https://znetwork.org/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Sat, 30 May 2026 14:51:49 +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/the-ripple-effects-of-organizing-against-data-centers/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-ripple-effects-of-organizing-against-data-centers/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 14:51:43 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298950 Last November, Hrag Balian and Emily Chu were in a group chat on the secure messaging app Signal to monitor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the San Gabriel Valley. Someone sent a message asking if anyone knew about a data center proposal in Monterey Park. No one did, so Balian and Chu, a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-ripple-effects-of-organizing-against-data-centers/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-claims-about-an-iran-threat-were-always-a-lie-now-we-have-proof/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-claims-about-an-iran-threat-were-always-a-lie-now-we-have-proof/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 14:41:05 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298947 Could it be that Israel’s 30-year narrative about Iran – one that persuaded US President Donald Trump to wage a criminal and disastrous war of aggression – was always a fiction, an invention cooked up in Tel Aviv?  Far from Tehran posing an existential danger to Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed for decades, might Israel’s real fear [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israeli-claims-about-an-iran-threat-were-always-a-lie-now-we-have-proof/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/netanyahu-seeks-70-of-gaza-in-israels-own-generalplan-ost/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/netanyahu-seeks-70-of-gaza-in-israels-own-generalplan-ost/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 14:29:34 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298944 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday instructed his military to seize fully 70% of the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera. According to the ceasefire negotiated by Donald Trump last October, Israel retained 54% of Gaza territory in the first phase, with an eye toward an Israeli withdrawal. Since then, the Israeli army has annexed further [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/netanyahu-seeks-70-of-gaza-in-israels-own-generalplan-ost/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-xi-meeting-and-the-iran-venezuela-connection/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-xi-meeting-and-the-iran-venezuela-connection/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 14:25:48 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298940 Last week, the world watched as Donald Trump wrangled up his bro-squad of capitalist billionaires and chartered them across the world to China. We watched in disbelief as the China-hating Trump administration paraded around Beijing gawking at beautiful ceilings and giant rose bushes. “China is beautiful,” Trump said.  All the while, the top U.S. oligarchs [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trump-xi-meeting-and-the-iran-venezuela-connection/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-time-for-a-u-s-arms-embargo-on-israel-is-now/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-time-for-a-u-s-arms-embargo-on-israel-is-now/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 14:18:55 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298937 Israel’s standing among the U.S. public is at an all-time low after Americans have witnessed two- and-one-half years of live-streamed Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, fueled by tens of billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer-provided weapons and diplomatic cover.  Last August, a Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of all Americans, including 75 percent of Democrats [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-time-for-a-u-s-arms-embargo-on-israel-is-now/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-the-city-becomes-a-furnace/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-the-city-becomes-a-furnace/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 13:55:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298934 The Modern City Against Climate In many cities around the world, walking outside in the middle of summer has become a physically exhausting experience. Concrete burns. Facades radiate heat long into the night. The air feels motionless, dry, sometimes almost unbreathable. Trees are disappearing, soils are sealed beneath asphalt, rainwater is evacuated from cities as [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-the-city-becomes-a-furnace/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/extreme-heat-headlines-obscure-the-scale-of-the-crisis/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/extreme-heat-headlines-obscure-the-scale-of-the-crisis/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 13:44:55 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298929 It’s been record hot in parts of Europe and Asia over the last week and this has provoked an outburst of three things that have become de rigeur whenever this happens: The first one is baked in to the conversation, you might say, if you were reaching for an appropriate metaphor. And normally I’d not be that bothered. But [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/extreme-heat-headlines-obscure-the-scale-of-the-crisis/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/9-trillion-collapse-machine/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/9-trillion-collapse-machine/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 13:37:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298926 The immense economic and ecological risks being taken by the artificial intelligence industry have grown so impossibly large that no one — including the AI companies — has the means to gauge them. This historic boom, like so much else in AI, is run purely on vibes.  In every direction, AI companies are straining to expand beyond their capacities in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/9-trillion-collapse-machine/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-civic-bosnia-and-herzegovina-that-never-existed-a-contribution-to-the-history-of-a-political-fiction/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-civic-bosnia-and-herzegovina-that-never-existed-a-contribution-to-the-history-of-a-political-fiction/#respond Sat, 30 May 2026 13:28:51 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298920 Following public remarks by former U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Michael Murphy, a political storm erupted across both the Bosniak political scene and parties that define themselves as advocates of a civic, non-ethnic vision of the country. Murphy described Bakir Izetbegović, the leader of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) – the country’s largest [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-civic-bosnia-and-herzegovina-that-never-existed-a-contribution-to-the-history-of-a-political-fiction/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/another-revolutionary-has-fallen/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/another-revolutionary-has-fallen/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 20:40:40 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298915 Our movement stands shoulder to