EVICTION DEFENSE THE 100-YEAR WAR ON PALESTINE NAWAL ARJINI KALEEM HAWA

AUGUST 10/17, 2020

Has a Real Sexual Harassment Problem BRYCE COVERT

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DE BLASIO: AN UNENDORSEMENT THE EDITORS TRUMP’S UNDERTAKER 2 The Nation. PATRICIA J. WILLIAMS

Join the conversation, JULY 13/20, 2020

every Thursday, Defund the Police Just How to make Invest on the Start Making it a reality BRYCE COVERT This is only the beginning Letters DESTIN JENKINS Sense podcast. @thenation.com

We must avoid exchanging the violence of the

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Demilitarize the Police we need “to leverage completely new Re “How to Make ‘Defund the Police’ financial mechanisms” for investment a Reality” [Bryce Covert, July 13/20]: in our cities’ infrastructure. But he We of course need to change Amer- overlooks the most effective tool at ican policing in light of its bloody, hand. Many cities—like San Francis- racist history, but we cannot stop there co, Los Angeles, and Seattle—have Subscribe wherever you and must get to its centuries-old roots taken steps toward establishing public get your podcasts or go to in empire. Let’s make it “demilitarize­ banks, which are designed to lend for infrastructure at favorable rates. Cities TheNation.com/ the police.” That opens the focus to include America’s deeper need: De- and states need to borrow this model, StartMakingSense which is successfully and widely used to listen today. fund the military and the CIA, our international “police” spending in the for infrastructure in Europe and Asia. STACEY ABRAMS trillions, which benefits only the global Jenkins makes the case well that the traditional use of bonds to bor- MARGARET ATWOOD CHARLES war and weapons industry. Audit the Pentagon. Cut the bud- row from Wall Street will only sink M. BLOW SHERROD BROWN gets for the Defense Department, the cities ever deeper into a debt trap. A NOAM CHOMSKY GAIL COLLINS National Security Agency, the CIA, bank founded by a city with its own MIKE DAVIS ELIZABETH DREW and other military-rooted unaccount- long-range vision can help finance BARBARA EHRENREICH able agencies that provide corporate schools, road and rail, and affordable housing while building its capital DANIEL ELLSBERG FRANCES welfare to the weapons cartels. Opening that vault would mean base and keeping its money at home. FITZGERALD ERIC FONER we could expand and improve social It is a stable formula. Look to the THOMAS FRANK HENRY LOUIS services such as mental health and free example of the public Bank of North GATES JR. MICHELLE GOLDBERG or low-cost pre-K and college educa- Dakota, which has built its capital AMY GOODMAN CHRIS HAYES tion and provide universal basic health over 100 years by prudently lending MARGO JEFFERSON DAVID care. There would be funds to improve for its state’s development. Amazingly, our roads, bridges, renewable energy it is the only public bank in use in the CAY JOHNSTON NAOMI KLEIN investments, and public services to United States. Dennis J. Ortblad RACHEL KUSHNER VIET THANH benefit all Americans. Board Member, Public Banking Institute NGUYEN NORMAN LEAR GREIL Imagine being able to replace seattle MARCUS JANE MAYER BILL America’s empty rhetoric of human Wrestlemania rights with measurable change that MCKIBBEN WALTER MOSLEY demonstrates visible commitment to Re “Circus Maximus” by Patricia JOHN NICHOLS LAWRENCE those values. Bob Shea J. Williams, July 13/20: The analogy O’DONNELL LAURA POITRAS rochester, n.y. of Donald Trump as a pro-wrestling KATHA POLLITT ROBERT entertainer goes even further. World The Case for Public Banks Wrestling Entertainment scripts REICH JOY REID FRANK RICH Destin Jenkins makes a vital proposal rivalries between the performers, ARUNDHATI ROY BERNIE in “Just Investment” [July 13/20] that (continued on page 26) SANDERS ANNA DEAVERE The Nation (ISSN 0027-8378) is published 30 times a year (four issues in February; three issues in SMITH EDWARD SNOWDEN March, April, June, and November; and two issues in January, May, July, August, September, October, REBECCA SOLNIT MARGARET and December) by The Nation Company, LLC © 2020 in the USA by The Nation Company, LLC, 520 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018; (212) 209-5400. Washington Bureau: Suite 308, 110 Maryland TALBOT CALVIN TRILLIN Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002; (202) 546-2239. 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POSTMAS- TER: Send address changes to The Nation, PO Box 8505, Big Sandy, TX 75755-8505. Printed in the USA. UPFRONT 3 How to Move Biden Left The Nation. John Nichols since 1865 4 Eviction Resistance Nawal Arjini 5 Asking for a Friend Liza Featherstone 8 Rest in Power, John Lewis How to Move Biden Left John Nichols 38 How to Steal an Election Ted Rall an Joe Biden be moved to the left on the issues that matter COLUMNS most and are critical to the sort of mass mobilization of voters 6 Objection! Are We Ready to that might transform our politics and our governance? Yes. Be the Elders? That’s the best takeaway from the presumptive Democratic Elie Mystal 10 Subject to Debate nominee’s July 14 announcement of a climate and jobs plan that would An Unhappy Family C Katha Pollitt have him move immediately as president to invest $2 trillion in developing clean energy infrastruc- New Deal Strategy for the research group Data 11 Deadline Poet ture and a host of other responses to the climate for Progress, suggested that “Biden’s clean energy Wartime President crisis. “We’re not just going to tinker around the and environmental justice plans are, in my view, Calvin Trillin edges,” Biden declared. “We’re going to make a Green New Deal in all but name.” Green Party historic investments that will seize the opportunity presidential nominee Howie Hawkins disagreed, Features and meet this moment in history.” arguing that “Biden is nowhere close to the GND. 12 McDonald’s Has a Real Sexual That’s a far cry from what Biden was saying Besides having a timeline for emissions more than Harassment Problem during his bid for the Democratic presidential 20 years slower, he leaves out the other half, which Bryce Covert nomination earlier this year. Then, he pushed back is an economic bill of rights—guaranteed jobs, Scores of women have against climate activists and dismissed an ambitious single payer healthcare, housing, etc.” There’s still accused the company of plan by his chief rival, Vermont Senator a good debate to be had about whether fostering harassment. They’re speaking out for Bernie Sanders, to “launch the decade Biden is prepared to meet the challenges themselves and others. of the Green New Deal, a 10-year mo- COMMENT he’ll face if elected. But The Washing- bilization to avert climate catastrophe ton Post noted that the Democrat’s re- 20 Will the Left Get a Say in the during which climate change, justice, cent policy pronouncements on climate Biden Doctrine? and equity will be factored into virtually change and other issues represent “a David Klion every area of policy, from immigration significant move to the left from where Covid-19 creates an to trade to foreign policy and beyond.” Biden and his party were only recently.” opportunity to shift foreign policy away Asked about the Sanders plan in January, That movement is what matters. from the military. Biden claimed, falsely, that “not a single Give Biden credit for breaking loose solitary scientist thinks it will work.” from some of the centrist dogmas that Books & the Arts Now, Biden is talking about making a good deal bogged Democrats down in 2016 and that are 27 Present Absences of it work—borrowing ideas from Sanders and from scorchingly out of touch with a pandemic mo- Kaleem Hawa Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who as a 2020 ment that is witnessing mass unemployment. But 30 For My Wife, Who Is contender ripped the former vice president for give activists more credit for making him do so. Writing a Collection failing to respond to the crisis with the urgency that Prakash was right when she said, “Our movement, of Stories Called it required. Sunrise Movement cofounder Varshini alongside environmental justice communities and Homescar (poem) Prakash, who served on the Biden-Sanders climate frontline workers, has taught Joe Biden to talk the Nomi Stone unity task force that prodded Biden on the issue, talk.” That’s important in an election year when 33 If It Wasn’t for You summed up the reaction from activists who once an action agenda is necessary and popular. She Erin Schwartz objected to his approach. “It’s no secret that we’ve was also right when she said progressives must 34 Little Pharma on been critical of [his] plans and commitments in the keep pushing Biden to be bolder—and better—in Rooms (poem) past,” she said. “Today, he’s responded to many of addressing the climate crisis, systemic racism, and Laura Kolbe those criticisms: dramatically increasing the scale the rot that extends from decades of deference to 36 Boundless and urgency of investments, filling in details on how Wall Street and the military-industrial complex. Julyssa Lopez he’d achieve environmental justice and create good The hopeful news is that Biden, in stark contrast union jobs, and promising immediate action—on to Trump, responds to pushing. “What we’ve VOLUME 311, NUMBER 3, AUGUST 10/17, 2020 day 1, in his first 100 days, in his first term, in the shown,” Prakash said, “is that when we organize, The digital version of this issue is next decade—not just some far off goals.” we can change the terrain of possible, and the available to all subscribers July 28 at Julian Brave NoiseCat, the director of Green common sense of society.” JOHN NICHOLS TheNation.com 4 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020

BY THE NUMBERS ing unmasked: “No landlords, no cops! All evictions have to stop!” Although the officers agreed the tenants had a Eviction Resistance right to stay, they wouldn’t make Brooks-Church, who Fighting for Black housing is fighting for Black lives. had remained in the building since the morning, leave. “We’ve just been shown that police don’t protect us. They his is very lovely,” Imani Henry said, protect property,” Inman told the crowd. They directed stepping out of the gate at 1214 Dean the protesters to go inside as the police van left. People “ Street in the Crown Heights section linked arms, forcing Brooks-Church out onto the porch. of Brooklyn. Though it was past mid- He eventually retreated to his SUV and drove off. night, a crowd of more than 30 people The mood was jubilant. Someone reminded the remainedT out of those who had gathered to defend the protesters that this was only the beginning, that it 170% tenants of the building from an illegal eviction. “A typ- would be a wearying period of evictions and harassment, Increase in the ical part of our lives is illegal lockouts,” said Henry, the but the crowd seemed energized. A Crown Heights cost of policing founder of Equality for Flatbush, the anti-gentrification Tenant Union organizer was optimistic about the coming in the US from and anti-police-​ brutality​ organization that initially sent months, even as she acknowledged that larger landlords 1977 to 2017 out a call to action. That night, almost 100 people had would be harder to fight. The blockade’s success restored assembled outside the house to ensure the tenants could the hope of protests from earlier in the summer. As $7.4B stay. Even after a season of Covid-19 and a month of Inman said, “Black homes matter.” Fighting for Black Value of equip- racial justice uprisings, this felt new—as one person at the housing is fighting for Black lives. ment that has blockade put it, like “the start of a long summer.” Henry is 51 with long roots in local activism. “Police flowed from the During the Great Depression, neighborhood eviction and landlords, developers have no shame, so just shame Pentagon to police depart- defenses like this one were widespread and well organized. them,” he said. As he spoke, people behind him were ments since 1997 In the century since, blockades have occasionally popped texting their friends, posting on Twitter, and alerting up in cities across the country. The Los An- their Instagram followers to the landlords’ geles Tenants Union reversed a lockout in other businesses. 41% May. But with the looming expiration of the For the pro- Inman left soon after midnight, citing ex- Share of the Oakland, Calif., few protections that tenants have been given testers, police haustion and the need to prepare for a job in- general fund during the pandemic, as many as 23 million brutality and terview the next morning. (Like many people dedicated to po- renters are at risk of eviction. In the weeks there, they had been laid off at the beginning of lice expenditures since the LATU blockade succeeded, millions the behavior the pandemic.) Someone led one more chant: of people took to the streets in anger over state of the land- “We love you, Danni.” A couple left and re- $220M racism. On July 7, frustration and desperation lords were turned with coffee. Henry mentioned wanting Amount paid by took form as a neighborhood turned its focus something sweet to drink. Within 15 minutes, New York City on a pair of white landlords and the mostly connected. someone arrived with a tote bag full of Gato- taxpayers to Black, mostly female, queer, and trans tenants rade. By 2 am, dozens of people were spread settle legal issues they were trying to push out of their homes. over the sidewalk and stoop, quietly chatting and smoking. involving the NYPD in fiscal Xander Roos, a member of the Legal Aid Society’s Nobody from the landlords’ team returned the next year 2019 housing unit, was one of the first people at 1214 Dean. day. The blockade turned into a mutual aid station and He informed the landlord—Gennaro Brooks-Church, cafeteria, with tables in an empty parking spot loaded with who owns the building with his ex-wife, Loretta food. There was a medical shelf with first aid supplies, 809K Gendville—that it was illegal to evict anyone in masks, and hand sanitizer. The furniture the landlords had Number of police New York state without due process. There were no thrown on the street was repurposed, with a sofa propped officers and detectives in the marshals present, tenants had not been served, and by the building door for potential use as a barricade. US in 2018 the courts were closed to new eviction cases. For the protesters, police brutality and the behavior As the crowd grew, tenants told their stories of the landlords were intimately connected. State protec-

COMMENT of what happened that day. After months of ha- tion from displacement would never come fast enough to 616K rassment, Brooks-Church, Gendville, and their prevent it from happening. The crowd had asked, “Who Number of middle school children showed up at the property unannounced, threat- keeps us safe? Who fights for us?” As the cops left and teachers in the ened them with eviction, and barged into their rooms. Brooks-Church returned home, the answer was clear: US in 2018 Gendville laid hands on the tenants, misgendered them, “We keep us safe. We fight for us.” removed their Wi-Fi, and told her teenage daughter they Relying on neighborhood assemblies to defend tenants were squatters. A U-Haul took a mattress away, and furni- from landlords and armed police seemed impossible a few 5¢ ture was thrown onto the street. months ago. But at 1214 Dean Street, a mass of angry Amount that Chicago spends The crowd relied on the directions of Danni Inman, people came together to do just that. As tenant unions on its Depart- a young local resident. (Inman uses “they” pronouns.) begin to organize, blockades may become a common sight ment of Family Like many others, they went to the blockade after seeing across the country. I asked Inman if they saw themselves and Support Ser- it on Instagram. “I just came out to show support,” they becoming more active in community organizing. “Oh, vices for every dollar earmarked said. “They asked me to speak, then at some point, I was absolutely,” they said. But first, “I’ll be here tomorrow and for the police in charge.” the next day and the next day if I have to.” NAWAL ARJINI —Daniel When the police showed up, the crowd re­directed its Fernandez anger. Chants emerged as officers went inside the build- Nawal Arjini is a contributing writer for The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 5 Asking for a Friend

L e i z n a t o A Big Fat Covid Wedding Fe a t h e r s

Dear Liza, at work, you’re worried about infecting family members and other wedding My fiancé and I are doctors in medical specialties guests. Let the couple know you love them and that this has been a painful affected by the coronavirus in a midsize US city. decision. Don’t reproach them for their ignorance or for being jerks about Like so many in health care and in the world be- this. It’s their wedding, and you want a good relationship with the family yond, we’ve spent the past few months horrified by in the long run. Emphasize that you’d love to take them to dinner or on a this disease and shocked that some people don’t seem weekend away to celebrate their marriage when this is all over. Then don’t to be taking it seriously. Given that we regularly torture yourself any longer! Let it go. care for Covid-positive people at work, we recognize that we could be vectors, and we’ve been as vigilant Dear Liza, as possible in our own lives. One of my BFFs has a $3 million home in New York Questions? My fiancé’s sister is getting married this month. City and left it behind in March to ride out the pandemic Ask Liza at TheNation Despite our frequently voiced discomfort, the current with his family in a $7,000 per month house in the country, .com/article/ plan is for a 95-person wedding—grandparents and where he can work from home and live the life. I’m feeling asking-for-a- all!—with absolutely no Covid-19 precautions in much class resentment toward this friend, as my family friend the groom’s parents’ backyard (outside, at least, but can barely afford to live in the city and I have to breathe their home will be open to everyone). The engaged Covid-19 air at work every day. Said friend has a Wall couple get their news from far more conservative Street job, which, in my eyes, is a job with no purpose other than to gen- sources than we do, don’t know people who have been erate money for the rich. All I keep thinking is that the $7,000 a month sick, and don’t think it can happen to them. Ideally, could have been used to pay rent for three or four of the many needy we could talk this out and end up with a wedding families who now face eviction. But then I also think, “What if I had that that, though perhaps not exactly what we would do, kind of money? Maybe I would only think of myself and flee the city too.” would at least feel a little more responsible. Un­ What should I do with my feelings about this? —Essential Worker fortunately, it appears that will not happen, and their only concession has been to say that they will Dear Essential, understand if we decide not to attend. ou’re right to feel resentful. It’s enraging that people whose It feels as if any decision we make is wrong. My work exists solely to enrich their fellow one-percenters get to fiancé desperately wants to be at his sister’s wed- Y ride out the pandemic safely and luxuriously, while essential ding, but it is hard to imagine spending 36 hours workers like you, for all the cheering and hero worship tossed your way, in a series of situations that are risky and socially struggle, risk your lives, and even die. The situation reveals the appalling negligent. It’s also hard to imagine not being there (continued on page 8) at all. Do we go? If we do go, do we wear masks and attempt to physically distance despite the fact that this will be completely out of place and seen as a political statement? If we don’t go, how do we bow out gracefully while preserving what we can of our relationships? —Believer in Science

