To Build a Movement
Michael Walzer’s Political Action, written nearly half a century ago, contains many useful guidelines for organizers today. But social movements are often messy and unpredictable affairs.
Winter 2025
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Belabored Podcast #180: General Strike in Puerto Rico Gets the Goods, with Mercedes Martinez
The President of the Puerto Rico Teachers Federation talks about this week’s protests and the ongoing fight against corruption.
The Frontier Closes In
Trump’s wall is a “monument to the final closing of the frontier.” He has abandoned the political language of boundless optimism for a darker tone.
American Nationalism: A Debate
Does nationalism have a place in left politics?
Give Political Power to Ordinary People
To fight elite capture of the state, it’s time to consider sortition, or the assignment of political power through lotteries.
Why Trump is Attacking “the Squad”
The four congresswomen who came under attack by Trump are popular—as are their policies. That’s why he is terrified of them.
One Country, Two Systems, Millions in the Streets
Activist Jeffrey Ngo on the Hong Kong protests.
The Postcolonial Case for Rethinking Borders
A close look at the experiences of immigrants should lead us to the conclusion that First World nations have no right to exclude Third World migrants, including the unauthorized economic migrants that dominate contemporary political debates.
Belabored Podcast #179: Samsung’s Labor Abuses
South Korean journalist Lee Jae-yeon discusses her investigation of working conditions in Samsung factories in nine cities in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
There Is Power in a Debtors’ Union
How did we get from two decades of meteoric tuition increases to a moment where democratic socialist elected officials are pushing free higher education and complete student debt discharge? The short answer: organizing.
Ross Perot, Populist Harbinger
Views that were fringe in Perot’s day have taken center stage in national politics.
Two Paths for Millennial Politics
The important issue today isn’t what the world has done to millennials. It’s what millennials are going to do next—and where they’ll look for leadership.
No More Lifeboats
While acknowledging the ongoing emotional and institutional power of the nation as a community of shared fate, we are also clear-eyed about its limitations given the scale of today’s challenges.
A History of Queer Direct Action
Queer activists in the 1980s and 1990s connected the queer liberation struggle to a broader politics of liberation for all. Today’s LGBTQ movement stands to learn from revisiting this history.
Beyond the Backlash
How the 2016 election revealed the possibilities for new political identities.
