The UK Green Party’s former leader Caroline Lucas recently nailed the Labor Party for “burying the most explosive report” of the year by UK military and intelligence sources. The concealed report warns “that the global collapse of ecosystems poses grave threats to the UK’s security and food supply within as little as five years.” (Source: As [...]
[This essay is part of a series of essays by Michael Albert which critiques Classical Left Ideologies and their value, meaning, and relevance in the context of today’s Left and the struggle for a better world. The full series can be found here.] This article was conceived and written back in the early 1970s and excerpted [...]
The previous commentaries have described how people in cities, states, and communities have been expanding fossil free energy production and reducing energy use through Greentech initiatives. These are essential aspects of reducing climate-destroying greenhouse gas emissions, but in themselves they will not halt the destruction of the climate through the burning of fossil fuels. That [...]
What do we do if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decides not to run for president in 2028? It makes sense that many leftists are currently focused on calling on her to take the plunge. But the absence of a Plan B, or even much discussion about one, is worrisome. The US Left can’t afford to sit out the 2028 [...]
In 1947, newly independent India set out on one of the twentieth century’s most consequential development experiments. Jawaharlal Nehru’s government rejected both Western free-market capitalism and alignment with the Soviet bloc, betting instead on a mixed economy, state planning, and non-alignment as the foundations of an independent national path. Eight decades later, that bet looks [...]
Young people across India recently made international headlines for mass protests over the recurring leaks of entrance exams that help students qualify for medical schools and highly coveted government jobs. The Gen Z protesters won a major victory within a matter of weeks when Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on July 25, 2026, bowing to their [...]
In the spring semester of 1969, my ninth-grade social studies teacher, Mrs. Schwartz, tasked me with leading the “Arab” side of a debating team on what was then referenced as the “Arab/Israeli crisis.”  Two years following the disastrous “preventive” war launched by Israel against Egypt, Jordan and Syria, my class was supposed to explore the [...]
Zohran Mamdani’s tenure as New York City mayor has raised hopes of a more invigorated, deeper form of democracy and posed a question facing progressive mayors everywhere: how to translate the grassroots energy that brings them to office into a sustained movement for change. In our new book, The Power and Perils of Participatory Democracy: Participatory Budgeting and Democracy [...]
On July 14, at a summit in Orlando, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Director Terrance Cole declared that Mexican cartels and the Mexican government are “one and the same.” He offered no evidence. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum demanded that evidence be presented; none was. Mexico’s Security Cabinet responded with figures—tens of thousands of arrests, hundreds of tons of [...]
Can all the people be fooled all the time? Can a country with a population of a billion-and-a-half be dragged around like a corpse forever? It cannot. The Cockroaches are out and about. For the first time in years, it feels wonderful to be Indian. Just when hope seemed lost, they came. Young roaches riding [...]
The Israeli military’s Orwellian use of artificial intelligence for surveillance, targeting, and execution of attacks against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has been well-documented by journalists, reporters, and activists in Israel and the United States. Less known is the close collaboration between the military and police departments in the United States, which have [...]
The US is the richest country in the world, yet an international outlier on many measures. Among industrialized nations, the US spends a lower percentage of its GDP on public social expenditure, has no universal healthcare system, union density is at an all-time low, and the average American’s standard of living is in decline, as [...]
Having recently presented Classical Marxist theory, then Leninist strategy, and last time Bolshevik practice, this essay moves on to critically assess Leninist strategy as the next step toward assessing Marxist Leninist Ideology as a whole. Most of this article, like others in this series, was conceived and written back in the early 1970s and excerpted [...]
Most of Us Don’t Have a Strategy for Power The truth is, most of the groups and organizations that make up our movements do not have a strategy for winning. They might think they have a strategy. They might tell themselves they have one. They certainly tell their funders or dues-paying members they do; and [...]
For decades, the technology industry was a fortress that labor unions couldn’t breach. Tech workers already had cushy compensation packages, dream benefits like unlimited vacation and free lunch, and a flat corporate hierarchy that made engineers feel as powerful as their bosses, all of whom dressed down in sneakers and hoodies. So why unionize? Now, [...]
Beyond the Feminism-or-Family Dichotomy The relationship between feminism, the family, and capitalism has become one of the most contentious theoretical and political questions of recent decades. In many societies—semi-peripheral ones in particular—rapid social change, rising female educational attainment, women’s growing presence in public life, and shifting family patterns have raised new questions about the future [...]
As part of Spectre‘s ongoing discussion regarding how the Left can think the conjuncture in Venezuela given recent US intervention and the dynamics of the Venezuelan state, here Spectre editors Shireen Akram-Boshar and Charlie Post interview Federico Fuentes. Federico is a longtime Venezuela solidarity activist who lived in Caracas for several years during the Hugo Chávez government as [...]
