Notes from the Editors The essays in this issue are of two sorts. The one we present first focuses on grassroots actions of the you-are-the-leaders-you’ve-been-looking-for persuasion. Mostly. Their focus tends to be on doings in the US: the black community, bingo workers, teachers and unions, meritocracy (an analytic counterpoise dealing with the wealthy), a grassroots … [Read more...] about Notes from the Editor [LT3]
Thomas Paine: America’s Most Radical Founding Father
by Lenny Flank Of all the leading figures of the American Revolution, there was no one quite like Thomas Paine. Born in England in 1737, Thomas Paine first became involved in political matters as a young man in a minor government office. In his first published work, a pamphlet entitled The Case of the Officers of Excise, he argued for better pay and working … [Read more...] about Thomas Paine: America’s Most Radical Founding Father
Impressions from Brazil
by Guy Gray In 2011 Greta and I moved to Brazil. We had both retired and we planned to live on the farm Greta had founded with her first husband and was recently reformed by her son. I had visited Brazil before but now I was going to be an expat in a new culture and language. I can tell you about the food and scenery but I will instead concentrate on the impressions of a new … [Read more...] about Impressions from Brazil
A century of politics and culture in Brazil
by Greta Browne For Christmas I was gifted the autobiography of Fernanda Montenegro, a 90-year-old Brazilian actress who became known worldwide for her role in the movie Central Station, as the tough old lady from Rio who took a young orphan boy to find his father in the interior of the country. Montenegro’s autobiography provides a vivid comparison between the Brazil of … [Read more...] about A century of politics and culture in Brazil
Iran Is Not Responsible For US Dead in Iraq
Democrats Need Backbone on Militarism to Win in 2020 by John Grant Who exactly is responsible for US casualties in Iraq during the Iraq War? The question has been raised thanks to President Trump’s decision to assassinate Iranian General Ghasem Soleimani. On January 13, the New York Times published a front-page story about a lawsuit filed against Iran in federal court … [Read more...] about Iran Is Not Responsible For US Dead in Iraq
On Class Consciousness and the 2020 Presidential Election
by Gary Olson After several weeks of intensive reading and discussion on class, capitalism, and socialism in my undergraduate course, The Politics of Labor, we would do the following exercise: Standing before the blackboard, I encouraged the students to list existing, objective, and determining conditions that might prompt the American working class to seek the abolition of … [Read more...] about On Class Consciousness and the 2020 Presidential Election
Obama and Trump: The Present as Prologue to a History of Inequality
by Eric Cheyfitz In 2011, I began writing The Disinformation Age: The Collapse of Liberal Democracy in the United States, which was published by Routledge in 2017, just after the Trump administration succeeded that of Obama, and now appears in this PaperBoat Press edition. The book is an historical view going back to the 17th century of how we got to Trump, whom we … [Read more...] about Obama and Trump: The Present as Prologue to a History of Inequality
‘The Only Logic of Trident is Omnicide’
Christopher Helali interviews Peace Activist Martha Hennessy Martha Hennessey is a longtime anti-war activist and the granddaughter of Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. She is 62, a retired occupational therapist, and grandmother of eight. She has been arrested and imprisoned protesting nuclear power, war, the use of drones, the torture of … [Read more...] about ‘The Only Logic of Trident is Omnicide’
Notes from the Editor (Left Turn #5)
President Trump’s targeted assassination-by-drone of Iran’s top commander, General Ghassem Soleimani, on January 3, 2020, vastly increased the risk of deadly military confrontation with Iran. Fortunately, Iran’s de-escalatory response in the form of missile attacks against US military bases in Iraq killed no US soldiers thereby allowing Trump to choose not to further escalate … [Read more...] about Notes from the Editor (Left Turn #5)
The Social Democratic Pipedream
by Michael D. Yates Today in the United States, there has been an upsurge in social democracy/democratic socialism (I use these terms interchangeably; I don’t see much difference between them, at least in the U.S.) The main current of social democracy is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), whose overall political perspective can be described as follows. There is no … [Read more...] about The Social Democratic Pipedream