Personal Reflections on War and Peace
A response to James Carroll
The history of nonviolent successes is underreported, understudied, and under-understood. ...
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Right-Wing Accusations of Voter Fraud Are Not New
Republican opposition to the popular vote is a historical issue
Republicans’ rejection of the idea that voters have the right to choose their leaders is not a new phenomenon. It is part and parcel of Republican governance since the 1980s, when it became clear to Republican leaders that their “supply-side economics,” a program designed to put more money into the ...
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Protests at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings
A photo essay
It was noisy in downtown DC as several groups protested at the annual meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)....
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Bolsonaro Shocks the Left in Brazil
Polarization deepens as a populist movement makes unexpected political gains
When Brazilians went to the polls on Sunday, October 2, most observers—and most pollsters—expected that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the leftist former president, and his Workers’ Party (PT) would decisively defeat his chief opponent, Jair Bolsanaro, the current President from Brazil’s Liberal Party (PL)....
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Why Political Pamphlets Still Matter
A literary look at Brexit shows us how words have always changed the world
The texts distributed by Brexit campaigners were intended to agitate, to provoke, and to generate a negative reaction towards the EU that would swing the vote in their favor. ...
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The “Women’s Wave” Flowed in DC on October 8
A photo essay
The theme in 2022 was water. Marchers want to see a feminist blue wave elect more pro-choice Democrats. That was purely implicit as no one mentioned Democrats or the Democratic Party, though several signs castigated Republicans. The Supreme Court’s decision that laws regulating abortion shall be left to the states ...
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Part 6: A New Treaty?
Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning
In this unprecedented context, a laserlike focus on banning the bomb can be a politically viable process, surpassing the failed efforts of bygone years, and even leading to the broader mitigation of “militarism” toward which peace movements have striven without success....
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Nonviolence, Black Power, and “the Citizens of Pompeii”: James Baldwin’s 1968
The radicalization of an unparalleled figure in American literature and African American cultural politics
On the third Sunday after the march, September 15, 1963, six Black children were killed in three separate incidents—one of which was the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church—in Birmingham. That day marked the end of Baldwin’s brief career as a literary celebrity and the beginning of his radicalization, ...
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Giorgia Meloni and the Far Right’s Transatlantic Turn
Italy’s formerly fascist party aligns itself with American Republicans, British Conservatives, and Likud in Israel
Giorgia Meloni now represents a cadre of European far-right leaders whose views are fully legible to the American Far Right. ...
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Part 5: After Ukraine
Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning
The Ukraine war has revealed, that is, that the single stoutest pillar of the current strategic “balance” is off kilter—a dangerously leaning tower, as it were, of peace....
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What You Don’t Know Can’t TIF You
Pretend something isn’t a problem and it goes away, right?
TIFs date back to the 1950s, and every state except Arizona has them in one form or another. There are thousands upon thousands of TIF districts all across the country. Chances are decent you’ve heard about one in your local area....
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Is Putin Bluffing in Ukraine?
Though many Russians are anxious about Putin’s new mobilization of citizens to fight in Ukraine, some are also preparing to survive a nuclear conflict
Putin’s nuclear threats provoked immediate reaction among leaders of Western countries, including Ukraine. The world community is concerned about Russian tactical nuclear weapons intended for use on a battlefield. ...
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