Articles by Robert Jensen
“All That We Share” Isn’t Enough
Texas Observer online ·
Robert Jensen wrote a review of a new book on “the commons” that sparked an exchange with the book’s editor, Jay Walljasper. Jensen’s previously unpublished review of All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons/How to Save the Economy, the Environment, the Internet, Democracy, Our Communities, and Everything Else That Belongs to All of Us (The New Press, 288 pages, $18.95) is below, followed by comments.
The United States has long supported brutal regimes around the world: Interview with Robert Jensen
Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinel ·
Robert Jensen joins Kourosh Ziabari in an exclusive interview to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, the prospect of Iran-U.S. relations, the ongoing military campaign of the Israeli regime in Palestine, the biased coverage of the Middle East affairs by the mainstream media and the failure of President Obama in repairing the damaged picture of the United States in the global stage.
Projecting Power or Promoting Peace: The Prophetic Call for Justice, Kindness, Humility
Texas Observer online ·
I want to speak tonight in the language of spirit, but about subjects that transcend religion. I want to discuss politics, but in a way that transcends parties. I want to struggle with crises we have created out of ignorance and inattention; face up to problems that have no simple solutions; deal with the depths of human destructiveness and despair.
This will lead us, of course, to George W. Bush and his administration’s contribution to this mess.
Elections: The day after
UT News ·
Because crucial questions are not on the agenda for the two dominant parties battling on Nov. 2, we have to commit to a radical citizens’ agenda on Nov. 3.
Soils and Souls: The Promise of the Land
Texas Observer online ·
In the search for alternatives to our dead-end industrial agriculture system, Land Institute researchers are pursuing plant breeding programs that just may be the key to post-oil farming. But beyond the science, “The Land” — that’s how everyone there refers to the Institute in conversation — provides a fertile space for mixing the ideas of people as well as the genes of plants. In both cases, the hybrid vigor — the superior qualities that result from crossbreeding — is exciting.
Political Wish List: Honest Talk About Economics, Empire, And Energy
Countercurrents ·
There’s no shortage of political blather in this year’s mid-term election campaigns, but most of us yearn for substantive discussion of the serious problems we face. What should the politicians be discussing? The University of Texas at Austin asked faculty members who teach about politics “to analyze, examine and provide their perspectives” on key political issues for the university’s web site. Below are my contributions, three short essays that raise critical questions about economics, empire, and energy that are routinely ignored by most politicians.
Pornography undermines our humanity: interview with True Feminism
True Feminism ·
Prof. Jensen talks to True Feminism about the pornographic war on women.
There Are No Heroes in Illegal and Immoral Wars
Common Dreams ·
When the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division rolled out of Iraq last week, the colonel commanding the brigade told a reporter that his soldiers were “leaving as heroes.”
While we can understand the pride of professional soldiers and the emotion behind that statement, it’s time for Americans — military and civilian — to face a difficult reality: In seven years of the deceptively named “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and nine years of “Operation Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan, no member of the U.S. has been a hero.
Beyond Race, Gender, and Class: Reclaiming the Radical Roots of Social Justice Movements
Global Dialogue ·
To make significant progress in the struggle for social justice in the United States, we have to get beyond race, gender, and class.
At first glance, that may seem an odd claim to anyone who has studied political and economic realities in the United States and the larger world: injustice in contemporary society is clearly connected to the categories of race, gender, and class. In fact, virtually all the systematic injustices that humans impose on one another in our society are related to these categories, and the resulting injuries are serious and demand attention.
Why am I here? Our struggle for meaning, in the world and church
OpEdNews.com ·
Let’s approach the question “Why am I here?” at two different levels.
The first is the question of the ages, which we all have asked at some point: Why is any one of us here? Why are we humans here, with this vexing consciousness and frustrating capacity for self-reflection? Are we the product of some larger plan beyond our understanding? Do humans have a purpose? Are we special?
The answer to that is easy: No. We are not special. We are an organism like all others, the product of an evolutionary process in a very big universe in which we are, as individuals, insignificant. But don’t fret about that; we are also insignificant as a species, and the collection of entities on Earth that we call “life” is insignificant, as is the planetary ecosystem in which we live and our solar system and our galaxy. We are, in the big picture, insignificant beings floating in insignificance in a universe that is vast beyond human comprehension.
Struggling to be ‘Fully Alive’: Reports on Coping with Anguish for a World in Collapse
Common Dreams ·
“I don’t have anything to say that hasn’t been said many times over the centuries.”
That may have been the most insightful response to my essay asking people to report on how they cope with the anguish of living in a world in collapse.
