Independent Media Institute
Why Taiwan Is at the Heart of a Geopolitical Struggle to Produce Cutting-Edge Computer Chips
Geopolitical contests between the U.S. and China hinge on technology more than the ability to deploy a gunboat somewhere; Taiwan could resemble a prototype for a tech proxy war. By Marshall Auerback The media likes to dabble in war game fantasies between the 21st-century great powers China and the U.S.,… »
Why the Idea of Jobless Benefits Scares the Conservative Mind
The coronavirus pandemic has allowed us to conduct an experiment on how government assistance is good for people and the economy. By Sonali Kolhatkar When Congress passed the CARES Act earlier this year, lawmakers gave some low-wage Americans who lost their jobs an income they’ve been demanding for years: $600… »
‘We Will Coup Whoever We Want’: Elon Musk and the Overthrow of Democracy in Bolivia
By Vijay Prashad and Alejandro Bejarano On July 24, 2020, Tesla’s Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that a second U.S. “government stimulus package is not in the best interests of the people.” Someone responded to Musk soon after, “You know what wasn’t in the best interest of people?… »
What Can Safety Without Police Look Like? Some Successful Programs Already Exist
By April M. Short This is a moment of contention and restructuring in America. Mass public outcry is exposing the long-buried, problematic foundations of a nation built on human trafficking, commodification and enslavement of people from Africa, and on the genocide and attempted erasure of Indigenous societies. Protesters across the… »
Why Government Mostly Helps People Who Need It the Least—Even During a Crisis
By Richard D. Wolff In January 2020, the NASDAQ stock market’s index stood just under 10,000. In the March crash, it fell to 7,000. As of July 10, 2020, it hit 10,600. The U.S. government’s economic policies produced a “recovery” for the rich who own the vast bulk of stocks. »
Time Is Not on Our Side in Libya
By Vijay Prashad Ahmed, who lives in Tripoli, Libya, texts me that the city is quieter than before. The army of General Khalifa Haftar—who controls large parts of eastern Libya—has withdrawn from the southern part of the capital and is now holding fast in the city of Sirte and at… »
How to Turn Our Anger into a Better Future
What can make this moment’s passion positive? What can make this moment’s anger future-seeking? By Collective 20 COVID-19, and before Covid everything else, has raised a question that is now percolating, and even reverberating. And then came a white knee crushing a Black neck. A dream so long deferred suddenly… »
How to Keep Activist Movements From Burning Out
No matter how much support a cause has when gearing up, it has little hope of accomplishing long-term goals if its supporters are divided. By Collective 20 Since the 1960s, how many movements have excitedly exploded into existence, only to later morbidly melt away? In contrast, how many movements have… »
Laos Has Tackled COVID-19, But It Is Drowning in Debt to International Finance
By Vijay Prashad On June 11, Laos (Lao People’s Democratic Republic)—a country of 7 million in Southeast Asia—said it had temporarily prevailed over COVID-19. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said that his country had “gained an important victory in the first campaign against this vicious enemy.” The first… »
Instead of Focusing on Russian Bounties to the Taliban, Why Doesn’t the U.S. End the Afghan War?
Lawmakers are outraged over a recent story alleging that Vladimir Putin may be paying off Taliban soldiers to kill U.S. troops. But why are those troops still in Afghanistan? By Sonali Kolhatkar The New York Times in late June published an explosive revelation about the longest official U.S. war in… »