https://znetwork.org/category/topic/vision-strategy/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Fri, 20 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +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/were-better-at-tearing-down-than-building-up/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/were-better-at-tearing-down-than-building-up/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294974 Civil resistance movements around the world are remarkably good at one thing: disruption. We know how to mobilize millions, how to make authoritarian regimes ungovernable, and how to generate the kind of sustained crisis of governance that topples strongmen. What we are terrible at – catastrophically, repeatedly terrible at – is what comes next. This is the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/were-better-at-tearing-down-than-building-up/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294985 California’s 2026 election isn’t just another policy fight — it’s a stress test for whether democracy can still regulate concentrated wealth. As Silicon Valley’s billionaire class pours unprecedented money into the governor’s race, ballot initiatives, and down‑ballot contests, the state has become the proving ground for what Politico calls “the big tech flex.” The Guardian [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-7-8-goals-and-tactics/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-7-8-goals-and-tactics/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1294946 As authoritarian politics harden in the United States, familiar channels of resistance are proving dangerously inadequate. Elections are constrained, courts are under siege, and dissent is increasingly met with repression in the streets. In this moment, questions of power — who has it, how it is exercised, and how it can be withdrawn — are [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-7-8-goals-and-tactics/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-courage-to-be-adapting-to-unknowability-in-a-dangerous-world/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-courage-to-be-adapting-to-unknowability-in-a-dangerous-world/#respond Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:47:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294933 [Prefatory Note: This short essay previously published as an editorial in TransMediaService on February 16, 2026. The text below has been modified slightly] As human beings we share deep emotional impulses to foretell the future, whether to foresee action on the basis of dread as to what the future will bring or to offer oneself [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-courage-to-be-adapting-to-unknowability-in-a-dangerous-world/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labor-movement-attack/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labor-movement-attack/#respond Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:47:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294939 Union density—the percentage of American workers who are union members—is the single most important measurement of labor’s power in its omnipresent war against capital. Every year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases an annual measurement of union density. It is a hard, numerical gut check of where the labor movement stands. This year’s report, out [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labor-movement-attack/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-did-normie-liberals-become-the-vanguard-of-the-anti-trump-revolution/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-did-normie-liberals-become-the-vanguard-of-the-anti-trump-revolution/#respond Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:46:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294941 Why have so many liberals radicalized over the past year? And what does this mean for building an effective majoritarian movement — electorally and in the streets — against Trumpism? I went on The Dig to discuss this last December with Indivisible’s co–executive director Leah Greenberg and progressive political strategist Waleed Shahid. I’m publishing the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-did-normie-liberals-become-the-vanguard-of-the-anti-trump-revolution/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/two-paths-beyond-donald/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/two-paths-beyond-donald/#respond Tue, 17 Feb 2026 17:16:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294833 Look around. Day to day, steadily more Americans understand that we have to get Beyond Donald. It isn’t a done deal though it is getting there. But then what?  “Don’t muddy the waters with such a question,” some would reply. “We have enough on our minds. We have enough to do right now without worrying [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/two-paths-beyond-donald/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-can-move-beyond-the-capitalist-model-and-save-the-climate-here-are-the-first-three-steps/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-can-move-beyond-the-capitalist-model-and-save-the-climate-here-are-the-first-three-steps/#comments Mon, 16 Feb 2026 23:15:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294818 We have an urgent responsibility. Our existing economic system is incapable of addressing the social and ecological crises we face in the 21st century. When we look around we see an extraordinary paradox. On the one hand, we have access to remarkable new technologies and a collective capacity to produce more food, more stuff than [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-can-move-beyond-the-capitalist-model-and-save-the-climate-here-are-the-first-three-steps/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-activists-should-take-friendship-seriously/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-activists-should-take-friendship-seriously/#respond Mon, 16 Feb 2026 18:06:11 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294788 My whole life, I’ve regarded friendship as a happy by-product of activism — a reward for all the sacrifice, but little more. That view got a jolt when my friend Frida Berrigan, reviewing my new book about the post-9/11 antiwar movement, wrote: “Varon conveys that the real strength of the peace movement . . . is friendship.” [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-activists-should-take-friendship-seriously/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/humanity-is-not-the-problem/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/humanity-is-not-the-problem/#respond Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:36:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294764 Humanity has missed the mark. Humanity has failed. As COP30 got underway, this was the media’s take on the UN Secretary-General’s announcement that 1.5 degrees of global warming has now been locked in. We should be rolling our eyes at such proclamations. Once again, humanity takes the blame for the impotence of corporate-led summits. The truth is that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/humanity-is-not-the-problem/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-fantasy-of-trumps-imminent-demise-is-the-political-opiate-of-the-masses/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-fantasy-of-trumps-imminent-demise-is-the-political-opiate-of-the-masses/#respond Sun, 15 Feb 2026 15:01:50 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294750 David Pakman makes a fairly stunning