The presidential election in November looks set to pit Donald Trump, who will most likely dismantle what is left of our decayed democracy, against Joe Biden, who is a full partner in the genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. “This is the paradox that we’re faced with,” says former Representative (and current candidate to represent Ohio’s 7th Congressional District) Dennis Kucinich: Americans keep voting, but on the national level, the only groups that consistently win our elections are militarists, corporations, and the billionaire class. “The American people are good-hearted people. Th ..read more

Taya Graham and Stephen Janis commemorate five years of the Police Accountability Report with this special livestream panel featuring legendary cop watchers James Freeman, LackLuster, The Battousai, Tom Zebra, Laura Shark, and Otto The Watchdog. In this extended livestream, Graham and Janis host a timely discussion about the possibility of police reform, the importance and impact of cop watching, and why it’s vital that we all find ways to keep fighting for change. Pre-Production: Stephen Janis, Taya Graham, David Hebden Studio Production: David Hebde ..read more

“Vina Colley was Erin Brockovich before Erin Brockovich,” Kevin Williams wrote in a 2020 Belt Magazine article titled, “The Poisonous Legacy of Portsmouth’s Gaseous Diffusion Plant.” Williams continues, “Colley has become an unlikely citizen-scientist, spending a lifetime researching and documenting PORTS and its sins… Colley was hired as an electrician at the facility in 1980 and worked there for three years. ‘I was exposed to everything. We were cleaning off radioactive equipment that we did not know was radioactive. They never told us,’ Colley told me. Then, she said, her hair ..read more

In 1912, the United States invaded Nicaragua and began what would become the longest US occupation in Latin American history. The occupation would birth both a dictatorship and one of Latin America’s most important revolutionary heroes: Augusto Sandino. Sandino would wage a six-year-long guerrilla insurgency to rid Nicaragua of the US Marines. And he would win. The United States finally pulled out in 1933, the year before Sandino was assassinated by the forces of the man who would take power and rule for decades. In this episode, host Michael Fox takes us on the trail of Augusto Sandino. We ..read more

Since Oct. 2023, the government of Yemen, led by the organization Ansarallah, or the “Houthis”, has maintained a humanitarian blockade of the Red Sea in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Despite attempts by the US and UK to force Yemen to abandon its mission, the blockade has only intensified, escalating to include all US and Israeli shipping, and even the targeting of US warships. The Real News reports from Yemen, where defiance against outside pressure and solidarity with the Palestinian cause remains unshaken. Producer: Belal Awad, Leo Erhardt Videographer: Dhaifallah Homran Video Edit ..read more

This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Apr. 22, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. Over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by U.S.-backed Israeli troops, and Columbia University students have been suspended and arrested by New York Police Department officers in recent days for protesting the slaughter—which led to a walkout by the Ivy League institution’s faculty on Monday. The Guardian reported that “hundreds of members of the teaching cohort at Columbia walked out in solidarity with the st ..read more

Gene Bruskin was born to a Jewish working-class family in South Philadelphia and has been a life-long social justice activist, union organizer, poet, and playwright. Since retiring from the labor movement, Gene wrote his first play in 2016, a musical comedy for and about work and workers called Pray For the Dead: A Musical Tale of Morgues, Moguls and Mutiny. In this mini-cast we talk to Bruskin about his life in the the labor movement, the role of art and imagination in revolutionary politics, and about Bruskin’s new musical, The Return of John Brown, which is premiering this month ..read more

This story originally appeared in Labor Notes on Apr. 19, 2024. It is shared here with permission. In a watershed victory, workers at the Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted tonight “UAW, yes!” The company’s sole non-union plant will finally join the rest of the world. “If Volkswagen workers at plants in Germany and Mexico have unions, why not us?” said equipment operator Briam Calderon in Spanish, ahead of the vote. “Just like Martin Luther King had a dream, we have a dream at Volkswagen that we will be UAW one day,” said Renee Berry, a logistic worker on the organizing c ..read more

In this extended episode, you will hear a compilation of speakers from the March 23 conference in East Palestine. Speakers include: Lauri Harmon, East Palestine resident; Chris Albright, East Palestine resident; Jami Rae Wallace, East Palestine resident, president of East Palestine Unity Council; Christina Siceloff, East Palestine resident; Rob Two-Hawks, East Palestine resident; Daren Gamble, East Palestine resident; John Palmer, longtime organizer and officer with the Teamsters, but not speaking on behalf of the Teamsters; Andrew Sandberg, International Association of Machinists IAM; Georg ..read more

We are living through an incipient technological revolution. AI, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, commercial space travel, and other innovations are rapidly transforming everything from the workplace to the financial architecture of the global economy. While many of these technologies hold vast potential to benefit the social good, the multinational corporations and financial oligarchy that drive innovation and own its products are solely motivated by private profit. The consequences are unfolding all around us. As technology and the power of the oligarchy advances, the misery and disenfranchis ..read more