June 2020
Fighting for reproductive rights in the age of Trump
The Black Lives Matter movement has shaken US society to its core in 2020—and accomplished more in a matter of weeks of struggle than decades of waiting for Democrats to take action. The US Supreme Court is now preparing to rule on the most draconian anti-abortion legislation since the 1973 […]
The Left debate in Brazil over how to topple Bolsonaro
Second only to the U.S., Brazil has emerged as the main “hot spot” for the coronavirus outbreak in the world. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the presidents of both countries are corrupt, far-right politicians who have made racism and climate (and now virus) denialism central to their appeal. The government […]
Without struggle, there is no progress
On May 25, George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department. Like so many times before, at least since the attack on Rodney King in 1992, the police were caught on camera. What’s different now is that George Floyd’s murder has sparked a rebellion larger, broader, […]
The struggle has moved far “Beyond Bernie”
Bernie Sanders ended his second presidential bid in April—endorsing Joe Biden and urging his supporters to vote for him. Since then, the political climate in the U.S. has been transformed. The Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing economic crisis and large scale unemployment, followed suddenly by the mass uprisings triggered by the […]
A Marxist view of America: an activist’s reading list
The tsunami of demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd has awakened an interest in revolutionary ideas and strategy. Militants are confronting sharply posed issues such as what type of society could actually “defund the police” and can the Democratic Party take us even one inch of the way towards […]
The Language of the unheard
“Can you hear us now?” Those were the words spray painted on the boarded-up windows of Minneapolis’ East Lake Clinic—near the 3rd Precinct police station that protesters burned down on the night of May 28th. The whole world has now watched four Minneapolis cops murder George Floyd. Yet it took […]
“The Negro struggle has a vitality and a validity of its own”: C. L. R. James on Black Liberation in the United States
The uprising that spread across the United States in the wake of the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd on Memorial Day was a powerful reminder of the central role that racism has always played in U.S. history. But was also a reminder of another key point that the Trinidadian-born […]
Covid crisis: Adding fuel to the fire in South America
Latin America is becoming the new epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. The arrival of the coronavirus in the region’s slums threatens to exacerbate pre-existing political, economic and social problems. With nuances specific to each country, the health crisis could soon create a reality as unstable as it is explosive, Buenos […]