The Verdict on Henry Kissinger
In the United States, one of the twentieth century’s most prolific butchers died as he lived — beloved by the rich and powerful, regardless of their partisan affiliation.
78 Articles by: Jonah Walters
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Jonah Walters is currently the postdoctoral scholar in the BioCritical Studies Lab at UCLA’s Institute for Society and Genetics. He was a researcher at Jacobin from 2015 to 2020.
Kissinger in Vietnam and China
In Vietnam, Henry Kissinger had no principles whatsoever. There’s nothing to suggest that he had qualms about people dying or suffering.
Tim O’Brien’s Latest Novel Embraces Political Cynicism
American Fantastica is Tim O’Brien’s first novel in two decades. For years he wrote political satires raging against the American war machine, but his latest novel abandons the moral vision of his earlier works and strikes a pessimistic note.
The Mexican Revolution Was an Internationalist Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a transnational explosion of resistance to grinding exploitation that kicked off a global epoch of anti-capitalist revolution.
Border Hacker Exposes the Chaos and Cruelty of Barack Obama’s Immigration Policy
Despite his pledge to fix the US’s “broken” immigration system, Barack Obama’s punitive policies made life more difficult for migrants — and unleashed untold horrors throughout the hemisphere.
Military Conscription Is a Crime Against Humanity
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a reminder that military conscription remains foundational to modern warfare. It is a reckless, self-defeating, and criminal practice that makes us all less safe — and it should have been abolished long ago.
Smedley Butler Helped Build American Empire. Then He Turned Against It.
Smedley Butler was born to privilege and power, becoming a powerful general in the most powerful military in the world. But he realized he was playing a key role in an evil system, US imperialism — and used his privilege and power to speak out against it.
Vietnam War Soldiers Helped End the Vietnam War
The anti–Vietnam War movement cut across the civilian-military divide, with active-duty soldiers abroad and stateside defying their commanders and refusing to fight. Those soldiers played a key role in bringing the brutal war to an end.
In Oaxaca, Indigenous People Are the Vanguard
The southern Mexican state of Oaxaca is known for its tradition of left political militancy. And its indigenous people have often been at the vanguard of that struggle.
Louis Proyect: I Have Always Identified with People Trying to Change Things
Louis Proyect, who died this week, spent the 1980s organizing international delegations of technical workers to support the Nicaraguan revolution. In this previously unpublished interview, he reflects on Central American solidarity efforts and a life lived on the Left.
The Opioid Settlement Is Good for Big Pharma. It May Not Be Good for Us.
The pharmaceutical companies that fueled the opioid crisis must be held legally accountable. But to confront the social problems at the root of the addiction crisis, we’ll need political victories, not just courtroom ones.
Donald Rumsfeld Was a Bloodthirsty Warrior for the Free Market
The American warfare state’s upper reaches are filled with bloodthirsty megalomaniacs. But few have been as deranged as Donald Rumsfeld, whose appetite for imperial violence combined with free market zealotry produced one of the most spectacular failures in all of US military history.
Meet Tali Farhadian Weinstein, the Millionaire Trying to Buy the Manhattan DA’s Office
Tali Farhadian Weinstein, who owns a $26 million apartment and a $13 million summerhouse, is using her wealth and connections to try to buy the Manhattan DA’s office — and thwart anti-incarceration candidates in Tuesday’s primary.
How Mexico Reshaped the Global Economy
During the twentieth century, Mexican leaders shaped international institutions by demanding economic redistribution from wealthy countries to the Global South. But the system that emerged ultimately impoverished Mexico — and thwarted the ambitions of the decolonizing world.
We Must Get COVID-19 Vaccines to Prisoners Immediately
People behind bars have suffered enormously during the pandemic, with COVID-19 ripping through prisons. There’s no justification for not giving prisoners the vaccine immediately — both for their sake and for the broader society.
We Can’t Fight the Far Right in Military Court
In the wake of last week’s attack on the Capitol, some are calling for the Armed Forces to prosecute pro-Trump rioters in military court. But relying on military courts won’t shore up American democracy — it will empower a punitive judicial system that is used to quash dissent within the ranks.
Black Radical Prisoner Organizing Didn’t Die With George Jackson
On this day in 1971, California correctional officers killed the black revolutionary George Jackson in San Quentin prison. In the decades since, the truth about his Black Guerilla Family has been distorted by lies and misinformation — but its legacy of black political militancy in American prisons lives on.
How We Lost Michigan
In 2016, Bernie won a major upset in Michigan, thanks in part to a groundswell of support in the state’s rural areas. In 2020, he lost every county in the state — and the numbers show he lost many of his rural supporters, too.
AOC Is Right: Get Military Recruiters Off Twitch and Out of Schools
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is pushing to kick military recruiters out of high schools and off Twitch. And she’s right: the military’s recruitment strategy of preying on low-income and working-class students is grotesque.
Police Departments Are Parasites on the Public Purse
By aggressively pushing for higher budgets and salaries, police officers have insulated themselves from accountability while draining resources from essential public programs. It’s long past time to defund them.