Politics
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Notable New York, This Week 2/1 – 2/7
This week in New York Unsound, the avant-garde culture festival that began in Eastern Europe, debuts in the city, historian Garry Wills discusses the atomic bomb, a night with filmmaker Ross McElwee at IFC, Jamaica Kincaid and Gary Shteyngart on…
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Politics Sunday
Why is it that I find better political links when I read through literary sites than when I go to political blogs? “If I want to be remembered for anything it’s for introducing a different way of thinking about the…
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The City of Joy
“This is not rape as people in the West understand it. This is a weapon of war, a deliberate strategy designed to destroy our communities by leaving our women disabled and ostracised from their families and neighbours.”– Dr. Denis Mukwege,…
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Zinn On Anarchism, Majority Rule and The Nation State
“Rousseau once said, if I am part of a group of 100 people, do 99 people have the right to sentence me to death, just because they are majority? No, majorities can be wrong, majorities can overrule rights of minorities.…
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“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
“His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives.” Noam Chomsky on Howard Zinn, who died today at the age of 87.
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Freedom of (Virtual) Assembly
Well this certainly isn’t your parents’ protest. The group Rethink Afghanistan has “executed a widespread war protest on the White House’s Facebook page.” Learn more at Mashable: “War Protesters Storm Facebook Before the State of the Union Address.”
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What Smart People Are (Still) Saying About Google.cn
As we mentioned earlier, and even earlier than that, the future of Google’s operations in China are up in the air following a security breech targeting human rights advocates’ gmail accounts. Google SVP, David Drummond, had this to say about…
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Goldman Sachs Arts Grants Online Application
After announcing our intention to donate millions to charity this week, Goldman offices were immediately besieged by requests from bohemian types for somewhat sad sums for “projects.” Since we are deeply concerned about the welfare of America’s artistic communities, we…
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Bloomsbury Whitewashes Again
Not long ago Bloomsbury published author Justine Larbalestier’s novel Liar, which revolves around an African-American protagonist, with a white girl’s face on the cover. The choice was made against Larbalestier’s wishes and to the shock of many readers, and Bloomsbury eventually…
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The Rumpus International Rivers Interview #3: Sasa Stanisic on the Danube
Sasa Stanisic was born in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina and lived there until 1992, at which point his family fled the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia. He currently resides in Germany. How The Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (2008), Stanisic’s first book,…
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Politics Sunday
I feel like the politics links have been kind of depressing, so here’s something happy that also fits in with all the Canadian stuff I’m posting today: Moose flu! Dear Vivienne Westwood, Homeless chic is not okay. Stop being evil. Love, Seth.…
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Vollmann on Prostitution
“Well, I’m getting older, so I can’t get it up as much as I used to. […] I think prostitutes are amazing people with so much knowledge of human nature and so many fantastic stories. Some of them are scam…