Category Archives: Zeitgeist Movement

In The Jury Speaks, a four-part true crime series airing this week, Oxygen is delving into a handful of the most infamous cases in American history. The cases range from celebrity spectacle (Michael Jackson) to eerily topical (O.J. Simpson). But one casethe 2013 George Zimmerman trialstands apart as a singular moment in our national zeitgeist that still reverberates. While other trials before and after have captured the attention of the entire country, they didnt spark a movement.

The Jury Speaks seeks to reexamine the George Zimmerman trial through the eyes of the jurors who deliberated on the case; jurors who, unlike much of the country, hadnt been closely following the extensive media coverage of Trayvon Martins death. The irony, for the six women who ended up delivering a not guilty verdict, is that the two names that they had barely heard of before reporting for jury duty have followed them ever since. Its hard for me to sleep, its hard for me to eat because I feel I was forcefully included in Trayvon Martins death, juror Maddy explained in an interview following the trial. She continued, And as I carry him on my back, Im hurting as much [as] Trayvons Martins mother because theres no way that any mother should feel that pain.

Four years later, Maddy is still horrified by the tragedy of Martins death, but maintains that she had no choice but to adhere to the law as she understood it. Its a point that comes up time and time again in The Jury Speaksthe painful chasm between a personal urge to administer justice, and a citizens responsibility to go by the letter of the law.

As Maddy tells The Daily Beast, They give you this paper, and the five women were explaining it to me, saying, This is the way it has to goyou cant look at the situation from where George Zimmerman was calling 911 and was chasing him or, you know, hovering over himthats not necessarily intent to hurt anybody. You have to look at it when Trayvon Martin was on top of him. Did he feel like his life was in danger? So you look at the rules they gave you, and youre stuck in a box. You have no choiceits not emotional, its not what we want. In other words, The decision is made before we even get there.

Still, Maddy has doubts. I was the only juror who openly gave my objections and opinions to the world, she muses when asked about her post-trial interview. I just didnt have the chance to do it with [my fellow jurors], because they were very vocal, they said because I didnt know the law they were gonna help me. Was I manipulated? I dont know.

It bears mentioning, as so many did in the wake of the trial, that Maddy, who is Puerto Rican, was the only person of color on a six-woman jury. Maddy divulges, If were being totally honest, that she felt very different from her fellow jurors, although race wasnt the only factor: I was around high-maintenance women, women who were very educated, women who were not my color, women who were not raised with the struggle that I was.

While Maddy admits that she was not the only juror who struggled with the verdict, there was one woman whose motives she questions to this day. The only person who I can honestly say that I felt in my bones was racist, was the one who came out on TV, B37, she confesses. During an infamous CNN appearance, Juror B37 said that she believed Zimmermans heart was in the right place on the night of the attack, and that Martin probably threw the first punch.

[B37] tried to argue with me about a TV show that I taped, and then was like, Oh my god, there she goes with those ghetto shows, Maddy recalls. Me and her were constantly going at it. She would talk to me like I was five years old. We used to go out to restaurants to get something to eatour field trips, I swear to god I felt like I was seven years old. And when I would save my food to take it back to the hotel, she would say, Why are you saving food, you act like youre poor. So those comments, after a while, it got to the point where in the deliberation, I wanted to knock her teeth out. Everything that came out of her mouth was like, Hurry up! Hurry up! We need to hurry up with this! You guys know the answer already!

Maddy chuckles, concluding that, Me and her, we did not have a nice relationship.

What Maddy and her fellow jurors did have in common was a shared ignorance of the Trayvon Martin shootingbefore the trial, they were ostensibly unfamiliar with the details of the case, as well as the larger cultural significance of the shooting. Maddy explains that her lack of prior knowledge was equal parts preference and practicality. She was living in Chicago at the time, and I never watched the news, because in Chicago, all you see in the news is the same things: gangs, shootouts, another person passing away. After a while the news got repetitive. Being a mom and working over 40 or 50 hours a week, I used to just come home, go to sleep, wake up, take care of my kids, and then get ready to go to work again.

When she moved to Florida and showed up for her first day of jury duty, Maddy had no idea what she was in for. It was my first time ever having jury duty. Im sitting there thinking, I hope this goes quick. And so when they asked us to come back the next day, Im like, Why do I have to come back the next day? I thought this was a one-day process? On the second day I came in and filled out more papers, and there were like forty of us, and then little by little, they told us Were choosing you. And again, I was so naive, I thought, This sounds cool! How long is it gonna be? And theyre like no, youre getting sequestered, and Im like, Ok, what does that mean? I dont even know what sequestered is!

At the time, her youngest daughter was only three months old, and Maddy gets understandably emotional describing the toll that the forced separation took on her: When my husband was allowed to come visit me for thirty minutes on Sundays, my three-month-old hardly knew me! And thats time you cant get back.

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Once Maddy and her fellow jurors, along with George Zimmerman, were free to go, Maddy began to experience a new kind of pain. When I came out of deliberations, they put us in the car, and then I saw the helicopters, Maddy recalls. Im coming home, and Im like, What is going on? And they explained it to me, they gave me a big red folder, and in the folder there were a bunch of different news channels that wanted to speak with me, and I was like, About what? In my mind, Im thinking that when you go to court, its private, not knowing that half of the people at that trial were news people. She continues, When I came out, when I got home, and I started watching the TV, I started panicking. I had no idea it was more about black and white, about racismI realized how big it was. In the months and years after the trial, Maddy went through it all losing my home, work, friends and some family. She was harassed, threatened, and treated like I was a contributor to Zimmerman killing.

These tough words were very hard to handle, Maddy says. Again, I had no knowledge of how big the trial would bewere victims of the society that brings us into this situation. For three years of my life I had to feel like Im carrying a child on my back.

These days, Maddy feels as though shes finally channeling the stress of the trial and the personal reckoning that followed into positive change. Shes studying to become a teacher and working at a kids after school program. Im just trying to protect another child from being victimized, she explains. I want to make a difference.

As for George Zimmerman, Maddy feels sad every time she sees a new troubling headline: It causes me to think he doesnt value his own life, so it was easy for him to take someone elses.

Continued here:

The George Zimmerman Juror Haunted by Trayvon Martin's Death - Daily Beast

THE last three years has been a roller-coast ride for the independence movement. We had the great upsurge towards independence in late August and early September 2014, followed by the bitter disappointment of coming so near, yet so far. Then we had the incredible General Election of 2015, which left Scottish Labour almost dead and buried, and the SNP looking like an unstoppable runaway train. And then the slow-down of 2017.

If we have learned anything from the twists and turns of recent politics, not just in Scotland, but across the UK, Europe and the wider world, it is to expect the unexpected. We live in volatile times, and the staid, predictable politics of the past are gone, possibly forever.

But amid the turbulence, one trend stands out with crystal clarity. Politics is deeply polarised, right and left. These days, the centre ground is the most dangerous terrain for any political party or movement to occupy.

Many people feel uncomfortable whenever the issue of social class is raised. Theyll talk freely about other divisive issues gender inequality, Brexit, racism, independence, sectarianism, war and peace. But class is not a favourite topic for conversation at polite dinner parties. For some people on both sides of the independence debate its the word that dare not speak its name.

Yet class is a deep faultline that runs right through the heart of society we live in. It was summed up in a Guardian headline this weekend: Your state pension in Dorset 124,000. In Glasgow? 38,000. The point it flagged up was that the average male in the prosperous coastal county in south-west England can expect to live ten years longer than his counterpart in Scotland biggest city.

Yes, one is in England the other in Scotland. But this is about class, not geography. Scotland may have a stronger egalitarian tradition than England, but we live in grossly unequal country. Some of Jock Tamsons bairns have luxury yachts, lavish mansions and private helicopters, while others have to queue up at foodbanks to stave off hunger. Yes, the independence cause crosses class boundaries. And theres nothing wrong with that.

Politics is not just about occupation and background, its about morality and values.

Which side are you on? sang Billy Bragg during the 1984 miners strike. That was another time of intense political passion and there were plenty of affluent professionals, footballers, entertainers, artists and business people who raised money to support the mining communities. And there were also plenty of poorly paid manual workers who believed what they read in The Sun.

