https://znetwork.org/author/lizafeatherstone/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:14:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/lizafeatherstone/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/minneapoliss-omar-fateh-on-his-run-for-mayor/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/minneapoliss-omar-fateh-on-his-run-for-mayor/#respond Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:14:29 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288892 Municipal socialism is an increasingly popular idea, and not only in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani is favored to become mayor in November. New polling in the Minneapolis race for mayor shows democratic socialist challenger Omar Fateh gaining on the incumbent, Jacob Frey, a centrist Democrat. A new poll shows Fateh only five points [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/minneapoliss-omar-fateh-on-his-run-for-mayor/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-deserve-way-way-more-time-off/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-deserve-way-way-more-time-off/#respond Mon, 01 Sep 2025 15:39:51 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288018 This Labor Day weekend, I’m savoring the last days of summer, but also feeling that I did not spend enough of it in the right way. I spent too much time working.  I know I’m not alone. Nearly one in four Americans get no paid vacation at all and no paid holidays. Many who do get paid [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-deserve-way-way-more-time-off/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/soldiers-are-taking-a-stand-against-trumps-abuses/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/soldiers-are-taking-a-stand-against-trumps-abuses/#respond Sun, 06 Jul 2025 15:28:55 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285870 Kim, an aircraft mechanic, joined the military in 2019, at age 18. She and her mother had struggled to survive, even living in their car at times. She didn’t think she could afford college, so she didn’t apply. Like so many young Americans in that situation, she enlisted “to get a stable paycheck, a roof [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/soldiers-are-taking-a-stand-against-trumps-abuses/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdanis-messaging-machine-is-a-model-to-emulate/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdanis-messaging-machine-is-a-model-to-emulate/#respond Fri, 20 Jun 2025 15:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285229 “When people say buses can never be free,” says socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, smiling, “don’t ask them to take a hike. Ask them to take the ferry.” The video, with beautiful footage of New York Harbor from the Staten Island Ferry — “the best way to see the Statue of Liberty,” [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdanis-messaging-machine-is-a-model-to-emulate/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdanis-canvassing-operation-is-what-democracy-looks-like/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdanis-canvassing-operation-is-what-democracy-looks-like/#respond Sun, 08 Jun 2025 13:42:45 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284741 Polls are notoriously fickle things, but recent ones in the New York City mayoral race have been fairly consistent: socialist candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, after ten rounds of ranked-choice voting simulation, is within ten points of front-runner former governor Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani entered the race in low single digits, a little-known and relatively new [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdanis-canvassing-operation-is-what-democracy-looks-like/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-is-laser-focused-on-an-affordable-new-york/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-is-laser-focused-on-an-affordable-new-york/#respond Sat, 10 May 2025 14:46:33 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1283560 If anyone needed a compelling argument for why New York City is in desperate need of socialist governance, the city’s real estate elites and the political class they own gave one last week. The Rent Guidelines Board, whose members are appointed by the mayor, voted on April 30 to consider drastic rent increases on at [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-is-laser-focused-on-an-affordable-new-york/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/stop-the-oligarchs-is-a-winning-message/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/stop-the-oligarchs-is-a-winning-message/#respond Sat, 05 Apr 2025 14:49:39 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1282065 It’s clear that Americans don’t like oligarchs. When the broad left is campaigning against oligarchy and oligarchs, we are on solid ground. Politico reported Wednesday that Donald Trump has told members of his inner circle that Elon Musk will soon step down from his White House duties. The news came just after Republicans lost — by a whopping ten [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/stop-the-oligarchs-is-a-winning-message/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/solidarity-will-see-us-through-the-second-trump-term/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/solidarity-will-see-us-through-the-second-trump-term/#respond Mon, 20 Jan 2025 12:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1278677 During the springtime of 2017, I told a good friend that I was worried about almost everyone we knew. Anyone politically left of center seemed to be anxious, depressed, addicted to everything bad, and looking forward to nothing. “It’s Trump,” my friend said, downing his third Bloody Mary before lunchtime. “We’re all falling apart.” We [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/solidarity-will-see-us-through-the-second-trump-term/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-real-war-on-christmas-is-a-class-war-waged-by-bosses/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-real-war-on-christmas-is-a-class-war-waged-by-bosses/#respond Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:37:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277591 In the right-wing imaginary, the War on Christmas had a good run. Fox News host John Gibson alleged in a 2005 book that liberals were planning to “ban the sacred holiday,” and a moral panic was born, yielding outrage after outrage almost every year. This year, however, the defenders of all things merry and bright have been [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-real-war-on-christmas-is-a-class-war-waged-by-bosses/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-better-resistance-to-trump-is-possible/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-better-resistance-to-trump-is-possible/#respond Thu, 05 Dec 2024 16:54:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1276657 “I do not want to do four more years of ‘Resistance’ nonsense under Donald Trump. Good God,” democratic socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said a few weeks before the election. “Does anyone remember what that was like?” Yes, we do. The “Resistance” was cringe. Ocasio-Cortez’s comments were funny