Dear University of Helsinki, I read with great interest about your suspension of exchanges involving Israeli students. I assume that’s in response to the great humanitarian tragedy associated with the Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza. I assume that is because of student protests. Or maybe you are concerned with the United Nations commission that…
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, April 7, 2024; Updated April 8, 2024 Source: SVT, Agenda, April 7, 2024. Today, Swedish Television’s Agenda program had a face off on the role of the EU where Jonas Sjöstedt from the Left Party was opposed by the Christian Democrat’s top EU parliamentary candidate, Alice Teodorescu Måwe. Måwe made these key…
Continue readingAnother Left/Right Debate on Swedish Television that Misses the Point
March 17, 2024 WHAT IS THE GLOBAL TEACH-IN? The Global Teach-In is an educational and political movement that has been associated with various organizing events designed to address both topical issues and long-term concerns. On May 18th, 2020 we discussed ways to promote a more resilient and democratic alternative to the underlying institutions lying behind…
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, March 13, 2023 The Good News: Fewer Dirty Flights A recent news story in Dagens Nyheter (DN) (February 5th) reported that “emissions from Swedes’ air travel were almost as significant as the emissions from all passenger car traffic in the country before the pandemic.” From 1990 to 2017, “the climate impact…
Continue readingFlights of Fancy: Swedish Emission Reduction Gains Will Be Eroded by NATO Membership
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, March 7, 2024 Cecilia Strömberg Wallin, Philip Teir, Thella Johnson, and Bengt Kristensson Uggla at “Nya tider och nya identiteter – om Sverige, Finland och Nato,” at ABF in Stockholm, March 7, 2024. Photo by author. The Times We Live In In this essay I will try to explain how some…
Continue readingThe Displacement of Militarism as Culture: A New Role for Nordic Philosophy
By Jonathan M. Feldman, January 10, 2024; Updated January 11, 2024 Introducing the BS-sequitur The editorial above, published in Dagens Nyhter (DN, a leading Swedish newspaper), shows clearly the growing formulaic logic of what I will now call the “mis-sequitur.” It is not a just “non-sequitur,” in which b does not logically follow a. Rather,…
Continue readingHow to Read the DN Ledare Page: The Art of the BS-sequitur
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, January 6, 2024; Updated June 13, 2024; November 27, 2024 The Israeli government’s transgressions are real, problematic, and dangerous. Yet, the counter reaction is often defined by an idiotic version of post-colonial framing that displaces the cycle of violence and hence is about moral posturing and often lying propaganda rather than…
Continue readingPush Button Memes, Anti-Zionist-Splaining, the Slander License and Neo-Stalinism
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, November 19, 2023; Revised version April 3, 2024 It is often assumed that post-colonial theory cannot, by definition, replicate the oppressive discourses which are, in part, the object of its study. None is more aware than Edward Said of the hazards of reproducing what he calls, in Culture and Imperialism, a…
Photograph of original Dagens Nyheter article, October 25, 2023. By Jonathan Michael Feldman, October 27, 2023 The Intramural Split between Dagens Nyheter and the Left Party This short essay will examine the following editorial published in Dagens Nyheter, October 26, 2023, “Ledare: Kriget i Mellanöstern avslöjar Vänsterpartiet.” The essay begins by noting that “the flared-up…
Continue readingDagens Nyheter versus the Swedish Left Party: The Clash of Dirty Laundry
By Jonathan Michael Feldman, October 15, 2023; Revised October 26, 2023 Source: Author adapted from Pixabay. People who act as if terrorists aren’t responsible for their actions are de facto apologists for terrorists. The same for militarists. Those who simply blame Israel for all of Hamas’s actions eliminate free will. Those who simply blame Hamas…
Continue readingBeyond Terrorism and Militarism: An Alternative to Surplus Political Violence