Michael Brooks Made the Left Brighter
Amid the pettiness and factionalism that so often plague the Left, Michael Brooks’s socialism was warm, vibrant, and intellectually omnivorous. We can all learn from his example.
19645 Articles by: William G. Martin
William G. Martin teaches at SUNY-Binghamton and is co-author of After Prisons? Freedom, Decarceration, and Justice Disinvestment (2016) and a founding member of Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier; he covers local justice matters at www.justtalk.blog
A Huge Wall Street Scandal Just Exploded In Kentucky
GOP law enforcement officials are targeting Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire who bankrolls Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump’s political machine. The lawsuit breaks open a major financial scandal that threatens the world’s largest private equity firms — with global implications.
The Pentagon Is Giving Billions to Corporate Criminals
As the Senate considers defense budget cuts, a new government report says the Pentagon is giving billions to companies “cited for willful or repeated safety, health or fair labor standards violations.”
Serbia’s Coronavirus Protests Are Denouncing the Government From Opposite Angles
The Serbian government’s reintroduction of a curfew in Belgrade triggered violent protests in July, showing the popular distrust in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. But with the rallies drawing everyone from middle-class liberals to far-right football hooligans, the protests above all show the lack of coherent opposition to Aleksandar Vučić’s authoritarian government.
“Michael Brooks Was My Absolute Political Inspiration”
After putting out a call for his listeners and viewers to share their reflections on our comrade and friend Michael Brooks after his shocking and untimely death this week, we were flooded with emails. Here are a few of them.
Lucio Urtubia, 1931–2020
The anarchist bricklayer Lucio Urtubia made his name robbing banks in order to fund clandestine revolutionaries in Franco’s Spain. He insisted that there was nothing criminal about his expropriations of firms like Citibank — arguing that “he who robs a thief is a thousand times forgiven.”
Meet Marcela Mitaynes. She Just Gave Brooklyn’s Democratic Socialists Their First Big Upset In This Year’s Primaries
Marcela Mitaynes, a Peruvian immigrant and Brooklyn tenant activist, overcame long odds — with the help of the city’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter — to defeat her incumbent rival in last week’s primaries for a New York State Assembly seat. Her story underscores the power of socialism to connect radical politics with everyday struggles.
I Owe a Lot to Michael Brooks
Michael Brooks’s quiet acts of interpersonal graciousness were inseparable from his loftiest political aspirations. His untimely death leaves an enormous hole in our lives and on the Left that will never be filled.
How a Working-Class Soldier and Platoon Leader in Iraq Turned Against Our “Forever Wars”
American foreign policy is often relegated to the margins of political consciousness in the US. But some of the most powerful voices against US intervention are those who have come from inside the military — and turned vehemently against it.
Who Are the Mysterious Firms Working for Ilhan Omar’s Challenger?
More than 65 percent of the spending by Ilhan Omar’s primary opponent for her House seat has been funneled through anonymous corporations, circumventing traditional campaign finance disclosures. Who are they?
Unemployment Benefits Have Saved the US From Economic Calamity. They Expire at the End of the Month.
The only thing keeping workers in the United States from absolute destitution has been unemployment insurance and other social welfare benefits. If Congress doesn’t extend unemployment benefits at the end of the month, the economy will hurl off a cliff — and millions will be immiserated.
The Forgotten History of the Jewish, Anti-Zionist Left
The roots of modern Zionism are in colonialism. This was the foundation of the Jewish left’s opposition to Zionism in the 1930s and ’40s, on the grounds that it is a form of right-wing nationalism and imperialism that is fundamentally opposed to working-class internationalism.
Remembering Our Friend and Comrade Michael Brooks
We lost an irreplaceable part of the Jacobin family today. Let’s honor the life and legacy of Michael Brooks.
Organizing Rank-and-File Academics in Australia’s Universities
Australian universities have been badly hit by COVID-19, with already deregulated workforces suffering job losses and pay cuts. On the back of recent setbacks, rank-and-file organizing is trying to reinvigorate the Tertiary Education Union as a site of struggle.
How Colonialism Shaped Policing in France
Inspired by the George Floyd protests, thousands have demonstrated in France against the brutality and racism of their country’s police — a force shaped by the crime of French colonialism.
Health Care Lobbyists Are Donating Large Amounts to Democrats. They Want Execs’ Immunity From COVID-19 Lawsuits.
Earlier this year, New York governor Andrew Cuomo helped a donor shield health care executives from COVID-19–related lawsuits. Washington Democrats are weighing similar legislation. Now, new data shows that a lobbying group funneled campaign cash to New York Democrats as the bill was being passed.
Trump Wants Federal Agents to Invade American Cities. Democrats Aren’t Doing Much to Push Back.
Donald Trump deployed unidentified Department of Homeland Security agents to Portland, where they abducted protesters off the street into unmarked vehicles, and he wants to do the same elsewhere. House Democrats rightly say they’re horrified by Trump’s actions — yet are refusing to do anything substantive to stop them.
Melania Trump Is No Victim
A new book shows that the current first lady got to where she is through a combination of ambition, calculation, and persistence. But her path to becoming Donald Trump’s wife is tied up in the post-communist collapse in Eastern Europe — and the diminishing gender equality that followed.
Israel’s Annexation Plan Is the Latest Stage in a Long History of Violent Dispossession
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has missed its first deadline for annexing part of the West Bank, but this Trump-backed scheme for land theft is still firmly on the table. The goal of Netanyahu and his US sponsors is simple: they want to liquidate Palestinian national aspirations.
In Bernie’s Brooklyn, Political Revolution Was Mainstream
To many Americans, Bernie Sanders’s brand of socialism seemed to leap onto the national stage from out of nowhere. But in the postwar Jewish Brooklyn where he grew up, the socialist tradition and a veneration for the New Deal were central touchstones of mainstream politics.