Willy De Backer BE
@art4theark.bsky.social
Former EU journalist exploring interconnected crises reshaping our world. Digging into social-ecological security, planetary health, & justice within web of life. Deep-time optimist, envisioning posthuman futures beyond civilisation's current trajectory.
"as collective illusions of progress crumble, we are not responding with innovative solutions but retreating into what he terms 'regressive illusions': backward-looking fantasies that quite often masquerade as progressive ideals." -
www.collectiveinkbooks.com/iff-books/ou...
www.collectiveinkbooks.com/iff-books/ou...
August 10, 2025 at 12:13 PM
"as collective illusions of progress crumble, we are not responding with innovative solutions but retreating into what he terms 'regressive illusions': backward-looking fantasies that quite often masquerade as progressive ideals." -
www.collectiveinkbooks.com/iff-books/ou...
www.collectiveinkbooks.com/iff-books/ou...
Two new books arrived on my reading table ☺️ - looking forward to reading the latest @amitav.bsky.social Wild Fictions and Katherine Hayles' Bacteria to AI
May 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Two new books arrived on my reading table ☺️ - looking forward to reading the latest @amitav.bsky.social Wild Fictions and Katherine Hayles' Bacteria to AI
Great article & thread 👇 @peterfrankopan.bsky.social - how the #pharmaceutical industry and its clients (all of us) are transforming our rivers into toxic monsters
@ecodenker.bsky.social
@ecodenker.bsky.social
May 14, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Great article & thread 👇 @peterfrankopan.bsky.social - how the #pharmaceutical industry and its clients (all of us) are transforming our rivers into toxic monsters
@ecodenker.bsky.social
@ecodenker.bsky.social
'The Ends of the Worlds' by @peterbrannen.bsky.social should be added to this great list @mikeshanahan.bsky.social
May 1, 2025 at 7:52 AM
'The Ends of the Worlds' by @peterbrannen.bsky.social should be added to this great list @mikeshanahan.bsky.social
Great post by @noahpinion.blogsky.venki.dev on our dark authoritarian future
www.noahpinion.blog/p/welcome-to...
www.noahpinion.blog/p/welcome-to...
May 1, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Great post by @noahpinion.blogsky.venki.dev on our dark authoritarian future
www.noahpinion.blog/p/welcome-to...
www.noahpinion.blog/p/welcome-to...
President Trump's obsession with a #Greenland Grab reveals how eerily prophetic German author Alfred #Döblin's 1924 science fiction epic "Berge, Meere und Giganten" remains today.
Read my LinkedIn post www.linkedin.com/pulse/greenl...
@lizmiller.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
Read my LinkedIn post www.linkedin.com/pulse/greenl...
@lizmiller.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
April 1, 2025 at 7:57 AM
President Trump's obsession with a #Greenland Grab reveals how eerily prophetic German author Alfred #Döblin's 1924 science fiction epic "Berge, Meere und Giganten" remains today.
Read my LinkedIn post www.linkedin.com/pulse/greenl...
@lizmiller.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
Read my LinkedIn post www.linkedin.com/pulse/greenl...
@lizmiller.bsky.social @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social
With the authoritarian turn, geopolitical disorder, wars, and ecological overshoot, are we on the cusp of a 'third' #modernity or heading for its ultimate end? Read my new LinkedIn post trying to make sense of our interregnum
www.linkedin.com/pulse/game-m...
www.linkedin.com/pulse/game-m...
March 27, 2025 at 7:15 AM
With the authoritarian turn, geopolitical disorder, wars, and ecological overshoot, are we on the cusp of a 'third' #modernity or heading for its ultimate end? Read my new LinkedIn post trying to make sense of our interregnum
www.linkedin.com/pulse/game-m...
www.linkedin.com/pulse/game-m...
