Innehållsförteckning för July 12/19, 2021 från The Nation

THE LEADERS OF THE WESTERN WORLD—MEETING FIRST AS THE G7 POWERS IN Cornwall, England, on June 11-13 and then as the NATO members in Brussels on June 14—did not exactly initiate Cold War II. However, they did lay the necessary groundwork by describing a world divided along fundamental ideological lines. On one side, they contend, are the democratic, stability-seeking nations that adhere to international norms and rules; on the other are aggressive, authoritarian states like China and Russia that seek to undermine the rules-based international order. While it might be possible to work across this divide on matters of common concern, such as climate change and nuclear nonproliferation, the West’s main task in the coming decades must be to enhance its capacity to defend itself against the other camp—and diminish…

DOES THE WORLD NEED MORE PEOPLE? NOT IF YOU ASK the glaciers, the rain forests, the air, or the more than 37,400 species on the verge of extinction thanks to the relentless expansion of human beings into every corner and cranny of our overheated planet. There are now 7.9 billion of us, and growing—50 years ago there were fewer than half as many. I’d say we’ve more than fulfilled the biblical injunction to be fruitful and multiply. In spite of all the signs indicating that slowing population growth would be a good idea, the world’s most populous country is aiming for the opposite. In May,, the Chinese government relaxed its two-child quota; now couples can have three. China’s population is getting old: The median age has risen from 24.9 in…

Texas plans to spend $25 billion widening highways to relieve congestion But a movement to tear them down instead is growing in influence—even in the Lone Star State. ON JANUARY 19, 2018, SHORTLY BEFORE 10 AM, ROBIN LAFLEUR exited Texas Highway 290 at First Street, as she did every morning on her way to work at Austin Habitat for Humanity. It was a cold, cloudy morning, but Lafleur was in a good mood. She finally felt settled in her new home, which she’d bought less than a year before in Cedar Park, a suburb northwest of Austin. It was a Friday, and she had happy-hour plans with friends after work, so she was wearing one of her favorite outfits—maroon jeggings and a new mauve sweater with matching boots. She doesn’t…

THE PUBLICATION OF THE 1619 PROJECT by The New York Times in 2019 pushed many Americans to reconsider what they assumed they knew about African American and, more generally, US history. The project, whose title refers to the importation of the first enslaved Africans to the Virginia colony in 1619, sought to show how, in the introductory words of its special issue, “no aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that followed.” There were good reasons to start the project in 1619—many African Americans trace the beginnings of Black America to this moment—and to focus on Virginia, but it could have started earlier, too. The story of Africans in North America can, in fact, be traced as far back…

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or go to TheNation.com/StartMakingSense to listen today. STACEY ABRAMS MARGARET ATWOOD CHARLES M. BLOW SHERROD BROWN NOAM CHOMSKY GAIL COLLINS MIKE DAVIS ELIZABETH DREW BARBARA EHRENREICH DANIEL ELLSBERG FRANCES FITZGERALD ERIC FONER THOMAS FRANK HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. MICHELLE GOLDBERG AMY GOODMAN CHRIS HAYES MARGO JEFFERSON DAVID CAY JOHNSTON NAOMI KLEIN RACHEL KUSHNER VIET THANH NGUYEN NORMAN LEAR GREIL MARCUS JANE MAYER BILL MCKIBBEN WALTER MOSLEY JOHN NICHOLS LAWRENCE O’DONNELL LAURA POITRAS KATHA POLLITT ROBERT REICH JOY REID FRANK RICH ARUNDHATI ROY BERNIE SANDERS ANNA DEAVERE SMITH EDWARD SNOWDEN REBECCA SOLNIT MARGARET TALBOT CALVIN TRILLIN KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL YANIS VAROUFAKIS JOAN WALSH AMY WILENTZ GARY YOUNGE…

His conversation with The Nation, titled “Challenging Colonialism in Literature,” has been lightly edited for length. KVH: Could you talk about the importance of understanding the history of anti-Asian violence and anti-Asian racism in this country? VTN: We have to remember that anti-Asian violence in this country has been systemic—it’s not just been directed at individuals. So we think about things like the incarceration of Japanese Americans—that was an act of anti-Asian violence. We think about the murder of six Sikh Americans in 2012 at a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wis. There have been specific incidents of anti-Asian violence that have been seared in the Asian American memory—things like the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 in Detroit by two autoworkers who mistook a Chinese American for a Japanese person…

FOR A MOMENT, DIANNE MORALES SEEMED LIKE THE left’s best shot at stopping the more moderate frontrunners in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary race, businessman Andrew Yang and ex-cop Eric Adams. Though she was always a long shot, consistently polling in the single digits, Morales began gaining traction among the city’s fragmented left after allegations of sexual harassment and abuse upended the campaign of city Comptroller Scott Stringer, who had hoped to consolidate progressive support. Morales, a former nonprofit executive, positioned herself as the most left-wing candidate in the crowded field and started bringing in impressive fundraising hauls, qualifying for millions of dollars in matching funds for the first time in March. But less than four weeks before Election Day, the Morales campaign collapsed, and did so in an…

“BOMBING, BOMBING, BOMBING”—THAT’S HOW Ahmad Yassin Leila recently described the whirlwind of destruction that met him and his young family as they sought shelter in Idlib, Syria, early last year. Leila, his wife, and their four children had come to Idlib after the Syrian government’s heavy artillery siege of their Damascus neighborhood of East Ghouta had forced them from their home years before. Since then, they had been on the run from the pervasive violence—shock waves, caved-in ceilings, flying shrapnel—that seemed to follow wherever they fled. The Syrian government had been bombarding Idlib for months with tanks and armored vehicles, while Russian and Syrian war planes dropped incendiary explosives, cluster munitions, and massive “barrel bombs” on a population that included over a million people who had fled from other parts…

BLACK PEOPLE DELIVERED THE PRESIDENCY TO Joe Biden. His campaign was an embarrassing structure fire until Black voters in South Carolina showed up to save it. They understood—correctly, it turns out, and over the objection of many younger Black pundits like me—that this is a deeply racist country and that a majority of white people would vote for a Republican, as a majority of them have in every presidential election since Nixon honed the Southern strategy. They saw Biden as the candidate best situated to appeal to the minority of white voters who could abide Donald Trump’s bigotry but couldn’t stand his incompetence. And, with a major assist from Kamala Harris to shore up the underrepresented communities who were sick of racism and patriarchy, Biden was able to defeat Trump.…

83% People in Japan who oppose hosting the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer 88% People in Japan who worry that Olympic athletes and staff from abroad could spread Covid-19 6.4% People in Japan who have been fully vaccinated 11,091 Athletes expected to compete in the Olympics 72% People in Japan unhappy with the government’s response to the pandemic -32 Net approval rating of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga $15.4B Budget for this year’s Olympics and Paralympics, though the actual cost could reach nearly $25 billion 102.4ºF Predicted high temperature in Tokyo during the Olympics…

ONE YEAR AFTER AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS WERE forced to go remote overnight in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we know that students have lost time with teachers, friends, and extended family; have lost the daily interactions with crossing guards, cafeteria cashiers, and other workers who once seemed like a small part of their lives but are now starkly missed; and have even lost loved ones, financial security, and health—as well as, we are told, “significant ground” in learning. Above all else, what the pandemic revealed about our educational system is that public schools provide far more than they should, serving as “the great equalizer” in an increasingly stratified society—serving in fact as welfare states, as health care facilities, as child care centers, as sources for counseling and for free breakfasts…