A neo-Horthyist restoration

A neo-Horthyist restoration Tamás Krausz Since winning the Hungarian general elections in 2010 with a two-thirds majority, Viktor Orbán’s nationalist-populist party Fidesz has introduced an authoritarian administration that is reminiscent of Hungary’s interwar regime, when Miklós Horthy ruled as an ally of Hitler. When state socialism collapsed in 1989, liberal ideologists propagated the idea that […]

Politicizing powerlessness

Commentary PARIS, 13 NOVEMBER 2015 Politicizing powerlessness mathieu bonzom How might we intervene in the new situation created by the 13 November attacks in Paris and the various reactions they have provoked? Instead of trying to figure out what the government should be doing, social movements should determine what they can do and what we […]

‘Become a permanent migrant to the UK!’

COMMENTARY ‘become a permanent migrant to the uk!’ claudia aradau Since 2005, when citizenship tests were effectively introduced in the UK, the official guidance book Life in the United Kingdom has been a veritable battleground over identity, history and knowledge. ‘Could you pass a citizenship test? ‘Most young people can’t’, the media reiterate with each […]

Submarine state: On secrets and leaks

It’s not answerable to anyone, given it doesn’t exist in law; no minutes are kept; and it’s confidential. No citizen ever knows what is said within… These are decisions of almost life and death, and no member has to answer to anybody. – Yanis Varoufakis, description of the Eurozone [1] Recently in this journal Maïa […]

Big data, small freedom?: Informational surveillance and the political

Dossier: Data & Surveillance

Big data, smal freedom? Informational surveil ance and the political Burkhardt wolf In 2010, ‘big data’ was described as ‘datasets that could not be captured, managed and processed by general computers within an acceptable scope’. [1] Today’s definitions boil down to three Vs: Variety, Volume and Velocity. Big data deals with mostly un structured, heterogeneous […]

Food politics in the USA

COMMENT Food politics in the usa allan stoekl Nutrition in food is, today, a function of profitability: junk food and processed foods are more profitable than organics grown locally; meat is not only more energy intensive, but is more profitable (at least for those who package and market it). People’s diets are, in other words, […]

Legal terror and the police dog

In Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 2001 an off-duty police officer spotted Antonio Chatman, who was known by this officer as having a warrant for a misdemeanour. Soon other officers, including a K-9 unit, arrived on the scene. Chatman attempted to flee but a police dog pursued and apprehended him, which is to say the trained dog […]

Deadly Algorithms: Can legal codes hold software accountable for code that kills?

COMMENTARy Deadly algorithms Can legal codes hold software accountable for code that kil s? Susan schuppli Algorithms have long adjudicated over vital processes that help to ensure our wellbeing and survival, from pacemakers that maintain the natural rhythms of the heart, and genetic algorithms that optimise emergency response times by cross-referencing ambulance locations with demographic […]

Boycotting Israel:  Academia, activism and the futures of American Studies

COMMENTARy Boycotting israel Academia, activism and the futures of American Studies Mandy merck On 4 December of last year, the annual conference of the American Studies Association resolved that ‘whereas the United States plays a significant role in enabling the Israeli occupation of Palestine … whereas there is no effective or substantive academic freedom for Palestinian […]

‘People not of our concern’

COMMENTARy ‘people not of our concern’ Rejected refugees in Tunisia Martina tazzioli ‘We stay here and we don’t move.’ This is the refrain in the Choucha refugee camp among those who have been stranded there, in the desert, since 2011. ‘Rejected’ and ‘non-resettled refugees’ are the categories through which these migrant stories have been sorted. […]