Alessandra Mezzadri: Informal labour, the majority world and the need for inclusive theories and politics

First posted June 28, 2019. Reposted in memory of MayDay The majority of people on this planet labour in the informal economy, or are subject to labour relations that are greatly informalised. According to the International Labour Oganisation, 85.8% of total employment in Africa, 71.4% in Asia and the Pacific, 68.6% in the Arab States… Read More Alessandra Mezzadri: Informal labour, the majority world and the need for inclusive theories and politics

1st May 20231st May 2023 Dilip

Review of Subaltern Studies (2001)

First posted June 23, 2014. Reposted here in memory of Ranajit Guha (23 May 1923 – 23 April 2023). RIP Ranjitda NB: This was written for the International Encyclopaedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences, 2001 edition. I had erroneously dated it in 2002). The review may also be read online here. An Indian school of… Read More Review of Subaltern Studies (2001)

1st May 20231st May 2023 Dilip

Harry Belafonte’s staggering musical and screen career

Harry Belafonte obituary NB: He sang songs of plantation workers in the Caribbean, I remember hearing them through my childhood. What a great man. RIP Harry Belafonte (1927-2023) Harry Belafonte in a recording studio in the late 1950s. Photograph: Pictorial Parade/Getty Images Day O! The Banana boat song Day-o, day-oDaylight come and we want go homeDay,… Read More Harry Belafonte’s staggering musical and screen career

26th April 202326th April 2023 Dilip

The double life of John le Carré

A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré; ed. Tim Cornwell by Peter Hitchens John le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell, was Britain’s greatest novelist of the late twentieth century. He was also a sneaky government nark, who spied on his friends for the state. He sent damaging reports on them to the… Read More The double life of John le Carré

25th April 202325th April 2023 Dilip

First edition Shakespeare text from 1623 goes on display

A First Folio edition of William Shakespeare’s plays that was published in 1623 is being put on display. By Yasmin Rufo Guildhall Library will be showcasing the rare book as part of a celebration of 400 years since the book was published. Copies of the First Folio edition were sold for between 15 shillings and… Read More First edition Shakespeare text from 1623 goes on display

25th April 2023 Dilip

“Hurrah for the Time Man!” Tribute to David Montgomery (1927-2011)

The labor historians of the 1960s were born into the culture of unity forged in the working-class movement’s classical phase, between 1890 and 1945. In one form or another, they told the story of this era, not realizing how radically it might come undone. Gabriel Winant Labor’s Mind: A History of Working-Class Intellectual Lifeby Tobias… Read More “Hurrah for the Time Man!” Tribute to David Montgomery (1927-2011)

24th April 2023 Dilip

NCERT Books: 1,800 scientists, researchers demand restoration of Darwin’s evolution theory

NEW DELHI: Breakthrough Science Society, a collective of scientists and researchers across India, has raised concerns over the deleted ‘Theory of Biological Evolution’ from National Council of Educational Training and Research (NCERT) books for Class 10. Condemning NCERT’s decision, the collective wrote that learning “evolutionary biology is important not just to any subfield of biology, but is… Read More NCERT Books: 1,800 scientists, researchers demand restoration of Darwin’s evolution theory

22nd April 202322nd April 2023 Dilip

The US and UK stole our homes. 50 years on, we’re still being denied justice

Olivier Bancoult US military personnel live in my birthplace, the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, but I am not allowed to. Since I was four years old, my people, the Chagossians, have lived in impoverished exile, while the US military has been enjoying the fruits of my homeland. The plight of my people has… Read More The US and UK stole our homes. 50 years on, we’re still being denied justice

22nd April 2023 Dilip

The ‘Basic Structure’ Doctrine: Defence against Parliamentary Hegemony

According to the ‘basic structure’ doctrine of the Supreme Court put forward in 1973, there are features of the Constitution that are unamendable by Parliament under any circumstances. The doctrine is the only legal defence against parliamentary hegemony and a rewriting of the Constitution. SRIRAM PANCHU; APRAMEYA MANTHENA; VIKAS MURALIDHARAN The Constitution of India is… Read More The ‘Basic Structure’ Doctrine: Defence against Parliamentary Hegemony

22nd April 202322nd April 2023 Dilip

Terrifying implications of the Supreme Court’s Staines Judgement

First posted November 19, 2011 NB: I wrote this article in the aftermath of the January 2011 judgement by two Supreme Court judges on the murder of Graham Staines and his two sons in Orissa in 1998. The debate on religious questions is a secondary one. The first major point of my article is this:… Read More Terrifying implications of the Supreme Court’s Staines Judgement

20th April 20236th October 2025 Dilip

After the truth-shower

Philosophy, history, literature, current affairs, and other stuff. Posted by Dilip Simeon

Tag: History