Paulina Ochoa Espejo

Lawsuit Challenges a Nonprofit’s Scholarships for Hispanic Students

After being told repeatedly (by us) that “Latinx” “Hispanic” and “Latin American” is *not* a race. They even invented a new category in bureaucratic forms to force us to say that it *is* a race— and now they cancel the scholarship because “Hispanic” looks like a race to them…

Need a break from the news?

Here are a few quiet moments from our shoot in Laredo, Texas. We’ve been working on a new documentary about water, community, and the infrastructure that shapes life along the border. 

More soon, but for now enjoy the zen!

Trump Admin Got Rid of Report on Indigenous Deaths & Disappearances The report was pulled in February under Trump’s anti-DEI orders—and despite senators’ demands, it still hasn’t been restored.

Mientras que el eslogan “not one more” parece haber viajado en dirección opuesta. Creo que el original es “ni una más”.

Appealing to philosophical values won’t build solidarity, but local communities might. - Boston Review Paulina Ochoa Espejo responds to Lea Ypi’s “The Real Border Crisis.”

In response, @pochoaespejo.bsky.social doubts that appeals to fundamental values can build solidarity and defeat resurgent xenophobia.

Instead, she argues, institutions in local communities “are our best hope for motivating workers to join with others, locally and abroad”:

The Real Border Crisis - Boston Review The problem isn't immigration. It's the failure of liberal democracy itself.

Our latest forum is now online.

@leaypi.bsky.social opens with a critique of our broken politics of immigration, with responses from @pochoaespejo.bsky.social, @daralind.bsky.social , @danieldenvir.bsky.social, Alex Aleinikoff, Chandran Kukathas, and Ayelet Shachar:

Es fascinante ver como viajan las ideas. Eso de “tierra despojada”puede ser revolucionario, pero está tan importado de Estados Unidos o Canadá como los tacos vegetarianos de la Roma. ¿No?

Membership - Boston Review All members receive an annual subscription to our quarterly issues, plus digital access to our entire archive.

And if you read this or some of the other essays, why don’t you subscribe? It’s so much nicer to read it in print!

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Appealing to philosophical values won’t build solidarity, but local communities might. - Boston Review Paulina Ochoa Espejo responds to Lea Ypi’s “The Real Border Crisis.”

Here’s my response:

www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-re...

The Real Border Crisis - Boston Review The problem isn't immigration. It's the failure of liberal democracy itself.

The new Boston Review Forum is out!
With a lead essay by Lea Ypi, and responses by Alexander Aleinikoff, Dara Lind, Daniel Denvir, Chandran Kukathas and Ayelet Shachar and me.

@bostonreview.bsky.social
@leaypi.bsky.social
@danieldenvir.bsky.social
@daralind.bsky.social

Genuinely sad. I was hoping for one more play. He is one of the few people who has made me happy every time I had something to do with him (including the many times I’ve read Arcadia and the million times I’ve watched Shakespeare in Love).

I blame the teaching of Adam Smith’s description of a pin factory in The Wealth of Nations. If students don’t read the book, but only get told about it, they think that he was writing about innovation, rather than about productivity…so pins and nails must have been new in the 18th C.

Lots of water news this morning (TLDR: we’re all running out).

My take: The fights over immigration are mostly about sublimating anger and fear over the environment.

Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications

Even areas getting wetter may experience water shortage as the intense, sudden rainfall that climate change drives leads to flash floods + runoff which don't replenish groundwater.

3/6

share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...

Welcome new followers!

I post mostly about rivers, but if you are interested in immigration politics, here’s an article that I wrote in 2020 where I was already calling to abolish ICE.

Welcome new followers!

I post mostly about rivers, but if you are interested in immigration politics, here’s an article that I wrote in 2020 where I was already calling to abolish ICE.

Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens

“I had to take the baby from my crying wife’s arms.“ It hasn’t even been a year, and this is not a scandal anymore? What is wrong with us?

Book launch next week for Disjunctures: Indigenous Redirections in Political Theory (OUP 2025) by Yann Allard-Tremblay. Wednesday December 3, 5-7 pm, Paragraphe

And if a law is by definition a command issued by the sovereign, and the sovereign is the president, and if outside the law there’s no justice and injustice…

(Somebody took “Modern Political Theory” and never read anything after the third week of classes…)

¿Con mucho callo y libro?

Every time I hear that this is “unskilled” labor…

People keep talking about this happening to Mexico City within a couple of decades and it’s the sort of thing that you hear and think, no, that won’t happen, people will take action before it does. But what if they don’t?

Note to self: “navigate messy dynamics” means “hanging out with other people is hard.” “Community” requires close relationships, and if you want the joy of being together, you cannot run away and hide from people’s quirks, fears, jealousy, envy, and resentment.

Water

Now, what are the best explanations for what *all this* has 40 and some percent approval rate?

Foto de un grafiti sobre una barra blanca de paso peatonal sobre el asfalto, dice “lo que me falta por llorar”, y abajo se alcanza a leer “grupo pro [ilegible]”

asfalto intenseando

When I was taught this definition, I asked the obvious “how do you justify?” And the teacher said “I trust the source, for example, I trust the New York Times…”

I just opened the app, read for 3 minutes, and this came to my mind.
Old people may get the reference…

Two pigeons on a London street, pecking at crumbs. Pigeon 1: "I'm sorry you missed out on the Booker prize. I thought your novel was wonderful." Pigeon 2: "It’s a stitch up! They always give it to a human!" Pigeon 1: "It’s nice they considered it." Pigeon 2: "Nobody cares about the longlist, Janet!" Pigeon 2 again: "Zadie Smith had a bestselling novel and an armload of literary prizes before she was 25*." Pigeon 1: "You’ve got to stop comparing yourself to Zadie Smith" Pigeon 2: "Why?" Pigeon 1: "We’ve all got to find our own path through the world. Plus, it’s much harder to type with claws." pigeon 2: "That’s true." They both go back to pecking. Pigeon 2: "I’m glad you liked my book." *Pigeon 2 is 3 years, 11 months and 22 days old, the equivalent of 42 in human years. https://pigeonpedia.com/pigeon-years-to-human-years-calculator/

My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books pages.

Tonight, over 240,000 Venezuelans will lose Temporary Protected Status.

The Trump administration is dismantling our core humanitarian protections, leaving hundreds of thousands at risk of detention, deportation, and harm.

Congress must protect TPS holders and pass a pathway to citizenship now.