I have found out something interesting in the last two years: These are dark times, but there is a strong hunger for independent left-wing media. Current Affairs began in my living room in 2015, and now we work out of an office in downtown New Orleans and reach thousands of print subscribers in 20 countries and all 50 states. We’ve also been able to branch into podcasting! That’s all been possible because we have extremely dedicated and generous subscribers. We have no outside ads, no investors: just a bunch of people who love our print issues and are kind enough to support us.

That’s the thing about independent media right now: It’s more possible than ever to do incredible things, but we’re more dependent than ever on the generosity of the audience. Newspapers have collapsed, trust in “legacy” media has diminished significantly, but through crowdfunded projects we’re able to produce new kinds of things that never existed before. Look at something like the People’s Policy Project: a crowdfunded socialist think tank that puts out cool proposals for practical new ways to democratize the economy. Or look at Jacobin: a sleek, beautiful print magazine that operates without any corporate backing. Honestly, every time I’m feeling pessimistic, I try to remember just how inspiring some of these projects are. It used to be that to build a think tank or a magazine, you needed hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars. Now, one can be built from scratch.

But this means, fundamentally, that left media needs you. Current Affairs cannot survive without its subscribers. We’re entirely dependent on them. The more subscribers we have, the more cool things we can do. Every dollar we get in subscription money goes to running the magazine. We don’t operate for profit, and the more subscribers we have, the more writing and art we can commission. If you support us by subscribing, you will help make our magazine better. We need you.

We have just sent our latest print issue to the press. It’s issue 14! I can’t quite believe we’ve managed to put out over a dozen issues of a print magazine in 2018, but we have. The new issue is an extraordinary thing, and I think you’ll love it:

Inside you’ll find lots of thoughtful articles, such as:

• Malaika Jabani on the “economic anxiety” of Black voters in Wisconsin. Malaika points out that for all the talk about the white working class, African Americans are the ones who have been most let down by the Democratic Party’s centrist economic policies. She visits Milwaukee to talk to locals about their diminishing faith in establishment Democratic politics
• Ryan Metz on the threats posed by artificial intelligence. There is a lot of panic about the idea that a “superintelligent” computer will someday take over the world, but Ryan points out that there are some much more immediate concerns. AI will soon have a powerful capacity to manipulate the truth, and will increasingly transform our perceptions of reality. Ryan also talks about the truly terrifying threat posed by autonomous weaponized drones.
• Dave Wong looks at the state of Hawai’i: its culture, its history, and its politics. You’ll learn tons of fascinating facts and be introduced to sides of the state you never knew. Includes a full-color map and a list of cool things to locate!
• Vanessa A. Bee on innovation under socialism. Frequently, socialists are met with the skeptical question: “But what about iPhones? Didn’t capitalism build those?” Vanessa answers this question once and for all, showing that a well-designed socialist economy will not only build innovative new smartphones, but is actually far more efficient than present-day capitalist reality.
• Economist Rob Larson looks at the Wall Street Journal‘s hilarious “Mansion” section, which showcases the ridiculous decadence in which the contemporary 1% live.
• Me on dystopias. I’ve always disliked George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Here I explain why. I think real dystopias will be far more subtle, and we’ll probably be fooled into thinking we don’t live in the dystopia. Orwell showed us a world that was obviously bad instead of one that was very clever at pretending it was good.
• Plus other pieces including: Brianna Rennix takes a journey to a cartel-controlled border town in Mexico and Henry Wismayer shows us a London that has lost its spirit.

Oh, but the articles are just the beginning. We also have TONS of bonus stuff, like games, satirical ads, and even a “mad lib.” The fun stuff includes:

• A comic about the harrowing immigrant journey of Bush speechwriter David Frum
• “Bipartisan Trivial Pursuit,” in which all of your options seem… basically the same
• “Bari Weiss Meets The Alien Invaders,” in which the New York Times flatteringly profiles the Space Nazis From Beyond The Moon
• A Back to School Horoscope
• Build your own Artisanal Micro-Prison Franchise
• Bernie Sanders Bingo
• A Jordan Peterson-themed lobster caption contest
• Some gratuitous swipes at Ayn Rand
• Find out how Capitalism killed Buddy Holly
• A preview of what social media will look like under socialism
• And EVEN MORE!

We’ve been able to pack this issue with good art, good writing, and lots of fun content. Future issues will have even more great stuff. But we can only do it if our readers are willing to support us. We don’t operate for profit, and we try to make as much content as we can free to the public. We have no paywall, and every article in our print edition is made available online. We want to give you as much as we can, with every issue jam-packed with cool surprises. It’s only possible with your help, though. Please consider subscribing or donating today! It’s an exciting time for left media. But the future of our project depends 100 percent on you.

Thank you so much for helping us produce a magazine I’m truly proud of. We hope you will enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy making it for you.