The Egyptian Counterrevolution
Despite the best efforts of Egypt's elite, the struggle for democracy has not been extinguished.
Despite the best efforts of Egypt's elite, the struggle for democracy has not been extinguished.

While Pentagon budgets have steadily increased in recent years, the arms industry has become more consolidated, more automated, and less labor-intensive. The warfare state is not an effective economic development strategy for working people.

Colombia’s left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, is fighting for a comprehensive labor reform package that will protect workers and restore unions after decades of violence and suppression. Conservative forces are intent on stopping the reform in its tracks.

Private equity, now a major presence in the US economic landscape, has been booming since the 2008 financial crisis. Its roots lie in the rise of the corporation at the turn of the century and the shareholder revolution of the 1980s.

The late 20th century saw the creation of special economic zones that free capitalists from the normal constraints of popular sovereignty. This went hand in hand with the rise of radical libertarian ideologies proposing to do away with democracy entirely.

Universal cash assistance programs have provided an indispensable financial lifeline for households and the economy as a whole during the pandemic. But contrary to many advocates of a universal basic income, the past year's experience offers no model for a left policy agenda in normal times.
Some lessons from Syriza — and where we go from here.

Donald Trump is gone. But the conditions that gave rise to his brand of noxious politics aren’t going away anytime soon.

In Germany, podcaster Ole Nymoen has become public enemy number one for supporters of the government’s rearmament campaign. He spoke to Jacobin about his new book against militarization and on the need for a renewed peace movement.

Three thousand students at Columbia University have pledged to begin a tuition strike next semester if administrators do not concede to their demands. The strike is part of the nationwide student movement to end university austerity, resist rising student debt, and democratize the university.

The Morrison government has proposed sweeping changes to Australian labor laws intended to cut wages, entrench precarious work, and cripple unions. The proposed changes would sweep away the remnants of collective bargaining and hand dictatorial power to bosses.

Ahead of June’s EU elections, centrist politicians are again calling for a vote to stop the far right. But the far right has already won mainstream credibility — and it’s because it accepts the EU’s increasing devotion of public funds to the defense industry.
The new Catalan party, Catalunya en Comú, faces challenges all new political organizations must overcome.

Matt Karp on how a political movement beating the drum for working-class populism can restore fraying ties between blue-collar workers and the Left.
Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste's Olivier Besancenot on the challenges facing the French left.

After years of bullying, brutal austerity, and massive giveaways to the wealthy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s rule in New York is finished. His allies are in disarray, never expecting their prince’s fall from grace. Now it’s time for the Left to step up and reshape New York for the many, not the few.

With US hegemony in decline, China and the European Union are each vying to impose their own leadership over the next wave of digitalization. Donald Trump's talk of "America First" expressed this rivalry in especially crude terms — but even after his departure, the contest among the main world powers is only intensifying.

The Left shouldn’t wring its hands about whether we should pack the courts or not. Just pack the courts.

Democrats are hoping to win the midterms by touting the pared-down Inflation Reduction Act and their (modest) commitment to abortion rights. That might work in November — but it’s a poor strategy for reversing hemorrhaging support among working-class voters.

At the heart of socialism is the simple idea that everyone, no matter where they’re born, is worthy of a dignified life — and that the fate of workers everywhere is linked together. Turning our back on that idea by dropping our internationalism would be a grave mistake.