The hijab ban and several other controversies in Karnataka state have compromised Bengaluru's status as India's Silicon Valley.

Pack your bags and move to Hyderabad, Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao wrote on Twitter in response to a Bengaluru-based entrepreneur who complained about the Indian city's crumbling infrastructure.

Rao, the information technology minister for Telangana state, where Hyderabad is located, was making a larger point that did not go unnoticed.

Though long favoured for its moderate climate and cosmopolitan character, many fear that Bengaluru with its cherry blossom-lined boulevards is losing much of its sheen.

What the minister tweeted only amplified the suspicion that many nursed in private, but few dared to air in public.

Considered Indias Silicon Valley, Bengaluru serves as the capital of Karnataka state and hosts thousands of information technology companies. In fact, global tech giants such as Infosys and Wipro were founded in the city of 10 million, which accounts for more than 60 percent of the provinces revenue.

The city has always attracted the best, both in terms of investments and intellect. It currently boasts some 13,000 technology start-ups, and about 40 percent of Indias unicorns unlisted companies valued at more than a billion dollars each.

But the rush has also meant the city is rapidly becoming unlivable. Civic amenities are proving inadequate, while traffic has virtually choked. A one-way trip to the airport during rush hour could take as long as three hours.

For many, even more suffocating is the rising religious strife that is threatening Bengaluru.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rules Karnataka and considers it to be a vital springboard for eventually expanding its footprint in the other four southern states.

Karnataka, therefore, has become a kind of a Hindu nationalism laboratory,where the BJP has been experimenting with bringing about larger Hindu consolidation through means of religious rhetoric and communal provocations.

Muslims account for no less than 12 percent of Karnatakas population. But the BJP sees the support of the overwhelming number of Hindus as crucial for its electoral success.

For drumming up Hindu support, right-wing Hindu activists aligned with the BJP have been on overdrive to deepen the Hindu-Muslim divide and stoke hatred.

Virtually endless episodes of orchestrated indignations are ratcheting up tensions.

First, some months ago, Hindu mobs took exception to Muslim girls wearing hijab the Muslim headscarf while attending schools. The hijab, they claimed, went against Indias secular principles and also violated the school dress code.

The state high court upheld the ban. But then the mobs picked up one more issue to become outraged over. And then another.

Activists seeking to establish Hindutva, or the primacy of Hindus, have launched an angry, abusive campaign against Halal the process that certifies products, including meat, as being compliant with Islamic practices.

At the receiving end are mostly Muslim meat traders. Several in Bengaluru have had their shops raided and vandalised.

The mobs are having a virtually free run, with the Karnataka government headed by chief minister Basavaraj Bommai paying only lip service to the cause of religious peace and harmony.

Many say the government itself has been complicit in instilling the fear of a tightening siege among the minorities.

Last year, it banned the trade and slaughter of cows traditionally associated with Muslims. The government is now working to include the Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita in the school curriculum.

All these and more have emboldened supporters of Hindutva, who have now moved on to their next targets.

Muslim traders have been physically barred from setting up shops in temple fairs, something that they have done for generations. Muslim mango sellers are the newest targets of the Hindutva mob, who have now reportedly set their sights on cleansing the fruit trade.

The rising hatred disturbs the calm and tranquillity that are essential for businesses to prosper, and captains of the corporate world are alarmed.

Kiran Majumdar Shaw, the chairperson of Biocon a leading biotechnology firm was among the first to speak out.

Karnataka has always forged inclusive economic development and we must not allow such communal exclusion@BSBommai please resolve this growing religious divide, she tweeted a couple of days ago, tagging the chief minister.

Being a very important voice, BJP politicians promptly responded and assured her that no damage would be allowed to the states business environment.

But it is unlikely that the damage already done to the dignity and right to livelihood of Karnatakas Muslims can be repaired.

It will also be equally difficult to repair the dent in Bengalurus reputation.

The citys loss, Telangana minister Rama Rao calculates, will be beneficial to Hyderabad.

Home to mega defence and aerospace industries, Telanganas state capital has assiduously nursed its ambitions of replacing Bengaluru as Indias IT hub.

Now that chinks have surfaced in Bengalurus armour, Hyderabad or more appropriately, its IT minister has moved in for the kill.

In luring entrepreneurs, like the one who complained over unlivable Bengaluru, to move to Hyderabad, Rama Rao is offering several incentives.

We have better physical infrastructure & equally good social infrastructure. Our airport is one of the best and getting in and out of the city is a breeze. More importantly, our governments focus is on the 3-I Mantra: innovation, infrastructure & inclusive growth, Rama Rao said in his tweet.

His sales pitch for Hyderabad elicited a strong response from a senior opposition politician of Karnataka. My friend, I accept your challenge, tweeted Doddalahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar, the state Congress president.

By the end of 2023, with the Congress back in power in Karnataka, we will restore the glory of Bengaluru as Indias best city, he added.

Ironically, Karnatakas own information technology minister seemed unfazed by the veritable storm over the challenge to Bengalurus coveted status.

We are competing globally, insisted Chikkakalya Narayanappa Ashwath Narayan, choosing to ignore the challenge from Hyderabad, some 550 kilometres away.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT World.

We welcome all pitches and submissions to TRT World Opinion please send them via email, to opinion.editorial@trtworld.com

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A tale of two cities: The rippling effects of Islamophobia in Modis India - TRT World

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AEW HITS & MISSES

C.M. Punk Defeated Dustin Rhodes HIT

The show opened with a match that oozed big fight feel, and largely delivered. Dustin and Punk showcased great chemistry in their first outing together, and I hope its not the last time.

The match had good pacing, but definitely slumped towards the ending, and thats what makes this match good, when it couldve been great. The story of Dustin battling through a knee injury worked well, but the ending was pretty clunky. The emotion flowed out of both men when the match ended. This may not have had the emotional catharsis as Dustin and Cody Rhodes match at Double or Nothing 2019, but it was a fun and great way to start the show.

Post Match Angle with Hangman Adam Page HIT

This was played incredibly smart. AEW knows they wont be able to make fans cheer Page and boo Punk, so they gave viewers the subtle cue through the entrance tunnels that both men are equal. Neither is face and neither is heel. Page can come out of the face tunnel, and Punk will leave through it. Letting fans cheer and boo as they please takes the pressure off of Page to try and out duel Punk on the stick, and hopefully lets him stay relaxed enough to channel and showcase that same fire game exuded before the Texas Death Match with Adam Cole.

Wardlow/Smart Mark Sterling Segment HIT

This was a fun segment. Its still showing how dangerous Wardlow is by treating him like Hannibal Lecter, while allowing Sterling to heel it up. Wardlows calm and borderline cocky response played perfectly against Sterling.

Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson and Wheeler Yuta Defeated Brock Anderson, Dante Martin and Lee Moriarty MAJOR HIT

The Combat Club of Blackpool is so much fun to watch. The idea of team chemistry forged in blood is a fun concept and what makes the Blackpool Combat Club unique, rather than being a blind carbon copy of every other tough guy faction in wrestling.

BCC did a great job of showcasing their opponents. This match did more for Brock Anderson than anything before. Dante Martin reminded fans why hes there with incredible feats of agility, and Moriarty was on his game. Nothing they did though was enough, and the squash was complete with a Paradigm Shift to Dante Martin.

Undisputed Elite Segment MINOR HIT

This was a deceptively interesting segment. Cole showed a much more serious tone than in previous AEW backstage segments featuring him, ReDRagon and the Young Bucks. OReilly did an inspired job of trying to mend the fences with the Bucks. The idea of an open 10-man tag match issomething, but hopefully it leads to an interesting combination of performers across from the Undisputed Elite. Cole stating he has business to attend to is a small but very welcome touch in continuity for later in the show.

Samoa Joe/Jay Lethal/Sonjay Dutt/Satnam Singh MINOR HIT

This was fine. This did a good job of helping rewrite AEWs history to forget the lights off intro for Satnam Singh never happened. Joe calling Satnam Titan and Giant really put over how big of a threat Singh can be. Dutt and Lethal did a good job of putting Singh over and furthering the issues with Joe.

