Israel’s Enduring Colonial Project in Palestine

Mehmet Rakipoglu Exeter, UK (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Debates about Palestine in the Western academia often portray contemporary Israeli policies as exceptional responses to security ‘threats’ or regional instability. Yet a longer historical perspective suggests a deeper structural continuity: the persistence of colonial logic under evolving institutional and discursive forms. From the British… Read More Israel’s Enduring Colonial Project in Palestine

Tearing up the map

NB: ‘Lebensraum’ as national policy; racism, genocidal complicity amongst vast sections of the Western population; total contempt for both morality and international law; limitless expansion of territory by force; the politics of permanent emergency (as per Carl Schmitt); the embrace of bloodlust and cruelty as markers of virtue rather than emblems of evil – all… Read More Tearing up the map

British Intelligence (MI5)’s file on Eric Hobsbawm

Frances Stonor Saunders on MI5 and the Hobsbawm File First posted March 26, 2015 On 25 January 1933, the 16-year-old Eric Hobsbawm marched with thousands of comrades through central Berlin to the headquarters of the German Communist Party (KPD). When they arrived at Karl Liebknecht Haus, on the Bülowplatz, the temperature was –18°C. They shuffled and… Read More British Intelligence (MI5)’s file on Eric Hobsbawm

J C Kumarappa’s Concept of an Economy of Permanence

Pranjali Bandhu A stalwart of India’s freedom movement, Gandhian economic philosopher, pioneer in the development of village and cottage industries and advocate of a decentralised, localised economy of permanence and freedom, it is unfortunate that J C Kumarappa (1892-1960) remains practically unknown to the present generation of Indians. The reasons for this are many, but… Read More J C Kumarappa’s Concept of an Economy of Permanence

Dismay as ancient heritage sites across Iran damaged in US-Israel bombing

Golestan Palace in Tehran, a world heritage site, and buildings in historic city of Isfahan harmed, despite Unesco sending coordinates Julian Borger and Deepa Parent The governor of the historic Iranian city of Isfahan has accused the US and Israel of a “declaration of war on a civilization” as heritage sites across the country suffer… Read More Dismay as ancient heritage sites across Iran damaged in US-Israel bombing

Literary Celebrity, Mussolini’s Mouthpiece, and American Traitor: Who Was Ezra Pound?

Stephen Harding on the Modernist Poet and His Fascist Politics By the spring of 1939, the widely acknowledged dean of Anglo-American Modernist poetry, fifty-three-year-old Ezra Pound, had lived in Europe for three decades. After leaving the United States in 1908 at the age of twenty- three, the poet had initially settled in London, then moved… Read More Literary Celebrity, Mussolini’s Mouthpiece, and American Traitor: Who Was Ezra Pound?

Domination and chaos: India’s radical conservatism

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