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Slavoj Zizek
For Slavoj Zizek's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Police officers stand guard in front of the entrance to the venue of the so-called Palestine Conference in Berlin on April 12. Anger over Israeli aggression in Gaza is growing in the U.S. and in other parts of the world, including in the West.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2024
The world cannot just cancel Palestine
Germany and other Western governments are appropriating cancel culture to stop demonstrations against Israeli aggression, using antisemitism as a shield.
An Israeli soldier celebrates after returning home from Gaza amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in November.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2024
No barbarism without poetry
The collective abandonment of reason and where it leads is all too familiar — and yet remains all too appealing.
A rally in Moscow marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution on Nov. 7, 2017. Vladimir Lenin's belief in principled pragmatism offers important lessons for today's political leaders.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2024
Lenin’s lesson for Israel and Ukraine
The Bolshevik leader brought strong principles together with concrete analysis, an approach that could guide political leaders in Israel and Ukraine alike.
Practioners of Judaism pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on Nov. 12.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2023
Unraveling the new roots of modern antisemitism
Whereas antisemitism reproaches Jews for being rootless, Zionism tries to correct this supposed failure.
An Albanian communist hangs a banner with Enver Hoxha's image in a public cemetery in Tirana in April 2012 to mark the anniversary of the hard-line Stalinist dictator's death.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2023
When freedom does not bring about justice
From communism to capitalism, Lea Ypi's book,"Free: Coming of Age at the End of History" reflects on Albania's transition to freedom.
Israeli soldiers inspect the burned cars of festival-goers who were attacked and massacred by Hamas militants near the border with the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2023
The real dividing line between Israel and Palestine
The choice is not between hard-line factions; it is between the fundamentalists on both sides and all those who still believe in the possibility of peace.
Russian Communist Party supporters attend a ceremony in Red Square on March 5, 2021, marking the 68th anniversary of Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s death.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2023
In Russia and Israel, national derangement runs wild
How can a priest bless a statue of Stalin and rabbis praise Nazism? In societies that are coming undone, absurd claims take root.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2023
Supporting an embattled Kyiv amid an axis of denial
The debate over support for Ukraine has become a microcosm of the broader “democratic recession.”
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2023
Without whistleblowers, the West is lost
The biggest threat to Western democracies is not transparency, it is the nihilism and self-indulgence that have come to characterize politics.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2023
Antisemitism and intersectionality
The European Jewish Association’s conceptual framework on antisemitism could all too easily reproduce the very bigotry it seeks to oppose.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2023
The idiocy that will come with a reliance on AI
The real danger with AI is not that people will mistake a chatbot for a real person, it is that communicating with them will make real persons talk like chatbots.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2023
Be very wary of the slippery slope of occupation
To condemn Russian colonialism properly, one must be consistent and also condemn other examples, not least Israel’s subjugation of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2023
The dark side of neutrality in times of conflict
As with Western “pacifists,” the nonalignment of Brazil, India, South Africa and other countries amounts to a tacit support for imperialism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2023
Death, glory and warlordism in Vladimir Putin's Russia
The Russian state’s ideological madness and reversion to warlordism have been abetted by a religious fundamentalism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2023
Eating the last cannibals
The dangerous new trend among right-wing leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is to openly embrace criminality.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2022
Women, life, freedom and the left
The politics of sex and gender can either challenge or reinforce existing power structures. For Western liberals, understanding these dynamics will be crucial to beating back the new right.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2022
War in a world that stands for nothing
Ukrainians, and everyone else, are learning the hard way how global capitalism trumps democracy and human rights.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores