As Biden Eyes a Conservation Plan, Activists Fear Low-Income Communities and People of Color Could Be Left Out
President-elect Joe Biden has said that one of his first steps upon taking office will be to pass an executive order to conserve 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. The plan is being applauded throughout the conservation world, but it has left some environmental justice groups asking: Which lands will be conserved—and […]
In Afghanistan, the freedoms of the press are under attack
EVEN AS JOE BIDEN WAS ANNOUNCED AS PRESIDENT-ELECT, many Afghans wondered how a new administration thousands of miles away would affect the course of their own nation and its long-running conflict. After eighteen months of negotiations, the Afghan Taliban and the US government signed an agreement last February in Doha, Qatar, which paved the way for […]
Pfizer Helped Create the Global Patent Rules. Now it’s Using Them to Undercut Access to the Covid Vaccine.
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, whose Covid-19 vaccine with German partner BioNTech was approved December 11 for emergency use in the United States, has emerged as a vocal opponent of a global effort to ensure poor countries are able to access the vaccine. In October, India and South Africa put forward a proposal that the World Trade Organization (WTO) pause enforcement of patents for […]
These WhatsApp Messages Show the Opioid Crisis Was Just a Big PR Headache for the Sackler Family
The Sackler family is known for their company, Purdue Pharma, and its well-documented role in the devastating opioid crisis. They profited with billions in corporate and family gains from their highly addictive and overprescribed painkiller OxyContin. As their role in the opioid epidemic became public, lawsuits mounted, and the Sacklers grappled with its loss of public […]
COVID-19, the Climate Crisis, and Mutual Aid
After COVID-19 struck in spring 2020, the absence of a concerted federal response prompted people across the country to begin self-organizing everything from food distribution to sewing squads to shelter. That work continues today, drawing on a long tradition. “Mutual aid,” a concept coined by the Russian naturalist and anarchist Peter Kropotkin in his 1902 Mutual Aid: A […]
Evictions Are Violence: Millions Could Lose Homes Amid COVID Pandemic If Federal Moratorium Expires
Millions across the U.S. could be forced from their homes in the middle of the pandemic if Congress does not extend the federal eviction moratorium that is due to expire at the end of December. Congress is expected to push the moratorium back by one month, to January 31, in the $900 billion stimulus bill […]
2.7 Million Jobs in the Arts Have Been Lost Since the Pandemic Began
This past summer, the Brookings Institution released a report on the pandemic’s impact on the U.S.’s creative artists and the institutions that showcase their work. The numbers were overwhelming: a loss of 2.7 million jobs, and a collapse in arts-related revenues to the tune of $150 billion. In the fine and performing arts category (visual arts, music, […]
They Said Tax Cuts for the Rich Would Create Jobs. It Never Happened.
In March 1988, UK chancellor Nigel Lawson tabled his famous “tax reform budget.” Though the Thatcherite offensive against social democracy had already been underway for years, the document was in some ways the ultimate summation of its political project — legislating a bonanza of tax cuts disproportionately benefiting the wealthiest people in Britain. Slashing corporation and inheritance […]
‘Slap in the Face for People Suffering Across the Country’: Critics Slam Watered-Down Covid Relief Deal
In the wake of Sunday night’s agreement on a roughly $900 billion Covid-19 relief package that is far smaller than economists say is necessary, progressives argued that the “slap-in-the-face” bill must be passed to help stem the suffering of working-class Americans but that much more will be needed to address the crisis that has claimed more than 300,000 lives and 20 million jobs in the United States […]
A Record Number of U.S. Journalists Arrested in 2020
The U.S. has seen a 1200% increase in the number of journalists arrested compared to 2019, according to a new report from Freedom of the Press foundation (FPF). The organization tracked 117 arrests or detainments of journalists, which is up from 9 last year. With data from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, FPF found 1,000 […]