Ive never been a member of the SNP, or the Labour Party for that matter. Unlike some passionate SNP members, I believe that the diversity of the independence movement is one of its greatest strengths. But unlike some passionate non-SNP Yes voters, I believe that diversity wont deliver independence without a strong SNP as part of the mix.

Right now, the party is caught in a pincer movement. In the rural, wealthier and more conservative constituencies many of them in the north east the Tories are resurgent. If that was the only problem the SNP faced, then we could look forward with confidence to the next referendum, whenever that may be.

But the Tories have reached their peak helped by tactical voting in the Unionist camp and will struggle in the future to hold onto the gains of 2017. Far more serious is the resurrection of Labour, thanks to a man who was until recently even more hated than Nicola Sturgeon by many of his own politicians and activists in Scotland.

Overnight, hordes of tartan Blairites have been converted to Corbynism. The party that in Scotland denounced universal benefits, boasted of the success of their privatisation programmes, dismissed rail public ownership, built six council houses in the whole of Scotland between 2003 and 2007 and backed Tony Blairs catastrophic war in Iraq, has now discovered socialism.

Its like Nigel Farage suddenly demanding that the UK join the eurozone, or Donald Trump appearing at press conference wearing Refugees Welcome Here badge.

But voters have short memories and the Labour Party has the luxury of opposition in both Holyrood and Westminster.

Had Corbyn actually won the General Election, rather than run close, the independence cause would, I believe, have been strengthened.

Not because Corbyn is incompetent or unprincipled, but because he would have been left to run a government dealing with the enormity of Brexit, surrounded by hundreds of his own MPs who would be happy to see him fail, and with the whole weight of the establishment ranged against him.

EVEN Clement Attlee, who established the modern NHS, only lasted six years in power, while Harold Wilsons left wing 1974 manifesto was jettisoned within two years as the IMF stepped in to run the British economy and enforce draconian sending cuts and a pay freeze for public sector workers at a time of rampant inflation.

But it will be a long time before Labour is put to the test at Westminster and I fear that unless the SNP takes a sharp turn to left and starts to project itself as the party of the Scottish working class, it will lose further ground and weaken the entire independence movement.

Yes, I anticipate disagreement, especially from some of the old guard of SNP activists, who think the party can defy the laws of gravity by standing above such vulgarities as class and left-right politics.

So, in advance, I suggest they peruse the Scottish Social Attitudes surveys of the past few years where they will discover that on a whole range of issues, the people are far to the left of the politicians.

And they will further discover that two in three Scots define themselves as "working class" while just one in four who say they are "middle class".

This is no time for panic, defeatism, or recriminations. On 13 August 2014, TNS published an opinion poll that showed support for independence at 32 per cent. Just over a month later, 45 per cent voted Yes.

We are in stronger position today than we were just a month before the 2014 referendum. But unless were prepared to move forward boldly and be part of the radical zeitgeist which took Jeremy Corbyn from back-bench obscurity to the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, we could be left behind.

Read more:

Carolyn Leckie: SNP now has to learn from Corbyn's rise or face being left behind - The National

This can already be seen from its utterly meaningless name. It is easy to remember and foreign media dont have to translate it; although in English momentum means something entirely different than in Hungarian [moment Transl.]. But this doesnt matter at all, because its a brand name like Nestl or Pull & Bear. The names of the other young parties, such as Jobbik, Prbeszd, or Egytt [meaning, respectively the better one/the one more to the right; dialogue; and together Transl.] dont mean anything either, but they lack the connotation of being dynamic and a sense of being in the present, so cleverly utilised by the marketing-minded founders of Momentum. At the same time, the term is equally neutral, so the potential voter can imagine and project anything onto it. Momentarily.

There are similar parties in the region: the Romanian USR is a bit to the right of its Hungarian relative, while Polands Razem is well to the left however, in line with the local political culture, they are much more explicit and committed, even though their generational character is also quite strong.

This generational character is not a new element in politics. The Giovine Italia movement was founded in 1831 in Marseille by Giuseppe Marzini, Junges Deutschland, the literary equivalent of the Vormrz, the revolutionary movement that led to the events of 1848, was banned by the Bundestag in 1835. The idea of youth has been associated with the ideas of creative imagination and change ever since German Romanticism the root of which, of course, is the Christian notion of childlike innocence. Youth: a new beginning, starting anew, novelty, progress, change. At the same time, the most famous journal of the Hungarian pre-emptive counterrevolution and the following years of White Terror and state racism between 1913-1944 was also titled New Generation.

The most well-known Hungarian generational party used to be Fidesz.

The most well-known Hungarian generational party used to be Fidesz [Fiatal Demokratk Szvetsge, Alliance of Young Democrats Transl.] which, contrary to popular belief, evoked the strongest feelings of enthusiasm and hope in the wider circle of liberals during the democratic transition. There was even mention of an idea for Fidesz to merge with SzDSz [Alliance of Free Democrats, a now defunct liberal party Transl.]. The idea later disappeared, together with Hungarian liberalism entirely.

But the political tenderness towards youth has never weakened. Its a deep and solid European tradition and not only a political one at that: its a basic form of hope and trust in the future. In European metaphorology, a rejuvenated, renewed world equals a better, happier world. From theology to advertisement, its use is ubiquitous and universally applicable.

MoMo is using it too but more smartly than others: although they are a party (which is usually a hindrance, considering that Hungarian public opinion is consistently averse to pluralism and ideologies), they unite the reactionary clich of neither left, nor right with the symbolic signifiers of novelty and youth, whilst simultaneously seem to be rising above the old conflicts and infamous divisions. At the same time, they connect this with the clich of hypermodernity and the twenty-first century.

Yet they enable an instant identification of an anti-Orbn oppositional public opinion, which is tired of struggling in vain, especially the students mobilized in the wake of CEUs and the NGOs harassment and the middle-class youth of the capital. (But even in these cases, MoMo doesnt make a clear or open statement very wisely).

Momentums most important characteristic is that they take no position in conflicts.

Momentums most important characteristic is that they take no position in class conflicts, ethnic conflicts, or gender conflicts. They are compassionate to both the poor and the rich by subtly referring to the conservative idea of national unity and its faint rhetorical copy: the all-time response of the all-time ruling classes to the challenge of egalitarian movements.

Hurting no one, helping no one. Optimising the congruence or synergy or whatever of potential donations they receive. They are attacking the Fidesz government as being outmoded and obsolete, twentieth century, and the ageing opposition as not being national enough (which is not true, but never mind), while formulating their own positive national consciousness in a way which rejects all historical forms of Hungarian nationalism, and naming a coyly neutralized multiculturalism as a healthy national consciousness.

Relativisation and neutralization can also preserve Momentums two greatest victories. The first being the genius overthrowing of the Olympic project, which was immediately neutralized and made acceptable to the spectator-sports-mania the main collective ethical ideology of late capitalism by only saying that the Olympics would be too expensive (which is true), thereby avoiding conflict once again.

A Hungarian Grassroots Organization, The Momentum Movement, Triumphs in Victory

The second, their Mayday mass demonstrations huge success, was also indebted to the implicit appropriation of the dates progressive spirit, all the while saying nothing about workers on 1 May. In his brilliantly conceptualized and delivered speech received with exultation and cheers, chairman Andrs Fekete-Gyr did no more than synthesise the clichs and epithets of left-liberal rhetoric, by simply but successfully reversing Orbns.

Fekete-Gyr ignored all the problematics of late capitalism as well as the structural elements and local particularities of the Hungarian semi-dictatorship and its civilisational, economic, social, and cultural deterioration. Instead, he positioned only external factors at the centre of his rhetoric, equating the Hungarian right with Russia and Putin, while naming Europe as the correct position. Thus, he cleverly replaced the traditionally Hungarian anti-Western nationalism with a pro-Western liberal nationalism, whilst giving it all a progressive-contemporary frame. This, nevertheless, still retains the neutralised reminiscences of the anti-Sovietism and anticommunism of the Communist regimes conservatives.

