Matthew Carr's Blog, page 62
May 11, 2014
Generation War
Last night I watched the last part of the German WWII mini-series Generation War. For those of you that haven’t seen it, the series has provoked strong reactions in Germany and also abroad. Some German historians have hailed it as … Continue reading →
May 10, 2014
Hashtags, Militarism and the ‘Konyisation’ of Boko Haram
In the last week the Boko Haram kidnappings of Nigerian schoolgirls have become the object of the same crusading zeal that was once directed at Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Hashtag twitter campaigns, celebrity condemnation, political outrage, and now Michelle … Continue reading →
Hashtags, Militarism and the ‘konyisation’ of Boko Haram
In the last week the Boko Haram kidnappings of Nigerian schoolgirls have become the object of the same crusading zeal that was once directed at Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Hashtag twitter campaigns, celebrity condemnation, political outrage, and now Michelle … Continue reading →
May 7, 2014
Cecily McMillan and the Rise of the Soldier-Cop
On Monday a New York jury found Occupy Wall Street activist Cecily McMillan guilty of felony assault on police officer Grantley Bovell, during a protest in New York’s Zucotti park on March 17, 2012. McMillan was convicted of deliberately elbowing … Continue reading →
May 5, 2014
Nick Cohen’s Mad Mad World
Even by his standards, Nick Cohen’s column on Boko Haram in The Guardian on Saturday is a stunningly lazy and incoherent piece of gibberish. Pretending to care, really really care, about the 230 schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram, … Continue reading →
May 4, 2014
The Arrest of Gerry Adams
I first became familiar with the concept of ‘transitional justice’ back in 1995, when I went to El Salvador as a freelance to report on the post-war peace process. At the time I wasn’t much impressed by the essential premises … Continue reading →
May 1, 2014
The Peace Talks that Died of Boredom
With a noisy sucking of bubbles, the last dregs of the Israeli-Palestinian peace ‘process’ have disappeared down the plughole. The ostensible reason for the collapse was the announcement of a forthcoming national unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas, which caused … Continue reading →
April 30, 2014
George Orwell’s Grave
George Orwell is a writer who has had a big influence on my writing, politics, and even my choice of residence at one time. I’m currently preparing a book proposal about 1984 and the dystopian imagination. So on Saturday I … Continue reading →
April 28, 2014
Ukip: Bringing Lies and Racism to Your Town
On the face of it, the last two weeks haven’t been the greatest advertisement for the Ukip anti-European/anti-political establishment ‘insurgency’. First the ‘British builder’ in a Ukip party political broadcast candidate turned out to be a white Zimbabwean – … Continue reading →
April 24, 2014
Complexities
I was in London today, participating in a radio discussion for the Voice of Russia about Boko Haram. I was probably the most anomalous presence there, given that I’m not – to say the least – an expert on either … Continue reading →
