The hottest Civil Unrest Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top World Politics Topics

EXCLUSIVE: The Last INTSUM of the Trump Administration!

Emerald Robinson’s The Right Way • 1646 implied HN points • 07 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Trump's national security team received warnings about ANTIFA, BLM, and COVID-19 but did not take action on them. This raises questions about decision-making during critical times.
  2. A group called Project Sentinel aims to share intelligence and insights on national security, highlighting concerns about the government's actions against citizens.
  3. Only certain subscribers will access exclusive intelligence summaries from the last days of the Trump administration, emphasizing the importance of this information for understanding past events.

Memory-Hole Archive: Political Violence

American Dreaming • 740 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Political violence became far more common and culturally normalized in the 2010s–2020s, fed by polarized rhetoric, social media amplification, and livestreamed "riot porn."
  2. Both left- and right-wing actors engaged in serious violence — from protests that turned to arson and looting to lone-wolf attacks, mass shootings, assassination attempts, and an insurrection — producing deaths, injuries, and billions in damage.
  3. Media, activists, and some political leaders sometimes excused or celebrated violence and promoted radical reforms like defunding police; those trends coincided with reduced policing, spikes in crime, and a worrying rise in public tolerance for political violence.

These Abuses Will Continue Until People Force Them To Stop

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 2621 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Civil Unrest
  1. The current US-led capitalist order keeps producing worsening abuses like growing authoritarianism, militarized policing, expanding wars, rising inequality, and ecological collapse.
  2. Electoral politics alone can't fix this because the system is locked and swapping parties just replaces one set of abuses with another.
  3. The only viable path to real change is mass popular action — people organizing together and using their numbers to force the powerful to stop.

‘This Was About Killing as Many People as Possible’

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1465 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Security forces carried out a brutal, lethal crackdown, shooting at crowds — even people who were running away — and causing thousands of deaths.
  2. Mass protests swelled to around a million people, with many ordinary citizens joining for the first time, showing widespread public anger.
  3. Many protesters have fled or been displaced and now depend on internet access to work and plan a return, while communications remain cut off and safety is uncertain.

Mike Pence: Minneapolis Is a Warning

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1219 implied HN points • 29 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Everyone deserves safe streets, laws that are enforced, and protection of constitutional rights; in Minneapolis those basic things were not upheld.
  2. The death of Alex Pretti is a tragedy that requires a full, transparent investigation and public accountability.
  3. Leadership matters: activist provocation and a series of political choices eroded public confidence and weakened lawful authority, which helped invite disorder.
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More ICE Shootings

Handwaving Freakoutery • 667 implied HN points • 27 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. The gun-rights community is split: one camp insists people can lawfully film and even protest while armed, while a practical camp of regular carriers says you must avoid confronting cops because any conflict can quickly turn deadly.
  2. These shootings are showing up as symptoms of a bigger tribal conflict between political groups, with symbolic enforcement and protests escalating toward wider unrest and possible government crackdowns.
  3. Carrying a gun changes how people approach fights and creates an obligation to de-escalate, but federal agents also displayed poor tactics and messaging, so both private carriers and authorities need to get better to prevent needless deaths.

The Iranian Regime Is Stronger Than We Think

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1061 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Widespread nationwide protests have been met with brutal repression — shootings, mass arrests, and internet shutdowns — and the real death toll is likely much higher than official counts.
  2. The Islamic Republic survives less by popularity than by a vast, overlapping security apparatus (IRGC, intelligence services, Basij, police) and an ideological framework designed to crush domestic dissent.
  3. Because the regime is willing to use extreme violence and has been built to endure internal warfare, it is more durable and less likely to be quickly overthrown than many outsiders assume.

Good Trump-related News!

Nonzero Newsletter • 485 implied HN points • 31 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Grassroots protest and bipartisan political pushback forced a pullback from aggressive federal tactics, showing that popular feedback can check a slide toward authoritarian escalation.
  2. That de-escalation looks partly cosmetic and contingent—leaders often back down only after real blowback, and future incidents could produce very different outcomes.
  3. Workplace AI adoption is rising and may already be boosting productivity, which could help explain the mix of low inflation, weak hiring, and solid GDP growth, so watching those metrics and AI-use surveys matters.