But beyond these reminiscences, Fekete-Gyr surpasses liberal nationalism, since he is, after all, much more modern than that: what hes doing is called, to quote Edward Saids notorious book (Orientalism, 1978), orientalism. Since 1848, in Hungary and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the east has not so much meant the colonialised and Muslim, but rather the Greek-Orthodox east. The entire Hungarian journalistic tradition including the political writing of 1945-1989 has equated backwardness with Orthodox Eastern Europe: the Balkans, Byzantium, phanariotes, and so forth.

However, since 1848, in Hungary this has mainly translated as anti-Romanianism and anti-Sebianism (anti-Russianism has always been weak here).Little Entente is one of the worst insults and the Danube Confederation is considered to be treason, while pro-Germanism isnt: Merkel is disliked in Hungary not because of the hegemony of German capital, but because of her pro-refugee policies. (N.B, in Hungary theres no particular hostility towards our former oppressors or occupants, such as the Turks, Austrians, Germans or Russians but rather it is directed towards those whom our own ruling class and state have oppressed and discriminated against the Romanians, Serbs, Slovaks, Gypsies, Jews: all the more so.)

By deploying liberal anti-Putinism it is possible to lend Europeanness a nationalist tint.

And now, by deploying this liberal anti-Putinism (and there is no doubt that the Putinist autocracy is terrible but terrible first of all for the Russian people, regardless what kind of schemes Putin sets up to cause trouble abroad), it is possible to lend Europeanness a nationalist tint which makes it acceptable even in the eyes of those for whom Europe is too liberal, too social, too feminist, and not racist enough. (Although the readers of this publication know all too well just how racist and chauvinist it really is.)

Furthermore, it fits into the spirit of the Fidesz-KDNP-influenced public opinion, according to which all ills come from abroad (case in point here are the law targeting NGOs and the Soros-myth), which is radicalised by saying that, in fact, Fidesz-KDNP also comes from abroad, in so far as they represent the interests of Putin and the Russian state, in unelaborate and untested ways.

The rule of the market in East-Central Europe is absolute [Interview]

But this is also only a tool. Articulating ideologies along cultural-geographical lines exempts Momentum from taking a genuine political stance. However strongly Orbn is affiliating himself with the eastern autocrats (Putin, Erdoan, Duterte, Aliev, etc.), the contemporary anti-freedom, racist far-right is not an eastern phenomenon and its effects are pushing the leaders of the western establishment to the right, as has been seen in Austria, the Netherlands, and even Germany but, on the contrary, very European; not to forget to mention Trump. By utilising orientalism, MoMo can say that the poor and uncool Russia is lame and therefore, from the iPhone-generations point of view, we cant follow in their direction, but we have to catch up with Brussels whatever that means.

What is this, if not the reincarnation of moderate nationalism?

What is this, if not the reincarnation of moderate nationalism, which is merely replacing racism with culturalism? Already during the late years of Communism, the anti-nationalists who were fighting the classically anti-western late-Bolshevik nationalism with contemporary Marxist tools, switched to a pro-western liberal nationalism. (And, as opposed to what Momentum maintains, the official Hungarian left has always been national meaning nationalist.) The seminal document here is the work of Jen Szcss The Three Historical Regions of Europe (1983), which is the root of liberal nationalism developing not out of the democratic opposition, but out of the establishment, with the mediation of orientalism and orientalising historiography. This predominantly the ideology of the contemporary Hungarian liberal intellectual sphere, as opposed to the Danubian patriotism, Eastern-European-consciousness, or the anti-capitalism of the former communist, socially democratic peoples left.

The tedious, unproductive, and false opposition of East and West, which has been poisoning the Hungarian intelligentsia at least since the Reform Era of the 19th century, has been resurrected, in its emptiest, most misleading form to date. I can attest to its success. The Orbnite propaganda posters saying, We have to stop Brussels! have been replaced in hundreds of places in the Budapest metro with ones now saying, We have to stop Moscow! It would be impossible to sink the intellectual level of Hungarian politics even further.

Of course, Putin isnt the cause of Hungarys terrible crisis, however characteristic it is of the Hungarian government to sympathise and cooperate with him. Momentum saves us the efforts we would need to exert to understand our backwardness, and, in accordance with the general tone of Hungarian reactionism , it summarises the national problems under the label of the damned foreign influence. It doesnt matter whether this means Brussels, Moscow or the New YorkTel Aviv axis, the dialectic unification of modernity and xenophobia has been accomplished. As if denouncing Russian poverty and backwardness would claim that poverty and backwardness are political programs. But even Orbn cant be accused of this. He wants autocracy, tyranny, servitude and development simultaneously. You cant even say this is impossible. The example of Southeast Asia (Singapore, Taiwan, China, South Korea, and to an extent Japan) illustrates the possibility of repression and economic development under late capitalism. This should be surprising only for those naive losers, who, for whatever reason, thought that capitalism and democracy are somehow connected. As if fascism had never happened. As if colonialism and the synonymic racial genocide had never happened.

Momentum dont push for change, but advocate a cautious adaption to the appealing western standard.

The rhetoric of reaction according to which any change will harm the situation, or is pointless, or dangerous is a part of modernity, and has been the same since at least 1945. Because of the issues unpopularity, Momentum (and anyone aspiring for political success) cant say that they want to restore the state of transitional rule of law, which preceded Orbns constitutional coup dtat (naturally, in a cleaned-up, corrected version), and for this reason they only mobilise public opinion against the authoritarian-repressive excesses. They dont push for change, but (cautiously) advocate restoration and adaption to the appealing western, European standard. This is also the point of the similarly reactionist rhetoric of neither right nor left. When Andrs Fekete-Gyr says to the Neue Zrcher Zeitung that he supports both gay marriage and border control (meaning the border fence erected by Orbn to keep the refugees out), he positions his party within the complex status quo but with a new, streamlined hipster patriot foundation. At the same time this evokes the typically stupid reaction of the widely despised KDNP [Fideszs Christian democrat partner party in government Transl.], which strengthens Momentums position even more. At the same time, with mild anti-migration sentiments, they attract the casually racist and/but neoliberal young bourgeois voters, who were drawn to Jobbik, but who didnt quite feel comfortable there.

Dont misunderstand me I do not expect Momentum, or similar, fundamentally right-wing parties to deny their true nature. Only that they declare this nature. In other words: that they dont blatantly deceive their nave public.

But of course they wont.

This is precisely their advantage: this dynamic meaninglessness. The reference (once again related to the zeitgeist) to the local, means that their politics will be shaped by asking (in their own national consultation [The author refers to the governments National Consultation, whereby every citizen received a survey with loaded questions per mail Transl.]) the local focus groups what they find interesting, productive, popular, appropriate. Thats apolitical politics. (Which they falsely appropriate to the old democratic opposition: the defining tendency there was not the apoliticism of Havel and Konrd, but the pro-human rights, social, democratic, and liberal program of Saharov, Orlov, and KOR, the Polish Workers Defense Committee.) Extending the scope of law or preserving privileges? Pluralism or autocracy? Rule of law or developmental dictatorship? Equality before the law or racism and sexism? These are serious dilemmas even within civic politics, and many of us have already moved on from civic democracy and liberalism but, obviously, we will not make unrealistic demands to such bourgeois parties as Momentum. Obviously, if asked, Momentum would respond with progressive clichs in order to win left-wing voters, even though silence would be the wisest response.

Goodbye, Internationalism! On the Anti-Multicultural Left in East-Central Europe

It is tragic that more and more people, including to us congenial individuals and groups, will support and see this contentless nihil as a way out from the severe crisis that Viktor Orbns clique has pushed Hungary into. Momentum is not a remedy for this crisis, but one of its symptoms.

They will thrive precisely because of this.

It is undeniable that there is plenty of talent, willingness, and dynamic individuals within Momentum. They are attracting the hope of the hopeless. Its quite certain that by being honest and conscientious they would lose a lot of votes. Their tactics are excellent. Their rhetoric and style are chosen superbly. With a bit of luck they can determine the course of the next general election.

They will be successful. They are successful.

They want to discuss everything under the sun, except for their own values or goals.