Tony Khans HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT MAJOR HIT

Sometimes it doesnt matter if a secret is the worst kept one in the room, C.M. Punk debuting in AEW can show those kinds of secrets can still be a blast. Limiting Khans involvement to hype man was smart, and featuring Cole was intelligent, as hes one of several performers on the roster who have been stars in AEW/NJPW/ROH, but makes sense with the ties to White. Cole vs. Ishii is an incredible treat to fans or AEW Rampage, and White shined on the mic vs his tepid introduction a few weeks back. White seemed to hint at a match at Forbidden Door with Kenny Omega. Sign me up!

Jade Cargill/Red Velvet/Kiera Hogan/Smart Mark Sterling Segment MINOR MISS

This didnt hit with me. Cargill continuing her angle underestimating Marina Shafir is fine, but everyone else felt so awkward in comparison. In a weird way this is a sign of Jades growth as a performer. Shes gaining the confidence to be able to pull off her character so effortlessly.

Wardlow Defeated The Butcher HIT

MJF and Shawn Spears did an excellent job setting the tone for this match. The heat was palpable with the crowd as Friedman forced Wardlow to come out as if he were participating in a Lights Out match back when AEW cared about the presentation for their Lights Out matches. Wardlow came out to no music, but a flurry of a fanfare. Roberts did his best to keep his energy up with no music to play off of, and it all worked. Wardlow looked like a big deal against The Butcher, while essentially keeping the same formula that AEW has used for months to build him up. Butcher stood basically no chance, succumbing to a Bittersweet Powerbomb Symphony in short order. The looks on Spears and Friedmans faces is what I imagine Dr. Robert Oppenheimer had on his face as he was reminded of the Bhagavad Gita following the first nuclear bomb test. Wardlow has become death, the destroyer of worlds.

Eddie Kingston Segment MINOR HIT

Not much to this, but it didnt need much. Kingston uses his intensity and facial cues to say more than his words needed to. Kingston vs. Daniel Garcia will be fun, as will the build towards Kingston and Jericho.

Kyle OReilly Defeated Jungle Boy MINOR HIT

Good match between OReilly and Jungle Boy. Boy didnt get to be as flippy as he normally does and instead tried to play more into Kyles style, and that ultimately came back to bite him. Quality storytelling and quality action in the ring.

MJF Segment MINOR HIT

To me the Wardlow/MJF storyline still feels like a copy of every other story MJF has done in AEW, but playing off of Jake Roberts and letting Lance Archer come off his hinges is a good way of keeping the concept fresh. Treating Wardlow like hes the protagonist of a wrestling games story mode and giving him a clear progression in difficulty of opponent is quite fun.

Hook Defeated Anthony Henry HIT

It was never going to be a question of how much the crowd was going to be behind Hook in his Dynamite debut, but he had one of the bigger pops of the night. Hook did well in his debut, and showed a progression in his learning. From what I remember from his past matches, he ran the ropes more effectively and incorporated more striking into his repertoire. Hook put away Anthony Henry quickly, which lead to

Post Match Angle with Danhausen MAJOR HIT

My god. When Danhausen started talking, the arena exploded. The crowd got really into what he was saying, and when Mr. Hausen proposed a match between him and Hook, the crowd got even louder, and to my ear came close to matching the pop for CM Punk. Its strange, and some people wont like it, but some people will hear that crowd response and think this is a big deal. Im very intrigued to see how this goes.

Scorpio Sky/Frankie Kazarian Segment MINOR MISS

Short segment setting up Sky interfering in a Guevara promo later in the evening, but Kazarian was incredibly wooden in this segment which dragged it down a bit.

Thunder Rosa Video Segment MINOR HIT

Nothing major to this. Just confirming the program with Nyla Rose is over and Rosa is in need of an opponent for Double or Nothing. A challenger will likely come forward next week.

Sammy Guevara/Scorpio Sky Segment MINOR HIT

This segment was head scratching. Certainly felt like Guevara was attempting to play into a heel personality with the pimp jacket, having Tay cosplay as Olivia Newton-John from the end of Grease, and acknowledging the boos, but trying to pivot mid segment to genuine appreciation for fans was weak. Guevara attempting to play both sides is keeping him from being good at either.

Page and Lambert were on fire tonight, and their work on the mic was great. Guevara challenging Sky to a ladder match seems odd, as Sky has previously won a Face of the Revolution ladder match. I get that theyve both won ladder matches, but Guevara beat Cody. Sky beat five other guys. That math doesnt seem to favor Guevara.

House of Black Video Segment MISS

The production and delivery was excellent and captivating. I just couldnt understand if the House of Black was still talking about Fuego Del Sol or if theyve moved on to a new target.

Dr. Britt Baker Defeated Danielle Kamela MINOR MISS

I blinked and this match was over. Theres squashes, and then theres squashes. The performers cant help that this match mainly happened during a commercial break, but that fact feels like a slap in the face. Id rather remove this match (or something else) from the show and have it air some other time.

Post Match Promo MISS

This was just bad. Baker already has a very breathy delivery for her promos, but being immediately after a match really made it worse. The delivery on her lines were horrible and none of the jokes really landed well. It was cool to have Harris and Friermufh out there, but theres not much else to like about this.

Serena Deeb/Hikaru Shida Video Segment MINOR MISS

Fine enough video segment, but its felt like the Deeb/Shida feud has gone on forever now and each match is the last one. Theyre very fun to watch, but Ill believe their word when I have a reason to.

Darby Allin Defeated Andrade El Idolo MINOR MISS

This was fine, but just fine. I dont feel like this had anything I havent seen before, and thats not what I want from Sting, and certainly not what I want from Allin and Andrade. The beats of the match all felt familiar, Sting doing a crazy spot felt familiar. The only thing that felt fresh was Jose the assistant running out and tearing his shirt off, which turned the freshness down to rotten pretty quick. The Hardys deletion salute also felt weird, and it looked like Jeff tore a labrum doing that so lets stop while were ahead.

Overall MINOR MISS

Theres definitely some stuff to like in this episode of Dynamite but the show felt too stuffed and too hectic. Too many segments had logistical issues and just felt like they sacrificed tightness in segments for cramming as much into the show as they could. Next weeks card is shaping up to be loaded, but lets hope that its not overloaded.

CATCH-UP: HEYDORNS NXT 2.0 RECEIPT 4/19: Bron Breakker and Joe Gacy miss with silly vignettes

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AEW DYNAMITE HITS & MISSES 4/20: Punk and Rhodes hit, Baker misses on the mic, more - PWTorch

Far-right talking heads like Tucker Carlson love bemoaning the state of masculinity, as measured by their very narrow and stereotypical lens, as though it is in some sort of crisis. To that end, Carlson recently humored the internet (and world?) by offering up a wellness solution for this so-called crisis in his "Tucker Carlson Original" documentary, title "The End of Men." And Carlson's prescription, to stop the death spiral of the American man, was something called "testicle tanning."

"The solutions are actually really simple," fitness professional Andrew McGovern told Carlson. "Red-light therapytesticle tanninghas massive benefits."

Testicle tanning, more formally known as red-light therapy for testosterone, involves exposing one's scrotum to infrared light; this, supposedly, increases testosterone levels. Trailers for Carlson's documentary feature multiple images of a naked white man appearing to plug his testicles into some sort of infrared light device. As his bottom half lights up, the man's arms slowly raise, indicating some sort of victory or enlightenment has been achieved. Presumably with the help of testicle tanning.

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"Half the viewers right now are like, 'What?! Testicle tanning, that's crazy!'" Carlson responded. "But my view is: Okay, testosterone levels have crashed and nobody says anything about it, that's crazy, so why is it crazy to seek solutions?"

This isn't the first time the idea of testicle tanning has entered the public discourse. In 2015, former Major League Baseball player Gabe Kaplermade headlinesfor promoting testicle tanning as a solution to Vitamin D deficiencies in men. "If you want to be your strongest, get some sun on your boys. And by boys, I mean your testicles," Kapler said.

