Jacobin

Asylum as we know it is basically dead. The immigration system has been so systematically hollowed out that, for the vast majority of the world’s poor and displaced, it might as well not exist anymore. A brief list of what’s gone wrong: First, asylum approval rates have plummeted to historic lows, falling below 20 percent in 2025, compared to 55.5 percent in 2012. Second, the process is slower than ever before.

Almost everyone on the Left seems to have lost faith in the Supreme Court of the United States. This would have been improbable in 1954, after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, or in 1973, after Roe v. Wade, or even in 1992, after the court upheld the core holding of Roe in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

At one time or another, Sudanese governments have hosted, armed, or tolerated rebels and opposition groups from all of the country’s neighbors, from Egypt and Libya to Uganda and Ethiopia. Sudan’s neighbors have repaid the favor, and a range of outside actors are now involved in the Sudanese civil war. Key supporters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) include Chad, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and South Sudan.

One in twelve people living in Milan is a millionaire. A report by the consultancy Henley & Partners ranks Italy’s second-largest city and financial capital as the world leader for millionaires per resident, well ahead of New York City, where the figure is one in twenty-two. A growing number come from abroad, drawn not just by the vibrancy of Italy’s fashion hub but also generous tax breaks for wealthy newcomers. For everyone else, Milan tells a very different story.

Workers who make some of the world’s most popular video games, including World of Warcraft and Diablo, won their first union contracts in early September, in an important step forward for organizing in the tech industry. The 1,900 workers are employed by Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2023 in the largest deal ever in the video game industry.

Socialism is more popular than it’s been for a long time, both socialism and its most well-known adherents appeal to a surprisingly diverse voter base, and most people still have no idea who Hasan Piker is.

Approximately two years ago, a bizarre new genre of AI-generated content began to emerge online. Suddenly social media was filled with short-form videos depicting hypersexual anthropomorphic fruit, embroiled in increasingly far-fetched and soapy plot lines. In one video, a voluptuous strawberry cheats on her watermelon husband, and gives birth to two wolf cubs. In another, an emasculated orange takes revenge on a womanizing banana who has stolen his girlfriend.

For over seven years after it entered parliament in May 2012, Golden Dawn was at the heart of Greece’s political life. Its rise was accompanied by scenes that should have made its character unmistakable. During the June 2012 election campaign, MP Ilias Kasidiaris assaulted two female left-wing politicians live on TV, while numerous other key members were documented openly expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler. Beyond parliament, something far darker was taking place.

Interview by Daniel Finn Over the past few weeks, Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Huthis, has launched an offensive and made big territorial gains. The latest turn in the Yemeni civil war could have major implications for the world economy, as it involves one of its most important trade routes through the Red Sea. It certainly poses a big challenge for Yemen’s neighbor Saudi Arabia.

I used to pass the biscuit factory in Soba without going in. People I knew went in for a twelve-hour shift on a line that smelled of sugar and oil. In 2021, the number that stuck was 1,500 pounds for the shift. In Haj Yousif, where Iqbal lived, the rent for a single room was 30,000 pounds a month. You had to work twenty factory days just to cover rent. Meanwhile, the Rapid Support Forces were offering people 15,000 a day, a uniform, and a phone.