humanitarianism – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Social Imperialism and New Victorian Identity Politics

Social Imperialism? New Victorianism’s Domestic Moral Code and the Political Economy of Identity Politics “The nation-state in its imperialist guise was the inescapable context within which all political action necessarily took place: it determined the range of possibilities against which the left as much as the right were compelled to define their positions”. (Eley, 1976, […]

by Eva Bartlett

Useful Atrocities

Who outside of Syria knows the names Yara Abbas, Maya Naser, Mohamed al-Saeed…? The corporate media has inundated us with news of the two American journalists allegedly beheaded, the first of whose execution video has been deemed faked. But what of the non-Western journalists and civilians beheaded and murdered by ISIS, al-Nusra, and associated terrorists […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Voluntourism as Neoliberal Humanitarianism

The following is an extract from Tristan Biehn’s chapter, “Who Needs Me Most? New Imperialist Ideologies in Youth-Centred Volunteer Abroad Programs,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 77-87: Overview: Tristan Biehn examines the new imperial ideologies present in narratives manufactured by the websites of youth-centred volunteer […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Civil Society, NGOs, and Saving the Needy: Imperial Neoliberalism

The following is an extract from my chapter, “Imperial Abduction Lore and Humanitarian Seduction,” which serves as the introduction to Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 1-34: Outsourcing Empire, Privatizing State Functions: NGOs First, we need to get a sense of the size and scope of the spread […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Nature, Culture, and Imperial Beliefs

The following is an extract from my chapter, “Imperial Abduction Lore and Humanitarian Seduction,” which serves as the introduction to Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 1-34: Two of the most enduring beliefs, among at least the political elites and a substantial portion of the wider population in […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Targeting Lev Tahor, from Israel to Canada

We Will Hunt You Down Philippe Couillard, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party and recently elected Premier of Quebec, was supposedly criticizing the soon to be defeated Parti Québécois‘ proposed Quebec Charter of Values (official website, legislation, brochure, poster), part of a xenophobic campaign to undertake the ethnic cleansing of all public services of minorities […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Thoughtful, Respectful, and Progressive: Regarding the “Responsibility to Protect”

Some of this has already been raised, in my recent interview with Phil Taylor, plus in an excellent article by Ken Stone, “UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay: ‘Pretext-maker’ for Western Military Aggression,” and by The Wrong Kind of Green (“Must Watch: MP Laurent Louis Exposes International Neo-Colonialists Behind ‘War On Terror’ & ‘Humanitarian Interventions’ […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Now on YouTube: Libya–Race, Empire, and the Invention of Humanitarian Emergency

While the audio is somewhat clearer, and the video motion is “smoother” for those using older computers, the disadvantage is that the video had to be cut into two parts given restrictions placed on my account by YouTube. Overall, however, the file sizes are smaller than they were originally, so the video should also be […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

We Are Protecting Afghan Civilians…from Ourselves

Today, a serial-killing rapist passed several women during his noon hour lunch break, and he thought to himself, “there are some that should really get it.” He did not act on his thoughts. He was safeguarding the welfare and safety of those women. A shoplifter greedily eyed the expensive items in the store’s electronics section. […]