"... es ist gegen die Masse nichts zu machen. Ihre Trägheit ist stärker als wir. Wenn die Stunde kommt, gehorchen sie wieder, nehmen ihre Gewehre und Schießen für den Kaiser und König. Sie wollen’s nicht anders. … Die Feigheit sitzt ihnen in den Knochen. Und damit rechnen die regierenden Verbrecher"
January 28, 2025 at 1:22 PM
"... es ist gegen die Masse nichts zu machen. Ihre Trägheit ist stärker als wir. Wenn die Stunde kommt, gehorchen sie wieder, nehmen ihre Gewehre und Schießen für den Kaiser und König. Sie wollen’s nicht anders. … Die Feigheit sitzt ihnen in den Knochen. Und damit rechnen die regierenden Verbrecher"
Is this a relaxed way of dealing with democracy? @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social
January 23, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Is this a relaxed way of dealing with democracy? @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social
Does the EU need a #competitiveness compass in an increasingly interconnected & dangerous world? Maybe an EU Security Risks compass would be more appropriate.
Read the Foresight Brief by Christophe Degryse @etui.bsky.social
www.etui.org/publications... -
Read the Foresight Brief by Christophe Degryse @etui.bsky.social
www.etui.org/publications... -
November 28, 2024 at 2:15 PM
Does the EU need a #competitiveness compass in an increasingly interconnected & dangerous world? Maybe an EU Security Risks compass would be more appropriate.
Read the Foresight Brief by Christophe Degryse @etui.bsky.social
www.etui.org/publications... -
Read the Foresight Brief by Christophe Degryse @etui.bsky.social
www.etui.org/publications... -
History repeats itself - first as tragedy, then as farce
- a visual scare story 4/
- a visual scare story 4/
November 14, 2024 at 1:49 PM
History repeats itself - first as tragedy, then as farce
- a visual scare story 4/
- a visual scare story 4/
History repeats itself - first as tragedy, then as farce
- a visual scare story 3/
- a visual scare story 3/
November 14, 2024 at 1:49 PM
History repeats itself - first as tragedy, then as farce
- a visual scare story 3/
- a visual scare story 3/
History repeats itself - first as tragedy, then as farce
- a visual scare story 2/
- a visual scare story 2/
November 14, 2024 at 1:49 PM
History repeats itself - first as tragedy, then as farce
- a visual scare story 2/
- a visual scare story 2/
History repeats itself - first as tragedy, then as farce
- a visual scare story 1/
- a visual scare story 1/
November 14, 2024 at 1:49 PM
History repeats itself - first as tragedy, then as farce
- a visual scare story 1/
- a visual scare story 1/
Magical start of the new novel ‘Playground’ by Richard Powers - a journey into the big oceans, deep time and the ‘small’ human who thinks he is the real god of creation
September 26, 2024 at 12:09 PM
Magical start of the new novel ‘Playground’ by Richard Powers - a journey into the big oceans, deep time and the ‘small’ human who thinks he is the real god of creation
Finished the 2nd volume of Alfred #Döblin's monumental historical trilogy about the November 1918 revolution & how it prepared the way for Nazism - this book (A people betrayed) focuses on the betrayal of the revolution by Friedrich Ebert and the social democrats
www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel...
www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel...
September 9, 2024 at 1:43 PM
Finished the 2nd volume of Alfred #Döblin's monumental historical trilogy about the November 1918 revolution & how it prepared the way for Nazism - this book (A people betrayed) focuses on the betrayal of the revolution by Friedrich Ebert and the social democrats
www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel...
www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel...
'Die Zeit würgte aus sich heraus, was sie in sich hatte. Blieb abzuwarten, ob sie davon gesund wurde.'
('Time vomited what was in its belly. It remained to be seen whether that would make it well again')
Alfred #Döblin - November 1918 Vol 2 'A People Betrayed'
('Time vomited what was in its belly. It remained to be seen whether that would make it well again')
Alfred #Döblin - November 1918 Vol 2 'A People Betrayed'
August 6, 2024 at 12:34 PM
'Die Zeit würgte aus sich heraus, was sie in sich hatte. Blieb abzuwarten, ob sie davon gesund wurde.'
