Politics Archives - Page 53 of 112

Democracy

Oppression, Resistance and High-Tech Totalitarianism

December 16, 2020 • by Teng Biao

But most censorship does not directly involve such happenings. It involves fear of such happenings. Perry Link had a classic metaphor - He described the CCP's censorship system as an “Anaconda in the Chandelier”. The silence of the anaconda crouching overhead means “the big brother is watching you!” So everyone will automatically ...

Oppression, Resistance and High-Tech Totalitarianism

North America

Is Trump Right Not to Surrender?

How the Commander in Chief’s refusal to face defeat squares with the U.S. military’s Code of Conduct

December 16, 2020 • by Kelsey Baker

It’s become another endless loop of the Trump administration: the constant refrain that the President won the election, the recurrent assertion that massive fraud occurred on November 3. Sources within the White House have compared the President’s refusal to concede to the ramblings of Mad King George. Ironically, Trump’s refusal to ...

Columnists

Yes, Biden Should Call Out Trump’s Lawlessness

We can’t ignore it. We must face it head-on

December 15, 2020 • by John Stoehr

Joe Biden is full of surprises. After the Electoral College met Monday to finalize the results of the election, the President-Elect delivered a speech I never thought he’d deliver. He did not say you’re with us or against us, but that’s what he righteously implied. And by implication, Biden gave a ...

Yes, Biden Should Call Out Trump’s Lawlessness

Democracy

Disqualifying Instability

On the selective application of rule of law principles

December 15, 2020 • by Ewa Letowska

It’s not that difficult Particularly politicians from Hungary and Poland oppose the conditionality mechanism, arguing that the concept of the rule of law is too vague and has no basis in the treaties. However, it is not true that this mechanism has no treaty basis. It has a basis in Article 322 of the ...

Activism

Worse Than Betsy DeVos? Outside Money Swamps 2020 School Board Elections

A national campaign to privatize public schools continues regardless of who is president

December 15, 2020 • by Jeff Bryant

When a Biden victory in the 2020 presidential election became certain, supporters of public education gleefully took to social media to say good riddance to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. DeVos came into office with an agenda to further the privatization of public education by expanding charter schools and ...

Worse Than Betsy DeVos? Outside Money Swamps 2020 School Board Elections

Democracy

Could a Form of “Liberal Fascism” Help Solve the World’s Problems?

Rediscovering H. G. Wells

December 14, 2020 • by Emma Planinc

In September 2020, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the United Nations, the World Economic Forum organized a summit meeting on what its leader, Klaus Schwab, was calling “The Great Reset.” The Forum convened leaders “from government, business, international organizations and civil society along with a diverse group of ...

Could a Form of “Liberal Fascism” Help Solve the World’s Problems?

Democracy

Stoking the Flames

The Trump wing of the Republican Party continues its attacks on American democracy as the COVID-19 death toll continues to rise

December 10, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

Today’s big story remains the loss of our neighbors to COVID-19. On Wednesday, the official United States death count for 24 hours passed the number of those killed in the 9/11 attacks. On that horrific day in 2001, we lost 2,977 people to four terrorist attacks. On Wednesday, December 9, ...

Politics

Trump Lied His Way In and Is Lying His Way Out

What 20th-century fascists can teach us about the need for truth in the 21st-century

December 10, 2020 • by Ryan Skinnell

In a bizarre 46-minute address, given from the White House and posted to social media on December 2, Donald Trump gave (in his words) “the most important speech I’ve ever made.” Intended to describe the means by which the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, and supplemented with graphs that ...

Trump Lied His Way In and Is Lying His Way Out

Columnists

The Rev. Raphael Warnock Speaks With Righteous Religious Authority—and I Would Know

Yes, Christians can be pro-choice

December 9, 2020 • by John Stoehr

As you know, the Rev. Raphael Warnock is running to represent the state of Georgia in the US Senate against incumbent Republican Kelly Leoffler. Their runoff next month, as well as the one between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican David Perdue, is the site of intense national focus. If the Democrats ...

The Rev. Raphael Warnock Speaks With Righteous Religious Authority—and I Would Know

Politics

How Should We Acknowledge the Sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples?

An ethical and aesthetic defense of Indigenous sovereignty

December 9, 2020 • by Benjamin P. Davis

It has become fashionable for some academics at some universities in North America to place at the end of their email signatures a nod to the Indigenous land that their institutions now occupy. Some concerned faculty write a statement of their own. Others—I think this is a better option—compose their statements ...

How Should We Acknowledge the Sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples?

Democracy

On Repression and Resistance

December 8, 2020 • by Aysen Candas

I would like to start by thanking the New University in Exile Consortium, particularly the Consortium's marvelous director, Prof. Arien Mack. Thanks to Arien's persistent efforts, uprooted academics from all over the world find their voice in a new community of like-minded scholars. I would also like to thank Prof. ...

Democracy

Donald Trump’s Lies

Why presidential falsehoods are part of United States political history

December 8, 2020 • by Eric Alterman and Claire Potter

Do Americans think presidential lying no longer matters? Perhaps a better question, journalist and historian Eric Alterman asks in his new book, Lying in State: Why Presidents Lie—and Why Trump is Worse (Basic Books, 2020), is whether it ever mattered to voters. Following in the tradition of Isadore F. “Izzy” ...