The Maggie Phair Institute for Democracy and Human Rights

On Sunday, June 26th, 2022, Mimi Soltysik’s widow, Lynn Lomibao, hosted an art show in loving memory of Mimi who passed on June 28th, 2020 titled Good Grief.  Mimi was not just an activist, the 2016 presidential nominee for The Socialist Party USA, an organizer for the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, and the former educator […]

Closing our racial wealth divide requires bold thinking, but so did ending slavery. By Jessicah Pierre | June 14, 2022 This op-ed was originally published on June 19, 2019. We’re reprinting it to mark Juneteenth in 2022. One day in late June, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas. They carried some historic news: Legal slavery had […]

In real life, plowing money into shiny fighter jets while Americans struggle and the climate burns makes us less safe. By Lindsay Koshgarian | June 14, 2022 Somewhere at a theater near you, Top Gun: Maverick is serving up a feel-good drama about a plucky U.S. Navy pilot who dispatches some unnamed bad guys before he gets the girl. […]

At America’s biggest low-wage employers, chief executives now pocket 670 times more than their workers. By Sam Pizzigati | June 14, 2022 CEOs at America’s biggest low-wage employers now take home, on average, 670 times what their typical workers make. But we don’t just get unfairness when a boss can grab more in a year than a worker could […]

A landmark union agreement for the U.S. women’s soccer team offers a blueprint for equity — even for those of us who aren’t professional athletes. By Brian Wakamo | June 1, 2022 Three years ago, the U.S. women’s soccer team filed a $24 million gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. This May, after a prolonged […]

I grew up in a church community that pitted people against each other and called it “Christianity.” As a pastor now myself, I know there’s another way. By Aaron Scott | June 1, 2022 I grew up in rural upstate New York, where life was difficult and often isolating. Folks in our community were very poor, but […]

The MPI is a proud sponsor of the new game, Class War. Find out more information at:https://jacobinmag.com/store/product/73  

Even writing off every penny of student debt would cost less than Trump’s tax giveaways for corporations and the rich. By Robert P. Alvarez | May 24, 2022 I borrowed money to pay for college. Like 45 million other Americans who did the same, I owe student loan debt. My generation was sold a pipe dream about […]

As we mark 1 million COVID-19 deaths, Americans in poorer counties have died at double the rate of wealthier counties. By Karen Dolan | May 12, 2022 This op-ed was originally published on April 13, 2022 and updated on May 12, 2022. As our country passes the once unthinkable toll of 1 million deaths from COVID-19, it […]

The sixth episode of Exit Capitalism, Stage Left is out now. This podcast is supported by The Maggie Phair Institute for Democracy and Human Rights.  This episode features special guest Matt Milholland who works as a union organizer in the Inland Empire. In this interview we go over the basics of a union, how to form a […]