After Yang Is Another Boring Example of “Contemplative” Sci-Fi
The people in the somber new sci-fi film After Yang are god-awful. If this movie represents our near future, that Earth-destroying asteroid can’t obliterate us fast enough.
20422 Article(s) by: Julia Goodman
The Right Is Still the Enemy of Freedom
Some liberals have signed on to a worrying number of anti–civil liberties measures in recent years. The Right wants to rebrand as the new champion of freedom. This is absurd: no one is pushing authoritarianism harder than conservatives.
Biden Can Fix the Anti-Worker H-1B Immigration Visa Scam
The safeguards for immigrant workers in America’s largest guest-worker program are clearly deficient. Joe Biden has a clear roadmap, the legal authority, and the duty to right this wrong by taking executive action.
Howard University Faculty Are Ready to Strike
Roughly 350 non-tenure-track and adjunct professors at Howard University, one of the nation’s most important historically black universities, are demanding fairer compensation and better job security. If no agreement is reached by Wednesday, they’ll strike.
Starbucks Worker: The Entire Food Industry Should Go Union
Starbucks has been charged by the National Labor Relations Board with retaliation against two supporters of a unionization drive in Phoenix. We spoke with one of them about her experience at Starbucks and her mission to help all food industry workers unionize.
Neoliberalism Has Finally Reached the End of the Road
The neoliberal economic model has foundered and can no longer generate growth. Governments will be forced to change their approach to economic management, giving rise to more promising conditions for struggle by workers after a generation of retreat.
Why Is Joe Biden Defending Betsy DeVos’s For-Profit College Giveaway?
As Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos aided predatory for-profit colleges. You’d expect no less of such an enthusiastic education privatizer — but why is Joe Biden now defending those same predatory colleges?
Russia’s War Shows the Chaos in the World Order
Economist Branko Milanovic saw firsthand the soaring inequality of Russia’s 1990s transition to capitalism. He spoke to Jacobin about how Vladimir Putin’s war has plunged the country back into crisis — and placed a bomb under the globalized order.
There’s Always More Money for Weapons
The bipartisan urgency to spend billions of dollars on weapons for Ukraine and a military buildup in Europe stands in stark contrast to Congress’s frugality when it comes to social spending.
Canadian Pension Funds Are Financing the Exploitation of the Elderly
Canadian Pension Funds, profiting off substandard elderly care, are like snakes eating their own tails. Fund managers shovel eldercare profits into investments intended to benefit the elderly — but retirees can’t profit off their own immiseration.
Capitalists Are Escalating Their Shakedown of American Workers
Last year’s modest wage gains have been wiped out by inflation, and prices are up across the board. Meanwhile, the rich are living large on superyachts and private islands — and they’re coming for working Americans’ last scraps of wealth.
The War That Never Happened
Today is the 19th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. It was a catastrophic, illegal, murderous war — and Joe Biden was one its most important cheerleaders.
Living in the First Draft
Sheila Heti’s Pure Colour is a novel for our time of uncertainty.
The Fight to Get Back to Normal Is a Political Dead End
We may be exhausted by the effects of the pandemic, but the desire to return to business as usual is a blind alley. The pandemic is simply one facet of the broader crises we face — crises that were forged in yesterday’s normal.
Paraeducators Are Critical to the Classroom — and They Make Poverty Wages
School districts are facing a dire shortage of paraeducators, making it impossible to provide services to which students are legally entitled. For the good of paraeducators and students alike, it’s time for fair compensation.
Russia’s War on Ukraine Has Already Changed the World
The criminal Russian invasion has devastated cities around Ukraine and forced millions to flee the country. Achieving a cease-fire is top priority — but the war has already brought changes that will echo for decades to come.
Vivek Chibber: “Bad Ideas” Aren’t Keeping Workers From Fighting Back
Critics often say the working class doesn’t fight back against exploitation because it’s confused about its real interests. But this ignores how capitalism itself leads workers to resign themselves to their situation — and how we can overcome that resignation.
Joe Biden Can Control the Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority recently opted to invest in more fossil fuel generation, not less. Joe Biden can reverse the TVA’s decision, if he wants to.
Korean Television Is in the Midst of a Radical Renaissance
Squid Game, My Name, and D.P. all represent a growing trend of radical Korean television. Critics have attacked these shows for their vulgarity, but the violence they depict holds a mirror up to Korean society.
Pierre Poilievre Wants to Lead Canada’s Conservative Party
Pierre Poilievre, backed by anti-vaxxers, crypto bros, and far-right populists, is the leading candidate for Canada’s Conservative Party. If elected, Poilievre, who has described Canada’s welfare state as “horrific,” will wage war on social programs.