Rethinking Greece: the Left project and the crisis of neoliberal hegemony

… Interview with Nancy Fraser – Published on Greek News Agenda, by Ioulia Livaditi, Dec 11, 2016 (video 5.21 min and text).

Nancy Fraser is Henry and Louise A. Loeb Professor of Philosophy and Politics at the New School for Social Research and one of the world’s leading thinkers in political and social theory. She has been Einstein Fellow of the city of Berlin, and holder of the “Global Justice” Chair at the Collège d’études mondiales in Paris. She works on social and political theory, feminist theory, and contemporary French and German thought//

… The social movements that developed in Greece after 2011 seem to have died down after the signing of the 3rd memorandum in 2015, Podemos in Spain has not been able to fulfill their electoral potential and right-wing nationalism is on the rise. Do you think that the European Left has lost its ability to inspire popular movements? Continuer la lecture de « Rethinking Greece: the Left project and the crisis of neoliberal hegemony »

No “walls up policy”, but a commandment of the hour, not only for Switzerland

… Winter session 2016 – Published on Current Concerns, by Dr iur Marianne Wüthrich, Dec 13, 2016.

On 29 November 2016, the (Swiss) Council of States reviewed the Popular initiative “For Food Security”. The initiative was submitted by the Swiss Farmers’ Union (SBV) on 8 July 2014 with nearly 150,000 valid signatures collected in only three months.1 On 9 March 2016, the National Council voted – against the proposals of the Federal Council and the National Council Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (CEAT-N) – to support this initiative (with 91 votes in favour, 83 against and 19 abstentions). Continuer la lecture de « No “walls up policy”, but a commandment of the hour, not only for Switzerland »

Ideology, Anti-Colonialism and Marxism

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No 1341, Himani Bannerji interviewed by Mahdi Ganjavi, Dec 15, 2016.

Mahdi Ganjavi (MG): You are among the philosophers and social critics who have written extensively on the concept of ideology. In your article “Ideology”,[1] by means of a close reading of Marx and Engels’ The German Ideology, you argue that while all ideology is a form of thought, not all forms of thought are ideological. You assert that any “true” social inquiry should start from the concrete reality of people’s lives and their society, i.e. life activities of conscious socio-historical subjects as they produce and reproduce themselves. Continuer la lecture de « Ideology, Anti-Colonialism and Marxism »

Reflections from the Center of the Universe

Published on Progressive.org, by Mrill Ingram, Dec 12, 2016.

In the middle of Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, more than fifty miles of backcountry roads from the closest town of Moab, I stumble across a dance floor. It lies only a few hundred yards from the Green River, and although large parts of the cement floor are covered by reddish alluvial dirt, it looks to be some 500 square feet. That’s a big dance for the middle of nowhere … // Continuer la lecture de « Reflections from the Center of the Universe »