Cosmopolitan choices

As a wealthy oil nation, Norway is increasingly faced with choices at the crossroads of economic interests and ethical values. Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre argues that trade relations are more effective than economic sanctions as a way to achieve ethical and political goals. [more]

The legacy of the auteurs

Filmmakers like Bergman and Antonioni have taught us to think in pictures. "diplo" editor Truls Lie on the two recently deceased film greats. [more]

What makes a "film pledge" visionary?

Unimpeded by Norwegian language, culture, or social conditions, Norway should be capable of creating and expanding a visionary arena for critically independent, international documentary film. [more]

The art of disappearing

Jean Baudrillard, who died 6 March, gave us the tools to understand the media society and counteract the total assimilation into capitalist overproduction. Excerpts from a previously unpublished interview in which Baudrillard talks about his own death. [more]

How to stifle the opposition

Those who wield power choose to torture their opponents to the point where they are driven to strike back. Gotcha! [more]

Machines and drugs

Do we really regard technology as an integral part of ourselves in the same way "machines" are composed of flesh and blood and social context? And doesn't the rapture of losing oneself satisfy a natural psychological need? The machines are the compelling drug. [more]

Surveillance: A sign of the times

A look at the new EU directive on telephone and Internet surveillance through the lens of Michel Foucault's theory of the Panopticon. [more]

From Microsoft to Macintosh

Some experiences with Microsoft help to explain why Bill Gates is stepping down. Le Monde diplomatique editor Truls Lie on his conversion from PC to Mac. [more]

Our police order: What can be said, seen, and done

An interview with French philosopher Jacques Rancière about aesthetics, his distinction between "being political" and the "police order", the media as arena of liberation, and about those who cannot make their voices heard. [more]

Politics and cosmopolitics

If opinions cannot be freely expressed, the political space disintegrates. At the same time, being political involves seeing and listening to those who are "disregarded". [more]

Anarchistic aspirations

Marx said that in power's inner dynamic lie the seeds of its demise. Is media society loosening capitalism's grip on production? asks the editor of Le Monde diplomatique (Oslo). [more]

Manderlay: The moment of freedom

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Lars von Trier's film Manderlay delivers a kind of politics that "leaves us angry, thoughtful, or questioning". [more]

United 93 -- "Let’s Roll!"

There are several reasons to believe that United Airlines flight 93 was shot down by an American fighter plane. Why are the American authorities being so secretive? [more]