“Confessions of a Microfinance Heretic” bravely challenges the hype of microfinance loans as a solution to poverty.

As marketing to children intensifies, what can society do?

Adopting progressive politics as a political platform and a Chicago YMCA as a venue, the Evangelical Left in the seventies unsuccessfully sought to move the nation in the opposite direction of the Moral Majority.

The Keystone XL public comment period is over, but activists are readying for the next phase of fight against controversial tar sands pipeline.

From right-wing think tanks to Homeland Security to the “drone lobby,” a lot’s riding on the constant threat of global terrorism.

Author, playwright and historian Howard Zinn saw Emma Goldman as a magnificent woman, anarchist, feminist, and a fierce, life-loving person. In this Cambridge speech, Zinn uses her as a shining example of anarchism and war resistance.

With connections to the Zapatista rebellion and the global justice movement, the Movement for Justice in El Barrio fights displacement and gentrification in New York City.

Uncover a collection of essays about what market-driven education policies have done to undermine public education for students, teachers, and the educational system.

Annie Leonard is one of the most articulate, effective champions of the commons today. Her webfilm The Story of Stuff has been seen more than 15 million times by viewers. She also adapted it into a book. Drawing on her experience investigating and organizing on environmental health and justice issues in more than 40 countries, Leonard says she’s “made it her life’s calling to blow the whistle on important issues plaguing our world.”  

 

A sense of community is key to both individual fulfillment and social change, but in our hyper-individualistic culture it's getting harder and harder to find. Ecotherapist Linda Buzzell outlines 16 ways to build or strengthen communities.

With an increasingly small fraction of wealthy Americans buying and selling elections, power has never been more unequal in Washington, says Lawrence Lessig in a new TED Talk.

In between the bank bailouts and Occupy Wall Street, small-government, anti-populism conservatives turned the tide of burgeoning class warfare into sympathy for the rich.

 

If we want more students to succeed in college, we have to turn full attention to the craft of university-level teaching. What’s at stake is not only increasing graduation rates but providing a quality education for those who, a generation or two ago, might not have seen college as possible.

Months after organizing hurricane relief efforts, Occupy Sandy is helping jumpstart still-struggling coastal communities with worker cooperatives.

While frequently justified by security needs, the plethora of 21st century border walls more often signify wealth inequality and fear of foreign culture.

History repeats itself as the West’s demand for human skeletons resurrects the macabre practice of grave robbers scouring cemeteries in India. Their quest fuels a lucrative black market.

From saving the environment to liberating intellectual property, learning to recognize and appreciate common property is the first step toward protecting the commons.

When looking at immigration history we glorify the manifest destiny mindset held by pioneers of old. At the same time the U.S. creates laws and walls further restricting immigration.

As momentum builds for even further border militarization, the humanitarian crisis along the border with Mexico continues to divide immigrant families and claim lives.

Find out why a clear-cut history of the evolution and politics of the Black Panther Party remains unknown.

After a decade of war, Iraq is a cauldron of sectarian violence, state-sponsored terrorism, and humanitarian crisis.

Faced with shrinking education budgets and a test-obsessed reform agenda, high school students across the country are fighting back.

How the War on Terror feeds the War on Women.

The divergent problems of our time, from health care to transportation access, have no simple solutions.

An American playground and “city of sin,” this border city is rife with kidnappings and narco traffic. One writer looks to the “corridos” for hope against the mafiosos.  

 

 

In the industrial city of Lima, Ohio, a struggle to overcome economic restructuring proved that hard-working local communities can have an impact on global business giants such as British Petroleum.

The New Economy has seen America’s middle class ravaged by the ever-growing wealth gap.

How the FBI has transformed from a reactive law enforcement agency to a proactive counterterrorism organization that traps hapless individuals in order to justify the $3 billion it spends every year fighting terrorists.

Faced with widespread union busting and a feckless NLRB, a more aggressive labor movement is brewing.

During a time of financial crisis in the 1960s, Ireland developed a mutual credit system that benefitted the people and not the big banks.

Mike Rose argues that extra-curricular programs for poor children may help them succeed in the classroom, but also reinforce the individualistic paradigm that creates and justifies poverty.

In a call to action, Starhawk demonstrates how to make a more compassionate State of the Union a reality.

After news reports and books like Bet the Farm raised awareness about the link between commodities trading and starvation, UK activists took the helm and Barclays responded.

