Tag: Orwellian reminders

America’s Republicans have a serious antisemitism problem. It isn’t Ilhan Omar

Moustafa Bayoumi Who remembers how, in 2018 and just days before the deadliest attack on Jewish people in US history, a prominent US politician tweeted: “We cannot allow Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg to BUY this election!”? The tweet was widely – and correctly – understood as dangerously antisemitic, particularly heinous in a period of rising anti-Jewish… Read More America’s Republicans have a serious antisemitism problem. It isn’t Ilhan Omar

Dilip

The Broken Middle

First posted November 01, 2014 The violent events of 1984 signify the breakdown of consensual politics and the ideal of composite Indian nationhood. When communal animosity spreads across society, it corrodes the social conscience and (directly or subliminally) produces a genocidal consensus. In the aftermath of 1984 we also witnessed the decay of a reliable… Read More The Broken Middle

Dilip

A tragedy pushed to the shadows: the truth about China’s Cultural Revolution

By Tania Branigan In an age of increased repression, few air their concerns. But as the party congress opened in October, a lonely figure protested in Beijing: among the demands on his banners was “Reform, not the Cultural Revolution”. That call was taken up by others at the remarkable protests against the zero-Covid policy that swept through cities weeks later.… Read More A tragedy pushed to the shadows: the truth about China’s Cultural Revolution

Dilip

Saudi Arabian academic on death row for using Twitter and WhatsApp

Stephanie Kirchgaessner A prominent pro-reform law professor in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to death for alleged crimes including having a Twitter account and using WhatsApp to share news considered “hostile” to the kingdom, according to court documents seen by the Guardian. The arrest of Awad Al-Qarni, 65, in September 2017 represented the start of a crackdown against dissent by… Read More Saudi Arabian academic on death row for using Twitter and WhatsApp

Dilip

In The Postmodern World, Intimacy Has Become A Strange Thing

Sreedeep Bhattacharya What are the essential ingredients of a pristine, romantic association? Introduction, anticipation, initiation, expectation, complexity, eccentricity, intimacy, reward and recognition. Not to forget the garnish of conflicts and contradictions; pathos and pleasure; tantrums and traumas; itches and aches—and, possibly, a lot more. Whereas these elements may have remained somewhat unaltered, there seems to… Read More In The Postmodern World, Intimacy Has Become A Strange Thing

Dilip

Ignorance is Strength; Freedom is Slavery; War is Peace

First posted January 13, 2013 NB: These extracts are from the Book within a Book in Chapter 9 of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four; first published in 1949. Sixty fours years later, the dystopian vision contained in the book throws light on the contemporary world, its fascination with war, violence and the fanatical ideologies that justify a continuous system of thought… Read More Ignorance is Strength; Freedom is Slavery; War is Peace

Dilip

‘ICHR publishes only papers of those playing second fiddles’

Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present, controls the past: George Orwell, Nineteen eighty-four DENNIS S. JESUDASAN In an interview with The Hindu , Kesavan Veluthat, the General President of the 81st session of the Indian History Congress which concluded in Chennai on Thursday, shares his views on the ICHR, and whether there… Read More ‘ICHR publishes only papers of those playing second fiddles’

Dilip