For most of history, there was no ‘Germany’ as such – just a ragbag of German-speaking states. In 1871, most of them unified into the German Empire (Austria stayed outside, together with Switzerland, where German is but one of the languages spoken). ¶ Germany came late to the capitalist table, and flexed its muscles in the early 20th century with the aim of becoming a major imperialist power. … | more…
Helena Sheehan author, most recently, of Navigating the Zeitgeist: A Story of the Cold War, the New Left, Irish Republicanism, and International Communism, talks to C.S. Soong, host of Against the Grain, about her life as an activist, educator, Marxist philosopher, and her engagement with radical movements, including the New Left, the IRA, and the Communist Party of Ireland. | more…
Zillah Eisenstein, author of recently published Abolitionist Socialist Feminism: Radicalizing the Next Revolution, talks about the crises all humans face–of capitalism, of racism, of misogyny–and how these crises cannot be reformed individually, but must be understood and fought with revolutionary rethinking, on This is Hell!, WNUR-FM. | more…
Reading between the lines is a skill we all need. Justice, freedom, equality and other fine ideals are invoked daily, but what do they really mean? In the abstract, it is impossible to say, for it is only when they are used in concrete contexts that we can get some meaningful handle on them…. | more…
But there exists a different narrative, or at least there did in the 1930s, before it was buried under an avalanche of patriotic American propaganda and liberal historiography. According to this alternative understanding, the US was falling victim to fascism already in the 1920s — though a different sort of fascism than in Europe… | more…
“Kohei Saito’s book Karl Marx’s Ecosocialism is based on extensive and painstaking research. As well as Marx’s published works, Saito makes use of notebooks that Marx kept on science and agriculture and that have only recently been made available. He argues that ecological questions were central to Marx’s worldview and defends a version of ecosocialism based on the notion of metabolism, and using the Marxist tools of value theory, contradiction and alienation…. | more…
Why are US health-care costs far higher than elsewhere in the world? And why, if so much more is spent, are such critical outcomes as rates of infant and maternal mortality, life expectancy and treatments for serious diseases not significantly better – and often markedly worse – than in other economically comparable countries?… | more…
Political scientist, author, and activist, Marta Harnecker devoted her life to collaborating in building radical democracy in Latin American communities where people have, for generations, experienced crushing poverty and a near complete loss of control over their lives. In South America and the Caribbean, but especially in Cuba and Venezuela, Harnecker has worked directly with disenfranchised workers and peasants. In this latest work, Harnecker, with Spanish economist José Bartolomé, shares some of her wisdom on how this is being done, and how communities everywhere can gain empowerment. | more…
Born into a typical all-American and socially conservative family of Irish Catholic origin, it’s fair to say that Helena Sheehan’s eventual immersion in left politics would probably have come as much of a shock to her as it did to her immediate family… | more…
Gerald Horne’s Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music examines the economic, social, and political forces that shaped this music into a phenomenal U.S.—and Black American—contribution to global arts and culture. Horne assembles a galvanic story depicting what may have been the era’s most virulent economic—and racist—exploitation, as jazz musicians battled organized crime, the Ku Klux Klan, and other variously malignant forces dominating the nightclub scene where jazz became known… | more…
WILPERT: Joining me now to discuss the causes, consequences, and solutions to African Swine Fever is Rob Wallace….
WALLACE: Hello. I would say it was a pleasure to be here, but I think when Real News’s audience sees me, they know that some terrible disease has happened out there somewhere….” | more…