"Half the viewers right now are like, 'What?! Testicle tanning, that's crazy!'" Carlson responded. "But my view is: Okay, testosterone levels have crashed and nobody says anything about it, that's crazy, so why is it crazy to seek solutions?"

In 2017, self-proclaimed "biohacker" Ben Greenfield wrotein Men's Health magazine about his experience trying red-light therapy on his testicles to increase his testosterone levels. After, Greenfield claimed to have "never felt better."

But despite these anecdotes, there has been little written about whether this is actually a therapy that many people are doing or, if there is there any scientific evidence to suggest it works. A related trend, ofperineum sunning, was briefly a wellness trend in 2019 and 2020. Yet in my research, I could find no spas that offered the testicle tanning service. Indeed, in 2020,Inverse reportedthat it is more of an "at-home treatment" rather than something being offered as a service.

In any case, those interested in testicle tanning can purchase in-home devices such as light beds, lamps, lasers, and infrared saunas, which range in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars. In 2019, researchers estimated that the global light therapy market was expected to surpass $1 billion by 2025, though light therapymostly includes non-testicle related treatments for things like eczema and psoriasis.

The greatest irony behind the testicle tanning fad, however, is that it seems to do the opposite of what boosters like Tucker Carlson say that it does. Indeed, urologists do not recommend red-light therapy to boost testosterone, noting exposure of infrared light can negatively affect a male's testicles and may actually lower testosterone levels.

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"Any extreme chronic exposure can prove harmful for the testes leading to decreased testosterone, decreased sperm counts and subsequent infertility," reproductive urologist Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy told Salon via email. "However, the true efficacy of testes-focused light therapy in improving testosterone levels is currently unknown and not backed by the scientific literature."

Ramasamy said that there have been some studies to show that red-light therapy can improve the destruction of cells on a person's skin. Indeed, it is sometimes used to treat wrinkles, redness, acne, scars and other signs of aging. But "the true effectiveness of this therapeutic modality remains unknown," Ramasamy notes.

Advocates of the therapy often point to one study from researchers at the University of Siena in Italy from 2016 who claimed that "bright light increases testosterone levels and leads to greater sexual satisfaction in men with low sexual desire." Professor Andrea Fagiolini recruited 38 men who had been diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder or sexual arousal disorder, both conditions that are characterized by a lack of interest in sex.

Fagiolini divided the study participants into two groups, one of which received treatment with a specially adapted light box and the other which received a placebo. Both groups received an hour of treatment from a light box for two weeks. The researchers claimed there were significant differences in the groups, with increased testosterone levels in the group exposed to a light box, but they recognized the study was small and thus they couldn't "recommend this as a clinical treatment." Notably, the study wasn't published in a peer-reviewed journal, and participants' testicles were directly exposed to the light.

Ramasamy added that too much sunlight could negatively affect male testicles, too, and lead to decreased sperm count and "intratesticular testosterone levels."

"This study fails to mention that the men in this study were likely suffering from hypogonadism given the low testosterone level and presence of symptoms (in this case low sex drive or libido)," Ramasamy told Salon. "Testosterone levels are very dependent on quantity and quality of sleep and the use of aids to optimize such as light therapy could theoretically increase endogenous testosterone production," Ramasamy said, adding that this study doesn't indicate that light therapy focused on the testicles specifically could increase testosterone.

"Previous studies examining the use of light therapy focused on the testicles have often been done in men suffering from fertility issues such as azoospermia or asthenozoospermia with no indication or studies supporting its use in healthy men," Ramasamy continued. "The few studies demonstrating the use of red-light in increase testosterone levels have been done in animal subjects which are very imperfect models of humans and do not fully represent our own physiology."

Ramasamy added that too much sunlight could negatively affect male testicles, too, and lead to decreased sperm count and "intratesticular testosterone levels."

"The testicles are vital organs responsible for producing the majority of testosterone and source of sperm, both of which are essential for maintaining fertility," Ramasamy said. "Normally the testicles prefer to be in a slightly cooler environment than the core body temperature which is one of the reasons they move in response to local temperature."

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Tucker Carlson hawks testicle tanning to boost testosterone. Experts say it may do the opposite - Salon

Robert Eggers isnt one for brightness, but the brooding images he favors are more than a matter of photography. They evoke darkness in the human soul. In his startling 2015 debut feature, The Witch, a fanatically religious farmer in 17th-century New England inflicts his obsession with sin on his loved ones like a plague. In the filmmakers 2019 The Lighthouse, an enthrallingand funnynightmare fantasy set a couple of centuries later, a veteran lighthouse keeper and his young assistant struggle toward symbolic and literal enlightenment on a desolate island off the coast of Maine while driving each other crazy. Yet neither film fully prepares us for The Northman, a Viking action extravaganza that begins in A.D. 895, depicts battles and rituals of surpassing ghastliness, andlove it or leave itconstitutes a horror classic.

Loving it is not the issue, of coursethe level of amputating, eviscerating, decapitating violence transcends good nasty fun. The challenge is taking it in, watching it without averting your eyesI cant say mine stayed fixed on the screenand seeing it for what it is, a tumultuous, graphically gorgeous entertainment for our time as well as an ineffably somber meditation on our species seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of savagery.

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The Northman Review: Good Lore and Gore Galore - The Wall Street Journal

(neonhoney / Los Angeles Times; Marcell Von Berlin, Messika X Smiley, P.E Nation, Fiorucci, Polaroid X Nike SB)

This story is part of Image issue 10, Clarity, a living document of how L.A. radiates in its own way. Read the full issue here.

Italian brand Fiorucci is bringing its SS22 Desert Oasis collection to Fred Segal just in time for Coachella. The pop-up, happening at Fred Segals flagship location on Sunset through April 30, will feature the bucket hats, midi dresses, crocheted knits, slinky silhouettes and more inspired by the brands own 1970s archive. Think palm prints, sunbeams and warm California hues. 8500 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. fiorucci.com; fredsegal.com

Longtime artist Matthew Thomas has been a spiritual seeker for decades. With his latest show at the California African American Museum, fittingly called Enlightenment, he attempts to move toward the light through sacred geometric patterns that are steeped in a multitude of colors and shapes that mirror life and its elements: earth, fire, water, wind and sky. Part of the work is about giving back to L.A., Thomas says in an interview with CAAM. Theres everything that anyone ever needs in this city. Theres every race, every religion, every form of knowledge is here. All you have to do is desire it. So being here is a miracle. Through Aug. 7. 600 State Drive, Los Angeles. caamuseum.org

Sneakers inspired by your favorite matcha latte in L.A.? Sounds about right. Footwear brand Sorel is collaborating with Alfred Coffee for a takeover of its Melrose Place location, happening this spring, in addition to two new styles of the Kinetic Breakthru Tech Lace Sneakers inspired by Alfreds iced matcha latte and iced vanilla latte, available April 10. See sorel.com for more information.

(Maria Alejandra Cardona/Los Angeles Times)

Glassell Parks lighting and furniture atelier Ravenhill Studio has created a tour of iconic L.A. lights from Chris Burdens Urban Light public sculpture at LACMA to the lights at the Forum to the Wilshire Lanterns that run from MacArthur Park to Fairfax. Spend a day admiring all the things that shine in L.A. by following the tour, available at ravenhillstudio.com/about/la-lights-tour.

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For the 50th anniversary of the ubiquitous Smiley motif, Messika Paris has collaborated with the Smiley Company on a glittering collection that undoubtedly will spark joy. Released on April 10, the three-piece collection includes a standout, massive 7.90-carat Lucky Move Smiley necklace with a pav setting made up of hundreds of yellow and white diamonds. Necklaces are inscribed with a 50 in honor of the anniversary. Available in person at Messika Paris Century City Mall (10250 Santa Monica Blvd.) and at messika.com.