Iran’s Silent Revolution

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1029 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
🌐 International Civil Unrest
  1. Many Iranian women are openly defying the compulsory hijab by walking without headscarves and doing everyday things like riding motorcycles, turning ordinary acts into a quiet revolution.
  2. The morality police and other enforcers are appearing less often, and that reduced crackdown has allowed more women to show visible dissent despite past violent repression.
  3. These everyday acts of resistance are culturally powerful, reclaiming rights and honoring a longer history of struggle even though the Islamic Republic remains in place.

Courting death to own the Nazis

eugyppius: a plague chronicle • 525 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Traffic-blocking “ICE Watch” protests involve many mostly middle-class people deliberately obstructing immigration enforcement vehicles and filming the encounters.
  2. These road-based tactics are dangerous and often provoke violent responses from officers, making shootings and serious harm likely.
  3. Larger NGO networks appear to encourage or coordinate these confrontational tactics to generate incidents and propaganda, while many participants seem naive about the real risks.

ICE Shooting Open Thread

eugyppius: a plague chronicle • 179 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. A recent lull is blamed on winter blues, writer's block, and frustration over the Greenland episode, with plans to resume regular posting and add book reviews, historical pieces, and a long post about Greenland and shifting US–Europe relations.
  2. The Minneapolis ICE shooting of Alex Pretti looks troubling: footage suggests he was shot in the back after being disarmed, with confusing moments that could involve an accidental or negligent discharge.
  3. Officials rushing to label Pretti a "domestic terrorist" instead of waiting for the investigation is criticized, and there's a warning that continued aggressive protests will likely lead to more shootings.

Sex Ratios, Rioting, Marijuana

Rob Henderson's Newsletter • 1401 implied HN points • 17 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Women with stay-at-home husbands tend to feel less happy than when their husbands work full-time. Men losing jobs might make them face a higher risk of divorce compared to women.
  2. Attractiveness can help social scientists earn more from speaking engagements, while unattractiveness may actually work in favor of natural scientists because people think they do better work.
  3. Some claims suggest that legal marijuana would lower opioid use. However, recent reviews indicate it might actually increase the rates of opioid-related deaths instead.

Chartbook 391 How to predict a 1 in 1,000 year riot: the insurance expertise gearing up to commodify America's agony.

Chartbook • 1344 implied HN points • 13 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. The rise of protests in America has led to the insurance industry developing new ways to predict and analyze civil unrest. They are focusing on how to manage the risks and losses from these events.
  2. Big data and statistical models are now used to assess the likelihood and impact of riots and protests across various locations in the US. This helps identify high-risk areas for potential damage.
  3. Recent protests like those seen in 2020 are changing how insurance companies view risks. They see political unrest as a serious threat that may lead to significant losses, prompting them to adjust their policies accordingly.

Will Illegal Immigration Break the Nation Apart?

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 1312 implied HN points • 09 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Illegal immigration is a major issue affecting the nation today. It can lead to serious unrest and has sparked violent protests.
  2. Local authorities are struggling to manage the chaos caused by these protests, showing a lack of control over the situation.
  3. Political leaders are divided on how to handle the crisis, which adds to the tension and uncertainty surrounding immigration policies.

How Minneapolis Became the Vortex of American Polarization

KERFUFFLE • 85 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Minneapolis has shifted from a trusting, "Minnesota nice" city to one now associated with riots, police violence, political assassinations, and large fraud schemes.
  2. A string of high-profile events—the 2020 George Floyd unrest, a massive Somali fraud scheme, and an ICE agent's fatal shooting—has kept the city in the national spotlight and deepened political division.
  3. Longstanding tensions simmer beneath the surface and can flare up suddenly, and local leaders' handling of these crises is a central part of debates about the city's future.