Dear Believer, sympathize; decisions like this one are extremely stressful, especially when they involve people who I don’t interpret the pandemic in the way that we do. As painful as it will be for your fiancé to skip his sister’s wedding, I don’t think you should go. It would be too stressful to enjoy and would put you and many others at risk. I also suspect you’d resent it in the long run, since your fiancé’s family has made no effort to meet you even partway. The only good news about their intransigence is that you now have nothing to feel guilty about. You and your boyfriend should send an especially nice gift and write the couple a heartfelt let- ter. In the letter, note that given your constant exposure  ILLUSTRATION BY JOANNA NEBORSKY 6 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 Elie Mystal Are We Ready to Be the Elders? As legends like John Lewis pass away, it is up to us to tend the flame they lit.

y mother was born in 1950 in segregated Mis- time I wonder what James Baldwin would have said about a current sissippi. The first time she met the Rev. Martin issue, I need only look to what Nikole Hannah-Jones is saying right Luther King Jr., she was at home after church in now. I don’t need to pull out a Ouija board to ask Thurgood Marshall the late ’50s when he visited my grandmother how to fight for legal equality, because Sherrilyn Ifill has an e-mail and her young family. My grandmother was address. And while I have to share him with white people, Barack Ma respected schoolteacher, and a lot of those civil rights leaders Hussein Obama is a Black elder 400 years in the making. under­stood that getting in good with the teachers was a good way One area in which my generation has surpassed our parents is to connect with the young people. in recognizing women so that they can lead from the front. Black My mother has a living memory of events I’ve only read about. women have always been leaders in the civil rights movement, but Periodically, she will read my columns and tell me that I got some- they have not always been honored as such. My generation has thing wrong about our history—not the facts of it but the sense of done at least somewhat better than all the previous ones (a low bar) it. I write in faded tones about what she experienced in vibrant color. at not standing in their way. From Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi to My father was part of the committee that wrote the national Patrisse Cullors and so many others, women are defining the terms platforms for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating of social justice for this generation. The movement Committee in the late ’60s. He started a Black-owned is finally removing impediments so that all available newspaper covering Harlem. Later he was the first warriors can be their full selves in this fight. Black person elected to the legislature in New York’s Still, when it comes to visionary leadership and Suffolk County. He died a couple of years ago. righteous impatience, my generation has nothing on The death of John Lewis on July 17 is a national the next group up. The violence and oppression of example of what many Black people my age are expe- the Jim Crow era forged the greatest generation, and riencing personally or will experience soon: the death right now the brutality and bigotry of the Trump era of living memory. The greatest Black generation, the are forging a whole generation of superheroes on our generation of heroes and heroines who fought fas- streets and in our classrooms. cism and oppression here on American soil, is passing Young people today have the energy and vital- on. The loss of a national icon like Lewis is devastating, but every ity my parents once did. They are unwilling to accept injustice, day we lose somebody—somebody who integrated a school or whether it comes from the police, the media, or the fossil fuel titans boycotted a bus line or broke down a barrier younger people don’t destroying the earth. They’re building multiethnic, intersectional even know existed. coalitions, and they will soon have the votes to reshape this country As these elders die and become ancestors, I wonder if my gener- in whatever ways they deem necessary. ation is ready to become the new elders. I think of my Black genera- They don’t remember what the world tion in far more expansive ways than the terms “boomer,” “Gen X,” was like in 1945—or even 1985—and and “millennial,” which speak primarily to white cultural moments. thus are unencumbered by it. The fu- The death of John My generation is the one that benefited from but did not have to ture is theirs, and they have leaders who Lewis is a national fight for the Civil Rights Act. We lived through the dismantling of are ready to seize it. legal discrimination but were also alive to witness the Reagan-era My generation, most likely, is mere- example of what counterattack against such gains. My generation has had to spend ly an interstitial one, existing between many Black just as much time defending rights that were won by our parents two great social justice movements. Our people my age as it has fighting for an expansion of social justice for our children. job is maybe not to coach the young My generation will likely die in a less just world than the one people but to cut up some orange slices are experiencing: we were born into. While I doubt our world will devolve into the and cheer them on as they take the field. the death of full horrors of the pre-civil-rights days—Lewis’s legacy is secure And maybe, when they ask us, we can and victorious—on all of the big fights, from segregation to voting do what all elders do: Tell stories. I do living memory. rights, people my age have seen more losses than gains. not have a lived experience of the civil And so I wonder if we are ready to tend the flames of justice and rights era. But I have stayed up way past my bedtime listening to equality our parents lit. I wonder if we, who have spent so much those who do. Other people collect recipes from their mothers; I time in a defensive crouch, can be good guides along the road to collect stories. So I can’t tell you how to make her potato salad, but the mountaintop. I can tell you that Brown v. Board of Education didn’t do squat to My panic at being handed the baton is tempered by looking at the help a Black woman check out a book from a library in the South. It community of Black excellence that is already here and more visible will be my job to tell her grandchildren about that when they learn than ever. The next generation of Black leaders and thinkers and about the case in school. elders is with us, and it is leading. The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II So much is lost when our heroes pass away. It is now on my

teaches a clinic on moral clarity every time he opens his mouth. Any- generation to remember. ■ TOP: ANDY FRIEDMAN TOP: ANDY FRIEDMAN television (CATV) mediaoutletsair a few. You mayrequestthat audience, suchasthegeneralpublicorstudents,tomentiononly to downloadanyshowsthatwouldbeofinterestyourlocal is providedtoyou at no-costasapublicservice. You areinvited very nicely!GCTVistheonlyprogramofitstypeinworld,and Connections Television (GCTV)mayfitintoyourprogramming who discussinternationalissuesthathavelocalimpact?Global the world’s leadingvoicesfromthepublicandprivatesectors Looking foraninternationally-orientedtalkshowwithaccessto GLOBAL CONNECTIONSTELEVISION GCTV featuresin-depthanalysiswithinawidescopeofcurrentissues,topicsandevents including: duction, peaceandsecurity, andgenderissues. technology, culture,education,foodsecurity, poverty re development, globalpartnerships,renewableenergy, climate change,environmentalsustainability, economic analysis ofimportantcurrentissuesandeventsincluding wide. international issues and how they impact people world ly-produced, privately-financedtalkshow Global ConnectionsTelevision (GCTV)isanindependent •GLOBALPARTNERSHIPS •CLIMATE CHANGE•ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY •TECHNOLOGY • FOODSECURITYEDUCATION •RENEWABLE ENERGY•GENDERISSUESPOVERTYREDUCTION • GCTV FORBROADCASTERS,MEDIAOUTLETS &EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

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BILL MILLER and 8 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020

(continued from page 5) home when he’s not there. Some families at least give tons of money away. Suggest- logic of American-style capitalism. are riding out the pandemic together in ing that he do this might make you feel To ease your resentment, you could de- pods, or groups of people who spend time better, but in our present world, the risks mand that for every insensitive reference indoors only with one another. Can you and penalties for not being wealthy are so he makes to his garish lifestyle, wheth- pod with his family, at least for the summer? high (especially during a pandemic and an er on Instagram or in conversation, he This would enable you to get out of the city economic downturn) that it’s unlikely he must make a $1,000 contribution to an and enjoy their lovely country rental on the will sacrifice all that much. Besides, capi- organization fighting evictions or to a union weekends you don’t need to be at work. talist men often morally justify their work strike fund. If you don’t want to be so I love your effort to put yourself in his by feeling good about how well they are confrontational—for most Americans, class shoes, however, because it helps us get providing for their families. Try persuad- differences aren’t fodder for comfortable to the heart of the problem: Our system ing him to join a socialist organization as a banter, even among close friends—consider rewards selfishness. Now that he’s made high-end donor. That way he can contrib- gently turning his wealth to your advantage. money, your friend should quit and use ute to the eventual elimination of his own Perhaps your family can use his fancy NYC his privilege to contribute to society—or parasitical class. ■

1940–2020 21st century. He understood the power of forging links between the past and the present. He understood that he could bring moral authority to new debates, and he spent the final months of his life Rest in Power, John Lewis doing just that. ohn Lewis made one of his last public appearances in A few days after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis a lifetime of struggle for racial, social, and economic police, Lewis recalled the murder of Emmett Till, the Black child justice on a Sunday morning in June. Though he was whose lynching—and the outcry that it sparked—underscored wrestling with the cancer that would take his life on the urgency of the civil rights movement for Lewis and so many Friday, July 17, at age 80, he wanted to see Black Lives others. “Sixty-five years have passed, and I still remember the face JMatter Plaza in Washington, D.C., where painters had just com- of young Emmett Till. It was 1955. I was 15 years old—just a year pleted a giant mural covering a two-block stretch of 16th Street older than him. What happened that summer in Money, Missis- leading to the White House. sippi, and the months that followed—the recanted accusation, the Near the spot where authorities had violently removed peace- sham trial, the dreaded verdict—shocked the country to its core. ful protesters so that President Donald Trump could do a ham-​ And it helped spur a series of non-violent events by everyday handed photo op in front of the parish house of historic St. John’s people who demanded better from our country,” he wrote on Episcopal Church, Lewis celebrated the right to assemble and May 30. “Despite real progress, I can’t help but think of young petition for the redress of grievances. Emmett today as I watch video after video after He hailed the mural spelling out “Black lives video of unarmed Black Americans being killed, matter” as “a mighty, powerful, and strong message and falsely accused.” to the rest of the world that we will get there.” Praising the activists who took the Black Lives Tributes to Lewis have recalled a commitment to Matter protests to the streets, Lewis promised, fighting injustice that began more than 60 years ago, “They’re going to help redeem the soul of Ameri- when the young civil rights campaigner marched ca.” The congressman shared their frustration with with Martin Luther King Jr., delivered the most the persistence of systemic racism. “To the rioters militant address at the 1963 March on Washington here in Atlanta and across the country: I see you, for Jobs and Freedom, and was brutally beaten by and I hear you. I know your pain, your rage, your police while helping to lead the “Bloody Sunday” sense of despair and hopelessness,” he said. Yet march for voting rights on the Edmund Pettus Lewis, a former chair of the Student Nonviolent Bridge in Selma, Ala. But Lewis never stopped marching, speak- Coordinating Committee, counseled, “History has proven time ing, and stirring up “good trouble”—as an appointee in the Jimmy and again that non-violent, peaceful protest is the way to achieve Carter administration, an Atlanta City Council member, and since the justice and equality that we all deserve.” 1987, a member of Congress who used his prominence to amplify No epitaph will be sufficient for John Lewis except, perhaps, the messages of activists in the United States and abroad. that he never stopped making history or calling on others to do Lewis, a self-described “off-the-charts liberal,” was a pas- the same. Even as he neared the end of his seven-month battle sionate critic of militarism, a determined advocate for economic with pancreatic cancer, there he was, framing the House debate justice, an early champion of LGBTQ rights, and the House of before a vote to address police violence. “Today, young people are Representatives’ great champion of voting rights. His history taking up the mantle in a movement that I know all too well,” he made him an iconic figure in the House. When Barack Obama was said on June 25. “All over the world, communities are once again inaugurated in 2009 as the nation’s first Black president, he handed joining the call for racial equity and equality. While their feet Lewis a photo on which he had written, “Because of you, John.” march towards justice, their pain, their frustration, and petitions When Trump was inaugurated in 2017, Lewis announced that he cannot—must not—be ignored. The George Floyd Justice in would not attend, sparking a boycott of the ceremony. Policing Act provides us with an opportunity to practice what we Lewis could have rested on his laurels as the last surviving preach. While we use our speech to advance American ideals such speaker at the March on Washington and a living connection to as freedom, liberty, and justice for all, we must use our hands to

20th century history. Yet he chose to keep making history in the implement these values.” JOHN NICHOLS CQ ROLL CALL VIA AP IMAGES CQ ROLL CALL VIA AP IMAGES COFFEE AdFull Pagev4.indd 1 sourced from thefinest and paying fair wages. Doing ItRight sustainable methods gourmet coffees are cooperatives inthe Our singleorigin fair trade coffee world using BOTH DELIVEREDTO YOUR DOOR GREAT READING,GREAT COFFEE

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INEQUALITY Taxing Katha Pollitt the Rich lot of people talk about inequality, but Make the An Unhappy Family A Road New York wants The president’s niece dishes the dirt on her Uncle Donald. Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature to do something about it. An immigrant-led group he title of Mary Trump’s book about and her brother out of his will, and her aunts and whose storefront centers provide her family, Too Much and Never uncles eventually forced her and her brother to meals, meeting space, English Enough, expresses my feelings per- accept a comparatively modest settlement. Years classes, and youth programs, fectly. I’ve read way too much about later, she took many boxes of legal papers to MRNY wants New York state’s 119 her uncle Donald and his awful rel- The New York Times, which in 2018—finally!— resident billionaires to pay their Tatives, to say nothing of his wives and girlfriends, published a long, damning investigation of the share of the state’s $13 billion but somehow it’s never enough. I keep thinking Trump family’s dubious tax dodging maneuvers. budget shortfall due to the eco- I’m finally going to understand him as a thinking, There’s a lot of psychiatric talk here about nomic collapse brought about by feeling human being, but I never do. Or is it that emotional child abuse and family dysfunction. the Covid-19 pandemic. As Amer- I only pretend to want understanding, when what In Mary Trump’s view, Donald is still a “terrified icans for Tax Fairness points out, I really want is just more dirt? little boy.” There are lessons, too. For example, the net worth of New York’s bil- lionaires jumped by $77.3 billion There’s plenty of both in this well-written if you want kids only to perpetuate your empire, during just the first three months tell-all by Mary Trump, the daughter of Donald’s do the world a favor and stay childless. Proba- of the pandemic—when at least older brother, Fred Jr. A psychologist bly some version of her diagnosis is 2.5 million New Yorkers lost their with a PhD, she offers a portrait of correct. Something, after all, makes jobs and more than 32,000 lost family dysfunction that rings grimly monsters out of sweet little babies. their lives. true: Fred Sr., the cruel, egotisti- But if you just want to hate the presi- The campaign has been cal, tyrannical father—aided by his dent, there’s no shortage of fresh ma- spearheaded by Jessica Ramos, wife, the distant, sometimes sickly, terial: His older sister Maryanne did a state senator from Queens who and probably very miserable Mary his homework for him, and he paid recently introduced S8277, a Anne—destroyed in his five children someone to take his SATs. He and bill to tax the unrealized capital much (or in Donald’s case, all) of their Ivana were cheapskates; they gave gains of New York’s wealthiest capacity for empathy, curiosity, kind- Mary and Linda regifted items for residents to create a “worker ness, or independent action. Winning Christmas, including a handbag with bailout fund” for people not el- paternal approval was all that mattered, but only a used Kleenex inside and a food basket with a igible for federal stimulus funds or unemployment insurance. Donald managed to get a smattering of it. He did missing tin. (Could it have been caviar?) He re- Although Cuomo has long taken so by becoming a flashier version of his dad, whose portedly helped Maryanne, a now-​retired federal pride in cutting taxes, MRNY depredations as a builder and landlord in Brook- judge, get a position on the federal bench by sum- argues that with already insuffi- lyn and Queens were so notorious that one of his moning help from Roy cient safety nets shredded by the tenants, Woody Guthrie, wrote a song about him. Cohn. Fred Sr. floated pandemic, a change in direction Mary Trump may be out for revenge, but who one of Donald’s failing If you want is overdue. That’s an argument wouldn’t be? She blames the “sociopathy” of Fred Atlantic City casinos endorsed by Representative Al- Sr. for destroying her father. Fred Jr. was a happy- by buying millions of kids only to exandria Ocasio-Cortez, who in go-lucky guy who wasn’t cut out for the family dollars’ worth of chips perpetuate your a campaign video released this business and made a bid for freedom by trying to and not gambling with month tells the governor, “It’s become an airline pilot before being claimed by them. There has to be empire, do the time to stop protecting billion- alcoholism, which killed him at only 42. Fred Jr.’s some kind of Nobel world a favor aires, and it’s time to start work- downward slide is chilling to read about: He was Prize in hypocrisy, ing for working families.” all but ignored by his parents, who had grudgingly though, for Donald’s and stay childless. —D.D. Guttenplan taken him in as an adult—at one point they made treatment of his sister- him sleep on a cot in the attic of their enormous in-law Linda. The book recounts him saying that mansion—but failed to get him the high-quality it might have been better to cut her off from the medical care to which they had ready access as relatively modest family support she got after major hospital donors. His siblings abandoned the divorce and make her “stand on her own two him as well, and he died alone while Donald and feet.” This is from a man whose family fortune his sister Elizabeth went to the movies. was based on funding from government housing Years before, Fred Sr. had essentially arranged programs plus millions in tax finagling and whose for Mary’s mother, Linda, to be massively cheated entire career was bankrolled by his father. in her divorce settlement, leaving her and her Over the course of the book, Mary Trump has children—Fred Sr.’s grandchildren!—trapped in a many ways of describing her uncle. He is “com- drafty, rundown apartment in one of his Queens pletely un­quali­fied,” “crass,” “irresponsible,” and

