66 Articles

Friday, September 25, 2009
Is Obama a socialist? Reflection on the degradation of politics and the ecosystem
(3 comments) [This is an expanded version of a talk given to the University Democrats student group at the University of Texas at Austin, September 23, 2009.]

Monday, September 14, 2009
Can journalism schools be relevant in a world on the brink?
A call for Journalism for Justice/Storytelling for Sustainability

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
An inspirational political life captured on film
A review of Abe Osheroff: One Foot in the Grave, the Other Still Dancing

Thursday, August 6, 2009
The false gods of state and corporation: Becky Garrison interviews Robert Jensen
(1 comments) Religion and politics in All My Bones Shake.

Monday, July 27, 2009
Teachable moments require willing learners
(8 comments) In this allegedly "post-racial" era, these teachable moments are an important reminder that white supremacy is woven deeply into the fabric of this country.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Conflicting visions of romantic love
(5 comments) a review of A Vindication of Love Reclaiming Romance for the Twenty-First Century by Cristina Nehring

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Color of the Race Problem Is White
(6 comments) "The Color of the Race Problem Is White," a lecture by Professor Robert Jensen, University of Texas at Austin

Saturday, June 20, 2009
What does it mean to be a human being? Balancing theological and political insights
(7 comments) Which practices, systems, and fundamental conceptions of what it means to be human, are consistent with a sustainable human presence on the earth, respectful of other life, in societies that provide the necessary resources for all people to live a decent life, within a culture that fosters individual flourishing alongside a meaningful sense of collective identity, helping us to take seriously ou

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Finding a stubborn hope to live in a dead culture
(4 comments) Rather than saving the dominant culture, our task is not only to let it pass from the scene but to hasten that transition.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Feminism's challenge: Articulating alternatives to unsustainable hierarchies
(13 comments) "What is the most important challenge facing women in the 21st century, and why?"

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Future farming: The call for a 50-year perspective on agriculture
(2 comments) Wes Jackson of The Land Institute discusses how to approach the problem of agriculture through a 50-year farm bill.

Monday, January 19, 2009
A "Citizens' Oath of Office" for Inauguration Day 2009
(4 comments) "I do solemnly pledge that I will faithfully execute the office of citizen of the United States, ...

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Real hope: Facing difficult truths about an uncertain future
(5 comments) Now is the time to articulate an authentic sense of hope, one that is realistic.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
audio: Taking politics seriously
Vision, analysis, and strategy for a left/progressive movement.

Thursday, October 23, 2008
Taking politics seriously: Looking beyond the election and beyond elections
(1 comments) We shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that the most important political moment in our lives comes in the voting booth.

Saturday, October 18, 2008
The cruel boredom of pornography
(7 comments) The dirty secret of the porn industry is that, with a finite number of ways that human bodies can fit together, their product is repetitive and dull by definition. So they must resort to sexualizing degradation itself.

Monday, September 22, 2008
Free speech not safe from attack by Canadian media corporation
(1 comments) A Canadian media corporation uses trademark law to punish activists.

Monday, September 15, 2008
Still riding the Second Wave: Reflections on feminist struggles
(10 comments) Robert Jensen, interviewing Ruth Anne Koenick about feminism and men's violence against women.

Monday, August 25, 2008
Technological fundamentalism in media and culture
(5 comments) [originally published in Media Development, No. 3, 2008.]

Thursday, August 14, 2008
The old future's gone: Progressive strategy amid cascading crises
(8 comments) A version of this essay was delivered to the Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace, and Social Movements at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, August 11, 2008.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The prophetic challenge: "Few are guilty, but all are responsible"
(7 comments) A version of this essay was delivered as a sermon to the Henry David Thoreau Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Bend County, Texas, August 3, 2008.

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Fear and hope on the runaway train: A review of Eliza Gilkyson's "Beautiful World"
Eliza Gilkyson's new CD, "Beautiful World," offers challenge and comfort.

Monday, May 5, 2008
The selling and shaping of our souls
an edited version of a sermon delivered May 4, 2008, at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX.

Monday, April 21, 2008
The sorrows of race and gender in the 2008 presidential election
(2 comments) This is an expanded version of a talk given to the University Democrats at the University of Texas at Austin, April 16, 2008.

Saturday, April 12, 2008
The end of Osheroff's dance: Lessons from a life of resistance and love
A great radical activist dies at 92, leaving lessons for us all.

Monday, March 31, 2008
Podur on Sustainability
An edited transcript of the keynote speech Justin Podur gave at the "Spirituality and Activism Conference," St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Austin, TX, March 29, 2008.

Monday, March 17, 2008
Beyond peace
(1 comments) Now it's time for those of us in the peace-and-justice movement in the First World, especially in the United States, to take the next step: We must recognize that there can be no justice over the long term without sustainability, and creating a sustainable world will require not only radical change in systems and structures of power but also a radical change in the way we in affluent societies live.

Thursday, January 24, 2008
The anti-feminist politics behind the pornography that "empowers" women
(14 comments) The politics of male supremacy on display at the pornography industry's convention in Las Vegas.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
It didn't start with Iraq: A review of the film WAR MADE EASY
A review of the new film featuring Norman Solomon, "War Made Easy."

