Links 17/9/15

Politics: 

On Hannah Arendt: A short graphic novel about The Banality of Evil, and a long, enlightening investigation into Eichmann in Jerusalem, and the debate that is still ongoing. 

 With Eichmann, Arendt retreated from this view, extracting from a blurred silhouette of mass ruin detailed sketches of discrete men, making discrete choices, taking discrete actions. There was room for maneuver under the Nazis—indeed, the regime depended upon it—and how one maneuvered made a moral difference.

That difference was most evident in Arendt’s five chapters on the regional patterns and variations of the Holocaust, from Denmark to Bulgaria. These chapters focus not on the Jewish leadership but on non-Jews. Where local non-Jewish officials and cadres opposed, evaded, delayed, or sabotaged the Nazis’ plans, they saved Jews; where they cooperated, collaborated, or stood by, they made a catastrophe. Geography mattered for Arendt: not the physical terrain of a country, but its institutions, leadership, and personnel, the particular decisions they made, the actions they took, the support they offered or withheld. 

The Nation:  The Trials of Hannah Arendt, May 12, 2015

Eastern Europe and the refugee crisis.

The economic situation of Australia looks pretty grim. 

Foreign Policy on the failures of the UN in Congo.

What if we burned all of the planet's fossil fuels? And what goes on in the heads of climate change deniers?

The New Yorker on Jeremy Corbyn and the demise of New Labour in the UK. 

An article that asks if college is irrelevant for young tech entrepeneurs but really covers the future challenges for an education system that has to adapt to constant, rapid changes and the requirement of life-long learning. 

I wish I had something to say about the Republican primary but it seems like a colossal waste of time and money with no substance. 

Pop Culture: 

A long and enlightening interview with writer Ursula K. Le Guin. 

Some music by Julia Holter and Cold Specks. 

A few artists who exhibited at the Other Art Fair in Sydney this weekend and got stuck in my head: Colleen DaRosa, Joanna Wright, Eugenie Lee, Sang Sik Hong, Mairi Ward.