First posted February 19, 2020 NB: Premen Addy passed away on January 15, 2020, coincidentally exactly a year after the death of my old friend and comrade Rabindra Ray. He was my kaka – my late father E.J. Simeon‘s maternal cousin. His father, Kiron Chandra Addy, was my granduncle, whom my father had nicknamed ‘Mejo’. He was… Read More In Memoriam. Premen Addy PhD; June 26, 1938 – January 15, 2020
In the United States, there is one set of rules for rich people (especially if they are also white) and another set for everyone else. That unjust and anti-democratic system is reflected across American society. The country’s wealth and income inequality is so extreme (especially the race-wealth gap) that it more closely resembles that of… Read More Donald Trump – Supreme white collar criminal
In 2016 France and India signed a 7.8-billion-euro deal for the purchase of 36 Rafale jet fighters made by French defence group Dassault. Mediapart can reveal that, alongside this controversial deal, Dassault also agreed to pay one million euros to a middleman who is now under investigation in India in connection with another defence deal.… Read More YANN PHILIPPIN – Sale of French Rafale jet fighters to India: how a state scandal was buried
American exceptionalism pretends that it has nothing to do with European-style colonialism. But the US is a colonising country. The difference is that Americans call their colonialism “the American Dream”. American mythology casts white settler violence as “regenerative”, versus the “degenerative” violence of Native peoples, enslaved black people, and their descendants. In this mythology, a black… Read More From colonialism to Covid: Viet Thanh Nguyen on the rise of anti-Asian violence
Introduction: Jamia Millia Islamia as an institution, from its inception in the 1920, has celebrated the interplay of ideas and practice. Ideas of composite nationalism, secularism, rebellion, inclusion, diversity and compassion are lived practices in the everyday life of Jamia. The university was founded in Aligarh and was housed at Krishna Ashram, as it ‘rebelled’… Read More Seminar issue on Jamia at 100
Amritsar: Strongly opposing the move to suppress minorities in India, including the Sikhs, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex body controlling gurdwaras, passed a resolution condemning the alleged moves made by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) to make the country a “Hindu rashtra”. It also called on the Central government to work for the… Read More SGPC Passes Resolution Against RSS for 'Trying To Make' India a Hindu Rashtra
“The virus seems to have become more transmissible in the second wave. We are admitting entire families who are infected. We are also seeing a lot of young people, aged below 40, getting sick,” says Dr Kalantri. India’s tally of recorded coronavirus cases exceeds 12 million, the third-highest in the world behind the US and… Read More Soutik Biswas: Coronavirus update: India is facing a 'severe, intensive' second wave
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill currently making its way through parliament attacks the very existence of Britain’s last nomadic communities, namely Romany Gypsies (like me), Irish Travellers and Scottish Travellers. Over the years, Conservative government policies have shut down sites and accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers nationwide, leading to a massive shortage. Now,… Read More Priti Patel’s war on the UK’s last nomads. By Luke Smith
On Wednesday, dozens of prominent Black business executives released a joint statement condemning the wave of voter suppression measures in states across the U.S. and calling on major corporations to publicly oppose them. The statement, coordinated by Merck CEO Ken Frazier, former American Express CEO Ken Chenault and the Black Economic Alliance, was signed by… Read More Black Executives in the USA Pressure Corporations To Oppose Racist Voter Suppression
For centuries trade of exotic Eastern goods reached the markets of the Mediterranean Europe, Africa and Turkey. The very first ‘product’ – if we can call it that – were the slaves of the Punjab. Besides some gold, the most profitable product in the loot of the Turkish-Afghan invader, Mahmud of Ghazni, were slaves. In… Read More Majid Sheikh – Harking Back: Lahore’s ancient slave trade and the Aleppo connection
After the truth-shower 