Culture
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Back to square one | Eurozine
When intellectuals and politicians start talking obsessively about their country’s great ‘originality’, ‘special path’ and a ‘unique mission in the world’, it’s a sure sign they’re facing mounting problems in forging a modern democratic polity, civic nation and respectable international identity. Contemporary Russia is a case in point. Its new foreign policy doctrine, signed into law by President Vladimir Putin…
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Forerunners of the free market
In economic terms, state socialism is usually associated with the monopoly of an authoritarian state over core elements of the economy such as trade, the distribution of resources, and the regulation of wages and prices. Yet, limited forms of legal private enterprise – often in the form of micro-craft and retail (family) businesses –existed sporadically in some state socialist countries,…
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Of our daily plov | Eurozine
As a child in communist Romania of the 1980’s, I remember pilaf was one of the staples in the Ottoman-influenced cuisine of the south of the country. My mother and my grandmother used to put it in the oven, after briefly boiling the rice on the stove. Made with chicken (from the countryside, of course, as on the shelves of…
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Running scared | Eurozine
Leading up to the March 7 State of the Union speech, Biden supporters were scared. They had every reason to be. The President’s approval rating had dropped from 42% to an abysmal 38%, even lower than ex-President Trump’s before the January 6 riot. Biden’s stance on the Israeli-Gaza conflict was losing him support from the left wing of his party.…
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Silent Palestinians in Gaza and Israel
Editor’s note: This article was first published in Index on Censorship on 9 November 2023. Since then, many of the author’s predictions have been tragically confirmed, above all that of a vast-scale civilian catastrophe in Gaza. ‘Where are you Mohammed?’ I muttered to myself while scrolling down my Facebook feed. Since the start of war in Gaza, as soon as…
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Russlands Zukunft und der Krieg
I. Wenn wir heute über die Zukunft Russlands sprechen, ist das in gewissem Sinne wie ein Gespräch über das Leben nach dem Tod. Russland befindet sich mitten in einer Katastrophe, der Krieg geht immer weiter und das Grauen erfasst uns, wenn wir daran denken, was Russland bereits getan hat oder was unsere Landsleute im Namen Russlands in der Ukraine verbrochen…
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On fascization | Eurozine
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever. George Orwell Are there any movements currently in power in Europe, or on their way to power, that can be called fascist? And if so, can those who support these movements also be called fascists? Objectively, in terms of actual practices and…
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Russia’s future and the war
1. Today, to talk about the future of Russia is like talking about life after death. Russia is in the midst of catastrophe, and horror grips us when we think of what Russia has already done, or what our compatriots have done in Ukraine in Russia’s name. I have two pictures saved on my Facebook page which I always see…
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Legally sanctioned homophobia in the EU
Lithuania is one of the most pro-European countries in the European Union and positions itself as strongly opposed to its biggest existential threat – Russia. However, when it comes to civil rights, the moral compass of the political elite sometimes points more towards the East than the West. This is particularly the case with LGBTQ people’s rights. A good example…
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Bleaching blue collars | Eurozine
‘One day a poster announcing the “preparatory course”, an accelerated training programme for university, appeared in a village in central Poland. The ad presented Pokusa – a surname meaning temptation – as the first to enrol: He was accepted after passing an exam. Now he is one of the best students! “You just have to want to do it,” he…
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