No Sacred Land For Vanquised

Considered the southern border of Europe, a territory that the far right describes as a strange and wild land, full of overcrowded cities, empty villages, exotic landscapes, exuberant raw materials, successful footballers and hordes of menacing migrants, the regions of the Sahel and North Africa share and suffer from the pernicious effects of the decline of its traditional patterns of life, ruined by accelerated imposition of modernity, capitalism, communism, xenophobia, and incipient neo-colonialism: from misery to corruption, from unemployment, economic and social inequality, the technological gap, educational underdevelopment, lack of infrastructure, food and health insecurity, foreign interference, the blind ambition of their own leaders, religion extremism, the repeated violation of fundamental rights and the yoke of patriarchy. Also, the scourge of a new form of economy, the corsair or buccaneer economy, based on the smuggling of all kinds of products -arms, drugs, people, food, electrical appliances, fuel, and people- to which little attention is paid but which in reality articulates the entire region, becomes the problems chronic and is the only option for work and subsistence for millions of families. In There is no sacred land for the vanquished, the award-winning Spanish journalist Javier Martín takes a unique and complete journey through the routes of irregular migration, from central Africa to the rescue ships in the Mediterranean and discovers through the testimony of his protagonists -migrants, traffickers, military, aid workers- the establishment of a new social and economic system that, together with the European militarization of borders and the total privatization of wars like Libya, are deteriorating the true spirit of Africa, a continent in the one that migration is an ancestral asset, shapes its culture and sustains its soul.

Coloniality and Racial (In)Justice in the University examines the disruption and remaking of the university at a moment in history when white supremacist politics have erupted across North America, as have anti-racist and anti-colonial movements. Situating the university at the heart of these momentous developments, this collection debunks the popular claim that the university is well on its way to overcoming its histories of racial exclusion. Written by faculty and students located at various levels within the institutional hierarchy, this book demonstrates how the shadows of settler colonialism and racial division are reiterated in "newer" neoliberal practices. Drawing on critical race and Indigenous theory, the chapters challenge Eurocentric knowledge, institutional whiteness, and structural discrimination that are the bedrock of the institution. The authors also analyse their own experiences to show how Indigenous dispossession, racial violence, administrative prejudice, and imperialist militarization shape classroom interactions within the university.

What part does the land of Canaan play in the biblical conception of “Israel”? To what extent does the religion promoted by the Hebrew Bible require that Israel live its communal life in the national homeland? And how does life in the land compare in importance with other elements presented as belonging to Israel’s ultimate destiny, such as, for example, adherence to the law? To what extent must the people of Israel take hold of and settle in the “entire land of Canaan” for them to fulfill their destiny? Might the land be shared with other peoples, or must non-Israelites be expelled and subjugated, or at least kept at a safe and isolated distance? Frankel asks these questions and others of the Hebrew Bible as a whole and of the biblical texts individually. He shows that all of these questions were addressed by various biblical authors and that diverse and even opposing answers were given to them. These issues are not completely new. Many of them have been addressed in recent times by various scholars and theologians who have taken a renewed interest in the “territorial dimension” of the Hebrew Bible. However, works of a predominantly theological or sociological orientation often suffer from a tendency to read the biblical texts holistically and to gloss over textual snags and inconsistencies. For Frankel, the snags and inconsistencies in the texts are of central importance. They allow him carefully to reconstruct the process of the growth of the texts in question and to reveal both their original forms and their final transformations at the hands of the editors. Frankel’s analysis shows that behind the present form of several biblical texts lie earlier versions that often displayed remarkably open and inclusive conceptions of the relationship between the people of Israel and the land of Canaan. Diachronic analysis of the biblical text is thus an essential component in this book’s attempt to retrieve something of the heated theological dynamic that animated the work of the authors and editors whose efforts were consummated in the formation of the Hebrew Bible. Frankel presents here many new and previously unrecognized biblical conceptions and traditions that have significant theological implications for the contemporary religious and political situation in the State of Israel. Once the biblical conceptions have been accurately identified, analyzed, and categorized, he opens a discussion of the possible relevance of these conceptions to the contemporary situation in which he lives.