France
My name is Touraj Eghtesad and I am a writer, thinker and human being. I am of French-Iranian descent and grew up in the United States. I hold a BA in Spanish and Politics from the University of Bath (UK) and a MSc in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands). At the moment, I am a Junior Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit.
I want to connect global trends to local events, based no my extensive network in France, the UK, Spain, Bolivia, Tunisia, the Netherlands and beyond. I hope to shed light on processes of social change in these exciting times.
The Mayor of Amsterdam and recent press articles claim that 'professional activists' have taken over the Maagdenhuis Appropriation while students have become a minority. The few students who are left, according to this narrative, are looking to get away with their irresponsible behaviour by seeking ECTS study credits instead of doing their coursework.
There is a lot of talk about responsibility in the academic world these days. After a teach-in I did at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, one member of the Executive Board spoke to De Nieuwe Vrije Universiteit about the issues facing higher education.
Recent market reforms and the increased importance of the internet are limiting the nation-state's role as a source of belonging and material welfare for young men and women. Within this context, un(der)employed youth constitute a global precarious generation that is simultaneously freer to formulate its own goals and act upon them and increasingly limited by lacking opportunities and the need for financial security.
Ces derniers mois, les actions politiques contre les réformes de l'Université d'Amsterdam se sont multipliées, dû à leur sévérité et au nouvel élan de mobilisation. Manifestations, occupations et autres activités font parti du quotidien de certains étudiants qui, jusque-là, n'avaient que très peu de plateformes extra-institutionnelles pour exprimer leurs griefs contre l'université.
Desobediencia civil. Esta idea liberal es fundamental en mostrar que se pueden corregir los fallos de la democracia representativa (o sea burguesa) por medios alternativos. En cuanto siente que los políticos no respetan la voluntad popular, a veces durante sus mandatos enteros, la desobediencia civil sirve como medio legítimo de declaración de intereses.
El debate sobre la pena de muerte es relevante globalmente, aunque la tendencia es que cada vez más países la prohíban. Este estudio compara tres casos y el objetivo es mostrar que el sistema jurídico de un Estado determina la pena de muerte, pero que a veces en incompatibilidad con el derecho internacional.
By: Touraj Eghtesad In the first week of this academic year, a group of concerned students and ex-students squatted the Spinhuis Common Room, just two months after being closed down. This room was once the meeting spot for academics and students from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, until the University of Amsterdam decided that...
By Touraj Eghtesad This article was written in response to Hella Bennani's article, "Tunisia: A Triumph for Democracy" published on November 11th. The most generic definition of democracy is the rule of the majority. But how can democracy be possible if a majority of those capable of voting did not even take part in the...
By Touraj Eghtesad Almost four years after the Tunisian Revolution, electoral democracy is becoming a reality in this little country where citizens often feel distant from the process of democratic transition. Meanwhile, much of the European media praises the 'advent of democracy' in Tunisia, where a democratic tradition has little consistency so far, as if...