In a recent piece for The Breach, writer and organizer Emma Jackson calls for an “expansive left populism” to defeat the far-right. While she identifies many of the fronts on which the left must fight, it remains unclear how populism as such should serve as a working program for broad left demands, given its susceptibility to the politics of reaction.

We have to reject winnowing the entire COVID debate down to punitive powers of mandates and lockdowns and focus on building broad campaigns that speak to issues faced by workers. To do otherwise is to leave the door open for the rightwing to pull the entire debate to the right and strengthen the hand of the bosses.

Much was made of US annualized 6.9% real GDP growth in Q4 2021, much higher than 2.3% in Q3 and well above forecasts of 5.5%. It was the strongest GDP growth in five quarters. But this headline figure hid some serious holes in the ‘growth story’. The biggest contribution to that 6.9% points came from inventory stocking (4.9% pts) – apparently car dealers restocking vehicles still to sell. Household spending contributed 2.2% points and business investment just 0.28% pts. Net exports (exports minus imports) contributed nothing; and government spending made a negative contribution of 0.5% pts (as taxes outstripped spending). Leaving out inventories, the US economy expanded by just 2% in Q4. Over the whole of 2021, the US economy jumped 5.7% after contracting 3.4% in 2020. US real GDP is now 3.1% higher than in pre-COVID 2019, but still 1.2% pts behind where GDP would have been if there had been no COVID slump.

Workers in Canada’s trucking industry have suffered during the pandemic. The “Freedom Convoy,” a right-wing, pro-business social movement, purports itself to be the people’s champion of liberty — yet it couldn’t care less about the hardships and burdens of its fellow workers.

Amid a national housing crisis, giant private equity firms have been buying up apartment buildings en masse to squeeze them for profit, with the help of government-backed Freddie Mac. Meanwhile, tenants say they’re the ones paying the price.