David Kordansky Gallery presents its first solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Derek Fordjour, Magic, Mystery and Legerdemain, running through May 7. The show which borrows its name from Black Hermans 1938 autobiography explores magic as it relates to power, race and a myriad of illusions throughout American history, says the gallery. (Visitors can expect performances from internationally acclaimed magician Kenrick ICE McDonald, happening Tuesdays through Saturdays at 2 p.m. during the duration of the show.) 5130 W. Edgewood Place, Los Angeles, davidkordanskygallery.com

On March 30, denim brand G-Star RAW launched its denim art NFT in collaboration with digital marketplace Rarible. The brand has turned its longtime denim rhino mascot, G-NO, into an NFT with 10 available designs all drawing from important moments in the brands history. Get more information at g-star.com/metaverse.

Marcell Von Berlin released the second drop of its Season 1 MWEAR collection, which pays homage to the creative forces and people in L.A. and Berlin resulting in a gender-neutral leisure line infused with techno, grunge and punk subcultures. Shop online or in person at the brands West Hollywood store, which opened a coffee lounge earlier this year. 8619 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, us.marcellvonberlin.com

The campaign for the Nike SB Dunk Low Pro Polaroid features Nike SB skateboarders Sarah Muerle and Brian Anderson. Muerle, a gifted photographer in her own right, and Anderson, a gay skateboarder, explore how their identities intersect with photography and skateboarding. The shoe in a wearable, unique black, orange, teal and white colorway is available on the SNKRS app (and at select retailers) for $144. nike.com; us.polaroid.com

In Missomas new 38-piece collection, iridescent pearls and organic shapes are front and center. The jewelry brand uses recycled metals such as 18-karat gold vermeil, 18-karat gold plating and sterling silver for a new drop, dubbed Molten Pearl, thats both trendy and timeless. Prices range from $46 to $330. missoma.com

Athleisure brand P.E Nation's latest drops are focused on transitional weather pieces in wearable prints and hues. The new P.E Nation Edit pieces are street-style-friendly looks suitable for day and night, while the P.E Nation Mainline drop is dedicated to athletic wear and P.E Nation Swim is, of course, filled with swimwear, just in time to get an early jump on summer. Check it out at us.pe-nation.com.

LaPau Gallery presents the first solo U.S. show from artist Dorian Ulises Lpez Macas with "Hasta Que Te Conoc." A mix of photo essay, video montage, archive and portraiture, the exhibition offers a look into the artists lauded photography series Mexicano, which features images of darker-skinned Mexicans over the last decade. (The exhibition's title pays homage to Juan Gabriel's hit song.) The installation is accompanied by a techno mix, made in collaboration with DJ and producer Regal86, that provides an energetic backdrop to the exhibition. On view through April 16. 3006 W .7th St., Los Angeles, lapaugallery.com

Creative fashion brand TIER is opening its first bricks-and-mortar store in L.A. on April 15 with a three-month pop-up at the Beverly Center. Set to be located on Level 7, close to stores such as Prada, Kenzo and Balenciaga, TIERs 975-square-foot temporary outpost will house the brands beloved staples and a curated selection of in-store products. shoptier.nyc

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What should I get into this spring? Start with these 14 L.A. pop-ups, drops, events - Yahoo News

Theres a common complaint in politics: Democrats are really bad at messaging. President Bidens polling is near an all-time low, despite a number of successes on the policy front and todays record-low unemployment numbers and record-high job gains. Sure, hes not getting everything hes promised passed. The intraparty response seems to be fight harder.

Thats a pretty obvious conclusion, and maybe it will work, if by work we mean barely squeeze out a victory that should be a cakewalk. But it sidesteps the issue of why the party is flailing on the message front.

Quite simply, Democrats have forgotten how to tell a good story.

Theres something to the power of a well-told story that grabs the attentionmost of us can point to a book, movie, podcast, or other narrative that changed our life.

I put those words in quotes because theyre so commonly used as to be clich, but they point to what is really happening inside our brains: We take new information and adjust our knowledge and opinions to incorporate it. Classics of any genre tend to do this to large numbers of people: George Orwells 1984 and Animal Farm changed the way millions of people thought about totalitarianism, for example.

Stories always have a stronger grip on people than rote facts.

Often, political conflicts are not just bids for power, but also competing narratives. This was painfully apparent during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, when she was subjected to a constant stream of invective from Republican senators focused on (to be charitable) an extremely bad-faith interpretation of her judicial record. We heard her slandered about pushing critical race theory, her positions on transgender athletes, being weak on crime and child pornography.

The charges are completely bogus, and the Democrats responded by largely ignoring them, as if refusing to address a fabricated charge would make it vanish in its own puff of absurdity. (The notable exception was Sen. Cory Booker.) Instead, they again touted Jacksons multitudinous qualifications for the job.

The truth may be on Jacksons side, but most Americans tuning in to the hearings without having paid attention beforehand would conclude that, even allowing for political grandstanding, there must be at least something sketchy about her that maybe should be looked into

Simply put: Republicans were telling a story, Democrats were making a list. And stories always have a stronger grip on people than rote facts.

Stories, myths, and legends can serve as a binding societal glue that gives people a sense of purpose and belonging. They explained the unexplainable in pre-scientific societiesthunder and lightning can be explained as Thor fighting the great serpent Jormungand, for example, or the nurturing rains in the dry summers of Mesoamerica as a response to sacrifices made to Tlaloc. After the Enlightenment, these stories still can convey a societys desired virtues: strength, bravery, fertility, loyalty, hard work, and so forth. Even if a myth contains a grain of truthJohn Henry probably was a real steel-driving freedman working the railroadsits the larger legendary narrative that persists, because it speaks to how we make sense of the world.

Not all myths are benign, however, and some are inimical. Canny operators throughout history have worked to create myths to support their political, moral, or religious positions.

We need look no further back than the myth of the Lost Cause: the belief that the Confederacys rebellion against the Union was noble, its loss of the war a tragic defeat, and slavery was certainly not the barbaric practice those Northern carpetbaggers made it out to be. This was a gross rewriting of history by the South, often facilitated by the U.S. as a whole in the interest of post-Civil War reconciliationamong White Americans, that is; very few people asked the formerly enslaved Black Americans what they would need in order to reconcile with their former enslavers.

The Lost Cause myth became a cancer on U.S. society that quickly metastasized. Reconstruction was brought to an ignoble end (over a disputed presidential election, no less), freeing the Southern states to reimpose a racial hierarchy. Social-political groups, such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy, seized on the myth of the Lost Cause and erected statues and monuments to Confederate heroes across the entire nation, not just the South. The Confederacy lives on in highways, military bases, state flags, schools, and hundreds of memorials across the country. Its echoes can be heard when former President Donald Trump said, after a White supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned to deadly violence, that there were fine people on both sides, or whenever a right-wing politician responds to a Black Lives Matter protest with all lives matter.

Were seeing a lot of mythmaking taking place in front of our eyes in the U.S. today. Its not just the Make America Great Again basket of baloney Trump was selling. Modern conservative nostalgia in general is often rooted in the fiction that there was a period when things were better, explicitly overlooking inconvenient facts like slavery, genocide, segregation, state violence against labor, and so on.

There has been a lot of criticism about the non-factual basis of the talking points on the Right, from the Big Lie of a stolen election to Liberals are putting litter boxes in schools for students who identify as cats. But that critique misses the fact that the lies are the point: The Right is creating its own myths to justify its own means (and ends). These narratives can then be used to provide an explanation for events that adhere to their followers beliefsalternative facts, if you will.

That gets back to messaging and how Democrats often fail at it, allowing bills that probably would be quite popular to fail, and allowing our national politics to be dominated by blatantly false narratives from Republicans, such as the belief that critical race theory is being taught in public schools to make innocent White children hate themselves.

To put it simply, the belief among Democrats seems to be that good policy sells itself. That increasingly looks woefully nave in the face of the Republican war on facts.

Thing is, its a lot easier to understand a story about a hero fighting a climactic battle against evil than the economic impacts of the expiration of the child tax credit expansion. If your story is believable and triggers strong emotions, people will glom on to itwhether its an attempt to recast the Civil War in less Northern terms, or the story of a stolen election, or the story of a mythic, idyllic national past. If your narrative fails to grab the imagination, doesnt tug at the heartstrings, is hard to follow, leaves people uneasy, or is just plain boring, then people will look for a better story.

