Let’s Talk About the COVID-19 Lab Leak Theory
Whether COVID emerged from nature or from a laboratory leak is a legitimate debate. We still don’t have all the answers, but how that discussion was stifled bodes poorly for scientific inquiry.
Blog
The US Invasion Was a Catastrophe for the People of Iraq
The US promised to bring freedom to Iraqis, but its eight-year occupation resulted in death and destruction on a horrifying scale. It left behind a corrupt, sectarian political order that has responded to popular protests with brutal repression.
Finding Solidarity in a Mexican Immigration Detention Center
Belén Fernández didn’t plan on ending up in a notorious detention center for immigrants in Mexico. But when an unfortunate series of events led her to Siglo XXI prison, she discovered a tremendous sense of human solidarity and collective resilience.
UAW Reformers Just Won Control of the Union. They Want to Turn It Into a Fighting Union.
Unite All Workers for Democracy, the reform caucus in the United Auto Workers, just won sweeping victories in leadership elections. Now they’re looking to transform the UAW, one of the largest unions in the country, into a democratic fighting machine.
Chile’s Attempt at Democratic Socialism Combined State Action and Bottom-Up Initiative
Chile’s socialist experiment was made possible by a confrontational working-class political party and a militant labor movement. The experience shows the promise, and the dangers, of a movement based in both government initiatives and grassroots militancy.
Emily Is Not the Biopic Emily Brontë Deserves
Emily Brontë is one of the most uniquely brilliant women writers who ever lived, the perfect subject for a feminist biopic. She deserves better than the shallow pop feminism of the new movie Emily.
Annie Ernaux Met Workers Striking to Defend Their Pensions
For the last ten days, France has been shaken by strikes against Emmanuel Macron’s bid to raise the retirement age. Nobel Prize–winning author Annie Ernaux met strikers at a Paris rail station to discuss how working life has been devalued.
The Paris Commune Was a Unique Experiment in Running a City for Its People
On this day in 1871, the Paris Commune began its brief history before a conservative government drowned it in blood. While it lasted, the Commune sketched out a new way to run a major city based on democracy and the public good, not private profiteering.
Otto Bauer and the Austro-Marxists Wanted a Socialist Revolution in Democracy
Austrian socialist Otto Bauer, like others in the too often forgotten “Austro-Marxist” school, sought to build a mass workers’ movement that could win parliamentary democracy — and then go beyond it by establishing a socialist republic.
From Meager Pay to Malnutrition, School Cafeterias Are in Crisis
School meal programs across the US are in disarray due to major staffing shortages and exploitative business practices, and kids are shouldering the burden. We can’t fix the nationwide cafeteria crisis without making life sustainable for the “lunch ladies."
UAW Reform Candidate Shawn Fain Is Set to Win the Union’s Presidential Election
In a stunning upset in the United Auto Workers leadership election, reformer Shawn Fain is set to win the presidency. Fain is part of a reform slate that will now control the UAW after vowing to bring democracy and militancy back to the long-calcified union.
Adam McKay: Global Warming Is Not Being Treated Like an Emergency
Don’t Look Up director Adam McKay writes in Jacobin about climate change and the institutional blindness and warped incentives that should scare the crap out of all of us.