Tag: critical commentary

No peace without freedom, no justice without law

The following transcript was provided by Documenting Ukraine, Institute for Human Sciences (IWM). The Speech to Europe is an annual event jointly organized by the IWM, the ERSTE Foundation, and Wiener Festwochen in cooperation with the Jewish Museum Vienna. On Europe Day, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Ukrainian human rights defender and director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Center for Civil Liberties,… Read More No peace without freedom, no justice without law

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Varlık at 90: Culture depends on the suspension of power

A Turkish literary institution turns 90: reflections on Varlık’s evolution and achievements, as well as notable omissions Eurozine Review Only ten years younger than the Republic of Turkey itself, Varlık devotes its July issue to an accounting of the journal’s first 90 years. In its early days Varlık marched in step with the modernising spirit of the new order… Read More Varlık at 90: Culture depends on the suspension of power

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The deadly intersection of labor exploitation and climate change

Neither the corporate media nor our politicians who are beholden to corporate lobbyists honestly address the common root causes of (and solutions to) worker exploitation and climate change. Sonali Kolhatkar As temperatures soar in the United States this summer, some among us are lucky enough to be able to remain in air-conditioned interior spaces, ordering… Read More The deadly intersection of labor exploitation and climate change

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West Bank crisis: How Israel occupied itself

Juan Coleand / TomDispatch On July 24th, the Israeli Knesset passed a measure forbidding the country’s High Court of Justice from in any way checking the power of the government, whether in making cabinet decisions or appointments, based on what’s known as the “reasonability” standard. In the Israeli context, this was an extreme act, since right-wing parliamentarians… Read More West Bank crisis: How Israel occupied itself

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Manipur conflict drags ‘messiah of the poor’ Narendra Modi down to earth

Michael Safi During his near-decade in power, as India has convulsed with sectarian riots, mass protests at government policies, or popular rage at heinous crimes, Narendra Modi has hewed closely to playbook: say nothing, and stay above the fray. The Indian prime minister has never taken questions at a press conference in the country, declines interviews with critical… Read More Manipur conflict drags ‘messiah of the poor’ Narendra Modi down to earth

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Death of the heart

Modi is an architect of fractures, that’s the credo with which he has marched since he deciphered, with diabolical clarity, the dividends of Gujarat 2002 Sankarshan Thakur There is a vice greater than the vice of bigotry and its attendant ills. It is the vice of giving it a free pass, the vice of collaboration.… Read More Death of the heart

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Superflous people: Rahul Pandita’s ‘Our Moon has blood clots’

First posted May 05, 2013 NB: My review of Pandita’s book was posted on May 4, 2013, on the online journal North East Review. DS Superflous people Normal men don’t know that everything is possible: David Rousset, The Other Kingdom Rahul Pandita, Our Moon has Blood Clots: The Exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits Random House India, Noida, 2013 Introduction… Read More Superflous people: Rahul Pandita’s ‘Our Moon has blood clots’

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IAS, IPS and IFoS: Is India stifling criticism by retired bureaucrats?

The Indian government has brought in new rules that allow it to cancel pensions of retired bureaucrats who have served as high-ranking officers in some of the most coveted government jobs… Julio Ribeiro, a retired police officer said the new rules send the message that an officer should “not speak up and be pliant”. “They… Read More IAS, IPS and IFoS: Is India stifling criticism by retired bureaucrats?

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Perpetual wars and the ‘greatest fighting force in human history’

William Astore I still remember how, soon after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush boasted that this country had “the greatest force for human liberation the world has ever known.” I also remember how, in a pep talk given to U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2010, President Barack Obama declared them “the finest fighting force that the world has… Read More Perpetual wars and the ‘greatest fighting force in human history’

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