Voting Rights Alone Will Not Save the Democrats
Expanding voting rights without expanding economic rights, as the Democrats are now attempting to do, won’t save American democracy and won’t save the party from collapse.
19517 Articles by: Frances Abele
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.
When Public Transit Workers Ground New York City to a Halt
In 1966, New York City public transit workers went on strike for a better contract, paralyzing the life of the city. The strike showed that New York couldn’t function without their labor and forced reluctant bosses to concede to their demands.
More Than 8,000 King Soopers Workers Are on Week Two of Their Strike
A strike by over 8,000 workers at Kroger-owned stores in Colorado is entering week two. The company has won a restraining order against its employees, limiting the number of workers who picket on company premises — a tried-and-true method of breaking a strike.
The Bronx Apartment Fire Was a Product of New York’s Out-of-Control Housing Market
The Bronx apartment fire that recently killed 17 people was a devastating tragedy. It is also the entirely predictable outcome of a housing market that forces tenants to grovel for basic repairs while landlords rule as something close to kings.
Alabama Amazon Workers Are About to Rerun Their Union Election
A year ago, all eyes were on the unionization election at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, where illegal union suppression tactics by Amazon helped sink the drive. Thanks to a court order, that vote is about to be rerun.
Kenyan Police Have Killed Hundreds During the Pandemic. Yassin Moyo Was One of Them.
Nairobi, Kenya’s police took the COVID-19 lockdown as an opportunity to increase violent harassment of the city’s citizens. Since 2020, police have killed more than 326 people. Among them: 13-year-old Yassin Moyo.
In Romania, Hard-Won Abortion Rights Are Being Systematically Undermined
In 1989, Romania finally dropped its infamous policy banning all forms of birth control. But today, many women are finding it impossible to get an abortion, faced with a systematic right-wing assault against reproductive rights.
Property Developers Have No Place in Local Government
In the UK, local governments are constantly agreeing to sleazy deals to provide hyperprofitable contracts to property developers. The only solution: ban developers and their lobbyists from councils.
Manchin and Sinema Defend the Filibuster Because the Filibuster Defends Corporate Power
The filibuster is not about democratic checks or minority rights. The filibuster is about giving corporations veto power over the economy — which is why Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema defend it.
The US Has a Homegrown Model for a Better Health Care System
The National Health Service Corps has been placing primary care providers in working-class communities since 1972, though few have heard of it. We need to not only scale up the program but consider it a model for a health care system that puts people over profit.
“Democratic Socialism Is About Building a Just Society”
Jessica Mason is a Navy veteran and socialist running for Congress in Texas. In an interview with Jacobin, she discusses the importance of unions, her time in the military, and why both parties “demonize democratic socialism because they are scared of it.”
Mining Companies and the EU Want Serbia’s Lithium
In December, mass protests halted the mining company Rio Tinto’s plan to construct a lithium mine in Serbia, defeating the country’s right-wing government and the EU. The Left needs to fight for an alternative to environmentally destructive neoliberalism.
Unfortunately, There Was No “Striketober”
Everyone is desperate for signs of life in the American working class, so the breathless talk of a “Striketober” a few months back made sense. But new Bureau of Labor Statistics data throws cold water on that idea: there was no strike upsurge.
Michal Kalecki and the Politics of Full Employment
Polish economist Michal Kalecki is often linked with the “Keynesian revolution,” but Kalecki’s view of capitalism was much more radical than Keynes’s. His ideas are a vital tool for understanding how the system works, and how it might be overcome.
How Frantz Fanon Was Transformed by the Algerian Revolution
There was nothing abstract about Frantz Fanon’s political vision for the Global South: it was forged in the Algerian liberation struggle. Fanon’s role in that struggle convinced him that national independence would be hollow without social revolution.
Stop Using “Europeanism” to Undermine Workers’ Rights
Plans for closer ties between Switzerland and the European Union threatened a bonfire of Swiss labor law. Liberals attacked trade unions for holding up the talks — but organized labor was right to prioritize workers’ rights above the European project.
Bring Patrice Lumumba Home
Congolese anti-colonial leader Patrice Lumumba was assassinated 61 years ago today. The Belgium government still hasn’t returned his remains to his family and nation.
Early Soviet Art and Architecture Thrived Out of the Ruins of War
In the 1920s, Soviet artists and architects were inspired by grand visions of a new society. But years of civil war tumult had left the country’s productive capacity in ruins. So they made do with little — and a new aesthetic was born.
The Socialist Politics and Theology of Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich was perhaps the most towering Christian theologian of the 20th century. His religious thought is well remembered today — but his resolutely socialist thinking and agitating is not.
The Private Sector Will Destroy the NHS, Not Save It
Some in the Labour Party support using the private sector to bring down NHS waiting lists. But private health care is about putting profit over helping patients — not saving a public health system.