Literature can’t save the world, but it does provide insight into the behaviour that drives cultural trends. And given the anthropocenic tendency towards self-destruction, we need all the help we can get with cultivating solidarity, combating injustice and resisting censorship.
The Russian State Duma is considering further restrictions on library books by ‘foreign agents’. Fearing potential liability for promoting Western propaganda or ‘extremist literature’, librarians have started to play it safe.
Injustice is the universally understood common denominator that connects soldiers and liberals in Ukraine. With the war effort accelerating to the use of long-range missiles on Russian territory, a personal account of swapping aid provision for firearms explains the decision to fight, proving how contemplation never ceases.
Viewing authoritarianism as a political trend overlooks the damage it can cause. The devastation ‘illiberal democracies’ are inflicting on cultural and media sectors show just how difficult it is to recreate something once it has been taken apart. Eurozine partners discuss ways to sustain journalism at the 32nd European Meeting of Cultural Journals.
Europe is facing not only Orbán’s autocratic turn but also that of his ‘apprentice’: Slovakia’s prime minister, Fico, has taken an advanced course in attacking his country’s judiciary, media and cultural institutions. His first goal: to get away with it, say beleaguered intellectuals, theatre directors, political scientists and investigative journalists from Bratislava.
Deadly floods in Spain highlight systemic flaws in approaches to extreme weather events. The terrible human cost in Valencia was largely the result of local government leaders and businesses ignoring warnings and responding too late. It’s time to rethink a system that prioritizes revenue over safety.
In this new Standard Time episode, we talk about Tech Giants, lack of regulation and what Europe can do about it.
Unlike the political challenges and wars of the past, the climate and environmental crisis we now face is universal. Yet green movements remain on the political periphery and continue to be viewed in narrow, reductionist terms. What kind of solidarity can unite the emerging ecological class?
War, women’s rights, deportations and democracy: what’s at risk as Trump returns? Eurozine’s topical reads on what to expect of the power shift in the US.
Trump returns to the White House at a time when the global stakes are higher than ever. What can be expected from his unpredictable foreign policy, and what does this mean for international solidarity, geopolitical stability and democratic values?
Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House has broad repercussions. His unpredictable approach to foreign policy could leave an even greater impact on the world than it did in his first term. Both Kyiv and Moscow have been preparing for the potential scenario of a second round.
US senator Bernie Sanders and UK Green peer Natalie Bennett – both authors of new books on progressive politics – address capitalism’s failings, work precarity and climate change in their respective countries, where power resembles oligarchy and aristocracy – neither predisposed to convincing democracy.
In today’s Standard Time Talk show, we set sail with the European Pavilion, an art project and exhibition exploring Europe’s future, identity and the burning question: can we understand European culture through art?
The chronicler of the life and ideas of Lucien Goldmann recalls what drew him to the writings of the Romanian-French Marxist at the tail-end of the countercultural revolution; how he gradually reconstructed Goldmann’s intellectual biography throughout the next two decades; and how after 1989 he was able to piece together the missing parts of his subject’s early life.
The debate between Keynes and Hayek must be between a historically accurate Hayek and a historically accurate Keynes. Only then can the differences – and the common ground – between these two key economists of the mid-20th century be understood.
A cautious westernization following the 1956 revolution ushered in a golden age of cultural journals in Hungary. But with transition and the rise of press freedom, demand dropped. The few periodicals that have survived remain islands of independence amidst a supine media.