Podcasts about imperial power

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Best podcasts about imperial power

Latest podcast episodes about imperial power

KPFA - Letters and Politics
The Nature of Imperial Power with Mary Beard

KPFA - Letters and Politics

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2025 45:52


Guest: Mary Beard is a renown classist and the author of the best-selling The Fires of Vesuvius, SPQR, and most lately, Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World.   The post The Nature of Imperial Power with Mary Beard appeared first on KPFA.

History of the Germans
Ep. 159 – The Rise to Imperial Power, Charles IV journey to Rome

History of the Germans

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2024 34:32 Transcription Available


This season has now gone on for 22 episodes. We started with the interregnum of largely absent rulers and after a brief renaissance under Rudolf von Habsburg the empire became a sort of oligarchy where 3 families, the Luxemburgs, the Wittelsbachs and the Habsburgs took turns on the throne. Succession usually involved some form of armed conflict between the contenders and a struggle with the pope over who had precedence. Whoever emerged victorious then used the ever-dwindling imperial powers to enrich his family at the expense of the others. When in 1349 Karl/Karel/Charles IV emerged triumphant from the latest of these conflicts, chances were that the same game would start anew, civil war between the three families, excommunication and murder. But it did not. Why it did not is what we will talk about in this episode…The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comFacebook: @HOTGPod Twitter: @germanshistoryInstagram: history_of_the_germansReddit: u/historyofthegermansPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/HistoryofthegermansTo make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season. So far I have:The Ottonians Salian Emperors and Investiture ControversyFredrick Barbarossa and Early HohenstaufenFrederick II Stupor MundiSaxony and Eastward ExpansionThe Hanseatic LeagueThe Teutonic KnightsThe Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356

The Critical Hour
US Empire's Self-Inflicted Destruction; Corporate Media is an Arm of Imperial Power; Assange Hearing

The Critical Hour

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2024 113:38


The US Empire is pushing media tropes and propaganda to hold power as China invests in hardware and software developments.

State of Power
S4 Ep7: Building a Just Energy Transition in an Age of Corporate and Imperial Power (Nick Buxton in Conversation with Thea Riofrancos, Ozzi Warwick, and Timothy Mitchell)

State of Power

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2024 80:15


The fossil fuel based energy system has shaped capitalism and our geopolitical order. On the 50th year of TNI's existence, the State of Power report unveils the corporate and financial actors that underpin this order, the dangers of an unjust energy transition, lessons for movements of resistance, and the possibilities for transformative change. How can we build a Just energy transition in the age of corporate and imperial power?  In today's episode, a special accompaniment to the 12th Annual State of Power Report on energy, Nick Buxton speaks to three interesting people who have unique perspectives on this question. Timothy Mitchell is a political theorist, historian and professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia University. In 2012, his book Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil retold the history of energy in the Middle East, showing how oil weakened democracy, fuelled militarism and empire and created a dangerous myth of infinite growth. Thea Riofrancos is an associate professor of political science at Providence College and a member of the Climate and Community Project, a left-wing think tank. She works primarily on the politics of extraction, particularly in Latin America and the US. Her upcoming book is Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism.  Ozzi Warwick is the chief education and research officer of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union of Trinidad and Tobago and the General Secretary of the national Joint Trade Union Movement. He is also a founding member of the Trade Unions for Energy Democracy South (TUED South), a new South-led trade union platform dedicated to a public approach to a just energy transition.  Nick Buxton is  TNI's Knowledge Hub Coordinator and founding editor of the State of Power report.

Global Truths with Dr Keith Suter
Sub-Imperial Power

Global Truths with Dr Keith Suter

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2023 18:57


Australia's standing on the international scene appears stable, but is this true? This week's programme centres on a new book by Clinton Fernandes, a former intelligence analyst for the Australian Army. In it, the author questions our country's autonomy in relation to the rest of the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

australia australian army imperial power clinton fernandes
Colwood Church
Church and State - Rise and Fall of Imperial Power

Colwood Church

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2023


The Whole Rabbit
Holy Relics: Weapons of Imperial Power

The Whole Rabbit

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2023 38:15


Where is the Spear of Destiny and what is the true origin of its power? We focus our attention on the fabled Holy Lance and the pre-Christian symbolism which was borrowed to embellish the legend of the spear, its corollaries in other cultures and the occult tradition. We take a few minutes to discuss the swastika and the Roman fasces. In the extended show we shift our focus to the Ark of the Covenant and the Imperial Treasures of Japan which have been kept secret from the public for over 2,000 years.In this episode we discuss:The Blame of Christ's CrucifixionPontius PilateThe Prophecy of the Passover LambChrist, The Morning StarPrometheusOdin and GungnirTarotSaint Maurice and the Theban LegionThe SwastikaThe FascesCharlemagne's SwordIn the extended show available at www.patreon.com/TheWholeRabbit we discuss:The Ark of the CovenantThe Holy TableUlfberht SwordsMuramasa SengoKusanagi no TsurugiYasa-kani no Maga-tamaThe Eight Ata MirrorKnighting CeremoniesThe Crown JewelsCurtanaThe Stone of SconeEach host is responsible for writing and creating the content they present.Where to find The Whole Rabbit:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0AnJZhmPzaby04afmEWOAVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_whole_rabbitTwitter: https://twitter.com/1WholeRabbitSources:Spear of Liturgy:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear_(liturgy)Spear of Destiny:https://www.britannica.com/topic/Holy-Lancehttps://www.kcblau.com/holylance/Blood and Water:https://www.gotquestions.org/blood-water-Jesus.htmlProse Tristan:https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/tristan.htmlCurtana and Other Crown Jewels:https://monarchy-of-britain.fandom.com/wiki/Curtanahttps://theenchantedmanor.com/tag/three-ceremonial-swords-used-in-coronation/Imperial Regalia:https://alaska.digication.com/the_imperial_japanese_regalia/Yata-no-KagamiSupport the show

