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Hannah Arendt and the Constitution of Freedom
This week I gave a lecture at the University of São Paulo in Brazil that asked, Why Law Alone Can’t Defend Democracy—and why Only Power Can Check Power.03-30-2025
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Arendt, Michael Denneny, and the Origins of Gay Cultural Activism
Blake Smith writes about Arendt’s influence on the late Michael Denneny, her former student and one of the most influential gay cultural activists of the '70s. Smith writes, "Like Arendt, Denneny came to argue that the best hope for the survival of freedom lay not in traditional ideas of abstract, universal human rights . . . but rather in minority communities devoted to creating new practices, pleasures and identities, in a spirit of political engagement."03-03-2024
In Memoriam Ingeborg Nordmann
Few have done more to enrich Hannah Arendt scholarship than Ingeborg Nordmann. Nordmann worked with her friends and colleague Ursula Ludz to bring out the first edition of Arendt’s Denktagebuch in 2002 and reissued it in its present form in 2016. Their extraordinary edition has deepened and changed Arendt scholarship, offering a path to Arendt’s thought process and to her at times more personal reflections.03-03-2024
What Is Democratic Protest?
Last week in Berlin, I participated in a performance art show by the Cuban artist Tania Bruguera, “Where Your Ideas Become Civic Actions (100 Hours Reading of The Origins of Totalitarianism).” One Hundred scholars and artists and activists were invited to read for one hour. Bruguera asked me to read the first Chapter of Arendt’s book “Antisemitism as An Outrage to Common Sense.” The show was imagined as a way to spur civic dialogue.02-18-2024
The Big Lie
Writer Dara Horn writes about the “big lie” of antisemitism for The Atlantic, saying: "The through line of anti-Semitism for thousands of years has been the denial of truth and the promotion of lies. These lies range in scope from conspiracy theories to Holocaust denial . . . These lies are all part of the foundational big lie: that anti-Semitism itself is a righteous act of resistance against evil, because Jews are collectively evil and have no right to exist."02-18-2024
A Place to be Curious
Stephen Carter argues that we have ceased to see universities as laboratories for curiosity and instead imagine them as finishing schools designed to prepare students for successful careers. He argues that we need to return to the university driven by curiosity. To do that, Carter writes, we must think more clearly about what is the meaning of academic freedom and free speech:02-11-2024
The Truth Dies When Journalism Dies
Sebastian Junger, who will be giving the keynote address at the Hannah Arendt Center’s 2024 Conference on Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism, has recently written: “Journalism is important because reality is important, and reality is something that many generals and politicians have a complicated relationship with.” When journalism dies, Junger argues, “The truth dies with it.”02-03-2024
Totalitarianism in the Bathtub
Lyndsey Stonebridge's surprising, wonderful, and novel new biographical tale of Arendt’s life and thinking, We Are Free To Change The World is not your typical biography. It offers a quirky, original, serious, and humane inquiry into Arendt’s work and her continuing relevance in our world.01-20-2024
American Jewish Peace Archive: An Interview with Robert K. Lifton
HAC is proud to sponsor The American Jewish Peace Archive, a comprehensive repository of over 200 interviews with U.S. and Israeli Jews who have advocated for self-determination for Jews and Palestinians. Organized by activist and oral historian Aliza Becker, the Archive seeks to explore the plurality of Jewish thought on Israel. Today, we share an excerpt from a conversation with Robert K.Lifton, who served as President of the American Jewish Congress from 1988-1994.01-13-2024
Rebuilding Trust
Jedediah Britton Purdy writes that democracy depends on trust, but the fracturing world of experts and the loss of authority suffered by nearly all institutions means that trust is dispersed, politicized, and weaponized. : How can we rebuild common institutions of trust? His answer: “We need to practice nondefensively meeting serious disagreement—and proceeding to the rest of the human being.”01-13-2024