https://znetwork.org/author/kimscipes/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Tue, 13 Jan 2026 15:09:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/kimscipes/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-is-the-us-left-so-chickensh_t/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-is-the-us-left-so-chickensh_t/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2026 16:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293426 January 3, 2026, should be the date to end all discussion:  Trump’s raid on Venezuela should have clarified reality even to the most obtuse:  the US is not an “ordinary” country, as is claimed by observers all around, but is the center of the US Empire.  Its “leaders” seek to dominate the world.  Those of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-is-the-us-left-so-chickensh_t/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-jakarta-method-washingtons-anticommunist-crusade-and-the-mass-murder-program-that-shaped-our-world-a-book-review-essay/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-jakarta-method-washingtons-anticommunist-crusade-and-the-mass-murder-program-that-shaped-our-world-a-book-review-essay/#respond Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:10:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291140 Vincent Bevins has written a riveting and quite disturbing book about the military coup that took place in Indonesia in 1965 and its aftermath that spread to 23 different countries, and that while receiving some critical acclaim by journalists and scholars, has been generally overlooked by the US left.  It is time to revisit it. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-jakarta-method-washingtons-anticommunist-crusade-and-the-mass-murder-program-that-shaped-our-world-a-book-review-essay/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-jeff-schuhrkes-no-neutrals-there-us-labor-zionism-and-the-struggle-for-palestine/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-jeff-schuhrkes-no-neutrals-there-us-labor-zionism-and-the-struggle-for-palestine/#respond Tue, 28 Oct 2025 16:37:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290554 Jeff Schuhrke’s latest book, No Neutrals There:  US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine, is a major contribution by a US scholar and activist in support of Palestinians’ struggle for life, liberation, and independence.  Written specifically to advance the struggle against Zionism against especially the top level “leadership” of the AFL-CIO and the US [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-jeff-schuhrkes-no-neutrals-there-us-labor-zionism-and-the-struggle-for-palestine/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-difference-between-trade-unions-and-labor-movements/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-difference-between-trade-unions-and-labor-movements/#respond Fri, 17 Oct 2025 18:24:00 +0000 Kim Scipes provides an expansive discussion of the labor landscape in the US, including the distinction between trade unions and labor movements, the state of organized labor, and the role of labor in society and politics.]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-difference-between-trade-unions-and-labor-movements/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/challenging-marxism-as-well-as-identity-politics-part-1-2/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/challenging-marxism-as-well-as-identity-politics-part-1-2/#respond Tue, 16 Sep 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288650 [This is the second of a two-part article that examines both structural and processural paradigms of social theory. Part 1 can be read here. In this second part, a processural paradigm is advanced, with focus being on what is called a “Polyconflictual Model of Society,” which it claims that it can explain such social phenomena as [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/challenging-marxism-as-well-as-identity-politics-part-1-2/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/challenging-marxism-as-well-as-identity-politics-part-1/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/challenging-marxism-as-well-as-identity-politics-part-1/#respond Tue, 09 Sep 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288292 [This is the first of a two-part article that examines both structural and processural paradigms of social theory.  This argues that the structural-based theories cannot do what they claim to do; in this case, explain the emergence of large-scale protest movements.  In the second part, a processural paradigm is advanced, with focus being on what [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/challenging-marxism-as-well-as-identity-politics-part-1/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-hamilton-nolans-the-hammer-power-inequality-and-the-struggle-for-the-soul-of-labor/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-hamilton-nolans-the-hammer-power-inequality-and-the-struggle-for-the-soul-of-labor/#respond Tue, 19 Aug 2025 16:06:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287490 Hamilton Nolan is one of an emerging group of journalists who have taken over the “labor beat” in US journalism.  This book is his first, and it is his effort to understand the intensifying failure of the labor movement while proposing a way out.  