JACOBIN

APRIL 14. 2025

Don’t Cheer a Recession

Democrats are hoping Trump will discredit himself with a recession, while the Left sometimes fantasizes about crisis destabilizing capitalism itself. But economic crises cause massive human suffering and have recently redounded more to the Right than the Left.

Marxism, an American Tradition

In the United States, like in most countries, critics of Marxism present it as a rootless foreign import. Yet both American admirers of Karl Marx and conservatives’ attacks on him have granted Marxism a distinctive place in US public life.

In Defense of Progress

Socialists can’t give up on the future.

Like the Gun Industry, Big Oil Wants Legal Immunity

The fossil fuel industry is pushing Congress for immunity from climate lawsuits that could force the industry to pay billions for misleading the public about the dangers of fossil fuels — attempting to lock in the same legal shield that protects gun manufacturers.

Omer Bartov on Gaza: “It’s a Misnomer to Call It a War”

Historian Omer Bartov spoke to Jacobin about why scholars of the Holocaust are struggling to talk frankly about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

APRIL 13. 2025

Even in Government, Spain’s Left Struggles to Get a Hearing

Spain’s left-wing alliance Sumar sought to use high office to deliver workers’ rights and lower the cost of living. During the pandemic, it made progress — but now that the broad-left coalition has no majority, Sumar is struggling to make itself heard.

Tuning Out the Algorithm at WFMU

New Jersey’s storied WFMU is not just another independent radio station. It’s a rejection of algorithm-driven playlists and a lasting commitment to music as a collective experience.

In Defense of Rowdy Fans

The experience of thousands of people watching soccer together is at the heart of the game. After decades of being demonized as thugs, the crowd’s absence during the pandemic revealed nothing but a void.

The Method in the Far Right’s Madness

Today’s far right manages to combine the call for economic freedom with pseudoscience about natural hierarchies of race and IQ. Historian Quinn Slobodian explains how these ideas can be fitted together.

APRIL 12. 2025

Putting Tariffs on Your Nose to Spite Your Face

Donald Trump’s erratic tariff rollout seems likely to deepen the world’s dependence on China and scare off investment in US reindustrialization, undermining his own administration’s stated goals. There’s no art to this incoherent, self-destructive deal.

Mahmoud Khalil’s Battle Is Not Over

Yesterday an immigration judge ruled that Mahmoud Khalil can be lawfully deported for his pro-Palestinian political speech. It sets a dangerous precedent for the future of free speech in America.

Deported From Europe, Murdered by Israel

Gazan brothers Haytham and Bashar spent most of their adult lives in Europe — but after being deported, they came back home, where they were killed by an Israeli rocket. Their story shows the deadly nature of Europe’s growing anti-refugee policies.

APRIL 11. 2025

Thailand Is Clamping Down on Critics of the Monarchy

Paul Chambers, an eminent US scholar of Thailand, has been arrested on charges of criticizing the Thai monarchy. Chambers is one of the most high-profile targets of a clampdown on dissent against the world’s richest king.

Trump’s War on Abortion Rights Faces a Resilient Movement

As the antiabortion movement pursues harsh restrictions and fetal personhood laws, abortion providers and activists are fighting back. Despite deadly state bans and attacks on medication access, reproductive health care victories offer light in the darkness.