What Is 21st-Century Truth?

Propaganda Has Trapped Us in Plato’s Cave—the Shadows Aren’t Real but the Sun Is Blinding

Zócalo is celebrating its 20th birthday this year! As part of the festivities, we’re publishing reflections and responses that revisit and reimagine some of our most impactful stories and public programs. Historian of American political rhetoric Jennifer Mercieca continues to explore why political discourse is broken in the U.S.—as in her 2018 essay “Preaching Civility Won’t Save American Democracy.”

You’re a prisoner, held in a dark cave. Your hands are tied behind you and you can only look straight ahead at the cave wall. Your captors keep you …

by Jennifer Mercieca | February 26, 2024

What Is a Fun Palace?

How a Once-Defunct Idea for Community-Driven Joy Springs to Life Every Year

by Amie Taylor | February 22, 2024

This piece publishes alongside the Zócalo/Los Angeles Times program “Would Parliamentary America Have More Fun?,” tomorrow, Friday, February 23, at 7 PM PST. Register here …

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

by Amalinda Savirani | February 14, 2024

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 …

An Election Without Artists

The Outgoing Indonesian President’s Campaigns Inspired Songs, Paintings, and Poems. Creatives’ Silence in This Race Speaks Volumes

by Sheila Rooswitha Putri | February 14, 2024

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, …

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

by Ralf-Uwe Beck | February 7, 2024

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 …

I Bought a Pricey Plane Ticket in Hopes of Voting for a United Taiwan

But Now There’s No Viable Party I Can Support

by Sam Chang | January 10, 2024

I’m 72 years old, but recently I made a rookie mistake. I believed that Taiwanese politicians, when they signed an agreement, would honor that agreement and seek unity.

Forgive me for …

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