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El espejismo de la seguridad: el peligroso modelo Bukele
La gestión del presidente de El Salvador, Nayib Bukele ha dado pie a la conformación de una propuesta que podríamos denominar el “Modelo Bukele”, en el que, de forma aparente, se ha logrado seducir políticamente a grandes mayorías de nuestra región hasta hacerlas preferir un autoritarismo extremo a cambio de una supuesta seguridad ciudadana. Gracias a una efectiva propaganda, este modelo puede consolidarse como un fenómeno regional en una Nuestra América signada por la violen

The Left Chapter
12 minutes ago5 min read


The Mirage of Security: The Dangerous Bukele Model
The administration of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has given rise to a proposal we might call the ‘Bukele Model,’ in which, on the surface, has managed to politically seduce large majorities in our region to the point of making them prefer extreme authoritarianism in exchange for supposed public safety. Thanks to effective propaganda, this model may establish itself as a regional phenomenon in a ‘Our America’ marked by structural violence, where the promise of immedia

The Left Chapter
2 days ago5 min read


The Environmental and Social Impacts of Fish Farming and Industrial Aquaculture
Often promoted as sustainable, fish farming can increase pressure on wild fisheries, deepen global food inequities, and damage marine ecosystems. Asc1733, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Laura Lee Cascada Fish farming, a form of aquaculture, is now the fastest-growing form of factory farming worldwide. This rapid expansion can be attributed to the industry’s emphasis on buzzwords such as “climate,” “conservation,” and “sustainability.” While discussions about land-base

The Left Chapter
3 days ago9 min read


Using Food as Information to Improve Health and Well-Being
Viewing food as a system of biological signals helps explain why diets affect people differently and how nutrition can better support metabolism, mental health, and long-term well-being. Touzrimounir, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Michael S. Fenster Modern nutrition science has continued to see food through numbers. Calories, macronutrients, ingredient lists, and percent daily values have become the primary language of eating. This approach, often referred to as “nut

The Left Chapter
May 614 min read


We can't solve homelessness in the US when the rent is just too damn high
A dangerous right-wing solution to homelessness is to hide the unhoused in out-of-sight detention camps. Image via X By Sonali Kolhatkar A 2024 Treasury Department report articulated the leading cause of homelessness in the United States: “For the past two decades, rents and house prices have been rising faster than incomes across most regions of the United States.” The logic of this claim—based on documented evidence—is straightforward. People aren’t earning enough to pay re

The Left Chapter
Apr 255 min read


Democracy Depends on Broad-Based Taxation—History Is Clear About That
Tax the Rich placard -- Yuri Keegstra from Milwaukee, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Gary M. Feinman Political debates about democracy often focus on culture, leadership, or polarization. But history points to a more prosaic—and more powerful—driver of political outcomes: how governments raise revenue. Across thousands of years of human history, the strongest predictor of whether power is shared or concentrated is not population size, technological sophistication

The Left Chapter
Apr 153 min read


Pido perdón a todo el pueblo del Líbano
A scene from Beirut after Israeli bombing, April 8, 2026 -- Megaphone, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad Mientras los Estados Unidos abandona de manera ridícula las negociaciones con Irán en Pakistán, siempre fue motivo de preocupación si Israel acataría cualquier acuerdo de este tipo. Este fue particularmente el caso del Líbano y los territorios palestinos, donde Israel parecía absolutamente empeñado en crear nuevos “hechos sobre el terreno”, incluyendo la

The Left Chapter
Apr 158 min read


Exploring Lyonesse: Where Myth, History, and Rising Seas Collide
From Arthurian epics to submerged cities, Lyonesse shows how folklore and history intertwine to shape a region’s cultural identity. Tristan and Isolde, miniature of the XV century, cropped -- public domain image By Samantha Sudol For centuries, the waters off Cornwall’s Atlantic coast have kept a secret: the legendary drowned land of Lyonesse. Stories of a prosperous kingdom swallowed overnight by the sea have persisted in Arthurian tales, medieval manuscripts, and Cornish fo

The Left Chapter
Apr 125 min read


Arkeopolitics: Unearthing Politics
Çatalhöyük, 7400 BC, Konya, Turkey - UNESCO World Heritage Site. A very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, 7400 BC (photo 2019) -- Murat Özsoy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Erdem Denk Standing in the dust of Çatalhöyük —a 9,000-year-old Neolithic site known to archaeology since the 1960s, yet virtually non-existent in discussions about political science and law—a question haunted me: “How come no one told us about it?” My tr

The Left Chapter
Apr 126 min read


The Architecture of Exclusion: The Global Offensive Against the Right to Migrate
Signs at a protest in Minneapolis on January 23, 2026 -- Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Carmen Navas Reyes From the raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at U.S. airports to the approval of the controversial Return Regulation in the European Union, the world is witnessing an ‘ ICE-ization ‘ of migration policies. This ‘ICE-ization’ is characterized by the externalization of borders, prolonged detention, and the criminalization of undocumente