The real struggle for the future of the U.S. and the world is one between myths in the making. If American Liberals in general, and Democrats in particular, want to make sure Trump not only doesnt return to power, but also doesnt become his own Lost Cause to poison us for generations, they need to make sure theyre telling a better story than he is.

We may think QAnons tale of a spray-tanned action hero battling satanic forces is ridiculous. That doesnt change the storys hold on its fans; it only casts Liberals as elitist snobs who look down on the rubes who consume such garbage entertainmentwhich reinforces the toxic us versus them narrative.

This is a difficult request to make of a political party that has become the epitome of policy wonkishness, grounded in the often-boring minutia of lawmaking. Excitement (as in, drama, engagement, story) has historically come from outside the party mainstream. But those narrative elements can still capture the popular imagination, and they helped change history (and public opinion): John Brown raiding Harpers Ferry, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marching to Montgomery, Cesar Chavez leading the Delano Grape Strike. Even President Barack Obamas election had elements of a heroic narrativeborn to a single mother, attending Harvard Law School, cutting his teeth as a community activist, then rising to the highest office of the land. Scandal couldnt touch him, because not only did Obama conduct himself with dignity, but we all knew his story, and the Republicans could only fling mud (death panels? The tan suit? Dijon mustard?) and hope in vain that something would stick.

Even today, myths still have the power to capture the attention of our post-Enlightenment brains and take us into the realm of adventure and epic struggle. John Ford, the Hollywood director who more than anyone helped bring the myths of the Wild West to the big screen, emphasized this point in his 1962 movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. In the final scene, a journalist (Maxwell Scott, played by Carleton Young) who has been interviewing a senator (Ransom Stoddard, played by James Stewart), comes to realize that the politicians entire life story, his heroic arc from frontiersman to senator of a new state in the Union, is built on the foundation of a single event in his past that turns out to have been an invention. The journalist then destroys his notes. Youre not going to use the story, Mr. Scott? Stoddard asks. No, sir, Scott answers. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

That is considered one of the classic lines of Hollywood, and not just because it was good writing. Its because there are no truer words that convey the power that comes from telling a good story.

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Tell Better Stories to Win Public Opinion (and Elections) - YES! Magazine

The business community is doubling down on its commitment to protect the natural environment. Over a fifth of the worlds 2,000 largest companies have now committed to net-zero targets. Some have even gone a step further: Bayer, Gucci, Nestl, and Starbucks, among others, recently committed to becoming nature positive. Strongly encouraged by the World Economic Forum and the United Nations, nature positivity involves resetting humanitys relationship with nature by radically improving on issues such as biodiversity, land degradation, and climate change. Being nature positive goes far beyond merely protecting ecosystems or even achieving net-zero targets; the ultimate goal is to create more nature by 2030 compared with 2020.

Despite these laudable plans, limited progress is being made to protect the natural environment. Damage to flora and fauna is not slowing down its rapidly increasing. Some argue that business especially large, profit-seeking companies driven by short-term financial results are, by design, not equipped to tackle grand challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. These issues require systemic solutions, long-term thinking, and an overall shift away from our economys reliance on fossil fuels.

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Yet there may be a deeper, more fundamental reason why business often falls short on improving its relationship with nature: Businesspeople themselves typically lack an intimate connection to nature. Indeed, businesspeople spend most of their time (COVID-19 permitting) in corporate offices made from concrete and glass, sequestered from what is typically considered natural. Even time spent outside the office is rarely spent in green spaces; Americans today spend 92% of their time indoors. Even in work environments where business activity does come close to nature on an oil rig at sea, for instance there is an implicit sense that humans are somehow above nature.

The idea that humans and nature are separate, or that nature is to be dominated by humans, has been perpetuated for centuries. As Christianity spread during the early Middle Ages, the notion that humans are, in essence, animals was rejected by the church as savage. The Enlightenment period further advanced the distinction between nature and human. Descartes, Newton, Hume, and other Enlightenment thinkers believed that human capacity for reason, science, and order rendered humans clearly superior to wild animals. This history has led to the dawn of the Anthropocene epoch, a period where humanity is now regarded as the single most influential species on the planet.

But the strict separation between humans and nature is a myth. Darwins theory of evolution certainly suggests that we all stem from the same origin. Indeed, despite our intellectual superiority, humans are extremely similar to many of our wild relatives for instance, we share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees (and even 60% with bananas). We are also made from the same molecules, rely on the same water and air to live, and are all governed by natures rhythms and laws.

Being in harmony instead of in opposition with nature has also been key to our success as a species. Since Homo sapiens first started migrating across Africa and Eurasia over 200,000 years ago, our ability to survive has depended on having intimate knowledge about the landscapes, animals, and habitats that sustain us. These interactions with nature over long periods have established humanitys deep emotional bond with nature.

This unconscious emotional affiliation underscores why humans are instinctually drawn to nature, fascinated by mountain hikes, the sublime deep blue ocean, and animals at the zoo. Likewise, there is ample scientific data supporting the positive mental effects of connecting with nature, including reduced stress (notably technostress, or the stress experienced by regularly using digital platforms), improved focus and attention, lowered risk of psychiatric disorders, and improved ability to empathize and cooperate.

There is also a significant body of research that links ecological sustainability and our connection to nature. Indeed, when an individual lacks connection to nature, they fail to think of themselves as dependent on, or even part of, nature. This dramatically reduces the likelihood that someone would engage in pro-environmental behavior or be concerned about their role in addressing the ecological crisis.

A similar logic can be applied to business contexts: The larger the distance between businesspeople and nature, whether emotionally or physically, the less value is assigned to protecting nature. This perspective is detrimental to advancing a nature-positive economy. So, what can businesses do to connect more with nature, and how could such a connection help both nature and business?

1. Connecting with nature provides a deep sense of purpose. Getting outside of our built environments (houses, cars, subways, and office buildings) is the most simple and effective way to connect with nature. Studies suggest that spending time in green spaces promotes an individuals environmental values, which encourages pro-environmental behavior such as recycling and nature conservation. This has significant business implications: Employees who take pro-environment actions, for instance, are more engaged in corporate-level environmental strategies and are therefore more motivated to execute their organizations plans to address environmental issues.

It is not only important to spend time in nature but to feel nature. The Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, utilizes felt senses not the rational brain to experience nature on a bodily level. Forest bathers are invited to see the beauty that the natural world has to offer to pause and find pleasure in sensatory perception. Crucially, all emotions are welcome; for instance, individuals sometimes experience a sense of solastalgia, a profound sadness or even grief associated with the suffering experienced by the Earth.

Within a business setting, this emotional revelation may give businesspeople a deeper ecological purpose or call them to address critical questions, such as Why should I care about the environment? and Why does this matter within the context of my work?

The disconnect between individual employees green values and their employers environmental strategies is a major hurdle for large, publicly listed companies, as former Unilever CEO Paul Polman has suggested. Environmental sustainability may feel somewhat misplaced in daily working life. It is challenging enough to connect to abstract phenomena such as climate change, which for many seems to be a distant global threat rather than a present-day reality. Spending more quality time in nature offers a potential solution, allowing us to truly experience the value of nature, not as a resource to be exploited but as something that has intrinsic meaning for our daily lives, including our work.

2. Nature connects business to place and knowledge. Grounding in nature provides a connection to a specific place. Without this link, businesses may suffer from a situation referred to as placelessness. Placeless businesses are detached from their effects on the natural environment, which is problematic for addressing (or even acknowledging) environmental issues. This affects, for instance, multinational banks, where climate change is merely one element of globalized financial markets. Focusing on these abstracted nonplaces overlooks how businesses are embedded within specific natural systems and locales. Companies far removed from nature can become disconnected from the material realities of current and pressing environmental issues.

