Author: R

The success of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike in September 2012 was a stunning rebuke to the forces of privatization and corporate education reform. The defeat of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ambitions to deal a decisive blow against the largest union in Chicago took on national implications precisely due to continued implementation of the school…

For background on the mayoral campaign in Jackson, Mississippi and how it fits into the “Jackson Plan,” see this interview the author conducted with Chokwe Lumumba prior to his electoral victory.

Many words are about to be spent on these four days. Lots of things will be written, and many grandiose political analysis are surely on their way. But what has really happened these four days? The resistance for Gezi Park ignited the collective capacity to organize and act between us common citizens. It has been…

“Today, the food and agricultural model we have serves the interests of private companies. It is a model that puts the interests of the food industry and interests of capital before the needs of the people and respect for the ecosystem.” – Esther Vivas

On Friday, May 17th over 2,000 Philadelphia students staged a walkout, rally, and march to voice their opposition to the wave of school closures being planned by their school system. Citing a massive budget deficit as justification, the city is moving to close or relocate at least 23 schools. The already resource-starved schools that remain…

While the country continues to mourn the victims of the horrifying bombing of the Boston Marathon, another deadly explosion devastated a small town called West (just south of Dallas, Texas). On the evening of April 17, a large fertilizer plant caught fire and, just minutes later, exploded with terrifying force. The scale of the explosion…

The organized left, both socialist and anarchist, has been faced with the problems of rape and other forms of interpersonal violence in our movements in a particularly intense way in the past few months. Over 120 members have publicly resigned from the British Socialist Workers Party following repeated actions taken by the Central Committee to…

The extreme weather of 2012 and recent news that climate change is worse than previously thought have made it a front-page issue again. The Obama campaign’s silence on the issue and worldwide government paralysis have added to activists’ frustration and fueled participation in 350.org’s historic February 17th demonstration and campus fossil fuel divestment campaigns. This…

Russell Maroon Shoatz is a former Black Panther from Philadelphia who has been in prison for most of his life, and in solitary confinement for most of his time in prison. According to hip hop artist Chuck D. (who has written a forward to the just-published volume of essays by Shoatz titled “Maroon the Implacable”)…

Over one hundred million workers across India struck work for two days, on 20 and 21 February. The precise number is difficult to ascertain, but the strike went beyond the expectation of the trade union leaders and the bosses alike. This makes it probably the biggest general strike in working class history. Throughout the two…