NB: This is the text of the talk I delivered on October 2 at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi. DS The bane of our life is our exclusive provincialism, whereas my province must be co-extensive with the Indian boundary so that ultimately it extends to the boundary of the earth. Else it perishes – Mahatma Gandhi,… Read More The Oceanic Circle: Talk on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 155th birthday
The Oceanic CircleThree things occupied Mahatma Gandhi all his life: God, truth, and Ahimsa. He did not see them in different compartments but as threads in the fabric of life. A life spent in pursuit of truth is a philosophical life. His efforts towards social and political reform do not subtract from his deeply thoughtful… Read More Gandhi’s Oceanic Circle. October 2, 2024
NB: The Rev Daniel O’Connor was pastor of St Stephen’s College during the years I was there, in the 1960’s. He and his dear wife Juliet befriended me and my comrades, at a time we were considered trouble-makers. They did not agree with our politics, but for all that, never withdrew their affection. One of… Read More India and the End of Empire. Selected Writings of Daniel O’Connor
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the Democratic convention have been met with stony faces, jeers – and violence GAZA casualties, live statistics NB: What does it mean, when tens of thousands of Palestinian corpses and mutilated children mean less to you than Israel’s so-called right to commit genocide? What kind of peace will descend upon Palestinians who… Read More Harris wants to bring ‘joy, joy, joy’ to Americans. And more bombs for Palestinians
NB: About 160,000 Palestinians have been killed, injured or are missing in Gaza or the West Bank due to the genocidal attack by the American proxy, Israel. Many of them are children, some of whom have had amputations without anesthesia. Had even a fraction of Americans or Europeans been treated in this way we can… Read More ‘This has to stop’: plea by survivors of deadly IDF strike on school in Gaza
First posted April 25, 2012 NB: Over the past four months, the Deoband Ulema has contributed to the climate of intolerance and religious bigotry in India. First by opposing Rushdie’s presence at the Jaipur Literature Festival, and now by sabotaging a perfectly legitimate subject for research. In the first instance they succeeded by riding on the… Read More Academic research on Rushdie’s literary work sabotaged by Deoband Ulema / Resist the Climate of Intimidation in Academics
Hello, we are pleased to invite you to join us for a conversation with Dilip Simeon in Chandigarh on Saturday, August 3; 2024. More details here: https://pagdandi.substack.com/p/jaag-musafir Kindly RSVP if you plan to come: https://forms.gle/P7vAeWmWHWic7pgi6 My regards and gratitude to Pagdandi Collective for organising this conversation. What follows below is my personal addition to the matter above,… Read More Jaag Musafir: Pagdandi Collective
Incensed crowd facing riot police set BTV building on fire as students demand end to discriminatory job quotas NB: What is needed now is international democratic solidarity, across frontiers, age, language and religion. Solidarity for justice, peace, and renewed communication. Stand up for the embattled students of Bangladesh. In 1971, General Yahya Khan sent tanks… Read More Fierce anti-government protests in Bangladesh, 39 dead; thousands injured
The situation was further inflamed by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who referred to the students protesting using the derogatory slur “Razakars”, meaning those who betrayed the nation by collaborating with the enemy, Pakistan, during the war of independence in 1971. “If the grandchildren of freedom fighters don’t receive quota benefits, should the grandchildren of… Read More Two die and thousands hurt in crackdown on Bangladesh student protests
NB: The entire spectrum of Indian politics was represented at the Ambani wedding, – an obscene spectacle of wealth ongoing for several months in a country marked by extreme economic disparity. As the chart below shows, Indian big business has been at the forefront of spreading hatred to promote our ruling dispensation. This is untrammelled… Read More Money, politics, and hypocrisy
After the truth-shower 