Articles

Can patriotism be virtuous? Although philosophy has increasingly struggled to justify it on moral grounds in recent decades, patriotism remains a powerful source of self-identification and political participation.

The faith in American unanimity that Joe Biden expressed in this year’s State of the Union speech sounded genuine. But how realistic is it in a country dominated by social fragmentation and a flood of alternative realities?

Finding a partner, once reliant on social circles, has become big business. The contemporary ‘blind date’ is no longer a known person recommended by friends but a stranger suggested by algorithms. What are the psychosocial dynamics behind dating platforms and are they changing the basis of romantic love?

As Ukrainian citizens of varying ethnic backgrounds continue to unite in resisting the Russian military onslaught, their identity as Ukrainians is perceived increasingly in terms that are civic, national and inclusive rather than pertaining to ethnic origin.

Is it possible to value time for oneself when barely able to make ends meet? Can fears of energy crises be soothed by ideas of fairer distribution? And can knowledge of more-than-human intelligence ease Anthropocene insecurity and feelings of isolation?

Work and leisure, deemed opposite, are both caught up in the contemporary socio-economic pressure to be productive; time off, forced into servicing respite or distraction, is a commodified entity. Could a universal right to ‘otium’, the ancient concept of time, free from worldly concerns, create the opportunity to work on oneself through oneself?

Faced with energy scarcity exacerbated by war, EU member states are turning to solutions that are environmentally damaging and not affordable for all. Could ‘energy sobriety’, a form of rationing and progressive pricing, be a socially just way of managing a necessary reduction in energy use?

Developments in ecology and technology herald a new Copernican revolution: language, the bastion of supposed human superiority, also belongs to nature and machines. Can expanding our definition of intelligence improve our relationship with the more-than-human world?

Since the Cold War, western literary and educational establishments have reproduced Moscow’s chauvinist view of Ukrainian culture as a derivative of Russian. That attitude is now politically and morally untenable. Ukrainian culture must be liberated along with the multitude of other Slavic languages and cultures belonging to the post-Soviet space.

The current regime in Tbilisi – nominally led by Irakli Garibashvili but with oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili pulling the strings – marks a sea change in Georgia’s gradual pro-western path of development over the past thirty years. For all the faults of past governments, there is no precedent for the authoritarian turn underway since 2020.

An escalation of violence brought Brazil to the verge of democratic collapse on 8 January, as Bolsonaristas stormed the centres of power, calling for a military coup. The worst was averted, but the country faces deep social divisions and a radicalized far-right, leaving President Lula no room for error.

Very little information is available to the outside world about the situation for Ukrainians who have remained in the regions occupied by Russia since 24 February 2022. A new article in Eurozine provides a rare insight on life behind the Russian lines.

From pop and rock to rap, metal and electronic: popular music in Ukraine has been a part of the national awakening since 2014. Now, once again, Ukrainian musical culture is under attack from Russia. But the music goes on, despite all odds, with artists contributing in different ways to the war effort.

Women’s rights activists protesting for a democratic Iran counteract armed police on the streets with non-hierarchical leadership, a rhizomatic network, transnationality and flash mobs. Their momentum, supported globally via the Iranian diaspora, also benefits from a legacy of historic feminist action under extreme oppression.

Teachers in Hungary are on a wildcat strike and pupils are demanding their pedagogues be paid. Public education has long been at the forefront of the Orbán administration’s centralizing frenzy, which exploits the country’s traditional hostility toward workers’ advocacy. But those caught in the system are more determined than they’ve been in decades.

Russia is using methods tested in Crimea and the separatist republics to impose its control on the Ukrainian territories occupied since February 2022. Those who remain not only find their lives in ruin but must also make impossible choices in the broad spectrum between collaboration and resistance.