-
"Totality for Beginners" and a Situationist competition!
Avid Verso readers and SI devotees know that McKenzie Wark’s The Beach Beneath the Street features a dustjacket that folds out to a full-length double-sided poster, doubling as a graphic essay. The graphic essay, “Totality for Beginners,” is illustrated by Kevin C. Pyle with texts selected by McKenzie Wark.
“Totality for Kids” is the interactive version of the graphic essay, hosted by Vectors Journal and available at www.beachbeneaththestreet.com.
To introduce you to “Totality for Kids,” we are announcing our latest online competition
-
Tariq Ali on 9/11 in a Question Time special episode and the Guardian
On Thursday 8 September on BBC One, Question Time returned for a new series with a special programme - ten years on from the September 11 attacks.
Tariq Ali, author of The Obama Syndrome, was on the panel, along with Defence Secretary Liam Fox, former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the leading advocate of regime change in Iraq Richard Perle, American-born playwright Bonnie Greer and Christina Schmidt, whose husband Olaf, a British Army bomb disposal expert, was killed in Afghanistan. Chaired by David Dimbleby from London.
-
School Wars: “an important watershed”, and the hidden costs of Free Schools
Melissa Benn's School Wars, a timely exploration of the struggle for Britain's education system, has received yet more positive reviews.
In the Independent, Phil Beadle heralded Benn's "lightness of touch" and deft irony. He concluded:
In terms of future education policy, Benn's book could well be an important watershed. It is a clear-sighted re-statement of why universal, comprehensive education is - obviously - the best option. It should, and hopefully will, be taken as a rallying call to the left
-
Simon Critchley everywhere on 9/11
Simon Critchley is making multiple appearances—online, on film and in person—to apply context to the world after 9/11.
Ten Years of Terror is Critchley’s new film, co-directed by Brad Evans, featuring discussions with notable thinkers such as Michael Hardt, Saskia Sassen, Noam Chomsky and Zygmunt Bauman—all reflecting on the post-9/11 environment.
The Guardian is hosting short clips from these sessions.
Here is Critchley on the ideology of securitization:
-
A Survey of Verso's Responses to 9/11
Sparing no room for nuance, the magazine covers are all reminding us that the United States—and hence the planet—is set to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, a day that not only changed the world and signaled the end of innocence and spawned a new greatest generation, but also launched a thousand new slogans with which to label that day, and inspired thousands of speeches intent on inspiring thousands more.
However, despite the horror, anger, uncertainty—and yes, for some, glee—from the damage inflicted on that momentous day, there remained, in the aftermath and up to now, a limited vocabulary within the mainstream with which to describe the events of that time and the trail of destruction that followed.
And since we aren’t anticipating a commemorative circuitous flight over the country on Air Force One with the President of the United States, we would like to offer an alternate journey—that is, a survey of Verso’s responses to 9/11:
