Snapshot: The Left Parties

Pablo Iglesias (center), the secretary general of Spain’s progressive Podemos party, sits with Alexis Tsipras (right), the leader of Greece’s left-wing Syriza party. Syriza is expected to win in Greece’s parliamentary elections, and Podemos is polling neck-and-neck with Spain’s conservative People’s Party. Read More

Juan Medina

Obama Gets His Mojo Back

More than a wish list, he offers a framework for 2015 legislative fights and the 2016 campaign.

The Editors

James Baldwin, a Guide in Dark Times

His essays on police brutality still burn hot, but his understanding of sex, self-knowledge and power demand equal attention now.

JoAnn Wypijewski

‘The Nation’ Turns 150

For 150 years, The Nation has kept readers informed about what we called, in our very first issue, “the conflict of ages, the great strife between the few and the many, between privilege and equality, between law and power, between opinion and the sword.” Founded by abolitionists, The Nation has never shied away from taking sides in that conflict, and throughout this year, we will mark our 150th anniversary with a variety of special print and digital products, a nationwide series of live events, and a documentary by the award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple. At TheNation.com, a new daily feature called “The Almanac” highlights major historical events and The Nation’s coverage of them. In March, we’ll publish a history of The Nation written by our London correspondent, D.D. Guttenplan, followed in April by a special anniversary issue. Co-edited by Guttenplan and Katrina vanden Heuvel, the issue will feature archival essays by Henry James, Emma Goldman, James Baldwin, Ralph Nader and Martin Luther King Jr., to name just a few, alongside new contributions by Eric Foner, Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow, Michael Moore and many others. We’ll also be offering live-streamed Nation panel discussions, variety shows, film screenings and other events coast to coast, to share visions of a radically different future for our country and the world, and to put Nation readers in conversation with their favorite writers. Visit TheNation.com/150 for more information. Read More

The Editors

Ganzeer Versus the NYPD

One of the works appearing prominently in the Egyptian artist Ganzeer’s first US solo show has already been displayed to the thousands who attended this fall’s anti-police brutality protests. It’s a silkscreened print in yellow and blue, with a picture of Eric Garner being choked by an NYPD officer. Along the side, bold lettering reads: BE BRUTAL. The mock recruiting poster carries contact information at the bottom: NYPDKILLS.COM / 212-KILL-PEOPLE. Mohamed Fahmy, 32, who goes by the name Ganzeer (or “bicycle chain”) achieved international fame during the Arab Spring uprising in Egypt. For many foreign artists, a New York show might be viewed as an opportunity to focus an audience’s attention on their home country, but Ganzeer wasn’t interested. “I think that’s what they were expecting: ‘This guy’s from Egypt. He’s going to do a show about Egypt and the situation there,’” he said about being approached by the Leila Heller Gallery curator and Middle Eastern art expert Shiva Balaghi. But Ganzeer had other ideas; he wasn’t going to be Orientalized—a problem, he noted, that never seemed to be experienced by the British street artist Banksy or the Italian artist Blu. “I’m interested in making art about relevant things that are happening in the world,” he said. In other words, when in America, set your sights on America. “At first there was some hesitancy,” he said of the gallery, “but I think they really got into it.” Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50! He arrived in New York in mid-May, his first trip to the United States. He began to immerse himself in American politics and history. “He’s been reading Howard Zinn,” said Balaghi. The only link to his Egyptian work is a reference to a poster that landed him in the clink. In 2011, Ganzeer and two associates were arrested by Egyptian security forces while hanging a silkscreen called The Mask of Freedom, of a man wearing a ball-gag and blinders, wings protruding from his temples. In the new image, the ball-gag remains, the blinder is replaced by a full Captain America mask with no eye holes, and the man sports a business suit. “Great American Mask of Freedom,” the poster reads, “since 1776 and still going strong.” At least for now, Egypt’s loss is our gain. Ganzeer’s show will be on display at the Leila Heller Gallery through February 21. Read Next: Michelle Chen on police unions Read More

Ali Gharib

Republicanism vs. Multiculturalism in France

The country struggles with religion and integration one week after the Charlie Hebdo murders.

Katha Pollitt

Magic Eyewear

Calvin Trillin