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Over the past year, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, a likely candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. President, has been waging war against higher education. From forbidding the teaching of anything related to critical race theory to severely curtailing academic freedom, DeSantis policies have been seen as a map for other conservative states and as the fruition of decades of policy initiatives.

One aspect of the Florida plan may surprise outsiders to education. As part of his goal to align the states curricula with the values of liberty and the Western Civilization, Governor DeSantis has empowered his appointees who run the states honor college, New College, to move the school to a classical liberal arts model that emphasizes a traditional brand of education and scholarship.

In a climate where the liberal arts are continually under threat and institutions around the world are cutting back on the humanities and creative arts in favor of STEM fields and vocational credentialing, Floridas return to classical models might sound good. But for those who remember the culture wars of the 80s and 90s, theres a whiff of Allan Bloom and The Closing of the American Mind: a reactionary dismissal of one field of the liberal arts (studies in race, sociology, gender, etc.) in favour of a poorly defined, and coercively instrumentalised, tradition, and while these debates take place, institutions continue to cut programs and reallocate resources elsewhere.

The problem with comparing now to the late 1980s is that the current champions of classical education fail to understand it, understand it all too well and intended to shut out new voices and ways of seeing the world, or cynically use the example to manipulate various constituencies. As someone who cares deeply about higher educations potential to do good and who advocates for a nuanced understanding of what the liberal arts are and what they have done in the past, I am troubled nearly as much by the misuse of classical education as I am by its weaponization by cynical opportunists.

Heres a good example of this crowds superficial thinking. Recently, Jeremy Wayne Tate, the CEO of the Classic Learning Test, tweeted Classical education, formerly known as simply education, inspires young people to live lives of heroic virtue. If we want young men to act like Odysseus, they need to hear the story.

Along with many others, I questioned this approach to Homer on social media, merely listing plot points from the Odyssey to ask what it means to act like Odysseus such as 1. lose 12 ships of men, 2. Cry on the beach for seven years, 3. Kill 108 people at home; 4. Let son hang enslaved women; 5. Get ready for war with your own people While many were amused, the list elicited some strong reactions.

Odysseus wasnt always heroic

Homeric heroes are not simple figures. Yes, Odysseus returns home and is reunited with his wife and son after extreme suffering. He may exhibit cunning, resilience, and tries to find balance between the massive egos of Agamemnon and Achilles; he seems keen to end the disastrous Trojan campaign the Greeks embarked on, but he is also depicted as a bad leader.

He also tends to make selfish decisions that often undermine his own goals. My point in listing out the plot is that epicand by extension, a classical educationcannot work as a simple call to imitation. Ancient literatureindeed, all art and literature worthy of the titlesoffers an opportunity to engage in a repetitive and sequential process of contemplation and interpretation. It is not a list of qualities to emulate or of figures to venerate in turn.Over a generation ago, the cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner argued that the human mind has two modes of thought, the paradigmatic mode and the narrative mode.

The paradigmatic mode, he argued, is the structure of science and logic, the mode of establishing universal truths; whereas the second mode, the narrative one, is grounded in personal experience, in relating between the self and the universal, and in bringing meaning to both through reflection and interpretation.

The narrative mode is at the center of the humanities and creative arts and occupies at least half of the traditional liberal arts. When we emphasize one approach to the detriment of the other, we lose the ability to translate our experiences for each other, to establish shared facts, and to say anything substantial about the truth.

The best examples of using classical texts for education are firmly grounded in narrative; the worst treat them as offering simple paradigms, patterns empty of their meaning. Homeric poetry is like a philosophical dialogue, a tragedy, or a painting: it invites audiences to explore its narrative through their experiences, and to compare their experiences to epic in turn. The classroom gives us time to compare our responses, both to each other, and to our objects interpretive histories.

What we often miss from the narrative function is that it is a process and not a product; it must include multiple people, and it does not cease when the bookor coursehas ended. Narrative modes also help create communities: No one reads, hears, or experiences a poem the same way every time and no one comes away with the same conclusionswe bring our experiences and expectations closer together through conversation.

The peril of misusing Homeric epic

Theres a deep peril in narrative being misused. Homeric epic is deeply aware that narrative misfires and can be interpreted in dangerous ways: it repeatedly features heroes telling each other stories from the past and disagreeing about them, failing to live up to them, or twisting them to new meanings.

Epicand all narrative artis supposed to be a vehicle for increasing our understanding of the self, of our engagement with communities, and of our engagement with time. It does not give clear or simple lessons, but instead furnishes problem sets for thinking about how we act in the world. People who claim that Odysseus is one thing (a moral hero!) or Achilles is one thing (a man of honour!) are labouring under the idea that epic is simply paradigmatic. They want to use it to teach specific things, but also ensure that it cannot teach others.

When any response to extolling the virtues of Achilles or Odysseus is critical, modern proponents of classical education often respond with rage. Sadly, this illustrates the lack of preparation for engaged, collaborative, and dialogic thinking. But it also has political ramifications: They respond violently with typical bullying tropes. Scan responses online and find homophobic attacks, ableist slurs, misogynistic, racial, and transphobic attacks. Such bullying sounds mundane, but it truly exposes the fragility that is core to an emergent neo-fascist fetish for power.

