20 Years of U.S. Occupation Was Brutal in Afghanistan—And So Will Be the Exit

Alongside the relief of ending the longest war in modern American history, we need to acknowledge the horrors of what we are leaving behind in Afghanistan

_____ When a reporter in early July asked Joe Biden a question about the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. president sniped back, saying, “I want to talk about happy things, man.” Biden revealed, perhaps unintentionally, that the situation in Afghanistan is anything but a happy topic. It might have been one ...
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20 Years of U.S. Occupation Was Brutal in Afghanistan—And So Will Be the Exit

In a Federal Infrastructure Bill, Waste Isn’t Pork

Politics may or may not be a sewer, but the fact is a lot of rural American backyards are: a Democratic Congresswoman from Alabama wants to fix that with tax dollars

_____ There are two Americas, and of the many things that divide affluent Americans from poor ones, the one that we talk about the least might be the ability to take waste disposal for granted. But, of course, it isn’t always the case: tree roots growing into a fragile pipe, a ...
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In a Federal Infrastructure Bill, Waste Isn’t Pork

Seattle’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protest One Year Later

The city’s deep history of radical activism – and how it became a national symbol of anarchy

_____ A little over one year ago, on July 1, 2020, then-White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany proclaimed with fanfare that “Seattle has been liberated from the anarchists.” At the time, many Seattleites shrugged off this bizarre declaration that seemed so at odds with the city they inhabited – and with the ...
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Seattle’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protest One Year Later

A “Proud Capitalist,” Joe Biden is Championing Competition

Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism; it’s exploitation

_____ Last week, as President Joe Biden signed “An Executive Order Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” he echoed the language of his predecessors. “[C]ompetition keeps the economy moving and keeps it growing,” he said. “Fair competition is why capitalism has been the world’s greatest force for prosperity and growth…. But ...
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A “Proud Capitalist,” Joe Biden is Championing Competition

Watching Afghanistan

On television and the Afghan culture wars

_____ Media scholar Wazhmah Osman’s book, Television and the Afghan Culture Wars: Brought to You by Foreigners, Warlords, and Activists (University of Illinois Press, 2021) analyzes the impact of international funding and cross-border media flows on the national politics of Afghanistan. Her research is rooted in feminist media ethnographies that focus ...
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Watching Afghanistan

On the Sociology of “Doing as If”

For Jeffrey Goldfarb

_____ I taught with Jeff Goldfarb for many years, mostly at the New School, but also at  Sciences Po, in Paris.  Sometimes, as part of a curriculum, and some times for the mere pleasure of debating. It was a pleasure we pursued almost uninterruptedly for more than I0 years, inviting ourselves to each ...
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On the Sociology of “Doing as If”

What Jeff Goldfarb Understood

_____ In the summer of 2013, I was about to start my graduate degree at The New School for Social Research. A month before I sat in Jeff Goldfarb’s contemporary sociology class, I was in Istanbul—protesting, resisting, and critically thinking with many others about our collective actions, media activism, and the ...
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What Jeff Goldfarb Understood

Learning to Think About Memory and Politics

Jeff Goldfarb navigated–and worked through–the polar opposites that can define academic and political life

_____ Jeff Goldfarb has been my teacher, colleague, and friend: our conversations about culture, politics, democracy, and activism—through reading and writing, in public and private forums—have continued since I began as a student in the Department of Sociology at the NSSR. From and with Jeff, and by studying sites within which democracy ...
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Learning to Think About Memory and Politics

A Connection That Never Expired

In 1974, Jeffrey Goldfarb went to Poland to do research about democracy—and put down lasting roots

Claire Potter: Elzbieta, let's begin with when you met Jeff Goldfarb.  Elzbieta Matynia: Jeff and Naomi Goldfarb came to Poland in 1973—Jeff was on an IREX fellowship, and Naomi attended some studio classes at the Academy of Arts. I had just begun my graduate studies. But we were both interested in the same ...
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A Connection That Never Expired

Time’s Up for Fossil Fuels

A photo essay

Roughly 100 people got up very early on a very hot day to demonstrate against the use of fossil fuels. Mary Crow led everyone in prayer on DC’s Freedom Plaza around 7:30 a.m. Leaving a little after 8:00 a.m., different groups walked to five different locations around the ellipse and ...
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Time’s Up for Fossil Fuels

Why a Far-Right Activist Slapped President Macron

France’s culture wars are being fanned by a racism that cannot be discussed in public—but that followers of Marine Le Pen understand all the same

_____ French President Emmanuel Macron was greeted at a recent press event with a slap in the face. Damien T., the man who delivered the slap, was heard yelling “Montjoie! Saint-Denis!” and “A bas la macronie” the former being a Royalist battle cry, the latter translating as “Down with Macronism!” The reason ...
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Why a Far-Right Activist Slapped President Macron

The Furor over Critical Race Theory is 200 Years Too Late

Where were conservatives when theories justifying white racial supremacy propped up slavery, imperialism and genocide?

_____ Following a script being used in at least 16 other states, lawmakers in my home state of Wisconsin are taking aim at “critical race theory.”  The proposed GOP legislation would ban anyone teaching in a public classroom, from kindergarten to college from promoting the notion that “any race is superior ...
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The Furor over Critical Race Theory is 200 Years Too Late