Page 33 - Second Empire News Today

How politicians, regulators, and the media fell for an obvious financial fraud Illustration by Larissa Hoff German scandals are not like other scandals. The bouquet of a classic German scandal contains unmistakable notes: a rabbit-hole impenetrability, the implication of an entire guilt-ridden society, and, most importantly, a sense that the controversy says something essential about Germany as a whole. German scandals are collectivized. They are about a belief in German difference, for good or...

Thomas Piketty, the CADTM and Public Debt  Piketty and public debt Piketty devotes a dozen very interesting pages to the question of public debt over the last two centuries, focusing his analysis mainly on France and the United Kingdom. He rightly states that in discussing public debt, studying the past is worthwhile for understanding and dealing with the challenges of the current crisis: “The complex question of government debt Government debt The total outstanding debt of the State, loc...

The Global Novel: Mediations   Hours: M 5:05-7:45 Nancy Armstrong, Roberto Dainotto Louis Althusser is known to have said that “ideology represents individuals’ imaginary relation to their real conditions of existence.” Assuming that statement is a pretty good fit for traditional literary realism as well, we feel it is time to rephrase this principle for the global novel — which would go something like this: “the global novel represents individuals’ imaginary relation to forms of ...

The Indestructible Townhouse Over 211 years, the Dickey House in Lower Manhattan has survived everything New York City has thrown at it. Soon it will become part of a new home for Public School 150. April 9, 2021, 8:00 a.m. ET When it comes to architectural survivors amid Manhattan’s eternal churn of destruction and redevelopment, it is hard to top the 211-year-old, four-story brick landmark at 67 Greenwich Street in the financial district. Originally the townhouse of the merchant Robert Dick...

Take a trip back in time at the Spencer House and the Victoria Inn by Erin Phillips Erin Phillips "Stay Safe. Stay Small. Stay Inn." Vicke Marz came up with this tagline for her historic bed and breakfast, the Victoria Inn, shortly after the pandemic hit. The Victoria Inn, previously known as the George Carroll house, offers gorgeous historic lodging in Downtown Erie. And with a maximum capacity of 20, the small inn presents less risk than larger capacity hotels. S...

Why was the Commune important? For just 72 days – from 18 March to 28 May 1871 – a revolutionary government ran Paris, and espoused a great number of radical causes: decent conditions for workers; free universal education; separation of Church and state; the abolition of child labour; equality between men and women; citizenship for foreigners. Although it was soon put down with remarkable ferocity, the Paris Commune inspired socialist movements around the world. Karl Marx described it as th...

© Simón García | arqfoto Founded in 1870, La Samaritaine is an icon of Paris, emblematic of the Second Empires era and the emergence of this new architectural typology that would revolutionise retail- the department store. What started as a small shop expanded to a series of buildings occupying two urban blocks at one end of Pont Neuf. The architectural monument is the site of an interplay of Art Nouveau and Art Deco elements. © Simón García | arqfoto The department store closed in 2005 d...

Paris Workers’ Revolution and Thiers’ Reactionary Massacres Armed Paris was the only serious obstacle in the way of the counterrevolutionary conspiracy. Paris was, therefore, to be disarmed. On this point the Bordeaux Assembly was sincerity itself. If the roaring rant of its Rurals had not been audible enough, the surrender of Paris by Thiers to the tender mercies of the triumvirate of Vinoy the Decembriseur, Valentin the Bonapartist gendarme, and Aurelle de Paladines the Jesuit general,...

Genderquake: socialist women and the Paris Commune Women in our history Monday 8 March 2021, by Judy Cox On 11 April 1871, three weeks into the life of the Paris Commune, a poster appeared on the walls of France’s capital: Citizenesses, we know that the present social order bears within itself the seeds of poverty and of the death of all liberty and justice… At this hour, when danger is imminent and the enemy is at the gates of Paris, the entire population must unite to defend the Commun...

Vive la Commune? The working-class insurrection that shook the world Communards and supporters at a barricade in the rue de Charonne, Paris. Photograph: Photo 12/UIG via Getty Images Communards and supporters at a barricade in the rue de Charonne, Paris. Photograph: Photo 12/UIG via Getty Images As Paris prepares to commemorate the 150th anniversary, the communards’ vision of a new form of radical democracy is once again dividing France Sun 7 Mar 2021 05.45 EST A couple of years ago, as railw...