Theres a reason the traditional liberal arts are both qualitative and quantitative, narrative, and paradigmatic. By some accounts, the term liberales artes originally referred to the arts worthy of a free person, but I think we can also understand it as the knowledge that makes you a free person.

Education should cultivate greater understanding

Education should help us be more than ourselves by teaching us to understand what it means to be human, to be part of a community, to be part of history. And it should discomfort us by helping us see others who are different as real and as vital as ourselves. Every time I see a school, or a civic entity cut the humanities and the arts and double down on work training and STEM, I fear we are undermining any opportunities for people to learn and think deeply about narrative and our lives together.

These cuts are always ideologically driven under the cover of financial exigency. Divestment in the humanities, arts and even social sciences is about taking out the very disciplines that are critical of entrenched power structures.

Jerome Bruner also wrote in his book Actual Minds, Possible Worlds that if a student fails to develop any sense of what [Bruner calls] reflective intervention in the knowledge he encounters, the young person will be operating continually from the outside inknowledge will control and guide him.

This is the goal of cutting departments, of eliminating tenure and limiting academic freedom, and of excluding millions of students from the opportunities to have deep, resonant humanistic educations. People who cannot engage critically with narrative and each other will never have the skills to engage critically with media, to demonstrate meaningful information literacy, or to question the claims of their leaders.

Institutions outside of state control that choose to reallocate resources for deficit mitigation or to lean in to more popular and profitable subjects for temporarily balanced budgets abdicate our moral and ethical responsibility to seek the truth, to challenge power, and to make life better for all people.

So, when talking heads online scream about the radical leftists ruining education, and when they demonstrate neither the knowledge nor the ability to talk about the core components of the humanities or liberal arts, I see the cost were paying now for undermining education at every turn.

Empowering simplistic paradigmatic thinking is a harbinger of what education will be if we continue down this path: Boutique learning for the elite; a cudgel for traditional rhetoric and hate; and a mechanism for perpetuating some of our worst ideas.

Joel Christensen is Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at Brandeis University. He has published extensively and some of his work include Homers Thebes (2019) and A Commentary on the Homeric Battle of Frogs and Mice (2018). In 2020, he published The Many-Minded Man: the Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic with Cornell University Press.

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Classical Deception: Reactionary Misappropriation of Greek Classics Fuel Culture Wars in Education - Neos Kosmos

He would be 82 years old at the start of a second term, the oldest president in history. Democratic voters are not excited by him, polls show, and many Democrat politicians say privately they wish there was an alternative candidate for their party to push in 2024. But on Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced in a video he would indeed seek reelection, and now the only question is who his opponent will be. Will it be a 2020 rematch of 2020 with former President Donald Trump (who would be 78 in 2024)? Will Florida Governor Ron DeSantis run? Will another GOP candidate rise?

What Biden makes clear in his video announcement is that he plans to will run on his political accomplishments, his work to lower the temperature of the country after Trumps presidency,and his determination to, in his words, finish the job that he started. The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer, Biden says in the video. I know what I want the answer to be. This is not a time to be complacent.

Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, wasted no time in responding to Bidens news in a statement: Biden is so out-of-touch that after creating crisis after crisis, he thinks he deserves another four years. If voters let Biden finish the job, inflation will continue to skyrocket, crime rates will rise, more fentanyl will cross our open borders, children will continue to be left behind, and American families will be worse off.

So, what are the issues that will define Bidens reelection campaign? BU Today reached out to faculty experts across the University and asked them to share their insights.

Treat Donald Trump as yesterdays news. Biden has to stand on his own merits here. He doesnt even have to mention Donald Trump. He wants Donald Trump because Trump is the proverbial bull in the china shop. Trumps making reckless charges, acting increasingly irrational at his rallies. Hes becoming more and more extreme, but the American electorate, for the most part, is in the middle. The vast majority of voters are independents and they dont cotton well to that kind of extremism. It works for the GOP base, which is largely white, evangelical, conservative, and authoritarian, but it wont work outside of the GOP primaries. The vast bulk of independent votersespecially womenare not going to be willing to go down that kind of road. Theyll look for a more middle-of-the-road candidate which, in this case, will be Joe Biden.

Additionally, demographics show that people under 50 years of agemillennials and Gen Zare far more policy-driven and theyre less inclined to agree with the extremist baby boom ideology that Trump is espousing. Thats a major problem for the Republican party. And theres a larger problem for the GOPthe party is not attractive to younger voters. Their base is literally dying and if you dont replace them with younger voters, youre setting yourself up for long-term irrelevance, politically speaking.

Biden needs to focus on issues that matter to younger voters: student loan forgiveness, reproductive rights, affordable housing and healthcare, the Green New Deal, and gun control.

On top of everything, it seems like the justice system will do Joe Bidens job for him regarding Trump, painting him as an unfit candidate for office. Weve never had a major candidate since Eugene Debs running for office under this cloud of illegality and perhaps even treason. Trump faces federal, state, local, and even civil charges in multiple cases that paint him as a common criminal who considers himself above the law. Unless our society has changed to the point where it no longer matters, were not in the habit of electing convicted felons or criminals to the highest office in the land.

