Germany Needs to Own Up to the Horrors of Its Colonial Past in Africa
Germany’s reckoning with the Holocaust is widely taken as a model of historical accountability — yet it has proven far less willing to confront its colonial past in Africa.
21047 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
Public Transportation Is a Human Right
For a century our cities have been transformed by the car industry, making way for drivers at the expense of cyclists and pedestrians. A renewed movement for urban public transport is pushing back.
Democrats Are Working With Liz Cheney to Prolong Dick Cheney’s Endless War
Rep. Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick, is trying to prolong her father’s endless war in Afghanistan. You would think that every Democrat would be united in opposing such a policy, right? Well, you would be wrong.
No, Studying Marx Is Not Elitist
Reading Marxist theory isn’t just for highfalutin academics — just ask the millions of workers whose ideas about the role they could play in changing the world were transformed by both study and practice.
Kylie Jenner’s Clothing Brand Is Stiffing Workers. It’s Time to Organize the Stans.
Kylie Jenner’s clothing line is stiffing garment workers in Bangladesh, who have long lacked the bargaining power to improve their conditions. But the industry is changing — and consumer action linked to workplace militancy could actually win gains for these workers.
When Harlem Renaissance Novelist Claude McKay Decamped for the Port of Marseille
Struggling for cash in the late 1920s, Harlem Renaissance trailblazer Claude McKay found casual work as a docker in Marseille. Finally published this year, his Romance in Marseille illuminates the city with both personal emotion and a vivid class feeling — testament to the tough fight for solidarity among the migrant proletariat.
Larry Summers Is Not Your Friend
Recent reports indicate that Larry Summers is advising Joe Biden’s campaign. This is not good, because Larry Summers is very bad: his entire career has been spent protecting the wealthy few at the expense of the many.
COVID-19 Treatments Belong to the People, Not Price-Gouging Pharma Companies
A medical system that charges users $3,210 for remdesivir, a COVID-19 treatment that cost $10 to produce — and that took $70,000,000 in public money to develop — is a medical system that must be abolished.
Millions of Americans Face the Nightmare of Getting COVID-19 While Underinsured
Adults with underlying health problems are at increased risk of getting seriously ill or dying if they contract the coronavirus. These are also often the very same people who are least likely to have insurance.
Chief Justice John Roberts Is Carrying Out Corporate America’s Long-Term Plan Perfectly
In 2005, Chief Justice John Roberts was nominated to the Supreme Court because the business lobby believed he would turn the court into a corporate weapon — and that’s precisely what he has been doing ever since.
How the UK Labour Party Lost the Working Class
More low-income voters backed the Tories than the Labour Party in the 2019 election for the first time ever. Labour’s decision to side with the establishment rather than the voters over Brexit pushed them into the Tories’ arms.
A Decade of Austerity Has Decimated the UK’s National Health Service
Today, the UK’s National Health Service is celebrated, rhetorically even by the Right. But for a decade, the NHS has been subject to destructive cutbacks, leading to crumbling facilities, outsourcing, privatization, and staff pay freezes. Britons need to demand better.
Turning the Pink Tide Green
Left governments in Latin America have successfully nationalized much of the mining sector, reclaiming foreign profits for social spending. The next step is to get beyond extraction altogether, taking cues from indigenous movements that have long been fighting for a green future.
Biden Says He’ll Pass a Public Option. His For-Profit Health Industry Donors Don’t Want Him To.
Joe Biden says he plans to deal with the US health care crisis by passing a public health insurance option. But his campaign is being funded by the same health companies that killed it when he was vice president. Something has to give — and it probably won’t be the corporate donors.
Manning Marable Was a Pioneering Black Marxist. His Work Speaks Directly to Our Moment
Manning Marable was a leading radical thinker whose brilliant writings showed how the struggle for black liberation is bound up with the struggle against capitalism. Though he didn’t live to see the rise of Black Lives Matter, his work has a tremendous amount to offer the movement today.
Vladimir Putin’s Referendum Today Is Just Papering Over the Cracks of His Rule
Today, Russians vote in a constitutional referendum designed to give Vladimir Putin a fresh burst of legitimacy. His feeble response to the coronavirus pandemic has ruined his “strongman” reputation — and it’s feeding a growing mood of popular discontent.
Jacobin’s Racial Justice Reading List
The point of a reading list should be to understand the world in order to change it. Here are ten essential books that can help inform the struggle for racial justice today.
Ireland’s New Government Just Puts a Green Face on the Old Order
After losing to Sinn Féin in February’s general election, Ireland’s conservative parties have exploited the pandemic to regain their footing and strike a coalition deal with the Greens. The new government won’t deliver the change Irish society needs, but Ireland’s left-wing forces still have a real opening in the coming years.
The Supreme Court Will Not Deliver Justice on Abortion Rights
The Supreme Court’s abortion rights decision yesterday provides a brief respite to women across the South. But we’re still playing defense in the courts. Our offensive should be in the streets.
Want to Fight Poverty? Give Poor People Money.
Newly published research confirms that poverty fell in April and May thanks to federal coronavirus aid. You’d think that would convince policymakers to pursue more such aid, but they aren’t — because America’s approach to welfare is both wrongheaded and cruel.