war on terror – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

America, Guernica and the War of Terror

By JOHN ALLISON The attack on Guernica by Nazi Condor Legion fighters and bombers in full coordination with and bombing instructions from Spain’s Nationalist dictator, Generalissimo Franco, was carried out on April 26, 1937, 36 hours after my birth on the west coast of North America. This was the first major experiment in modern industrial […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Torture for Democracy (1): Michael Ignatieff’s New Imperialism

It began as a “prank,” in the words of the Canadian Press this past 17 August 2009. An anonymous critic of Canadian Liberal leader sent a mass mailing, using a BBC address, to the parliamentary press gallery. In each envelope a was a colour copy of a damning piece about Michael Ignatieff, published four years […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Torture for Democracy (2): Video Post

To not clutter up the main post, Torture for Democracy (1), the relevant supporting videos are placed here.

by Maximilian C. Forte

APA Votes to Ban Participation in Torture

Thanks very much to Deathpower for alerting me to this news. As discussed on previous occasions on this blog (see this post, and the previous one) along with a video featured in the video pod collection in the sidebar of this blog, the American Psychological Association (APA) has moved by ballot a resolution stating that, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Enter the American Psychological Association: On Support for Torture

Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed (July 22, 2008), has produced a great piece titled, “Torture and the Research Star.” Now the American Psychological Association (APA) is entering the debate on the role of academics in supporting the military establishment, especially when the result is the commission of violations against human rights. At the centre […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

"NZ anti-terrorism laws branded incoherent after raid fiasco"

From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/18/2094044.htm The future of New Zealand’s controversial terrorism suppression laws is in doubt, after authorities ruled that none of those arrested in last month’s raids on Maori communities will face terrorism charges. Solicitor-General David Collins QC says the “overly complex and incoherent” legislation means the law cannot be […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

On "Native Terrorism": A Reader Responds

::I am thankful for receiving the following message, which was posted in response to another post on this blog (“More Hysteria Over the ‘Native Terrorist’“):: Hegemonic Post-Colonial Discourse (Contemporary Colonization) What is terrorism? What does it mean to act in the name of peace, or to find arms in places where they don’t exist? Are […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Montgomery McFate: The New Heroine for a Collapsing Discipline (1.1)

[see “Me so horny, me love you long time”: The Phallo-Fascism of a Vainglorious Anthropologist in the Academilitary] …in a decaying hegemomic power, I might add. I just finished reading through one example of what will surely become a more visible, more audible set of apologia in anthropology for the work of the likes of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Shweder’s “True Culture War,” Part II

Before I continue, I wanted to counter any reader’s impression that the hidden aim of these posts is to somehow malign or criticize Shweder personally. I actually do not know him, we have never met, and what I recall that I might have read in the past certainly left me without a negative impression. I […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

BBC News: US Army Enlists Anthropologists

The US military has developed a new programme known as the Human Terrain System (HTS) to study social groups in Iraq and Afghanistan. The HTS depends heavily on the co-operation of anthropologists, with their expertise in the study of human beings and their societies. Steve Fondacaro, a retired special operations colonel overseeing the HTS, is […]