Monday, August 6, 2007
We are all prophets now: Responsibilities and risks in the prophetic voice
(4 comments) Sermon delivered August 5, 2007, at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, http://www.staopen.com/

Friday, July 13, 2007
Lessons from the Lal Masjid tragedy
(1 comments) What the news accounts of the confrontation at the Red Mosque missed.

Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Last Last Sunday? Austin organizing project contemplating its future

Thursday, May 31, 2007
Weinberg's claim of moral high ground rings hollow in face of bigoted remark
(2 comments) Learning from claims of anti-Semitism and expressions of anti-Palestinian bigotry.

Friday, May 25, 2007
Finkelstein tenure case exposes the commonplace cowardice of the "responsible"
(7 comments) The controversy over Norman Finkelstein's tenure case at DePaul puts on public display the clash of conflicting definitions of the responsibility of academics.

Monday, April 30, 2007
Last Sunday: Anti-capitalism in five minutes or less
(6 comments) [Remarks to the final "Last Sunday" community gathering in Austin, TX, April 29, 2007. For a PDF of all five of the talks in this series, write to rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu.]

Sunday, February 18, 2007
Last Sunday: Liberal icons and bipartisan empire-builiding
(3 comments) Remarks to the fourth "Last Sunday" community gathering in Austin, TX, February 18, 2007.

Monday, January 29, 2007
Last Sunday: What to do with/about white folks?
(2 comments) Remarks to the third "Last Sunday" community gathering in Austin, TX, January 28, 2007.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Media reform should include critique of sexual-exploitation media
(13 comments) Facing the pornography industry forces us to acknowledge the deep misogyny and white supremacy that still exists in the culture, even with the gains of the feminist and civil-rights movements. Both women and men might understandably be afraid of confronting what pornography tells us about the cruelty of our culture, our own sexual socialization, and the difficult struggles we face to create a world free of sexual violence.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007
The problem with solutions
(3 comments) Remarks to the second "Last Sunday" community gathering in Austin, TX, December 29, 2006.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Saying goodbye to my "Fargo" accent
(3 comments)

Monday, November 27, 2006
Last Sunday: Digging in and digging deep
(1 comments) Remarks to the first in a series of "Last Sunday" community gatherings in Austin, TX, November 26, 2006.

Saturday, November 18, 2006
Pornographic query: Is a DP inherently sexist?

Thursday, November 9, 2006
The 2006 elections and the coming train wreck: Does it matter if we slow down the train?
(3 comments)

Monday, October 16, 2006
University response to racist "ghetto fabulous" party is less than fabulous
(1 comments)

Monday, September 25, 2006
Propriety and paranoia in the empire
Reaction to FOX appearance reveals pathology in U.S. politics

Thursday, September 14, 2006
5 years later, it's clear the anti-war movement was right

Friday, September 8, 2006
Parallel Purges: Academic Freedom in Iran and America
(1 comments) Liberal professors under attack, in Iran and the United States.

Monday, August 14, 2006
Getting cognitive: The limits of George Lakoff's politics
A review of Whose Freedom? The Battle over America's Most Important Idea by George Lakoff (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006).

Monday, July 17, 2006
Florida's fear of history: New law undermines critical thinking
(3 comments)

Monday, June 5, 2006
Attacking Iran: Bad policy is a bipartisan affair

Tuesday, May 30, 2006
The Four Fundamentalisms and the Threat to Sustainable Democracy

Monday, May 8, 2006
“Covering” and the law
A review of Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights, Kenji Yoshino (Random House, 2006). 282 pp. $24.95.

Thursday, April 27, 2006
Why leftists mistrust liberals
(5 comments) It's time to highlight distinctions between liberals and leftists.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Diagnosing the U.S. 'national character': Narcissistic Personality Disorder'
(1 comments) Can a nation have a coherent character? ....What if, for purposes of analysis, we treated the nation as a person? Scan the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (the bible of mental-health professionals, now in its fourth edition) and one category jumps out: Narcissistic Personality Disorder. DSM-IV describes the disorder as...

Monday, March 20, 2006
“Crash” and the self-indulgence of white America
(2 comments) “Crash” is a white-supremacist movie,a setback in the crucial project of forcing white America to come to terms the reality of race and racism, white supremacy and white privilege.

Wednesday, February 1, 2006
The paradox of pornography
(1 comments)

Monday, January 23, 2006
Following the principles we claim to hold/being the people we claim to be
(1 comments) A version of this talk was delivered to the First Unitarian Universalist Church, Cincinnati, OH, January 22, 2006.]

Sunday, January 15, 2006
MLK Day: Dreams and nightmares
(1 comments) [Talk to be delivered to University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, January 16, 2006.]

Friday, December 16, 2005
Intelligent-design debate reveals limits of religion and science
(1 comments)

Monday, November 21, 2005
Give Thanks No More; It’s Time for a National Day of Atonement
(2 comments) Coming to terms with U.S. history and the lies at the heart of Thanksgiving

Monday, November 14, 2005
Hope is for the Weak: The Challenge of a Broken World
(1 comments)

Friday, October 21, 2005
Abe Osheroff: On the joys and risks of living authentically in the empire
Long-time radical reflects on our political future.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Eulogy for America/Hope for Creation

Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Bush isn't a racist -- just one more privileged, soulless person
(2 comments)

Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Pornography is a left issue
Leftists should critique pornography as they do other media.

Monday, September 12, 2005
Our grief is not special: