Populism / en Frontier City: 91吃瓜鈥檚 Shawn Micallef takes on populism and potential in Toronto /news/frontier-city-u-t-s-shawn-micallef-takes-populism-and-potential-toronto <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Frontier City: 91吃瓜鈥檚 Shawn Micallef takes on populism and potential in Toronto</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Micallef%20main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5hUfpZPL 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Micallef%20main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=zZiyulTP 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Micallef%20main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=1AIumcmK 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Micallef%20main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5hUfpZPL" alt="Shawn Micallef "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Romi Levine</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-03-09T12:00:32-05:00" title="Thursday, March 9, 2017 - 12:00" class="datetime">Thu, 03/09/2017 - 12:00</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Shawn Micallef's new book 鈥楩rontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness鈥� explores what's behind the rise of populism in Toronto (photo by Romi Levine)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/romi-levine" hreflang="en">Romi Levine</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Romi Levine</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/populism" hreflang="en">Populism</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innis-college" hreflang="en">Innis College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-college" hreflang="en">University College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/shauna-brail" hreflang="en">Shauna Brail</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/smart-cities" hreflang="en">Smart Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/city-hall" hreflang="en">City Hall</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/toronto" hreflang="en">Toronto</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Before Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, before the United Kingdom voted in favour of Brexit, there was Rob Ford.</p> <p>The late former mayor of Toronto made it clear that populism was alive and well in Canada.&nbsp;But what drew people to become loyal followers of Ford Nation?</p> <p>That鈥檚 what <strong>Shawn Micallef</strong> is exploring in his new book <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Frontier-City-Toronto-Verge-Greatness/dp/0771059329"><em>Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness</em></a>.</p> <p>Micallef is an author, co-founder of <em>Spacing Magazine</em>, a <em>Toronto Star</em> columnist and a lecturer at University College and Innis College at 91吃瓜.</p> <p>鈥淲hen you're downtown, it's very easy to be seduced by the prosperity of this place with cranes in the sky,鈥� Micallef said at a book launch on Tuesday at Innis Town Hall. 鈥淭here's a lot of Toronto&nbsp;that doesn't get to participate necessarily in all of that prosperity and all of that Sesame Street urbanism.鈥�</p> <p>Micallef was joined by <strong>Shauna Brail</strong>, 91吃瓜鈥檚 presidential adviser on urban engagement and director of the urban studies program, who moderated the event, as well as Jennifer Pagliaro, <em>Toronto Star</em> city hall reporter and former city council candidates Alejandra Bravo&nbsp;and Keegan Henry-Mathieu 鈥� who were both interviewed for the book.</p> <p><em>Frontier City </em>tells the story of Toronto鈥檚 neighbourhoods often neglected by downtown-centric politicians through conversations with 12 former non-incumbent City Hall candidates on walks around their wards.</p> <p>鈥淲hat was great about underdog candidates 鈥� people who were challenging power 鈥� was they were critiquing power. They鈥檙e not trying to hold on to it,鈥� said Micallef. 鈥淭hey're a lot freer to come up with ideas, to talk about the future potential of the city 鈥� what鈥檚 wrong with it and where it's going. That kind of liberation of thought was a fun thing to explore.鈥�</p> <p><img alt="panelists " class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3724 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/panelists.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Panelists at the </em>Frontier City<em> book launch, from left to right,&nbsp;Jennifer Pagliaro,&nbsp;Alejandra Bravo, Keegan Henry-Mathieu and Shauna Brail&nbsp;(photo by Romi Levine)</em></p> <p>Henry-Mathieu, a Ward 7 candidate, said he enjoyed reflecting on his neighbourhood with Micallef.</p> <p>鈥淚t was the first opportunity for me to really walk around and see the neighbourhood differently 鈥� to be able to make that connection between the greatness of our people and the potential of our neighbourhoods.鈥�</p> <p>It鈥檚 important for all Torontonians to remember that different people experience the city in different ways, said Bravo, who was a candidate in Ward 17.</p> <p>鈥淚t's important to challenge our generalized assumptions about how inclusive and diverse our city is,鈥� she said.</p> <p>鈥淔or so many people, they've only ever known low wages, high unemployment, really expensive housing 鈥� this generates a sense of insecurity and fear about the future. That's what a lot of our neighbours are contending with.鈥�</p> <p>The danger comes when we think we鈥檙e immune to the discourses the United States has been confronted by, she said.</p> <p>鈥淲e have a tendency to mythologize Canadian exceptionalism,鈥� she said.</p> <p>If City Hall continues to brush these issues aside, Toronto runs the risk of electing another Ford-like leader, said Micallef.</p> <p>鈥淭hese looming crises of being left out of the prosperity that a lot of people in the city enjoy means it's going to come back,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here's no one on the radar yet, but if a populist leader with the magical charisma that Rob Ford had...if another person like that comes along, they'll be unstoppable.鈥�</p> <p>But Micallef鈥檚 message is also hopeful, said Pagliaro who cited an exerpt from the book that reads: 鈥淲e're always longing for a city we don't allow ourselves to have.鈥�</p> <p>鈥淚t is both an urgent callout but also something that's very hopeful,鈥� she said.