Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in The Swamp.
The Rising Power of the Turkish Kurds
In a country of almost 80 million, any Presidential candidate would be stupid to ignore 20 percent of their people. But that is what has happened to the Kurds in Turkey for decades. The Kurdish population, long ignored and marginalised by the political establishment, is now beginning to rise in importance. With Presidential and Parliamentary elections only six weeks away political organisations that have a long history of opposing or ignoring Kurdish rights and issues are suddenly finding themselves in need of their votes. What has changed? What would cause such a deeply nationalist country, led by an almost authoritarian President, to suddenly consider these people a viable support base.
By Jack Holton8 years ago in The Swamp
Review of 'Babylon Berlin'
I can't think of a better time -- or maybe worse time -- to watch a 16-episode German series (streaming on Netflix) about the police in the Weimar Republic in 1929, just a few years before the Nazis won a plurality in the Reichstag, Hitler became Chancellor, and by 1934 had seized power, ended democracy, and declared himself Führer. Weimar police detectives are comprised of people who would give their all to save democracy and people bent on destroying it. Police on the street often react with deadly force to protests, unable to distinguish peaceful demonstrators from those with darker motives. Politicians are much the same. The parallels to our age of Trump, who has systematically attacked the press and other bulwarks of democracy, are obvious and chilling -- more than chilling, given that we know how this battle turned out in Germany, and the impact of that result on the rest of the world.
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in The Swamp
Fake Art, Fake Government, Fake Democracy
An art gallery in France has just discovered most of its exhibits are fakes. They found out after experts looked at the pictures. Had it been the UK, a third rate Tory would have been wheeled out to say we are tired of experts and they would have carried on as normal. As it was that benighted (because it is not England), miserable (because it is not England), ignorant (because it is not England) country they withdrew the exhibits and are being threatened with a fraud charge.
By Axel P Kulit8 years ago in The Swamp
Review of 'The Americans' 6.7
Throughout previous seasons of The Americans, I've wondered why Stan, looking at the sketches of Philip and Elizabeth in disguise, didn't recognize them as his nextdoor neighbors. I mean, the disguises are good, but not that good. The sketches of the Soviet-agent suspects sure looked to me like Philip and Elizabeth, and, if anything, Stan knows them much better than I do. I see them just once a week, for an hour or so, for ten or a few more weeks once a year. Stan sees them all the time.
By Paul Levinson8 years ago in The Swamp
Humour & Offense
There is a big problem within society these days in which people seem to believe that humour and offensiveness are anything but subjective. If someone is offended by a joke, then they are automatically right in their own eyes. This is just not the case and it is getting to the point where people are getting oversensitive to anything and everything. In this article, I will be talking about my views on humour and offense.
By Mason Palmer8 years ago in The Swamp
Living With the Terror
I can recollect the day like it was simply yesterday. It was one of those plain, exhausting days in Afghanistan. Around then, I didn't know we were holding tight to our lives just by living there as nonnatives, yet as I think back upon our family I now acknowledge we were one of the fortunate ones. Nonnatives couldn't escape the house on account of all the hatred and risks outside yet that didn't mean we had activities inside the house. My siblings and I made up the most irregular approaches to engage ourselves, since where I lived in Afghanistan, there wasn't any web which implied no Facebook.
By Samantha Robinson8 years ago in The Swamp
Oppression Is Not a Trend
I am no longer surprised what the world is doing, especially when it comes to race relations. There seems to be this new epidemic of White folks calling the police for whatever black, brown, or any person of color is doing. I guess because they are so comfortably emboldened by the tangerine tyrant that we have as the president of the United States, the police are now their attack dogs. (Not like this is new, but you get it.)
By Janine Addison8 years ago in The Swamp
Crisis Mode
Due to foreseen events, the world has become a meaner, more hostile place. Trumpism has given credibility to the madness. The lust for power and wealth by men have always given way to the anguish so many suffer. And too many suffer still. The words of Thomas Jefferson have no place in the America we see today. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, well, it is suffice to say they have all been taken away. They have been replaced by an oligarchy rule. An oligarchy rule that has tarnished the respectability and shattered the credibility that was our birthright when our founding fathers first penned the Constitution.
By Dr. Williams8 years ago in The Swamp
Republicans Are Now Completely Immoral
In the 9th grade, I took great delight in pissing off my sociology teacher. He was a WW2 veteran, had literally marched on Auschwitz, was an evangelical Christian, and deeply conservative. In classroom “discussions,” I used to quote anarchists from Camus to Sid Vicious just to infuriate the man. One day, as I argued the benefits of anarchy, he became enraged like I’d never seen him. He pounded his fists on my desk and leaned in close enough that spittle flew into my face. His eyes gleamed, and he savored what he said next with the delight of a wonderful fantasy. He said, “If there were no law, Mr. Bulley, I would shoot you.” He cocked his head to the side, considering his options, then continued, “I would use a high-powered rifle with a scope, a 30.06 and I would wait on the hill behind your house and when you stepped outside, smiling, confident, cocky, you would never see it coming. You would never realize you were dead until your own chest burst apart and your front door was littered with gore.” He grinned, I think because he finally shook me. “That, sir, is why we must have law.”
By David Bulley8 years ago in The Swamp