True sustainability occurs when a business is deeply connected to nature and thereby shares a close relationship to place. Consider industries that have endured for centuries, producing regional products such as Champagne (France), whisky (Scotland), Parmesan cheese (Italy), and beer (Germany and Belgium), among many others. These industries have a special relationship to their land; their knowledge of fluctuating climates, changes in flora and fauna, and seasonal patterns is all deeply rooted in nature. For these businesses, sustainability is not an add-on. They have no other choice but to profoundly respect nature. Likewise, there are many studies that focus on the relationship between sustainability and indigenous people, who have successfully managed ecosystems for millennia. In their research on Cree tallymen, or beaver trappers, in northern Quebec, Gail Whiteman and colleagues highlight how managers sustainably oversee fragile ecological systems through the ecological embeddedness that occurs when a manager personally identifies with the land and cultivates intricate knowledge about their environment.

Such environmental knowledge can be crucial to businesses becoming resilient to climate threats. For instance, studies of the energy industry demonstrate how employees exposed to natures harshest conditions such as extreme weather events at onsite production facilities take climate issues more seriously compared with employees at corporate offices located in metropolitan cities. Being exposed to nature biting back serves to seriously challenge typical assumptions about ecosystems and scarce resources which, in turn, produces knowledge about local climates that can be incorporated into decision-making.

3. Nature fosters our interconnectedness. Being connected to nature often results in profound realizations of the interdependency between all living things. This interconnectedness between all matter or in business-speak, between all stakeholders is central to the concept of sustainability, highlighted by concepts such as deep ecology or biocentrism. These philosophies stress that no life form is intrinsically worth more or less than any other; human activity is part of natural systems, not a dominant force above other systemic parts (including other humans). Yet, intellectually understanding the idea of interdependency between all things is very different from embodying it, which is essential for a businessperson to act interdependently.

To truly experience a sense of oneness, an individual must connect with nature on a deep level. This can be achieved by, for instance, going on a yatra an ancient practice of walking through nature, often in silence, with the intention to deepen ones relation to the earth. By emphasizing our interconnectedness as part of a wide web of earthly entities, we see both human and nonhuman beings as having inherent value in and of themselves.

A sense of interconnectedness can also be achieved not by going out into nature but by bringing nature inside, with corporate offices designed around or based on the principles of nature. Biophilic design, for instance, highlights how offices can be constructed within natural habitats: building with natural materials, such as wood and earth; cultivating beehives and community gardens on rooftops; and allowing the natural flow of water and air inside, among other possibilities. Embedding natural features in work environments helps office workers connect with nature, which may further a sense of interconnectedness.

Ultimately, for business to back up its bold claims of seriously tackling the ecological crisis, substantive action will be paramount. However, this can only be achieved if businesspeople and, by extension, the organizations they run, foster a deeper connection with nature. As John Muir, Americas most famous naturalist and conservationist, once said, Keep close to Natures heart and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend time in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.

George Ferns (@thisgeorgeferns) is an assistant professor in organization studies and sustainability at Cardiff Business School.

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Businesspeople Must Reconnect With Nature to Save the Planet - MIT Sloan

In 2014, a Foreign Affairs article described Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin as Putins brain.

At the time, it seemed a fitting epithet. The then 52-year-old Dugin was championing Russias annexation of Crimea and urging on the further conquest of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. Superficially, at least, he seemed to be uncannily in tune with the Kremlin.

There were countless other parallels emerging during the mid-2010s between Dugins thought and Russias political trajectory. He had long championed Russia as the leader of a Eurasian bloc, not dissimilar to the actual Eurasian Economic Union which came into being in 2014. He had consistently attacked the moral hegemony of the West, much as Putin started to do from his famous 2007 Munich Security Conference speech onwards. And in his 1997 doorstopper, the Foundations of Geopolitics, which was said to have influenced Russias military leaders, Dugin dismissed Ukraine as a meaningless entity, possessing no cultural or ethnic uniqueness an assertion the Russian army was, by 2014, trying to prove in practice in Crimea and the Donbas.

Moreover, at points it has seemed as if Putin himself was merely echoing the long-bearded thinker, from his Dugin-esque talk of fifth column conspiracies to descriptions of eastern Ukraine as Novorossiya (New Russia).

Since 2014, Dugins influence over the Russian president seems only to have grown. Today he is conjured up as the ideological driving force behind Russias barbaric invasion of Ukraine, the dark Rasputin-like power behind Putins de facto throne. Hes the Russian fascist who helped to convince Putin to invade, the man behind Putin, the thinker who, in the words of the Washington Post, has brought us here, to the brink of another world war.

Not all Western observers are convinced of Dugins importance. They say his influence is vastly overstated, note his frequent criticism of Putin for being too liberal, and point to Putins greater intellectual debt to other (admittedly long-dead) thinkers including religious philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev, ethnologist Lev Gumilev, and all-round reactionary Ivan Ilyin. Dugin, according to this reading, is overhyped, especially over here in the West.

In search of some insight, I spoke to Benjamin Teitelbaum, whose brilliant War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right has done so much to illuminate Dugins thought and influence. Its wrong to say hes Putins brain, that hes sitting at the end of these gigantic tables, whispering [in his ear], he tells me. But neither is it true that Dugins a blowhard who managed to beguile academic and journalistic commentators into thinking hes significant when hes really not.

So where exactly does Dugins significance lie? In the realm of narrativising, Teitelbaum says, in the realm of characterisation, and also in the deep intangible influence of literature spread to a large community over a long period of time.

Dugin is significant then. Not because he exerts any direct influence on Putin. And not because well-thumbed Dugin tomes sit on Russian generals bookshelves. But because he has helped forge, as a leading part of an increasingly active nationalist intellectual milieu, something that Russias ruling elite has lacked since the fall of Communism: namely, a sense of national mission, of near spiritual purpose. To use Teitelbaums words, Dugin has narrativised and characterised Russia. Through his books, lectures and media appearances, he has told Russias leaders over and over again what Russia supposedly once was and what it should become again not just a great power, but a spiritual power, a bulwark of tradition against the nihilistic, everything-goes liberalism of the West.

Russian soldiers fly their flag at a Russian army position just outside the town of Gori, Georgia, on 18 August 2008. (Credit: Getty.)

And as Russias relationship with Western powers has deteriorated, its leaders have become increasingly receptive to Dugins message. It has given them an alternative vision of Russias future, in place of the dashed liberal dreams of the 1990s and early 2000s. As Teitelbaum explains, Putin experimented at the beginning of his rule with remaking Russia as a successful liberal, capitalist, pseudo-democratic state, very much following on the heels of Boris Yeltsin. And it didnt work and so he tried something else a conservative Russia that would stand for values, tradition, wholeness, collectivity [and often against] liberalism, change, progress and all these things. And Dugin, as one of the prominent voices in Russia, pushed that idea and it worked.

Tradition, wholeness, collectivity. In many ways, Dugin is an unlikely conduit for such ideas. Born in Moscow in 1962, the descendant of a long line of Russian military officers, Dugin was by all accounts a precocious, rebellious youth, who bristled against the stifling conformity of life in Soviet Russia. The Communist Party owned all of us, he was later to reflect. [It] owned the mind, the spirit, the emotion, the body. Everything was under control, except one thing. The innermost part. (1) Perhaps in an attempt to liberate the innermost part, the young Dugin immersed himself during the 1980s in the dissident bohemia of Moscows notorious Yuzhinsky Circle. They would have wild sex parties, and drinking binges that lasted for multiple days, explains Teitelbaum. Their interests were anything anti-establishment rock music, drugs, alcohol and eventually mysticism was part of that as well.

It was during this period that Dugin first encountered Traditionalism. This, as political scientist Marlene Laruelle puts it in a 2006 essay on Russias radical right, remains Dugins main intellectual reference point and the basis of his political attitudes as well as his Eurasianism.

Traditionalism is a relatively obscure school of thought that originated in the work of a French intellectual called Ren Gunon (1886-1951). The tradition this thinking refers to consists of supposedly universal truths which are manifest in all the major world religions. It was Gunons contention that man had fallen away from the truths of revealed religion. As he argued in The Crisis of the Modern World (1927), the past three or four hundred years of modernity represented the very opposite of progress. They were a regression, a late stage in the spiralling decline through the Hindu yugas a version of Hesiods ages of gold, silver, copper and iron towards a new dark age. Modern man, committed to rationalism and materialism, and now thoroughly estranged from the spiritual truth, was entirely lost.

