Watch Doug Henwood talk with the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah about Gamestop, the lies companies like Robinhood tell about their “democratic” empowerment of small investors, and why the absurdities and inefficiencies of Wall Street are a “racket.”
The Response to the GameStop Fiasco Shows It’s Still Wall Street’s Economy
Now that hedge funds are losing billions to Redditors buying stocks like GameStop, Wall Street wants heavy-handed intervention into the market, and brokerages have clamped down on the upstarts. It’s a reminder that there’s no such thing as “people’s capitalism” or “shareholder democracy” — the capitalist economy is structured to do what’s best for the business elite.
Why the Minimum Wage Won Where Biden Couldn’t
In conservative Florida, where Trump edged out Biden last year by 51 percent to 48 percent, a ballot measure to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026 passed with nearly 61 percent of the vote. By appealing to Floridians’ material interests across lines of race and geography, the campaign shows how left economic policies can win even in right-wing contexts.
The Clintons Are Making a TV Show About Female Kurdish Fighters. That’s Absurd.
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton are producing a new TV series about female Kurdish fighters. We can expect a sanitized production that somehow fails to mention that YPJ forces in Rojava are leftists who oppose everything the Clintons represent.
To See the Danger of a Domestic “War on Terror,” Look No Further Than This Florida Case
Convinced his state capitol was set to be attacked by violent, far-right extremists, a Florida man called for armed resistance on social media and was promptly jailed. The episode is a case study of how easily a domestic “war on terror” will be turned on the Left.
- Issue No. 39 out now!
- Fall 2020
Failure Is an Option
In this issue
American Capitalism Is Working — That’s the Problem
The United States is not a failed state — just ask any American capitalist. But we desperately need something better for everyone else.
A reporter for Jacobin traveled to the Kurdish province of Dersim to investigate the recent discovery of a mass grave from a 1937 massacre. But far from being forgotten, it’s an atrocity that still haunts the region today, with millions of Kurds in Turkey struggling for freedom against Erdoğan’s latest crackdown.
BlackRock and Wall Street Firms Like Them Are No Friends of the Environment
BlackRock is being depicted as an environmental hero for its recent commitment to fight climate change — at the same time the Wall Street firm undermines climate action and helps companies hide dark money political spending.
Livorno, the Rebel City Where Italy’s Communist Party Was Born
A hundred years years ago, Italy’s Communist Party was founded in Livorno. The Tuscan port city had a long history of defying authority — and in the 1920s, its working-class neighborhoods were heartlands of the resistance against rising Fascism.
The Biden Administration Is the Californication of the Democratic Party
California’s post-Reagan drift into the welcome arms of the corporate-friendly Democratic Party has meant a politics that looks like an elite lifestyle brand. It’s a state where social liberalism reigns, but so does staggering poverty and inequality. The Democratic Party has failed California and unless things change, it will continue to fail our nation.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about QAnon But Were Too Weirded Out to Ask
Much of the news these days is unhinged, but nothing can compare, in terms of pure lunacy, with QAnon. The Daily Beast’s Will Sommer, longtime observer of the far right, spoke with Jacobin to explain QAnon’s origins and evolution — and why he thinks the movement is here to stay even if “Q” and “The Storm” are never heard from again.
When Prisoners in New Zealand Rose Up Against Rotten Conditions, Jacinda Ardern Ignored Them
Inmates at New Zealand’s Waikeria Prison staged a six-day protest against abusive conditions and collective punishment. Despite her campaign promises to reform a dysfunctional justice system, Labour prime minister Jacinda Ardern is ignoring their demands.
Joe Biden Is Refusing the Alternatives to Mass Deaths Across America
Not long after his inauguration, where he assured Americans that they “can overcome this deadly virus,” Joe Biden announced that as many as hundreds of thousands of coronavirus deaths are unavoidable in the coming months. But there’s only one reason for that — Biden preemptively ruled out pursuing a national stay-at-home order two months ago.
The Left Should Oppose Censorship by Big Tech Companies
It’s easy for the Left to cheer when racists, fascists, and reactionaries are de-platformed by tech companies. But the censors aren’t our friends. We should champion free speech online — and argue that the best way to protect it is with a socialist program that brings privatized social media platforms into public control.
Okla. Rep. Markwayne Mullin’s Companies Are Evicting Renters During a Pandemic
Rep. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and has refused to wear a mask around other Congress members. Now, despite the CDC’s moratorium on evictions, his companies are trying to evict renters in the middle of the pandemic.