By Gautam Bhatia EQUATOR March 14, 2026 Many years ago, in a Western university that shall remain nameless, I was prescribed an academic article that compared approaches to freedom of expression in the US and Europe. The principle governing constitutional free speech doctrine in the United States, the article grandly proclaimed, was that of “liberty”.… Read More Germany’s erosion of constitutional dignity
The Trump administration is receiving pushback for its celebratory tone in describing the US strikes in Iran. In recent interviews, the president joked that it is ‘more fun’ to sink Iranian warships than to seize them, while the defense secretary boasted that ‘we are punching [the Iranians] while they’re down, which is exactly how it… Read More Trump team treating Iran war as spectacle
There are rules and world leaders must insist they be honoured in practice and in spirit. After this atrocity in Iran, a more effective tribunal for crimes against children is essential Gordon Brown The killing of a reported 168 people, primarily schoolgirls, in the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab in Iran has shaken to… Read More Children killed, a school turned into a graveyard: even in wartime, we can’t accept this
Golestan Palace in Tehran, a world heritage site, and buildings in historic city of Isfahan harmed, despite Unesco sending coordinates Julian Borger and Deepa Parent The governor of the historic Iranian city of Isfahan has accused the US and Israel of a “declaration of war on a civilization” as heritage sites across the country suffer… Read More Dismay as ancient heritage sites across Iran damaged in US-Israel bombing
Donald Trump’s unprovoked war against Iran is denaturing my country…America is already dead. The funeral will come in November, when Trump’s regime takes over the elections. These people, who have committed war crimes, and domestic crimes, and financial crimes, have nothing to lose; you do not commit crimes out in the open like that if… Read More I am ashamed to be an American
NB: The foundational idea of this country is that the genocide of Palestinians is divinely ordained. So many members of the Israeli public is also revelling in the violence. Thus has God been recast as a vampire. We are grateful to Israeli journalists and intellectuals such as Amira Haas for upholding our faith in humanity.… Read More How Israel’s Silent Majority Is Letting West Bank Palestinians Be Driven Out
NB: India’s current ruling establishment does not even have the courage to say, “we will not let you speak becuase we do not like your ideas.” They resort instead to phrasemongering about ‘technical reasons’. Indian democracy is being strangled before our eyes. DS The Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University in Mumbai has cancelled its 16th Neera… Read More SNDT University cancels lecture by feminist historian Uma Chakravarti
Lula’s Chief Advisor discusses the assault on Iran, the concept of multipolarity, and how Brazil can defend its sovereignty in an age of imperial conflict. An interview with Celso Amorim The first months of 2026 have seen a dramatic escalation of imperial violence. The United States kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, threatened to invade Greenland,… Read More A World Without Illusions
Scandal individualises corruption, creating a spectacle that redirects anger away from structural power. By Yoav Litvin After the beginning of Trump’s second term, the connections between capitalism, white supremacy and imperial domination became increasingly clear. These have been highlighted through ICE raids as modern-day slave patrols, global criminal operations such as the kidnapping of Venezuelan… Read More Epstein and the politics of distraction
By Tom Engelhardt I grew up with a vision of a possible instant apocalypse, inspired (if, under the circumstances, such a word can even be used) by the nuclear obliteration of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. It could happen at any moment, even if you were “ducking and covering”… Read More The President of No Return on a Hothouse Planet
After the truth-shower 