Russia’s popular vote approving the ‘zeroing’ of Putin’s terms has been hailed by the regime as a triumphant demonstration of trust. Putin’s uncontested status as supreme authority has indeed been reinforced. But will the legitimacy bought by the vote be enough to stem growing uncertainty among elites and declining support among urban constituencies?
Articles
Wild west genetic engineering
New Humanist 2/2020
How wild west genetic engineering is propelling the discussion on the regulation of human genome editing; why the theory of inherited trauma might explain the over-representation of Black people in psychiatry; and whether pacifism in Russia is making a comeback.
The house of Israel
A divided society
Avraham Burg’s analogous take on current Israeli societal division posits some stark home truths. Conflict, fought along ideological, economic and constitutional lines, is questioned and reframed. The dubious justification for retaliation based on legitimized historic fear is presented as a condensed example of broader social disorder.
Safer social scenes
Global lockdowns expose dangers of LGBTQ dating apps
Contact-tracing, legitimized by COVID-19 security risks, is already a dating app reality. The privacy of LGBTQ communities is particularly open to abuse. Jemimah Steinfeld calls for better protection of sexual identities, citing a new Index on Censorship global report.
Recommended topics
On some applications of ‘compressed air’
Reviewing Iestyn Tyne with Irmtraud Morgner
Finding time and space for literature and reflection: Mererid Puw Davies’s poetry review advances the merits of literary fragmentation that cuts chronology and slots into layered lives.
The weight of life
On the economy of human lives
In a rush to minimize the recession following COVID-19, some hold their economies dearer than the saving of lives. But prosperity isn’t the indefinite depletion of bodies and resources. It is through the satisfaction of basic needs that we will restore the dignity of all.
Why we need a decolonial ecology
An interview with Malcom Ferdinand
Environmental destruction and social oppression have always gone hand in hand. Colonialism and slavery are deeply connected to the ongoing ecological crisis, so to address it, Europe’s whitewashed past must be recast and the demands of the colonized taken seriously.
Race-Class-Gender
Old axes of inequality and new concerns
Education under neoliberalism – a contradictory mix of competition and austerity promoting vaulted excellence over grounded learning. Cornelia Klinger highlights awards ceremonies appropriating the names of famous historic achievers as prime example of capitalist commodification masking old and new sociopolitical inequality and injustice.
Eurozine review
Antisemitism and postcolonialism
Merkur 7/2020
Why both sides in Germany’s debate on antisemitism and postcolonialism need to pause and reflect; what Emil Nolde’s sunflowers say about his politics; and the thoughts of a pilgrim to Wagner’s Bayreuth.
Husserl in Moravia
Kritika & Kontext 58 (2020)
New issue of the Slovak journal on Moravian-born philosopher Edmund Husserl. Contemporary phenomenologists from East and West discuss the cultural historical context of Husserl’s thought and its impact on the twentieth century.
Wild west genetic engineering
New Humanist 2/2020
How wild west genetic engineering is propelling the discussion on the regulation of human genome editing; why the theory of inherited trauma might explain the over-representation of Black people in psychiatry; and whether pacifism in Russia is making a comeback.
Focal points
Like sustenance and sex, society can’t be reproduced without shelter. That is why today’s housing crisis is so central. Contributions to this focal point look at both the winners and the losers of the crisis: the people profiting from the financialization of housing and those reimagining the right to the city.
The technoliberationism that accompanied the early days of the web now belongs to myth. Deleting Facebook is the new rebellion. Surveillance capitalism is the buzzword. Regulating is radical. Technology critique today starts with Big Tech’s power.
Disinformation is not the cause of illiberalism but its medium. The great majority of it is home grown. Thinking about ‘what to do’ about disinformation means understanding information as a public good. Abandoning a purely reactive strategy will stand democracies in better stead.
When the Cold War came to a sudden end thirty years ago, the two halves of Europe declared in unison their intention to overcome the legacy of division. Today, the hopes and ambitions of those heady days may seem unrealistic. But is talk of a new East–West divide justified?
Eurozine Network
Eurozine monitors upcoming funding opportunities on the international level relevant to cultural journalists, such as translation funds, mobility grants and project funding.