Why the Pundit Class Loves Amy Klobuchar
Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar has been crowned by mainstream pundits as a Highly Electable Candidate. There’s only one problem — people hate her platform and no one wants to vote for her.
21013 Article(s) by: Opal Lee
Opal Lee is a writer.
The Power of the Black Working Class
Over the last four hundred years, black workers have played a vital role in shaping the US’s political economy. In order to understand America, we have to understand the struggles of the black working class.
When Colombia Caught Fire
Colombian politics have long been dominated by strongmen insisting on the need for “tough security measures.” But right now, with strikes and demonstrations gripping the country, it’s Colombia’s hard-right government overseeing atrocities — not the guerrilla insurgents.
Chileans Are Hungry for an Alternative to Neoliberalism
After continuous mass protests in Chile, left forces in the country may be able to build a governing majority. But whether they can or not, it’s clear that huge swaths of the country are desperate for an alternative to the neoliberal order that has reigned in the country for decades.
Who’s Winning the Vampire Squid Primary?
From Bill Clinton to Barack Obama, top Democrats have long been beholden to the predatory and socially useless private equity industry. This time, the finance bros are donating in droves to Biden, Buttigieg . . . and Deval Patrick (?). They just really want to stop Bernie Sanders.
The Astroturfed Campaign to Undermine Medicare For All
Every time you hear a Democratic politician bashing Medicare for All, just remember: health insurance hacks are directly supplying politicians with anti-single-payer talking points so they can protect their enormous profits.
Chile Finally Has an Opportunity to Bury Pinochet’s Legacy
After weeks of unrest in Chile, Sebastián Piñera’s government has finally agreed to a process of constitutional reform. It’s a historic opportunity, won by millions of Chileans taking to the streets, to step out from the long shadow of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.
The SPD Needs More Than Just New Leaders
After more than 20 years of dogmatic neoliberalism, Germany’s Social Democrats have elected their first left-leaning leadership in a generation. But it may be too late to win back workers.
The NHS Is Already Disappearing, and There’s Only One Way to Stop It
For 40 years, the Tories — along with New Labour — have sworn up and down that they support the NHS while surreptitiously hollowing it out. Last week, Jeremy Corbyn caught them red-handed, showing once again that the program will only be safe under a Labour government.
The Transatlantic Health-Care Struggle
American advocates of Medicare for All should show our solidarity with Britain’s working class as it fights to save its National Health Service from privatization at the hands of Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, and the predatory American health-care industry — the same industry that’s fighting tooth and nail against Medicare for All here at home.
Bolivia’s Coup Government Is a Far-Right Horror Show
The coup-makers that violently deposed Evo Morales last month haven’t even tried to hide their far-right politics. Racist revanchism, backed by Christian fundamentalism, is now the order of the day in Bolivia.
Setting Kevin Rudd’s Environmental Record Straight
Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd wrote an angry letter to Jacobin last week, defending his work on climate change. Greens MP Adam Bandt begs to differ.
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Getting Gene Sharp Wrong
The legendary nonviolence theorist Gene Sharp wasn’t just a lonely scholar studying how political change happens. He was a Cold War defense intellectual whose ideas left a profound imprint on the way America wields power in the world.
The Pro-Israel Consensus on Capitol Hill Is Breaking Up
The last Democratic debate was the most useless yet. But amid the garbage, Bernie Sanders dropped a gem: for the first time, a major presidential contender brought up Palestinian rights unprompted. That’s because the pro-Israel consensus on Capitol Hill is finally breaking up.
The Fantasy World of US Empire
Apologists for US empire like Max Boot insist that American victory was possible in the Vietnam War. It wasn’t. But as long as the war machine needs justification for new interventions — today, in countries like Venezuela and Iran — writers like Boot will have an audience for their imperialist fantasies.
The Legacies of the Ethiopian Student Movement
Fifty years ago, a student movement transformed Ethiopia with radical calls for self-determination and land reform. But while the movement helped bring down the monarchy, the Ethiopia they fought for has never come to pass.
In This Election, Labour Has a Chance to End Thatcherism Once and for All
Not long after Margaret Thatcher rose to power forty years ago, she decimated huge swaths of Britain with deindustrialization, privatization, and cuts. Those same areas now have the opportunity in this election to bury her legacy once and for all.
Executive Orders and Smart Lawyers Won’t Save Us
We can’t cede social change to well-meaning experts. Especially in an era of hostile courts, politics, not law, is the only way forward.
Sorry Mayor Pete, Means-Testing Is Not Progressive
Universal programs build solidarity and are far more politically durable than means-tested programs. By going after free college, Pete Buttigieg is doing the bidding of the Right.