This is a section where we will discuss the problem of politics understood in broad terms. This will include, of course, discussions of politics parties, elections, policy matters, and the like. But it can also include discussions of how political questions are imbedded in realms of our lives we rarely think of as politically situated, and can touch on everything from problems we encounter in our everyday lives to how power, knowledge, and desire relate to one another in theoretical, methodological, and practical terms.
Before we all became riveted on the problem of terrorism over the last 2 weeks, I had planned to write about another story that garnered much national attention here in Canada but has, since Boston, faded from the headlines. While my fellow 14th floorer Sean Callaghan has done an admirable job working through the philosophical complexities […]
Read more "RBC’s Apology and the Limits of Capitalism"By Sean Callaghan After the Event The dust and wreckage have been swept clean from Boylston street, the soiled carpets torn up and replaced in front of Marathon Sports. The memorial at Copley square now fights for its share of quiet reflection amidst the bustle of renewed business and midtown Boston traffic congestion. Meanwhile, news […]
Read more "Acts of Forgetting after Boston"By Mark McConaghy Like many in North America and around the world last Friday, I was riveted by the manhunt for the Tsarnaev brothers. I watched with surreal fascination as the entire city of Boston was locked down into a police state for an entire day. Two young men, pressure cooker bombs, guns, stolen cars, […]
Read more "There is No Batman: On Terrorism in Our Time"By Mark McConaghy Last week our nation was shocked by the suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons. The details of the story are so grim they remain difficult to summarize: at the age of 15 Parsons was allegedly sexually assaulted at a house party by 4 teenage boys in the small town of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. A […]
Read more "On Rehtaeh Parsons"Mark McConaghy breaks down the political stakes involved in the University of Toronto’s decision to turf a vital piece of green space in downtown Toronto. Although seemingly a simple issue of field quality, the proposed turfing cuts the very core of questions of democracy, public space, and community life in Canada’s largest urban center. In […]
Read more "The Battle Over Back Campus"Mark McConaghy breaks down what we know about the deal Cyprus struck to avoid fiscal collapse, and why it sets a very dangerous precedent for fiscal policy in the 21st century. Are we going to find ourselves in a world where even our personal bank accounts are not off limits from state power? A deal […]
Read more "The Age of the Bail In: Cyprus in Crisis 2"By Sean Callaghan The Revenge of Marx? On March 25th, Time magazine published an article detailing a resurgent interest in Marxism. The title: “Marx’s Revenge: How Class Struggle is Shaping the World.” The basic argument: that the current widening divide between rich and poor since the financial crisis of 2008 has become so apparent in […]
Read more "The Homer Problem"By Mark McConaghy. The people of Cyprus are facing an egregious betrayal of trust by their own government, who has proposed to steal 10% from their citizens personal bank accounts to pay for an EU sponsored bailout. With yet another European country on the verge of total financial collapse and social upheaval, the question that […]
Read more "Cyprus in Crisis"By Mark McConaghy Jorge Mario Bergoglio has been elected as pope and has taken the name Francis 1. As a follow up to my wishlist for the papal appointment written last week, I have been encouraged by our readers to provide my thoughts on his election. As the first pope from Latin America, Francis 1 will […]
Read more "Francis 1: New Pope, Many Questions"By Mark McConaghy At a time of acute crisis in the life of the Catholic Church, what are five things that it could do to make itself into a revitalized, socially progressive, and powerfully empathetic institution for the 21st century? 1. A Comparative Perspective In the mid 18th century, the power of the Manchu Qing […]
Read more "Five Things I Want From the New Pope"
The 14th Floor 