Siobhan Kattago, Author at Public Seminar

Feature

Moral Blindness and Immigration in America

The Trump administration’s inhumane approach to immigration

July 12, 2018 • by Siobhan Kattago

Reactions to Donald Trump’s immigration policies -- whether in the Supreme Court’s upholding of the Muslim ban, rejection of domestic and gang violence as valid reasons for asylum or, more pointedly, the separation of families seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexican border, have primarily focused on the architects of such policies ...

Moral Blindness and Immigration in America

Democracy

America’s Hunger Games

The normalization of mass shootings will only stop when a majority of citizens start acting

March 4, 2018 • by Siobhan Kattago

In the dystopian novels of Suzanne Collins, the Capitol organizes annual Hunger Games, in which twenty-four youth – one boy and one girl from each peripheral district, which resemble colonies – are forced to fight to the death. The children, who are selected by lottery and mostly poor, are trained, ...

Feature

Nowhere is Somewhere

Solidarity and the space between nations

January 15, 2018 • by Siobhan Kattago

Since the Brexit referendum in June 2016 and the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, there has been a distinct shift away from a liberal international order based on supranational organizations supporting human rights, freedom and equality towards the primacy of the nation-state. Moreover, sentiments of fear and resentment ...

Feature

Fortress America

The state of exception and Trump’s politics of forgetting

January 31, 2017 • by Siobhan Kattago

As Timothy Snyder reminds us, Trump’s policy to "Make America Great Again" harkens back not only to the protectionism of the 1930s, but also to America First, the conservative group in the 1940s who opposed US intervention into World War II. Trump’s promise to make America great again is one of ...

Feature

The Tragic, Enduring Relevance of Arendt’s Work on Statelessness

September 2, 2016 • by Siobhan Kattago

While Hannah Arendt is most known for her reflections on totalitarianism and the banality of evil, eighteen years of statelessness (1933-1951) brought her philosophical questions of how one might be at home in the world into sharp relief. The fact that she was Jewish and German during the first half ...

The Tragic, Enduring Relevance of Arendt’s Work on Statelessness

Uncategorized

The Specter of Fear

Europe after the Paris attacks

November 23, 2015 • by Siobhan Kattago

A specter is haunting Europe after the Paris attacks of Friday, the 13^th of November. We feel this specter of fear as we hypnotically click onto news sites for updates, analysis and pictures of the latest terror attacks. There is an awful sense that we have been here ...

Uncategorized

Obama Channels Reagan in Estonia

September 4, 2014 • by Siobhan Kattago

In the days leading up to President Obama’s state visit to Estonia on September 3rd, the eve before the NATO summit meeting in Wales, details of his schedule, travel plans and meetings were meticulously scrutinized. As streets closed and helicopters circled, the contrast between the heavy security surrounding the Commander ...

Uncategorized

Sleepwalking into the Future?

Memory and civic participation in Europe: East, West, North and South

February 21, 2014 • by Siobhan Kattago

This is the prepared text of a contribution to a conference of the Europe for Citizens Forum in Brussels on January 28th, 2014. Irit Dekel, Anna Lisa Tota and Jeffrey C. Goldfarb, also contributed to the Forum. Their texts are forthcoming.

It is an honour to reflect on European remembrance ...

Uncategorized

European Memory vs. European History: A Critical View From Estonia

September 28, 2013 • by Siobhan Kattago

This post was first published a few weeks ago. It is being featured today because of the very interesting comment by Maija Andersone-Spurina from Latvia and to encourage further discussion. - J.G.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Europe has ...