The Women’s March 2020

Rain, sleet and snow did not dampen enthusiasm

Roughly 20,000 people marched in Washington DC for the fourth time. Despite the poor weather forecast, they came from hundred’s of miles away. Others planned to come, but changed their minds when the roads became icy. In DC, nothing happened as planned. At a press conference held in Freedom Plaza the ...
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The Women’s March 2020

I Was Called, Too

The life and work of Coretta Scott King

This year, in honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, I thought it both appropriate—and overdue—to discuss the significance of Coretta Scott King. And not just as the wife, and eventual widow, of Martin Luther King; but as an important activist and shaper of Dr. King’s ideas. Mrs. King was a significant figure in ...
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I Was Called, Too

The Art of Change Opera 1.0

An Ongoing Libretto

The following is the opera’s libretto, conceived and developed by the philosopher and writer Chiara Bottici. In accordance with the spirit of Public Seminar and of The New School’s legacy, it is an ongoing and open libretto: we invite all readers to suggest changes, to propose quotations from their favorite ...
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The Art of Change Opera 1.0

Trauma and Race

A Lacanian Study of African American Racial Identity

On November 23, 2012, a seventeen-year-old African American boy named Jordan Davis was shot and killed at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. During a verbal exchange with Davis over loud music being played by Davis and three friends, the shooter, a forty-seven-year-old white male named Michael Dunn, pulled out ...
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Trauma and Race

The Reign of One’s Own Desire

An interview with Sheldon George on his book Trauma and Race: A Lacanian Study of African American Racial Identity

Daniel Gaztambide (DG): Would you mind unpacking some of the Lacanian concepts you draw on to understand racism and Black identity, such as jouissance and object a, for a general audience? Sheldon George (SG): Jouissance is often translated from the French as pleasure or enjoyment, but it is most properly an excessive pleasure, a destructive ...
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The Reign of One’s Own Desire

Impeachment and Rousseau’s General Will

Insight from the Past on the Politics of the Present

The article encapsulates many of the debates leading up to the president’s impeachment -- that it is grossly inappropriate for presidents (but presumably any government officials) to prioritize their own personal or private interests above the national interest. In impeaching Trump on this count the House emphasizes that while a ...
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Impeachment and Rousseau’s General Will

The Australian Bushfires

Past Present Podcast, Episode 211

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Fire is ravaging Australia. Natalia referred to this Washington Post piece about the politicization of the fires. Niki discussed the long history of bushfires in Australia. In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History: Natalia recommended Ashley Fetters’ Atlantic article, “The Boys Who Wear Shorts All Winter.”Neil discussed Campbell Robinson and Elizabeth Dias’ New ...
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The Lincoln Project Should Be Cautiously Welcomed

Republican anti-Trumpists are allies in the defense of democracy, but they have an agenda of their own

Indeed, a number of initiatives have been undertaken by Republicans -- some Never-Trumpers since 2016, some more recent converts -- to challenge Trumpist authoritarianism. Another is Bill Kristol’s  "Defending Democracy Together.” Here is the organization’s mission statement: today, the Republican Party finds itself entertaining some of the same unsettling nativist and ...
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The Lincoln Project Should Be Cautiously Welcomed

What’s at Stake as the House Transmits Articles of Impeachment

Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell have a lot to worry about — and they aren’t holding all the cards

First of all, all the different players have different interests, and there is also a wildcard. While those of us on the outside are freaking out about a president who seems completely out of control, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who are masters ...
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What’s at Stake as the House Transmits Articles of Impeachment

Is Democracy in Italy Secure?

Fascism’s appeal to Italian youth is a worrisome trend

Beginning in the early 1990s, however, a normalizing trend has overturned these institutional guarantees, undermining the legacy of all those who struggled to reestablish democracy. Coinciding with the ascent to the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, naive, if not altogether nostalgic, recollections of Mussolini and his regime have become ...
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Is Democracy in Italy Secure?