Rhapsody of emancipation: the interventions of Gáspár Miklós Tamás

Ferenc Laczó An anarchist philosopher turned right-leaning libertarian and anti-capitalist critic of the illiberal order, Gáspár Miklós Tamás (1948–2023) embodied what east European thinkers have tended to be best at: making paradoxes intelligible. Democracy is ‘an odd thing to be glad about all on one’s own,’ Gáspár Miklós Tamás quipped in the late 1990s, and… Read More Rhapsody of emancipation: the interventions of Gáspár Miklós Tamás

12th March 2023 Dilip

I must start completely alone

Gonzalo Pozo on Isaac Deutscher’s wartime years in London London Reviw of Books – Vol. 45 No. 3 · 2 February 2023 Isaac Deutscher , later the biographer of Trotsky and Stalin, was in the Warsaw flat of his closest friend, the political journalist Bernard Singer, early in October 1938 when the Wehrmacht’s entry into the Sudetenland was… Read More I must start completely alone

5th February 20235th February 2023 Dilip

The Lady Vanishes

Gandhiji has been killed by his own people for whose redemption he lived. This second crucifixion in the history of the world has been enacted on a Friday – the same day Jesus was done to death one thousand nine hundred and fifteen years ago. Father forgive us These lines in white on a black… Read More The Lady Vanishes

29th January 202319th February 2023 Dilip

A philosophy professor’s final class

A tribute to Richard Bernstein, 1932-2022 “All academic thinking, whether right, left or middle, is conservative in the extreme,” Arendt had written to him. “Nobody wants to hear what he hasn’t heard before.” Recalling these words, Bernstein leaned toward his laptop camera, growing bigger on our screens. We must all fight off this tendency to… Read More A philosophy professor’s final class

18th January 2023 Dilip

Achintya Barua remembers Ranajit Guha

Recollections that well up the eyes NB: This little remembrance was part of my presentation to a conference held between December 15 and 16 in Presidency University, Kolkata, to celebrate Professor Ranajit Guha’s attainment of the status of a centurion. I take no credit for it beyond that of asking my old friend and comrade… Read More Achintya Barua remembers Ranajit Guha

23rd December 202223rd December 2022 Dilip

Remembering Rabindra

First posted January 19, 2019 Rabindra Ray, who taught sociology at the Delhi School of Economics till his retirement a few years ago, died on January 15, 2019. For 52 years I called him Lalloo (with two l’s). His death has led to an outpouring of memories from his friends and students. This is one… Read More Remembering Rabindra

23rd December 202223rd December 2022 Dilip

Salaam comrade

First posted October 24, 2011 the shifting space, the stepoutside, away into another lifeon a street next to mine that drew me to itself, you and hera few bricks, some wood, a littlewithered grass, and children, shriekingas they played so save the hours, the days, the monthsthat you dreamt of a new spinein the universe,… Read More Salaam comrade

6th December 2022 Dilip

Mike Davis (1946-2022); lonely pillar of a more open Marxism

GABRIEL WINANT While academic historians generally divide political economy, political history, and social history into three separate fields—the study of markets, the study of the state, and the study of ordinary people and communities—they were irreducibly fused for Davis. He certainly could do political economy with the best of them: I return often to his… Read More Mike Davis (1946-2022); lonely pillar of a more open Marxism

25th November 2022 Dilip

Struggles for democracy and human rights in South Asia: Taking forward Asma Jahangir’s legacy

Ironically, the late Asma Jahangir’s last public appearance and speech were at a demonstration led by Pashteen in Islamabad, February 2018, against the extrajudicial killing of a Pashtun youth in a ‘police encounter’ in Karachi in January 2018. The protest marked the launch of the PTM. Jahangir passed away just days later at her home in Lahore. Since then,… Read More Struggles for democracy and human rights in South Asia: Taking forward Asma Jahangir’s legacy

19th November 2022 Dilip

The Legacy of Liu Xiaobo

NB: This fearless intellectual, who defied the mighty Chinese Communist Party even as he fought for the freedom of the human mind, died in hospital on July 13, 2017, denied the right even to proper treatment. Beneath the image is an extract from Simon Ley’s review of Liu Xiaobo’s book, No Enemies, No Hatred. It… Read More The Legacy of Liu Xiaobo

15th November 2022 Dilip

After the truth-shower

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

Tag: memorial