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Americanism Personified: Why Fascism Has Always Been an Inevitable Outcome of the American Project
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." This quote, which has often been misattributed to Sinclair Lewis, is wise in recognizing the authoritarian potential of both nationalism and organized religion. In slight contrast, Professor...
Colin Kaepernick Is Being Blackballed by Billionaire NFL Owners. Here's Why.
Colin Kaepernick took a courageous and principled stand last season by kneeling during the national anthem before NFL games. This was done in response to a society that continues to systematically, culturally, and institutionally devalue black lives. This devaluation is...
The Grenfell Tower Fire Could Have Been Avoided
This Government Must Be Held Responsible
How Ta-Nehisi Coates Mystifies Racism and Obscures the Material Ways We Can End It
Liza Bramlett was a slave. She lived on a cotton plantation in the Mississippi Delta, during the 19th century. White men raped her repeatedly throughout her life. They traded her body amongst themselves in exchange for calves and piglets. In the end, Liza gave birth to 23...
Matthew Crawford: 'Distraction Is a Kind of Obesity of the Mind'
Does your phone, the TV and advertising demand your attention everywhere you look? All this stimulation is triggering a social crisis, says writer Matthew Crawford. He talks to Ed Cumming about how to reconnect with reality
Why Affordable Housing Needs to be a Right, Not a Privilege
It’s time to ensure that no American has to worry about where they and their families will sleep tonight, says housing consultant James Stockard.
Liberation Theory: a Working Framework
Liberation is both the undoing of the effects and the elimination of the causes of social oppression. The achievement of human liberation on a global scale will require far-reaching changes at the institutional level and at the level of group and individual interactions...
When Concerns of Cultural Appropriation Risk Supporting Intellectual Property
The latest entry in panics over social justice comes from my hometown, where some folks have created a list shaming restaurants and foodcarts that were owned by white people but sold “non-European international cuisine.” One of the more annoying restaurants on that list...
Scaling Up: Ideas about Participatory Democracy
A common objection against participatory democracy is that, yes, it is a beautiful idea, but it can only work at the local level, like the neighborhood, the small town or the village. Our modern world is too complex, too global and interconnected – and we are simply too many...
Total Surprise! People Love the Left's Ideas for Progress
I just can't believe what happened in the British elections.
Epic Rant Against Rupert Murdoch Perfectly Captures UK Election Result
I see you, Rupert Murdoch. I see your whispery head, your hangdog expression, the malevolent balls of obsidian that function as your eyes. I see you shaking your head as you watch the exit polls come in, your flaccid jowls dangling, flapping about like the labia on a jogging...
Grime Launches a Revolution in Youth Politics
It became clear on June 9 that Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to call a snap election was ill judged. This election has highlighted the disregard for the “many” that government should serve, and after an election in which the youth turnout was around 72%...
Trump White House Vs. “House of Cards” White House
Binge-watchers of the new season will find it’s hard to be shocked by the usual Underwood White House treachery and corruption.
How Palestinians Marked 50 Years of Israeli Occupation
There are two dates ingrained in the memory of the Palestinian people. The first is May 15, 1948, the date which marks the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians and the destruction of their towns and villages by Zionist Jewish militias. A day before, the state of Israel...
There Is Life After Civilization Collapse
We are living through the collapse of the first truly global civilization in Earth’s history. This is bigger than the fall of Rome. Much more dramatic than the end for the Mayans. Greater in magnitude than the fall of the ancient Egyptians. And yet there is still hope for...
Exploring biracial identity and reality in America 50 years after a civil rights milestone
Anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Loving v. Virginia
Why Corbyn Won
The Tories may still be in power at the end of the night, but Jeremy Corbyn won today. Yes, I know this is shameless spin, but hear me out: the last few weeks have vindicated the approach of the Labour left and its international cothinkers under Corbyn. This is the first...
How Peer-To-Peer (P2P) Politics Can Change the World, One City at a Time
The Commons is maturing politically, its methods and principles becoming more visible and its participants winning municipal elections in a variety of European cities. How did this happen, and what happens next? First, a look at our present political context, and then some...
After Coal, a Small Kentucky Town Builds a Healthier, More Creative Economy
A complex network of local organizations helps neighbors support one another as they rebound from a dying industry.
