Opal Lee is a writer.
Ridley Scott’s Napoleon takes one of the most interesting, complex eras in modern history — the French Revolution and its long aftermath — and delivers a morality tale about the dangers of the mob. Even worse, it’s not even compelling viewing.
Donald Trump has spent the past month openly courting fossil fuel money and mocking the very idea of climate change. This delusional and catastrophic posture has barely registered in the US news media.
From launching a historic strike at the Big Three automakers to calling for a cease-fire in the war on Gaza, the UAW has had a big year. And 2024 might be even bigger: the union is pushing to organize 150,000 workers at nonunion automakers across the US.
Since Hamas’s October 7 attacks killed dozens of Thais in Israel, 8,000 of 30,000 Thai migrant workers have fled the country. Their exposure to a war in which they have no part dramatizes their insecure status as heavily exploited laborers.
Filmmaker and entrepreneur Tyler Perry is a billionaire. His Atlanta studios receive massive tax write-offs, premised on the idea that his success will inspire others. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a liberal version of trickle-down economics.
STOP MVP, a compilation album of 40 tracks, amplifies the voices of Appalachian artists standing against the Mountain Valley Pipeline. All proceeds from the album support the Appalachian Legal Defense Fund in their battle against environmental threats.
In Brazil, Lula has wagered that concessions to agribusiness elites are necessary to advance his redistributive project. Yet it is these very agribusiness elites that may emerge as the forces most likely to undo his efforts.
Marxist philosopher Étienne Balibar sits down with Jacobin to discuss freedom and democracy — and why socialists need to reclaim those words from the Right.
Pulitzer Prize–winning writer James Forman Jr was once a student activist for divestment from South Africa. Urging both discretion and bravery, he shares his lessons with student activists calling for divestment from Israel and a cease-fire in Gaza.
German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel may not have been an early champion of modern values, but his dynamic view of history didn’t advocate a simplistic revival of the past either. He was a critic of extremes, with complex views on state violence and historical progress.
The French army’s forced exit from Niger has been wistfully termed the end of an era of great-power status. We should remember what this really meant: a zombie empire that crushed democracy in order to protect French elites’ power, both in Africa and at home.
When a group of pro-Palestine state legislators and activists launched a five-day hunger strike outside the White House this week, members of Congress and major unions showed up in solidarity. The movement against Israel’s war on Gaza just keeps growing.
Joe Biden shouldn’t take for granted that young voters will automatically support him just because Donald Trump was a disaster for the climate. Biden will still have to make good on ambitious climate promises before the election.
Today marks a decade since the death of Japanese communist Toshiko Karasawa. Her courageous life is a testament to the revolutionary potential of anti-imperialism, but also the difficult choices faced by the Left in US client states.
Alexander Payne’s new film The Holdovers, starring Paul Giamatti, is the kind of wonderful comedy-drama we used to take for granted. Today it feels like a cinematic miracle.
With humor, warmth, and delicate beauty, Shane MacGowan’s lyricism profoundly shaped a generation — and was never afraid to denounce injustice, no matter how unpopular this made him with the powerful.
Tech giants like Apple, Google, and Amazon are increasingly developing apps and services offering mental health treatment. The value of these products for users is dubious — but they do promise the companies lucrative new sources of highly personal data.
The International Centre of Justice for Palestine has served Justin Trudeau’s government with a notice of intention to prosecute for alleged complicity in Israeli war crimes in Gaza. It’s the end result of years of unstinting support from Canadian leaders.
In the wake of its historic strike victory, the United Auto Workers says thousands of nonunion autoworkers have reached out asking for support in organizing their plants. The UAW already has plans in motion to unionize the whole US auto sector.
Netflix’s new feel-good Bayard Rustin biopic, Rustin, claims the civil rights hero has been forgotten because of his sexuality. But it was his fiery and provocative class politics that makes him both controversial and prophetic today.