I have no doubt that the founders of Momentum united selflessly, enthusiastically, with a willingness to make sacrifices, and with worthy intentions several of them left behind lucrative jobs abroad in order to help our poor old country, having had enough of the helpless and subpar parliamentary opposition. Undoubtedly, they are disgusted by the provincial, narrow-minded brutality, decadent depravity, irresponsibility, and authoritarianism of the Orbn regime. From the point of view of conventional morality, Momentum is at least for now spotless, and it is likely they will remain so. At the same time, by concealing their goals and hiding their basic principles (if there are any, which is uncertain) they radically contradict the contemporary democratic consensus; not with conspiratorial intentions but to secure votes and popularity. They want to discuss everything under the sun, except for their own values or goals (these terms are theoretically problematic, misleading, and unclear but at least they are understandable in their soft elasticity; so I use them in inverted commas). They want to gather these from the people and to begin with localized approaches to local issues. I detest the term populist, which is used for everything it does not fit (such as Orbn, who is the stark opposite of a populist). However, this is populist strategy in the classic meaning of the term. And, as always, its the struggle between volont de tous and volont gnrale (the will of all and the general will Rousseau).

However, perhaps, the volont de tous ought to be read as hidden agenda. And perhaps this agenda isnt hidden, but non-existent. The neutrality of the employed middle class, euphemistically called the intelligentsia and bourgeoisie (entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, spies, teachers, police officers, engineers, lawyers, marketing- and advertising-experts, entertainment and media-industry workers, academics, NGO-bureaucrats, etc, etc.) is the victim within the context of class conflicts of the attraction of governmentalitys (Foucault) certain formations. In the logic of media and communications this appears as the free and cool youth, who are beautiful, attractive, future-oriented: the Pest boys.

Ever since the Enlightenment, similarly to youth and novelty, West has been a synonym of progress and change in the underdeveloped East. But this symbol is more and more hollow which is not MoMos fault. The novelty is not new: it is 250 years old.

Indeed, there is a way out of Hungarys deep crisis. A way out into nothing.

Read more:

Momentum Movement: The Boys from Pest - PoliticalCritique.org

NASA Presidential Candidate Raila Odinga addressing a press conference at Capitol Hill office in Nairobi on Thursday 20/07/17 over fear of the security transfers.PHOTO:BONIFACE OKENDO

With less than a month to the General Election, all hands are on deck for the Opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) led by Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka.

While not an entirely new concept, the formation of a super alliance with five key principals from diverse ethnic groups, coupled with a devolved government, relatively autonomous Judiciary and populist 'movement for change' zeitgeist, Raila's odds of winning the presidency have steadily increased.

That said, NASA's ability to show strength in unity and execute a well-planned elections strategy will be vital considering that Raila's strongholds have historically registered lower voter turnout. Additionally, the performance of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in conducting credible polls will likely be a key determinant of the vote outcome.

Raila is no stranger to the Kenyan presidential battle. Over the years, he has become skilled at opposition politics, initially gaining prominence as a kingmaker for former President Mwai Kibaki in 2002. This was followed by his contribution to creating the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), which in the 2005 referendum successfully opposed the implementation of a new constitution.

His greatest political success came in 2007, when he became the country's prime minister.

Pentagon structure

ALSO READ: If Kenya burns, blame Uhuru and Ruto or Raila and his cohorts

This year's rebirth of the pentagon structure under NASA follows a multi-ethnic representation narrative, especially when compared to Jubilee Party, which is deemed to be dominated by Kikuyus and Kalenjins.

Although the represented tribes in NASA remain largely the same as in 2007, the political landscape has changed significantly over the past 10 years. Notably, the post-election violence allegations against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court a crucial bond for their 2013 win no longer exist.

There is also a general frustration over the recurring Kikuyu/Kalenjin presidency, with parts of the electorate calling for change amid broader frustration over perceived governance failures and performance shortfalls, notably around security, food supply, social development and even inconsistencies in infrastructure development on which Jubilee's campaign is currently anchored.

Should the Opposition manage to galvanise the frustrations and translate them into votes, then Raila's odds will significantly improve. NASA has a number of controversial power brokers behind its electoral machine who will be vital in delivering the party's strongholds and other swing counties. Figures like Hassan Joho and Josephat Nanok have the ability to win key constituencies for NASA.

The inclusion of Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto in the new pentagon structure could also earn NASA some vital votes in the Rift Valley region. Mr Ruto, who has been vocally critical of the presidency and who has a historic rivalry with the Deputy President in particular, has developed his own stature as a respected politician in Rift Valley and nationally. His popularity could amount to a major win for NASA.

Presidential ambitions

Musalia Mudavadi and Kalonzo, who also harbour presidential ambitions, are pushing to be in Government in order to remain relevant, particularly in the face of younger and more exciting governors and politicians rising across various counties.

ALSO READ: If Kenya burns, blame Uhuru and Ruto or Raila and his cohorts

The national and regional popularity of NASA's power brokers could be key to Raila's victory, particularly on the back of a rising wave of populism and desire for change.

Although Jubilee bears the incumbency advantage, a first-round victory by Raila cannot be ruled out. However, IEBC's questionable credibility and preparedness reduces the odds of such a victory. A second-round victory would also depend on some of these same factors, with the odds still tipped narrowly in Jubilee's favour despite growing momentum in the Opposition campaign.

NASA's current election campaign strategy, which includes shaming the Government and key players for failing the State economically and socially, appears focused on discrediting the incumbent administration and pushing the populist 'change' narrative.

This has been driven both by Opposition leaders and through an effective social media campaign. NASA is also seeking to exploit its national appeal linked to its ethnic diversity despite some of the sensitivities entailed in such identity-based politics.

Finally, NASA has also voiced concerns about IEBC's independence and preparedness. This likely serves a twin aim of discrediting the authorities to win over voters and provide the grounds for contesting any potential loss.

Uhuru and the incumbent Jubilee administration maintain a narrow advantage heading into the polls; however, unified and consistent campaigning by NASA could see this lead erode further, replicating similar opposition campaigns witnessed in several other recent African elections.

ALSO READ: Candidates punished for illegal use of Uhuru and Raila portraits

Ms Cheramboss is an Intelligence and Analysis Consultant at Africapractice EA Ltd

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Raila's final stand for the country's top political office - The Standard

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tony Norman: Welcome to Mr. Romero's neighborhood Pittsburgh Post-Gazette He made a lot of money in advertising, immersed himself in high society and spearheaded Pop Art, arguably the most influential art movement of the second half of the 20th century. By comparison, George Romero's contribution to the zeitgeist is ... George Romero's Longtime Collaborator Vows to Finish 4 Film Projects | IndieWireIndieWire all 119 news articles »

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Tony Norman: Welcome to Mr. Romero's neighborhood - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For Mr. Combs, who made headlines in 2001 when he posed with Ms. Campbell for a cover of British Vogue, the calendar comes at a time when there needs to be what he called an unapologetic expression of black pride.

I moved mountains to be a part of this, said Mr. Combs, as he sat in his dressing room after the shoot. It is a chance to push social consciousness and break down barriers. For so many years, something like this would not have happened in the fashion world, so it feels like being part of history and playing an active role. I want to lead by example.

For decades, the Pirelli calendar, first published by the Italian tire company of the same name in 1964, was a soft-core ode to beautiful women. Shot by A-list photographers and usually starring scantily clad supermodels, it is a collectors item and has never been sold on the open market. Instead, it is given to insiders a group of establishment opinion makers including celebrities, media professionals, politicians and chief executives, as well as to Pirellis most valuable clients and distributors.

A year and a half ago, however, for the 2016 edition, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the calendars raison dtre took a sharp turn from prurience to pride. Rather than celebrating women purely for their physical attributes, it started applauding their accomplishments, featuring such figures as the writer Fran Lebowitz, the investment manager Mellody Hobson and the tennis champion Serena Williams.

Then, for the 2017 version, a cast of fully clothed and makeup-free actresses including Helen Mirren, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore were shot in black and white, unairbrushed, by Peter Lindbergh, the better to explore what the photographer described as a different beauty, more real and truthful one not manipulated by commercial interests.

Coming at a time when female objectification and overt sexism had begun to be a more frequent topic of public discussion, the change suggested that while Pirelli knew sex still sold, a corporation that successfully appeared socially aware could and would generate more global attention for its brand (not to mention lift its bottom line).

