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2023 Massey lecturer Astra Taylor recommends 6 books about insecurity

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12 months ago

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Above all other titles, writer, filmmaker and organizer Astra Taylor is a reader. She’s also presenting 2023 Massey Lectures on her book The Age of Insecurity — and she caught up with CBC Books ahead of its release this week.

“I’m actually feeling very eager to share it and to share the spoken version of it because this is the first book I’ve ever written that was meant to be read aloud in that way, and I think it changed the way I wrote for the better,” she said.

In The Age of Insecurity, she explores the pervasive insecurity in our current reality and how the institutions that promise to make us more secure actually contribute to this feeling. Throughout the book, Taylor argues that embracing this vulnerability is the key to more caring, sustainable notions of security.

“Fundamentally, it’s a book about how we feel in the world today. So I’m hoping it speaks to people’s experience,” she said. “I hope that people find the framework that I’m offering of existential insecurity and manufactured insecurity to be something that they can actually apply to other situations that I don’t talk about directly in the lectures or in the book.”

Taylor was born in Winnipeg and currently lives in New York. Her other books include The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age and Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions.

In honour of the 2023 Massey Lectures, she shared the books about insecurity that shaped her thinking.

“There aren’t a lot of books that are explicitly about insecurity,” she said, “but if you expand the definition of it and think about anxiety or vulnerability or precarity or inequality, then actually a lot of books tie into the theme.”

LISTEN | Astra Taylor on tackling the age of insecurity: 

The Current23:26Astra Taylor on tackling the age of insecurity

Featured VideoIn this year’s CBC Radio Massey Lectures, Astra Taylor argues that insecurity is at the core of many of the crises we face today. The filmmaker and activist tells Matt Galloway how collective action could tackle that insecurity, and help to build a whole new world.

All five lectures are already available to download wherever you get your favourite podcasts, or you can listen daily through the CBC Listen App and at cbc.ca/masseys. The CBC Massey Lectures airs every evening this week on IDEAS at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NT) on CBC Radio One. For more Massey Lectures, visit� the archives.

Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit

A woman with long gray hair looks to the right, reading her head in her fist. A navy blue books cover with white writing.
Hope in the Dark is a book by Rebecca Solnit. (Adrian Mendoza, Haymarket Books)

“Hope in the Dark is really about maintaining political optimism amid crises and uncertainty. I think that that is part of the ethos of The Age of Insecurity: amid rising inequality and ecological calamity and strengthening authoritarianism and this sense that we don’t know what’s going to happen next — and a lot of bad stuff has been happening — that there’s there’s still space for hope, and there’s still space for the kind of alchemy that can turn our troubles into possibility.”

LISTEN | Finding optimism in the fight against climate change:

The Current36:58Finding optimism in the fight against climate change

Featured VideoOptimism can feel in short supply in the face of climate change and worsening fires, floods and extreme weather across Canada. Matt Galloway talks about where to find that hope — and how to turn it into action — with authors Rebecca Solnit, John Vaillant and Chris Turner in a panel discussion recorded at the Vancouver Writers Festival.

Commoners by J. M. Neeson

A teal book cover with illustrations in black of people and horses on a teal background with white writing.
Commoners: Common Right, Enclosure and Social Change in England, 1700-1820 is a book by J.M. Neeson. (Cambridge University Press)

“[Neeson’s] book, more than any other book, lays out what this transition [from feudalism to capitalism] was like, specifically the tail end of it, because it’s a process that actually began in the 1200s. So she’s talking about the culmination of the long process of enclosure and the displacement of commoners from common lands.

“It’s one of those works of history that makes you really feel what it was like. She has voices of people who you typically wouldn’t regard as historical actors. But she also has a lot of insightful material from the enclosers themselves, so these are the people who were the landlords and the aristocrats who were kicking peasants off the land and very plainly stating their political agenda. [The book also shows] the ways the insecurity of the peasantry would benefit them because they’d have a more pliable labour force.

It’s a period that has shaped the modern world, and she does it with real compassion for the ordinary people whose lives were impacted.– Astra Taylor on Commoners

“So that book is, historically, really important. It’s a period that has shaped the modern world, and she does it with real compassion for the ordinary people whose lives were impacted. I can’t recommend it enough. She’s really amazing.”

A collage featuring a headshot of a woman smiling while looking at something off to the side of the camera, and the cover of her book.
The Shock Doctrine is a book by Naomi Klein. (Rob Trendiak)

“It was a pivotal book for me in terms of understanding liberalism and the corporate counter-revolution against the gains of working class movements in the mid 20th century.

“What the book says is that conservative beliefs have made it part of their political project to take advantage of periods of destabilization and crisis. So that’s the shock doctrine.

