https://znetwork.org/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:40:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-10-point-plan-is-still-a-workable-basis-for-negotiations/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-10-point-plan-is-still-a-workable-basis-for-negotiations/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:40:47 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297162 The US government under Donald Trump has twice used disingenuous negotiations with Iran to provide cover for attacking it, in June 2025 and again before launching the current war in February. Now it is trying to do so for a third time. On April 8, the US and Iran began a two week ceasefire, after [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/irans-10-point-plan-is-still-a-workable-basis-for-negotiations/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dockworkers-against-russias-and-israels-wars/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dockworkers-against-russias-and-israels-wars/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:37:39 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297160 Ahead of May Day 2022, two months after Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine, Ukrainian trade unionists called for solidarity with the invaded country. Artem Tidva, a Ukrainian left-winger and labor activist, addressed international unions calling for actions to help stop the Russian war machine. In Sweden, such action was already underway. In March 2022, Swedish [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dockworkers-against-russias-and-israels-wars/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/pakistan-how-a-regional-warmonger-came-to-host-us-iran-peace-talks/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/pakistan-how-a-regional-warmonger-came-to-host-us-iran-peace-talks/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:31:01 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297157 Mainstream Pakistan is basking in (self)glory. As host of the US-Iran negotiations — rumours of a second-round abuzz — Islamabad is upbeat. From talk show hosts to YouTube influencers, the one-dimensional message is clear: Pakistan has finally been assigned the role it deserves in the global hierarchy. International Relations (IR) academics, otherwise considered irrelevant by [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/pakistan-how-a-regional-warmonger-came-to-host-us-iran-peace-talks/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-corporations-cashing-in-on-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-corporations-cashing-in-on-war/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:27:37 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297155 Our dependence on fossil fuels does more than pollute our air. It destabilizes the world and empowers the ultra-wealthy to profit off of that volatility, leaving working families to pay the price. This dynamic has been on full display since President Trump’s attack on Iran. Trump’s invasion of one of the world’s most oil-rich regions [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-corporations-cashing-in-on-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-two-headed-hitler/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-two-headed-hitler/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:17:33 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297153 In what is perhaps the best book on Hitler, Allan Bullock wrote in Hitler: A Study in Tyranny that Hitler’s philosophy is the natural philosophy of the doss-house, the philosophy of homeless shelters – a philosophy he learned while living in those shelters in Vienna for some time. Of course, Bullock forgot to apologize to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-two-headed-hitler/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-is-racing-to-expand-west-bank-settlements-before-new-political-realities-end-its-era-of-impunity/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-is-racing-to-expand-west-bank-settlements-before-new-political-realities-end-its-era-of-impunity/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:12:02 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297151 The Israeli cabinet approved the construction of 34 new West Bank settlements last week, bringing the total number approved by the ruling coalition led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu up to 103. The cabinet decision is the largest batch of new settlements approved in decades, breaking the record set by a previous landmark decision in June 2025, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-is-racing-to-expand-west-bank-settlements-before-new-political-realities-end-its-era-of-impunity/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-needs-help-not-military-intervention/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-needs-help-not-military-intervention/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:07:13 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297149 In Cuba, hardship is not abstract. On my most recent visit, I watched residents use metal rods to probe beneath the pavement for water lines because municipal pump failures had left them scrambling for access to drinking water. If U.S. policy is meant to help the Cuban people rather than merely punish the Cuban government, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-needs-help-not-military-intervention/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/give-me-your-tired-your-poor/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/give-me-your-tired-your-poor/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:03:12 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297147 In late March, I sat in the gallery of the Supreme Court for the first time in my life. Throughout my 30 years of grassroots anti-poverty work, I’ve joined countless protests and vigils outside the Court. In 2018, I was even arrested and held in detention for praying on its palatial steps. Now, I was [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/give-me-your-tired-your-poor/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/war-crimes/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/war-crimes/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:58:49 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297145 “It is the plot and the act of aggression which we charge to be crimes.” – Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson With Spain and Austria refusing to allow their airspace to be used for the massive, unprovoked U.S. bombardment of Iran, there is international denunciation of this illegal action; and the initiation of the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/war-crimes/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/byds-slave-cars-made-in-brazil/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/byds-slave-cars-made-in-brazil/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:55:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297142 While the corporate press has successfully confined itself to the past, the past is never truly past: slavery still exists on our planet—even in the 21st century. The ILO estimates that there are 30 million people held in what is euphemistically called “bonded labor.” Yet old and modern slavery are nothing new in Brazil. Between [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/byds-slave-cars-made-in-brazil/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/la-socialists-debates-reflect-the-lefts-growing-strength/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/la-socialists-debates-reflect-the-lefts-growing-strength/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:48:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297139 