Colonialism

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – 1. The Fourth of July celebrates a revolutionary event. January 6 was a counter-revolutionary event. Why do I say this? The chief feature of the Declaration of Independence was not that it announced an insurrection (or rather confirmed one already announced by some 90 councils and other local bodies). Insurrections […]

Bill of Rights

The Declaration of Independence wasn’t really complaining about King George, and 5 other surprising facts for July Fourth

The Conversation

By Woody Holton | – Editor’s note: Americans may think they know a lot about the Declaration of Independence, but many of those ideas are elitist and wrong, as historian Woody Holton explains. His forthcoming book “Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution” shows how independence and the Revolutionary War were influenced […]

Climate Crisis

How colonialism’s legacy makes it harder for countries to escape poverty and fossil fuels today

The Conversation

By Patrick Greiner | – ( The Conversation ) – While fossil fuels were powering wealthy nations’ economic growth in the 19th and 20th centuries, many countries across the Global South remained largely impoverished. Today, all that burning of oil, coal and natural gas has warmed the planet toward dangerous levels, and science shows that […]

censorship

International Statement of Solidarity with Decolonial Academics and Activists in France

contributors

By Paola Bacchetta (Professor, University of California, Berkeley), Azeezah Kanji (Legal Academic and Journalist, Toronto) and David Palumbo-Liu (Professor, Stanford University) | – Earliest Signatories: 1. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, University Professor, Columbia University, USA 2. Gina Dent, Associate Professor, Feminist Studies, History of Consciousness, and Legal Studies. University of California, Santa Cruz 3. Angela Y […]

Colonialism

The Last time the US Capitol was stormed, it was by Enemy British Troops

The Conversation

By Matthew Ward | – As rioters forced their way into the US Capitol Building on January 6, astounded CNN presenters noted that this was the first time something like this had happened for more than 200 years. And that on the occasion it was the British, an enemy power, which was responsible. This was […]

Colonialism

Biden Pick, Native American Deb Haaland to head Dept. that once Vowed to “Civilize or Exterminate” her People

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) will be president-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Department of the Interior. She is the first Native American to head the department, and her appointment is full of ironies. The Department, formed in 1849, includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs and has a long history […]

African-Americans

Trump doesn’t Understand History any more than he Understands Epidemics

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump has a long history of proclaiming that he understands things better than the people who are experts in those things. When Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the Centers for Disease Control, testified to Congress that mask-wearing is even more effective against Covid-19 than a vaccine is likely to […]

Colonialism

How the Failures of Great Powers at the Versailles Peace Conference Set the Stage for Today’s anti-racist Uprisings

Elizabeth F. Thompson

( The Conversation) – The racism that is now the target of protest across the globe is rooted in the tragic choices of leaders seeking to roll back change a century ago. Nearly all historians now agree that at the end of World War I, the choice to return to an imperialist world order by […]

Archaeology

Elon Musk may have been Joking, but the Flaky Theory that Aliens built the Pyramids is Faintly Racist

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Egyptian scientists and archeologists replied in a level-headed but firm way to billionaire Elon Musk’s tweet that aliens built the pyramids. It isn’t clear whether Musk was just joking around, though he sometimes talks about the possibility that advanced aliens are watching us, and thinks it statistically possible that alien […]