shoulder with activists across this country in condemning the brutal, calculated assassination of Comrade Mokoena Letsie in Potchefstroom. Comrade Mokoena was cut down in a hail of bullets by the enemies of the poor and working class. This was an execution carried out by hired guns and cowards who saw [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/another-revolutionary-has-fallen/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/self-engineered-decay-why-israels-political-collapse-cannot-be-separated-from-its-war-crimes/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/self-engineered-decay-why-israels-political-collapse-cannot-be-separated-from-its-war-crimes/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 20:34:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298913 For those unfamiliar with the intricate machinery of Israeli politics, the unanimous 110-0 vote to dissolve the Knesset on May 20 appears to be an earth-shattering event. On the surface, it looks as if the days of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of far-right extremists are numbered. The reality, however, is far more [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/self-engineered-decay-why-israels-political-collapse-cannot-be-separated-from-its-war-crimes/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/green-shoots/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/green-shoots/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 20:31:49 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298910 Gardeners have a saying about newly planted perennials: “They sleep, then creep, then leap.” Last summer I pulled a lot of grass out of my yard (hard work!) and planted a garden. The new plants stayed small through the winter, gathering strength. Now suddenly my garden is teeming with new leaves. Spring has brought green [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/green-shoots/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-climate-movements-struggle-to-talk-about-class/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-climate-movements-struggle-to-talk-about-class/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 20:28:27 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298907 I am asked a lot to explain what social class is, which is completely understandable, given that I was the person to found the Working Class Climate Alliance back in 2023. I have written this article to clarify how I approach it and understand it to be, and why discussions about class are vital to progressive environmental [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-climate-movements-struggle-to-talk-about-class/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-forest-needs-the-bees-indigenous-beekeepers-on-the-front-line-of-brazils-vanishing-rainforest/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-forest-needs-the-bees-indigenous-beekeepers-on-the-front-line-of-brazils-vanishing-rainforest/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 20:24:46 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298900 Marcio Verá Mirim grew up listening to a family story. His grandfather, a leader of the semi-nomadic Guarani Mbyá Indigenous people, had dreamed that one day the sun would cease to rise and the sky would go black. The only light shining would be from a candle made of the wax of the jataí (Tetragonisca [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-forest-needs-the-bees-indigenous-beekeepers-on-the-front-line-of-brazils-vanishing-rainforest/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anticolonialism-in-the-age-of-fragmentation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anticolonialism-in-the-age-of-fragmentation/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 20:16:47 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298897 Bamako seems to have returned to its own rhythm. Schools have reopened after two days of national mourning, and movement into and out of the city continues. Yet only two weeks ago, on April 25, a suicide vehicle crashed into the residence of the Minister of Defence, Sadio Camara, killing him along with members of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anticolonialism-in-the-age-of-fragmentation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/donald-disaster-trump/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/donald-disaster-trump/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 20:11:30 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298895 Donald Trump’s America is a scary place in significant part thanks to an unholy alliance of MAGA devotees who don’t believe in science and see intellectuals as public enemy number one, and a gaggle of Silicon Valley militarists who think that they’re the smartest people in the room, if not the universe. Add in White Christian nationalists who abuse religious [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/donald-disaster-trump/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/makerfield-and-the-myth-of-the-moderate-left/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/makerfield-and-the-myth-of-the-moderate-left/#comments Fri, 29 May 2026 15:57:09 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298892 The real division in western politics is between the pathological centre and challenge on the so-called “far” left and right — meaning political forces reasonably enough challenging the centre’s mass death project. Of course, the far right is based upon a con — its core spaces are dominated by the same billionaire-funded mass death agenda [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/makerfield-and-the-myth-of-the-moderate-left/feed/ 3 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-theatre-of-punishment/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-theatre-of-punishment/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 15:52:49 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298890 The treatment of the flotilla activists by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was shocking only to those who continue to clothe colonial violence in the soft language of security. There is now a mountain of evidence before humanity: Gaza has become not merely a place under siege but a geography of calculated despair, where starvation [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-theatre-of-punishment/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-the-ai-industry-reformable/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-the-ai-industry-reformable/#comments Fri, 29 May 2026 15:48:59 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298887 On March 25, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act. In his speech introducing the law at a press conference, Sanders explained the thinking behind the proposal, which would put a stop to the construction of new data centers until federal regulations are in place. “Today we are announcing legislation to impose a moratorium on [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-the-ai-industry-reformable/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-has-killed-890-palestinians-in-gaza-since-the-cease-fire-began-heres-how/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-has-killed-890-palestinians-in-gaza-since-the-cease-fire-began-heres-how/#respond Fri, 29 May 2026 15:44:45 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298885 Last Monday, a 58-year-old woman was stabbed to death in one of the displaced persons’ shelters in southern Gaza City. A few hours later, Gaza police arrested the victim’s nephew. The motive for the killing was a financial dispute. The day before, a 22-year-old woman was murdered in central Gaza City. Her husband was arrested. