Author Archives: Kenan Malik

MAKING A MESS OF CLAUDINE GAY

January 10, 2024 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the Claudine Gay controversy, was published in the Observer on 7 January 2024 under the headline “Claudine Gay’s ousting reveals that the messenger is still an easier target than the message”. For some, she is the wretched epitome of the liberal elite; for others, the victim of a “racist mob”. She herself condemns her critics for having “recycled tired racial stereotypes”. As an illustration of the way that culture wars warp political judgment and push people into tribal corners, […]

Categories: Academia, International, Race & Immigration • Tags: antisemitism, claudine gay, dei, diversity, elise stefanik, elitte, equality, free speech, gaza war, genocide, harvard, intifadas, israel, palestine solidarity, plagiarism, racism

HISTORY, MEMORY AND ARNO MAYER

January 3, 2024 by Kenan Malik

This essay tribute to historian Arno Mayer was published in the Observer on 31 December 2023 under the headline “The conflict between history and memory lies at the heart of today’s cultural divides”. “The difference between the study of history and the construction of public memory, the American historian Arno Mayer observed, is that “whereas the voice of memory is univocal and uncontested, that of history is polyphonic and open to debate”. Memory, he added, “tends to rigidify over time, […]

Categories: Culture & Books, History • Tags: arno mayer, dd guttenplan, hannah arendt, holocaust denial, jewish thought, marxism, nazism, perry anderson, public memory, raul hillberg, the persistence of the old regime, tom nairn

HOBSON’S CHOICE IN FOOTBALL’S WARS

December 27, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the war to profit from football, was published in the Observer on 24 December 2023 under the headline “A culture of greed, riddled with inequality. Global football is a mirror of our age”. Nadine Dorries or Jacob Rees-Mogg? Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk? Uefa or the European Super League? Yes, sometimes life seems like a succession of Hobson’s choices. Last week the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Uefa, which oversees European football, and the game’s […]

Categories: Sport • Tags: corruption, david conn, david goldblatt, ecj, esl, fifa, football, horst dassler, joao havelenage, michel platini, qatar world cup, saudi arabia, sepp blatter, uefa

THE INVISIBILITY OF CLASS

December 20, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on solidarity and class, was published in the Observer on 17 December 2023 under the headline “The Reith lectures miss the point. Politics fails when it avoids the issue of class”. “Solidarity has to come through class.” So insisted Rollie, a member of the audience in the latest of the Reith lectures, given this year by political scientist Ben Ansell, professor of comparative democratic institutions at Oxford, His four Reith lectures, entitled “Our Democratic Future”, explore, respectively, issues of democracy, […]

Categories: Britain, Class • Tags: ben ansell, class solidarity, identity politics, national identity, nationalism, reith lectures, self-interest, selfishness, solidarity, working class

DUMPING THE UNWANTED

December 13, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the Rwanda deportation policy, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 10 December 2023, under the headline “The west’s dumping of migrants on poor countries is a grisly echo of penal transportation”. Imagine that Britain signs a treaty with France agreeing to take its unwanted migrants for cash payment; that France suggests sending lawyers to this country to ensure the British courts treat deportees properly; and that the French national assembly passes a law declaring Britain […]

Categories: Britain, Race & Immigration • Tags: afghan refugees, asylum seekers, immigration policy, performative policymaking, rwanda deportation scheme

25 THINKERS FOR A WORLD ON THE BRINK

December 13, 2023 by Kenan Malik

It was most unexpected, but most welcome. I’ve been nominated by Prospect magazine as one of “25 thinkers for a world on the brink”. “Kenan Malik… earns a spot on this year’s list because of his refreshing approach to culture war issues”, Prospect writes. “Where many writers fall into knee-jerk tribalism on modern questions of identity – or are afraid to engage with them at all – Malik marshals reason and nuance to make an argument that will challenge both […]

Categories: Kenan Malik, Philosophy & Ethics

CENSORSHIP CANNOT BE THE FOUNDATION OF JUSTICE

December 6, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the censorship of those expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 3 December 2023, under the headline “Solidarity with Palestinians is not hate speech, whatever would-be censors say”. An award ceremony for the Palestine-born novelist and essayist Adania Shibli is cancelled by the Frankfurt book fair because of “the war started by Hamas”. A cultural centre in Berlin has its funding cut and will be shut down after hosting an event from the organisation […]

Categories: Free Speech, International, Justice & Liberties • Tags: adania shibli, cansorship, david velasco, deborah feldman, free speech, genevieve lakier, germany, left, michael eisen, palestine, palestine solidarity, susan neiman

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HUMAN EXPLOITATION

November 29, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the dangers of AI, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 26 November 2023, under the headline “AI doesn’t cause harm by itself. We should worry about the people who control it“. At times it felt less like Succession than Fawlty Towers, not so much Shakespearean tragedy as Laurel and Hardy farce. OpenAI is the hottest tech company today thanks to the success of its most famous product, the chatbot ChatGPT. It was inevitable that the mayhem surrounding the sacking, and […]

Categories: Science & Technology • Tags: ai, algorithmic bias, chatgpt, elon musk, grady booch, microsoft, openai, sam altman

BUT WHAT IS YOUR ALTERNATIVE?

