USA

Why the Walmart campaign matters January 2013
New York based journalist, Ari Paul, examines the unionist uprising against Walmart since the factory fire in Bangladesh, and why this bottom-up campaign could really make a difference

A Black Thursday for Walmart November 2012
After the Walmart strikes which saw hundreds of workers protesting outside US stores, Kaspar Loftin looks at the company’s oppressive and unfair treatment of employees over the years

Hoping for change: Obama and the limits of elections October 2012
Gary Younge discusses the disappointment of Barack Obama’s presidency – and credits recent progressive policies to the success of the Occupy movement

That Cuba feeling October 2012
Fifty years ago this month the world came close to nuclear Armageddon. Paul Anderson looks back at the Cuban missile crisis and anti-nuclear campaigning since

Obama: The unreported truth October 2012
In the run up to the final presidential debate, Oliver Eagleton exposes the ugly truth behind the Obama administration's foreign policy

Occupy Oakland: Whose streets? Our streets! April 2012
Josh Healey reports on the strength and challenges of Occupy Oakland - and how it has pushed the US movement in radical directions

Punishing Palestine: How the US plays politics with aid January 2012
Libby Powell on how the US has retaliated after Palestine’s UN statehood bid

Wisconsin: Labour’s last stand May 2011
Rahul Mahajan looks at the fightback in Wisconsin

New radicals November 2010
Lorna Stephenson looks at the US ‘Tea Party’ movement

Based out June 2010
Foreign bases have been a mainstay of global US military domination for decades. But in Latin America they have been closing fast and a new deal to use seven Colombian military bases is, paradoxically, a sign of US weakness in the region, writes Grace Livingstone

After the handshake June 2009
How far do Barak Obama's policies point to a real change in US/Latin American relations asks Grace Livingstone

The New Orleans intifada February 2009
More than Mardi Gras is happening here, a grass-roots movement is rising in the New Orleans Arab community, Jordan Flaherty reports

Guarding the gulag February 2009
Christopher Brandon Arendt was a guard at Guantanamo detention camp from January to October 2004. He now is a full time volunteer for the advocacy group Iraq Veterans Against the War, campaigning against the 'war on terror'. He spoke to Kate Ferguson

Torture at Angola prison February 2009
President Obama promises to close Guantanamo, but Lousiana court proceedings in the Angola Five case expose brutality closer to home, reports Jordan Flaherty

The war on sex February 2009
If you think evangelicals are anti-sex, you'd be wrong, today's evangelicals push a hyper-sexualised message, says Don Monkerud

The US and Israel February 2009
Behind Israel stands the richest and most powerful nation on earth. Without material support from the US, the onslaught on Gaza would not be possible, writes Mike Marqusee

After the neocons February 2009
The slaughter in Palestine has led to a significant breach in the walls of the Israel lobby in the US. For the first time, Jews who saw what the occupation was doing to the country are speaking out and setting up organisations that break with the traditional leadership, says Philip Weiss

The first 100 days: a legislative agenda January 2009
Bill Fletcher Jr imagines a 'people's agenda' to kick-start the change we need

What Obama means to the world January 2009
People's obsession with Barack Obama says more about them than him, says Gary Younge

After the meltdown December 2008
On the eve of the US election, five critical writers and economists met to discuss the financial crisis - and what should be done. With Barack Obama heading for the White House, is this time for the left to think big? William Greider, Frances Fox Piven, Doug Henwood, Arun Gupta and Naomi Klein put their heads together

Change we can achieve December 2008
President-elect Obama (savour the phrase) offers historic possibilities and challenges for progressives. Bill Fletcher Jr reflects on his victory and the kind of critical support that will be needed if we are to build on it

No hope December 2008
Dear Auntie, All my left-wing friends seem to be overjoyed about Obama winning the US election, holding real hope that he will bring change, that he'll stop the wars, and that he'll somehow make America all cuddly and nice. But haven't we been here before? I'm getting flashbacks to the expectations people had of politicians like Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, and how quickly they betrayed us. Is it terrible that I think Obama will be just more of the same? Hopeless, London

Basically… December 2008
Jaimie Grant meets with veteran peace campaigner Lindis Percy to discuss the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases It was announced at the end of June that the last of America’s nuclear missiles had finally been removed from the UK, the end of a 54-year-old arsenal. But the US military retains a major presence [...]