China Stories
[The China Project] How a 14th-century purge consolidated imperial power in the Ming dynasty

China Stories

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2023 7:58


Beyond the suffering inflicted on tens of thousands of people, the Hu Weiyong purge fundamentally reshaped Ming government, concentrating power in the person of the emperor.Click here to read the article by James Carter.Narrated by Elyse Ribbons.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pretty Heady Stuff
Tanner Mirrlees wrestles with American militarism and the cultural projection of imperial power

Pretty Heady Stuff

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2023 66:40


Tanner Mirrlees (https://twitter.com/tmirrlees_) is the Director of the Communication and Digital Media Studies program at Ontario Tech University. His current research focuses on topics in the political economy of communications such as war and media, work and labour in the creative and digital industries, and the links between far-right hate groups and social media platforms. He's the author of Hearts and Mines: The US Empire's Cultural Industry, Global Entertainment Media: Between Cultural Imperialism and Cultural Globalization, co-author of EdTech Inc.: Selling, Automating and Globalizing Higher Education in the Digital Age, and the co-editor of Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change and The Television Reader. He's also heavily involved in efforts to spread the knowledge practices of academia beyond the university. So, he has appeared in documentaries like Theatres of War (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/theatersofwar) and Myths on Screen, and contributed to putting together podcasts like Darts & Letters' Dangers of Techno-utopianism series. Our conversation is an attempt to wrestle with American militarism, especially but not exclusively as it finds form through popular cultural representation. There is a very long history, Tanner points out, of the US Department of Defence investing in media products that project American military power in precisely the way the DoD wants. While this collusion is now loosely understood, Mirrlees' insights point us to specific aspects of the ongoing partnership. We talk about the massive popularity of films like Captain Marvel and Top Gun: Maverick—spending a lot of time unpacking the dizzying spectacle of Maverick, one of 2022's biggest movies: truly a dizzying spectacle, in terms of the gap between dramatized surreality and the actual logistics of military operations. Even though the DoD's stated policy is that it will support films that give a “realistic” and “authentic” representation of the military, the reality of the representational choices in Maverick expose how tenuous that grip on reality needs to be, and in fact how films benefit financially and technology from the Pentagon when they fudge the facts firmly in their favour. There are long standing fears that drive this sort of forceful fabulation: one is the fear of a decline in the United States' imperial power, relative to other influential states like China and Russia. Another is the threat of nuclear annihilation. The Pentagon's particular investment in how Hollywood represents this threat has shifted over time, with Tom Cruise's last two big action films, Mission Impossible: Fallout and Maverick, centring on this threat as a chief way to threaten the integrity and hegemony of American empire. Mirrlees offers some valuable commentary on how Maverick was written out of a time in the recent past where the threat of Iran enriching uranium was front of mind in US security planning. The United States has waged wars without end for a very long time. The country dominates in virtually every corporate sector. And yet the US empire functions in ways that are distinct from past modes of colonial imperial command. Multiple spheres interlock and interoperate in sometimes subtle ways, and while force is fundamental, cultural impact is also critical. As Tanner puts it, “no corporation sees itself as an emissary” of the US national security state, and yet they are incentivized or compelled to serve its ambitions. What are the foundations of that sort of power? How can we examine its constitutive elements?

Perth Indymedia
Professor Clinton Fernandes: Is Australia a sub-imperial power?

Perth Indymedia

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2022 12:50


Clinton Fernandes is an author, a former intelligence officer on the Indonesia desk for the Australian Army, and currently a Professor of International and Political Studies at UNSW Canberra. He spoke to Alex Whisson to discuss his latest book, Sub-Imperial Power: Australia in the International Arena, published by Melbourne University Press.

New Books Network
Bert Becker, "France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930: Maritime Competition and Imperial Power" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 67:31


France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930 Maritime Competition and Imperial Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) explores imperial power and the transnational encounters of shipowners and merchants in the South China Sea from 1840 to 1930. With British Hong Kong and French Indochina on its northern and western shores, the ‘Asian Mediterranean' was for almost a century a crucible of power and an axis of economic struggle for coastal shipping companies from various nations. Merchant steamers shipped cargoes and passengers between ports of the region. Hong Kong, the global port city, and the colonial ports of Saigon and Haiphong developed into major hubs for the flow of goods and people, while Guangzhouwan survived as an almost forgotten outpost of Indochina. While previous research in this field has largely remained within the confines of colonial history, this book uses the examples of French and German companies operating in the South China Sea to demonstrate the extent to which transnational actors and business networks interacted with imperial power and the process of globalisation. Bert Becker is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author, amongst other publications, of biographies of Georg Michaelis and Michael Jebsen. His work has also appeared in a range of academic journals, including Cross-Currents and Modern Asian Studies. Ghassan Moazzin is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. He works on the economic and business history of 19th and 20th century China, with a particular focus on the history of foreign banking, international finance and electricity in modern China. His first book, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870–1919, is was recently published by Cambridge University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

New Books in History
Bert Becker, "France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930: Maritime Competition and Imperial Power" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

