Political Revolution Research Articles

Reflections on Decoloniality from a South African Indian Perspective: Conceptual Metaphors in Vivekananda’s Poem “My Play Is Done”

Swami Vivekananda was an influential Indian saint, poet, philosopher and political revolutionary. His work can be seen as a conduit for South African Hindus who are part of the Indian diaspora, allowing them to connect with their historical, cultural and spiritual roots in the religious and conceptual world of India. The first step to decolonising those who have been subjected to colonial hegemony is to (re)connect them with their intellectual and spiritual roots, and it is argued here that this is precisely the zeitgeist behind Vivekananda’s life and mission in general. His poetry is particularly valuable because he wrote in English, instead of his native Bengali, and was thereby able to reach English-speaking Hindus all over the world. In 1936 Indians in South Africa decided to adopt English as a lingua franca, both as a language of teaching and learning, and as a home language. This article focuses on one of these poems, “My Play Is Done”, which Vivekananda composed in 1895 in New York. The poem presents the human condition from a Hindu perspective, which differs substantially from the Western way of thinking. This article explores these concepts within the framework of conceptual metaphor theory. With reference to metaphors used in the poem, various aspects of Hindu philosophical thought will be explored, showing how Oriental conceptual reality differs from Western thought. This provides a link to an ancient precolonial way of thinking, accessible to diasporas around the world.

„To był mastodont” – Mieczysław Szczuka w poszukiwaniu piękna utylitarnego

<p>Artykuł jest próbą biografii Mieczysława Szczuki – polskiego artysty-grafika międzywojnia. Jego krótka działalność jest istotna z uwagi na fascynację radzieckim konstruktywizmem, pionierstwo w zakresie polskiego fotomontażu, działalność teoretyczną oraz zespolenie idei artystycznych<br />z komunistycznym dążeniem do przeprowadzenia rewolucji społeczno-politycznej. Szczuka współtworzył czasopisma artystyczno-literackie (Blok, Dźwignia) oraz angażował się w wydawniczą działalność awangardową. Przywoływane wypowiedzi programowe wpisywały się w artystyczne<br />i literackie dyskusje międzywojenne.</p><p> </p>

Левые взгляды на либеральные протесты в России (рецензия на монографию Осина Р.С. «Левые силы и стихийный протест: история, уроки, современность, перспективы»)

This review is an analysis of the monograph of Roman Osin, candidate of philosophy, associate Professor of the Department of fundamental legal and social-humanitarian disciplines at synergy University "Left forces and spontaneous protest: history, lessons, modernity, prospects". The monograph examines the political and socio-class nature of the mass protests of 2011-2013 from the perspective of Marxist methodology and tactics of the Russian left movement in them. The monograph is of interest both from the point of view of studying the protest and left-wing movements of the early 2010s, and from the point of view of the methodology for understanding the phenomenon of "color" revolutions in General. The author analyzes the social composition of the protesters, their political views, as well as the political forces of the protest and their tactics based on the empirical material of sociological research, as well as personal experience of participating in the ongoing processes. Based on the study, R.S. Osin concludes that the protest was generally "petty-bourgeois" in nature and could not lead to fundamental changes in the basis of society. At the same time, from the author's point of view, this protest was an important milestone in the development of the politicization of Russian society and could not fail to be a useful experience for Russian citizens. Analyzing the tactics of the left forces, R.S. Osin notes as a disadvantage the political and ideological inconsistency of many left-wing organizations, which benefited the liberal protest forces or the authorities. From the point of view Of R.S. Osin, the most correct tactic was the tactics of those organizations that simultaneously opposed the liberal and state-Patriotic forces, which in practice means participating in protests with their own independent agenda. In conclusion, R.S. Osin expresses his own point of view on the need for fundamental changes in society, reveals the concept of social and political revolutions, and also States the thesis that only the organized labor movement and other layers of workers can change the system of industrial relations in the country. Despite the obvious ideological color of the work and the use of exclusively Marxist methodology as the research base, R.S. Osin's monograph is of scientific interest and can be used to study the modern protest and left-wing movement.

