“If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country.” — B.R. Ambedkar In a recent talk in Bengaluru, the writer, Parakala Prabhakar, made a perceptive observation about the changing language of political discourse. In the late 1980s, when the Bharatiya Janata Party was first becoming a… Read More Ramachandra Guha: Reign of faith
US-Russian journalist Masha Gessen won Germany’s Hannah Arendt prize for political thought. Supporters of Gessen, who is Jewish, and whose grandfather and great-grandfather were among family members murdered by the Nazis, have been quick to point out the irony of suspending a prize awarded in memory of Arendt, the German-born Jewish-American historian, philosopher and antitotalitarian… Read More Award ceremony suspended after writer compares Gaza to Nazi-era Jewish ghettos
These professors had to finish their doctoral research, write papers, present in conferences, and yet miraculously also had time for that extra reading that a student requested, or for lunch at D-School Canteen to give a serious answer to a question. Abinash Dash Choudhury Education as the practice of freedom—as opposed to education as the… Read More An Ode to the ‘Ad-Hoc’ Teachers of Ramjas English Department
How the politics of memory in Europe obscures what we see in Israel and Gaza today By Masha Gessen Berlin never stops reminding you of what happened there. Several museums examine totalitarianism and the Holocaust; the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe takes up an entire city block. In a sense, though, these larger structures… Read More In the Shadow of the Holocaust
Louis Althusser – an Intellectual Adventure (2017) This documentary traces the development of the thought of the Marxist French philosopher Louis Althusser (1918-1990), who influenced a whole generation of philosophers, including Lacan, Foucault, Derrida, Badiou and Zizek. Famous for his Definition of ideology and ideological state apparatuses. Althusser is credited with reinterpreting Marx in a… Read More Louis Althusser: An Intellectual Adventure (2017)
Piers Morgan Uncensored is joined by lawyer and author Alan Dershowitz and author and political scientist Norman Finkelstein as the pair unite for their first live television debate in over 20 years. The pair debate the Israel and Palestine conflict in Gaza, whether Hamas and the IDF are terrorist organisations, whether Israel is committing genocide… Read More Norman Finkelstein vs Alan Dershowitz On Israel-Palestine War With Piers Morgan / Full Debate
No one expected the abrogation to be reversed. But SC’s judgment lacks the reassurance that it has the integrity to uphold the Indian Constitution, in whose name it speaks, in full measure The judgment of the Supreme Court, upholding the abrogation of Article 370, is a massive legal victory for the Narendra Modi government’s approach to Jammu and… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta on abrogation of Article 370: Has SC established a dangerous precedent for federalism?
HARTOSH SINGH BAL The transformation of the relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sikhs embodies the problems the community faces in a climate where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s worldview prevails in the country. The story begins with a photo the Bharatiya Janata Party would once display with great pride, of a turbaned Modi disguised as… Read More Sikhs are the proverbial bone stuck in the RSS’s gullet
On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its opening words are: “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…” An installation… Read More December 10: International Human Rights Day. December 9: Day of Commemoration for the Victims of the Crime of Genocide
Adam Raz For 14 years, Netanyahu’s policy was to keep Hamas in power; the pogrom of October 7, 2023, helps the Israeli prime minister preserve his own rule.. Netanyahu’s entire policy since 2009 has sought to destroy any possibility of a diplomatic agreement with the Palestinians. It’s the theme of his rule, which depends on… Read More A Brief History of the Netanyahu-Hamas Alliance
