https://znetwork.org/author/ronjacobs/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Sun, 04 Jan 2026 15:15:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/ronjacobs/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/criminal-attacks-by-a-criminal-empire/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/criminal-attacks-by-a-criminal-empire/#comments Sun, 04 Jan 2026 15:15:50 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293097 There is only one word to describe the US attacks on Venezuela.  That word is criminal.  It is the only word that describes the act of invading another nation and kidnapping its president.  Of course, it is also a word that describes the essential nature of the US empire—an empire currently run by a band of psychopaths whose [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/criminal-attacks-by-a-criminal-empire/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-audacity-of-hope-denied/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-audacity-of-hope-denied/#respond Mon, 24 Nov 2025 17:56:37 +0000 In a letter to Richard Nixon dated January 16, 1970, his domestic advisor Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote the following regarding the White House approach to the situation of Black people in the United States: “The time may have come when the issue of race could benefit from a period of “benign neglect.” The subject has [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-audacity-of-hope-denied/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/stepping-up-the-propaganda-for-war-on-venezuela/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/stepping-up-the-propaganda-for-war-on-venezuela/#respond Wed, 19 Nov 2025 19:14:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291469 On November 16, 2025, a rather vacuous yet incendiary op-ed titled “Venezuelans might not mind an American invasion” appeared in the Boston Globe suggesting that Venezuelans would welcome an invasion by the US military. Supposedly, the writer Antonio Matheus lives in Venezuela. He repeated the current talking points it seems necessary to repeat in every [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/stepping-up-the-propaganda-for-war-on-venezuela/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anti-capitalist-road-trip/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anti-capitalist-road-trip/#respond Tue, 05 Aug 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286983 It seems so long ago, but the movement against global capitalism that featured mass protests against meetings of capital’s biggest criminals and powerbrokers (usually one and the same) had center stage a mere twenty-five years ago. For those who participated, it was an exhilarating time filled with confrontation, conversation, debate and determination represented by the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anti-capitalist-road-trip/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-years-resolution-number-one-join-the-movement-against-world-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-years-resolution-number-one-join-the-movement-against-world-war/#respond Tue, 31 Dec 2024 17:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277798 There’s a precipice and we are standing on its edge. The world as it exists on the eve of 2025 is a world of war and genocide. It is a world where millions of humans exist in a state not just of uncertainty, but in a state where tomorrow is likely to be worse than [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/new-years-resolution-number-one-join-the-movement-against-world-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kashmirs-struggle-for-self-determination/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kashmirs-struggle-for-self-determination/#respond Tue, 13 Feb 2024 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1262145 Together with Palestine, the state of Kashmir is one of the longest existing political and territorial conflict remaining from the aftermath of the British Empire. Kashmir, together with its sister state of Jammu, were granted a quasi-autonomy at the end of British rule in the subcontinent. The status of the states was to be determined [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/kashmirs-struggle-for-self-determination/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/theres-still-time-to-talk/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/theres-still-time-to-talk/#respond Tue, 26 Sep 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1254941 After this piece is published, I am almost certain I will receive emails calling me a Putin-lover or something similar. I just ignore those, because they’re just dead wrong. I have no fondness for any current government or their leaders. Other emails will claim that there can be no peace talks because Kyiv and Moscow [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/theres-still-time-to-talk/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/capitalism-is-still-the-problem/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/capitalism-is-still-the-problem/#respond Fri, 18 Aug 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1252184 (Image by Jon Tyson) As far as the United States is concerned, today’s Left is not only small, it’s also quite confused. Sure, there are debates regarding the conflict being fought in Ukraine and the wisdom of organizing in the Democratic party, but I’m talking about more fundamental questions. Primary among them is the nature [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/capitalism-is-still-the-problem/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-this-what-you-voted-for/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-this-what-you-voted-for/#respond Tue, 25 Apr 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1244290 Washington just approved millions of dollars more money for military aid to Kyiv.  That means the government there has been given over $35.4 billion in weapons and ammo since February 24, 2022.  That’s around $88 million a day in a little more than a year.  The Kyiv government has also been given tens of billions [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-this-what-you-voted-for/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/blood-money-and-imperial-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/blood-money-and-imperial-war/#respond Wed, 15 Feb 2023 19:50:04 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1239464 As we approach the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the only obvious certainty about the conflict is that some corporations are making a killing from the killing. Although there has been armed conflict in Ukraine since 2015, it wasn’t until the Russian invasion in 2022 that most western governments acknowledged the fact. Since [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/blood-money-and-imperial-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-do-i-feel-like-a-human-shield/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-do-i-feel-like-a-human-shield/#respond Mon, 02 Jan 2023 17:15:17 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1236048 I am not a total pacifist, but I hate war. Time has shown me that it is always better to talk than to kill. As someone who