Category: History
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The Performing Arts Proletariat vs. The Band Directors
As long as music has existed musicians and performing artists have always been considered laborers of their craft which is their music-making and performances on stage or the road. Even in larger ensembles like the orchestras and choirs of Bach and Handel, there were still amateur musicians who performed alongside the greats. When doing so…
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Yes, this is who we are: America’s 250-year history of political violence
By Maurizio Valsania from Università di Torino, originally published on September 12th, 2025 at theconversation.com under CC BY-ND 4.0 The day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University, commentators repeated a familiar refrain: “This isn’t who we are as Americans.” Others similarly weighed in. Whoopi Goldberg on…
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Abolishing the United States’ empire of policing
As US imperialists succeeded in policing experiments on the other side of the world in the early 20th century, irrational hysteria gripped domestic elites that were threatened by a boiling US labor movement. Their fears of a militant left-wing insurrection were widespread, and in response, they sought support from the coercive state by applying repatriated…
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See something, say something? The science of speaking out
Tattling, whistleblowing, snitching, call it what you will: Patrick Bergemann has spent the past 15 years studying the many ways that people tell on one another, examining everything from Afghan villagers’ reports of illegal Taliban activity to informers’ charges of treason in 17th century Russia. In a recent article in the Annual Review of Sociology,…
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How Philly anarcho-punks blended music, noise and social justice in the 1990s and 2000s
Written by Edward Avery-Natale of Mercer County Community College for theconversation.com, published September 22nd, 2025 under CC BY-ND 4.0 While New York City is commonly considered the birthplace of American punk rock, just 100 miles south of the famous CBGB club where the Ramones and other early punk bands got their start is Philadelphia, which…
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Objectivity is a myth – cultural values and beliefs always influence science, just like other professions
Over time, scientists realized that sperm are too weak to penetrate the egg and that the union is more mutual, with the two cells working together. It’s no coincidence that these findings were made in the same era when new cultural ideas of more egalitarian gender roles were taking hold.
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Inside the Indigenous ‘land back’ movement in Colombia
It is common for Indigenous land defenders opposing the interests of armed groups and the extractive sector on their territories to be targeted for harassment or assassination. Colombia is the deadliest country in the world for land and environmental defenders, accounting for 40 percent of killings globally in 2023. Nearly half of the victims were Indigenous…
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How and Why the US Authoritarian Left Betrayed Tigray
At breakneck speed, the cities and towns of Tigray, historical center of the Aksumite empire, were heavily shelled, toppling ancient relics alongside young bodies. In the span of one month, hundreds of civilians each died in massacres at Humera, Adigrat, and Aksum. The invaders mass-detained civilians in makeshift internment camps, where they allowed the sick and starved…
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The Militia and the Mole
Posing as an ideological compatriot, Williams had penetrated the top ranks of two of the most prominent right-wing militias in the country. He’d slept in the home of the man who claims to be the new head of the Oath Keepers, rifling through his files in the middle of the night.
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What would a general strike in the US actually look like?
Calling for general strikes is a staple of the radical toolkit. (I’ve made questionable efforts to call two or three myself over the past half-century.) But why has the idea of such mass actions suddenly appeared on the lips of such a wide range of people? There are three principal reasons:
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