THE ROLE OF CITIES IN AN INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK: HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The paper is devoted to a consideration of the distinguishing characteristics of a city as a powerful actor within the international legal framework that has been formed over decades and centuries of world history. The development of cities, their economic growth and hierarchization of social structures has led towards the division of labor, the nature of urban leadership provoking political revolution, and the formation of city states as well as the mutual impact between a state and a city. Thereafter, the problem of their loss of autonomy and independence because of their inability to cope with problems of a transnational nature dominated by threats, and how demographic changes are dealt with are a vital part of this work.

Sobre Hilda Sabato, Republics of the New World: The Revolutionary Political Experiment in 19th-Century Latin America

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Free and open‐source therapy: Towards a revolution in the politics of psychotherapy

Free and open‐source therapy: Towards a revolution in the politics of psychotherapy

Dopo la Grande Guerra Violenza, Stati e Società Tra Adriatico Orientale e Balcani

Dopo la Grande Guerra Violenza, Stati e Società Tra Adriatico Orientale e Balcani

The evolving status of elementary teachers in Ireland (1831–1921): from ‘feckless and impoverished’ to ‘respectable’

ABSTRACT This research critically examines the efforts of the British State and the various churches to re-vision the character and status of elementary school teachers in Ireland between the 1830s and the 1920s. In a climate of regular political revolution and denominational hostility, the Westminster government and all churches were anxious to promote civility, loyalty and religious allegiance among the Irish populace through education. To advance these aims, strict criteria for the selection, training, recruitment and management of teachers were developed and introduced by the State and churches. The aim here is to explore and analyse the interface between, and impact of, national and local oversight on the professional standing and identity of teachers. Collectively, the concerted efforts of the State and churches led to a re-vision of the position and a change in the status of teachers that has had a lasting impact on their professional identity.

Liderler ve Mısır Dış Politikası: Nasır ve Mursi Dönemlerinde Bireysel Etkenler

Egypt has witnessed two political revolutions in 1952 and 2011. Following the revolutions, while Nasser came to power after the overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy, Morsi took the lead after the fall of Mubarak’s 30-year rule in Egypt. Given leader-centric foreign policies in authoritarian/developing countries, both leaders with divergent agendas were expected to change Egypt’s existing foreign policy to a great extent. Nasser satisfied this expectation, whereas Morsi failed to make radical foreign policy changes in Egypt. This study aims firstly to present individual-level factors that play substantial roles in whether leaders become effective and influential in foreign policy and then tries to show how these factors paved the way for the difference between the impacts of Nasser and Morsi on Egypt’s foreign policy.

Lamennais’s sensibility

ABSTRACT This article deals with the most important points of contact between feeling and cognition in the thought of Félicité de Lamennais. The following arguments are focused on: i. the central role of love; ii. the advocacy of self-denial, taking the shape of a denunciation of earthly pleasures and passions, especially pride; iii. a failure to endorse moral pluralism; iv. the necessity for people to fulfil their ‘duties’; v. a view of the post-revolutionary phase as fateful; and vi. a tendency to criticise and antagonise. It emerges that Lamennais the pious believer, extolling the authority of the Church (i.–iii.), always coexisted with Lamennais the revolutionary, preaching religious and political subversion (iv.–vi.). He spread the same affective tropes, although in different doses, over the various phases of his career.

