Opal Lee is a writer.
Faced with France’s snap elections, the left-wing parties built an alliance in record time. But to defeat Marine Le Pen, sounding the alarm about the far right won’t suffice. The Left will need to offer a positive vision for working-class France.
Last month, socialist J. P. Lyninger won a landslide victory in the Democratic Party primary for Louisville’s city council; he is expected to advance to office after an uncontested general election. We spoke to him about his campaign.
Tech start-up leaders are touting digitalization as the path to prosperity in Africa. But the continent’s economy remains heavily based on exporting its unprocessed raw materials. In this context, new apps are only a way of managing poverty, not ending it.
In the 1940s, Soviet and US labor unionists arranged for exchanges between their countries to promote goodwill and help prevent a dangerous rivalry. The largely forgotten effort serves as a reminder of how the Cold War might have been averted.
Consumer advocates want “earned-wage access” apps to be regulated as payday loans, in order to prevent them from taking advantage of consumers in dire straits. Fintech companies have backed right-wing-funded efforts to counter such legislation.
In Spain, conspiracy theorist Alvise Pérez’s new party just won three seats in the EU Parliament. Its get-out-the-vote operation mainly relied on his own Telegram channel — showing how much the alt-right is outcompeting the Left on social media.
The manifesto launch for Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National showed how far the party has dropped its welfarist promises. The far right is vaunting its pro-business credentials — and part of France’s corporate elite is warming to its message.
After a nearly 15-year ordeal, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is free. It’s a victory worth celebrating. But the message has been sent: when it comes to exposing the wrongdoing of powerful governments and corporations, no good deed goes unpunished.
Jamaal Bowman’s defeat is another reminder that left-wing politics cannot live or die in the rich suburbs.
Lost in the triumphalism over Jamaal Bowman’s loss is that AIPAC has had to drastically narrow its ambitions, targeting those critics of Israel who are already most vulnerable to electoral defeat in order to inflate its strength.
Earlier this month, teachers at all six Citizens of the World charter schools in Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly to unionize with United Teachers Los Angeles. Jacobin spoke to two teachers about the organizing drive.
Working-class people of color have mostly been latecomers to suburbia. But by the time they get there, they often find the suburbs in a state of disrepair. A new book explores the boom-and-bust economic cycle that’s obscured by the gauzy suburban dream.
Anti-corruption politics was key to the landslide victory of AMLO’s Morena party in Mexico. Morena branded neoliberalism a form of upward redistribution, rallying the working class under the banner of republican austerity against the excesses of the rich.
In France, the left-wing parties have allied in a Nouveau Front Populaire, challenging both Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. France Insoumise MP Clémence Guetté told Jacobin about its potential path to victory.
Narendra Modi’s plan to win an electoral supermajority ended in failure this month. A communist leader of India’s farmers’ movement explains how their struggle contributed to Modi’s biggest setback since taking power.
Professional fighters are rarely paid for participating in competitions, and the average income of athletes working with promoters like the UFC is only $45,000. Now Jiu Jitsu fighters are pushing back against low pay, giving the industry a wake-up call.
There is increasing evidence that smartphones and social media use have a destructive impact on the mental health of young people. Big Tech may not like it, but more and more schools around the world are instituting bans on phones in the classroom.
Boeing is facing scrutiny from the Justice Department that could lead to criminal charges. But a department official involved in the case formerly consulted on behalf of the company — just one among many such officials with close corporate connections.
The Frankfurt School, a group of theorists who grappled with the defeat of Europe’s revolutionary left, are often misunderstood. Critics charge them with obscurantism and elitism. They argued that, on the contrary, it was capitalism that obfuscated reality.
In 2019, a coalition of conservative forces responded to Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian turn and Venezuela’s ongoing economic crisis by launching a coup. Despite backing from the US and Venezuelan capital, the conspirators failed. A new book explains why.