Ihar Babkou

2 months ago | publicseminar.org | Alex Rossen |Katherine Kelaidis |Heather Richardson |Ihar Babkou

Putin’s Retrotopia | Canva / Generated by Magic Media AI Image GeneratorIn September 2024, the United Nations convened for the Summit of the Future. In it, diverse global communities came together to dream of the utopia tomorrow might offer. Yet as the Russian state declares its desire to restore the territorial holdings of the old Russian empire, these same global communities face a difficult quandary: Why is the past more tantalizing than the future?

Sep 30, 2024 | publicseminar.org | Timothy Snyder |Ihar Babkou |Kateryna Botanova |Inessa Medzhibovskaya

Volodymyr Zelensky (2024) | Public DomainThis lecture was delivered as part of a benefit conference for the Ukrainian academy that Aaron James Wendland organized in March 2023 at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

Jun 10, 2024 | publicseminar.org | Alex Rossen |Justin Joque |Mitchell Abidor |Ihar Babkou

(1953) | Martin Manhoff / Public domainThe twilight of the Soviet Union marked more than the demise of a major global superpower. It also marked a major paradigm shift for one of the most prominent ideologies of the last century: Marxism. When the dust settled after Stalin’s death, new types of Marxist and leftist movements fragmented in many different directions.

Mar 12, 2024 | publicseminar.org | Rafi Youatt |Mitchell Abidor |Ihar Babkou |Karen Bakker

Heads of Cats and Dogs. Image credit: Jean-Baptiste Huet / Smithsonian open accessIn the (mildly) infamous opening pages of The Animal That Therefore I Am (2008), a text that has become central to animal studies, Derrida stands naked in front of his cat. This is not the figure of a cat, he says, nor an allegory of a cat—“believe me,” he implores the reader looking for a trap—but a real cat.

Mar 6, 2024 | publicseminar.org | Inessa Medzhibovskaya |Heather Richardson |Ihar Babkou |Kateryna Botanova

Alexei Navalny at a demonstration in Moscow on Russia’s Unity Day (2011) | Rosfoto.ru / ShutterstockThe villainous, cowardly assassination of Alexei Navalny in Putin’s Russia must shake everyone for whom the political future of the world matters. The murder occurred on the eve of the dictator’s predictable “reelection.” Many were shocked that Navalny exchanged the safety of an honorable retirement abroad for an inevitable arrest, and, ultimately, murder at home.