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

America's gun madness: How guns went from tools to ideology to identity. By LUCIAN TRUSCOTT

Three letters: NRA. Beginning in the 1970s, the National Rifle Association transformed itself from a shooting sports organization into a political lobbying arm of the Republican Party.   How did we get from a little NRA indoor firing range with .22 target rifles to an entire convention hall filled with weapons of war and nostalgia for… Read More America's gun madness: How guns went from tools to ideology to identity. By LUCIAN TRUSCOTT

Dilip

Deb Mukharji: For Indian Diplomats in Pakistan, the Run up To the 1971 War Was a Very Tense Time / Bharat Bhushan – Dhaka disconnect: Excellent relations marred by violent protests

Deb Mukharji: For Indian Diplomats in Pakistan, the Run up To the 1971 War Was a Very Tense Time    1971. The most cataclysmic year in the history of the sub-continent since the Partition of India in 1947. Even as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Muktijuddho, the War of Liberation, India’s decisive military victory over Pakistan and the… Read More Deb Mukharji: For Indian Diplomats in Pakistan, the Run up To the 1971 War Was a Very Tense Time / Bharat Bhushan – Dhaka disconnect: Excellent relations marred by violent protests

Dilip

Myanmar military committing mass murder – UN official urges world to act after at least 114 killed in in one day

NB: The Indian government, along with Russia, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, sent representatives to a military parade to mark Myanmar Armed Forces Day on March 27. This is especially shameful in the midst of a massacre of civilians – including children by the Army. Bangladeshis may recall the massacre of 1971, and… Read More Myanmar military committing mass murder – UN official urges world to act after at least 114 killed in in one day

Dilip

Fedor Stepun, 1884-1965

NB: Fedor Stepun was a Russian writer, editor, professor, political commentator. In 1922, he. along with over 200 non-communist intellectuals perceived as hostile to the Bolshevik regime. was arrested and ordered to leave the USSR within a week. They included the philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev, and scores of other academicians, writers, artists, editors of journals etc. DS… Read More Fedor Stepun, 1884-1965

Dilip

SOPHIE KIDERLIN: The biggest banks have poured $3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since 2016. J P Morgan tops the list of contributors

NB: Anyone who still needs evidence that capitalism is the structural form of nihilism may reflect on these facts: DS    Banks funneled more money into fossil fuels in 2020 than in 2016, according to a report by the Rainforest Action Network. JPMorgan, Citi and Wells Fargo were the biggest financiers from 2016 to 2020. Funding of the companies… Read More SOPHIE KIDERLIN: The biggest banks have poured $3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since 2016. J P Morgan tops the list of contributors

Dilip

Amita Baviskar: Ashoka and After: The Universities We Believe In

After having worked most of my life in a public university and research institute, I started teaching at Ashoka last year. So my response to the many commentaries on the ongoing debacle at this private university comes from being an outsider as well as an insider. This ‘squint-eyed perspective,’ as fellow-sociologist Satish Deshpande has described… Read More Amita Baviskar: Ashoka and After: The Universities We Believe In

Dilip

SC stands up for voicing disapproval, backs editor Patricia Mukhim

Expressing disapproval of a government’s action “cannot be branded as an attempt to promote hatred between different communities”, the Supreme Court said Thursday while quashing an FIR against Patricia Mukhim, the editor of Shillong Times, over a social media post about an incident of assault on some non-tribal youth in Meghalaya last year. A bench of… Read More SC stands up for voicing disapproval, backs editor Patricia Mukhim

Dilip

নিজেদের মতে , নিজেদের গান l Citizens United!

Watch – hear this brilliant protest song by Citizens United, in Bangla https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey_aCNzis8E তাসের দেশ’ হেঁকে বলছে ‘চলো নিয়ম মতে’ দূরে তাকিয়ো নাকো ঘাড় বাঁকিয়ো নাকো চলো সমান পথে চলো নিয়ম মতে কাদের তৈরী নিয়ম? কারা বলছে না তাকাতে… ঘাড় বাঁকাতে নিষেধ করছে কারা? যারা আমাদের দেশটাকে সুচতুরভাবে নিয়ে চলেছে ধ্বংসের দিকে..তাদের তৈরী করা অমানবিক,… Read More নিজেদের মতে , নিজেদের গান l Citizens United!

Dilip