Crises Have a Way of Accelerating History
Crises like the one we’re in upend the social order, reveal long-festering conflicts, and throw open the doors to futures both bleak and transformative. We can emerge from this crisis a more just society.
20406 Article(s) by: Enver Motala
Enver Motala is an associate of the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation (CERT) at the University of Johannesburg and of the Centre for Integrated Post-School Education and Training at the Nelson Mandela University.
Chaos on the Front Line
For decades, America’s hospitals have been underfunded and understaffed in the name of efficiency. An examination of conditions at one public hospital in Oakland show us how unprepared this austerity-starved health care system is for what’s to come.
Canada’s Coronavirus Response Shows Why We Need Medicare for All to Fight This Pandemic
A single-payer system in the United States would have meant a more coordinated public health response to coronavirus crises and free and universal health care to all those who need it, like Canadians have received. Instead, our response has been patchwork, uncoordinated, and insufficient — putting millions of lives unnecessarily at risk.
Workers Are More Valuable Than CEOs
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed a simple fact: it’s low-wage workers like cleaners, cashiers, and care workers who make our society run — not bankers, landlords, or CEOs.
Emmanuel Macron’s Shock Doctrine
For years, Emmanuel Macron has worked to get rid of the 35-hour workweek and worker protections from unfair dismissal. Today, his government is using the coronavirus lockdown as a pretext to push ahead with this agenda — and allow bosses to unilaterally undermine labor conditions.
Nationalize the Airlines
The airline industry will not survive the coronavirus. Now is the time to nationalize it — and use this moment to chart a course to a low-carbon future.
In the Middle of a Pandemic, the Australian State Is Pummeling Workers
Australian workers need an economic bailout to save them from a coronavirus-induced depression. Instead, Scott Morrison’s right-wing government is using the state to attack unions and shovel money to corporations.
We’re Launching a Video Education Series This Week
Our new political education series, Stay at Home, launches this Thursday at 6 PM EST on our YouTube channel, with special guest Mike Davis.
Sanctions Against Iran at a Time of Global Pandemic Are Criminal
Even before the coronavirus, the United States’ sanctions against Iran were unconscionable. But now, with one person dying of coronavirus every ten minutes in Iran, the sanctions are killing untold numbers of people. They must end now.
Bernie Sanders Should Retool His Campaign to Lead the Charge Against Coronavirus
Bernie Sanders can’t continue campaigning as usual, and he certainly can’t drop out of the race. We desperately need Bernie to retool his entire operation to demand a robust government response to the coronavirus — a response the Democratic Party will never spearhead themselves.
Socialism for Corporations. Brutal Capitalism for Everyone Else.
Before we hand over billions and possibly trillions of dollars to corporations that have proven time and again that they value profits above all else, we should take a pause. There is time to put people first.
Boris Johnson’s Contradictory Coronavirus Response Is Cowardly and Will Result in Mass Deaths
Boris Johnson has always fantasized about being his generation’s Winston Churchill. With his destructive bungling of the response to the coronavirus crisis, he is shaping up to be the British George W. Bush.
Empty the Jails Now
Jails and prisons will inevitably prolong the COVID–19 outbreak and increase the rate of infection. Any rational response to the crisis must include a coordinated national effort to get as many people out of jail as possible — fast.
The Rise of the Party of Death
As the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies, our ruling classes are coming to the conclusion that in the contest between loss of profit and loss of life, they choose death.
Why Did Joe Biden Disappear Right as the Coronavirus Pandemic Exploded?
Joe Biden just abdicated national leadership by disappearing for a week in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. According to mainstream media, it’s no big deal.
The Crisis Is Only Going to Get Worse for Workers
Labour MP Navendu Mishra spoke to Jacobin about the UK government’s feeble response to coronavirus — and why workers with precarious income and housing need help now
Cuba’s Coronavirus Response Is Putting Other Countries to Shame
Cuba is caricatured by the Right as a totalitarian hellhole. But its response to the coronavirus pandemic — from sending doctors to other countries to pioneering anti-viral treatments to converting factories into mask-making machines — is putting other countries, even rich countries, to shame.
Trump and Wall Street Want to Send Us Back to Work. They Don’t Care If We Die of Coronavirus.
Because self-isolation hurts corporate profits, billionaires are calling to end the too-limited public health measures taken so far by the US government. Unless we take action, Trump might heed their advice — and enormous numbers of people could die as a result.
Nursing Home Worker: “Everything About This Is Designed for Disaster”
Some of the first US cases of coronavirus came from Washington nursing homes. We spoke to a nursing home worker and in-home care worker in the state about what it’s like providing care in the midst of a pandemic, and the brutal low-wage working conditions, worker shortages, and lack of decent health care that can only worsen the crisis.
When the State Steps in to Save Profit
Faced with another global recession, many governments are responding with even stronger state interventions than they did in the 2008 financial crisis. But stimulus packages to prop up businesses must also pose the question of public control — not just bailing out corporations, but repurposing their operations to confront the disasters ahead of us.