When looking back at pandemics in modern history, the 1918 Spanish influenza stands out. It took the lives of somewhere between 50 and 100 million people — and while it devastated the countries of the Global North, it took its greatest toll in the Global South. Science writer Laura Spinney reflects on the similarities — … Continued
The struggle for abortion rights has been foundering for decades and, with an anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court, the future of abortion in the United States looks grim. Organizer Jenny Brown argues that the timidity of the abortion rights movement has patently failed to slow the anti-abortion assault. She argues that a bolder, unapologetic … Continued
Since the ebbing of the Sixties, a particular form of protest captured the imaginations of many progressives and radicals: nonviolent direct action designed to disrupt power and prefigure the world to come. Longtime organizer L.A. Kauffman reflects on the complexities and challenges of that tradition. She also considers the politics of our time, in which … Continued
At a time when national governments are taking little action in the face of the climate emergency, the bicycle seems an ideal, if of course partial, remedy. It allows us to get around our cities and towns without producing greenhouse gases. Often cities that have encouraged biking, by putting in bicycle lanes and other infrastructure, … Continued
The planet is getting hotter and the effects of global warming are compounding. The crisis of all ecological systems are becoming more evident. And yet so are environmental movements, which have become larger and more visible than ever. Scholar Julie Sze reflects on the history of struggles for environmental justice and the movement that we … Continued
Given the disparities between the lifespans of whites, African Americans, Native Americans and other groups, it might seem to be sensible to gear medicine along racial lines. But sociologist Leslie Hinkson argues that it represents a dangerous turn in science and healthcare. She discusses race, biology, and debt. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Nadine Ehlers and Leslie … Continued
The United States fancies itself an exceptional nation, and in terms of its media system, it’s right: the US has the most commercialized press of any advanced industrial country, with the least support for public media. So argues critic Victor Pickard in his study of the political economy of US journalism. He discusses the long … Continued
Clarence Thomas is Donald Trump’s favorite Supreme Court justice, which might confirm the liberal view that Thomas is simply a toady of the right. But scholar Corey Robin argues that Thomas is a complex thinker and skilled rhetorician, whose ideas originate in black nationalism. Robin reflects on how Thomas’ pessimism about the intractability of racism … Continued
When we on the left talk about the plight of the Palestinians, we usually talk about land – and rightly so. The dispossession of the Palestinians of their land has been a central element of the project of Israeli settler colonialism. But often what is forgotten is the question of Palestinian labor, its fundamental role … Continued
The proponents of cultured meat — meat grown in a laboratory — argue that it not only will put an end of the suffering of animals, but could lead us into a world free of the global warming-effects of industrialized animal agriculture. Benjamin Wurgaft discusses how the hopes for cultured meat refract many competing visions … Continued