developments. To cap it off, Fred Sr. cut Mary “despicable.” He is a “narcissist,” afflicted with / AP; TOP: ANDY FRIEDMAN BOTTOM: BEBETO MATTHEWS MAGNUM FOUNDATION August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 11

what might be “antisocial personality disorder” or also voted for him out of “family loyalty.” “dependent personality disorder.” He is perpetually Mary Trump, who supported Hillary Clinton in 2016, “lying, spinning, and obfuscating,” telling the “lies, worries about the upcoming election. “A large minority misrepresentations, and fabrications that are the sum of people still confuse his arrogance for strength, his false total of who my uncle is.” He acts with both “cruelty” bravado for accomplishment, and his superficial interest Mary Trump, and “possibly criminal negligence.” He “understands in them for charisma.” This is true. Amazingly, in the who supported nothing about history, constitutional principles, geo- midst of the coronavirus pandemic—which Trump has Hillary in 2016, politics, diplomacy (or anything else, really).” And that’s botched completely, with unemployment reaching highs worries about just the first 15 pages. not seen since the Great Depression and the specter of the upcoming For his rise to the highest office in the land, she mass evictions on the horizon—Trump’s support hovers blames the media, which bought the myth of him as a around 40 percent. That may not be enough to win the election. brash, can-do, self-made man and sexual dynamo; the election, even with the disenfranchisement of many banks, which funded his dubious ventures; and his sib- likely Joe Biden supporters and the wild card that is our lings, none of whom warned the public what a disaster he disastrous Electoral College system. But when the elec- would be as president. Maryanne, who might have made tion is over, we will still have to face the fact that four in a difference, Mary Trump thinks, as a respected public 10 Americans took his side. figure had she spoken up during the campaign, not only Will Mary Trump succeed in changing minds where remained silent (“she had her own secrets to keep”) but so many others have failed? I wish. ■

“Trump calls himself ‘wartime president’ over coronavirus pandemic.” SNAPSHOT / KATIE ORLINSKY Calvin Trillin — CBS “The Trump Administration is trying to block billions of dollars for Monumental Joy Deadline Poet states to conduct testing and contact tracing.” — The Washington Post On July 4, a water balloon fight breaks out at the This self-styled wartime president’s disposed unofficially renamed Marcus-David Peters Circle, the WARTIME To mock all masks and states that keep bars closed. site of a Robert E. Lee memorial in Richmond, Va. In A list of acts like these we should compile, recent weeks, a monument to the Confederacy has PRESIDENT become a powerful place of protest, a vibrant space In case someday we hold a war crimes trial. for expression, and a living, breathing work of art. BOTTOM: BEBETO MATTHEWS / AP; TOP: ANDY FRIEDMAN BOTTOM: BEBETO MATTHEWS MAGNUM FOUNDATION Harassment Has a Real a Has Problem BRYCE COVERT Sexual

SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES L contributing op-ed writerat Covertisacontributing writerat Bryce of fosteringaworkplacerifewith sexualharassmentand Since 2015, scores of women have accused the company are put in harm’s way. But that is not what has happened. responsibility andpublicaccountability ifitsemployees Donald’s wouldexercise a certainmeasureofcorporate this visibilityandclout,itmight beexpectedthatMc in theUnitedStates,withover800,000employees.Given and popularbrands.Itisalsooneofthelargestemployers why theyfeelthey’renotaccountableforwhathedid.” deserve adimefromanybody. Ijustdon’t understand McDonald’s nomore,”shesaid.“Idon’t feellike they employed atMcDonald’s. “Afterthat,Idon’t eveneat for ajobatdifferentrestaurant.Herharasserwasstill harasser,” she wrote in the complaint.Eventually, she left hard formetogoworkbecauseIstillhaveseemy Opportunity Commission(EEOC)inearly2019.“Itis after filingacomplaintwiththeEqualEmployment had twokidsItofeed,”shesaid.Shestayedeven she saidthroughthetears.“Ithurtsme.Ithurts.” she startedtocry. “Ihaterelivingitbecausewassobad,” point inourconversation,shehadtostoptalkingbecause cause Iknewhadtoworkwithhim,”Jonessaid.Atone harshly, andhadherrequestsfortimeoffdenied. receiving overtimepayforextrahours,wastreatedmore They alsoretaliatedagainsther, shealleged;stopped her supervisorslaughedandevenimpliedshewaslying. up theirhands,”shesaid.“Theydidn’t care.”Instead, complained severaltimesabouthim,andtheyjustthrew ally shetoldhershiftmanager. Shewasbrushedoff.“I behavior andhadn’t botheredtoaddressit.Buteventu because sheassumedhermanagersknewabouthis on multipleoccasions.Atfirst,shedidn’t sayanything saw himdoingthesamethingstootherfemalecoworkers clothes on,”shetoldme. face against her buttocks. “I felt like I was raped with my She wasabletoescape.Laterthatyear, hepulledhispenisoutofpantsandpresseditagainstherback.Thesameday, hepressedhis fought back,hetoldherthatshewas“strongashell”butcould“pinmedowninthere,”accordingtoalegalcomplaint shefiled. pants. Onedayasshewasleavingtherefrigeratedroomwheremeatandproducearestored,hetriedtopushherbackin.WhenJones ments liketellinghershehada“bigass”and“You can’t waituntilIputmytongueinyourass,”rubbedupagainsther, orgrabbedher McDonald’s isone of thecountry’s most recognizable Quitting wasn’t anoption.“Attheendofday, I “Some daysIdidn’t evenwanttogoworkjustbe Jones wasn’t theonlywomanmanharassed.She that evenexisted….Itwasjustsofreaky, nasty, andscary.” and startedtorubhiscrotchagainsther. “Itcaughtmebysurprise,” shesaid.“To behonest,Ididn’t eventhinkpeoplelike I’m happy.” no mistakesaboutit.IcantakesomefoodandturnitintoaSundaydinner. make “Don’t AslongasI’minthekitchen, said. ois jonesstarted at mcdonald’swhenshewas inher20s. itwas herfirstjob. “i loved working formcdonald’s,” she It wasthestartofherrecurringsexualharassment.Nearlyeverytimecoworkersawher, hemadeinappropriatecom But twodecadeslater, allthatchanged.AmalecoworkeratherNorthCarolinalocationwalkedupbehindoneday The NewYork Times The Nation . anda The Nation. - - - clothes on.” clothes on.” with my I wasraped “I feltlike one ofitsrestaurants McDonald’s outside complaints against of sexualharassment attention toaseries protesters called On notice: near TimesSquare. former McDonald’s McDonald’s former Lois Jones, Jones, — Lois In2016 employee

T of turning its back when they came forward to report their work.” KatlynBarber, whoworkedatAnibal’s restaurant, City, Mo. “You laugh andyou talk witheveryonethat’s at said DelishaRivers,whoworkedatalocationinKansas McDonald’s. “It’s notreallyaboring,sit-downjob,” the womenIspokewithinitiallyenjoyedworkingat location inMason,Mich.“Itcomesthesewaves.” and noone’s there,”saidEmilyAnibal,whoworkedata be verystressful,andthenallofasuddenit’s supercalm putting more pressure on the remaining workers. “It can of fast-foodjobsoftenleavesrestaurantsshort-staffed, mealtime rushhours,andthehighturnoverratetypical but thepacecanturnonadime.It’s crushing during And yetafull-scalereckoninghasnotcometopass. even stagedahistoricnationwidestrikeovertheissue. treatment. Theyhavefileddozensoflegalcomplaintsand Despite thefastpaceandintensepressure,manyof fries. Thejobcaninvolvealotofmonotony, employees areworkingthegrillsormaking without airconditioningandparticularlywhen is cramped.Itgetshot,especiallyinlocations he areabehindthecounterat mcdonald’s - 14 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 agreed. “When you’re working with the right people, flowers, and spread rumors that they were sleeping to- obviously it can be fun.” gether. Then he started to call her, sometimes as often But for the women I spoke with, once the harassment as 20 times a day, and show up during her shifts when he started, their jobs became torture. wasn’t working to buy a coffee and watch her. The sexual harassment these workers said they ex- Women weren’t the only ones who were targeted. perienced was from many coworkers and managers at One man was harassed “virtually immediately” after he different locations in all parts of the country. The victims started working at a McDonald’s in Nebraska, according ranged from teenagers to women in their 40s. But their to his complaint. A male coworker repeatedly squeezed experiences have striking similarities, according to 24 le- his chest, grabbed his buttocks, and said things like “Give gal complaints reviewed by The Nation. It’s not the case of daddy a kiss” and “You know you love me.” Other male one “bad apple general manager,” said Eve Cervantez, an coworkers joined in. One grabbed his penis and told him, attorney at Altshuler Berzon, a firm specializing in labor “You got a big dick.” Another told him he would get and employment law, who is representing the workers. more hours if he performed sexual favors. “It’s a systemic problem.” Tanya Harrell Employees were harassed not just by coworkers and Most of the targeted workers experienced verbal abuse, managers. The abuse also came from customers, includ- in some cases starting on their very first day at work. Many ing men “older than my dad,” said Ashley Reddick, who were frequently told they were sexy; one woman’s manag- worked at a McDonald’s in Sanford, Fla. She described er kept calling her “mami chula” (hot mama). They were one who would sit in the restaurant all day, make explicit also subjected to overtly sexual come-ons—“I wonder comments to her, and try to get her number. Another man what you taste like,” “Your boobs would look good when followed her as she walked home. A woman in Illinois was I’m screwing you,” “When are you going to let me get subjected to a 10-minute rant from a customer about his some?”—and descriptions of sex acts these men wanted to penis size and what he would do to her sexually. “I will wait perform with them. for you after your shift,” he told her, prompting her to rush At one point, after a coworker at a McDonald’s in home after work, afraid that he would attack her. Sanford, Fla., asked Jamelia Fairley the age of her then- Brittany Hoyos Many of these women told me their experience at 1-year-old daughter, he said, “How much would it be to McDonald’s was their first brush with workplace harass- fuck your daughter?” A male coworker who overheard ment and they were unsure how to respond. Katlyn Barber the question laughed. worked nearly every shift with a fellow swing manager None of the women took these comments as com- who would dry hump her from behind, grab her buttocks pliments or jokes. Barbara Johnson, who worked at a with tongs, and make suggestive comments, like saying he location in St. Louis, is a rape survivor and found them wanted to “get with her” or have a threesome with her and “terrifying,” she said in a complaint filed with the EEOC. other women. “I came from a very, very small town, so I For many, the verbal harassment escalated into physical hadn’t had a lot of experience,” she said. “It was kind of assaults; for others, the harassment started with physical unknown territory. It never had happened before.” abuse. On her first shift working the grill at a McDonald’s in Gladwin, Mich., Jennifer Betz had her buttocks rubbed Jamelia Fairley any women noticed mcdonald’s didn’t by a male coworker half a dozen times. Other women de- appear to take sexual harassment as seri- scribed similar experiences with coworkers who grabbed ously as other workplace infractions. If or pinched their buttocks; groped their breasts, hips, or Anibal wore black jeans to work instead groin; or touched their hair and shoulders. Numerous of the approved work pants, she would women described a male coworker coming up behind get written up right away. One day she had her hair in a them and rubbing his groin against their buttocks or dry pony­tail; her manager told her immediately that she had humping them. As Tanya Harrell, who worked at a Mc- Mto put it in a braid. “It’s crazy to me they have so many Donald’s in Gretna, La., described it in her charge, “I felt rules about uniforms but they have almost no regulations totally exposed, as if I did not have a skin or shell.” about sexual harassment,” she said of her tenure there. While the space near the grills or behind the registers Emily Anibal Preventive measures or even ones to ensure account- is tight, these women said, there was always enough ability when harassment took place have been “utterly room for workers to maneuver around one another with- lacking to an extent that just leaves me scratching my out coming into physical contact. Instead, male cowork- head,” said Gillian Thomas, a senior staff attorney at the ers used the cramped quarters as a pretext to abuse them. ACLU Women’s Rights Project, which is also represent- Some of the incidents came dangerously close to rape. ing the plaintiffs—especially for “an employer with the A male coworker forced Harrell into the men’s bath- limitless resources that McDonald’s has.” room, pushed her into a stall, pinned her against a wall, In response to a request for comment, McDonald’s dropped his pants, and took out his penis. She started USA stated, “The McDonald’s System has a deep com- to cry; he left only when a manager called for him. In mitment to ensuring employees at corporate-owned and Cincinnati, a male coworker followed Carole Stahle to Ashley Reddick franchised restaurants have a safe and respectful work her car after her shift, forced his way in, and began to kiss environment for everyone. We’ve demonstrated our con- her and fondle her breasts, legs, and the rest of her body. tinued commitment to this issue by consistently offering Some of the women were stalked. In her complaint, various Safe and Respectful Workplace Trainings.” Ivelisse Rodriguez described how her shift manager in In response to pressure, last year the company an-

a Connecticut location texted her after work, sent her nounced a new sexual harassment training program that it OF JAMELIA FAIRLEY; / AP PHOTO; KHOLOOD EID; COURTESY FROM TOP: GERALD HERBERT OF ASHLEY REDDICK ANIBAL; COURTESY OF EMILY COURTESY UP KC OF STAND COURTESY August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 15

would implement alongside workplace violence, bullying, and unconscious bias training in corporate-owned loca- tions and that “is made available as a resource to franchis­ ­ ees,” according to a company spokesperson. It also said it has “enhanced” its policy on discrimination, harassment, and retaliation prevention and created a free hotline for employee concerns. But those changes are inadequate, advocates insisted. Thomas called the company’s recent changes “cosmetic.” Its new training videos, she and her cocounsel said, cover more than just sexual harassment— they also address topics like job safety and cleanliness— and aren’t tailored to the experience of harassment in a fast-food restaurant. Moreover, they’re required only at the corporate-owned locations; for McDonald’s many franchisees, they’re merely suggested for use. And, they noted, the workers have yet to be consulted in the process of crafting better policies. “You don’t change behavior by putting a policy in a handbook and putting a poster on the wall and showing someone an hourlong video,” said Thomas. Cervantez Stronger together: Brittany Hoyos began working as a cashier at a Mc- said, “Every single step along the way needs to be im- Kimberly Lawson Donald’s near her home in Arizona when she was 16. It proved, from the initial training and prevention to investi- spoke out about was her first job, allowing her to pitch in with household her experiences at gation and discipline and accountability.” McDonald’s so other finances. Working part-time while going to high school women wouldn’t feel and being a cheerleader was a lot to juggle: She would he inadequacy of the existing procedures alone. “I want to be wake up at 4 am to get to school, do cheerleading until for dealing with harassment was evident at the that voice so that 8 at night, and start her shift at 8:30, sometimes working everyone knows… very start of their employment for these wom- it’s not only you it’s until 2 in the morning. But sexual harassment made it all en. None of the ones I spoke with or who have happened to.” but impossible. filed complaints said they received training on It started when her family’s car was repossessed and what sexual harassment is or what to do when it happens. her parents couldn’t afford to get it back. At first Hoyos A number of them were given a handbook to look at took Lyfts to work, but that became too expensive. So Tthat had a section on sexual harassment, but some didn’t when an older manager started offering to give her rides even get a copy to take home. While Anibal watched plen- home, she eventually accepted. They were on friendly ty of video and computer trainings about how to prepare terms in the beginning, but then he tried to kiss her, and food and keep it sanitary—how often to wash her hands, “It’s crazy to “that’s when things had changed,” she told me. reminders to wear gloves—there was no such training The manager began making inappropriate about sexual harassment. She didn’t see any posters about me they have comments—telling her he liked how she looked, asking it, either. So when it happened to her, she said, she had “no so many about her boyfriend—touching her ponytail or neck, and clue” what she should do about it. rules about purposely brushing up against her when he walked by. “It Managers aren’t given training, either, according to was intimidating,” she said. She had never experienced Thomas and Cervantez. Barber was promoted from crew uniforms sexual harassment before. Struggling to put the experi- member to swing manager within a few months, and “there but they have ence into words, Hoyos said in a soft voice, “At first it felt was no training not only on what to do if you are being like it was my fault.” sexually harassed but what to do if sexual harassment was almost no For Anibal, then 17, McDonald’s was a way to start reported to you,” she said. When she was harassed, she felt regulations saving up for college. She frequently worked the drive- “clueless” about whether it was even harassment, let alone about sexual through windows, which required her to wear a headset what to do about it. Fielding harassment complaints and at all times to take orders and communicate with her co- responding to them appropriately is “just not considered harassment.” workers. That made her a captive audience for one male part of the managers’ jobs,” Thomas said. — Emily Anibal, coworker in particular, who unleashed a constant stream former McDonald’s Accurate and useful training is particularly important, employee of sexual remarks about his coworkers, including teens given the demographics of McDonald’s workers. Many like Anibal. “You can’t take [the headset] off, because are young; three of the women I spoke with were [then] you can’t do your job. You’re forced to listen teenagers when they worked there. That’s typical for to whatever anybody is saying,” Anibal told me. fast food. McDonald’s likes to call itself “America’s He made comments like “Did you see [coworker’s] best first job.” An estimated one in eight workers in ass?” or described having sex with another em- the United States have been employed there at some ployee. “Even when I was taking orders for my job, point, many while still in high school or just starting he would talk over them so I [couldn’t] even hear out in the workforce. But teenagers don’t necessarily the person.” And everyone could hear what her know that sexual harassment is illegal or what to do coworker was saying, managers included. about it. That can leave lasting scars as they move on “This [was] my first formal job, so I guess I

