Tag: History

Young people are abandoning democracy for dictators. I can understand their despair

Fascism in power in the 1930s brought the world to genocidal war. But memories have faded, as has the stigma attached to the far-right – and that’s dangerous… Democracy under capitalism has always been heavily curtailed by corporate interests and plutocrats who have enjoyed far greater power than the average voter. When capitalism falls into… Read More Young people are abandoning democracy for dictators. I can understand their despair

Dilip

‘Flat packing them’: British soldier says S.A.S. described killing Afghans in casual way

Inquiry hears elite forces had a ‘kill all males on target whether they posed a threat or not’ policy in Afghanistan Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor Afghans who were killed by members of the SAS in Afghanistan were described dismissively as having been “flat packed” according to revealing testimony given by a former member of the elite… Read More ‘Flat packing them’: British soldier says S.A.S. described killing Afghans in casual way

Dilip

Once Upon a Time, a Nation of Laws

From the Global War on Terror to Donald Trump’s Second Term After 9/11, as Brown’s Costs of War Project reports, “These mass surveillance programs allow[ed] the U.S. government to warrantlessly and ‘incidentally’ vacuum up Americans’ communications, metadata and content, and store their information in data centers and repositories,” sacrificing standing protections in the name of greater… Read More Once Upon a Time, a Nation of Laws

Dilip

Oblivion Culture: Countering the German taboo on Palestinian trauma

A decisive part of the trauma experienced by Palestinians in Germany comes not only from its being rendered taboo, but also from what Pierre Bourdieu calls symbolic violence. The term describes the violence of those discourses that normalize and legitimize systemic violence…. Symbolic violence justifies the expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians and the seizure of… Read More Oblivion Culture: Countering the German taboo on Palestinian trauma

Dilip

Bhagat Singh, Kanpur lit fest, and the culture of hasty comment

NB: It could also be called the standardisation of thought; the co-option of history by ideology, and the elevation of outrage to an art form. DS Apoorvanand Historian Aparna Vaidik is under attack on social media. A controversy arose following a discussion on her new book at a lit fest in Kanpur. It was alleged that Vaidik… Read More Bhagat Singh, Kanpur lit fest, and the culture of hasty comment

Dilip

In the Shadow of Catastrophe: An Interview

Apocalyptic thought in the aftermath of the world wars George Prochnik and Anson Rabinbach In what way does writing about catastrophe, either predictively or retrospectively, risk kindling a new blaze? Conversely, is it possible to identify aspects of such texts that work against the drive to catastrophe? Conventional wisdom suggests that temporal distance from historical… Read More In the Shadow of Catastrophe: An Interview

Dilip