Tag: 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 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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Anarchism, the Welfare State, and Social Assistance
The inevitability of unemployment under capitalism is not borne of the personal shortcomings of an individual worker, or particular policies of the “economy” or “government,” it is a bred in the bone condition of capitalism and the State. Anarchism would put an end to unemployment, by sharing the necessary work between all those able, rather…
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100 years of radio in Africa: from propaganda to people’s power
Sisanda Nkoala, University of the Western Cape; Christina Chan-Meetoo, University of Mauritius; Jacinta Mwende Maweu, University of Nairobi; Marissa J. Moorman, Indiana University; Modestus Fosu, Ghana Institute of Journalism, and Stanley Tsarwe, University of Namibia for The Conversation, CC BY-ND 3.0 Radio is thriving across Africa. Exact figures are difficult to come by because audience…
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The Death of Slavery, The First Dawn of Freedom
An organized clandestine underground network to resist the slave state was not inevitable. The path of fatalism and despair, a pale specter that still haunts many would-be rebels today, was just as likely. In those days, given the seemingly low odds of success, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness doubtless consumed many hearts. Courageous people, most…
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How Conspiracy Theories Corrode Social Movements — and What to Do About it
Experiencing a crisis does not immediately grant someone special insight into the causes of their conditions, and there is a long history of communities turning their anger on marginalized people rather than the powerful. This is endemic to fascism’s rise.
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Introduction to Palestine, part 4
All of these shortcomings are often countered with the assertion that Palestinians must compromise to reach peace. Israeli control is treated as a fait accompli and that Palestinians must deal with it, rather than demand justice. This is the whole premise of the two-state solution, that Palestinians must compromise on their rights to be granted…
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