FROM TOP: GERALD HERBERT / AP PHOTO; KHOLOOD EID; COURTESY OF JAMELIA FAIRLEY; OF JAMELIA FAIRLEY; / AP PHOTO; KHOLOOD EID; COURTESY FROM TOP: GERALD HERBERT OF ASHLEY REDDICK ANIBAL; COURTESY OF EMILY COURTESY UP KC OF STAND COURTESY to other jobs. [thought] this is how it is,” Anibal said. “Every- 16 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 one working there had gotten continued anyway. Brittany used to it, and it was just sort Hoyos’s harasser was briefly of normalized.” moved to another location, Most McDonald’s jobs then he returned to hers, and are low-​paying; the average the harassment continued. worker makes less than $9 an Women were made to feel as hour. That leaves employees if they hadn’t told the truth or in a precarious financial po- the harassment hadn’t been sition, making it harder for a big deal. Some were even them to react to harassment laughed at. Barber’s gener- in any way that might endan- al manager tried “to make it ger their jobs. “Folks who are like a joke,” she recalled. “I living paycheck to paycheck, felt almost invalidated, like on the margins, [don’t have] everything I was saying wasn’t the wherewithal to stand up true. So it almost made me for themselves,” Thomas said. think, ‘Am I doing something “Even if the wrongdoing is wrong?’” egregious, there is going to be a lot of fear about coming Too close: Space Instead of the harassers facing discipline, punishment forward because the consequences will be so grave.” behind the counter at was often meted out to the victims. After her parents There is usually also a high turnover rate. “These are McDonald’s is tight, complained, Hoyos was assigned difficult or uncomfort- and women said especially dehumanizing places to work,” Thomas noted. some male coworkers able tasks—working the grill all day or being stuck at “People are made to feel like they’re pretty replaceable. used the cramped the drive-through window for an entire shift. She was [Not] feeling entitled to speak up is a huge problem.” quarters as a pretext also disciplined for minor infractions, had her hours cut, At first Brittany Hoyos didn’t want to say anything. “I to abuse them. was demoted, and got suspended for two weeks. She was didn’t tell a manger because they already knew about it,” eventually fired. she said in her complaint. “I just wanted to keep quiet.” Her mother suffered, too. Despite having committed But eventually she told her parents, including her moth- “a lot of time and effort into moving up the ladder,” in- er, Maribel Hoyos, who had started to work at the same cluding management classes, Maribel Hoyos was pulled restaurant. “I felt guilty,” Maribel Hoyos told me. “Like out of the classes and passed over for a promotion. She I had failed her.” She and her husband reported what eventually decided to leave, which was a huge sacrifice. was happening to their daughter to multiple managers “You took your time away from your family, you took at multiple levels, including the franchise manager, but your time from doing other things to move up in the received little response. company,” she said. “Once you’ve done something for so A number of the women I spoke with didn’t know how many years and once you know how to do something… to report their coworkers’ behavior even if they wanted “People [at those are the skills you have and you’re comfortable with, to. Rivers, the Kansas City employee, was able to track McDonald’s] [and] it’s hard to veer off of that.” down a phone number for the franchise office and told her Such retaliation was not an isolated incident. Thir- story to the franchise owner. When nothing changed, she are made teen other workers whose harassment complaints The attempted to find a number for the corporate headquarters to feel like Nation reviewed said they experienced retaliation for in the break room, and when she couldn’t find one there, they’re reporting what happened to them. Many had their hours she googled it. “There was no harassment hotline, nothing reduced. That meant a steep loss of income, leading like that,” she said. “I had to find the resources myself.” replaceable. to severe financial hardship. Fairley, the mother of the When she reached someone in the human resources de- [Not] feeling 1-year-old girl, was living in a rooming house and trying partment at the corporate headquarters, she was told to to save up for everything her daughter needed. “I didn’t call a different number for the franchises in her district. entitled to have a car. I didn’t have anything,” she told me. So when That connected her to a different franchise from the one speak up her hours were cut, “it was like, how am I going to eat? she worked for. She kept calling the headquarters, only to is a huge How am I going to support my daughter?” be redirected to numbers for the wrong regional divisions, Difficult or undesirable work like the kind Brittany where no one responded. problem.” Hoyos was assigned was often given as punishment. — Gillian Thomas, ACLU Evelia Rico was tasked with taking pallets of food to the ll the workers i spoke with or whose legal basement, leading to a lower back injury, and was stuck filings I reviewed said that after they at the drive-through window, which employees finally summoned the courage to speak called “the hole.” The stress gave her nightmares. up and report their harassment to their “Every night I dream about feeling helpless and manager or to a franchise owner, no sub- being yelled at and mistreated at work,” she said in stantial measures were taken to protect them from her complaint. further abuse. The lack of action and accountabil- For some of these women, things became so Aity when employees made reports was disturbingly difficult that they decided they had to quit. After typical, Thomas said, “to an extent that I don’t Rivers rejected her manager’s advances, his attitude think I’ve seen anywhere else.” Some managers toward her “completely changed,” she wrote in her

gave the harassers verbal warnings, but the behavior charge, and he started threatening to write her up SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES SMITH COLLECTION / GADO GETTY IMAGES; OPPOSITE PAGE: THIS PAGE: August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 17

every time they worked together for things as mi- to quit multiple times,” Rivers said. But she had to nor as not moving fast enough, not speaking loudly pay her weekly fee to the motel where she lived, and enough, or not wearing the right-color shirt. “I was if she quit, there was “no telling how long before I trying to stick around, but it got to [the point that] find another job.” Others fled their workplaces for I couldn’t handle the aggravation,” she told me. jobs that paid less. Anibal took a position as a nanny “So I just left.” that was much more demanding and paid her nearly The word nearly every woman used to de- $2 an hour less. “But it was also really nice…to be at scribe how the harassment made them feel was “un­ a job where I felt more comfortable,” she said. comfortable.”­ But it went far beyond discomfort. It Not everyone left out of anguish or was fired in made Barber “feel scared [and] sad,” she said. She retaliation. Fairley still works at McDonald’s. After ended up with headaches and anxiety. Fairley still suffers admitting his behavior to a visiting corporate consultant, from depression, so much so that sometimes she doesn’t “Things like one of her harassers was eventually fired, and the other was want to eat. She asks her mother to watch her daughter “so this go transferred to another restaurant over a different matter. I [can] just be alone and cry by myself.” Reddick said her way deeper But both are still allowed to go to her restaurant and order attitude changed after the harassment. “I was mad about food from her when she works the register. The remaining everything. I was always angry,” she said. than just a coworkers treat her coldly. “It’s an awkward thing, feeling “I started hating work, not wanting to go to work,” job, just that like an outcast,” she said. And she is still gripped by the Rivers said. “I couldn’t focus.” worry that she will be harassed again by a new hire and A number of women described the same experience: one person. nothing will be done to protect her. being filled with dread at the very thought of going to This changes their jobs and being exposed to more harassment. Barber people’s he harassment continues to haunt anibal, would sit in her car “until the last second” on the days who is now attending college full-time. While that her harasser was working, she said. “It was a dreadful lives perma- many of her fellow students are working in feeling. I never wanted to go to work.” nently.” food service to make money, “I just can’t even To protect themselves when their managers didn’t — Maribel Hoyos, bring myself to apply for those jobs, because help them, many took matters into their own hands, re- McDonald’s employee it just makes me anxious thinking it would happen ducing their hours or rearranging their schedules. Fairley again,” she said. changed shifts so that she wouldn’t work at the same time TBarber is similarly traumatized. Now she’s always on as her harasser. Barber put the people she supervised in edge, waiting for the harassment to be repeated in a new areas that damaged productivity but ensured her harasser work environment. “Especially when I start a new job, wasn’t near her. “It affected my work performance, for one of my first thoughts will be, ‘Wow, I really hope that sure,” she said. Reddick cut her own hours from 35 a week doesn’t happen again,’” she said. “I’m really cautious as to 21 in order to avoid shifts with her harasser. She left On strike: In 2018, to how I say things, even, cautious of how people are early anytime she worked with him. “It pushed me back McDonald’s workers moving and what they’re doing.” into a struggle,” she said of the lost hours. “Some days I took part in the first Maribel Hoyos’s experience “tore our family apart,” nationwide strike wouldn’t even eat because I had to feed [my daughter].” against sexual she said. She and her husband are now separated. “It Many often contemplated quitting, but economic ne- harassment in the was like a chain reaction…that is going to leave hurt and cessity kept them trapped with their harassers. “I wanted fast-food industry. pretty much destruction throughout our family for years THIS PAGE: SMITH COLLECTION / GADO / GETTY IMAGES; OPPOSITE PAGE: SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES SMITH COLLECTION / GADO GETTY IMAGES; OPPOSITE PAGE: THIS PAGE: 18 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 to come,” she said, her voice control over them. “They re- heavy from crying. “Things ally control every single piece like this go way deeper than of what an employee has to do just a job, just that one person,” on a day-to-day basis,” Cer­ she added. “This changes peo- van­tez said, like “how they fry ple’s lives permanently.” their fries and what uniform they wear and what they say to exual harassment is somebody when they order.” not unique to Mc­ That legal argument is in Don­ald’s. In 2016, contention. The Trump ad- 40 percent­ of wom- ministration has waded into en in nonmanagerial the fight, issuing rules at the fast-food jobs said they had Department of Labor and experienced unwanted sexual the National Labor Relations Sbehavior at work. But harass- Board that severely restrict ment at McDonald’s appears joint employer liability in cases to be of a different degree. In of wage and overtime claims a survey of 782 current and former nonmanagerial em- Common cause: and labor law violations. The EEOC is working on ployees conducted this April, three-quarters said they had McDonald’s has been similar rules. In December the NLRB found in favor experienced sexual harassment at work, with the majority facing pressure from of McDonald’s in a lawsuit brought by striking workers its employees on a dealing with multiple forms at once. Half were subjected number of fronts. that tried to hold the corporate entity responsible for to sexual comments; a third were touched, groped, or The Fight for $15 has franchisees who retaliated against them, ruling that the fondled; and 12 percent were sexually assaulted or raped. pushed for a pay hike company isn’t a joint employer. Many experienced these things multiple times. to at least $15 an hour The lawyers argue that even if McDonald’s can’t be and for union rights. Maribel Hoyos worked at Little Caesars before held liable as a joint employer, the franchise employ- joining McDonald’s full-time. “They did things very ees are still led to believe that they’re working for the differently,” she said. At Little Caesars there was an company, not a small franchise owner, indicting the anonymous hotline that employees could call with con- corporate entity under what is known as the apparent cerns. If someone made use of it, a human resources agency theory. “They wear McDonald’s uniforms, work representative would respond the next day. There were in a McDonald’s store,” Cervantez observed. “If you ask also rules forbidding people at certain levels of authority them, ‘Who do you work for?’…they say, ‘McDonald’s.’” to socialize with those below them outside work. “I was The company’s recent changes haven’t gone nearly far just surprised that McDonald’s, being a big company, enough, Cervantez and Thomas said. Fairley worked at wouldn’t have something like Little Caesars,” she said. a company-owned McDonald’s before, during, and after Harassment is not an unsolvable problem. “It’s not “You really the supposed changes. She went through a two-hour rocket science,” Thomas said. “But it does take a com- don’t realize training. But it covered more than sexual harassment, mitment in terms of dollars and personnel time, includ- she said, and there was no information about what to do ing time spent listening to workers.” how many if you’re harassed or how to report it. “They could do McDonald’s employees have been trying to make people are more to prevent anyone else from being harassed,” she themselves heard. They filed a series of lawsuits starting in the exact said. Indeed, in the recent survey of current and former in 2016, including 10 complaints with the EEOC in 2018 workers, only about a third said they had seen the new and 25 legal actions in 2019, as well as a class-action situation training implemented in their restaurants. lawsuit in Michigan, now in discovery in federal court, you’re going Workers want the company to listen to them. “The that includes Barber and Anibal. In 10 cities at the end of through, and first thing that all of our clients want is to be heard,” Cer- 2018, they staged the country’s first-ever national strike vantez said. From that should come much more substan- against sexual harassment. then you tial changes to address and prevent harassment, everything “McDonald’s is the biggest name in fast food,” Thom- meet them.” from more effective training and better investigations to as noted. Its behavior will affect the entire sector. “If we — Delisha Rivers, stricter consequences for harassers. And workers want the can change McDonald’s, we can change the world,” said former McDonald’s company to track and audit its actions to make sure they’re Cervantez. employee reducing harassment in its restaurants. But changing it won’t be easy. One challenge these legal complaints face is the company’s business cdonald’s has been facing pressure model. Just 7 percent of McDonald’s global lo- from its employees on a number of cations are owned by the company and thus are fronts. The Fight for $15, launched under its direct control; the rest are owned and in 2012, has targeted the company operated by franchisees. McDonald’s has used this in its push for a wage of at least $15 fact to shield itself from legal responsibility. But an hour and workers’ ability to form a union. That the lawyers representing these women argue that campaign has since highlighted a disturbing pattern the corporate entity should be considered a joint Mof violence at work, filing a lawsuit and a complaint employer, legally responsible for what happens in with the Occupational Safety and Health Admin-

its franchised locations, because it exerts so much istration alleging that the company has failed to ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN / CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 19

protect its employees. Workers have also alleged racial discrimina- situation you’re going through, and then you meet them,” she said. tion: Ten filed a civil rights lawsuit in 2015 charging that Black and Kimberly Lawson decided to speak out about her experience at Hispanic employees were subjected to slurs and were fired because a McDonald’s in Kansas to give more women that feeling of rec- they “didn’t fit the profile.” In July, Black workers in Florida filed a ognition. “I just want anybody who’s ever been sexually harassed, civil rights lawsuit alleging a “racially hostile work environment.” sexually abused—I want to be that voice so that everyone knows… All of these fights are connected. Low pay and mistreatment it’s not only you it’s happened to,” she said. Some of her family result when a company sees its workers as replaceable and dispos- members faced sexual abuse, including her mother. But none of able. That problem has only been exacerbated by the Covid-19 them spoke publicly about their experiences, she said, divulging pandemic: McDonald’s employees have complained and staged their stories only to her. “The look on their faces, you could tell more strikes, saying that the company hasn’t taken adequate steps they still carry that pain with them,” Lawson said, choking back to protect them. But fighting sexual harassment presents some tears. She didn’t want to stay silent, too. “Wounds don’t heal when unique challenges. The trauma that targeted workers experience you don’t talk about it,” she said. She added that her mother is makes many of them reluctant to come forward—and after they do, proud of what she’s doing. “She was proud of the fact that I could it is painful to have to keep talking about it. stand up for myself like she couldn’t.” Fairley called herself a “really quiet person,” someone who Lawson is also doing it for the next generation. “I don’t want my finds it hard to talk about herself with strangers to begin with. But child to go through what I was going through,” she said. this is worse. “It is traumatizing for me to keep speaking about it. Fairley has taken her now 3-year-old daughter to marches and Sometimes I just break down in tears,” she said. “Every time I talk protests. “She loves it,” she said. “She sees that her mom is standing about it, I feel like I’ve relived it.” up for herself and for her.” Reddick is also shy, and at first it was difficult for her to talk Leaving McDonald’s meant a loss of income for Lois Jones’s about what happened. “I used to cry and cry and cry,” she said. It’s family; her children’s father had to support the household. “He gotten easier as she has seen other women standing up. “I know so started turning gray,” she said. Things are better now, especially many people are behind me, so many got my back. I’m more open since she’s at a workplace where she feels safe. But she’s still climb- about it because I’m not alone.” ing out of that financial hole. She’s been fighting to keep her house Nearly all the women I spoke to felt sadness and anger but also from being foreclosed on since she fell behind on her property strength in standing together. “Sometimes when I would work there, taxes. “I’m moving slow to get where I was,” she said. I felt a little crazy—like ‘This is crazy that he works here but every- But Jones is determined to hold McDonald’s accountable. “If one else thinks it’s normal,’” Anibal said. Seeing her story repeated in y’all not going to listen to me, somebody will,” she said. “Some- others’ experiences made her feel sane. It made Rivers feel less alone body needs to take action, and somebody needs to take responsi- as well. “You really don’t realize how many people are in the exact bility for what happened to me.” ■ Get the best of The Nation every day