If Trump is indicted and convicted for his role in the January 6 insurrection, under the terms of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, he would be barred from holding federal office. All together, this spells doom for Trumps bid for a second term as president.

Regarding DeSantis, he has already jumped the shark. Hes tried to out-Trump Donald Trump to win the GOP nomination with his increasingly shrill and extremist views and policies: case in point, his war against Mickey Mouse and Disney. Its become a national joke. It might work in Florida, but it wont hold sway with independent voters. DeSantis is coming across as a tribute band to Donald Trump, and a rather weak one at that. Bidens goal here should be to embrace the center and hold onto his liberal basebut his liberal base here really has nowhere to go. Liberals have grown up, thanks to Donald Trump. They may not get exactly what they want from Joe Biden, but theyve come to recognize theyll get enough from him.

I respectfully disagree that Democrats arent thrilled Biden is running again. Are there some Democrats that would have preferred a different candidate? Sure. But the party leadership sees Biden as the partys best shot to beat Trump in 2024 and Bidens approval rating among Democrats is 80 percent (according to Gallup)not a perfect indicator of broader support, but suggestive that he hasnt been abandoned by copartisans. I dont know whether Biden has to energize the electorate270 unenthusiastic electoral votes spend the same as 270 excited ones, after allbut he does have to get voters to cast ballots. To that end, he could be well served by the lesson of 2020: when voting is easier, people are more likely to do it. Voter turnout was higher in 2020 than any presidential election in the past 100 yearsa fact partially attributable to the availability of vote by mail. Even though the federal government has very little control over how states run their elections, Biden could directly and indirectly pressure state governments to maintain (or even expand) the availability of mail-in ballots.

There might be something Biden could do to win over Trump supporters, but it shouldnt be a centerpiece of his campaign strategy. Voting patterns are tightly linked to age, race, and educational attainment, and the national trends on all three of these factors are favorable for Democratic candidates. Even within swing states in the Electoral College, demographics are shifting in Democrats favor. It would be irrational for Biden to divert attention from mobilizing the faithful to converting his skeptics. His campaign should focus on voter registration and turnout.

Given that polling shows economic concerns are top on the minds of voters, the state of the economy heading into the election cycle matters. The ongoing strength of the US economy, including historically low unemployment, respectable GDP growth, and an uptick in consumer spending are positive economic messaging that the Biden administration will stress in their reelection campaign. There are other economic indicators that the Republicans will undoubtedly use to tar the Biden administration as failing the average voter, including stubbornly high inflation, lofty housing costs, and soaring prices of basic goods, including groceries. The Republicans will also try to stress that interest rates are too high and a tax on the average voter. The state of the economy will be front and center for this coming election cycle.

Future US economic conditions are a key problem facing President Joe Bidens reelection campaign.Swing votes are often swayed by economic issues, which impact voters pocketbooks. The misery index, which adds together the unemployment and inflation rate, is a good indicator of whether swing voters will stick with a president or switch. Currently, the unemployment rate is 3.5 percent and the inflation rate is 5 percent. President Bidens 8.5 percent index is right in the middle of the range compared to past presidents.This number suggests Biden has a high likelihood of reelection.However, if a recession occurs and unemployment surges or inflation stays stubbornly high, then the Biden campaign might face its own reelection misery.

As President Biden announces his intent to run for re-election, a collective groan could be heard from immigration advocates. President Bidens record so far on immigration has been, in a word, disappointing. Its not that we never had hope for this Administrations immigration policyits that we did. Bidens immigration platform was bold, progressive, and a welcome response to years of President Trumps relentless attacks on noncitizens, and asylum seekers in particular. But President Biden has seemed a long way from candidate Bidena then presidential hopeful who spoke with great promise and passion about reestablishing asylum protections, ending unlawful border restrictions and restor[ing] our moral standing in the world and our historic role as a safe haven for refugees and asylum seekers.

Yes, this Administration has expanded humanitarian parole for certain groups of Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians, but ongoing restrictions at the border and a failure to end Title 42 have meant that the border has been shut to so many more, among them some of the most vulnerable. In addition, this Administration drastically expanded the surveillance of noncitizens through ankle monitors and smartphone applications, and failed to provide long term security for Dreamers, or a pathway for new DACA applicants to receive protection. It is likely with reluctance that immigration advocates will embrace this re-election campaign. Hopefully, rather than hue toward the center politically, President Biden will embrace a compassionate, common sense and lawful approach to immigration policy that deemphasizes enforcement and delivers on his promises from his previous campaign.

Biden needs to show how he will make a deal with the powerful oil companies that involves them winding down their activities, and not expanding into plastics. The curtailment of fossil fuel extraction is the key to a new, unpoisoned world and its not an easy one to turn, but it is the one that opens the door to a new future. Companies that are invested in the old ways of doing business are doubling down now and backing Republicans with all they have, and participating in democracy in an unethical manner, distorting the processes that should reflect the will and the needs of the people. The will of the people is clear, that we need to act on climate change, and the science, technology and economics are clear that we can have a clean transition. We wont have it tomorrow, but today is when we have to get started. Biden has to start America down that path.

I watched the video announcing Bidens reelection campaign and found a few things noteworthy. First was evoking the specter of the January 6 insurrection. There have been efforts among some to downplay its significance or even deny that it happened. The insurrection was nothing less than a 9/11-level attack on the peaceful transfer of power and should remain seared in public memory. While not explicitly mentioning fascism, Biden frames the election as having higher stakes than simply whether a Republican or Democrat occupies the White House. It is helpful to remind voters that this is not a politics-as-usual moment we are living through. It was good to see connections made between things like reproductive rights, book bans, and voter suppression as part of a broader assault on freedom. The overall message echoes rhetoric we have heard from the Biden administration over the past few years on these issues. But people cant eat rhetoric, and fascism will not be defeated by political messaging.

I am reminded of this observation by Frederick Douglass in 1866: no republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class, or denies to any of its citizens equal rights and equal means to maintain them.

The past few years have been a reminder that freedom is fragile and democracy is vulnerable. This will remain the case without addressing an economic and political system that primarily serves the wealthy, fails to consistently uphold basic human rights, and withholds the means for many to prosper and fully participate in political life.

The ongoing Republican attack on Americans is alarming. Republicans have made stripping rights from anyone who is transgender a central part of their party identity. While their efforts are seen as focused on a minority, there is no mistake that they are setting up an infrastructure to eliminate anyone who does not fit their narrow view of who is American. In contrast, the Biden administration has achieved much to safeguard LGBTQ Americans with a particular focus on transgender Americans. Though some would argue these issues distract from larger economic concerns facing the nation, attacks on any Americans by Republican-led local and state governments, such as Florida, Missouri, and Nebraska, strike at the very core of our national values. As Biden prepares for the 2024 election, he and his team must not deflect questions about LGBTQ rights and, in fact, should be prepared to lead any debate on these issues. Biden and his team can win more hearts and minds by standing their ground and protecting Americans of all genders and sexual orientations and highlighting how un-American the current Republican Party has become.

I am not worried about Bidens chronological age. There is increasing evidence that biological age, not chronological age, is what is associated with age-related diseases, including cognitive impairment. Although Biden is 80 years old, his actions and behavior lead me to believe that his biological age is significantly younger than 80.

The cognitive skills relevant to being president are myriad. Executive functionthe ability to manage complex data and use it to plan for the futureis particularly important for a president. Episodic memorythe ability to remember events and informationis also important. Ill also mention that no one person could possibly be able to manage all of the data and remember all of the events and information that a president needs to function effectively; it will also require a team to get the job done.

Thomas Perls, professor of medicine, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine; director, New England Centenarian Study

Joe Biden is only four years older than Donald Trump. According to a medical summary by his physician, his medical issues are: atrial fibrillation, for which he takes a blood thinner, apixaban, which is very effective at preventing strokes; hyperlipidemia, for which he takes Crestor, result[ing] in a normal lipid profile; acid reflux, for which he takes Pepcid; and stiffened gait due to moderate to severe spondylosis and osteoarthritis of his spine. Of note, his blood pressure is normal (128/76) without meds.

Many Americans in their 80s and 90s are in very good physical and cognitive health. For that matter, most centenarians who are at least 20 years older than Biden on average experience significant (impacts their function) medical and/or cognitive problems after their mid-90s. I see no indication that Biden is not among the 80 percent of people in their 80s who do not show evidence of dementia. Furthermore, he has none of the risk factors that make cognitive impairment more likely, such as diabetes, obesity, smoking, high blood pressure, or elevated LDL or low HDL cholesterol; hes in excellent health, especially for his ageall of which makes him much less likely to have cognitive issues down the road.

I have read that there are some people saying that presidents who are at an older age should undergo detailed neuropsychological testing to determine they are cognitively in good shape. As a geriatrician, we do not perform such tests unless a person is demonstrating increasing and persistent or worsening difficulty with tasks or activities that require concentration or planning. People should not be concerned about losing their keys or forgetting someones name; that may happen if we havent had a good nights sleep. Its when these issues are persistent and worsening that we become concerned.

I think misinformation will most certainly be central to the 2024 election in a variety of ways. For starters, it will be very interesting to see who takes over Tucker Carlsons mantle over at Fox News, and therefore, the mantle of monetizing misinformation and fear under the guise of journalism. I suspect it will get ugly with different Fox News personalities trying to outdo each other to cater to that vast market that made Carlson one of the most successful personalities on cable. Carlsons own future and what he might bring to different campaigns, either as an official campaign member or as a surrogate, in terms of weaponizing disinformation and outrage, will also play a role, I believe. Misinformation in the MAGAsphere and beyond will remain alive and well and play a role in the outcome of the electionand the Biden campaign needs to be ready with much more effective messaging and counters to it. The Republicans already have a roadmap of successfully deflecting from what should be legislative priorities to using misinformation to create fester[ing] culture wars and creating lightning rods out of what may be considered nonissues, like banning drag shows and books from classrooms. I suspect that deflection will continue throughout the 2024 campaign and the Biden campaign needs to be ready.

