We Won’t Forget the Questions Bernie Asked
After half a decade of Bernie Sanders, the genie doesn’t go back in the bottle.
394 Article(s) by: Meagan Day
Meagan Day is a senior editor at Jacobin.
Cori Bush on How She Took on the Political Establishment and Won
Cori Bush, the Ferguson activist and nurse running for Congress in St Louis, caused a political earthquake this week, unseating a powerful centrist incumbent. Yesterday, she sat down with Jacobin to talk about how she took on the political establishment’s big money and won.
We Deserve Better Than Trump Versus Biden
In the past week, two separate and very painful videos have circulated showing Donald Trump and Joe Biden the presidential nominees of the two major US political parties in action. Watching them, there’s only one conclusion we can reach: we’re so screwed.
The Republican Coronavirus Plan Is Sadistic
The GOP’s proposed coronavirus relief legislation is grotesque — an insult to the working class and a threat to the lives and livelihoods of millions. The fact that Senate Republicans felt at liberty to propose it is a telltale sign of political rot.
Everlane’s Promises to Its Workers Were Made to Be Broken
Like American Apparel before it, Everlane began as a clothing company for Millennials built on a supposedly ethical business model. But by now the lesson should be clear: when push comes to shove, businesses will always subordinate ethics to profit.
How the Antislavery Movement Ignited a Political Revolution
The antislavery movement of the mid-nineteenth century fused moral appeals against the sin of slavery with demands that spoke to the material interests of ordinary Northerners. Matt Karp, author of “The Mass Politics of Antislavery,” explains how that movement led to emancipation — and what lessons it offers to those trying to forge a political revolution today.
New York’s Political Establishment Has Been Blindsided by an Obscure Phenomenon Called Politics
Since the clean sweep victory for the Democratic Socialists of America’s slate of New York legislative candidates, the local political establishment has been in a state of shock. Slowly it’s beginning to dawn on them that there is such a thing as “politics” — and that right now they’re losing at it, badly.
Austin’s Likely Next District Attorney Vows to End the Drug War
José Garza, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is set to become Austin, Texas’s next district attorney after a movement-based campaign promising to end the drug war and radically downsize the carceral state. He says the Left is finally making its mark in Texas politics.
I Owe a Lot to Michael Brooks
Michael Brooks’s quiet acts of interpersonal graciousness were inseparable from his loftiest political aspirations. His untimely death leaves an enormous hole in our lives and on the Left that will never be filled.
Portland Is on Its Way to Winning Universal Preschool
In Portland, Oregon, a coalition of parents, childcare workers, socialists, unions, and progressive organizations has collected tens of thousands of signatures to put a universal preschool measure on the ballot — all in five weeks, and in the middle of a pandemic.
The Right Is Trying to Make the Kitchen-Table Economy Scream
Republicans would have a tough time convincing the country that reopening the economy is safe when it’s actually extremely dangerous. But as bills pile up and fears of eviction grow, desperate Americans may come to see a premature reopening as the least bad option and head back to work — the outcome that the Right wanted all along.
Seattle’s Socialists Are Now Enemy Number One for Jeff Bezos and Amazon
In 2018, Amazon beat back Seattle’s attempts to tax the corporation. Last week, socialist city council member Kshama Sawant and a working-class movement helped win a veto-proof majority for a new “Amazon tax.” Now it’s time to defend this victory.
These Socialist Health Care Workers Are the Future of the Medicare for All Fight
Doctors for Bernie formed during Bernie Sanders’s 2020 campaign to unite physicians and other health care workers supporting the movement. The campaign may be over, but they’re not going anywhere until we win Medicare for All.
Nikil Saval, a Democratic Socialist in Harrisburg
Nikil Saval went from being an editor at the leftist literary magazine n+1, to a volunteer for Bernie Sanders, to a successful democratic-socialist primary candidate in for Pennsylvania State Senate. In an interview with Jacobin, he talks about the race and his plans for governing as a leftist in the state capitol.
Jonathan Sackler Spent His Life Spreading Opioid Addiction Throughout the United States
Disgraced opioid tycoon Jonathan Sackler died last week, two decades into a nationwide addiction epidemic that he helped create — and from which he pocketed billions. His life of spreading addiction was a monument to the brutal pathologies of capitalism.
Unions Are Essential for Eliminating Racism
A new study finds that unions don’t just increase wages and benefits for workers on the job — union membership is also linked to diminished racist attitudes among white workers. If we want to defeat racism, building strong, democratic unions is essential.
“California Is Ripe for a Revolution”
Jackie Fielder, a Democratic Socialists of America–backed candidate for California’s State Senate, is refusing to take money from police unions, real-estate interests, and the fossil fuel industry. For her, the connection between capital and police violence is clear: “Our communities face intense repression from the state because it is profitable.”
Millions of Americans Face the Nightmare of Getting COVID-19 While Underinsured
Adults with underlying health problems are at increased risk of getting seriously ill or dying if they contract the coronavirus. These are also often the very same people who are least likely to have insurance.
The Coming Pandemic-Induced Eviction Crisis
If federal unemployment benefits are not extended when they expire next month, millions of households will be facing both steep rent and unemployment with no assistance. And that means mass evictions.
“The Union Has to Be About Social Justice”
Incoming LA teachers’ union president Cecily Myart-Cruz was a leader of the city’s landmark 2019 strike. Now she explains why it’s important to get police out of schools and what the labor movement can do about it.