In his attempts to reshape the federal workforce, Donald Trump is drawing on the American tradition of treating workers’ employment as completely subject to their bosses’ whims.
Immanuel Wallerstein and the Life and Death of Capitalism
Immanuel Wallerstein was convinced that the capitalist system would end within the next few decades and would either be replaced by a more regressive world-system or a more democratic and egalitarian one. In his view, the odds were 50-50 each way.
From Zionist Myths to Humanist Ethics
In his latest book, Peter Beinart calls on American Jews to see the horrors of Gaza and abandon blind Zionism in favor of a justice-driven Jewish identity. Blending biblical critique with political observations, it rethinks the meaning of Jewishness today.
Colombia’s Receding Coastline
In Colombia, coastal erosion caused by a combination of climate change and environmentally destructive industrial agriculture is displacing the country’s poorest citizens. But the scale of the disaster means that it has no easy solutions.
Wolfgang Streeck: “Global Governance” Is a Pipe Dream
Wolfgang Streeck’s new book Taking Back Control? argues that the neoliberal era of free trade and trickle-down rhetoric lies in the past. He spoke to Jacobin about the political shocks this might bring.
The sudden collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s decades-long rule after December’s lightning rebel offensive has left a sense of cautious hope among Syria’s youth. Our reporter traveled to Damascus to document their hopes and fears.
AI Is Here to Stay. Who’s Steering the Ship?
From the smokestacks of the Industrial Revolution to today’s neural nets, technology has always been a double-edged sword that carries the promise of liberation for workers. But cashing in on that promise requires control over how technology is deployed.
If This Isn’t Corruption, Nothing Is
Donald Trump once told voters he was fighting a corrupt political system. With Elon Musk operating with impunity throughout the federal government, Trump has taken political corruption to new and unprecedented lengths.
A Key Opportunity to Check Trump: Stopping Medicaid Cuts
Defeating the GOP’s proposed Medicaid cuts, which will then fund huge tax cuts for the rich, is an urgent priority. It’s a chance to reestablish the popularity of the welfare state in American politics and hand Donald Trump and Elon Musk a much-needed defeat.
Elon Musk Is a Mouthpiece for South Africa’s White Far Right
Elon Musk’s claim that South Africa’s land expropriation laws are part of a broader attack on the country’s white minority is divorced from reality. But it represents South African elites’ inability to understand the class tensions that define their nation.
A Jacobin investigation reveals how Iraq’s southern marshes, the birthplace of early civilization, face ruin from environmental and political mismanagement. As the water disappears, so too does a 5,000-year-old culture.
Federal Workers Can Defeat Elon Musk’s Coup. Here’s How.
Elon Musk would like you to think he is invincible right now. But the world’s richest man is actually extremely vulnerable to public pressure at the moment — public pressure that federal workers and their unions can take advantage of.
Saudi Arabia Is Still One of the Most Repressive Countries
Pundits like Thomas Friedman claimed that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman was a reformer committed to liberalization. In reality, the Saudi kingdom remains unflinchingly authoritarian, combining traditional and ultramodern repressive techniques.
The Improbable Resurgence of Die Linke
A burst of enthusiasm among the membership has given Germany’s socialist party Die Linke what might be its last chance at renewal. But becoming a party of the working class will take a lot more than a last-minute turnaround at the polls.
The Left Needs Its “Schools of Enlightenment and Revolution”
Throughout the entire history of left-wing and working-class organizing in the United States, the participation in and building of institutions of political education has been key.