On a late March afternoon, beneath the vaulted, medieval-revival ceiling of Immanuel Presbyterian Church, more than four hundred members of the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) gathered in the lingering heat of a citywide heat wave. The air inside the sanctuary was thick and stubborn as members fanned themselves with [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/la-socialists-debates-reflect-the-lefts-growing-strength/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/vijay-prashads-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/vijay-prashads-iran/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:37:42 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297117 In January 2026, as protests swept Iran and the Islamic Republic responded with mass killings, the international left faced a choice about whose voices to amplify and whose to render invisible. The choice it made is the subject of this essay. On April 10, 2026, a Holocaust denier, a white nationalist theorist, the founder of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/vijay-prashads-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/for-the-good-of-all-the-poor-come-first/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/for-the-good-of-all-the-poor-come-first/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:09:18 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297090 Introduction by Bruce Hobson, co-founder of the Mexico Solidarity Project and Liberation Road member On Saturday, April 18, Claudia Sheinbaum gave a statement at the Encuentro Internacional Progresista in Barcelona in which she offered Mexico’s stance on the world’s peoples’ struggle for peace and democracy. The statement immediately began to have a profound impact globally. For me [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/for-the-good-of-all-the-poor-come-first/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-manifesto-of-the-body-and-the-deadlock-of-law-irans-bloody-transition-from-patriarchal-order/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-manifesto-of-the-body-and-the-deadlock-of-law-irans-bloody-transition-from-patriarchal-order/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:52:47 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297087 The history of women’s struggles in contemporary Iran has reached a point where it can no longer be interpreted simply within the binary of “progress” or “regression.” We stand within a fractured condition: on the one hand, the tangible advancement of women in symbolic, cultural, and social spheres; on the other, the intensification of naked violence [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-manifesto-of-the-body-and-the-deadlock-of-law-irans-bloody-transition-from-patriarchal-order/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/overcoming-trumps-u-s-health-care-wrecking-ball/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/overcoming-trumps-u-s-health-care-wrecking-ball/#respond Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:52:09 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297077 This is the first of a two-part series that covers President Donald Trump’s devastating cuts to the already dysfunctional U.S. health care system and the need for Medicare for All. The Trump administration has been rolling out disasters on a near-daily basis since Trump returned to office 15 months ago, with the latest installment being, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/overcoming-trumps-u-s-health-care-wrecking-ball/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-and-the-left-made-kathy-hochul-tax-the-rich/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-and-the-left-made-kathy-hochul-tax-the-rich/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:48:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297075 This week, democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced, with Governor Kathy Hochul, that New York would impose a pied-à-terre tax. While the playful French phrase implies a small dwelling, it’s a misnomer in this case, since the tax only applies to houses, condominiums, and apartments valued at more than $5 million and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/zohran-mamdani-and-the-left-made-kathy-hochul-tax-the-rich/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bolivarian-hypothesis/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bolivarian-hypothesis/#respond Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:35:55 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297071 Latin America is a flashpoint for the major conflicts of the twenty-first century: the clash between Great Powers, the struggle over energy resources, the resurgence of reactionary nationalism and the popular resistance to it. The region has also become a testing ground for new forms of imperial intervention, as the Trump administration has radicalized its [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bolivarian-hypothesis/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cowardice-of-qualification-when-anti-war-voices-speak-the-language-of-empire/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cowardice-of-qualification-when-anti-war-voices-speak-the-language-of-empire/#respond Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:31:44 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297069 A respected human rights activist has spoken repeatedly against the US-Israeli aggression on Iran. She recognizes the illegality of the war and does not shy away from condemning it in clear terms. Yet, almost invariably, she feels compelled to qualify her position, reminding her audience that Iran has killed “tens of thousands of protesters” during [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cowardice-of-qualification-when-anti-war-voices-speak-the-language-of-empire/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-to-be-done-feminism-against-reaction/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-to-be-done-feminism-against-reaction/#respond Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:20:55 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297058 “The structure imposes its constraints on both terms of the relationship of domination, and consequently on the dominators themselves, who can benefit from it while remaining, in Marx’s words, ‘dominated by their domination’.” — Pierre Bourdieu, Masculine Domination. The recent advance of feminism is one of the most significant political and social developments for left-wing projects [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-to-be-done-feminism-against-reaction/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-more-universities-agree-to-immigration-enforcement-on-campus-students-are-fighting-back/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-more-universities-agree-to-immigration-enforcement-on-campus-students-are-fighting-back/#respond Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:13:31 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297055 She was beginning her spring semester as a second-year law student and paralegal when she received the news: The immigration clinic where she volunteered would have to stop all work, a demand directly from the Trump administration. The White House issued a stop-work order on Feb. 18, 2025, cutting off aid to federally funded unaccompanied [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/as-more-universities-agree-to-immigration-enforcement-on-campus-students-are-fighting-back/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/paramounts-purchase-of-cnn-heralds-a-new-trump-friendly-media-empire/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/paramounts-purchase-of-cnn-heralds-a-new-trump-friendly-media-empire/#respond Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:06:39 