I dont know how much the actual outcome of the [Russia-Ukraine] war or any US support for Ukrainewhich is not direct support, but in the form of military and civilian aidwill actually affect the election. But I do know it is a major source of disinformation that is targeted to the US electorate. So, I dont have a prediction for the outcome, but I would warn everyone to be on the watch for misinformation during the election season that will dial up significantly.

The midterms sent a message that voters are motivated when abortion is on the ballot in some way. After so many years of politicians treating abortion as a political hot potato, we see that abortion is politically popular, even in some conservative states, where voters arent willing to be as extreme as politicians there may want them to be.

Having a Democrat on the ticket is going to invoke messaging about protecting reproductive healthcare at every level of government, and presidential elections historically bring strong voter turnout, so well continue to see this be a major issue, I think.

A lot of this is being fought out at the state level, but at the same time, whos in the White House is highly important. One of the reasons that a federal judge enjoined mifepristone across the entire country is because he was a Trump appointee. Now, Biden has had some success in getting his appointees on federal benches. If you elect a Republican [president], you interrupt that momentum, whereas if Biden is reelected, you have more opportunities to put judges on the courts. This is not to mention what could happen on the Supreme Courtif a justice retires or leaves the bench, whoever is in the White House has control over their replacement.

More recently, weve seen the [Food and Drug Administration] roll back some of its more restrictive policies about medication abortion, but a new administration could change the head of the agency and push policies through that would reverse that direction, so the [abortion fight at the] national level does matter.

Now, people have been urging Biden to do more with abortionincluding saying the word abortionbut the White House has taken steps to protect reproductive rights. We dont know yet whats going to happen in this lawsuit against the FDA. If theres anything more that the Biden administration can do to fortify the FDAs support of medication abortion, and fortify access to those drugs, that would be important in the upcoming months.

There are some Democratic senators, like Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren [both of Massachusetts], who have urged Biden to do more to strengthen HIPAA, to make clear what kind of resources people have who seek abortions outside their home statestheres a whole laundry list of things that Democratic lawmakers think Biden could do to strengthen abortion access right now.

Theres a mantra thats important because its true: abortion is healthcare. I hope we see this administration embrace that and talk about the bigger picture of reproductive health moving forward.

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Age, Inflation, Abortion, Culture Wars, and More: Issues That Will ... - Boston University

On 11 February, 16 year-old trans woman Brianna Ghey was brutally murdered. A day earlier, an attempted attack on refugees housed in a hotel in Knowsley brought into sharp focus the threat posed by the racist far-right. In response, thousands poured out into the streets locally and nationally in solidarity with refugees and trans people. Behind the grief and anger was the big question: how could this happen?

Cases like these are the brutal result of years of manufactured culture wars waged by a right-wing establishment. Horrifically, Tory Deputy Chairman 30p Lee Anderson described those attempting to assault refugees in Knowsley as good, family people.

From Sunaks new pledge to stop the boats, to hysterical attacks on LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education whipped up by the right-wing press, a platform of toxic culture wars looks almost certain to be the central plank in the Tories election platform come 2024.

In Scotland, the Sturgeon governments attempted Gender Recognition Reform Bills passing triggered an onslaught of transphobic reaction, led in large part by the evangelical Christian right. What has since followed is an SNP leadership election dominated by contenders tacking to anti-trans positions. So where has all of this come from?

Although entering into wide conversation relatively recently in Britain, the term culture war has a deeper history. Emanating from the US religious right, many have tried to pin the blame for the rise of culture wars in Britain solely on American influence. Although there is some truth to this, it does not give anywhere near the whole story.

This right-wing backlash comes in a context of deepening crisis in British society. None of the problems facing working people skyrocketing bills, plummeting wages and growing deprivation have been solved or will be solved by either Sunak or Starmer. Workers are realising that our situation will only improve if we fight. A new generation are beginning to organise, which led to 700,000 on strike together on 15 March.

For Gen Z often derided as the snowflake generation the system has never held any promise of a decent future. Knowing nothing but poor living standards, climate crisis and global wars, many are asking whether we need an entirely new system. A report from the Fraser Institute found that 53% of people aged 1835 would choose a socialist system over capitalism, compared to only 27% who would reject socialism.

Impoverished, alienated communities whose access to decent wages, housing and services has been decimated by austerity face a future that continues to get worse. Particular insecurity can be felt by those fearful of rising crime levels, and by young men who are simultaneously told they need to live up to capitalist macho ideals and meanwhile are offered nothing in the way of well-paid well-respected jobs.

The far right is making a conscious attempt to invent myths about refugees assaulting locals in order to whip up events like those in Knowsley, to turn fear of abuse into fear of refugees. Right-wing figures like Andrew Tate seek to enrich themselves by spreading divisive ideas to the insecure and the alienated. This is the context in which these ideas have been floated.