“She talks about disaster capitalism so she looks at, for example, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and how there was this terrible disaster and that was seized as an opportunity to enforce an agenda of privatization and a further erosion of social services and to move out already vulnerable poor communities in service of gentrification, basically increasing people’s insecurity and increasing inequality.”

A man with long grey hair smiles at the camera. A man with short grey hair and glasses smiles at the camera. A purple book cover with a red clock.
Unsettling Canada is a book by Arthur Manuel, left, and Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson. (Idlenomore.ca, Suzanne Le Stage Photography, Between The Lines)

“Unsettling Canada looks at the way that Indigenous peoples were made insecure, were dispossessed of their land, were severed from their traditions and their territories in service of the settler colonial project.

“We can look at the word unsettling as both undoing settler colonialism. But also as unsettling the status quo, destabilizing it.

“I used the book in a way that reminds us that you don’t want everything to be secure. We don’t want an oppressive political status quo to be secure. And that in the pursuit of what I consider a more democratic, sustainable, egalitarian form of security, we will have to challenge some interests and unsettle some things.

Every aspiring activist should read that book. It is truly one of the best strategy books I have ever read.– Astra Taylor on Unsettling Canada

“The other thing I’ll say as an organizer, because that’s really a big part of my life, is that this is a book that is so incredibly insightful about political strategy and organizing strategy. It gives an amazing account of how Arthur Manuel actually organized people through the decades and I found it amazingly useful as a strategic book.

“Every aspiring activist should read that book. It is truly one of the best strategy books I have ever read.”

A portrait of a Black woman with dreadlocks.
Robyn Maynard is the author of Policing Black Lives. She will give a presentation at the Association of Black Social Workers 40th Anniversary Conference next week in Halifax. (Stacy Lee Photography, Fernwood Publishing)

“We’re still grappling as a society with policing. And that raises the question of whether we can ever achieve security through state violence and through incarceration, or if it’s better to try to actually achieve security through an abolitionist agenda of what is embodied in the slogan, ‘Care Not Cops,’ that a lot of the problems that we think could be solved by policing are ultimately social problems. It’s things like housing insecurity, job insecurity, healthcare insecurity, the fact people don’t have access to basic services, the fact that people aren’t paid enough to actually live in places where the rent is rising and rising month after month and wages are stagnating.

“And so these are some of the core themes raised by this book. And I think it’s a really useful volume for people who want to understand the stakes of the current debate about policing and abolition and anyone who wants to have a sense of that history, in the context of Canada specifically. So I learned a lot from it.”

Beasts of Burden by Sunaura Taylor

A book cover with a white shadow of an animal and a human in a wheelchair in front of a teal background. Blue writing.
Beasts of Burden is a book by Sunaura Taylor. (The New Press, graphic by CBC Books)

“This is nepotism. The last book I want to recommend is Beasts of Burden by my sister Sunaura Taylor. A mind-shifting book.

“This book is an amazing introduction to disability theory for those who are curious. But she takes it even further and connects the need for disability liberation to animals. And in a way, she makes the case for solidarity across species based on the fact that creatures can suffer, all creatures are vulnerable. And it’s a beautiful, unusual, insightful book.

She makes the case for solidarity across species based on the fact that creatures can suffer, all creatures are vulnerable.– Astra Taylor on Beasts of Burden

“I think you can see it’s marked in that 4th chapter [of The Age of Insecurity] where I argue that we actually will never be able to be secure if we only think of the human, if we prioritize human needs. Because we’re embedded in a larger web of life, we’re embedded in ecosystems and we’re connected to other species and we need to broaden that frame.”

Astra Taylor’s comments have been edited for length and clarity. 

 

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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2 weeks ago

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October 24, 2024

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

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2 weeks ago

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October 24, 2024

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Kuwait bans ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’ video game, likely over it featuring Saddam Hussein in 1990s

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2 weeks ago

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October 23, 2024

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in the 1990s Gulf War.

Kuwait has not publicly acknowledged banning the game, which is a tentpole product for the Microsoft-owned developer Activision and is set to be released on Friday worldwide. However, it comes as Kuwait still wrestles with the aftermath of the invasion and as video game makers more broadly deal with addressing historical and cultural issues in their work.

The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.

There also are images of Saddam and Iraq’s old three-star flag in the footage released by developers ahead of the game’s launch. The game’s multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the ancient city in Iraq.

Activision acknowledged in a statement that the game “has not been approved for release in Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.

“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase,” the company said. “We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”

Kuwait’s Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press over the decision.

“Call of Duty,” which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack at a Russian airport, killing civilians.

But there have been other games recently that won praise for their handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage” published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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