Christopher Nolan’s Martyrdom of Saint Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer ignores the darker sides of the life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer in order to deliver a crowd-pleasing, blockbuster spectacle.
19064 Articles by: Elizabeth Mahony
Spain’s Far Right Say They’re Rebels — But the Establishment’s Already Accepted Them
A decade ago, Spain was often cited as a rare European country without far-right MPs. But polls for Sunday’s election suggest the Franco-nostalgist Vox party is about to enter national government, after years building its influence over mainstream conservatives.
The Communist International Was a Unique Experiment in Global Politics
No organization in modern history was as transnational in its scope as the early Communist International. The men and women who worked for it had to travel across borders and forget about any kind of settled life as they sought to promote a global revolution.
Striking Hollywood Workers Are Demanding a Cut of Streaming Revenue. They Can Look to Michael Jordan for Precedent.
In Air, Amazon valorizes Michael Jordan’s mother, Deloris, for demanding a continuous cut of Nike’s Air Jordan sales. Now, that same studio is balking at very similar demands of ongoing compensation from its workers.
Hollywood Is on Strike Against High-Tech Exploitation
As both writers and actors are on the picket lines in Hollywood, the stakes couldn’t be higher: Will average entertainment workers be able to eke out a living in an industry awash in cash, or will studio executives use new tech like AI to gobble up all of it?
The CIA Opposes JFK Record Releases Because Each One Is More Damning Than the Last
The latest JFK disclosure is further proof the CIA has lied for decades about its relationship to Lee Harvey Oswald. No wonder it doesn’t want the last of the records to see the light of day.
Wildfires Are Exposing Canada’s Willed Ignorance of the Realities of Climate Change
The self-deception that has plagued Canada’s response to the changing climate should be harder to sustain in the face of this summer’s wildfires. The 2016 Horse River wildfire in Alberta’s tar sands region was a powerful early warning of the current catastrophe.
Pro-DeSantis, Anti-Trump Republicans Have Learned Nothing From 2016
Ron DeSantis’s backers are clinging to the exact same fiction indulged by anti-Trump forces in 2016: that a singularly unconventional opponent can be defeated through blandly conventional means.
Talking About The Sopranos With Michael Brooks
In this previously unpublished conversation, Jacobin’s Ben Burgis and the late socialist podcaster Michael Brooks, who died three years ago today, talk about their shared love for The Sopranos.
Kurds Will Pay the Price for Sweden’s NATO Deal
After months of brinkmanship, NATO chiefs have announced that Sweden will be allowed to join the alliance. The deal rewards Turkish demands for Sweden’s collaboration in its anti-Kurdish repression — and makes a mockery of NATO’s purported stand for freedom.
Why We Need Rent Control
Across the United States, we’re in the middle of a brutal housing crisis. We need rent control to get us out of it.
After Israel’s Jenin Attack, It’s Time to Strengthen the BDS Movement
Israel’s rulers use culture as a propaganda tool while waging war on the cultural life of Palestinian society. The best way to challenge the normalization of Israeli apartheid on every front, including the cultural one, is through boycotts, divestment, and sanctions.
Yes, Israel Is an Apartheid State. That Means It’s a Racist One, Too.
In yet another reality-denying ritual of fealty to the pro-Israel lobby, members of Congress absurdly voted to say Israel was neither an apartheid state nor racist. Only a few progressives, including members of the Squad, stood firm in opposing the measure.
The Left Shouldn’t Get Too Excited About Joe Biden’s “Supply-Side Liberalism”
Pundits have lauded the Biden administration for replacing the free-market consensus with supply-side liberalism. But it is geopolitical tensions with China and labor’s weakness that have made elites feel comfortable with a milquetoast industrial policy.
Cultural Capital Is No Substitute for Cold, Hard Cash
The rich used to eat, dress, and even speak entirely differently from the masses. Today they wear T-shirts and sneakers just like the rest of us. But that doesn’t mean we’re all equal. It only lays bare the real source of inequality: actual money.
Richard Hofstadter’s “The Paranoid Style” Can’t Help Us Now
Sixty years after its publication, it’s time to lay Richard Hofstadter’s “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” to rest. Then as now, the classic essay has almost nothing to say about why conspiracies arise and prosper.
Republicans Are Trying to Block Joe Biden From Declaring a Climate Emergency
Amid extreme heat and wildfires, President Joe Biden could free up disaster relief funds and slash carbon emissions by declaring a climate emergency. But last month, a group of GOP lawmakers introduced a bill to prevent him from making such a declaration.
Keir Starmer Wants to Keep Children in Poverty
Just how far to the right is Keir Starmer willing to drag the Labour Party?
Ireland Should Resist the Pressure to Join the Western Military Bloc
Ireland’s neutrality policy has a complex history, but it has blocked Irish participation in disastrous wars and enabled some positive interventions in world affairs. We should resist pressure to scrap neutrality, whether or not it means formally joining NATO.
AI Is Being Used to Attack the Working Poor
In Australia, automated decision-making technologies have extorted half a million welfare recipients. Despite government recriminations, the use of artificial intelligence to harass workers is only gaining ground.