Malcolm Coates Writing

        Traveling through Ireland, you can often be forgiven for questioning which country you are in. The green, white, red, and black of the Palestinian flag can be seen flying from houses, bus stops, traffic poles, and public parks. In some ways, this is unremarkable, in that they are flown in London or Berlin, but what adds significance to this is the often accompanied phrase “Two Nations, One Struggle”. It is clear that to many who fly these flags, Ireland’s tortured history is reflected in the cause for a Palestinian state. On the surface, there are striking parallels between these two histories. Both view themselves as underdogs resisting imperial domination. Before 1169, the Irish had an independent, decentralised island that the English claimed and settled, with periodic wars and forced transfers of population and land. Eventually, Ireland was partitioned along religious lines, and Belfast remains divided by forty-five foot “Peace Walls” that separa...

       A few months ago I was in a lecture hall listening to a presentation about using artificial intelligence in classrooms, and the presenter prompted us to pull out our phones and anonymously submit lessons we routinely teach that could incorporate AI. While other teachers were submitting lessons about robotics or life on Mars, I punched in “The Protestant Reformation”, and hit send. When my response appeared on the board, the presenter read it in with a sense of bewilderment - and then mimed as if she was about to vomit. Oh well. The events of the beginning of the sixteenth century in Central Europe might cause most people - even the well educated - to start thinking about their weekend plans as their eyes glaze over, but it matters. My students could explain how it forever divided Christendom, or what we now refer to as “The West”, how it defined Europe’s political boundaries, and how it led to centuries of wars and lasting impacts on the developments of Americ...