NB: It could also be called the standardisation of thought; the co-option of history by ideology, and the elevation of outrage to an art form. DS Apoorvanand Historian Aparna Vaidik is under attack on social media. A controversy arose following a discussion on her new book at a lit fest in Kanpur. It was alleged that Vaidik… Read More Bhagat Singh, Kanpur lit fest, and the culture of hasty comment
The architect of the Constitution railing against Hindu Raj while also being conflicted about Dalits adopting Christianity or Islam as this would ‘denationalise’ them exemplifies his life of contradictions. Ambedkar also warns, “If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country.… Hindu Raj must be prevented… Read More Ambedkar’s pact with a Hindutvadi
André Rieu and his orchestra and choir make people happy all over the world. Music is living proof that the human spirit is a reality. They are good people, God bless them. A happy new year to all. Pray for the children of Palestine André Rieu – Christmas Down Under (Live in Sydney) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Handel’s… Read More André Rieu – Christmas Down Under (Live in Sydney)
ADAM TOOZE Conducted in the summer of 2024 in Shanghai this interview with Ding Xionfei is the most far-reaching public discussion I have had had about the development of my writing and thinking since Perry Anderson’s review of my work. I want to thank Ding Xiongfei for his remarkable engagement and for permission to republish part… Read More Adam Tooze on Polycrisis and technocratic complacency. Interview with Ding Xiongfei from the Shanghai Review of Books
This war should have ended a long time ago, and Israel continues and continues, really now without any purpose except of mass killing — killing and killing and killing for the sake of killing: Gideon Levy In northern Gaza, the director of the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital says five medical workers were among 50 people killed… Read More Gideon Levy on Israel’s ‘Moral Blindness’: Gaza Babies Freeze, Strikes Kill Medical Workers, Reporters
Apocalyptic thought in the aftermath of the world wars George Prochnik and Anson Rabinbach In what way does writing about catastrophe, either predictively or retrospectively, risk kindling a new blaze? Conversely, is it possible to identify aspects of such texts that work against the drive to catastrophe? Conventional wisdom suggests that temporal distance from historical… Read More In the Shadow of Catastrophe: An Interview
It’s a conundrum of the philosopher’s biography that most basic human needs were alien to her By Judith Thurman The French philosopher Simone Weil was a soul at odds with herself and with a world of affliction. The causes she espoused as a social activist and the faith she professed as a mystic were urgent to… Read More The Supreme Contradictions of Simone Weil
Consider your origins. You were not meant to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge – Dante Alighieri. This is Noam Chomsky recorded during a video conference in 2023. This is about as succinct and straight shooting as Noam gets. He offers his signature truth-telling aimed at the center of our global self-terminating… Read More Noam Chomsky: The End of Organized Humanity
Pipers play Amazing Grace. Memoriam for Armistice, 1918 United Pipers for Peace, 1918-2018, was a gathering of around 400 bagpipers from across the globe to commemorate the centenary of the armistice of the First World War. In a short remembrance ceremony in Amiens Cathedral, Emma Brown sang Amazing Grace, followed by Pipe Major Tom Jamieson… Read More Amiens Cathedral (Pipers play Amazing Grace. Memoriam for Armistice, 1918)
Song by U2 The sea wants to kiss the golden shoreThe sunlight warms your skinAll the beauty that’s been lost before wants to find us again I can’t fight you any more, it’s you I’m fighting forThe sea throws rock together but time leaves us polished stones We can’t fall any further ifWe can’t feel… Read More Ordinary Love
After the truth-shower 