https://znetwork.org/author/sonalikolhatkar/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Thu, 30 Apr 2026 04:27:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/sonalikolhatkar/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/progressive-economic-populism-is-a-winning-issue/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/progressive-economic-populism-is-a-winning-issue/#respond Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:51:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297528 The re-election of Donald Trump reignited a simmering feud between the progressive and centrist wings of the Democratic Party. While centrists have cautioned against alienating “moderate” voters, progressives have urged the party to rally around universal health care, raising wages, and other populist measures. If recent elections are any indication, moderate voters seem plenty receptive [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/progressive-economic-populism-is-a-winning-issue/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/to-solve-homelessness-fix-the-economy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/to-solve-homelessness-fix-the-economy/#respond Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297333 A dangerous right-wing solution to homelessness is to hide the unhoused in out-of-sight detention camps. A 2024 Treasury Department report articulated the leading cause of homelessness in the United States: “For the past two decades, rents and house prices have been rising faster than incomes across most regions of the United States.” The logic of this claim—based [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/to-solve-homelessness-fix-the-economy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/another-war-for-oil-why-we-need-renewable-energy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/another-war-for-oil-why-we-need-renewable-energy/#respond Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1296486 The war on Iran has caused the biggest oil supply disruption in history, as oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz falters. Taken together with this year’s invasion of Venezuela, home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and the Trump administration’s subsequent cutting off of oil sales to Cuba — potentially its next military target — we are [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/another-war-for-oil-why-we-need-renewable-energy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-mamdani-abolish-police-or-simply-make-them-obsolete/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-mamdani-abolish-police-or-simply-make-them-obsolete/#respond Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:49:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295183 What sets Mamdani apart from other progressive mayors who promised to be tough on police is a democratic socialist vision of a society that meets people’s needs. As part of his proposed city budget for 2026, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani just canceled the NYPD’s plan to hire 5,000 more police officers, undoing a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-mamdani-abolish-police-or-simply-make-them-obsolete/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-wont-newsom-tax-billionaires/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-wont-newsom-tax-billionaires/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2026 20:38:54 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294096 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 Trump-Newsom rivalry has captivated some voters to pick sides, it should be noted that one of these two political figures is a billionaire-loving, transphobic narcissist. The other is the president of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-wont-newsom-tax-billionaires/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anti-ice-resistance-sprang-up-across-red-states-in-2025/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anti-ice-resistance-sprang-up-across-red-states-in-2025/#respond Tue, 30 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292913 Grassroots organizations around the United States, with little to no support from local authorities, have spent much of the past year defending themselves against President Donald Trump’s deployments of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the National Guard. While community defense efforts in large urban metropolises such as Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anti-ice-resistance-sprang-up-across-red-states-in-2025/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/americans-arent-traumatized-enough-by-gun-violence/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/americans-arent-traumatized-enough-by-gun-violence/#respond Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292681 The December 14 mass shooting in Sydney, Australia, aimed at the Jewish community during Hanukkah celebrations on Bondi Beach, stunned the world. Fifteen people were killed, including a 10-year-old child. Instead of tackling antisemitism and more strictly regulating guns, right-wing and liberal pundits immediately politicized the incident by blaming pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide activism for fueling [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/americans-arent-traumatized-enough-by-gun-violence/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/if-people-are-going-hungry-why-cant-we-feed-them/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/if-people-are-going-hungry-why-cant-we-feed-them/#respond Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291961 The recent government shutdown was a stark reminder that 42 million people across the United States rely on federal food benefits. That’s 12 percent of the nation’s population that lawmakers and President Donald Trump threw under the bus, cutting off SNAP benefits in an attempt to force a deal. The shutdown has ended, but SNAP remains [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/if-people-are-going-hungry-why-cant-we-feed-them/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/starbucks-ignores-worker-demands-at-its-peril/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/starbucks-ignores-worker-demands-at-its-peril/#respond Thu, 27 Nov 2025 18:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291697 Baristas have launched the largest strike in their company’s history and are standing firm until their demands are met. Thousands of baristas at nearly 100 Starbucks locations are on strike this holiday season, picketing outside the iconic cafes for a contract. While the corporate coffee chain has claimed little to no disruption to its bottom line so far, the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/starbucks-ignores-worker-demands-at-its-peril/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/montana-has-an-ambitious-plan-to-end-dark-money-in-elections/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/montana-has-an-ambitious-plan-to-end-dark-money-in-elections/#respond Sat, 15 Nov 2025 14:07:10 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291293 Fifteen years after a landmark Supreme Court case turbocharged corporate spending in the political process, a group hopes it may have a way to finally rein in some of the outsized influence of the ultrawealthy. The 2010 ruling