In Amsterdam, the Left Might Bicycle to Power
After years of organizing outside electoral politics, a new left formation in Amsterdam is running for city council. Its leaders argue that movements don’t need protest alone — they also need power.
20923 Article(s) by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
We’re Thinking About Addiction Entirely Wrong
One of the dominant ways of thinking about addiction is as a disease. While there is evidence for this approach, it often leads to a dismissal of addiction’s social causes, rooted in alienation and purposelessness.
The Generational Split Within Jewish Voters on Zohran Mamdani
If you take a closer look at the data, the generational differences within Jewish New York voters’ embrace of Zohran Mamdani looks a lot like the generational differences within black voters’ embrace of Bernie Sanders in 2016.
Capitalists Want You to Stop Worrying About Climate Change
In The Long Heat, Andreas Malm and Wim Carton take aim at what they call rationalist-optimists — people who naively believe that market solutions can fix the climate crisis. But their sweeping critique runs the risk of abandoning all hope in the future.
AI-Led Growth Conceals an Economy Built on Debt and Inequality
Despite rising inequality, poor job numbers, and Donald Trump’s mass deportations, the economy grew by a remarkable 4.3% last year, mostly thanks to the AI industry. This success masks an economy highly dependent on debt and state subsidies.
No, It’s Not the US’s Hemisphere
Donald Trump speaks of an expanded Monroe Doctrine that asserts US domination across the Americas. Chilean ex-diplomat Jorge Heine told Jacobin about the need for a new nonaligned movement that can resist imperialist claims.
What Brazil’s January 8 Can Teach Us About January 6
In 2021, the January 6 Capitol attack exposed deep connections between the US state and far-right groups. When something similar happened in Brazil in 2023, it prompted a national attempt to reform the government. The US has failed to do the same.
Zohran Mamdani Is Right About the Warmth of Collectivism
The Right had a spectacular meltdown about Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration speech rejecting “rugged individualism” in favor of what he called the “warmth of collectivism.” But Mamdani is right that community is a value worth extolling.
Aijaz Ahmad’s Marxism Challenged India’s Hindutva Regression
Aijaz Ahmad belonged to a generation of South Asian left intellectuals who came of age in the heyday of anti-colonial revolution. He was an uncompromising opponent of the Hindutva right that betrayed the heritage of India’s struggle against colonialism.
Turkey’s Brazil-Style Lawfare Means Harder Authoritarianism
In Brazil, the jailing of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva served a far-right takeover. The Turkish government is following the same playbook as it stifles the opposition.
Bryan Johnson Is Silicon Valley’s Sexless Vampire Future
Bryan Johnson’s sexless brand of “wellness vampirism” is the perfect metaphor for Silicon Valley. It’s a utopian promise of a limitless future disguising a brutal, extractive reality that leaves us all drained.
Digital Robbery Scams Are on the Rise
Financial fraud has exploded in the past few years, with consumers reporting more than $12.5 billion in losses in 2024. President Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda isn’t helping.
Corporations Are Ready to Cash In on Venezuela
Before Donald Trump’s capture of Nicolás Maduro, corporations filed lawsuits against Venezuela seeking damages tied to state nationalization, international sanctions, and political instability. A Trump-installed government could tilt the courts in their favor.
Jessica Mitford Had Every Reason to Side With Power and Refused
Jessica Mitford was born the child of aristocrats and the sister of fascists who celebrated the rise of Adolf Hitler. But she betrayed her class to become a communist, embedding herself in the life of the working class and railing against the powerful.
Trump Has Tried This — and Failed — in Venezuela Before
Nothing about Donald Trump’s brazenly illegal actions against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro suggests that the American ruling class has learned any lessons from US imperial overreach and failure in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Venezuela itself.
America’s Ties to Israel Might Lead It to War With Iran
Donald Trump is once again threatening war with Iran just six months after bombing the Islamic Republic in June. Part of the reason for his hawkishness is his closeness to Israel, whose increasingly reckless actions threaten the whole Middle East.
The US Is a Weakened and Dangerous Empire
The kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro is a crude act of Trumpian aggression. Yet it also illustrates the US leadership’s weakness, as it moves to lock down control of the Western Hemisphere.
Inside Venezuela’s Response to Donald Trump’s Attack
A former Venezuelan diplomat speaks to Jacobin about how the state, military, and popular forces are responding to US military aggression — and what comes next.
Trump’s War on Latin America Must Be Stopped
The attack on Venezuela signals a new phase of US power in Latin America — one defined by coercion, intimidation, and open-ended intervention.
The Fake Antiwar Right Goes to War
Venezuela is only the opening salvo in a blatantly imperial project aimed at crushing the Latin American left.