New Books in History

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 67:31


France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930 Maritime Competition and Imperial Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) explores imperial power and the transnational encounters of shipowners and merchants in the South China Sea from 1840 to 1930. With British Hong Kong and French Indochina on its northern and western shores, the ‘Asian Mediterranean' was for almost a century a crucible of power and an axis of economic struggle for coastal shipping companies from various nations. Merchant steamers shipped cargoes and passengers between ports of the region. Hong Kong, the global port city, and the colonial ports of Saigon and Haiphong developed into major hubs for the flow of goods and people, while Guangzhouwan survived as an almost forgotten outpost of Indochina. While previous research in this field has largely remained within the confines of colonial history, this book uses the examples of French and German companies operating in the South China Sea to demonstrate the extent to which transnational actors and business networks interacted with imperial power and the process of globalisation. Bert Becker is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author, amongst other publications, of biographies of Georg Michaelis and Michael Jebsen. His work has also appeared in a range of academic journals, including Cross-Currents and Modern Asian Studies. Ghassan Moazzin is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. He works on the economic and business history of 19th and 20th century China, with a particular focus on the history of foreign banking, international finance and electricity in modern China. His first book, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870–1919, is was recently published by Cambridge University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

New Books in East Asian Studies
Bert Becker, "France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930: Maritime Competition and Imperial Power" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

New Books in East Asian Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 67:31


France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930 Maritime Competition and Imperial Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) explores imperial power and the transnational encounters of shipowners and merchants in the South China Sea from 1840 to 1930. With British Hong Kong and French Indochina on its northern and western shores, the ‘Asian Mediterranean' was for almost a century a crucible of power and an axis of economic struggle for coastal shipping companies from various nations. Merchant steamers shipped cargoes and passengers between ports of the region. Hong Kong, the global port city, and the colonial ports of Saigon and Haiphong developed into major hubs for the flow of goods and people, while Guangzhouwan survived as an almost forgotten outpost of Indochina. While previous research in this field has largely remained within the confines of colonial history, this book uses the examples of French and German companies operating in the South China Sea to demonstrate the extent to which transnational actors and business networks interacted with imperial power and the process of globalisation. Bert Becker is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author, amongst other publications, of biographies of Georg Michaelis and Michael Jebsen. His work has also appeared in a range of academic journals, including Cross-Currents and Modern Asian Studies. Ghassan Moazzin is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. He works on the economic and business history of 19th and 20th century China, with a particular focus on the history of foreign banking, international finance and electricity in modern China. His first book, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870–1919, is was recently published by Cambridge University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

New Books in Southeast Asian Studies
Bert Becker, "France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930: Maritime Competition and Imperial Power" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

New Books in Southeast Asian Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 67:31


France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930 Maritime Competition and Imperial Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) explores imperial power and the transnational encounters of shipowners and merchants in the South China Sea from 1840 to 1930. With British Hong Kong and French Indochina on its northern and western shores, the ‘Asian Mediterranean' was for almost a century a crucible of power and an axis of economic struggle for coastal shipping companies from various nations. Merchant steamers shipped cargoes and passengers between ports of the region. Hong Kong, the global port city, and the colonial ports of Saigon and Haiphong developed into major hubs for the flow of goods and people, while Guangzhouwan survived as an almost forgotten outpost of Indochina. While previous research in this field has largely remained within the confines of colonial history, this book uses the examples of French and German companies operating in the South China Sea to demonstrate the extent to which transnational actors and business networks interacted with imperial power and the process of globalisation. Bert Becker is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author, amongst other publications, of biographies of Georg Michaelis and Michael Jebsen. His work has also appeared in a range of academic journals, including Cross-Currents and Modern Asian Studies. Ghassan Moazzin is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. He works on the economic and business history of 19th and 20th century China, with a particular focus on the history of foreign banking, international finance and electricity in modern China. His first book, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870–1919, is was recently published by Cambridge University Press. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/southeast-asian-studies

New Books in World Affairs
Bert Becker, "France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930: Maritime Competition and Imperial Power" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

New Books in World Affairs

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 67:31


France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930 Maritime Competition and Imperial Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) explores imperial power and the transnational encounters of shipowners and merchants in the South China Sea from 1840 to 1930. With British Hong Kong and French Indochina on its northern and western shores, the ‘Asian Mediterranean' was for almost a century a crucible of power and an axis of economic struggle for coastal shipping companies from various nations. Merchant steamers shipped cargoes and passengers between ports of the region. Hong Kong, the global port city, and the colonial ports of Saigon and Haiphong developed into major hubs for the flow of goods and people, while Guangzhouwan survived as an almost forgotten outpost of Indochina. While previous research in this field has largely remained within the confines of colonial history, this book uses the examples of French and German companies operating in the South China Sea to demonstrate the extent to which transnational actors and business networks interacted with imperial power and the process of globalisation. Bert Becker is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author, amongst other publications, of biographies of Georg Michaelis and Michael Jebsen. His work has also appeared in a range of academic journals, including Cross-Currents and Modern Asian Studies. Ghassan Moazzin is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. He works on the economic and business history of 19th and 20th century China, with a particular focus on the history of foreign banking, international finance and electricity in modern China. His first book, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870–1919, is was recently published by Cambridge University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

New Books in Diplomatic History
Bert Becker, "France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930: Maritime Competition and Imperial Power" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

