As movements highlight the perils of global warming and the inaction of governments in the face of it, what types of mechanisms could and should be considered to slow down the ravages of climate change? Geographer Holly Jean Buck argues that, as fraught as it is, the left needs to recognize the need for the … Continued
We think of public utilities operating for the public good — it’s right there in the name. But most public utilities are investor-owned and, like corporations as a whole in this country, have enormous power to dispossess poor people through government-backed mechanisms like eminent domain. Sociologist Loka Ashwood discusses how such dispossession, along with state-sanctioned … Continued
The resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline galvanized a generation of activists. It involved hundreds of tribes and thousands of people, standing up against not just the companies that would pollute the region’s water, but to the militarized forces of the state. As Native historian Nick Estes argues, the No DAPL efforts brought into sharp … Continued
Are we facing a new Cold War with Russia? Does that country represent a serious threat to the United States? Tony Wood separates myths from facts about Russia’s domestic and foreign policy — and whether Putin represents a return to the authoritarian Soviet past. Resources: Tony Wood, Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths … Continued
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
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
We’re told that the police are imperfect, but if we make the right reforms, the bad apples will be weeded out and aggressive behavior no longer tolerated. But, as David Correia argues, what if the police are not reformable? Resources: David Correia and Tyler Wall, Police: A Field Guide Verso, 2018
In 2017, the so-called drug war in Mexico had its bloodiest year yet. And it shows no sign of abating. Lost in the gruesome headlines is any sense of what’s driving the violence — and the role that the Mexican state plays in it. Mexico-based journalist John Gibler talks about the forces underlying the slaughter … Continued
Capitalism appears to many to be a failed system, leading to extreme inequality and ecological devastation. We’re also told that the alternative posed by Karl Marx is similarly bankrupt, as proved by the failures of state socialism. But what if Marx’s vision for a postcapitalist future has little in common with the experience of the … Continued
In these anti-utopian times, many of us long for a place that’s free from the reach of capitalism and the repressive arm of the state. But we assume such things, even in partial form, don’t exist. Historian Andrej Grubacic discusses the spaces where people have attempted to operate outside of the state and market—and some … Continued
