Independent since 2002 Issue No. 1102 Week of November 7, 2026 Get the free email dispatch →

Columnist

John Funiciello

BlackCommentator.com Columnist, John Funiciello, is a former newspaper reporter and labor organizer, who lives in the Mohawk Valley of New York State. In addition to labor work, he is organizing family farmers as they struggle to stay on the land under enormous pressure from factory food producers and land developers. Contact Mr. Funiciello and BC.

446 pieces

Commentary

Is There Such a Thing As A Monopoly, Anymore? – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

In the current economy, the general public has not made monopoly a major issue, even though it has cost the average citizen much of a household's income and monopoly has hit lower-income families particularly hard.

Early in the last century, steps were taken to ensure that a few companies did not control the bulk of any industry's production or any other…

Continue reading 5 min

Commentary

Who Is Responsible for the Bloated and Sick Pentagon Budget? – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

Everything has been done to weave the military and “defense” into our daily lives, to such a degree that for the most part, we cannot imagine life without it.

One has to wonder, looking at the “defense” budget for next year. The House of Representatives has passed a military budget of $778 billion for the…

Continue reading 7 min

Commentary

Increase in Strikes May Signal Awakening of American Workers – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

They are tired of promises. They want action by both employers and their governments at every level. A promise of full health care benefits...someday...is not enough.

There have been enough strikes across the U.S. in 2021 that some have even called October “Striketober.” By one count, by Oct. 19, there have been…

Continue reading 7 min

Commentary

Defending Land, Water and the Planet Is Often Deadly – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

Americans can do something about it and it seems that the younger generation is trying to organize around these very issues.

For most Americans and other rich nations’ workers, defending their jobs may involve trying to keep a company from moving to a low-wage country or negotiating…

Continue reading 6 min

Commentary

Finding a Way To Own Nature – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

critics see it as a land grab that is potentially bigger than the land grabs of the imperial powers during the colonial period. Today, governments may not be allowed to take over land and water from private hands, but that doesn’t mean that private companies would not be allowed to accomplish that.

It long has been the goal of transnational corporations to gather up as much money and power to themselves, to the extent that there would be…

Continue reading 7 min

Commentary

The Working Class Finds It in Their Hearts To Defend the Rich – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

There is no accounting for the generosity of wage-working men and women, who defend the right of millionaires and billionaires to accumulate riches without end when their neighbors and co-workers are suffering to make ends meet, paying the rent or mortgage, putting food on the table, and deciding whether to take a child to a doctor, whose bill cannot be paid.

A recent letter to the editor of a local newspaper warned against “demonizing” wealth or “demonizing” prosperity, apparently referring to the attempt to make the rich…

Continue reading 6 min

Commentary

Corporate America Is Dumbfounded: How Can Workers Hold Out on Us? – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

They convinced wage-working men and women that it was in their best interests to support capital flight and to tolerate low wages and few benefits.

The talk among pundits and CEOs for the last few months has been the mystery of unemployment numbers and the “shortage” of workers, even though right-wing…

Continue reading 8 min

Commentary

Saving the U.S. Postal Service From The Raiders in Corporate America – Solidarity America

By John Funiciello Columnist

Numerous calls for the firing of DeJoy have been coming from across the country because he is there just to see Trump’s dream of privatization come true.

Millions of Americans have been trying for years to save the U.S. Postal Service from the depredations of those who would privatize the whole thing, but…

Continue reading 7 min

$ $ Contribute $ $