Author: R

  • Time to Adopt “Cap-and-Trade”? A Response to Robin Hahnel

    The question of what demands ecosocialists should put forward in response to the climate crisis is a pressing one.  Robin Hahnel, in “An Open Letter to the Climate Justice Movement”, argues that the climate justice movement should demand a cap-and-trade policy, abandoning its traditional stance against carbon trading.  To Hahnel, carbon trading is the most…

  • Some Thoughts Following Keystone XL Dissent

    It was a feeling I had as I approached the gathering point inside the campus of Georgetown University yesterday morning. Perhaps it was just a feeling, the mood I was in. I’m not sure. But I was soon able to identify its source: young people expressing an elemental outrage over government policy that makes no…

  • Chokwe Lumumba (1947-2014)

    Freedom Fighter Chokwe Lumumba died suddenly on February 25, 2014 at the age of 66. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and the New Afrikan People’s Organization.

  • Strategies to Stop Climate Change

    On December 3, the Vancouver Ecosocialist Group put on an event, “Strategies to Stop Climate Change.” We are republishing the speech by VEG member Gene McGuckin. A report on the event and links to videos of all the speakers’ talks is online here. Video of Gene McGuckin’s speech at the Vancouver Ecosocialist Group event on…

  • HRC and the Vulture Fund: Making Third World Poverty Pay for LGBT Rights

    This article was originally published on the author’s blog, a paper bird. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest US gay organization, is going international. It’s just been given at least $3 million to spread the word of marriage equality to benighted countries that treat gays badly. Unfortunately, there’s a catch. Its chief partner and…

  • Elsipogtog First Nation Resists the RCMP and Southwestern Energy

    By now, many of you have heard about the October 17 attack by Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the Mi’kmaq Warrior encampment near Rexton, New Brunswick, Canada. About 200 Mounties descended on an anti-shale gas encampment with assault rifles and dogs to issue an injunction against their protest, arresting around 40 people, including Elsipogtog First…

  • As The Curtain Rises in LA: Will Better Convention Staging Produce a New AFL-CIO?

    I’ve only been to two national AFL-CIO conventions in forty years of union activity. The one four years ago was pretty dreary—setting a low bar for improvements this year. In 2009, the California Nurses Association (CNA) and several other unions held a big reception highlighting their support for single payer health insurance—not a bad cause…

  • Obama’s Speaking Tour: More “Talk the Talk” Again

    Over the last week, President Obama has kicked off a series of speeches on the subject of the economy. The deeper purpose of his speaking tour is to stake out his position for the upcoming budget and deficit cutting battle that will likely occur within the next few months, as both the new budget year…

  • Great Expectations in Brazil

    The recent series of massive protests across Brazil have taken everyone – even the instigating group, the Movimento do Passe Livre (MPL) – by surprise. Some international lefties and political analysts have repeated what mainstream Brazilian journalist have claimed to be the most important protests since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985. This…

  • The Chicago Teachers’ Strike and Beyond: Strategic Considerations

    Last September’s Chicago teachers’ strike raises critical strategic questions for all progressives and socialists seeking to resist the relentless neoliberal austerity attacks against working people and their communities. For teachers and union activists generally, it was a long-awaited event. Finally, a teachers’ union had the courage to take a stand against the corporate education agenda…