Not only are Californians struggling to make ends meet, they also have to contend with a governor who cares more about billionaires and his own presidential aspirations. Newsom at a press conference in May, 2025 -- Office of the Governor of California, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Sonali Kolhatkar California Governor Gavin Newsom has spent 2025 setting himself up as Donald Trump’s leading opponent and the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominee . While the Tru

Pinarayi Vijayan speaks at an LDF rally in Kerala in January, 2026 -- image via Facebook By Nabil Abdul Majeed and Nitheesh Narayanan In 1945, two years prior to India’s independence, the current Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, was born into a working-class family in northern Kerala. He was his mother’s fourteenth child; of the thirteen siblings born before him, only two survived. His mother was an agricultural labourer and his father a toddy tapper. They belonged

The “polluter pays” principle transformed the energy industry half a century ago. Now, as industrial agriculture drives climate breakdown, deforestation, and water scarcity, experts say it’s time to apply the same rule to our food systems—and make corporations, not consumers, bear the cost of the damage. Representational image -- Wilfredor, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons By Alex Crisp The “ polluter pays ” principle is a cornerstone of environmental regulation. It raises

Ursula von der Leyen, Volodymyr Zelensky, Mark Rutte & António Costa, December 8, 2025 -- © European Union, 2025, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad Sitting in a lively room in the University of Amsterdam, I ask a question about the respect accorded by students to their former Prime Minister and now head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Mark Rutte. The room is animated and funny. No-one seems to accord Rutte with the respect that he might deser

Kast and Argentinian president Milei on December 16 -- Argentina.gob.ar , CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad On 14 December, the predictable happened: José Antonio Kast, the candidate of the far-right Republican Party, prevailed over Jeannette Jara of the Communist Party of Chile by 58.16 percent to 41.84 percent. Kast ran as the candidate of the Cambio por Chile (Change for Chile) platform and was backed by all the parties of the traditional right and the cent

Trump aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, October 5, 2025 -- public domain image By Vijay Prashad Ever since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1998, the United States has attempted  to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution. They have tried everything short of a full-scale military invasion: a military coup, selecting a substitute president, cutting off access to the global financial system, imposing layers of sanctions, sabotaging the electricity grid, sending in merc

Skyline of Pudong, Shanghai, seen from Suzhou creek area -- Steffen Wurzel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Shiran Illanperuma Is Asia possible? This provocation comes from a recent intervention by Tricontinental Asia, the latest in a series of conjunctural analyses on the Asian continent. There is increasing acknowledgement that the world economy’s centre of gravity is shifting to Asia. Home to 60 percent of the world’s population, the continent contributes to 70 per

After centuries of dam building, a nationwide movement to dismantle these aging barriers is showing how free-flowing rivers can restore ecosystems, improve safety, and reconnect people with nature. The silt filled Matilija Dam in California -- Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License, via Wikimedia Commons By Tara Lohan With more than 550,000 dams in the United States, free-flowing rivers are an endangered species. We’ve dammed, diked, and diverted almost every ma

As consumers flock to “reef-safe” and “ocean-friendly” skincare, beauty brands are selling a vision of ocean purity that is more marketing-driven than science-based. By Kate Petty The personal care industry has mastered the art of marketing eco-consciousness— evolving beyond familiar labels like “green,” “clean,” and “natural”—into a new wave of sea-inspired branding that claims to champion ocean conservation. Terms such as “reef-safe” and “ocean-friendly” evoke images of cry

Catherine Connolly campaigning in October -- image via Connolly for President on X By Vijay Prashad Catherine Connolly (born 1957) only became involved in active politics in 1999. Michael D. Higgins, the outgoing president of Ireland (2011-2025), encouraged Connolly to join the Labour Party and stand for election. Both Connolly and Higgins (known in Ireland as Michael D) come from Galway, a city on the west coast of Ireland. Connolly was born there, the ninth of fourteen chil

Washington’s unease is rising as Brazil’s Pix bypasses U.S.-dominated payment networks. The country’s digital payment revolution may soon be impossible to contain as other countries adapt their own models. By John P. Ruehl The Trump administration’s July 2025 decision to have the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) investigate Brazil’s “ attacks on American social media companies as well as other unfair trading practices ,” followed by the launch of 50 percent tari

Police surround and forcibly disperse protesters in Cuenca, Ecuador, September, 2025 -- Martin.vascovinueza, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia...

For decades, the Americas have been the most violent part of the world outside active war zones. Many factors contribute to this, but...

Far-Right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at a signing ceremony in India, September, 2025 -- image via X By Sudhanva Deshpande...

. US 100 dollar bills being printed -- image via video screenshot By Jaime Bravo and Jorge Coulon In August 1971, Richard Nixon announced...

Facing habitat loss, climate change, and shifting livelihoods, Maasai women are leading a transformative program that links sustainable...

Rehman Abubakr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Shiran Illanperuma Sri Lanka has undergone one of the sharpest and fastest...

From hopeful beginnings to a broken system, student loans reveal how policy choices turned higher learning into a lifelong financial...

Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Marcelo Depieri Starting in the 1990s, a new form of...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on August 31, 2025 -- Prime Minister's Office (GODL-India),...