The Anti-Israel Movement in Québec in the 1970s: At the Ideological Crossroads of the New Left and Liberation-Nationalism

Since the late 1950s, Third World nationalism in Algeria, Vietnam, and the Middle East had fascinated radical Quebec nationalists. Quebec nationalism’s militant arm, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), styled itself as a national-liberation movement fighting against Anglo-Canadian exploitation and oppression. After the Six-Day-War, the PLO became a significant source of inspiration for these elements. Quebec was their Palestine, as one prominent Quebec Nationalist asserted. This militant Quebec nationalism coincided and often overlapped with the rise of the New Left at Quebec’s universities and in its unions. Like its European and American counterparts, the Quebec New Left adopted the ideologies of anti-imperialism and anti-Zionism, and in 1972, the Quebec-Palestine Association was established in this milieu. Anti-imperialism combined the Marxist analysis of class struggle with a nationalistic worldview, which saw the world divided between oppressor and oppressed nations. For the New Left, Israel became the epitome of an oppressor nation. It was associated with all the supposed vices of the West: Racism, capitalism, inauthenticity, and militarism. This paper sheds light on the founding years of the Quebec anti-Zionist movement in the early 1970 and discusses the themes and images it used to describe Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Furthermore, the paper investigates whether these articulations a genuine critique of Zionism and Israeli policies or whether they were, instead, a reflection of antisemitic stereotypes. Moreover, the paper compares Quebec anti-Zionism to parallel manifestations of New Left anti-Zionism in Germany, asking whether the cultural context in Quebec affected the message of anti-Zionism. Depuis la fin des années 1950, le nationalisme tiers-mondiste en Algérie, au Vietnam et au Moyen-Orient fascine les nationalistes québécois radicaux. Le Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), bras militant du nationalisme québécois, s’est présenté comme étant un mouvement de libération nationale luttant contre l’exploitation et l’oppression anglo-canadiennes. Après la guerre des Six Jours, l’OLP est devenue une source d’inspiration importante pour ce groupe qui s’est mis à percevoir le Québec comme étant leur Palestine, tel que l’affirma un éminent nationaliste québécois. Il y eut, entre le nationalisme québécois militant et la nouvelle Gauche montante dans les milieux universitaires et syndicaux québécois de l’époque, des affinités, ainsi qu’un certain chevauchement. À l’instar de ses homologues européens et américains, la nouvelle Gauche québécoise s’est approprié les idéologies anti-impérialiste et antisioniste. En 1972, l’Association Québec-Palestine vit le jour dans ce milieu. L’anti-impérialisme combine une analyse marxiste centrée sur la lutte des classes et une vision de monde à tendance nationaliste qui conçoit le globe comme se divisant entre oppresseurs et opprimées. Pour la nouvelle Gauche, Israël constitue l’État oppresseur par excellence. On lui prêtait tous les vices occidentaux : racisme, capitalisme, inauthenticité et militarisme. La présente étude éclairera l’émergence de la mouvance antisioniste québécoise du début des années 1970. Pour ce faire, nous aborderons les thèmes et l’imagerie dont la nouvelle Gauche québécoise pro-palestinienne s’est servie pour décrire Israël et le conflit israélo-arabe, et ce, tout en cherchant à déterminer si leur approche relevait d’une critique profonde du sionisme et des politiques israéliennes ou si celle-ci était simplement le reflet superficiel de stéréotypes antisémites. Par ailleurs, nous comparerons l’antisionisme québécois aux manifestations de l’antisionisme au sein de la nouvelle Gauche allemande, en demandant si le contexte culturel du Québec eut un impact quelconque sur le message des antisionistes québécois.   &nbsp

Towards a Realist Conception of Theology:An Argument Based on the Works of Bavinck and Plantinga