The child of two activists from the 60s, he says he [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-hamilton-nolans-the-hammer-power-inequality-and-the-struggle-for-the-soul-of-labor/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/time-now-to-strike-and-hit-hard/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/time-now-to-strike-and-hit-hard/#comments Wed, 13 Aug 2025 18:40:29 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287241 Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, sent his folks home early in July for summer recess so they wouldn’t have to vote on releasing the Epstein files. Now, I can understand why the Congresspeople might want to leave DC early; after the “big, beautiful bill” was passed that will end health care for many, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/time-now-to-strike-and-hit-hard/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ten-days-with-the-philippines-kmu-with-implicit-comparisons-with-the-us-afl-cio/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ten-days-with-the-philippines-kmu-with-implicit-comparisons-with-the-us-afl-cio/#respond Wed, 23 Jul 2025 19:01:19 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286533 I just got back from a quick visit to the KMU Labor Center in the Philippines in late June (2025).  KMU, which is the abbreviation for Kilusang Mayo Uno or May First Movement, is one of five labor centers in that country—the AFL-CIO in the US is a labor center in global labor terminology; some [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ten-days-with-the-philippines-kmu-with-implicit-comparisons-with-the-us-afl-cio/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-are-the-union-how-worker-to-worker-organizing-is-revitalizing-labor-and-winning-big-by-eric-blanc-a-book-review-essay/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-are-the-union-how-worker-to-worker-organizing-is-revitalizing-labor-and-winning-big-by-eric-blanc-a-book-review-essay/#respond Wed, 16 Jul 2025 19:28:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286254 For those of us in and around the trade union movement, Eric Blanc’s new book is an important contribution.  He builds on some of the best work out and then adds to it.  In many ways, he takes us further than other writers who have been writing on labor. What Blanc does well is he [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-are-the-union-how-worker-to-worker-organizing-is-revitalizing-labor-and-winning-big-by-eric-blanc-a-book-review-essay/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-review-of-maurice-isserman-reds-the-tragedy-of-american-communism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-review-of-maurice-isserman-reds-the-tragedy-of-american-communism/#respond Tue, 27 May 2025 16:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284232 The issue of communism in the United States, with a particular focus on the CPUSA (Communist Party of the United States of America), remains a contentious one, both as a historical subject and as a source of possible lessons for contemporary activists, especially for those of us in the United States.  Maurice Isserman has written [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-review-of-maurice-isserman-reds-the-tragedy-of-american-communism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/looking-ahead-us-unions-must-look-beyond-themselves-to-save-themselves/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/looking-ahead-us-unions-must-look-beyond-themselves-to-save-themselves/#respond Fri, 02 May 2025 14:16:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1283249 Looking Ahead:  US Unions Must Look Beyond Themselves to Save Themselves[1] The labor movement in the United States used to be respected and looked to for leadership; people cared about what positions labor took, watched when they mobilized, noticed the causes they supported.  This was especially true among the left.  Today, for most of the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/looking-ahead-us-unions-must-look-beyond-themselves-to-save-themselves/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/afl-cio-foreign-policy-leaders-refuse-to-mobilize-members-against-trump/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/afl-cio-foreign-policy-leaders-refuse-to-mobilize-members-against-trump/#respond Tue, 15 Apr 2025 16:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1282503 The American Federation of Labor (AFL), and later the AFL-CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) have carried out their own foreign policy since the 1890s.  These operations, done in the name of union members but without their knowledge or consent, have never been reported to members of affiliated unions in a way that can be independently [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/afl-cio-foreign-policy-leaders-refuse-to-mobilize-members-against-trump/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/ned-funded-afl-cio-solidarity-center-warns-of-bankruptcy/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/ned-funded-afl-cio-solidarity-center-warns-of-bankruptcy/#respond Wed, 09 Apr 2025 15:37:11 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1282198 The AFL-CIO’s international wing, the misleadingly named Solidarity Center, is over 90% funded by the US government. In a Federal Court filing and declaration on March 6, 2025, the Director of the NED-funded Solidarity Center Shawna Bader-Blau warns that unless the Trump government continues to fund the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), they will have [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/ned-funded-afl-cio-solidarity-center-warns-of-bankruptcy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-trumps-game-trying-to-save-a-weakened-us-empire/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-trumps-game-trying-to-save-a-weakened-us-empire/#respond Tue, 18 Feb 2025 17:18:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279892 Donald Trump has hit the ground running, asserting himself and his will to power to the maximum, starting before his second presidency began but accelerating upon his assumption of the Office of the Presidency, barely three weeks ago.  