Book Review: Unpacking an Israeli Obsession
by Jacob Lederman
Iranophobia: The Logic of an Israeli Obsession by Haggai Ram. Stanford University Press (2009).
In the context of frequent rhetorical sparring and escalating threats of nuclear destruction, little common ground is said to exist between Israel and Iran. Enmity between the two states is often framed as the product of irreconcilable geopolitical, ideological, and strategic differences. Iran’s support of terrorist organizations that seek Israel’s destruction, the regime’s religious character, and supposedly anti-Semitic leadership all appear to ensure confrontation between the two states.
Book Review: Radical Imaginings
by Abe Walker
Imaginal Machines by Stevphen Shukaitis. Autonomedia (2009).
At every level, Imaginal Machines is a subversive text. Against the rising tide of complacency, Stephven Shukaitis sketches out new possibilities for political engagement that are at once seditious and savvy.
The Maven of NeoLiberalism
by Neil Smith
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein. Picador (2008). Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine hit bookshelves and internet bookseller sites in 2007 just as the storm clouds of global economic crisis were about to burst. She was not in the least concerned with US housing and the subprime mortgage and foreclosure crisis […]
The End of Print – or Something More
by Daniel Douglas
Losing the News: The Future of the News that Feeds Democracy by Alex S. Jones. Oxford University Press (2009) “I don’t read the newspaper, I get my news online” is a phrase heard so often, it could be considered the battle cry of the digital-age. And as with any battle, this one is not without its casualties. Today […]
Defending the UN
by Andrew Bast
Like beauty, the value of the United Nations lies in the eye of the beholder. Case in point, David Rothkopf’s recent screed on Foreign Policy.com (“You Can’t Spell Unproductive Without the Letters U and N”) against the world’s largest multilateral organization, the latest in a long line of vitriolic — and largely misinformed — attacks on the institution. Only a few years […]
Battle over CAFTA Rages in El Salvador
by Michael Busch
As El Salvador transitions from decades of conser– vative rule to the administration of leftist President Mauricio Funes, the country faces an international showdown triggered by a restrictive free-trade agree– ment between the United States and Central Ameri– ca. Canada’s Pacific Rim Mining Corporation is suing the government for its refusal to allow it to mine […]
The Second Language of “Standard English”
by Alison Powell
A recent editorial in the New York Times by Stanley Fish, “What Should Colleges Teach?” generated enough controversy and enthusiasm to merit that he write two follow up pieces. In the first, Stanley Fish argues that the problem with English composition courses is they don’t teach composition at all; rather, they are poorly masked cultural […]
Budget Cuts, Tuition Hikes, and Job Insecurity
by Jessie Goldstein and Renee Mcgarry
RENEE MCGARRY AND JESSE GOLDSTEIN We heard it officially this week. The nation has been in a recession since 2007, and we’ve all witnessed CUNY feeling the pinch. Undoubtedly, there are times when we, as both students and adjuncts, feel powerless, and probably times when we feel scared and alarmed. Do we have to? And what […]
Revolutionary Practice & Practical Revolution
by James Hoff
Book Review Works discussed in this essay: The Self Awakened: Pragmatism Unbound by Roberto Mangabeira Unger (Harvard University: Cambridge, 2007: 278 pages) Roberto Unger’s latest book The Self Awakened: Pragmatism Unbound is no less than a call for a completely revitalized, repoliticized, and – some would say paradoxically – radicalized form of philosophical pragmatism. For Unger, pragmatism has lost touch with its more […]
Power Unbound
by TKrause
A scene from Charles Ferguson’s documentary No End in Sight. No End in Sight, directed by Charles Ferguson Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), directed by Jason Kohn Two documentaries currently playing in theaters, Charles Ferguson’s No End in Sight – soon to end an exclusive New York engagement at Film Forum and opening at the Quad Cinema […]
