Islam

Women’s March

An Islamophile intervention against women’s rights

March 8, 2018 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

“WE CAN DISAGREE AND STILL LOVE EACH OTHER, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist,” Linda Sarsour proudly announces on her Twitter account.1 Sarsour is a self-proclaimed human rights activist and supporter of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. She and her Women’s March (WM) colleagues were named Women of The Year 2017 by Glamour magazine.2 However, for Sarsour, Trump’s so-called “white supremacy” seems to be the only phenomenon deserving of the term “oppression. [Read More]

feminism women's march islam anti-semitism palestine israel islamism iran anti-deutsch

From Peshawar to Paris

Political Islam and the Death of the Left

February 14, 2015 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

A teach-in Presented by the Platypus Affiliated Society at the University of Chicago, 5 February 2015. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Description Whether it is the gruesome murder of school children in Peshawar or the brutal killing of editors of Charlie Hebdo, it is clear that our world is in the grip of militant Islam. But what is even more shocking is the response of the Left to these incidents. [Read More]

Islam Islamism Religion

Postcolonialism or postmodernism?

April 2, 2011 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

On February 11, 2011 – the day Hosni Mubarak resigned the office of President of Egypt – Chris Mansour interviewed Susan Buck-Morss, professor of political philosophy and social theory at Cornell University and author of The Origin of Negative Dialectics and Thinking Past Terror: Islamism and Critical Theory on the Left, on behalf of The Platypus Review. What follows is an edited transcript of their conversation. Chris Mansour: What were the stakes of introducing Critical Theory into a postmodern culture that widely considered its ideas obsolete? [Read More]

Marxism Susan Buck-Morss colonialism postcolonialism postmodernism modernism Egypt Islam history Theodor W. Adorno

30 years of the Islamic Revolution in Iran

February 18, 2010 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

Given the recent election crisis and continuing protests in Iran and in light of the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, The Platypus Affiliated Society on November 5, 2009 hosted a panel discussion at the University of Chicago entitled 30 Years of the Islamic Revolution: The Tragedy of the Left. Panel participants included Danny Postel, journalist and author of Reading Legitimation Crisis in Tehran: Iran and the Future of Liberalism; Kaveh Ehsani, editor of The Middle East Report (MERIP); Maziar Behrooz, historian and author of Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran; and Chris Cutrone of Platypus. [Read More]

Iran Islam Iranian Revolution

The poverty of Pakistan's politics (PPP)

December 6, 2009 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

LIFE IN CONTEMPORARY PAKISTAN is marked by a sense of despair and helplessness. A report commissioned by the British Council based on research conducted by the Nielsen Company recently found that only a third of the Pakistanis surveyed thought democracy was the best system for the country, a ratio roughly equal to that preferring sharia. The findings amounted to what David Martin, director of the British Council in Pakistan, called “an indictment of the failures of democracy over many years. [Read More]

Pakistan Islam Politics Democracy

30 years of the Islamic Revolution in Iran

August 23, 2009 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON THURSDAY APRIL 16 2009 Platypus Review Editor-in-Chief Spencer A. Leonard interviewed the prominent historian and Columbia University professor Ervand Abrahamian on “Radical Minds” broadcast on UChicago WHPK-FM 88.5 on the subject of “30 years of Islamic Revolution in Iran.” Abrahamian kindly agreed to answer some further questions put to him by the Platypus Review to supplement that interview. Included below is an edited transcript of the original interview together with the answers Abrahamian gave to our supplemental questions. [Read More]

Ervand Abrahamian Iran Islam Islamism Islamic Revolution

Review: "The Common Sense"

November 1, 2007 | The Platypus Affiliated Society

MY FIRST IMPRESSION UPON ENTERING Haseeb Ahmed’s installation, “The Common Sense,” which opened at Around the Coyote Gallery on September 5th was one of open space. It was an openness that contrasted sharply with the hundreds of paintings, photographs, sculptures that cluttered the rest of the many other galleries that opened that Night in Wicker Park’s FlatIron Building. Such a contrast pointed out the fact that, more a piece of interior architecture than a collection of installed objects, the central element to be experienced in Ahmed’s installation was space itself. [Read More]

Aesthetics Architecture Art Critical theory Exhibition Installation Islam Marxism Muslim Religion Sculpture Society