The Unplanned Heroes of Białystok Pride

Anti-LGBT violence displays the homophobic political and religious rhetoric in Poland — but it didn’t crush the parade.

Police officers, almost as many in number as the Pride crowd, used teargas to separate the parade from the anti-LGBT protesters. After Pride ended, some of the marchers were chased and beaten by the latter, mostly young men. The police say over three dozen violent offenders were detained. The reports, images, and ...
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A Republic of Discussion

Habermas at ninety

Is “discussion” really so wonderful? Does “communication” actually exist? What if I were to deny that it does? The public discussion of exit from the European Union has already caused incalculable, probably irreversible and completely superfluous damage to Britain. Obviously, the “conditions of discussion” before the vote were not in any ...
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Remembering Agnes Heller

A tribute to a great philosopher

It is with deep sadness that I write to let The New School for Social Research community know that our cherished colleague Agnes Heller, Hannah Arendt Professor of Philosophy, died on July 19, nine weeks after celebrating her 90th birthday. She was vacationing with friends and colleagues on Lake Balaton, ...
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Let My People Stay

That was the message at Lights for Liberty night

Foley Square rally as seen from the county courthouse the county courthouse is in the background Printed signs were plentiful. Homemade signs were scarce. Several politicians were present. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is speaking Including Reps. Jerry Nadler and Yvette Clark.  Nadler was the only presenter to be heckled -- by people who want him to ...
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Let My People Stay

The Scholarly Reach of Popular History

Will and Ariel Durant’s Story of Civilization

The full eleven volumes of The Story of Civilization, Will and Ariel Durant’s popular history of (mostly) the “Western world,” take up exactly 22” of shelf space, fitting perfectly on the top shelf of one of a couple of unfinished pine bookcases I recently bought to accommodate the spillover from my ...
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Kicking and Screaming: Stonewall at 50

Exiles on 12th Street: Episode Three

This is the third episode in Public Seminar’s podcast, Exiles on 12th Street. If you like it, go to iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe. The Stonewall riots that took place in New York in June 1969 are widely credited with catalyzing the modern LGBT+ civil rights movement. Join us as ...
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Letter Three to Germany: Visiting Chicago Under Trump

In February 2019, Berlin-based author Esther Dischereit observes St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago

This article was originally published in German in Deutschlandfunk Kultur on April 24, 2019 and has been slightly revised. It is reprinted with the kind permission of Deutschlandfunk Kultur. --- I met Mickey on the Chicago River. “Kiss me, I’m Irish,” said her T-shirt. Her husband, John, a programmer, says that St. ...
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Learning to Hate Shakespeare

What are the implications of being engaged with Shakespeare at the expense of what could otherwise be regarded as a black or African authenticity?

Looking at Literature syllabi across former British colonies, Shakespeare has persisted to this day. The recent syllabus from the West African Examinations Council (including countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone) has Othello as a compulsory text, with Shakespeare granted equal status as “Non-African Drama” and “African Drama.” Paper 3 of the ...
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Public Shakespeare in Public Seminar

Public writing is framed as an alternative to both academic writing and creative projects

The assignment, which you’re welcome to use or adapt as you like, starts with students selecting two essays from our Public Shakespeare page. Based on their research topics, they identify three possible venues for their Public Shakespeare essays, reading some recent (non-Shakespearean) essays from these venues to get a feel for public writing. In ...
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How Much Longer Can Pelosi Keep Fiddling While Constitutional Democracy Burns?

What we need now is a Democratic leadership that believes in democracy.

It has been two and a half years since Donald Trump first took his presidential wrecking ball to America’s very flawed system of constitutional democracy. It has been more than two and a half years since the Justice Department -- the FBI, the Special Counsel, lesser federal prosecutors -- first began ...
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Accumulation by Education

White Property and Racialized Debt

A key loophole that perpetuates both legal and illegal corruption is the outsized role that varsity sports play in the admissions process, widening the path to acceptance for predominantly white athletes in lacrosse, sailing, tennis, crew, water polo, and other “white sports.” Despite the perception that Black students are the face of ...
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