Books
Subjects Archives: Media
Media, Communications, and Literature
Marx at 200
A specter is haunting human affairs these days: it’s the thought that Karl Marx (on his 200th birthday this week) may have been more right than wrong about rich-get-richer bourgeois economics.
What next for the teacher’s movement?
Public school teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Arizona have won meaningful salary gains for themselves, and in several cases other school workers, and real although limited increases in education spending.
How U.S., Facebook are ‘complicit in censoring non-Western media’
It’s more than evident that non-Western media are having their rights to free speech infringed upon, writes Val Reynoso.
Marx and the cinema
Dennis Broe traces the history of the representation of labour on screen, and finds inspiration for celebrating May Day and continuing Marx’s struggle against capitalism.
MSNBC’s creepy Comcast commercial is Sinclair lite
After the justified uproar over pro-Trump Sinclair Broadcast Group forcing its scores of affiliates to humiliate themselves by reading an on-air script condemning “misleading” news, one would think other media outlets would be a little more careful not to mimic such behavior.
National Rifle Association brands U.S. teachers ‘lazy’
TEACHERS in the U.S. have been branded “lazy” and accused of not caring about children in a series of online videos by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Public school teacher strikes show workplace organizing pays off
While those at the top of the income pyramid continue to celebrate economic trends, the great majority of working people continue to struggle to make ends meet
On Rosa Parks’ tomahawk, or, the U.S. strikes in Syria
In the wake of the most recent USA airstrike in Syria, Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former president of the American Society of International Law and U.S. State Department Director of Policy Planning between 2009 and 2011, took to Twitter to think through some of the legal and moral arguments justifying the use of force.
U.S., fearing unfavorable OPCW results, blames Russia for “hacking” Douma evidence
Though Western governments have influenced the outcome of OPCW investigations in the past, this time they appear to be discrediting the results of the investigation before it even begins.
Exclusive emails show how the White Helmets tried to recruit Roger Waters with Saudi money
During a Barcelona concert on April 13, Roger Waters denounced the Syrian White Helmets as “a fake organization that exists only to create propaganda for jihadists and terrorists.”
Stop fascism before it corrodes democracy
The re-emergence and growth of the far-right in Britain and in Europe needs a united response.
The whitesplaining of history is over
When the academy was the exclusive playground of white men, it produced the theories of race, gender, and Western cultural superiority that underwrote imperialism abroad and inequality at home. In recent decades, women and people of color have been critical to producing new knowledge breaking down those long-dominant narratives. Sociological research confirms that greater diversity […]
Mao’s legacy defended, and famous swim decoded, for clueless academics
In late 1965 the rumblings of the Cultural Revolution had begun, due to grumblings over corruption, revisionism (“taking the capitalist road,” selling out socialism, etc.) and the snooty technocratism of urbanites. The party, led by Mao, saw these trends as threats to the common good, the revolution, and the Party’s “Heavenly Mandate” – the millennia-old […]
Who will take on the 21st century tech and media monopolies?
Facebook is under fire for (among other things) its involvement with Cambridge Analytica, a British data analytics firm funded by hedge fund billionaire and major Republican party donor Robert Mercer and formerly led by President Trump’s ex–campaign manager and strategist Steve Bannon. Cambridge Analytica harvested data from over 87 million Facebook profiles (up from Facebook’s […]
Willetts the conqueror (part 5): knowledge exchange
In addition to subsumption of teaching and research, the third mission of neoliberal marketisation has been termed, “knowledge exchange.” The introduction of this mission represents not only a fundamental attack on the academic profession, but also a desperate attempt to marshal the knowledge-producing powers of universities to kick-start a stagnating post-crisis global economy.
Dreaming of communism: News from Nowhere
There can be no denying that the content of News from Nowhere, the utopian romance penned by painter, poet and designer William Morris, was heavily indebted to the writings of Karl Marx. Morris was exploring these from the spring of 1882, the year before Marx died and the year of his own 48th birthday. He […]
U.S. isn’t leaving Syria—but media lost it when possibility was raised
At a rally in Cleveland last week, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. will get out of Syria “very soon.” It is now clear that the 4,000 U.S. troops currently occupying Syria (Washington Post, 10/31/17) will in fact stay in Syria (Independent, 4/4/18), even though keeping troops in another country in defiance of that […]
Another Latin American soft coup on tap? Western media decries Evo Morales’ candidacy
Supporters of Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, Evo Morales, wonder why his popular government can’t enjoy the same privilege of indefinite re-election afforded to many Western leaders without being called a “dictator” by media. Is it truly concern for “democracy” or is another agenda at play?
Pentagon capitalism and silicon valley
The weaponized nature of the tech industry is a pandora’s box that may prove impossible to close. Yet Google’s employees are resisting their company’s continued work to upgrade the U.S. war machine.
