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20401 Article(s) by: Yi San
Yi San is a freelance writer based in New York.
In Defense of the Rank-and-File Strategy
Unions are schools of workers’ struggle — that’s why socialists talk so much about them. But they’re also contradictory institutions that often become complacent and bureaucratic. That’s why the rank-and-file strategy is so important.
Trump Is No Friend of the Kurdish Struggle
Trump has settled on a cynical strategy in Syria: use the Kurds to try to promote regime change. He doesn’t care about the democratic aspirations of Kurdish revolutionaries.
Warren Is No Hillary. She’s Also No Bernie.
The feud between Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren supporters is getting ridiculous. Warren isn’t Hillary and Bernie is no sexist.
Tiffany Cabán, a Socialist in the District Attorney’s Office
Socialists keep winning elections. The latest: Tiffany Cabán, who won the Queens, New York, district attorney race last night. She will soon have the opportunity to radically overhaul the criminal justice system by ending cash bail, halting prosecution of crimes of poverty, decriminalizing sex work, and more.
Iran Is Not a Threat, Trump Is
Trump’s eagerness to wage war against Iran is reckless, irrational — and murderous. Iran is simply not a threat.
Make No Mistake — Erdoğan Lost Big
Turkey’s right-wing ruler, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, tried to rerun the Istanbul mayoral election after it didn’t go his way — but on Sunday, his party lost big. It’s a crushing defeat for his autocratic regime.
The Socialist Origins of Public Defense
It’s no coincidence that Tiffany Cabán was a public defender before her radical campaign for Queens DA. The right to public defense wasn’t granted by elites. It was won by socialist-led mass movements.
How the Federal Government Deepened Segregation
Segregation wasn’t just the product of grassroots racism. It was furthered by decades of top-down federal policies.
We Won’t Load Your Ships of Death
Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen relies on lucrative weapons deals with the West. But the arms shipments can’t happen if dockers refuse to load the ships — and in France and Italy, they’ve already taken strike action to stop the Saudi war machine.
Against Twenty-First-Century Race Science
Scientists claim they can solve racial inequalities in health care through genetics. It’s a wrongheaded and dangerous approach: Reading race into our DNA will only make racism into scientific doctrine.
Bernie to Student Loan Sharks: Drop Dead
Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Pramila Jayapal just introduced a plan to completely eliminate student debt. Now let’s fight like hell for it.
Tiffany Cabán Will Put the System on Trial
District attorneys usually wield their power against working people. If Tiffany Cabán wins election for Queens district attorney tomorrow, she’ll use it to fight mass incarceration.
Canada’s Chance for a Green New Deal
The New Democratic Party has finally proposed a strong climate plan for Canada that opposes new pipelines. But the party needs to be honest about a key fact necessary to save the planet: Canada must euthanize its oil industry.
Mike Gravel Is the Anti–Joe Biden
Jacobin interviews maverick presidential candidate Mike Gravel. A scourge of American imperialism and an old-school populist, the former Alaska senator is the anti-Joe Biden.
“Hong Kong’s Last Battle”
Protesters in Hong Kong are still clogging the streets en masse. Their task: to face down not just the authoritarianism of the Chinese Communist Party but the self-dealing of Hong Kong capitalists.
The Biden Method
For Joe Biden, the pursuit of compromise is an end in itself. That’s what happens when you see politics as a giant boys’ club rather than a site of struggle.
Against Polling
The polling industry claims to offer live snapshots of what the public thinks. Yet the obsession with polls is reducing politics to market research.
Rebuilding France Insoumise
France Insoumise’s future is in doubt. But disputes over its internal structures mask a bigger problem — the party isn’t tapping into popular anger.
Why Stonewall Matters Today
Stonewall wasn’t just an uprising for LGBT rights — it was also part of a broader movement that fought racism, war, and poverty. To go beyond today’s tepid gay activism, we need to remember its anti-capitalism.