By Ana Castillo (August 4, 2017) XICANISMA 2017 Sadly, I know of whence she speaks. It is a reality in this country that defies the belief that education is a sure way for all to climb up the economic ladder. Instead, college grads are in debt, taking on jobs not related to their fields in order to make ends meet,…
Read more
By Joe Lowndes (August 3, 2017) Over the last week the White House appeared to be in a kind of free fall, marked by palace intrigue, organizational chaos, and of course, the rise and fall of the Mooch. In contrast this commedia dell-arte however, we now get two proposals that advance a clear domestic agenda: the proposed immigration “merit system”…
Read more
By S. (June 14, 2017) Thought experiment for my white friends: In The Handmaid’s Tale a cabal of elite, white Christians seize control of the government, send all of the black people away (to reservations or death camps, it’s not clear), and then turn every white woman into a slave. What feelings arise when you imagine the same scenario, except…
Read more
By Chris Lowe (May 30, 2017) I first ran across the term “neoliberal” in the context of being a scholar of Africa in the 1980s when neoliberal economists and policy makers took over the World Bank and IMF under Reagan and Thatcher, and began imposing what were known as “structural adjustment” policies on poor countries seeking to renew loans. For…
Read more
By Chris Lowe (May 17, 2017) We watch in awe and dismay Donald Trump’s amazing performance art piece Drunken Juggler President. We prepare to duck and dodge when the next plate in the plate spinning part caroms off toward us, and to groan: Noooo, don’t drop the globe! The details are endlessly fascinating, in that recurring monster movie dream time…
Read more
By Mark Naison (May 10, 2017) No one familiar with the history of New York City should be surprised by the scandals that have beset the Trump Administration. No one, I repeat no one, could have had the success Donald Trump had in putting up building after building in New York City during the 1970’s and 1980’s without having ties…
Read more
By Jasper Smith (September 28, 2016) Either way, the oligarchy wins. In Clinton, they get an able and capable administrator who is solicitous of their interests and gives them the security and stability that they and their markets crave. Banks and billionaires are lining up to support the Clinton brand that brought us the Crime Bill, Welfare Reform, NAFTA, and…
Read more
By Mark Naison (September 26, 2016) In challenging racism, even in ways that get in people’s faces, I usually avoid the use of the term “white privilege”. Here is why: Addressing “whites” as privileged not only erases vast differences in their economic status, including the downward mobility and hardship many have been experiencing in the last 20 years, it fails…
Read more
By Teka Lark (September 22, 2016) When I owned a newspaper in South Central Los Angeles I endorsed one candidate over another. I regret that decision, not because I didn’t believe in the candidate I endorsed. I did believe in what that candidate stood for, but I believe the game of politics is evil. When you endorse one person over…
Read more
By S. Brian Willson (September 21, 2016) As much as we choose to blame politicians, corporations, the military industrial complex, capitalist economics, etc., for causing our severe problems, in the end, virtually all of us moderns are complicit. None of these institutions have been created in a vacuum. They are creations of human beings like ourselves, and most “First…
Read more
By Mark Naison (March 11, 2016) I just had an epiphany. I’ve been thinking about why our economic and political elites are devoting so much energy to destroying public education. What’s in it for them, other than the profits to be made from investments in technology, software, real estate and other direct benefit to corporations from testing and school privatization?