You Can’t Go Home Again
We didn’t know we were entering a new era until it arrived. We can never go back.
19378 Articles by: Ryan Switzer
Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
When the Black Political Class Betrayed Black Workers
Martin Luther King Jr died supporting striking black sanitation workers in the South. Less than a decade later, a black Atlanta mayor and King’s own father were attacking that same group of workers and breaking their strike. Black urban governance is meaningless without a commitment to strengthening the public sector and rejecting the logic of austerity.
Manolis Glezos, 1922–2020
Manolis Glezos was just 19 when he sparked Greece’s anti-Nazi resistance by tearing down the swastika from the Acropolis. This was the beginning of a life dedicated to the cause of the oppressed — in which, as he put it, “No struggle for what you believe in is ever futile.”
Spain Needs Social Solidarity as Well as Social Distancing
Last month’s revelations of the Spanish monarchy’s illicit financial dealings embarrassed official claims that “we’re all in this together.” Faced with COVID-19, citizens are forced to build their own collective response — replacing the empty rhetoric of “national unity” with the real practice of social solidarity.
There’s Never Been a Better Time for Us to End Private Health Insurance Than Right Now
The coronavirus crisis will lead to health insurance premium increases by up to 40 percent next year. We can’t afford that. Instead of seeing premiums skyrocket or bailing out private health companies, we need to seize this moment to abolish private insurance and create a single, national insurance plan.
Tech Firms Are Swooping in to Profit From COVID-19
As health systems around the world are thrown into crisis, tech firms are winning lucrative government contracts to roll out spurious apps and digital services. We need technological innovation to combat this pandemic, but it must be administered publicly to prevent the further commodification of our health care.
Israel Has Already Made Gaza Unlivable. Now the Coronavirus Is Coming.
Israel’s blockade of Gaza has turned the strip of land into the “world’s largest open-air prison.” And now the overcrowded enclave has its first confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Joe Biden is Wrong About Single-Payer and Coronavirus
The ranks of the uninsured are growing, and people are already dying from a lack of coverage. Yet Joe Biden says coronavirus has nothing to do with Medicare for All. He’s wrong: its time has come.
The Origins of the UK’s National Health Service Show How We Can Win Medicare for All
The United Kingdom emerged from the horrors of World War II and established a national health system. We can do the same thing with the coronavirus crisis and Medicare for All.
The Mainstream Media Versus Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Mainstream media coverage of Mexico’s leftist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his response to the coronavirus crisis has been terrible. While world health authorities have commended Mexico’s approach, the media — blindly parroting AMLO’s right-wing opposition — have panned it.
“A Little Flu” Could Be Fatal for Jair Bolsonaro
Brazil’s fragile health care system and densely populated cities threaten to turn the COVID-19 outbreak into a full-scale social collapse. President Jair Bolsonaro’s dismissal of the pandemic as a “little flu” is feeding dissent even among his allies — threatening to hasten the far-right leader’s downfall.
We’re Doing a Ton of Video Broadcasts This Week
From why the free market can’t cope with coronavirus to the rise of Modi and Bolsonaro to how shock therapy destroyed Russia in the 1990s and what the UK Labour Party does after Corbyn, we have a bunch of videos coming out this week.
For Top Democrats, Joe Biden Is No Al Franken
Two years after forcing Al Franken’s resignation from the Senate over sexual misconduct allegations, prominent Democrats now have to decide whether to stand on principle or keep silent about the latest assault accusations against Joe Biden. We asked them — and so far, most are choosing to keep silent.
Joe Biden’s Campaign Claimed It Was Safe to Vote During the Pandemic. It Absolutely Wasn’t.
Against CDC guidelines and health experts’ urgings, the DNC and Joe Biden’s campaign urged Americans to vote earlier this month — undoubtedly spreading coronavirus further. But don’t expect any accountability for it, from mainstream media or anyone else.
The “Crisis of Democracy” Around the World Is a Crisis of the Working Class
Our global crisis of democracy is real, but its solution isn’t rebuilding political norms. It’s rebuilding working-class power.
Joe Biden Keeps Lying — But You Won’t Hear It From Liberal Media
Joe Biden’s astonishing propensity to make things up is a major liability for him. But Democratic voters have been largely kept in the dark about those lies by liberal media outlets.
For Elite Democrats, Joe Biden’s Candidacy Means Ditching #MeToo
The Democratic establishment’s response to the latest allegations of sexual harassment against Joe Biden show the cynicism of a party elite that switches its feminism on and off whenever it’s expedient.
“I’m Detained at Rikers Island and I’m Sick With Coronavirus”
New York’s jails have become a focus of COVID-19, with 103 inmates and 80 staff testing positive already. One Rikers Island detainee told Jacobin about the outbreak in the prison — and the inhumanity of trapping people in a hotbed of infection.
Spain’s Hospitals Have Suffered Death by a Thousand Cuts
Spain’s requisitioning of private hospitals is a fine example of government mobilization to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. Yet the country’s overwhelmed wards also show how neoliberal policies have chipped away at public health care — starving hospitals of resources while siphoning them off to paid-for alternatives.
“I Don’t Know How I’m Going to Pay My Rent. But I Know It’s Not My Fault.”
It’s been a week since I was laid off, and my husband is out of work, too. Today, I need a rent suspension. Tomorrow, I need a homes guarantee.