Every once in a while I get some query about what I consider my go-to news sources, as in a recent thread here. So if you are genuinely that curious about what I read with my morning coffee on a daily basis, here you go:
The Guardian – As general international news sources go, The Guardian has tended to be reliable, and tends to be independent enough of the usual UK political parties. It has an old-school Labor feel to it that I find quite appealing, and its work in the run-up to the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars over a decade ago was first-rate. Their coverage of the NSA mess has been equally well-done. Actually I get a better analysis of US news and politics from them than most American sources.
Socialistworker.org – I read it largely for analysis and opinion. They’ve been fairly solid, and jibe at least closely enough to my own ideological convictions.
Black Agenda Report – They address racial and economic inequality from a broadly socialist perspective. I respect their work, and it was civil rights (racial and gender equality) and economic inequality that got me into activism back when I was young – their work is in line with long standing interests of mine. One of their writers used to regularly update her own blog, Freedom Rider. Thankfully she still regularly reports and offers commentary for BAR. Good stuff.
Memeorandum – I’ll peruse it as a news aggregator just to see where the “energy” is here in the US with regard to the “top” stories. A lot of what is there is dross, but I do find some worthwhile stories and opinion there from time to time.
I lurk also at European Tribune (really, I should just make an account there already) to check their daily postings of news headlines.
Jacobin Magazine – I do check it out occasionally, and find it a worthwhile read.
Most days, I am swamped enough that all I get to do is check the headlines, and a few opening paragraphs, and that’s it. Sometimes I have the luxury of getting to really read in great detail.
I think there is a certain consistency in the sources I choose. My ideology is probably best described as informed by various threads of Marxist Humanism (I list Sartre, Gorz, Fanon, and a number of others from the early Frankfurt School as touchstones, in addition to the usual canonical works of Marx & Engels and Lenin). I tend, at least for practical reasons, to be more of a reformist – at least that is what would make sense given what are still the material conditions for the foreseeable future in the developed nations. Having grown up in the shadows of the Weathermen and RAF, I have advocated some sort of reformism as a practical path anyway, and for what I think are really damned good reasons, since my late teens. That is not necessarily a popular stance in many socialist and communist circles, but it is one that seems fitting for now. That means that like it or not, my path and those of liberals/progressives will likely continue to cross for a good while to come, especially while it is necessary to continue rear-guard struggles to maintain what few advances were made by my ancestors.
So there you have it.