The Anguish of the Age: Emotional Reactions to Collapse
Common Dreams ·
We live amidst multiple crises — economic and political, cultural and ecological — that pose a significant threat to human life as we understand it.
There is no way to be awake to the depth of these crises without an emotional reaction. There is no way to be aware of the pain caused by these systemic failures without some experience of dread, depression, distress.
The Soul Seeker: A neuroscientist’s search for the human essence
Texas Observer; Counter Currents ·
Diversity Dead-End: Inclusiveness Without Accountability
Common Dreams ·
After a recent talk on racism and other illegitimate hierarchies at a diversity conference in Dallas, I received a letter from one of the people who had attended that asked “why you feel it necessary to perpetuate and even exacerbate the divisiveness of language when addressing a group of people assembled to learn how to live better together and be more accepting of differences?” He suggested that by being so sharply critical, I was part of the problem not the solution.
The Collapse of Journalism/The Journalism of Collapse: New Storytelling and a New Story
Resilience.org ·
There is considerable attention paid in the United States to the collapse of journalism — both in terms of the demise of the business model for corporate commercial news media, and the evermore superficial, shallow, and senseless content that is inadequate for citizens concerned with self-governance. This collapse is part of larger crises in the political and economic spheres, crises rooted in the incompatibility of democracy and capitalism. New journalistic vehicles for storytelling are desperately needed.
There has been far less discussion of the need for a journalism of collapse — the challenge to tell the story of a world facing multiple crises in the realms of social justice and sustainability. This collapse of the basic political and economic systems of the modern world, with dramatic consequences on the human and ecological fronts, demands not only new storytelling vehicles but a new story.
What White People Fear
YES! magazine ·
In the struggle for racial justice, it’s time to pay more attention to the fears of white people.
In a white-dominated world, that may seem counterintuitive. In the racial arena, what do we white people have to be afraid of?
’Getting rid of hope and faith’: Abe Osheroff on the struggle for a better world
Counterpunch ·
After a recent talk about the struggle for social justice and the threats to the ecosystem, a student lingered, waiting to talk to me alone, as if he had something to confess.
“I feel so overwhelmed,” he finally said, wondering aloud if political organizing could really make a difference. The young man said he often felt depressed, not about the circumstances of his own life but about the possibilities for change. Finally, he looked at me and asked, “Once you see what’s happening — I mean really see it — how are you supposed to act like everything is going to be OK?”
NY Times: No conflict of interest – with the conventional wisdom
Counterpunch ·
The New York Times’ public editor wrestled this week with conflict-of-interest charges sparked by the revelation that Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner’s son had joined the Israeli army. The executive editor of the paper responded with a defense of the paper’s decision to keep Bronner in that position.
Interview: A progressive path to the prophetic voice
New Left Project; Progressive Christianity ·
Great television/bad journalism: Media failures in Haiti coverage
Counterpunch ·
CNN’s star anchor Anderson Cooper narrates a chaotic street scene in Port-au-Prince. A boy is struck in the head by a rock thrown by a looter from a roof. Cooper helps him to the side of the road, and then realizes the boy is disoriented and unable to get away. Laying down his digital camera (but still being filmed by another CNN camera), Cooper picks up the boy and lifts him over a barricade to safety, we hope.
War, ecological crises, and the quest for justice: An interview with Robert Jensen
The Rag Blog ·
If you feel overwhelmed, it’s because we face an overwhelming situation.
Is Obama a Socialist?
Counterpunch ·
For months, leftists have been pointing out the absurdity of the claim that Barack Obama is a socialist. But no matter how laughable, the claim keeps popping up, most recently in the form of the Republican Party chairman’s warning of “a socialist power grab” by Democrats.
Teachable Moments Require Willing Learners
Countercurrents ·
Honoring President Obama’s request that the controversy involving a black Harvard University professor and a white Cambridge police officer become “a teachable moment,” here’s my contribution to an old lesson that we white people tend to be slow to learn.
Getting Radicalized, Slow and Painful
The Rag Blog ·
Becoming a radical: The grief and the joy
Becoming radicalized politically allowed me to see that I was suffering because I didn’t want to fit into a world shaped by unjust systems; the problem wasn’t my values and desires but the pathology of those systems.
South Africa Isn’t Post-Racial Either
Colorlines ·
Conversations about race in places like Cape Town sound eerily similar to those happening in the United States.
Feminism’s Challenge: Articulating Alternatives to Unsustainable Hierarchies
Common Dreams ·
“What is the most important challenge facing women in the 21st century, and why?”
That one isn’t easy for anyone to answer, especially in 300 words or less. But that was the assignment from editors of the University of Texas’ web site for faculty members contributing to the “Many Voices of Feminism” collection