The story behind these stories

+ the power of the word 'alien,' maps to fight racial inequality US Edition - Today's top story: Alexei Navalny leads Russians in a historic battle against arbitrary rule, with words echoing Catherine the Great [View in browser]( US Edition | 25 February 2021 [The Conversation]( Academic rigor, journalistic flair The articles you read in The Conversation have a variety of origins. One story this week began with a pitch from a scholar who said, essentially, “Everyone’s talking about Trump and fascism. How about I do an explainer on what fascism really is?” Bingo: Something in the news that needs context and better definition. [We commissioned it](. Other stories originate when an editor gets intrigued by something and sees a possible story in it. That’s what happened to me several weeks ago when Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to prison. I saw something interesting in his statement at the sentencing, and I turned that into what we refer to as a “callout” to scholars, which we send out every morning to our member schools: NAVALNY AND A CITIZEN’S DUTY: In Moscow, Alexei Navalny was just sentenced to 3.5 years in prison (credit for one year served already) on trumped-up charges. He told the court that ‘Everything I’m saying now reflects my attitude toward the performance you’ve staged here. This is what happened when lawlessness and tyranny become the essence of a political system, and it’s horrifying … It’s the duty of every person to defy you and to defy such laws.’ We’d like to commission a story on what the duty of a citizen is under a repressive and tyrannical regime, and what political thinkers/philosophers have said about this. Should every citizen take such actions (even a single mother with five children)? That request got the attention of literary historian Hilde Hoogenboom at Arizona State University. Hoogenboom specializes in Russian cultural history, and she pitched a different approach to the story – a much more interesting one than my idea. In her view, Navalny was using “historically powerful words that speak to all Russians about the illegitimacy of their leaders and government.” I commissioned her to write the story, and [now you can read about how Russians can hear echoes of Catherine the Great and noble Russian authors of the 19th century]( in Navalny’s calls for protest as a civic duty. Naomi Schalit Senior Editor, Politics + Society Women form a human chain on Feb. 14 in central Moscow to support jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his wife Yulia Navalnaya and other political prisoners. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images [Alexei Navalny leads Russians in a historic battle against arbitrary rule, with words echoing Catherine the Great]( Hilde Hoogenboom, Arizona State University Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has proved himself to be a master at summoning citizens to protest government abuses. The very words he chooses to use are part of his power. An early 20th-century NAACP map showing lynchings between 1909 and 1918. The maps were sent to politicians and newspapers in an effort to spur legislation protecting Black Americans. Library of Congress [How Black cartographers put racism on the map of America]( Derek H. Alderman, University of Tennessee; Joshua F.J. Inwood, Penn State Mapping is one way African Americans fight for equality and help each other navigate a racially hostile landscape. A woman places painted rocks at a memorial to those killed in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting. AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee [Why do mass shootings spawn conspiracy theories?]( Michael Rocque, Bates College; Stephanie Kelley-Romano, Bates College When many people believe the government is trying to take away their guns, events that make guns look bad can be misinterpreted as part of that nonexistent plan. - [Australia, fighting Facebook, is the latest country to struggle against foreign influence on journalism]( Vanessa Freije, University of Washington The battle between media companies and foreign governments over who controls the news dates back some 150 years, to when European and US wire services dictated the world's headlines. - [Rev. Raphael Warnock’s historic US Senate win broke more barriers than you may think]( John A. Tures, LaGrange College Rev. Warnock became the first African American to defeat an incumbent senator and the first African American to win a US Senate seat without prior electoral experience. - [Biden’s Cabinet of many women shows other world leaders that US takes gender equality seriously]( John Scherpereel, James Madison University ; Melinda Adams, James Madison University ; Suraj Jacob, Azim Premji University Research shows that when one country – particularly a powerful one – puts more women in power, other nations tend to follow suit. - [From ‘aliens’ to ‘noncitizens’ – the Biden administration is proposing to change a legal term to recognize the humanity of non-Americans]( - [Facebook’s news blockade in Australia shows how tech giants are swallowing the web]( - [What is fascism?]( - [Deported veterans, stranded far from home after years of military service, press Biden to bring them back]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation](. Not interested anymore? 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