Talking out of both sides of his mouth, and using Elon Musk as his hitman, Trump is [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-trumps-game-trying-to-save-a-weakened-us-empire/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/afl-cio-solidarity-center-shut-by-trumps-doge-strange-silence-by-afl-cio-schuler-labor-fed/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/afl-cio-solidarity-center-shut-by-trumps-doge-strange-silence-by-afl-cio-schuler-labor-fed/#respond Sat, 15 Feb 2025 15:59:01 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1279781 Trump and Musk’s DOGE has shut down the National Endowment for Democracy NED which is the largest funder of the AFL-CIO “Solidarity Center”. The Center is run by AFL-CIO president Liz Schuler and other leaders of the AFL-CIO who are on the board of trustees and it receives 96% of it’s income from USAID and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/afl-cio-solidarity-center-shut-by-trumps-doge-strange-silence-by-afl-cio-schuler-labor-fed/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-heat-will-kill-you-first-life-and-death-on-a-scorched-planet-by-jeff-goodell/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-heat-will-kill-you-first-life-and-death-on-a-scorched-planet-by-jeff-goodell/#respond Thu, 06 Feb 2025 16:48:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279395 Jeff Goodell’s latest book is a detailed examination of heat and its dangers on a warming planet. It deserves wide readership.  Presented cogently and beautifully written in an accessible style, he powerfully examines his chosen subject from a myriad of angles.  And from a global perspective.  Ultimately, however, it is a very frustrating book. The title [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-heat-will-kill-you-first-life-and-death-on-a-scorched-planet-by-jeff-goodell/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/directly-challenging-the-us-empire-capitalism-and-the-global-climate-crisis/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/directly-challenging-the-us-empire-capitalism-and-the-global-climate-crisis/#respond Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:06:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1275147 Well, the Democrats failed to keep Donald Trump out of the presidency again.  That’s going to hurt a lot of people.  I assume most of us would prefer that he was not in this position.  However, I argue that if we carefully examine the situation, we can see that the situation is not as bleak [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/directly-challenging-the-us-empire-capitalism-and-the-global-climate-crisis/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-response-to-michael-alberts-answering-critics/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-response-to-michael-alberts-answering-critics/#respond Sun, 03 Nov 2024 16:38:45 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1274756 Michael Albert has argued at “Answering Critics” (Nov. 2, 2024), cogently in my opinion, that people who live in swing states and have yet to vote should vote for Kamala Harris by November 5th; I agree with this.  But I’d approach it a little differently than him. Regardless of who wins on Tuesday, from everything [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-response-to-michael-alberts-answering-critics/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-blue-collar-empire-the-untold-story-of-us-labors-global-anticommunist-crusade-by-jeff-schuhrke/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-blue-collar-empire-the-untold-story-of-us-labors-global-anticommunist-crusade-by-jeff-schuhrke/#comments Wed, 23 Oct 2024 17:59:14 +0000 Jeff Schuhrke begins his new book, Blue Collar Empire, with a powerful story:  how the CIA, operating through the offices of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a US-based international union, helped sustain a bitter three month strike against the government in the British colony of Guiana during 1984, effecting the post-colonial period after decolonization.  (Today, this South American country is [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-blue-collar-empire-the-untold-story-of-us-labors-global-anticommunist-crusade-by-jeff-schuhrke/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/power-at-the-us-empires-not-ok-corral/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/power-at-the-us-empires-not-ok-corral/#respond Thu, 19 Sep 2024 18:58:06 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1272555 Today, Americans are getting an education in reality that generally cannot be bought, although it might not quite seem that way.  We are seeing Israel committing genocide as it is happening, in real time, and not only is our country failing to stop this, but the US government is collaborating, not only enabling it by [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/power-at-the-us-empires-not-ok-corral/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-our-left-strategy-going-forward-in-the-us/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-our-left-strategy-going-forward-in-the-us/#respond Sun, 25 Aug 2024 15:46:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1271343 After this week’s Democratic National Convention—which went well on their terms for what the Democratic leaders wanted—I  strongly believe Kamala Harris will defeat Donald Trump for the presidency.  