Instruments of Dehumanization
How U.S. laws—branding Palestinians as “terrorists” and redefining anti-Semitism—serve Israel’s interests.
Seeing Genocide
Israel’s weaponization of images since October 7 obfuscates its genocidal campaign against Palestinians.
Democracy in the Real World
Theories of justice map what a good society should look like, but they generally offer few details about how to get there.
Letter from Berlin
On the situation in Germany in the wake of October 7.
What Does It Mean to Be Free?
Lewis Gordon and Nathalie Etoke discuss the space for freedom opened up by Black existentialist thought.
Can We Imagine a World Without Work?
The post-work movement reckons with reproductive labor.
Surviving a Wretched State
Melvin Rogers and Neil Roberts discuss the difficulty of keeping faith in a foundationally anti-Black republic.
More than Genocide
The law occludes the abhorrent violence routinely perpetrated by states in the name of self-defense.
I Can’t Believe We’re Returning to the Garden
trudging back to Eden.
Beneath the Razor Wire
Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s new film exposes the violent contradictions at the heart of EU border policy.
We Can’t Publish Without Your Help
Donations from readers directly fund great writing, serious editing, and our paywall-free website.
Chicano Frankenstein
How can you have thoughts without words? The man turned back to his coffee and drank. It was cold. Breakfast was done. Time to move on.
A Grassroots Government
Janice Fine explains how “co-enforcement”—a bold new model for upholding labor law—is linking the state to social movements.
The Free Speech Exception
Support for Palestinian rights is facing a McCarthyite backlash.
Letter from Israel
In the aftermath of October 7.
Literature Machines
AI-generated novels are here, but they hardly spell the end of fiction.
Two Poems
Your lone question —
What happens when you ignore a part of someone? —
Would flood me, and in time, knock down
Every structure.
Unlearning Isolation
Mie Inouye and Daniel Martinez HoSang discuss the challenges of organizing in a society that tears groups apart.
An Innovation System That Works
Before rushing to build the next DARPA, we need to assess the R&D model we have.
The Only Way Forward
Any peace will depend on a sober assessment of Hamas.
A Jewish Plea: Stand Up to Israel’s Act of Genocide
“Never again” means standing up for Palestinian people. “Never again” means this very moment.
Neither Governed nor Free
I first met an AI in 1998. I was an adolescent, and it was the early days of the Internet; life online was an alien thing, broken-linked journeys and open-ended “chats” with faceless, voiceless interlocutors. This was exciting. The hastily improvised interfaces, the weird, unpolished content, the uncertainty of where a link would lead or […]
“The Crimes Are Plenty”
A conversation with Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat on the need for a political solution.
Beyond Moral Condemnation
Amid ongoing reporting and ethical outrage, we need context for the fight between Hamas and Israel—and how it shapes possibilities for peace.
One Bureau under God
Jeanne Theoharis speaks with Lerone A. Martin on the white Christian legacy of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI.
What Are Families For?
A liberal economist and a family abolitionist agree: our economic system makes human flourishing depend on social units it can’t sustain.
How Not to Do Industrial Policy
Instead of pouring public funds into private industry—as the U.S. did with COVID-19 vaccines—we must build public capacity and prioritize public objectives.
Industrial Policy’s Comeback
We need a mission-oriented approach to the economy that embraces an active role for government in spurring growth and innovation.
Our Avatars, Ourselves
Generative AI has made it possible to create lifelike models of real people. Should we?
Solidarity Now
Two Poems
most days, during some mid-day hour, / I close my eyes and say the Sh’ma. / But it’s always the wrong time of day, / and it’s the only prayer I know
Warfare Dressed as Water Policy
Palestine’s water access has always been restricted—but now, Israel is using it as a weapon.
Cop Cities in a Militarized World
The United States has long supported the repression of Latin American land defenders. The tactics it exported are coming to the Atlanta forest.
From the Editors: On Solidarity
Introducing our summer 2023 issue: What does solidarity mean, and how can movements build enough of it to change the world?
The Abortion Plot
A long line of films tracks the solidarities that arise when prohibition makes friendship too perilous.
Keep Your Enemies Close
I resolved to stay close to my mother.
An Open Letter from Faculty at West Virginia University
The crisis here spells disaster for the future of public education.
How Much Discomfort Is the Whole World Worth?
Movement building requires a culture of listening—not mastery of the right language.
Liberalism in Mourning
Lionel Trilling crystallizes the cynical Cold War liberalism that sacrificed idealism for self-restraint.
Nomenclator of the Revolution
She described their world at last in a language that they recognized as true.
C. L. R. James’s Radical Vision of Common Humanity
It’s at the heart of what makes The Black Jacobins a classic.
Bond Villains
How a little-understood feature of urban finance—municipal bonds—fuels racial inequality.
Can We Still Write about Trauma?
Chantal Johnson’s debut novel, Post-Traumatic, makes the case that we can—by moving away from representations of individual suffering.
Could a Large Language Model Be Conscious?
Within the next decade, we may well have systems that are serious candidates for consciousness.
Neville Alexander’s Struggle Against Racial Capitalism
The late South African intellectual and activist fought for a world without race and class. His writings remain essential.
Transcolonial Poem, or while contemplating double mastectomy I remember Columbus believed the world was shaped like a boob
they’re building roads and military bases, churches and missionary / encampments and call centers and textile factories they’re digging and / fracking and separating metal from the earth
How Misreading Adam Smith Helped Spawn Deaths of Despair
A Nobel Prize–winning economist reflects on the dire consequences of libertarian economics.
Who’s Afraid of Social Contagion?
Our ideas about sexuality and gender have changed before, and now they’re changing again.
