Power Supply
The known unknowns of the secret US drone war in Somalia.
Journalist Amanda Sperber reports on the US campaign of air and drone strikes in Somalia - escalating in the Trump era and floating above local sovereignty and public knowledge about casualties, civilian deaths, terms of engagement, definitions of targets or even which US agencies are engaged in the war itself.
Amanda wrote the article Inside the Secretive US Air Campaign In Somalia for The Nation.
How a decaying, defunded IRS set its sights on poor people's money.
Journalist Jesse Eisinger reports on a massive (downward) shift at the IRS - stripped of resources and power by a longterm Republican project, the agency watches corporations and the rich float above tax enforcement, while setting its sights on the working poor and the few benefits they have left.
Jesse co-authored the report How the IRS Was Gutted with Paul Kiel for ProPublica.
It would feel like having a future: On what democracy might be.
Filmmaker Astra Taylor explores the big questions around democracy in the 21st century - as the framework of the 20th century liberal order collapses, a public raised on the precarious edges of capitalism is looking for new answers to the old dilemma of which people get what power.
Astra's new film is What Is Democracy?. The film is out now / soon depending on the city.
Building worker solidarity and racial equality on the docks.
Historian Peter Cole examines the history of building labor solidarity and racial equality between dockworkers, in San Francisco, South Africa and beyond - as key participants on front lines of global capitalism, union members recognized the link between economic and social struggles, and their combined power
Peter is author of the book Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area from University of Illinois Press.
Big stick energy: Leftover vengeance from the Bay of Pigs to Caracas.
In a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen reheats today's leftover plate of US imperial disasters, from Nixon's hand in the Bay of Pigs invasion to DC's role in snuffing out whatever was left of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela.
