Head Start normally isn’t considered a partisan issue. The early child care program, under the purview of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was launched six decades ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “war on poverty.” It’s historically had support from both sides of the aisle in Congress; after all, few would publicly argue with the program’s central mission of…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Over the past few weeks, Elon Musk has thrown around wads of money so great they made the stories of corruption in the Tammany Hall era, more than a century ago, seem positively quaint. The men of Tammany Hall bought votes with beer; Musk and the oligarchs shamelessly seek to buy them with straight checks. In a pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the world’s richest man reactivated the…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Israel resumed its bombing campaign in Gaza in mid-March, putting a definitive end to a ceasefire it had already violated countless times. But even before the deadly airstrikes, those of us in Gaza had already found ourselves once again trapped in an endless cycle of fear and uncertainty due to the suffocating closure of border crossings that prevent goods and humanitarian aid from entering.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Nearly five years ago, then-President Donald Trump released his first anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) executive order. The executive order, intentionally erroneous in its claims that DEI practices violated civil rights laws, sent shock waves through the academic community. Despite its false claims and eventual overturning, the executive order provided a playbook for right-wing state…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Today is Transgender Day of Visibility — a day meant for celebration and for being seen. But right now, many in my community are afraid to be visible. Some are making plans to leave the country just to survive. For countless others, survival itself has become a daily act of resistance. Ash Lazarus Orr, a transgender activist in West Virginia, is one of many activists organizing to resist…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Wisconsin’s state supreme court election on April 1 is officially the most expensive in U.S. history, with spending that has reached $76 million — with some predictions that the ultimate tally will top $100 million, almost twice the record spending in the state’s 2023 race. The biggest right-wing groups running an attack ad blitz against liberal candidate Susan Crawford are funded by a few very…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, was once eagerly awaited in Gaza, a rare occasion that brought a sense of joy and normalcy. Its preparations began days in advance — homes were cleaned, a fresh touch of decoration was added and families made sure everything was in place for the celebration. Parents saved up to buy new clothes for their children, knowing how much it meant to them to…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
As Republican lawmakers wage an all-out assault on transgender people, Democrats are reportedly “reshuffling.” In a recent article, sources told NOTUS that the party is attempting to adjust its tone on trans issues following its crushing losses in the 2024 election, instead seeking a sort of middle ground that won’t “inflame” voters. The myth that Democrats were too radical on trans issues…
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On March 29, the Tesla Takedown movement will engage in a Global Day of Action at Tesla showrooms around the world. For weeks, protests outside of Tesla dealerships have grown, as participants have lashed out at Elon Musk, the leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is currently raiding and dismantling government services. The movement took off after Elon Musk’s…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
A push to claw back a process-oriented change in New York’s criminal legal code shows just how readily Democrats will capitulate to carceral demands in 2025. After years of advocacy, New York lawmakers passed a suite of criminal legal system reforms in 2019. The hard-won changes included the elimination of cash bail for most misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges and an overhaul of the…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
On March 15, as U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation — in secret — reactivating the Alien Enemies Act as a way to to speed up his mass deportation agenda, 70 activists from around the U.S. and Mexico gathered in Ajo, Arizona, in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. We were convened for the weekend by Witness at the Border, a grassroots group that I co-founded…
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On Thursday morning, just two days after the deadly March 18 bombardment that ended the ceasefire, I was once again jolted awake, this time by the sound of people screaming. In the distance, the wind roared and we could also hear tank shells. I heard people urgently saying, “Food is running out, we must buy what’s left before it’s gone completely!” After hearing this grim news…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Four years ago, I published Subtle Tools, a book on the erosion of American democratic norms in the face of what came to be known as the Global War on Terror. Both what had been done in the name of “national security” in response to the 9/11 attacks and how it had been done — through the willing neglect of procedural integrity, the exploitation of all-too-flexible norms, a remarkable disregard for…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Over the past two weeks, even as Democratic Party leaders have opted for capitulation rather than forceful efforts to slow the Trump juggernaut, the judiciary has stirred to life. In the fight to protect basic constitutional norms such as the right to due process from the chainsaw massacres being unleashed by Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE)…