lives in a nation long considered the greatest purveyor of military violence in the world, I believe one of the most important actions anti-imperialist and anti-militarist people living [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-do-i-feel-like-a-human-shield/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labors-weakness/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labors-weakness/#respond Mon, 05 Dec 2022 14:43:31 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1233687 Most people reading this will agree that the recent actions by Congress and the White House demanding that railway workers accept the contract rejected by the majority of those voting on it was a despicable use of government power in favor of capital. Some union members and supporters have even called it a betrayal by [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labors-weakness/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-new-look-at-the-strategy-of-the-civil-rights-movement/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-new-look-at-the-strategy-of-the-civil-rights-movement/#respond Mon, 24 Oct 2022 12:55:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1223474 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-new-look-at-the-strategy-of-the-civil-rights-movement/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/supporting-militarism-will-not-bring-justice-only-death/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/supporting-militarism-will-not-bring-justice-only-death/#respond Wed, 06 Apr 2022 11:51:46 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1056893 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/supporting-militarism-will-not-bring-justice-only-death/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-american-way-2021/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-american-way-2021/#respond Mon, 18 Oct 2021 09:00:12 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1051081 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-american-way-2021/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/biden-blinken-and-dod/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/biden-blinken-and-dod/#respond Sun, 11 Apr 2021 09:00:06 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1045574 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/biden-blinken-and-dod/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-peoples-history-of-the-civil-rights-movement/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-peoples-history-of-the-civil-rights-movement/#respond Sun, 21 Mar 2021 09:00:29 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1044776 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-peoples-history-of-the-civil-rights-movement/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/washington-in-afghanistan-how-long-must-this-go-on/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/washington-in-afghanistan-how-long-must-this-go-on/#respond Wed, 17 Mar 2021 09:00:41 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1044623 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/washington-in-afghanistan-how-long-must-this-go-on/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/facebook-and-the-street/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/facebook-and-the-street/#respond Sat, 02 Jan 2021 08:58:27 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1041782 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/facebook-and-the-street/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumpfen-sturmabteilung-trumps-stormtroopers/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumpfen-sturmabteilung-trumps-stormtroopers/#respond Thu, 23 Jul 2020 09:02:59 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1036658 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumpfen-sturmabteilung-trumps-stormtroopers/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cops-and-a-coverup/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cops-and-a-coverup/#respond Mon, 29 Jun 2020 09:01:09 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1035754 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cops-and-a-coverup/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defense-of-antifa/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defense-of-antifa/#respond Tue, 02 Jun 2020 09:02:30 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1034485 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-defense-of-antifa/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/pandemic-and-protest/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/pandemic-and-protest/#respond Mon, 20 Apr 2020 09:01:53 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1032285 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/pandemic-and-protest/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iranian-opposition-1970s-to-2020/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iranian-opposition-1970s-to-2020/#respond Thu, 16 Jan 2020 09:00:42 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1028201 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iranian-opposition-1970s-to-2020/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/support-the-climate-strike-not-a-military-strike/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/support-the-climate-strike-not-a-military-strike/#respond Wed, 18 Sep 2019 09:01:42 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1023702 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/support-the-climate-strike-not-a-military-strike/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-killing-peasants-protecting-americas-interests/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-killing-peasants-protecting-americas-interests/#respond Wed, 11 Sep 2019 09:00:24 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1023495 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/is-killing-peasants-protecting-americas-interests/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-military-moves/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-military-moves/#respond Sun, 30 Dec 2018 09:00:18 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1015995 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-military-moves/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/divest-from-the-business-of-incarceration/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/divest-from-the-business-of-incarceration/#respond Fri, 22 Jun 2018 09:00:40 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1011062 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/divest-from-the-business-of-incarceration/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mr-kurtz-comes-to-america/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mr-kurtz-comes-to-america/#respond Sat, 26 Mar 2016 09:00:13 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=984987 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/mr-kurtz-comes-to-america/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-arrogance-of-empire-detailed-by-ron-jacobs/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-arrogance-of-empire-detailed-by-ron-jacobs/#respond Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:05:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-arrogance-of-empire-detailed-by-ron-jacobs/feed/ 0