Monthly Archives: January 2021

This year was no longer than any other, yet it contained enough news for several. Here are our top arguments that charted how the world changed in real time.

By Daniel W. Drezner, April 11

As the realization that the pandemic was here to stay sunk in, pundits sought insight in unexpected places. Among them, Tufts Universitys Daniel W. Drezner offered lessons for COVID-19 from zombie movies. Unfortunately, he warned, the zombie genre can explain more about the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic than anyone should be comfortable with. A film in this canon, he explained, almost always starts with civilization and ends with a post-apocalyptic hellscape. At times this year, that has seemed to be exactly where the world was heading. But fortunately, Drezner pointed out, there are at least some differences between the living dead and humans in 2020. The zombie genre is overly pessimistic about the adaptability of human beings. We can and should be more hopefulgood news for 2021.

By Elise Thomas, April 14

Some attempts to understand the causes and consequences of the pandemic were even more outside the box than Dreznersand not in a good way. As the journalist Elize Thomas explained, COVID-19 was the perfect fodder for conspiracy theories. While propaganda campaigns amid pandemics are nothing new, what is new in the current crisis is the global information environment in which it is playing out. For example, social media platforms have a way of smashing social contexts into one another so that messages tailored for one audience end up hitting others as well and being interpreted in unanticipated ways. Networked media also allows rumors to spread quicklyso that misinformation has reached millions of eyes before anyone can correct it. For governments seeking to build trust and communicate clearly, Thomas wrote, its a nightmare. For those looking to sow chaos and doubt, its an opportunity.

Foreign Policy illustration

By Kelebogile Zvobgo and Meredith Loken, June 19

Still reeling from the pandemic, over the summer the United States faced a reckoning with an even deeper problem. As protesters took to the streets to march against police violence and systemic racism, the field of international relations, or IR, was also due for some self-reflection. In a June article, Kelebogile Zvobgo, the director of the International Justice Lab at William & Mary, and Meredith Loken, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, explained that the major schools of IR theoryrealism, liberalism, and constructivismare built on raced and racist intellectual foundations that limit the fields ability to answer important questions about international security and organization.

Indeed, they pointed out, [c]ore concepts, like anarchy and hierarchy, areraced: They arerootedin discourses that center and favor Europe and the West. And their use isracist: These invented binaries are used to explain subjugation and exploitation around the globe. Whats needed now, they urged, is a willingness among those who teach IR to better integrate scholarly work on race into every aspect of their curriculums.

By Lee Drutman, Sept. 22

Other institutions seemed stretched to the breaking point, too, especially as the U.S. presidential election approached. Expanding on his theory of a political doom loop, New Americas Lee Drutman warned in September that the United States two main political parties were heading for collapse after the election. Every few decades, he explained, the parties have reshuffledand theyre now overdue. Thats because, over time, the principles that unite a coalition together in one moment frayand the governing ideologies that solved a previous problem create their own future problems, demanding a new ideology.

To be sure, he wrote, voting loyalties are sticky. And especially in a two-party system, breaking from a coalition comes at a high cost if the opposing coalition cant accommodate your demands either. That is why it typically takes a major event, like an economic depression or a major conflict over race, to break a coalition apart. And if a pandemic, a major movement to address racism, economic disaster, and an extremely partisan election arent just such a prompt, what is?

By Paul Musgrave, Nov. 26

In late fall, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh exploded into war, occasioning a reexamination of some foundational ideas about development and peace. UMass Amhersts Paul Musgrave looked at the idea that economic integration makes war less attractive, as pithily simplified by the journalist Tom Friedman: His thesis, originally expounded in a1996 column, proposed to explain the decline in war as a result of the expansion of global capitalism: No two countries that both have a McDonalds have ever fought a war against each other.

Yet here were Armenia and Azerbaijanboth with plenty of Golden Archesat war. The world, Musgrave argued, might well be entering a new phase of more violent conflictincluding major warsand globalization will no more prevent them than burgeoning trade before Archduke Ferdinands assassination prevented World War I. In other words, beyond all the other problems the United States will be facing in 2021, rising tensions around the world might just be the most enduring.

Excerpt from:

From the Pandemic to Black Lives Matter and the US Election, Here Are Foreign Policy's Top Arguments From the Year That Changed Everything - Foreign...

Ottawa-area artists Celestina, left, and Hasina are part of the Full Femme arts collective, which, in conjunction with Gallery 101, are offering a series of workshops aimed at developing young Black artistic talent. Photo by Julie Oliver /Postmedia

Planting seeds

After an infographic shared on Instagram sparked a conversation on the lack of Black artists represented by Ottawas commercial art galleries, one non-profit gallery came up with the funding to help change that picture. Gallery 101 struck a deal with the Ottawa-Gatineau arts collective, Full Femme, to launch Expansions, a series of online, interactive workshops aimed at giving practical information to young, Black LGBTQ+ artists, including those who are neurodiverse or have a disability. Its an important step in making space for young, Black artists in Ottawas cloistered art world.

Positions of power

Two of Ottawas most established arts entities welcomed Black directors this year. Caribbean-born Carleton University grad Osmel Maynes returned to the city to take over the top job at the Capital Pride festival. He arrived in time for the inaugural Winter Pride fest, then led the organization in devising a virtual iteration of the main event in August, declaring that Pride is never cancelled. Meanwhile, Kwende Kefentse stepped into a demanding position as the first executive director of the 45-year-old community radio station CKCU-FM. His vision of transforming the station into a multimedia community broadcaster got off to a good start with this years funding drive, which exceeded its goal of $150,000.

Businesses blossom

Actor-storyteller Jacqui Du Toit and poet-musician Jamaal Jackson Rogers, two of the co-owners of the Origin Arts and Community Centre, plan to launch a theatre company that will focus on Black stories. Another venture of Rogers has been years in the making: the Black Rhino Artist Retreat will be a peaceful rural setting for artists of any colour to create and relax, with features such as a pool, sauna, gym, stage and bar. Also in the works is an Afro-Black cultural centre in the downtown core, the brainchild of musician Wise Atangana, who believes that creativity is the key to dismantling anti-Black racism.

Follow this link:

2020 in review: Five ways Black Lives Matter affected the arts in Ottawa - Ottawa Citizen

"I have been more inspired and creative during the pandemic than I might normally be while on the road...The pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the tensions of the election have mostly created a sense of gratitude for what I have and closeness with the people near me," he said.

In the 'zine, the R&B crooner also looked back on the impact of his career from his early trio of 2011 mixtapes to his latest smash LP After Hours. "I was laser focused back then and I'm laser focused right now. This has been the story of my 20s." he said. "I feel like I spent the last 10 years creating a sound and most of my career, I've either been running away from it or duplicating it. After Hours was the perfect piece of art for me to show my tenure in the industry."

Released back in March, just one week after the pandemic ground life to a sudden halt, After Hours debuted atop the Billboard 200, earning The Weeknd his fourth career No. 1 album. During 2020, he also collaborated with the likes of Maluma ("Hawi" remix), Rosala ("Blinding Lights" remix), Calvin Harris ("Over Now") and Juice WRLD ("Smile").

View post:

The Weeknd Reveals Next Album Will Be Inspired by Pandemic, Black Lives Matter Movement - Billboard