Merleau-Ponty’s Doubt

On Rethinking Our Thoughts

As political camps grow increasingly extreme in their messaging – with Democrat and Republican views both turning less nuanced, with the Right and Left seeming to need each other in order to justify their political survival -- it may be helpful to recall a person who tried to make a ...
Read More
Merleau-Ponty’s Doubt

New Fascism, Mass Psychology & Financialization: Part 2

Finance and Populism

Organized by Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou (University College London) and Chiara Bottici (New School) What do the worlds of global finance and nationalist populism have in common? How can we understand the rise of today’s 'new fascisms' through the prism of financialization? This one-day workshop brought together scholars from across disciplines to debate ...
Read More
New Fascism, Mass Psychology & Financialization: Part 2

A Quick Thought on ‘No Collusion’: Not!

There may not have been criminal “conspiracy,” but there was obvious collusion and the Mueller Report makes it clear.

Everyone paying attention to the Mueller report and the complex and extremely disturbing conditions surrounding its handling by Attorney General Barr, acting as a clear ally of Trump, is still processing the just-released report and the press conference that preceded it. It is clear that Barr was extremely misleading in ...
Read More
A Quick Thought on ‘No Collusion’: Not!

New Fascism, Mass Psychology & Financialization: Part 1

Past, Present and Future of Financialization

Organized by Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou (University College London) and Chiara Bottici (New School) What do the worlds of global finance and nationalist populism have in common? How can we understand the rise of today’s 'new fascisms' through the prism of financialization? This one-day workshop brought together scholars from across disciplines to debate these ...
Read More
New Fascism, Mass Psychology & Financialization: Part 1

The Subtext of a Recent International Scandal

Part One: Confronting Polish Responsibility for the Shoah in Paris

In Paris, on February 22nd of this year, a conference entitled “The New Polish School of the History of the Shoah” (NPSHS) began. The conference was meant to be a celebration, particularly a celebration of all the research done over the past 15 years on the role that non-Jewish Poles played ...
Read More
The Subtext of a Recent International Scandal

Stephen Miller and DHS, Measles and the Anti-Vaccination Movement, and Adjunct Professors

Past Present Episode 175

In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss the influence of Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the resurgence of measles in the United States and the anti-vaccination movement, and the plight of adjunct professors. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: A spate of departures at the Department of ...
Read More
Stephen Miller and DHS, Measles and the Anti-Vaccination Movement, and Adjunct Professors

New School Gestalt and its Hidden Sociology

Anatole Broyard at The New School

Because they were displaced themselves, or angry with us for failing to understand history, the professors did their best to make us feel like exiles in our own country. … All the courses I took were about what's wrong: what's wrong with our government, with the family, with interpersonal relations ...
Read More
New School Gestalt and its Hidden Sociology

Further Thoughts on Why I Hope Biden Goes Away

He offers too little, beyond nostalgia, at a time when much is called for.

Last week I offered a critique of a Joe Biden candidacy that centered on the idea that “he is looking backward at a time when we need to move forward, and he is inviting the Democratic Party, and the American public, to move backward with him.” I stand by this argument; ...
Read More
Further Thoughts on Why I Hope Biden Goes Away

Artist-as-debtor, Debt-as-Creator

The unseen debt sustaining the art market

This article is part of a series of texts published on Public Seminar in the lead-up to the Digital/Debt/Empire symposium in Vancouver in late April 2019, convened by Benjamin Anderson, Enda Brophy and Max Haiven. Is there a better place to glimpse the logic of capitalism than at art fairs, those ultra luxury trade shows ...
Read More
Artist-as-debtor, Debt-as-Creator

Rebalancing Housing Court’s Scales of Justice

The First Year of New York’s ‘Right to Counsel’ Law

A right to free legal representation in eviction cases -- combined with other important tenant protection measures -- is significantly rebalancing the scales of justice in New York City Housing Court and helping keep low-income residents in their homes. That’s the clear message of the first full year’s results of the ...
Read More
Rebalancing Housing Court’s Scales of Justice

How to Beat a Populist

Populists’ biggest strength is a weak opposition

The progressive reformer Zuzana Čaputová’s victory in Slovakia's presidential election suggests that populists' biggest strength is a weak opposition. If her winning formula is adopted elsewhere, populist forces' recent gains in Western democracies could be reversed. There have never been more populist governments in place than today. Until now, populists have ...
Read More
How to Beat a Populist