https://znetwork.org/category/topic/vision-strategy/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:28:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/topic/vision-strategy/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/its-the-corruption/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/its-the-corruption/#respond Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:28:12 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301386 “We who think about politics all the time rarely have a good handle on what’s going on in the lives and minds of those who do not. That’s what makes focus groups so fascinating. I usually see voters holding on to conventional thinking and subconsciously absorbed conservative talking points, and I have to figure out [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/its-the-corruption/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-is-the-anti-christ-our-resistance-is-the-antidote-what-next/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-is-the-anti-christ-our-resistance-is-the-antidote-what-next/#respond Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:21:34 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301411 Outside theology, the term “Antichrist” has a broader, more secular, and highly descriptive sense. It names a powerful, grossly malevolent person who persistently parades wealth and preens perverse tastes, who is bad to the bone, who is the polar opposite of “good.” A person like, say, Adolf Hitler  as he fostered and rode the NAZI tide. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-is-the-anti-christ-our-resistance-is-the-antidote-what-next/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-critique-of-bolshevik-practice/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-critique-of-bolshevik-practice/#respond Tue, 21 Jul 2026 16:03:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301302 [This essay is part of a series of essays by Michael Albert which critiques Classical Left Ideologies and their value, meaning, and relevance in the context of today’s Left and the struggle for a better world. The full series can be found here.] Most of this article, like the prior related ones, was conceived and written [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-critique-of-bolshevik-practice/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/does-pikettys-new-blueprint-offer-hope-for-sharing-a-finite-worlds-resources/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/does-pikettys-new-blueprint-offer-hope-for-sharing-a-finite-worlds-resources/#respond Tue, 21 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301303 At the World Inequality Conference in June, the renowned economist Thomas Piketty and a team of 45 researchers from the World Inequality Lab unveiled the Global Justice Report. It’s a highly impressive and eloquent proposal to achieve ‘equality and prosperity within planetary boundaries’ by the end of the century. Based on a fully quantified roadmap derived [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/does-pikettys-new-blueprint-offer-hope-for-sharing-a-finite-worlds-resources/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/liberal-delusions-cultural-decay-impending-disappointment/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/liberal-delusions-cultural-decay-impending-disappointment/#respond Tue, 21 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301307 Yesterday marked one month since the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, where celebrities, former presidents, first ladies, and various other elites gathered to extol the glorious legacy of President Barack Obama. Liberals patted themselves on the back. Empty platitudes about democracy, freedom, and liberty echoed over the loudspeakers between performances by Pearl Jam and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/liberal-delusions-cultural-decay-impending-disappointment/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-stories-shaping-africas-ai-future/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-stories-shaping-africas-ai-future/#respond Mon, 20 Jul 2026 20:03:12 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301283 In the boardrooms of Addis Ababa and the tech hubs of Nairobi, a new worldmaking project is underway. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of the central arenas where African states negotiate their position in an unequal global order. To speak of “AI in Africa” is not simply to describe the arrival of a technology, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-stories-shaping-africas-ai-future/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/an-exchange-on-the-essay-society-on-strike-a-last-defense-against-tyranny/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/an-exchange-on-the-essay-society-on-strike-a-last-defense-against-tyranny/#respond Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:03:42 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301265 The “Great Transition Campaign” of the Boston-based Tellus Institute describes its mission as helping to “catalyze a global movement for systemic change” in the face of worldwide social and ecological crises.  It invites leading figures to publish a lead essay on a particular topic of urgent concern, followed by responses that are then published as [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/an-exchange-on-the-essay-society-on-strike-a-last-defense-against-tyranny/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/empire-without-flags-imperial-outreach-and-the-architecture-of-structural-power/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/empire-without-flags-imperial-outreach-and-the-architecture-of-structural-power/#respond Mon, 20 Jul 2026 18:44:21 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301260 Introduction: From Military Occupation to Structural Influence Imperial power has not disappeared. Wars, occupations, and military interventions remain central features of the international system, from Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan. What has changed is the primary instrument through which major powers reproduce long-term influence over other societies. The invasions of Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/empire-without-flags-imperial-outreach-and-the-architecture-of-structural-power/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/backing-for-ubi-is-growing-lets-push-for-the-most-progressive-version-of-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/backing-for-ubi-is-growing-lets-push-for-the-most-progressive-version-of-it/#respond Sun, 19 Jul 2026 14:38:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301237 The idea of a universal basic income has been around for decades, but it is now growing in popularity as artificial intelligence threatens to make our economic future under neoliberal capitalism even more precarious. Yet, no one would argue that a universal basic income is a panacea to capitalism’s evils. Moreover, there are different proposals [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/backing-for-ubi-is-growing-lets-push-for-the-most-progressive-version-of-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/greentech-new-deals-in-the-cities/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/greentech-new-deals-in-the-cities/#respond Fri, 17 Jul 2026 15:01:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301127 In Trump’s America the Greentech Revolution is being waged from below. Although Trump’s attacks have slowed the advance of fossil-free technologies in the US, they have not prevented communities, cities, and states from creating their own Greentech New Deals. They are taking advantage of the