The most basic realism in theology question is: If God exists, is it possible for human beings to really know something about him, and to formulate true theological affirmations or do human beings only know what they believe or think about God, but not God himself? The aim of this thesis is to propose an account of a realist conception of theology – i.e., which answers positively to this basic question – by bringing together the works of the early twentieth century Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck and the contemporary American philosopher Alvin Plantinga. This proposal will be prepared and then elaborated in four chapters. The first chapter is an introductory chapter which presents the background, the relevance and the scope of our research. It also displays the method of inquiry and ends with the formulation of the research question: In what way can the bringing together of Bavinck’s prolegomena to dogmatic theology and Plantinga’s theory of warrant (with its theistic extensions) strengthen the contemporary case in favor of a realist conception of theology? The second chapter, which provides for the first pillar of our argument, is devoted to the exposition and the discussion of Bavinck’s argument in favor of a realist conception theology as mainly developed in his Reformed Dogmatics 1: Prolegomena. Bavinck’s work is worth being studied since he has been much involved in the realism in theology debates of his time and has proposed a thoughtful defense of a realist conception of theology. The third chapter presents and discusses Plantinga’s work on warrant (and some of its connected adjunctions), insofar as it is related to the scope of our research. Even though, as we will see, Plantinga does not develop a specific argument to bolster his realist view – he rather finds himself convinced of realism all along and can only try to rebut arguments against it – our hypothesis is that his epistemological work can contribute to improve the case of a realist conception of theology in an interesting way. This chapter provides for the second pillar of our synthesized model. The fourth chapter is dedicated to answering the research question on the basis of what has been found in the previous chapters. It proposes a synthesis of the works of Bavinck and Plantinga which leads to the formulation of the Bavinck/Plantinga model of a realist conception of theology. We hold that this model is comprehensive, since it starts with a basic theory of human knowledge and ends with methodological reflections on theology as a science. It is consistent, since its different facets are strongly linked to each other. It is cogent, since it interacts in a constructive way with other contemporary defenses of realism. Finally, it leads to the defense of the role played by theology as a truth-seeking discipline, in church, academy, and society

Die Bankenwahl als ethischer Konsum? Der Entscheidungsprozess von Einleger:innen einer sozialen Bank

Der Ruf nach einer ökologisch, sozial und ökonomisch nachhaltigen Entwicklung der Welt hat in jüngster Zeit dazu geführt, dass es auch im Finanzsektor verstärkt Nachhaltigkeitsbestrebungen gibt. Akteure, welche Nachhaltigkeit bereits seit ihrer Gründung vor über dreissig Jahren in ihrem gesamten Geschäftsmodell berücksichtigen, sind soziale Banken. Sie haben das Potential ihres Marktanteils jedoch noch nicht ausgeschöpft. Damit potentielle Kund:innen vermehrt erreicht werden, wurde in dieser Arbeit geklärt, welche Gründe zur sozialen Bankenwahl führen und wie der Entscheidungsprozess verläuft. Zudem wurde untersucht, ob die soziale Bankenwahl dem häufig beachteten Forschungsfeld des ethischen Konsums entspricht. Basierend auf dem Forschungsstil der Grounded Theory wurden Interviews mit Einleger:innen der Alternativen Bank Schweiz AG geführt und anschliessend analysiert. Dabei zeigte sich, dass Moralvorstellungen, Normen und Werte – wie Nachhaltigkeit und Solidarität – die ursächlichen Bedingungen sind, dass eine soziale Bankenwahl vorgenommen wird. Neben diesen ursächlichen Bedingungen konnten Kontextfaktoren definiert werden, die bestimmen, wann die Auseinandersetzung stattfindet. Der Entscheidungsprozess enthält mehrere Elemente, die bereits in anderen Entscheidungsprozessen identifiziert wurden. Neu ist die Loopstruktur, dass die Einleger:innen fortwährend evaluieren, inwiefern und ob die sozialen Banken ihre Erwartungen erfüllen. Dieser Prozess setzt sich auch nach der Aufnahme der Kund:innenbeziehung fort. Weiter konnte gezeigt werden, dass der Entscheidungsprozess von Einleger:innen sozialer Banken der Definition von ethischem Konsum entspricht. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen können konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen abgeleitet werden, damit die sozialen Banken und potentiellen Kund:innen vermehrt zueinanderfinden. Dazu gehören etwa Marketingmassnahmen in ausgewählten Studiengängen oder das Überprüfen des Angebots hinsichtlich dem Kund:innennutzen

Veränderung der Habitatvielfalt in der Schwall-Sunk-Strecke der Sarine nach dem Bau des Rossens-Staudamms (Kt. FR) : eine GIS-Auswertung historischer Luftbilder

