Negin Owliaei

Negin Owliaei

Negin Owliaei is a co-editor and researcher at IPS's Inequality.org. Before joining IPS, she worked as a journalist and digital producer at Al Jazeera Media Network, where she covered social movements and the internet for the award-winning program The Stream.

Articles by this author

Ensuring access to water as a human right is crucial, especially given the number of localities across the United States grappling with privatized water during a public health emergency. (Photo: uusc4all/flickr/cc) Views
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
The Detroit Organizers Long Demanding Water Justice
Wash your hands. The earliest, most frequent directive around coronavirus has been issued by public health experts including the World Health Organization to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . But what does that mean for people without access to water? A pandemic exposes all of our...
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Sanctions starve our people of food, medicine, and safety while public figures threaten us with more violence.(Photo: Shutterstock) Views
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Americans Need to Hear More from Iranians. Here’s Where to Start.
Following President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would seek new sanctions, but not immediate military escalation, against Iran, most people in the United States likely breathed a sigh of relief. For Iranians and Iranian Americans like myself, that relief was accompanied by a reminder of just...
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Their enormous wealth offers them an outlandishly oversized role in our democracy. It’s poisoning both our politics and our media. (Photo: Shutterstock) Views
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Time for a Billionaire Ban
Bill Gates wants you to know he pays taxes. “I’ve paid more than $10 billion in taxes. I’ve paid more than anyone in taxes,” Gates told journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin. “But when you say I should pay $100 billion, OK, then I’m starting to do a little math about what I have left over.” Supposedly Gate...
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Supporters rally for universal health care in Chicago. (Photo: Shutterstock) Views
Thursday, September 26, 2019
No One Should Have to Bargain for Health Care
Nearly 50,000 members of the United Auto Workers began striking earlier this month, demanding that General Motors pay them their fair share of the billions in profits the company raked in last year. The response from General Motors was shocking. The automaker, which accepted billions in government...
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The worst tragedy is that companies get to make millions attacking indigenous people and burning down vital ecosystems. (Photo: Shutterstock) Views
Friday, September 20, 2019
Who’s Burning the Amazon?
While the world watches in horror as fires rage in the Amazon, activists are naming culprits. “Put out the flames, we name your names—politicians, corporate vultures, you’re the ones we blame,” demonstrators chanted as they marched from the White House to the Brazilian Consulate on September 5. The...
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Amazon Watch, a California-based organization that works in concert with indigenous and environmental groups, issued a report earlier this year documenting the dozens of companies that stand to make money as Bolsonaro strips regulations in Brazil. (Photo: Victor Moriyama/Greenpeace) Views
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Activists Follow the Money Fueling Amazon Fires
While the world watches in horror as fires rage on in the Amazon, activists are shining a light on the big businesses destroying what’s popularly known as the “lungs of the Earth.” On September 5, people around the globe stood in solidarity with the rainforest’s indigenous communities by partaking...
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Most of these localities also have poverty rates far higher than the U.S. average. (Photo: Shutterstock) Views
Friday, August 16, 2019
Red States Cut Worker Pay by $1.5 Billion
Last month, the House voted to incrementally raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. If the Senate passes the bill, it would be the first federal minimum wage increase in more than a decade — far too long for residents of the 21 states that don’t have their own higher minimum wage. Here’s another...
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US Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) speaks as, Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (D-MN)(L), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) (2R), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) hold a press conference, to address remarks made by US President Donald Trump earlier in the day, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on July 15, 2019. - President Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on four progressive Democratic congresswomen, saying if they're not happy in the United States "they can leave." (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP) Views
Monday, July 22, 2019
‘The Squad’ Keeps the Focus on Bold, Inequality-Busting Policies
“We are one of the wealthiest countries in the history of this world. And yet millions of adults in the United States still don’t have health insurance,” Rep. Ilhan Omar told an audience of her Minnesota constituents on Thursday evening. A day after the president of the United States incited...
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45 percent of Americans—including a third of households making more than $180,000 a year—worry they could go bankrupt over a major health issue. (Photo: Shutterstock) Views
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Medicare for All Would Save Money—And Lives
One night a few years ago, my partner woke up delirious with fever, a bright rash, and joint pain so bad he couldn’t get out of bed without help. I was scared — mostly for his health, but also for our financial situation, which weighed heavily on me during our 4 a.m. ride to the emergency room. As...
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A small group of independent drivers and supporters protest against Uber and other app-based ride-hailing companies near the Wall Street Charging Bull, May 8, 2019 in New York City. The protests in more than a dozen cities come ahead of Uber's anticipated Initial Public Offering on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) which could put the ride-hailing firm's calculation as high as $91.5 billion. Drivers are seeking higher wages and better rights as employees. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Views
Monday, May 13, 2019
Uber Drivers Strike As Execs Make Millions Off IPO
With the ring of a bell, controversial former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick became a billionaire on Friday when the ridesharing company made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. But while Uber execs former and current cashed in on the IPO, the drivers that actually build the company’s wealth won’t...
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