There’s Absolutely No Good Argument for Keeping the Death Penalty
Virginia recently became the first Southern state to abolish the death penalty. That’s a good step — we should end the barbaric punishment everywhere else too.
19140 Articles by: Gezi Platform NYC
Gezi Platform NYC is an alliance of activists that engage in actions to support public protests in Turkey.
Rahm Emanuel Wants Big Carve-Outs to a $15 Minimum Wage
Rahm Emanuel recently argued that states should be able to opt out of a $15 minimum wage. He’s being rewarded for it with a keynote speaking slot at an event organized by the National Restaurant Association, one of the key opponents of a minimum wage hike. Why won’t Rahm go away?
Justice League’s Snyder Cut Is Here. And It’s Still Bad.
After a long internet campaign demanding its release, HBO Max has unleashed Zack Snyder’s Justice League on the world. But it’s four hours of tedious superhero melodrama you’ll never get back.
Solitary Confinement Is Torture, And It Should Be Banned Everywhere
New York’s HALT Solitary Act ends long-term solitary confinement. It’s not enough, but it’s a step against a torturous and inhumane practice. No one should be subjected to solitary confinement, anywhere, for any length of time.
Bolivia’s Coup Plotters Will Finally Face Court for Their Campaign of Terror
When Jeanine Áñez claimed the presidency following the 2019 coup in Bolivia, she unleashed a campaign of terror in a bid to maintain power and stifle dissent. With the Movement Toward Socialism now back in office after last year’s democratic elections, the government is finally taking the “interim” president and her closest associates to court.
Socialist Elected Officials Are Changing the Way New York State Politics Are Done
Emily Gallagher is New York’s state assembly member for the fiftieth district and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. In an interview with Jacobin, Gallagher discusses how socialists led the way on calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s removal from office, the current state budget fights, and how DSA electeds are crafting a new, leftist approach to governance.
The Indonesian Left Is Stuck in an Anti-Communist Hangover
Little noticed in the West, the past two years have witnessed the largest protest wave in decades against Indonesia’s increasingly authoritarian crony-capitalist government. But activists are still mentally stuck in the 1990s, deploying depoliticized concepts like “civil society” and “moral force,” and resorting to ill-conceived methods of resistance that have left the movement in a rut and unable to realize its radical potential.
The Self-Determination Act Could Finally End US Colonization of Puerto Rico
For more than 120 years, the US has colonized Puerto Rico. But a new bill cosponsored by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would finally give Puerto Ricans the chance to decide their political relationship with the United States — and recognize their right to self-determination.
The Subminimum Tipped Wage for Restaurant Workers Guarantees On-the-Job Harassment
A recent survey of restaurant workers confirms what insiders know: that the industry has the highest rate of sexual harassment, and a reliance on tips exacerbates the problem. Eliminating the tipped wage would go a long way to fixing the problem.
Canada Needs Dental Care for All
Canada desperately needs to expand its public health coverage to include dental care for all — and the NDP can lead the fight for it.
Scottish Independence Is About Ordinary Scots, Not Alex Salmond’s Ego
Ahead of May’s Scottish elections, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon finds herself embroiled in an intense row with her predecessor Alex Salmond, who last week formed his own separate party. The clash between the two is sure to dominate the election campaign — but it’s also a distraction from the democratic issues at the heart of the independence movement.
The British Monarchy Will Not Survive Late Capitalism — And Harry and Meghan Are Proof
The spectacle of Harry and Meghan’s reinvention as a standard-issue, new money California couple shows that the British monarchy’s ability to resist the cultural demands of late capitalism is reaching a breaking point.
We Obtained New FBI Documents on How and Why Fred Hampton Was Murdered
FBI files related to the 1969 murder of Fred Hampton, newly obtained by Jacobin, shed light on two key aspects of the bureau’s anti–Black Panthers operation: one, FBI informant William O’Neal was more vital — beyond helping murder Hampton — than previously understood. Two, sabotaging the Panthers’ ability to work with other organizations was an explicit FBI goal.
Winning Medicare for All Would Have Massive Implications Beyond Health Care
A Medicare for All system would benefit almost everyone in America — except health care profiteers. The only way to overcome their opposition is to build a mass movement that’s large enough and powerful enough to defeat them.
The Right Wing of the Democratic Party Is Playing Hardball. The Left Wing Is Not.
Conservatives in the Democratic Party are willing to go to the mat for the rich, to the point of threatening to take down Joe Biden’s infrastructure and climate plan. But the left wing of the party has not yet been willing to play the same kind of hardball for the working class.
How Tunisia’s Women Communists Challenged the Colonial Order
Tunisia under French colonial rule was deeply undemocratic, with a social order built on formalized racial categories and the near exclusion of women from public life. But women Communists refused to accept a merely subordinate role — and built the only organizations that united Tunisians across the official racial divides.
Herbert Marcuse and the Student Revolts of 1968: An Unpublished Lecture
German philosopher Herbert Marcuse was a leading source of inspiration for the New Left in Europe and the US during the 1960s. In this lecture from May 1968, never previously published in full, he discusses the student revolts in Paris and Berlin with an audience in San Diego.
The Boat Stuck in the Suez Canal Shut Down Global Commerce. So Could Organized Workers.
The story of the boat lodged in the Suez Canal spurred countless memes and dominated headlines for days. It also dramatized the reality that seemingly magical global supply chains are based on real equipment and real workers — and more often than not, drudgery and worker exploitation.
Andrew Cuomo Is Still Blocking Hundreds of Thousands of New York Workers From Receiving COVID-19 Relief
Even as New York bore the brunt of the pandemic in its early days, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers were excluded from state COVID-19 relief programs because of their immigration status or incarceration. Now a coalition of organizations is demanding a $3.5 billion fund to help the excluded — but New York’s scandal-plagued governor, Andrew Cuomo, stands in their way.
Amazon Really Doesn’t Want to Reveal Its COVID-19 Protection Measures for Workers
Federal investigators have seen a spike in complaints by Amazon workers about the company’s COVID-19 protections. So Amazon is asking the Biden administration to help quash an initiative demanding public disclosure of what Amazon has — and has not — done to protect those workers during the pandemic.