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The Roundup Top Ten for March 11, 2022

Florida's Law Restricting LGBTQ Discussion Will Harm All Children

by Marie-Amélie George

The long history of bills restricting discussion of LGBTQ issues shows that these bills reinforce stigma and marginalize queer students and contribute to homophobic rhetoric and violence outside the school walls. 

John Mearsheimer and the Dark Origins of Realism

by Adam Tooze

The vitriol aimed at Mearsheimer's diagnosis of the Russia-Ukraine conflict transcends academic debate and points to the liberal west's frustration at how little it can actually influence Russia. It's a missed opportunity to reflect on the roots and influence of his realist philosophy.

Restore the Radical Origins of International Womens Day

by Tiana U. Wilson

International Women's Day didn't always center on tech executives issuing platitudes from Dubai. The needs of women today require recovering the day's roots in international labor and anticolonial movements. 

The Seeds of War

by Gregory Afinogenov

Putin's actions belie the argument that Russia was provoked by NATO expansion; Russian imperialism is driving neighbors toward the western alliance, not the other way around. 

The History of the Holocaust Site Recently Struck by a Russian Missile

by Jeffrey Veidlinger

The memorialization of the Nazi killing field at Babi Yar near Kyiv has long been entangled with the competing versions of history favored by communists, Ukrainian and Russian nationalists, and the descendants of Jews, Roma, and other victims of wartime massacres. 

Ukraine Beyond the Post-Soviet Frame

by Ileana Nachescu

Framing the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an extension of grievances that festered during the Soviet era ignores the drastic changes wrought in Eastern Europe by neoliberal capitalism, racism, sexism, migration and patriarchal religion, and sustains an impoverished view of what peace and freedom in Ukraine can be.

When University Marketing Suppresses Academic Freedom

by Silke-Maria Weineck

For 31 years, the University of Michigan has sponsored an academic freedom lecture named for three professors suspended for refusing to cooperate with HUAC. This year, its marketing team did everything it could to conceal the identity of the lecturer: a lawyer who fights the silencing of pro-Palestinian activists.

What Binds Some American Evangelicals to Putin's Regime and War?

by Bethany Moreton

Russia's embrace of both religious nationalism and gender traditionalism makes many American evangelicals feel that Putin is their ally in a war against spiritual degeneracy. 

The Most Revealing Moment in Former Louisville Police Officer's Trial

by Matthew Guariglia

Former officer Brett Hankison didn't hesitate to defend his actions (shooting 10 bullets through a glass door during an unannounced raid) as legitimate. Policing has shaped the law in such a way that his confidence is justified. 

When Musicians Went on Strike – and Won

by Joey De La Neve Defrancesco

Professional unionized musicians in the 1940s struck to stop the impact of recording technology on their livelihoods. It's an example for musical artists being squeezed by streaming services today.