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‘Clash of civilizations’ or crisis of civilization?

May 21, 2019

‘Clash of civilizations’ or crisis of civilization?

Talk about a graphic display of soft power: Beijing this week hosted the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations. 

Organized under the direct supervision of President Xi Jinping it took place amid an “Asian Culture Carnival.”  Sure, there were dubious, kitschy and syrupy overtones, but what really mattered was what Xi himself had to say to China and all of Asia. 

In his keynote speech, the Chinese leader essentially stressed that one civilization forcing itself upon another is “foolish” and “disastrous.” In Xi’s concept of a dialogue of civilizations, he referred to the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as programs that “have expanded the channels for communication exchanges.”

Xi’s composure and rationality present a stark, contrasting message to US President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign.

West vs East and South

Compare and contrast Xi’s comments with what happened at a security forum in Washington just over two weeks earlier. Then, a bureaucrat by the name of Kiron Skinner, the State Department’s policy planning director, characterized US-China rivalry as a “clash of civilizations,” and “a fight with a really different civilization and ideology the US hasn’t had before.”

And it got worse. This civilization was “not Caucasian” – a not so subtle 21st century resurrection of the “Yellow Peril.” (Let us recall: The “not Caucasian” Japan of World War II was the original “Yellow Peril.”) 

Divide and rule, spiced with racism, accounts for the toxic mix that has been embedded in the hegemonic US  narrative for decades now. The mix harks back to Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, published in 1996. 

 …click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Sarnia-born professor looks to future

December 1, 2017

Sarnia-born professor looks to future

(Submitted photo)

(Submitted photo)

The world is racing towards a large-scale impending collapse, and if humans want to avoid a future filled with social, political and environmental catastrophe, they would do well to devolve and democratize society’s decision-making process, currently in the hands of a select few.

So said Sarnia-born author Kevin MacKay, during a presentation at the Sarnia Public Library on Thursday.

The Mohawk College sociology professor and union activist touched on a number of themes related to the collapse of industrial society and also the shifts needed to avert such a fate. Those subjects are covered in MacKay’s recently released book, Radical Transformation: Oligarchy, Collapse and the Crisis of Civilization.

Six years in the making, the book is a product of research, reading and conversations with experts in a variety of fields, as well as activists in several grassroots movements, MacKay said.

With a world that appears to be veering off course, he said Radical Transformation is a guidebook to understand why society seems to be becoming more chaotic. It’s also a book of solutions, he said, pointing the way to a better, more egalitarian and just future.

“My book deals with some discourse that’s emerged recently – there are people, very knowledgeable people, who are basically talking about the threat that our society could actually collapse, that our civilization is going to hit the wall,” he said. “There are a number of scientists and ecologists who have been saying that over the past several years, so my book is looking at this idea: are we in fact driving industrial civilization off a cliff? I explore the crises we’re facing, whether that’s in the ecological, political or economic areas. And then I end up looking at what we can do to change course.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

[2015/16 SEMINAR SERIES] ‘The Crisis of Civilization and the Systemic Causes of Mass Violence’ – Dr Nafeez Ahmed

February 1, 2016

[2015/16 SEMINAR SERIES] ‘The Crisis of Civilization and the Systemic Causes of Mass Violence’ – Dr Nafeez Ahmed

Crisis of Civilization

ISCI hosted its second State Crime Seminar Series delivered by Dr Nafeez Ahmed. Nafeez is an award-winning investigative journalist, international security scholar, best-selling author and Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Development. Based on his acclaimed documentary ‘The Crisis of Civilization’ and ground-breaking journalism for Middle East Eye, Vice’s Motherboard, The Guardian and InsurgeIntelligence, Nafeez’s seminar talk is entitled: “The Crisis of Civilization and the Systemic Causes of Mass Violence”. Nafeez helps us better understand the root causes of violent conflict as well as the interconnections between global ecological, energy and economic crises.

Organised by Saeb Kasm <saeb.kasm@qmul.ac.uk>

 

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