In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Fresh Squeezed

16 Dec

Every juristic tradition has at least one point in common: they seek to distinguish between lawful and unlawful behaviours, usually extrapolating a normative parallel between right and wrong or, with ecclesiastical fervour, between good and bad. Tied up with this narrative are notions of accountability (for wrongdoers) and restoration (for those wronged). Of course, morality almost always morphs into moralisation,...

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03 Oct

In Representations of the Intellectual, Edward Said paints a portrait of the public intellectual. Part description and part aspiration (and maybe a little autobiography as well), he represents the intellectual as an outsider, a subversive whose role is to challenge the status quo by “speaking truth to power.” While this statement was probably never intended as more than a catchy...

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15 Dec

In the field of international legal scholarship, Eurocentrism has traditionally overshadowed culture, ideology, and epistemology. Yet, as the world becomes more multipolar, these perspectives become indispensable for addressing global legal challenges in an effective manner. In our latest episode of FreshSqueezed!, Professor Cai Congyan from Fudan University Law School shared his thoughts China and the rise...

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28 Nov

I don't think there's any part of international law that isn't integrated and fully embedded within capitalism.Margot Salomon Margot Salomon is a sought-after voice in the field of international law. She has a long history of challenging the conventional wisdom upon which international economic law is structured. I first encountered her work during my PhD and have been an avid reader...

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07 Nov

In her book "Justice for Some: The Role of International Law in the Palestinian Struggle," Noura Erakat makes a provocative claim: that international law, often hailed as a neutral guardian of justice, has actually strengthened Israeli settler-colonialism. Erakat contends that international law's supposed neutrality is but a mirage, shaped and coloured by global power imbalances. In this episode,...

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10 Oct

If you're not careful, [international lawyers] will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.Malcolm X The Power of Mythmaking  Origin stories are always more fiction than fact, more myth than reality. At times, origin stories serve to redeem a dubious past, while at others they enable us to justify an unwelcoming...

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