Archive | Commentary

As scholars dedicated to questions of justice and ethics we believe that Yvette Cooper’s recent proscription of Palestine Action represents an attack both on the entire pro-Palestine movement and on fundamental freedoms of expression, association, assembly, and protest.

In 1958 the assistant headmaster did the Bible reading at the morning assembly of the Karachi Grammar School (Pakistan), founded in 1848 by the Church of England. The reading from Acts 17:23 concerned St. Paul’s declaration upon seeing the Athenian monument to an unknown God. “What you worship but do not know—this is what I […]

Chris Townsend has been organizing workers, conducting political work for labor unions, and teaching young workers to organize for almost all his adult life. He is, as we say, “the real deal.” While most of us opine and pontificate about labor, Chris does the dirty work. He organizes. His contributions over several decades have played […]

A recent paper in Science addresses an intriguing question: Did North America have settled agriculture before the arrival of Europeans? Or were the people in what would come to be known as North America still in the hunter-gatherer stage—unlike Mesoamericans, who had advanced civilisations, such as the Mayans, Aztecs, and the Incas? The answer is […]

The Covid pandemic’s onset prompted speculation that the disease had been created in a lab in China, specifically as a weapon against the United States. This new and highly contagious virus did wreak profound socioeconomic trauma and widespread suffering, borne disproportionately by the disadvantaged. Initially it caused nearly 1.2 million deaths in the United States. […]

Despite the hot sun, few Americans were wearing rose-colored glasses these days, but rather fear dark clouds ahead. Many feel worried, even despairing. But sometimes they could rejoice at bright spots.

In a recent video recapping his primary victory in Queens, Zohran Mamdani did something almost radical for today’s political landscape: he cut through the usual Beltway euphemisms and mapped out the varied, living elements of the coalition that won. Most postmortems stay tangled in polite code. We get anxious talk of “electability,” “swing voters,” whether […]

The dramatic shift in the Trump led U.S. foreign policies, as seen recently in the bombing in Iran, has created enormous confusion and consternation within establishment centers of power.

The June 2025 US-Israeli military assault on Iran—featuring Israel’s Operation Rising Lion and the US Operation Midnight Hammer confronted by Iran’s defensive Operation True Promise 3—despite achieving short-term tactical victories, represents a profound strategic failure that has accelerated the US-led imperial decline and strengthened global anti-imperialist forces. Rather than cementing Western hegemony, this illegal act […]

On the morning of January 21, 1960, 431 black and six white coal miners were entombed in a sudden collapse at Clydesdale Collieries near Coalbrook in Sasolburg, Free State Province.[1] The first rockfall took place at about 4:30 p.m. No one was killed or severely injured. While the rock still creaked and split, many of […]

For today I have been asked to speak a bit about my country, Puerto Rico, and the socioeconomic crisis that is currently developing there.1 Given the time constraints, I want to provide you with a brief overview of what is being experienced there by the victims of the crisis. I want to also speak a […]

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, education has become a frontline in the ideological struggle over the future of global capitalism. The coordinated assault on teachers, curriculum, and institutions of public learning is not an isolated culture war but a structural feature of neoliberal governance. In this context, the pedagogical philosophy of Paulo […]

The U.S. is in desperate economic and military “competition” with China and has lost a lot of ground fast.

Mandy Tröger, Richard Maxwell, Ben Scott, Sut Jhally, Des Freedman, Deepa Kumar, and Victor Pickard on Robert W McChesney

A number of notable parallels run through the histories of Israel and the United States.

The Classroom Is a Battleground Teaching U.S. history in a public high school today is a subversive act. In the face of mounting attacks on education, educators like me are caught between the curriculum we are allowed to teach and the truth students desperately need to understand. It is no exaggeration to say that the […]

On October 7th, 2012, after hearing of his victory as the nation‘s candidate with 56 percent of the vote, President Hugo Chávez Frias announced from a balcony in his hometown that a new cycle was beginning the very next day, October 8th.

Germany, long a synonym for economic brawn and muscle, is beginning to recall words like lumbago or sciatica instead. Though still leading in Europe, and fourth in the world, it faces an economic mess, a political mess, and a mood of general stress. Schools lack repairs and teachers, clinics and hospitals lack staff, its key […]

Popular backlash against France’s brutal yet ineffective counter-terrorism operations is compelling President Emmanuel Macron to withdraw forces from across Africa.

Part 1. On the Courage to Remember The first demonstration I ever went on was at the age of twelve, against the Vietnam War. The first formal history lesson I received came a few months later, when I commenced high school. That day the old history master, Mr. Griffiths, chalked what I later learned was […]