A reading list on current political issues with a focus on high-quality, non-mainstream, progressive sources

Introduction

After a weekend with intensive discussions with friends, I have compiled important sources of information to support my political views on a broad variety of current political issues with a focus on high-quality, non-mainstream, progressive authors and media comprising authors, news sources, (scientific) articles and books (printed, audio, and video).

To understand current developments, in general, it is recommended, to combine mainstream and non-mainstream media and use critical thinking to construe what finally may sufficiently reflect reality. Once one has formed a preliminary opinion discussions with trusted, respected, well-read/interested people are recommended to put one’s opinion and argumentation on trial before holding onto it.

As a shortcut to arrive at a political opinion I recommend to find a person with knowledge, intelligence and integrity as a starting point to derive and refine one’s own opinion. In general, I would warn against adopting opinions of people who use logical fallacies, eg argumentum ad hominem (“shooting the messenger”), argumentum ad absurdum (“strawman arguments”), incomplete comparisons, what-aboutisms, or express strong, general, negative emotions (“hate”) against other people based on their race, religion, political views or features which make them an “out-group” to one’s own peer group.

Politics, General

  • News
    • German/Germany:
      • Jung, T. (2024). Jung & Naiv. https://www.youtube.com/c/tilojung/videos
      • El Quassil, S. & Karig, F. (2024). Piratensender Powerplay, https://open.spotify.com/show/6SL4tlnXOekb0Cd1MvKOjb
      • Claus von Wagner und Max Uthoff, Die Anstalt, https://www.zdf.de/comedy/die-anstalt
      • Blätter für Deutsche und Internationale Politik, https://www.blaetter.de
    • English/English-speaking countries:
      • Democracy Now, https://www.democracynow.org
      • Truth Out, https://truthout.org
      • Mint Press, https://www.mintpressnews.com
      • Novara Media, https://www.youtube.com/user/NovaraMedia
      • The Intercept, https://theintercept.com
      • The Conversation, https://theconversation.com
      • Double Down News, https://www.doubledown.news/
      • Caitlin Johnstone, Blog. https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au, https://substack.com/@caitlinjohnstone
      • Chris Hedges, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEATT6H3U5lu20eKPuHVN8A
    • English/Middle East:
      • https://www.aljazeera.com
      • https://www.middleeasteye.net
      • https://thecradle.co/
    • Collection of news sources: https://discover.hubpages.com/literature/A-Real-Need-for-the-Real-News
  • Literature
    • Bueno de Mesquita, B., Smith, A., Siverson, R. M., & Morrow, J. D. (2004). The Logic of Political Survival. MIT Press.
      https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262524407/the-logic-of-political-survival/
    • Bueno de Mesquita, B. & Smith, A. (2012). The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics (Reprint edition). PublicAffairs.
    • Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (1988/1995). Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Vintage
    • Chomsky, N. (1989/2013). Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies. House of Anansi Press.
    • Oswald, M. (2022). Strategisches Framing. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-36205-8
    • Shaw, G. B. (1928/2018). The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism, and Fascism. Alma Classics.
    • Varoufakis, Y. . Adults in the Room – My battle with Europe’s deep establishment. https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/books/adults-in-the-room/
    • El Ouassil, S.  &  Karig, F. (2021). Erzählende Affen. Ullstein Verlag

Capitalism, General

see Politics

  • Authors
    • Jason Hickel, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Hickel
    • Stephanie Kelton, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Kelton
    • Thomas Piketty, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Piketty
    • Rutger Bregman, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutger_Bregman
  • Literature:
    • Hickel, J. Less is more, https://www.jasonhickel.org/less-is-more
    • Hickel, J. The Divide, https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide
    • Raworth, K. Doughnut economics, https://www.kateraworth.com/
    • Kelton, S. (2023). The Deficit Myth. https://stephaniekelton.com/book/

Anthropocene/Climate Crisis

  • Authors:
    • Christian Stöcker, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_St%C3%B6cker
  •  Literature:
    • Thunberg, G. (2023). The Climate Book. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709837/the-climate-book-by-greta-thunberg/
    • Igl, W. (2019). Climate Quiz (Questions, Answers, & Comments). https://biosphere.wilmarigl.de/en/?page_id=748
    • Bradshaw CJA, Ehrlich PR, Beattie A, Ceballos G, Crist E, Diamond J, Dirzo R, Ehrlich AH, Harte J, Harte ME, Pyke G, Raven PH, Ripple WJ, Saltré F, Turnbull C, Wackernagel M and Blumstein DT (2021). Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future. Frontiers in Conservation Science. 1:615419. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419
    • Seo, K.-W., Ryu, D., Eom, J., Jeon, T., Kim, J.-S., Youm, K., Chen, J., & Wilson, C. R. (2023). Drift of Earth’s Pole Confirms Groundwater Depletion as a Significant Contributor to Global Sea Level Rise 1993–2010. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(12), e2023GL103509. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103509
    • Steffen, W., Rockström, J., Richardson, K., Lenton, T. M., Folke, C., Liverman, D., Summerhayes, C. P., Barnosky, A. D., Cornell, S. E., Crucifix, M., Donges, J. F., Fetzer, I., Lade, S. J., Scheffer, M., Winkelmann, R., & Schellnhuber, H. J. (2018). Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(33), 8252–8259. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810141115
    • Richardson, K., Steffen, W., Lucht, W., et al. (2023). Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries. Science Advances, 9(37), eadh2458. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458
    • Otto, I. M., Donges, J. F., Cremads, R., et al. (2020). Social tipping dynamics for stabilizing Earth’s climate by 2050. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Feb 2020, 117 (5) 2354-2365; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900577117

