John Foster / 21 Jan 2022
Neoliberal Crisis Analysis
Aftershocks, by Colin Kahl and Thomas Wright
The rapid spread of the Omicron variant has buried hopes the world might be ending its morbid embrace of COVID-19.(...)
Pandemic
Joel Schalit / 10 Jan 2022
Asylum From Germany
The Coronavirus Shakes
They asked what the purpose of our visit was. “We’re fleeing Germany,” I said, as I handed over our Israeli and American passports. “My wife and I want to apply for asylum.”(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 10 Nov 2021
Pandemic Expressionism
Sonic Hauntology: Subterranean Internationale, by Raz Mesinai
Sonic Hauntology, Raz Mesinai's new album of field recordings for The Battleground, pushes that peculiar genre in exciting new directions. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 15 Sep 2021
Post-Punk Internationale
Gut and Fratti’s Let’s Talk About the Weather
While the pandemic continues to inflict horrific suffering on the world, its early phase is now capable of inspiring nostalgia. We remember the excitement of watching everyday routines grind to a halt and then having to figure out what to do in their absence.(...)
Duncan Simpson / 08 Sep 2021
Ideological Upheaval
Pandemic Rebels and Fascist Longings
Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, opposition to anti-contagion efforts has been led by a small number of fringe groups and quasi-movements linked together by social media.(...)
Tanya Lokot / 08 Mar 2021
Always Under Surveillance
COVID-19 and Digital Freedoms in Eastern Europe
From genome sequencing to track virus mutations, to smartphone apps monitoring close contacts with those who test positive, countries around the world have harnessed technological solutions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.(...)
John Foster / 17 Jul 2020
Famines, Pandemics and Politics
The Mike Davis Reader
Last week, I wrote at length about Set the Night on Fire, the definitive history of radical Los Angeles in the 1960s, co-written by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener. This might be the apotheosis of Davis’s career as a historian of the city.(...)
John Foster / 08 Jun 2020
Buried By Trump
The American Century is Finally Over
The narrative of the Atlantic world since the end of the Second World War has been one of American leadership. (...)
Josh White / 18 May 2020
Immune to Coronavirus
Why Boris is Still Popular
The Johnson government may be the most right-wing in modern British history. Yet its disastrous response to the COVID-19 outbreak hasn’t cost it support. (...)
John Foster / 24 Apr 2020
The Communist Influenza
Slavoj Žižek’s Pandemic!
Today's philosophers don’t do well in crises. The case of Giorgio Agamben, in which he wrongly downplayed the danger posed by COVID-19, is a perfect example. (...)