Oppression renames its victims, brands them as a farmer brands his cattle with a common signature. It always aims to subvert the individual spirit and the humanity of the victim; and the victim will more or less struggle to remove oppression and be free. Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in his essay “Spelling Our Proper Name,” [...]
[23 Feb 2010]
In their rush to portray liberal internationalism as the height of human achievement, too many historians have forgotten what Mazower regards as the real ideological impulse behind the U.N.’s creation: preservation of the British Empire and white rule over Europe’s colonial possessions. From Hope Against History, a review of two books about the founding of [...]
[17 Dec 2009]
… Words become very important in the power relations between individuals and groups, in the exercise of law and democratic ideals. They help define the other: a member of a group with other religious, racial, gender, or biological affiliations. A good example is the use of the five-letter English word tribe. The Western media’s analysis [...]
[4 Dec 2009]