Bowery

Reading into the latest news, almost every financial or economic column I have come across is talking about Bitcoin. Its craze has even spread among my peers who are currently installing their own Bitcoin apps (i.e from Bitcoin.co.id and others) to partake in their own trading, hoping to somehow double their pocket money. Rather than simply talking about Bitcoin as another means of investment and speculation to further accumulate our wealth, in this essay, I’d like to contribute to the discussion by analyzing how does Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism could actually apply in the emergence and also rise of Bitcoin as a form of cryptocurrency. What exactly is this latest technological invention that some economist claim would transform current financial and economic system that we know today?             Firstly, we need to clear up some ontological confusion on what cryptocurrency and bitcoin are. Cryptocurrency is a type...

            In his writing ‘ Negotiating with the Taliban’ [1] , Antonio Donini gave an account on how the negotiation with Taliban, as the ruler of Afghanistan throughout 1996 – 2002 took place. He gave a comprehensive recount with several commentaries on the multiple negotiations that happen with various actors and stakeholders involved. His account is very important if one wants to analyze further on how exactly negotiation with a supposedly brutal armed group took place; what went wrong, what went right, what could have done better in terms of strategy. To help us better understand how exactly concepts and strategies that we learn in class actually play out in real life negotiation, in this particular review, I would like to highlight several instances that were described in Donini’s account while trying to analyze it using several concepts outlined by Dean G. Pruitt and Peter Carnevale in their book, Negotiation in Soc...

Estranged Labour, Human Requirements, and Division of Labor Under the Rule of Private Property             Marx’s 1844 Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts contain one of the most comprehensive discussions on the concept that he calls “alienated labor”. Marx mostly sees alienation at work as the most predominant form of alienation that humans have to undergo under the system of capitalism. Marx’s alienation is based on the assumption that human has the ultimate need to engage in free and creative labor as part of his human nature. Since capitalism systematically hinders that needs, it is an alienating system. He claims in the 1844 manuscript that most people in the modern society perceive work as unpleasant and unfulfilling experience. This is particularly true in the modern context of the most capitalistic society like United States and some developing countries who pursues capitalistic mode of production as its means o...

So they asked me, Why am I still pulling at your feeble hand? Why am I still latching on to your arms? Why am I still holding on to your words? Your pointless promises, Our dashed dreams, My fading fortitude. I am telling you now My endurance has no limit I am telling you now Your every smile worth my million times I am telling you now I’ll chase every forever to make yours mine I am telling you now I may no longer be in love with you, Broken minds like ours don’t go for that kinda shit, But I am telling you now, This infinite tenderness I feel for you It aint goin anywhere It wont stay in the past Yet It wasn’t willing to darn our future together either So I’ll let it lingers for a while Though my while could mean eon  and i know that you wont mind. **Artwork belongs to its owner

A year ago today We were walking hand in hand. We both were villains We both were cruel Yet i had a dream we were fine. We werent crazy, We were divine. Then, which one was it, hon? I guess its been sung That when a heart breaks it doesnt break even. And when my episode comes, There'd be no remedy for our memories. I told'em when u find true love, it lives on The kind of love that doesnt demand, The kind of love that doesnt burn out, Even without the glory of lust and heated makeout. For it already sustains an infinite tenderness for a certain someone. I guess i realized at that moment, that i really did love u, huh? Because there was nothing to gain, and that didnt matter. Yogyakarta August 27th 2017 **artwork belongs to its owner

            Issues of terrorism have regained its significance within international political and security discourse since the end of cold war era. September 11 has also refocused international security concern to terrorism as an imminent threat toward world stability. According to David Rapoport, the world has witnessed four waves of terrorism. The first began in 1880 and it was mostly carried out by anarchist activities in Russia and Europe when terrorist groups tried to assassinate politicians, monarchs and other prominent figures in hope of turning masses into revolutionaries. The second wave began in 1920 and continued until 1960s known for its string anticolonial movements by small states seeking to topple down their colonial rulers. This would mount with the emergence of independence movements in the post-Second World War era in many states like India, Pakistan, Algeria, Indonesia, and so on. The third wave rooted back...