observation: Trump’s perseverative trope about immigrants coming from “insane asylums” likely reflects Trump’s utterly moronic inability to comprehend that “political asylum” and “insane asylum,” despite sharing a common word, have vastly different meanings. An average person knows that an “insane asylum” provides respite, comfort and remediation for people who [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-fantasy-of-trumps-imminent-demise-is-the-political-opiate-of-the-masses/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-3-local-bds-campaigns-won-the-divestment-of-millions-in-israeli-bonds/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-3-local-bds-campaigns-won-the-divestment-of-millions-in-israeli-bonds/#respond Fri, 13 Feb 2026 19:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294699 On Nov. 19, 2025, members of Break the Bonds NC, a coalition of Palestine Solidarity organizations, spoke at a North Carolina Investment Authority board meeting to demand the state pension fund divest from all Israeli government bonds. Immediately after the meeting, the state treasurer’s office emailed a link of the pension’s holdings to Ari Rosenberg, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-3-local-bds-campaigns-won-the-divestment-of-millions-in-israeli-bonds/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-5-6-timelines-and-organization/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-5-6-timelines-and-organization/#respond Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:04:05 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1294667 As authoritarian politics harden in the United States, familiar channels of resistance are proving dangerously inadequate. Elections are constrained, courts are under siege, and dissent is increasingly met with repression in the streets. In this moment, questions of power — who has it, how it is exercised, and how it can be withdrawn — are [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-5-6-timelines-and-organization/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tenants-have-more-economic-power-than-they-think/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tenants-have-more-economic-power-than-they-think/#respond Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294652 Just as workers can withhold labor to halt production, tenants can withhold rent to challenge corporate landlords. In Los Angeles, a coalition of tenants and debtors is proving that housing is a site of real economic power. Less than a year out from the congressional midterm elections, President Trump has at times styled himself as [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tenants-have-more-economic-power-than-they-think/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reimagine-the-united-nations-rather-than-replacing-it-with-a-farcical-board-of-peace/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reimagine-the-united-nations-rather-than-replacing-it-with-a-farcical-board-of-peace/#respond Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294644 In April of 1945 a number of grand historical projects were simultaneously underway. In Europe, more than ten million battle-hardened soldiers were converging upon Germany, from the east and from the west, to drive the final nail into the coffin of the odious Nazi regime. (They succeeded on May 8th.) In Asia and the Pacific, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reimagine-the-united-nations-rather-than-replacing-it-with-a-farcical-board-of-peace/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/innovation-in-a-post-growth-economy-incentives-beyond-the-profit-motive/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/innovation-in-a-post-growth-economy-incentives-beyond-the-profit-motive/#comments Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294579 What does innovation look like when profit and capital accumulation aren’t the goal? I think about this often. Over a year ago, I began exploring this question in the context of technological innovation. Watching the AI arms race unfold between major tech companies, all claiming their innovations would reshape our lives, I wondered: what’s the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/innovation-in-a-post-growth-economy-incentives-beyond-the-profit-motive/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-capitalism-democracy-stops-at-the-economy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-capitalism-democracy-stops-at-the-economy/#respond Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294581 The dominant mode of socialist analysis of contemporary capitalism very often focuses on its corruption or decay through financialization, monopolization, deregulation, or corporate influence over politics. Financial parasitism, the extraction of rent by “technofeudal” overlords, and political corruption are seen as aberrations that have sapped capitalism of its competitive vitality, resulting in exploding economic inequality [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-capitalism-democracy-stops-at-the-economy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-signs-executive-order-to-protect-new-york-immigrants-from-ice/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-signs-executive-order-to-protect-new-york-immigrants-from-ice/#respond Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294587 On Friday, February 6, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order—the thirteenth since taking office—to protect New York’s immigrants from the Trump administration’s abuses. New York is a so-called “sanctuary city,” which limits cooperation with ICE and refuses to detain or refer undocumented immigrants for deportation. This order reinforces the direction it [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-signs-executive-order-to-protect-new-york-immigrants-from-ice/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-plea-for-sortition-and-direct-democracy-in-the-wake-of-the-epstein-files/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-plea-for-sortition-and-direct-democracy-in-the-wake-of-the-epstein-files/#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:48:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294511 The Epstein Files do not warrant shock and horror. A quiet nod of the head along with maybe a lopsided, very restrained smile might suffice. I will consider my most cynical smirk – the one conveying a sort of fatalistic disgust normally employed for train delays, and added charges to my cell phone bill. These [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-plea-for-sortition-and-direct-democracy-in-the-wake-of-the-epstein-files/feed/ 3 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-historical-blockage-to-radical-rupture-the-ontological-revolution-of-socialism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-historical-blockage-to-radical-rupture-the-ontological-revolution-of-socialism/#respond Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:44:12 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294509 ​The intellectual framework of new socialism gains meaning through the transcendence of the three main pillars of modernity: statism, industrialism, and hierarchical rationality. These three pillars have been reproduced in different forms throughout history. Capitalism reinforced them through the dogmas of growth, competition, and the market. Traditional socialism, on the other hand, preserved these three [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-historical-blockage-to-radical-rupture-the-ontological-revolution-of-socialism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/policing-a-free-society/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/policing-a-free-society/#respond Sun, 08 Feb 2026 16:20:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294507 The year was 1972, President Nixon was running for reelection; violent crime was  rampant, as poorly trained police officers were outgunned by gangs in the war on  drugs, and law enforcement was often infected and obstructed by political corruption.  