Imperialism
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[1] fair use.
Ah, yes, capitalism will always support war:
While Russia-bound exports of semiconductors, machinery and other equipment from places like the U.S., the European Union and Japan have dropped sharply, firms in numerous sanctions-skeptical Asian and Middle Eastern jurisdictions—especially China, Turkey and Hong Kong—have stepped into the breach, selling their own equipment or reshipping foreign goods to Russia. Both Russian customs data provided to The Wall Street Journal by national-security nonprofit C4ADS and official data from China, Turkey and elsewhere demonstrate how quickly trade flows have reorganized after an initial dip in early 2022.[2]
Nathaniel Taplin, “How Russia Supplies Its War Machine,” Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-ukraine-tech-chips-exports-china-f28b60ca
Gilead
Abortion
Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
The bills being introduced in Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky and South Carolina look to establish that life begins at conception. Each of these bills explicitly references homicide charges for abortion. Homicide is punishable by the death penalty in all of those states.
Bills in Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas also explicitly target medication abortion, which so far has fallen into a legal grey zone in much of the country.
A bill in Alabama has also been announced, although not yet been introduced, by Republican representative Ernest Yarbrough, that would establish fetal personhood from conception and repeal a section of Alabama’s abortion ban that expressly prevents homicide charges for abortion. The state’s current law makes abortion a class A felony, on the same level as homicide, but exempts women seeking abortions from being held criminally or civilly liable.[3]
It’s odd to me that this occurs. There is little question that one reason the Republicans did so poorly in the midterm elections is[4] that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.[5] So this can’t be just about winning elections. It’s about an imperative to assert a power relationship:
This exposes a fundamental lie of the anti-abortion movement, that they oppose the criminalization of the pregnant person. They are no longer hiding behind that rhetoric.[6]
Really, this is a question that’s bugged me since I read Jack Holland’s Misogyny:[7] Why, I have wondered, would men prefer a power relationship over women, in which women must play gatekeepers for pleasure, to one in which women would feel free to express attraction?[8] How is it that domination is imperative and mutuality is not?
Poppy Noor, “Republicans push wave of bills that would bring homicide charges for abortion,” Guardian, March 10, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/10/republican-wave-state-bills-homicide-charges
So-called ‘ridesharing’
Drivers
Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.
Michael Sainato, “‘It was traumatic’: Uber, Lyft drivers decry low pay and unfair deactivations,” Guardian, March 10, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/10/uber-lyft-driver-suspension-deactivation-pay
- [1]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [2]Nathaniel Taplin, “How Russia Supplies Its War Machine,” Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-ukraine-tech-chips-exports-china-f28b60ca↩
- [3]Poppy Noor, “Republicans push wave of bills that would bring homicide charges for abortion,” Guardian, March 10, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/10/republican-wave-state-bills-homicide-charges↩
- [4]Dan Balz, “The vaunted red wave never hit the shore in midterm elections,” Washington Post, November 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/08/midterms-dissatisfied-voters-render-judgments-biden-republicans/; Samantha Melamed, “Voters cited abortion as a key issue in Pennsylvania’s first election since ‘Roe’ was overturned,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 8, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/news/election-day-pennsylvania-abortion-reproductive-rights-voters-20221108.html; Rachel Roubein, “It was a pretty good Election Day for abortion rights,” Washington Post, November 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/09/it-was-pretty-good-election-day-abortion-rights/; Greg Sargent, “Republicans want Trump to take the blame. Good luck with that,” Washington Post, November 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/11/trump-midterm-elections-gop-abortion-rights-2024/; Mike Wereschagen, “What went wrong? How the GOP’s hope for a red wave in Pennsylvania crumbled,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 13, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/election2022/2022/11/13/pennsylvania-republicans-election-control-congress-legislature/stories/202211110116↩
- [5]Brent Kendall and Jess Bravin, “Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Eliminates Constitutional Right to Abortion,” Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade-eliminates-constitutional-right-to-abortion-11656080124↩
- [6]Dana Sussman, quoted in Poppy Noor, “Republicans push wave of bills that would bring homicide charges for abortion,” Guardian, March 10, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/10/republican-wave-state-bills-homicide-charges↩
- [7]Jack Holland, Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice (New York: Carroll and Graf, 2006).↩
- [8]Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti, eds., Yes Means Yes! (Berkeley, CA: Seal, 2008).↩