Tag: History

Rumsfeld’s much-vaunted ‘courage’ was a smokescreen for lies, crime and death. By Richard Wolffe

It is customary, at times like these, to gloss over the failures and foibles of recently deceased officials: to paint a portrait in broad brush strokes about their achievements and qualities and public service. In the case of the newly departed Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary who led the catastrophic war in Iraq, this would be… Read More Rumsfeld’s much-vaunted ‘courage’ was a smokescreen for lies, crime and death. By Richard Wolffe

Dilip

Oxford University’s South Asian Studies Programme’s comments on Venkat Dhulipala

First posted September 12, 2018 I will open this comment with an anecdote. Some months ago, whilst exercising in the gym I visit, the senior trainer was talking politics with someone. He is a friendly individual and I normally do not converse whilst exercising. He happens to be an admirer of Narendra Modi. On this… Read More Oxford University’s South Asian Studies Programme’s comments on Venkat Dhulipala

Dilip

Anil Nauriya: July 1, 2021 is the Centenary of the Dharwar Firing

Today, 1 July,  is the centenary of the police firing in Dharwar during the movement for Non-violent Non-co-operation with the Colonial Government in India 100 years ago. The firing started around 8.20 at night when non-co-operators were picketing market toddy and liquor shops. At least 42 bullets were fired, killing 3 and injuring around 39 persons.… Read More Anil Nauriya: July 1, 2021 is the Centenary of the Dharwar Firing

Dilip

Kabir’s search for solitude resembles our search for privacy in totalitarian times

An excerpt from Kabir, Kabir: The Life and Work of the Early Modern Poet-Philosopher – by Purushottam Agrawal.    Why were Kabir’s detractors “forced” to escalate matters up to the sultan? Mostly because they were smarting from having failed so miserably to check his influence themselves. Kabir’s fame was sky- rocketing, despite his obvious lack… Read More Kabir’s search for solitude resembles our search for privacy in totalitarian times

Dilip

Alexander Stern: What the Frankfurt School has to stay about bureaucratic progressivism

“Cultural Marxism” is often invoked by some on the right to explain the rise of “woke” politics in universities, newsrooms, and corporations. According to this well-rehearsed line of criticism, the fixation on race and gender, the erosion of free speech, and the high-pitched frenzy of political correctness and cancellation, are nothing less than a communist… Read More Alexander Stern: What the Frankfurt School has to stay about bureaucratic progressivism

Dilip

Jaap Kloosterman: Secret Societies – a history

Attempts to circumscribe our topic are naturally hampered by the fact that secrecy is a many-sided thing. The expression “secret societies” evokes a Wittgensteinian family resemblance of a great variety of organisations with all sorts of similarities, yet not a single feature common to all. As a result, most existing definitions are accompanied by abundant… Read More Jaap Kloosterman: Secret Societies – a history

Dilip

Cutlet for Cutlet

NB: The comment below is taken from Jairus Banaji’s Facebook page dated June 13, 2021 The title of this blogpost is me being sarcastic. I had originally titled it Sovereignty of Capital or Nation as property, but thought it redundant. No comment is required. Readers might be interested in this investigation, and Bharat Bhushan’s report on  the Scania… Read More Cutlet for Cutlet

Dilip

“I can most highly recommend the Gestapo to everyone” – Sigmund Freud, 1938

“What progress we are making! In the middle ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.”   Late in May 1938, an 82-year old Sigmund Freud and his family were in Vienna eagerly awaiting the final details to be sorted before they could leave their country for good. There was no… Read More “I can most highly recommend the Gestapo to everyone” – Sigmund Freud, 1938

Dilip

Alexxa Gotthardt: Unraveling the mysteries of ancient Egypt's spellbinding mummy portraits

While ancient Egyptian mummy portraits have long been objects of curiosity, only a minimal amount of scholarship exists about them. Many questions have lingered since they were uncovered by archeologists around the Egyptian city of Fayum in the late 1800s. Who painted them? What pigments and substrates did the artists use, and where were these… Read More Alexxa Gotthardt: Unraveling the mysteries of ancient Egypt's spellbinding mummy portraits

Dilip

Joyce Cheng: Tiananmen Square protesters remember the bonds they formed with the Chinese police who held them captive

Chen Tianshi has kept a secret for the past 32 years. The former student activist was a key organiser of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and was arrested in the aftermath of the massacre. Out of the bloody crackdown, unlikely friendships formed between some protesters and their captors. Today, on the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen… Read More Joyce Cheng: Tiananmen Square protesters remember the bonds they formed with the Chinese police who held them captive

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