As its title suggests, The Dawn of Everything is an ambitious book. The authors, David Graeber and David Wengrow, (one whom passed away while the book was in press) survey the whole past life of biologically modern humans in an effort to broaden the ambit of modern social thought. They aim to thereby open up the possibility… Read More A False Dawn? A Review of The Dawn of Everything
Several protest movements announced anti-war rallies in Moscow on 6 March; the team of opposition figure Alexey Navalny announced a meeting on Manezhnaya Square, just opposite the Kremlin. A coalition of feminists and leftists called a rally at 3pm at another public space, the Square of Three Stations. In parallel, a separate group of protesters… Read More I was arrested at an anti-war protest in Moscow / Moscow police beat and torture women after anti-war protests / Interview with Stephen Kotkin: The Weakness of the Despot
Superbly clear images of the shipwreck Endurance, 3,000 metres below the ocean’s surface in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, were this week broadcast around the world. Found by the Endurance 22 Expedition using a state-of-the-art autonomous underwater vehicle, we now have images almost as iconic as those taken of the stricken ship by Australian photographer and expedition… Read More The wreck of Endurance is a bridge to a bygone age, and a reminder of Antarctica’s uncertain future
Primo Levi – Last Christmas of the War In more ways than one, Monowitz, a part of Auschwitz, was not a typical camp. The barrier that separated us from the world – symbolized by the double barbedwire fence – was not hermetic, as elsewhere. Our work brought us into daily contact with people who… Read More Primo Levi (1919-1987) – Last Christmas of the War
Just as the relentless grinding of the earth’s tectonic plates produces earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, so the endless superpower struggle for dominance over Eurasia is fraught with tensions and armed conflict. Beneath the visible outbreak of war in Ukraine and the U.S.-Chinese naval standoff in the South China Sea, there is now an underlying shift… Read More Alfred McCoy – The Geopolitics of the Ukraine War: Putin and Xi Jinping in the Struggle over Eurasia
The results of the five assembly elections are a further consolidation of the momentous changes in Indian politics over the last decade. The results in UP are a spectacular win for the BJP, consolidating its power and ideological hegemony over Indian politics. It sends a plain and simple message: Politics, in the end, is a game… Read More P. B. Mehta on the March 2022 assembly election results / Punjab: Cong, SAD, BJP register worst-ever performance
Security forces in Russia have detained over 4,000 anti-war protesters across the country. The figure is from an independent protest monitor. Police have arrested people in several Russian cities including Moscow and St. Petersburg. They warned that organizers and participants in demonstrations will face charges. Authorities have imposed restrictions on protests citing the COVID-19 pandemic.… Read More What do anti-war protests in Russia mean for Putin? / Thousands arrested across Russia at anti-war protests
Russia’s war on Ukraine has seen it launch scores of rockets and drop countless bombs on cities, forcing pregnant woman to seek shelter and give birth in hospital basements. While unsuited for such purposes, such places are much safer than delivery rooms that could be hit by Russian fire. Many Ukrainian hospitals have been damaged… Read More Ukraine: Women giving birth in basements and bunkers / Russian bombing of maternity hospital ‘genocide’
Chris Hedges: Worthy and Unworthy Victims Dividing the world into worthy and unworthy victims is a tactic used to justify our crimes and demonize our enemies. Conflicts will not be solved until all nations abide by international law and all victims are deemed worthy. Rulers divide the world into worthy and unworthy victims, those… Read More Chris Hedges: Worthy and Unworthy Victims / Noam Chomsky: US Military Escalation Against Russia Would Have No Victors
On the night of November 8, 1926, policeman arrived at Gramsci’s apartment in Rome. Initially, he was sentenced to five years of “confined exile,” and began serving out his sentence on the island of Ustica. While there, Gramsci endeavored again to set up a cultural school. He offered lessons in history and literature, which were… Read More Hegemony Changes Everything: Antonio Gramsci's theories of how the rich stay rich
