There is a claim currently circulating the European Union (EU), both cynical and misleading: "multiculturalism is dead in Europe". No wonder, as the conglomerate of nation-states/EU has silently handed over one of its most important debates--that of European identity--to the left and right wing parties, recently followed by several…

This article is in three parts. In part one, the author begins by examining the onset of austerity/immiseration capitalism in the United Kingdom. Austerity/immiseration capitalism has witnessed the decline of state multiculturalism and increasing attempts to deflect attention away from the failures of capitalism by playing the "race…

As illustrated in this article, there are no such things as singular issues in politics. Be that as it may, no one will remember German Chancellor Angela Merkel's remarks on immigration in October 2010 as being about anything other than immigration. Her remarks ought to be remembered, however, more for what she didn't say than for what…

Henri Lefebvre (1901-91), philosopher and sociologist, is, together with Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin and Ernst Bloch, one of the most relevant representatives of the first generation in Western Marxism. His engagement with Marxism led him to analyse everyday life in post-war France in order to decipher the possibilities of,…

For the past six decades, conservative foundations in the United States have targeted their funding on a transformation of the public's understanding of markets, culture , and the undergraduate course of study. These foundations, and their sponsored researchers, have specifically challenged the place of diversity and intercultural competence…

Using ecological science as a backdrop for this discussion, the author applies Michel Foucault's historical genealogical strategy to an analysis of the processes through which sustainable development (SD) gained hegemonic acceptance in the West. She analyses some of the ideological mutations that have seen SD emerge from an environmentalist…

In June 2012, the Philippine government implemented what it called the K+12 Curriculum which reformed its basic education system by adding two more years of schooling to the then existing 10-year structure. Complicated by the long experience and participation of the Filipinos in the diaspora, the constantly lingering thought of leaving for greener…

The Gur-Ze'ev/McLaren interchange covered a wide range of issues that are important for twenty-first century socialists. In this article, the author concentrates on two of them: first, Gur-Ze'ev's charge that critical pedagogy is part of the "new anti-Semitism"; second, his critique of McLaren's support for Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian model of…

This article discusses the ideal of education in relation to the pursuit of alternative perspectives in education, beyond its currently dominant subordination to the needs of the market. It presents the philosophical traditions of "paideia", "Bildung" and "liberal education", with special emphasis on the element they all share--namely, the…

This article examines the role of political anger in democracy. It reviews the work of Stephane Hessel before examining the role and reception of anger in classical and modern thought. The author identifies two main traditions within which the concept of political anger can be located: revolutionary violence of the Marxist tradition and the…

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of Henry Giroux's contribution over the years to critical thinking in education and beyond. It focuses primarily on Giroux's recent works concerning the changing nature of the State (from the social to the carceral and neoliberal state), the war against youth and children, the culture of militarisation,…

This article analyzes Henry Giroux's recent book Youth in a Suspect Society: democracy or disposability? (Palgrave, 2009) and situates it within his post-9/11 critical interventions. Giroux has focused his recent work on theorizing, critiquing and challenging the confluence of militarization, corporatization and right-wing ideology that has…

This article reflects on Henry Giroux's work as a critical public intellectual and the important role his work plays in fostering educated hope and insurgent possibilities during our present times of daily and longer term catastrophes. In addition to attempting to capture the experience of what it means and how it feels to read Giroux along with…

This article looks at the critical writings of Mark C. Taylor. It suggests that Mark C. Taylor is rewriting a global imaginary devoid of the kind of citizenship that Henry Giroux claims as the basis for public education. Instead, Taylor wants to see the university take shape as profit-generating. According to Taylor, in lieu of learning to take…

Progressive media and the academic community outside of education has largely embraced liberal criticisms of corporate school reform or neoliberal educational restructuring, typified by the highly publicized writing and speaking of Diane Ravitch and Linda Darling-Hammond. Despite offering valuable policy information, the liberal view is grounded…