Sparks Of Revolution

Avertori was once a wonder of the industrial age, filled with mechanical marvels and extravagant art. Built at the crossroads of three continents, it was here that humanity harnessed the elements of power and wrought one marvel after another. Towering art deco architecture and locomotives the size of ocean liners typified the era. But these wonders slowly decay. After centuries of corruption only echoes of that time remain. Most people are now little more than serfs, bought and sold by the great trade houses. Others have it even worse. So flare the sparks of revolution.

The governmental pledge to the American people is found in the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Written more than two hundred years ago, these words now protect a wide range of expressive activity. A broad-gauged discussion of freedom of expression in America, this book begins by studying the period after the Civil War and Reconstruction when new and unsettling ideas appeared with great regularity on the American scene. So many of these ideas were floating around during this period that the nation's leaders often joined forces to repress aberrant notions. In response to such suppression, individuals seeking to better their lives through the expression of new ideas began to demand their rights to speak, write, and associate together to advance their points of view. Blanchard traces this contest for control through the Watergate scandal of the 1970s and the Reagan and early Bush administrations. Blanchard presents a lively discussion of freedom of speech ranging from questions of national security to those of public morality, from loyalty during times of national stress to the right to preach on a public street corner. Including examinations of controversies involving the press, the national government, the Supreme Court, and civil liberties and civil rights concerns, Revolutionary Sparks presents a strong case for the right of Americans to speak their minds and to have access to knowledge necessary for informed self-government.

As we face new and debilitating catastrophes caused by capitalism and nation-state politics, Saladdin Ahmed argues that our only hope is to create space for a new world by negating the existing order. To achieve this new society, Revolutionary Hope After Nihilism outlines a practical philosophy of change that rejects ideologies of false hope and passive hopelessness. Drawing public attention to the decisiveness of the present historical moment, Ahmed introduces a critical theory of social emancipation based on post-Soviet revolutionary movements that have emerged at the margins of the global social order. The rise of socially and politically exclusionary movements in multiple parts of the world, ongoing ecological crisis, anti-Black racism, and the concretization of despair brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic demand a new approach to revolution, which Ahmed argues, must be rooted in the experiences of the most oppressed in society. Realizing the epistemological potential of emancipatory movements, Ahmed rejects dystopian nihilism and positions our focus on marginalized spaces to break out of capitalist totalitarianism.

First published in 1975. This volume presents the documentary evidence for understanding the evolution of China's foreign relations since the inauguration of the People's Republic in 1949. Over seventy documentary extracts cover the years 1949-1947. They include selections from statements and reports, conference resolutions, the speeches of Mao Tse-tung, Chou En-lai and other Chinese leaders, and editorials from People's Daily and Red Flag. Western commentators such as Edgar Snow and Neal Ascherson are also represented, however most of the material is from Chinese sources. Particular attention is given to: · Sino-American relations · The Sino-Soviet rift · The development of Peking's strategy towards Asia, Africa and Western Europe.

A book written by an Iraqi about Iraq and Iraqis to make them comprehensible. It explains the diversity and the lingering antiquity that shape the country in simple terms and through facts and anecdotes. It looks at the occupation, the chaos and lawlessness that followed and their effect on the lives of people and individuals. It also provides a look into the "Triangle of Death" - one of the most volatile regions in the country - from the inside, showing some of the intricacies of tribal relations. But, above all, this book is about people. It aims to illustrate how ordinary people dealt with the traumatic situation, why civil war was so hard to ignite and why there is still hope. It may help the reader understand the failure to understand that led to failure.