Yi San is a freelance writer based in New York.
American democracy seems to be falling into an ever greater crisis. A lottocratic system, in which citizens are randomly selected to serve as legislators, could empower ordinary people and stem political dysfunction.
Noah Baumbach and George Clooney’s Jay Kelly is a Netflix dramedy about the death of Hollywood stardom and the theatrical experience. Ironically, with Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros., the call is definitely coming from inside the house.
Backed by Silicon Valley–aligned venture capital and legal loopholes, prediction markets are creeping into every corner of life. They turn everything from measles outbreaks to government resignations to famine into opportunities for predatory speculation.
As strange as it may sound, Zohran Mamdani’s new policy on halal cart licenses would lay the groundwork to democratize ownership through cooperatives — an approach that could finally help make New York City affordable again.
As Amazon rolls out its millionth robot on the warehouse floor, it is important to recognize that the company is not any closer to ridding itself of the burden of human labor. Amazon can still be unionized.
A strong labor movement demanded unified elites. Organized business in turn kept the GOP’s madness contained to ensure a favorable business climate. Today the Republican Party’s descent into chaos is a product of capitalist fragmentation.
Positioned between major power blocs, Brazil sits at the center of debates on geopolitics, development, and the green transition. In an interview, left-wing finance minister Fernando Haddad assesses domestic political trends and Brazil’s place in the global economy.
It’s been 70 years since Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American was published. Greene’s scathing picture of US foreign policy and the men who carry it out enraged American critics, but the history of the last seven decades has vindicated his perspective.
Co-filed by then-senator J. D. Vance, a GOP-backed lawsuit aims to erode some of the last remaining limits on unfettered election spending.
With the rise of AI slop and overall “enshittification,” it is increasingly the case that the internet is failing to address the public’s needs. What we need is sewer socialism for the digital realm — and it can start at the municipal level.
Over the weekend, Bernie Sanders spoke to a gathering of over a hundred democratic socialist elected officials. Here’s what he said.
Balancing the smooth running of local government with a bold reform agenda, as Zohran Mamdani will have to do in New York, isn’t easy. Spain’s recent experiments with left local governance offer some lessons on how (and how not) to do it.
After a Southwest Airlines software meltdown stranded two million customers over Christmas three years ago, the Department of Transportation imposed a $140 million fine. The Trump administration just let the airline off the hook for its remaining payments.
After 40 years of struggle, Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement is now at nearly two million members and taking center stage in the fight for democracy and equality. It’s done that by flying the most unlikely militant banner of all: organic food.
Reporting from Fallujah, Jacobin documents how US-made weapons laced with toxic metals and depleted uranium have turned cities razed by war into biohazards. Soil, bodies, and whole generations are being poisoned in their wake.
Love requires attention, affection, and reciprocal flow — a natural cycle of giving and receiving. Capitalism can easily commodify the first two, but the third resists the market. That’s precisely why our economic system is so determined to destroy it.
There is a widespread feeling that the living standard of the average American has declined since the mid-20th century. This is false — but it reflects the reality that it is now much harder for single-earner families to afford a mainstream lifestyle.
Khalid Bakdash became the first communist MP in any Arab country when he was elected to the Syrian parliament in the 1950s. Bakdash’s party was once a major political force, but it faded into irrelevance after forming a coalition with the ruling Baʿathists.
Chris Hani, the South African Communist who led the ANC’s military wing, was assassinated in April 1993 before seeing the liberation he had fought for. The loss of Hani and his socialist perspective was a major blow to the new South Africa.
A former CIA station chief revered by Miami’s anti-Castro circles now faces prison as an unregistered foreign agent. His path from Cold War covert ops to selling secrets says a lot about the political machinery he came from.