A new book by the journalist James Marriott purports to explain the decline of literacy. Instead, it offers a narrow defense of elite culture that that pays next to no attention to the role these elites have played in destroying the culture they are now mourn.
Greece’s Neo-Nazis Are Back
In 2020, Greek courts condemned neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn as a criminal organization. After six years in jail, its former deputy leader Ilias Kasidiaris is making a political comeback, in conditions that favor his party’s rise.
A Union Feud Shouldn’t Sink California’s Billionaire Tax
Part of California’s labor movement wants to tax billionaires to save health care for 15 million Californians. Another part, close to Gov. Gavin Newsom, doesn’t — and is promoting suspiciously timed charges of abuse about a pro-tax union leader.
Saudi Arabia’s Yemen Strategy Has Fallen to Pieces
Saudi Arabia has spent years trying to build up its Yemeni allies against its main opponent, Ansar Allah. Ansar Allah’s sudden military offensive over the last few weeks shows that this project has been a failure, despite all the money spent on it.
Europe’s Far Right Kisses the Ring
Having long boasted about putting their own countries’ interests first, Europe’s far-right parties are now slavishly supporting the latest US-Israeli war. While they opt for vassalage, antiwar forces have turned out to be the real defenders of sovereignty.
Is Trump Crashing the Dollar Empire?
Economist Mona Ali on how the United States wields the world’s most powerful currency to shore up empire and its own ruling class — and how Trump’s careless moves might blow it all up.
The real choice is not between globalization and deglobalization, free trade and tariff walls, but between empowering capital and empowering workers.
The First Walmart Union Contract in North America
At a Walmart distribution center in Mississauga, Ontario, workers have made history by winning the first-ever union contract with the logistics giant in North America. Their fight has meant pay raises for the company’s workers across Canada.
Greed and Economic Desperation Are Fueling Sudan’s Civil War
The militias wreaking havoc in Sudan also profit from plunder and can pay their recruits a wage much higher than any civilian job available to them. This simple calculation is one of the most important factors behind the country’s horrifying war.
AI Destruction Isn’t Hypothetical. It’s Already Here.
We don’t need to wait around for a potential artificial intelligence catastrophe sometime down the road. We can already see the havoc it’s wreaking across our society right now.
History Is Back. Fukuyama Is Neither Surprised nor Thrilled.
It is fashionable to mock Francis Fukuyama as an uncritical celebrant of neoliberal capitalism. But The End of History offered a powerful analysis of the origins of right-wing populism that has proved prescient in the Donald Trump era.
Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Empire became a campus sensation because it offered a master theory for globalization at a moment when old Marxist categories seemed exhausted. But the capitalist internationalism they saw as permanent has now crashed and burned.
The Iran War Is Starving India
For migrant workers in India, supply shocks from Trump’s folly in the Strait of Hormuz are causing hunger.
The Rising Left Can’t Ignore Labor’s Ongoing Crisis
Working people in America are facing a crisis of living standards, Sam Gindin argues, but this has not translated into a crisis for the capitalist system. To challenge ruling class power, the Left still needs to sink deeper roots into the labor movement.
A New Leader Wants to Move Bulgaria Left
Bulgaria’s Socialist Party survived the end of communism, but in more recent years its neoliberal record and nationalist postures drove it toward defeat. New leader Krum Zarkov told Jacobin how he plans to turn the party toward a renewed socialism.
Socialists Should Be Champions of Government Efficiency
The Right has long owned ideas of government efficiency and cutting red tape, using them to carry out austerity. With the Commission on Government Efficiency (yes, COGE), Zohran Mamdani is attempting to claim the cause of good government for the Left.