Refusing to be silenced, immigration activists are making their stories heard.

In a world of Arab Springs and grassroots movements, what's a superpower to do?

Debt has a long and critical history in the U.S., but so does debt resistance.

Washington may be divided, but supermajorities reign supreme at the state level—many of them Republican.

In the high-rent gentrifying neighborhoods of New Brooklyn, class guilt is ubiquitous, if hidden.

"The Story of Change," the latest installment in Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff urges us to take a break from eco-shopping and demand protections for people and the environment.

Thomas Gokey helped activist group Strike Debt plan Occupy’s Rolling Jubilee. Now, with the “People’s Bailout” going strong, what’s next?

Wresting control of the real economy from corporate banks, commodity crops, and big-box retail means reversing policies that concentrate power at the top.

History shows that local currencies can work, and aren’t ravaged by the inflationary trends that affect our current money supply.

Discover how the history of financial panics in the U.S is also the history of American politics.

When we blame recent school shootings on “evil,” we ignore the developmental challenges, harmful social expectations and lack of positive father figures young men face.

Palestinian activists take on illegal settlements with nonviolent resistance.

Learn about the successes and failures of Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers Union and the grape boycott.

The Obama administration has every intention of making drone warfare permanent, but that doesn't mean it needs to be.

Find out why working for a corporation isn’t “selling out” as companies are adopting the field of corporate responsibility to the demands of an increasingly ecologically- and socially-conscious world.

The American system of suffering, from Vietnam to the Middle East.

The grassroots Idle No More movement is a First Nations response to environmental destruction and Canadian policies, new and old.

Building on a long tradition of housing activism, Occupy Homes is showing no signs of slowing down.

In “Chinese Characters,” authors Angilee Shah and Jeffrey Wasserstrom explore the ordinary stories of the Chinese people and connect China’s past political leaders to its people of today.

As Occupy Sandy continues to rely on religious allies, the movement may need to reconsider its connection to faith.

How the U.S. intelligence community came out of the shadows.

The future of American public universities is under threat as student debt skyrockets.

In Africa, hunger solutions go hyper-local.

In his book “Bet the Farm,” Fred Kaufman explores the relationship between commodities speculation on Wall Street and rising food prices everywhere.

Public banks like the Bank of North Dakota offer a bipartisan solution to the corruption in our current banking system.

An organizing campaign in New York signals a new, Occupy-infused turn for the labor movement.

Green Scissors—a team of environmentalists, independents, and libertarians—has identified $700 billion in federal spending that wastes money as it harms the environment.

A new bill would make federal support available to urban co-ops for the first time.

This summary on the origins of wealth inequality in the United States clearly answers the foggy question: what can we do about it?

Uncover true and chilling narratives from Colombians displaced by violence.

Adbusters' Kalle Lasn talks about the Occupy movement and the future of ecological economics.

In testimonies with Breaking the Silence, IDF soldiers paint a vivid picture of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Americans are in a unique position to influence what happens in Israel and Palestine.

Inside the nationwide campaign to disrupt Black Friday and challenge abuse at Walmart.

A Q&A with Mike Andrews of Strike Debt, the organization that helped bring the Rolling Jubilee to fruition.

Reward yourself and those around you with the benefits of service learning. 

When politicians talk about getting the country "back on track," what does that mean? When did we go off the rails? And is it one track or multiple tracks?

Utne Reader Visionary Woody Tasch talks presidential campaigns, money, and sustainable economics.

Hyperbole may seem like a patriotic tradition, but when it comes to extreme language, English just doesn't cut it.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have a long and complicated history that must be told in order to better understand the sacrifices of our volunteer army.

At Coffee Strong, anti-war veterans give coffee and advice to soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

CEOs of large companies, such as Google and Bank of America, listen to Professor Yaneer Bar-Yam discuss the complex and corrupt relationship between food and money.

A former interrogator in Iraq shares how he copes with the fallout from what he did and saw while working in Abu Ghraib.

“Sharing” today is more about digital virality than actual human community. But privacy remains a right — for now — to resist exploitation. Privacy isn’t anti-social, but it is hard to define.

Since 9/11, TSA agents have singled out travelers from the Sikh community, but the new FlyRights app makes racial profiling at the airport more visible.

Garbage collection company Waste Management Inc. is using political lobbying and campaign contributions to lift bans on yard waste in landfills, discouraging composting.

