iran – Page 3 – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Congruent Methodologies: Impactful Pre-invasion Imperialist Guerrilla Warfare Tactics in Iran

By James Lockridge (This essay is a response to Maximilian Forte’s essay “Causation or Correlation, a Useful Crisis Notwithstanding: U.S. Democracy Promotion in Iran.”) Are the current protests in Iran really 100% legitimate and “home grown” or primarily the direct result of outside agents i.e. CIA or corporate influence? Or are the protests 100% legitimate […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Causation or Correlation, a Useful Crisis Notwithstanding: U.S. Democracy Promotion in Iran

CAVEATS Before proceeding, I should indicate what my own biases are regarding the Iranian election protests. First, I have no love for either of the major contenders, whether Mir Hosein Mousavi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or any Ayatollah. I also have no “hatred” for Ahmadinejad and I appreciate his tough stance against the U.S. and Israel. Second, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Source Verification: Notes for Activists Using Photo and Video in Protests

Source verification of digital information has risen to prominence with the Iranian election protests that have been ongoing since Saturday, 13 June, 2009. This does not just apply to alleged information distributed through social media, of course, as it also applies to mainstream media who, like the BBC, have been found to use doctored photos […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

America’s Iranian Twitter Revolution

Which Revolution? If the headlines had spoken of a “Twitter revolution in Canada,” a North American society with very widespread broadband Internet access, and almost complete Internet penetration, and one of the highest rates of personal computer ownership, one would have still needed to be very skeptical: 74% of Canadians surveyed have never even heard […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

America’s New Counterinsurgency Doll: On Store Shelves this January 20

In a whirlwind of war, economic crisis, deepening pain that nurtures deepening suspicions and hatreds, some managers of crisis looked for a new means of pacification. George W. Bush was far too provocative (“Bring ’em on!” — and on they came), too confrontational, too much like the stereotype of the cowboy, destined to be reviled […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Attack Iran, Elect McCain, Wait for the Punch(line)

Imagine that there has been a steady beat of war drums supporting the notion of attacking Iran, sooner rather than later. This in the midst of a fuel price crisis that “suddenly” reveals the Persian Gulf to be the holder of the world’s most essential commodity. This is in the midst of two wars that […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

A White Woman’s Burden: Hillary Clinton, Imperialism, and Racism

The imperialist syndrome that has been institutionalized at least since 1492 in the Americas, with its familiar register of notions of superiority, a right to dominate, of the civilizing beneficence of Western rule, of force needed to tame wild creatures so that they can learn to take responsibility, with routinized actions and customary rituals, acting […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

09-11-1984, The Calculus of Fear: When Trivial Terrors Become the “Real Threats”

Orange has become America’s new national colour. Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half the people in the room. The self-satisfied sheep-like face on the screen, and the terrifying power of the Eurasian army behind it, were too much to be borne: besides, the sight […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Secrecy and Anthropology

From Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 3, 2007: With debate over the role of anthropologists in aiding the military machine a theme threading through their annual meeting, scholars voted Friday to demand that the American Anthropological Association reinstate strict language from its 1971 code of ethics prohibiting secret research. Members at the meeting – who, for […]