David Bacon

David Bacon is author of Illegal People—How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (2008) and The Right to Stay Home (2013), both from Beacon Press. His latest book, about the US-Mexico border, More Than a Wall / Mas que un muro, is coming in May 2022 from the Colegio de la Frontera Norte.

Only a Social Movement Can Win Real Immigration Reform

Only a Social Movement Can Win Real Immigration Reform Only a Social Movement Can Win Real Immigration Reform

Activists marched for three days straight, demanding that Congress finally change the immigration registry date.

Sep 1, 2023 / Editorial / David Bacon

Teamster protest in 2004 in Seattle, WA.

What Does It Take to Win a Strike? What Does It Take to Win a Strike?

John Womack's Labor Power and Strategy makes the case that by targeting strategic industries, workers can not only win power for themselves but also for labor generally.

Jul 17, 2023 / Books & the Arts / David Bacon

A Wave of Evictions Is Devastating California’s Farmworkers

A Wave of Evictions Is Devastating California’s Farmworkers A Wave of Evictions Is Devastating California’s Farmworkers

As growers bring in more H-2A workers, affordable housing for local farmworkers has become sparse in the region's labor camps.

Apr 12, 2023 / Multimedia / David Bacon

What Life Is Like in Fresno’s “War Zone”

What Life Is Like in Fresno’s “War Zone” What Life Is Like in Fresno’s “War Zone”

A community of migrants and unhoused people call the shuttered downtown of this California city home.

Mar 6, 2023 / Editorial / David Bacon

H-2A farmworkers planting ornamental shrubs in an Oregon field

Why Farmworker Legalization Failed Why Farmworker Legalization Failed

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act’s failure to become law reveals critical divisions within the immigrant rights movement.

Jan 10, 2023 / Multimedia / David Bacon

Chinese American community leader Ying Lee Kelley

Remembering Ying Lee Remembering Ying Lee

Looking back at the life of a trailblazing activist and Berkeley’s first Asian American city council member.

Sep 21, 2022 / no-paywall / David Bacon

United Farm Workers members and supporters march to the capitol building in Sacramento

Biden vs. Newsom on Farmworkers’ Right To Vote Biden vs. Newsom on Farmworkers’ Right To Vote

In a heated debate over farmworker voting rights, California’s governor refuses to sign a bill to make it easier for workers to win union recognition.

Sep 14, 2022 / Photo Essay / David Bacon

Oakland’s Largest Homeless Camp Dodges the Bullet—for Now

Oakland’s Largest Homeless Camp Dodges the Bullet—for Now Oakland’s Largest Homeless Camp Dodges the Bullet—for Now

Under a freeway maze near a train yard, residents of Oakland’s largest and oldest encampment are being forced to leave. Where will they go?

Aug 17, 2022 / Feature / David Bacon

Farm workers mmarch to protest the H2-A guestworker program

Reviving the Bracero Program Is the Wrong Answer for Workers Reviving the Bracero Program Is the Wrong Answer for Workers

Not even Biden’s own Labor Department believes that the administration’s proposal to bring in more seasonal farm labor will improve working conditions.

Jun 23, 2022 / David Bacon

The Color of Water

The Color of Water The Color of Water

In one of the richest agricultural areas in the world, residents of the California’s colonias still don’t have access to clean running water.

Apr 16, 2022 / Feature / David Bacon

x