JACOBIN

OCTOBER 23. 2024

Algeria’s Old Guard Has Repressed the Hirak Protest Movement

Most Algerians boycotted last month’s presidential election, correctly perceiving it as a stage-managed farce. Five years after a protest movement forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down, the old guard has stifled the popular demand for democracy.

A Second Trump Term Is a Threat to US Disaster Preparedness

It’s not just Hurricane Helene: Donald Trump has a record of politicizing disaster relief in a way that distorts the truth and flirts with right-wing conspiracy theories. If he wins again, Trump's ongoing demonization of FEMA will have serious consequences.

Elon Musk Could Secure a Huge Tax Cut If Trump Wins

If Donald Trump wins the election and keeps his promise to appoint Elon Musk to a prominent government position, Musk could reap one of the largest personalized tax breaks in US history — on top of the massive tax cuts Trump wants to give billionaires.

The US Isn’t Moving Right — the Democrats Are

As the Kamala Harris campaign lurches rightward, pundits want us to believe she’s just following the will of the voters. The facts don’t bear that out.

France Wants to Make Olympics-Style Surveillance Permanent

This summer’s Paris Olympics saw an experiment in AI-assisted algorithmic video surveillance. Now French officials say they want to make it permanent, in what experts call a worrying use of invasive and even racially discriminatory technology.

OCTOBER 22. 2024

Meet Zohran Mamdani, the Socialist Running for NYC Mayor

With New York City’s corrupt and conservative mayor under federal indictment, New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani argues that it’s time for the Left to think big.

What Brazil’s Showdown With Elon Musk Was Really About

Brazil’s battle with Elon Musk is just the tip of the iceberg in the struggle between Big Tech and sovereign nations for control of our digital future.

Ukraine Needs More Than Rival Elite Projects

Ukrainian elites have for decades been divided between Westernized professionals and pro-Russian oligarchs, each with a narrow social base. The missing force has been the working class, unable to develop its own distinct project for the country’s future.

Lobbyists Are Urging SCOTUS to Gut Consumer Protections

Lobbyists are urging the Supreme Court to use upcoming cases to gut consumer protections. The lobbying groups involved are tied to conservative donors who have spent decades working to roll back consumer regulations and environmental protections.

Forced Prison Labor Is on the Ballot

It’s shocking for many of us to learn that forced labor is actually legal as punishment for a crime. Ballot measures in Nevada and California this Election Day would outlaw forced labor in prisons.

OCTOBER 21. 2024

Labor’s Future in the Global Trade War

As trade tensions rise and industrial policies are reshaped, labor faces critical decisions in a world plagued by economic nationalism and climate change.

Israel Is Ethnically Cleansing Northern Gaza

Carpet-bombing entire residential blocks, wiping out entire neighborhoods, slaughtering at least 100. It’s another weekend of Israel’s impunity in killing Gazans, this time in Beit Lahiya in the north.

Errol Morris’s Reminder of Trump’s Sadistic Border Policy

Donald Trump’s separation of children from their families at the border was a centerpiece of his migration policy. Errol Morris’s new documentary, Separated, chronicles the cruel policy during Trump’s first term that would likely return in a second.

OCTOBER 20. 2024

Protecting Undocumented Organizers From Retaliation Is Vital

Employers take advantage of the fact that few know about DALE, a federal program that protects undocumented workers from retaliation. Helping these workers access their rights is a key step toward organizing some of the US’s most predatory workplaces.