This Election Could Be My Last; It Will Change All Our Destinies and I'm Treating It Like My First
The 94-year-old campaigner fought in the Second World War and says he still wants to defend his country
Seize The Moment: This Is Our Chance to Corbynize This Trumped Up World
The world needs an actual popular elected response to US aggression against the world’s poor and the earth’s climate.
The Anarchist Revolt Against the Ideology of Not Voting Is Finally Taking Shape
Anarchists have traditionally opposed voting for a variety of ideological reasons. For many, not voting is held as a badge of honor - a way of signaling one's commitment to anarchist theory. I've often thought that this belief in not voting almost represents a sort of reli
Broadcasting Rules Are Killing Political Satire – Thank Heavens for the Internet
Political journalists, especially during elections, should provide balanced news coverage of parties and scrutinise each parties’ political agendas to help properly inform the public. Sadly this is an ideal that is all-too-rarely realised. The 2015 election was reported as a...
Should We Put Juveniles Away for Life? Meet the Teen Who Sparked a Debate
Inside the Juvenile Justice Center in Nashville, Tennessee is a steel door fitted with a high-security system. Push a button and the door unlocks, revealing another steel door with a slot for IDs. When that door buzzes, I walk through with video gear. I’m searched, as is the...
How Men Continue to Interrupt Even the Most Powerful Women
The numbers do not lie: women have long been underrepresented on the United States Supreme Court. In the court’s 228-year history, only four of the 112 justices have been female. Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female justice in 1981, almost two centuries after the...
Finding Home: Lack of Affordable Housing Is a Crisis Across the West
House prices are through the roof. The banks are swimming in mortgage profits. Rents are sky high. Is it any wonder there are more people on the street?
New 'Instantly Rechargeable' Battery Deals a Fatal Blow to Fossil Fuels
Purdue researchers have developed a flow battery that would allow electric cars to be recharged instantly at stations like conventional cars are. The technology is clean, safe, and cheap.
If Trump so Quick to Exploit London Violence, What Would Attack in US Bring?
Trump called "Opportunist-in-Chief" for using latest violence in the UK to justify travel ban from Muslim countries
Wonder Women Have Been Smashing the Patriarchy Since Classical Times
Wonder Woman is an unsettling superhero. More so than her male counterparts, she resists easy classification: she’s neither an alien or a billionaire – nor has she been exposed to some chemical to obtain her powers. The comic books cast her as a mystery to be unravelled and...
Films for Action — A Social Change-Oriented Alternative to Medium
Films For Action is a library for all the best social change films on the internet, cataloged in one place. But because there is so much to cover, and films can’t cover it all — we also curate a ton of articles too. So this is our invitation to all of the social change...
Berlin Residents Pool Their Money to Buy City’s Electricity Grid
Returning power — and profit — to the people.
Calling in Call-Out Culture
For calling-in to work, it must be rooted deeply in kind speech
Earth to Trump: You Are on Your Own
'We move on and we move forward, together'
Wild Bees Can Help Honey Bees—How Your Yard Can Support Them
Although farmers have come to rely on imported honey bees, wild pollinators are hardier.
Films for Action University: a Map for Navigating the Transition From Empire to Earth Community
This collection of 123 documentaries is a map for navigating the 21st century. It is guided by the premise that we are facing a planetary emergency, and the primary role of schools today should be to prepare students to become active participants in designing the transition...
Rational Self-Preservation Through Global Unity
Imagine a world where instead of eternally fighting each other in defense of our various cliques, cults, colors, creeds or groups, we began first defending all humans and the planet against our common threats: corruption, war, poverty, nationalism, and other divisive business...
With Grief and Anguish in Portland, Here Are Some Principles to Help Carry You Forward
There is a lot of grief and anguish in Portland. The killings of the two men standing up to defend women of color were horrific and jarring to everyone in the city of what their sense of community is. But life and politics go on. Here are some principles you may find useful...
20 Supporters of Universal Basic Income Throughout History
The basic guaranteed income is one of those ideas, like land value taxation or the Tobin tax, that circles endlessly around. There are times when it’s obscure, and times when it’s being talked about again. It’s currently in the ascendant, and I suspect that it won’t be long...