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WILL THE LEFT GET A SAY

INCovid-19 createsTHE an opportunity BIDEN to shift foreign DOCTRINE? policy away from the military. DAVID KLION August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 21

ver the past few years, a loose coalition of activist groups, think tanks, and policy-​makers dedicated to end- ing the post-9/11 forever war has asserted itself in foreign policy debates. As recently as February, when Bernie Sand- ers appeared to be the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, it seemed possible that US foreign policy was on the verge of turning toward a less militarized and interven- Otionist approach. Sanders and the other major progressive candidate in the race, Elizabeth Warren, had foreign policy advisers who ad- vocated slashing defense budgets and reinvesting in diplomacy to confront nonmilitary threats. But Joe Biden’s decisive vic- “The n early april, ben tory over Sanders dealt a blow Rhodes, a national secu- to those hopes. For decades, pandemic rity adviser for President Biden has been a representative has starkly Barack Obama, wrote figure of the mainstream for- in The Atlantic that “as eign policy establishment, the demonstrat- COVID-19 has transformed the so-called Blob. He supported ed a lot of way that Americans live, and the Iraq War, is close with Is- Ithreatens to claim exponential- Sanders’s raeli Prime Minister Benjamin ly more lives than any terrorist Netanyahu, and has premised arguments has, it is time to finally end the his campaign on a restoration of about chapter of our history that be- the Obama era. how we gan on September 11, 2001.” Biden appeared to secure the That is certainly the hope of all nomination just as the corona­ have failed my interviewees, but for now, virus pandemic began radical- to invest America’s wars rage on. ly reshaping every aspect of in our own “The forever war has clear- policy-​making, including in- ly not ended,” said one leading ternational affairs. I wanted to country.” progressive foreign policy advis- take the temperature of leading — Matt Duss, er, who requested anonymity to foreign policy progressives in Bernie Sanders’s foreign speak candidly. “Just because we policy adviser light of the primary race and happen to be more focused on the pandemic to get a sense of how they the pandemic right now does not let us off might attempt to influence a Biden ad- the hook for ending wars.” But everyone I ministration and to explore what national spoke to agreed on the urgency of doing so. security means in an age of deadly viruses “On foreign policy, as on a range of that don’t recognize national borders. On other issues, the pandemic has starkly one key point, there was a broad consen- demonstrated a lot of Senator Sanders’s sus: Covid-19 vindicates what the left has arguments about how we have failed to been saying about foreign policy—that invest in our own country, people, and David Klion is an endless war has squandered resources infrastructure,” said Matt Duss, Sanders’s editor at Jewish without making Americans safer—and foreign policy adviser. In response to the Currents and represents an opportunity to shift the pandemic, Sanders and progressive allies has written for The Nation, debate in a more constructive direction. in Congress recently proposed cutting the The New York On the question of whether a Biden ad- Pentagon’s budget by 10 percent, a plan Times, The New ministration would be receptive to those since endorsed by Senate minority leader Republic, and urging such a shift, there was far less Chuck Schumer. “It shows very clearly that other publications. agreement. our security priorities and investments— 22 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 the obsessive focus on counterterrorism, the overuse of the military as the interventionist advocacy group Win Without War, foreign policy instrument of first resort—have been not just wrong but wildly expressed similar fears. “I’m seeing two different paths counterproductive,” Duss said. ahead—either one of authoritarianism, driven by xeno- Stephen Wertheim, a cofounder of the Quincy Institute, an anti- ​ phobic nationalism, or an internationalist response that interventionist think tank that launched last year with funding from George is rooted in cross-border solidarity and cooperation. Soros and Charles Koch, told me, “The pandemic illustrated a lot of what It’s a little bit scary, because authoritarianism is a play- we’ve been saying for some time—that our main challenges from the per- book that’s tried and true and has been well organized spective of US interests are planetary and transnational, not military threats for a long time and building towards this moment.” She from rival nation-states.” called the coronavirus crisis “an authoritarian’s dream” Wertheim added, “What did our massive military apparatus and our na- because it provides an excuse to declare emergency tional security state deliver for us against the biggest threat of our lifetime? powers and suspend normal political processes and civil Not much.” liberties, something already happening in countries By international standards, the United States has done an exceptionally like Hungary and Bolivia. poor job of containing the corona­virus. Covid-19 is also directly affecting Failures at every level of government the US military and its many theaters mean that Covid-19 continues to spread of operation. In April the Navy fired across the US, even as countries in Brett Crozier as captain of an aircraft Europe and Asia turn the corner. All carrier after he raised the alarm about of this suggests that American global a corona­virus outbreak on his ship. In leadership, already damaged by Don- Yemen, a country mired in starvation ald Trump’s misgovern­ ­ance, will have and cholera due to an ongoing US- a hard time recovering from the pan- backed Saudi intervention in its civil demic. “Who would ever take that se- war—opposition to which has been a riously after this?” said Duss. “This central mission for progressive foreign idea of America as this unparalleled and policy activists—deaths from Covid-19 supremely competent global hegemon could exceed wartime fatalities in the is over.” internationally recognized capital of Aden. In just two weeks in May, the ovid-19 is a preview not only city recorded 950 deaths from the of future pandemics but also pandemic, roughly half of Aden’s war of climate change, the trans­ fatalities in all of 2015. national security crisis that will “The primary focus for us remains define our lives. The rest of the asserting congressional war powers to century is likely to see more famines, end US support for the war in Yemen droughts, flooding, other natural disasters, resource Main man: Tony that continues to be the world’s worst humanitarian Cwars, and mass migrations, all of which hurt the poorest Blinken, a national crisis,” said Erik Sperling, the executive director of the countries disproportionately while sparing no one. In security figure in the left-wing anti-war group Just Foreign Policy. “Covid in Obama administration, the ideal scenario, nations would come together to cre- is Joe Biden’s primary Yemen is just starting. They have an absolutely devastat- ate solutions to these borderless threats. But it’s at least foreign policy adviser. ed health system. We’ve had Save the Children hospitals as plausible that countries will retreat into the kind of that have been bombed by the Saudi coalition.” right-wing nationalism that has dominated international The virus has also had a disastrous effect on Iran, politics over the past few years. which suffers under economic sanctions that were lifted “Internationalism is not a luxury. It’s a necessity,” said “I’m seeing after the Obama administration’s 2015 nuclear deal and David Adler, an informal Sanders foreign policy adviser reinstated under Trump after he unilaterally withdrew the and the general coordinator of the Progressive Inter­ two different US from the agreement in 2018. In January of this year, national, a recently launched organization dedicated to paths— the Trump administration assassinated Iran’s top general, fostering ties among left-wing politicians and move- either one Qassim Suleimani, nearly setting off a regional war. The ments around the world. “All of humanity is thinking White House had already imposed sanctions, denying about the same crisis and confronting the same question of authori- Iranians access to food, prescription drugs, and medi- of how you lock down a population while providing tarianism, cal devices. More than 13,000 Iranians have died from for basic resources. We are all consumed by a similar driven by Covid-19 as the government struggles to obtain critical anxiety.” supplies. In late March 34 lawmakers—including Sand- “But that’s a fleeting moment,” he added. “Very xeno­phobic ers, Warren, and Representatives Alexandria Ocasio- quickly, the old inequalities are going to settle in…. nationalism, Cortez and Ilhan Omar—sent a letter to the administra- We’re moving to a politics that’s very ripe for national- tion urging sanctions relief. The letter was endorsed by ism. It’s our plight, as progressives, to have to force our or an inter- groups such as Just Foreign Policy, Win Without War, way between those two perspectives to say that [interna- nationalist J Street, and the Ploughshares Fund. tionalism] didn’t work the way it was constructed for the response.” On April 2 the Biden campaign released an equivocal past half century and also that the direction of the right — Kate Kizer, statement criticizing Trump’s Iran policy and provid- populists is far too dangerous.” Win Without War ing guidelines for humanitarian aid to work around

Kate Kizer, the policy director of the anti-​ sanctions, but it did not call for sanctions relief. More JOHANNES SIMON / GETTY IMAGES JESSICA HROMAS / POOL GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE: PREVIOUS PAGES: / AP PHOTO TOP: OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA; BOTTOM: MICHAEL STRAVATO August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 23

recently, Biden’s main foreign policy adviser, Tony Blinken, said at an American Jewish Com- mittee event that under a Biden administration, all sanctions on Iran would remain in place, in- cluding those introduced under Trump, unless Iran resumed full compliance with the nuclear deal—which it was doing before the US withdrawal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “It was good that [Biden] said something, but I think what he called for was the bare min- imum and that he should go much further,” said Kizer. That summarizes how foreign poli- cy progressives tend to appraise Biden. Should he win the presidency, he will be respon- The Situation Room: like the coronavirus” (emphasis added). sible for managing US military commitments in the Biden and Blinken Multiple outlets have reported that progressives Middle East and elsewhere, for pursuing a multilateral were with Obama have been lobbying Blinken and others to commit as US forces raided diplomatic strategy for threats like the pandemic, and Osama bin Laden’s to some of the foreign policy proposals embraced by for navigating America’s increasingly fraught relation- compound in 2011. Sanders and Warren, with limited success at best. Duss, ship with China. Foreign policy progressives are ready the Sanders adviser, said he has had conversations with and willing to advise him on all of these issues—but Blinken, bonding over a shared passion for the Beatles. will he listen? “I have known him for quite some time,” said Duss. “I like him a lot. I have great respect for him.” Duss he figure most likely to determine the an- “Biden’s added that he has recommended a number of people swer is Blinken, a former Obama admin- from Sanders’s foreign policy working group to work istration national security official who has record is the on the Biden campaign and that Biden’s team has been been advising Biden on foreign policy since record of a in touch with them. his days on the Senate Foreign Relations mainstream “The Biden campaign has welcomed supporters from Committee. Blinken, 58, is a former contributor to not only the other progressive campaigns but from all The New Republic, a partner in a private equity firm (as Democrat— of the other primary candidates with open arms,” said TThe American Prospect reported, a number of top Biden another progressive foreign policy adviser. “They have which is foreign policy advisers have gotten rich in the private to say, not incorporated advisers into their working groups. They sector), and an outspoken humanitarian intervention- are proactively seeking to do what they can to unify the ist. Blinken had a hand in Obama’s Afghanistan surge very good.” party.” But the adviser cautioned, “I think there is still (which Biden, as several interviewees noted, opposed at — Stephen Wertheim, an open question about whether that will result in any the time) and intervention in Libya. In New York Times Quincy Institute substantive changes in terms of policies and whether or op-eds, Blinken has voiced support for Trump’s air not any of the more progressive voices in the party are strikes on Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and for pro- appointed into positions of influence.” viding military assistance to Ukraine. Blinken is visible All smiles: Biden and The adviser also expressed concern that Biden has yet in Pete Souza’s famous photograph of the White House then-Senator Richard to commit to winding down wars in the Middle East or Lugar (R-Ind.) at a Situation Room during the assassination of Osama bin 2003 Senate Foreign reducing the Pentagon budget. “Trump has increased it Laden. Blinken also played a role in shaping the Iran Relations Committee by hundreds of billions of dollars. It doesn’t seem like too nuclear deal. meeting. much of an ask to expect the Democratic nominee, at a Asked whether a Biden administration minimum, to say that we’re going to undo would be receptive to foreign policy pro- those increases, even if they’re not willing gressives and vocal opponents of the forever to go further.” war, Blinken said in a statement, “Given the Others were even more critical. “I scope of the challenges the next president don’t understand why Tony Blinken will face, we’re actively soliciting input and would want to write, very recently, an op- advice from a wide range of experts, includ- ed with pro–Iraq War neocon Bob Kagan ing many progressive leaders, to help us build in The Washington Post,” said Wertheim, out a foreign policy agenda that reflects who noted that while he has not spoken Vice President Biden’s long-held values, with Blinken, there are people in Biden’s and will help restore America’s leadership orbit whose anti-interventionist views

PREVIOUS PAGES: JESSICA HROMAS / POOL / GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE: JOHANNES SIMON / GETTY IMAGES JESSICA HROMAS / POOL GETTY IMAGES; THIS PAGE: PREVIOUS PAGES: / AP PHOTO TOP: OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA; BOTTOM: MICHAEL STRAVATO role in the world as we confront new threats align with the Quincy Institute’s. “Biden’s 24 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020

to veto a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank in December 2016. Friedman was pessimistic about a Biden administration’s willingness to listen to pro-Palestine activists. “If they’ve already annexed by the time you come in, how much political capital are you going to spend trying to undo or unwind annexation?” she asked.

ne issue that came up repeatedly in my interviews was the US-China relation- ship. The Covid-19 pan- demic was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan; as a result and presumably to distract from their Ofailure to contain the virus, the Trump record is the record of a mainstream Democrat over China-bashing: Asian administration, Republican hawks like Senator Tom many decades—which is to say, not very good.” American groups Cotton, and right-wing media outlets have attempted In March, Wertheim criticized an essay written criticized a Biden ad to stoke xenophobic outrage against China. But so has for exacerbating anti- by Biden—presumably with input from Blinken—in Asian racism. the Biden campaign, which in May faced pushback from Foreign Affairs laying out his most comprehensive progressives and Asian American groups for releasing foreign policy vision. “It claimed to end the forever an ad that accused the president of having “rolled over war,” Wertheim said. “And then in the next sentence, “How much for the Chinese.” it explained that what that meant was that perhaps half “Even before the [coronavirus] crisis, there was a of US ground troops in Afghanistan and the Middle political growing narrative in Washington that the rise of China East would be withdrawn. That’s not ending the for- capital are presented an existential threat to the United States,” ever war.” you going to said Kizer. “We saw this with Tom Cotton’s proposal to Lara Friedman, who succeeded Duss as president of increase military spending for more weapons to be used the nonprofit Foundation for Middle East Peace, which spend trying potentially against China. If we continue down the focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was blunter. to unwind path of demonizing China and the xenophobia and hate She excoriated Blinken for his statement during a web- annexation?” that goes along with it…we’re going to ultimately end cast in May that “Joe Biden believes strongly in keeping up hurting our ability to address security challenges.” — Lara Friedman, your differences—to the greatest extent possible—​ Foundation for Middle There is also the issue of accountability for past between friends behind doors,” referring to how Biden East Peace US policies associated with the forever war. In June would handle disagreements with Israel. The event was the Biden campaign announced that its foreign policy hosted by the Democratic Majority for Israel, a super and national security transition team will be led by PAC funded in part by people who have donated to Re- Old friends: Biden has Avril Haines, who during the Obama administration publicans and that has targeted progressive candidates, kept his differences served as deputy director of the CIA, a position in with Israeli Prime including Sanders, with negative ads. Minister Benjamin which she helped oversee redactions to the Senate’s “It’s quite striking,” said Friedman. “They didn’t put Netanyahu largely torture report. this out in August. They put this out in May, before the behind closed doors. “Not only was Haines part of the torture infrastructure July 1 annexation date,” refer- under [Gina] Haspel, she also ac- ring to Israeli Prime Minister tively supported Haspel, a known Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge torturer, to lead the CIA,” said to annex parts of the occu- Maha Hilal, an anti-torture advo- pied West Bank this summer, cate with the organization Justice in violation of international for Muslims Collective. Haspel law and against pre-Trump became the CIA’s director in 2018. US policy. (As of this writing, “Haines already played a direct the process had not formally role in absolving others of their commenced.) “He’s saying aid crimes, so she will surely extend will never be used as leverage this to her work under a potential of any kind. He’s promising Biden presidency.” This might be to protect Israel at the United the hardest aspect of a Biden ad- Nations, which I have a hard ministration for progressives to ac- time reading as anything other cept; given the personnel involved, than a shot at Obama”—a ref- there is likely to be little appetite