NP editor’s intro: This reflection is written by a refugee who left Gaza at the end of 2023. It was forwarded to us by a regular contributor who has known her for around a dozen years. My sister spent more than twenty years as an elementary school teacher. To her students, she was far more [...]
“As a fourteen-year-old boy getting my first job at the grocery store down the street I learned power relationship the first day I placed the apron on. I learned that what I earned was controlled by the person above me … that the boss controlled everything” America has celebrated its 250th year of existence. At [...]
The politics of artificial intelligence are entering a new phase. In the United States and beyond, communities are protesting data centers that are projected to triple water and electricity consumption by 2030, drive up utility costs, and harm the environment. Artists, journalists, and writers are suing AI companies for using their work without permission. Teachers are questioning whether generative AI is improving education. And workers in many fields are growing worried about automation, [...]
Earlier this year, Gallup asked a national sample of Americans whether they would support an AI data center being built in their local area. Seventy-one percent opposed it, 48 percent of them strongly. Opposition to living near a nuclear power plant was markedly lower, at 53 percent. Republicans, Democrats and independents all rejected data centers. Asked why, [...]
On 20 July, thousands of young people attempted to march from Jantar Mantar to Parliament. They carried placards, shouted slogans, and demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over repeated examination irregularities, paper leaks, cancelled tests, and the government’s refusal to accept responsibility for the devastation inflicted upon students. The Delhi Police answered [...]
Two major stories regarding the United States and Israel in recent days represent profound watershed moments in the history of the relationship between both countries.  The first incident occurred on July 8 when US Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) and his delegation were detained by armed, illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.  “These hoodlums [...]
Outside theology, the term “Antichrist” has a broader, more secular, and highly descriptive sense. It names a powerful, grossly malevolent person who persistently parades wealth and preens perverse tastes, who is bad to the bone, who is the polar opposite of “good.” A person like, say, Adolf Hitler  as he fostered and rode the NAZI tide. [...]
After the Israeli Parliament passed the law in 2018 referred to as a “breach of the duty of loyalty,” the Ministry of Interior was granted the authority to revoke a person’s residency rights if it determines that “the individual is not sufficiently loyal to the State of Israel.” As a result of this law, 41-year-old [...]
At the World Inequality Conference in June, the renowned economist Thomas Piketty and a team of 45 researchers from the World Inequality Lab unveiled the Global Justice Report. It’s a highly impressive and eloquent proposal to achieve ‘equality and prosperity within planetary boundaries’ by the end of the century. Based on a fully quantified roadmap derived [...]
The “Great Transition Campaign” of the Boston-based Tellus Institute describes its mission as helping to “catalyze a global movement for systemic change” in the face of worldwide social and ecological crises. It invites leading figures to publish a lead essay on a particular topic of urgent concern, followed by responses that are then published as [...]
There are just over three weeks left before Abelardo De La Espriella takes office as Colombia’s new president, despite the numerous allegations that cast a shadow over his election and, as usual, discredit the Colombian electoral system. The announcements already being made by Abelardo and his designated cabinet mark a significant change of course, not [...]
Introduction: From Military Occupation to Structural Influence Imperial power has not disappeared. Wars, occupations, and military interventions remain central features of the international system, from Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan. What has changed is the primary instrument through which major powers reproduce long-term influence over other societies. The invasions of Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan [...]
On March 4, 2026, a U.S. warship torpedoed and sank the unarmed Iranian frigate IRIS Dena off the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The unlawful attack killed more than 80 Iranian sailors and injured more than 30, who were returning home after participating in the Indian Navy’s flagship biennial multilateral naval exercise, Exercise MILAN, and the International [...]
After Miami-based firm Affinity Partners secured their first building permit for major developments on Albania’s coast on April 29, outrage in the small Balkan country has steadily grown. Within weeks, a video of a protestor being beaten and dragged away by private security guards went viral, helping ignite what has become known as Albania’s “Flamingo [...]
Here is the bottom line: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no intention of leaving Gaza, either before Israel’s general elections—likely to be held in October—or after. Conceding an inch from the roughly 70 percent of the territory his army currently occupies in Gaza will be considered a weakness by the majority of Israeli voters [...]
This is an excerpt from “For Louder Days: Reaching Beyond a Politics of Powerlessness,” originally published at Convergence. The truth is, most of the groups and organizations that make up our movements do not have a strategy for winning. They might think they have a strategy. They might tell themselves they have one. They certainly [...]
Introduction Since October 7, 2023, the world has witnessed one of the largest waves of protest since the Iraq War. Student encampments emerged from Columbia University to Berkeley, and from Amsterdam to London. Dockworkers in Oakland refused to load ships carrying weapons destined for Israel. In December 2023, South Africa brought a case against Israel [...]
