New at Zócalo
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Essay
In Mexico, a New Vocabulary for Grief and Justice
Most Murders in the Country Go Uninvestigated. Activists and Writers Are Coming Together to Demand Accountability
“Almost everyone lost someone during the war,” writes Cristina Rivera Garza in The Restless Dead: Necrowriting and Disappropriation.
In 2006, Mexican president Felipe Calderón initiated the …
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Election Letters
Will Indonesia’s Youth Install a Political Dynasty?
On TikTok, Gen Z Voters See the Candidates as Father Figures and Kindly Uncles. They Don’t Get the Whole Story
President Suharto’s New Order regime was a dictatorship in which he often liked to refer to the Indonesian nation as a “family” with himself at the helm—a patriarchal …
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Election Letters
An Election Without Artists
The Outgoing Indonesian President’s Campaigns Inspired Songs, Paintings, and Poems. Creatives’ Silence in This Race Speaks Volumes
The absence of art in Indonesia’s presidential election has been noticeable.
Back in 2014, when Joko Widodo—known as Jokowi—campaigned to become the seventh president of this republic, …
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Connecting California
In California, It’s 72 With a Chance of “Weather Whiplash”
For All the Cliches About Endless Sunny Days, the Golden State’s Seasonal Forecasts Are Hard to Get Right
California weather is harder to predict than it looks. Even Harris K. Telemacher came to learn that.
Telemacher was a Los Angeles TV weathercaster with an ocean of knowledge—he had a …
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Essay
Will the Taliban’s Opium Ban Last?
Economic and Political Forces Derailed Afghanistan’s Past Attempts at Prohibition. Today the Future of the Cash Crop Is Uncertain
Do prohibitions ever work?
The 1919 Volstead Act prohibiting the production and sale of alcohol across the United States failed to stop people from drinking, and instead fostered an economy of …
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Essay
Our Timeless Romance With Screwball Comedy
Born Out of the Great Depression, the Genre Reminds Us That Even in Hard Times There’s Laughter, Love, and Light
Ninety years ago, Columbia Pictures released a film that transformed the trajectory of American screen comedy.
Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night tells the story of spoiled Park Avenue heiress Ellie …
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Election Letters
Can a Third of My Neighbors Really Be Far-Right Extremists?
I Joined a United Germany When the Wall Fell. Now I Fear for Its Future
I grew up in East Germany, in the former German Democratic Republic, and I am still here today.
In the fall of 1989, we liberated ourselves from dictatorial conditions through a …
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Connecting California
California Keeps Repeating Its Own Election Lie
Spring Elections Aren’t Primaries. Let’s Stop Calling Them That
My fellow Californians, your government is lying to you. Without conscience or remorse. About two very important subjects: democracy and elections.
The lie is not new. It is 14 years old. …
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Election Letters
Pakistan’s General Election Is a Generals’
ElectionSince the Country’s Founding, the Military Has Ruled Over Civilian Affairs—This Vote Won’t Change That
Maybe it’s best to ask if Pakistan’s 2024 election is to be called a general election, or a generals’ election.
As a lawyer and rule of law consultant for different development …
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In the Green Room
Office of the L.A. Mayor’s Strategic Reentry Initiatives Director Gilbert Johnson
You Are More Than Your Worst Mistakes