Colombians Don’t Just Want a New Government — They Want an End to Neoliberalism
For weeks, Colombians have remained in the streets challenging their nation’s violent social and economic model.
20407 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Rachel Kushner Wants to Radicalize the Novel
Novelist Rachel Kushner, author of The Hard Crowd and The Flamethrowers, speaks to Jacobin about bourgeois novels, Italian Marxism, Palestinian resistance, the George Floyd uprising, and Bernie Sanders.
South Korea’s “Economic Miracle” Was Built on Murderous Repression
Today marks 60 years since Park Chung-hee’s coup installed military rule in South Korea. His regime is credited with bringing the country rapid economic growth — but its industrial success was built on the massacre of labor activists and the systematic suppression of workers’ basic rights.
In Chicago, Brutal Killings by the Police Keep Coming
Anthony Alvarez was shot in the back five times by a Chicago police officer on March 31. A Chicago teacher who knew Alvarez as an elementary student reflects on his life, his tragic and violent death, and the desperate need to stop Chicago cops from killing again.
Rashida Tlaib: “End the Apartheid System”
On Thursday, Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, delivered an extraordinarily personal and powerful speech from the House floor about the humanity of Palestinians and the urgent need to dismantle Israeli apartheid. We print it here in full.
Actually, Not Coercing People to Work Is a Good Thing
There’s a lot of talk these days about labor shortages and workers unwilling to work because unemployment benefits are too high. Ignore the hand-wringing: it’s a very good thing if workers have the freedom to say no to low-paying, dehumanizing jobs.
To Recapture the Spirit of the Indignados, Podemos Has to Speak to Working People
Coming almost exactly ten years since Spain’s Indignados protests, Pablo Iglesias’s retirement as Podemos leader marks the end of a political era. In its early years, Podemos appealed to Spaniards outside traditional left-wing circles — yet it failed to build a party working people could consider their own.
Israel Doesn’t Have a “Right to Exist” — But Israelis and Palestinians Do
We’re often told that creating a single secular democratic state with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians would violate Israel’s “right to exist.” But no nation-state has an inviolable right to exist — especially not an ethnostate based on exclusion and ethnic cleansing.
The Indignados Movement Changed Spanish Politics Forever
This day in 2011, the Indignados protesters occupied Madrid’s Puerta del Sol to denounce Spain’s dominant parties and their austerity agenda. Ten years later, the Spanish left no longer has that insurgent dynamism — but it’s had an enduring success in breaking a previously monolithic neoliberal consensus.
Palestinians Have a Right to Defend Themselves
Everywhere in the media and in the halls of power, we hear that Israel has a right to self-defense. But when it comes to the question of whether Palestinians suffering under brutal occupation have the right to defend themselves, those same voices are conspicuously silent.
Australia Is Supporting the Oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka
In May 2009, Sri Lankan forces massacred 150,000 Eelam Tamils trapped in the island’s north. The slaughter was part of an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing. But the Australian government has whitewashed those atrocities and helped equip Sri Lanka’s state security forces.
In Washington State, the Left Won a Major Victory for Taxing the Rich
For a century, reformers have tried to change Washington’s regressive tax system. Last week, a landmark capital gains tax became law. The story of how they got there shows how the Left can win against Democrats defending the status quo.
Joe Biden’s Cynical Support for Israel Presents an Opportunity for Palestine Activists
Since the start of his political career, Joe Biden has rigidly adhered to a deeply unprincipled commitment to back Israel no matter what for the sake of his own political advancement. The Left now has a chance to make that approach a major political liability for the president.
Emmanuel Macron’s Government Has Banned Palestine Solidarity Demonstrations
The French interior minister has issued a blanket ban on protests in solidarity with Palestine. For months, Emmanuel Macron’s government has joined the far right in denouncing “Islamo-leftism” — a war on anti-racist movements that is now undermining basic civil liberties.
Ronald Reagan’s “Welfare Queen” Lie Has Been Resurrected
To supply bosses with exploitable low-wage workers during a deadly pandemic, Republicans are reviving a grotesque lie: the myth of the “welfare queen.”
Former Obama Staffer Jay Carney Is Amazon’s Top Flack
Jay Carney went from being Barack Obama’s press secretary to being Amazon’s top flack. But PR is only part of his job — his larger mission is to help Amazon ruthlessly exploit its workforce so it can expand endlessly.
Scott Morrison’s Right-Wing Government Wants to Scrap Austerity — But Only for the Rich
Scott Morrison, Australia’s conservative premier, is selling his 2021 budget as a job-creation package. But in reality, it’s a miserly budget — except when it comes to handouts for business and the wealthy.
The Last Thing We Need Is a More Militarized Border
The hysterical talk about a “crisis at the border” isn’t being used to make the lives of those fleeing violence and poverty any easier. It’s being used to justify shoveling even more money into an enforcement apparatus whose budget has tripled in less than two decades.
Corporate CEOs Won the Pandemic
Since the pandemic began, the biggest corporations have been rewriting their compensation rules to ensure their CEOs continue raking in multimillion dollar payouts. The result: a 29 percent pay hike for the average CEO, even as the average frontline worker has been hit with a 2 percent wage cut.
What Kind of Democracy Kills Children?
Israel claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East. Yet its wanton, murderous bombing campaign in Gaza is slaughtering not just civilians, but scores of children.