Gunons deep disillusionment with modernity was far from unusual during the 1920s. Much of Western high culture at the time, from the modernist avant-garde to the dark imaginings of conservative revolutionaries, was shot through with a shared sense of moral, political and spiritual exhaustion. What perhaps separated Gunon from many of his contemporaries (though not all) was his solution a turn towards non-Western culture, and the religions of the East, which he saw as being closer to tradition and the truth.

Julius Evola, Gunons Italian follower and an unabashed Mussolini supporter, gave Gunons otherwise quietist philosophy a political urgency. Rather than seek solace in religions of the East, Evola called for a restoration of spiritual values in the West and appealed, like many of his fascist contemporaries, to a hierarchical Medieval world as a vision of a future society.

Its clear that the Traditionalist critique of modernity continues to resonate deeply with Dugin. Like Gunon and Evola (whose work Dugin has translated into Russian), Dugin sees the modern world, from the Enlightenment onwards, as a further fall away from the truth, a dark age. But, as Teitelbaum explains, Dugin goes further He adds a geographic element to the temporal distinctions between the ages.

So the dark age [for Dugin] is in the West today, says Teitelbaum. And the opposite of modernity, as tradition, is incubated in the East. Therefore to fight against the dark age, we need to promote, in military, economic and political terms, the Eastern states against the West.

Thats Duginism, says Teitelbaum. Thats Duginist Traditionalism.

During the early 1990s, Dugin was still a relatively obscure figure on the anti-liberal fringes of the Russian political scene. Russias West-leaning politicians were then in the ascendancy, rapidly opening up Russian society and privatising vast swathes of hitherto state-owned industry and enterprise as part of a programme of so-called shock therapy. Dugin, meanwhile, was busy ploughing a quasi-fascist furrow, including a brief involvement in writer Eduard Limonovs National Bolshevik Party a wilfully provocative political grouping which combined Nazi symbolism with economic leftism and, at one point, claimed to have over 30,000 members. Was it a serious political party or a social club? Its hard to say, says Teitelbaum.

Dugin began to be taken much more seriously with the publication of the Foundation of Geopolitics in 1997. Here he argued that the geopolitical forces shaping the world derived from a foundational conflict between Atlanticism (seafaring states and civilisations, such as the US and Britain) and Eurasianism (land-based states and civilisations, such as Eurasia-Russia). He then divided the world into four civilisational zones: the American zone, the Afro-European zone, the Asian-Pacific zone, and the Eurasian zone. It was ethnic Russians destiny as the bearers of a unique civilisation, as Dugin put it to play the leading role in bringing together and constituting Eurasia as a regional hegemon in the coming multipolar world.

To do so, he called for the cultivation and reassertion of Russian nationalism, which should employ cultural-ethnic terminology, with a special emphasis on such categories as Narodnost and Russian Orthodoxy. Indeed, religion, as befitting his Traditionalism, was to the fore in Dugins argument. Russians should realise that they are Orthodox in the first place; [ethnic] Russians in the second place; and only in the third place, people, he wrote. Russian nationalism entailed the churchification of Russians.

There was much that was clearly still Traditionalist in the Foundation of Geopolitics, from the call to Russia to return to its spiritual roots to the presentation of what amounted to an almost Manichean conflict with the Atlanticist West. It was essentially all of the political aspects of his thinking stripped of the weird mysticism, Teitelbaum tells me. And its effect was to outline a vision for Russia.

The nucleus of his significance and influence in the Russian state, Teitelbaum continues, rests on the Foundation of Geopolitics. Indeed, so impressed was Igor Rodionov, a hardline defence minister under then Russian president Boris Yeltsin, that he made it assigned reading at the General Staff Academy the main training institution for Russias military leaders. As Laruelle notes, by 2000, the Foundation of Geopolitics had already been reissued four times, and was recognised as the founding work of the contemporary Russian school of geopolitics.

So, at the end of the 1990s, when Russias post-Cold War relationship with the West began to fray markedly, Dugins star was starting to rise. In 1999, he was named an adviser on geopolitics to Gennadiy Seleznev, the speaker for the Russian State Duma. And, in 2002, he founded his own political party, the Eurasian Party, to promote his distinct geopolitical-cum-spiritual vision.

Alexander Dugin speaking at the New Horizon Conference in Beirut, 2018. (Credit: Mahdieh Gaforian)

In 2008, when the Russian army invaded Georgia, on behalf of Ossetian militants fighting the West-leaning government in Tbilisi, Dugin came into his own. He appeared repeatedly on state TV, speaking sometimes from just within Georgian borders about the war, characterising and shaping its narrative. He would be adding a story and meaning to what was otherwise just a power conflict, a power play between two states, Teitelbaum tells me. And he was doing so according to his own distinct Traditionalist reworking of geopolitics. As Teitelbaum explains in War for Eternity:

Thats why Dugin was [in Georgia]. The conflict in the mountains wasnt one between a state and a restive minority group, but rather between Russia and the West, between rooted Eurasia and the gallivanting Atlantic. Between Tradition and modernity.

Russias war in Georgia in part a response to NATOs flirtation with its president, Mikheil Saakashvili helped consolidate Dugins role as Russias storyteller. It enabled him to play on the growing antagonism between Russia and Western powers, promoting his geopolitical vision of Russia as a source of spiritual renewal, and the West as a source of moral decay. And it was a vision that was becoming ever more attractive to a Kremlin in search of a national purpose.

There have been awkward moments. In 2014, he effectively called for a liquidation of ethnic Ukrainians in the Donbas. Kill, kill and kill, were his exact words, which eventually cost him his job at Moscow State University. But that has done little to diminish the appeal of Dugins thought to sections of the Russian elite. Indeed, such has been his advocacy of Eurasianism over the past decade or so that he has become, in Teitelbaums words, something of a mysterious diplomat, frequently heading to Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, not to mention into the bowels of the European alt- and far-right, to open channels, cultivate relationships and even broker deals as he did between Putin and Erdogan in 2015, after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane along the Syrian border.

Dugin may have played a significant role in narrativising Russias geopolitical position, playing up its supposed civilisational, ethnic and spiritual uniqueness. Yet what is striking about this intellectual effort is the extent to which its substance and sources are resolutely Western. His geopolitical lodestars are: turn-of-the-20th-century Germans, such as Friedrich Ratzel and Nazi favourite Karl Haushofer; Swedens Rudolf Kjellen; and Britains Sir Halford Mackinder. And then theres Traditionalism itself, which originally flourished, like so much of todays critique of modernity, among Western intellectuals during the cataclysmic interwar years.

Indeed, Traditionalism is perhaps best understood as a particular expression of the broader conservative revolution that erupted in Western Europe after the First World War an intellectual opposition to both an insurgent socialism and a failed liberal capitalism, which in part fuelled fascism. Little wonder, then, that Dugins search for new languages for talking about this deeper anti-modernism, as Teitelbaum puts it, has taken him recently into the work of more mainstream conservative revolutionaries, such as Nazi jurist and poltical theorist Carl Schmitt, and, most notably, the philosopher Martin Heidegger.

Indeed, Dugins 2009 book, The Fourth Political Theory, is effectively an ethno-nationalist tribute to Heidegger, with a few nods to Schmitt thrown in for good measure. Dugin argues that of the three major political theories of modern times fascism, communism and liberalism only the latter is still standing. Liberalism is therefore no longer a political ideology competing among other ideologies; it now appears as the only viable form of politics itself. Liberalism is now simply what is.

