We live in a time when the confrontation of reality with reason requires us to dwell on apocalyptic questions. Unfortunately, as Fredric Jameson observed over a decade ago, “It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing … Continue reading “Introduction”
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Circumventing the climate cul-de-sac: Charleston-Cochabamba-Caracas versus Kyoto-Copenhagen-Cancun
patrick bond
The simple three steps required to escape the greenhouse-gas governance gridlock between global and especially US elites are easy to see, though United Nations officials and nearly all the world’s climate negotiators refuse to take them: • Make dramatic … Continue reading “Circumventing the climate cul-de-sac: Charleston-Cochabamba-Caracas versus Kyoto-Copenhagen-Cancun”
Meet the Regents
Susette MinWho are The Regents of the University of California? What is their role within this recent crisis and the entire UC system? Meet the Regents is an exhibit that raises these questions. More here.
Postcard from Berlin
Tavia Nyong'o
125 years after the Berlin Conference inaugurated the Scramble for Africa, Black Berliners and their allies marched through the streets of the Kreuzberg neighborhood.
Sustainability as Disavowal
leerom medovoi
Over the last decade, the word “sustainability” has become a compulsively used word to get at some unspecified but ubiquitous notion of an environmentally ethical and conscious way of life. Businesses, cities, neighborhoods, buildings, and lifestyles can all be praised … Continue reading “Sustainability as Disavowal”
Minority report from Copenhagen
tadzio mueller
Scene: The dark, vaguely panoptic courtyard of Vestre Faengsel, one of the ‘correction facilities’ that has been turned into an aptly named ‘climate prison’ for the duration of the ‘COP15’ United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen. The ‘climate … Continue reading “Minority report from Copenhagen”
Logos of our Lives
Biella ColemanTwo of the more influential books that have taken swipe at our contemporary intellectual property landscape concerned themselves with trademark, logos, and capitalism. Here I am thinking of Rosemary Coombe’s seminal The Cultural Life of Intellectual Property and Naomi Klein’s more activist take on the subject, No Logo. What would happen if you condensed the arguments in these two books into a 15 minute video?
Survival
Ashley DawsonEver since the effective collapse of the Copenhagen Climate Summit, I’ve been thinking about how we represent survival and futurity in a conjuncture in which hegemonic ideology is so clearly bankrupt and the ruling classes in the world’s most powerful nations are so transparently unwilling to take the steps necessary to save civilization.
Considering Polyvalent Counter-Hegemonic Climate Justice Resistance Movements
michael k. dorsey
What happened after Copenhagen? Claims of success and blame for who collapsed the talks fly from many sides of many aisles. In his 18 December 2010 plenary speech to the heads of state attending the 15th Conference of the Parties … Continue reading “Considering Polyvalent Counter-Hegemonic Climate Justice Resistance Movements”
New Social Text Book on Alter-Globalization
Social Text CollectiveProtest and Organization in the Alternative Globalization Era, by Heather Gautney, details the history of the alter-globalization protests over the last decade and the attempts by various groups on the global left to build alternatives to neoliberal development through the mechanism of the World Social Forum.
"Louder Than Bombs": Art, Action, and Activism
Social Text CollectiveThose in the London area over the next two months may want to check out this seven-week long series of artist residencies on the theme of art, action and activism at the Stanley Picker Gallery in Kingston.
Hacker and Troller as Trickster
Biella ColemanIf you read the literature on tricksters, you will confront a string of words that capture the moral quality and sensibilities of these figures, figures scattered across time and place and largely enshrined in myths and stories: Cunning, deceit, … Continue reading “Hacker and Troller as Trickster”
Treading Contradictions and Ambiguities
fabienne doucet
The epicenter of the earthquake that brought Haiti to her knees on January 12, 2010 is located about seven or eight miles from my childhood neighborhood of Fontamara, just outside of Port-au-Prince proper. I was leaving my office at NYU, … Continue reading “Treading Contradictions and Ambiguities”
State Bricolage
chelsey kivland
On the second seamlessly dark night after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, I was lying against the unusually cold earth, and for the first time since that initial tremble, sleeping. Once packed into precarious dwellings … Continue reading “State Bricolage”
Water No Get Enemy
Tavia Nyong'oI’m no native informant. But I gather that the song featured prominently in the Broadway show Fela! means something like “nobody hates something as useful as water.” Make yourself as indispensable as this, goes the implied wisdom, and any detractors you gain will just look silly. An appropriate motto for a musician like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti …