NB: The title of this post is inspired by a lecture on Gandhi’s ideal of resistance to oppression, delivered by my old friend Professor Bhagwan Josh. Please find below some words of advice to student protestors in the context of the global resistance to genocide. They are also relevant to all of us who resist… Read More Stand Up, Say No
GAZA casualties, live statistics NB: Nothing is ever repeated with precision, but American imperialism and its proxies (to use a favourite phrase of their Orwellian media) has been rampaging through the world for many decades after the end of the World War. Vietnam, Chile, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the endless war on the Palestinian population, are… Read More In Gaza Protest, Columbia Students Occupy Hamilton Hall, Site of Historic 1968 Takeover
GAZA casualties, live statistics NB: Last November, the Harvard Law Review refused to carry an already accepted piece on genocide in Gaza by a Palestinian scholar; without any explanation. The editor, HLR President Apsara Iyer, wrote to the author of the piece, that the decision was ‘not based on your identity or viewpoint.’ Perhaps it was… Read More The Palestine Exception to Academic Freedom Must Go
NB: The author of this thoughtful article is to be congratulated for doing his research. He ends thus “To address the problem, India needs to do something infinitely more difficult than killing Maoists: Giving Adivasis some justice.” The sabotage of justice in India has been unfolding as a recurrent nightmare for decades, and it concerns… Read More 29 Maoists killed in Bastar – What must India do to prevent their replacement?
NB: This essay was published in Outlook magazine on April 11. DS Waiting Are we in a post-ideological age? No, we are submerged in it. The term ‘post-truth’ is merely an example of the impact of ideology on our speech habits. What does it mean? We can approach the meaning of the term ideology by… Read More The Crisis of Ideology
NB: This essay has just been published in the latest issue of Outlook magazine. Happy Easter. DS Many years ago, in the mid 1990’s, I had occasion to hire a cab in Amsterdam. It was after dinner at a friends’ place. Once inside the cab it turned out the driver was an Indian immigrant. Or… Read More Khuda Hafiz
NB: Those of us who see the events of the late 1940’s in black and white terms ought to study the complexity of historical events as well as of the views of the actors in those events. Some may be surprised to read B. R. Ambedkar’s views on the transfer of population on a communal… Read More Jogendranath Mandal hoped for Dalit-Muslim unity in Pakistan. He’s remembered as a ‘villain’
NB: Anyone concerned about the intellectual health of their country should recall what Mao’s regime did to China’s academic life under the so-called Cultural Revolution in the late 1960’s. This was Mao Zedong’s motivated assault on academics, intellectuals and on his critics in the Communist Party leadership. Professor Frank Dikotter’s research study of this momentous… Read More Where Are the ‘Don Quixotes’ of Indian Academia?
The French political philosopher was both mouthpiece and model for the best defense of liberalism. Paul T. Wilford, Ethan Cutler March 01, 2024 NB: The final paragraph of this review contains these lines: ‘As Mark Lilla notes in his preface to Aron’s lecture, the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine may be a wake-up call: “Sometimes it… Read More Raymond Aron’s Liberal Virtues
बीजेपी का संपर्कवाद संविधानवाद पर हावी हो गया है। विपक्ष में परिवारवाद और बीजेपी का संपर्कवाद। आप देख नहीं पा रहे हैं लेकिन आपकी नाक के नीचे संस्थाओं के घाव का मवाद सड़कों पर बहने लगा है। अरुण गोयल का चुनाव आयोग से इस्तीफ़ा | Arun Goel resigns from the EC NB: A theme that… Read More Ravish Kumar: अरुण गोयल का चुनाव आयोग से इस्तीफ़ा | Arun Goel resigns from the Election Commission
After the truth-shower 