Still, eyebrows were raised when it first emerged that Pirelli was allowing Mr. Walker, whose reputation has been forged largely on his depictions of eerie romanticism and surrealist fairy-tale worlds in magazines like W, Vogue and Love, to tackle black identity for the calendar.

Would the unveiling of the calendar on Wednesday be seen as a commitment to diversity and positive social change? Or could the campaign spur accusations of corporate exploitation as Pepsi discovered in April after widespread backlash to its protest-themed advertisement featuring the model Kendall Jenner, pulled after only a day, amid claims that it trivialized the Black Lives Matter movement?

Mr. Walker, holding a mug of tea after the shoot in May, was at pains to stress the artistic motivations behind his photographs, rather than underscore specific social messaging.

As a photographer, you dont ever want to do what has been done before, so it was important for me to feel I was doing something completely different here, he said, adding that the decision to cast only black models had been entirely my own. There were zero creative or commercial demands from Pirelli for this project. That is pretty rare in this business.

The story of Alice has been told so many times and in so many ways, but always with a white cast, Mr. Walker continued. There has never been a black Alice, so I wanted to push how fictional fantasy figures can be represented and explore evolving ideas of beauty.

He said that he had devised the concept for this years calendar long before the furor around the Pepsi advertisement, the movie Moonlight winning Best Picture at the Oscars this year or the heightened debate within the fashion industry about a lack of diversity on the catwalks. It is hard to believe, however, that Mr. Walker was not influenced at all by the diversity debate, an issue that has been discussed regularly for the last decade.

This is not about trends, this is about the zeitgeist today, Mr. Walker said. I think we are living in a fantastically exciting time, particularly when a story like that of Alice, that has held such resonance with so many people and been told in a certain way for so long, can now be told compellingly in another.

Mr. Enninful, the Ghana-born, London-bred stylist who was awarded an OBE, or Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for his work to diversify the fashion industry in 2016, said that he felt a responsibility to ensure that the shoot was received in the way that it was intended: as a theatrical high-fashion celebration with equality and empowerment at its core.

Carrolls original illustrations for the story, drawn for him by John Tenniel and full of the exaggerated sizing and dramatic flourishes typical of 19th-century British caricature, were the starting point for the creative team.

Mr. Enninful saw associations with the contemporary sculptural creations of Japanese designers like Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto in the work. Shona Heath, the projects set designer, and her team created an overflowing wardrobe of new silhouettes for the calendar (even Ms. Heaths mother chipped in, making the Mad Hatters hat). The cast was chosen by Piergiorgio Del Moro, including Alice herself: the South Sudanese-Australian model Duckie Thot, a newcomer, in towering platforms and cerulean blue thigh-high socks, with a starched silk minidress and a white lace pinafore.

The outfit was made on me we started with two costumes and eventually pinned them into a single look, said Ms. Thot, 21, who started modeling internationally less than a year ago. Asked how she felt about her starring role, she said, I feel like I am living in my own fairy tale, and am proud to be part of something with such an important message about pride and self-expression.

That sentiment was emphasized by Adwoa Aboah, a Ghanaian-British model popular right now and a feminist activist who played Tweedledee.

Tim launched my career, so anytime he asks me to do something it is always a yes; I trust him, she said. To me, the Pirelli change in direction suggests they are observing what 2017 needs, where the youth are going and what kind of imagery should be out there. We dont need any more pinup imagery, and this cast really does depict new ideas of what beauty is. And it certainly doesnt mean not wearing any clothes.

Amid the boldface names, which include RuPaul as the Queen of Hearts, Ms. Goldberg (the Royal Duchess) and the actress Lupita Nyongo (the Dormouse), particularly striking is Thando Hopa. She is an albino lawyer and model, who plays the Princess of Hearts (a role specifically devised for her by Mr. Walker), and she is currently on a sabbatical after four years as a prosecutor specializing in sexual abuse cases in her native South Africa.

When I was young, I didnt have a single role model who looked like me, who could have been a source of inspiration or motivation, Ms. Hopa said. I wanted to expand other peoples imaginations by not letting them be restricted to specific stories or narratives. Any girl, whether she is black, white, Asian or Indian, should be able to have a sense that they, too, can be a heroine in their own fairy tale. If Alice looks differently here, then Alice can be anybody. Your value comes from far more than the narrative that someone else gives you. I hope that when the calendar goes live, people are able to see the intention behind this. It was a unifying effort.

Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion and Weddings) and Instagram.

A version of this article appears in print on July 20, 2017, on Page D7 of the New York edition with the headline: Not Just Recording History, but Making It, Too.

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What the 2018 Pirelli Calendar Says About Race - New York Times

Tony Award winner talks arts activism, his play on the lost generation of gay men and returning to Kinky Boots?!

Iconic soulstress Nina Simone questioned her place in the world as a black woman after learning of four young African-American girls who were killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. She responded defiantly with Mississippi Goddamn, a political anthem that acknowledged, All I want is equality for my sister, my brother, my people and me.

In 2013, singer and theater performer Billy Porter left his mark on socially-conscious art while originating the role of Lola, a drag queen who finds common ground with a shoemaker, in the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, which garnered the Pittsburgh native a Tony Award for Best Actor.

This year, just days before President Donald Trumps inauguration, Porter married his longtime partner, Adam Smith because what if he couldnt after Trump took office? But acts of sociopolitical defiance in the face of a minority-deserting administration extend also to his latest album, Billy Porter Presents: The Soul of Richard Rodgers. Among the classic selections: the hopeful Edelweiss from The Sound of Music, intentionally released as the albums first single on Trumps Inauguration Day.

Why end the album with Edelweiss?

Billy Porter: I released (that song) the day of the inauguration as a single. If youve ever seen The Sound of Music, Edelweiss is the song they sing as they try to escape Austria during the Nazi regime. I was making a very specific statement about that day.

What statement were you making?

BP: We need to pray and we need to engage, and we need to be visible and we need to be like that Edelweiss Flower and still bloom in the darkest of times, in the coldest of times.

Whats your past relationship with Richard Rodgers music?

BP: Richard Rodgers is from the Golden Era of musical theater, when musical-theater music was what was on the radio. (He) had managed to crack through the zeitgeist in a way that not a lot of composers can because still, even to this day, his music is very popular, so everybody knows a Richard Rodgers song. When you hear how we deconstruct the material and try to update it for a new millennium, youll hear them in a totally different way than before.

Which song of Richards do you feel closest to?

BP: Probably Edelweiss just because it means so much every time I sing it, and it makes me feel like Im contributing. For some reason, society today thinks that artists should just shut up and not talk about politics, and I dont really understand that, because weve always been the people who illuminate we speak truth to power in creative ways and create conversations, and can change hearts and minds. So, Im going back to that. You know, Im just interested in the president not lying. Im just interested in that. To go from what we had to this is just horrifying.

As a recently married man, how does it feel to be official in Trumps America knowing our rights may be in jeopardy?

BP: Well, you know, we got married before he took office for that very reason, because we just wanted to make that clear. I mean, its weird because its my job, you know? My job is to try to reach across and speak to people who we dont normally speak to and come to an understanding. Music is universal, and it breaks down walls and barriers.

You say its your job to reach across the aisle does that feel even truer after doing Kinky Boots?

BP: Yeah, because when I was doing Kinky Boots the first time, it was about being in the middle of change that was moving in our direction. Now, its about making sure our rights dont get rolled back. Its a different climate. Its a lesson in understanding that its ongoing and forever. You have to fight for the rights, and then defend the rights forever. If we didnt learn that before, we know it now.

Are you going to any red-state cities on this tour?

BP: This first leg, yeah, I am. Im going to Florida and Indiana, and some other places all over the country. Im excited to do it because I lead with love, and I feel like no matter what disagreement there may be, Im leading with love. Im here to hear you. Im here to talk about it. And Im here to actually have rational conversation.

But Im not interested in having irrational conversations, and that needs to get called out. I think we have sort of begun the first steps of doing that recalibrating. The press thought he was such a joke that they didnt pay attention to him, really, and then he got away from us, and the world is in chaos. So, its a far more political show than I have been doing recently.

Political how?

BP: I have some protest music in the old-school tradition of the ones who came before me, like the Nina Simones, the Harry Belafontes and Curtis Mayfields that movement of music that was about educating and speaking truth to power and making sure our voices were being heard. That kind of art needs to come back.

