Amor Mundi

Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny is dead, his body hidden in a Russian morgue. In all likelihood he was murdered by Vladimir Putin. Navalny was certainly courageous, someone willing to risk his life to speak truth to power. For many, he was a man in dark times. Jonathan Steele describes him as "Russia’s best-known campaigner against high-level corruption" for The Guardian.

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.

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."

Democracy Amidst the Loss of Public Trust

This year, a widespread feeling of disempowerment and anger has mobilized mostly right-wing and nationalist populist movements. In addition, there is the coming-of-age of a new and potentially volcanic new technology that has the potential to wreak havoc with the effort to maintain an informed and rational public sphere. As John Ellis writes, the age of video and audio deep fake technology threatens to radically undermine the coherence of a trustworthy public sphere.

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:

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.”

Thinking Everything the Worst

The Hannah Arendt Center’s Virtual Reading Group will be finishing our reading of The Origins of Totalitarianism on February 16th  and 24th with discussions of the famous Epilogue to the book, "Ideology and Terror." In this epilogue, Arendt argues that the fundamental ground for the rise of totalitarianism is prepared by a specifically modern form of loneliness. In preparation, it would be good to read Lee Siegel’s reflections on American loneliness.

Thickheaded Evil

Jonathan Cape focuses on how Lyndsey Stonebridge describes the banality of evil, Hannah Arendt’s attempt to understand Adolf Eichmann’s kind of evil, what allowed him to become a key participant in the extermination of six million Jews. The Hannah Arendt Center Virtual Reading Group will begin reading Eichmann in Jerusalem in March. You can view the schedule here.

American Jewish Peace Archive: Simone Zimmerman

In lieu of the ongoing war in Gaza, HAC has decided to publish excerpts from the American Jewish Peace Archive — a project of activist and oral historian, Aliza Becker, that is sponsored by the Center. Today, we are sharing an excerpt from activist Simone Zimmerman, who is one of the founders of the organization, IfNotNow. Zimmerman shares the powerful story of how she shifted from a staunch defender of Israeli policy to one of the leading Jewish advocates for Palestinians.