enormous reduction in the cost of renewable energy and of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/greentech-new-deals-in-the-cities/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/union-density-is-the-cause-of-and-solution-to-our-problems/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/union-density-is-the-cause-of-and-solution-to-our-problems/#respond Fri, 17 Jul 2026 15:00:50 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301119 Union density. Union density. Union density! What is the reason for our problems? Union density. What is the answer to our problems? Union density. What explains our plagues? Union density. What must our goal be? Union density. Everybody should be talking about union density. Always. Union density—the percentage of the work force that is represented [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/union-density-is-the-cause-of-and-solution-to-our-problems/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-fracking-to-data-centers-the-same-old-song-and-dance/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-fracking-to-data-centers-the-same-old-song-and-dance/#respond Fri, 17 Jul 2026 14:57:55 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301128 As a community organizer and environmental activist for over 15 years, I’ve often used the metaphor that “we are spinning on a hamster wheel.” That phrase gets mixed reactions. Some nod in agreement, and some get angry. The truth is not always easy to hear. I understand that from my own experiences. In 2012, I [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-fracking-to-data-centers-the-same-old-song-and-dance/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-dream-deferred-but-still-alive/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-dream-deferred-but-still-alive/#respond Fri, 17 Jul 2026 14:56:44 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301124 On March 1, 1945, only six weeks before his death, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered an address to Congress that pointed toward a sweeping transformation of international relations. With the Axis powers tottering toward defeat in World War II, Roosevelt reported that the recently concluded Yalta conference of Allied leaders had agreed upon “a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-dream-deferred-but-still-alive/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/greentech-revolution-in-the-states/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/greentech-revolution-in-the-states/#respond Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301067 While Trump conducts his war against Greentech, many US states are forging ahead with energy expansion based on sun, wind, and water. Greentech’s slashing of the cost of renewable energy production and use has made states turn to it not only to protect the climate but to make energy affordable for their people. The US [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/greentech-revolution-in-the-states/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/using-digital-organizing-tools-diem25/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/using-digital-organizing-tools-diem25/#respond Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1301074 In “Using Bits & Bytes to Grow DiEM25 at Home,” DiEM25’s IT Coordinator Judith Meyer guided members through DiEM25’s online infrastructure and shared practical ways for local groups to organise, communicate, and grow online at the 6th DiEM25 Academy in Prague. The session helped members become more confident users of DiEM25’s digital tools, while also [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/using-digital-organizing-tools-diem25/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/movements-cannot-shy-away-from-conflict/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/movements-cannot-shy-away-from-conflict/#respond Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301099 This is an excerpt from “For Louder Days: Reaching Beyond a Politics of Powerlessness,” originally published at Convergence. The truth is, most of the groups and organizations that make up our movements do not have a strategy for winning. They might think they have a strategy. They might tell themselves they have one. They certainly [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/movements-cannot-shy-away-from-conflict/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epistemologies-of-the-south-the-left-and-communism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epistemologies-of-the-south-the-left-and-communism/#respond Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:49:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1301068 At this juncture in history, humanity’s situation is so volatile that whatever may await us beyond this turning point is of such a magnitude that it frightens and paralyzes us. We are sleepwalking toward a third world war and an ecological collapse of unimaginable proportions and consequences. The concentration of wealth in the hands of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/epistemologies-of-the-south-the-left-and-communism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/classical-leninism-for-activists-or-activists-leninism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/classical-leninism-for-activists-or-activists-leninism/#respond Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:02:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300992 [This essay is part of a series of essays by Michael Albert which critiques Classical Left Ideologies and their value, meaning, and relevance in the context of today’s Left and the struggle for a better world. The full series can be found here.] Continuing a presentation of the components of Classical Marxism Leninism preparatory to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/classical-leninism-for-activists-or-activists-leninism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-permian-analogy-climate-literacy-and-the-urgency-we-cannot-grasp/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-permian-analogy-climate-literacy-and-the-urgency-we-cannot-grasp/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300989 The Permian period ended about 250 million years ago with the largest recorded mass extinction in Earth’s history, when a series of massive volcanic eruptions is believed to have triggered global climate change that ultimately wiped out 96 percent of marine species in an event known as the “Great Dying.” According to Justin Penn, a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-permian-analogy-climate-literacy-and-the-urgency-we-cannot-grasp/feed/ 3 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-trump-administrations-threat-to-temporary-protected-status-for-haitians-is-only-the-latest-attack-in-a-long-fight/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-trump-administrations-threat-to-temporary-protected-status-for-haitians-is-only-the-latest-attack-in-a-long-fight/#respond Mon, 13 Jul 2026 19:13:23 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300968 I danced among a sea of my people at a nightclub in Center City, Philadelphia, to celebrate Haitian Independence Day. Earlier, while we were getting dressed, my friends and I debated whether people would take the risk of showing up to a large, loud gathering of Haitians in January 2026. But the club was packed. