Sorry Mayor Pete, Means-Testing Is Not Progressive
Universal programs build solidarity and are far more politically durable than means-tested programs. By going after free college, Pete Buttigieg is doing the bidding of the Right.
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“People Are Starting to Realize the Kind of City We Can Have If We Fight for It”
Robert LeVertis Bell is a public school teacher and socialist in Louisville, Kentucky running for city council. In an interview with Jacobin, he talks about his experience participating in the recent red-state teachers’ upsurge, fighting gentrification, and how campaigns like his can be used to build a broader movement that is bigger than any one candidate.
Abraham Lincoln Taxed the Rich. This Election Day, Illinois Can, Too.
A tiny handful of rich people make life worse for the vast majority of us, and most of the time it feels like we can’t do much about it. But Illinois voters could change that on Election Day: the state can follow the example of Abraham Lincoln and finally establish a progressive state income tax.
How the “Stranger Danger” Panic of the 1980s Helped Give Rise to Mass Incarceration
The 1980s saw the spread of a nationwide panic about “stranger danger,” a supposed epidemic of child kidnappings and murders. Under the guise of protecting children, the media-driven hysteria helped spur mass incarceration.
The United States Has Overused Its Sanctions Weapon
Sanctions used to be deployed as a slap on the wrist for foreign leaders, but over the past several decades they have become a central weapon of US foreign policy. Excessive use of sanctions may have begun to undermine US global hegemony.
When Irish Grocery Workers Stood Against Apartheid
Forty years ago, eleven Dublin supermarket workers walked out on strike to refuse the selling of South African fruit — an act of defiance that would make Ireland the first Western nation to ban apartheid goods.
Americana Falls Flat
Nothing in film is more exposing than the big attempt at meaning and poignance that just doesn’t come off. Sadly, Americana stands exposed.
Right-Wing Extremism Is the Norm in the Dominican Republic
A close ally of Trump, Dominican Republic president Luis Abinader embraced austerity and deported nearly half a million people during his first term as president. With little alternative, Dominicans have reelected him for a second.
Analytic Philosophy Is a Flawed Framework for the Left
Analytic philosophy has become the dominant school in anglophone philosophy departments since 1945. Christoph Schuringa persuasively argues that it has served to reinforce a liberal common sense that blocks the idea of radical change.
NBA Players Wanted Their Rights as Workers. Owners Were Standing in the Way.
NBA players are well-paid today, but it wasn’t always so. As a new labor history of the league shows, pro basketball players had to unionize and threaten strikes to get out from under the thumb of owners and win a bigger piece of the financial pie.
I Was a 1970s CIA Brat
At the height of the Cold War, my father was a station chief for the Central Intelligence Agency. It was a front-row seat for the last gasp of the WASP spy.
Silvio Berlusconi Was the Iconic Political Figure of Our Times
Silvio Berlusconi, who died today at age 86, centered Italian politics on his TV empire and brought the far right to power. A predecessor to Donald Trump, he remains the ultimate icon of the sidelining of democracy by media power.
Francesca Albanese: This Is Genocide
In an interview, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese explains how Israel is systematically erasing Palestinian life from Gaza.
Boeing Has Allies in the Biden Justice Department
Boeing is facing scrutiny from the Justice Department that could lead to criminal charges. But a department official involved in the case formerly consulted on behalf of the company — just one among many such officials with close corporate connections.
The Revolt in Iran Is Rallying Its Diverse Working Class
The Jina revolution in Iran has seen powerful solidarity between women demanding freedom, oil worker unions, and minorities. Far from the elite reformism of diaspora opposition leaders, the revolt in Iran expresses the radicalism of a diverse working class.
Automakers Are Investing in Stock Buybacks Instead of Workers and Electric Vehicles
Big Three executives are claiming that UAW demands, including a just green transition, are too expensive. This is an obvious misdirection: the real sap on company finances is the billions of dollars in stock buybacks and executive compensation.
Americans Have Good Reasons to Be Unhappy With the Economy
A recent uptick in consumer confidence has led many commentators to decide Americans unhappy with the economy are just delusional. But make no mistake: the signs of economic struggle are very real, and they’re everywhere.
Liberal Pundits Were Dead Wrong on Americans’ Economic Pain
It turns out misinformation did help decide the election: the misinformation coming from liberal pundits. They told Democratic Party leaders that voters who were unhappy with the economy were simply wrong.
Furiosa Fails the Mad Max Series — and the Summer Box Office
Anya Taylor-Joy revs up her engines for Furiosa, but this Mad Max prequel is running on fumes.
We Can’t Have a Fair Society Under Capitalism
Random chance governs far more of our lives than most of us are comfortable admitting. Fully appreciating the influence of luck on life chances should lead us to rethink our economic and political institutions from the bottom up.