Floodplains are among the world’s most vulnerable ecosystems. In Switzerland, it is estimated that more than 70% of all floodplains have disappeared, and only a few are left in the natural state. More than half of the electricity produced in Switzerland comes from hydroelectric power, and again about 57% of this electricity comes from storage power plants, where fluctuations in the level occur in times of increased power generation. Due to the altered run-off regime, very unstable habitats are created in time and space, and lateral cross-linking decreases, which means that important floodplain habitats are seperated from the river. Within the scope of this Bachelor thesis, the morphological changes of most important floddplain sites in the hydropeaking stretch of the Sarine/Saane were investigated by means of an evaluation of historical aerial images after the construction of the Rossens dam (Kt. FR). The Sense floodplain served as a near-natural reference at Plaffeien (Kt. FR).Auenlandschaften gehören zu den weltweit am meisten gefährdeten Ökosystemen. In der Schweiz sind bis heute schätzungsweise mehr als 70% aller Auenlandschaften verschwunden und von den noch vorhandenen befinden sich nur noch wenige in naturnahem Zustand. Mehr als die Hälfte des in der Schweiz produzierten Stromes stammt aus der Wasserkraft und wiederum ca. 57% dieses Stromes stammt aus Speicherkraftwerken, bei welchen in Zeiten der erhöhten Stromproduktion Pegel- und Abflussschwankungen auftreten können, die als Schwall-Sunk bezeichnet werden. Durch das veränderte Abfluss- und Geschieberegime können zeitlich und räumlich instabile Lebensräume entstehen und wichtige Auenhabitate vom Fliessgewässer abgetrennt werden. Im Rahmen dieser Bachelorarbeit wurde die morphologischen Veränderungen der wichtigsten Auenhabitate in der Schwall-Sunk-Strecke der Sarine/Saane nach dem Bau des Rossens-Staudamms (Kt. FR) mittels einer Auswertung von historischen Luftbildern untersucht. Als naturnahe Referenz diente die Senseaue bei Plaffeien (Kt. FR)

α- and β-Adrenergic receptor mechanisms in spontaneous contractile activity of rat ileal longitudinal smooth muscle

Gastrointestinal motility is influenced by adrenergic modulation. Our aim was to identify specific subtypes of adrenergic receptors involved in inhibitory mechanisms that modulate gut smooth muscle contractile activity. Muscle strips of rat ileal longitudinal muscle were evaluated for spontaneous contractile activity and for equimolar dose-responses (10-7 to 3 x 10-5 M) to the adrenergic agents norepinephrine (nonselective agonist), phenylephrine (α1-agonist), clonidine (α2-agonist), prenalterol (β1-agonist), ritodrine (β2- agonist), and ZD7114 (β3-agonist) in the presence and absence of tetrodotoxin (nonselective nerve blocker). Norepinephrine (3 x 10-5 M) inhibited 65 ± 6% (mean ± SEM) of spontaneous contractile activity. The same molar dose of ritodrine, phenylephrine, or ZD7114 resulted in less inhibition (46 ±7%, 31 ± 5%, and 39 ± 3%, respectively; P < 0.05). The calculated molar concentration of ZD7114 needed to induce 50% inhibition was similar to that of norepinephrine, whereas higher concentrations of phenylephrine or ritodrine were required. Clonidine and prenalterol had no effect on contractile activity. Blockade of intramural neural transmission by tetrodotoxin affected the responses to ritodrine and phenylephrine (but not to norepinephrine or ZD7114), suggesting that these agents exert part of their effects via neurally mediated enteric pathways. Our results suggest that adrenergic modulation of contractile activity in the rat ileum is mediated primarily by muscular β3-, β2-, and α1 -receptor mechanisms; the latter two also involve neural pathway

