An Economic Storm Is Going to Devastate Latin America Very Soon
Latin America has always been vulnerable to shocks from the global economy. But there’s no precedent for the COVID-19-induced slump that’s about to engulf the continent.
19148 Articles by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
We Shouldn’t Need GoFundMe to Respond to Catastrophes. We Need a Strong Welfare State.
A telltale sign of a broken society is when medical workers are forced to beg for supplies on GoFundMe and parents have to write compelling stories to convince random people to pay for their kid’s cancer treatment. Instead of crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe, we need a generous welfare state that ensures everyone’s basic needs are met.
Governments and Corporations Have Deemed Immigrant Workers Expendable During the Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a deep contradiction at the heart of the US economy: immigrant labor is more essential than ever, yet immigrant workers continue to be under vicious attack by the government.
Which Way Forward for the Democratic Socialist Left?
What should socialists in the United States do “after Bernie.”
The EU’s Seasonal Farm Workers Are Still Forced to Travel During the Pandemic
Photos of Eastern Europeans flown West to pick strawberries despite the lockdown has focused attention on the plight of the EU’s migrant farm laborers. But as some of these workers told Jacobin, traveling across Europe to make ends meet isn’t new — it’s just much more dangerous now.
Ireland’s Green Party Is Ready to Help the Right Stay in Power
Ireland’s conservative establishment was on the ropes after February’s shock election result. But Leo Varadkar’s caretaker government has exploited the COVID-19 crisis to regain his authority — and is now counting on the Greens to keep the center-right parties in power as a recession looms.
“‘Can People Pay Rent This Month?’ The Consensus Was No”
Millions of people can’t pay rent because of the coronavirus-induced recession. In the absence of government action to help them, many are going on a rent strike. We talked to two Brooklyn rent strikers about why they organized their building to withhold rent and how other renters can do the same.
AMLO and Mexico’s Femicides
Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected on a platform of ending corruption and fighting inequality. But he hasn’t made ending the rampant violence against women in Mexico enough of a priority since taking office.
Celebrating War Criminal George W. Bush to “Own” Donald Trump
George W. Bush and Donald Trump are both monsters. If you want to criticize Trump — which I encourage — find a way to do it without touting or pining for a war criminal.
Arab Workers and the Struggle for Democracy
Since 2011, Arab labor organizations and left parties have been central to movements for democracy and social justice in the Middle East. Frequently overlooked in Western media coverage, from Egypt and Tunisia to Algeria and Sudan, they’ve carried on this fight against tremendous odds.
“Bolivia’s Postcoup Regime Did Nothing to Stop the Virus”
Six months after the coup in Bolivia, Luis Arce is presidential candidate for Evo Morales’s MAS. Oliver Vargas interviewed him about the postcoup regime, its handling of coronavirus, and what the delayed election means for the Left’s chances of returning to power.
Fighting COVID-19 Is Not an Excuse for Attacking Civil Liberties
We should use digital technology to fight the coronavirus and keep people safe. But that doesn’t mean we should accept ruling elites or private companies wantonly trampling on our civil liberties.
New Zealand’s Coronavirus Response Isn’t as Great as It Seems
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has been praised around the world for her response to coronavirus. But while Ardern’s response has been much more coherent and competent than, say, Donald Trump’s, its economic protections for the country’s workers are nowhere near enough.
In Colorado, Democrats Are Listening to Health Industry Lobbyists and Killing the Public Option
Colorado Democrats said they were going to pass a public option this year. And then they gave into health care industry propaganda and lobbying.
America’s Federalist Dysfunction Isn’t Going Away
Instead of prompting the coordinated, national response that’s needed, this pandemic is exacerbating one of the most destructive and enduring themes of US political life: the sectional conflict between states, and between town and country. Progress in battling coronavirus will continue to be hamstrung by our dysfunctional federalist system.
Delivering Food in a Pandemic
On Monday, Italy began to ease COVID-19 restrictions, with more than 4 million returning to work. But some, like delivery workers, never stopped working — nor organizing for labor rights in an industry deemed “essential” and putting workers at serious health risk.
Conditions in US Meatpacking Plants Today Aren’t Much Better Than They Were in The Jungle
Decades after Upton Sinclair exposed the horrors of meatpacking, radical labor organizing transformed the industry into a bastion of worker power. Now, a century later, after decades of union-busting and the coronavirus decimating workers throughout the industry, the meatpacking industry is back to The Jungle.
No, Immigration Is Not Driving Down Wages in Australia
The Australian Labor Party’s Kristina Keneally is using the lockdown to call for a reduction in immigration once borders reopen, citing the nativist trope that migrant workers are driving down wages. But it’s not immigrants that have driven down Australian workers’ wages — it’s the Labor Party’s own history of neoliberal policies.
When the ACLU Betrayed Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and the Left
Eighty years ago today, the leadership of the ACLU voted to expel labor radical and founding member Elizabeth Gurley Flynn for her Communist Party membership. It was a stunning capitulation to red-baiting — and a reminder that liberal-radical alliances are often a tenuous thing.
On VE Day, French Colonists Launched a Massacre in Algeria
May 8, 1945 brought the end of World War II in Europe and the final liberation of German-occupied territories. But the creed of restored national independence wasn’t extended to Africa — and that same day, French colonial forces launched a wave of repression in Algeria that killed thousands.