An A to Z of Theory | Alain Badiou: Ontology and Structuralism
Alain Badiou’s influential theory of the Event, revolutionary politics, and radical philosophy has taken the field of theory by storm, and even finds resonances in political texts such as The Coming...
View ArticleRadar Reports | New coins leave India’s blind population short-changed
The new Indian Rupee coins (Credit: Balu) ‘Radar Reports’ series, Anoop Kumar reports on how millions of visually impaired Indians are now struggling as a result of the government’s short sighted coin...
View ArticleIn Theory | Alain Badiou: Transcendence, Sets, and the Exclusion of Substance
In the previous column, I examined Badiou’s conceptions of ontology and science. Here, I explain the specific claims of Badiou’s philosophy: the necessity of a transcendent “one” for social order,...
View ArticleRadar Reports | Kenya’s immigrant crackdown: ‘Harassing Somalis will not...
On Sunday June 15, an attack by militants from Somalia’s al-Shabab group on hotels and a police station in the town of Mpeketoni, on the coast of Kenya, left dozens of people dead. Such incidents have...
View ArticleAn A to Z of Theory | Alain Badiou: The State
In his ten-part series on Badiou, Ceasefire columnist Andrew Robinson traces the influential French post-Maoist’s ideas from their philosophical foundations to their implications for radical politics....
View ArticleGhosts of History | The Tasmanian Aborigines
In this series, I will attempt to elucidate events in the past that are either ignored or suppressed by governments, education systems and mainstream media in the West. In particular, my focus will be...
View ArticleAn A to Z of Theory | Alain Badiou: The Excluded Part and the Evental Site
Alain Badiou’s revolutionary theory of political transformation focuses centrally on the idea of the Event. In the fourth through seventh parts of a ten-part series on Badiou, I will respectively...
View ArticleRadar Reports | Teenage Pregnancies in Kenya: “I knew nothing about...
(Photo credits: Scott Gunn) Kenya’s high teenage pregnancy rate has resulted in thousands of girls abandoning their education early, stunting the development of half the nation. The high number of...
View ArticleGhosts of History | The Natives of Canada
“We also have no history of colonialism” – Stephen Harper, current Prime Minister of Canada From an aggregate of paleontological, anthropological, genetic and linguistic research, it is hypothesised...
View ArticleDiary of a Domestic Extremist | Obstacles to Solidarity: On the Decline of...
November 2014. Occupy Democracy activists at Parliament Square, London. (Credits: Anthony Devlin/PA) Solidarity amongst activists of the left and of anti-systemic movements has been weakened...
View ArticleAn A to Z of Theory | Alain Badiou: The Event
The Event The Event is Badiou’s best-known concept and represents, in essence, his conception of revolution and social change, whether in politics or other domains. To summarise the discussion so far,...
View ArticleDiary of a Domestic Extremist | Obstacles to Solidarity: The Age of Anxiety
In my previous column, I examined some of the reasons that I feel radical organising in the UK has been suppressed, including the impact of austerity, state repression, disparities of privilege and a...
View ArticleComment | Alain Badiou: Truth, Subjectivity, and Fidelity
In his last column, Andrew Robinson examined Badiou’s central political concept: the Event. This discussion covers three key Badoiousian concepts: the Truth and truth-procedure which give meaning to...
View ArticleReflections | Displacement and Belonging: ‘Like Travelling the World by Being...
(All photos courtesy of Mahtab Hussain/The New Art Exchange) MAHTAB HUSSAIN: THE COMMONALITY OF STRANGERS 31 JANUARY 2015 – 12 APRIL 2015 THE NEW ART EXCHANGE Recently published research by Alex Balch...
View ArticleAn A to Z of Theory | Alain Badiou: After the Event
In the previous three instalments, Andrew Robinson explored Badiou’s concept of the Event. In this essay, he explores what happens after the Event and its unfolding. How do Events fit into a wider...
View ArticleAn A to Z of Theory | Alain Badiou: Politics
In an ongoing ten-part series on the political thought of Alain Badiou, I have previously explored Badiou’s ontology, his theory of the state, and his innovative concept of the Event. But in applying...
View ArticleComment | Alain Badiou: Political Action and the Organisation Politique
In addition to his influential role in contemporary philosophy, Badiou is also a political activist, involved in a post-Maoist groupuscule called the Organisation Politique (O.P). In this essay, the...
View ArticleOn Our Radar | Nigeria Elections: “A victory for democracy, for the...
[Photo credit: Okonta Emeka]On Tuesday, General Muhammadu Buhari of the All People’s Congress (APC) unexpectedly emerged as the winner of Nigeria’s fiercely contested presidential poll, defeating the...
View ArticleAn A to Z of Theory | Alain Badiou: On Badiou Versus Deleuze
“For Badiou, there is a meaningful distinction between being and nothingness, whereas for Deleuze, nothingness is an erroneous conception of differences in types of being.” In previous columns, I have...
View ArticleAn A to Z of Theory | Thomas Aquinas: Talking about Difference
Thomas Aquinas is the best-known philosopher in the Medieval European tradition. What relevance does he have for activists and radicals today? In the first of a three-part series, I aim to examine the...
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