How many fingers am I holding up?

In a famous scene in George Orwell’s 1984, Inner Party member O’Brien tests protagonist Winston Smith’s allegiance to Party truth by demanding that Winston sees five fingers, instead of the four he is holding up. Winston’s refusal to see something other than what his eyes tell him is the cue for intense physical pain, courtesy … Continue reading How many fingers am I holding up? →

On climate change ontologies and the spirit(s) of oil

The push and pull of climate ‘agreements’ For the 21st time, preparations are underway for a United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) on Climate Change (or ‘summit’), intended to produce A Universal Climate Agreement (or ‘deal’) for the management and prevention of global anthropogenic climate change. As with similar meetings since at least the mid-1990s, … Continue reading On climate change ontologies and the spirit(s) of oil →

Supposing truth is a woman? – a commentary

In this more theoretical commentary I engage with the article ‘Deconstructing Militant Manhood’ written by Lara Coleman & Serena Bassi and published by the International Journal of Feminist Politics in 2011. I intend a further problematisation of what they identify as the exclusionary orderings of powerful gendered and heteronormative scripts within left-political organisations that otherwise … Continue reading Supposing truth is a woman? – a commentary →

For the G20 Alternative Summit, London 2009

Notes on the poverty of constructing nature as service-provider Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. (UN Declaration of Human Rights, article 19) This post consists of … Continue reading For the G20 Alternative Summit, London 2009 →