Tag: critical commentary

Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The current talk of decolonisation is about an exclusionary political agenda

Current decolonisation project drips with resentment. It conflates modernity merely with colonialism. To see the insidiousness of this project, just ask this question: What should be the terms on which citizens relate to each other? “Decolonise!” This imperative seems to be the ideological flavour of the moment. It is behind the calls to restructure education,… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The current talk of decolonisation is about an exclusionary political agenda

Dilip

The dumbing of America, from Reagan to Trump and beyond

BRIAN KAREM On Wednesday, the news was all about a big bag of wind destroying Florida and flooding the South, spreading destruction and threatening pestilence and death. Then there’s Hurricane Idalia. Also on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze and stood motionless in front of an assembly of reporters — for the second time this… Read More The dumbing of America, from Reagan to Trump and beyond

Dilip

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Historian of Decline and Prophet of Revival. By Madhavan Palat

First posted October 11, 2012 Paper presented to the International Conference:  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Course Of His Life In The Context Of Greater Time  5-6 December 2008; Moscow NB: This is a brilliant and thought-provoking essay on the historic, literary and philosophical significance of the writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, one of the foremost witnesses of the history of… Read More Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Historian of Decline and Prophet of Revival. By Madhavan Palat

Dilip

Adani family secretly invested in own shares, documents suggest / Adani’s reject allegations

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Simon Goodley in London A billionaire Indian family with close ties to the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, secretly invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the Indian stock market, buying its own shares, newly disclosed documents suggest. According to offshore financial records seen by the Guardian, associates of the Adani family may have… Read More Adani family secretly invested in own shares, documents suggest / Adani’s reject allegations

Dilip

Mafiacraft, or how to do things with silence. Toward an ethnography of crime

Mafiacraft An Ethnography of Deadly Silence Deborah Puccio-Den’s Mafiacraft is a kind of ethnography that is much needed in our part of the world. Here’s the abstract of an earlier article. It has recently been expanded into a book-length study: How to construct an ethnography about such a phenomenon as “the mafia,” shrouded in silence? What methods… Read More Mafiacraft, or how to do things with silence. Toward an ethnography of crime

Dilip

Modi says Congress committed ‘sin’ of partition / The Non-politics of the RSS

First posted November 10, 2013 NB: Fascist political speech may be summarised in three words: affirmation, repetition and contagion. They spread lies and practice deceit as a matter of habit. Truth is whatever is convenient for serving their interests. More than anything else, it is the onslaught on the human mind that is the most dangerous feature of totalitarian… Read More Modi says Congress committed ‘sin’ of partition / The Non-politics of the RSS

Dilip

Why peace and stability remain elusive in Manipur

Bharat Bhushan Merely calling a special session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly, a demand by both Meitei civil society organisations and the Opposition Congress Party, is unlikely to chart a path to peace in Manipur. The frailty of the legislative process, problems in the government’s proposed resettlement programme and its failure to discipline armed Meiti… Read More Why peace and stability remain elusive in Manipur

Dilip

I have studied emperor penguins for 30 years. We may witness their demise in our lifetime

Barbara Wienecke Last week I saw a headline announcing that last year thousands of emperor penguin chicks had died in the Bellingshausen Sea, when the fast ice broke out unusually early. I was deeply saddened and devastated, but not surprised. The region where this dreadful event occurred has been one of the fastest warming areas… Read More I have studied emperor penguins for 30 years. We may witness their demise in our lifetime

Dilip

Endless fallout: the Pacific idyll still facing nuclear blight 77 years on

You do not grow crops, you do not eat coconut, you do not drink the water: Stephen Palumbi, marine scientist The film Oppenheimer has shone a spotlight on the dawn of US nuclear weapons tests. In the Marshall Islands, where 23 of those earth-shattering blasts happened, people have never been able to forget Lucy Sherriff… Read More Endless fallout: the Pacific idyll still facing nuclear blight 77 years on

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