Mijn plannen voor De Balie
Ik ben tot de laatste ronde gekomen in de sollicitatieprocedure voor de functie van Directeur van De Balie. Jammer dat ik het niet geworden ben, want dit was ik van plan: Mijn plan voor De Balie Robert...
View ArticleThe fear of Big Brother
The fear of Big Brother is justified as long as political power sits on top of us and has the means to lock us into a subordinate relationship of control. In the 1920s and 30s we saw how dictatorial...
View ArticleThe Taliban and The City
In a recent article, Antonio Giustozzi explains how the Taliban have improved their command & control structure. He describes how, under the military pressure of the US and NATO, and with the...
View ArticleSearching for Ancient Arabia in Bahrain
View of the excavated Portuguese fort with the sea behind it, and the palm groves between the two. One of the beautiful sceneries we encountered during our research. Summary Between 8 and 11 April I...
View ArticleLife and death in Rojava
Day 2 in Northwestern Syria We spent a long time talking with soldiers from the YPJ Amuda brigade. The YPJ is the Kurdish women’s militia; they claim to be about 50% of the Kurdish front line fighters,...
View ArticleThe Rojava Revolution
This article is awaiting publication, in this or a modified form A unique experiment in ‘stateless democracy’ and effective armed resistance against ISIS in Northern Syria is led by Kurdish women....
View ArticleArticle about Jonas Staal in Syria
Closing ceremony of the New World Summit in Derik, Syria I published this article in the December 2015 edition of The Art Newspaper – with first a ‘news’ story on page 3, and then a feature on pages...
View ArticleNo time for the Blues
Trump’s victory at the polls makes me feel optimistic. The wake-up call can no longer be ignored, now that a beast has ascended the throne of world power. It is time to act. I’m not worried that this...
View ArticleHomo Deus Part 2: counterproposal
Yes, I agree with Prof. Harari that the human race must seek to become divine (see my previous post, a review of his book). Like him, I also think that the key lies in developing our power. But unlike...
View ArticleLessons from Somaliland for Kurds and Catalans
The Kurds and the Catalans are voting for self-determination. It seems nothing can stop a people who have decided to vote for self-determination, although it seems not a single state is ready to accept...
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