As law enforcement continues its nationwide manhunt for violent pro-Trump extremists involved in last week’s deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, one of America’s top experts in disinformation is here to remind you that if you want to understand how we got here, you need to look beyond Donald Trump and Washington. “The internet is… Read More ZACK STANTON: The Internet Is a Crime Scene
For some Americans, including the Muslim and Arab Americans who have faced decades of government surveillance and suspicion, the war on terror has always been operating at home. But the reaction to the 6 January attack may represent a new stage of the “imperial boomerang”, in which tactics developed by empires to maintain control abroad… Read More Militarized US Capitol is being called a ‘war zone’ / The Fall of the American Empire? / The Earth Does Not Belong to Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk
Earlier this month, the world was shocked by the Capitol rioters’ assault on US democracy. But more chilling still is that those who swore to protect the institutions of state may have been among the attackers. One US army captain is under investigation for taking part in the 6 January rally that eventually led to the breach… Read More Paul Rogers – The far right’s rise within armed forces is a global threat to democracy
War and all of its brutality is attention-grabbing and memorable. Recollections of war and conquests tend to stick around and take up the spotlight in historical records. However, a war-centered narrative paints an incomplete picture of human history—and human nature. While there is a popular opinion in the anthropological community that war is an evolutionary,… Read More Historical anthropologist challenges conventional wisdom about human nature and violence. By April M. Short
NB: The Greek word hubris, conveys the sense of overweening pride, arrogance before the gods. The punishment adequate to this sin derives its name from nemesis, the goddess who exacts retribution from those who succumb to hubris. It is not just defeat in an election that Mr Modi’s friend (remember Howdy Modi?) the ruthless sociopath and ignoramus Donald Trump… Read More Pamela Philipose: If the Media Fails to Read the Farm Struggle Right, Irrelevance Awaits
Whether the storming of the US Capitol was an attempted coup, an insurrection, or an assault on democracy is merely a question of semantics. What matters is that the violence was aimed at derailing a legitimate transition of power for the benefit and at the behest of a dangerous madman. President Donald Trump, who has… Read More Nouriel Roubini: The US is now the focus of global instability
The French syndicalist theorist Georges Sorel provided the most detailed explanation and theory for eschatological political myths in his 1908 book, “Reflections on Violence,” which focused on socialism and the myth of the general strike. Myths like Make America Great Again contain “all the strongest inclinations of a people, of a party or of a… Read More Paul Blumenthal: Trump’s MAGA Myth Reaches Its Catastrophic Conclusion / Schwarzenegger compares Capitol riot to Kristallnacht / Bharat Bhushan: Vigilantism threatens India too
I call it a coup attempt because, though I assume it will not prevent the Biden presidency, it certainly intended to, and is part of a campaign to delegitimize and thereby weaken the incoming administration. It was a long time coming, building up for years with white rage, especially white male rage fuelled by everyone… Read More Rebecca Solnit: The violence at the Capitol was an attempted coup / It took thugs roaming the halls of Congress for media to speak the truth / Reports & Photos of the Siege of the US Congress
NB: Aside from its useful political reflections, the most important theoretical insight in this essay is this one: ‘Populism is not an ideology but the discursive strategy that sets up an opposition between the elite and the people and is therefore able to accommodate various institutional frameworks.’ In other words, populism is a rhetorical style that… Read More Didier Fassin: The blind spots of left populism
There are some positive dimensions to the current situation. While we see democratic declines, including inside the EU, we also see very high levels of protests globally. These are motivated by all kinds of issues, but corruption remains an important factor. For me, what’s important here is that people are recognising and acquiring ownership of their power… Read More What happened to democracy in 2020?
