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    When History in the US Finally Becomes Something to Think About

    With their focus on the present and occasionally on the future (for the visionaries and innovators), Americans have never been enamored of history as a subject of study. They have preferred simply to ingest the simplistic myths transcribed in textbooks produced in Texas that offer them that minimal satisfaction of knowing they share with other […] More

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    How Will COVID-19 Shape Our Society?

    Editor’s Note: These are unprecedented times. A global pandemic has changed life as we know it. In recent months, Fair Observer has examined the crisis through political, economic and social lenses, publishing articles from around the world. The result is three 360° series that we urge you to read. You too can get involved in […] More

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    Gone With the Wind: On the Pitfalls of Symbolic Politics

    A few days ago, Quaker Oats announced it would retire its 130-year-old brand of pancake syrup and breakfast foods, Aunt Jemima. The company acknowledged that the Aunt Jemima character was based on a racial stereotype. In the aftermath of the decision, other companies, among them Mars Food, followed suit announcing that it was time to […] More

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    Black Lives Matter Protests Are Not the Cultural Revolution

    In their effort to transform their discomfort with the current #BlackLivesMatter protests into a superficially sophisticated critique, right-wing “intellectuals” in the United States and Europe have latched onto a dubious historical analogy. When former congressman Newt Gingrich, the National Review’s David Harsanyi, Breitbart’s Joel Pollak and other right-wingers look at the protests against police violence, they […] More

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    It’s Time for #MeToo to Address Structural Racism

    The impact of the #MeToo movement has no doubt been useful in getting us to speak about the traumas we experience in various spaces. But there is more to be done. Every institution, ranging from private to public, which includes professional, religious, political, educational and social organizations, is not exempt from its reach. However, when […] More

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    How Social Media Is Changing Our World

    Social media platforms started out humbly, existing simply as a way to connect with old friends, share photographs and inform your social network of changes in your life. However, as social media continues to grow, the effect and influence it has on the world at large are undeniably far more impactful than initially envisioned. Since […] More

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    Sweden Leads the Way on Uighur Rights

    Article 1 of the UN Refugee Convention defines a refugee as “someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.” In 2019, the Swedish Migration Agency recognized that […] More

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    Remembering Germany’s Dark Colonial History

    Germany is the great latecomer in Western Europe. For much of its history, Germany was a territorial space occupied by dozens of autonomous political entities — kingdoms, principalities, duchies, margraviates, free cities. It was not until 1870 that Germany was united. By then, the world had largely been divided among Europe’s great powers. The German Empire […] More