Patrick Heller
@pheller.bsky.social
Political Sociologist at Brown university
Getting history right It Wasn’t a ‘Civil War.’ It Was the Slaveholders’ Rebellion. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...
Opinion | The ‘Civil War’ Is a Lie. Let’s Call It the ‘Slaveholders’ Rebellion’ Again.
To face our own history, we must be honest about it.
nytimes.com
Modi reaches out to the cockroaches. As reported in the Wire.
Never thought I would say this: go cockroaches! thewire.in/rights/cockr...
Trump’s assault on Brazilian democracy. So colonial www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on Brazil’s sovereignty: Trump turns autonomy into a trade offence | Editorial
Editorial: Donald Trump’s tariff threat recasts Brazil’s attempt to protect its democracy as unfair commercial practice – and gives Bolsonarism a Washington stage
theguardian.com
A name everyone should know: Umar Khalid www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
‘Humanity is a privilege’: Umar Khalid on his six years in an Indian jail without trial
Exclusive: Activist tells of his life as one of India’s most prominent political prisoners and his opposition to the government of Narendra Modi
theguardian.com
I have new article out in the Sociology of Development on the possibilities of building welfare states in the global south. Its free for now: online.ucpress.edu/socdev/artic...
The Democratic Social Developmental StateParameters of the Possible in the Global South
Colonial legacies and the structural constraints of global capitalism pose significant obstacles to building welfare states in the Global South. Yet the past three decades have seen significant progre...
online.ucpress.edu
Either "from the river to the sea" is a call for genocide against one nation, or it isn't. But a lot of American Jewish organizations are a lot more bothered by Palestinians saying it than by Likud saying it. I wrote about the double standard. religiondispatches.org/2026/04/30/g...
Genocide For Me But Not For Thee?
Last week, Hillel International, the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, celebrated Israel’s Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzmaut) by posting an illustrated map of Israel—which is not, in its...
religiondispatches.org
"You wouldn't know it if you live in the USA or consume US media and politics, but the fight between EVs and ICEs is basically over. Internal combustion is on it's way out. First it'll look slow, then fast. Fleet turnover will lag sales. But ALL the growth globally is in EVs." - @jessedjenkins.com
On Iran, see the larger context. Five of the seven countries that the Trump admin has militarily attacked since Jan. 2025 are significant oil producers, even though petrostates are rare. It's not a coincidence. I explain why @goodauth.bsky.social goodauthority.org/news/is-oil-...
Is oil behind the U.S. attack on Iran?
Is oil behind the U.S. attack on Iran? To understand the Trump administration’s military targets, take a closer look at the petrostate pattern.
goodauthority.org
Rubio: “Let me tell you, Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics.”
Civil society fights back Nine Law Firms Surrendered. Four Law Firms Won. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/o...
Opinion | Nine Law Firms Surrendered. Four Law Firms Won.
nytimes.com
I talked with @victorerikray.bsky.social about the repression we’re facing at public universities here in Florida, where the state is attempting to impose a textbook on our intro classes, insisting that no published textbook complies with state law. Here’s Part 1. Part 2 drops next week.
What's the Matter with Florida? An Interview with Zachary Levenson
A discussion about Florida's censorship of sociology and teaching under authoritarianism
groupthreat.com
Here, I write about the public health threat posed by ICE. Renee Good, Alex Pretti, & the dozens of others killed by ICE in recent months make this clear. But ICE also kills more slowly & covertly, by inducing chronic stress, fear, & threat. Abolish ICE. www.providencejournal.com/story/opinio...
ICE poses threat to our public health. Here's why | Opinion
Research shows that when ICE ramps up enforcement in a community, the people living there experience heightened physiological and psychological stress, the author says.
providencejournal.com
Republican states are colonizing civil society: “Mr Creighton, the lawmaker-turned-chancellor … reckons that in Texas public universities … should be understood as “an extension of state government”. economist.com/united-state...
Republican states are censoring universities
New laws restrict what professors can teach
economist.com
The issue examines when and how protest translates into durable policy change, with articles by Anindita Adhikari and @pheller.bsky.social (India); Giorleny Altamirano Rayo, @emosinger.bsky.social, and @kaimthaler.bsky.social (Central America) [2/3]
Candelaria Garay (@candelariagaray.bsky.social), Jessica Rich (@jessicaajrich.bsky.social), and I co-edited a special issue of World Development on the policy consequences of social movements in the Global South. [1/3]
This Theory Explains Trump’s Baffling Foreign Policy www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/o...
Opinion | This Theory Explains Trump’s Baffling Foreign Policy
nytimes.com
Building on Robert Paxton’s classic study of fascism Michelle Goldberg gets it just right. Resistance Libs Were Right www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/o...
Opinion | The Resistance Libs Were Right
nytimes.com
Amazing to me that Donald Trump has not been asked once to comment on this insanely Neo-Nazi post from his Homeland Security department, nor asked who are the 50 to 60 *million* US citizens that his DHS say they want to ‘deport.’
Can a Corporation Be Complicit in War Crimes? Sweden Is Trying to Find Out. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/o...
Opinion | Can a Corporation Be Complicit in War Crimes? Sweden Is Trying to Find Out.
nytimes.com