Europe Can Accommodate Migrants, but Politicians Don’t Want Them

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Sep 6, 2015 Contrary to the perception pushed by officials and the dominant media, the refugees arriving on European shores constitute a small minority of the immigrants within and going to the European Union, writes Richard Seymour in the magazine Jacobin. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Resisting Neoliberalism in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 30, 2015 Authorities “demolished all of the city’s remaining traditional public housing … converted almost the entire public school system into charters, eliminated the teachers’ collective bargaining agreement” and oversaw “the permanent closure … of the public hospital dedicated to serving the poor,” writes Jay Arena in the magazine Jacobin. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

A Historian Weighs In on Racism and Economic Inequality

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 1, 2015 What were “slavery, colonialism, Jim Crow, and urban apartheid if not extreme forms of economic inequality?” Seth Ackerman asks in the magazine Jacobin. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Make No Mistake, Wall Street Loves Hillary

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig May 25, 2015 “Clinton’s campaign staff is working overtime … to show how well she relates to ordinary Americans,” writes Elizabeth Schulte at Jacobin. “But the people whose opinions really matter in the presidential election know better.” Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Focus on ‘Privilege’ May Divert Attention From Real Villains

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Apr 12, 2015 TED talker and New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas and Vox cast doubt on the 99 percent concept, suggesting that 1-percenter “privilege” haunts quite a few of us. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

‘I Got Into Sex Work to Afford to Be a Writer’

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Mar 16, 2014 Brooklyn journalist Melissa Gira Grant is one of the voices who has emerged in the last few years to defend the rights and dignity of people working in all parts of the sex industry. As her new book hits the shelves, she tells The Guardian about moving from sex work into journalism. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Neoliberalism’s Favorite Advice

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 7, 2014 The cheap slogan, an alleged encouragement for today's worker, cruelly ignores the fact that very few of us have the opportunity to make a living doing much of anything that sustains our spirits, Miya Tokumitsu writes at Jacobin. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Re-Establishing King

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jan 21, 2014 "There is probably no figure in recent American history whose memory is more distorted, whose message more bowdlerized, whose powerful words are more drained of content than King," University of Pennsylvania history professor Thomas J. Sugrue writes at Jacobin. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

‘We Could Have Achieved So Much…’ Say Progressives

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Oct 19, 2013 "The recent flurry of effort to decipher just who this right-wing is reproduces a persistent error in the progressive narrative: A failure to address the conservatism of Democrats and the chaos and passivity of the American Left," political science professor Alex Gourevitch writes at Jacobin. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Liberal ‘Confusion’ About America’s Education Problem

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 8, 2013 Neoliberalism, the economic doctrine that favors zero government regulation of commerce and other activities, is giving American education to the corporations, and well-meaning but deluded liberals are complicit in the takeover, Lois Weiner writes at Jacobin. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Politics of Debt in America

By Steve Fraser, TomDispatch Jan 31, 2013 In 2013, you can’t actually be jailed for not paying your bills, but ingenious corporations, collection agencies, cops, courts and lawyers have devised ways to ensure that debt “delinquents” will end up in jail anyway. With one-third of the states now allowing the jailing of debtors (without necessarily calling it that), it looks ever more like a trend in the making. Dig deeper ( 18 Min. Read )

Karl Marx Is More Relevant Than Ever

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jan 26, 2013 “For many in my generation, the ideological underpinnings of capitalism have been undermined,” writes Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara at The Guardian. “That a higher percentage of Americans between the ages of 18 and 30 have a more favorable opinion of socialism than capitalism … signals that the cold war era conflation of socialism with Stalinism no longer holds sway.” Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )