American soldiers have taken it on themselves to do some redecorating of Iraqi archaeological sites. Apparently, vandalism of the ancient city of Ur has led to the US military banning US troops from the site.
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American soldiers have taken it on themselves to do some redecorating of Iraqi archaeological sites. Apparently, vandalism of the ancient city of Ur has led to the US military banning US troops from the site. Ella Shohat is a professor of Women’s Studies and Cultural Studies at CUNY, and is one of the co-founders of Ivri-NASAWI, an organization devoted to the cultural life of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewry. I know of her indirectly, as one of my partner’s professors and as the author of an incredible essay on Sephardic second-class status in Israel, “Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Jewish Victims,” in Dangerous Liaisons, which she co-edited. Naomi Klein, she of No Logo fame, has an interesting article in this month’s Nation entitled Privatization in Disguise, outlining the rapid-fire manner in which Iraq’s assets are being lined up for sale on the world market. The administration and their neocon supporters are already making mouth noises about the privatization of Iraq’s oil supplies to finance the rebuilding. [Continue reading] After a withdrawal-inducing absence of several days, Jeanne d’Arc returns with a couple of great posts, and some links on looting, most notably this article entitled, boldly enough, “The Case for Looting”, by one Steven E. Landsburg writing for Slate. Landsberg’s thesis is that there’s really not much wrong with looting in Iraq, on the grounds that the looting did not remove wealth from the Iraqi economy, it just shifted it to new owners. Since most of the wealth in Iraq was obtained illegitimately, there is nothing wrong with Iraqi looters reclaiming some of it for themselves. [Continue reading] Several bloggers have written very insightful words about the looting in Iraq, particularly the almost total decimation of the Baghdad Museum’s collection. Teresa Nielsen Hayden‘s comments have been particularly cogent, both mourning the loss of so many priceless artifacts and berating an administration and military that allowed it to happen. [Continue reading] |
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