November 22, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the need to challenge immoral policies and actions, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 19 November 2023, under the headline “‘There is no alternative’ is the last resort of those defending morally wrong acts”. “But what is your alternative?” It’s an important question in political debates when a particular policy or action is being challenged. It can also be a way of deflecting from the flimsiness, both moral and practical, of the plan facing scrutiny. […]

Categories: International, Justice & Liberties, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: ceasefire, gaza, israel, palestinian rights, plaestine, rwanda scheme

IMMIGRATION AND PERFORMATIVE POLICYMAKING

November 15, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the performative character of immigration policymaking, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 12 November 2023, under the headline “Across the globe, compassion for migrants has given way to cruel, performative politics“. On Wednesday, the UK supreme court will give its verdict on the Rwanda deportation scheme. The decision will clearly have a major impact on those who face deportation. It will have an impact, too, on the political debate about immigration, with government supporters either hailing a […]

Categories: International, Race & Immigration • Tags: afghan refugees, asylum seekers, giorgia meloni, hein de haas, hungary, italy, offshoring, pakistan, performative policymaking, refugees, rwanda deportation scheme

AESCHYLUS IN GAZA

November 8, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on what Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy can tell us about the Gaza conflict, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 5 November 2023, under the headline “In the Middle East, as in Greek tragedy, justice must prevail over moral absolutism”. Watching the tragedy unfold in Israel and Palestine has sometimes felt like reading the Oresteia backwards. A trilogy of plays by Aeschylus, written in the fifth century BC, the Oresteia tells of the transformation of ancient Greece from a society rooted in blood […]

Categories: Culture & Books, International, Justice & Liberties, Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: aeschylus, benjamin netanyahu, censorship, dehumanisation, gaza war, hamas, israel, oresteia, palestine, palestinian solidarity, vengeance

THE CITY OF ARCHITECTURE

November 1, 2023 by Kenan Malik

I went to Chicago to speak about my book Not So Black and White at Evanston University and at the University of Illinois, both events leading to fascinating discussions about race and the politics of identity. It was my first time in the city, and I managed to squeeze in a day wandering around Chicago’s wondrous buildings. The architecture is every bit as striking as its reputation, from the earliest skyscrapers to art deco to brutalism to postmodernism. A day […]

Categories: Photos • Tags: 360 chicago, architecture, art deco, brutalism, chicago, chicago architecture, chicago river, john hancock center, lincoln park, modernism, north avneu beach, postmodernism, skyscrapers, willis tower

NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE -THE TALK

October 25, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This is a transcript of the talk I gave about my book Not So Black and White at New York University on 16 October 2023. I have not had time to put the links in, but I will do so. And here are details of the book, reviews and bookshops. Let me begin with quote from Frantz Fanon, the Martinique-born revolutionary and intellectual, from his 1952 masterpiece Black Skins, White Masks. “The Negro is not. Any more than the white […]

Categories: Kenan Malik, Not so Black and White • Tags: kenan malik's books, talks

THE BUTCHERY AND THE BOMBING

October 18, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on why Hamas’ barbarism does not justify the collective punishment of Palestine, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 15 October 2023, under the headline “Hamas’s barbarism does not justify the collective punishment of Palestinians”. “They too have casualties, they too have captives and they have mothers who weep… Let’s make real peace”. Not a liberal peacenik speaking from the safety of London or Washington but Yaakov Argamani, whose daughter Noa was taken hostage by Hamas at a music […]

Categories: International, Justice & Liberties • Tags: 7 october attack, antisemitism, benjamin netanyahu, gaza war, hamas, israel, nakba, noa argamani, palestine, yaakov argamani

INEFFECTIVE ALTRUISM

October 11, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the problems with the effective altruism movement, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 8 October 2023, under the headline “Getting rich in order to give to the poor? The jury’s out, but it seems morally shaky”. Few people think of finance as an ethical career choice”, William MacAskill observes. But they should. “By making as much money as we can and donating to the best causes,” he argues, “we can each save hundreds of lives.” MacAskill […]

Categories: Philosophy & Ethics • Tags: consequentialism, effective altruism, ethics, ftx, peter singer, sam bankman-fried, william macaskill