Fifty years ago today, Portugal’s Carnation Revolution began as soldiers overthrew the dictatorship. Although the revolution was ultimately contained, it changed the face of European politics and hastened the shift to democracy in Spain and Greece.
Some Portuguese Still Haven’t Accepted the Revolution
Fifty years since Portugal’s democratic revolution, the far-right Chega party is on the rise. It’s exploiting disaffection with mainstream parties — but also nostalgia for the days when dictator António de Oliveira Salazar ruled a Portuguese empire.
Filming the Story of Amílcar Cabral’s Revolution
Half a century ago, Amílcar Cabral asked a group of young filmmakers from Guinea-Bissau to bring his country’s independence struggle to the big screen. They’re now completing the project as a tribute to one of Africa’s greatest revolutionaries.
Never Forget Portugal’s Revolution
Fifty years ago today, a left-wing military revolt against Portugal’s dictatorship transformed into an anti-colonial social revolution that shook the world. Now, in 2024, its radical history is being forgotten at home.
How Portugal’s Revolutionaries Overthrew the Dictatorship
In The Carnation Revolution, Alex Fernandes provides an account of the movement that overthrew decades of dictatorship, written with the flair and dramatic sensibility of a spy thriller.
With the development of artificial intelligence racing forward at warp speed, some of the richest men in the world may be deciding the fate of humanity right now.
Why They’re Calling Student Protesters Antisemites
Backers of Israel’s war have lost the battle for hearts and minds, so they’ve ginned up a controversy over student protests — they want us talking about anything other than the genocide in Gaza.
Shawn Fain: “The Working Class Is the Arsenal of Democracy”
United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain: “We win by giving working-class people the tools, the inspiration, and the courage to stand up for themselves.”
The Case for Capital Controls
Globalization is a project of class war whose destructive effects have driven many US workers into the Trumpian right. The Left needs a real response to the problems raised by global capital mobility — and that should start with capital controls.
Pro-Palestine Protesters Are on the Right Side of History
Like those who protested the Vietnam War, the college students currently protesting Israel’s vicious assault on Gaza are in the right. Future generations won’t look kindly on those who used the moment to smear campus protesters as “antisemites.”
ChatGPT feeds on language, outputting texts that reinforce the basic assumptions of our culture. The rise of AI forces the Left to take a hard look at the politics of language and the linguistics of Noam Chomsky.
Guy Ritchie’s Ungentlemanly Warfare Is a Disappointment
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Guy Ritchie’s British twist on the old World War II “man on a mission” flicks. But despite being loosely based on a true story, it plays more like a cartoon.
The Making and Unmaking of the American Dream
The New York Times’ David Leonhardt has written a compelling overview of the improbable rise and spectacular fall of the New Deal order. But he understates the difficulty in reviving a form of American social democracy.
For Abortion Advocates, Now Is Not the Time for Retreat
In the wake of Arizona’s resurrection of a 19th-century law banning abortion, it’s clear that the post-Roe right will go to great lengths to limit reproduction freedom. The abortion rights movement will have to mount a campaign of equal magnitude.
Amazon Flex Drivers Are Constantly at Risk
Behind Amazon’s lightning-fast delivery service is an entire population of Amazon Flex workers, whose wages are meager and whose employment status is as independent contractors rather than Amazon employees.