“Policing Is Fundamentally a Tool of Social Control to Facilitate Our Exploitation”
The brutality we have repeatedly seen meted out by American police all over the country isn’t a bug of our political-economic system — it’s a feature.
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Walter Rodney and the Struggle for Democracy in Guyana
The famed historian Walter Rodney was also an important political leader in his native country. In this republished essay, Rodney sets out a biting critique of the Forbes Burnham dictatorship that went on to murder him in 1980, forty years ago today.
Israel’s Annexation Plan Is the Latest Stage in a Long History of Violent Dispossession
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has missed its first deadline for annexing part of the West Bank, but this Trump-backed scheme for land theft is still firmly on the table. The goal of Netanyahu and his US sponsors is simple: they want to liquidate Palestinian national aspirations.
Arwa Salih and the Lost Generation of Egyptian Communism
Two generations of Egyptian Marxists debated how they should respond to Nasser and the system he founded. Some were defeated, some were co-opted — and their failure still haunts the Egyptian left today, fifty years after Nasser’s death.
What We Should Remember on Armistice Day
World War I wasn’t a war for democracy — it was a catastrophic, barbaric conflict that left tens of millions of people dead and set the stage for anti-democratic rollbacks for years to come. Anti-war socialists were right to oppose it.
The Revolutionary Humanism of Frantz Fanon
The philosopher, psychiatrist, and revolutionary militant Frantz Fanon was a key figure in the struggle against European colonialism. Fanon’s innovative thinking on racism and its relationship to class oppression still speaks vividly to the present.
To Understand Capitalism, We Have to Understand Shipping and Oil
There is no twenty-first-century capitalism without the shipping and oil industries. And understanding the global economic system means understanding their operation in the Arabian Peninsula.
Francesco Misiano, the Italian Communist Who Brought Battleship Potemkin to the West
The Italian Communist Party was founded 100 years ago today. One of its most remarkable early militants was Francesco Misiano — a keen internationalist who fought gun in hand in the German Revolution before becoming a leading light of Soviet cinema.
Maxime Rodinson Was a Revolutionary Historian of the Muslim World
French historian Maxime Rodinson transformed our understanding of the Muslim world with books like Muhammad and Islam and Capitalism. Rodinson’s pathbreaking work, based on the creative use of Marxist ideas, is still an invaluable guide to the politics of the Middle East today.
How Korea Became a Forgotten War
During the Korean War, the United States inflicted unimaginable horrors on the Korean people. Yet today Americans know almost nothing about their government's role in war crimes and atrocities.
Demanding an End to Uyghur Oppression
We can oppose the saber-rattling and militarism of the US’s China hawks without downplaying the oppression of the Uyghur people.
On His Birthday, Let’s Celebrate the Old Man Karl Marx
Karl Marx’s final years of life are often overlooked as a period of intellectual and physical decline. But his thought remained vibrant to the end, as he addressed political questions that are still relevant to us today.
We Don’t Need Elon Musk to Explore the Solar System
Elon Musk is right to dream of humanity’s future as a multi-planet species. However, the multigenerational, millennia-long project of space colonization will be a public-sector endeavor, or it will not happen.
A Feminism That Means Something
Liberal feminism’s laser-like focus on winning formal equality between the sexes has distracted us from what should be feminism's true aim: winning a world where everyone has their basic needs met and everyone can flourish.
The British Establishment Is Losing Its Mind Over Afghanistan
From "war on terror" praise to a Tony Blair lovefest, Britain’s political and media class can’t seem to quit its addiction to militarism and war.
The Revolutionary Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg is an icon of the socialist movement who died a martyr’s death in 1919. But she was also a brilliant and highly original political thinker whose ideas about capitalism and how to oppose it are strikingly relevant to today’s world.
Hong Kong’s Trade Unions Are Under Attack
The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions has dissolved after months of media and government attacks. It’s a blow to worker organization across China.
Art and Capital Have Become Nearly Indistinguishable
From brands commissioning immersive installations at prestigious art fairs to hedge funds transforming artworks into stock-like financial instruments, the line between art and capital is blurrier than ever.
Blind Faith in the Army Isn’t “Supporting Veterans”
British politicians increasingly seek to silence criticism of wars abroad by emphasizing the need to “respect our boys.” But, veteran Joe Glenton tells Jacobin, many recruits who’ve seen the British army from the inside aren’t happy about being used to launder its image.
How Frantz Fanon Was Transformed by the Algerian Revolution
There was nothing abstract about Frantz Fanon’s political vision for the Global South: it was forged in the Algerian liberation struggle. Fanon’s role in that struggle convinced him that national independence would be hollow without social revolution.