Today marks 30 years since the end of El Salvador’s civil war, which claimed over 75,000 lives. Nidia Díaz, a leftist guerrilla tortured by state forces during the conflict, discusses the war and how the democratic gains of that struggle are being undermined.
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Early Soviet Art and Architecture Thrived Out of the Ruins of War
In the 1920s, Soviet artists and architects were inspired by grand visions of a new society. But years of civil war tumult had left the country’s productive capacity in ruins. So they made do with little — and a new aesthetic was born.
The Socialist Politics and Theology of Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich was perhaps the most towering Christian theologian of the 20th century. His religious thought is well remembered today — but his resolutely socialist thinking and agitating is not.
The Private Sector Will Destroy the NHS, Not Save It
Some in the Labour Party support using the private sector to bring down NHS waiting lists. But private health care is about putting profit over helping patients — not saving a public health system.
The CIA May Be Breeding Nazi Terror in Ukraine
The CIA has been secretly training anti-Russian groups in Ukraine since 2015. Everything we know points to the likelihood that includes neo-Nazis inspiring far-right terrorists across the world.
- Issue No. 43 out now!
- Fall 2021
Lower the Crime Rate
In this issue
A Brazilian Bloodbath
When Lula and the Workers’ Party took power in Brazil, they had a plan to take on crime and the power of the police. Their failure helped undermine their entire program.
Over 70 percent of Nairobi’s inhabitants live within just 5 percent of the city’s residential space. Kenyan police are displacing — and sometimes even killing — these residents to make room for property developers and highways for the rich.
In the Days of Tito and Allende, Yugoslavia Helped Define Chilean Socialism
Chile’s new president, Gabriel Boric, has stressed the importance of his Yugoslav roots. But well before Boric’s rise to prominence, across much of the last century, Yugoslav socialism was a major influence on the Chilean left.
Yolanda Díaz Is Fighting to Make the Spanish Left Work
Since becoming Unidas Podemos leader last April, Spanish labor minister Yolanda Díaz has broken the populist party out of its rut. She’s won concrete gains for organized labor through her government post — showing how the Left can reconnect with the working class.
George Clooney’s The Tender Bar Needs More Bar, Less Yale
With Ben Affleck playing a lovable bartender and surrogate father, The Tender Bar has its charms, but it stalls out with familiar tropes about working-class kids getting the hell out of the old neighborhood.
Deporting Novak Djokovic Is a Political Stunt
While COVID-19 overwhelms Australia’s health system, Scott Morrison’s government has spent the week trying to deport tennis star Novak Djokovic. It’s a cynical attempt to distract from a major public health disaster.
For centuries, debt and indebtedness have had profoundly destabilizing effects on human societies. In the ancient world, rulers and their subjects had a solution: known as a debt jubilee, it involved a periodic, unconditional wiping out of debt. We need such a jubilee today.
Boris Johnson Has Outlived His Usefulness for Britain’s Ruling Class
Boris Johnson has always been a liar and a hypocrite, but he was British elites’ liar and hypocrite. As he sinks deeper and deeper into a COVID-related scandal, those same elites may have lost their use for Boris.
They Shoot Bunny Rabbits, Don’t They?
Yet again this week, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki dismissed legitimate questions about Biden’s governance, sarcastically referring to “bunny rabbits and ice cream.” It’s an admission that this administration and its party are incapable of delivering what they promise.
The Bernie Left Is Taking on Machine Politics — and Each Other
Rhode Island has long been one of the most corrupt and machine-driven states in America. A new left movement is trying to change that — but they can’t agree on how.
Peter Bogdanovich Embodied an Era When Cinema Really Mattered
Writer, director, and actor Peter Bogdanovich died last week at 82. His rocky career as a filmmaker, actor, and critic is a testament to an era in which the public took film seriously — and filmmakers took the public seriously.