Racial Migrations: New York City and the Revolutionary Politics of the Spanish Caribbean, 1850–1902

Racial Migrations: New York City and the Revolutionary Politics of the Spanish Caribbean, 1850–1902

Wait and the Sky Will Change: Anticipation and Revolution in Northeastern Thailand

ABSTRACT“Wait, and the sky will change its color” is a saying that, in Thai, points toward a future that will erase the unbearable present. But what does it mean to wait? In Northeastern Thailand, I explore this experience of holding the present in tension with an uncertain future via examples drawn from religious upheaval, political revolution, and the lives of migrant workers. Waiting on that which never comes, in this context, is neither nihilism nor escapism, but allows for the opening a space of fantasy—the imaginative horizon that allows a rethinking of the everyday. [anticipation, millenarianism, imagination, waiting, migrant labor, Thailand]

Evaluating Progress towards Universal Health Coverage in Ukraine

The healthcare system of Ukraine is characterized by low ratings, not only in terms of health outcomes, but also in terms of access to services, where one of the main obstacles is the financial problem, equity and justice, as well as the lack of implementation of measures aimed at positively stimulating the health potential of the population countries. The latest political revolution in Ukraine (2014) once again opened up the possibility of implementing a project of deep modernization of the Ukrainian state. However, at this time, we can witness the birth of an entirely new system of healthcare in Ukraine formed “from scratch”: with new priorities as well as completely new approaches and management principles. The transformation of the health care system began to develop gradually, with a focus on primary health care. Significant progress has been made over the past few years towards a human-centered model for the provision of health services. The process to build the National Health Service has started, which should fundamentally change the funding system by focusing not on beds (as was the case before) but on the principle “money follows the patient,” thereby planning to gradually transfer to insurance medicine.

Trotsky was not Stalin

The 1990s were particularly harsh when they decreed – almost without intellectual opponents – that what had ended in 1989 was not the Stalinist dictatorship but, above all, socialism itself. Capitalism would be the (a) historical and universal, permanent and inevitable destiny of humankind. Outside this ‘destiny’ there would be no alternative. An unhistorical nature, an assured destiny, the future would then be inescapable. In order to bring this ideology to life, a memory of the European past has been built that does not pass through the laboratory of history. History is not memory. In these article we will debate 3 dominant thesis: is that of Nazism as the work of a madman, concealing that the Nazi regime was the corollary of the explosion of an entire economic and social system, capitalism, in the crisis of 1929. The other recurring theme, which calls for social resignation, insists that all emancipatory attempts in the twentieth century would result in totalitarian societies, starting with the October 1917 social and political revolution itself. The idea that the European Union is the constructor of the European Social State is another myth disseminated amidst the illustrated common sense. Finally, the hypothesis that European social rights ended, with neoliberalism, because of the fall of the USSR in 1989–1991, is another widely disseminated myth.

A Critical Reflection on Neoliberalism

: In this interview, we first scrutinise the meaning of classical liberalism and its revision by New liberalism in the twenties as social liberalism to demonstrate the conceptual confusion in using the term ‘neoliberalism' as an economic doctrine. We then discuss the emergence of American neoliberalism as developed by the economic and law departments of the University of Chicago in the seventies notably by the Monetarist school. The anti-inflation program of Milton Friedman and Washington consensus provide a particular version of neoliberalism as economic policy. However, neoliberalism also pertains to a transitional, and non viable post-Fordist accumulation regime that has collapsed by 2007-2008 crisis. We also demonstrate the opposition against neoliberal economic policy not only by left critics but also by many right and center economists, politicians and scholars. Finally, we refute the idea of considering the political economy of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) as neoliberal. Borrowing Vahabi’s theoretical framework, we characterise parallel institutions and foundations as political capitalism with the predominance of predatory para-statal sectors. The limits of reformist and transformationalist discourses are revisited in light of political economy of the IRI, and the need for a social and political revolution is concluded.

Guns Under the Table: Kim Stanley Robinson and the Transition to Utopia

Kim Stanley Robinson is a declared eco-socialist and arguably the most distinguished acolyte of Fredric Jameson, America's leading Marxist literary critic. Robinson's Mars trilogy develops a detailed account of three political revolutions. Robinson explains that this was a deliberate choice on his part, because he felt that in his first utopian novel, Pacific Edge, he “dodged the necessity of revolution.” He describes Antarctica and The Years of Rice and Salt as his next utopian novels, but these, too, dodge the “necessity of revolution,” the first by substituting science for politics, the second by projecting an alternative history into an alternative future. In the Science in the Capital trilogy, politics becomes paramount, and it continues to be so in his more recent fiction. This article will explore how Robinson negotiates the transition to utopia in his later work, from Forty Signs of Rain through to New York 2140 and Red Moon.

