Economy & Work

Jane McAlevey Working Class Hero

Jane McAlevey Working Class Hero

ByPaul Jay

Brilliant activist and union organizer Jane McAlevey died on July 7, 2024. To celebrate her work and life, we republish our series of interviews with Jane. One of the world’s leading “organizers’ organizer” Jane McAlevey, has trained thousands of activists in building more militant unions and winning electoral organizing; she sees the fight for effective unions as critical to winning transformative climate policy. Jane tells her story to Paul Jay on Reality Asserts Itself.

Workers’ Movements in Revolutionary Iran and Europe – Saeed Rahnema part 2/2
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Workers’ Movements in Revolutionary Iran and Europe – Saeed Rahnema part 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part 2, political scientist Dr. Saeed Rahnema discusses his experience in the workers’ council movement leading up to and during the Iranian Revolution of 1979-1980 and addresses the Islamic Republic’s opposition to unions.  He also contends that modern-day working classes in the West are ideologically and culturally segmented and that the left has failed to mobilize at numerous historical junctures.

The (In)conceivability of Real Workers’ Control – Saeed Rahnema part 1/2
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The (In)conceivability of Real Workers’ Control – Saeed Rahnema part 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

The workers’ council movement took shape in several forms across Europe, Russia, Tito’s Yugoslavia, Algeria, and Iran. Political scientist Dr. Saeed Rahnema discusses the failure of workers’ councils in these different historical contexts and traces out the tensions between workers’ control and workers’ participation under capitalism. Is real workers’ control feasible under capitalism, and do struggles for increased workers’ participation and higher wages necessarily lead to workers’ control? 

How Indian, Chinese, and U.S. Corporations Vie for Control of Sri Lankan Ports – Asoka Bandarage part 2/2
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How Indian, Chinese, and U.S. Corporations Vie for Control of Sri Lankan Ports – Asoka Bandarage part 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

Due to its prime geographical location in maintaining global value chains and shipping routes, the U.S., via the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), as well as India’s Adani Group and China, are all investing in Sri Lanka’s ports. In part 2, sociologist Asoka Bandarage discusses how many countries and multi-national corporations treat Sri Lanka as testing and dumping grounds, exemplified by reports that the Dali ship, which crashed into the Baltimore Bridge, was carrying hazardous waste to Sri Lanka.

IMF & Private Creditors Subject Sri Lanka to Neo-Colonial Debt Bondage – Asoka Bandarage part 1/2
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IMF & Private Creditors Subject Sri Lanka to Neo-Colonial Debt Bondage – Asoka Bandarage part 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

The Sri Lankan government turned to the IMF for a near $3 billion bailout to repay loans provided by India and Japan, as well as international sovereign bonds issued by foreign creditors such as BlackRock. Dr. Asoka Bandarage, sociologist and author of Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World, suggests that Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s declaration of bankruptcy in 2022 and the subsequent IMF bailout under Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was not an absolute necessity, but an attempt to shift Sri Lanka further under the umbrella of Western and Indian institutions, and away from Chinese loans.

Capitalocene: How Capitalism Created the Climate Crisis – Jason W. Moore pt 1/2
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Capitalocene: How Capitalism Created the Climate Crisis – Jason W. Moore pt 1/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

The current climate crisis emerged out of a specific set of historical and economic factors which have maintained capitalist accumulation and class inequalities to this day. Jason W. Moore, geographer and Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University, explains how the development of capitalism fueled European colonialism and Western imperialism, resulting in a novel form of climate destruction.

The Assertion of Popular Power: A Climate Movement Imperative – Jason W. Moore pt 2/2
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The Assertion of Popular Power: A Climate Movement Imperative – Jason W. Moore pt 2/2

ByTalia Baroncelli

In part 2, historian and geographer Jason W. Moore explains why climate and revolutionary struggles must understand capitalist dynamics and deploy a language of universal class solidarity to overthrow transnational power structures perpetuating the climate crisis.

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