erence to Obama’s decision not for reckoning with the recent past. BOTTOM: MICHEL EULER / AP PHOTO August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 25

he presumed outcome of the primaries is still a sore spot for everyone I spoke with. “It’s immeasurably sad,” said Adler. “Bernie’s campaign was the place Make Science Your Ally in where [progressive foreign policy] ideas were getting a fair hearing.” Daniel Bessner, a professor of American foreign policy at the University of Washington who advised the the Fight Against Racism Sanders campaign, described himself as “pretty pessimistic about TJoe Biden” and said he expected that a Biden administration would be very similar to the Obama administration and would rarely draw on the ideas developed working with Sanders. But whether a Biden administration listens to foreign policy progressives will depend on not only personnel but also whether anti-war voices can organize and assert themselves. Here, at least, I found some optimism. “There is a much more solid and continually growing and mobilized coalition around progressive foreign policy priorities that there simply was not toward the beginning of the Obama administration,” said Duss. “It came to fruition in support of the Iran nuclear agreement.” He added that whereas the neoconservatives who have lob- bied in favor of wars have long been well organized, with “a lot of donors and think tanks and letterheads and columnists,” the anti-war left’s main advantage is that its views now reflect a clear majority of Americans’. Meanwhile, in terms of infrastructure, progressives are catching up, thanks to new groups like Quincy From Geneticist Adam Rutherford, Internationally Bestselling with the budgets and connections to provide an alternative to the Author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived echo chamber in Washington. Increasingly, elected officials are listening. After the Suleimani assassination in January, Democrats sprang into action to insist on AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD Congress’s constitutional authority over wars, which Duss called “a positive shift” since the Obama administration—although Democrats may not be as eager to assert such authority against a Democratic president. Progressives both in and out of govern- ment are also rallying around the dovish Representative Joaquin Castro’s campaign to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he would replace New York’s recently primaried Repre- sentative Eliot Engel, a noted hawk. “Castro has shown a com- Advertising mitment toward various progressive causes, especially ending the US’s unconstitutional “Bernie’s war on Yemen,” said Shireen Al-Adeimi, an Opportunities campaign assistant professor at Michigan State Univer- was where sity and a Just Foreign Policy board member. THEFRANCE YEMENSPRESSURE WAR! THE BATTLE OVER DROP NAFTA 2.0 ON TRUMP END ’ YELLOW VEST REVOLTLORI WALLACH “I definitely agree that the outside move- EVAN HILL COLE STANGLER A NEW LEFT INTERNATIONAL? Special packages How House Democrats ATOSSA ARAXIA ABRAHAMIAN [progressive KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL Can / ROBERT Win L. BOROSAGE the Battle of Ideas ment is much more organized,” said Kizer. available for small “And I think that’s going to be one of the foreign J A N U A R Y 7, 2 0 1 9 S P E C I A L R E P O RT policy] critical things…for the Biden team to un- D E C E M B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 8 businesses, authors, EXPOSING Most Valuable Mayor Most Valuable derstand, that there is an active, progressive Senator Michael Tubbs DAVE Bernie SandersTHE LINDORFF and nonprofit ideas were constituency who cares about national se- PENTAGON’S Most Valuable Most Valuable Multimedia organizations. curity and also that the changes that pro- House Member Maker getting a Ro KhannaMASSIVE Laura Flanders gressives are seeking on domestic policy are By ACCOUNTING JOHN NICHOLS Options for regional Most Valuable of fair hearing.” Most Valuable Champion Policy-Makers Checks and Balances tightly intertwined with changes that are Pramila Jayapal & the Amy ProgressiveFRAUD Klobuchar Caucus — David Adler, Spending keeps rising while the and national Most Valuable necessary on the international front.” Defense Department cooks the books. Progressives Ilhan Omar Progressive International Ayanna Pressley THENATION.COM Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Rashida Tlaib This summer, mass demonstrations ...and more. campaigns with

JANUARY 14/21, 2019 THENATION.COM across the country have pushed policy-makers to implement OCTOBER 16, 2017 THENATION.COMTHENATION.COM modest budgets. long-overdue reforms aimed at ending racist police violence. Biden may not have been most progressives’ first choice, and he has some responsibility for the modern police state, but he and his advisers seem to understand how that debate has shifted. More information at Should he win in November, perhaps progressive activists will TheNation.com/advertise force him to reevaluate the untenable foreign policy status quo in

BOTTOM: MICHEL EULER / AP PHOTO which he is similarly implicated. ■ 26 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020

The Nation. [email protected] EDITORIAL DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER: Katrina vanden Heuvel EDITOR: D.D. ­Guttenplan PRESIDENT: Erin O’Mara EXECUTIVE DIGITAL EDITOR: Anna Hiatt (continued from page 2) ity again and again. In 1967 LITERARY EDITOR: David Marcus and fans follow them avidly, and ’68, when I was a young SENIOR EDITORS: Atossa Araxia Abrahamian (on leave), Roane Carey, Madeline despite on some level know- social worker in Detroit, the Leung Coleman (acting), Emily Douglas, Shuja Haider (acting), Lizzy Ratner, ing that they are fiction. So, city exploded with police bru- Christopher Shay too, does Trump play out tality, aided by the Michigan MANAGING EDITOR: Rose D’Amora CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Robert Best his staged conflicts with TV National Guard and Army COPY DIRECTOR: Jose Fidelino personalities, journalists, and troops. The official count, I RESEARCH DIRECTOR: Miguel Salazar Democratic politicians. believe, was 34 people shot COPY EDITOR: Rick Szykowny Joseph Boyd dead. My liberal friends said, MULTIMEDIA EDITOR: Francis Reynolds “This shall not happen again.” ENGAGEMENT EDITOR: Annie Shields A Perverse Legacy ASSOCIATE LITERARY EDITOR: Kevin Lozano Reforming the police is ASSISTANT COPY EDITORS: Lisa Vandepaer, Haesun Kim Re “Goodbye, Columbus?” by not a solution to the problem. WEB COPY EDITOR/ PRODUCER: Sandy McCroskey Katha Pollitt [July 13/20]: Let Reformers are spinning their ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR: Ricky D’Ambrose DC CORRESPONDENT: Ken Klippenstein us not be confused about or wheels. Radical change is need- INTERNS: Emily Berch, Daniel Fernandez, Meerabelle Jesuthasan, Taliah Mancini, sympathetic to the defense of ed in our institutions. Let us be Rima Parikh, Jessica Suriano • Cindy Lee (Design), Sara Baig (Business) Confederate memorials as the honest about this: The function NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENTS: Jeet Heer, John Nichols, Joan Walsh preservation of Southern heri- of police is to effect the will of JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Elie Mystal tage. That heritage is one that the government, not to protect EDITOR AT LARGE: Chris Hayes brought carnage and suffering the public from harm. That COLUMNISTS: Eric Alterman, Laila Lalami, Katha Pollitt, Patricia J. Williams­ to this nation and remains an ubiquitous slogan “To protect DEPARTMENTS: Art, Barry Schwabsky; Civil Rights, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, Defense, Michael T. Klare; Environment, Mark Hertsgaard; Films, Stuart Klawans; affront to Americans whose and to serve” could not be Legal Affairs, David Cole; Music, David Hajdu, Bijan Stephen; Poetry, Stephanie ancestors were enslaved. Their more cynically misleading. Burt, Carmen Giménez Smith; Sex, JoAnn Wypijewski; Sports, Dave Zirin; Strikes, argument is an equivocation G.F. Dobbertin Jane McAlevey; United Nations, Barbara Crossette; Deadline Poet, Calvin Trillin of true intent, and within it portland, ore. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Robert L. Borosage, Stephen F. Cohen, Mike Davis, Bob lies a racism that Americans Dreyfuss, Susan Faludi, Thomas Ferguson, Melissa Harris-Perry, Doug Henwood, Corrections Naomi Klein, Sarah Leonard, Maria Margaronis, Michael Moore, Eyal Press, Joel must confront and reject. Ours Rogers, Karen Rothmyer, Robert Scheer, Herman Schwartz, Bruce Shapiro, Edward is not to judge the souls of “A Driving Force” by Ed Sorel, Jon Wiener, Amy Wilentz Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Morales in the July 13/20 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: James Carden, Zoë Carpenter, Wilfred Chan, Michelle Chen, and Jefferson Davis; that lies issue misstated Reies López Bryce Covert, Liza Featherstone, Laura Flanders, Julianne Hing, Joshua Holland, with their creator. But we have Tijerina’s name. It also in­ Greg Kaufmann, Stephen Kearse, Richard Kreitner, Julyssa Lopez, Dani McClain, correct­ly stated that Tijerina Marcus J. Moore, Ismail Muhammad, Erin Schwartz, Scott Sherman, a profound responsibility to Mychal Denzel Smith, Jennifer Wilson deny them tribute they do not was a Nevada land rights ac- EDITORIAL BOARD: Emily Bell, Deepak Bhargava, Kai Bird, Barbara Ehrenreich, deserve. Kevin T. Wilson tivist and the leader of La Raza Frances FitzGerald, Eric Foner, Greg Grandin, Lani Guinier, Richard Kim, rolling hills estates, calif. Unida. Tijerina focused on Tony Kushner, Elinor Langer, Malia Lazu, Richard Lingeman, Deborah W. Meier, land rights in New Mexico and Katha Pollitt in “Good- Walter Mosley, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Victor Navasky, Pedro Antonio Noguera, participated in La Raza Unida Richard Parker, ­Elizabeth Pochoda, Rinku Sen, Waleed Shahid, Zephyr Teachout, bye, Columbus?” rightfully events but was not an official Dorian T. Warren, Gary Younge highlights our perverse legacy leader of the party. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, SPECIAL PROJECTS: Peter Rothberg of celebrating prominent of- VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS: Caitlin Graf fenders of democratic values. “Coming Forward” by ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, CONSUMER MARKETING: Katelyn Belyus CONSUMER MARKETING MANAGER: Olga Nasalskaya However, she doesn’t men- Stephen Kearse [July 27/ CIRCULATION FULFILLMENT MANAGER: Vivian Gómez-Morillo tion what arguably would be August 3] stated that On the E-MAIL MARKETING ASSISTANT: Will Herman the most forcefully defended Record went through multiple ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, DEVELOPMENT: Sarah Burke symbol of all: the District cuts as a result of Oprah Win- DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE: Guia Marie Del Prado DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT: Yubei Tang of Columbia. frey’s concerns regarding the ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER, ADVERTISING: Suzette Cabildo But she deserves kudos for filmmakers’ knowledge of hip- ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Kit Gross noting that “George Floyd hop and Black history. Win- DIGITAL PRODUCTS MANAGER: Joshua Leeman didn’t die because Minneapolis frey was uncertain whether IT/PRODUCTION MANAGER: John Myers lacked the right monuments”— the film “captured the nuances PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Duane Stapp of hip-hop culture and the DIRECTOR OF FINANCE: Denise Heller emphasizing the intense, long- ASSISTANT MANAGER, ACCOUNTING: Alexandra Climciuc term centrality of the justice struggles of black women,” HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATOR: Lana Gilbert work ahead. Joan Dowling according to The New York BUSINESS ADVISER: Teresa Stack Times, but it is not clear PUBLISHER EMERITUS: Victor Navasky Spinning Their Wheels whether the film went through LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: E-mail to [email protected] (300-word limit). Please do not send Elie Mystal’s skepticism in multiple cuts as a result. attachments. Letters are subject to editing for reasons of space and clarity. “The Outrage Must Not End” Comment drawn from our website SUBMISSIONS: Go to TheNation.com/submission-guidelines for the query form. [June 29/July 6] is well placed. Each issue is also made available at TheNation.com. [email protected] We will see this police brutal- Please do not send attachments NEAR TULKAREM, 1948 (BETTMANN / GETTY) H B ooks & the Arts & Books The Baffler has contributedto Kaleem Hawawrites onbooksandfilms today, buttheintentremainssame. wash theoccupation.Thetactics vary and networkcommentators, pink school teachers and speech pathologists the politicalcampaigns,fire thehigh tions, defundtheaidprograms,torpedo Jews, infiltratetheleftistorganiza anti-Semitism, smeartheleftist advocates, rebrandanti-Zionismas boycotts, deportthehumanrights ere’s thescript:Criminalize , amongotherplaces. The WhiteReview PRESENT ABSENCES and - -

A centuryofstruggleinPalestine nationalism, American ColdWar policy has writtenabout theoriginsofArab during theMadrid talksin1991,he mer advisertothePalestinedelegation bility. Anacclaimedhistorianandfor known to have taken up this responsi for PalestineStudies,isoneof thebest Columbia andacodirectorofits Center tinians. RashidKhalidi,aprofessor at has fallenontheshouldersofPales the mostcommittedpeople. Palestinian rightshavedeterredallbut barriers intheWest toadvocatingfor For aslongIhavebeenalive,the Often, asaresult,theresponsibility by KALEEM

HAWA - - - occupation has laidwastetomillions tions andwhose toolkitofmilitary has spannedmany MiddleEasternna larger Western imperial project,which history ofPalestineinthecontext ofthe wide-ranging, hehasoftenexamined the cluding NouraErakatandLana Tatour. of Palestinianwritersandacademics, in and inmentoringagrowinggeneration resenting PalestiniansinWestern media has alsoplayedanimportantroleinrep the Israeli-Palestinianpeaceprocess.He Palestinian identity, andthehistoryof in theMiddleEast,constructionof While Khalidi’s research interestsare - - - 28 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 of Arab lives. The cyclical nature of this The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine combination of colonial paternalism and history is important. For example, on the A History of Settler Colonialism and purposeful neglect. topic of a single democratic state for all Resistance, 1917–2017 This pattern continued into the next Palestinians and Israelis—an idea that has By Rashid Khalidi chapter of the Palestinian story: the 1948 increasing purchase among young Pales- Metropolitan Books. 336 pp. $30 Arab-Israeli War and the Nakba, which tinians and anti-Zionist Jews—he observes saw the expulsion of hundreds of thousands that it is not a radical departure but instead halidi resists the urge to start his of Palestinians from their homes. Khalidi a return to a popular idea that has gestated book with the founding of Israel in speeds through the head-spinning violence since at least 1968 yet was marginalized by 1948. Instead he starts three decades of those months (the history of the Irgun a now geriatric PLO leadership. earlier, in 1917, the year of the Bal- and the Haganah and of Plan Dalet, the In Khalidi’s latest book, The Hundred four Declaration. That statement, massacre at Deir Yassin, the bombardment Years’ War on Palestine, history proves once Kissued at the height of World War I by of Jaffa and Haifa, the depopulation of again to be the key to understanding the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, West Jerusalem) to arrive at the outcome. present. He builds on his previous work, was delivered in a letter to Lord Roth- As he explains, 1948 transformed Palestine inter­spers­ing personal and family stories schild, a prominent leader of the Jewish “from what it had been for well over a with political ones and tracing the lineage community in Britain, and outlined the millennium—a majority Arab country— of violence that has engulfed a land that government’s support for a homeland for into a new state that had a substantial has been known by many different names. the Jewish people in Palestine, then a Jewish majority.” In doing so, Khalidi identifies many of part of the Ottoman Empire. While some The next two decades of Palestinian his- the actors who have been instrumental to historians have argued that this decision tory were marked by a continuous struggle the Palestinian cause, the revolutionaries, was motivated by Western anti-Semitism,​ against this new reality, with the hostilities women, and young people who helped it was also no doubt a strategic choice, boiling over in 1967 and culminating in the build the fabric of Palestinian life within aimed at securing the support of American Six-Day War between the Arab states and the shadow of endless war, displacement, and European Jews for the war effort and Israel. Despite Israel’s insistence that it was and occupation. potentially for British control of the Suez the underdog in this war, the Arab states, The “war” in Khalidi’s title is conceived Canal, which would strengthen Britain’s Khalidi argues, didn’t stand a chance: as both singular and plural. It includes but imperial route to India. Israel enjoyed military supremacy from also transcends the military conflicts most After the war, the British followed the outset and, as American intelligence commonly used to narrate Palestinian his- through on the declaration, facil- noted internally, was a nuclear- tory. He chooses to tell this story through itating Zionist claims to ter- armed Goliath. six distinct periods, beginning with the ritory in Palestine through The Israeli occupa- Balfour Declaration in 1917 and moving on the League of Nations, tion that followed would to the UN General Assembly’s 1947 reso- which set up mandates change Palestine for­ lution on the partition of Palestine and the for colonial governance ever. After the war, the ensuing Arab–Israeli War and the Nakba. in Palestine, Lebanon, UN Security Council Charting Palestinian life after the Six-Day Syria, and Trans­jordan passed Resolution 242, War in 1967, he considers Israel’s de facto in the wake of the on the “territories oc- control over all the land from the Jordan Otto­man Empire’s col- cupied” by Israel, in River to the Mediterranean and then turns lapse. The Palestinian which the word “Pal- to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the mandate was unique, of estinian” didn’t appear first intifada of 1987, and finally the cease- course, in that a core tenet once. (The people were less bombings of Gaza and the expanding of British governance there in- referred to simply as “the ref- occupation of the West Bank today. cluded a vision for the settlement ugee problem.”) In Khalidi’s view, All of this can read like a chronicle of of the area by European Jews. Soon vari- the resolution entrenched Israeli domi- never-ending struggle. The question of ous Jewish organizations, including most nance in two ways. First, by conditioning Palestine has always been one of condi- prominently the Jewish Agency, offered Israel’s withdrawal from the lands it had tioning, of what we are willing to accept housing, education, and other social ser- seized from Jordan on the establishment and willing to forget—and knowing this, vices exclusively to the Jewish residents of of secure frontiers, it provided Israel with the enemies of a Palestinian nation have Palestine and to Jews who moved there. an opportunity to run roughshod over the pursued a relentless program of erasure. For Khalidi, the British mandate estab- resolution’s intent, enlarging its borders But Khalidi’s book is also an act of historical lished two parallel realities in Palestine: in perpetuity by claiming security as an recovery, an effort to pen, as he puts it, the an embryonic nation-building project for excuse. Second, by outlining a negotiated “first general account of the conflict told the Jewish minority and the continuation settlement to come between Israel and from an explicitly Palestinian perspective.” of colonial policy for the Arab majority, “Arab” parties, the resolution allowed Is- As with the pioneering work of the Israeli whose question of self-​determination was rael to exploit its language and ignore the historians Ilan Pappé and Avi Shlaim, The left unaddressed. In describing this histo- existence of the Palestinians, excluding Hundred Years’ War does not offer a unified ry, Khalidi lays out what would become them from the peace process even as its theory of history but rather an account of the essential orientation of the Western colonial project continued unabated, with the colonial structures on which the Israeli powers toward the Middle East in the only a wincing response from the inter­ project depends and of the bridges that still coming century, including an approach to nation­al community. connect the archipelago of Palestinian life. Palestine’s Arabs defined by that peculiar The war had other reverberations as Explore The Nation Online Make the most of your subscription