Fear Trumps Facts: Why Theresa May Is Sticking With Her Migration Cap
Ahead of the British general election on June 8, the ruling Conservative party has renewed its commitment to “reduce and control” immigration to a net figure of under 100,000 – a level not seen for 20 years. This pledge caused some puzzlement. Even the Brexit secretary, David...
This Facebook Comment About the UK Election Is Going Viral
This post has been flying around social media, winning lots of praise and shares. Chris Renwick, we thank you.
Want to Get “Back to the Land?” You’re Not Alone
Each generation has had one common desire: to live a more honest, ethical life of self-sufficiency and oneness with nature.
When Image Trumps Ideology: How JFK Created the Template for the Modern Presidency
Even at John F. Kennedy’s centennial on May 29, 2017, the 35th president remains an enigma. We still struggle to come to a clear consensus about a leader frozen in time – a man who, in our mind’s eye, is forever young and vigorous, cool and witty.
Mourning the Manchester Bombing
Politics isn’t something that can actually be put on hold
Ten Good News Wildlife Stories
While the news about endangered species is often not good, there are always instances of progress and positive storylines. From recently discovered populations of rare animals to canceled development projects, here is some good news we want to share.
Manchester Arena Attack: Amid the Horror, the Strength of an Incredible City Took Hold
The attack was the day that we had been warned about by security services. The day we hoped wouldn’t happen. But it happened here. In Manchester, at the Manchester Arena where young girls, known as “
The Self-Defeating Concept of “Resistance”
Bernie’s been taking more flak than ever from progressive rebels lately, and understandably so — his recent cuddle party with the White Helmets, a
The Wrongs of Counter-Violence
In the event of a major ISIS-inspired action in Britain, what principles do far-sighted – and brave – politicians need to observe? First published on 20 January 2017.
4 Key Elements to Organizing for the Long Haul
Plus 11 other key ideas to living well as an activist
Getting Assange: the Untold Story
Julian Assange has been vindicated because the Swedish case against him was corrupt. The prosecutor, Marianne Ny, obstructed justice and should be prosecuted. Her obsession with Assange not only embarrassed her colleagues and the judiciary but exposed the Swedish state’s...
A Goal and Strategy for Anarchism
It should be quite obvious, but apparently it’s not, that we can’t devise an anarchist revolutionary strategy until we have a clear idea of what it is we’re trying to achieve.
Enough Talk About Intersectionality. Let's Get on With It
Feminists today are occupied by seemingly endless Twitter debates. But this is a politics of representation: our attention needs to move towards a politics of change. What are we not doing while so many of our movement's resources are being used like this?
How Working Less Could Solve All Our Problems. Really.
Shorter workweeks could help reduce accidents, combat climate change, make the genders more equal, and more, contends historian and author Rutger Bregman.
A Design School for Planetary Collapse
Storm clouds gather for a future that will be turbulent and dangerous. We need designers ready for this future.
Wake Up to Find Out That You Are the Eyes of the World!
The ‘Santiago Theory of Cognition’ proposed by the Chilean biologists and neuroscientists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela offers a scientific way of understanding the process by which living systems engage in ‘autopoiesis’ (self-creating or self-generating) through...
Guidelines for Alliance-Building: Working Assumptions for Winning Allies and Being an Effective Ally
Since, under present world conditions, everyone either is now, or has been, or will be at some time a target of social oppression, and since everyone is now, or has been, or will be in a non-target group in relation to some other group’s oppression, alliance-building is for...
We Need Ecstasy and Opium in Place of Prozac and Xanax
What can doctors do to ease emotional pain? The physicians of ancient and medieval times found many plants and plant-derived substances (ie, drugs) that soothed mental as well as physical ills. Rarely did they draw a line between the psychological and physiological benefits...
The Revolution Is Acceptance
"Waiting for some distant point in the future when we're all magically agreeing with one another to begin working together, is like deciding to climb Mount Everest on the condition that we'll help each other only after we've reached the top."
What Schools Teach Without Teaching: American Myths and Powerlessness
All over America, school children are completing another academic year before their summer vacation. This invites the questions, what did they learn and what did they do with what they learned?
Politicizing Ecology - Beyond Technocracy and Constant Growth
For some decades now the human civilization has embarked on a journey to rapidly extract whatever resource it can from the planet as to maintain its current predominant doctrine — unlimited economic growth. There are, as one could imagine, dire consequences resulting from...