But there is an alternative, argues Dugin. He argues that liberalism is the product of a particularly Western way of being, a distinctly Western Dasein, to use Heideggers term. Russian Dasein, as Dugin puts it elsewhere, has a structure that differs from the structure of Western Dasein. And this particularly Russian way of being, this uniquely Russian Dasein spiritual rather than rational, collectivist rather than individualist, strictly hierarchical rather than democratic, etc could provide the ground for the new, fourth political theory that will rival and roll back liberalism. This all depends on whether Russia decides to be true to itself, decides to become authentic, and reject Western values as alien, inauthentic. As Dugin puts it: If Russia chooses to be, then it will automatically bring about the creation of a fourth political theory. He doesnt name this theory, or flesh out its contents beyond grand generalities. But then he doesnt need to for this fourth political theory, this expression of Russias national essence, is, like Heideggers vision of authentic being, essentially a negation of what is: in Dugins case, a negation of the inauthentic West.

So Dugin is writing here, once again, of Russias distinct spiritual and political destiny. Its geopolitical mission. Its potential to offer an alternative to the decadent liberalism of the West. Yet he is doing so in terms of Heidegger, a Western European thinker whose work was shaped by a crisis of Weimar democracy and of liberalism and capitalism more broadly internal to the West. A thinker, that is, whose appeal to authenticity in opposition to the inauthenticity of life in Western society was generated by a sense of moral and ideological exhaustion within the West.

Theres a pattern here. The sources of Dugins critique of Western modernity, his attack on liberalism, rationalism, universalism and the rest, are never Russian. Theyre consistently Western. Theyre drawn from the Romantic reaction against the Enlightenment, from Nietzsches irrationalist assault on socialism and democracy, from the broader Modernist revolt against modernity of Heidegger and countless others. And later still, Dugin draws from postmodernism, and its rejection of universalism and truth. Indeed, as he told BBC Newsnight in 2016, there is no such thing as the truth, only perspectives. Hence he was able to claim that Russia has its own truth, in contrast to the Wests version.

Dugins recourse to Traditionalism or Heidegger or postmodernism shows that the source of Russias supposed opposition to liberalism and even democracy and socialism is not Russian at all. Its a thoroughly Western counter-Enlightenment tradition, which reached its most intense expression during the crisis-ridden interwar years, and which has since taken the form of an ever-developing culture war.

And this reveals something important about not just Dugins thought, but also about the nature of the Russian nationalism he has played such a key role in promoting. In Dugins telling, Russia is fighting on behalf of the East against the West. In Dugins telling, Russia embodies tradition, spiritual truth and order against the soulless materialism, individualism and moral decay of the West. This is about Tradition versus modernity. Security versus danger, as Teitelbaum paraphrases it. That is where Duginism lives.

Yet what Dugin presents as a continuation of a long-running East-West culture war, a battle of ideas between Russia and the West is, it turns out, the product of a battle of ideas, a culture war within the West. Russian nationalism, Dugin-style, draws not on Russian strength, but on the longstanding turn among Western cultural elites against Enlightenment and modernity, from Nietzsches assault on Western nihilism to its latest iteration among the woke.

As Teitelbaum rightly says, that is where Duginism lives in this conflict over, and reaction against, modernity. But it does so not as an expression of some authentic Russian spirit, but as a parasite, feasting on a crisis internal to the West.

Tim Black is a spiked columnist.

(1) Cited in War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right, by Benjamin Teitelbaum, Penguin, 2020, p41

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The warped mind behind Russias war - Spiked

As thousands of final-year students in the UAE submit their applications to local universities, we take a look at some of the best higher education options in the Emirates and what they have to offer

Paris, which is nicknamed the City of Light thanks to its central role in the Age of Enlightenment in the mid-18th century and its early adoption of gas-street lighting.

1257 (parent university); 2006 (Abu Dhabi campus)

Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi was set up as a branch of Pariss College of Sorbonne, which was established in the 13th century by Robert de Sorbon, the chaplain to Louis IX.

While many universities in the UAE focus on business, engineering and other technical subjects, Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi is particularly strong in the arts, humanities and sciences.

It occupies a large, customised campus.

Al Reem Island, Abu Dhabi

Dh48,700 diploma in intensive French (one year)

Dh215,000 all bachelors degrees (three years)

Dh143,400 master in applied sociological research (two years)

Dh166,400 master in international business law (two years)

Bachelors degrees include: applied foreign languages; economics and management; French literature; geography and planning; history; history of art and archaeology; law; mathematics with specialisation in data science for artificial intelligence; philosophy and sociology; physics; and records management and archival science.

Masters degrees include: applied foreign languages; applied sociological research; banking and finance; environment; environmental sustainability law and policies; health economics; history of art and archaeology; history of art and museum studies; international business law; international law; international relations and diplomacy; marketing; management; communication; media; physics; records management and archival studies; teaching French as a foreign language; and urban planning and development.

Accountancy; agriculture; anthropology; biochemistry; biology; chemistry; criminology; dentistry; engineering; filmmaking; geology; journalism; marketing; medicine; music; politics; psychology; sports science; and veterinary medicine.

83rd QS World University Rankings (parent university)

88th Times Higher Education World University Rankings (parent university)

There are 1,065 students, 64 per cent of whom are Emiratis. Overall, there are students from 61 nations.

- Simone de Beauvoir, a French author best known for her book The Second Sex, which was highly influential in the feminist movement.

Famous french writer Simone de Beauvoir attended the parent university in Paris. Photo: AFP

- Enis Batur, a celebrated Turkish author, essayist and poet.

- Christiane Taubira, born in French Guiana. She studied sociology at the Sorbonne and was the French Minister of Justice between 2012 and 2016.

"Sorbonne university Abu Dhabi is a research-led university. We are proud to fulfil our mission by acting as a beacon of knowledge in the Middle East by bringing the expertise in education and academic excellence of Sorbonne University in Paris to the region.

Prof Silvia Serrano, vice chancellor of Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. Photo: Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

"Besides awarding our students French degrees that are recognised worldwide, we aim to provide students with world-class education that equips them with the right tools and research methodologies, and develops their critical thinking skills, all of which will enable them to become successful decision-makers and take the lead in knowledge development in the future.

"Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi also offers outstanding students a wide variety of scholarships and preferential rates and presents an overall exceptional university experience.

"In addition, Sorbonne University students and graduates benefit from the universitys strong industry links through internships, career opportunities and professional exposure."

Updated: April 22, 2022, 4:00 AM

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UAE's best universities: Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi - The National

The British Museum opens to the public at 10am, but theyve resumed a little known tour that starts at 9am before the public gets inside.

The tours are themed around five core topics, and you can book for any of the five tours.

They all last around an hour and with the limited number of just twelve people in each group and the galleries empty except for the tour, they cost 33 per person (16.50 for children). After the tour, as youre already in the museum, you can then wander around the rest of the galleries and my tip would be to head to the popular galleries, as theyll take a good half hour or so to full fill up with visitors.

All the tours are here and below.

Uncover the origins of an extraordinary collection as you learn about the beginnings of the British Museum in 1753 and its subsequent development. The Enlightenment gallery (Room 1) focuses on the 18th century, an era of new knowledge, scientific discovery and European colonialism. The Collecting the world gallery (Room 2) focuses on the growth of the collection from the 18th century to the present day.

Galleries on this tour:

Booking details

In the Egyptian sculpture gallery, you can see impressive statues of kings and gods, monumental tomb architecture and ancient tomb reliefs spanning 3,000 years. These include the imposing, colossal bust of Ramesses II, the Gayer-Anderson Cat and the world-famous Rosetta Stone the key to deciphering hieroglyphs. You can learn the importance of large-scale sculpture in ancient Egyptian temples and tombs, and get the perfect introduction to this unmissable collection.

Gallery on this tour:

Booking details

From painted coffins, statues and models of daily life to spectacular wall paintings from the tomb-chapel of the high official Nebamun, investigate what tombs and burial goods tell us about the lives of ancient Egyptian people. The tour will explore the preparation of the deceased for burial, including mummification, and the use of magic to help and protect people on their perilous journey to the afterlife.

Galleries on this tour:

Booking details

In the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China, you will gain an insight into the development of Chinese history and culture from 5000 BC to the present day.

Gallery on this tour:

Booking details

Enjoy some of the highlights of the Museums exceptional collection, including sculptures from the Parthenon and the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Galleries on this tour:

Booking details

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Tickets Alert: Early hours tours of the British Museum - ianVisits