The ideological battle must be fought not only with words but also with the production of images and visuals that propel the work of movements forward.
Author Archive | Eds.
Ghosts of Christmas present
Act Five for the popular Yellow Vest revolt against poverty in France came on 15 December–but it was not the finale. The movement remains vibrant and determined, especially in big southern towns such as Toulouse and Bordeaux.
When “green” doesn’t “grow”
The onslaught of extreme weather and the increasingly stark scientific assessment leave no doubt that we face an ecological and civilizational emergency. But in the year since COP23 in Bonn, Germany, a constant stream of headlines and reports have confirmed that governments are not on track to meet their climate commitments.
Living amidst the catastrophes of “the Living Contradiction”
“By its nature,” Marx writes in the climactic passage of a magnificent but very dense section of the Grundrisse, capital “posits a barrier to labor and value-creation in contradiction to its tendency to expand them boundlessly. And in as much as it both posits a barrier specific to itself, and on the other side equally […]
Marx for me (and hopefully for others too)
Yesterday I had a conversation about my work, about how and why I started studying inequality more than 30 years ago, what was my motivation, how it was to work on income inequality in an officially classless (and non-democratic) society, did the World Bank care about inequality etc.
Political correctness and the rise of the right
The honest answer is that I was asked to write something reflecting on Trump by my then editor at Scribe. In the immediate wake of the 2016 presidential election, many people were dumbfounded by the news out of the U.S. How could such an odious figure–such a transparent bigot and fraud–win power?
Exploitation, Marxism, and Labour Law (Part Two)
The first model is a radical critique of all forms of bourgeois right, including employment rights, which are considered to constitute an ideological reflection of the capitalist mode of production, and therefore an inseparable companion of exploitation.
Scope and militancy of teachers’ strike shakes the ruling class
Lithuania is being shaken by an unprecedented teachers strike, which has now entered its fourth week and is causing severe anxiety, distress and panic among the ruling class and its political representatives. Already, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis has been forced to sack not only the hated Education Minister, Petrauskienė, but also two other Ministers: for […]
“In Hungary, there is no way forward but strikes”
Guzslován Gábor of the Federation of Metal Workers Union of Hungary talks about the impact of the ‘slave law’ passed by the far-right government of Viktor Orbán and the massive protests against it.
Bolsonaro against Cuba
Bolsonaro has his eyes on Washington and the Trump administration, which is looking to the Jair-Eduardo pair, father and son, to facilitate its attacks on Cuba and Venezuela.
Social democracy or barbarism? Barbarism, please
Political commentators see AMLO as a bigger threat than Bolsonaro.
Exploitation, Marxism, and Labour Law (Part One)
On trial with other members of the Rhenish District Committee of Democrats in 1849, Karl Marx argued in a Cologne court that their prosecution was based upon “laws which the Crown itself has trampled into the dirt”.
Yellow vest movement is not just about fuel tax hike, it is a crystallization of a deep social discontent and distress
Since November 17, France has been witnessing the massive Gilets jaunes or ‘Yellow Vests’ protests against the anti-working class policies of the Emmanuel Macron government. The protests against the rising economic burden on the people are also spreading to many other European countries.
Down with neoliberalism . . . as a concept
I think the left should stop talking about ‘neoliberalism’, as I argue in a recent journal article published in Capital & Class.
Every woman is a working woman
In 1972 feminists from Italy, England, and the United States convened in Padova, Italy, for a two-day conference. Associated with the extra-parliamentary left, anti-colonial struggles, and alternatives to the communist party, these activists composed a declaration for action, the “Statement of the International Feminist Collective.”
The language of capitalism isn’t just annoying, it’s dangerous
A new book argues that words like “innovation” are doing more than telling you who to avoid at parties.
This radical plan to fund the ‘Green New Deal’ just might work
With what author and activist Naomi Klein calls “galloping momentum,” the “Green New Deal” promoted by Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appears to be forging a political pathway for solving all of the ills of society and the planet in one fell swoop.
Bigoted paternalism behind “Russians targeted African-Americans” NY Times article
The outlandish “Russian interference” narrative just took a turn from the banal to blatantly disrespectful. For the past two years, the punditry on the supposed left have been peddling the lie that the thousands of dollars spent on Facebook and Google ads—purportedly at the behest of Putin—had more impact on the outcome of the 2016 […]
“A free Palestine from the river to the sea”
It is not uncommon for a mainstream media commentator to be fired for a bigoted or violent comment on air-or off air. As far as I know, there was never a person specifically fired for advocating non-violence and the equal treatment of a group of people.
Plan Oder Markt: the battle of ideas between Austro-Marxism and neoliberalism in Vienna
Co-sponsored by SFU’s Institute for the Humanities, School for International Studies, Department of History, & Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
