First posted May 05, 2013 NB: My review of Pandita’s book was posted on May 4, 2013, on the online journal North East Review. DS Superflous people Normal men don’t know that everything is possible: David Rousset, The Other Kingdom Rahul Pandita, Our Moon has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits Random House India, Noida, 2013 Introduction… Read More Superflous people: Rahul Pandita’s ‘Our Moon has blood clots’
The Indian government has brought in new rules that allow it to cancel pensions of retired bureaucrats who have served as high-ranking officers in some of the most coveted government jobs… Julio Ribeiro, a retired police officer said the new rules send the message that an officer should “not speak up and be pliant”. “They… Read More IAS, IPS and IFoS: Is India stifling criticism by retired bureaucrats?
About one in seven people in the UK now take medication to treat depression but some say they are not being given appropriate advice about the potential side-effects of the drugs they have been prescribed. By Anton Ferrie Seonaid Stallan’s son Dylan was a teenager when he began receiving treatment for body dysmorphia and depression.… Read More Antidepressants: I wasn’t told about the side-effects
William Astore I still remember how, soon after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush boasted that this country had “the greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known.” I also remember how, in a pep talk given to U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2010, President Barack Obama declared them “the finest fighting force that the world has… Read More Perpetual wars and the ‘greatest fighting force in human history’
Arkansas Republican State Representative Stephen Meeks’ wife Jennifer Meeks is receiving backlash after setting out to replace free neighborhood books with Bibles, Newsweek reports. Faulkner County Coalition for Social Justice (FCCSJ) recently called out the congressman’s wife via Facebook, saying “she has been busy posting about the little free libraries across Faulkner County and the ‘group of leftist[s],… Read More Arkansas GOP rep’s wife shredded for ‘swapping’ library books with Bibles
Daniel Johnson on the life and work of Max Weber, whose controversial views on democracy still resonate today First posted August 28, 2020 As a young freelance of my acquaintance, exceptionally gifted, tells me that she has abandoned journalism in favour of a teaching post at a university. “I don’t think I’d be able to… Read More Daniel Johnson: Myths of the Prophet Max
John Bartlett in Santiago Days before Salvador Allende’s confirmation as Chile’s president in 1970, US President Richard Nixon met with a rightwing Chilean media mogul to discuss blocking the socialist leader’s path to the presidency, newly declassified documents have revealed. The documents, published in a new Spanish edition of the Pinochet files by archivist and writer Peter Kornbluh, include… Read More Files reveal Nixon’s role in plot to block Allende from Chilean presidency
I value George Orwell’s writing for his devotion to truthfulness and his recognition of all the ways that truths get corrupted. This is why, even if his private mores are of his time, his public writing still gives us tools to think about ours. By Rebecca Solnit The feminist writer Moira Donegan recently mocked contemporary social… Read More George Orwell in an age of moralists
QUESTIONING THE demolition drive in Nuh following communal violence last week, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Monday asked whether properties of a “particular community” were targeted “under the guise of a law and order problem”, and an “exercise of ethnic cleansing” was being conducted. Pointing to reports that demolition orders and notices were not… Read More Is Nuh demolition targeting a particular community? Punjab and Haryana HC
If, as a teacher, you become overly cautious before you utter a word, if you worry that a student is recording your lecture, or the administration is continually monitoring your every move, how can you teach Marx, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Tagore, Iqbal, Manto and Premchand freely, spontaneously and creatively? Avijit Pathak The primary reason I could… Read More After Pune teacher’s arrest: Fear and surveillance in the classroom
After the truth-shower 