Brazil's Turn to the Left Continues
Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right rule was a dark time for social movements in Brazil. Since Lula’s return to power, housing activists have had a renewed role not just in the streets but in setting government policy.
34 Article(s) by: Pablo Castaño
Pablo Castaño is a freelance journalist and political scientist. He holds a PhD in Politics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and has written for Ctxt, Público, Regards, and the Independent.
After France’s Elections, the Left Remains Deeply Divided
France’s local elections again showed Emmanuel Macron’s weakness. With both the Socialists and France Insoumise making gains, neither party will likely recognize the other as the Left’s standard-bearer for the 2027 presidential election.
Spain Shows Europe How to Oppose Trump’s Illegal War in Iran
Donald Trump is angry because Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, hasn’t backed the war on Iran. Sánchez’s stand is hardly radical, but it seems like it now that almost all of Europe has fallen in behind Trump.
Spain’s Radical Left Is in Trouble but Not Defeated Yet
In Spain, labor minister and Sumar leader Yolanda Díaz says she won’t run for office again. Yet while she is stepping aside, there are also growing calls for a united left-wing front to fight in next year’s general election.
Spain Shows Another Immigration Policy Is Possible
Spanish political leaders know that the economy relies on undocumented migrants and their labor. Rather than step up expulsions, Pedro Sánchez’s government has announced plans to regularize over 500,000 migrants’ status.
Iván Cepeda on the Risk of US Meddling in Colombia’s Election
Left-wing Colombian presidential candidate Iván Cepeda speaks to Jacobin about the accomplishments of Gustavo Petro, the US attack on Venezuela, and the Trump administration’s dangerous interventions across Latin America.
Learning From Defeat in Chile
Chile’s left-wing alliance took power with huge optimism in 2022, but hopes of changing the constitution, or even securing reelection, soon faded. Former minister Giorgio Jackson tells Jacobin what went wrong.
The European Union Is Turning Away From the Green Transition
Europe has often called itself a global leader in fighting climate change, even promising to halt the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. Yet now it’s dropped the plan, as part of a broader retreat from the green transition.
Even After Valencia’s Floods, Climate Skeptics Keep Rising
In Valencia, Spain, the right-wing regional president has quit over the mishandling of floods that killed 229 people. While institutional failures forced his resignation, they’ve also fed support for Vox, a far-right party that opposes action on climate change.
Toward an Anti-Capitalist Drug Policy
The war on drugs has utterly failed to reduce drug consumption. But it has served to maintain US military and intelligence apparatuses in Latin America.
Making Spanish Support for Palestine Real
Spain’s center-left prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been one of the Western leaders most critical of Israel. But words often haven’t translated into action, and rising pro-Palestinian protests are criticizing his government too.
France Is in the Streets and Deep in Political Crisis
President Emmanuel Macron last week appointed France’s fifth prime minister since the start of 2024. This Thursday’s mass strike suggests that his gambit has done little to settle the country’s political crisis.
Spain’s Far-Right Vox Party Is Inciting Racist Violence
Spain’s Vox party typically masks its racism in more palatable rhetoric. But this summer, leading Vox MPs helped incite violence against residents of Maghrebi origin in the Murcia region in Spain.
The Far-Right Protest Vote in Romania
In Romania’s integration into European capitalism, the tough years after the 2008 crisis broke the illusion of continuous progress. The losers of that period are today swinging to far-right parties who tell a story of national victimhood.
Will Pope Leo XIV Confront MAGA?
Robert Francis Prevost, the first US-born pope, embodies Catholicism’s anti-nationalist ethos. Will he follow Pope Francis in confronting the resurgence of nativism in the US and abroad?
The Portuguese Election Marks a Shift to the Right
In the decades after Portugal’s Carnation Revolution, many considered the country immunized from the far right. This has been challenged by the rise of Chega, the anti-immigrant party that won almost a quarter of the vote in Sunday’s election.
Will Pope Leo XIV Confront MAGA?
Robert Francis Prevost, the first US-born pope, embodies Catholicism’s anti-nationalist ethos. Will he follow Pope Francis in confronting the resurgence of nativism in the US and abroad?
Will Latin America Unite Against Trump?
Rather than ushering in a new era of Latin American unity, Donald Trump’s tariffs, anti-immigrant policies, and withdrawal of humanitarian aid have mostly highlighted its divisions.
After Pope Francis, a Catholic Move Rightward Seems Likely
Pope Francis brought a limited but desperately needed progressive spirit to the Catholic Church. Under his successor, that spirit is likely to wither.
Gustavo Petro’s Final Year
Gustavo Petro became Colombia’s first left-wing president three years ago. With a hostile Congress threatening his landmark labor reform, he’s scrambling to make sure he’s not its last.