Last night I wandered into a dark pottery workshop and saw about two thousand pots lined up in silence. But then suddenly a vase cried out, inquiring, ‘Where in the world are the potter and the customers and salespeople?” Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 283
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Uncategorized
Annals of Settler Colonialism: British Atrocities in Post-War Kenya
The anti-colonial movement in Kenya of the 1950s was mythologized by the British as a shadowy ‘Mau-Mau,’ an irrational outbreak of aimless hatred. In fact, the movement was protesting the confinement of Kenyans to ‘reserves,’ their crowding into urban slums, the privileged position of white British settlers, and the latters’ plan to go on ruling […]
What Juan is Tweeting Today (Readings on Middle East, Environment)
Top Ten Things Mitt Romney Gets Wrong about US Middle East Policy
Gov. Romney published an op-ed on Monday criticizing President Obama’s Middle East policies. Aside from urging ‘strength,’ however, Romney offers no concrete alternative. And, he completely misunderstands the history of the US role in the region, which causes him to misunderstand its present dilemmas. Romney says, “The first step is to understand how we got […]
Annals of Settler Colonialism (6): German Namibia #savagesunite
In an early instance of Neoliberalism, the German concentration camps for the remnants of the genocided Herero were sometimes given to private companies to run for a profit. Likewise, many private companies and corporations profit from the Occupation of the Palestinian territories, such that Rashid Khalidi has refered to the ‘settler industrial complex.’
Health-Killing Coal Plant Finally Closes in Alexandria, Va.; Virginia: Put in Wind Turbines!
A notorious polluting coal plant has finally been closed in Alexandria, Va. It had been giving locals lung and heart problems for years. Ironically, the plant probably had actually been affecting the health of members of Congress. Its fuel source was mountain top coal mining, the most environmentally destructive kind of mining. It was not […]
Omar Khayyam (273) “Do good, and cast it upon the waters”
My sweetheart — may she live as long as my heartbreak — today began her kindnesses anew. She locked eyes with me for an instant, then was gone– […]
Annals of Settler Colonialism (5): German Namibia #savagesunite
The German settlers and authorities round up 13,000 of the remaining Herero. They put them in concentration camps, where 4,000 died of mistreatment. Almost all of the Herero were now in camps. Although the Israelis do have large prison camps where they hold thousands of Palestinians for engaging in resistance to Occupation, they haven’t put […]
The Dead Pile up in Syria as Historic Aleppo Market Burns
Reuters reports that heavy fighting raged in Deraa, Aleppo and elsewhere all weekend in Syria: Amateur video captured the burning of the historic 17th century Aleppo covered market or souq: The loss of the market is not as important as the loss of even one human life, much less some 30,000 killed, but it is […]