Historical patience
MISCELLANEOUS: Manuel Castells paints a picture of today's democratic decline that is as recognizable as it is bleak.
From eco-nightmares to historical relief
EARTH OF THE EARTH: In a groundbreaking new collective novel, we can read about how the climate crisis is escalating and a new ecological world order is emerging.
Iconic paintings and photographs
Role models: In public Latin America, the addiction heroes Bolívar and San Martin or Che Guevara and Evita are either idolized or satanized through paintings and photographs. This book takes a closer look at why.
The struggle for Hong Kong democracy
DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT: By following four young demonstrators, the documentary Faceless comes very close to the protest demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019.
The intolerance of divergence
TRANSFORMATION: Hartmut Rosa is a central critic of modernity. He emphasizes the importance of our resonant experiences – be it with another, a work or a book – as a central part of being human.
Vita hyperactive!
When the belief in shared narratives fades, while the individual's life becomes more hectic, time itself loses direction and meaning, Byung-Chul Han believes.
The Norwegian double standard
ENVIRONMENTAL PIONEERS: The story of the history of Norwegian environmental thinking is an ambivalent portrait of Norway's imagined role as an environmental nation.
The guardianless faces
IRAN: This is a political film that has chosen the thriller genre to exercise sharp social criticism against Iran. Like many of today's protesters in the country, the people behind the film were met with death threats and hate messages from the Iranian regime.
“It would is not over. Long live what it would be! ”
NATURE: The attempt to control nature's wildness locally has created uncontrolled effects globally. Do we have to freeze and sweat more in the future, or is civilization far wilder?
Italian whining?
ENERGY: When it comes to the energy shortage we are facing, could a possible answer be to let the state rule with a harder hand? And as for the war, are sanctions even an effective weapon? Federico Rampini's answer is no.
Residents of the eco-community
ECOLOGY: Is it possible to have an earth free of war, a society free of violence, a love free of lies and a life free of anxiety? As someone has said: «It starts with water.» Here we look at three communities.
PIER PAOLO PASOLINI: A long plan-sequence: film and reality
PASOLINI: 100 years: On the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of Pier Paolo Pasolini (March 5, 1922), MODERN TIMES has chosen to print an essay on a theme between power and the oppressed – as it is throughout his large film production.
Society on the brink of a nervous breakdown
PROSPERITY: Is there even a way back to our society as it was before? According to Stephan Lessenich, capitalism and prosperity in the West is a result of the exploitation of colonized peoples. But according to him, to abolish capitalism would be to abolish our democracy at the same time.
Books that become waves
Essay: What happens when we listen to a book while we are also doing something completely different?
Gentle climate revival
Rather than perpetrating shame over the damage we have done to the environment, we must awaken to a mature environmental awareness.
Can the forests come crawling back?
NATURE: Afforestation is the cozy climate solution everyone likes. Fred Pearce believes it is far more important to fight logging and rather let the forest grow back on its own. He points out that with 25 per cent more trees, these would be able to pull as much as 200 billion tonnes of CO000 out of the atmosphere – enough in itself to keep us below the target of a 2 degree temperature rise by 1,5.
We lack faith, not faith in God, but faith in the world
PHILOSOPHY: The immune democracy. According to the Italian philosopher Donatella Di Cwesare, there exists today a political culture ruled by the fear of the foreigner and the future, a sham democracy in favor of security, control and short-term competitive considerations. And those who consider themselves "liberal" today have suffered greatly in standing up to the irrational impulses and decisions that govern the market and the pursuit of short-term profit.
Visions of an alternative lifestyle
COMMUNITY: The need to stem the fear of an uncertain future is great today. Racism, xenophobia, violence and authoritarianism are growing all over the world. We present here some alternatives to this.
The environmental crisis from the perspective of the stars
The day we help rather than disrupt the climate, we can talk about the "mature anthropocene".
To salvage what is salvaged can
TECHNOLOGY: Are artificial intelligence and drones good news for nature and the protection of the planet's ecosystems?
The Art of Coexistence in the Age of Mass Extinction
Man should enter into an intimate and living "collaboration" with other species rather than pursuing a dry zero-sum game of calculated risk and balancing self-interest, Donna Haraway believes.
Mutual solidarity
Reciprocity: Competition and cooperation are like nature's yin and yang, claim two French biologists. Today, recent biological and psychological research on reciprocity is based on both biochemistry, game theory, empirical examination of symbiotic relationships and the new sociobiology's theories of group selection.
The memories of an anarchist
PROMISE: Jens Bjørneboe has made a storyline where Emma Goldman remembers the many events in her life. Here is a report from Grusomhetens Teater's rehearsal of Red Emma.
To look at the present as the past of the future
ACCELERATION: We have interviewed the thinker Armen Avanessian about "accelerationism" and the possibility of a new political thinking.
As the next phase of world history
BITCOINS: In a book that is both wild, elegant and utopian, accelerator Mark Alizart sees bitcoin as the very royal road to a classless society and a better future.