Robin Jaspert is a PhD candidate at the department for international relations and international political economy at Frankfurt’s Goethe University. His work focusses on financial markets, central banks, global power relations, and “sustainable” finance; in addition to his scholarship, he is involved in political education and movement activism.
UNRWA, the United Nations Palestinian refugee relief agency, has faced severe funding cuts after Israel dubiously accused the organization of ties to Hamas. We spoke with a director of UNRWA in Jordan about the impact of the cuts.
Since 2015, the EU has increasingly demanded that African states repress migration on its behalf. It secures their compliance through economic coercion — exploiting debt relations which have in recent times sharply turned in favor of rich EU countries.
In June, Italy’s government impounded the Sea-Eye 4 rescue ship for 20 days as part of a crackdown on NGOs that save migrants’ lives at sea. Crew members told Jacobin why they won’t be intimidated by authorities who routinely leave migrants to drown.
Despite both right-wing hysterics about “woke capital” and the optimistic claims of Wall Street, ESG has done very little to steer investment in more socially responsible directions. Aggressive state action is needed to rapidly green the economy.
Seventy years ago today, Germany’s debts from World War II were written off. Today climate activists around the world are protesting in front of German embassies to demand the cancellation of the debt of the Global South.
The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are withdrawing money from markets in the name of fighting inflation. But the move is aggravating the pressures of debt on the Global South — and pushing states toward ruinous austerity measures.