1. We don’t want to be heroes, even for one day We are not heroes. We do not want to be fallen martyrs. All this war imagery makes us very uncomfortable. It distract people from the reality. We are ordinary people who have chosen to become health workers and carers. We are professionals and highly trained. All we want is to be given the tools we need to do our job … [Read more...] about The Pandemonic Dialogues
Phil's Blog
Mapping the Pandemic
MAPPING THE PANDEMIC FROM LEFT FIELD PHIL COHEN Published on line by Compass Wednesday June 24 2020 This essay looks at a range of public, personal and governmental responses to the pandemic for what it tells us about the kind of society and culture we live in. Drawing on insights from anthropology and psychoanalysis a model of risk perception is … [Read more...] about Mapping the Pandemic
SAID THE JOKER TO THE THIEF Political Mindfulness and the Crisis of the Left Part 2
There must be some way out of here The title of this discussion might at first sight appear to be a plea for some kind of radical escapology. We are in a mess, how do we get out of it? There are currently a number of escapisms on offer on the Left. An escape into the past via nostalgic evocations of a world of working class community support which has been lost . … [Read more...] about SAID THE JOKER TO THE THIEF Political Mindfulness and the Crisis of the Left Part 2
Politics’ Other Scene : some reflections on the times of Brexit
On Mindfulness [i] We are living through a conjuncture which almost defies conjunctural analysis, where politics are taking an increasingly toxic turn and we are indeed entering uncharted waters. Against this background, the propagandists of neo-liberalism urge us to cultivate ‘resilience’ and ‘mindfulness’ as a way of seizing and surviving the present moment. Mindfulness in … [Read more...] about Politics’ Other Scene : some reflections on the times of Brexit
Mapping the Anthropocene: Some reflections on a short story by Barry Lopez
Today we are all too familiar with the two cultures of cartography, belonging to the worlds of science and art . Digital mapping technologies produce ever more precise and dramatic visualisations of big quantitative data sets generated by the procedural methodologies of natural and social science. The map’s power to abstract and totalise has never been … [Read more...] about Mapping the Anthropocene: Some reflections on a short story by Barry Lopez