Tag: Archive of historical documents

‘Monument to history’ battle between US and China over future of Mao’s secretary’s diary

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past: George Orwell, 1984 When you have a monopoly over power, you develop an obsession with secrecy: Frank Dikotter Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent In the early hours of 4 June 1989, Li Rui, a veteran of the Chinese Communist party (CCP), was… Read More ‘Monument to history’ battle between US and China over future of Mao’s secretary’s diary

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Paper trails

Husserl’s well-tended archive has given him a rich afterlife, while Nietzsche’s was distorted by his axe-grinding sister Peter Salmon I have a terrible fear that I shall one day be pronounced holy: from Ecce Homo; by Friedrich Nietzsche On the morning of 24 September 1938, a Franciscan priest by the name of Herman Van Breda… Read More Paper trails

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Comrade Satyapal Dang: Lessons of Punjab have relevance for Kashmir

First posted June 02, 2017 NB: Comrade Satyapal Dang (1920-2013), a stalwart communist, was one of the tallest figures of modern India. At the height of the Khalistani movement he and his wife comrade Vimla stood fast in the CPI’s trade union office in Ekta Bhavan, Amritsar, despite the threats to their lives. They upheld secular values and… Read More Comrade Satyapal Dang: Lessons of Punjab have relevance for Kashmir

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Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility: Lord Acton

Lord Acton writes to Bishop Creighton in a series of letters (1887) concerning the moral problem of writing history about the Inquisition. Acton believes that the same moral standards should be applied to all men, political and religious leaders included, especially since, in his famous phrase, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”: I… Read More Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility: Lord Acton

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Political Resolution of the Annual Convention of the Sampradayikta Virodhi Andolan, Delhi, March 1992

First posted July 17, 2013 Political Resolution of the Annual Convention of the Sampradayikta Virodhi Andolan, (Movement Against Communalism) Delhi, March 1992 NB –This document is being placed in the public domain as a beginning to an archive. The SVA was an anti-communal civic campaign floated by concerned citizens  in the post 1984 period. It carried on… Read More Political Resolution of the Annual Convention of the Sampradayikta Virodhi Andolan, Delhi, March 1992

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A Brief History of the Sampradayikta Virodhi Andolan; Movement Against Communalism (1984-1993)

First posted July 17, 2013 A Brief History of the Sampradayikta Virodhi Andolan (1984-1993) NB – This history has been prepared by some activist participants, and may be liable to correction, revision and improvement over time. It is presented here after having been placed on Facebook about a year ago as a Note on my… Read More A Brief History of the Sampradayikta Virodhi Andolan; Movement Against Communalism (1984-1993)

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The Raya Dunayevskaya – Herbert Marcuse -Erich Fromm Correspondence

Kevin B. Anderson and Russell Rockwell, eds, The Dunayevskaya-Marcuse-Fromm Correspondence, 1954-1978: Dialogues on Hegel, Marx and Critical Theory, 2012 Reviewed by Ben Watson Raya Dunayevskaya died in 1987 aged 77, but her ideas remain alive and to-be-lived-by today, a permanent reproach to thought’s accommodation to an intolerable present. Dunayevskaya inspired and inspires a special enthusiasm, evidenced here by… Read More The Raya Dunayevskaya – Herbert Marcuse -Erich Fromm Correspondence

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Original letter from Columbus announcing ‘discovery’ of America goes on sale

Donna Ferguson In 1493, Christopher Columbus wrote a letter that would change the landscape of the modern world. “I sailed to the Indies with the fleet that the illustrious King and Queen, our sovereigns, gave me, where I discovered a great many islands, inhabited by numberless people,” he wrote after his return to Europe to royal treasurer… Read More Original letter from Columbus announcing ‘discovery’ of America goes on sale

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