Fifty years ago today, Portugal’s Carnation Revolution began as soldiers overthrew the dictatorship. Although the revolution was ultimately contained, it changed the face of European politics and hastened the shift to democracy in Spain and Greece.
Some Portuguese Still Haven’t Accepted the Revolution
Fifty years since Portugal’s democratic revolution, the far-right Chega party is on the rise. It’s exploiting disaffection with mainstream parties — but also nostalgia for the days when dictator António de Oliveira Salazar ruled a Portuguese empire.
CO2 Pipelines Are Big Oil’s New Mode of Destruction
Big Oil has launched a lobbying blitz to scale back safety regulations for its build-out of experimental carbon dioxide pipelines, endangering nearby communities in the event of a leak.
In Australia, Fitness Workers Are Organizing
Last year, instructors at over 150 Fitness First and Goodlife Health Clubs launched a union campaign to halt underpayment, wage cuts by stealth, and deteriorating work conditions. Within a few months, management caved to their demands.
Filming the Story of Amílcar Cabral’s Revolution
Half a century ago, Amílcar Cabral asked a group of young filmmakers from Guinea-Bissau to bring his country’s independence struggle to the big screen. They’re now completing the project as a tribute to one of Africa’s greatest revolutionaries.
With the development of artificial intelligence racing forward at warp speed, some of the richest men in the world may be deciding the fate of humanity right now.
Never Forget Portugal’s Revolution
Fifty years ago today, a left-wing military revolt against Portugal’s dictatorship transformed into an anti-colonial social revolution that shook the world. Now, in 2024, its radical history is being forgotten at home.
How Portugal’s Revolutionaries Overthrew the Dictatorship
In The Carnation Revolution, Alex Fernandes provides an account of the movement that overthrew decades of dictatorship, written with the flair and dramatic sensibility of a spy thriller.
Why They’re Calling Student Protesters Antisemites
Backers of Israel’s war have lost the battle for hearts and minds, so they’ve ginned up a controversy over student protests — they want us talking about anything other than the genocide in Gaza.
Shawn Fain: “The Working Class Is the Arsenal of Democracy”
United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain: “We win by giving working-class people the tools, the inspiration, and the courage to stand up for themselves.”
ChatGPT feeds on language, outputting texts that reinforce the basic assumptions of our culture. The rise of AI forces the Left to take a hard look at the politics of language and the linguistics of Noam Chomsky.
The Case for Capital Controls
Globalization is a project of class war whose destructive effects have driven many US workers into the Trumpian right. The Left needs a real response to the problems raised by global capital mobility — and that should start with capital controls.
Pro-Palestine Protesters Are on the Right Side of History
Like those who protested the Vietnam War, the college students currently protesting Israel’s vicious assault on Gaza are in the right. Future generations won’t look kindly on those who used the moment to smear campus protesters as “antisemites.”
Guy Ritchie’s Ungentlemanly Warfare Is a Disappointment
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is Guy Ritchie’s British twist on the old World War II “man on a mission” flicks. But despite being loosely based on a true story, it plays more like a cartoon.
The Making and Unmaking of the American Dream
The New York Times’ David Leonhardt has written a compelling overview of the improbable rise and spectacular fall of the New Deal order. But he understates the difficulty in reviving a form of American social democracy.