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-trump-administrations-threat-to-temporary-protected-status-for-haitians-is-only-the-latest-attack-in-a-long-fight/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ai-is-a-product-of-humanity-humanity-should-own-ai/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ai-is-a-product-of-humanity-humanity-should-own-ai/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2026 18:31:06 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300952 Elon Musk is officially the richest man on Earth. The source of his wealth is not his own cunning. Nor can it be fully explained by capitalism’s financial architecture, tax loopholes, and the value created by the workers employed in his various ventures. Tech billionaires’ companies are robbing humanity of its distinctive capacity to create. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ai-is-a-product-of-humanity-humanity-should-own-ai/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/samsung-workers-fight-is-just-beginning/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/samsung-workers-fight-is-just-beginning/#respond Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:22:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300972 With the artificial intelligence boom reshaping the global economy, workers are racing to defend their rights as the ground shifts beneath them. A narrowly averted strike at Samsung Electronics in Korea this spring was a major test of labor’s ability to fight back. Weeks before the planned strike, a historic 40,000 Samsung workers rallied outside the company’s [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/samsung-workers-fight-is-just-beginning/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-yippies-and-the-power-of-counterculture/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-yippies-and-the-power-of-counterculture/#respond Sun, 12 Jul 2026 13:56:21 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300919 Since President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, an authoritarian presidency has been accompanied by a brutal crackdown on social movements. While there are strikingly new features of Trump’s reign, many of the assaults on freedom and the persecution of activists have parallels in the histories of U.S. imperialism, the anti-Vietnam war movement and the New Left [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-yippies-and-the-power-of-counterculture/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/building-an-economy-that-works-for-working-americans/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/building-an-economy-that-works-for-working-americans/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2026 18:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300877 The United States is a plutocracy. Its economy works for the wealthy and powerful at the expense of working people. It is a broken politico-economic system in need of major repairs, but as leading progressive economist Gerald Epstein points out in the interview that follows, there is indeed an arsenal of bold policies to “defeat [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/building-an-economy-that-works-for-working-americans/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cut-the-pentagon-save-the-planet-the-1-5-trillion-climate-solution-we-cant-ignore/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cut-the-pentagon-save-the-planet-the-1-5-trillion-climate-solution-we-cant-ignore/#respond Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:54:22 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300848 Last week, millions of people around the world were subjected to record-breaking heatwaves. At least 25 deaths in the U.S. from this heat dome were reported. The French government also counted over 2,000 excess deaths during the June heatwaves. At the same time, this past weekend, a devastating super typhoon hit the Northern Mariana Islands [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cut-the-pentagon-save-the-planet-the-1-5-trillion-climate-solution-we-cant-ignore/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-debated-why-palestine-is-rewriting-the-rules-of-domestic-us-politics/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-debated-why-palestine-is-rewriting-the-rules-of-domestic-us-politics/#respond Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:50:58 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300851 A major showdown on the House floor seemed imminent. An amendment, advanced by the Rules Committee, was poised to force a rare and telling record vote on stripping Israel of $3.3 billion in annual US military aid.  Brought forward by Republican Representative Thomas Massie and drawing support from key progressive Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-debated-why-palestine-is-rewriting-the-rules-of-domestic-us-politics/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-same-enemy-is-driving-protests-across-the-balkans/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-same-enemy-is-driving-protests-across-the-balkans/#respond Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:47:32 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300870 I’ve been following the recent protests in Albania but from a particular angle: as a participant in a similar wave of mass protests in Serbia. In 2024, I got three months of death threats after I published a scholarly article exposing controversial economic data related to a German-backed lithium mining project that threatened to tear [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-same-enemy-is-driving-protests-across-the-balkans/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/strike-six-new-orleans-nurses-fight-for-first-contract/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/strike-six-new-orleans-nurses-fight-for-first-contract/#respond Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:44:02 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300867 Two years and six strikes into bargaining—after switching law firms, cancelling negotiation sessions, firing union leaders, and allegedly backing a decertification effort—perhaps it’s dawning on University Medical Center in New Orleans that nurses don’t tire out easily. On May 1 the nurses held their sixth strike—at five days, the longest yet—and their picket lines keep [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/strike-six-new-orleans-nurses-fight-for-first-contract/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-lesson-for-ai-from-climate-dont-seek-to-influence-power-take-power/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-lesson-for-ai-from-climate-dont-seek-to-influence-power-take-power/#respond Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:42:51 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300861 Recently the UN had its big AI moment. On 1 July, the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI published its preliminary report: an evidence-based assessment of the opportunities, risks and impacts of AI, assembled by scientists from all five UN regions and already being described as the beginnings of an IPCC for AI. Days later, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-lesson-for-ai-from-climate-dont-seek-to-influence-power-take-power/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-york-citys-rent-freeze-who-benefits-and-whats-next/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-york-citys-rent-freeze-who-benefits-and-whats-next/#respond Thu, 09 Jul 2026 15:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1300824 You may have seen the headlines: the rent in New York City is frozen! Mayor Zohran Mamdani has achieved one of his major campaign proposals. But the text underneath the headlines reveals the limits and complications, well known to those familiar with New York’s rent stabilization system, yet opaque to others.  The rent freeze will [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-york-citys-rent-freeze-who-benefits-and-whats-next/feed/ 0