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

Covid immune response faster and stronger post-infection, scientists say

Scientists have found the strongest evidence yet that people who recover from Covid may mount a much faster and more effective defence against the infection if they encounter the virus again. Researchers at Rockefeller University in New York found that the immune system not only remembered the virus but improved the quality of protective antibodies… Read More Covid immune response faster and stronger post-infection, scientists say

Dilip

Oliver Holmes: Israeli forces leave 41 children homeless after razing Palestinian village, UN says

Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank have razed a Palestinian village, leaving 73 people – including 41 children – homeless, in the largest forced displacement incident for years, according to the United Nations. Excavators escorted by military vehicles were filmed approaching Khirbet Humsa and proceeding to flatten or smash up tents, shacks, animal shelters, toilets and solar… Read More Oliver Holmes: Israeli forces leave 41 children homeless after razing Palestinian village, UN says

Dilip

Mohammed Hanif: The rest of the world has had it with US presidents, Trump or otherwise

NB: A brilliant article. The USA has intervened militarily and politically, with disastrous consequences, in many parts of the world, not least during the Bangladesh war in 1971; Vietnam between 1963 and 1975, and Chile in 1973. America under this ruthless buffoon is invading itself. I wish America’s Democratic voters well, and hope they succeed… Read More Mohammed Hanif: The rest of the world has had it with US presidents, Trump or otherwise

Dilip

Arick Wierson: America's standing in the world took a big hit on election night / Amanda Marcotte: What does it mean to be an American?

Presented with an opportunity for a wholesale rejection of a highly divisive, race-baiting, xenophobic, media-hating, anti-science, lying, juvenile incumbent, a sizable swath of America’s voters decided to take a pass and pull the lever for Donald Trump, and that speaks volumes about who we are as a nation. But all this didn’t happen in a… Read More Arick Wierson: America's standing in the world took a big hit on election night / Amanda Marcotte: What does it mean to be an American?

Dilip

CHITRANGADA CHOUDHURY: Why An Aged Defender Of The Deprived Faces Terror Charges

On 24 June 2008, Damodar Turi, a Jharkhand land-rights activist and a Dalit was arrested by the Ranchi police and accused of sedition and waging war against India. State coordinator of a coalition of anti-displacement movements across Jharkhand called Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan, Turi was 28 when he faced charges of being a terrorist… Read More CHITRANGADA CHOUDHURY: Why An Aged Defender Of The Deprived Faces Terror Charges

Dilip

Chris Hedges – The politics of cultural despair: That's what's killing us, not Donald Trump

NB: Chris Hedges is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Presbyterian minister, and TV host. He is also one of the most perceptive commentators on contemporary politics. The only caveat I would place on his title is that ‘us’ is not just America. The entire global population is and has been placed at risk by the… Read More Chris Hedges – The politics of cultural despair: That's what's killing us, not Donald Trump

Dilip

Journey To A War by W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood (1939) // W. H. Auden 'In Time of War' (1939)

Leave Truth to the police and us; we know the Good;   We build the Perfect City time shall never alter;    Our Law shall guard you always like a cirque of mountains… (p 266)    But ideas can be true although men die,   And we can watch a thousand faces    Made active by… Read More Journey To A War by W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood (1939) // W. H. Auden 'In Time of War' (1939)

Dilip

Indians condemn Paris beheadings, deplore outrageous statements by Muslim religious and political leaders

Press Release: Indians condemn Paris beheadings, deplore outrageous statements by Muslim religious and political leaders Well over a hundred prominent Indians from diverse backgrounds have today issued a statement condemning the Paris beheadings and deploring the outrageous statements by Muslim religious and political leaders. Among other things the statement read: “No God, gods, goddesses, prophets or… Read More Indians condemn Paris beheadings, deplore outrageous statements by Muslim religious and political leaders

Dilip

Book review: The Hamlet Doctrine: Knowing Too Much, Doing Nothing

Around 1905 or 1906, Sigmund Freud wrote an essay, unpublished in his lifetime, called “Psychopathic Characters on the Stage.” The essay addressed the question of what we, as spectators, get out of watching people go crazy. Freud’s theory was that we’re fascinated by crazy characters because they help us express our own repressed impulses. Drama,… Read More Book review: The Hamlet Doctrine: Knowing Too Much, Doing Nothing

Dilip

Gaiutra Bahadur: In 1953, Britain openly removed an elected government, with tragic consequences

For generations, a parable involving outside intervention has circulated in Guyana, formerly British Guiana, in South America. The story goes that soldiers sent in to suppress the independence movement fixated on homes flying red flags, believing them to be a sign of Communist allegiance. Instead, they were Hindu prayer flags. I’ve encountered this tale in… Read More Gaiutra Bahadur: In 1953, Britain openly removed an elected government, with tragic consequences

Dilip