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The Trump administration promises to double down on what it says will be the fiercest deportation program in U.S. history. Judging by history and rhetoric, the administration has no qualms about stripping kids from their parents and spouses from their partners. Many asylum seekers in the U.S., their advocates and liberal mainstream media have mused that some cornered refugees may flee up…
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For several months, state investigators in Texas staked out clinics, interviewed witnesses and dove through dumpsters to look for evidence. Why, you may ask, did the government pour time and money into an extensive surveillance operation based on an anonymous tip? To arrest a midwife for providing reproductive health care. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrest of Maria…
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With the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigrant policies, community is more important than ever among migrant rights advocates. As Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, raids have ramped up across the country, and migrant communities have grown more fearful, many groups have shifted their efforts toward protection. One such group is the Asylum Seeker Solidarity Collective…
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Growing up in the early 2000s, my mother instilled within me certain precepts: eat your vegetables, avoid processed foods, recycle. Buying organic was preferable, but often cost-prohibitive. Ideally, you’d want to be able to pronounce the words on a label. Red dye 40 and sugary breakfast cereals were no-nos — though sometimes she could be convinced otherwise. All of these principles, she said…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Over the past two weeks, the Trump administration’s detention, interrogation and deportation machine has shown a new level of cruelty. The detention and deportation of visa holders, followed by over 200 Venezuelan nationals without due process, has caused judicial controversy and a struggle in the courts. But activists and progressives cannot simply rely on the court system to rein in Donald Trump.
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In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the destructive impact of predatory lenders on the well-being of individual borrowers and the health of the broader economy became increasingly clear. In response, a growing number of political figures, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, pushed for the creation of an agency that would represent consumer interests against predatory finance. The agency sought to…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Recently, a friend asked me: if I could be a henchwoman for any villain in movies, TV, or any media, who would I choose? I chose the DC comic book villain Lex Luthor. Working for his business, LexCorp, would just be a 9-to-5 job with a 401(k) and a dental plan, with the bonus of never having to fight Superman or any other hero. Why would they bother fighting a low-level office worker?
In comic books, wealth is a superpower. The ability to make henchmen do their bidding is the only way most villains can stand up to heroes, and it allows heroes to focus on what they want to do. Batman, for instance, can maintain his lifestyle because of the people working for Wayne Enterprises. Even in fiction, an individual’s relationship to production dictates the manner of life they live. Superheroes and villains can perform super-powered acts of labor, or they have access to other people’s labor.
When I was younger, my favorite comic book was Green Lantern. Each Green Lantern gets their power from a ring given to them by space aliens called the Guardians of the Universe. These ancient beings have the ability to distribute superpowers like candy, using the recipients of their rings to form a galactic police force that suppresses their enemies and assists their allies. The Guardians’ control over the production of these rings gives them incredible power, even by comic book standards.
Strength alone isn’t what wins a fight in comics. The good guys usually succeed, and the bad guys typically lose in the end, but not before causing harm to raise the stakes for the hero. A villain who can’t beat the hero can still make that hero choose between saving the city and saving their love interest. A female love interest is often just a prop to move the story along; she has no real agency.
The term “fridging” describes a trope in fiction where women are harmed to motivate male protagonists. “Fridging” was coined after a 1999 issue of Green Lantern where the Lantern’s girlfriend was killed and stuffed into a refrigerator. Society conditions us to its worldview, and if we don’t think critically about what we consume, it leaves an impression on us. Feminism can help us understand media and power structures, but it takes multiple lenses to build a complete worldview.
I love questions like, “Who would you hench for?” It gives us a chance to think about media in a new way. Before learning dialectical materialism, I would have said I’d hench for the Guardians of the Universe and become a Green Lantern—mostly to start a conversation about how the Guardians are the real bad guys. Now, I’d rather answer honestly: if my boss told me to fight Batman, I’d quit.
