Abstract: Western memory and Western media do not appear to foster social peace. Academics are disappointed with the effects of the self-critical memory of the Holocaust that they have championed for three decades and that has been adopted by the UN and the EU. The cosmopolitan memory of the Holocaust has neither prevented a series of troublesome human rights violation since the 1980s nor averted the rise of right-wing, nationalistic movements in democratic societies. It might be time to retire cosmopolitan memory and develop new mnemonic strategies of violence prevention. At the same time, politicians, political activists, and journalists, inspired by the Black-Lives-Matter, the Me-Too, and the new ecological movement are frustrated with the highly efficient, digitally supercharged communication loops that reproduce racism, sexism, and climate change denial in contemporary societies. The frustrations of academics and activists point towards the need for new memory cultures that can effectively curb the social reproduction of violence, prejudice, and propaganda, for example by way of censorship. Both frustrations raise the question of how to forget the past responsibly. A look at ambitious censorship regimes in Nazi Germany, Communist China, and inside the social media giant Facebook reveals that social forgetting is an attainable goal although mnemonic censorship is a blunt, unpredictable political tool and undermines democratic exchange. The exasperation with cosmopolitan memory and digital media and the call for political intervention thus raise a veritable and frightful conundrum: does the goal of using purposeful forgetting to reduce rates of collective violence and to save the planet require dismantling basic human rights' Published on 2021-12-19 18:04:05
Abstract: Western memory and Western media do not appear to foster social peace. Academics are disappointed with the effects of the self-critical memory of the Holocaust that they have championed for three decades and that has been adopted by the UN and the EU. The cosmopolitan memory of the Holocaust has neither prevented a series of troublesome human rights violation since the 1980s nor averted the rise of right-wing, nationalistic movements in democratic societies. It might be time to retire cosmopolitan memory and develop new mnemonic strategies of violence prevention. At the same time, politicians, political activists, and journalists, inspired by the Black-Lives-Matter, the Me-Too, and the new ecological movement are frustrated with the highly efficient, digitally supercharged communication loops that reproduce racism, sexism, and climate change denial in contemporary societies. The frustrations of academics and activists point towards the need for new memory cultures that can effectively curb the social reproduction of violence, prejudice, and propaganda, for example by way of censorship. Both frustrations raise the question of how to forget the past responsibly. A look at ambitious censorship regimes in Nazi Germany, Communist China, and inside the social media giant Facebook reveals that social forgetting is an attainable goal although mnemonic censorship is a blunt, unpredictable political tool and undermines democratic exchange. The exasperation with cosmopolitan memory and digital media and the call for political intervention thus raise a veritable and frightful conundrum: does the goal of using purposeful forgetting to reduce rates of collective violence and to save the planet require dismantling basic human rights' Published on 2021-12-19 18:04:05
Abstract: Review of: Peter Black, Bela Rasky, and Marianne Windsperger, eds, Collaboration in the Holocaust and World War II in Eastern Europe (Wien/ Hamburg: new academic press, 2019). 382 pp. ISBN 978-3-7003-2-0739. Published on 2021-12-19 18:03:45
Abstract: Perpetrator Cinema: Confronting Genocide in Cambodian Documentary is the third installment in Raya Morag’s trilogy on violent pasts and trauma as seen through the camera lens. In it she argues that the Cambodian cinema of the last two decades sheds light upon some of the major paradigm shifts in genocide studies, particularly with regard to the figure of the perpetrator. What is more, in spite of its modest scope, this set of documentaries issued after the complete destruction of the film industry under the Khmer Rouge comes to epitomize what is unimaginable in any other film production dealing with mass murder. Published on 2021-12-19 18:03:09
Abstract: From start to finish, Donald Trump’s campaign speeches featured a xenophobic parable, "The Snake." The message of "The Snake" is clear: it is a story warning of the dangers of immigration, the threat of white genocide, and the need for a hypermasculine response. Trump use of such language also demonstrated how readily a wide range of such groups could be mobilized around a white nationalist message that emphasized such white genocide fears and deep state conspiracy. Published on 2021-12-19 18:02:42
Abstract: Interview with Valentina Pisanty on her book The Guardians of Memory and the Return of the Xenophobic Right (New York: Centro Primo Levi Editions, 2021), a provocative investigation of the weaknesses of dominant Holocaust memory culture, which often ends up being appropriated by illiberal and xenophobic forces. Published on 2021-12-19 18:02:19
Abstract: Interview with Ruth Ben-Ghiat about her book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (2020), which examines how authoritarian leaders use corruption, violence, propaganda, and machismo to stay in power, and how resistance to them has unfolded over a century. Published on 2021-12-19 18:01:39
Abstract: This article is a reflection on Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s chapters two 'Miliary Coups' and nine, 'Resistance', from Strongmen. How They Rise, Why They Succeed, How They Fall, where the author discusses military coups and resistance. More specifically, how strongmen can both secure their hold on power and silence the opposition. Here I expand on that idea by throwing light on the relationship between authoritarianism and technology. Published on 2021-12-19 18:01:17
Abstract: Review of: Anacleto Ferrer, Facticidad y ficción: Ensayo sobre cinco secuencias fotográficas de perpetración de la Shoah (Santander: Shangrila, 2020). 228 pp. ISBN 978-8-4122-5680-2. Published on 2021-12-19 18:00:54
Abstract: Review of: Alex J. Kay, The Making of an SS Killer: The Life of Colonel Alfred Filbert, 1905–1990 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016). 258 pp. ISBN 978-1-316-60142-6.) Published on 2021-12-19 17:59:34
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