The People were scared, and young Americans were openly rebelling against being  sent off to die [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/policing-a-free-society/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/protesters-turn-to-economic-disruption-to-fight-ice/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/protesters-turn-to-economic-disruption-to-fight-ice/#respond Sat, 07 Feb 2026 16:56:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294447 A nationwide shutdown, inspired by a one-day general strike in response to the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month, shows the evolving tactics of groups from Minnesota to Los Angeles mobilizing against Trump’s immigration agenda. Protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations have spread across the country in the wake of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/protesters-turn-to-economic-disruption-to-fight-ice/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/socialism-from-bernie-to-mamdani/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/socialism-from-bernie-to-mamdani/#respond Sat, 07 Feb 2026 16:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294446 Dan Chiasson joins me to discuss his combined Bernie and Burlington biography, Bernie for Burlington, and the connections between Bernie’s socialism and Mamdani’s socialism. You can purchase Dan’s book here: https://flyleafbooks.com/book/9780593317495 Here’s Dan’s article about Mamdani: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2025/11/06/have-you-met-z-zohran-mamdani/ And we discuss Corey Robin’s piece on socialist excellence: https://coreyrobin.com/2025/11/15/excellence-over-mediocrity-from-mamdani-to-marx-to-food/]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/socialism-from-bernie-to-mamdani/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-minneapolis-strategy-for-fighting-ice-is-worth-studying/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-minneapolis-strategy-for-fighting-ice-is-worth-studying/#respond Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294441 In Minneapolis, years of robust labor and community organizing set the stage for the fierce pushback against federal immigration agents’ aggressive invasion. Their experience may soon be relevant to cities elsewhere in the US facing incursions from ICE. On January 23, tens of thousands of Minnesotans braved subzero temperatures and took to the streets as [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-minneapolis-strategy-for-fighting-ice-is-worth-studying/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-3-4-social-strikes-vs-maga-laying-the-groundwork/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-3-4-social-strikes-vs-maga-laying-the-groundwork/#respond Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1294452 As authoritarian politics harden in the United States, familiar channels of resistance are proving dangerously inadequate. Elections are constrained, courts are under siege, and dissent is increasingly met with repression in the streets. In this moment, questions of power — who has it, how it is exercised, and how it can be withdrawn — are [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/how-to-defeat-maga-tyranny-chapters-3-4-social-strikes-vs-maga-laying-the-groundwork/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-young-organizers-survival-corps/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-young-organizers-survival-corps/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2026 16:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294385 Here’s a small suggestion from the two authors of this piece (us): don’t be young in Donald Trump’s America if you can help it. Being young in America right now means you’ll have to contend with stalling job markets, rampant inflation, deep political and economic instability, and impending climate disaster. If you point these things [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-young-organizers-survival-corps/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-the-artist-subsidy-universal-basic-income-as-a-radical-shift-in-how-people-receive-their-money/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-the-artist-subsidy-universal-basic-income-as-a-radical-shift-in-how-people-receive-their-money/#respond Thu, 05 Feb 2026 16:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294418 The Irish government recently announced that its so-called* “Basic Income for the Arts” (BIA) program will become permanent starting in 2026. This is a victory for the arts as well as an acknowledgment that jobs might not always be the most effective way to distribute money to people. But while subsidizing artists is a step [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-the-artist-subsidy-universal-basic-income-as-a-radical-shift-in-how-people-receive-their-money/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/one-battle-after-another-and-the-seduction-of-violence/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/one-battle-after-another-and-the-seduction-of-violence/#comments Mon, 02 Feb 2026 21:27:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294303 After sweeping the Golden Globes and other awards, One Battle After Another has 13 Oscar nominations. Given the film’s clear relevance, if it does end up a winner, those who created it will probably do more than thank their agents, publicists, partners, and pets. They’ll likely talk about the times we’re living in, as every [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/one-battle-after-another-and-the-seduction-of-violence/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/you-dont-miss-what-doesnt-exist/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/you-dont-miss-what-doesnt-exist/#respond Mon, 02 Feb 2026 21:04:30 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294294 “Anthropause” is an amazing word and the latest book about it is an eye-opener. Stan Cox’s Anthropause: The Beauty of Degrowth (2026, Seven Stories Press), does what far too few degrowth books do – it first focuses readers’ attention to the positive experiences we could enjoy in a society less dedicated to producing unnecessary stuff. It [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/you-dont-miss-what-doesnt-exist/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defence-of-a-basic-land-income/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defence-of-a-basic-land-income/#respond Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:56:18 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294289 By now, most people have heard of basic income in its various forms and meanings. However, there has been little analysis of whether such proposals, aimed at ensuring minimum coverage of citizens’ basic needs, generally as a complement to the universal basic services that constitute the Welfare State, remain viable from the point of view [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defence-of-a-basic-land-income/feed/ 0