In 1999, the Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser came across Wang Lixiong’s book “Sky Burial: The Fate of Tibet.” On finishing it, she sent Mr. Wang photographs taken by her father, who was with the People’s Liberation Army when it entered Tibet in the 1950s and documented the early years of the Cultural Revolution in Lhasa in the 1960s.… Read More The Cultural Revolution in Tibet: A Photographic Record. By LUO SILING
Slavoj Zizek is a Slovenian graphomaniac who infuriates some of the world’s most annoying people, and might for this reason alone be cherished. He once enjoyed a high degree of pop-philosophical notoriety, being blamed by pundits who had clearly never read his books for the scourge of pomo relativism that threatened to undermine the ‘moral… Read More Slavoj Zizek: the philosopher who annoys all the right people
Sir – In order to discourage confusions which have been constantly occurring, we beg herewith to state that neither of us is the other. Yours & c.,Russell (Bertrand, Earl Russell)Russell of Liverpool (Lord Russell of Liverpool) One of the stranger sights on the University College London campus is the clothed skeleton of the utilitarian philosopher… Read More The delights of mischief
NB: Iran’s vicious theocracy has never withdrawn the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. The practice of placing monetary rewards on persons heads, i.e., offering money for death, is repulsive and barbaric, no matter who does it. Contract killings are murder, and to for so-called believers to claim this is done for Almighty God is despicable. God… Read More Salman Rushdie has again instructed us in a profound lesson: great literature will always be a matter of life and death
The history of India is essentially a history of Bihar”, announced ‘comrade’ Daleep Singh, my Gandhian-Socialist colleague, as soon as he heard about Nitish Kumar’s decision to dump Bharatiya Janata Party and join hands with Rashtriya Janata Dal to form a new government. Enjoying his kite flying, he continued: “Ever since the days of Buddha, every major… Read More Yogendra Yadav: Bihar coup that changed India’s political landscape
Lisa-Maria Kellermayr, an Austrian GP, was a doctor who dedicated her life to her patients and was vocal about the risks of Covid-19 on Twitter and in the media. She had endured months of death threats from Covid conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. Colleagues expressed frustration with the lack of support she received for dealing with… Read More Devi Sridhar: A scientist in the public eye has taken her own life. This has to be a wake-up call
The Soviet Union lasted less than 75 years even if reckoned from 1917. Independent India has now crossed that threshold and that is a reason for satisfaction. The Indian experiment has been no less bold than the Soviet if only because the challenges it has faced have been at least equally profound. Both Russia and… Read More Anil Nauriya: 75 Years of Independent India
Sir Salman Rushdie remains on a ventilator after being attacked onstage at an event in western New York state on Friday morning. Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and torso as he was about to give a lecture in western New York. Rushdie, 75, was… Read More Salman Rushdie on ventilator after being stabbed onstage at New York state event
there are indications that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia may have had prior knowledge that the coup d’etat would take place. Both countries recognised the “Islamic Republic of Bangladesh” very soon after Mujib’s death. Clearly, this represented some level of coordination between Islamabad and Riyadh. The coincidence is simply too coincidental… Lawrence Lifschultz has been writing… Read More Conversation with Lawrence Lifschultz (2014): The reporter who investigated the assassination of Mujibur Rahman
I read a lot of biographies, these often set in other countries than my own. A book I have just finished is Benedetto Croce and Italian Fascism, by the Canadian scholar, Fabio Fernando Rizi. It uses the life of a great philosopher to tell a larger story of the times he passed through. Reading Rizi’s book,… Read More Ramachandra Guha: Reading about Mussolini’s Italy in Modi’s India
