By Becca Rothfeld Literature usually reaches us in its finished form, when it has already ossified into irrevocability. By the time a book is bound and printed, it is easy to forget that the words were once in motion. Franz Kafka’s fitful fiction provides a reminder. Most of his work was published posthumously, through the efforts of… Read More The Diaries of Franz Kafka
By Soutik Biswas and Raju Gusain Early in the morning of 2 January, Prakash Bhotiyal woke up to a “loud sound” in his house in Joshimath, a small Himalayan mountain town in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. The 52-year-old tailor switched on the lights and surveyed his newly-built, double-storey house to find gaping cracks… Read More Joshimath: The trauma of living in India’s sinking Himalayan town
German police warned they would not allow their officers to be targeted with violence amid growing tensions with climate protesters in the condemned village of Lützerath on Monday. The village is set to be swallowed up by the local coal mine, run by Germany’s energy giant RWE. But organizations such as the Last Generation and Fridays for Future… Read More Germany: Police, coal protesters face off in Lützerath
A United Nations-backed scientific panel has concluded that actions taken under the Montreal Protocol have successfully strengthened the Earth’s ozone layer, helping avoid global warming from 0.5 to 1 degrees Celsius by mid-century. The Montreal Protocol is an 1989 international treaty aimed at regulating the production and use of chemicals that contribute to the depletion… Read More Earth’s ozone layer on way to recovery, finds UN report, should mend by 2040
SACRAMENTO — Heavy rain continued to drench California on Tuesday as an ongoing parade of storms left much of the state in disarray, with power outages, collapsed roadways, mud and landslides, and treacherous floodwaters widespread across nearly the length of the state. Authorities have attributed at least 17 fatalities to the onslaught of storms that… Read More California storm: floods, tornado warnings as death toll climbs
Philipp Lichterbeck Repairing the physical damage following the rampage of the Bolsonarist fanatics will likely cost millions, which will have to come from Brazil’s taxpayers. The harm done to Brazil’s democracy and to the country’s collective psyche, however, is far greater. A fanatical and violent minority went on a rampage in the capital, Brasilia, on camera. While the… Read More Brazil: A dangerous cocktail of violence and lies
One of Iran’s most prominent female activists has described how confessions are forced out of prisoners, in a letter written inside a notorious jail. Sepideh Qolian has been serving a five-year sentence since 2018 after being convicted of acting “against national security” for supporting a strike. Writing from Evin prison, she describes the brutal treatment… Read More Iran protests: Jailed activist Sepideh Qolian describes brutality in letter
Olga Shparaga The imprisoned Belarusian opposition politician Maria Kalesnikava has been in a critical condition since the end of November. In October she was awarded an honorary professorship at the University of Salzburg. The philosopher Olga Shparaga, a fellow member of the exiled Coordination Council, pays tribute to a feminist legend. ‘It is a great… Read More Risking all in the fight for democracy
JUAN COLE Last Saturday evening, activists said that on Sunday, 20,000 Israelis staged demonstrations and marches against the new Netanyahu government, which has given powerful ministries to the small Religious Zionist and Jewish Power blocs of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, respectively. Both are given to racist and intolerant statements about persons of Palestinian heritage, who constitute… Read More Israelis protest “Thuggish” “Fascist” new Government, as it Proceeds to Ensconce Apartheid toward Palestinians
Kevin Tschierse It’s the first non-English language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s anti-war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front.” German director Edward Berger has taken it upon himself to venture a German interpretation that launched internationally on Netflix in October 2022. Some critics have praised the remake as a successful anti-war drama, while others criticize the… Read More ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ in Golden Globes race
After the truth-shower 