Introduction

Inside Issue 5: New and Forthcoming

(Ukrainians rallying for freedom — credit: ABC News)

UPDATED (4-5-22): Vladimir Putin has directed some 190,000 Russian military personnel (land, sea, and air) to first threaten and then attack the people of Ukraine. This unprovoked assault was accompanied by predictable threats from Putin: “No matter who tries to stand in our way . . . they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history,” he said. And as if to up the aggressive ante, he added: “Today’s Russia remains one of the most powerful nuclear states.” On the financial front, the global chief investment officer at Credit Suisse declared “that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks nothing less than [an attempted] shift away from the largely US/Western-dominated world order that has prevailed since the fall of the Berlin Wall . . . .”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (credit: Bloomberg)

As the war against the Ukrainian people escalated, 4.5 million refugees have been forced to leave Ukraine by early April. In many ways, it was reminiscent of September 1, 1939, when the German army under Hitler launched an invasion of Poland. Here again, power, greed, and the quest for “greatness” informed Putin’s actions – it was a case of history repeating itself . . . of force manifesting its terrifying presence.


PFVMH volunteer Victoria Kramarenko, a burn-nurse specialist  (credit: NY Post, Hollie McKay)

Here are some organizations that are raising money and have the capability and capacity to deliver humanitarian aid and other assistance to people fleeing the conflict, or those that are wounded by it:

  • The Razom Emergency Response fundraiser was created to provide urgent help and support in face of extreme and unforeseen situations in Ukraine.  Right now they are purchasing medical supplies for critical situations like blood loss and other tactical medicine items. 
  • United Help Ukraine is working to provide life-saving individual first aid kits (IFAKs) containing blood-stopping bandages and tourniquets and other emergency medical supplies to the front lines and is cooperating with other emergency response organizations to prepare humanitarian aid to civilians that might be directly affected by Russia’s attack.
  • UNHCR is working with the authorities, the United Nations and other partners in Ukraine and is ready to provide humanitarian assistance wherever necessary and possible. 

Мужньому народу України-Хай живе ваша свобода! Нехай зло гнобителів переможе їх. Слава Україні.

Sample of what is Forthcoming in the Next Issue

  • A Q&A interview with Malcolm Barber, author of The Cathars: Dualist Heritics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages (Routledge, 2nd ed, 2013).
  • (Abstract: “In the second half of the twelfth century, the Catholic Church became convinced that dualist heresy was taking root within Christian society and that it was particularly strong in southern France. The nature and extent of this heresy and the reaction of the Church to the perceived threat have been the focus of extensive research since the mid-nineteenth century, research which has become especially intense in the last decade. Malcolm Barber’s second edition of The Cathars (which first appeared in 2000) brings readers up-to-date with the challenges to previous conclusions of recent scholarship. At the same time, the wider implications of the subject remain relevant, most importantly the fundamental questions raised by the belief in the existence of evil, the ethical problems presented by the use of coercion to suppress forms of dissent believed to threaten the social and religious fabric, and the distortion of the past to underpin present-day policies and arguments.”)

Notable News: Today and Tomorrow

In the months to come, Attention will focus on issues of great international importance and how such issues relate to Weil’s thought. To that end, the hope is to secure new contributors from around the world to comment on these matters. Ideas and suggestions are welcome (send here).

For now, we urge our readers to reflect upon a recent U.N. panel report titled “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.” The Working Group’s Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change.

New in This Issue

New and Forthcoming Books

Simone Weil’s report for the Free French, which was published posthumously in French in 1949 under the title The Need for Roots, was released to English-speaking readers in 1952, translation by Arthur Wills (P. Putnam’s Sons). Recall that T.S. Eliot, the poet, and playwright, wrote the introduction to the English edition.

Later this year a new edition will be released replete with a new translation by a noted translator and a new introduction by a tutorial fellow in Philosophy and Christian Ethics at Oxford University.

On a related front, also scheduled for publication this year is A Declaration of Duties Toward Humankind: A Critical Companion to Simone Weil’s The Need for Roots (Carolina Academic Press, 2022), edited by Eric Springsted and Ronald Collins.

Early this summer, Silvia Caprioglio Panizza, who translated Weil’s Venice Saved with Philip Wilson, will soon release her own book on Weil and Iris Murdoch.

Forthcoming Event

Recent Events Abroad

UK Simone Weil Research Network

New Articles

Deborah Casewell

New Videos: Documentary and Commentaries

Newly Posted Video

New Book Review Essay & Book Review

Rush Rhees

Newly Added: Select Comments

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