Tell me how you wound up re-imagining these songs within an R&B framework.

BP: It just kind of came together. It started out as an idea. We did a concert back in 2009 at a theater in Los Angeles, where the focus was deconstructed arrangements. We went from jazz all the way through to modern hip-hop, and so when the album came around, I thought we should really focus on being fresh and innovative in terms of sound. I thought the R&B and soul versions of these were something we hadnt really heard a lot about.

In the early aughts, you told The New York Times that youre one of few Broadway performers to have an R&B album.

BP: Thats why I did this album, because thats really the biggest point Im making: which is, we sing like this. We do it like this. And we do it eight times a week. So, wake up and listen, cause this album stands up next to any R&B soul album ever made. It stands up to it, and I know that. The new album, Im really proud of it. We just need to embrace it and write more material now, and I think Hamilton kicked that door down. Im writing a contemporary-gospel musical right now we have to show up and create the material.

How did the idea come to you?

BP: Ive always wanted to do it; I just needed a way in, because religion can be so polarizing. How do we remain authentic to the genre while embracing people who dont necessarily believe in the language of the doctrine that gospel music sort of came out of? How we tell it telling the audience and teaching them how to hear it, teaching how to watch it is very important. How do we teach people how to watch us? How do we teach people how to hear us that embraces them and not makes them feel alienated? The focus is love. Thats whats in the room, and it doesnt matter what life you live outside of there. Were talking about us right here, right now. I dont know if thats gonna work, but that was the way that I could write it. And its not about religion at all, by the way. It just happens to exist inside of the music that represents religion.

How far into it are you?

BP: I just finished the first draft, and Im writing it with (gospel performer and composer) Kurt Carr. We got about 17 songs, which is good. I also have a play thats in development at the Public (Theater) about what I call the lost generation of gay men my age 47 who came out in the 80s and went straight to the frontlines to fight for our lives and here we are 30 years later. Those of us who survived have PTSD and we know how to fight a lot, but we dont really know how to live. Im excited to be talking about that in creative ways.

Both of these pieces sound very close to you.

BP: Yeah. Very, very, very close.

This piece on the lost generation whats your role in its development?

BP: I wrote it. Its in development right now, so its the very beginning stages. But Im also sort of speaking about it because thats how shit happens you gotta speak it into action.

Do you miss Kinky Boots?

BP: I do. Especially now, because I feel like doing Kinky Boots in this political climate is an act of resistance. And its the best kind, because, once again, it reaches out with love. It leads with love its art, so it opens up a different side of the blinds. People hear differently, people see differently.

Do you have any interest in ever returning to that role?

BP: I do, and I may at some point in the very near future. And thats all Ill say about that. (Laughs)

Late last year Vice President Mike Pence attended a performance of Hamilton and actor Brandon Victor Dixon spoke out during the curtain call about whether this administration will protect minorities. If Pence attended Kinky Boots, how do you think you wouldve handled the situation?

BP: I think Brandon was unbelievable. Its like, you represent us, you work for us and I hope that you remember that. There are a lot of people who are nervous about what you may or may not do. The politics you ran on do not feel like they include us, so we just want you to know that as you move forward. Remember us.

The thing about Trumps response was, you cant be a dictator, boo. You cant. Were not gonna do that. Whatever it takes, weve done it before, so pull it together, people, and lets start fighting. We gotta come together.

As editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey, and Beyonc. Reach him via his website: chris-azzopardi.com.

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Billy Porter in full bloom - Out In Jersey

When Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky burst onto the screen in the early 1970s, movie buffs were captivated by his highly cinematic El Topo (an eye popping, spaghetti western that John Lennon declared a masterpiece) and The Holy Mountain (about a spiritual quest). A longtime cult favorite, Jodorowsky is credited with being the founder of midnight movieslate night special screenings of often outrageous films at theaters. Capturing the eras psychedelic zeitgeist, Jodorowskys movies arguably had the cinemas most poetic imagery since the films of Alexander Dovzhenko, the Ukrainian director of such classics as 1930s Earth.

Now, at age 88, the Chilean-born writer and director is back with Endless Poetry (Poesia Sin Fin).

With stunning cinematography, bizarre sensuality, and heaps of humor, Jodorowsky recounts in creative, entertaining ways his adolescence growing up Jewish in Chile (his parents had emigrated from Russia). In his 2013 movie, The Dance of Reality, Jodorowsky unfolded memories of his childhood on the Chilean coastal town of Tocopilla. In this sequel of sorts, the filmmaker focuses on his youthful bohemian life in Santiago, as he struggled to become a poet. Along the way, Jodorowsky encounters other avant-garde artists, including writers Enrique Lihn, Stella Diaz Varn, and Nicanor Parra, who would become leading lights of Latino letters.

Jodorowskys conflict with his pennypinching father, who wants his son to become a nice Jewish boy and doctor, is imaginatively and poignantly depicted. The father, a shopkeeper, is portrayed by the directors older son, Mexico-born Brontis Jodorowsky, as he also did in Dance. To round out the family affair, younger son Adan Jodorowsky (he composed much of the original motion picture soundtrack) portrays the father as a young man. A la Alfred Hitchcock, Jodorowsky himself appears on screen from time to time.

In an eyebrow-raising bit of casting, opera soprano Pamela Flores not only reprises her role as Alejandros mother Sara, whom shed likewise played in Dance, but also portrays Stella Daz Varn, the real life, extraordinarily outr poet and Jodorowskys first lover. (Paging Dr. Freud!) During Augusto Pinochets military coup in 1973, Varn reportedly resisted by, among other things, displaying photos of Che Guevara. She was detained and tortured by the dictatorial regime and subsequently honored in Cuba.

In terms of sex, grotesqueness and a sense of whimsy, Alejandro Jodorowsky is a South American counterpart to Federico Fellini. Like Fellini, Jodorowsky has a fascination, if not a fixation, on people with body types out of the norm. In particular, Endless Poetry reminded me of Fellinis ode to his childhood, 1973s charm-your-pants-off Amarcord (I Remember). In one hilarious scene, an Italian socialist sneaks a phonograph into a bell tower to repeatedly play The Internationale, causing fascist troops to literally open fire on the tower.

If Fellini had to contend with Mussolini while growing up in Amarcord, the Jewish Jodorowsky had to contend with Chilean counterparts to Italys Blackshirts and Germanys Brownshirts. Of particular interest are Endless Poetrys references to pre-Pinochet fascism in 1930s and 1940s Chile. Towards the end, a Chilean Nazi movement backing General Carlos Ibanez drive young Jodorowsky into exile in Paris.

Endless abounds with striking images that pop off of the screen. Examples include Adan as Alejandro, clad in white with his face painted white like a mimes, costumed like a cross between a clown and an angel, with outstretched wings, held aloft by a devilish throng wearing red, with horns. The scene has a few actors clad in black and white skeleton-like costumes, who dominate another shot, marching down a streetsome of them atop similarly garbed ghostly horses.

Jodorowskys singular style and surreal vision has previously been too hot to handle. His 1967 movie Fando y Lis provoked a riot and was subsequently banned in Mexico. He didnt direct a movie for almost a quarter century, from 1990s The Rainbow Thief (starring Peter OToole, Omar Sharif and Christopher Lee) to 2013s Dance. As he approaches ninety, Jodorowsky seems to be finding that proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Its great to see this genius, whose edgy artistry led to long stretches of exile from the big screen, continue to make movies. To echo John Lennon, Alejandro Jodorowskys Endless Poetry, with its loving ode to family and the life artistique, just might be yet another movie masterpiece. Bravo maestro!

Endless Poetry begins its U.S. theatrical release July 14. What a great way to celebrate Bastille Day!

As part of the Ten Films That Shook the World series celebrating the Russian Revolutions centennial film historian/reviewer Ed Rampell is co-presenting V.I. Pudovkins revolutionary classic Storm Over Asia on Friday, 7:30 p.m., July 28, 2017 at The L.A. Workers Center, 1251 S. St. Andrews Place, L.A., CA 90019. For info: laworkersedsoc@gmail.com.

