The prophets take a side. In The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann explains how the ancient Hebrew prophets diverged from the imperial courts of Pharaoh and the royal courts of the later Israelite kings. As well as imagining new ways for society to take shape, he says, the prophets took sides. They were partisan because their […]
The way power works
“Ouch.” That’s what I wrote in the margin of Arundhati Roy’s The End of Imagination today when I read Roy’s critique of the political system in India, the electorate’s party choices, and the pervasive oppression of “counter-terrorism.” In the post-9/11 world, power works in very consistent ways whether in India or the US: power represses, and repression […]
The virtue you don’t want tested
Endurance. Perseverance. Persistence. Inner strength. Each of these virtues draws praise in an era that worships the rugged individual who conquers circumstance with dogged will and fortune (but mostly dogged will). Three months after the US presidential inauguration, the shine of “resistance” has dulled. So has the popular hope that we can abbreviate the next four to […]
Fire, smoke, and dreams (with Arundhati Roy)
In The End of Imagination, Arundhati Roy describes with exquisite pacing what nationalism, fundamentalism, and militarism have yielded across India and Pakistan over the last thirty years. As she recounts the mayhem (including murder, staged terrorism, and activist intimidation in the countryside and on college campuses), Roy also writes of alternatives: An altogether different coalition of castes, one that […]
The change at hand
“All politics is local,” pundits have said for about 80 years now. It may not be as complete a maxim this century. Grassroots activism has surged back as a tactic, especially on national concerns: years of action on police and state violence, increased organizing on environmental justice and climate change, and massive mobilization around gender […]
Alternative futures
September [2015]: FBI special agent Adrian Hawkins contacts the Democratic National Committee, saying that one of its computer systems has been compromised by a cyberespionage group linked to the Russian government. He speaks to a help desk technician who does a quick check of the DNC systems for evidence of a cyber intrusion. In the […]