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Circulation_Ad_2020 Subs_V4_RB.indd 1 7/6/20 1:07 PM 30 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 well, cultural and political. The idea of Pal- by defeating the Arabs, Israel resurrected The strategic use of violence caused many estine surged anew after 1967, led in part by the Palestinians.” Palestinians to flee, and Khalidi’s remaining artists and writers like Ghassan Kanafani, Of course, some of these names now chapters map the expanding geography of Mahmoud Darwish, Emile Habibi, Fadwa read like a list of present absences. This is violence as Israel pursued them to Jor- Touqan, and Tawfiq Zayyad and by the partly because of Israel’s aggressive pro- dan, Lebanon, Tunisia, and back to the emergence of competing resistance groups: gram of assassination—or “liquidation,” to modern-day West Bank and Gaza. the Movement of Arab Nationalists, led use Ariel Sharon’s term—often employing by George Habash and Wadi Haddad, the familiar pretext of preempting terror- t the center of Khalidi’s book is a which was a precursor of the Marxist Pop- ism, an excuse that Khalidi finds hollow, es- question: How have the Palestinians ular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, pecially given the large number of writers, lost so much and so often? To pro- and the Fatah movement, led by Yasir poets, and intellectuals whom Israel target- vide an answer, he explores the var- Arafat. Together these standard-bearers ed. As Khalidi shows, this use of violence ious strategies the Palestinians used marked a new era of Palestinian resistance has deep roots: Ze’ev Jabotinsky, one of the Ato fight back as well as their strengths and and a strengthened Palestinian resolve. “A founding fathers of Israel, described Zion- limitations. On the reciprocal use of force, central paradox of 1967,” Rashid Khalidi ism as “a colonizing venture, [which] stands for example, he recalls the advice given by notes, citing Ahmad Samih Khalidi, “is that or falls on the question of armed forces.” the Pakistani intellectual Eqbal Ahmad, a

For My Wife, Who Is Writing a Collection of Stories Called Homescar

Rocks are notched in the rock we land in with sea limpets, and the pockets again and again. I am from the soothing

limpets leave once they’ve sealed of PF Chang’s, into the rock and know the shoe stores in the mall, the lit waves

themselves most inside it, of others exchanging money shell swelling, for calm. Before that, my people

softening the stone. are from fear: my great- You can sketch grandfather left,

their home-scar hidden in a wagon of straw. He crossed with your thumb, the X the ocean early, just before

the body can’t stop he couldn’t. I am from fear. returning to, little mollusk I steer

driven by the seas then clear of harm if I can, wear an extra sealing again to the same sweater and don’t let

known. My glorious wife and I joke my ankles buckle. Oh beloved, I will try about home, grooves to be bold. The body longs

backward and forward, backward and forward.

NOMI STONE August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 31 friend who had worked with the National As Khalidi shows, the negotiations were helping families trying to find their Liberation Front in Algeria and believed often a series of carefully laid traps. As a loved ones in the rubble. Such car that Palestinian armed struggle would nec- condition of the supposedly good-faith dis- bombs—a weapon of choice for the essarily falter in the face of an Israeli state cussions to come, Palestinian negotiators Israeli forces besieging Beirut, and that emphasized, above all else, the security were asked to acquiesce to various terms one of their most terrifying instru- of the Jewish people. designed to preemptively nullify their ments of death and destruction— While this might lead, Khalidi writes, claims, with the later breakdown of talks were described by one Mossad to a strategy of nonviolent resistance—he inevitably blamed on their intransigent officer as “killing for killing’s sake.” favorably compares the demonstrations of leadership. Khalidi’s pessimism extends to the first intifada with the armed insurrection the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995, which The Lebanon experience showed that of the second—he also grimly delineates its he argues ought to have been rejected: Palestinian social and political death is susceptibility to co-optation (with Palestin- “Occupation would have continued, as it border­less: Whether in the refugee camps ian leaders laying claim to the first intifada has anyway, but without the veil of Pales- of Beirut, the streets of Gaza, or the Ameri- from their exile in Tunis) and subversion tinian self-government.” can diaspora, Israel will pursue Palestinians (with Israel initially supporting the rise of For Khalidi, these failures of diplomacy wherever they exist. US complicity in this Hamas in order to weaken the PLO). have occurred in a context of Israeli legal effort is also worth noting, with Ameri- Nor is he sanguine about the history overreach, with Israeli governments always can munitions and American-made aircraft of support from the Arab states. Quoting preferring to reverse a decision unilaterally used in the shelling of Beirut, buttressed Egyptian officer Ahmed Aziz, Nasser wrote instead of asking for permission. For evan- by the crucial support of Reagan’s special in his 1954 memoir, The Philosophy of the gelists of the diplomatic approach, the arti- envoy, Philip Habib. It is stunning to read Revolution, “We were fighting in Palestine fice of success requires that negotiations not Khalidi’s postmortem on the war that de- but our dreams were in Egypt,” and there is appear to be relitigating the same injustices­ stroyed what was known as the Paris of the much to be said about the largely aesthetic over and over—and so the needle shifts Middle East and especially what became of commitment to Palestinian liberation from ever so slightly, with the proposed solution its architects: “Shamir and Sharon, as well the rest of the Arab world. Nor were Pal- always an attempt to suture a secondary, as [Benjamin] Netanyahu, went on to serve estinian leaders blameless in this, having larger tear. as Prime Ministers of Israel,” and Reagan, squandered many opportunities to build Haig, and Habib, all now dead, have “so far enduring alliances with neighboring Arab he most surprising chapter of The escaped judgment.” countries. But Western powers have also Hundred Years’ War does not take It is not just the well-known ghosts that played a role in dividing Arabs, including place in Palestine, Madrid, or Wash- haunt The Hundred Years’ War. Like my the strategy of pushing Israel to negotiate ington. Khalidi was in Beirut during own family, some members of Khalidi’s are treaties with individual states as a way of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, a from Jaffa, one of the most visible sites of sidelining the Palestinian cause, first with campaignT led by Defense Minister Ariel ethnic cleansing in Israel. A photo of his Egypt in 1979, then with Jordan in 1994. Sharon and Prime Minister Menachem Be- grand­father’s house in Tal al-Rish adorns Israel’s flourishing contemporary relation- gin, ostensibly to fight the PLO’s presence the book’s cover; the edifice has remained ship with Saudi Arabia and the United in the country. The war was green-lit by abandoned since 1948. Arab Emirates can be seen in this context as Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, Alex- a continuation of a longstanding practice, ander Haig, with the administration giving ith more than 400 citations, The not a departure from it. assurances that the Palestinian refugees in Hundred Years’ War is one of the This leads Khalidi to note the farce Lebanon would remain protected should best-researched general surveys of diplomacy over the past three decades. the PLO withdraw. Of course, those prom- of 20th and early 21st centu- Having attended the Madrid conference in ises were hollow, and Khalidi supplements ry Palestinian life, but it’s also 1991 and the subsequent talks in Washing- his analysis with an unsettling first-person aW deeply personal work. To an outsider, ton, initially led by Secretary of State James perspective, having watched with horror as Khalidi’s many references to his family’s Baker, Khalidi sees the efforts by the United the Israeli bombs rained down on Beirut: experience may feel excessive, especially States and other Western powers to force a given that it was among the most promi- settlement on the Palestinians as emblemat- Later I saw that the entire build- nent families in Palestine. But for a people ic of their one-sided position. Throughout ing was flattened, pancaked into a whose history is all but criminalized, this these talks, Yitzhak Shamir’s government single mound of smoking rubble. act of retelling is itself a form of resistance, was able to dictate not only which Palestin- The structure, which had been full and to his credit, Khalidi takes pains to ians were permitted to negotiate (members of Palestinian refugees from Sabra decry a patriarchal and centralized Pales- of the diaspora and residents of Jerusalem and Shatila, had reportedly just been tinian leadership that persists to this day. were excluded) but also what topics were visited by Arafat. At least one hun- While capturing the social history, forbidden from the outset, including “Pal- dred people, probably more, were Khalidi is careful not to lose sight of the estinian self-determination,​ sovereignty, the killed—most of them women and realpolitik of movement building, show- return of refugees, an end to occupation children. Days later, my friend told ing how the most successful moments of and colonization, the disposition of Jeru- me that immediately after the air Palestinian resistance occurred at those salem, the future of the Jewish settlements, attack, just as he got into his car, junctures where Israel’s interests came into and control of land and water rights.” The shaken but unhurt, a car bomb ex- tension with core Western ones. The exam- Americans went so far in those years as to ploded nearby, presumably having ples he cites include the dial-back in British refer to their role as “Israel’s lawyer.” been set to kill the rescuers who were support for Israel, prompted by fears that 32 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020

Palestine’s elevation to a pan-Islamic issue and in highlighting the indispensable work The Palestinians have long understood could pose “serious trouble” for Britain’s of Hanan Ashrawi and others to advance this, but so has the Israeli government. Its presence in India, and Israel’s increasingly the Palestinian cause on the world stage, Ministry of Strategic Affairs, helmed by strained relations with the United States as Khalidi illustrates, among other things, Gilad Erdan, now identifies two primary the war in Lebanon dragged on, with the the failures of diplomacy, the power of existential threats to Israel: Iran and the US realizing—according to a passage in youthful activists, and the importance of BDS movement. And there are other signs Reagan’s diaries describing a conversation women in Palestinian liberation. That he of possible change on the horizon. In Feb- with Begin—that the “picture of a 7 month chooses to do all this implicitly while guid- ruary the UN human rights office released old baby with its arms blown off” in Beirut ing the reader into an understanding of its list of 112 companies—among them had the potential to affect America’s stand- the depth of Palestinian frustration, rath- Airbnb and Motorola—that are engaged ing on the world stage. er than offer easily digestible bromides in illegal Israeli settlements. Nearly 130 Some critics have taken issue with the about peace in response to more than 50 members of Parliament have called on range of Khalidi’s discussion here. Scott years of occupation and over a century of the United Kingdom to impose economic Anderson, in his frankly embarrassing dispossession, makes for good—what’s the sanctions on Israel in response to its pro- review for The New York Times, opines word?—history. gram of de jure annexation. And South that the “weakness of this book, to my Africa has permanently recalled its ambas- mind, can be distilled to a simple ques- ven if The Hundred Years’ War is pri- sador to Israel, describing the treatment of tion: Where does it get you? Even if one marily focused on the past, one can the Palestinians as “apartheid.” fully accepts Khalidi’s colonialist thesis, leave Khalidi’s book with some sense Even so, one should not make the mistake does that move us any closer to some kind of what comes next. After reviewing of overestimating these developments. Ulti- of resolution?” It should not be surpris- the various manifestations of Pales- mately, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine ing that Anderson, the author of the un­ Etinian resistance over time, from the use is a pessimistic book, a catalog of a century ironic­ally Orientalist Lawrence in Arabia, of force to the use of diplomacy, from of sad stories. While this outcome is partly is unable to read between Khalidi’s lines. a reliance on various Arab states to go- a result of the failures of the Western media In describing the arguments made by Pal- ing it alone, he concludes that boycotts— and its abetting of Palestinian erasure, it is estinians in favor of breaking with the emp- whether the general strike in 1936 or the also the logical result of an ossified power ty rhetoric of the British and Americans; modern boycott, divestment, and sanctions imbalance that will finally crack only under in outlining the foundational importance (BDS) movement—have advanced the Pal- the pressure exerted by a popular campaign of the 1936–39 revolt, which was led by estinian cause more than anything done by of moral condemnation and economic non- “young, urban middle-class” Palestinians; Fatah or Hamas. participation. There’s your script. ■

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THEREALNEWS.COM NORMAL PEOPLE MARIANNE (DAISY EDGAR-JONES) AND CONNELL (PAUL MESCAL) MESCAL) MARIANNE (DAISY EDGAR-JONES) AND CONNELL (PAUL IN August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 33

IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU Sally Rooney’s teen romance by ERIN SCHWARTZ

een romance stories are almost al- moment of truth—often a school dance or sations between the teens there lead to a ways about the feeling of a shift in other public event—the subtext becomes romantic relationship that Connell insists power. They channel the thrill of explicit and replaces what came before. A on keeping secret. They fall out, then en- turning a position of weakness into received, social understanding is replaced counter each other months later at Trinity one of strength: the ugly, poor, or with an interpersonal, emotional truth that College Dublin, where Connell finds Mari­ otherwiseT disadvantaged using their less levels all disparities. anne newly confident, surrounded by a apparent abilities—talent, wit, emotional Normal People, a novel by the Irish writer group of intellectual, wealthy friends. acuity—to claim for themselves a better Sally Rooney recently adapted into a TV The show follows Connell and Mari­ role in the social hierarchy. In teen ro- series on Hulu, is not a traditional teen anne as they pick up and pause their rela- mance, things tend to change all at once romance, but it is a love story that begins tionship several more times, but the version rather than gradually. A relationship’s sub- when its protagonists, Marianne (Daisy that unfolded in secondary school feels to text shifts through strange, rare moments Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal), me like the template for the changes in of shared perception, and then, in some are in the final year of secondary school. their fortunes and their romantic status

(ENDA BOWE) Connell is working-class, confident, and throughout the rest of the story. In Car- Erin Schwartz is a contributing writer for The popular; Marianne is wealthy, standoffish, ricklea, the fictional town in County Sligo Nation and the managing editor of Study Hall. and almost universally disliked. Connell’s where they grew up, Connell enjoys a She writes frequently on television, popular cul- mother works as a cleaner at Marianne’s higher status among their peers, but in NORMAL PEOPLE

MARIANNE (DAISY EDGAR-JONES) AND CONNELL (PAUL MESCAL) MESCAL) MARIANNE (DAISY EDGAR-JONES) AND CONNELL (PAUL IN ture, and books. house, and the stilted, fumbling conver- the wider world, Marianne has all the 34 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020

