First posted May 27, 2012 Out of the mass experience of pointless death, a new way of speaking and writing, devoid of euphemism, arose, a plain style we associate with Hemingway.. The Great War chronicles the loss of the old rhetoric, of high pieties, of sacrifice and roseate dawns, in favor of “blood, terror, agony, madness, shit,… Read More Paul Fussell, ex-soldier, literary scholar & critic of war (1924-2012)
While the BJP may not be able to write off Narendra Modi just as yet, the party seems to have realised that he is past his peak, and his brand value has eroded Bharat Bhushan In Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed, “We have finished Modi psychologically. I sit in front of him in… Read More Weakened Modi no longer BJP’s election mascot
The moral distinction between liberal democracies and dictatorships is being flattened by the carnage in Gaza Suhas Chakma For most of human history human rights did not exist. The struggle to secure them arguably began in 1215 with the Magna Carta in England, which promised protection from illegal imprisonment as a right. But it took another 733… Read More Human rights are disappearing before our eyes
Under Xi, the ruling Communist Party has vowed to eradicate “historical nihilism” — or any views that question or challenge its official version of history, including glorified images of sanctified national heroes.China passed a law in 2018 banning any insult or slander of national “heroes and martyrs,” including military personnel. The offense was added to… Read More An artist made scathing sculptures of Mao over a decade ago. Now, he’s detained for slandering China’s heroes, family says
Dear friends, We are happy to announce our Teachers Day special online talk for school students, teachers, and parents from Smt. Indrani Balan Science Activity Centre, IISER Pune. Thursday, September 5, 2024; Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Title – शिक्षक दिवस: गरीब बच्चों की पढ़ाई – कुछ प्रयोग Speaker: Arvind Gupta (Renowned Science Communicator… Read More शिक्षक दिवस: गरीब बच्चों की पढ़ाई – कुछ प्रयोग
Civil servants cannot pledge to defend our Constitution and secular democracy and at the same time owe allegiance to an organisation that stands for Hindu Rashtra Constitutional Conduct Group We, former civil servants and members of the Constitutional Conduct Group, write to express our profound concern about the implications for secular democracy of the recent… Read More A violation of the Constitution
The scale of the silicosis crisis in India is staggering. A report by the Indian Council of Medical Research in 1999 estimated that, apart from 5.4 million construction workers, 3 million workers in other industries were at high risk of silica exposure. These figures are already over two decades old, but exact current estimates are… Read More Choking to Death
For those interested, here are some materials and documentaries related to the world’s worst war A New History of the Second World War Was Vichy France a Puppet Government or a Willing Nazi Collaborator? The Second World War Remember this lady. In memory of Irena Sendler Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Clara Zetkin: Fascism must be defeated (1932) Traute Lafrenz,… Read More September 3 marks the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War
First posted May 22, 2015 The historian Antony Beevor tells Keith Lowe why his next book will confront one of the last taboos of the Second World War Antony Beevor has sleepless nights. When I met him recently at his west London home, he confessed this in a matter-of-fact way, and neither of us sees… Read More Antony Beevor on the history of the second world war: ‘There are things that are too horrific to put in a book’
Carole Cadwalladr It was a breaking news alert to lift the spirits and make the heart sing. A tech billionaire arrested as he stepped off his private jet and detained by the French authorities. Happy days! Because while the UK police have been charging individuals who incited violence online during this summer’s riots, the man who helped to fuel… Read More Elon Musk and his tech bros-in-arms are winning the global battle for the truth
After the truth-shower 