
ESSAYS

Land Back & Free Palestine
"Land Back & Free Palestine" is a powerful personal essay that connects the Palestinian liberation struggle to Indigenous rights movements and American history. Author Daniel Woods, writing from his experience growing up on traditional Apache land, traces his transformation from patriotic idealism to understanding America's colonial contradictions. He argues that Palestine represents a test case for occupied peoples worldwide, examining how the same colonial patterns that shaped America continue globally. Combining policy analysis with personal reflection, and anchored by Frederick Douglass's famous 1852 speech questioning Black Americans' relationship to Independence Day, Woods offers a compelling argument for seeing current liberation movements as part of America's unfinished justice work.
In "The Liberal Trap," Daniel Woods reveals why American politics feels broken. The term "liberal" has been weaponized to merge two contradictory belief systems: social liberalism (championing human equality and workers' rights) and economic liberalism (prioritizing corporate profits and deregulation). This impossible combination explains why politicians like Obama and Clinton sound progressive but govern conservatively. Woods traces this contradiction back to Enlightenment philosophers like John Locke, who argued against slavery while profiting from it. Modern "liberals" force the same hypocrisy on voters. Woods argues that recognizing this trap is the first step toward genuine political awakening and effective resistance to corporate domination.