AN INDEPENDENT CATALONIA: A SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST ACCOUNT

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged authoritarianism, Brexit, Catalonia, EU, Generalitat, independence, Kosovo, nation, national sovereignity, politics, Puigdemont, Quebec, Rajoy, referendum, Scotland, social contructivism, solidarity, support, Wendt.

by Oliver Steward

September 27th 2017 will be remembered as a Day of Independence. A day of celebration, but also a day of possible mourning. I rejoice and also remain vigilant at the coming days since the Catalonian government’s decision to declare independence. Some would view this as a failure of democracy, and of politics more generally, to achieve a peaceful alternative that would recognise the cultural diversity of Catalonia within Spain. The compromise option would have seen Catalonia keep its devolved status, but within the context of Spain. The model that Quebec and Scotland have already taken.Continue Reading

DO WE LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY?

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged business, campaign, capitalism, ceo, consensus, corporate sponsor, democracy, economics, equality, flaw, governance, government, horse and sparrow, influence, linguistics, nation, opposition, plutocracy, plutocratic state, political commentary, political influence, political power, political theory, pressure, regulation, system, trickled down.

by Richard Worth

Depending on how you feel, questioning whether we live in a democracy is either incredibly stupid or incredibly scary. In a democracy, every member who is eligible helps to decide how they are governed. Essentially everyone has the same voting power, the same level of influence over government, and the same means of expressing that influence.

But in reality this is an idealised version of democracy. In truth, we admit that there simply isn’t time for us to all have a say in every matter that affects us. Instead we elect officials who more or less represent what we want; accepting that they may stand for a few policies that we don’t agree with but we take the rough with the smooth. After all, the nature of democracy means one doesn’t get their choice every time. It’s the nation’s consensus.Continue Reading

THE MEMORY OF THE WORLD IS SHORT

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national and tagged #DontBombSyria, #ParisAttacks, aistrikes, Ankara, army, Bashar al-Assad, Beirut, bombing, daesh, Daniel Heath Justice, Instanbul, IS, Islam, Islamaphobia, Maiduguri, media, media bias, memory, middle east, MSM, nation, nonviolence, politics, privilege, propaganda, racism, refugee crisis, selective memory, Syria, terrorism, violence, West.

by Ellen Musgrove

Cherokee writer and academic Daniel Heath Justice writes in The Kynship Chronicles that ‘the memory of the world is short, and death rides hard in the forgetting.’ Being indigenous and queer, Justice knows very well the selective amnesia of the nation-state, and the resistance that demands.

Such an introduction may seem obscure, but this perceived obscurity demonstrates the problem I want to discuss. The same nation-state amnesia is imbricated in “western” society’s selective mourning of recent terror attacks, the current refugee crisis, and now renewed military intervention.

nation

THE MEMORY OF THE WORLD IS SHORT

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