The Best Truthdig Originals of 2019

This year’s Truthdig Originals cover a wide range of topics, from to subjugation by corporations and creative ideas for addressing climate change to elections and uprisings all over the world. Click on the title to read the full story.

The ‘Private Governments’ That Subjugate U.S. Workers By CHRIS HEDGES

Corporate dictatorships, under the ruling ideology of neoliberalism and libertarianism, have stripped away the rights of employees.

Governments Beware: People Are Rising Up All Over the World By SONALI KOLHATKAR

When people have had enough, they meet force with resistance and resilience.

We Are Living in the Wreckage of the War on Terror By MAJ. DANNY SJURSEN

Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan rage on with no end in sight. Our delusion was believing they were ever rational, winnable or meaningful.

The Cheapest Way to Save the Planet Grows Like a Weed By ELLEN BROWN

Now that growing industrial hemp is legal nationwide, the miracle crop could solve many of our environmental, health and socioeconomic troubles in one fell swoop.

Trump May Be a White Nationalist, but American Racism Is Bipartisan By PAUL STREET

Despite its rhetoric and appearance of diversity, the Democratic Party is deeply complicit in the nation’s structural and institutional racism.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Refuses to Be ‘Gaslit’ by The New York Times By KASIA ANDERSON

The congresswoman makes it clear that she doesn’t agree with the paper’s take on her career moves.

Argentina Defies the Americas’ Crisis of Democracy By JACOB SUGARMAN

As regional powers backslide and Donald Trump looms, one nation offers a popular, progressive alternative. A dispatch from Buenos Aires.

I Know What It’s Like to Be Told to ‘Go Back’ to My Own Country By NATASHA HAKIMI ZAPATA

As the daughter of Iranian and Mexican immigrants, the president’s racist attacks on four congresswomen of color have struck me to my core.

The Supreme Court May Be Lost for a Generation By BILL BLUM

John Robert is the newest swing vote, but he’s still a conservative. And if Trump is reelected, the GOP will likely get a sixth justice.

Donald Trump’s Anti-Semitism Grows Ever Bolder By ILANA NOVICK

He portrays his audience at the Israeli American Council’s National Summit as money-hungry villains, calling them “not nice people at all.”

The Real Russian Menace Is Just Hypercapitalism

By JACOB BACHARACH

A recent Washington Post feature lays bare the prejudices of our political press and its denial about how American society actually works.

The Left Is Finally Winning the War of Ideas By LEE CAMP

Despite the establishment’s best efforts, progressive issues are dominating the conversation—just look at the Democratic primaries.

Presidential Candidates Refuse to Discuss the Country’s Worst Crisis By BILL BOYARSKY

America’s homelessness problem is in plain view around the nation but conspicuously absent on the campaign trail.

Fred Hampton Lives On, 50 Years After His Assassination By TANA GANEVA

The Black Panther and civil rights leader pledged to “fight racism with solidarity.” The struggle against capitalism he championed lives on.

Who Would FDR Endorse? By CONOR LYNCH

The 32nd president understood how to leverage the popular will. Progressive candidates would be wise to embrace brand of his politics.

Lesbians Are a Target of Male Violence the World Over By JULIE BINDEL In many countries, they have won legislative equality. But the grim reality is that they still have reason to fear for their safety.

Britain’s Choice Is Socialism or Barbarism By ALAN MINSKY

In the Dec. 12 general election, the U.K. had to decide between a humane future or an ethnonationalist lurch toward the right.

Google Secretly Harvests the Health Data of Millions By JULIANNE TVETEN

A recent Wall Street Journal exposé arouses a familiar sense of dread about Silicon Valley companies and privacy.

NATO Is as Good as Dead By SCOTT RITTER

The 70-year-old alliance has been fraying since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Donald Trump’s presidency may finish it off altogether.

Los Angeles County’s District Attorney Must Go, and Here’s Why By MELINA ABDULLAH and RASHAD ROBINSON

Jackie Lacey, who oversees the largest prosecutorial office in the nation, has a pattern of neglecting black, brown and poor Angelenos.