Just Pack the Damn Courts
The Left shouldn’t wring its hands about whether we should pack the courts or not. Just pack the courts.
19684 Articles by: Jonathan Sas
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.
Obama Wants Us to Go Back to Brunch After Trump Is Out. That Would Be A Disaster.
Democrats are suggesting that we can all tune out and go back to brunch if Joe Biden wins the election. If we do that, we’re doomed.
A Liberal “Moral Reckoning” Can’t Solve the Problems That Plague Black Americans
If we view the problems of poverty, health care, and criminal justice through a lens that filters out the political-economic underpinnings of these injustices — informed by the language of moral reckoning — we may just end up with modest reforms at best and symbolic gestures at worst, when what we need is fundamental structural change.
Coal Miners’ Struggle Against Black Lung Is a Climate Justice Issue
Climate activists often argue that carbon-intensive energy like coal is mortgaging our future. It’s true — but coal workers themselves have already been paying the costs for a long time, measured in hundreds of thousands of shortened lives ravaged by diseases like black lung in the US alone.
The Pandemic Has Exposed the Free Market’s Fundamental Flaws. We Need a Democratically Planned Economy.
As COVID-19 cases skyrocket again, hospitals remain understaffed and PPE and ventilators are still in short supply. We can’t leave people’s basic needs up to the whims of profit-seeking actors — we need democratic planning.
How the Strike for Equality Relaunched the Struggle for Women’s Liberation in the US
In August 1970, campaigners for women’s liberation mounted a huge demonstration that recharged feminism in the US. Ruthann Miller, the protest coordinator, was a socialist activist. She talks to Jacobin about the march, and the need to combine feminist and socialist politics.
The Left Needs the “Uneducated” Working Class
All around the world, the Left has been hemorrhaging working-class support for decades. To think it could achieve long-run success as the champion of affluent cosmopolitanism is whistling past the graveyard.
Angela Davis on the Struggle for Socialist Internationalism and a Real Democracy
Legendary activist Angela Davis and filmmaker Astra Taylor talk about economic democracy, criminal justice, and why we need a socialist internationalism.
Anti-Corruption Protests Show the Hollowness of Bulgaria’s Democracy
More than three months since they began, the daily anti-corruption protests against Boyko Borissov’s administration are still headline news in Bulgaria. But the rival corruption allegations leveled by both the Left and Right also highlight the lack of real political alternatives — with the country’s harsh social inequality and rising poverty levels drawing no similar political attention.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Suspension From the Labour Party Is Part of a Wider Assault on Democracy and Dissent
Keir Starmer’s disgraceful move to suspend Jeremy Corbyn as a member of the Labour Party doesn’t come out of a vacuum. It’s part of a much wider push to stifle political dissent in Britain by coercive means, in which Starmer is now complicit.
Voices From the Valley Is a Snapshot of the Tech Industry, as Told By Workers Themselves
A new book capturing the voices of workers in Silicon Valley’s tech industry — from software engineers to cafeteria workers — reminds us that the relentlessness of labor exploitation is just one side of the story. The other is the persistence of worker resistance.
South Africa’s Freedom Charter Was a Landmark in the Global Struggle Against Racism
The ANC’s Freedom Charter guided the struggle against white supremacy in South Africa, linking the questions of political and economic freedom. The origins of the charter — and the uses to which it was put — are rich with lessons for anti-racist struggles today.
Canada Needs to Get Serious About Taxing the Rich
Like their counterparts everywhere, Canada’s superrich cream off wealth from the working class while resisting paying taxes. In the age of COVID-19, this state of affairs is more obscene — and more unpopular — than ever. It’s time to tax Canada’s rich.
Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party Suspension Is About Crushing the Left
Keir Starmer’s baseless decision to suspend former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is a transparent attack on the Left. Labour members must fight it, or everything Corbyn stood for will depart with him.
The Rich in Portland, Maine, Are Spending Big Money to Defeat Left Politics
Through running a slate of left-wing candidates and ballot referenda on issues like a $15 minimum wage and rent control, leftists in Portland, Maine, are fighting for the right of working-class people to live in the city. Portland’s wealthiest residents are shelling out huge amounts to try to stop them.
It’s Time to Fight for a Truly Democratic Republic
The US political system was intentionally set up to thwart popular democracy. To win Medicare for All or any other transformative measures, we’ll need to push for radical political reform that finally democratizes the country’s institutions.
Italians Need Measures to Stop COVID-19, But They Need Income Support, Too
Faced with soaring case numbers, the Italian government has imposed tougher restrictions on businesses and social gatherings. Yet as millions face a miserable dilemma between personal safety and financial ruin, protesters have begun to defy the curfew — a sign of the fraying social consensus behind shutdown measures.
Emails Show Trump’s CDC Went MIA in Pennsylvania When COVID-19 Hit
Newly revealed emails show that Pennsylvania officials have had to overcome a lack of leadership from Trump’s Centers for Disease Control to carry out basic digital contact tracing.
If There’s a Gap Between the Popular Vote and the Electoral College, Hit the Streets
There’s a real danger that the Right will steal the election by halting the vote count. But US elections can be stolen in more prosaic ways — like the Electoral College. If there’s a discrepancy between the Electoral College and the popular vote, the Left should make it clear that the result is illegitimate.
New York City’s Fiscal Crisis Can’t Be Solved on the Backs of Its Working Class
If New York City is going to avoid catastrophic austerity measures in response to the COVID-19–induced fiscal crisis, the city’s municipal unions will have to summon a fighting spirit that has been missing for a very long time.