The Whole World Is Watching?

Thoughts on police violence in the streets of Bucharest and the streets of Portland, Charlottesville, Ferguson, and Chicago 1968

“I merely took the energy it takes to pout, and I wrote some blues.” -Duke Ellington This past Friday night, August 10, a major demonstration was held at Piata Victorei in downtown Bucharest to protest the widespread corruption of the SPD government, led by Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă, and by the ...
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The Whole World Is Watching?

Feminists Say

Gagging on rape

Last year the journal Studies in Gender and Sexuality published a panel called "The ontology of the rape joke," organized around a performance by Vanessa Place of her piece, "Rape joke." The panel included responses from Jamieson Webster, Jeff Dolven, Gayle Salamon, Kyoo Lee, Katie Gentile, and Virginia Goldner, and ended with ...
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Feminists Say

Thoughts on Violence in the Streets of Bucharest and on the Civic Defense of Romanian Democracy

This past Friday night, August 10, a major demonstration was held at Piata Victorei in downtown Bucharest to protest the widespread corruption of the SPD government, led by Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă, and by the party’s leader and power-behind-the-throne, Liviu Dragnea, himself convicted of corruption charges and separately for 2012 ...
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Thoughts on Violence in the Streets of Bucharest and on the Civic Defense of Romanian Democracy

Own This!

A portfolio of platform cooperativism, in progress

“We are own bosses. The platform co-op model can help us to grow professionally and as people.” - Up&Go Member-Owner The Economy is Not Working for Most People Platform capitalism, the economic system currently dominating the Internet, is not working for most people. Despite its initial promise as a new commons, the Internet ...
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Own This!

The Catholic ’68

Love and Protest

“1968 youth need 1968 priests”, read one of the banners outside Westminster Cathedral, carried by marchers from a south London parish as part of a coordinated series of ‘pray-ins’ and protest meetings at cathedrals across the country. Progressive Catholic activism in the summer of 1968 took a variety of forms, ...
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The Catholic ’68

Answering the Question: What is Socialism?

Gray reflections on a surprising turn in U.S. political culture.

Last year, I quite critically raised the question: What Do You Mean When You Use the Term Neo Liberalism? I was, and still am, concerned that the term too often explains too much with too little, and enervates progressive politics. I worry that all the problems of our times are too quickly ...
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Answering the Question: What is Socialism?

Science Fiction and the Angel of History

A review of, ‘Sorry to Bother You’

"It was 100 years ago… by which I mean last Monday" Brooke Gladstone of NPR's On the Media sighed after Trump's performance in Helsinki. Whatever one thinks about our current president, Gladstone's sigh is the kind of thing one hears a lot these days, as the calamities and once-in-a-century happenings pile up ...
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Science Fiction and the Angel of History

The Story of the “Good War” Must Change

Seeing WWII as an American triumph prevents understanding Russia and Europe today

In his recent trip to Europe, President Donald Trump criticized NATO, expressed a willingness to accept Russian annexation of Crimea -- calling it a Russian-speaking area -- and failed to challenge Vladimir Putin's support of separatists in eastern Ukraine where 10,000 people have died and a civilian airliner was shot ...
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The Story of the “Good War” Must Change

An Interview with Robert W. Fieseler

Christopher Gioia sits down with the author of, ‘Tinderbox: The Untold Story of The Up Stairs Lounge Fire and The Rise of Gay Liberation’

Christopher Gioia interviewed Robert W. Fieseler for Public Seminar about his newly minted book chronicling a heinous act of arson that resulted in the death of thirty-one men and one woman on June 24, 1973, at The Up Stairs Lounge -- a gay bar in New Orleans. By turns sedulous ...
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An Interview with Robert W. Fieseler

Security in Mobility: A response to Arc of Protection

Addressing Protracted Displacement

Mobility as protection for people: this is a powerful, provocative, and promising premise advanced by Alex Aleinikoff and Leah Zamore in their book, The Arc of Protection: Toward a New International Refugee Regime. Moreover, their contribution decidedly focuses on the volition and voice of those forced to move from their homes, ...
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Security in Mobility: A response to Arc of Protection

Ask a Feminist

Sexual Harassment in the Age of #MeToo

The following conversation was held over Skype on June 4, 2018. An edited transcript is below. Durba Mitra (DM): Today as part of Signs’Ask a Feminist series, I have the opportunity to speak about sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement with feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon, a lawyer, writer, teacher, and activist who ...
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Ask a Feminist