Lost in Translation
Santa Is a Pervert and your other favorite Hollywood classics.
19378 Articles by: Yi San
Yi San is a freelance writer based in New York.
Turkey Doesn’t Need F-16s. It Needs Humanitarian Aid.
Less than a week after two earthquakes killed 35,000 people, the Turkish government resumed bombing Kurdish forces in Syria. Now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is spending $20 billion on F-16 jets — money that would be better spent on earthquake aid.
We Can’t Understand Islamophobia Without Recognizing Its Roots in Imperialism
Anti-Muslim racism has become a central theme for right-wing demagogues in Europe and the US. Islamophobia isn’t just a bad set of ideas: it’s a product of imperialism and the destructive wars waged by the US and its allies in the Middle East.
Policymakers Backed by Big Oil Are Trying to Rebrand Natural Gas as Clean Energy
The oil and gas industry and its political allies are promoting the use of natural gas as a climate-friendly alternative to other harmful energy sources, ignoring its negative impacts on both the planet and public health.
Knock at the Cabin Summons a Half-Baked Apocalypse
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest low-budget horror movie, Knock at the Cabin, is so overstuffed with exposition that even the end of the world is a letdown.
The Market Will Never Solve the Climate Crisis
When oil prices plummeted during the pandemic, fossil fuel companies made vague efforts to invest in clean energy. Now pulling in bumper profits, Big Oil is discarding those initiatives to maintain their business model: capital over climate.
Google’s YouTube Music Workers Are on Strike
A week after YouTube Music workers filed for a union election, Google issued a return-to-office order for the remote workforce. Employees, who say the order is an illegal attempt to interfere with the election, are now on strike. We spoke with some of them.
Beyond the Earthquake, Syrians Need US Sanctions Lifted
The Biden administration has thankfully lifted the sanctions on Syria to provide for earthquake relief. It’s a good first step. The next: lift the sanctions regime entirely.
Lula Knows Exactly Who His Political Allies Are
Brazilian president and working-class icon Lula da Silva made a major trip to Washington, DC last week. The two political leaders at the top of his meeting list: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders.
Investor Firms Are Squeezing Every Penny Out of Senior Housing
In a senior housing complex in Pennsylvania, a Wall Street–backed landlord is hiking rents on an absurd scale. It’s part of a larger trend of real estate investors targeting senior care facilities at the expense of their residents and workers.
In 2021, Larry Summers Won the Inflation Debate. But His Victory Was Transitory.
With price growth trending down over the past year despite a strong labor market, it’s looking more and more like Larry Summers was wrong about inflation after all. It’s time to revisit the great inflation debate of 2021–2022.
Diplomat: Why the Minsk Agreements Failed in Ukraine
The Minsk Agreements were meant to ease conflict in the Donbas, only to be torn to shreds by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A diplomat involved in the Minsk process tells Jacobin why it failed, and what chance diplomacy has of de-escalating the war.
South Africa’s Communists Were Crucial to the Fight Against Apartheid
From its foundation in the 1920s, the South African Communist Party took up the fight against racism as a central part of its political vision. The party’s heroic record in the anti-apartheid movement has now received the historical treatment it deserves.
The Global Exploitation of Congo Must End
Pope Francis’s recent visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo has focused world attention on a region long exploited by outsiders. But it should not require a visit from the pope for the ravages of colonialism and war to be taken seriously.
One Hundred Years of Ousmane Sembène
This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. His films — dazzling portraits of Senegalese and French society — represent some of the most brilliant attempts to think about the limits and possibilities of political art.
Workers at an eBay-Owned Company Are Trying to Organize a Union. eBay Is Trying to Bust It.
Workers with TCGPlayer, a trading card game marketplace owned by eBay, filed for a union election in late January. Employees have accused TCGPlayer of illegal union busting since, including unlawful surveillance and captive audience meetings.
Nineteen Eighty-Four Was Written by a Socialist
George Orwell was a self-professed socialist. The Right’s misreadings of his books like Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four have less to do with his actual work than with conservatives’ anti-egalitarian agenda.
The Jesus of Tonight’s Super Bowl Ads Can’t Be Found in Right-Wing Churches
During tonight’s Super Bowl, ads funded by pillars of conservative Christianity will promote a compassionate Jesus aligned with young people’s left-wing values. They’re compelling — but those values can’t be found in conservative churches.
The West Is Ignoring the Nightmarish War in Ethiopia
The war in Ethiopia has largely been ignored by the outside world, and information has been hard to come by. But what we know about the conflict is horrific: at least 500,000 civilians have been killed, and 5 million have been displaced.
Johns Hopkins University Graduate Workers Just Won a Union
Last week, graduate workers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore voted to form a union — with 97 percent voting in favor. Jacobin spoke to worker-organizers about how they got there and what the victory means for Hopkins graduate students.