Little Pharma on Rooms

She thinks in a smaller hospital 830 She would remember each face She thinks somehow she belongs there With some embarrassment Its shadows and somnolence appeal to her She can remember all the rooms The clock runs behind

1421 The television sometimes stuck on a Mass From whose eaves pigeons tumble Just its own digestion Its permanent winter of shit Plasma and diode Where she would like to put a thin strip of suspended garden It is what she will ask for when sick Something in love with guano like hay Some ruffling infancy of color 1118 Snow falls to water 707 The nurse’s badge Where a couple lay in bed, one sick Clicks on the bed rail with a bell’s tread The two now faceless in ozone hoods The green fixtures spell nausea The room wore its stretch of curtain Like a lighthouse one sees the swing Tight and broad like a bandeau in June Begin before the beam’s upon Unspeakable honeymoon Ringing for ginger ale all the time 516 Surely the face here— 1603 It forms then jumps With its own sitting room Pocket magnet startled A surplus of telephones By breathing One almost expects a little home bar She grasps it and it changes Silver shakers a cigarette tray Faster than tadpoles She shoves it 707 And it will not grimace Where a couple lay in bed Long enough to keep —was the smaller one sick Is that just farm logic— LAURA KOLBE Its stretch of green curtain Smooth and stiff like a banker’s lamp Amortizing a fixed account August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 35 stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind advantages. Neither fully apprehended this meet people at Trinity. “A bit differentabortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- as teenagers, although it contributed to from home, I suppose,” he adds. “Probablytion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion the animus between Marianne and her why I’m good at it,” she replies. stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind classmates, and Connell happily manipu- Although Marianne continues to priabortion- stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- lated his standing to create terms for their vately voice disdain for her coterie oftion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion relationship that favored him. Then, when one-percenter friends, she is still un­mistakstories­ behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind he encounters her at a party after a lonely ably one of them. Even after Connell abortionis stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- first few months of college, both realize welcomed into their circle, he remains ontion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion that the context of their relationship has the margins. The summer after their firststories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind changed dramatically and permanently. In year in college, Connell and his roommateabortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- Carricklea, other things mattered more Niall backpack across Europe and meettion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion than wealth, but at college in Dublin, class Marianne and her new boyfriend, Jamie,stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind is a blatant and inescapable fact. at her family’s vacation home in Italy. (Inabortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- This tangle of desire and class is a com- Rooney’s novel, Jamie is introduced by thetion stories behind abortion“A clear-eyed stories behind and abortion shame-free stories behind abortion mon romantic setup—seen in everything biographical detail that his father is “onestories behind abortionexamination stories behind from abortion a doctor stories on behind the abortion stories from Gossip Girl to Pride and Prejudice—and of the people who had caused the financialbehind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behindfrontlines, abortion stories You’re behind the abortion Only One stories behind abor- the tension of love across class lines usually crisis—not figuratively, one of the actualtion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion dissipates once the lovers get together people involved.”) stories behind abortionI’ve Toldstories is behind the abortionbook the stories feminist behind abortion stories (or the story simply ends). Rooney, a life- Jamie goes out of his way to make Conbehind- abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behindmovement abortion storieshas been behind waiting abortion storiesfor. behind abor- long Marxist, doesn’t let the tension drop; nell and Niall feel unwelcome at a backyardtion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion it keeps coming up throughout Normal dinner the evening after they arrive, usingstories behind abortion Everyonestories behind should abortion read stories it.” behind abortion stories People, turning it into a provocation. Is a dispute over the semantics of champagnebehind abortion stories behind—JESSICA abortion stories VALENTI, behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- it even worth trying, the story asks, to coupes versus flutes to volley a series tionof stories behindcolumnist abortion and stories author behind of Sex abortion Object: stories A Memoir behind abortion love someone when the scales will never escalating snipes at backpacking, hostels,stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories be balanced? Marianne and Connell’s re- tourists, and scholarship recipients. Hebehind abortionCHICAGOREVIEWPRESS.COM/ONLYONEIVETOLD stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- lationship is idiosyncratic; treating it as begins directing these attacks at Mariannetion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion the sum of socio­political contingencies as well, culminating with him breaking storiesa behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories would be a disservice. But it’s often those glass and pouring wine on the floor in behindan abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind contingencies—lost jobs, abusive families, altercation inside the house. abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- tion stories behind abortion stories behind@ChiRevie abortionwPress stories behind abortion a painful, inborn awareness of status—that Earlier that day, while grocery shoppingstories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories drive them apart. How can people fall in in the quaint Italian town closest to thebehind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind love in a world structured by power? villa, Marianne acknowledges her positionabortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abor- tion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion stories behind abortion of economic privilege relative to Connell. hen Connell encounters Marianne “I am conscious of the fact that we got at Trinity, he’s been invited to a to know each other because your mother looking to fight party by Gareth, a foppish campus works for my family,” she tells him, add- celebrity type engaged in a bat- ing that she imagines her mother is a bad for change? tle with student activists over his employer, something Connell confirms. you can have debateW club’s decision to invite a neo-Nazi “Why hasn’t this come up before?” she an impact to speak at the school. After awkward small asks. “Honestly, I think it’s totally fair if whatever your talk in the packed, hazy lounge of Gareth’s you resent me.” schedule campus apartment—when Connell men- “I don’t resent you,” Connell responds. tions that he’s sharing a room, Gareth’s “Why would I? I just don’t think I’m pro- brain appears to short-circuit as he mutters, cessing the change all that well.” “Oh, that’s… brutal, man”—he leads Con- nell outside to meet his girlfriend. There in ooney went to Trinity herself; the purple-pink dusk is Marianne: She has a one imagines that an observation new haircut, her eyes are outlined in thick through Connell’s eyes that “all the black eyeliner, and she’s wearing a velvet guys in his class wear the same waxed sign up for blazer and smoking. Her initial surprise at hunting jackets and plum-colored take action now! seeing Connell quickly gives way to a sharp, Rchinos” is drawn from life. In a 2019 New dark amusement. Yorker profile, she described her experience every tuesday, the nation will send you three The two split off and find a corner to meeting the children of the ruling elite for actions with time commitments ranging from five minutes to as many hours as you can invest. engage in a high-level emotional sparring the first time in college. “What I wasn’t match, in the course of which Marianne re- prepared for was encountering the class Head to veals a surprising level of scorn for Gareth. of people who run the country,” she said. thenation.com/takeactionnow When Connell skewers him as a Holocaust “I had a feeling, on one hand, of being ap- to sign up. denier, Marianne concedes that dating him palled, but on the other hand a real sense of is a failure of her “ideological purity.” She wanting to prove myself to people, to prove then asks Connell if he’s seeing someone, I’m just as good as they are. I don’t know and he admits he’s finding it difficult to why—it would have made a lot more sense 36 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020 to just let them be—but it’s a fascination that’s not purely revulsion.” In the United States, there are some differences: In my experience, the same stratum of the elite understands the aes- thetic and political benefit of cosplaying as working-class, dressing and performing ac- cordingly. Still, despite differences in style, I recognize a familiar young one-percenter worldview in Marianne’s college circle and, to some extent, in Marianne. The specific strain of irritation it triggers made it diffi- cult for me to evaluate Normal People purely on its merits when I first read the novel. As Marianne and Connell traded positions of relative power, it never felt to me like an even game. How could I sympathize with a character whose wealth shielded her from so many common hardships—hardships that her friends and loved ones had to face? The answer, of course, is that it will never be an even game, despite the romance genre’s promise of a satisfying conclusion. Normal People is something else: a document of the sacrifices, gains, and adjustments it takes to keep a relationship intact. The night after the dinner party in Italy, Marianne sleeps in Con- nell’s room and attempts to tell him that, like Jamie, her brother is abusive, and his actions are enabled by the rest of her family. “Last time I was home, my brother said he wished I was dead,” she says into the dark room. Connell offers the wrong response—“What provoked it? Like, how did the argument start?”—and Mari­anne, sensing blame and disbelief, shuts down. He then asks a question that mirrors hers from earlier: “Why’d you never say any of this to me before?” It’s this aspect of the novel that I appre- ciated seeing play out in the television show: BOUNDLESS how many attempts it takes for Mari­anne Yves Tumor’s and Perfume Genius’s avant-garde pop and Connell to understand what the other is saying. Moments like this, when they by JULYSSA LOPEZ fall just short of understanding each other, accumulate until they get it right. Mari- ike Hadreas, who goes by the name arrangement. But then there’s a switch. A anne splits with her family after she has a Perfume Genius, starts his latest lush piano melody and strings swoop in like violent confrontation with her brother and album, Set My Heart on Fire Imme- a burst of wind, propelling Hadreas toward her mother asks her to send back the keys diately, with “Whole Life,” which a sweeping finale. “Shadows soften toward to the family apartment where she’s been opens with a naked, mournful line: some tender light / In slow motion I leave living in Dublin. It becomes clear that her M“Half of my whole life is gone / Let it drift them behind,” he belts out, now resilient family’s wealth was never simply a resource; and wash away.” The sentiment is so full over instrumentation that’s as sumptuous it also kept her trapped in a family dynamic of lament, so gut-wrenchingly sad that it’s and frolicsome as daybreak. “Whole Life” of endless, gendered violence. She spends hard not to internalize it and think about becomes a triumph as he proudly shakes off Christmas with Connell’s family, and as she one’s own youth leaking out by the second. his old life, making the song feel like a lavish moves out of the apartment, she mentions The wistful specificity of the lyrics and bouquet laid on the grave of all the people that it never felt like home. Hadreas’s frail and unsteady voice make all he’s once been. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you,” this emotion palpable; it sounds as if he can Hadreas’s knack for transforming insu- Connell says as he helps her pack her barely get the words out over the sparse lar emotions into stately pieces of music is things. “You’d be somewhere else entire- uncanny. He’s done it over and over again, ly,” Marianne replies. “You’d be a different Julyssa Lopez is a contributing writer for The most recently on 2017’s No Shape and on person.” ■ Nation who covers music, art, and culture. 2014’s Too Bright. Amplifying quiet thoughts YVES TUMOR (JORDAN HEMINGWAY) August 10/17, 2020 The Nation. 37

and feelings can come with a certain degree a standardized pop formula tailored to appeal their work intriguing and provocative. of melodrama, but even at its most theatri- to as many ears as possible. Yet Set My Heart Trying to get a good look at Tumor occa- cal, Hadreas’s work retains a sense of privacy on Fire Immediately restores power to the sionally feels like staring into the sun. In the and precision, as if you’re catching a person term and reminds listeners that the beauty of cover art for Heaven to a Tortured Mind, two whispering a monologue intended only for such music often comes from artists—many nude figures, both presumably Tumor, are himself. Set My Heart on Fire Immediately is of them queer or people of color—taking interlocked and bathed in a bright, ice-white the most instinctive of Hadreas’s releases bits and pieces of the worlds they’ve roamed light. One realizes only after much squinting and sonically his most complex. Yet he’s still and constructing their own havens from the that the image is an optical illusion, too in- wonderfully poised during the album’s most sounds. Hadreas has created his refuge ten- candescent and abstract for easy interpreta- intricate overtures, pulling off bare, inti- derly and painstakingly, pushing past liminal tion. But in the music, Tumor demands to be mate acts with the aplomb that he’s acquired spaces to land someplace new. heard. Crashing guitars vamp for a bit at the over the last decade. The work of Yves Tumor, the experimen- beginning of the brilliant opener, “Gospel “Describe” is one of the moments on the tal artist who released Heaven to a Tortured for a New Century,” preparing for a grand record that feel entirely effortless, despite Mind last month, is similar in this regard, entrance. Then Tumor dives in, their intona- originating from a deep and bruised place. although the approach is enthrallingly dif- tions a mix of Prince’s smooth flamboyance Hadreas—whose music has excavated pain- ferent. In Tumor’s hands, sonic fluidity isn’t and TV on the Radio vocalist Tunde Ade- ful experiences like living with Crohn’s dis- exactly florid or pristine. Tumor, bimpe’s low-pitched severity. The ease; struggling with depression, addiction, who uses “they” pronouns, se- performance drips with cool and anxiety; and being bullied as a teenager duces and warns listeners all insouciance as Tumor sings for being gay—shared that he wanted to at once; their jagged mu- slack-jawed, but it’s just one capture how it felt to be in “such a dark sical universe is entered way they stretch their voice place that you don’t even remember what at one’s own risk. As in- across the album. goodness is or what anything feels like.” He terested as they might be On “Kerosene!” they teamed up with his longtime producer Blake in rock stardom with this honey up their sound, Mills, and the results speak for themselves. album, they’re a force that slipping into a decadent, The sound Hadreas offers is weightless and agitates pop music, slam- come-hither power bal- elegant. His vocals are hushed and distant ming it into more interesting lad with the vocalist Diana over silvery guitars that prickle with nos- directions. Tumor comes across Gordon. There’s a throwback talgia. While the words might get buried in as someone who has gnashed pop quality to the type of sexiness that light blankets of distortion, they are evoc- between their teeth and spit it back out into Tumor evokes; it’s the soft-lit, neopsyche- ative and affecting upon each listen. “His something raw, warped, and avant-garde. delic seduction of the 1980s, with lyrics love, it felt like ribbons / An echo in the So while this record has glimmers of more reflecting a direct, old-school chasteness. canyon / Can you just find him for me?” he recognizable forms—glam rock and R&B (“I can be your real life sugar / I can live sings, capturing bottomless yearning in one in particular—​Tumor’s idiosyncratic and in your dreams / Will you be my fantasy mellifluous sentence. intimidating aesthetic choices (spurts of re- little baby?” read the lyrics of “Kerosene.”)­ The record flips between flashes of verb, visuals that delight in otherworldliness All of the lust and emotion comes through brightness and a longing for times that dis- and the grotesque) are precisely what gives primarily in Tumor’s delivery: They play appeared in the blink of an eye. “On the the work its glowing modernity. with tone and modulation, letting out ach- Floor” is the bounciest the album gets, with The ability to glide in and out of genres ing whimpers on “Super Stars” or long, Hadreas’s chorus reinforced by a community is deeply embedded in Tumor’s identity as breathy whispers over the whining electric of musicians, among them the singers Phoe- someone who wants to elude categorization, guitars on “A Greater Love.” They hiss, be Bridgers and Ethan Gruska. “Nothing at someone who has always been an amor- they pant, they squeal, they thirst, and the All” crackles with intensity, partly the result phous or protean character. In 2015 they performances are so convincing that Tumor, of a propulsive drum machine and Hadreas’s debuted a self-released album, When Man as fleeting and impenetrable as they can be, insistent vocals, which sound as if he’s singing Fails You. The tracks were haunting, evasive begins to morph into the yearning lothario through gritted teeth: “I got what you want, experiments in trip-hop, house, noise, and at the center of these songs. babe / I got what you need, son / Nothing, ambient music, cloaked in mystery. The in- It would be easy to assume that the re- nothing at all.” Synth curlicues cut through scrutability was intentional; Tumor revealed cord is Tumor’s clearest mission statement the track, adding a playful touch to his ur- little about their personal background, even to date as well as the fullest self-declaration gency. They also give the song a shifting, as their albums Serpent Music (2016) and of an artist who comes alive in the music. mutating quality, as if it could explode at any Safe in the Hands of Love (2018) garnered But Heaven to a Tortured Mind seems like a second into a dance track, an unhinged rock critical acclaim. Instead, Tumor twisted case study in never-ending self-expression,​ experiment, or a weird flute solo. their story often, suggesting a prankster’s in- and it’s likely just one more glimpse into an stinct for messing with industry narratives. unpredictable, boundless imagination. The he idea of genre-bending pop music “Question mark, question mark, question strength of Tumor’s work, like Hadreas’s, has been invoked so liberally of late mark—it’s private,” they said in an interview lies in its reconstruction of genre, of mascu- that it’s lost much of its meaning. Like with Pitchfork after the reporter asked where linity, of artistic limits. But neither of them all things, the term has been cannibal- their permanent home was. Some artists rests for long after striking new ground. ized by the industry and twisted into a craft a careful story to leverage their pro- Instead, they both keep moving in an commercialT strategy that pulls broad styles of files, and this enigmatic approach may be ever-evolving whirl of creative continuity,

YVES TUMOR (JORDAN HEMINGWAY) rap, country, R&B, and electronic music into Tumor’s strategy. But it succeeds in making unsatisfied with a static state of being. ■ 38 The Nation. August 10/17, 2020

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