Thousands of leftist protesters clash with thousands of police in a massive action to defend "Our Democracy" against a few hundred AfD members

eugyppius: a plague chronicle • 231 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. There was a large protest in Gießen against the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) youth congress, with thousands showing up on both sides. This caused significant police involvement and chaos in the city.
  2. Protesters used illegal blockades to try and stop attendees from reaching the congress, leading to some heated clashes and numerous injuries, mainly among police.
  3. The protests are largely funded by the state, creating a situation where taxpayers finance both the violence and police response, highlighting issues with the political left's influence and welfare dependency in Germany.

Sunday Strip: Trigger Warning

Who is Robert Malone • 40 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Radical left activists are openly promoting violence and threats against federal officials, especially ICE agents, and some influencers have large followings amplifying those messages.
  2. ICE agents are being doxxed, tracked by apps, and confronted by violent crowds while described as minimally trained for crowd-control situations, which puts their safety and effectiveness at risk.
  3. Immigration enforcement has shifted to detaining and housing unauthorized migrants for processing and deportation under the current administration, rather than routinely releasing them into communities with future court dates as in the past.

WHAT COMES NEXT IN IRAN?

Seymour Hersh • 21 implied HN points • 04 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Iran is in a deep internal crisis after mass protests were met with a brutal government crackdown that reportedly killed thousands and allowed the Revolutionary Guards to shoot protesters.
  2. Removing the religious leadership would hinge on getting the regular Iranian army—hundreds of thousands of active and reserve troops—to agree to or join any effort to oust the regime.
  3. Israeli and U.S. officials are reportedly discussing plans for how to proceed if a decision is made to push for regime change, and the stance of leaders like Donald Trump could be decisive.

Sunday Strip: The Antifa Express -

Who is Robert Malone • 17 implied HN points • 11 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. A picture-heavy, provocative presentation that frames Antifa as a dramatic, threatening force.
  2. Many graphic or shocking images are included and labeled with a trigger warning to emphasize the disturbing visuals.
  3. It’s published as a Substack newsletter piece that asks readers to subscribe and share and displays reader engagement counts.

Make Them Pay

Points And Figures • 1119 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Pro-Palestinian protesters are being paid by non-governmental organizations to protest the war in Israel.
  2. Blocking traffic and shut downs are tactics used by these protesters.
  3. The writer suggests the tactics of arrests, impounding vehicles, and legal strategies to hold accountable those funding the protesters.

The Spanish Civil War in Retrospect: Why Did Spaniards Rebel Against Their Government?

Fisted by Foucault • 367 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
🌍 World Politics Civil Unrest
  1. The Spanish Civil War was a complex conflict involving a wide range of factions, not just a simple tale of good vs. bad.
  2. The histories of wars are often written by the losers, leading to biased narratives and oversimplified viewpoints.
  3. The Second Spanish Republic faced internal divisions and challenges from both the extreme left and extreme right, leading to a breakdown in governance.

The Tinkerer

Unpopular Front • 98 implied HN points • 10 Dec 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Civil Unrest
  1. Luigi Mangione, the suspected killer, seemed like a normal guy from a good family, with a stable social life and a well-educated background. However, a serious back injury and frustration with the medical system might have pushed him towards violence.
  2. His interests were surprisingly typical for a young tech worker, like reading famous dystopian novels and discussing future tech, which doesn't usually lead to extreme actions. This shows how regular people can sometimes make shocking choices when feeling lost.
  3. The situation reflects a larger issue in society, where many young, successful individuals feel disconnected and frustrated with the current system. This emotional struggle can drive some to act out in desperate and dangerous ways.

More for Less

The Leftovers • 19 implied HN points • 25 Nov 22
🎭️ Culture Civil Unrest
  1. Black Friday is a day that can become a ritualistic and violent frenzy driven by consumerism and desire for material goods.
  2. Looting during protests or riots can be a political act that symbolizes desire to challenge the system and social positioning.
  3. The act of looting is often televised to reinforce the power of consumer society and divert attention from larger socio-political issues.