('Time vomited what was in its belly. It remained to be seen whether that would make it well again')
Alfred #Döblin - November 1918 Vol 2 'A People Betrayed'
('Time vomited what was in its belly. It remained to be seen whether that would make it well again')
Alfred #Döblin - November 1918 Vol 2 'A People Betrayed'
RIP Shelly Duvall - with sissy Spacek one of the greatest movie actresses of the great 1970s - her best movies with Robert Altman
July 12, 2024 at 10:51 AM
RIP Shelly Duvall - with sissy Spacek one of the greatest movie actresses of the great 1970s - her best movies with Robert Altman
Pop visionary - 50 years ago! (in May 1974) David #Bowie released his 8th studio Album 'Diamond Dogs' - 'This ain't rock'n'roll, this is genocide' - the Thin White Duke predicted our current global polycrisis & its societal decay
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond...
May 1, 2024 at 1:42 PM
Pop visionary - 50 years ago! (in May 1974) David #Bowie released his 8th studio Album 'Diamond Dogs' - 'This ain't rock'n'roll, this is genocide' - the Thin White Duke predicted our current global polycrisis & its societal decay
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond...
I started reading Olga Tokarczuk's fantastic magnum opus 'The Books of Jacob' - RadioFrance made an interesting podcast on this 1000 pages monument of modern literature
April 29, 2024 at 2:02 PM
I started reading Olga Tokarczuk's fantastic magnum opus 'The Books of Jacob' - RadioFrance made an interesting podcast on this 1000 pages monument of modern literature
The 1995 novel 'The Calcutta Chromosome' by @amitav.bsky.social is generally regarded as Indian sci-fi, but I think it is much more. Although a great page-turner, the novel is quite complex as behind the story of the science of malaria lies a whole philosophical reflection on 'knowledge systems'
April 23, 2024 at 9:28 AM
The 1995 novel 'The Calcutta Chromosome' by @amitav.bsky.social is generally regarded as Indian sci-fi, but I think it is much more. Although a great page-turner, the novel is quite complex as behind the story of the science of malaria lies a whole philosophical reflection on 'knowledge systems'
Spotlight on British filmmaker John Boorman, whose 70s & 80s movies made me reflect on patriarchy & power ('Deliverance' 1972), post-apocalyptic modernism ('Zardoz' 1974), myth & magic ('Excalibur' 1981), nature vs. civilization ('The Emerald Forest' 1985), history & memory ('Hope and Glory' 1987)
April 9, 2024 at 8:02 AM
Spotlight on British filmmaker John Boorman, whose 70s & 80s movies made me reflect on patriarchy & power ('Deliverance' 1972), post-apocalyptic modernism ('Zardoz' 1974), myth & magic ('Excalibur' 1981), nature vs. civilization ('The Emerald Forest' 1985), history & memory ('Hope and Glory' 1987)
I am discovering Alfred Döblin's 'Bürger und Soldaten' (1st book of the November 1918 tetralogy, the historical epic of Germany's failed revolution after WW1 - as brilliant as his Berlin Alexanderplatz
beyond-alexanderplatz.com/november-1918/
beyond-alexanderplatz.com/november-1918/
April 4, 2024 at 7:47 PM
I am discovering Alfred Döblin's 'Bürger und Soldaten' (1st book of the November 1918 tetralogy, the historical epic of Germany's failed revolution after WW1 - as brilliant as his Berlin Alexanderplatz
beyond-alexanderplatz.com/november-1918/
beyond-alexanderplatz.com/november-1918/
Finished my 3rd reading of Emily #Brontë's Wuthering Heights - most people remember this as the passionate love story between Catherine Earnshaw & Heathcliff, but the actual theme of the novel is human & more-than-human entanglement as well as the tales we tell to understand this interconnectedness
March 25, 2024 at 4:31 PM
Finished my 3rd reading of Emily #Brontë's Wuthering Heights - most people remember this as the passionate love story between Catherine Earnshaw & Heathcliff, but the actual theme of the novel is human & more-than-human entanglement as well as the tales we tell to understand this interconnectedness
17 March - 98 years ago today, saw the birth of German author Siegfried Lenz - his 1968 novel Deutschstunde and his short stories (esp. Jäger des Spotts) are absolute masterpieces.
March 17, 2024 at 9:41 AM
17 March - 98 years ago today, saw the birth of German author Siegfried Lenz - his 1968 novel Deutschstunde and his short stories (esp. Jäger des Spotts) are absolute masterpieces.