Thursday, June 14, 2007

It is contradictory to condemn slavery and yet celebrate the empire

Priyamvada Gopal writes:

'The horrors of the past were not momentary lapses of judgment that can be redeemed through public remorse '

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | It is contradictory to condemn slavery and yet celebrate the empire

Anti-racism has to go beyond a facile representation game

Priyamvada Gopal tackles the Big Brother racism row:

A proud struggle has been co-opted by cultural bullies. If we are to rescue it, we must recognise our complicity in the process

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | Anti-racism has to go beyond a facile representation game

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Johann Hari: How multiculturalism is betraying women - Independent Online Edition > Johann Hari

Johann Hari: How multiculturalism is betraying women - Independent Online Edition > Johann Hari

Friday, March 02, 2007

Conservapedia - the US religious right's answer to Wikipedia | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

How they compare:

US Democratic party

Wikipedia

"The party advocates civil liberties, social freedoms, equal rights, equal opportunity, fiscal responsibility, and a free enterprise system tempered by government intervention."

Conservapedia "The Democrat voting record reveals a true agenda of cowering to terrorism, treasonous anti-Americanism, and contempt for America's founding principles."






Conservapedia - the US religious right's answer to Wikipedia | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Silence in Class

Neo-imperialist ideologies are controlling the primary vehicle of free thought in the US.

'University professors denounced for anti-Americanism; schoolteachers suspended for their politics; students encouraged to report on their tutors. Are US campuses in the grip of a witch-hunt of progressives, or is academic life just too liberal?' By Gary Younge

Are US campuses in the grip of a witch-hunt of progressives asks Gary Younge | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Friday, February 09, 2007

The Rewriting of American History


One of the most sophisticated civilizations in human history have been portrayed as nothing but bloodthirsty savages until they were 'rescued' by Europeans and Christianity.

The Sober Racism of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto

Ward Churchill � Academic Freedom

A Professor, Ward Churchill, at the University of Colorado at Boulder was FIRED for criticizing the Bush administration's handling of 9/11:

Check out this great blog.

Ward Churchill � Academic Freedom

Professor Eric Cheyfitz of Cornell:

On January 12, 2007, Professor Cheyfitz of the English Department and the American Indian Program delivered three hours of expert testimony on Churchill’s behalf at the held by the Committee on Privilege and Tenure of the University of Colorado System, which is the final stage of the University's aim to dismiss Churchill from its faculty. In addition to leading the seminar, Professor Cheyfitz will speak both about his experience at the hearing and the present state of the case.

On September 12, 2001, American Indian studies professor and activist Ward Churchill published what became a highly controversial essay, “Some People Push Back,” on the events of 9/11, which understood them as a response to a violent U.S. neo-colonialist foreign policy in the Middle East. The essay appears not to have been widely noticed, until four years later, when rightwing radio talk show host Bill O’Reilly got wind of it and began attacking Churchill. At the same time, the then Republican Governor of Colorado, Bill Owens, called for Churchill to resign from his tenured teaching post at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Colorado House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Churchill. While a university committee upheld Churchill’s right to academic freedom in this instance, the university immediately thereafter filed charges of “research misconduct” against Churchill based on his published work and ultimately formed an “Investigative Committee” that in May of 2006 published a 124 page report validating the charges. Based on the report, the then interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano, who had brought the charges in the first place, recommended that Churchill be fired. A hearing on these charges and the recommended sanction is currently being held before the Committee on Privilege and Tenure of the Colorado System, the academic court of last resort for Churchill. As a significant number of academics around the country understand it, the attack on Churchill is not an isolated incident but is part of a partisan cultural mobilization, both within and outside universities, to contain, indeed to erase, speech critical of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, specifically of the so-called “war on terror.”

Monday, December 04, 2006

Harinder Veriah Memorial Site

http://www.harinderveriah.com/articles19.html

The Global Hierarchy of Race

As the only racial group that never suffers systemic racism, whites are in denial about its impact

Martin Jacques
Saturday September 20, 2003
The Guardian

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Which country is the best colonizer? - By Joel Waldfogel - Slate Magazine




This article asks: Are the islands that experienced European colonization for a longer period of time richer today? And concludes that they are.

The academic rewriting of the negative effects of colonialism continue.

Which country is the best colonizer? - By Joel Waldfogel - Slate Magazine

Apart from the questionable methods through which the 'research' is carried out crucial questions must be asked. Such as: 'Could a few formerly colonised countries which were colonised longer have better living standards today because of the longer period they had global capitalist infrastructure forced down their throats, an infrastructure which is the only means to survive in today's capitalist world?'

Conquistadors' women pardoned in paperback | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

For centuries both women have been reviled as collaborators in Spanish conquests of the new world that verged on genocide. La Malinche was an Aztec turncoat who helped Hernán Cortés conquer Mexico; Inés Suárez was a Spanish seamstress who joined another conquistador, Pedro de Valdivia, in slaughtering the inhabitants of Chile.

Now two of Latin America's female literary giants, Laura Esquivel and Isabel Allende, have written novels casting them as misunderstood heroines who could be role models for today's women.


Conquistadors' women pardoned in paperback | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

This speaks to an unfortunate phenomenon I have come across in some of my classes whereby a certain political goal is sacrificed for the elevation of another. Here feminism is being elevated above the goals of anti-imperial ideology. In one of my classes anti-imperial ideology was elevated above feminist ideals; the professor refused to recognize the misogynist, sexist elements of a native american work, simply because criticizing an element of native american culture would somehow undermine the anti imperial project of his teaching.