Live-Tweeting DG Conference

I’m live-tweeting the Dictators and Demonstrators Conference.  Follow the feed by searching for hashtag #DG or follow @GeorgetownDG

Genesis 32:27

Last week’s parsha was Va-Yishlah, which continues the story of Jacob.  There are plenty of lessons in the reading: Jacob’s need to be left alone, in preparation for making amends with his brother Esau. Or his struggle with the divine being, through which he becomes Israel, his more holy self. These are instructive, and Jacob’s is one of my favorite stories, because he is one of the first of the very flawed fathers of Judaism to prove that he is worthy of God’s choice, and because as someone who has alternated between completely skeptical and deeply faithful, I love that Jacob’s descendents, the Israelites, take for their name a word that means ’struggle with God’.  But the lesson that resounds the most, that echoes through my mind at all times, is Genesis 32:27.  Jacob has struggled with the being, and been grievously hurt, but he has held his own.  The being says, ‘let me go, for dawn is breaking,’ but Jacob refuses.  ‘I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,’ he says.

R2P Networks

I’ve been reading a lot about transnational activist networks for my paper on the failure of R2P to be established as an effective international norm.  There are several requirements for the creation of a successful norm, which break down into three central categories: framing, structure, and mobilization.  Further complicating the success of a transnational movement is the interconnectedness of each of the three aspects: mobilization requires effective framing, which can be determined by the structure of the system.

My original hypothesis about the failure of R2P focused primarily on problems of framing.  As my research progresses, I am also beginning to wonder if the advent of the internet and other forms of technology isn’t in fact hindering the mobilization of activists, and/or that the structure of the movement (somewhat more centralized than others) isn’t hindering the effective use of technology.  This isn’t the question that I want to discuss here, but I would welcome any ideas or suggestions.

Constructing Identities and the Public Sphere

Last week I was outed on Twitter: the rabbi’s sister called him, concerned that one of her fellow congregants (who also knows the rabbi through her (the congregant’s) husband) pulled her aside and showed her my Twitter feed.  Besides the oddity that a woman I have never met would be reading my tweets, this has implications for the rabbi, because he is the most tweeted subject in my feed.  I never refer to him by name, and mention few identifying characteristics, but with time, it would be possible to figure out who he is.  Because of me, he now has a Twitter presence, without ever having signed up for the service.  We are, for better or for worse, now linked in the public sphere, and on a scale that neither of us will be able to control.

Thursday Cartoons Are Proud, and Sad, and Grateful

Lots in the news this week regarding soldiers: the Fort Hood massacre and also Veteran’s Day.  In honor of all the brave men and women who have lost their lives, and also in remembrance of their families, Thursday Cartoons are a double feature.

Also, in case I haven’t mentioned it recently, I get almost all my cartoons from Daryl Cagle’s Political Cartoonists Index.

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

Today is Guy Fawkes Day, which I’m ok with ignoring, since he was 1. British and 2. possibly a terrorist.  But it did remind me of an entry I wrote for a blog I had before this one, We Are Publius.  I started it back while I was still involved in Citizens for Global Solutions because I wanted to write, because I specifically wanted to read the Federalist Papers and chronicle them, and because I thought it would be interesting to discuss federalism from a more… liberal perspective than the Federalist Society.  It was a pretty successful blog, at least in terms of my commitment to it, but it ended up being too narrow for my purposes, and I eventually switched to the EI.  Still, the work I did there, and with CGS, helped push me towards the work I’m doing now at Georgetown, and with D&S.com.  Maybe someday I’ll get back to it.

In the meantime, here’s the Guy Fawkes post.

Election Day, Nov. 3, 2009

It’s the first Tuesday in November, and over 30 states are having elections, which means that a lot of people need to vote.  If you have already, congratulations!  If you haven’t, find your election center at Rock the Vote’s site.  Vote!  Participate in the great polity we call the United States of America.