Archives for 2022

On October 1, 1977, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, a/k/a “Pelé” played his last game as a professional footballer. The game was played at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium, across the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus Station in New York City, a truly seedy place, but one where soccer fans without cars could drop […]

What do we appreciate about the work of Charles Dickens? Dickens wrote fantastic, unbelievable stories about everyday urban life and social reality in the Victorian England hellscape. He used the lives of women and children (and their labor) to highlight the horrors he was observing in his time. Many have pointed out that the streets […]

The money people, FIFA and the Qatari rulers must have been full of glee after the final on Sunday. It was indeed an exciting match. All of the hype played itself out, the major superstars, Lionel Messi for Argentina and Kylian Mbappé for France, had a hand in or scored all of the key goals. […]

(Written on Saturday night, December 10, 2022) In the rarified upper atmosphere of professional international football, Morocco’s successful march to the 2022 World Cup semi-finals is a welcome break from the usual script. What is even more remarkable about this feat is how the team got there. The Moroccans drew with Croatia and beat Canada […]

(This was written on Saturday night, November 26. Tonight’s results might paint a different canvas, but I am not very good at the prediction business. This is about what has happened so far.) Well, towards the end of week one we’ve seen enough to be proven wrong and sometimes right. And we’ve had enough time […]

Ken Lawrence is a lifelong American activist and writer, a veteran of the struggle for social justice, equality and liberation. He was an active participant in SNCC (the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), a member of Facing Reality (the C.L.R. James tendency), an important member of Sojourner Truth Organization, and a contributing editor of Covert Action […]