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

Three nations that experienced mass shootings did something about it / Multiple people dead in shooting on Tulsa hospital campus / America is steeped in violence. And the roots of that violence go deep

The US has 57 times as many school shootings as other G7 countries combined A man – almost always a man – commonly with no criminal history and no diagnosis of mental illness, armed with a lawfully obtained semiautomatic ‘assault’ weapon, kills and injures a large number of innocents in a place they imagined to… Read More Three nations that experienced mass shootings did something about it / Multiple people dead in shooting on Tulsa hospital campus / America is steeped in violence. And the roots of that violence go deep

Dilip

Dánae Vílchez: Nicaraguan government outlaws feminist groups serving vulnerable people

NB: It seems there’s no difference between the totalitarian fantasies of ‘leftist’ and ‘rightist’ governments. DS Dozens of feminist groups in Nicaragua that provide crucial support to vulnerable women have been labelled “foreign agents” and outlawed by the government, meaning they can no longer operate. Reproductive healthcare services, shelters for survivors of gender violence, and… Read More Dánae Vílchez: Nicaraguan government outlaws feminist groups serving vulnerable people

Dilip

Olexandra Povoroznyk: Tsars, spies and colonialism

Colourful onion-domed churches capped with sparkling snow, seductive spies in lavish mink coats, dancing bears, strong-willed revolutionaries…we see these tropes everywhere. They feature in Netflix shows such as Shadow and Bone, in Marvel blockbusters, gritty Cold War-inspired thrillers, and children’s animated films like Anastasia. Western pop-culture’s fascination with Russia – or, rather, with a simplified… Read More Olexandra Povoroznyk: Tsars, spies and colonialism

Dilip

Rohini Hensman: Political Dimensions of the Crisis in Sri Lanka

Suppression of democracy; brutal majoritarianism and minority extremism in Sri Lanka are worth noting by concerned Indians. The following is a transcript provided by the author of her talk at a recent panel discussion.  The panel discussion may be viewed at: What’s Happening in Sri Lanka?  [Why did these self-professed [Sri Lankan] left leaders betray socialist principles in… Read More Rohini Hensman: Political Dimensions of the Crisis in Sri Lanka

Dilip

Chris Hedges: How to Defeat the Billionaire Class

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant and the Socialist Alternative (SA) party have, for nearly a decade, waged one of the most effective battles against the city’s moneyed elites. She and the SA have adopted a series of unorthodox methods to fight the ruling oligarchs and, in that confrontation, exposed the Democratic Party leadership as craven… Read More Chris Hedges: How to Defeat the Billionaire Class

Dilip

If speaking against Savarkar is antinational, then put me in jail: Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao

“BJP is saying that if anyone speaks against Veer Savarkar then he is an anti-national. Yes, I am saying I am speaking against him. If I am anti-national arrest me and put me behind bars,” he added.  In a letter to the director of Salarjung museum in Hyderabad, Rao said that the name of former… Read More If speaking against Savarkar is antinational, then put me in jail: Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao

Dilip

Book review: Charles Sobhraj, the Average and Slippery Bloke With Notions of Being a Super-Criminal

Farrukh Dhondy, who was Charles Sobhraj’s arm’s-length friend for much of his corpse-strewn career, leaves what the reader really wants to know for the epilogue: “How did he manage to seduce so many women ― is he really charismatic and charming?” Dhondy reports that he is “an average bloke”, but “there was something in his… Read More Book review: Charles Sobhraj, the Average and Slippery Bloke With Notions of Being a Super-Criminal

Dilip

Bharat Bhushan – Stuffing separatists in jail: A muscular Kashmir policy will fail

Yasin Malik’s life imprisonment in a ‘terror-funding’ case again displays the Narendra Modi government’s muscular Kashmir policy. Separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) are either locked up or dead. Following the downsizing of the erstwhile state, its mainstream political leaders are being pushed to the margins, and the dialogue with Pakistan on the Kashmir… Read More Bharat Bhushan – Stuffing separatists in jail: A muscular Kashmir policy will fail

Dilip

“Hello darkness, my old friend…”

The story behind the first line of The Sounds of Silence     Adapted from Sandy Greenberg’s memoir: “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend: How Daring Dreams and Unyielding Friendship Turned One Man’s Blindness into an Extraordinary Vision for Life.”…  Lyrics It began when Arthur “Art” Garfunkel, a Jewish kid from Queens, enrolled in Columbia University. During freshman… Read More “Hello darkness, my old friend…”

Dilip