Rouven J. Steeves Introduction: “The Light Shines in the Darkness . . .“ The study of politics presupposes the study of man. The study of man demands we consider the nature of being as ensouled flesh. This leads us into the realm of philosophy and, by extension, given that we are interested in man as… Read More Psychologists of Evil: Nietzsche and Dostoevsky on the Darkness of the Soul
Rohini Hensman Introduction Myth and reality are intertwined in accounts of how Buddhism was brought to Sri Lanka. According to the Mahavamsa, a 6th century CE epic, the Buddha himself visited Lanka on three occasions, but this myth has effectively been demolished by scholars[1]. There is more evidence for the story that in the third century BCE, when Ashoka ruled… Read More Sinhala Buddhist Nationalism & Women In Sri Lanka
Bharat Bhushan Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) talks up its promise of “Viksit Bharat” (Developed India), it increasingly looks like a party of turncoats. The BJP has tended to drop 20 to 30 per cent of sitting legislators in every election to counter anti-incumbency. But why is it filling these vacancies with defectors from the… Read More The BJP and political turncoats
Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, April 6, 2024 BOOKS: IMAGE & SOUND: Editor’s Picks
An unprecedented leap of 38.5C in the coldest place on Earth is a harbinger of a disaster for humans and the local ecosystem On 18 March, 2022, scientists at the Concordia research station on the east Antarctic plateau documented a remarkable event. They recorded the largest jump in temperature ever measured at a meteorological centre on Earth.… Read More ‘Simply mind-boggling’: record temperature jump in Antarctic raises fears of catastrophe
Bechan Baba has dedicated his life to Varanasi’s Anarwali mosque, where Hindus and Muslims come to pray – despite the historical disputes raging outside Jyoti Thakur and Hanan Zaffar in Varanasi In the heart of Varanasi, where the sacred Ganges meanders by and incense smoke mingles with the faint echoes of prayers from a myriad… Read More The Hindu caretaker and his mosque: symbol of harmony amid India’s religious discord
* (Coverpage Artwork Credits: Yuri Annenkov – Portrait of Boris Pasternak (1921)) Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, March 30, 2024 BOOKS: IMAGE & SOUND: Editor’s Picks:
By shutting the door to any peaceful resolution and leaving no other option for Palestinians, Israel created its own nemesis in Hamas. GAZA casualties live statistics Hamas, like all resistance groups, from the African National Congress to The Irish Republic Army, are as demonized as they are misunderstood. Hamas is a religious, nationalist political movement.… Read More The Chris Hedges Report: Hamas: How Israel Created Its Own Nemesis
ARZU GEYBULLAYEVA ( Globalvoices.org ) – Turkey’s local elections which took place on March 31, will go down in history as one of its most surprising. Turkey’s demoralized opposition, namely the [secular] Republican People’s Party (CHP), dominated in what many pundits described as the ruling [center-right] Justice and Development Party’s worst defeat of its 22-year existence. For the first time since 1977, the CHP took… Read More Secular Opposition Crushes Islamist AKP in Turkey’s Local Elections
For Bernard Stiegler, a visionary philosopher of our digital age, technics is the defining feature of human experience Bryan Norton It has become almost impossible to separate the effects of digital technologies from our everyday experiences. Reality is parsed through glowing screens, unending data feeds, biometric feedback loops, digital protheses and expanding networks that link… Read More Our tools shape our selves
After the truth-shower 