Culture Jammers in the (former) Eastern Bloc: A Guidebook for Surviving the Resurgence of Authoritarianism

Resisting the mindless minions of orthodoxy!!

The Activist History Review

by Lucie Janotová

It is December 1st, 2018. After months of attacks, the Central European University in Budapest is waiting for a miracle: that an increasingly authoritarian Hungarian government will allow its continuous presence on its territory. If it does not, the forced exile of CEU will be the biggest assault on academic freedoms in Europe since the Oslo University closure by the Nazis in 1943.

As a reaction to this uncertain waiting, a student movement emerges but this is no ordinary protest. Building their own “Free University” (“Szabad Egyetem”) right below the Parliament windows, these students reclaim the very space traditionally belonging to the authoritarian force. In a country where academic subjects are banned, the majority of media captured, and more money is spent on sport stadiums than academia, this movement subverts governmental propaganda through performances, tournaments, lectures and film screenings, helping to revive a dormant civil…

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The Rise of Skywalker’s Activist Historian

nerd delights

The Activist History Review

*This article includes spoilers from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.*

If you weren’t paying close attention, you may have missed one of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkers newest and most fascinating characters, especially to fellow academics and activists. This new character speaks to the work we all strive to do on a daily basis: a true activist historian in the Star Wars universe.

His name is Beaumont Kin and as The Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary explains, he is one of the galaxy’s top historians “on track to become one of the youngest professors at the Lerct Institute.”[1] Kin studies the ancient histories of the Sith and the Jedi. For those of you who are not big Star Wars fans, the Sith and Jedi have existed in conflict for hundreds of thousands of years. In its very simplest terms, the Sith represent the dark…

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