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

‘We are seen as less human’: inside Marseille’s districts abandoned by the police / Rokhaya Diallo on police racism

Mark Townsend in Marseille Little more than 12 hours before the police killing of a 17-year-old boy 500 miles north in Nanterre would convulse the country, scores of officers clutching assault rifles and bulletproof riot shields clashed with teenagers of north African descent, trading insults as officers profiled potential troublemakers. Wassida Kessaci had decided not to join the crowd… Read More ‘We are seen as less human’: inside Marseille’s districts abandoned by the police / Rokhaya Diallo on police racism

Dilip

History and revolution in Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle

the spectacle is the guardian of sleep: Guy Debord Tom Bunyard The Society of the Spectacle was written, as Guy Debord once put it, ‘with the deliberate intention of doing harm to spectacular society.’ Following the book’s publication in 1967, he and the Situationist International (SI) declared that it sought ‘nothing other than to overthrow… Read More History and revolution in Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle

Dilip

Shocking cases of domestic violence are leading young Chinese to question marriage

By Nectar Gan, CNN A series of high-profile domestic violence cases in China, including a killing carried out in broad daylight that was captured on video and circulated widely on social media, has sparked outrage – and reignited a debate among young people about the pitfalls of marriage. The killing in the eastern province of Shandong… Read More Shocking cases of domestic violence are leading young Chinese to question marriage

Dilip

Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law

Reviewed by Aziz Rana Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law (CUP, 2021) At the heart of the post-World War II international order was a legitimating narrative premised on the idea that the world system was no longer imperial; it had now become a community of equal states. This meant that international law established… Read More Ntina Tzouvala, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law

Dilip

Manipur vs Kashmir: Different strokes for different folks

Only political leadership can bring about peace in Manipur; but, the Modi government and the BJP are hog-tied by having links with both camps engaged in the violence. Bharat Bhushan Since ethnic violence began in Manipur two months ago nearly 50,000 people have been displaced, nearly 130 lives lost, and hundreds injured from both the… Read More Manipur vs Kashmir: Different strokes for different folks

Dilip

Modi preaching peace abroad as Manipur burns reinforces historical alienation of the North East

NB: Is India an empire? The British Raj certainly was, and the RSS/BJP ideologues who constantly denouce the Macaulay tradition in education; don’t seem to mind the continuance of colonial police codes and the divide and rule method of governance. Do they imagine that a combination of communal ideology and colonial policing will keep them… Read More Modi preaching peace abroad as Manipur burns reinforces historical alienation of the North East

Dilip