From www.counterpunch.org

  • Let's Rethink the War in Ukraine

    Now that the Ukrainian military aid bill has been passed we have an opportunity to assess the developing conflict and offer suggestions. Here we will argue for more diplomacy and less war. None of this essay should be construed as support for Russian behavior – which has been abysmal. And at the end, there will More

  • A Sombre Mood in South Africa Thirty Years After Apartheid

    Ten years ago the black middle classes, of which I am part, were still in the mood to celebrate Freedom Day. For many of us our lives are fundamentally different to those of our parents and we enjoy opportunities and lifestyles of which they could only dream. But today even the black middle classes are disillusioned. The collapse of public services and infrastructure means that education, health care, security, electricity and now even water are increasingly privately sourced by those with the...

  • India’s Billionaire Wealth is on Display as Nation Votes

    Indian corporate interests are counting on incumbent Modi winning another five years in office, “hoping for further easing of stifling investment restraints,” as per the Financial Times. This dismantling of regulations, which began a few decades before the BJP gained power, ushered in an erosion of India’s socialist infrastructure. Economists Subhashree Banerjee and Yash Tayal explained in the Deccan Herald, that India’s 1991 reforms ended up “liberalizing the Indian economy to an unprecedented...

  • Between Big Money and A Black Socialist

      In late October, 2018, East Bay DSA members and other progressives organized a pre-election rally at a Berkeley High School auditorium. A wildly-cheering crowd of several thousand came to hear Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Welcoming everyone to the event was 34-year old Jesse Arreguin, who was backed by Sanders when he More

  • Feeding War, Killing Peace: Why the US Vetoed ‘Palestine’?

    The outcome of the Palestine vote and the American veto at the United Nations Security Council on April 18 was predictable. Though European countries are becoming increasingly supportive of a Palestinian state, the United States is not yet ready for this commitment. These are some of the reasons that the US deputy envoy to the More

  • The Devil is No Longer in Disguise

    What to do. What to do. Consider our times. Do you feel, like I feel, massive confusion at what is happening out there. Even if I confine myself to considering perhaps the three largest current instances of mind madness, confusion abounds. The three are the Orange Trumpist or fascist onslaught in the U.S. and elsewhere; More

  • Campus Activism for Gaza Ignites

    Students at more than 40 universities and colleges in the United States and around the world have lit a fire under the Palestine solidarity movement by setting up encampments on their campuses. They are demanding that their universities end their complicity with Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine more broadly. While the first and More

  • Liz Truss and the West: A Failed Former Prime Minister Speaks

    It is unfortunate that column space should be dedicated to Britain’s shortest termed prime minister and, arguably, one of its most imbecilic and cringingly juvenile. But given that some people still sympathise with her and her views, it falls to one to tackle her latest work which resembles other types of the gloomy genre warning that More

  • The Humble Pen Takes on the Mighty Sword

    Here’s an anniversary no one wants to celebrate: The Columbine school shooting — April 20, 1999 — just passed its 25th anniversary. Fifteen dead (including the two shooters), 21 injured. A new era begins . . . Why, why, why bring up such a horrific event? Perhaps because it hasn’t stopped. Even though I sit More

  • Bans on Non-Compete Clauses Benefit Everyone: The Case of Veterinarians

    This week the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to ban non-compete clauses in most employment contracts. These clauses, which are now widely used, prohibit workers from working for another employer, or setting up their own business, for several years after quitting a job. These clauses are very common in employment contracts for veterinarians. I mention More

  • Statement of Four Cornell Students Suspended for Protesting Israel's Genocide in Gaza

    On 4/26, four students were “temporarily suspended” by Cornell University for exercising their constitutional right to protest. In response, these students issued the following statement: “In the past months, we have seen an incredible movement form on Cornell’s campus: students, faculty members, and staff have joined together to voice their support for the Palestinian Liberation More

  • The Sad Spectacle of Lesser-Evil Elections

    Image by stefan moertl. One of the two major-party candidates for the presidency of the United States has allowed an decades-long ethnic cleansing to morph into a genocide, a horror that could be stopped with one phone call; has escalated the drilling of oil and gas despite the existential threat of global warming; forced railroad workers to swallow a bad contract by breaking their strike; and spent his Senate career as an errand boy for banks. And that’s the lesser evil! Joe Biden really is...