Wind of change November 2008
The contrast between the condition of party and electoral democracy in the US and the UK is palpable, says David Beetham

Why won’t Nato die? November 2008
The US never misses a chance to wheel out Nato and revive the old cold war narrative in modern form – the Russian intervention in Georgia after the attack on South Ossetia was only the latest excuse. Jonathan Steele explains why we are still lumbered with a wasteful and dangerous military alliance A few weeks [...]

Alaskan women demonstrate against Sarah Palin October 2008
Sue Katz looks beyond the lipstick and the sound bites to unravel the real Sarah Palin. In this extract from her new book, {{Thanks But No Thanks: The Voter's Guide to Sarah Palin}}, she examines the critical response from Alaskan women to the next possible US vice-president

My friends on the left September 2008
Barack Obama is unique among recent Democratic presidential candidates in terms of the support he has mobilised and his relationship to his base. Win or lose, his supporters will need to stick around and organise, argues Gary Younge, as he analyses their dynamic and their role in determining Obama's prospects

Holding Obama’s feet to the fire August 2008
With his appointment of a series of Clintonite economic and foreign policy advisers, Barack Obama has attracted fire from the American left. Doug Henwood, Gary Younge, Jo-ann Mort, Betsy Reed and Ta-Nehisi Coates debate the politics of Obama's candidacy and the huge mobilisation of support behind it

Attack Iran? Yes they can August 2008
With US threats, Israeli military exercises and Iranian missile tests, it seems like a carefully choreographed build up to the next Middle East conflagration is under way. But can the US really risk a strike on Iran? Phyllis Bennis weighs up the evidence in conversation with Oscar Reyes

George Bush’s joint July 2008
In this extract from her new book, Commie Girl in the OC, Rebecca Schoenkopf, the 'queen bee/black widow of alternative journalism', goes inside the federal propaganda machine against marijuana

Redrawing the map of US politics April 2008
Barack Obama's campaign for the US presidency may still have a long way to go, but the levels of participation by African-American and young voters in this year's primaries have the potential to transform the shape of US politics. In particular, they could neutralise the racist 'southern strategy' that has produced such an inbuilt conservative bias since the 1960s. Frances Fox Piven and Lorraine C Minnite investigate

American interest December 2007
The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen M Walt (Allen Lane 2007), reviewed by Richard Kuper

Blue grits and the Penthouse Party December 2007
As Hillary Clinton sews up the Democrats' election campaign at the top, on the streets the 'blue grits', as Laura Flanders calls grass-roots Democrat and ex-Democrat activists, are reinventing electoral politics

Another US is rising August 2007
The first Social Forum in the US was bound to be, by its very happening, a historic occasion. But the grass-roots working class participation and the energy, solidarity, generosity of spirit and organisational skill it mobilised made it something special, writes Judy Rebick

The ‘black ops’ of America July 2007
The US military spends $30 billion annually on classified military programmes, ranging from spy satellites to 'extraordinary rendition'. These secret 'black operations' leave a mark on our everyday landscapes and legible traces in public data. Trevor Paglen is an artist and experimental geographer working to create visual representations of these secret worlds. He spoke to Oscar Reyes

Truth revealed June 2007
Pablo Navarrete interviews the campaigning journalist and documentary maker, John Pilger, whose first film for the cinema comes out in June 2007

Keeping it in the family March 2007
Now it’s official. Big spending Hillary Clinton is seeking to take the US presidency back from one dynasty to another. Lucia Green-Weiskel reports

Outpost of empire March 2007
The US has up to 1,000 bases in more than 130 countries. Wilber van der Zeijden reports on the global military network underpinning the world's only superpower.

Carbon trade bandwagon February 2007
With the Democrats rise to power in Washington, climate change has risen up the agenda in the form of carbon trading. Michael Dorsey critically examines emerging US climate policy

Not only about the war December 2006
As the Democrats give contradictory signals on Iraq, the US anti-war movement prepares to exert pressure for withdrawal and compensation for war damage. But it's not only on the military front that Bush is weakened. David Moburg reports

Guantanamo Bay: The tide turns August 2006
The Bush administration has received a legal setback over its detention without trial of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. But neither the US courts nor Congress can be expected to shut down the camp. Only public opinion and protest will do that.

Doing the US’s bidding July 2006
Ex-CIA man Philip Agee sees many parallels between what the US is doing in Venezuela today and its successful efforts to undermine the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980s

Are you now or were you ever an environmentalist? July 2006
In the wake of the US ‘war on terror’, nonviolent campaigners are increasingly being caught up in a ‘Green Scare’ that defines them as ‘terrorists’

What the US has done for us May 2006
While the US is not world-renowned for being progressive on climate issues, Heidi Bachram finds that grassroots movements there have something to teach environmentalists.

