JACOBIN

JULY 20. 2025

France’s Government Promises More Work, Fewer Holidays

After raising the pension age and cutting taxes on the rich, now Emmanuel Macron’s government wants to scrap the Easter Monday and VE Day bank holidays. The plan is sure to face stiff resistance, with French workers unwilling to swallow further austerity.

JULY 19. 2025

The Strange and Wonderful Subcultures of 1960s New York

Before planners and property developers turned Manhattan into a sterile playground for the wealthy, it was the site of extraordinarily creative art and music scenes. Critic J. Hoberman shows us how New York thrived in the shadow of nuclear war.

The Extreme Center Keeps Banning Its Critics

In France and beyond, centrist governments are invoking

JULY 18. 2025

How Irish Resistance Shaped Australian History

When British authorities deported Irish rebels to their Australian penal colonies, they also exported a tradition of anti-colonial resistance.

Halting Evictions Is Good Child Welfare Policy

Evictions are uniquely destructive to children, undermining the social and institutional connections that provide kids with stability. A new study quantifies their extensive damage, from increasing child homelessness to decreasing high-school graduation rates.

How Hamas Changed Its Strategy Before October 7

In the years before the October 7 attack, there was a power struggle over strategy inside Hamas. Israel’s refusal to engage with any Palestinian leaders who insisted on ending the occupation handed the initiative to Yahya Sinwar’s militarist faction.

Zohran Mamdani Is Right: We Shouldn’t Have Billionaires

The myths that billionaires earn, invent, or give their way to virtue don’t survive scrutiny. Billionaire wealth isn’t built on genius — it rests on public investment and ends with the power to shape law, labor, and markets.

These Global South Countries Barred Arms Transfers to Israel

Over 30 delegates from across the Global South convened in Bogotá, Colombia, this week to challenge Israeli impunity. Member states such as Colombia and South Africa ratified resolutions to ban weapons transfers and renew legal action to stop the genocide.

The Big Tech Deep State

Digital technology was sold as a liberating tool that could free individuals from state power. Yet the state security apparatus always had a different view — and now it’s taking back control of its own creation.

JULY 17. 2025

Billionaire Bill Ackman Has the Best Arrogance Money Can Buy

One problem with ultrarich people like Bill Ackman is that their riches often spill over beyond the economic realm into other realms — like, in his case, the kind of delusional self-confidence that led him to buy his way into a professional tennis match.

The Gilded Age Roots of American Austerity

Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill isn’t just a modern assault on SNAP and Medicaid — it’s the revival of a 150-year-old playbook. From Civil War pensions to modern welfare programs, political elites have long moralized against need while rationing care.

Conservatives Are Losing It Over Superman’s Basic Morality

Reactionary hysterics over James Gunn’s Superman reboot bring some delight to America’s otherwise plainest superhero.

Treat AI Like a Public Utility

It seems increasingly likely that artificial intelligence will mean major changes to the economy and daily life. We need a public jobs program for displaced workers, and we should regulate AI as a public utility.

Francesca Albanese: Cut All Ties With Israel

In her address to the Bogotá Conference earlier this week, UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese explained why the world’s nations must suspend all ties with Israel. Jacobin republishes her remarks here.