Mainstream, Vol 63 No 24, June 14, 2025
DOCUMENTS: BOOKS: IMAGE & SOUND Editor’s Picks:
Tag: History
Chris Hedges: The Rule of Idiots
Søren Kierkegaard in “The Present Age” warns that the modern state seeks to eradicate conscience and shape and manipulate individuals into a pliable and indoctrinated “public.” This public is not real. It is a “monstrous abstraction, an all-embracing something which is nothing, a mirage.”… Thomas Paine writes that a despotic government is a fungus that… Read More Chris Hedges: The Rule of Idiots
The Derozio Affair – An Annal of Early Calcutta. By Rudrangshu Mukherjee
Hindu College was set up in Calcutta in 1817 as a pioneering institution to impart Western learning to its students. In 1831, its most outstanding teacher, Henry Louis Vivian Derozio, then only 22 years old, was compelled to resign. A look at the circumstances that forced his resignation attempts to reconstruct Derozio’s ideas and his… Read More The Derozio Affair – An Annal of Early Calcutta. By Rudrangshu Mukherjee
Donald Trump’s Cultural Revolution
NB: This is what the US did repeatedly to the rest of the world, remember? Whether led by Republican or Democratic Presidents. Now the land of hope and glory is self-destructing. Remember Joe BIden’s 30 billion dollars of arms aid to Israel and the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed with American bombs. Trump is… Read More Donald Trump’s Cultural Revolution
Recollection: A course on history and philosophy
Offered by the Pagdandi Collective Please see the course details below. To apply for the course, click here. Last date to apply is 29th June, 2025. READ IN APP धोखा है इक फ़रेब है मंज़िल का हर ख़याल, सच पूछिए तो सारा सफ़र वापसी का है – राजेश रेड्डी Some of the most significant technological innovations of… Read More Recollection: A course on history and philosophy
GERMANY’S HOLOCAUST BETRAYAL
The faintest of all human passions is the love of truth: A. E. Housman (1859-1936) By Gideon Levy in Haaretz, May 29, 2025 Germany has betrayed the memory of the Holocaust and its lessons. A country that saw its highest task as not to forget has forgotten. A country that told itself that it would… Read More GERMANY’S HOLOCAUST BETRAYAL
Non-violent Action and Socialist Radicalism: Narendra Deva in India’s freedom movement
First posted July 07, 2015 Anil Nauriya NB: This is an important contribution to the historiography of Indian nationalism, and of socialist theorising in India. The paper is available online here: Non-violent Action and Socialist Radicalism: Narendra Deva in India’s freedom movement IntroductionThe dynamic that linked non-violent movements for Indian freedom in the first half… Read More Non-violent Action and Socialist Radicalism: Narendra Deva in India’s freedom movement
Ramachandra Guha’s ‘India After Gandhi’ – Gujarati translation launched in Ahmedabad
NB: India After Gandhi is a history of India after independence, but it must be said that Ramchandra Guha is among a small circle of scholars to have done singular service to the Indian and global public with his extensive and meticulous research on Mahatma Gandhi’s life. It is gratifying that his work has been… Read More Ramachandra Guha’s ‘India After Gandhi’ – Gujarati translation launched in Ahmedabad
George Monbiot – Ayn Rand: A Manifesto for Psychopaths / Paul Krugman explains why Ayn Rand’s libertarianism is absolutely deadly
George Monbiot – Ayn Rand: A Manifesto for Psychopaths Her psychopathic ideas made billionaires feel like victims and turned millions of followers into their doormats. I wonder how many would continue to worship at the shrine of Ayn Rand if they knew that towards the end of her life she signed on for both Medicare… Read More George Monbiot – Ayn Rand: A Manifesto for Psychopaths / Paul Krugman explains why Ayn Rand’s libertarianism is absolutely deadly
Visual testament
The two-state two-step wasn’t a serious commitment; it was a way of pretending that the shrinking bantustans of Gaza and the West Bank were a state in the making Mukul Kesavan Over the last month, global opinion on Israel’s unending massacre of Palestinians in Gaza has shifted, at least rhetorically. Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer and… Read More Visual testament
After the truth-shower 