Author: Dilip

I'm a scholar, writer and teacher; and my blog is designed for intellectual exploration. It carries no advertisements and requires no cash subscription

Cheques and Imbalances: The taming of the Election Commission of India

ERAM AGHA ON THE EVENING of 22 March, there was unusual activity at the Election Commission of India’s headquarters, on Delhi’s Ashoka Road. At about 5 pm, various representatives of opposition parties had started trickling onto the premises. A team of television reporters was already in place. Various leaders of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance… Read More Cheques and Imbalances: The taming of the Election Commission of India

Dilip

Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Student anger in the US, 3 crises — democracy, university, protest

Protests against the war in Gaza across US universities are a sign of a triple crisis: Of liberal democracy, of the university, and paradoxically, of anti-war protests as well The widespread protests against the war in Gaza across dozens of US university campuses, and the unprecedented crackdowns are a sign of a triple crisis: Of… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Student anger in the US, 3 crises — democracy, university, protest

Dilip

The Palestine Exception to Academic Freedom Must Go

GAZA casualties, live statistics NB: Last November, the Harvard Law Review refused to carry an already accepted piece on genocide in Gaza by a Palestinian scholar; without any explanation. The editor, HLR President Apsara Iyer, wrote to the author of the piece, that the decision was ‘not based on your identity or viewpoint.’ Perhaps it was… Read More The Palestine Exception to Academic Freedom Must Go

Dilip

Selling weapons ‘like vacuum cleaners’: Photographer’s look at the bizarre world of global arms fairs. No blood, no bodies

GAZA casualties, live statistics “I think it tells (us) things about this banality of, you can say, the evil… and how we are selling weapons as (if they were) vacuum cleaners,” said Teroyshin. “On the one hand, they tried to make it look perfect with this (gallery-like space) for the exhibition, and on the other… Read More Selling weapons ‘like vacuum cleaners’: Photographer’s look at the bizarre world of global arms fairs. No blood, no bodies

Dilip

Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi sentenced to death for protesting

NB: The brutality of religious tyrants is reminiscent of the medieval Catholic Inquisition. This is disgrace and affront to justice and to humanity. The world is witness to an assault on young people, from Gaza to American campuses, to Iran. Nationalism divides us and makes us blind to the need for human solidarity. Wake up… Read More Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi sentenced to death for protesting

Dilip

American students protest genocide: Police arrest protesters at UT Austin / Columbia, NYU, Yale on the boil over Israel’s war on Gaza / Columbia Law School Faculty Condemn Administration for mass arrests

More than 20 people were arrested Wednesday during a pro-Palestinian protest on UT Austin campus, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. The protest, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee in Austin, was the latest in a wave of demonstrations sweeping college campuses across the U.S. DPS said state troopers were on campus at the request of… Read More American students protest genocide: Police arrest protesters at UT Austin / Columbia, NYU, Yale on the boil over Israel’s war on Gaza / Columbia Law School Faculty Condemn Administration for mass arrests

Dilip

UK and others cut funding to UNRWA but Israel gave NO EVIDENCE of terror links

Hoodwinked: The UK and others cut funding to UNRWA but Israel gave no evidence of terror links between that relief organisation and Hamas. An independent report has just exonerated the United Nations relief agency, which is the main channel of humanitarian support to Palestinians in Gaza and across the Middle East. In fact, the report… Read More UK and others cut funding to UNRWA but Israel gave NO EVIDENCE of terror links

Dilip

The WhatsApp Mafia | Dhruv Rathee

In this video, we explore how “WhatsApp University” influences unwavering loyalty among some citizens towards political leaders, despite personal hardships or evident issues like inflation and misinformation. A poignant discussion on the pervasive impact of misinformation spread through WhatsApp. The video highlights the complex interplay of media, personal belief systems, and political loyalty, encouraging a… Read More The WhatsApp Mafia | Dhruv Rathee

Dilip

‘Very totemic and very Aboriginal’: A family tree going back 65,000 years

Archie Moore’s meticulous genealogy, kith and kin, is a memorial to Indigenous lives lost – but it’s also about global common humanity Australia’s entry at Venice Biennale is a family tree going back 65,000 years For the past two months, in the quiet, darkened room of the Australia pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Bigambul-Kamilaroi artist Archie… Read More ‘Very totemic and very Aboriginal’: A family tree going back 65,000 years

Dilip