When one looks seriously at her fundraising (almost $500 million in a month), trends in poll numbers, people volunteering to knock on doors, enthusiasm, a successful convention [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whats-our-left-strategy-going-forward-in-the-us/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/its-time-to-organize-or-die/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/its-time-to-organize-or-die/#respond Sun, 04 Aug 2024 15:43:35 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1270372 I saw a message from a veteran friend of mine recently:  he had just received a picture of a dog eating a dead baby in Gaza. Revulsion, anger, sadness, rage:  of course, at the Israelis for their genocide in Gaza and everything they have done in Gaza and on the West Bank against Palestinians, and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/its-time-to-organize-or-die/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-climate-crisis-capitalism-or-human-animal-most-plants-survival/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-climate-crisis-capitalism-or-human-animal-most-plants-survival/#respond Tue, 02 Jul 2024 16:27:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1268744 Organised by the College of Complexes, this discussion features Kim Scipes (his talks starts 9 minutes, 53 seconds in). The speaker states that: “Capitalism requires growth; growth requires energy, most energy is derived from fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases that are attacking the atmosphere around the planet, allowing more heat inside the atmosphere, and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-climate-crisis-capitalism-or-human-animal-most-plants-survival/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/zionism-histadrut-the-afl-cio-solidarity-center-what-was-left-out-of-labor-notes-conference/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/zionism-histadrut-the-afl-cio-solidarity-center-what-was-left-out-of-labor-notes-conference/#respond Thu, 27 Jun 2024 15:48:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1268497 The role of Zionism, the Histadrut, the AFL-CIO and Solidarity Center are critical issues for trade unionists and the labor movement. The Labor Education Project On AFL-CIO International Operations held a panel on May 4, 2024 and what was left out of the 2024 Labor Notes conference in Chicago. Speakers included: David Hemson, South African [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/zionism-histadrut-the-afl-cio-solidarity-center-what-was-left-out-of-labor-notes-conference/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-unions-must-look-beyond-themselves-to-save-themselves/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-unions-must-look-beyond-themselves-to-save-themselves/#respond Sun, 26 May 2024 14:34:02 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1266957 The labor movement in the United States used to be respected and looked to for leadership; people cared about what positions labor took, watched when they mobilized, and noticed the causes they supported. This was especially true among the left. Today, for most of the country, crickets. Including much of the left. And yet, labor [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-unions-must-look-beyond-themselves-to-save-themselves/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-labor-today-and-the-way-forward/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-labor-today-and-the-way-forward/#respond Wed, 22 May 2024 16:04:05 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1266757 The labor movement in the United States used to be respected and looked to for leadership; people cared about what positions labor took, watched when they mobilized, noticed the causes they supported.  This was especially true among the left.  Today, for most of the country, crickets.  Including much of the left.  And yet, labor is [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/us-labor-today-and-the-way-forward/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/building-global-labor-solidarity-where-we-are-today-early-2024/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/building-global-labor-solidarity-where-we-are-today-early-2024/#respond Tue, 16 Apr 2024 22:19:08 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1265126 Encouraged by Flora Tristan’s exhortation—greatly amplified by Marx and Engels—“Workers of the World, Unite!” (Armbruster-Sandoval, 2013), activists have been encouraging workers to build international labor solidarity to empower each other and to improve all workers’ lives and well-being going back to before the First International.  The highest development of this was British textile workers’ refusal [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/building-global-labor-solidarity-where-we-are-today-early-2024/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/jason-hickels-less-is-more-how-degrowth-will-save-the-world/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/jason-hickels-less-is-more-how-degrowth-will-save-the-world/#respond Thu, 21 Mar 2024 15:53:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1263963 Kim Scipes reviews Jason Hickel’s Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World. Looking through the lens of climate change, Jason Hickel’s 2020 book is a powerful indictment of capitalism.  Finished in 2019, and after quickly reviewing the delerious changes taking place across the planet, he writes, “the only rational response is to do [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/jason-hickels-less-is-more-how-degrowth-will-save-the-world/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-adam-arons-the-climate-crisis-science-impacts-policy-psychology-justice-social-movements/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-adam-arons-the-climate-crisis-science-impacts-policy-psychology-justice-social-movements/#respond Tue, 26 Dec 2023 15:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1259820 Adam Aron has written an ambitious book, one he intends to be the book on the subject of the climate crisis; and he has succeeded in many ways, especially for those who want as many of the specifics as possible.He has written a book carefully supported by evidence and much research that not only includes [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-adam-arons-the-climate-crisis-science-impacts-policy-psychology-justice-social-movements/feed/ 0