Kids who bike to school may find no-bike policies when they get there, in spite of the federal funding program Safe Routes to School.

Big Ag has the budget to tell the world industrial agriculture is the answer to hunger. But a movement is growing to counter that voice, and it's already had some success.

Who’s harmed when monopoly-finance capital outpaces real production? Under the resulting economic stagnation, everyone suffers.

CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou is only the latest target of the Espionage Act of 1917, a law originally designed to destroy the power of organized labor.

Complementary currencies offer a great way to empower and strengthen local communities. Here's advice on how to start your own from someone who's done it before.

After breaking away from monarchy, convention delegates faced theoretical indecision on the creation of a single American ruler. Who would speak first?

A country built on enterprise and feeling pious enough to call itself exceptional, America was built on the backs of others. Either through forced labor or genocide, the country grew and never looked back. Yes, there are extraordinary things about this country. But just like every person on the planet, it has a complex story that must be recognized in its entirety to be recognized at all.

Where to learn more about activist and anthropologist David Graeber, who was named an Utne Visionary in 2012.

Where to learn more about No Papers No Fear, an immigrant rights group that was named a 2012 Utne Visionary.

Middle East Children's Alliance cofounder Barbara Lubin discusses Palestine, human rights, and the direction activism needs to take today.

Automatic cuts at the end of this year could trigger a new recession, but here's why it's unlikely to happen.

Military disobedience is not about partisan politics or paranoia. It’s about defending our nation’s republican principles and shared social covenant.

Grassroots educator Sanjit “Bunker” Roy is teaching grandmothers solar power engineering skills in some of India’s poorest villages.

Immigration activists in No Papers No Fear have declared their undocumented status to combat the fear and violence in the federal immigration system.

While the idea of squatting is nothing new, Steve DeCaprio’s approach is unique as he seeks to permanently improve and repurpose abandoned buildings for the benefit of the community at large, and within the legal parameters of adverse possession.

A global justice movement veteran, David Graeber was an early organizer of Occupy Wall Street, and his history of debt has inspired a new generation of activists.

How the loose-knit hacktivist collective Anonymous made the activists’ dream of electronic civil disobedience a reality.

Find out how dirty strategies executed by government officials, including thrown-away registration forms and clerical errors, have devastated the Hispanic voter registration rate.

Since 1988, the Middle East Children’s Alliance has given voice and hope to Palestinian children traumatized by Israeli occupation and humanitarian crisis.

The Great Depression took much more than a crippling financial toll on the American people. Find out how unemployment during the Great Depression, propagated by an unfair system riddled with corruption and injustice, resulted in a man being accused of killing a poormaster.

On Being creator and host Krista Tippett discusses faith, paradox, and why good dialogue is so hard to find.

The University of California system used to be the most accessible and democratic in the world. But in the 21st century, it's more expensive than Harvard.

The image of former Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong has evolved with each biography. Learn how it all started with Edgar Snow’s “Red Star Over China.”

Utne Visionary Kalle Lasn explains why the West might have expected Boko Haram.

Rebecca Solnit on why bitterness begets bitterness but pragmatic realism may lead to genuine change.

On Being's Krista Tippett hosts a discussion on life, choice, and women's rights between pro-choice leader Frances Kissling and pro-life scholar David Gushee.

An interview with food justice advocate Michel Nischan, 2012 Utne Reader Visionary.

Egalitarian geographer David Harvey shares thoughts on his new book, Rebel Cities.

What happened to democratic principles?

Utne Visionary David Korten on how closing the wealth gap can open the way to a fairer, more prosperous economy.

Degree mills in the United States have sold over a million fake diplomas. Find out what makes a degree mill and how government agencies have responded to these big businesses throughout history.

Reflecting on Occupy's legacy and vision, as the movement gears up for the one year anniversary on Monday.

Cato the Younger was a politician of moral integrity during the Roman Republic who inspired the Founding Fathers during the American Revolution 1,800 years later.

The Obama foreign policy record we should be debating.

Learn about the historical problems of megacities and how their presence today could negatively affect the future of our world.

Why on earth are people holding onto billions of dollars, or multiple mega-mansions, or any number of massive purchases that sit idle? Is there enough for everyone if everyone only holds onto just enough?

In his bid for reelection, President Obama has had difficulty inspiring the same kind of enthusiastic liberal support that propelled him to the Oval Office in 2008. Could his pragmatic nature be to blame?

