Encore des nouvelles. On modernity, and on race.

– Thursday is César Vallejo’s birthday and he will be 125. – This, as we know, could also be about Vallejo, as it is about many: Living in Budapest, connected to a self-confident and industrializing West but set apart from it by language and often religion, Polanyi and his contemporaries embodied one of the central … More Encore des nouvelles. On modernity, and on race.

I think we really are going into some form of nazism, and should study it.

BBC: A warning from history I … II … and there are more parts to the series. It is from the 1990s but is being rebroadcast now. The BBC has an episode guide and my interest is in the question of how the Nazi takeover started. There is a new book on Hitler as well, that looks … More I think we really are going into some form of nazism, and should study it.

On freedom

A key issue may be that “freedom” for many Americans has always meant the freedom of the male settler-colonist to destroy the earth and its people, order his women and slaves around, and impose his religion upon others. Yet more important is that Trump is trying to destroy the national self-image as progressive. It is … More On freedom

“Me llamo es…”

On the question of Saying Their Name: I have always understood about it for reasons having to do with my ancestors the Lloyds and the Goldsboroughs, and because it is a major South American theme, never again, nunca mais, say their name. But I have learned more about it from these disaster databases which are … More “Me llamo es…”

Domingo

⇒ The best political action we can take right now is to work against voter suppression. (Z) ⇒ The roundups of indocumentados are a beginning, and we should pay attention. (Z) ⇒ The use of indocumentados is a form of slavery. Capitalism requires slavery, and slaves must be foreign. (Z) ⇒Racist imperatives fuel the militarization … More Domingo

Randolph Bourne

With the shock of war, however, the State comes into its own again. The Government, with no mandate from the people, without consultation of the people, conducts all the negotiations, the backing and filling, the menaces and explanations, which slowly bring it into collision with some other Government, and gently and irresistibly slides the country … More Randolph Bourne

“It’s the world committing suicide”

Normalization is not an option. From Tikkun. Worth reading slowly. Poem by Rachel Zucker. From The Nation. “Meanwhile oil unstoppably pouring into the blue-green.” Also from The Nation, a fascinating review of A Nation Without Borders–a book which has been widely discussed elsewhere as well, and which should clearly be read. UPDATE. Someone else said: What … More “It’s the world committing suicide”

The sacrifice zone

Nowhere is the abuse as frightening as in Louisiana—with the exception, perhaps, of its neighbor to the east (“Thank God for Mississippi!” is the unofficial state motto). Louisiana is the second-poorest state and second-to-last in human development, which is a measure of individual freedom. The state’s rate of fatal cancers is about 30 percent higher … More The sacrifice zone