What David Dinkins Taught Us
Whatever his failings, the late New York mayor David Dinkins’s historic stature and contributions to the common good gave him a unique place in the democratic socialist movement.
19079 Articles by: Yi San
Yi San is a freelance writer based in New York.
Emmanuel Macron Is Creating a Liberalism Without Civil Liberties
On Tuesday, France’s National Assembly passed a bill effectively banning citizens from posting videos of police officers. Emmanuel Macron is trampling on historic press freedoms in order to prove himself as a “law-and-order” president — an authoritarian turn which makes a mockery of his claimed defense of liberal values.
New Poll: Majority of Americans Want the Senate to Reject Biden’s Corporate Nominees
An astounding 68 percent of Americans say they want lawmakers to reject corporate executives and lobbyists if they are nominated for Joe Biden’s cabinet posts, according to a new survey.
Mayor David Dinkins Was Better Than Those Who Came After Him
New York’s first and only black mayor, and one time Democratic Socialists of America member, David Dinkins came to power at a time when anyone left of center was forced into a defensive posture.
Canceling Medical Debt Is a Moral Imperative
The US’s monstrous for-profit health system saddles millions of workers with debt for the crime of seeking medical treatment. We desperately need to cancel all medical debt, even as we continue to fight for Medicare for All.
Joe Biden Is Filling His Cabinet With Pro-War Hawks
If you were hoping for a change of heart from Joe Biden after a decades-long career as a hawk, we’ve got bad news: his incoming team helped shape some of the most militaristic policies of the Obama administration.
Kshama Sawant: Democrats and the Right Are Attacking Me — And Left Movements Everywhere
For Seattle’s ruling class, having even one socialist, Kshama Sawant, on city council is far too many. Which is why, Sawant writes in Jacobin, since she first won office in 2013, the attacks from Democrats, the Right, and corporate juggernauts like Amazon haven’t stopped attacking her.
US Billionaires Have Increased Their Riches By $1 Trillion During the Pandemic
A trillion dollars could maintain wages at pre-crisis levels for all workers in America, enabling people to stay home and stop the spread of the virus, for four months. Instead, it’s gone into the personal piggy banks of a handful of billionaire owners and investors.
A Trump Appointee Is Trying to Force New Bank Investments in Fossil Fuel Extraction
Everyone knows the desperate need to stop fossil fuel extraction immediately to avoid climate catastrophe. But that hasn’t stopped a Trump-appointed financial regulator from trying to force banks to continue financing fossil fuel projects.
The Moral Core of Socialism Is Our Responsibility to Each Other
To avoid runaway climate change, we need to transform our societies’ economic priorities. But the Green New Deal can’t succeed unless it enjoys working people’s active support — and starts out from their existing moral assumptions.
How Postwar West Germany Used Support for Israel to Whitewash Its Image
In 1952, West Germany paid reparations to Israel — not as compensation to Holocaust survivors, but in the form of supplies to the Israeli state. Coming at the same time as denazification reached its end, the move had little to do with moral atonement, and everything to do with whitewashing West Germany’s international image.
Refugees Detained in Melbourne’s Mantra Hotel Speak Out: “Our Lockdown Is Indefinite”
Under the short-lived Medevac Legislation, 192 refugees were transported from offshore detention to Australia for medical treatment. Today, most of them are still imprisoned in hotels around the country, where they have to endure a total, indefinite lockdown.
Yes, We Should Still Get Rid of the Electoral College
The nightmare scenario of the winner of the Electoral College losing the popular vote didn’t happen this time around. But the Electoral College is still a fundamentally anti-majoritarian, anti-democratic institution. We should absolutely scrap it.
Why the Arab Spring Failed
As inspiring as the Arab Spring uprisings of the early 2010s were, they failed to democratize the Middle East. The primary cause had little to do with the region’s cultural or religious characteristics and everything to do with the profound weakening of the Middle East’s working-class power under neoliberalism.
In Germany, Trade Unions Are Waking Up To the Climate Crisis
Rooted in Germany’s metalworks industries, IG Metall is one of the world’s strongest trade unions. But the need for climate action is forcing it to take a more critical approach to the industries where its members work — and fight for a green transition that creates new kinds of high-paid, fulfilling jobs.
Joe Biden’s New National Security Picks Are Very Troubling
Joe Biden’s first national security hires have been consulting for defense contractors or working for industry-funded think tanks. The picks are of a piece with Biden’s entire career of backing US imperialism rather than bucking it.
Helen Keller: The Hands That Produce Should Be the Hands That Benefit
To many, Helen Keller is a symbol of unyielding perseverance in the face of adversity. Rightfully so. But she was also one of the most prominent American Marxists of her time. Here, we reprint her 1912 essay “The Hand of the World” in full.
Puerto Rico Is Moving Left
Puerto Ricans dealt a severe blow to their neoliberal, two-party system in the general election this month, with progressive forces making a major breakthrough. For the first time in the island’s history, the Left has become a relevant player in the electoral arena.
It’s Not That Complicated. Cancelling Student Debt Is Good.
The argument that we shouldn’t cancel student debt because it’s unfair to those who have paid off their loans doesn’t hold up. Don’t overthink it: we should cancel all student debt and make public universities, community colleges, and vocation schools tuition-free.
The FBI’s War on Folk Music
The anti-communist campaigns of the late 1940s attacked the Left on every front. As beacons of a broad-based cultural radicalism and messengers for change, American folk singers quickly found themselves in the FBI’s crosshairs.