13 Acts of Academic Journalism and Historical Commentary on Human Rights : Opinions, Interventions and the Torsions of Politics

This Book Addresses Human Rights, Contemporary Events And Various Historical Scenes Evocative Of Rights Issues. Surveyed Are Problems Such As Human Rights And The Arts, Terrorism, The Middle East Conflict, The American Presidential Election And Ideas Of Civilizational Clash. Cover ......Page 1 Contents......Page 11 Introduction: The Torsions of Politics: Human Rights and Where We Are (And a Discussion of “Historical Commentary” and “Academic Journalism”) (November 21, 2016)......Page 13 Bombing IS: The Battle for Kobani (October 14, 2014)......Page 35 Brussels: Looking for Peace: A Different Approach to Terrorism and Human Rights (March 22, 2016)......Page 45 Human Rights and American Politics: The Surprising Case of Bernie Sanders (March 24, 2016)......Page 57 In the Footsteps of Potsdam: The Cecilienhof and the Glienicke Bridge (March 30, 2016)......Page 75 Iron Bridges: Crackdowns, Crackdowns (April 2, 2016)......Page 93 The Arc of a Blue Note: Clark Terry and the Quiet Sound of Human Rights (April 4, 2016)......Page 105 What to Do with the Kingdom?: Rights and Cultural Life (April 6, 2016)......Page 111 At it Again: North Korea and Those Pesky ICBMs (April 13, 2016)......Page 127 “Without Distinction of Any Kind”: LGBT Rights (April 30, 2016)......Page 143 The Clash of Civilizations: Sub-Continent Style (May 2, 2016)......Page 155 Grappling with the Phenomenon: Donald Trump and Human Rights (May 4, 2016)......Page 169 “Reason and Conscience”: The Arts and Politics in Denmark (May 5, 2016)......Page 185 The Sound of Many and One: Bergen-Belsen (May 7, 2016)......Page 205 List of Illustrations......Page 223 Constituted of a range of essays, the present volume addresses a variety of contemporary and historical events from human rights perspectives. Taking on issues from the American presidential election to North Korean missile tests to terrorism and civilizational conflict to Cold War history, the current collection seeks to speak plainly by combining academic convention with a feuilleton style. Aimed at students and the public as much as other academics, the essays in this book seek to make rights concepts concrete by speaking to the issues through which they become salient: international conflict, social justice problems and the historical scenes that ask us to realize all human beings' equality and dignity - an equality and dignity this book seeks to promote