The bones of the disappeared — victims of the Guatemalan civil war — beg to tell their stories.

Learn about Islamophobia and why the Western world is experiencing a resurgence of anti-Islamic sentiment.

Author Fred Pearce discovers what’s really behind the fluctuating price tags on some of our favorite foods.

Money is the least of our problems. It’s time to pay attention to the real deficits that are killing us.

By appealing to working class voters, the Vermont Progressive Party bucks the two major political parties and fights for labor rights and local farmers.

Maryland police adopted a screen test that reduces domestic violence homicides, but will the Violence Against Women Act receive enough funding to support it?

Since embracing restorative justice programs, San Francisco schools have seen a drop in school violence and improved behavior in class.

Small crimes and acts of resistance are often survival skills used by underprivileged youth denied the social and cultural capital necessary to succeed professionally.

Increased police presence and zero tolerance policies in schools have done little to stem school violence while pushing students into the school to prison pipeline.

Fred Wertheimer has battled dark money in Washington for 40 years, from Watergate to soft money issue ads to Citizens United v. FEC.

Whether it’s President Obama or Mitt Romney who wins the Oval Office in November, the big winner will be the Pentagon and the national security state.

Where is truth? How do we find it? How do we know it?

Learn how shareholder primacy harms investors, corporations and the public.

Utne Visionary David Korten on taking our money and power back from Wall Street.

In the abandoned city of Now Zad, U.S. Marine Brigadier General Larry Nicholson struggles to ensure that his fallen military brothers haven’t died in vain during the war in Afghanistan.

Inspired by Biblical jubilees, the interfaith coalition Jubilee USA has called for debt cancellation and an end to the student debt crisis.

Banned during military dictatorship, philosophy classes are now required for students in Brazilian high schools, in an effort to boost political participation.

How not to solve an economic crisis.

In economics, we talk about externalized costs. In the drug economy, there are externalized traumas. 

A consumer movement that demands transparent country of origin labels could reinvigorate American economic prosperity.

The story behind the Kennedy-Roberts upset.

The tell-all defection of Greg Smith, a former Goldman Sachs executive, provided an insider's view of the moral corruption of the Wall Street banks that control of much of America's economy and politics.

Five centuries after the Scientific Revolution, unreason is alive and well.

Obamacare's individual mandate only impacts a tiny minority. What happens if it's struck down?

Income inequality, insurmountable student debt and rampant greed suggest the American Dream has always been an unattainable illusion created by the powers that be. But if it is an illusion, the false hope it’s meant to sustain is quickly fading.

While criticizing U.S. capitalism remains taboo, Richard Wolff and David Barsamian discuss this failing economic system.

This excerpt from "Labor Rising" discusses the history that is directly related to the economic and political crises American labor workers face today and calls for a revitalized 21st-century labor movement.

The new Obama doctrine may make waging war too easy for Washington.

Rapid urbanization in China has left Chinese peasants on the outskirts of society, rarely able to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Privilege, value, and liberal arts.

In the aftermath of World War II, 500,000 died in the largest episode of forced migration in history. Millions of German-speaking civilians were sent to Germany from Czechoslovakia and other European countries by order of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union.

Kevin Bleyer defends his humorous re-interpretation of the United States Constitution in his book, “Me the People.”

The silver lining for progressives after Scott Walker's victory.

The student protests in Quebec aren't just about tuition hikes. They're about failed social and economic structures.

Federal investment in bike trails has steadily increased since 1991, but tea party leaders now threaten to rethink government involvement.

Holland is known for its bike-friendly cities, but there’s no reason why its bicycle boulevards, safe routes, and careful government planning can’t be exported.

Luc Ferrandez, an ambitious Quebec mayor, shows how bike-friendly planning revitalized a historic Montreal borough.

Since the market collapse, suburban sprawl in Idaho’s majestic Teton County has ground to a halt as thousands of unfinished housing developments stand vacant.

Student debt has increased significantly since the 1980s due to higher tuition rates, decreases in federal aid and a growing dependence on credit cards.

Due to cuts in higher education, and a lack of jobs in academia, people with advanced degrees increasingly depend on federal food stamps.

Facing a tough job market and a student debt crisis, many recent college grads are being forced back into service industry jobs.

With news coverage down since 2008, political ads are drowning out what's important in the presidential election.

Walkable neighborhoods breed healthier and safer communities, but a new study finds that safe streets are scarce in poor neighborhoods.

