The “Forever Wars” Are Still Going. But They May Be Running on Borrowed Time.
Congress’s latest failure to pull US troops out of Syria may be more significant for demonstrating the growing appetite in both parties to rein in US adventurism overseas.
19126 Articles by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
How University of California Strikers Snuck Past Security and Gave the Bosses Hell
Like something out of a heist movie, the biggest strike of last year ended with a carefully orchestrated direct action involving spycraft and disguises. The mission: to disrupt a meeting of University of California regents and force the administration’s hand.
From Slavery Abolition to Public Education, German Radicals Made American History
The United States has forgotten the radical German American immigrant socialists who spilled blood for antislavery and other liberatory causes.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Shows Artists’ Power to Confront Capitalism
Laura Poitras’s new documentary depicts photographer Nan Goldin’s efforts to stop the Sackler family, architects of the opiate epidemic, from reputation-laundering through art patronage. In a rarity in an age of corporate unaccountability, Goldin succeeds.
Fred Halliday’s Writings on Global Politics Are a Vital Resource for the Left
The Irish scholar Fred Halliday covered an extraordinary range of subjects in his work, from Middle East revolutions to the Cold War. Halliday brought a Marxist perspective to the study of global politics and left behind a rich intellectual legacy.
Workers’ Pensions Are Backing Child Labor Through Private Equity Investments
Public officials have been using the retirement savings of unionized public employees to capitalize, through private equity investments, an outsourcing business that has used low-paid immigrants and even children for hazardous work in slaughterhouses.
The GOP Wants You to Pay More Exorbitant Credit Card Fees
In February, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule that would limit most credit card late fees to $8. The rule is being fought by a group of House Republicans who took more than $600,000 from credit card companies in the last election cycle.
Full-Time Contingent Faculty at New York University Are Trying to Unionize
One thousand faculty at New York University currently work full time without the protections of either tenure or a union contract. They’re trying to change that by unionizing. Jacobin talked to one of the faculty members about the union drive.
Andrew Tate Wants Everyone to Get in on the Grift
Online misogynist Andrew Tate doesn’t pretend that life under capitalism isn’t a scam. He readily acknowledges that it is, with success coming through coercion, exploitation, and predation — and he wants you to get in on the hustle with him.
Socialism Is All About Expanding Freedom
Libertarians and conservatives talk a lot about freedom, but the most important kind of freedom is freedom from domination — and if you take that seriously, you should oppose capitalism.
Will Joe Biden Debate Marianne Williamson?
Marianne Williamson is running against Joe Biden. It would benefit the entire country if he had to defend his record on issues both foreign and domestic.
England’s North Has Been Crushed by Thatcherism and Austerity
Northern England spawned the industrial revolution as well as a powerful workers’ movement and a lively culture of popular modernism. But the dysfunctions of Britain’s economic and political system have reduced it to a shadow of its former self.
Rail-Lobbyist-Turned-Senator John Thune Is Set to Block New Railroad Safety Measures
Sen. John Thune, a former railroad lobbyist, is positioning himself to help kill rail safety legislation meant to prevent disasters like the recent East Palestine derailment. It’s one of many examples of the rail industry’s “revolving door” in Washington, DC.
Will Visual Effects Workers Unionize?
A new survey of visual effects workers in the film and television industry paints a picture of rampant labor violations and a demoralized workforce. VFX-IATSE is hoping to change that.
Florida Republicans Are Reminding Us Again: The Right Doesn’t Care About Free Speech
The Right makes a big show of supporting free speech. But Republicans are advancing legislation in Florida that is doing the exact opposite, attempting to clamp down on the free speech rights of bloggers who criticize Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Biggest Annual Right-Wing Conference Was a Flop This Year
CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, is usually one of the biggest events of the year for conservatives, but this year it was a huge flop. Has the Right given up trying to speak to anyone beyond its most unhinged followers?
Seymour Hersh on Daniel Ellsberg, the Man Who Exposed the Pentagon Papers
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh writes about his 50-year relationship with Daniel Ellsberg, the man who released the Pentagon Papers and exposed the scope of US crimes in Southeast Asia.
How the Right Gets George Orwell Wrong
Free-market zealots like Friedrich Hayek and others on the Right love claiming George Orwell as their own. That requires ignoring Orwell’s entire body of work defending democratic socialism — and denouncing the right-wing worldview of figures like Hayek.
Don’t Bring Back Mental Asylums. Instead, Build the Welfare State.
Liberals are starting to join conservatives in calling for a return to the era of mass involuntary hospitalization for mentally ill homeless people. That’s a failure of imagination. Instead we need public provision of health care, housing, and employment.
Syrian Earthquake Victims Are Paying the Price for Flawed US Foreign Policy
Rather than accept that its foreign policy objectives in Syria have failed, the United States is continuing to dig its heels in. And as the recent earthquake shows, the Syrian people — not Bashar al-Assad’s government — are the ones paying the price.