A Connection That Never Expired

In 1974, Jeffrey Goldfarb went to Poland to do research about democracy—and put down lasting roots

Claire Potter: Elzbieta, let's begin with when you met Jeff Goldfarb.  Elzbieta Matynia: Jeff and Naomi Goldfarb came to Poland in 1973—Jeff was on an IREX fellowship, and Naomi attended some studio classes at the Academy of Arts. I had just begun my graduate studies. But we were both interested in the same ...
Read More
A Connection That Never Expired

Time’s Up for Fossil Fuels

A photo essay

Roughly 100 people got up very early on a very hot day to demonstrate against the use of fossil fuels. Mary Crow led everyone in prayer on DC’s Freedom Plaza around 7:30 a.m. Leaving a little after 8:00 a.m., different groups walked to five different locations around the ellipse and ...
Read More
Time’s Up for Fossil Fuels

Why a Far-Right Activist Slapped President Macron

France’s culture wars are being fanned by a racism that cannot be discussed in public—but that followers of Marine Le Pen understand all the same

_____ French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted at a recent press event with a slap in the face. Damien T., the man who delivered the slap, was heard yelling “Montjoie! Saint-Denis!” and “A bas la macronie” the former being a Royalist battle cry, the latter translating as “Down with Macronism!” The reason ...
Read More
Why a Far-Right Activist Slapped President Macron

The Furor over Critical Race Theory is 200 Years Too Late

Where were conservatives when theories justifying white racial supremacy propped up slavery, imperialism and genocide?

_____ Following a script being used in at least 16 other states, lawmakers in my home state of Wisconsin are taking aim at “critical race theory.”  The proposed GOP legislation would ban anyone teaching in a public classroom, from kindergarten to college from promoting the notion that “any race is superior ...
Read More
The Furor over Critical Race Theory is 200 Years Too Late

Magical Thinking, Machiavellian Politics and the Future of the Christian Right

A visit to the Creation Museum in Kentucky shows how deeply rooted distrust in science is now embedded in the culture of white evangelicals

_____ Following Liz Cheney’s ouster from the GOP House leadership, there have been murmurings among some Republicans about starting a break-away party committed to upholding traditional conservative policies rather than defending Donald Trump’s false assertion that he, not Joe Biden, is in fact the duly elected President of the United States. ...
Read More
Magical Thinking, Machiavellian Politics and the Future of the Christian Right

A Tale of Two Democracies

How a movement that claimed to be democratic undermined the rule of law

_____ “Democracy,” wrote Charles Tilly, “does not resemble an oilfield or a garden, but a lake. A lake,” he continues, can come into being because a mountain stream feeds into a naturally-existing basin, because someone or something dams up the outlet of a large river, because a glacier melts, because an earthquake ...
Read More
A Tale of Two Democracies

How the Left Took Power in Peru

Castillo imagines a new politics

_____ In his closing statement as a leading candidate in Peru’s last presidential debate on May 30th in Arequipa, Pedro Castillo, the favorite of the left-wing Perú Libre (PL) party, promised that if he became President, there would be “no more poor people in a rich country.” The second-biggest producer of copper ...
Read More
How the Left Took Power in Peru

Soccer and the Enduring Nonsense of Race

Austrian Marko Arnautović’s verbal assault on North Macedonia’s Ezgjan Alioski raises questions about race and nation in Europe’s past and present

_____ Soccer star Marko Arnautović made headlines last week, less for the goal he scored in the 89th minute of his native Austria’s European Cup game against North Macedonia than for his post-goal antics. Soccer celebrations often mix joy and aggression. But it quickly became clear to television viewers that Arnautović, criticized ...
Read More
Soccer and the Enduring Nonsense of Race

Confederate Monuments Are Not History

Like the contemporary war on “critical race theory,” these statues of the defeated prop up white supremacy in the name of a false past

_____ It seemed as though monuments were suddenly in the news during Donald Trump’s presidency, but they have always been controversial. Monuments to the Confederacy were contested by African American citizens as soon as they appeared after 1865. Black citizens understood these monuments for what they were: a rallying point for ...
Read More
Confederate Monuments Are Not History

How ‘The Squad’ Has Caved to Corporate Power

People who want structural change in the U.S. will have to develop new channels and networks to overcome the established system

_____ Just a few years ago, Democratic voters elected a group of progressives who promised to go to Washington, D.C., and start a political revolution. Led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) of New York, the “Squad” promised to take on the corporate wing of the Democratic Party and fight for programs that ...
Read More
How ‘The Squad’ Has Caved to Corporate Power

Democrats and Anti-Trump Conservatives Must Join Forces to Defend Democracy

But the wounds of the Reagan and Bush years have created a stark barrier to cooperation across ideological lines

_____ When Mitt Romney voted to convict then-President Trump in his 2020 impeachment trial, he stepped forward as an icon of truth in a party increasingly committed to lies. Many liberals felt a keen and unexpected thrill, watching Romney, the face of the 2012 Republican Party hold back tears as he ...
Read More
Democrats and Anti-Trump Conservatives Must Join Forces to Defend Democracy

The Business PACs Are Back in Business

Surprise! One-party rule might be profitable

_____ Roll Call reported political action committees (PACs) have restarted making contributions to members of the United States Congress. This includes the 147 Republicans who voted against certifying Electoral College votes after the militant storming of the United States Capitol. Cash to both parties mostly stopped in the weeks after the ...
Read More
The Business PACs Are Back in Business