New Books in Diplomatic History

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 67:31


France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930 Maritime Competition and Imperial Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) explores imperial power and the transnational encounters of shipowners and merchants in the South China Sea from 1840 to 1930. With British Hong Kong and French Indochina on its northern and western shores, the ‘Asian Mediterranean' was for almost a century a crucible of power and an axis of economic struggle for coastal shipping companies from various nations. Merchant steamers shipped cargoes and passengers between ports of the region. Hong Kong, the global port city, and the colonial ports of Saigon and Haiphong developed into major hubs for the flow of goods and people, while Guangzhouwan survived as an almost forgotten outpost of Indochina. While previous research in this field has largely remained within the confines of colonial history, this book uses the examples of French and German companies operating in the South China Sea to demonstrate the extent to which transnational actors and business networks interacted with imperial power and the process of globalisation. Bert Becker is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author, amongst other publications, of biographies of Georg Michaelis and Michael Jebsen. His work has also appeared in a range of academic journals, including Cross-Currents and Modern Asian Studies. Ghassan Moazzin is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. He works on the economic and business history of 19th and 20th century China, with a particular focus on the history of foreign banking, international finance and electricity in modern China. His first book, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870–1919, is was recently published by Cambridge University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in Economic and Business History
Bert Becker, "France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930: Maritime Competition and Imperial Power" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)

New Books in Economic and Business History

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2022 67:31


France and Germany in the South China Sea, c. 1840-1930 Maritime Competition and Imperial Power (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) explores imperial power and the transnational encounters of shipowners and merchants in the South China Sea from 1840 to 1930. With British Hong Kong and French Indochina on its northern and western shores, the ‘Asian Mediterranean' was for almost a century a crucible of power and an axis of economic struggle for coastal shipping companies from various nations. Merchant steamers shipped cargoes and passengers between ports of the region. Hong Kong, the global port city, and the colonial ports of Saigon and Haiphong developed into major hubs for the flow of goods and people, while Guangzhouwan survived as an almost forgotten outpost of Indochina. While previous research in this field has largely remained within the confines of colonial history, this book uses the examples of French and German companies operating in the South China Sea to demonstrate the extent to which transnational actors and business networks interacted with imperial power and the process of globalisation. Bert Becker is Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author, amongst other publications, of biographies of Georg Michaelis and Michael Jebsen. His work has also appeared in a range of academic journals, including Cross-Currents and Modern Asian Studies. Ghassan Moazzin is an Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong. He works on the economic and business history of 19th and 20th century China, with a particular focus on the history of foreign banking, international finance and electricity in modern China. His first book, Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870–1919, is was recently published by Cambridge University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going Rogue With Caitlin Johnstone
New Media Are As Intertwined With Imperial Power As Old Media

Going Rogue With Caitlin Johnstone

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2022 5:06


Alan MacLeod has a new article out with Mintpress News showing how most of the supposedly independent "fact-checking" organizations which Facebook has partnered with to police the information people are allowed to see on the platform about the war in Ukraine are, in fact, funded by the United States government. Reading by Tim Foley.

US History Repeated
Presidency of William McKinley & The Spanish American War

US History Repeated

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2021 26:50


In this podcast we delve into the election of 1896, The Presidency of William McKinley, and the Spanish American War. This period begins the transition of the United States into an Imperial Power.  We also get into the assassination of President McKinley, now the 3rd US president to be killed in office, which brings about the beginnings of full time security detail for the president. The secret service, up until this time, was primarily involved in protection from and hunting down counterfeiting operations! (That was all covered in our previous podcast on the History of Money in the United States!)

Sounding History
Soundtracks of Imperial Power in Europe and Africa

Sounding History

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2021 39:06


Comparing cultural expressions is a risky enterprise:  especially, in our case, because too many  still perceive Western “classical” art music to be somehow superior to other  musics because of its alleged and “universal” values. But we think the challenge can be worthwhile, especially at a deeper level, because it can help us  tease out complementary ways rulers use sound to literally underscore their political power. In today's episode we investigate music and power in the Black Atlantic, where European and African musics collided in history.Our first example is that of the Italo-French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), who often features as the father of French opera. We focus on his role as composer of lavish multimedia productions known more formally as tragédies en musique, tragedies set to music and celebrating his patron Louis XIV. These fusions of music, drama, and dance were pure political spectacle, and in Louis's younger years even involved the king himself as a dancer. The king was dancing because the purpose of a tragédie en musique was to place the king's body (which itself represented France, to contemporary ways of thinking) at the center of a complex piece of theatre. The point was not so much to entertain the audience, which often consisted of France's political elite, but to remind them of the king's absolute power. Lully made a career of creating works like these. Tom unpacks Lully's work, his dismissal by Louis after a sexual scandal (with a digression to the composer's subsequent death of gangrene as the result of a self-inflicted wound sustained while directing music) and turns, finally, to Louis's global political ambitions. Had those ambitions  been fully realized, the cultural world of the Black Atlantic (and thus our music history) would have been much more French.Chris's postcard takes us to the soundworlds of the great empires of sub-Saharan West Africa in the pre-colonial era. He starts with the Empire of Mali, whose first emperor, Sundiata Keita (ruling  in the thirteenth century CE) is memorialized in magnificent musical-epic poetry that has been passed down by oral and aural tradition. The bearers of this memory are called jeliat in the languages of West Africa (in French: griot). Chris explains how rulers of empires such as Mali depended on the jeliat, whose memorized epics were key sources of historical, genealogical, and legal knowledge, to tell their stories and legitimize their power.We then attempt one of those challenging cross-cultural comparisons. Did Lully serve as a kind of praise-singerto Louis XIV? On the face of it certainly. Yet  historical comparisons are never simple or neutral. Just look at where we would be likely to encounter Lully's music today: in “classical” opera houses or in other formats popular with elites in the “global north,” who are often culturally conditioned to value “timeless classics,” not political messages. In contrast the musical aesthetics and outputs  of the oral-aural epics of West Africa, which are still performed by musicians who claim direct lineage to their predecessors at the court of Sundiata, are more likely to pop up on playlists of “traditional” or “world” music. Both are “old” music, so why is one “classical” and the other “traditional”?The answer is the Western colonization of Africa, the flows of labor, energy, and data that made it possible, and--in turn--the influence of the jelat tradition on the vernacular musics of the Black Atlantic, which underpin nearly so many pop music genres today, from the Delta Blues to hip-hop. Music, it seems to us, is never unmoored from political and economic realities.Key PointsIn different ways around the world, political power and music mix.The prestigious genre of French “tragedy in music” formed in the late seventeenth century in lavish spectacles that told stories about the political power of Louis XIV, the “Sun King”The great poetic epics of the West African Empires, such as the Sundiata Epic from the court of the Empire of Mali, functioned similarly.Lully's operas live on, often stripped of their political meaning, in Western “classical” music. The West African epics live on too, as African “traditional music.” Some of their ethos informs the popular genres today that stem from the collision of European and African cultures in the era of the Black Atlantic, with its trade in goods and enslaved people.ResourcesWe are fans of Gérard Corbiau's 2000 film costume drama Le roi danse (even if it's somewhat over the top!). Excerpts are available widely on YouTube and other platforms. The soundtrack is available on CD or download from Deutsche Grammophon, and the streaming services Apple Music and Spotify.Timothy Blanning's book The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture: Old Regime Europe 1660-1789 is an excellent introduction to the use of cultural spectacle to underpin political power.Eric Charry's Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa is a masterful situation of “traditional” music as part of contemporary West Africa aesthetics and politics.Christopher Waterman's Juju: A Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music places the proverb-rich Yoruba contemporary vocal/instrumental music juju in contemporary West African context.All of the books mentioned in the episode can be found in our Sounding History Goodreads discussion group. Join the conversation!

These Cousins of Ours
Leftist Movement Part 3

These Cousins of Ours

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2021 18:09


People were suffering all over the world from Imperial Power. America was no different. After WWI, an uprising arose. There was a huge pushback for self determination and to get the burden of powerful folks off the back of working folks to make way for a decent life. Of course, it became much more complicated. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/terri-lyons/support

Green & Red: Podcasts for Scrappy Radicals
Oz as a Sub-Imperial Power: Prof Clinton Fernandes on Australia's support of the U.S. Empire (G&R 116)

Green & Red: Podcasts for Scrappy Radicals

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2021 53:38


In our second discussion with Professor Clinton Fernandes from the University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia, which is part of the Australian Defence Force Academy, we talked about the new Australian deal to buy subs from the U.S., and the larger role of Australia as a "sub-Imperial" country, not powerful in its own right so much as a supportive nation for American efforts in the Pacific. Outro music is "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by the Pogues. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Links// Trade routes or War Games?: Subs and the geopolitics behind the China threat (https://bit.ly/3E92ALE) Aukus: French contractor ‘astonished' at cancellation of Australia submarine deal (https://bit.ly/3CnSJkM) Follow Green and Red// https://linktr.ee/greenandredpodcast Donate to Green and Red Podcast// Become a recurring donor at https://www.patreon.com/greenredpodcast Or make a one time donation here: https://bit.ly/DonateGandR This is a Green and Red Podcast production. Produced by Bob (@bobbuzzanco) and Scott (@sparki1969). “Green and Red Blues" by Moody. Editing by Issac.

The Quarantine Tapes
The Quarantine Tapes 008: Simon Critchley

The Quarantine Tapes

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2020 29:54


Today on the #QuarantineTapes, Paul Holdengräber sits down with English philosopher and Hans Jonas Professor at the New School for Social Research, Simon Critchley, for a rich discussion on the importance of philosophy in this moment, the relationship between fear and anxiety, the decline of imperial power structures, art as catharsis, and much more.Topics Covered; Philosophy - and it's important right now. Philosophy is a description of who we are, what it means to be human, the essence of being human is existence.The closeness of Fear & Anxiety. Our fear stems from contagion & fear of infection - fear is what threatens us. Anxiety is the uncanniness of being in the world as such. He discusses learning how to die, “he who has learnt hot to die, has unlearnt how to be a slave” Imperial power structures - is this pandemic bringing an end to Imperial Power structures. Is the USA relevant as a power nation when it can’t even provide basic universal health care. Hypochondria - is on his mind and the relationship between mind and body. Existential phenomenology - or “An Existential Phenomenologist” as Simon describes himself Philosophy as a way of preparing for deathOptimism and Pessimism vs. Realism “See the skull beneath the skin, as Eliot said of Webster. That’s what good art allows us to do.”

New Books in Irish Studies
Jeremy Black, "Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815" (Indiana UP, 2018)

New Books in Irish Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2020 29:36


Today we talk to Jeremy Black, professor of history at Exeter University, UK, about two of his most recent book projects, both of which relate to the ways in which we think about empires, and the British empire in particular. Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815 (Indiana University Press, 2018) and Imperial legacies: The British Empire Around the World (Encounter, 2019) address some very timely themes. A great deal of recent discussion among humanities scholars has focused on the possibility or even necessity of “de-colonising the curriculum.” But what does this project mean? Why do empires matter? Are imperial histories and legacies better understood from a geographical or historical viewpoint? And are empires inevitable? Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen's University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in British Studies
Jeremy Black, "Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815" (Indiana UP, 2018)

New Books in British Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2020 29:36


Today we talk to Jeremy Black, professor of history at Exeter University, UK, about two of his most recent book projects, both of which relate to the ways in which we think about empires, and the British empire in particular. Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815 (Indiana University Press, 2018) and Imperial legacies: The British Empire Around the World (Encounter, 2019) address some very timely themes. A great deal of recent discussion among humanities scholars has focused on the possibility or even necessity of “de-colonising the curriculum.” But what does this project mean? Why do empires matter? Are imperial histories and legacies better understood from a geographical or historical viewpoint? And are empires inevitable? Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in World Affairs
Jeremy Black, "Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815" (Indiana UP, 2018)

New Books in World Affairs

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2020 29:36


Today we talk to Jeremy Black, professor of history at Exeter University, UK, about two of his most recent book projects, both of which relate to the ways in which we think about empires, and the British empire in particular. Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815 (Indiana University Press, 2018) and Imperial legacies: The British Empire Around the World (Encounter, 2019) address some very timely themes. A great deal of recent discussion among humanities scholars has focused on the possibility or even necessity of “de-colonising the curriculum.” But what does this project mean? Why do empires matter? Are imperial histories and legacies better understood from a geographical or historical viewpoint? And are empires inevitable? Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in History
Jeremy Black, "Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815" (Indiana UP, 2018)

New Books in History

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2020 29:36


Today we talk to Jeremy Black, professor of history at Exeter University, UK, about two of his most recent book projects, both of which relate to the ways in which we think about empires, and the British empire in particular. Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815 (Indiana University Press, 2018) and Imperial legacies: The British Empire Around the World (Encounter, 2019) address some very timely themes. A great deal of recent discussion among humanities scholars has focused on the possibility or even necessity of “de-colonising the curriculum.” But what does this project mean? Why do empires matter? Are imperial histories and legacies better understood from a geographical or historical viewpoint? And are empires inevitable? Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in Geography
Jeremy Black, "Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815" (Indiana UP, 2018)

New Books in Geography

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2020 29:36


Today we talk to Jeremy Black, professor of history at Exeter University, UK, about two of his most recent book projects, both of which relate to the ways in which we think about empires, and the British empire in particular. Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815 (Indiana University Press, 2018) and Imperial legacies: The British Empire Around the World (Encounter, 2019) address some very timely themes. A great deal of recent discussion among humanities scholars has focused on the possibility or even necessity of “de-colonising the curriculum.” But what does this project mean? Why do empires matter? Are imperial histories and legacies better understood from a geographical or historical viewpoint? And are empires inevitable? Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books Network
Jeremy Black, "Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815" (Indiana UP, 2018)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2020 29:36


Today we talk to Jeremy Black, professor of history at Exeter University, UK, about two of his most recent book projects, both of which relate to the ways in which we think about empires, and the British empire in particular. Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 1688-1815 (Indiana University Press, 2018) and Imperial legacies: The British Empire Around the World (Encounter, 2019) address some very timely themes. A great deal of recent discussion among humanities scholars has focused on the possibility or even necessity of “de-colonising the curriculum.” But what does this project mean? Why do empires matter? Are imperial histories and legacies better understood from a geographical or historical viewpoint? And are empires inevitable? Crawford Gribben is a professor of history at Queen’s University Belfast. His research interests focus on the history of puritanism and evangelicalism, and he is the author most recently of John Owen and English Puritanism (Oxford University Press, 2016). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oriental Institute Podcast
Assyrian Imperial Power by Karen Radner

Oriental Institute Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 12, 2019 71:00


Assyrian Imperial Power and How to Oppose It by Karen Radner Alexander von Humboldt-Professor for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East, LMU Munich Honorary Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History, University College London In the early first millennium BC, the ancient kingdom of Assyria became the dominant power of the Middle East. Attitudes and preferences of the imperial center shaped the lives and lifestyles between the Nile and the Caspian Sea. What made the Assyrian Empire so successful? And was it possible to oppose this exemplary lowland predatory state? This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on May 1, 2019. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/GnRNWyf1Rtw Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: bit.ly/2AWGgF7

2010 - Present WEAI Lectures
2016.04.26_Chen_Imperial Power and the Politics of Difference

2010 - Present WEAI Lectures

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2016 169:36


politics chen imperial power
New Books in History
Par Cassel, “Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan” (Oxford UP, 2012)

New Books in History

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2012 68:33


Extraterritoriality was not grafted whole onto East Asian societies: it developed over time and in a relationship with local precedents, institutions, and understandings of power. Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan (Oxford University Press, 2012) uses a trans-regional and transnational focus to explore the history of extraterritoriality and the treaty port system in nineteenth century societies. Eschewing the kinds of teleological narratives that privilege current nation states, Par Cassel locates late Qing, Tokugawa, and Meiji debates in a deep history of legal pluralism, notions of “foreign” identity, and inter-ethnic relations. Cassel uses an impressive range of press accounts, legal texts, and other sources to unfold the ways that the very different trajectories of extraterritoriality in China and Japan had very different consequences for the two countries. Cassel’s book ranges across some fascinating case studies from the histories of opium, counterfeiting, and the police. In addition to being required reading for anyone working in the history of modern China or Japan, Grounds of Judgment is also of special note to readers interested in the ways that language, dialect, and translation have shaped modern history, legal reform, and international relations. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

china japan judgment grounds east asian qing meiji cassel eschewing tokugawa oxford up imperial power nineteenth century china judgment extraterritoriality
New Books in East Asian Studies
Par Cassel, “Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan” (Oxford UP, 2012)

New Books in East Asian Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2012 68:33


Extraterritoriality was not grafted whole onto East Asian societies: it developed over time and in a relationship with local precedents, institutions, and understandings of power. Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan (Oxford University Press, 2012) uses a trans-regional and transnational focus to explore the... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

japan grounds east asian cassel oxford up imperial power nineteenth century china judgment extraterritoriality
New Books in Law
Par Cassel, “Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan” (Oxford UP, 2012)

New Books in Law

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2012 68:33


Extraterritoriality was not grafted whole onto East Asian societies: it developed over time and in a relationship with local precedents, institutions, and understandings of power. Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan (Oxford University Press, 2012) uses a trans-regional and transnational focus to explore the history of extraterritoriality and the treaty port system in nineteenth century societies. Eschewing the kinds of teleological narratives that privilege current nation states, Par Cassel locates late Qing, Tokugawa, and Meiji debates in a deep history of legal pluralism, notions of “foreign” identity, and inter-ethnic relations. Cassel uses an impressive range of press accounts, legal texts, and other sources to unfold the ways that the very different trajectories of extraterritoriality in China and Japan had very different consequences for the two countries. Cassel’s book ranges across some fascinating case studies from the histories of opium, counterfeiting, and the police. In addition to being required reading for anyone working in the history of modern China or Japan, Grounds of Judgment is also of special note to readers interested in the ways that language, dialect, and translation have shaped modern history, legal reform, and international relations. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

china japan judgment grounds east asian qing meiji cassel eschewing tokugawa oxford up imperial power nineteenth century china judgment extraterritoriality
In Conversation: An OUP Podcast
Par Cassel, “Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan” (Oxford UP, 2012)

In Conversation: An OUP Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2012 68:33


Extraterritoriality was not grafted whole onto East Asian societies: it developed over time and in a relationship with local precedents, institutions, and understandings of power. Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan (Oxford University Press, 2012) uses a trans-regional and transnational focus to explore the history of extraterritoriality and the treaty port system in nineteenth century societies. Eschewing the kinds of teleological narratives that privilege current nation states, Par Cassel locates late Qing, Tokugawa, and Meiji debates in a deep history of legal pluralism, notions of “foreign” identity, and inter-ethnic relations. Cassel uses an impressive range of press accounts, legal texts, and other sources to unfold the ways that the very different trajectories of extraterritoriality in China and Japan had very different consequences for the two countries. Cassel's book ranges across some fascinating case studies from the histories of opium, counterfeiting, and the police. In addition to being required reading for anyone working in the history of modern China or Japan, Grounds of Judgment is also of special note to readers interested in the ways that language, dialect, and translation have shaped modern history, legal reform, and international relations. Enjoy!

china japan judgment grounds east asian qing meiji cassel eschewing tokugawa oxford up imperial power nineteenth century china judgment extraterritoriality
New Books Network
Par Cassel, “Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan” (Oxford UP, 2012)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2012 68:33


Extraterritoriality was not grafted whole onto East Asian societies: it developed over time and in a relationship with local precedents, institutions, and understandings of power. Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan (Oxford University Press, 2012) uses a trans-regional and transnational focus to explore the history of extraterritoriality and the treaty port system in nineteenth century societies. Eschewing the kinds of teleological narratives that privilege current nation states, Par Cassel locates late Qing, Tokugawa, and Meiji debates in a deep history of legal pluralism, notions of “foreign” identity, and inter-ethnic relations. Cassel uses an impressive range of press accounts, legal texts, and other sources to unfold the ways that the very different trajectories of extraterritoriality in China and Japan had very different consequences for the two countries. Cassel’s book ranges across some fascinating case studies from the histories of opium, counterfeiting, and the police. In addition to being required reading for anyone working in the history of modern China or Japan, Grounds of Judgment is also of special note to readers interested in the ways that language, dialect, and translation have shaped modern history, legal reform, and international relations. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

china japan judgment grounds east asian qing meiji cassel eschewing tokugawa oxford up imperial power nineteenth century china judgment extraterritoriality
New Books in Chinese Studies
Par Cassel, “Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan” (Oxford UP, 2012)

New Books in Chinese Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2012 68:33


Extraterritoriality was not grafted whole onto East Asian societies: it developed over time and in a relationship with local precedents, institutions, and understandings of power. Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan (Oxford University Press, 2012) uses a trans-regional and transnational focus to explore the... Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

japan grounds east asian cassel oxford up imperial power nineteenth century china judgment extraterritoriality
New Books in Japanese Studies
Par Cassel, “Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan” (Oxford UP, 2012)

New Books in Japanese Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2012 68:33


Extraterritoriality was not grafted whole onto East Asian societies: it developed over time and in a relationship with local precedents, institutions, and understandings of power. Grounds of Judgment: Extraterritoriality and Imperial Power in Nineteenth-Century China and Japan (Oxford University Press, 2012) uses a trans-regional and transnational focus to explore the... Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies

japan grounds east asian cassel oxford up imperial power nineteenth century china judgment extraterritoriality
Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays

Address to the Rosa Luxemburg Conference, Berlin Germany 1/10/09 'Imperial Power & Counter-Power':(M.A. Jamal's Remarks to the Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Germany / Jan. 10th, 2009 [SP. WRIT. 12/30/08] (C) '08 MUMIA ABU-JAMAL If one is to address the reactions to the recent election of Illinois Senator Barack Obama to the U.S. Presidency, this can perhaps be best encapsulated by the term, exultation. For if ever a political figure rode the currents of a stellar alignment, Barack Obama did so. The exultation was both national and global. In my 1/2 century of life, I can recall no presidential election that elicited so profound a political -- indeed visceral! -- response. When one considers what role the left had in such a spectacular political event, again we must look to alignments; not of stars, but of constituencies, which converged to not only elect Obama, but to also close the door to the ruinous politics of the U.S. right wing, represented by the incumbent President, George W. Bush, and his presumed political heirs, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin of the Republican Party. While the U.S. left was a constituent part of the larger constituency, it neither drove nor directed the forces that elected Obama. In many ways it was hostage to those forces. Those forces were youth -- those between 18-28, who mobilized in ways never seen before; it was also African Americans who voted in unprecedented numbers for one they perceived as one of their own; add to this millions of women, some of whom felt, frankly, disrespected by the choice of Palin, who, though a woman, betrayed an astonishing lack of knowledge and expertise on issues, especially given the very real possibility that her running mate, sen. McCain, might not survive the rigors of office. But one cannot ignore the significant segment of those who felt betrayed or disaffected by the hard-right tilt of the Republican Party -- which ran almost exclusively on the notion that Obama was a "socialist", who in Palin's oft-repeated quote, "pals around with terrorists." For those beyond our shores, it may be necessary to briefly decode this language. The "socialist" tag was a kind of cleaned - up, classy version of 'communist', the ultimate slur in U.S. capitalist politics, only exceeded by the post 9/11 term "terrorist" (and by calling Obama a "pal" of terrorists, it was tantamount to calling him one). The last reference was to the alleged friendship between Obama and William Ayers, a Hyde Park educator who, in the 1960's, was a leading member of the Weather Underground, student anti-war and anti imperialist activists, who engaged in acts against property, and who supported the Black liberation movements of the era. In point of fact, Obama was, by no measure, a leftist. In the Spring of 2008 issue of The Black Scholar, African-American studies professor, Charles P. Henry makes the point explicitly, citing both Obama's own words, as well as a political biography of him in the New York Times Magazine. (1) Obama's quoted remarks are instructive: The Democrats have been stuck in the arguments of Vietnam, which means that either you're a 'Scoop' Jackson Democrat or you're suspicious of any military action. And that's just not my framework .(2) Obama's choices were illustrative of two poles of the Democratic Party: Sen. Henry 'Scoop' Jackson was so pro-war that he was called the "Senator from Boeing". (3) ; Hayden by contrast, was a student anti-war activist, and member of S.D.S. (Students for a Democratic Society). (Interestingly, Obama never referred to himself as a Jesse Jackson Democrat either). This leads us to the next query on the role of the U.S. anti-war movement; in a word, it is moribund. This, paradoxically, can be traced to the massive demonstrations of Spring 2003 in protest of the imminent Iraq War. For millions of people, this was their first, and last experience of mass action. Sadly, the lesson they learned was of their impotence, not their power, for Bush promptly ignored the protests, rattled the sabers of war, and launched Operation Shock and Awe. For many people, unused to popular protests, this short-term failure to stop the war blinded them to the rarity that such mass protests represented: never had the nation seen such mass protests before the war was begun. At this stage, the people were a Counter-Power, but they stopped far too soon. To further analyze the question of whether the election of Obama represents a leftist surge, or if the anti-war movement is in its ascendancy we need only recall that Obama is neither a leftist nor is he anti-war. The early stages of his electoral campaign were explicitly against the Iraq War. As he ran in the later stages, his sound bites announced a troop withdrawal in Iraq was necessary to buttress U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Indeed, given the events occurring as these words are written, there will probably be more U.S. anti-war protests against the Israeli blitzkrieg on Gaza in the next 2 weeks, than there was against the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan in the last two years. That, I think, succinctly states the case of where we are. But where we are need not determine where we can go. For people move by inches and by leaps. This was, undoubtedly, a giant step in U.S. history. This was not a day ever envisioned by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln or even John F. Kennedy. Yet, one of Black America's most revered historians, Vincent Harding, (author of the classic, There is a River), spoke for far more than himself when he said, "So my hopes are very much focused on him, but not on him alone. I see the energy that's been built up over these two years of campaigns, and I see the possibility that we could gather ourselves together and begin to ask, in a very powerful way, not what should Barack Obama be doing next, but where do we go from here? What is our role as committed, progressive citizens to move to the next stages?" Harding, a close confidante of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ended his comments on the Obama election with this fitting suggestion: "Maybe a democracy needs community organizers more than it needs commanders."(4) Maybe so. It appears Dr. Harding is suggesting that instead of empire, we need a republic, for if history teaches us anything, it is that the two realities are un- reconcilable. In the days of ancient Rome, the advent of empire spelled the end of the republic. In 193 C. E., an African seized the throne of Rome. Emperor Septimius Severus extended Rome's power, and strengthened its empire. His sons succeeded him, and exceeded him in cruelty and brutality. They didn't bring change -- they brought continuity. Will this empire be any different? Danke! Aus die Todeszelle, Hier Sprecht Mumia Abu-Jamal. Endnotes 1. Traub, James, "Is His Biography Our Destiny?", New York Times Magazine, November 4, 2007, pp.50-55. 2. Hayden, Tom, "An Appeal to Barack Obama", post to ariannahuff@aol.com, November 8, 2007; cited in Henry, Charles P., O"Obama '08 -- Articulate and Clean,"The Black Scholar, (Spr. '08) [vol. 38:no.1}, p.6, fn.17. 3. Johnson, Chalmers, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006), p.211. Boeing received some $20 billion in defense contracts in 2006. 4. Wane, Aly (compiled by), "Historical Moment: Black Thinkers Reflect on the Election of Barack Obama", Syracuse Peace Council's Peace newsletter (Jan. '09: #780), p.7.