As in The Iliad, the adoration of force has become “the true hero, the true subject” of our times. All the nightmares of our present are woven from its threads: genocide and oligarchy; thermobaric bombs and AI kill lists; fascist cults of masculinity and bare-knuckle machismo; masked men snatching children off American streets and narco-executions in… Read More The adoration of force
By Dilip Simeon Ideology is the most devilish variation of the lie: Hannah Arendt To speak of reaction is to counterpose it with progress. This terminology is not helpful. Stable issues of political life, such as legitimate authority, justice, transparent government, clarity on the means vs ends problem; along with issues of character such as… Read More Domination and chaos: India’s radical conservatism
NB: A much needed reminder: the loudspeakers for Lokpal fell silent after the AAP and BJP came to power in their respective bastions; the AAP’s own internal Lokpal was unceremoniously dismissed; and the party kept a safe distance from all issues of communal strife during the Delhi riots of 2020 (including opposing bail for Muslims… Read More Kejriwal Should Realise the Allure of Jantar Mantar is Misplaced
NB: (The counter revolution) ‘…tried many forms and devices, but soon learned that it could come to power only with the help of the state machine and never against it… the Kapp Putsch of 1920 and the Hitler Pustch of 1923 had proved this.. In the centre of the counter revolution stood the judiciary. Unlike administrative… Read More Chris Hedges: The Machinery of Terror
NB: In India today, a section of opinion considers any criticism of Israel to be equivalent to ‘anti-nationalism’. This is similar to what has taken place in the USA; where even academic rersearch on Palestinan history is censored. It’s ridiculous that criticism of another country should be seen as betrayal of my country. Why? What… Read More They Questioned India–Israel Ties. Now the trolls want to destroy their lives
NB: A timely reminder that a century ago the two outstanding revolutionaries of the world were Gandhi and Lenin; and that Indian intellectuals were profoundly affected by their ideas. To carry this discussion further, the essays immediately following this article argue that the most significant contra-position in the world in the past century – in… Read More Polar perspectives: Gandhi vs Lenin
NB: This heinous incident is one of many such, that have been visible in India and the countries of South Asia for many years. It indicates nothing less than the blatant encouragement and deployment of mob rule by the ruling classes of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. Pakistan is now not just a… Read More Nawada lynching mocks ‘The rule of law’ / Bangladesh Lynching Condemned
NB: Accepting an award in the name of a prime suspect in the Mahatma Gandhi murder case is but a logical step forward from playing to-ey to-ey with brazen Savarkarites and Godse-ites. Not all patriots are scoundrels; but all scoundrels are definitely patriots. Wit is no substitute for wisdom, Shashi. Your performance is becoming cringeworthy.… Read More Refusing Savarkar award exposes Shashi Tharoor’s dilemma
NB: Anyone with the faintest idea of what is happening to Indian education will understand the importance of this book by this esteemed and highly accomplished scholar. The policies of our rulers can be described as nothing less than assault on education. Government enthusiasts could ask themselves why every year, hundreds of thousands of Indian… Read More Scholar GN Devy asks whether India risks becoming an anti-knowledge nation
NB: I appreciate this author’s empathetic understanding of religion, especially this sentence: of my three particular political heroes, only one – Dr King – is a Christian. Gandhi was Hindu, and his colleague, the too-little-known Abdul Ghaffar Khan – was a Muslim. I learned something special in this line: Philoxenia is the Greek term used… Read More They’re doing to America what they did to Christianity
After the truth-shower 