Robert Reich: America’s billionaire class is funding anti-democratic forces

Decades ago, America’s monied interests bankrolled a Republican establishment that believed in fiscal conservatism, anti-communism and constitutional democracy. Today’s billionaire class is pushing a radically anti-democratic agenda for America – backing Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, calling for restrictions on voting and even questioning the value of democracy. Peter Thiel, the billionaire… Read More Robert Reich: America’s billionaire class is funding anti-democratic forces

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Ranajit Guha, India’s oldest living historian, starts his 100th year with a dazzling legacy

NB: A timely tribute to a great intellectual. I will add something to this account: Ranajit Guha was always a political activist as well as a historian. This article mentions his affiliation with the CPI, and his disaffection with the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956; but it passes over his return to communist politics… Read More Ranajit Guha, India’s oldest living historian, starts his 100th year with a dazzling legacy

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Seema Chishti’s book on her parents’ interfaith marriage, is a compendium of notes from another India

What can an interfaith love story from an India in another time teach us today? That, in order to get married, it is enough to be in love; that families might not only not object but welcome such a union; that far from being a hurdle to this type of marriage, the state can actually… Read More Seema Chishti’s book on her parents’ interfaith marriage, is a compendium of notes from another India

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Bharat Bhushan: Autonomous Hindutva could devour both India and the BJP

With the rapid radicalisation of sections of Hindu society, the Hindutva project has become dangerously autonomous. It is no longer possible to see it only as an electoral strategy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Today one does not need to even presume the direct hand of the BJP or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh behind Hindutva’s every move. Its exponential social… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Autonomous Hindutva could devour both India and the BJP

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Apocalypse now? The alarming effects of the global food crisis

Apocalypse is an alarming idea, commonly taken to denote catastrophic destruction foreshadowing the end of the world. But in the original Greek, apokálypsis means a revelation or an uncovering. One vernacular definition is “to take the lid off something”.  That latter feat is exactly what Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, achieved last week,… Read More Apocalypse now? The alarming effects of the global food crisis

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Millionaires join Davos protests, demanding ‘tax us now’

A group of millionaires have joined protests against the World Economic Forum gathering of the business and political elite in Davos, Switzerland, demanding that governments “tax us now” to tackle the burgeoning gulf between rich and poor.  The unlikely protesters, who describe themselves as “patriotic millionaires”, called on world leaders attending the annual conference on… Read More Millionaires join Davos protests, demanding ‘tax us now’

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Hindu College history professor booked for post on Gyanvapi ‘Shivling’ / Teachers, students demand immediate release of associate professor Ratan Lal

A Delhi University professor has been booked for an allegedly objectionable social media post on the claims of a ‘Shivling’ being found at the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. Ratan Lal, an associate professor of history at the Hindu College, has been booked under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion,… Read More Hindu College history professor booked for post on Gyanvapi ‘Shivling’ / Teachers, students demand immediate release of associate professor Ratan Lal

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Vanessa Hua on Writing About the Forgotten Women in Mao’s Inner Circle

Vanessa Hua’s Forbidden City is narrated by a courageous, risk-taking sixteen-year-old whose life in a small village in China is up-ended when she is selected to join an elite dance troupe of young women trained in ballroom dancing to entertain Party leaders, including the Chairman. Hua’s is a fresh feminist take on the Cultural Revolution, an intriguing… Read More Vanessa Hua on Writing About the Forgotten Women in Mao’s Inner Circle

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