Jonathan Sas has worked in senior policy and political roles in government, think tanks, and the labor movement. He is an honorary witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. His writing has appeared in the Toronto Star, National Post, the Tyee, and Maisonneuve.
Even if the new bipartisan relief proposal does pass, it will be inadequate, forcing millions of Americans to rely on the generosity of family and strangers this winter. Millions of Americans are suffering, and our political leaders don’t care.
After 52 years in action, Australia’s Commonwealth Employment Service shut down in 1998, to be replaced by the widely hated, privately owned Employment Service Providers. At its best, the CES showed that a public welfare system can treat workers with dignity and respect.
So far, Joe Biden’s transition has hired liberally from Wall Street and corporate America, chosen appointees who have made multiple trips through the revolving door, and recruited fans of fossil fuels in the middle of a climate crisis. It’s little different than what we saw under Donald Trump.
Mass household indebtedness is a key feature of financialized capitalism, driving insecurity and sustaining poverty around the world. Could a union of debtors join forces to agitate for the abolition of all consumer debt?
Joe Biden’s choice to install two former BlackRock execs in his cabinet is a major signal of his deference to Wall Street and the superrich. But it’s also a sign of the times: the world’s largest asset management company is revolutionizing finance by investing in capitalism itself.
Cornel West talks to Jacobin about what the Bernie Sanders campaign represented, what its failure means, and why Democrats think they can win over black and brown voters with just “symbolic decorative changes.”
A year into Spain’s coalition government, today’s budget offers major public health care investment and a commitment to expand the Guaranteed Minimum Income plan. These promises show how Unidas Podemos has changed the political agenda — and yet centrist ministers are still stonewalling on measures that risk upsetting business.
Canada’s self-image as a land immune to US-style extremes of wealth is increasingly divorced from reality. Canadian billionaires have quadrupled in a generation, and without a wealth tax, their share of the country’s riches will only keep growing.
Australia has a record of loyal support for Israeli state racism and human rights abuses that puts even the US to shame. In order to change that record, we need to challenge the political forces that have made Australia Israel’s most faithful ally.
Former Ghanaian president Jerry Rawlings died last month at the age of 73. He went from heading two revolutionary governments to championing neoliberal reforms, but he left behind an important legacy for progressives and radicals.
Last month, Peruvians took to the streets to protest the seizure of the country’s presidency by the far right after a questionable impeachment, with the likely intention of holding the office past next year’s elections. We spoke to Verónika Mendoza, left-wing presidential candidate for Juntos por el Perú, about the mass protests and the possibility of scrapping the country’s dictatorship-era constitution.
US media outlets like the New York Times rightly dismissed bogus claims of electoral fraud by Donald Trump. Now they need to start applying the same standards to Latin America, where such claims have been used to justify the violent overthrow of elected left-wing governments.
Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo has presided over one of the deadliest COVID outbreaks in the country — as she also helped protect nursing home corporations from accountability. Now she may be picked for Joe Biden’s top health care job.
At the New School, two visions are colliding: one of its student body and faculty who want to keep true to the university’s progressive history, and the other of its Board of Trustees and presidential leadership, who want to trim down the New School to only those parts which pay the most.
A group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers just joined together to shield their corporate donors from lawsuits when they kill more workers. If this legislation passes, corporations won’t be held to account for their criminal actions during coronavirus.
Victorian Labor premier Daniel Andrews has announced a Big Housing Build, touted as the largest investment in social housing for years. But in practice, it could lead to a net decline in public housing provision, while transferring control to nongovernment bodies.
Working in a restaurant has always been tough. But servers say that the pandemic has created new problems and intensified old ones. Unsafe health conditions, meager tips from vindictive customers, and sexual harassment are now the norm under coronavirus.
Workers in India last week launched a general strike that brought out an estimated 250 million people, arguably the largest in human history. Now, they’re joining hands with farmers to protest Narendra Modi’s pro-corporate, far-right agenda.
We can’t talk about the rise of right-wing populists like Donald Trump, reactionary and bizarre conspiracy theories like QAnon, and the increasingly pervasive sense of nihilism across global politics without talking about neoliberalism.
A modest sum of money would ensure that everyone could participate in holiday traditions without breaking the bank. Let’s have the federal government pay out a universal holiday bonus.