Of course, I wouldn’t cut it as a real henchwoman; they wouldn’t even hire me. Why would an employer hire someone who won’t do what they want? Why would DC Comics hire a writer who writes about changing the status quo? In capitalist media, people who want to change the status quo are portrayed as the bad guys, while those who restore and protect it are good.
The more people see a piece of media, the greater the impression it leaves on society. DC Comics and every other major media producer know they have power over society that the average worker does not. They don’t want to give up that power, so their stories will always be biased in their favor. The rich heroes like Batman are good because they sustain the society they interact with. The villains like Lex Luthor are bad because they are trying to change things. Luthor’s changes might be harmful, but systemic change of any kind is almost always depicted negatively.
Movies, books, music—whatever form of media we consume—shapes who we are. “Who would you hench for?” doesn’t just look at media from a fictional perspective; it gives us a chance to examine ourselves and each other. Fridging not only leads to a misogynistic way of thinking, but it also shows that this is the status quo media wants to protect.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t consume media; I could only write this much about Green Lantern and Batman because I’ve read a lot of those comics. I’m sure Iron Man would be a good example, but I haven’t read many Iron Man comics. We should spend our leisure time enjoying what we love. Just remember, if we don’t work on conditioning ourselves, someone else will.
Feminism and dialectical materialism pair well together. Dialectics helps us understand how things are interconnected. The quality of a piece of media is not limited to how entertaining it is; it also includes who produced it and its effect on the consumer. How something affects and is affected by its environment is crucial to understanding it. Feminism can show us what qualities to look for. Media produced by men for men, with little input or consideration for women, often ends up with sexist undertones, even if it is entertaining.
We are what we eat, or as Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” Sometimes (or: Perhaps?) the most radical thing we can do to take control over our worldview is to be critical of what we consume. We can seek out media that helps shape a revolutionary perspective.
I’d really like to know what my readers think. Tell me who you would hench for in the comments.
This post was originally published on Real Progressives.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House intensifies concerns about whether the United States will further engage in yet another conflict, this time with Iran. On Monday, Trump announced that Iran will be held responsible for attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea, and will suffer “dire” consequences. While Trump has brought his characteristic bombast to the issue, he is far from the only…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner. I am writing to you from a detention facility in Louisiana where I wake to cold mornings and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices underway against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law. Who has the right to have rights? It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
The post No farms, no food: The hidden toll of Highway 413 appeared first on Environmental Defence.
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I was jolted awake at 2 am this morning by the deafening sound of explosions and relentless bombardment here in the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza where I live. The noise was so overwhelming, I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I was in a deep sleep, as I am every night, worn out by the constant anguish we live through. There is no life for us — only survival in the temporary silence of a…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Alex Karp, the CEO of the controversial military tech firm Palantir, is the coauthor of a new book, The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West. In it, he calls for a renewed sense of national purpose and even greater cooperation between government and the tech sector. His book is, in fact, not just an account of how to spur technological innovation…
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Ten Senate Democrats handed Republicans a critical victory, voting in favor of cloture on a budget that will allow the Trump Administration to continue wielding budget cuts as a political weapon — targeting the administration’s opponents, including trans and queer people. The budget slashes Medicaid, dealing a direct blow to vulnerable constituents, while further entrenching the administration’s…
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My name is Helyeh Doutaghi. I am a scholar of international law and geopolitical economy. My research engages with Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), postcolonial critiques of law, and the global political economy of sanctions. I have specifically examined the mechanisms and consequences of economic warfare on Iran, as well as the forms of knowledge produced in International…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
When news broke that Mahmoud Khalil — a recently graduated Palestinian student activist at Columbia University — was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a firestorm of media coverage, social media posts and protests followed. Groups focused on issues ranging from Palestine solidarity to immigrant justice and civil rights are organizing to demand his immediate release.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.