scholarly journals Violence, coloniality and a vision of nonviolence for education

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-54
Author(s):  
Lesley Le Grange

We see images of violence of all kinds in the media on a daily basis. Moreover, violence associated with extreme political/religious beliefs has increased in the twentieth century and is particularly disturbing. In this article the author points out that violence is not a biological tendency but the effect of ever-increasing organisation capacities. As a consequence, violence is committed by people across the political spectrum, including the radical left and the extreme right. Carriers of violence are highlighted in the article, including coloniality and its effects on society generally and education specifically. Given that there is a force field of violence, a vision for non-violence for education is argued for. Inspiration for such a vision could come from traditional indigenous values such as the African value of ubuntu.

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou Yuxin

Abstract The Wukan Incident attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world, and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In both the media and academia, the focus has very much been on the temporal level of the Incident. The political and legal dimensions, as well as the implications of the Incident in terms of human rights have all been pored over. However, what all of these discussions have overlooked is the role played by religious force during the Incident. The village of Wukan has a history of over four hundred years, and is deeply influenced by the religious beliefs of its people. Within both the system of religious beliefs and in everyday life in the village, the divine immortal Zhenxiu Xianweng and the religious rite of casting shengbei have a powerful influence. In times of peace, Xianweng and casting shengbei work to bestow good fortune, wealth and longevity on both the village itself, and the individuals who live there. During the Wukan Incident, they had a harmonizing influence, and helped to unify and protect the people. Looking at the specific roles played by religion throughout the Wukan Incident will not only enable us to develop a more meaningful understanding of the cultural nature and the complexity of the Incident itself, it will also enrich our understanding, on a divine level, of innovations in social management.


Author(s):  
Julia Moses

The first half of the twentieth century witnessed the dramatic emergence of modern welfare states across Europe. Why did this transformation take form? Was this process uniform across Europe? And what did it mean for relations between individuals and states? This chapter suggests that European social policies in the early twentieth century were characterized by an emphasis on integration and community. This perspective chimed with widespread utopian aspirations for social improvement voiced across the political spectrum and across the Continent. Nonetheless, the relative emphasis on integration and community varied across Europe and over time. Moreover, associated quests for an ideal future held the potential to be both enabling and oppressive. This chapter highlights two related themes that reveal these complexities: work and population politics. It charts developments in social legislation across Europe, including eugenics, labour, and family policies, and it traces the impact of transnational reform movements and international organizations.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthijs Rooduijn ◽  
Tjitske Akkerman

How is populism distributed over the political spectrum? Are right-wing parties more populist than left-wing parties? Based on the analysis of 32 parties in five Western European countries between 1989 and 2008, we show that radical parties on both the left and the right are inclined to employ a populist discourse. This is a striking finding, because populism in Western Europe has typically been associated with the radical right; only some particular radical left parties have been labeled populist as well. This article suggests that the contemporary radical left in Western Europe is generally populist. Our explanation is that many contemporary radical left parties are not traditionally communist or socialist (anymore). They do not focus on the ‘proletariat’, but glorify a more general category: the ‘good people’. Moreover, they do not reject the system of liberal democracy as such, but only criticize the political and/or economic elites within that system.


Author(s):  
Sally M. Horrocks

Commentators and politicians have frequently argued that the performance of the British economy could be significantly improved by paying more attention to the translation of the results of scientific research into new products and processes. They have frequently suggested that deficiencies in achieving this are part of a long-standing national malaise and regularly point to a few well-worn examples to support their contention. What are conspicuous by their absence from these debates are detailed and contextual studies that actually examine the nature of the interactions between scientists and industry and how these changed over time. This paper provides one such study by examining three aspects of the relationship between the Royal Society, its Fellows and industrial R&D during the mid twentieth century. It looks first at the enthusiasm for industrial research to be found across the political spectrum after World War II before examining the election as Fellows of the Royal Society of men who worked in industry at the time of their election. Finally it considers the extent to which industrial R&D was incorporated into the way in which the Royal Society presented itself to the outside world through its Conversazione. Despite the absence of formal structures to translate the results of the work of scientists employed in other institutional contexts to industry, there is much evidence to indicate that there were plenty of other opportunities for the exchange of information to take place.


