The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . Citizenship v the surveillance state Matthew Longo, Boston Review, 6 December 2018 As a society, we have accepted as self-evident that a secure border protects our national sovereignty (and, by extension, citizens). But in fact, the opposite is increasingly true. New forms of bordering rely extensively on data and information sharing at […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . Can the yellow vests speak? Édouard Louis, Jacobin, 8 December 2018 Right from the start of this movement we have seen ‘experts’ and ‘politicians’ in the media belittling, condemning, and mocking the gilets jaunes and the revolt that they embody. I saw the words ‘barbarians,’ ‘idiots,’ ‘yokels,’ ‘irresponsible’ spread across social networks. The media […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . Exiled: the disturbing story of a citizen made unBritish Kamila Shamsie, Guardian, 17 November 2018 Although the powers to strip citizenship were increased in 2003, they were still very rarely used. But in 2013, 18 people were deprived of citizenship, a huge increase from the six of the previous two years. In […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . The people, no Thomas Frank, The Baffler, No 42, November 2018 In 1999, we thought right-wing populism was a historical mystery that needed to be unraveled and understood; in the minds of its legions of analysts today it’s no mystery at all. For them, the common people’s incomprehension of liberal values is […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . Brazil’s Bolsonaro-led far right wins a victory far more sweeping and dangerous than anyone predicted. Its lessons are global. Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept, 8 October 2018 In sum, it is virtually impossible to overstate the threat level posed to democracy and human rights in the world’s fifth most-populous country as a result of […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . Americans want to believe jobs are the solution to poverty. They’re not. Matthew Desmond, New York Times, 11 September 2018 In America, if you work hard, you will succeed. So those who do not succeed have not worked hard. It’s an idea found deep in the marrow of the nation. William Byrd, an 18th-century […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . Who needs democracy when you have data? Christina Larson, MIT Technology Review, 20 August 2018 In 1955, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov published a short story about an experiment in ‘electronic democracy,’ in which a single citizen, selected to represent an entire population, responded to questions generated by a computer named Multivac. […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . Change the world, not yourself, or how Arendt called out Thoreau Katie Fitzpatrick, Aeon, 22 August 2018 It is not often that a neighbourhood squabble is remembered as a world-historical event. In the summer of 1846, Henry David Thoreau spent a single night in jail in Concord, Massachusetts after refusing to submit […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . The death of the public square Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 6 July 2018 At the time of Milton’s birth, in 1608, there wasn’t much of a public sphere in England. By the time he wrote Areopagitica, it was robust: coffee houses, newspapers, bookstores, theatres, and meeting places – the locales that allowed individuals […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . ‘It’s nothing like a broken leg’: why I’m done with the mental health conversation Hannah Jane Parkinson, Guardian, 30 June 2018 I will admit that I am not well. That writing this, right now, I am not well. This will colour the writing. But it is part of why I want to […]

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The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . No, it’s not a gig economy Doug Henwood, Jacobin, 8 June 2018 Despite the voluble testimony of pundits and bar companions, the world of work is not one of Uber drivers and temp workers. In fact, the share of US employment accounted for by contingent and ‘alternative’ arrangements is lower now than […]

Categories: Pandaemonium

The latest (somewhat random) collection of recent essays and stories from around the web that have caught my eye and are worth plucking out to be re-read. . Centrists are the most hostile to democracy, not extremists David Adler, New York Times, 23 May 2018 The warning signs are flashing red: Democracy is under threat. Across Europe and North America, candidates are more authoritarian, party systems are more volatile, and citizens are more hostile to the norms and institutions of […]

Categories: Pandaemonium