Fact-checking has become a new American past-time, but is it a search for truth or a political witch hunt?

A third-party strategy that totally works.

Most Americans believe in marriage equality. Why don't we have it yet?

Barbara Ehrenreich on how corporations and local governments take advantage of people in poverty.

Chris Faraone covers the first three months of the Occupy Boston movement from the organizational core to the public effects.

Mainstream media mostly ignored Occupy May Day. Here's some of what they missed.

From our friends at the Media Consortium: live coverage of Occupy's May Day demonstrations from independent media outlets nationwide.

What the alt press said about the riots twenty years later.

Today's Crockpot is all about Occupy's May Day demonstrations. Find out how to get the latest.

What to expect from Occupy's May Day plans.

Want a national single-payer health care system? Now is the time to show some love.

A new database charts the role of money in state elections.

New Census data suggest that suburban sprawl may be on its way out.

While freelancers like graphic designers and software developers have rarely enjoyed collective bargaining, a new Freelancers Union aims to fight for their rights.

Even as LDS is gaining national attention during the 2012 presidential race, we still know little about the nuts and bolts of Mormon society.

The federal government gives oil companies billion of dollars worth of subsidies every year. How does that compare to other public spending?

The tar sands and deep-sea oil of North America rival even the richest fields of the Middle East. But what happens when the bonanza hits home?

New research on the psychology of politics may help us understand why compromise is often out of reach...

Despite Republican criticism and race-baiting, millions of people facing unemployment and underemployment have been lifted above the poverty line by the food stamp program.

With for-profit insurance companies unable to address extreme weather and other implications of climate change, emergency assistance will need to come from government action.

Against the attacks of the conservative movement, the progressive agenda should embrace the positive functions of government, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

The Dodd-Frank financial-reform act has shrunk once-historic Wall Street bonuses and changed the future of the banking industry and Wall Street’s business model.

The Department of Homeland Security has stepped up surveillance and prosecution on college campuses, targeting students and minorities.

Despite promises to cut the budget from both sides of the aisle, the Defense budget remains perilously bloated.

Despite a reputation of social progressivism, Europe has some pretty archaic laws, including sterilization laws in Sweden that require the sterilization of transgender people.

Policymakers used to rely on think tanks for independent analysis and advice. But lately, think tanks have become tools for partisan perspective and advocacy.

For 20 years, federal investment in cycling infrastructure has made biking available to millions of city-dwellers. But calls for austerity in Washington now threaten this growing trend, putting the future of urban cycling in jeopardy...

Why 21st century oil will break the bank—and the planet...

The recent Kony 2012 controversy brings up how social media has changed activism, and how it hasn't.

The 2012 nominating contest is blurring the lines between politics and entertainment.

Due to fraudulent employment statistics put out by law schools, two professors devise a plan to pay students to drop out of law school after their first year.

It’s time for the U.S. military to recognize women in combat

As abortion restrictions increase, women find it harder to get through the red tape, even at the risk of their own health.

An Escopetarra sends a unique message of peace and empowerment.

Alta Gracia Apparel, a U.S.-owned factory in Latin America, marries profit and workers’ rights

Kidnapping in Mexico forces a member of the beleaguered business class to cross the border to escape violence and extortion

Income inequality and the death of culture in New York City. The battle between the 99 percent and the one percent began before Occupy Wall Street protesters filled Zuccotti Park.

Two Occupy Wall Street protesters play chess in Zuccotti Park.

Politicians and pundits who pooh-pooh the possibility of a third-party movement should pay attention to Americans Elect.

After criticizing George W. Bush for turning the United States into a cowboy nation, a scholar argues that the president’s foreign policy lacks a moral center.

A man reared in Minneapolis is linked to Saturday’s suicide attack in Mogadishu. He’s not the first and, sadly, may not be the last Midwesterner to leave the country on a track to terrorism.

How the legal system was deep-sixed and Occupy Wall Street swept the land...

Racial segregation literally breaks a city into separate, isolated chunks. Watch it happen in real time...

Journalist, pacifist, and teacher Colman McCarthy examines the growth of peace studies in American education—and the struggle to make it a permanent part of the curriculum.

Amnesty International smartly uses the release of Dick Cheney’s tell-nothing memoir to remind citizens of the Bush Administration assault on human rights. . . .

A six-part plan to focus once again on what communities need, not what Wall Street needs...