Current Affairs (magazine)

Current Affairs is an American bimonthly magazine that discusses political and cultural topics from a left-wing perspective. It was founded by Oren Nimni and Nathan J. Robinson in 2015. The magazine is published in print and online, and also has a podcast.^[4][5] It does not feature advertising, and is funded by subscriptions and donations.

Current Affairs

Cover of the May/June 2020 issue
Editor-in-chief	Nathan J. Robinson[1]
Legal editor	Oren Nimni[1]
Former editors	Nick Slater Vanessa A. Bee
Categories	Politics, culture
Frequency	Bimonthly
Circulation	3,795[2]
Founder	Nathan J. Robinson Oren Nimni
Founded	2015
Company	Current Affairs Inc[3]
Country	United States
Based in	New Orleans, Louisiana
Language	English
Website	currentaffairs.org
ISSN	2471-2647

Its political stances have been described as socialist,^[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 as Jacobin and Spy.^[9]

History

Current Affairs started after a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015.^[5]

On September 29, 2018, Current Affairs published an "exhaustive 10,000-word refutation" by Robinson of Brett Kavanaugh's testimony before the United States Senate.^[10][11] Robinson was invited to discuss the article on the daily WBUR-FM show On Point.^[12] He later released a video summarizing the article.^[13]

On March 29, 2019, Current Affairs published an article by Robinson criticizing 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg,^[14] which The New York Times later quoted.^[15]

In August 2021, a subset of Current Affairs staffers accused Robinson of trying to fire them for attempting to organize the magazine as a worker-owned co-op.^[6][8][16] The staffers were later given severances totaling $76,014, nearly 34% of the magazine's bank holdings, for the perceived firings.^[17]

Finances and staffing

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]

Content

As of 2020^[update], many of Current 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 that Meghan McCain follow through on the article title;^[18] and a 2016 essay critiquing Hillary Clinton as a weak candidate, which helped launch the magazine to prominence.^[4]

References

1. "About". Current Affairs. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
2. "Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation". Current Affairs. 8 (5): 13. September 2023.
3. "Current Affairs Inc - GuideStar Profile". GuideStar. Archived from the original on March 17, 2024. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
4. Tedder, Michael (March 22, 2020). "Not All 'Bernie Bros' Are Angry Young Men. Meet Nathan J. Robinson". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
5. Gold, Michael (October 15, 2019). "Kickstarter Calls Itself Progressive. But About That Union". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 15, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
6. Gurley, Lauren Kaori (August 18, 2021). "Socialist Publication Current Affairs Fires Staff for Doing Socialism". Vice News. Motherboard. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
7. Garfield, Bob (August 5, 2016). "The Lesser Evil". On The Media. WNYC. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
8. Hitt, Tarpley (August 18, 2021). "The Current Affair at Current Affairs Is That Everyone Has Been Fired". Gawker. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021.
9. Chayka, Kyle (March 23, 2017). "The Rise of the Hard Left". The Ringer. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
10. Robinson, Nathan J. (September 29, 2018). "How We Know Kavanaugh Is Lying". Current Affairs. ISSN 2471-2647. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
11. Uyehara, Mari (October 1, 2018). "All of Brett Kavanaugh's Lies". GQ. Archived from the original on October 1, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
12. "Did Brett Kavanaugh Lie Under Oath? The Cases For And Against". On Point. WBUR. October 4, 2018. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
13. Queally, Jon (October 2, 2018). "Here's a Very Smart and Informative Video Entitled "How We Know Brett Kavanaugh Is Lying"". Common Dreams. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
14. Robinson, Nathan J. (March 29, 2019). "All About Pete". Current Affairs. ISSN 2471-2647. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
15. Burns, Alexander (April 14, 2019). "Pete Buttigieg's Focus: Storytelling First. Policy Details Later". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
16. Best, Paul (August 18, 2021). "Socialist magazine Current Affairs staff 'effectively fired' for trying to organize worker co-op". Fox Business. FOX Corporation. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
17. Nair, Yasmin (March 27, 2024). "What Really Happened at Current Affairs?". Archived from the original on November 22, 2024. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
18. Robinson, Nathan J. (July 25, 2018). "Just Stop Worrying And Embrace The Left". Current Affairs. Archived from the original on July 25, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2023.

External links

• Official website
• YouTube channel