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)
‘Selfie-points’ in universities: What purpose do they serve? Bharat Bhushan The selfie is no longer dismissed by behavioural analysts as symptomatic of self-obsession or narcissism. Experts believe that selfies are also a way to connect and communicate with others. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for example, was a serious serial selfie-taker with world leaders during his… Read More University Grants Commission aiding the cult of personality
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
The right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is eternal and indisputable… therefore, Judea and Samaria will not be handed to any foreign administration; between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty. —Likud Party Platform, 1977 RASHID KHALIDI The slogan “from the river to the sea” apparently has… Read More It’s Time to Confront Israel’s Version of “From the River to the Sea”
How legal frameworks are being used to throttle free speech and the media…The dangerous beauty of this framework is that each bill touches upon only certain key aspects that may be crucial for freedom of speech, but, together, they constitute a gargantuan web that is difficult to escape. ANANT NATH On 10 November 2023, the… Read More Drowning Voices
How an amoral technocracy powers Modi’s India… For the engineers of Bengaluru and their allies in neoliberal think tanks, the BJP’s Hindutva politics is the necessary condition to put their designs to work. In 2023, this ideology has become the common sense of how India should be governed, shared by all major political forces in… Read More The Bangalore Ideology
The West voted against the rest of the world on United Nations General Assembly resolutions, opposing democracy, human rights, and cultural diversity, while supporting mercenaries and unilateral coercive measures (sanctions). By Ben Norton / Geopolitical Economy Report Western governments frequently claim that their foreign and domestic policies are motivated by “human rights” and “democracy”. They often… Read More West Votes Against Democracy, Human Rights, Cultural Diversity at UN; Promotes Mercenaries, Sanctions
NB: This is a watery editorial on a blatant massacre which warrants far more serious analysis. It recognises the plain facts, but ‘demands our attention’ doesn’t cut it. You’re still sleeping. A child is killed every ten minutes in Gaza; and over 700 have been murdered in the last 24 hours. What attention are you… Read More The Guardian view on Gaza’s devastation: don’t look away. See the bigger picture too
He first became prime minister in 1996, and has been pushing the country further right ever since. Most agree his political days are numbered – but the approach he established will prove very difficult to shift by Joshua Leifer An attack like Hamas’s 7 October massacre was not supposed to have been possible. Certainly not while… Read More The Netanyahu doctrine: how Israel’s longest-serving leader reshaped the country
After the truth-shower 