We Still Don’t Know Who Is Paying for Trump’s Supreme Court Seats
The conservative front group backing Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination already spent $27 million to remake the Supreme Court. We have no idea where the money came from.
19244 Articles by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
What Ruth Bader Ginsburg Learned From Swedish Social Democracy
The seeds for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s pioneering sex-discrimination Supreme Court briefs were planted in the early years of her legal career of the 1960s, from an unlikely source: Sweden, under the prime ministership of social democrat Olof Palme.
The Lessons We Need to Learn From Europe’s Struggle Against Fascism
The catastrophic descent of interwar Europe into fascist rule may not be repeatable in today’s world. But a different form of reactionary politics could still take shape and prove to be just as harmful.
Our Tax System Allows and Encourages Massive Rip-Offs Like Trump’s
It’s tempting to turn the new reporting on Donald Trump’s tax shenanigans, paying only $750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017, into a story about Trump as a singular villain. He’s despicable, but he could only get away with it because we live under a system that allows the wealthy to rip off $266 billion from the country every single year.
Two Decades After the Second Intifada, Palestine Still Has No Partner for Peace
Twenty years ago today, the second Palestinian intifada began in response to a provocation from Israel’s Ariel Sharon after the collapse of US-sponsored peace talks. The brutal Israeli response inaugurated a war on Palestinian society that continues to this day.
The First International Is Still Relevant Today
The International Working Men’s Association was launched in London on this day in 1864. As the “First International,” it cemented class solidarity across countries as a shared ideal and inspired large numbers to organize against capitalist exploitation.
Amy Coney Barrett Worked on Bush v. Gore
Donald Trump says he expects the Supreme Court to decide the 2020 election, as it did in Bush v. Gore. If Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed, the court will have three justices who worked directly on the case that undemocratically determined the 2000 election.
Joe Biden’s Vanishing Act Isn’t Making It Any Easier to Beat Trump
With the election campaign in its final stretch, Joe Biden has taken nearly a third of September off from campaigning. It’s an enormous strategic blunder that anyone hoping for Donald Trump’s defeat should be very worried about.
AOC Is Right Not to Celebrate Yitzhak Rabin’s Legacy
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez displayed uncommon courage in withdrawing from an event celebrating Yitzhak Rabin, the late Israeli leader who instructed soldiers to break the bones of Palestinian demonstrators. It’s another sign that the tide is turning against defenders of Israel’s human rights abuses.
Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser Was a Towering Figure Who Left an Ambiguous Legacy
Fifty years after his death, the Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser still casts a long shadow over Arab politics. A symbol of defiance in the age of decolonization, Nasser transformed his country but never gave its people control of the system that ruled them.
Arwa Salih and the Lost Generation of Egyptian Communism
Two generations of Egyptian Marxists debated how they should respond to Nasser and the system he founded. Some were defeated, some were co-opted — and their failure still haunts the Egyptian left today, fifty years after Nasser’s death.
What Democratic Socialists Should Think About Anti-Communism
A deep commitment to democracy is at the heart of the socialist project. Anticommunists have historically claimed they oppose states like the Soviet Union out of a concern for democracy. But those anticommunists’ real project has nothing to do with democracy — and everything to do with smashing the Left.
The World Still Needs Our Democratic Socialist Vision
Against all odds, for ten years Jacobin has survived, and thrived, as a forum for critique and debate, as a resource for people trying to make sense of the world around them. But we’ve only been able to do it with your help.
Don’t Blame Social Media. Blame Capitalism.
A new Netflix film, The Social Dilemma, would have us believe that increasing social division and polarized political rhetoric is the product of Facebook and Twitter, and not the fact that income inequality has returned to pre–Great Depression levels.
The Problems With Means-Testing Are Real
Means-testing makes social programs to help average people highly vulnerable to cuts and a bureaucratic nightmare to sign up for. We have to reject means-testing.
Japan’s New Leader, Suga Yoshihide, Will Maintain the Old Regime
Suga Yoshihide, longtime aide to Abe Shinzo, has now replaced him as Japan’s prime minister. Suga will preserve the main features of Abe’s long stint in power: creeping militarism, subordination to the US, and a high-handed approach to political opposition.
Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett Is an Enemy of Workers
In August, Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett delivered a key ruling blocking many gig workers from suing in court when tech companies deny them overtime pay. It’s just one in a long history of decisions that favored corporate interests.
Meet the Socialists Keeping Alive Working-Class Politics in Melbourne
As Melbourne’s October council elections approach, the Victorian Socialists are stepping up their fight against neoliberalism — by fielding an unprecedented slate of 19 candidates, across five municipalities.
How a Poll Tax Becomes a Law
In the lead-up to the November election, states like Florida are ramping up voter disenfranchisement. That disenfranchisement didn’t come out of nowhere — it’s the latest in decades of bipartisan disenfranchisement of poor and working-class voters and voters of color.
Why Kwame Nkrumah’s Socialist, Pan-African Vision Continues to Inspire Radicals Today
Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah was a postcolonial icon who tried to fight the forces of imperialism and capitalism to build a nation, continent, and world based on equality and self-government. That’s why, despite his faults, young people in Ghana today are resurrecting Nkrumah’s vision as a radical alternative to neoliberalism.