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Chilean Maestro Jodorowsky's Endless Poetry: Endless Alejandro and Artistry - Progressive.org

Thursday morning saw the nominations for the Emmy Awards , the often behind-the-times but still authoritative prizes for the best of what's on TV . The most notable new development in this year is big movement in the drama field, as Game of Thrones , the Emmys' reigning Best Drama champ and the all-time-winningest prime-time series is out of contention due to its later-than-usual season this year. In the absence of Thrones , several new shows have the opportunity to grab the top prize, and, possibly win the first ever Best Drama gong for a streaming show. Here are the biggest developments from the nominations:

The Emmys have the tendency to honor the same shows every year it was big news, in 2016, when The Americans broke into the Best Drama field in its fourth season. This year, though, thanks to shows either ineligible (Thrones, the now-concluded Downton Abbey ) or falling out (sorry, Americans ) no fewer than five of the seven Best Drama nominees were brand-new, with only Better Call Saul and House of Cards returning. And the new shows in the field come from across the spectrum of television. There are three streaming series (Netflix's zeitgeist smash Stranger Things and aesthetically ambitious The Crown and Hulu's much-discussed Handmaid's Tale ), one network show (NBC's This Is Us , the first show from a broadcast channel to be nominated since The Good Wife in 2011) and HBO (continuing a long streak of nominations with the sci-fi spectacle Westworld ). It's not hard to imagine that one of the three new streaming series two of which helped fill the Thrones vacuum by generating endless chatter among TV fans , and the other of which is expensively made and about an eminently awardable historical subject could break a longstanding barrier for streaming TV.

MORE: Margaret Atwood and Elisabeth Moss on the Urgency of The Handmaids Tale

The rise of streaming seemed this year to largely apply to Netflix and, with Handmaid's , an ascendant Hulu. Amazon saw its longtime awards stalwart Transparent fall out of major categories in spite of (in my view) its third season being by far the series's best. The series missed the Best Comedy trophy (the only one of last year's nominees, including ABC's long-in-the-tooth Modern Family , to do so). It also lost out in the comedy directing category, where creator Jill Soloway had won the past two years. With 17 nominations, HBO's Veep was, as ever, a powerhouse; unsurprising too was the bounty showered upon the one new Best Comedy nominee, FX's critically-beloved Atlanta . The other big comedy surprise of the morning was Pamela Adlon's acting nomination for FX's Better Things , an underheralded show that generated some of last year's heartiest laughs.

This Is Us landing a Best Drama nomination, even in an age where streaming dominates, wasn't necessarily a shock it's got great support behind it as the last hope for broadcast TV drama, and is skillfully made (if manipulative). But the breadth of its support in acting categories was startling: In Best Actor, for instance, nominations went to not just past Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown but also Milo Ventimiglia. Supporting player Chrissy Metz as well as three guest actors (Denis O'Hare, Brian Tyree Henry, and Gerald McRaney) will be waiting to see if This Is their golden moment, too. Still, This Is Us was not the most nominated-drama; with strength across technical categories owing to the robots and interdimensional creatures they depict, Westworld (22 nominations) and Stranger Things (18) topped the leaderboard. (And in getting a supporting nomination for the supernaturally gifted Millie Bobby Brown and a guest nomination for "Barb" portrayer Shannon Purser, Stranger Things has brought to the party two of the youngest nominees in recent memory.) Even if either or both loses the top prize (though an awards show that's been more pop and populist of late suggests to me that one or the other will win), they may end up taking home the most trophies.

Westworld shares its title as the most-nominated among all series with a much older series: NBC's Saturday Night Live . Given that SNL is the only program of its type with its rapid-fire prosthetic makeup and set construction, a high nomination count is hardly new; what is new is the show's wild dominance of acting categories. Fully half of the comedy supporting actress nominees are sketch comics who worked last year in 30 Rock: Vanessa Bayer (who's since left the show), Leslie Jones and last year's winner Kate McKinnon. Though not an official cast member, Alec Baldwin's volume of appearances as Donald Trump on the series qualified him to enter the supporting actor field, where he looks like a frontrunner; five SNL hosts, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dave Chappelle and Sean Spicer impersonator Melissa McCarthy, were nominated in the guest categories. This caps a year of renewed relevance for the late-night stalwart, which isn't the only beneficiary of the present public engagement with newsy humor. TBS's Full Frontal With Samantha Bee and CBS's The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, both of which came up empty for Outstanding Variety Talk Series nominations last year, are nominated this year. Meanwhile, Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show , which has struggled to find its place in a newly political landscape on late night, was snubbed. (It's the first time Fallon, as host of Late Night or Tonight , has missed this nomination since 2010.)

MORE: Why Saturday Night Live Is More Important Than Ever

The story of the much-watched miniseries categories a hotly-speculated-about field in the years since "limited series" have come into vogue is a showdown between two hugely ambitious female-led projects. HBO's domestic drama Big Little Lies has the imprimatur of two major movie stars, a classy pedigree and above all shrewd insights about the ways in which society pits women against one another. So it's a cruel irony that it's, well, pitted against FX's true-Hollywood-story Feud: Bette and Joan. With 18 nominations, the period-set, richly costumed and decorated Feud has more nominations, but it's hard to imagine Lies ' breakout Nicole Kidman losing even despite her stacked category. (Kidman's competition includes, among others, costar Reese Witherspoon as well as Feud 's Susan Sarandon and Kidman's toughest competition Jessica Lange.) A category to watch to see where the wind is blowing may be Supporting Actress in a Limited Series, where Lies 's Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley are up against Feud 's Judy Davis and (in a pleasant surprise) Jackie Hoffman. Lies was in many ways the TV story of the year proving TV's power to connect even the most well-established of stars with audiences in new ways and to tell stories of seemingly impossible complication in sensitive and powerful ways. And yet it becomes hard to imagine Emmys voters saying no to a story about how much every star loves the adulation of the crowd, and how hard it can be to keep up with Hollywood's rapidly changing vogues.

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The 5 Biggest Surprises of the 2017 Emmy Nominations - TIME

In times of crisis, new leaders emerge. And make no mistake, we are in such a time of crisis right now a time of danger and opportunity, as the Chinese pictogram for crisis would characterise it. We face a perfect storm of economic crises, humanitarian crises and ecological crises. The best leaders will be those who can help us survive and thrive through the storm to navigate around the dangers and towards the opportunities.

But what kind of leaders are these, and do we see any good examples? To answer this question, we need to look beyond the narrow-minded, bigoted, egotistical leaders that have been stealing the headlines of late. Given the nexus of our global challenges, we need a special type of response, which I call integrated leadership. These comes from leaders who can integrate at four levels: personal, organisational, societal and planetary.

As we enter what geologists are calling the Anthropocene an epoch in which human activity has become the dominant influence on climate and the environment, we need leaders who can integrate an understanding of planetary dynamics. This consciousness began to emerge in the 1960s, with luminaries like Buckminster Fuller[1], Barbara Ward[2] and Kenneth Boulding[3] writing about spaceship earth.

Boulding describes this as recognition of the earth as a closed system without unlimited reservoirs of anything, either for extraction or for pollution, and in which, therefore, man must find his place in a cyclical ecological system.[4] Following the Apollo missions and its stunning photographs of our blue-green orb from space, in the 1970s former NASA scientist, James Lovelock, proposed his Gaia Theory (named after the Greek goddess of the earth), which describes how our planet acts like a self-regulating organism.[5]

Fifty years since spaceship earth entered our consciousness, our knowledge of the planetary biosphere has become much more detailed and sophisticated and yet our actions still lag behind our intelligence: since 1970 we have destroyed 58% of the earths populations of vertebrate life in what is rightly called the sixth mass extinction in the earths history[6]; and we have degraded 60% of 24 assessed planetary ecosystem services.[7]

In response to these challenges, we need leaders who are like astronauts, in that they can see the earth as an interconnected whole and take action to prevent what planetary systems modellers call overshoot and collapse.[8] A key attribute of these leaders is the ability to think in systems, which MIT business professor Peter Senge describes as an understanding of the reality that we live in webs of interdependence.[9]

