I've started writing in a new place. It began with a walk along Waller Creek and a conversation about the three things that change the world. open.substack.com/pub/classwor...

James Petras, In Memorian petras.lahaine.org/james-petras...

Another Abahlali baseMjondolo leader assassinated in broad daylight in Gauteng, South Africa. Hamba kahle Khabazela Mkhize abahlali.org/node/18590/ www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/zwel...

Among the perils of opening India's agricultural market to United States business is the death of folklore. With the extinction of peasant lifeways comes the end of their songs and storytelling. It's the price of cheap milk. thewire.in/agriculture/...

These Haitian meatpacking workers may be deported. They voted to strike against JBS anyway. Excellent Mother Jones x Food and Environment Reporting Network collab thefern.org/2026/02/thes...

In Sri Lanka, The Microfinance Bill pushed by the Asian Development Bank has a 2nd reading in Parliament on Feb 12. It threatens the progress won against microfinanciers by peasant community credit systems. Amali Wedagedara explains at ProgIntl progressive.international/wire/2026-02...

Donald Trump has signed an executive order to block all oil to Cuba.

Even without robust data for v small farms, a recent Nature Food article finds "very-small-scale (≤2 ha) and small-scale (>2–20 ha) farmers make a considerable contribution to national food consumption across all studied countries" www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Farm Action's Angela Huffman looks behind the duel at the top of the land-ownership charts to ask what land concentration means for farming. But, just fyi, the US' largest landowner is no longer Bill Gates, it's Stan Kroenke. angelasuehuffman.substack.com/p/forget-bil...

Oops, they may or may not have done it again. ADM settle fraud allegations without admitting liability. But if you've not seen The Informant!, it's a terrific primer on agribusiness chicanery. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inf...!

Correction: yesterday, I shared some info about SNAP and sent y'all to the wrong link to the get the full report from NIQ / FoodHealth.co - here it is, properly www.foodhealth.co/healthofamer...

Subisidizing Big Food is a centuries-long habit that I'm keen for governments to kick. But sanctioning and policing the food of working class people to do it is pure class prejudice. More proof via Errol Schweizer and NIQ: 954ef859-12e3-4f54-beaa-1a7f0a6f0e39.usrfiles.com/ugd/954ef8_c...

"To those hands of za’atar / and darkened stone, / I voice this cry: / To Ahmad / Forgotten and alone." A wonderful exploration of the politics of Za'atar portside.org/2026-01-26/z... and here's Darwish's poem in full www.poemhunter.com/poem/ahmad-a...

From fields to food waste recovery, inside and outside the home, Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern and Teresa Mares' "Will Work For Food" compasses the many fronts in which food chain workers fight. It's approachable, thorough and, for more, see foodchainworkers.org

Rae Gomes' brilliant history of NYC Black co-op organising is one of many treasures in The Land, Food and Freedom journal. The physical copies are beautiful - and available on sliding scale pricing... www.landfoodfreedom.com/post/when-we...

Michael Grunwald's reliance on pesticide industry talking points gets the debunking it deserves from the Johns Hopkins A-list: Sara Lupolt, Patti Truant Anderson, Keeve Nachman, and Tom Philpott clf.jhsph.edu/viewpoints/n...

47,900,000 Americans, including one in five children, were food insecure in 2024. That was before restrictions to SNAP and higher food prices. The Trump administration has since ceased publication of these reports. Read the final one, by the dedicated USDA ERS team, here ers.usda.gov/sites/defaul...

Clara Mattei does it all and if you're anywhere near Tulsa, Free - the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation - is always worth attending. Here's some of the conversation Clara and I had there about the food system www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQbU... www.freefreeforum.org

Fascinating insight from US corn economics: the most profitable farmers spend the *least* on fertilizer. blog-crop-news.extension.umn.edu/2024/04/are-...

Public grocery stores are on the way in New York. How might they work in Canada? www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Merrill Goozner shares how RFK Jr's new US dietary recommendations, skewed towards the dairy and meat industry, derive from the best science money can buy. gooznews.substack.com/p/advisors-t...

It's an incredible effort of imagination to see how much better the world might be with less crap in it. The Anthropause, out today, is Stan Cox's wonderous hymn to the joys of less stuff and more connection. Read it! bookshop.org/p/books/anth...

Polycrisis: A Breviary https://rajpatel.org/2026/01/12/polycrisis-a-breviary/

Curious about why the Indian government might arrest an activist over the Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty? Bloomberg News' site says the quiet part with graphics: Adani Enterprises and Coal India's stock price accompany the story. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Shyam Benegal's wonderful Satyajit Ray documentary was funded by the Indian Ministry of Information. Copyright law and public media being what they are, you can now watch it for free at the Internet Archive archive.org/details/dli....

