Opinion
When Rebels Govern: The Case for M23’s Statebuilding Project
You can blame King Leopold or Belgium or Capitalism or whatever satisfies your conscience: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) cannot operate as a cohesive political unit. For three decades, armed rebellion has been a way of life in the Congo’s eastern provinces, with state control barely extending beyond the capital Kinshasa. Since 2021, the Rwandan-backed rebel group M23 has captured vast swathes of territory, including the two largest cities in the east, Goma and Bukavu. Western journalists, such as former Reuters correspondent Michela Wrong, have criticized the rebellion’s foreign backing as a breach of Congo’s sovereignty, framing the group as the primary driver of instability. This thinking feeds into the same cycle of delusion that has produced one failed peace treaty after another. Attempting to tie the Congo back together from the capital is not the solution: it is time to rethink political construction in the region.
A School System Suspended Between Promise and Memory
Kamar H. Samuels’ appointment as NYC Schools Chancellor signals a moment of cautious optimism for a system long defined by stratification, policy battles, and systemic inequities. But as history and lived experience show, real change in urban public education depends less on leadership turnover and more on whether the city confronts the structural forces that shape opportunity in the first place.
Defending Big Data
Across America, Thanksgiving dinners have turned into sparring matches, and petty conflict often overshadows substantive policy discussion. Political polarization costs all of us: it poisons social relations, increases legislative gridlock, and drives elected officials to prioritize winning over representing their constituents’ interests.
Opinion: The Feminist Case for Conservative Women
President of the organization Choose Life at Yale (CLAY), Kylyn Smith ‘26 finds it difficult to identify with the modern-day ‘feminist.’ She believes that “the feminist movement has pushed over the edge. I consider myself a feminist, but not to the extreme that today’s feminism applies.”
The Power of Perception: In Politics, Sentiment Trumps Fact
“Bread went from $3 [in 2020] to $6.50,” said Jack Dozier (YC ‘27), a sophomore from central Virginia. “Same store, same location.” Dozier identifies the kind of inflation nearly every American voter can relate to. Economic data feels abstract. The price of bread is concrete.
OPINION: The Democrats’ Defeat: America’s Rejection of the Liberal Elite
On the morning of November 6, liberals woke up to a nightmare. A great red sweep took the nation. An election so close experts predicted its results would only be known in following days resulted in the landslide victory for…
OPINION: Democracy in Distress: How Mexico’s Judiciary Lost Its Independence
Mexico’s democracy, after years of resilience and progress, is tumbling toward an authoritarian abyss. As of September 15th, 2024, the judicial branch—formerly made up of judges appointed by the government—will now be elected by the populace. The public, however, will…
OPINION: Militant Hope or Utter Despair? Political Exhaustion in the 2024 Election
Donald Trump won the election. The Republicans won the House and the Senate. Six of the nine Supreme Court Justices are conservative. America, it seems, will be reconstructed in the image of the far-Right. Quite decisively, the Democrats lost. There…