One of the first business leaders to embody planetary integration was the late Ryuzaburo Kaku, former Japanese chairman of Canon. He explained that, in the highest stage of evolution of a corporation, a global consciousness emerges and the corporation sees itself contributing to the whole of mankind. This became the essence of Canons corporate philosophy of kyosei, which they define as living and working together for the common good.[10]

Another business leader who represents this planetary consciousness is Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever. Speaking to The Guardian about their ambitious Sustainable Living Plan, he says: The world is in a more challenging situation than many people realise [and] one of the key issues right now [is] the lack of global governance in a world that has become far more interdependent. We are often trapped in short-termism. This is why Polman stopped quarterly reporting, saying we have deliberately sought longer-term shareholders.[11]

In much the same way as we face interconnected environmental challenges, our global society is battling with the problems of residual poverty, growing inequality, ideological extremism and mass forced migration. It is true that under the UN Millennium Development Goals, the world made major strides in the right direction, such as cutting extreme poverty and infant mortality in half since 1990, but major challenges still remain.[12]

For example, according to the UN, 2.4 billion people are still without improved sanitation and nearly 800 million still suffer from hunger.[13] And accordingly to the Global Wealth Report, 8% of the worlds population own 85% of global wealth, with 71% holding only 3% of global wealth.[14] Inequalities are also still seen in the lack of diversity among those in positions of power. For example, only 26% of seats in the worlds parliaments are held by women[15] and women only represent 16% of executive teams in the US[16].

Leaders who recognise these social challenges and the importance of diversity are like artists, in that they have heightened perception of the world around them. They are like the painter that pays attention to the varied palette of nature, or the jazz musician who improvises to stay in harmony with the overall ensemble. Hence, societal integration requires leaders who can tune into the zeitgeist and cultural patterns of their time and place.

Niloufar Molavi, a global leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says: Its difficult to be a true leader in todays world without a minimum level of cultural dexterity, by which she means the ability to connect across myriad areas, backgrounds, and focuses that are different[17]. In fact, recent research shows that inclusive companies are 1.8 times more likely to be change-ready and 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their market[18], while gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform their peers and ethnically-diverse companies are 35% more likely to do the same.[19]

A leader who understood and powerfully demonstrated societal integration was the late Wangari Maathai, who started the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya to simultaneously tackle poverty, womens empowerment and environmental degradation. Accepting the Nobel Prize in 2004 on behalf of the grassroots movement that has planted 51 million trees to date, she said: Im especially mindful of women and the girl child. I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices and take more space for leadership.

In our celebrity culture, we are obsessed with leaders who are charismatic and larger than life, the so-called visionaries. And yet a visionary without execution is simply a dreamer. By contrast, the most effective leaders, according to Jim Collins, business author of Good to Great and Built to Last, are able to combine humility, will, ferocious resolve, and the tendency to give credit to others while assigning blame to themselves.[20]

According to one model taught at Cambridge University, leaders who master organisational integration are able to strike a balance between top-down commitment and bottom-up passion; and between compliance processes and creative innovation. They provide a purpose to believe in, but back this up with reinforcement systems, capacity building and consistent role-model behaviour.[21]

Integrated leaders, who are able to transform their bold vision for the future into practical solutions, be they policies and programs or products and services, are like the ancient alchemists who sought to change base metals into gold. They recognise that they are creators of higher value, but that transformation requires constant experimentation, failure and adjustment.

One of the exemplars of the ability to turn ambitious dreams into reality is Elon Musk, co-founder of Paypal and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX a transformer of the finance, automotive, energy and space sectors. Besides delivering high performance electric cars with autonomous capacity, in pursuit of Teslas mission to accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable energy, he recently led the take-over of Solar City and announced integrated domestic and industrial battery packs and solar roof-tiles.

We see other powerful examples of organisational integration in the social entrepreneurship space. For example, the Sabah Women Entrepreneur and Professionals Association (SWEPA) in Borneo, Malaysia have, through their Barefoot Solar project, shown how it is possible to train illiterate rural grandmothers to become solar engineers who install and maintain solar lights in their remote villages. In this case, they have managed to build and integrate six forms of capital: financial, manufacturing, human, social, intellectual and natural capital a rare feat indeed.

Besides planetary, societal and organisational integration, leaders also need to demonstrate personal integration. In order to lead wisely and effectively, they have to be high functioning, yet balanced individuals. Like the ancient Chinese tai-chi symbol of the interacting opposites yin and yang, integrated leaders are able to find a dynamic harmony between the opposing forces of doing and being, speaking and listening, thinking and feeling, asserting and yielding, analysing and caring.

This process of personal integration is what American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, called self-actualisation, what Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called individuation and what South African philosopher-statesman, Jan Smuts, called holism, which he described as the natural tendency in evolution to create ever more integrated wholes.

A good metaphor for personal integration is the athlete, since not only do elite athletes develop their physical prowess to a remarkable degree, they are also able to supplement this with mental agility and a sense of greater purpose. The integrated leader must similarly achieve peak performance through cultivating what Maslow called being cognition and being values such as wholeness, justice, beauty and playfulness.

A business leader who typified personal integration is the late Anita Roddick, founder of the global cosmetics company, The Body Shop. She believed that You have to look at leadership through the eyes of the followers and you have to live the message. What I have learned is that people become motivated when you guide them to the source of their own power and when you make heroes out of employees who personify what you want to see in the organisation.[22]

Another integrated leader who is still very much alive and active is Myanmar political leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. After spending over 15 years under house arrest by the incumbent military dictatorship, she led her National League for Democracy to victory in 2015. In a documentary about her life, she describes the four basic ingredients of success, inspired by her Buddhist beliefs, as follows: you must have the will to succeed, the right kind of attitude, perseverance and wisdom.[23]

Integration at each of these four levels planetary, societal, organisational and personal creates synergy, which the American professor Russell Ackoff described in his studies of purposeful organisations as the increase in the value of the parts of a system that derives from their being parts of the system.[24] This is more commonly known by the catchphrase: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Picking up on this theme in the 1980s, author Peter Russell, in his book and documentary The Global Brain, foresaw a future in which the evolution of human consciousness will have shifted from the Information Age into what he called the Consciousness Age. The implications of this transformation are that we will be able to create a high synergy society. And that is, by definition, the goal of the integrated leader.

An edited version of this article was published by the Infrastructure Channel as 'Four Imperatives for Leadership to Make a Positive Difference'.

[1] Fuller, B. (1968). Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth.

[2] Ward, B. (1966) Spaceship Earth.

[3] Boulding, K.E. (1966). The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth.

[4] Boulding, K.E. (1966). The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth.

[5] Lovelock, J. (1975). Gaia, A New Look At Life On Earth.

[6] WWF. (2016). Living Planet Report 2016.

[7] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Synthesis report.

[8] Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.L. & Randers, J. (1972). The Limits to Growth. A report to the Club of Rome.

[9] Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.

[10] Visser, W. (2012). The Quest for Sustainable Business: An Epic Journey in Search of Corporate Responsibility.

[11] Ruddick, G. (2016). Unilever CEO Paul Polman the optimistic pessimist. The Guardian, 25 January.

[12] United Nations. (2015). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2016.

[13] United Nations. (2015). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2016.

[14] Credit Suisse Research Institute. (2015). Global Wealth Report 2015.

[15] United Nations. (2015). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2016.

[16] Hunt, V., Layton, D. & Prince, S. (2015). Why diversity matters. Report by McKinsey & Company.

[17] Hunt, V., Layton, D. & Prince, S. (2015). Why diversity matters. Report by McKinsey & Company.

[18] Bersin, J. (2015). Why diversity and inclusion will be a top priority for 2016. Fobes, 6 December.

[19] Hunt, V., Layton, D. & Prince, S. (2015). Why diversity matters. Report by McKinsey & Company.

[20] Collins, J. (2005). Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve. Harvard Business Review, July-August.

[21] Ainger, C. (2006). Organisational change matrix. University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

[22] Walter, E. (2013). 50 Heavyweight Leadership Quotes. Forbes, 30 September.

[23] Aung San Suu Kyi - Lady of No Fear, A film by Anne Gyrithe Bonne, 2010

[24] Ackoff, R.L. (1994). The Democratic Corporation.

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Integrated Leadership: The Leader as Astronaut, Artist, Alchemist and Athlete - HuffPost