The current US administration makes it easy to forget that Europe has been in the imperialism business for longer. The Funambulist's latest issue - Follow the Money - has the receipts. thefunambulist.net

The last Guardian article by the great Nina Lakhani is a beautiful survery of her six years' environmental justice reporting. It's a beautiful valediction, and a reason to follow her new work at drilled.media www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Prisoners For Palestine says activist Teuta Hoxha needs hospitalisation but has been denied treatment while in prison.

“In this moment of clear, acute, and mounting violence against the people of Venezuela, silence is complicity.” 🇻🇪 Statement from the Cabinet of the @progintl.bsky.social on the US invasion of Venezuela. progressive.international/wire/2026-01...

Clara Mattei founded the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation - FREE - just a few months ago. Already, it's a hub for praxis not just in Tulsa, but far beyond. Here's our conversation on the food system: youtu.be/BXZu39LWgm0

What problems can public food procurement solve for? At least 15 different things, with 52 different ways of tackling them. Balancing mechanisms and goals is the proper object of politics. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Last week, the WFP announced that 318 million people face acute food insecurity. My friend and colleague Erin Lentz led a team asking 'do the numbers add up?' Answer: no. The WFP likely undercounts 1 in 5 in crisis. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

You should know about the largest far-right network in history. This is as comprehensive a mapping of India's far right as I've seen: incredible journalism and data visualization. caravanmagazine.in/politics/unv...

Four groups of toxins in food lead to >$1.4 trillion in healthcare costs. Chances that the chemical industry will ever pay the bill: zero. www.systemiq.earth/reports/invi...

New York's Good Food Purchasing Program matters far beyond NYC - here's how, and why: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf-y...

That social movements are on the front lines of polycrisis isn't new. What's exciting is that their polysolutions are getting high-level airtime. Abahlali baseMjondolo presented theirs at SADC yesterday www.pressreader.com/south-africa...

I've been thinking through 'polycrisis', finding its rise and fall helpful to think with. The Transition Security Project invited me to bend those ideas their way, and I'm very pleased with how they turned out: transitionsecurity.org/polycrisis-a...

Excellent new FoE report out on how USDA’s Commodity Food Purchasing Favors Industrial Agriculture by buying from conglomerates - esp Tyson - rather than sustainable farmers  foe.org/resources/us...

There aren't many places in the US that weave serious climate policy analysis with grassroots action, but the Climate + Community Institute is one. I'm proud to be on their advisory board and, this Giving Tuesday, would love for you to join me in supporting them. secure.actblue.com/donate/clima...

NEW ESSAY: Read @rajpatel.org on the overlapping global crises of war, ecology and economy, and how frontline movements are confronting this moment.   transitionsecurity.org/polycrisis-a...

I couldn't stop thinking about a 1950s pre-show before an Alamo Drafthouse screening of One Battle After Another. It's now online, and hints at why US culture wars over Christmas are so politically charged. #ChristmasExplorersClub www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIEu...

Naomi Klein is in brilliant form in her latest essay, linking surrealism, Zionism, Zohran and a vision for the antithesis of fascism in Equator: www.equator.org/articles/sur...

Consumption of beef in China will decline this year and fall again in 2026, while pork has hit a "structural plateau", and the egg market is glutted. But chicken is everywhere. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

The Public Option to Stop Price Gouging is spreading. Avi Lewis has it as a plank in his platform for NDP leadership in Canada. lewisforleader.ca/ideas/public...

It's International Food Workers Week, and the Food Chain Workers Alliance is showing what it is to be in solidarity with the people who make eating possible. foodchainworkers.org/portfolio/fo...

Thea Riofrancos' Extraction is thoughtful, rigorous, engaged, and unafraid to look at the international demands made of us here in the US. It's a model of political logic and solidarity. Buy www.theariofrancos.com/extraction then listen: thedigradio.com/podcast/extr...

Food systems only transform through coalition. Here's a pitch to Team Mamdani. Next partners to be reeled in: unions, public schools, and restaurants. Thx to Community Food Advocates for looping me in! www.foodadvocates.org/cfa-supermar...

From an incredible shortlist, it was an honour to hand Omar El Akkad the National Book Award for non-fiction this year. His speech left not a dry eye in the house. He, and his book, deserve your attention. the.ink/p/omar-el-ak...

The Lancet's series on Ultra-Processed Foods and Human Health is a landmark. The hard part, always, is to shape policy to match the science. www.thelancet.com/infographics...

Now that I can post freely about books, there's quite a backlog. First, get your library to get a copy of the Oxford Handbook of Land Politics. (30% discount below) Ian Scoones lists the reason to read it and, as always, he's right: www.tni.org/en/article/t... fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...