Throughout the 20th century, ideological deficiency and disunity of the Third World have resulted in the principles of Bandung and South-South cooperation not fulfilling their historical decolonial objective. This paper seeks to identify The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) as an organization that has developed not only unity amongst its participants in opposing neoliberal (development) logic, but has successfully performed and implemented an alternative decolonial epistemology that seeks to dismantle the colonial matrix sustained by colonial subjects through local and global solidarities. ALBA is analyzed and conceptualized using concepts elaborated by decolonial scholars of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. As a decolonial delinking performance, ALBA proposes an alternative to development project that embodies the spirit of Bandung and principles of South-South Cooperation thereby counterploting the supposed belief that only (western) knowledge systems lead to economic and social development. This (decolonial performance) is noticed in ALBA’s theoretical framework which establishes an alternative regional development project contra the Washington consensus and more explicitly the ethos of Liberal-Capitalism. The last section highlights the epistemological differences between the BRICS and ALBA with the former being identified as de-westernized delinking, and the latter decolonial delinking.

The objective of this manuscript is to reveal that the challenge in understanding the ethical consequences of a post-human condition characterizing trans-humanist ontology is linked to postmodern epistemology lacking any metaphysical and theological essence. The introductory section provides an overview of trans-humanist thought and the concerns deliberated against it at the recent conference titled A.I Ethics: An Abrahamic Commitment to the Rome Call, charting a path ensuring that technological innovations do not undermine the ethical, spiritual, and moral values animating the telos of the human being. The second section traces the philosophical genealogy of trans-humanism from the Age of Reason (i.e., modern epistemology) to our current Age of Feeling (i.e., postmodern epistemology). This section also stresses that the ontology accenting both periods—the death of God and the death of human—is latent in trans-humanist ideology, which seeks to extinguish the quest of knowing God with an ateleological state that crucifies the human in pursuit of worshipping technology. The third section scrutinizes the conceptual framework of trans-humanism by deconstructing concepts structuring its worldview such as Singularity, Artificial Super Intelligence, and the pseudo-religion known as Dataism. Additionally, this section examines how trans-humanist proponents—while adhering to postmodern philosophy—alter the definitions of sacred concepts that exclusively animate a human state of being, such as consciousness, intelligence, and awareness, by anthropomorphizing AI. The final section recalls the wisdom of the Nicomachean Ethics and the Alchemy of Happiness, composed—respectively—by Aristotle and Al-Ghazali. It highlights the immoral significances of choosing to ignore the implications of Dataism and its techno-scientific objectives, which obscure the use of techne in a virtuous manner attaining eudaimonia and the essence of humanness seeking a path—using God-given sensoria—knowledge of Divine Beauty.

For over a decade, scholars of Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) – a subset of terrorism studies identifying with the widening and deepening era of International Relations (IR) – have persuaded scholars of political sociology to push the disciplinary boundaries imposed by Orthodox Terrorism Studies (OTS). OTS academics reify a positivist conceptualization of terrorism that is exclusively theorized using an institutionalized problem-solving approach that wholly perceives perpetrators of terrorism as being non-state actors and (almost) never Northern democratic sovereign state actors. Adopting a critical and reflexive lens to the study of terrorism allows us to highlight the danger of ignoring the increased sanctioning of state sponsored terrorism identified in the militarization of law enforcement agencies after the events of 9/11. The militarized and terroristic pedagogy adopted by law enforcement and other representatives to secure the homeland is noticed in law enforcement agencies re-writing the social contract by presuming civilians as threats to national security thus ejecting them from the body politic. The paper concludes by proposing that we identify university institutions as educational spaces that provide an opportune site to develop an oppositional critical pedagogy (OCP) ushering a demilitarized culture and social emancipation. The development of an OCP to militarization works in tandem with CTS contesting and immanently critiquing societal militarization by opposing educational spaces becoming sites that (re)produce and sanctify terroristic/warfare state actions which impede on the rights of citizens enshrined in the democratic experience of modern northern liberal states.

International Relations and International Law continue to be accented by epistemic violence by naturalizing a separation between law and morality. What does such positivist juridical ethos make possible when considering that both disciplines reify a secular (immanent) ontology? International Law, Necropolitics, and Arab Lives emphasizes that positivist jurisprudence (re)conquered Arabia by subjugating Arab life to the power of death using extrajudicial techniques of violence seeking the implementation of a "New Middle East" that is no longer "resistant to Latin-European modernity", but amenable to such exclusionary telos. The monograph goes beyond the limited remonstration asserting that the problématique with both disciplines is that they are primarily "Eurocentric". Rather, the epistemic inquiry uncovers that legalizing necropower is necessary for the temporal coherence of secular-modernity since a humanitarian logic masks sovereignty inherently being necropolitical by categorizing Arab-Islamic epistemology as an internal-external enemy from which national(ist) citizenship must be defended. This creates a sense of danger around which to unite "modern" epistemology whilst reinforcing the purity of a particular ontology at the expense of banning and de-humanizing a supposed impure Arab refugee. This book will be of interest to graduate students, scholars, and finally, practitioners of international relations, political theory, philosophical theology, and legal-theory.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped film consumption patterns in China, driving a notable transition from traditional theatres to over-the-top (OTT) platforms. This study investigates the factors influencing post-pandemic cinephile preferences, particularly the interplay between OTT platforms and traditional cinema-going platforms. The surge in online streaming, boosted by pandemic-induced restrictions, has been critical with regional giants such as iQIYI restyling Chinese entertainment traditions. This research aims to uncover the determinants guiding cinephile choices by analysing demographic variables, technological advancements and consumption patterns. Through a survey in Tier II cities, data from 656 participants were analysed to determine the OTT platform and cinema usage. The findings reveal nuanced trends: females slightly favour OTT platforms, while males prefer traditional cinemas. Young adults aged 21 to 25 years are the most active users of both platforms, with education level slightly affecting usage. Smartphone usage is widespread, with 70% accessing OTT platforms via mobile. While 40% view OTT platforms as challenging traditional cinemas, 65% view OTT platforms in the future. Key factors influencing future cinema-going include OTT platform accessibility and time constraints—over 80% expressed satisfaction with their cinema experiences, with peak seasons significantly impacting ticket prices. Comedy, drama and action genres were most popular among cinemagoers, each with over 60% preference. These findings imply that the future of film consumption in China will likely be shaped by the balance and integration of OTT platforms and traditional cinema experiences.