on Citizens United v. FEC opened the floodgates of political spending in elections. Every year since then, untraceable financial political [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/montana-has-an-ambitious-plan-to-end-dark-money-in-elections/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rage-against-the-ice-machine/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rage-against-the-ice-machine/#respond Thu, 30 Oct 2025 15:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290626 Trump’s ICE forces are facing militant and organized opposition everywhere they turn. A New York City woman wearing a navy blue polka-dot dress has gone viral for her defiant resistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a raid in lower Manhattan on October 21, 2025. Appearing as though she was on her way from work—the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rage-against-the-ice-machine/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rfk-jr-threatens-a-century-of-medical-progress/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rfk-jr-threatens-a-century-of-medical-progress/#respond Sat, 04 Oct 2025 14:43:32 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289502 Arguably the most important medical innovation of the 20th century is under attack, in part because it’s been so effective. We live in an era when diseases such as polio are incredibly rare — because of childhood vaccines. Now, thanks to the antivaxxer-in-chief at the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rfk-jr-threatens-a-century-of-medical-progress/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fascists-dont-deserve-space-our-humanity-is-not-up-for-debate/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fascists-dont-deserve-space-our-humanity-is-not-up-for-debate/#respond Sat, 20 Sep 2025 15:00:29 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288804 “The proper way to respond” to white supremacist fascism “is to have a backbone,” says Tariq Khan, a historian and lecturer at Yale University, in an interview on September 17, a week after the assassination of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk. As the author of The Republic Shall Be Kept Clean: How Settler Colonial Violence Shaped Antileft [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fascists-dont-deserve-space-our-humanity-is-not-up-for-debate/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lets-fund-real-public-safetynot-ice/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lets-fund-real-public-safetynot-ice/#respond Sun, 31 Aug 2025 16:14:20 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287987 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a recruitment message on social media this summer saying, “America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out.” Setting aside the racist overtones of this messaging, even DHS itself says it’s not true. Border crossings have fallen to an all-time low — DHS’s own [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lets-fund-real-public-safetynot-ice/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/can-we-protect-our-children-from-the-government/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/can-we-protect-our-children-from-the-government/#respond Wed, 27 Aug 2025 19:19:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287797 As summer winds down, kids all over the United States are starting the school year. In addition to the standard back-to-school trepidation, children of color are facing the unimaginable terror of being snatched by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. In Southern California, which has been an epicenter of ICE activity since early summer, federal [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/can-we-protect-our-children-from-the-government/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/public-funding-is-the-solution-to-media-bias-not-the-driver/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/public-funding-is-the-solution-to-media-bias-not-the-driver/#respond Sat, 26 Jul 2025 15:19:05 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286598 If ever there was a sign that democracy in the United States is in dire straits, it was Congress’s rescission of $9 billion in funding for public media and foreign aid, achieved via a party-line vote of 216 to 213 on July 18, 2025. The vote took place despite the fact that millions of people wrote [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/public-funding-is-the-solution-to-media-bias-not-the-driver/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-will-it-take-to-end-trumps-ice-raids/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-will-it-take-to-end-trumps-ice-raids/#comments Wed, 25 Jun 2025 17:58:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285436 Donald Trump is not the first president to unleash the terror of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on immigrant communities across the United States. But he’s the most blatant in his use of a federal armed unit as a tool of terror, fulfilling multiple goals at once: to reinforce white supremacy, to undermine his [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-will-it-take-to-end-trumps-ice-raids/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/national-teach-in-media-literacy-and-activism/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/national-teach-in-media-literacy-and-activism/#respond Fri, 06 Jun 2025 12:05:28 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1284669 In our recent teach-in on Noncooperation with Trump, we touched on many essential pillars of free societies and of liberatory movements — including, the media. As repression keeps on ramping up, we’re pushing back with a follow up event digging in to this urgent topic…  Join us to hear from panelists on the frontlines of independent media. Watch to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/national-teach-in-media-literacy-and-activism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-win-the-nations-highest-minimum-wage/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-win-the-nations-highest-minimum-wage/#respond Tue, 03 Jun 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284530 Tourism workers in Southern California just won a historic battle for the highest minimum wage in the nation—a perfect counterpoint to the Republican-led tax bill that rewards billionaires at the expense of low-income Medicaid recipients. The union-backed campaign is a powerful lesson in creative, proactive, and long-term mobilizing for economic justice. Southern California’s tourism industry [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-win-the-nations-highest-minimum-wage/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-the-right-really-hates-the-postal-service/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-the-right-really-hates-the-postal-service/#comments Wed, 14 May 2025 12:28:08 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1283710 President Donald Trump has tapped a former board member of the private mail delivery corporation FedEx to be the next United States Postmaster General. David Steiner’s appointment as head of the public service agency is a signal that Trump is going to take another stab at something he tried and failed to do during his [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-the-right-really-hates-the-postal-service/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tariffs-can-be-useful-but-not-how-trump-is-using-them/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tariffs-can-be-useful-but-not-how-trump-is-using-them/#respond Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:51:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1281949 President Donald Trump has said “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” He claims tariffs will restore American trade supremacy, bring lost jobs back to the United States, and most bizarrely, replace income taxes. Tariffs can be a useful tool to regulate global trade in the interest of jobs, wages, labor rights, the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tariffs-can-be-useful-but-not-how-trump-is-using-them/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/first-they-came-for-the-venezuelans/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/first-they-came-for-the-venezuelans/#respond Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1281686 President Donald Trump promised to unleash mass deportations on immigrants during his presidential campaign. But he has gone much further, with the disappearing of hundreds of Venezuelan nationals from the United States to El Salvador’s notorious gulag. It’s a warning shot—one that has serious consequences for all of us, immigrant or not. The method and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/first-they-came-for-the-venezuelans/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/only-the-people-can-save-the-people-say-migrant-workers/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/only-the-people-can-save-the-people-say-migrant-workers/#respond Thu, 27 Feb 2025 16:54:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280315 The National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON) embodies an ethos of “solidarity, not charity,” in both fire relief and immigrant rights. When the Eaton Fire began on January 7, 2025, in Altadena, California, it blazed through residential neighborhoods, destroying thousands of family homes. On the morning of January 8, as businesses burned on North Lake [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/only-the-people-can-save-the-people-say-migrant-workers/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/7-ways-to-rise-up-against-trumpism-2-0/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/7-ways-to-rise-up-against-trumpism-2-0/#respond Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280007 Since Donald Trump’s second term began on Jan. 20, 2025, his administration has aggressively launched a deluge of multipronged attacks on immigrants, transgender people, racial equity initiatives, federal workers, climate regulations, and more. “It is a fire hose right now,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) told the Associated Press. “That’s what he does. He creates a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/7-ways-to-rise-up-against-trumpism-2-0/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lets-embrace-our-instinct-for-collective-action-in-bad-times-and-good/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lets-embrace-our-instinct-for-collective-action-in-bad-times-and-good/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2025 16:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279084 When my multigenerational family of six evacuated our home this January, we wondered if the fires visible from our front porch would engulf our house as we fled. Text reports of friends losing homes bombarded my phone as we settled into a cramped hotel room for the next three nights. Our home was just spared, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/lets-embrace-our-instinct-for-collective-action-in-bad-times-and-good/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ive-covered-climate-disasters-for-decades-now-i-live-on-the-front-lines/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ive-covered-climate-disasters-for-decades-now-i-live-on-the-front-lines/#respond Mon, 27 Jan 2025 15:59:16 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1278950 In January, I am ordinarily making lemon curd, lemonade, lemon bars, lemon salad dressing and every citrus-infused dish I can think of. It is the time of year when my decades-old dwarf lemon tree is overflowing with intoxicating Meyer lemons, hanging on spiky branches like yellow baubles on a Christmas tree, heavy and sweet with [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ive-covered-climate-disasters-for-decades-now-i-live-on-the-front-lines/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/abolish-climate-disasters/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/abolish-climate-disasters/#respond Fri, 24 Jan 2025 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1278830 “Under racial capitalism, land is treated as nothing more than a natural resource to be extracted, and violence is committed against the climate and the waters,” said Leah Penniman, who runs Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York and is the author of the acclaimed book Farming While Black. Penniman’s words have been echoing in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/abolish-climate-disasters/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/budgeting-by-and-for-the-people/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/budgeting-by-and-for-the-people/#respond Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1278539 Melina Abdullah, Ph.D., is a fixture among racial justice activists in Los Angeles, leading Black Lives Matter LA (BLMLA)’s protests and actions from the campus of California State University, Los Angeles, where she’s a professor. In 2024, she became Cornel West’s choice of vice president for his independent presidential run. As an outspoken abolitionist, Abdullah [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/budgeting-by-and-for-the-people/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kill-the-nonprofit-killer-bill/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kill-the-nonprofit-killer-bill/#respond Thu, 19 Dec 2024 16:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277320 This fall, shortly after the election, the House passed a dangerous piece of legislation that many are calling the “nonprofit killer” bill. The bill has an incongruous title: the “Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.” Among other things, it would give the Treasury Department the authority to unilaterally accuse nonprofit organizations of supporting [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kill-the-nonprofit-killer-bill/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-our-collective-solution-to-health-injustice/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-our-collective-solution-to-health-injustice/#respond Thu, 19 Dec 2024 16:55:51 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277292 The December 4 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the public outrage over the state of healthcare it sparked, is a tale of many competing narratives: the killer’s story, the public’s story, the industry’s story, and the politicians’ and punditocracy’s story. Which one wins out determines whether the United States ultimately replaces the healthcare [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-our-collective-solution-to-health-injustice/feed/ 0