Silken Citizenship

A Silken Web

Peter Frankopan, Marie-Louise Nosch & Feng Zhao | Aeon | 18th December 2023

Cloth is, and always had been, political. From the earliest imports of Byzantine and Chinese silks to today’s “fast fashion”, textiles are shaped by far more than just thread. Fabric even haunts our political lanugage (see: “Velvet Revolution” and “Iron Curtain”). “A T-shirt on sale in any shop around the world is the result of a finely meshed web of global collaboration, trade and politics” (5,200 words)

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Selling Citizenship

Marco D’Eramo | Sidecar | 15th December 2023

The world operates on the fiction that all citizenship is equal. In fact, a “birthright lottery” determines your likely lifespan and income based on the strengths and weaknesses of your state of origin. Migrants try to escape this inequality with physical movement, hoping to land in a better life. But for the privileged, better citizenship can simply be purchased like any other commodity (2,050 words)