I have been watching recent events in Egypt avidly from afar this weekend for both their tragic death toll and their incredibly exciting potential to end the autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak. The fall of the Egyptian dictator would no … Continue reading “The Egyptian Revolution”
Online Features
Wrestling with the Image
Ashley DawsonThe Art Museum of the Americas (AMA) announces the opening of Wrestling with the Image: Caribbean Interventions, an exhibition of contemporary art from twelve Caribbean countries. Featuring work by artists from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, the exhibition is curated by artist and curator Christopher Cozier and art historian Tatiana Flores.
academic capitalist ground zero? day one.
Dan ReyesSomething violent and unfortunate has happened here. And yet it is hard to wrap one’s thoughts around it, to make contact with ’cause’ and ‘effect’ in any meaningful, productive and instructive way. This place is uninhabitable but inescapable. This place … Continue reading “academic capitalist ground zero? day one.”
The Nonstop Educational Common
Iveta JusovaNonstop Reading Group’s recent opportunity to engage with Sheila Slaughter via video dialogue, concurrent with our engagement of her and Gary Rhoades’ published work, brings their key observations about an ascendant capitalist learning regime both into clear relief and close … Continue reading “The Nonstop Educational Common”
The Educational Commons – Introducing the Nonstop Institute
Ashley DawsonAs Michael Cohen’s recent posting on the neoliberal crisis and the Open University makes clear, education as a human right is under assault around the world. Cohen’s discussion of the context in Britain paints a particularly dire picture, but universities … Continue reading “The Educational Commons – Introducing the Nonstop Institute”
Labor & Social Transformation at the Brecht Forum
Michael RalphWednesday December 15th, 2010 7:30 PM
Brecht Forum: Strategic Visions Series Labor & Social Transformation
We are facing multiple crises–financial, social, economic, ecological, cultural…–but progressive forces are very much on the defensive. How do we forge a new politics that puts labor rights and human needs first? Panelists could be asked to draw from their own thinking and experience.
The Neoliberal Crisis and the Open University
Michael CohenBy now we should all recognize the global economic effects of neoliberalism. David Harvey reminds us that free market policies have led, first and foremost, to a dramatic class realignment in which the relative egalitarianism of the post-World War … Continue reading “The Neoliberal Crisis and the Open University”
Towards a Politics of Solidarity
Social Text CollectiveThe call for proposals for next year’s Left Forum is now out. The Forum will take place March 18-20, 2011, at Pace University in New York. Click here for more information.
X-Ray of Civilization
Leon Hilton
David Wojnarowicz and the Politics of Representation Discussed: “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture,” National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC. October 30, 2000 through February 13, 2011. David Wojnarowicz often said that he wanted his art to be an “X-Ray of … Continue reading “X-Ray of Civilization”
Letter from Italy
Ashley DawsonThe Berlusconi government seems to be on its last legs here in Italy, but somehow the old Mephistopheles seems to keep controlling the show — apparently bribery as well as arm-twisting has been involved. Meanwhile, in Torino, where I’m teaching … Continue reading “Letter from Italy”
The Dramatic Face of Wikileaks
Biella ColemanWikileaks: It has caused a firestorm of debate among very different sectors of the population and about different topics: from the state of journalism (is it broken is it not?); to how much secrecy is acceptable for diplomatic negotiations, the … Continue reading “The Dramatic Face of Wikileaks”
UK Higher Education cuts and Student Occupations
Tariq JazeelAs many will already know, following the UK Con-dem government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, universities in the UK are facing massive cuts to their core funding. Coupled with this, parliament will be voting next week on a bill that will enable … Continue reading “UK Higher Education cuts and Student Occupations”
Comrades in the Barrio
Nicholas Gamso
Reviewed: Fernandes, Sujatha. Who Can Stop the Drums?: Urban Social Movements in Chávez’s Venezuela (Durham: Duke Univeristy Press, 2010) Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is known for his popularity among the urban poor: they’ve provided a major voting bloc in three victorious national … Continue reading “Comrades in the Barrio”
HBO's postcolonial melancholic
Tavia Nyong'oSeason Three of HBO’s therapy verite series is now airing, so of course I am glued to the tube. This season’s analysands — whose sessions grants us a fly-on-the-wall view of — are especially engrossing. Jesse, the promiscuous, talented gay teen; Frances, the narcissistic mid-career actress; and Sunil, the postcolonial melancholic.
Social Text Special Issue 104: Introduction
Social Text CollectiveThe cover article and accompanying special report in the September 9, 2010 issue of The Economist, “A Latin American Decade?” somewhat tentatively hail renewed ties between the region and the “developed” world after attempts to foster national industries and intraregional integration “have stagnated or fallen apart.” Not surprisingly, the ties that matter to the magazine derive from market-oriented reforms and commodity-driven booms that are “starting to attract increased interest from outsiders.” Despite a pattern of similar claims about foreign interest that began around 1492, The Economist knows what it sees: the transnational moment has arrived.