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 09 Mar 2017 17:00:32 +0000 Romi Levine 105514 at 91吃瓜 researcher's book on Soviet-era dissidents can shed light on Trump's populism /news/u-t-researcher-book-soviet-era-dissidents-can-shed-light-trump-populism <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">91吃瓜 researcher's book on Soviet-era dissidents can shed light on Trump's populism</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-01-20-soviet.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Di8Xv1Me 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-01-20-soviet.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EkC2eDv5 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-01-20-soviet.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=uzKOQI3_ 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-01-20-soviet.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Di8Xv1Me" alt="Photo of Ann Komaromi"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-01-20T12:31:57-05:00" title="Friday, January 20, 2017 - 12:31" class="datetime">Fri, 01/20/2017 - 12:31</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Ann Komaromi: 鈥淚n the same way they didn鈥檛 want to be a stooge of the system, today we should be aware of the dangers of being a cog in the wheel and serving hidden interests who want to circulate harmful messages鈥� (photo by Diana Tyszko)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/peter-boisseau" hreflang="en">Peter Boisseau</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Peter Boisseau</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/soviet" hreflang="en">Soviet</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/literature" hreflang="en">Literature</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dissidents" hreflang="en">Dissidents</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/populism" hreflang="en">Populism</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/trump" hreflang="en">Trump</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>There are important parallels between a Soviet-era dissident movement and the modern digital culture that helped Donald Trump gain power, says Associate Professor <strong>Ann Komaromi</strong> of the Centre for Comparative Literature at&nbsp;the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</p> <p>Komaromi recently won the 2016 AATSEEL award for her book, <em>Uncensored: Samizdat Novels and the Quest for Autonomy in Soviet Dissidence</em>. Samizdat writers were focused on their responsibility as citizens to challenge the propaganda and hypocrisy of the USSR, the communist state that included modern day Russia before it dissolved in the 1990s.</p> <p>Authors such as Vasilii Aksenov, Andrei Bitov, and Venedikt Erofeev broke with official taboos by writing about things like rampant alcoholism and anti-Semitism while being rigorously self-reflective about their own generation鈥檚 complicity in the Soviet system.</p> <p>鈥淚 think they were trying to convey something important to us about being careful of the more insidious forms of control we encounter,鈥� said Komaromi, who will receive the award at a ceremony in San Francisco in February.</p> <p>鈥淚n the same way they didn鈥檛 want to be a stooge of the system, today we should be aware of the dangers of being a cog in the wheel and serving hidden interests who want to circulate harmful messages.鈥�&nbsp;</p> <p>The fake news and disinformation planted online by Russian government operatives that helped Trump win the U.S. presidency demonstrates why we need to share information responsibly, said Komaromi.&nbsp;</p> <p>Trump鈥檚 social-media fuelled populist appeal presents the same kind of dangerous cult of personality the samizdat warned against in the era after the death of Joseph Stalin, the strongman leader who ruled the Soviet Union with violence and terror.</p> <p>Instead of being passive consumers or tools of manipulation, people should guard against the intoxication of social media echo chambers sharing conspiracy theories without any reflection or analysis, she said.</p> <p>It is nothing less than our responsibility as citizens in an Internet culture.</p> <p>鈥淪ince everyone now participates in passing on information on social media, the important thing to learn from this is the critical self-awareness about how you work within the system in a responsible and reflective way.鈥�</p> <p>Samizdat writers were limited by a decidedly lower-tech version of the peer-to-peer sharing and publishing offered so effortlessly by the Internet.</p> <p>They wrote their stories on typewriters and circulated them to friends in the hopes they would make copies and pass them on to others.</p> <p>Komaromi has helped create a <a href="http://samizdatcollections.library.utoronto.ca/">91吃瓜 digital archive</a> that includes rare samples of some original manuscripts and art from samizdat novels, much of it typed on fine onion paper&nbsp;with graphics painstakingly crafted by hand. Although not as well known in the West as celebrated authors such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov, the best of the samizdat writers were popular and influential in the Soviet Union between the late 1950s through to the late 1980s.</p> <p>While the dreaded KGB secret service and Gulag forced labour camp system still existed, this period in Soviet history was somewhat more permissive than it had been in the Stalin era.</p> <p>Stalin鈥檚 successor Nikita Khrushchev personally approved the publication of Solzhenitsyn鈥檚 classic <em>One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich</em>, although that was a rare exception. By comparison, samizdat writers were often harassed and threatened by the KGB.</p> <p>Rather than indict communism and the Soviet system as Solzhenitsyn did, these samizdat writers criticized society in fictionalized, semi-autobiographical books. Nonconformist poets and artists also used samizdat to experiment in ways not allowed by socialist realism as they were written, noting the constitution was full of liberties and rights that were ignored.</p> <p>It is an area of study Komaromi has had largely to herself, but she says the award signals a growing interest in late Soviet culture.</p> <p>鈥淚 think I was doing my research a little bit ahead of the curve of interest, and I鈥檓 glad this brings a little more visibility to my work, because it probably means there will be more people to work with now.鈥�</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 20 Jan 2017 17:31:57 +0000 ullahnor 103396 at