For Marxists, we seek to get to the very root of these problems by looking at how society is structured. The economic system we live under today, capitalism, is one whereby production takes place not for human need, but for profit. It does so in the interests of a small wealthy elite the capitalist class which makes its profits from the sweat and labour of working class people.

However they know this cant go on forever without workers beginning to get organised to resist their exploitation. Capitalism needs an ideology to prop itself up, to spread confusion and to stop working class people from seeing their power. Perpetuated in the media, in advertising, through the state and elsewhere, capitalism tries to pressure workers with the idea that nothing can change, that capitalism is human nature. But also part of this is the propping up of bigotries and various forms of oppression, from racism, sexism, xenophobia and LGBTQ+phobia. In other words, the system needs scapegoats to survive and to divide working class people.

If council housing is crumbling, wages stagnating and hospital waiting lists building, the capitalist elite will always turn towards blaming migrants and refugees. Sometimes these are the same migrant workers who the bosses have deliberately paid less than other workers, in order to drive down wages for everyone and boost profits for themselves. Sometimes these are the same refugees who have been housed in accommodation which would be illegal to house British citizens in, making a handsome profit for slum landlords. If you see the migrant worker as to blame for the bosses paying you less, or migrants taking homes as the cause of the housing crisis, rather than the lack of council housing and the profiteering of the landlords, you will be fighting other ordinary people instead of those who are actually to blame. Workers fighting workers is how the bosses like it, because we all lose and they gain.

Similarly it is no coincidence that in this time of permacrisis and a growing feminist wave of resistance internationally, so-called traditional family values have been aggressively pushed by the right seeking to build a bulwark of reaction against demands for gender equality.

This has a long history. In the 1980s, the Thatcher government paired its vicious anti-working class attacks with a war against loony gay rights activists, while allowing the AIDS crisis to wipe out thousands of queer lives. The print media today, largely run by deeply bigoted, right-wing multi-millionaires and billionaires like Rupert Murdoch are helping to set the tone for this war, tied to the hip with the Tories.

While big business often promotes the ideal of the super-rich girl boss, the promotion of family values (i.e. the subjugation of women and promotion of the enforced nuclear family) are still core to the maintenance of the system.

The ruling class want to continue underpaying work in those sectors with a high concentration of women workers such as care, cleaning and health. Pushing the idea that cooking, cleaning and other daily chores are jobs belonging to women in the home is central to this agenda, since it saves capitalism a lot a money. Oxfam estimates that the value of womens unpaid work is around $10.9 trillion worldwide.

Flowing from this is the pushing of a restrictive and rigid gender binary, which almost always comes alongside the stigmatisation of those who fail to fit into their boxes in particular trans and gender non-conforming people.

In short, this system is rotten, not just in the way it fails to meet the basic needs of society, but also in the twisted and unhealthy way it distorts human relationships. None of this however means that the system has won, or that nothing will change. Marxists believe quite the opposite. The culture wars are not an expression of a strong system, but one increasingly weakened by its own crises.

Socialist Feminist Alternative, which is linked with Rosa International and International Socialist Alternative stands for building a mass movement for liberation. This must include protest, occupations and strikes to resist misogyny, transphobia and sexism, with space for full democratic discussion about which ideas are needed to win real liberation. In the US we have been central to organising the fightback to the repeal of Roe v. Wade. In numerous countries through Rosa, we have built a combative socialist wing of the feminist movement, linking feminist issues with wider struggles.

We say that fighting for full liberation and for an end to the culture war will mean fighting back from below. Any so-called ally in the capitalist establishment, no matter how woke their image, does not have their interests at heart. In the US for instance, Starbucks, which paints itself as a progressive corporation supporting its many trans workers, have viciously carried out a union-busting campaign against both trans and cis workers organising for union recognition.

This means linking up forces with those who hold the biggest power to disrupt business as usual: striking workers. A general strike in Britain, built through coordination and escalation, could send the Tories and their whole culture war tumbling.

For immediate and free access to gender-affirming care, we need to fight for an end to privatisation and outsourcing in our NHS. To provide the freedom to leave queerphobic and abusive households, to house refugees and all those in need, we need to fight to end the destructive Tory hotels policy and instead for a programme of mass council house building. To end the scapegoating which is designed to divide workers and destroy our solidarity, joint strike rallies and committees should boldly call for safe and legal routes and an end to the war on migrants and refugees rights, including with calls for mass community action to stop deportations.

In the unions, Socialist Alternative members have played a leading role in fighting for the movement to take a clear stance in solidarity with trans people. We have passed motions on this already in 10 union branches, with a motion on trans liberation to be moved at this years coming national Unison conference.

Our unions need to campaign against all manifestations of discrimination in our schools, at home and in society. Community protests should now be organised in our communities and outside our schools, led by striking workers, supportive parents and students demanding fact-based, inclusive and comprehensive sex education.

As well as fighting racism and queerphobia, we need to build a new party of class struggle based on striking workers and movements against oppression, which can take on the bosses, Sunak and Starmer with a socialist programme.

This means fighting for public ownership and democratic workers control of the giant monopolies which dominate todays economy. This would allow us to plan the use of resources in the interests of people and the future of the planet, rather than profit.

