Colonialism

The Netherlands Waged a Bloody 4-Year War to keep Indonesia Colonized after 1945; Finally it is Apologizing

( Jacobin NL) On Monday 29 May 2023 I stood with my granddaughter and my son-in-law in front of the Proclamation Monument in Jakarta, with the two more than life-size bronze statues of the Indonesians Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, who on 17 August 1945 proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia. In between them […]

Colonialism

The Tapestry of Palestinian History: The Palestine Museum in Bir Zeit

Middle East Monitor

Naima Morelli naimamorelli ( Middle East Monitor ) – Duty and care are the words that would best describe the approach of Dr Adila Laidi-Hanieh towards the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit. She is stepping down as director of the museum at the end of this month, and we took the opportunity for her to […]

Africa

Dear Ron DeSantis: Consider all the Valuable Skills the Enslaved Taught Cracker Slave-Holders (For Which they were never Paid)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new Florida history curriculum on slavery says that some enslaved persons learned skills while enslaved that later benefited them, provoking shock and outrage across the nation. One of the things that is wrong with this way of looking at the issue is the white nationalist assumption that white slavers […]

Batteries

On this 4th of July we need to Declare a War of Independence from Fossil Fuels and Climate Change

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, kicked off the Revolutionary War in earnest, which the Continental Army only finally won seven years later, in 1882. The Revolutionary War was a rare conflict for the United States, in that it was fought on our own soil, such that every […]

Colonialism

Fascist Italy’s forgotten Concentration Camps in Libya

Middle East Monitor

Mustafa Fetouri MFetouri ( Middle East Monitor ) – On 30 August 2008, Italy and Libya signed their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, ending their awkward past of feuding and diplomatic tensions over Italy’s colonisation of Libya from 1911 to 1943. Libya was seeking compensation, recognition of suffering of its people and, above […]

Colonialism

Why do so many Turkish people believe ‘Secret Clauses’ in the 1923 Great Power Lausanne Treaty will be unveiled this Year?

The Conversation

By Ozan Ozavci, Utrecht University | – (The Conversation) – Commonly regarded as the “birth certificate” of modern Turkey, the 1923 treaty of Lausanne was the last of the peace settlements signed at the end of the first world war. This year’s centenary has already provoked far more public anticipation than one might expect, thanks […]

Colonialism

How Whiteness was Invented and Fashioned in Britain’s Colonial Age of Expansion

The Conversation

By Beverly Lemire, University of Alberta | – (The Conversation)- Fashion is political — today as in the past. As Britain’s Empire dramatically expanded, people of all ranks lived with clothing and everyday objects in startlingly different ways than generations before. The years between 1660 and 1820 saw the expansion of the British empire and […]

Afghanistan

That Time Gorbachev Announced Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan and US went on Building up Muslim Fundamentalists there Anyway, leading to 9/11

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mikhail Gorbachev’s passing yesterday at age 91 is a good occasion to review some of the profound mistakes of the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidencies regarding Afghanistan. Reagan-era officials refused to believe that Premier Gorbachev actually intended to pull Soviet troops out of Afghanistan, though Gorbachev came into […]

Colonialism

Trump joins Aaron Burr and Jefferson Davis as Former High Office-Holder Investigated for Sedition

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Carol D. Leonnig, Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey, and Spencer S. Hsu at the Washington Post got the scoop that the Department of Justice has for some time been investigating Donald John Trump for possible charges in connection with his campaign to overturn the 2020 election results. (I call him Donald […]