HeyJaredThe Authoritarians
The Authoritarianism Project is a weekly newsletter on anti-democratic movements in the US and overseas, and part of my open-source research for a forthcoming book, tentatively titled "Deathsquad Democracy."
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 10
- Latest publication
- Sep 16, 2026
- Audience
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 11, 2026
Latest issues
The Dillard Effect (opens the original)
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I spent a lifetime with Annie Dillard. Not routinely, but deeply, for decades. I took a class with her at Wesleyan University in 1986, spent the 90s at her poker nights and shack parties and wilderness weeks, and settled in to a visit every few years after the millennium. Key West, Cape Cod, North Carolina, Sawtooth Idaho, the old living room at Wesleyan. I saw her in many houses and moods, yet always the same incisive mind, probing the world, testing me and others. She passed away yesterday. I
A Thousand Bullets (opens the original)
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<img alt="" class="sizing-normal" height="1324" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wr-W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1d9c5d27-5c4b-48f4-b174-23b30dd15638_1170x1324.
Blackout/Drunk (opens the original)
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Cuba was always known for its debauchery. During our prohibition, Bing Crosby sang about “drinking like a Cuban.” In the 1950s, the American mafia sold sin. Even the ‘60s socialists were sexy. In the Special Period of the 1990s, prostitution drove the return of the tourism market.Subscribe nowBut the contrast between haves and have nots is particularly striking right now. Based on 11 days and nights in Havana, I would guess that
Do the Math (opens the original)
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Graffiti is very rare in Cuba. Usually only official propaganda is allowed to be displayed, and the only slogans are ones like “Raul forever“ or “Hasta la Victoria Siempre.” But an artist from the collective called Super Malo has put this tag up repeatedly in Havana.It comes from Orwell, in 1984:“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.”Super Malo is asking a question: does 2+2=5? Is the Cuban Communist Party right when it blames foreign e
Like a Rolling Stone (opens the original)
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I’m pleased to report that Rolling Stone magazine just commissioned a 5,000-word article from me on Cuba. <img alt="" class="sizing-normal" height="5712" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bJtU!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:stee
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