Tag Archives: Walter Benjamin

Yazan Alloujami: Gaza-on-the-Rhine, a history lesson

From lundimatin, #418, 04/03/2024 … To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it ‘the way it really was’ (Ranke). It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger. Historical … Continue reading

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The gilets jaunes: Those who walk away from capital

While the politicians and the media scrutinise the weekly accounting of the number of demonstrators with each Act of the yellow vests’ movement, closely seconded by sociologists and political scientists, the movement persists, defying all predictions. And even if it … Continue reading

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Revolution imagined outside history

Utopia of a Tired Man Borges story Illustration by Federico Abuyé   The chronicler, who recounts events without distinguishing between the great and small, thereby accounts for the truth, that nothing which has ever happened is to be given as … Continue reading

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Walter Benjamin: Messianism and Revolution – Theses on History

The essay that we share below, by Andrew Robinson, bears the virtue of clarity; like a collector, he assembles the bits of Walter Benjamin’s work on messianism and revolution.  And yet because he writes as a collector of ideas, Benjamin’s … Continue reading

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The reign of the police

This so perfect democracy itself constructs its inconceivable enemy, terrorism.  It wants, in effect, to be judged by its enemies rather then by its results.  The history of terrorism is written by the State: it is therefore enlightening.  The spectator … Continue reading

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The Space and Time of Utopia

Reflections around the concept of utopia, on the 500th anniversary of Thomas Moore’s Utopia, reflections that echo earlier thoughts on the time and space of revolution. In revolution, everything happens incredibly quickly, just like in dreams in which people seem to be freed from … Continue reading

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Time, revolution and historical subjectivity

(Photographs by Alexey Titarenko) In revolution, everything happens incredibly quickly, just like in dreams in which people seem to be freed from gravity. Gustave Landauer, Revolution We have merely to tear down the Bastilles of the future, restructure the past … Continue reading

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Reflections amid violence

(Photograph by Francesca Oggiano, from the series The Stolen Eyes) in memory of Walter Benjamin for n.m.   A historical materialist approaches a historical subject only where he encounters it as a monad.  In this structure he recognizes the sign … Continue reading

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15M: A Cartography of the Spanish Revolution 31

… entre tudo o que se esta a passar, a fazer-se, os protestos no Chile contra o estado das coisas parece-me fundamental … o link é para noticias e uma curta metragem impressionate de Santiago do Chile, em memoria do … Continue reading

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