Chumbawamba’s Long Voyage
There’s that song, the one about getting knocked down and then getting back up again, but their body of work is like an iceberg; the bulk of it is submerged below the surface, difficult to get a hold of.
Search Result(s) for: “Japan”
China in Revolt
Few in the West are aware of the drama unfolding in today’s “epicenter of global labor unrest.” A scholar of China exposes its tumultuous labor politics and their lessons for the Left.
This Bastille Day, Narendra Modi Is Being Feted in Paris
Bastille Day is meant to be about freedom, equality, and brotherhood. But this July 14, Emmanuel Macron is rolling out the red carpet for India’s far-right premier — showing how little France’s military alliances conform to its supposed values.
NATO’s Expansion Into Asia Is the Mother of Bad Ideas
US lawmakers say the alliance’s movement into Asia is “inevitable.” It’s actually a completely avoidable, completely bad idea.
A Socialist Summer Reading List for the Dog Days of Summer
Just in time for your (hopeful) escape from the heat and the grind, here are the summer reading recommendations of Jacobin’s editors and staff writers.
Modern Monetary Theory Isn’t Helping
MMT is billed by its advocates as a radical new way to understand money and debt. But it’ll take more than a few keystrokes to change the economy.
A Socialist Primer on Monetary Policy and Inflation
Utter the words “monetary policy” and many of us fall asleep. But that policy is crucial to how capitalists exert power. Instead of leaving it to the “experts,” socialists and the labor movement should demand a democratic say in what monetary policy looks like.
We’re All Stagnationists Now
More and more economists agree with Robert Brenner that mature capitalist economies have begun to stagnate. We should not deny this reality but rather think clearly about how it affects our political outlook.
Rahm Emanuel Is Back, Thanks to Some Corporate-Funded Rehabilitation Efforts
Rahm Emanuel ended his two terms as Chicago mayor in complete disgrace. Lucky for him, Washington welcomed him back into the fold with open arms — after business interests quietly funneled him millions to push their agenda.
Tough on Anti-Vaxx Nonsense, Tough on the Causes of Anti-Vaxx Nonsense
Perhaps months away from the first COVID-19 vaccines, their effectiveness may be threatened by growing anti-vaccination sentiment in the Global North. The Left should brook no vaccine skepticism in its ranks, but we should also work to prevent the conditions that give rise to such irrationality in the first place.
Kohei Saito’s “Start From Scratch” Degrowth Communism
Kohei Saito’s degrowth rewrite of Marxist theory is not only incorrect — if taken seriously, it would lead to political disaster for both the socialist left and the environmental movement.
The Decline of the American Empire
Neoliberalism lives and shouldn't be given a premature obituary, but the American empire has entered a decadent phase.
Don’t Be So Quick to Laud Woodrow Wilson
An effort is underway to restore President Woodrow Wilson’s reputation and laud him as a great reformer. But his best reforms were won by a mass movement, often pushing against Wilson himself. It’s that movement that should be revived, not Wilson’s legacy.
China Is Not the Problem. Capitalism Is.
Tom Friedman and Steve Bannon are, as usual, wrong. Hardship in the United States can’t be blamed on China’s “economic war” on democracy. It’s the fault of American corporations and elites.
A Biden Envoy to the Pacific Had Major Conflicts of Interest
When Joseph Yun was the chief US negotiator in the Pacific, he also led talks that are likely to deliver a lucrative advantage to the consulting firm where he currently works and the powerful defense contractor it represents in the region.
Mike Parker, a Life Well-Lived on the Left
Mike Parker, who died earlier this month, was far from a celebrity. But in his six decades on the Left and in labor, he was everywhere, from the Berkeley Free Speech Movement to auto factory shop floors to independent leftist electoral campaigns and the rebirth of American socialism.
Universities Are Profiting From Blocking Drug-Price Reform
Teaming up with Big Pharma and Wall Street, universities are profiting by fighting government efforts to curtail soaring drug prices. A case in point: UCLA has reaped more than a billion dollars from its development of Xtandi, a lifesaving cancer drug.
The UAW and the Bombers
A new UAW T-shirt rightly touts the working class as the “arsenal of democracy” — but it includes a B-24 bomber. Here’s labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein on what he thinks is wrong with the appeal.
An Empty Tale
The foreign policy establishment is responding to Trump-era brutalities by demanding more, not less, aggression and empire.
The Corporate Media Never Talks About US Imperialism
The New York Times and other establishment outlets like to paint North Korea as an irrational actor hell-bent on destroying the United States. But you can’t understand North Korea’s nuclear program without talking about US militarism.