Jason Pramas Archives

THE LONG GAME: SANCTUARY CITIES FIGHT POINTS TO NEED FOR GLOBAL LABOR PROTECTIONS

Original flag image by Adbusters. Or Betsy Ross, depending on who you ask March 7, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government. Yet Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and related federal agencies often rely on local police to help round up undocumented immigrants

JASON PRAMAS March 7, 2017

GENERAL STRIKE: IS THE TRUMP VICTORY SPARKING THE RETURN OF LABOR’S MOST POWERFUL TACTIC?

NYC (1970) February 22, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS You know we live in interesting times when general strikes get discussed matter-of-factly in an American big city newspaper. A subject which would have only been raised in a publication like the Boston Globe in recent decades to attack it. But

JASON PRAMAS February 22, 2017

HOW TO FIND A DECENT PROGRESSIVE ACTIVIST GROUP

Photo by Chris Faraone February 6, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS So you went to one of the recent big anti-Trump actions, and you want to become a progressive activist. Not just vote every year or two. Great. But there are dozens of major left activist organizations and hundreds of

JASON PRAMAS February 6, 2017

A QUESTION OF STRATEGY: WILL WOMEN’S MARCH LEADERS HELP BUILD A DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT OR JUST PUT THE DEMS BACK IN POWER?

Photo by Scott Murry January 24, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The Boston Women’s March for America was a tremendous success by any metric. Likely the largest political demonstration in the city’s history, its estimated 175,000 attendees made it big enough to dwarf even many national demonstrations of the last

JASON PRAMAS January 24, 2017

HARD DRUG TRUTHS: END MANDATORY MINIMUM DRUG SENTENCES

January 10, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The opioid crisis is dire enough without adding insult to injury. With almost 12,000 deaths from overdoses in Massachusetts since the year 2000—increasing sharply in recent years with fentanyl-laced heroin hitting the streets—the human cost to users, their families, and our communities is

JASON PRAMAS January 10, 2017

UNITED WE STAND: AN ADMONITION FOR 2017

January 4, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS As another calendar year begins, it is my custom to prognosticate about what I think is most important for my audience to consider in the months to come. Last year at this time, I asked readers if they wanted to live in a

JASON PRAMAS January 4, 2017

GUEST OP-ED: STATEMENT OF TAIWAN DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS ON THE TRUMP PHONE CALL

Students’ mass protest in Taiwan to end occupation of legislature | Artemas Liu December 22, 2016 by Chen Wei-Ting, Lin Fei-Fan, June Lin, and Liu Yen-Ting On December 15, the New York Times ran an article belatedly covering the reaction of Taiwanese citizens to the recent international dustup over President-elect

JASON PRAMAS December 22, 2016

TEMPORARY RADICALS? DISAFFECTED DEMS NEED TO STAY IN THE STREETS AFTER THE GOP MENACE IS BEATEN BACK

November 27, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS There is little agreement on the broad American left. But the ascension of Donald Trump to the top of the political heap caused a virtual panic from the most conservative corporate Democrats to the hardest core anarchists and communists. Which resulted in a

JASON PRAMAS November 27, 2016

WHY NATIVISM REMAINS THE POLITICS OF THE SCOUNDREL

November 17, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS In early November, I wrote the following commentary for the third episode of the Beyond Boston video news digest that my organization produces monthly in collaboration with several Boston area public access TV stations. Given the nature of the political crisis sparked by

JASON PRAMAS November 17, 2016

DEMOCRATIZE AMERICA: THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE NATION AND THE PLANET DOESN’T STOP ON ELECTION DAY

November 8, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS This is not a dream. For your whole life, you’ve seen images on screens showing brutal political struggles in faraway places like Ukraine and Yemen. And in the rare moments you’ve paid attention to the suffering you’ve seen, you’ve asked yourself, “How could

JASON PRAMAS November 8, 2016