The American Federalist System Is Killing Our Ability to Respond to Coronavirus
The US’s federalist system undermines even the most basic attempts to carry out effective national action. In pandemics, that’s a recipe for death and disaster.
Blog
The American Federation of Teachers’ Endorsement of Joe Biden Was Blatantly Undemocratic
The American Federation of Teachers recently announced its endorsement of Joe Biden for president. Even by the dismal standards set by the rest of the labor movement, the AFT’s endorsement was comically undemocratic.
The Coronavirus and Workers’ Democracy
The massive concentration of wealth and power at the apex of American society is not just obscene from the abstract standpoint of justice. It is a threat to our common health.
Tony Benn Spent His Life Fighting for Democracy and Socialism
Today would have been British Labour MP Tony Benn's 95th birthday. We remember his contributions to the struggle for democracy and socialism, a struggle that we must continue today.
Jeremy Corbyn Showed the Way. But We Must Learn the Right Lessons.
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party ends this weekend. We need to defend his legacy and carry on his noble democratic-socialist program, while being honest about where and why he fell short.
The Coronavirus Has Created Record Support for Medicare For All
A new poll shows a solid majority of Americans in favor of Medicare For All. It should come as no surprise — the horrors of the private health insurance system are now being put on full display.
Austerity Is Fueling the COVID-19 Pandemic in New Orleans, Not Mardi Gras Culture
Mainstream outlets are claiming the mounting coronavirus crisis in New Orleans is the result of cultural practices like Mardi Gras. That's nonsense — it's a consequence of deep class divides and decimated public health infrastructure.
“The Collective Work of Art We Call the City”
We pay tribute to Michael Sorkin, the architect and writer who died last week after contracting COVID-19. Sorkin spent his life both interpreting and changing cities in the interest of economic justice.
Abdul El-Sayed: “We Need to Remember This Is About People, Not Numbers or a Curve”
In an interview with Jacobin, Medicare for All advocate and former Michigan governor hopeful Abdul El-Sayed explains why the COVID-19 pandemic was avoidable — and why the cruelties of the US's for-profit health and economic system are making everything worse.
Pandemic Bonds Are a Scam Holding the Global South Hostage
The World Bank’s “pandemic bonds” demonstrate how global capital has an uncanny ability to profit from social ills. So far, investors have earned about $96 million in interest on the pandemic bonds, but developing countries have yet to receive desperately needed money.
Faced With Coronavirus, Portugal Is Treating Migrants as Citizens — We Should, Too
Portugal’s center-left government has announced that all migrants with open residency applications will be given regularized status, allowing them full access to health care and social services. Its example shows that our collective response to the coronavirus outbreak has to include everyone — regardless of where they were born.
Britain’s Conservative Party Is the Patient Zero of the Country’s Worsening National Health Crisis
A decade of Tory austerity, now compounded by the COVID-19 crisis, is pushing Britain’s National Health Service to a breaking point.