The links between the Israeli far right and Islamophobic groups in Europe follow a certain inexorable logic of the post 9/11 world. These alliances, encapsulated as well as encouraged by the redefinition of the "new antisemitism", make it very hard for Israel to overcome the monomaniacal war spiri
The myths of monetary policy, the dangers of austerity, the need for a reconstruction of the real economy - these have to be understood. Also, the failure of Europe’s political vision.
Ten years after 9/11 and counting, Cynthia Weber’s project in ‘filming the fear of difference’ is more than ever relevant to our debates.
Local financiers investing in local potential are needed everywhere. But in Arab societies, what we need above all is people who appreciate the importance of the free exchange of ideas and dialogue with others who do not share one’s opinion.
However nuanced, it is striking how little extant interpretations attend to the fact that Breivik’s most grotesque violence was not directed at Muslims or immigrants as such but at the youth members of the Norwegian Social Democrats.
A recurring idea in the work of Milan Kundera is that the spirit of totalitarianism lives on in our mass media. In a world without privacy, will we all be perpetually on trial?
The recurrence of animal imagery in Granta Magazine's powerful collection of fiction and reportage remembering the decade after 9/11, points to the depth of incomprehension and "otherness" that we have been left with
Europe’s crisis is a crisis of democracy. The ‘democracy of the experts’ cannot deliver: representative democracy is incapable of channelling demands in the political system. More participatory and deliberative democracy is needed, as argued in Europe’s public spaces by the movements of ‘ indignad
The battle for ideas, for allegiance, for identity has gone on in Africa as it has everywhere. Breaking up existing state territories in Africa would be at least as arbitrary as when imperial powers did so at the Berlin conference in 1888.
As Norway ends its first month of mourning, media soundbites tell us that there is a desire to draw a line and move on. But there are lessons to be learned about the consequences of institutional ‘hate speech’ and prejudice in high places. Can Norway lead the way in learning these lessons?
What does it take to remoralize society? How do values actually work as social phenomena? Support services for children know that the most successful interventions are long-term ones, but these are not the most attractive options for politicians seeking eye-catching, new policy initiatives.
