Uptown’s Hillbilly Santa Claus
A real life St Nick, hounded by the Klan, distributed not just toys but solidarity and antiracist militancy
Chicago
Movement Alders Flip to Pass Austerity Budget
In the most contentious Chicago budget vote in a generation, four “progressive” alderpeople buckled to Lightfoot’s pressure and allowed an antiworker austerity city budget to pass for 2021.
Chicago Needs Treatment not Trauma
A Chicago social worker explains how the mental health crisis response system put forward by the ‘Treatment not Trauma’ plan is a crucial step toward permanently improving the fabric of Chicago’s public health and public safety independent of the police.
We Are Not the City’s Garbage Can
Community organizers stand up to a toxic polluter and city officials who continue to practice environmental racism on Chicago’s Southeast side.
All of Them Are Guilty
Dorothy Holmes reflects on her unending struggle for justice for her son, Ronald Johnson, on the sixth anniversary of his murder by Chicago police.
Support Survivors by Defunding CPD
New allegations of police rape and cover-up confirm that Chicago’s police will never play a positive role in supporting survivors, even among their own ranks.
Public Safety Without Police
In the wake of the summer antiracist uprising, one Chicago ward is forging ahead with practical alternatives to policing. Ald. Rossana Rodriguez discusses the progress and challenges of defunding the police and imagining a different kind of public safety.
Science in Service of Cops
The Crime Lab research center operated by the University of Chicago uses the illusion of scientific objectivity to support the racist violence of the Chicago Police Department.
Who’s Killing Chicago’s Loop?
For years, Chicago's real estate capitalists have been creating a huge property glut downtown. Now that they face the economic consequences of their own actions, they squall about protests in the Loop in a cynical attempt to shift responsibility and secure even more tax breaks.
All Power to the Looters
Chicago police shot someone on the South Side last night. By looting downtown, protesters are addressing the root cause of police violence.
Lori Lighfoot: Myth and Reality
Lori Lightfoot performs progressivism on the internet, but in reality she parrots Trump at every turn and sees expanded policing as the solution to every problem.
A Central Cog of Racist Order
Simon Balto's Occupied Territory: Policing Black Chicago from Red Summer to Black Power tells the racist history and development of the Chicago Police Department.
Learning from Multiracial Radical Organizing in 1930s Chicago
In the 1930s the Communist Party in Chicago was a vibrant, multiracial organization with thousands of members that actively fought against racism and class inequality. There is much socialists today can learn from its successes and failures.
Racism is a Public Health Crisis
A frontline health-care worker talks about the public health crisis caused by reopening and why fighting racism is essential to saving lives.
A More Powerful Sense of Solidarity
An interview with Chicago's socialist, Italian American alderman about the destructive legacy of Christopher Columbus.
All I Want is Collective Liberation
A speech from this year's Pride Without Prejudice march connecting the struggle against anti-Black racism and transphobia to the liberation of Palestine and the destruction of capitalism.
DePaul University and the Fraternal Order of Police
A student organizer discusses a campaign to end the relationship between police and the nation's largest Catholic university.
Fire not Light
In a city notorious for its segregation and broken political system, mass mobilizations point to the possibility of repair.
Chicago’s Unemployed Rebellion
Militant organizing by unemployed workers during the 1930s demanded genuine relief from the poverty of capitalism. Today, we need the same.
The Struggle for Clean Air in Chicago’s Southwest Neighborhoods
The recent demolition of a smokestack in Little Village has exposed vast disparities in city environmental priorities. The demolition is only the latest explosion in a long history of environmental racism and private-sector handouts in Chicago.
New Cop, Old Cop
Lori Lightfoot recently appointed a new head of police in Chicago. His record indicates a disturbing continuity of racist police violence.
Countering the Calls to Reopen
A Chicago nurse who took part in a counter-protest of a “Re-open Illinois” rally reports on the scene.
May Day Means Class Warfare
International Workers’ Day is rooted in Chicago-style class warfare. By remembering this history today, our movements are tapping into a subterranean fire.
Life is Not on Pause
One month into pandemic lockdowns and many of us are still disoriented, waiting for a return to normal. But accepting the strange new normal is a prerequisite for shaping a better world.