Field Notes
Editor's Note: This is What History Looks Like
By Paul MattickAs I write this, it has been eight days since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis set off non-stop, and growing, demonstrations of anger throughout the United States and abroad. Surprisingly many city and state officials, and even some police chiefs, have endeavored to moderate the growing movement by expressing disapproval of Floyd’s murder.
Normality is Death
By Jacob BlumenfeldIn Autumn 1944, amidst abominable horrors occurring in Europe, Theodor Adorno penned the following paragraph, later to be included in Minima Moralia in a section called “Out of the Firing-Line”
Where Is She?
By Soledad Álvarez VelascoA few minutes before the plane took off, she looked at me, sighed, and—filled with nervousness—said, “This is the second time I am on a plane, but not the first time I am traveling to Mexico.”
Prison in the Virus Time
By Keith "Malik" WashingtonPrior to the COVID-19 pandemic, USP Pollock was on regular lockdowns due to pervasive violence. Nothing has changed in this regard; in fact, it’s getting worse. If I don’t get COVID-19, I could easily get caught up in the violence. You can just be minding your own business and get stabbed up here. That is the harsh reality of life in a federal prison.
Higher Education and the Remaking of the Working Class
By Gary RothDuring its heyday following World War II, a college education was a means to lift parts of the working class into a newly-defined middle class, no longer based on the occupations of the past but instead conceived in terms of education, home ownership, well-paid employment, and household consumption.
The Pandemics of Interpretation
By John W. W. ZeiserEverything seems the same. But as I get to the front door I know something is different.
Propaganda and Mutual Aid in the time of COVID-19
By Andreas PetrossiantsA double sentiment is overwhelming: intense connectivity on one hand and dislocation on the other.
Class Power on Zero-Hours
By Jarrod ShanahanAngryWorkers want you to build an international revolutionary organization guided by the axiom “the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves,” and they have a plan.