Gaza Crisis

  • Key Opinion leaders:
    • Noam Chomsky, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky
    • Norman Finkelstein, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Finkelstein
    • Raz Segal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raz_Segal
    • Ilan Pappe, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilan_Papp%C3%A9
    • Abby Martin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_Martin
    • Miko Peled, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miko_Peled
    • Mehdi Hasan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi_Hasan
    • Mads Gilbert, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mads_Gilbert
  • Articles:
    • Martin, A. (2024). The Empire Files. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG29FnXZm4F5U8xpqs1cs1Q
    • Segal, R. (2023). A textbook case of genocide, https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide
    • Albanese, F. (2024). Anatomy of a Genocide – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 to Human Rights, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/anatomy-of-a-genocide-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-ituation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territory-occupied-since-1967-to-human-rights-council-advance-unedited-version-a-hrc-55/
    • Norton, B. (2023-11-12). Why does the US support Israel? A geopolitical analysis with economist Michael Hudson, https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/11/12/why-us-support-israel-geopolitics-michael-hudson/
    • Igl, W. (2024-04-13). Why does Germany support Israel so much?, https://biosphere.wilmarigl.de/en/?p=3930
    • Igl, W. (2024-05-13). The dangerous symbiosis of US imperialism and Israeli Zionism, https://biosphere.wilmarigl.de/en/?p=3967
  • Newspapers:
    • https://www.aljazeera.com
    • https://electronicintifada.net
    • https://www.middleeasteye.net
  • Important documents:
    • HAMAS (2017), Hamas in 2017: The document in full – Hamas explains general principles and objectives in 42-article document, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hamas-2017-document-full
      Note:  I recommend comparing the presentation of HAMAS in newspaper articles (and Wikipedia articles) with this document.

War in Ukraine

  • Key Opinion leaders:
    • Jeffrey Sachs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Sachs
    • John Mearsheimer, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mearsheimer
    • Gabriele Krone-Schmalz, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Krone-Schmalz
  • Literature:
    • Belton, C. (2022). Putin’s People.
    • Krone-Schmalz, G. (2017). Eiszeit.

US Imperialism

  • Authors:
    • Jeffrey Sachs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Sachs
  •  Literature:
    • Perkins, J. (2018). The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/433868/the-new-confessions-of-an-economic-hit-man-by-john-perkins/9781785033858
    • Stone, O. (2012) The untold history of the United States, https://watchdocumentaries.com/the-untold-history-of-the-united-states/
    • Chomsky, N. (2017). Who rules the world? https://americanempireproject.com/who-rules-the-world/

    Artificial Intelligence

    • Kai-Fu Lee (2018). AI Superpowers. Harpers. https://www.aisuperpowers.com/
    • O’Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of Math Destruction. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/241363/weapons-of-math-destruction-by-cathy-oneil/
    • Tegmark, M. (2017). Life 3.0 – Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/530584/life-30-by-max-tegmark/
    • Michael K. Cohen, Marcus Hutter, Michael A. Osborne (2022). Advanced artificial agents intervene in the provision of reward. AI Magazine, 2022-08-29. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aaai.12064
    • Igl, W. (2022-10-02). Is capitalism an intelligent agent threatening humanity? https://biosphere.wilmarigl.de/en/?p=3372

    Civil political Action

    • Literature:
      • Sharp, G. (1973). The Politics of Nonviolent Action (Part One: Power and Struggle, Part Two: The Methods of Nonviolent Action, Part Three: The Dynamics of Nonviolent Action). New York, USA: Porter Sargent.
      • Sharp, G. (1973/2024). 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp. https://commonslibrary.org/198-methods-of-nonviolent-action/
      • Engler, M. & Engler, P. (2016). This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century. Bold Type Books.
      • Popovic, S. (2015). Blueprint for a revolution. Spigel & Grau Trade.
    • Links:
      • Igl, W. (2024). Dandelion Hub – A central Plaform for de-central civil political action. https://dhub.global
      • Igl, W. (2024). Dandelion Hub – A central repository for de-central civil political actions for eco-social justice based on R/Shiny. Presentation at UseR! 2024 conference, 2024, July 8-11, Salzburg. Slides and Video, https://cloud.wilmarigl.de/s/2N25pmsEJN6sHZk

    Federated, social networks

    • Alternative to Twitter/X: MASTODON, https://joinmastodon.org (alternative to TWITTER/X)
    • Alternative to WhatsApp: XMPP, for example, https://conversations.im, https://movim.eu (https://xmpp.org)

     

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