In These Times

In These Times In These Times is dedicated to covering and analyzing popular movements for social, environmental and economic justice.

In 2019, Jessica Stites examined research suggesting that cultural diversity has played a key role in human survival acr...
12/03/2025

In 2019, Jessica Stites examined research suggesting that cultural diversity has played a key role in human survival across diverse environments. Scientists cited in the piece argue that humans have relied on collectively transmitted knowledge — rather than individual problem-solving — to live in places ranging from the Arctic to the Sahara.

She highlighted studies linking the loss of linguistic and cultural diversity to environmental decline. According to researchers, forces such as land grabs, urbanization, and efforts to “modernize” Indigenous ways of life have contributed to rapid cultural and language loss. One language is estimated to disappear every two weeks.

At the time, Indigenous peoples stewarded 22% of the world’s land and an estimated 80% of its biodiversity. Reports from the U.N., the World Bank, and U.S. agencies cited in the article recommend including Indigenous nations in climate planning due to their long histories of adaptation and land management.

The leaders of apparently missed this research.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/anthropology-humanity-survival-cultural-diversity

Across the country, entire neighborhoods are losing their grocery stores — from the South and West Sides of Chicago to D...
12/03/2025

Across the country, entire neighborhoods are losing their grocery stores — from the South and West Sides of Chicago to Detroit and Kansas City. As private chains pull out, communities are left without reliable access to fresh, affordable food.

A growing number of cities are exploring a bold alternative: municipal-owned grocery stores — a public option for food that treats access not as a profit opportunity, but as a basic necessity. (Yes, this was even one of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign promises.)

J. Patrick Patterson breaks down where these stores have been tried, what worked, what didn’t, and what it would take for cities to make this model real today.

If you care about food justice, community self-determination, or imagining what public infrastructure could look like, this is a must-read.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/municipal-owned-grocery-store-food-desert-rural-chicago-kansas-city-detroit-market-vendors-public-community-care

A Rail Mega-Merger That Workers Say Would Be a DisasterRailroad workers across the country are warning that a proposed m...
12/03/2025

A Rail Mega-Merger That Workers Say Would Be a Disaster

Railroad workers across the country are warning that a proposed merger between Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific Railroad would have devastating consequences for workers, communities and rail safety.

In this new conversation, Maximillian Alvarez speaks with veteran rail workers who’ve lived through previous mergers — and describe years of chaos, exhausting 12-hour shifts, unsafe conditions, and massive service failures that followed. Their message is blunt: another consolidation would make everything worse.

Workers explain how a UP–NS merger would mean:

❗ Even longer trains and higher accident risks
❗ Job cuts, furloughs and “do more with less” pressure
❗ Weakened safety rules and labor protections
❗ Increased corporate power over communities and regulators
❗ A system stretched to the breaking point while shareholders profit

As one worker puts it: “Show me one example where a merger has benefited rail labor — it doesn’t exist.”

📣 Rail workers are organizing to stop the merger and calling on the public to pay attention. When trains derail, block crossings for hours, or stretch miles long, communities feel the impact directly.

Hear from the people on the front lines:

https://inthesetimes.com/article/working-people-podcast-railroad-workers-norfolk-southern-union-pacific

"They moved heaven and earth to get what they wanted when they needed it. But they will not move heaven and earth to cle...
12/03/2025

"They moved heaven and earth to get what they wanted when they needed it. But they will not move heaven and earth to clean up the mess they left behind." - Stephen Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency

The uranium industry left a trail of sickness and loss through Navajo territory, yet Trump is pushing for another mining boom.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/they-worked-underground-in-the-uranium-mines-theyve-been-surrounded-by-death-ever-since-navajo-nation-war-trump-labor-abandoned-vanadium-cancer-lung-transplant-industry-homeland-southwest-atomic-energy-environment-justice

Less than a year into Trump’s second term, working people are under assault: public programs gutted, ICE terrorizing com...
12/02/2025

Less than a year into Trump’s second term, working people are under assault: public programs gutted, ICE terrorizing communities, billionaires backing genocide in Gaza.

But there is hope. Rising fascism has met rising solidarity. To keep building the future we deserve, we need strong, independent media.

This , help us raise $50k for our 50th year. Support reporting that holds power to account.

https://bit.ly/SupportInTheseTimes

As the Trump administration intensifies its attacks on unions and federal workers, labor leaders Everett Kelley (AFGE) a...
12/02/2025

As the Trump administration intensifies its attacks on unions and federal workers, labor leaders Everett Kelley (AFGE) and David Huerta (SEIU-West) are making one thing unmistakably clear: They’re not going anywhere.

In a new conversation with Maximillian Alvarez for the Working People podcast, Kelley and Huerta break down:

🔹 What federal workers are actually facing as Trump moves to strip bargaining rights
🔹 Why these attacks hit every community that relies on public services
🔹 How unions are restructuring, organizing and preparing for a long fight
🔹 What mass, multiracial worker power must look like to confront authoritarianism
🔹 Why service workers—predominantly Black and brown—will be central to any real disruption

This is a critical read for anyone wondering how the labor movement plans to meet this historic moment.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/despite-trumps-threats-labor-leaders-say-theyre-not-going-anywhere

Voters across the country rejected MAGA candidates in elections large and small this month, including the election of a ...
12/02/2025

Voters across the country rejected MAGA candidates in elections large and small this month, including the election of a democratic socialist as mayor of New York City and other key results nationwide. At the same time, protests such as the No Kings rallies drew thousands, and court hearings in Chicago addressed issues including federal police actions during Operation Midway Blitz and conditions at the Broadview ICE facility.

Alex Han examines what this political moment may mean for the Left and why organizers are assessing the terrain and considering long-term strategy. He highlights the connection between ballot-box results and grassroots organizing on campuses and in neighborhoods.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/first-trump-era-opportunity-left-no-kings-mamdani

12/02/2025

Retirement security is on the line right now.

In late November, the Trump administration officially backed out of defending a rule that would require retirement brokers to act in their clients’ best interests — effectively killing the safeguard and reopening a loophole that has already cost retirees billions.

This decision comes at a moment when fewer Americans than ever have pensions, and many are relying on 401(k)s and annuities that are vulnerable to predatory brokers incentivized by commissions and kickbacks.

If you or someone you love is planning for retirement, this matters immediately.

Bryce Covert breaks down what’s at stake — and why this reversal could devastate millions of working people.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/unleashing-retirement-scammers-trump-biden-pensions-loophole-brokers-obama-annuities

For decades, Navajo miners risked their lives working deep underground in the uranium mines of the Southwest. Many were ...
12/01/2025

For decades, Navajo miners risked their lives working deep underground in the uranium mines of the Southwest. Many were never warned of the dangers. Today, former miners and their families are living with staggering rates of cancer, lung disease and profound loss. On Navajo land alone, there are 523 abandoned uranium mines — and not one has been fully cleaned up.

Now, even before the toxic legacy has been addressed, the Trump administration is pushing to restart uranium mining in New Mexico near Navajo territory, as part of a $1.7 trillion plan to expand and “modernize” U.S. nuclear weapons.

In this powerful investigation, Sarah Lazare follows miners and community leaders organizing for cleanup and justice — and remembers the many lives lost along the way.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/they-worked-underground-in-the-uranium-mines-theyve-been-surrounded-by-death-ever-since-navajo-nation-war-trump-labor-abandoned-vanadium-cancer-lung-transplant-industry-homeland-southwest-atomic-energy-environment-justice

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