Spivak's Planetarity and the Limits of Professional Reading

This article argues that Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's notion of planetarity is premised on a practice of reading. Reading for the planet involves deferring the world in order to participate in the text world and its latent re(-)production of ourselves and our world. To the extent that this ethical attention moves us toward different horizons of thinking and feeling, it may also engender political action in the public realm. Reading for Spivak is therefore an important foundation for revolutionary politics and, ultimately, the production of the planet to which we aspire as readers. I proceed to evaluate the planetary efficacy of Spivak's complementary teaching praxis. I show that the aesthetic education she provides does not enable but rather forecloses the experience of literariness and its associated ethics and politics. In response to the limits of professional reading and the worldliness of Spivak's fieldwork in India, I conclude by thinking about the value of deprofessionalization.

Interplay between labour dynamics, accounting and accountability practices during the rise of a political logic: an Egyptian case study

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide a political explanation of management, accounting and control (MAC) practices in a traditional and unstable African setting. This was done by exploring the influence of latest revolutionary politics in Egypt along with labour dynamics in the context.Design/methodology/approachTheoretically, the study uses the institutional logics perspective to understand the effects of higher order institutions on corporate management and workers at the micro level. Methodologically, the study adopts an interpretative case study approach. Data were collected using a triangulation of interviews, documents and observations.FindingsThe study finds that volatile political settings can have different contradictory implications for MAC practices. It also concludes that revolutionary events play a central role not only in the configuration of MAC practices but also in the mobilisation of labour resistance to these practices.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by investigating the different appearances of MAC practices in a volatile, political or revolutionary context, in contrast to highly investigated stabilised Western contexts. This broadens the definition of the social in the area of accounting and control.

Making sense of militarism through antimilitarists’ resistance strategies

ABSTRACT This review article examines Chris Rossdale’s Resisting Militarism: Direct Action and the Politics of Subversion, bringing its critical analysis of British antimilitarism into conversation with my doctoral project on the socio-legal analysis of conscientious objection in Turkey, the only country that has not recognized the right to conscientious objection among the members of the Council of Europe. It demonstrates how considering the various facets of militarism within different geographical contexts could help us to better understand the diverse resistance strategies. The article draws on Rossdale’s findings of antimilitarism in the UK and the semi-structured interviews that I conducted with 18 conscientious objectors in Turkey in June–July 2016 using snowballing sampling. It argues that militarism does not only shape society, but also interact with its social, cultural, economic, political elements. As a result, individuals coming from diverse social settings encounter militarization in diverse ways, which, in effect, has implications on how anti-militarists resist militarism.

In from the socialist “cold,” but burned by the capitalist “heat”? The dynamics of political revolution and economic transformation in Eastern Germany after 1990

This article examines the crisis-ridden path from planned to market economy in Eastern Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. By analyzing the history of the highly debated Treuhandanstalt—the so-called Trust Agency and the main actor of the economic reconstruction—the discussion sheds light on the political modes of decision making in the East and especially its long-term effects. The focus is on the negotiations carried out at the Central Round Table in early 1990, the first free elections in March 1990, the deliberations between Federal and East German governments in summer 1990, the discrete bargaining strategy of the Treuhand in 1991‒1992, and the massive public debates and scandals connected to the Treuhand in 1993‒1994. The organization is interpreted as an exceptional regime of economic experts that managed the socioeconomic “shock” of economic reconstruction as a kind of “shield of protection” for the political system, but at the same time it was unable to buffer the dramatic sociocultural consequences of closures and mass unemployment: Recent debates and election campaigns in 2019 highlight the fact that the Treuhand is still present as a negative myth or “bad bank” of East German memory culture open for populist campaigning.