Featuring Aziz Rana on the making of the American project and its legitimation through popular worship of the US Constitution. This episode, the third in what is now a four-part series, looks at how black movements responded as the Vietnam War and the limits of formal civil rights victories combined to explode the Cold War's contradictions.

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April 30th marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. But although the conflict still looms large in American memory, the reasons why the US went to war have been distorted in the mainstream account.

In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek explain the real imperialist history and remember the courageous struggles of both the Vietnamese resistance and the US anti-war movement.

Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Suzi talks to Alan Wald, Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan and a member of the academic council of Jewish Voice for Peace, to unpack the Trump offensive against higher education — a campaign that escalated after last spring’s clampdown on student encampments protesting the Israel–US war on Gaza.

Since October 7, universities have cracked down on protests under the guise of protecting “Jewish student safety.” What does it mean when many of those protesting are themselves Jewish? And, despite the repression, these crackdowns haven’t earned universities any favor with the government. Congressional hearings forced the resignation of university presidents, and now the Trump administration is threatening to withdraw federal research funds. Columbia University buckled, while Harvard, Princeton, and others are holding the line and fighting back.

At the center of it all is the redefinition and weaponization of antisemitism as a political tool used to quash criticism of Israeli policy and chill speech. This isn’t just censorship. It’s an authoritarian bid to impose ideological control over the academy.

Alan Wald has tracked this turn — its roots, its enablers, and its eerie echoes of McCarthyism. He helps us understand where we are — and what it means.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.