Lessons: We live in a PlutocracyJune 18, 2018Source: Livingston County News / www.thelcn.com / By Bill Cook / Readers know that it is hard to find a more zealous “small d” democrat than I. I celebrate democracy’s many virtues and try to suggest ways to deal with inherent problems. Each year I attend a conference founded by …
Czechs protest against communist party’s role in govtJune 18, 2018Source: Yahoo / www.yahoo.com / By AFP / Prague (AFP) – Thousands of Czechs protested across the EU country on Tuesday against the communist party as it was poised to play a role in government, albeit an informal one, for the first time since communism fell in 1989. The …
Israeli ex-ambassador honoured for building bridges between Poles and JewsJune 18, 2018Source: Radio Poland / www.thenews.pl / Israeli politician Shevah Weiss, a former ambassador in Warsaw, has received an award for building bridges between Poles and Jews. The Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Memorial Award honours Weiss for his ability to talk about the most difficult issues that affect Poles and Jews. Nowak-Jeziorański was …
The modern road to totalitarianismJune 4, 2018Source: The Tribune / www.tribuneindia.com / By Shelley Walia / A new era of violent passion overwhelms the contemporary world. The Holocaust, the mountains of literature on Nazism, are subjected to obliviousness impelling the return of economic and political fascism. It is thriving not only in autocratic nations but in …
Philip Roth: Portnoy’s Complaint and American Pastoral author dies at 85May 27, 2018Source: The Guardian / www.theguardian.com / Chronicler of American politics, Jewishness and male sexual desire was widely regarded as one of greatest novelists of the 20th century The novelist Philip Roth, who explored America through the contradictions of his own character for more than six decades, died on Tuesday aged …
Belfast Agreement shows it is possible to achieve great good in politicsMay 19, 2018Source: The Irish Times / www.theirishtimes.com / By Path Leahy / Pat Leahy: politics has been described as a combination of high purpose and low cunning It is one of the greatest political achievements that many of us will ever see, and there are many lessons to take from the …
In pictures: From inmate to president: leaders who served timeMay 18, 2018Source: ENCA / www.enca.com / By AFP / KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Anwar Ibrahim’s release from a Malaysian jail on Wednesday paves the way for him to become prime minister, a path from prison to power that has been trodden by some of the most famous leaders of the last …
The dream he hadMay 16, 2018Source: The Hindu / www.thehindu.com / Ramin Jahanbegloo / Fifty years after his assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ‘revolution of values’ resonates just as clearly We commonly say that historical figures are best known for their deeds. What manner of man was Martin Luther King, Jr.? To answer this question, …
Working with Students to Reclaim the Revolutionary Roots of Czech TheatreMay 16, 2018Source: HowlRound / www.howlround.com / By Hannah Sachs / “Now let’s create an image of exclusion,” I explained to the classroom of young Czech teens. Silently, they arranged themselves into a landscape of frozen poses, working together to create a tableau based on their personal understanding of the word. Some …
A revolution of values: Freedom, responsibility, and courage in the Armenian Velvet RevolutionMay 7, 2018Source: The London School of Economics and Political Science / www.lse.ac.uk / Mass protests in Armenia, which began in April and led to the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, have been dubbed a ‘Velvet Revolution’. Armine Ishkanian explains that this revolution has been rooted in the values of Armenian …
Ombudsman nominates Georgian activist in occupied Akhalgori for UN and Vaclav Havel PrizesMay 4, 2018Source: Agenda.ge / www.agenda.ge / The Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has nominated Tamar Mearakishvili, a Georgian activist based in the country’s occupied Akhalgori area, for the United Nations Human Rights Prize and Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize for her “outstanding contribution to defending the rights of conflict-affected population”. Lomjaria …
Chris Jones: Stage Left Theatre has a real history in Chicago — now future is in doubtMay 4, 2018Source: The Pantagraph / www.pantagraph.com / By Chris Jones / CHICAGO — As I walked my dog near Wrigley Field the other night, the two of us stopped among the bars and the noise, and stood and stared outside 3408 N. Sheffield Ave. That address used to be the home …
Can It Happen Here? Madeleine Albright Examines Fascism Then and NowApril 28, 2018Source: The New York Times / www.nytimes.com / By Sheri Berman / FASCISM A Warning By Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward 288 pp. Harper/HarperCollins Publishers. $27.99. The fall of the Berlin Wall caused euphoria in the West. George H. W. Bush declared that “the end of the Cold War has …
Kaepernick honored with Amnesty International award… in the NetherlandsApril 27, 2018Source: The Wild Card / www.westernjournal.com / Todd Windsor / Colin Kaepernick has antagonized many Americans with his divisive national anthem protests, his police-as-pigs socks, his defense of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and his $25,000 donation to a group honoring a convicted cop-killer. But his actions have earned him accolades overseas …