The Leaderless Mainstream May 2006
Across the US, there is a constellation of social movements emboldened by struggle but lacking representation. Gary Younge reports on the opposition to George Bush

American Health April 2006
As an American, I watch in astonishment when other countries debate whether to import anything resembling American health insurance companies into their health care systems.

Arming US aggression April 2006
It isn't just arms exports to dictatorships we should be concerned about, says James O'Nions. UK companies arm the world's greatest aggressor - the US.

Go home, George! Go home! November 2005
US politics is edging closer to the point at which politicians will have no choice but to pack up and get out of Iraq, writes Robert Dreyfuss

Revving up the China Threat November 2005
Michael Klare looks at how the Bush Administration's stance on China has gone from worry about its economic strength to full-on preparation for a new cold war

An empire in denial October 2005
Mike Marqusee looks at the long history of US politicians' denial of their country's imperial reach

Notes from inside New Orleans September 2005
Friday 2 September 2005. I just left New Orleans a couple hours ago. I travelled from the apartment I was staying in by boat to a helicopter to a refugee camp. If anyone wants to examine the attitude of federal and state officials towards the victims of hurricane Katrina, I advise you to visit one of the refugee camps.

Excited by Condy March 2005
Dear Subcomandauntie, I have a confession to make. I'm fascinated by the possibility of Condoleezza Rice becoming the next US president. Surely in 2008, the Republicans will select a candidate from within the current administration. Given his age and health history, it won't be Cheney. And if the Democrats can't beat Bush, what chance would they have against someone with a brain? But I'm also thinking: how likely is ultra conservative America to elect a black woman as president? So surely, with the election four years away, you'd get some generous odds on Rice. But Auntie, would it be wrong to profit from the neo-cons' continued success? Would it make it any better if I gave a proportion of my winnings (say £1) to the Red Pepper supporters' fund? And do you know anywhere where I can get some decent odds? I've only seen 12/1 so far. A sportsman writes

When voting is not enough December 2004
Progressive victories in the USA are not won by voting alone. What is needed is an upsurge of popular protest.

Rethinking capitalist crises November 2004
US hegemony is strong, and the economic model on which it rests is not about to unravel at any moment soon.

Boom or bust in Washington November 2004
Max Fraad-Wolff and Richard Wolff argue that America's model of unilateral militarism and hopelessly lopsided budgets is utterly unsustainable

America’s new radicals November 2004
Gary Younge meets the newly politicised foot soldiers fighting to force Bush out of the White House

Rocking for revolution November 2004
Steve Earle is the foremost political songwriter in the US today, and his new album an unapologetic intervention in the presidential election.

Flouting convention October 2004
Janice Jim reports on the greeting given to the Republican Convention in New York

Energy independence and the American dream October 2004
Both Kerry and Bush recognise the need for alternatives to fossil fuels. Yet neither show any desire to address the US's bulimic consumption patterns.

GIs against the war September 2004
As the war in Iraq seethes, dissent among US military personnel and their families is growing. The anti-war campaign Military Families Speak Out began with two families in November 2002; now more than 1,500 families are members.

The voice of alternative America July 2004
Natasha Grzincic reports on War Times, the free, bilingual newspaper making sure that the anti-war message reaches every state in the US.

Don’t mention the (reasons for) war July 2004
Noam Chomsky analyses government and media misrepresentation of US strategic and military priorities

War n. globalisation by other means July 2003
First the US military bombed Iraq's hospitals, bridges and waterworks. Now US corporations are harvesting profits from "reconstructing" those installations. Blood was not just shed for oil, but also for control over all Iraq's vital services.

Could WMD become Bush’s Watergate? July 2003
Robert Dreyfuss asks what did the president not know, and when didn't he know it?

Neo-conservatism and the politics of paranoia June 2003
The founders and first generation of the neo-conservatism movement that now dominates Washington are either deceased or older than the septuagenarian US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In decades past neo-con believers remained off-stage, occasionally appearing in moments of crisis or opportunity. These appearances were brief and failed to attract sufficient attention to provoke public debate.

The War against Reason December 2002
There's an old story about Oliver Cromwell. After he had taken the Irish town of Drogheda the citizens were brought to the main square. Cromwell announced to his lieutenants: "Right! Kill all the women and rape all the men." One of his aides said: "Excuse me, general. Isn't it the other way around?" A voice from the crowd called out: "Mr Cromwell knows what he's doing."

Millions take to the streets in the War against Terrorism February 2002
The War on Terrorism began in the minds of people on that September 11th.