Current Affairs is an American bimonthlymagazine that discusses political and cultural topics from aleft-wing perspective. It was founded by Oren Nimni andNathan J. Robinson in 2015. The magazine is published in print and online, and also has a podcast.[4][5] The magazine is funded through subscriptions and donations.
Its political stances have been described associalist,[6]progressive,[7] and broadly leftist.[8] The magazine's stated mission is "to produce the world's first readable political publication and to make life joyful again."[1] Its format is influenced by magazines such asJacobin andSpy.[9]
Current Affairs started after a successfulKickstarter campaign in 2015.[5]
On September 29, 2018,Current Affairs published an "exhaustive 10,000-word refutation" by Robinson ofBrett Kavanaugh's testimony before theUnited States Senate.[10][11] Robinson was invited to discuss the article on the dailyWBUR-FM showOn Point.[12] He later released a video summarizing the article.[13]
In August 2021, fiveCurrent Affairs staffers accused Robinson of trying to fire most of the workforce for attempting to organize the magazine as aworker cooperative.[6][8][16] The staffers were later given severances totaling $76,014 for the perceived firings.[17]
As of May 2020[update],Current Affairs used a subscription model for funding. It had two full-time staff members, a part-time administrative assistant, a full-time podcaster, and an incoming business manager.[4] Lyta Gold (a pseudonym) was formerly the managing editor.[4]
As of 2020[update], many ofCurrent Affairs's most popular articles were by Robinson. These included the article on Kavanaugh; the article "Just Stop Worrying And Embrace The Left", in which Robinson requested thatMeghan McCain follow through on the article title;[18] and a 2016 essay critiquingHillary Clinton as a weak candidate, which helped launch the magazine to prominence.[4]
^Robinson, Nathan J. (March 29, 2019)."All About Pete".Current Affairs.ISSN2471-2647.Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. RetrievedMarch 17, 2024.