2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 493-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW K. MILTON

This article examines general patterns of the politics of media reform in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Taiwan, all societies transitioning to democracy. Although the media are becoming more free and independent in each, there remain significant political constraints on journalism in all four countries. Using arguments from organizational analysis, the author contends that the persistence of institutional connection between the media and the government, state, and political parties has left the media in a politically dependent position. This dependence is manipulated by politicians across the political spectrum in an effort to sustain electoral success and political authority. The prevalence of this pattern in Taiwan indicates that the so-called Leninist legacy is not always the primary inhibitor of greater liberalization. The difficulties in all four countries indicate, the author contends, that rebuilding old institutions differs from creating brand new democratic ones.


2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL A. GORDON

AbstractThis article argues that Gerd-Rainer Horn's model of a ‘Mediterranean New Left’ encompassing both the French Parti socialiste unifié (PSU, 1960–1990) and the Italian Partito socialista italiano di unità proletaria (PSIUP, 1964–1972) needs to be significantly revised. It agrees that, half a century on from the events which gave rise to their foundation, this much misunderstood part of the political spectrum, midway between social democracy and the far left, is worthy of rescue from the ‘enormous condescension of posterity’, but questions how similar the two parties actually were. Major differences emerge, especially in the nature of each party's relationship with communism, with the philosovietism of the PSIUP contrasting with the PSU's evolution towards an anti-Leninist decentralist socialism of self-management. Yet, at the same time, important new evidence is uncovered about the concrete political and personal links that developed between leading intellectuals of the PSIUP and PSU, an example being the friendship of the Italian parliamentarian and theorist Lelio Basso with the journalist Gilles Martinet, later French ambassador to Italy. Other transnational links, both across the Mediterranean and to eastern Europe, are explored. Furthermore, the location of the roots of both parties in the 1940s generation of anti-fascist resistance calls into question prevailing assumptions equating the New Left with the youth of the 1960s, with wider implications for our understanding of the development of the European left across the twentieth century.


2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-209
Author(s):  
Nic Maclellan

Commentary: Since the 1990s, the media landscape has broadened in New Caledonia, with new magazines and websites across the political spectrum. New Caledonia’s FLNKS independence movement has long been supported by the community station Radio Djiido, which has expanded into live broadcasting and streaming on the web. But over the last decade, there has been an increase in opportunities for journalists to work with a range of new magazines, covering politics, culture, environment and economics. There is also increasing interest in the web among the young, with the beginning of internet blogging.


Author(s):  
Claire Warden

The early years of the twentieth century saw a proliferation of mass spectacles and events on a grand scale with thousands of participants, which frequently included non-professional performers. These spectacles often re-enacted historical events (Paterson Strike Pageant, The Storming of the Winter Palace) or celebrated technological innovations or national achievements (18BL, Olympic Youth). Performances crossed both geographical and political borders, were encouraged by parties from across the political spectrum, and took place in a range of countries including Germany, Italy, Russia and the US. The aim of these mass spectacles was to unite a crowd, which could number in the thousands, behind a particular historical, political or social position or idea. By attempting to unite a majority, these performances often ignored, isolated or marginalized others. Dance and movement techniques were at the very forefront of this genre of performance. The body became a central motif, functioning as an emblem of political emancipation, ethnic superiority, nostalgic tradition and/or a mechanized symbol of modernity.


Intersections ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Kocyba

The following paper will discuss whether Pegida participants can be accused of having extreme right-wing attitudes or, on the contrary, the movement should be acknowledged as a legitimate form of protest by ‘concerned citizens’. To answer this question, the paper will refer to data collected at demonstrations and to general population polls. It transpires, despite other claims (also formulated by experts on Pegida), that Pegida demonstrators indeed lean sharply to the extreme right of the political spectrum. This is indicated both by the party’s electoral preferences (after all, a vast majority of the protesters would vote for the AfD) and the worldview of Pegida’s supporters that indicates their proximity to the extreme right.


Migrant City ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 167-195
Author(s):  
Panikos Panayi

This chapter reveals that London has played a role in the evolution of virtually every radical political ideology over the last two centuries, whether communism, pan-Africanism, or a host of nationalist ideologies which led to the overthrow of both the continental nineteenth-century empires and to British imperialism. It appears that every revolutionary leader of the period from the end of the eighteenth to the middle of twentieth century spent time in London. And beyond that, a series of governments in exile based themselves in London waiting for the defeat of the Nazis in Europe, perhaps most famously the Free French led by Charles de Gaulle. The presence of the conservative but nationalist French leader points to the fact that London has acted as home to political exiles from all parts of the political spectrum. However, as this chapter shows, these revolutionaries did not share the same views.


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