I have been reading a new book on the Gujarat riots of 2002 titled Undercover: My Journey Into the Darkness of Hindutva. It is written by Ashish Khetan, who did some excellent reporting on the aftermath of the riots, particularly on the process by which the perpetrators went unpunished. Undercover is an important resource for scholars seeking to… Read More Book review – Shadow lengthens: The ‘Gujarat Model’ has gone national
As per the latest V-DEM report, in 2020, the third wave of autocratisation has accelerated considerably and now engulfs 25 countries and 34 per cent of the world population. Last month, V-Dem Project (Varieties of Democracy), a Sweden-based independent research institute, released its annual democracy report making a key observation that India, the world’s largest democracy,… Read More Atikh Rashid: The third wave of autocratisation and why it was waiting to happen
With 240 million people, Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state. Home to every sixth Indian, if it was a separate country, it would be the fifth largest by population in the world, just behind China, India, US and Indonesia – and bigger than Pakistan and Brazil. The state is also politically India’s most important… Read More Geeta Pandey: Coronavirus overwhelms India's most populous state
Global carbon dioxide emissions are set to surge dangerously this year as the global economy undergoes a huge recovery. In a new report, the International Energy Agency estimates that carbon emissions from energy use are on track to spike by 1.5 billion tonnes in 2021, as heavy coal consumption in Asia, and in China in particular,… Read More Dire warning for the planet: Coal is powering the economic recovery // Welcome that kind of activism: US climate envoy John Kerry on Disha Ravi
In 1980, hysteria died. That was the year it was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) handbook and ceased to be considered a medical condition. But we need only look around us to see that hysteria has never been more alive – just consider the run on toilet paper at the beginning of the… Read More Marc Schuilenburg: Welcome to the age of hysteria
America’s defeat in Afghanistan is one in a string of catastrophic military blunders that herald the death of the American empire. With the exception of the first Gulf War, fought largely by mechanized units in the open desert that did not – wisely – attempt to occupy Iraq, the United States political and military leadership… Read More Chris Hedges: The real tragedy behind the collapse of the American empire
NB: This article is a clear-headed analysis of the crucial change wrought in the Indian polity by the current government. Sahay is also forthright about the axial role of the RSS, the patron-in-chief of the BJP. For all their talk of moral purity and ‘maryada‘ it clear that this band of ideological fanatics has only one aim… Read More Anand K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul
On Tuesday, as the second wave of Covid-19 continued surging across India, Gujarat reported 6,690 new cases and 67 deaths across the state – the highest single-day tallies since the start of the pandemic last year. These official figures are grim in themselves, but the reality on the ground is much, much worse, video footage, news… Read More As the dead pile up in Gujarat, the state’s media is on a warpath with the government over Covid-19 // Soutik Biswas: How India failed to prevent a deadly second wave
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) condemns in the strongest possible terms the high-handed manner of ‘raids’ by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) at the homes of over 16 activists of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, acting on dubious FIRs registered a couple of months back. We express our solidarity with all these activists and advocates… Read More NAPM – Condemn Arbitrary Raids on Activists’ Homes in AP and Telangana
One might refer to the fascist movements as the wounds, the scars, of a democracy that, to this day, has not lived up to its own concept: Theodor Adorno First things first: to speak of ‘Bolsonarismo’ is not the same as speaking of Bolsonaro voters. Evidently, whatever we can call ‘Bolsonarismo’ must have been a factor… Read More Rodrigo Nunes: Of what is Bolsonaro the name?
