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

Sonali Ranade: Modi Is on a Civilisational Mission – Please Excuse a Few Grand Lies

NB: A perceptive analysis. The focus on Modi, however, is appropriate only in an immediate sense. It should not detract from the cultivated sense of victimhood and ideologically manipulated ‘History’ that underpins the doctrine of the RSS, the BJP’s parent organisation. The concept of the nation-state as a homeland for a homogenously defined ‘majority’ was… Read More Sonali Ranade: Modi Is on a Civilisational Mission – Please Excuse a Few Grand Lies

Dilip

Tom Engelhardt: Welcome to the American Century / Guy Saperstein: Why I’m Leaving America

In February 17, 1941, less than 10 months before the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor and the U.S. found itself in a global war, Henry Luce, in an editorial in Life magazine (which he founded along with Time and Fortune), declared the years to come “the American Century.”  He then urged this country’s leaders to “exert upon the world the full impact of… Read More Tom Engelhardt: Welcome to the American Century / Guy Saperstein: Why I’m Leaving America

Dilip

Mark Neocleous: Whatever happened to martial law? Detainees and the logic of emergency

‘Began teaching the detainee lessons such as stay, come, and bark to elevate his social status up to that of a dog. Detainee became very agitated’: Guantánamo guard diary entry, 20 December 2002 What is a detainee? The term has been given a new lease of life as a result of the authoritarianism that has… Read More Mark Neocleous: Whatever happened to martial law? Detainees and the logic of emergency

Dilip

Ghoramara island has been shrinking: living on the frontline of global heating

Sunil Kandar, Ghoramara Island, India: I live in the Hatkhola locality of Ghoramara. I remember how on this island, during my childhood, I had a very happy and enjoyable life. We had a big mud-walled house. We also had large farmland of our own where rice and other vegetables grew. We sold a big part of… Read More Ghoramara island has been shrinking: living on the frontline of global heating

Dilip

Jon Henley: Rise of far right puts Dreyfus affair into spotlight in French election race

NB: Given the state of affairs in many (there are exceptions) English language departments wherein ‘theory’ is shorthand for the ideas of Derrida and Foucauld, and where the notion of truth is sneered at, this newest upsurge of the antisemitic propaganda around the Dreyfus case ought to be an alert. I don’t think it will… Read More Jon Henley: Rise of far right puts Dreyfus affair into spotlight in French election race

Dilip

Avay Shukla: SPEAK UP! THEY'RE COMING FOR YOU ANYWAY

Anyone with even an iota of intelligence and an understanding of our dysfunctional legal eco-system knows that there is something deeply problematic and rotten with the Aryan Khan case. The NCB’s (Narcotics Control Bureau) conduct is deeply suspect, even without the personal allegations now levelled against its Zonal Director Sameer Wankhade. The entire case, with… Read More Avay Shukla: SPEAK UP! THEY'RE COMING FOR YOU ANYWAY

Dilip

Richard Wolff: How the troubled U.S. empire could quickly fall apart

The U.S. wars lost in Iraq and Afghanistan showed imperial overreach beyond what even 20 years of war could manage. That the defeats were drawn out for so many years shows that domestic politics and the funding of the domestic military-industrial complex were, more than geopolitics, the key drivers of these wars. Empires can die… Read More Richard Wolff: How the troubled U.S. empire could quickly fall apart

Dilip

Chris Hedges: The most important battle for press freedom in our time

If Assange is extradited and found guilty of publishing classified material, it will set a legal precedent that will effectively end national security reporting, allowing the government to use the Espionage Act to charge any reporter who possesses classified documents, and any whistleblower who leaks classified information, under the Espionage Act. For the past two… Read More Chris Hedges: The most important battle for press freedom in our time

Dilip