Frances Abele CM is Distinguished Research Professor and Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy Emerita at Carleton University. She is a research fellow at the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation and the Broadbent Institute. Much of her work focuses on indigenous-Canada relations.
The promise of US federalism is that states will be “laboratories of democracy,” more responsive and more innovative than the federal government. The reality is that states are more often laboratories of authoritarianism, dominated by the rich and powerful.
Citizen lawmaking through ballot initiatives is becoming an increasingly critical tool to counter minority rule and pass progressive policies. But Republican-led states are moving aggressively to make the ballot initiative process harder to use.
Many thought that, with the end of the Cold War, the world had seen the last of big-power nuclear brinksmanship. But the Ukraine crisis has revealed that leaders have forgotten the lessons of that era.
For years, Puerto Rico has endured a ruthless campaign of austerity and privatization, including a corporate takeover of its once-public power grid. The result: nearly a quarter-million people have been without power for over two weeks since Hurricane Fiona.
Leader of Britain’s RMT railworkers’ union Mick Lynch has become the most prominent face of the fight against the ruling Tories. He talked to Jacobin about his socialism and republicanism and how class politics can build a broad front against all inequalities.
Kindergarten teacher Tyler Dupuis went on strike with Oakland teachers in 2019 and Seattle teachers this fall. It’s not a coincidence that Oakland won more than Seattle: when it comes to strikes, militancy and member mobilization get the goods.
Students at over 50 schools across 30 states are walking out of class this week for abortion rights.
Alfred Adler was ahead of his time in centering what he called “social interest” in his psychological theories. His approach sought to combat shame and alienation and encourage concern for the common good — a psychological application of his socialist values.
Protests in Iran have erupted following the death of a young Kurdish woman for “inappropriate dress” — laying bare not only the theocratic brutality of Iran’s government but the Iranian state’s historic repression of the Kurdish people.
In liberal Massachusetts, you don’t have to convince many people that climate change is real — it’s for-profit utility companies that are creating a major barrier to climate action.
As Russian men fled after Vladimir Putin’s draft announcement, Latvia closed its border with Russia, and Finland said it was tightening its visa policy. Those choosing not to fight need to be celebrated, not shunned.
In May 1980, pro-democracy protesters mobilized in the South Korean city of Gwangju. The US-backed military dictatorship responded with bloody repression, but the legacy of the Gwangju Uprising was vital for the democratization of Korean politics.
Being a parent in privatized America, where you’re basically on your own, has never been easy. Since COVID, things have gotten even worse — but it doesn’t have to be this way. More social democratic policies can relieve the strain underlying parents’ rage.
Iran has exploded in protest following the death of Jîna (Mahsa) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman detained by “morality police.” We spoke with an Iranian leftist about the mass mobilization and why Western meddling undermines the cause of Iranian democracy.
Canada’s New Democratic Party, which was founded as a democratic socialist organization, is currently little more than the ruling Liberal Party’s “conscience.” It’s time the NDP changed course and finally recommitted itself to socialist politics.
A recently unearthed conversation between Barack Obama and reporters, held days before Donald Trump took office, reveals an outgoing president unable to let go of his allegiance to the “norms”-venerating, elite-driven politics that doomed his presidency.
The water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, wasn’t the product of government mismanagement. It was the result of Wall Street jacking up the city’s interest rates, which left residents with decaying infrastructure that couldn’t even deliver clean water.
Joe Biden campaigned on decriminalizing marijuana but has done nothing about it while in office. He has the power to stop the senseless persecution of weed — he should use it immediately.
Cattle barons carved up Texas with barbed wire in the late 19th century, separating poor farmers and landless cowboys from vital resources for their struggling cattle herds. So the cowboys formed fence-cutting gangs to preserve the open range.
In the early 1980s, Jon Melrod worked in a Wisconsin auto plant and published a shop-floor newspaper, Fighting Times. When the company sued him and his coworkers for denouncing a “scab of the month” in the paper, the rank and filers fought back — and won.