Current Affairs is a socialist magazine that is focused on political and cultural issues in opposition to capitalist institutions. ¹ It promotes left-of-center ideals such as open borders and prison abolition. ²

In 2021, editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson was publicly criticized and accused of hypocrisy after he allegedly pressured employees to resign while they were trying to form a worker co-operative. ³ That same year, Robinson cut ties with  The Guardian after he made a dubious anti-Israel claim on Twitter. ⁴

Current Affairs is supported and has collaborated with major left-of-center figures such as Michael Moore, Adolph Reed, Krystal Ball, and Noam Chomsky. ²

Finances

Current Affairs is funded by reader donations, Patreon donors, merchandise sales, and magazine subscriptions. It claims that it does not accept advertisements and denies having large corporate donors. ⁵

It has raised over $67,000 with more than 680 backers on Kickstarter, an online fundraising platform .⁶

The group has over 1,000 supporters on Patreon who contribute more than $2,500 each month. ⁷

Background

Current Affairs is a socialist magazine founded by Nathan J. Robinson and Oren Nimni after they raised $16,000 through a Kickstarter campaign in 2015. ⁸ It advocates dismantling capitalism and promoting left-wing ideals such as open borders, universal health care, abolishing the Electoral College, encouraging disruptive protests, prison abolition, and increasing the federal minimum wage. ²

Current Affairs gained prominence after publishing the essay, “Unless the Democrats Run Sanders, A Trump Nomination Means a Trump Presidency,” which predicted the electoral victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. ⁹

The group also runs the Current Affairs Podcast, which is exclusive to paid membership on Patreon. ⁷ Its other work includes a weekly news brief and a YouTube channel. ¹⁰

Current Affairs became a charitable organization in September 2023. ¹¹

Significant Publications

Current Affairs has published articles in collaboration with prominent left-wing figures such as Michael Moore, Adolph Reed, Krystal Ball, and Noam Chomsky. ² Some of its publications were quoted by mainstream media outlets such as the New York Times. ¹²

In 2019, Current Affairs published “All About Pete,” which exposed little-known facts about then-South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s (D) background. The story was quoted by the New York Times in, “Pete Buttigieg’s Focus: Storytelling First. Policy Details Later.” ¹²

In 2020, Current Affairs published “Michael Moore On the 2020 Election, Trump’s Brain, and What We Can Do Next,” in which left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore heavily criticized then-President Donald Trump. ¹³

In 2022, Current Affairs published “Noam Chomsky on How To Prevent World War III,” in which Chomsky advocated for a U.S. appeasement policy against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ¹⁴

Controversy

Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson was accused of firing most of his staff for attempting to establish a worker co-operative in August 2021. In a letter co-signed by multiple Current Affairs staff members, Robinson was publicly criticized and accused of hypocrisy after opposing the group’s socialist initiative: “We were fired by the editor-in-chief of a socialist magazine for trying to start a worker co-op.” ³

Defenders of Robinson including Current Affairs editor-at-large Yasmin Nair have argued that the staff members mischaracterized the disputes between Robinson and the staff and mischaracterized their compensated separations from the magazine as a firing.¹⁵

In 2021, Robinson cut all ties with the The Guardian after Robinson allegedly posted misinformation on his Twitter page by claiming, “Did you know that the US Congress is not actually permitted to authorize any new spending unless a portion of it is directed toward buying weapons for Israel? It’s the law.” John Mulholland from the Guardian rejected Robinson’s claim, saying “No such law exists. In which case this is, as one might say, fake news.” ⁴

1. Robinson, Nathan J. “What Does It Mean to Be a Socialist?” Current Affairs, June 1, 2024. https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2020/01/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-socialist.
2. Nair, Yasmin, Laura Robson, and Daniel Walden. Magazine. https://www.currentaffairs.org/magazine.
3.  “Socialist Publication Current Affairs Fires Staff for Doing Socialism.” VICE, August 18, 2021. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7bmd7/socialist-publication-current-affairs-fires-staff-for-doing-socialism.
4. Siegal, Tobias. “Guardian Columnist Fired after Controversial Tweet about Israel.” The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com, February 11, 2021. https://www.jpost.com/international/guardian-columnist-loses-job-following-controversial-tweet-about-israel-658577.
5. About Us. Current Affairs https://www.currentaffairs.org/about-us.
6. Help current affairs expand in 2020 by Nathan J. Robinson — kickstarter. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/804992239/help-current-affairs-expand-in-2020.
7. Affairs, Current. “Get More from Current Affairs on Patreon.” Patreon, May 16, 2018. https://www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs.
8.  Current affairs: A colorful political magazine by Nathan J. Robinson — kickstarter. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/804992239/current-affairs-a-colorful-political-magazine.
9.  Robinson, Nathan J. “Unless the Democrats Run Sanders, a Trump Nomination Means a Trump Presidency: Current Affairs.” Current Affairs | Culture & Politics. https://static.currentaffairs.org/2016/02/unless-the-democrats-nominate-sanders-a-trump-nomination-means-a-trump-presidency.
10.  Affairs, Current. “Current Affairs Biweekly News Briefing.” Substack. https://currentaffairs.substack.com/.
11. Suozzo, Andrea, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, and Brandon Roberts. “Current Affairs Inc – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/831675720.
12. Burns, Alexander. “Pete Buttigieg’s Focus: Storytelling First. Policy Details Later.” The New York Times, April 14, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-2020-writing-message.html.
13. Current Affairs. “Michael Moore on the 2020 Election, Trump’s Brain, and What We Can Do Next.” Current Affairs, June 2, 2024. https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2020/11/17106.
14. Current Affairs. “Noam Chomsky on How to Prevent World War III.” Current Affairs, May 30, 2024. https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2022/04/noam-chomsky-on-how-to-prevent-world-war-iii.
15. Nair, Yasmin. “What Really Happened at Current Affairs?” Yasmin Nair, September 16, 2023. https://yasminnair.com/march-what-really-happened-at-current-affairs/.