Border Patrol has regularly abused its authority and mistreated immigrants and asylum seekers in countless ways. Yet its role as the frontline force in asylum exclusion has only grown.
Politics
Editors: Ivan Ascher & Joanne Randa Nucho
“Things Happen, As They Do in War”: From Chaucer’s Siege of Troy to the Siege of Gaza
“Troilus and Criseyde” is not often regarded as war poetry. But in 2024, it's impossible not to see the truth at the poem's core: it’s a work about a city under siege.
An Open Letter to Harvard: Concerning Protest & Palestine
A group of disciplined students implore Harvard to demonstrate ethical forbearance and drop all of the dubious charges leveled against students who nonviolently protested for Palestine.
“A Theory of America”: Mythmaking with Richard Slotkin
"I was always working on a theory of America."
D.A.R.E. Is More Than Just Antidrug Education—It Is Police Propaganda
DARE lost its once hegemonic influence over drug education, but it had long-lasting effects on American policing, politics, and culture.
The Pacific Islands: United by Ocean, Divided by Colonialism
“Deep in the Pacific, the impact of Western colonialism runs deep: it even shapes the way Pacific Islanders experience time.”
When NYC Invented Modern Policing: Emily Brooks on WWII–Era Surveillance and Discrimination
“I often think how much better off we would be if there were more free recreational activities for youth that were not nested under the carceral sphere.”
The Multiplication of Monsters: Misinformation from Gutenberg to QAnon
Throughout history the introduction of new technologies has increased the circulation and acceptance of rumors and disinformation.
What Makes a Prison?
Recent calls to bring back asylums suggest that confinement can be benevolent, even rehabilitative—but, in reality, “a prison is a prison is a prison.”
Iran’s Social Revolution: The Heartbeat Continues
What to do with the affective legacies of the Iranian left?
Weaving a Feminist Cyberlaw
Women invented cyberspace. Yet today’s internet rewards misogyny with fame, wealth, and power. Could it be otherwise?
What Really Makes Cities Global?
To ask what kind of city Los Angeles is today is, also, to wonder what kind of city it could be tomorrow.
The Protest Is Over—But Its Politics Remain
Ten years later, the Gezi Park protests continue to shape Turkish politics.
The Seduction of Desert Spectacles: Talking “Arid Empire” with Natalie Koch and Andrew Curley
“You cannot divorce domestic empire from international empire. Those histories created one another.”
Filling in Time Reading Vasily Grossman While Waiting for S
Public Books and the Sydney Review of Books have partnered to exchange a series of articles with international concerns.
Socialist Nostalgia, Cuban State Power
Is it ever possible to reconcile clashing visions of national memory?
Don’t Save Yourself, Save the World: A Dialogue with Vincent Lloyd
“I’m very skeptical about the ability of people in positions of power and privilege—including intellectuals—to name truths about the world.”
Chains of Domination, Chains of Solidarity: Benjamin L. McKean on Justice, Solidarity, Supply Chains
“For good or ill, freedom and solidarity and social justice are not things we can get quickly.”
What the 1990s Did to America
The 1990s are usually seen as a moment of tranquility. Cold War won, business booming, history at an end. Nothing could be further from the truth.
5 Books on the Politics of Indonesian Labor
People are familiar with how big the Japanese and South Korean economies are, but Indonesia is a rising power in Asia with a large labor force, and it’s very rarely being talked about.