DEPARTMENTS 5 EDITOR’S NOTE There Must Be a Ceasefire in Gaza 6 COMMENT by

NORMAN STOCKWELL Our View of an Eye for an Eye 8 FURTHER COMMENT

by JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN The War on Gaza: How a

Colonial Mentality Assures Western Failure 11 NO COMMENT 12 LETTERS 14 BLAST FROM THE PAST 15 ON THE LINE by JEWISH VOICE

FOR PEACE PHOTOGRAPHERS Raising Our Voices for Peace in the Halls of Power 26 SMOKING GUN What MAGA Republicans in Congress Want

50 INTERVIEW WITH

PHYLLIS BENNIS by NORMAN STOCKWELL ‘This Is a Very

Dangerous Time’ 53 BOOK EXCERPT Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2024 by Robin Andersen 56 FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023 Eleanor J. Bader,

Michaela Brant, Helen Bezuneh, Ruth Conniff, Jules Gibbs, Emilio Leanza, Bill Lueders, John Nichols, Ed Rampell, Betsy Robinson, Norman Stockwell, Dave Zirin 69 POEM by MOSAB ABU TOHA My Son Throws a Blanket

Over My Daughter

VOICES 18 MIDDLE AMERICA

by RUTH CONNIFF Getting Beyond ‘Us Versus

Them’ 20 SMART ASS CRIPPLE

by MIKE ERVIN Fixing Our Broken System of Long-Term Care 22 WORK WON’T LOVE YOU BACK

by SARAH JAFFE Sick and Tired of Being

Sick and Tired 24 FIRST THINGS FIRST

by BILL LUEDERS Don’t Oppose Trump’s

Right to Run

65 FIRST-PERSON SINGULAR

by RABBI LAURIE ZIMMERMAN I Protest This Bloodshed 67 HEMMING AND HAWING

by NEGIN FARSAD Statement-Making in an Age of Statement-Making 68 EDGE OF SPORTS

by DAVE ZIRIN Why the Politics of the Sports

World Has Been a Hot Mess 70 VOX POPULIST

by JIM HIGHTOWER How Things Work: Congress’s

Revolving Door and The Billionaires Behind School

Privatization

ON THE COVER

Nadia Radic is an artist based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Originally a photographer, she transitioned to working in digital and analog collage during the pandemic. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, among others.

4 | DECEMBER 2023 / JANUARY 2024

Cover illustration uses an image adapted from Associated Press and public domain photographs.

PUBLISHER Norman Stockwell MANAGING EDITOR David Boddiger

SENIOR EDITOR Emilio Leanza ASSOCIATE EDITOR Michaela Brant

WEB EDITOR Delaney Nelson

EDITORS-AT-LARGE Ruth Conniff, Bill Lueders ART DIRECTOR Susan Webb DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT Daniel K. Libby OFFICE MANAGER Elizabeth D. Miller DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT COORDINATOR

Sheriffer Chisanga POETRY EDITOR Jules Gibbs

PROOFREADERS Sarah Baum, Elizabeth D. Miller,

Delaney Nelson INTERNS Avery Fitzgerald, Sameera Mann, Riley Roliff, Mariama Sidime, Sydney Vasquez

The full-time staff at The Progressive are members of NOLSW/UAW Local 2320.

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