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-has-killed-890-palestinians-in-gaza-since-the-cease-fire-began-heres-how/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-is-the-left-no-fun/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-is-the-left-no-fun/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:58:04 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298847 Why has the US right since the 1970s been more effective than the left at grassroots community organizing? Part of the answer is that our side has no events with bouncy castles. We have a lot to learn from the Waldoboro Republicans’ recent “Great American Picnic” in Maine: For children, there will be a “Bouncy House” as [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-is-the-left-no-fun/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/universal-health-care-once-seemed-on-the-horizon-in-california-what-happened/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/universal-health-care-once-seemed-on-the-horizon-in-california-what-happened/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298845 Fighting for Our Lives: The Movement for Medicare for All California voters are in the thick of a high-stakes governor’s race, in which single-payer health care, an issue that was once central to state politics, has been pushed to the sidelines. Of the top five candidates, only one unequivocally supports a health care model that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/universal-health-care-once-seemed-on-the-horizon-in-california-what-happened/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-need-a-care-package/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-need-a-care-package/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:54:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298850 Eighty years ago, an organization named CARE—which stands for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere—responded to worldwide hunger in the aftermath of World War II by sending millions of packages of food. This post commemorates that effort. A diverse group of researchers and policy advocates met recently at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-need-a-care-package/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/ask-yanis-varoufakis-anything/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/ask-yanis-varoufakis-anything/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:53:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1298874 We’re back with another live AMA with Yanis Varoufakis.The floor is yours. From geopolitics and economics to technology, culture, and beyond — your questions…]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/ask-yanis-varoufakis-anything/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-left-labour-unions-and-mass-organizations/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-left-labour-unions-and-mass-organizations/#comments Thu, 28 May 2026 15:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298861 Most countries of the Middle East and the Global South operating under authoritarian regimes share a single structural crisis, one whose substance is the acute and chronic fragmentation and weakness that afflicts mass organisations, trade unions, feminist movements and student bodies, extending further to undermine coordination among the forces of the left themselves. This is [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-left-labour-unions-and-mass-organizations/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/brics-media-are-not-an-alternative-for-anti-imperial-resistance/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/brics-media-are-not-an-alternative-for-anti-imperial-resistance/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298844 The emergence of media powerhouses in the global South, such as India, Brazil, Turkey, and South Korea, has captivated media scholars, politicians, and the general public alike. Qatar (with Al Jazeera) and South Africa also play significant roles on the international media stage. While liberal and postmodern academics based in metropolitan universities have framed the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/brics-media-are-not-an-alternative-for-anti-imperial-resistance/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/argentinas-fiscal-tightening-under-the-milei-administration-2/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/argentinas-fiscal-tightening-under-the-milei-administration-2/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298848 Javier Milei’s government took office in December 2023 with a strong rhetoric about the need to expand freedom. However, rather than expanding it, his economic policy reduces it. Neoliberal policy advocates a model of free enterprise, free trade, and free movement of capital that favors the extraction of national surplus toward core countries, limiting the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/argentinas-fiscal-tightening-under-the-milei-administration-2/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palestine-action-scottish-judicial-review-stitch-up-incoming/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palestine-action-scottish-judicial-review-stitch-up-incoming/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298843 The proscription of Palestine Action was sold to MPs and the media on the basis of a deliberate campaign of lies, fronted by Yvette Cooper, then Home Secretary, and Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan police. Both have deep commitment to Israel. Cooper is owned by the Israel lobby. What is worse, they then attempted [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/palestine-action-scottish-judicial-review-stitch-up-incoming/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/europe-wont-recover-from-this-yanis-varoufakis-wolfgang-munchau-the-econoclasts/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/europe-wont-recover-from-this-yanis-varoufakis-wolfgang-munchau-the-econoclasts/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:49:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1298863 In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk the mainstream economic orthodoxies surrounding Europe’s aggressive tariff strategy against China while simultaneously warning that the rise of AI and Big Tech is not the future of market capitalism but rather its death knell, as centralised platforms trap society in a new era [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/europe-wont-recover-from-this-yanis-varoufakis-wolfgang-munchau-the-econoclasts/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-conservative-plan-to-dismantle-public-schools-is-entering-the-home-stretch/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-conservative-plan-to-dismantle-public-schools-is-entering-the-home-stretch/#respond Thu, 28 May 2026 15:48:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1298882 In what is being touted as the “Golden Age of School Choice,” the option that is most popular with American families—to fund and attend their local public schools—is gradually being made less viable. Take North Carolina, for instance. For years, the Republican-dominated state legislature has chosen to cut the state’s funding for public schools, resulting in a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-conservative-plan-to-dismantle-public-schools-is-entering-the-home-stretch/feed/ 0