The Kurds are the ultimate stateless people, living in a region spanning Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. For decades leftwing Kurds struggled to create their own ethnic state. But in recent decades, the leadership of the Kurdish freedom movement embraced a form of anarchism, in which they rejected states altogether, and have been building such … Continued
The Environmental Protection Agency is tasked with safeguarding the public from toxic exposure. But Jonathan Latham, executive director of the Bioscience Research Project, says that The Poison Papers — an enormous trove of documents — indicate that the EPA and the chemical industry often work hand in hand to mislead us into thinking that toxic chemicals … Continued
This year is the 50th anniversary of 1968, a stand in for the explosive movements of the 60s and 70s. Christina Gerhardt discusses those movements through a German lens, many of which exploded on the scene a mere decade and a half after the defeat of the Nazis and into a society deeply marked by … Continued
What’s inside that seemingly unremarkable object: a metal can of food? How did we get to where we are today, where canned food appears so mundane — when, in fact, selling food in a corrodible can to dubious American consumers was an uphill battle for the processed food industry? Historian Anna Zeide looks at the … Continued
It’s easier to remember the histories of defeat, than those of social transformation. But in the three years preceding the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, the country experimented with a form of socialism that was both top down and bottom up. Historian Marian Schlotterbeck discusses how under Salvador Allende’s government, the radical left fueled changes at … Continued
We’re often told that the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians rises out of a unique historical situation. But the dispossession of the Palestinians, rather than being exceptional, has strong echoes in other historical dispossessions. Gary Fields discusses the enclosure of the lands of the English peasantry, Native Americans, and the inhabitants of historic … Continued
Open any world history book and you’ll read that the Neolithic Revolution was the key turning point in human history, when hunter gatherers gave up roaming in small egalitarian tribes and settled down to farm. Out of that, civilization was born, with all the benefits and ills connected to it: the rise of cities, the … Continued
The U.S. was left the world’s sole superpower after the demise of the Soviet Union. Yet the U.S. spends a mind-boggling amount on weapons and we’re constantly warned, including in the liberal media, that there are dangerous governments out there in need of containment, Russia being first among them. John Marciano discusses the lessons of … Continued
While New York City may be the capital of wealth in America, the celebrated metropolis has been a locus of rebellion. From the revolt of the Native American Munsee against the Dutch, to slave uprisings, class and race riots, Stonewall, protests against the Republican National Convention, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, and much … Continued
How is radical memory transmitted from generation to generation? How does that transmission frequently fail — and how might it better succeed? Anthropologist and veteran radical Phil Cohen discusses the politics of remembrance and archiving, from the Sixties to the present. Resources: Livingmaps May Day Rooms Phil Cohen, Archive That, Comrade! Left Legacies and the … Continued