The Left Chapter
Apr 95 min read


On Iran’s Ten-Point Proposal for Peace
Gathering in Tehran on April 7 in memory of the Minab students killed on the first day of the war -- Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Carlos Ron and Vijay Prashad The United States has agreed with Iran to cease hostilities for two weeks. The illegal US and Israeli imposed war has not ended but has a break, although not in Lebanon which was supposed to be part of the deal. Just before the ceasefire was announced, the Iranian authorities released a ten-p

The Left Chapter
Apr 95 min read


La arquitectura de la exclusión: la ofensiva global contra el derecho a migrar
ICE Raid, West Palm Beach, Florida, February 14, 2025 -- public domain image By Carmen Navas Reyes Desde las redadas del Servicio de Inmigración y Aduanas de los Estados Unidos (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés) en los aeropuertos estadounidenses, hasta la aprobación del polémico Reglamento de Retorno en la Unión Europea, el mundo asiste a una “ ICE-ización ” de las políticas migratorias. La lCE-ización está caracterizada por la externalización de fronteras, la detención prolong

The Left Chapter
Apr 95 min read


Trump’s Iran War Is Not Going Great for the NATO+ Alliance
Trump with Pete Hegseth on March 23 -- public domain image By Vijay Prashad US President Donald Trump has increasingly become unhinged as the war on Iran has not gone as he imagined. Both the United States and Israel felt that a series of domination strikes against Iran would decapitate the leadership of the country and force the remaining mid-level leaders into surrender. The miscalculation of the Trump-Netanyahu agenda has been total: a depth of wartime leadership has emerg

The Left Chapter
Apr 76 min read


Ratas y plátanos: los medios occidentales, la violencia y la libertad en Venezuela
Placard at a rally in Caracas in support of kidnapped President Maduro in January, 2026 -- image via news video screenshot By Celina della Croce Venezolanos en las noticias En la mañana del 26 de marzo de 2026, dos multitudes se reunieron frente al tribunal federal de Manhattan, donde el presidente Nicolás Maduro y la primera dama Cilia Flores esperaban su juicio, programado para comenzar a las 11:00 a. m. de ese día. Por un lado, se encontraba un grupo de manifestantes reuni

The Left Chapter
Apr 58 min read


Arkeopolitics: Reframing Human History from Scratch
Göbeklitepe dig, 2015 -- public domain image By Erdem Denk In the heart of Ankara, less than a kilometer apart, stand two pillars of Turkish academia: the Faculty of Political Science ( Mülkiye ) and the Faculty of Language and History-Geography ( DTCF ). Mülkiye was established in 1859 to navigate the Ottoman Empire’s diplomatic relations with the West, while DTCF was founded by the first president of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in 1935 to create the historical and lingui

The Left Chapter
Apr 48 min read


La deuda de Angola con Cuba sigue pendiente
Cuito Cunavale estatua Angola By Vijay Prashad En el “Parque de la Libertad” ( S’kumbuto ), a las afueras de Pretoria (Sudáfrica), hay un Muro de los Nombres que rinde homenaje a los hombres y mujeres que murieron en la lucha por liberar a Sudáfrica del apartheid. Entre ellos se encuentran los nombres de dos mil setenta soldados cubanos que murieron en Angola entre 1975 y 1988 por la liberación del sur de África. Se dice, sin embargo, que dos mil doscientos ochenta y nueve cu

The Left Chapter
Apr 25 min read


Rats and Bananas: Western Media, Violence, and Freedom in Venezuela
Protestors outside of the federal courthouse in Manhattan, March 26, 2026 -- image via news video screenshot By Celina della Croce Venezuelans in the News On the morning of 26 March 2026, two crowds gathered outside of the federal courthouse in Manhattan where President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores sat awaiting their trial, set to begin at 11AM that day. On one side was a group of protestors gathered behind a large yellow banner that read “Free President Maduro

The Left Chapter
Apr 17 min read


Argentina, 50 Years After Its Darkest Night
Coup president Jorge Rafael Videla assuming power in 1976 -- public domain image By Julián Bokser It has been fifty years since the coup d’état of 24 March 1976, one of the most tragic chapters in Argentina’s recent history: a dictatorship that combined state terrorism with a structural transformation of its economy. Throughout the 20th century, the country experienced six interruptions of its democratic order—in 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966, and 1976—but the last coup ushere

The Left Chapter
Apr 14 min read


Angola’s Debt to Cuba is Unfinished
Battle of Cuito Cuanavale Memorial in Angola By Vijay Prashad In ‘Freedom Park’ (S’kumbuto) outside Pretoria (South Africa), there is a Wall of Names that honors the men and women who died in the fight to liberate South Africa from apartheid. Amongst these are the names of two thousand and seventy Cuban soldiers who died in Angola between 1975 and 1988 for the liberation of southern Africa. It is said, however, that two thousand two hundred and eighty-nine Cubans died in that

The Left Chapter
Apr 15 min read


What Is to Be Done? Toward a Praxis of Resistance
Signs at a No Kings protest in Washington DC, March 28 -- G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Biljana Vankovska We are living through times where the architecture of global peace is not merely crumbling; it is being deliberately dismantled. The drums of global war beat louder than ever, drowning out the voices of reason. Across the globe, imperial power grinds forward, indifferent to human lives. In the face of such force, silence is complicity. We are com

The Left Chapter
Apr 15 min read
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