The Coming Pandemic-Induced Eviction Crisis
If federal unemployment benefits are not extended when they expire next month, millions of households will be facing both steep rent and unemployment with no assistance. And that means mass evictions.
19148 Articles by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
Patrice Lumumba on the Congo’s Independence: “Our Wounds Are Too Fresh and Too Painful”
Sixty years ago today, Patrice Lumumba marked the independence of the Congo with a blistering indictment of Belgian colonial rule. For the governments of Belgium and the United States, the speech made Lumumba a marked man: within a year, he was dead at the hands of their proxies.
The US Public Paid to Develop This COVID-19 Drug. It Will Cost $3,000 a Dose.
The American public helped pay for the development of remdesivir, a COVID-19 drug. That same American public will now be charged $3,000 for a treatment — a treatment that experts say costs less than $10 to produce.
The Occupation at New York City Hall Has One Demand: Cut the NYPD Budget
Seeking to maintain the momentum of the George Floyd protests, activists have launched an occupation outside City Hall in New York to demand a $1 billion cut in the NYPD budget. So far, there’s little sign that the city council or Mayor Bill de Blasio are prepared to give in.
Trump’s Record on Foreign Policy: Lost Wars, New Conflicts, and Broken Promises
Donald Trump claims he’s ending the “era of endless wars.” But over the course of his first term, he has come closer to starting new wars than ending the wars he inherited.
How the Global Financial System Is Hobbling South America’s Response to COVID-19
Argentina’s public health response to COVID-19 was far better than Jair Bolsonaro’s disastrous mismanagement in Brazil. Yet as the two countries seek to rebuild, both are enfeebled by their subordinate place in the global financial system, a subordination that is threatening to turn today’s shock into a protracted crisis.
Sheila Rowbotham on E. P. Thompson, Feminism, and the 1960s
In an interview, longtime socialist-feminist historian Sheila Rowbotham reflects on her decades on the Left, grappling with the reality of being a socialist from the middle class, and E. P. and Dorothy Thompson and the classic book The Making of the English Working Class.
The Many Explosions of Los Angeles in the 1960s
Mike Davis and Jon Wiener’s chronicle of Los Angeles in the 1960s, Set the Night on Fire, isn’t just a stunning portrait of a city in upheaval half a century ago. It’s a history of uprisings for civil rights, against poverty, and for a better world that speaks directly to our current moment of mass protest.
Donald Trump Is a Very Dumb Man
John Bolton’s absurd, self-aggrandizing new book reveals a shocking secret: Donald Trump knows next to nothing about Africa. The continent is better off without his ignorant meddling.
The Trump Administration Wants Workers to Foot the Bill for Going Back to Work
Always on the cutting edge of innovation, the Trump administration has found a new way to enrich health insurance companies and screw workers in the middle of a pandemic: declaring that health insurance companies are not required to cover the costs of COVID-19 testing for workers returning to work.
Apologizing for Solidarity with the Palestinians Has Only Fed the Smears Against the Labour Left
Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader in 2015 as a veteran anti-war activist, only to have to spend the next five years apologizing for his supposed “racist allies” and “terrorist links.” The sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey shows how the space to criticize Israel has narrowed — but also how the Left has failed to defend its own right to call out injustice.
When Communism Met Black Anti-Colonialism in Interwar France
In post–World War I Paris, wounded Senegalese veteran Lamine Senghor used his experience to denounce the evils of imperialism. A militant in the French Communist Party, he married working-class politics with a consistent anti-racism — putting the unity of the colonized peoples at the heart of the fight against oppression and injustice.
Brazilian Democracy Is at a Stalemate
With Jair Bolsonaro at the helm, Brazil’s democracy is in crisis. Veteran of the Brazilian left and the armed struggle against the dictatorship, and a principal strategist of the Workers’ Party, José “Zé” Dirceu spoke to Jacobin about the need for a broad front coalition to defeat Bolsonarismo.
How South Korea’s Pro-Democracy Movement Fought to Ban “Murderous Tear Gas”
In 1980s South Korea, hundreds of protesters were maimed and blinded by tear gas grenades fired by police. But the demand to stop the state’s use of tear gas soon itself became the focus of protests — a fight against police brutality which rallied millions of South Koreans behind the pro-democracy movement.
Defund the Police. Then Soak the Rich.
We absolutely need to defund the police and put the money in social services. To attack inequality and invest in poor and working-class neighborhoods of color, we need a massive increase in public spending. That means wresting resources from the rich.
Franco’s Stooges Still Dominate the Spanish Economy
Four decades since Spain’s transition to democracy, nostalgists for the Franco era are sharply resisting calls to topple its monuments and recognize its victims. Their fight to control historical memory isn’t just a “culture war” — it’s a bid to defend the power of businesses that profited from the fascist regime.
In Grenoble, a Green Mayor Is Uniting the Left
One likely bright spot in today’s French elections is Grenoble, where incumbent mayor Éric Piolle is set to romp to a second term. Head of a list backed by Greens, La France Insoumise, and the Communists, he told us how he is uniting the Left — and why he thinks city halls can provide a different way of doing politics.
The CARES Act Is Subsidizing Fossil Capital
Fossil fuel companies are once again receiving a bailout bonanza of COVID-19 stimulus money. Money that could go to helping workers is propping up the agents of climate change.
Aboriginal Deaths in Police Custody Are Fueling an Australian Black Lives Matter Movement
There have been huge turnouts for Black Lives Matter protests in every major city in Australia. Organized in solidarity with demonstrations in the US, they’re fueled by racist policing at home and the staggering rate of Aboriginal deaths in police custody.
Socialists and Super PACs
Socialists need to understand the class antagonisms and nuances of campaign finance law.