Christopher J. Lee has written or edited fourteen books on decolonization, global history, and the South African left. He recently organized the republication of Ruth First’s The Barrel of a Gun: Political Power in Africa and the Coup d’État.
South Africa’s racist regime murdered Ruth First, one of the leading activist-intellectuals of the anti-apartheid movement. First’s creative Marxist work on postcolonial Africa has outlived her assassins and is reaching a new audience today.
In his latest work, Slow Poison, Mahmood Mamdani grapples with Uganda’s decades of authoritarian rule. The book examines the politics of purification and violent exclusion at the heart of fascism in the postcolonial context.
Kim Gordon’s songwriting with Sonic Youth sought to create a space of subversion between art and politics. Her solo LPs move away from such a project: not out of resignation, but because of the difficulty in creating such a space in today’s hyperpolitics.
Emily Witt’s memoir begins with the Brooklyn and Berlin underground rave scenes and the appeal of subcultural escapism. What follows is a reckoning with the social conflicts of the present and journalists’ role in a time of rising authoritarianism.
English rock group Oasis has always been a populist contradiction, rooted both in working-class culture and the individualism of post-Thatcherite Britain. But while other bands become more political, Oasis’s comeback tour offers only escapist nostalgia.
Best known as lead vocalist of Galaxie 500, Dean Wareham has a new solo album. He spoke to Jacobin about what it means for music to be political in times when it’s hard to watch the news.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference that brought together delegates from African and Asian countries as they were breaking free from colonial rule. Bandung became a touchstone for solidarity across the Global South.
Pavement, one of the most celebrated indie rock bands of the 1990s, grappled with the challenge of making a living from music without slotting into the corporate machine. A new documentary recreates the group’s spirit for a very different cultural age.
The album NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD by Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a statement on political art in wartime. Its aim is to speak to our collective horror when faced with a genocide streamed in real time.
Thurston Moore was a founding member of Sonic Youth and is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He spoke to Jacobin about his life in the industry and the power of music to express ideas.
Indie rock legend Steve Albini, who died on Tuesday, knew his industry as a musician, critic, and recording engineer. His rebellion against corporate labels was rooted in a deeply held philosophy: that every musician is a worker.
Class rage informs the anger found across Nirvana’s studio albums. Thirty years after Kurt Cobain’s death, we should remember his critique of the corporate mainstream — a political stance shaped by his working-class background.
Since her days as a founding member of avant-pop band Stereolab, Lætitia Sadier’s music has engaged with everything from world-systems analysis to the surrealists. In an interview with Jacobin, she explains why she’s a radical but not a savior.
For four decades, Billy Bragg’s music has been a soundtrack to the British workers’ movement, enriching its long tradition of political songwriting. In an interview with Jacobin, he explains why his songs about socialism are also love songs.