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297047 The ultra-wealthy have long leveraged their capital to build sprawling media empires that narrow our public range of debate (FAIR.org, 6/1/87). But Paramount Skydance‘s winning bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) marks a major milestone in media monopolization that, if successful, will further expand Trump-allied tech moguls Larry and David Ellison’s burgeoning power over US news and entertainment [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/paramounts-purchase-of-cnn-heralds-a-new-trump-friendly-media-empire/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ceasefire-collapsing-as-iran-shuts-down-strait-of-hormuz-again-accusing-us-of-piracy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ceasefire-collapsing-as-iran-shuts-down-strait-of-hormuz-again-accusing-us-of-piracy/#respond Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:58:37 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297045 The ceasefire between the US and Iran is in grave peril after Iran announced on Saturday that, in response to the continued US blockade, it would once again impose travel restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz after briefly reopening it on Friday. Iran has used the strait—through which about 20% of the world’s oil passes—as a chokepoint [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ceasefire-collapsing-as-iran-shuts-down-strait-of-hormuz-again-accusing-us-of-piracy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/i-felt-like-a-monster-israeli-soldiers-break-silence-on-gaza-and-the-system-behind-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/i-felt-like-a-monster-israeli-soldiers-break-silence-on-gaza-and-the-system-behind-it/#respond Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:57:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297040 The official narrative isn’t just cracking—it’s being dismantled by the very people who carried it out. In a devastating investigation, Israeli soldiers are now speaking in their own words about what they did, what they witnessed, and what their commanders allowed in Gaza. These are not secondhand accusations or political attacks. They are confessions—raw, detailed, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/i-felt-like-a-monster-israeli-soldiers-break-silence-on-gaza-and-the-system-behind-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mexico-is-going-all-in-for-universal-health-care/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mexico-is-going-all-in-for-universal-health-care/#respond Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:54:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297038 At her morning press conference on April 7, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the credencialización process, or enrollment, for Mexico’s new universal health care service was set to begin. The goal, she explained, was unambiguous: “By the time we leave office, any Mexican will be able to go to any public health institution and receive care for any condition.” [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mexico-is-going-all-in-for-universal-health-care/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fields-of-dependency/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fields-of-dependency/#respond Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:50:44 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297036 American writer Barbara Tuchman remarked that “war is the unfolding of miscalculations.” As part of those calculations, the value of each of the lives lost to war should not be measured any differently, and yet in reality the lives and deaths of some in the world continue to be counted out of those calculations. While [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fields-of-dependency/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-nypd-reminds-us-that-police-dont-protect-people-only-power/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-nypd-reminds-us-that-police-dont-protect-people-only-power/#respond Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:44:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297033 In a lawsuit complaining that the New York City Police Department failed to protect a woman from assaults by a Zionist mob, the city’s lawyers are arguing that police have no legal obligation to protect individuals from assault. This defense and its legal precedent are a salient reminder that police do not create safety. Despite billions in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-nypd-reminds-us-that-police-dont-protect-people-only-power/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-no-kings-protests-escalating-costs-of-authoritarian-takeover/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-no-kings-protests-escalating-costs-of-authoritarian-takeover/#respond Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:39:37 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297029 ]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-no-kings-protests-escalating-costs-of-authoritarian-takeover/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-destroys-a-synagogue-us-media-yawn/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-destroys-a-synagogue-us-media-yawn/#respond Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:35:18 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297022 An Israeli missile attack destroyed a Tehran synagogue during the Jewish Passover holiday (Religion News Service, 4/9/26). The Israeli military “expressed regret over what it called ‘collateral damage’ to a synagogue in Tehran caused by an overnight strike,” which was “targeting a senior Iranian commander,” said the Middle East Eye (4/7/26). Photos of the wreckage at the Rafi-Nia [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-destroys-a-synagogue-us-media-yawn/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/aipac-and-the-pro-israel-lobby-are-wasting-money-on-democrats-and-thats-a-good-thing-for-american-democracy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/aipac-and-the-pro-israel-lobby-are-wasting-money-on-democrats-and-thats-a-good-thing-for-american-democracy/#respond Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:18:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297019 The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its allies have long been considered one of the strongest lobbies in Washington, exercising outsized influence, especially on U.S. policies toward Israel and the Middle East. Recently, its purported muscle has come under question, and votes in Congress the last two days show why, or at least that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/aipac-and-the-pro-israel-lobby-are-wasting-money-on-democrats-and-thats-a-good-thing-for-american-democracy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-a-time-of-monsters-the-worst-heroes/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-a-time-of-monsters-the-worst-heroes/#respond Sat, 18 Apr 2026 16:15:29 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1297015 Peter Magyar defeated Victor Orban in Hungary’s election earlier this week, leading to an outpouring of joy from the liberal media and political establishment. Many took the Obama line, lauding it as a victory for democracy and the rule of law. Indeed, Magyar is so committed to the rule of the law that he has invited [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-a-time-of-monsters-the-worst-heroes/feed/ 0