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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future
Party poster | Aeon
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Politics and government

‘Without a poster, you don’t exist!’ – on the curious political banners of Mumbai

20 minutes

At the Kremlin in 1943 | Aeon
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Religion

At the Kremlin in 1943

Stalin presented Orthodox leaders with a proposal: the Soviet state that had destroyed their Church would bring it back

Kathryn David

Wielding death | Aeon
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Politics and government

Wielding death

When everyday life is marked by oppression and violence, can a martyr’s death truly be an act of freedom and resistance?

Umar Lateef Misgar

How to outsmart the prisoner’s dilemma | Aeon
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Logic and probability

Chew over the prisoner’s dilemma and see if you can find the rational path out

6 minutes

Women at the barricades | Aeon
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History

Women at the barricades

The transgressions of working-class women formed the revolutionary heart of the 1871 Paris Commune

Carolyn Eichner

Proportioned verdicts | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

Beyond ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ – could a range of verdict options be more just?

9 minutes

An unholy alliance | Aeon
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Politics and government

An unholy alliance

Authoritarian leaders who play the religious card are not mere hypocrites. There’s something far more troubling going on

Suzanne Schneider

Mink! | Aeon
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video

Fairness and equality

How the first woman of colour to be elected to the US Congress remade education

21 minutes

What lies beneath government | Aeon
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Politics and government

What lies beneath government

Buka Town in Bougainville shows how bureaucratic states could be reimagined, not as concrete buildings but as living gardens

Gordon Peake & Miranda Forsyth

The ungreat replacement | Aeon
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Demography and migration

The ungreat replacement

Workers in the West have indeed been repressed – but not by immigrants. The policies of their own governments are to blame

John Rapley

Noam Chomsky: the five filters of the mass media machine | Aeon
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Politics and government

Is mass media still ‘manufacturing consent’ in the internet age?

5 minutes

The discontent of Russia | Aeon
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Nations and empires

The discontent of Russia

Lenin envisioned Soviet unity. Stalin called Russia ‘first among equals’. Yet Russian nationalism never went away

Joy Neumeyer

Democracy entails conflict | Aeon
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Political philosophy

Democracy entails conflict

Democracy is a system of politics that has disagreement at its heart. But how do we stop conflicts becoming destructive?

Rochelle DuFord

The man who drew his own money | Aeon
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Art

Is paying with hand-drawn banknotes artistry or forgery? The knotty case of J S G Boggs

10 minutes

Cowboy progressives | Aeon
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History

Cowboy progressives

You likely think of the American West as deeply conservative and rural. Yet history shows this politics is very new indeed

Daniel J Herman

Open shutters | Aeon
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Gender and identity

How the spy-cam epidemic in South Korea affects the women who are its victims

35 minutes

EXCLUSIVEThe first Tuesday in November | Aeon
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Mood and emotion

Close-ups on the night of anticipation in the 2020 US presidential elections

6 minutes

EXCLUSIVESmall protests | Aeon
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Fairness and equality

With barely a possession to his name, Rabbit builds a life around fighting corruption

10 minutes

High crimes and cabals | Aeon
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Politics and government

High crimes and cabals

The official definition of corruption – the abuse of public office for private gain – does little to capture the reality

Sudhir Chella Rajan

Saintmaking | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

When the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence canonised Derek Jarman

24 minutes

This is no love story | Aeon
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Stories and literature

This is no love story

Strange entanglements of politics and romantic love marked England’s conquest of Ireland and still haunt the Irish today

Alison Garden

The biggest picture | Aeon
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Economics

The biggest picture

No wonder we cannot agree on how globalisation works and whether it’s a good thing. All the stories we have are flawed

Anthea Roberts & Nicholas Lamp

The emancipated Empire | Aeon
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Nations and empires

The emancipated Empire

The British Empire was first built on slavery and then on the moral and economic self-confidence of antislavery

Padraic Scanlan

What is ‘the West’? | Aeon
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Political philosophy

What is ‘the West’?

While the West belonged to a European geography, its name meant something. Now it is a vague invocation, laden with fear

Faisal Devji