In a socialist society, the economic base for oppression and discrimination would be removed. This does not mean that all the rotten and backward ideas existing today would disappear overnight, nor would abusive power relations in the home and in society. But it would lay the basis for these diseases to be tackled at the root.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, led by the Bolsheviks, the socialist government led by workers and peasants understood this best. They went about challenging and uprooting the reactionary ideas of the old system.

Although many of these gains were later reversed by the Stalinist dictatorship, the Soviet government in these early years set about creating free childcare, a fully-funded health service for all and public housing to provide women and gender non-conforming people with the resources they needed to escape abuse and stigmatisation. All restrictions on LGBTQ+ relationships and sexual behaviour were repealed and divorce made free, simple and legal virtually overnight.

Today we can fight for this and much more. By nationalising the media corporations which churn out right-wing propaganda, taking them out of the hands of reactionary pundits and into democratic control, we would be able to break the perpetuation of these ideas at their root. By removing the capitalist class from power, we would remove the class which wages war and carries out imperialist interventions and creates the refugee crisis.

All of this is possible. But we need to get organised to fight for it now globally. In International Socialist Alternative we are aiming to do just that. Why not join us today?

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Fighting Oppression || Where Culture Wars Come From and How to ... - International Socialist

Culture wars that moved to schools during the pandemic have shifted from masks and vaccines to library books.

Parents at school board meetings are reading excerpts of school library books they think are too explicit.

A bomb threat made against Hilton Central Schools near Rochester last month cited a school library book with an LGBTQ+ theme.

And the national effort to shed a greater spotlight on what advocates believe is improper content available to children has taken hold in the Buffalo Niagara region.

Parents don't know how objectionable child literary works have becomeand "we certainly didnt know they were in the school library, said Jackie Best, head of the Erie County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national organization founded by two former school board members in Florida.

People are also reading

Challenges to library books have occurred for decades, but have shifted from The Catcher in the Rye to This Book is Gay.

"This Book is Gay" has been banned, challenged, relocated and restricted for providing sex education and LGBTQ+ content.

A record number of school library books were challenged last year, mostof them written by someone who identifies as LGBTQ+ or that include LGBTQ+ characters. Also high on the list are works with sexual content or characters of color.

How do books considered good literature by some but objectionable to others end up in the school library?

It's tricky to try to determine what one family is going to be comfortable with, said Laura Penn, a librarian at Akron Central School District and president emeritus of School Librarians Association of Western New York. My place is to provide access to information. The family ultimately is where the decisions are made about what theyre comfortable with.

Penn and other librarians say they choose books in a number of ways. They read reviews in library journals, check out professional learning networks and vendors. They also ask students what they would like to read. And they know their communitys interests, be it sports or hunting or music.

Its so important that everyone finds themselves on our shelves, said Chris Harris, a senior fellow with the American Library Association for youth issues and school library system director for Genesee Valley BOCES.

Laura Penn, school librarian in the Akron Central School District, says it's important for parents to have conversations with their children to encourage them to read and check out the types of books they are comfortable with as a family.

Each school district has policies on how instructional and library materials are selected, and how to challenge them.

A challenge occurs when someone questions why specific material is available in a school library. School districts have policies about what to do when that happens, including having a committee read the book and recommend what should be done. The material is removed or restricted in the library when there is a decision to ban the material.

Best said the matter got her attention last year, when another parent told her about a book on a summer reading list for a class that Bests high school-age son was taking. Most of the books on the list had lots of sexual content, she said.

The county Moms for Liberty chapter now has a list of 80 books it says would have the equivalent of an R-rating, and is checking school libraries to see if they have the books. The chapter lists high schools that carry them on its Facebook page and website, with the heading #Porninschools Exposed.

Members compiled the list by looking at websites that rate books based on the objectionable content,Best said.

Activities of chapter members include reading passages from books at school board meetings and posting book reports on the chapter Facebook page, steps recommended by booklook.info, a group that said it originally formed as a Moms for Liberty Book Committee.

Releasing excerpts and reports on Facebook several days apart draws attention to the groups Facebook and gets people engaged with outrage, according to booklook.info.

Books have been challenged in school libraries in the region, saysLaura Penn, a librarian at Akron Central School District and president emeritus of School Librarians Association of Western New York. She has not heard that any have been banned.

Best said chapter members generally dont want to ban the books, although there are a handful of books they have asked be removed. They want warning stickers on books with explicit content. They also want parents to have the option to approve what materials their children can check out of the school library.

Its not that these are all garbage books," she said. "Are they age appropriate and do the parents know? No one cares to ask us, but were not trying to ban books.

Best said the chapter has had no success with school districts.

I think it proves the absolute disconnect that school districts have with parents, she said. Were being very reasonable. Lets have a conversation.

Book challenges are not as successful in New York State as other parts of the country, but the executive director of the New York Library Association sees very real climate change around book challenges, along with more pushback against certified professionals who are trained to select books.

Libraries are primarily about access to information, providing access to information equitably. Thats our goal, said AnnaLee Dragon. The overarching message here is that you get to decide what is right for your family and your children, but you dont get to make that decision for everybody elses family and children.

