Progressive Archives

Editor’s Note: Stay Calm And Think

Before the Massachusetts left can take action on the Trump administration’s concerning agenda, getting accurate information is critical

JASON PRAMAS February 6, 2025

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

HOMELESS FOR THE HOLIDAYS: SAVAGE CUTS AND CRAPPY JOBS ARE WHAT GOT US HERE

December 6, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS For many people, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the only time of year that their thoughts turn to the plight of the homeless. Money, food, and presents are donated. And time is volunteered at shelters. All to make sure that people

JASON PRAMAS December 6, 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

UMASS CAMBRIDGE: MAKING HARVARD UNIVERSITY PUBLIC WILL SOLVE ITS WORKERS’ PROBLEMS—AND THE COMMONWEALTH’S HIGHER ED CRISIS

October 24, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Three weeks into their strike, Harvard University dining hall workers are in a difficult position. Their union’s demands for better wages, benefits, and working conditions are falling on deaf ears in the Harvard administration. They cannot continue picketing indefinitely on $200 weekly strike

JASON PRAMAS October 24, 2016

FIGHT WHERE YOU STAND: ORGANIZING FOR DEMOCRACY ON THE JOB CAN SPARK A MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRACY NATIONWIDE

IWW Demonstration. New York (1914) October 13, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS In a month featuring a couple of significant labor actions in the Boston area—the Harvard University dining hall workers strike for better pay and benefits, and the Boston Carmen’s Union’s recent civil disobedience action against privatization at the

JASON PRAMAS October 13, 2016

SANDERS SHRUGGED

Image by Kent Buckley October 20, 2015 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS One of the marks of what scholars call hegemonic discourse is the assumption that a society’s ruling ideology is considered so “normal” that it does not even need to be named, let alone explained. So it is with the

JASON PRAMAS October 20, 2015