Mythologies,” writes veteran human rights lawyer Michael Tigar, “are structures of words and images that portray people, institutions, and events in ways that mask an underlying reality.” For instance, the “Justice Department” appears, by its very nature and practice, to appropriate “justice” as the exclusive property of the federal government. In his brilliantly acerbic collection of essays, Tigar reveals, deconstructs, and eviscerates mythologies surrounding the U.S. criminal justice system, racism, free expression, workers’ rights, and international human rights. | more…

The title of Michael Yates’ new book asks a question that every socialist has heard many times. We hear it from liberals who think changes can only be made by working inside the system. We hear it from radicals who simply can’t imagine working people moving against the system. ¶ Is it really possible that people who voted for Trump or Clinton — two faces of global reaction — might one day overthrow capitalism?…. | more…

A large segment of the US public was horrified in May and June when they saw the Trump administration snatching toddlers away from Central American mothers who arrived at the US border seeking asylum. Many would still be appalled if they knew that the White House is seeking to continue the practice in a different form. Most undoubtedly feel genuine sympathy for young people trying to escape violent gangs or abusive partners. Still, a lot of these same sympathetic Americans don’t actually want the asylum seekers to come here…. | more…

I started reading this book the day that news arrived from Brazil that the extreme right-wing Jair Bolsonaro had been elected President. It made me reflect how the failure of left-projects that fail to challenge the capitalist state can open the door to right-wing and fascist politicians that will decimate the working classes and their institutions… | more…

‘Anthropocene’ refers to a new geological period, where the activities of human beings have become the dominant factor shaping the planet’s changing geology, biology and climate, including effects on humanity. Angus, and increasingly geologists, are focusing on the period beginning around 1950, when humanity’s impact, which had been developing gradually, underwent a ‘great acceleration’ — a dialectical transformation of quantity into quality…. | more…

Too often, food and agriculture have been left out of left-wing political discourse, as if peripheral to the class struggle. But actually, they are crucial. Family and peasant farmers need to be able to feed themselves and their families, while workers need nutritious diets too. However, capitalism needs a supply of landless labourers who have nothing to sell but their labour power … | more…

This is the first of eight parts of Farooque Chowdhury’s review of this book for Frontier: An independent weekly since 1968. Look for the rest of the review, in compiled form, coming soon to MR Online… | more…

Combining meticulous scientific narrative with devastating economic analysis, The Biofuels Deception argues that the seemingly innovative, hopeful campaign for “green energy” is actually driven by bio-technology industries and global grain-trading corporations. These corporate players are motivated by a late-capitalist need to cope with a crisis of accumulation; they have no real interest in mitigating climate change, alleviating poverty, or even creating “clean” energy…. | more…

The subtitle, Capital, Nature and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy, is a straightforward summary of Saito’s argument. He challenges the repeated criticism, since the 1970s, of Marx for “Prometheanism”, or “hyperindustrialism”, an alleged naïve acceptance of the common 19th century idea advocating the complete human domination of nature. … | more…

What if more education doesn’t lead to more highly paid, skilled jobs? Gerald Coles, educational psychologist and author of Miseducating for the Global Economy, talks with Sasha Lilley of Against the Grain (94.1 KPFA) about our twenty-first-century global economy—and what corporations are doing to prevent our learning about it. | more…

With the fall of Soviet Union, the revival of Capitalism in China and upsurge of right-wing movements and governments in large parts of the world with the exception of few countries of Latin America, author’s basic concern is whether this neo liberal right-wing trend can be overcome in favour of socialist revival? And who is going to lead this revival… | more…