Tag: critical commentary

The Modi Government Is a Regime of Low-Intensity Terror. By Ullekh N.P.

Not many academics have studied Hindu nationalism with the intensity of Stanford University anthropologist Thomas Blom Hansen. The 63-year-old’s new book, The Law of Force: The Violent Heart of Indian Politics, argues that anger and brutality have become mainstream in public life and politics in India. The 176-page volume delves into what Hansen calls “the emergence of… Read More The Modi Government Is a Regime of Low-Intensity Terror. By Ullekh N.P.

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Surinder S. Jodhka: Changing Modes of Agriculture in Punjab

The Punjabi farmer has found it hard to escape the whirlpool of an ecologically unviable cropping pattern and its commercial entrapments created by the history of its past six decades.   Despite Punjab’s meagre size, the region has remained an important constituent in the self-imagination of the Indian nation. The imprints of Punjab’s agrarian economy and… Read More Surinder S. Jodhka: Changing Modes of Agriculture in Punjab

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Nagraj Adve: Coming of Age of India’s Youth Climate Movement

The arrest in February of Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old member of the climate change organisation Fridays for Future (FFF) India, on charges including sedition and criminal conspiracy, and warrants issued against two members of Extinction Rebellion (XR) India, Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk, have severely jolted innumerable climate activists, students, and other young people in… Read More Nagraj Adve: Coming of Age of India’s Youth Climate Movement

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Alfred McCoy: The crumbling delusion of Washington's endless world dominion

During its first decade as the globe’s great hegemon at the close of World War II, Washington quite self-consciously set out to build an apparatus of awesome military power that would allow it to dominate the sprawling Eurasian landmass. With each passing decade, layer upon layer of weaponry and an ever-growing network of military bastions… Read More Alfred McCoy: The crumbling delusion of Washington's endless world dominion

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Owen Jones: The planet cannot survive our remorseless pursuit of profit

Oil companies knew 50 years ago the huge damage they were doing. Their motive to ignore it is the same now as it was then. Capitalism is on a collision course with human life and the future of our planet. Each year, air pollution takes more lives than smoking: the last estimate suggests 8.8m deaths across the… Read More Owen Jones: The planet cannot survive our remorseless pursuit of profit

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Erin Brockovich – Plummeting sperm counts, shrinking penises: toxic chemicals threaten humanity

Swan’s book is staggering in its findings. “In some parts of the world, the average twentysomething woman today is less fertile than her grandmother was at 35,” Swan writes. In addition to that, Swan finds that, on average, a man today will have half of the sperm his grandfather had. “The current state of reproductive… Read More Erin Brockovich – Plummeting sperm counts, shrinking penises: toxic chemicals threaten humanity

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DOUG NEISS – Military might, market ideology and moral posturing: A toxic combination that has poisoned America

Many of us who support government social programs still feel ambivalent about them — largely because we buy into, or are cowed by, the ideologies of free enterprise and militarism. The first holds that we alone determine our lot in life through competition and have no obligation toward others beyond taking care of ourselves and… Read More DOUG NEISS – Military might, market ideology and moral posturing: A toxic combination that has poisoned America

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Luis Gouveia Junior: What Portugal can teach us about the far Right

Unless progressive social movements challenge the shortcomings of liberal democracy, the appeal of ‘anti-system’ candidates will only grow    I was unlucky enough to be living in Rio de Janeiro when Jair Bolsonaro, before he became Brazil’s president, was elected to Congress in 2014 with the most votes in the state’s history. Then, two years later,… Read More Luis Gouveia Junior: What Portugal can teach us about the far Right

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