For generations, the American academy celebrated W.E.B. Du Bois while burying the revolutionary conclusions that defined the final decades of his life. In this Weaponized Intellects review of Bill V. Mullen's Un-American, we excavate the real Du Bois: communist, anti-imperialist, Pan-African internationalist and unapologetic ally of socialist revolution. Mullen powerfully restores Du Bois to the global struggle against capitalism and colonialism, yet retreats into familiar anti-Stalinist assumptions when revolution becomes embodied in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. The result is both an indispensable recovery and a revealing ideological battleground over the meaning of socialism, state power and the unfinished project of world revolution.
The Rose That Grew From Concrete: Tupac Shakur, Revolutionary Memory, and the Industry That Sold It Back
Dean Van Nguyen's "Words for My Comrades" passionately reclaims Tupac Shakur as a pivotal voice in the Black revolutionary movement, tracing his roots back to the powerful yet fragmented legacy left by the Panthers. While capitalism commodifies Tupac's image, the essence of his revolutionary spirit remains alive, urging listeners to confront issues of systemic oppression and identity. Van Nguyen illuminates the contradictions in Tupac's life, linking them to a larger inheritance shaped by state repression and cultural rebellion. Ultimately, Tupac's significance lies not in providing a finished political framework but in sparking inquiry into collective struggle and revolutionary continuity, creating pathways toward genuine transformation.
When the Numbers Revolt: The World Stops Buying the American Empire
The world is turning its back on the American Empire as perceptions shift dramatically in favor of China, a shift underscored by a recent Pew survey revealing greater global trust in China over the U.S. The BBC attempts to downplay this trend, attributing it to America's chaotic leadership under Trump, but the truth lies in a stark reality: nations are weary of U.S. interference and long for a relationship defined by trade, not military might. This reversal signals not just a popularity contest but a fundamental reevaluation of power dynamics. The challenge now is to harness this anti-imperialist sentiment into a mass movement against war with China.
Socialism Without Revolution: Jacobin’s Market Fantasy Against the Socialist World
Bhaskar Sunkara’s market socialism is a bold yet flawed vision that naively overlooks the burdens of imperialism. He critiques past socialist models while proposing that worker-run firms can flourish within a system still embedded in capitalist exploitation. However, the reality is that these worker enterprises would still rely on the global hierarchy that upholds imperial advantages. A true socialist awakening must reject these inherited structures and demands an anti-imperialist framework instead. Without confronting the realities of colonial legacies and ensuring reparative relations, Sunkara’s proposal risks socializing the benefits of imperialism while maintaining its oppressive mechanisms intact.
The Red Scare Has a Filing Cabinet: CNN, Communism, and the Policing of American Thought
CNN turns deleted tweets into an anti-communist dossier while burying the housing, healthcare, immigration, education, and antiwar demands that made Darializa Avila Chevalier’s campaign matter. The article inherits a long U.S. tradition where communism is treated not as a political position but as contamination. The real story is capitalism’s fear that workers might learn the... Continue Reading →
The Roads Remember Túpac Amaru: Jacobin Calls Popular Power a Vacuum
Bolivia is experiencing a seismic shift, as the indigenous and working-class masses rise against a government they see as complicit with imperial interests and corporate power. Jacobin's portrayal of this struggle as chaotic “political vacuum” fails to grasp the reality: the people are not absent from politics; they are reclaiming agency. While the ruling class laments blocked roads and instability, they ignore the genuine political force being forged by those occupying them—workers, campesinos, and indigenous communities asserting power where previously silenced. The barricades are not just obstacles; they symbolize resistance against commodification and repression, signaling a reawakening of history in the fight for sovereignty and justice.
Marx in the Witness Box: How Jacobin Turns a Chinese Worker’s Wounds Against the Revolution
Jacobin's critique of Chinese worker Xiao Hai's memoir misrepresents the entire Chinese Revolution as a failed experiment based on exploitation. While Xiao Hai's story merits recognition, the narrative frames the factory's plight as representative of the whole nation, ignoring China's transformation from a colonial past into a sovereign socialist state. The real conflict lies not between the state and its workers, but rather over how the fruits of development serve the people's dignity versus capital's control. Exploitation exists, but it's the state that counters this with public power, proving not every wound validates Western perspectives of failure. Thus, the critique deflects from recognizing China's unique developmental trajectory amid global capitalism's inequities.
Black Gold, Broken Chains: The AES, China, and the Sahel’s Revolt Against Empire
The recent oil agreements between Niger and Chinese firms aren't just another business deal; they expose a seismic shift in Africa's political landscape. As Western powers cling to outdated neocolonial frameworks, Niger is bargaining fiercely for sovereignty over its vast resources, rejecting mere extraction in favor of local control. This isn't a clean break; it’s messy and contradictory, revealing the power struggle over who governs the circulatory systems of wealth. The Sahel countries are navigating a new reality where they challenge traditional dependency and assert their agency. History is shifting beneath our feet—can Africa carve out a new path, or will old patterns reassert themselves?
Cocaine Cowboys and Lithium Indians: Bolivia, the Monroe Doctrine, and the Return of the Colonial Republic
Bolivia is ablaze, but The New York Times misses the mark, framing protests as mere chaos ignited by a presidential betrayal. The truth is far more profound: a collision of historical projects poised for supremacy. Behind the unrest lies a struggle against neocolonial forces, with President Paz's agrarian reforms threatening Indigenous and campesino sovereignty. The culprits are not just disenfranchised voters but a systematic push toward resource extraction and imperialism. The uprising is a collective cry not just for policy change but for self-determination, land rights, and a unified front against re-colonization. The narrative must shift from superficial crisis to deep-rooted rebellion.
Strategic Stability or Strategic Pause: The Trump–Xi Summit and the Fracturing of the American Century
The Beijing summit epitomizes the unraveling of American supremacy, as Donald Trump arrived not merely as a president, but as a messenger of an empire in disarray. The spectacle of diplomatic niceties belied a crumbling global landscape, where the U.S. seeks containment while its capital cravenly craves access to China's vast markets. The summit revealed profound contradictions: America, armed yet impotent, involved in a tech war while reliant on the very infrastructure it seeks to undermine. As the Atlantic order falters, a multipolar era teeters on the edge, with ideological fractures foreshadowing a future fraught with uncertainty—yet, fertile for revolutionary possibilities.