From the Editors Archives - Page 47 of 170

Feature

A Murder in Gdańsk

The assassination of Mayor Paweł Adamowicz

January 22, 2019 • by Sławomir Sierakowski

The assassination of Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz at a fundraising event for Poland's most beloved charity culminates years of fear-mongering about the country's opposition and judiciary by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. And now the PiS has chosen the wrong scapegoat for Adamowicz's murder. The murder of Gdańsk Mayor ...

Blue Monday

Thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr., Birmingham, and Fractious Unity

Lessons from the civil rights movement for today’s political debates

January 21, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues.” - Duke Ellington Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a classic of American political thought and of American literature more generally. I’ve taught it countless times in my almost four decades of teaching political ...

Thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr., Birmingham, and Fractious Unity

Feature

Crusader Without Violence 60 Years Later

The first biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is reissued

January 21, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

Lawrence D. Reddick was a history professor at Alabama State College — the state school for blacks — when the Montgomery Bus Boycott brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to national prominence in 1955-56. They had known each other casually in Atlanta; both had moved to Montgomery to accept jobs only recently. On ...

Crusader Without Violence 60 Years Later

Feature

It was no President Who Colluded with the Russians, it was Trump

Anniversary Thoughts on Telling it Like It Is

January 20, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Today is the anniversary of that awful day, two years ago, when Donald Trump placed his hand on a bible, took the oath of office, and was officially inaugurated as president of the United States. And so today is a good day to declare that it is no longer appropriate to ...

It was no President Who Colluded with the Russians, it was Trump

Feature

Border Tragedies

A Tempest Tossed Essay by Alex Aleinikoff on Trump border policies.

January 20, 2019 • by T. Alexander Aleinikoff

The death of 7 year old Jakelin Caal while in Border Patrol custody is a tragedy, and it is sadly emblematic of Trump Administration border policies that have devastated families, undermined U.S. asylum laws and betrayed traditional American values. Alex Aleinikoff, Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility ...

Feature

The Empathetic Humanities Have Much to Teach Our Adversarial Culture

If they can encourage us to ‘always remember context, and never disregard intent’ – they afford something uniquely useful today

January 19, 2019 • by Alexander Bevilacqua

As anyone on Twitter knows, public culture can be quick to attack, castigate and condemn. In search of the moral high ground, we rarely grant each other the benefit of the doubt. In her Class Day remarks at Harvard’s 2018 graduation, the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addressed the problem ...

The Empathetic Humanities Have Much to Teach Our Adversarial Culture

Education

Where Does The Time Go?

Documenting the struggles of professorial obligations

January 17, 2019 • by Shannon Mattern

In recent months I’ve met with a number of advisees and freshly-PhD’d job candidates and junior scholars who’ve wanted to talk about the day-to-day responsibilities of a faculty member. I will humbly acknowledge that I’m seen as someone who’s fairly productive, and who puts a lot of energy into her ...

Feature

Tempest Tossed Episode 10

The Trump Administration’s Assault on Gender Asylum

January 16, 2019 • by T. Alexander Aleinikoff

Two actions of the Trump Administration have sought to make it practically impossible for women who are victims of intimate partner violence to apply for and be granted asylum in the United States. The first is an action by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to overturn a decision of the Board of ...

Feature

An Assassination in Poland

Charity and madness in times of hate

January 16, 2019 • by Helena Chmielewska-Szlajfer

Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdańsk, was fatally stabbed on Sunday while standing on the stage in the center of the city during the finale of the Grand Orchestra of Christmas Charity winter drive, Poland’s largest and until now most joyous charity event. Although immediately hospitalized, he died Monday. Everyone instantly ...

Feature

The Green New Deal, Marie Kondo, and National Emergencies

Past Present Episode 162

January 15, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki discuss the Green New Deal, the KonMari craze, and the history of national emergencies. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Twitter has been abuzz with talk of a “Green New Deal.” Neil referred to Thomas Friedman’s first use of ...

The Green New Deal, Marie Kondo, and National Emergencies

Education

University Faculty Should Welcome “Foreign Influences,” Not Police Them

Indiana University instructs faculty to comply with all laws and regulations regarding foreign influences

January 14, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

I just received the letter at bottom in a mass e-mailing to Indiana University faculty. It instructs faculty about the importance of complying with all laws and regulations regarding the disclosure of “foreign influences.” The sender, a high official of the University, is also a smart colleague who I respect. And ...

University Faculty Should Welcome “Foreign Influences,” Not Police Them

Blue Monday

Why a Green New Deal is a Great Idea

It links public responsibility, ecological sanity, and economic justice at a moment of manifest political irresponsibility

January 14, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

We are now entering the fourth week of Donald Trump’s most recent historic achievement in the ongoing horror show that is his presidency: the federal government has for all intents and purposes ceased to function. Damon Linker summarized it well in a recent column: In a little under three weeks, the shutdown has ...