Bernie Sanders Should Embrace the Demand to Defund the Police
Defunding the police means cutting bloated local police budgets and diverting the resources to social programs. Politically, it’s right up Bernie’s alley. He should embrace it.
389 Articles by: Meagan Day
Meagan Day is an associate editor at Jacobin. She is the coauthor of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism.
Police Brutality Against Protesters Only Stoked the Anti–Police Brutality Movement
Credit for the unprecedented wave of mass protests should go to anti-police brutality activists, movement journalists, and politicized young people. But let’s not forget the boys in blue themselves: cops’ vicious treatment of protesters proved to millions around the world that the protesters were right.
Ending Mass Incarceration Can Help Build the Labor Movement
Workers caught in the grip of the criminal justice system aren’t just denied their human rights by oppressive police and judges — they’re held under the thumb of their bosses. Mass incarceration is devastating for the labor movement.
In Cities and Towns Across the US This Week, the Brutal Police Riot Has Continued
We’re witnessing a national police riot that hasn’t showed any signs of slowing. The instances of brutal police violence against protesters are so numerous that it’s hard to keep track of them all — but here are some of the worst abuses we’ve seen.
The Best Way to “Reform” the Police Is to Defund the Police
For years we’ve heard about body cameras and bias training to reform the racism and brutality of the police. That won’t cut it. The only way to get better policing is to get less of it — by defunding the police.
This Weekend, Police Responded to Protests Against Police Violence With Even More Wantonly Brutal Violence
In cities throughout the United States this weekend, we witnessed a terrifying spectacle: a brutal police riot, waged with frightening savagery, against average citizens whose unforgivable crime was daring to criticize police violence.
“No Matter How Different the Movements Were, the LAPD Targeted Every One of Them”
From the Black Panthers to the Communist Party, radical Los Angeles in the ’60s was a seething cauldron of unrest, united by the brutal, lawless repression of the LAPD. In a rollicking new book, Mike Davis and Jon Wiener tell the story of a decade of explosions.
Have We All Forgotten About the Iraq War?
The Blowback podcast reaches deep into the memory hole and pulls the Iraq War back up into the sunlight. It’s vital listening for anyone who is hazy on the specifics of how the US ended up invading Iraq, killing at least half a million people, and sparking bloody, never-ending conflicts throughout the Middle East.
Domestic Workers Are Paying Dearly for the Coronavirus Crisis
Domestic workers have always been among the hardest hit by recessions. Fear of contagion may make the coronavirus crisis the worst yet — a catastrophe for millions of the most economically vulnerable workers.
No Act of God
Hurricanes, pandemics, and droughts are acts of God. Private markets in housing, health care, and food — and the resulting deaths — are not.
How the “Stranger Danger” Panic of the 1980s Helped Give Rise to Mass Incarceration
The 1980s saw the spread of a nationwide panic about “stranger danger,” a supposed epidemic of child kidnappings and murders. Under the guise of protecting children, the media-driven hysteria helped spur mass incarceration.
Meet the Slate of Socialist Insurgents Running for Office in New York
In New York City, the Democratic Socialists of America are running a six-candidate socialist slate aiming for state and national office. It will serve as a test run for socialist organizing in the age of coronavirus.
Conditions in US Meatpacking Plants Today Aren’t Much Better Than They Were in The Jungle
Decades after Upton Sinclair exposed the horrors of meatpacking, radical labor organizing transformed the industry into a bastion of worker power. Now, a century later, after decades of union-busting and the coronavirus decimating workers throughout the industry, the meatpacking industry is back to The Jungle.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed Has Abandoned the Homeless During the Pandemic
The national press has fawned over Mayor London Breed’s coronavirus response. But after being unanimously instructed by San Francisco’s city council to move the homeless into the city’s empty hotel rooms, she has inexcusably dragged her feet — putting the homeless and all San Franciscans at serious risk.
Why You Should Join a Socialist Organization
There’s only one way to get the political education, organizing skills, and institutional support you need to be an effective socialist: join a socialist organization.
How Bernie Won a Landslide of Latino Voters
In this year’s primaries, Bernie Sanders won landslide levels of support from Latinos. Here’s how he did it.
Billionaires Are the Pandemic’s Villains, Not Its Heroes
As tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs in the coronavirus crisis, the richest Americans saw their wealth rise by hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s not a coincidence.
Small Business Owners at the Barricades
Small business owners, who feature prominently in the anti-shutdown protests, occupy a unique place in capitalism’s class hierarchy — although many share the same kinds of struggles experienced by wage workers, as a class, they’re often drawn to the far right.
Frontline Farmworkers Are Defenseless and Terrified
In Immokalee, Florida, immigrant farmworkers are living and working in crowded conditions without sick leave, space to quarantine, or a nearby hospital. They’re afraid of an outbreak, and they’re making demands on the state to prevent one.
“It’s Time to Engage in as Much Class Struggle as We Can”
The United Electrical workers’ union and the Democratic Socialists of America are teaming up to help nonunion workers organize during the coronavirus crisis. The goal: find workers who are already spoiling for a fight and help them win it.