Tag: History

The incredible tale of Anna Politkovskaya has taught me one thing: I could never be that brave

She faced endless opposition and threats to her life. This has become a reality for far too many journalists Maxine Peake A woman places flowers in front of a portrait of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Moscow, 2009. Photograph: Pavel Golovkin/AP What drives someone to become a journalist? A good journalist, someone whose keyboard is a tool for exposing… Read More The incredible tale of Anna Politkovskaya has taught me one thing: I could never be that brave

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Evil: The Crime against Humanity. Hannah Arendt’s confrontation with totalitarianism

Hannah Arendt’s confrontation with totalitarianism The “total domination of man” was radically evil, in Arendt’s eyes, not only because it was unprecedented but because it did not make sense. She asked: Why should lust for power, which from the beginning of recorded history has been considered the political and social sin par excellence, suddenly transcend… Read More Evil: The Crime against Humanity. Hannah Arendt’s confrontation with totalitarianism

Dilip

The music of humanity

First posted January 29, 2014; and published in the Asian Age (January 30, 2014 was the 66th anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination) The music of humanity The force of love is the same as the force of the soul or truth. We have evidence of its working at every step. Hind Swaraj – M.K. Gandhi One of the… Read More The music of humanity

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Majoritarian buffet

The fact that the Supreme Court is willing to stay crucial parts of the Waqf (Amendment) Act suggests that the judicial deference that Modi government commanded as its due is not readily available Mukul Kesavan The Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025 is an exercise in premeditated bad faith. Its main provisions are designed to denotify historical… Read More Majoritarian buffet

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Janet Farrell Brodie: Secrecy & Censorship in the Wake of the Atomic Bombings

First posted August 07, 2015 The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 years ago, is one of the most studied events in modern history. And yet significant aspects of that bombing are still not well known. I recently published a social history of US censorship in the aftermath of the bombings, which this piece is based… Read More Janet Farrell Brodie: Secrecy & Censorship in the Wake of the Atomic Bombings

Dilip

Dunkirk Veteran Weeps At Film Premiere: ‘It Was Just Like I Was There Again’

First posted July 24, 2017 Walking out of a Calgary, Canada, movie theater on Friday, where he’d just watched the premiere of Christopher Nolan’s highly acclaimed “Dunkirk,” 97-year-old war veteran Ken Sturdy was seen wiping tears from his eyes. “I never thought I’d see that again,” an emotional Sturdy, dressed in a jacket adorned with war… Read More Dunkirk Veteran Weeps At Film Premiere: ‘It Was Just Like I Was There Again’

Dilip

Trump Faces Palestine

Aviva Chomsky In the colonial view of the world — and, in its own strange fashion, Donald Trump’s view couldn’t be more colonial — White European colonizers were embattled beacons of civilization, rationality, and progress, confronting dangerous barbaric hordes beyond (and even, sometimes, within) their own frontiers. Colonial violence then was a necessary form of… Read More Trump Faces Palestine

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Edward White: The Short, Daring Life of Lilya Litvyak; the world’s first female fighter ace

Lilya Litvyak became the world’s first female fighter ace, and is better known as the White Rose of Stalingrad On June 22, 1941, the Third Reich launched its ill-fated invasion of Russia. It was pestilential in scale; more than three million Axis soldiers swarmed Russia’s borders in a matter of hours, overwhelming Soviet defenses. Hitler… Read More Edward White: The Short, Daring Life of Lilya Litvyak; the world’s first female fighter ace

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