Vom Ododion zum Smeller 2.0

Literatur besitzt hinsichtlich technischer Entwicklungen eine prognostische Funktion. Dieser Beitrag behandelt anhand einer weitgehend unbekannten literarischen Figuration und eines technischen Objekts das Verhältnis zwischen fiktiven Texten sowie tatsächlichen Erfindungen und stellt damit die Frage, inwiefern Narration auf die apparativen Materialisierungen einwirken kann. Im Fokus steht die Duftorgel, die um 1900 vermehrt in Genres wie der Phantastik und der science fiction auftaucht, aber erst 1996 von Wolfgang Georgsdorf als Instrument realisiert wurde. Mit Hilfe von Gilbert Simondons onto-genealogischer Technikphilosophie wird gezeigt, dass die literarische und technische Existenzweise der Duftorgel in einer genetischen Linie stehen. Dabei erweisen sich die Grammatiken von Musik und Literatur sowohl für die fiktive Erzählung von Duftkunst als auch ihre reale Umsetzung als form- und stoffbildend.Concernant le développement technique, la littérature a une fonction pronostique. À partir d’une figure littéraire méconnue et d’un objet technique, cet article s’intéresse à la relation entre textes fictifs et inventions réelles. Il pose la question de savoir si la narration peut agir sur la matérialisation d’une machine. La machine en question est l’orgue olfactif qui apparut autour de 1900 dans des genres littéraires relevant de la science-fiction ou du fantastique, mais qui ne fut réalisé comme instrument qu’en 1996 par Wolfgang Georgsdorf. La philosophie de la technique de Gilbert Simondon, qui est onto-généalogique, fournit les concepts nécessaires à la démonstration du fait que les modes d’existence littéraire et technique de l’orgue olfactif sont situés sur la même ligne génétique. L’analyse montre également que les grammaires de la musique et de la littérature donnent forme non seulement à la narration de l’art olfactif, mais aussi à l’instrument matérialisé.In consideration of the technical progress, literature has a prognostic function. This article treats on the basis of an unknown literary figuration and a technical device the relations between fictive texts and real inventions and asks which effect has the narration on the materialization of a machine. Topic of this article is the scent organ that appears in genres like Science fiction or Fantasticism around 1900, but has been realized first as instrument 1996 by Wolfgang Georgsdorf. Referring to Gilbert Simondon’s onto-genealogic philosophy of technic, this article points out the genetic line between the literary and technique mode of existence of the scent organ. The grammars of music and literature turn out to be the structures that form and materialize both the fictive tale and the real scent organ

Role of Selective α and β Adrenergic Receptor Mechanisms in Rat Jejunal Longitudinal Muscle Contractility

Gut motility is modulated by adrenergic mechanisms. The aim of our study was to examine mechanisms of selective adrenergic receptors in rat jejunum. Spontaneous contractile activity of longitudinal muscle strips from rat jejunum was measured in 5-ml tissue chambers. Dose-responses (six doses, 10−7-3 × 10−5M) to norepinephrine (NE, nonspecific), phenylephrine (PH, α1), clonidine (C, α2), prenalterol (PR, β1), ritodrine (RI, β2), and ZD7714 (ZD, β3) were evaluated with and without tetrodotoxin (TTX, nerve blocker). NE(3 × 10−5M) inhibited 74 ± 5% (mean ± SEM) of spontaneous activity. This was the maximum effect. The same dose of RI(β2), PH(α1), or ZD(β3) resulted in an inhibition of only 56 ± 5, 43 ± 4, 33 ± 6, respectively. The calculated concentration to induce 50% inhibition (EC50) of ZD(β3) was similar to NE, whereas higher concentrations of PH(α1) or RI(β2) were required. C(α2) and PR(β1) had no effect. TTX changed exclusively the EC50 of RI from 4.4 ± 0.2 to 2.7 ± 0.8% (p < 0.04). Contractility was inhibited by NE (nonspecific). PH(α1), RI(β2), and ZD(β3) mimic the effect of NE. TTX reduced the inhibition by RI. Our results suggest that muscular α1, β2, and β3 receptor mechanisms mediate adrenergic inhibition of contractility in rat jejunum. β2 mechanisms seem to involve also neural pathway

Preconditions of teachers’ collaborative practice: New insights based on time-sampling data

Previous findings on the preconditions of teachers’ collaboration are inconsistent. This might be related to the research methods used to assess the teachers’ collaborative practice. Retrospective assessments by self-report on a relatively general level prevail. The validity of these self-reports is limited, however. In contrast, time-sampling methods have the potential to investigate collaborative practice specifically and longitudinally as a day-to-day process over time validly. But to date, no research on collaborative activities in schools based on time-sampling methods is available. In this study, we extended the current state of research by analysing the variability and preconditions of teachers’ collaboration at four secondary schools over three weeks based on time-sampling data collected by a newly developed online practice log. Recorded were collaborative activities outside of teaching with a focus on administrative and organisational tasks and on school subject-specific tasks. The results revealed that teachers’ collaborative activities varied significantly between weekdays, showing a linear decrease from Monday to Friday, regardless of the content of collaboration. Collaboration that focused on administrative-organisational tasks seemed to be quite stable over the weeks and was hardly influenced by teachers’ individual characteristics. Instead, collaborative activities that focused on school subject-specific tasks varied significantly between weeks; moreover, they were influenced by teachers’ leadership role and gender. The results indicate that rather stable routinised patterns of day-to-day collaboration over the weeks decrease the influence of teachers’ individual characteristics. Hence, by collecting data that is closer to content-specific day-to-day collaborative activities, time-sampling methods can be seen as a driver for new insights