because they were true: the first Trump administration [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-better-resistance-to-trump-is-possible/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/liberals-are-giving-up-on-america/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/liberals-are-giving-up-on-america/#comments Sat, 16 Nov 2024 14:02:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1275488 The election takes are still flowing as freely as the Dom Pérignon at one of Kamala Harris’s Silicon Valley fundraisers. Many liberals agree on one thing: the American people suck, especially the working class. The Guardian headline on a Rebecca Solnit piece this week reads, “Our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/liberals-are-giving-up-on-america/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democrats-are-welcoming-a-genocidal-war-criminal-to-dc/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democrats-are-welcoming-a-genocidal-war-criminal-to-dc/#respond Fri, 07 Jun 2024 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1267521 With elections looming and the Democratic base overwhelmingly opposed to Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, Joe Biden seems at times to be feeling the heat and talking peace. On May 31, he claimed that Israel had agreed to a “permanent cease-fire.” But Biden was immediately rebuffed when Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu disgracefully rejected that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democrats-are-welcoming-a-genocidal-war-criminal-to-dc/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palestine-is-on-the-ballot/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palestine-is-on-the-ballot/#respond Wed, 05 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1267423 The Democratic voter greeted us with a friendly smile and a thoughtful silence. She glanced skeptically at our literature. “You’ve heard some bad things?” we asked, reading her body language. She nodded, relaxing a bit. We explained. The onslaught of negative information about our candidate was funded by groups opposing a cease-fire in Israel’s ongoing [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palestine-is-on-the-ballot/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democratic-socialists-are-running-for-school-board-and-winning/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democratic-socialists-are-running-for-school-board-and-winning/#respond Wed, 03 Jan 2024 18:03:27 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1260159 Whenever the far-right gains political traction in America, it’s usually at least partly due to an unglamorous, relatively inexpensive tactic: running for school board. Throwing their energy into local school politics has often allowed conservatives to stoke panic on hot-button wedge issues — most recently, “critical race theory” and trans acceptance — which can have [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democratic-socialists-are-running-for-school-board-and-winning/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rich-people-in-the-us-have-been-allowed-to-get-way-too-rich/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rich-people-in-the-us-have-been-allowed-to-get-way-too-rich/#respond Sat, 18 Nov 2023 14:26:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1257696 The 99 percent are suffering. With inflation easing a bit, Thanksgiving dinner won’t be as expensive this year as it has been. But a slightly more affordable turkey is cold comfort. Rent is still prohibitive, with most tenants struggling to foot the bill. Even more worrying, 12.8 percent of households suffered from food insecurity at some point [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rich-people-in-the-us-have-been-allowed-to-get-way-too-rich/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dianne-feinstein-helped-lead-the-democratic-partys-neoliberal-turn/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dianne-feinstein-helped-lead-the-democratic-partys-neoliberal-turn/#respond Sun, 01 Oct 2023 13:51:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1255166 California senator Dianne Feinstein died yesterday at age ninety, and mainstream media outlets are rushing to eulogize her. She deserves recognition — and it should go without saying that Feinstein’s death is sad for those close to her — but the hymns of praise miss her real significance. Celebrated as a “pragmatist,” Feinstein in fact [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dianne-feinstein-helped-lead-the-democratic-partys-neoliberal-turn/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-york-socialists-won-big-on-climate-how-did-it-happen/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-york-socialists-won-big-on-climate-how-did-it-happen/#respond Fri, 15 Sep 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1254118 Anyone perusing Twitter or reading the works of Karl Marx will notice that socialists can get fractious with one another. But as one hardworking ecosocialist leader in the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) will tell you, an existential threat to humanity like climate change can bring people together. ​“It’s not like [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-york-socialists-won-big-on-climate-how-did-it-happen/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/leftist-elected-officials-should-always-vote-no-on-the-military-budget/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/leftist-elected-officials-should-always-vote-no-on-the-military-budget/#respond Mon, 31 Jul 2023 19:25:09 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1250231 Last week, Senator Bernie Sanders cast a vote that should be expected of all left-leaning politicians in Congress: he voted against giving $886 billion to the Pentagon. In his speech explaining why he could not support this massive giveaway to the military industrial complex, Sanders noted the urgent domestic problems that should take priority over fattening the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/leftist-elected-officials-should-always-vote-no-on-the-military-budget/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-did-democrats-embrace-the-far-right-narendra-modi/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-did-democrats-embrace-the-far-right-narendra-modi/#respond Sat, 24 Jun 2023 13:57:16 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1248353 Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who is on a state visit to the White House this week, is one of the most significant far-right leaders in the world. His persecution of religious minorities has troubled even the US State Department, which has taken note of the problem in its annual Religious Freedom Report. His administration [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-did-democrats-embrace-the-far-right-narendra-modi/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanderss-interrogation-of-howard-schultz-made-democrats-pick-a-side/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanderss-interrogation-of-howard-schultz-made-democrats-pick-a-side/#respond Sun, 02 Apr 2023 13:33:13 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1242640 Yesterday morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders and his Democratic colleagues grilled Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks, and heard testimony from workers about the company’s extensive, illegal union–busting. It was a glorious spectacle, displaying the power of working-class organizing with allies in elected office to push back against and divide the ruling class on a national stage. Workers at [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanderss-interrogation-of-howard-schultz-made-democrats-pick-a-side/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/want-to-reduce-crime-stop-evictions/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/want-to-reduce-crime-stop-evictions/#respond Tue, 28 Mar 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1242360 Contrary to the New York real estate industry’s propaganda, reducing evictions and strengthening affordable housing protections actually reduces crime and violence. As the New York legislature and governor engage in a high-stakes power struggle over the coming year’s budget, some voters in Flushing, Queens, among other neighborhoods, are finding strange fliers on their doorstep, warning them that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/want-to-reduce-crime-stop-evictions/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-is-about-to-publicly-roast-capitalists-in-front-of-the-nation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-is-about-to-publicly-roast-capitalists-in-front-of-the-nation/#respond Wed, 01 Mar 2023 14:31:28 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1240376 The capitalist class is always trying to will Bernie Sanders into death or retirement. A recent New York Times report noted, perhaps wishfully, that his new role as chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions “could be his final act in Washington.” But so far, Sanders is alive and staying put, and the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-is-about-to-publicly-roast-capitalists-in-front-of-the-nation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democratic-leaders-join-house-republican-attack-on-socialism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democratic-leaders-join-house-republican-attack-on-socialism/#respond Sun, 05 Feb 2023 15:27:17 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1238721 On Thursday, Hakeem Jeffries — a newly significant leader in the Democratic Party, now that, with Nancy Pelosi’s impending retirement, he’s the House Minority Leader and the leader of the House Democratic Caucus — gave a master class in being a craven tool. When House Republicans brought an absurd resolution condemning the “crimes” of socialism, just after stripping [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democratic-leaders-join-house-republican-attack-on-socialism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/yesterday-striking-uber-drivers-confronted-a-tech-behemoth-in-new-york/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/yesterday-striking-uber-drivers-confronted-a-tech-behemoth-in-new-york/#respond Sat, 07 Jan 2023 15:20:20 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1236420 “No driver, no Uber!” the drivers chanted, in a crescendo, outside Uber’s New York City headquarters on Greenwich Street, right across from the 9/11 memorial. “No driver, no Uber!” Manhattan’s Financial District has lost much of its bustle and drive over the years, but its gleaming buildings, even empty, still seem to show off global [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/yesterday-striking-uber-drivers-confronted-a-tech-behemoth-in-new-york/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/by-fighting-for-paid-sick-leave-the-railworkers-are-fighting-for-all-of-us/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/by-fighting-for-paid-sick-leave-the-railworkers-are-fighting-for-all-of-us/#respond Sat, 03 Dec 2022 15:16:21 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1233559 With the help of the Senate, Joe Biden channeled Ronald Reagan this week in moving to deprive railworkers of the right to strike over a simple demand: paid sick leave. The bourgeois apologetics have flowed more freely than Schramsberg at a Silicon Valley fundraiser. Celeste Drake, director of labor issues for the National Economic Council, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/by-fighting-for-paid-sick-leave-the-railworkers-are-fighting-for-all-of-us/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-inflation-ruins-american-thanksgiving-look-abroad-to-find-the-right-political-response/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-inflation-ruins-american-thanksgiving-look-abroad-to-find-the-right-political-response/#respond Sat, 26 Nov 2022 15:05:19 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1232916 If the cost of hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year has left you a bit stunned, you’re not alone. A survey by the New York Farm Bureau found a 26 percent spike in the cost of the traditional American feast. Looking at the cost of turkey, potatoes (whether russet or sweet), pumpkin pie (filling and crust), and other [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-inflation-ruins-american-thanksgiving-look-abroad-to-find-the-right-political-response/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-a-political-climate-moving-right-new-york-socialists-are-still-making-gains/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-a-political-climate-moving-right-new-york-socialists-are-still-making-gains/#respond Thu, 08 Sep 2022 16:05:31 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1219411 New York continues to add to its socialist bench in the state legislature. This primary season, all six of the incumbents (four in the assembly and two in the senate) endorsed by New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) kept their seats, while the organization also won two more, securing primary victories for an [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-a-political-climate-moving-right-new-york-socialists-are-still-making-gains/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/eric-adams-has-declared-war-on-socialism-so-far-the-socialists-are-winning/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/eric-adams-has-declared-war-on-socialism-so-far-the-socialists-are-winning/#respond Tue, 30 Aug 2022 16:43:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1201758 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/eric-adams-has-declared-war-on-socialism-so-far-the-socialists-are-winning/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/there-was-a-lot-of-good-news-in-this-weeks-primaries/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/there-was-a-lot-of-good-news-in-this-weeks-primaries/#respond Sun, 22 May 2022 11:38:21 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1058462 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/there-was-a-lot-of-good-news-in-this-weeks-primaries/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/international-womens-day-belongs-to-us/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/international-womens-day-belongs-to-us/#respond Wed, 09 Mar 2022 12:13:40 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1055875 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/international-womens-day-belongs-to-us/feed/ 0