A sitting United States congressman was detained for more than an hour last week by armed men carrying American-made rifles, and when soldiers arrived they took the gunmen’s side. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, was surrounded near Khirbet Zanuta, a Palestinian hamlet in the southern West Bank, by Israeli settlers wielding M4 rifles. His van was [...]
June 24 marked the start of the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, the world’s largest international naval war games. Led by the U.S., the military exercises bring together 31 countries and include more than 25,000 personnel, 40 surface ships, 5 submarines, and 140 aircraft. The event, which will run until July 31, marks [...]
The Permian period ended about 250 million years ago with the largest recorded mass extinction in Earth’s history, when a series of massive volcanic eruptions is believed to have triggered global climate change that ultimately wiped out 96 percent of marine species in an event known as the “Great Dying.” According to Justin Penn, a [...]
Much of the time, it seems as if the war machine runs on auto-pilot. Indeed, the United States has been engaged in warfare for almost the entirety of our 250 year history. It feels overwhelming to most people to attempt to intervene, yet we are all involved, as our tax dollars feed endless wars, interventions, [...]
Elon Musk is officially the richest man on Earth. The source of his wealth is not his own cunning. Nor can it be fully explained by capitalism’s financial architecture, tax loopholes, and the value created by the workers employed in his various ventures. Tech billionaires’ companies are robbing humanity of its distinctive capacity to create. [...]
The Palestinian national soccer team isn’t playing in this year’s World Cup. But despite a national and global crackdown on pro-Palestinian protest and speech, the games have witnessed an outpouring of support for Palestinians. Fans, players, and coaches from the likes of Egypt, Scotland, Brazil, South Korea, Morocco, Mexico, Turkey, Norway, Senegal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, [...]
Abstract This article examines Turkey’s geopolitical position through the lens of world-systems theory, drawing on the Marxist theory of imperialism. Its central argument is that Turkey, as a semi-peripheral power, is attempting to strike a fragile balance between structural dependence on the core centers of global capital and its drive to expand regional influence, all [...]
With the artificial intelligence boom reshaping the global economy, workers are racing to defend their rights as the ground shifts beneath them. A narrowly averted strike at Samsung Electronics in Korea this spring was a major test of labor’s ability to fight back. Weeks before the planned strike, a historic 40,000 Samsung workers rallied outside the company’s [...]
The United States is a plutocracy. Its economy works for the wealthy and powerful at the expense of working people. It is a broken politico-economic system in need of major repairs, but as leading progressive economist Gerald Epstein points out in the interview that follows, there is indeed an arsenal of bold policies to “defeat [...]
It is an arresting image: On the Fourth of July, a lone, young Black woman sits on a train filled with White nationalists headed to commemorate America’s 250th birthday in our nation’s capital.  Her thousand-yard stare is one of dignified terror. It is a moment forced upon her, in a democracy still reckoning with its [...]
“I just want to say there was tremendous love in that room,” President Trump declared as he wrapped up the 2026 NATO summit in Ankara. But anyone looking beyond the carefully choreographed photo-ops saw an alliance beset by public feuds, competing visions of security, and widening political divisions. Here are eight contradictions that defined the [...]
Nuclear nonproliferation requires national sovereignty; states must believe that they can preserve their security without nuclear weapons. Where international law is respected, and powerful states can be constrained from attacking weaker ones, the incentives for nuclear proliferation decline. Where these conditions disappear, the logic of nuclear deterrence becomes increasingly compelling. This is the dangerous lesson [...]
As NATO leaders gather in Ankara on July 7-8, the alliance will again speak the language it has used for decades: unity, solidarity, deterrence, and collective commitment. Yet the central political question hanging over the meeting is harder to conceal than any summit communiqué. The Iran war has exposed a growing weakness in American leadership: [...]
Absorbing the revelations in the book Regime Change by journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, I posed a question to my American colleague: why do figures like Donald Trump continue to get elected? With his signature measured calm, he offered a chilling truth. He suggested that Americans have not felt history’s harsh winds blow with [...]
Lina Farajallah follows the dumping trucks every morning from the window of her quaint home in Idhna, a Palestinian town in Hebron in the southern West Bank. They carry waste from Israel and the nearby Jewish settlements into her neighborhood and dump it a few hundred meters from where she lives with her daughter. The [...]
“The American Dream is Back,” President Trump boasted during his July 4, 2026, speech on the National Mall. This is the same man who said, “I love the inflation,” as he constantly assures us that affordability is a Democratic hoax. Trump no longer even pretends to give lip service to addressing the economic issues he [...]