Archive of Sarah Shin
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A World of Bandits: A Philosophical Dialogue by Alain Badiou
Alain Badiou joins Tzvetan Todorov and Jean-Luc Nancy, amongst other intellectuals, in the debate over allied intervention in Libya sparked by Bernard-Henri Lévy's key role.
‘You wouldn't deny,’ my friend the street philosopher said to me the other day, ‘that the underlying principle of everything nowadays is profit —no one with any power in the world challenges that.’
‘Very true,’ I replied. ‘But what are you driving at?’
‘If someone openly says: "I only live for my personal profit, and I'd kill off any former friend if it was a question of keeping or improving my lifestyle," what are they then? ... Come on, make an effort.’
‘A bandit. It's the mind-set of a bandit.’
‘Exactly!’ exclaimed the street philosopher. ‘Our world very clearly is a world of bandits. There are hidden bandits and official bandits, but that's only a minor difference.’
‘Agreed. But what conclusion do you draw from this?’
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Paul Mason and Richard Seymour on March/Occupy/Other for the Alternative
One of our favourite sights on the demo was this sensible man sporting the headgear of the revolution ...
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Tariq Ali in Australia and New Zealand
Tariq Ali gave three talks at the Perth Writers Festival: 'The Democracy Debate,' a reading of the final book in the Islam Quintet Night of the Golden Butterfly and The Obama Syndrome lecture, presented by SlowTV
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Gareth Peirce on The Birmingham Six twenty years on: "Have we learned from our disgraceful past?"
On the twentieth anniversary since the release of the Birmingham Six, Gareth Peirce, writing for the Guardian, details their wrongful convictions and the "simplest of stupidities" that secured their release.
On 14 March 1991 the Birmingham Six finally walked free. Today, 20 years on, it is vital to appreciate the horrifying detail of what happened to them, and how the truth was not acknowledged for 16 years. The annihilation of justice for others remains an ever-present spectre.
Assessing the widespread condemnation of the use of torture in extracting confessions following the case of the Birmingham Six, Peirce turns her gaze to the new Muslim suspect community, and asks "if we have, in fact, learned anything at all from our disgraceful past":
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The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg on the Guardian Books podcast 'Heroines and feminists'
In International Women's Week, the Guardian asks 'who are the heroines of literature?' The Books podcast 'Heroines and feminists' profiles Rosa Luxemburg.
Claire Armitstead, literary editor of the Guardian, spoke to self-confessed Rosa Luxemburg "fanette" Susie Orbach, David Edgar and Dr Lea Haro at the launch at the Swedenborg Society about why Luxemburg's work is so personally inspirational for them and its value for society today.
Harriet Walter read a selection of Rosa Luxemburg's letters, ranging from her arrival in Berlin in 1898, to one of her very last to Clara Zetkin before her death in 1918. Included in the selection is a letter that shows Luxemburg to be a critic of the use of political language, revealing her own passionate approach.