My place is to provide access to information. The family ultimately is where the decisions are made about what theyre comfortable with,says Laura Penn, a librarian at Akron Central School District and president emeritus of School Librarians Association of Western New York.

Collection development starts with an evaluation of the librarys resources and bringing science and history resources up to date, Harris said. Librarians also rely on professional review journals and other reading professionals around the country. They look at award lists, recommended books from experts and groups such as the Junior Library Guild to vet materials.

It all comes back to that professional judgment, that masters level training. Theyre not just randomly buying books, Harris said.

In addition to having a masters degree in library science, public school librarians also are certified teachers.

In addition to overseeing the library budget, librarians work with classroom teachers to support what is done in the classroom.

They're entrenched in curriculum too, because they have to work across all curricular areas, said Brian Mayer, coordinator of the School Library System and media services at Erie 2 BOCES. They also look to identify needs of the student population, they look at identifying the community itself, looking at data to see the shifts in growth and community to make sure that the collection is always welcoming and reflective of the community.

According to state regulations, school libraries must meet the needs of the pupils, and shall provide an adequate complement to the instructional program in the various areas of the curriculum.

New York State has clear guidelines on what information should be included on sexuality and health, Harris said, including individuals have a right to information that can make their lives healthier and happier and sexual orientation is a component of a persons identity.

When people are saying Why would a library buy this?, (it's) because the New York State Department of Education tells us to," she said.

One of the books on the Moms for Liberty list is Gender Queer: A Memoir, a graphic novel by Maia Kobabe.It was the most-banned book in school libraries in the U.S. last school year, according to PEN America, a nonprofit founded in 1922 dedicated to protecting free expression.

Record book challenges last year

The American Library Association recorded the most book challenges last year since it started compiling information about library censorship more than 20 years ago. More than half, 58%, were in school libraries.

An overwhelming majority of challenges cited multiple books. Before 2021, most challenges were to remove a single book.

Thats similar to the findings of PEN America, which reported 2,532 instances of books being banned in schools last year, affecting 1,648 unique book titles.

Because of the increased attention and controversy over school library books, several librarians said there is a real potential for librarians to refrain from selecting some books they believe would cause an issue.

Concerns about school safety grew last month, after Hilton Central Schools received several bomb threats because This Book is Gay, by Juno Dawson, was in the high school library.

Librarians are scared," Harris said. "Theyre scared of losing their jobs. Theyre scared of violence and attacks against them.

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Culture wars shift to the school library, including in Western New York - Buffalo News

Watch: Royal Family 'has fallen victim to the culture wars'

Experts have accused the Royal Family of falling victim to the "culture wars" amid the fallout from the Sussexes' departure from the UK.

In a panel discussion on the 'Future of the Monarchy' hosted by Yahoo News UK's royal executive editor Omid Scobie journalist and broadcaster Afua Hagan said the monarchy had become more divisive than ever, citing the Windsor's treatment of Meghan Markle and subsequent family estrangement as reflecting a more polarised society.

"The Royal Family have fallen victim to the culture wars - it's presumed if you like Meghan then you're a lefty, if you like Kate then you're right, you vote this way, you vote that way," Hagan said, addressing the panel.

Royal experts suggested the family had fallen victim to "culture wars" as people took sides in a perceived battle between the Princess of Wales (left) and the Duchess of Sussex (right).(AP)

"It's so polarised and you're absolutely right in saying that is not the role of the monarch at all - it is to unify people and they have absolutely done the opposite.

"They have done the opposite in the treatment of Meghan," she added.

She also argued that incoming members of the Royal Family have a history of being treated poorly, referencing media attacks against the Princess of Wales but said that the institution had taken action on her behalf.

"Let's also not forget how the Royal Family shut that down, it took a while but they did shut it down," Hagan said.

"They did attack Carole [Middleton] as a working-class woman who chewed gum, so they didn't shut it down at all. It went on for years," Robert Jobson, biographer and royal editor of The Evening Standard, interjected during the panel discussion.

Carole Middleton was criticised in the press when her daughter first started dating Prince William. (Getty)

"That's exactly what I said," Hagan replied.

"But when they got married they shut it down. But when Meghan and Harry got married the Royal Family didn't shut it down and that was a massive mistake."

Asked whether the royal family's treatment of Meghan and Harry had been perceived particularly poorly by younger people, the panellists agreed that the younger fan base seemed more sympathetic to Meghan and Harry than to the senior members of the family.

Read more: Will Harry and Andrew have a role in the coronation?

'I think they think they were very badly treated, the young people, I speak to my son who is 21 and he says its the way they were treated was appalling he thinks there was racism from the Royal Family and he believes there was not enough done to accommodate them," Jobson explained.

The panellists suggested the Royal Family should be taking advice from younger people who were more likely to have their finger on the pulse of public trends, and also agreed that the monarchy desperately needs to modernise.

Originally published 28 April 2023 at 0:10 pm

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Royal Family 'has fallen victim to the culture wars', say experts - AOL UK