Voting Can’t Un-Bake the Cake

There is much talk of U.S. midterm elections. Such a relentless white noise, so calculated that all other conversation, like stopping the slaughter of Palestinians, seems like an inconvenient distraction rather than the actual topic at hand. Little discussion, if any, focuses on how this electoral spectacle systematically shortens our attention spans and blunts our More

Trump’s Attacks on Ilhan Omar Played to His Base Before the Midterm Elections. Will Democrats Follow Through on Their Promise to Investigate?

In a pre-dawn raid on October 12, Ilhan Omar recalled being startled awake by Homeland Security agents banging on the door of her Washington DC home. During the raid at least 25 agents searched the modest dwelling for almost five hours and “walked away with 17 items, 10 that were just notebooks and 2 old phones.” The Democratic Representative told Chris Hayes on MSNOW that it felt like “such a bizarre, bizarre thing.” They took a camera her husband had gotten from from his uncle, and she added, “a Somali phrase book for children, which he was using to learn the language.” Omar has received death threats in the past, but that latest escalation forced her family to move out of their DC home. Audiences could clearly see the street number posted on the house, as broadcast footage lingered on the front doorway where agents moved in and out.  More

Reagan, Trump, and the Neoliberal Propaganda State

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, both the US and UK led the radical transformation of the international political economy toward a fundamentalist neoliberal regime. What this meant is that the public sphere would be systematically eroded in favor of an all-out, untethered private sphere as the moral ideal. The arbiter of rationality would shift away from the leadership of public-minded individuals to those eager to run the state along strictly market principles. More

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Unphazed w/ Nasser Mashni of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network

In this episode of Counterpunch Radio, Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt speaks with Nasser Mashni, Palestinian-Australian activist and president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network. The son of a generation of Palestinians displaced by the ’48 Nakba, Mashni shares stories of growing up in the Palestine Liberation movement in the Australian diaspora and the growth of the movement since the 1970s. Unphased by relentless smear campaigns and lawsuits, Mashni emphasizes the breadth and depth of the movement, which unites Aboriginal Australians, Jews, unionists, queers, churchgoers, and others to advocate for Palestinian rights and challenge Australian complicity in the Gaza genocide.

Fired Up About Unions w/ Cole Rockarts

This week on CounterPunch Radio, Erik Wallenberg and Joshua Frank talk with Cole Rockarts about their new book Fired Up About Unions, published by Between the Lines. Cole is a labor educator, organizer, and writer. They have worked in public- and private-sector unions in Canada and the US since 2016.

Cole will be kicking off their book tour in Los Angeles at Skylight Books on November 5.

Pre-order a copy of Fired Up About Unions from AK Press.

Nurturing a Free Palestine w/ Dr. Fauziah Hasan and Azra Banu

This is part two of our series with Palestinian solidarity activists from Malaysia. Dr. Fauziah Hasan and Azra Banu of the Asia Pacific Women’s Coalition for Al Quds and Palestine discuss the importance of consisent, coalitional efforts to support Palestinian women. Dr. Fauziah sailed on the Women’s Boat to Gaza in 2016 and again on the 2025 Freedom Flotilla that was abducted by Israel. Azra participated in a humanitarian land convoy in 2010 that drove from London to Gaza, and went on a second mission to Gaza in 2012. As mothers and grandmothers, they emphasize the passing on of intergenerational activist knowledge and the necessity of nurturing a generation of young people committed to Palestinian Liberation in the Asia-Pacific.