Dispatches
Dispatches
News from the front lines of progressive grassroots politics.
lubasi
Brazil Isn’t the Only Far-Right Government Destroying the Planet
As the Amazon burns, the terrifying parallels between the U.S. and Brazilian governments highlight the damage authoritarian leaders are doing. Read more
Aug 24, 2019
The Chosen One’s Economy
“Elitist numbers. Fake news. Upside-down arrows. Don‘t believe the signs of weakness!” Read more
Aug 23, 2019
Isabel Marshall
Israel’s Online Occupation of Palestine
How a Facebook post can land you in prison. Read more
Aug 23, 2019
‘Anti-alien Hysteria:’ Journalist Elizabeth Glendower Evans and the Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti
In a case perhaps more relevant now than ever, the trial of the two immigrants became a rallying point for 1920s progressives, labor activists, and human rights advocates around the globe. Read more
Aug 22, 2019
KCAU video
Steve King: Confederate Soldiers Died ‘Putting an End to’ Slavery
Thankfully, this Iowan Congressman isn’t into creative anachronism. Read more
Aug 22, 2019
Workplace Raids Are Not the Answer
Criminalizing undocumented workers will not stop people from hiring them. It only makes them more exploitable. Read more
Aug 20, 2019
Fox News
To My New Admirer at Fox News
As a “super far left” member of the press, I found common ground defending free speech. But accuracy? Not so much. Read more
Aug 19, 2019
James Willamor
Right at Home: Why the GOP Chose Charlotte
If anyone is surprised by the xenophobia on display in North Carolina, they shouldn’t be. But there’s plenty of resistance, too. Read more
Aug 19, 2019
Participant Media
Ironies Abound in the Obama Documentary, ‘American Factory’
A Chinese billionaire reopens a shuttered Ohio GM plant, hiring some 2,000 Americans to work side-by-side with imported Chinese workers. Culture clash or cultural revolution? Read more
Aug 16, 2019
Trump Administration Poetry in Motion
“Give me your huddled masses...yearning to be kidnapped and caged!” Read more
Aug 15, 2019
Youth Against Settlements شباب ضد الاستيطان
Fighting Israel’s Occupation at the Grassroots Level with YAS
With thousands of newly approved settlement units on the way, the only organized grassroots group of its kind in Palestine finds creative ways to resist. Read more
Aug 15, 2019
Bad Boss Trump, the Great Organizer
Working people at all levels are beginning to understand how their interests are not that different, whether they pack chickens in Mississippi, sell Walmart products in California, or program for IBM in Atlanta. Read more
Aug 14, 2019
Joeff Davis
Presidential Hopefuls Hit the Trail in Iowa: A Photo Essay
Twenty-one candidates came through the Iowa State Fair for a weekend of “straw” polls, soapbox speeches, and a turkey leg or two. Read more
Aug 14, 2019
Jeff Abbott
The Other Americans: In Guatemala, Indigenous Residents Appeal to the President Over Stolen Land
With a newly elected leader, hundreds of Mayan Mam families still await restitution—or face migrating north. Read more
Aug 13, 2019
Unequal Justice: John Roberts’ Dark Legacy of Voter Suppression
Plaintiffs are litigating voting rights cases in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and several other states. Some will succeed, some will fail, but all will be more uncertain and expensive thanks to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Read more
Aug 13, 2019
The U.S. National Archives
How Climate Activists Can Benefit from Solidarity with Kentucky Coal Miners
As fossil-fuel workers lose their jobs today, the urgency of what climate activists call the “just transition” becomes all the more apparent. Read more
Aug 12, 2019
PublicAffairs
Don’t Deny Free Speech, Defend It
A new book dismisses a right we should fight for and cherish, as ‘totally meaningless.’ Read more
Aug 12, 2019
Michael Vadon
The Scapegoat and the Victim
When the next shooting happens, people with mental illness diagnoses will probably feel like hiding, but for the wrong reasons. Read more
Aug 9, 2019
How We Learned to Hate the Bomb
For nearly three-quarters of a century, “The Progressive” has been a consistent voice against nuclear madness. Read more
Aug 9, 2019
Facebook Settlement Breaks a Record, But Not the Cycle of Exploitation
For years, Facebook engaged in a pattern of deceptive conduct that misled users about how their data was being handled. Now, despite a $5 billion fine imposed by the U.S. government, it promises to do little to guarantee a change in behavior. Read more
Aug 9, 2019
