Bhaskar Sunkara (born June 1989) is an American political writer. He is the founding editor of ''

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

,'' the president of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

,'' and publisher of ''Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy''. He is a former vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and the author of ''The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality'', as well as a columnist for '' The Guardian US.''

Early life

Sunkara was born in the United States to parents of Indian ancestry who had immigrated to the US from

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

a year before he was born. His father was a Telugu migrant from

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

while his mother's family had migrated to the island in the 19th century as indentured labourers from Punjab and

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. Sunkara credited his politicization to his reading as a teenager: from

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

's '' Nineteen Eighty-Four'' and ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' (originally ''Animal Farm: A Fairy Story'') is a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic far ...

'' he developed an interest in

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

, reading his autobiography and Isaac Deutscher's three-volume biography, before progressing to the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

, including thinkers such as Lucio Magri, Ralph Miliband, Perry Anderson and the journal ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal, established in 1960, which analyses international politics, the global economy, social theory, and cultural topics from a leftist perspective. History Background As part of the emergin ...

''. He joined the Democratic Socialists of America at the age of 17, becoming editor of the DSA youth section's blog ''The Activist''. He went on to study history at

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

in Washington, D.C., where he conceived the idea of ''Jacobin'': after his sophomore year, he missed two semesters due to illness during which time he read Marxist works.

Career

By the summer of 2010, he was preparing to return to his studies and inspired to create the magazine, which launched online in September of that year and in print at the beginning of 2011. Sunkara described ''Jacobin'' as a radical publication, "largely the product of a younger generation not quite as tied to the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

paradigms that sustained the old leftist intellectual milieus like '' Dissent'' or '' New Politics''". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' interviewed Sunkara in January 2013, commenting on ''Jacobin'' unexpected success and engagement with mainstream liberalism. In late 2014, he was interviewed by ''

'' on the political orientation and future trajectory of the publication and in March 2016 was featured in a lengthy '' Vox'' profile. Sunkara writes for ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'' magazine, ''

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', '' Vox'', ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

'', and ''

'', among other outlets. He has appeared on the PBS '' Tavis Smiley'' program,

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

's '' Up with Chris Hayes'', and the FX show '' Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell''. On February 23, 2022, ''

'' named Sunkara to the role of president, replacing Erin O'Mara. In June 2023, Sunkara led The Nation's relaunch of '' Bookforum'' magazine.

Awards and recognition

In 2020, Sunkara was named to ''Fortune'' magazine's " 40 Under 40" list under the "Government and Politics" category.

References

External links

''Jacobinmag.com''
*
The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality
' (Basic Books, 2019).
Bhaskar Sunkara articles
for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunkara, Bhaskar American political writers George Washington University alumni Writers from White Plains, New York Living people American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent American male non-fiction writers American publishers (people) Members of the Democratic Socialists of America American people of Punjabi descent American male writers of Indian descent American Marxists 1989 births 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American people of Telugu descent People of Bihari descent