Tag: Orwellian reminders

Chitrangada Choudhury: Modi Is Worsening the Suffering from India’s Pandemic

On May 8, 2021, as a deadly second wave of the COVID pandemic was ripping through India, an imprisoned doctoral student made an urgent appeal to the Delhi High Court. Incarcerated by the Indian government since May 2020 on dubious terror charges, Natasha Narwal asked for interim bail to see her father, agricultural scientist Mahavir Narwal, who was… Read More Chitrangada Choudhury: Modi Is Worsening the Suffering from India’s Pandemic

Dilip

How oil capitalists conspired to spread climate change denialism — in 1988

In the summer of 1988, the United States experienced the worst heat waves and droughts since the Dust Bowl. Ominous images of burning forests, withering fields and sweltering cities filled the American press and elicited nervous suspicion: was this the work of the so-called greenhouse effect? Had the danger of which some scientists warned already arrived?… Read More How oil capitalists conspired to spread climate change denialism — in 1988

Dilip

This year's Oscars could have been a moment of pride for China. Then politics got in the way

NB: No, not politics, but nationalism, which Albert Einstein called ‘the measles of mankind‘. It is a tragedy that a talented person be abused in her own country because she refuses to kneel before this false god. This is not just a Chinese problem, its a lesson we all need to learn. DS  The Academy Awards this year could… Read More This year's Oscars could have been a moment of pride for China. Then politics got in the way

Dilip

Melissa Godin: The rise of the border and surveillance industry

Companies that profit from selling surveillance technologies and border services to governments are actively lobbying countries to adopt more militaristic approaches to migration. In fact, the border and surveillance industry is now so profitable that it has become a key commodity for major investment companies such as the Vanguard Group, BlackRock, or Capital Research Management, who invest… Read More Melissa Godin: The rise of the border and surveillance industry

Dilip

Ashoka University: Correspondence on Professor P. B. Mehta’s Resignation (2021)

First posted March 22, 2021 NB: Appended below are documents which appeared in the public domain between March 17 and March 21. (The Joint Statement is curious for bearing the signatures of the two departing scholars, who apparently refer to themselves in the third person). The contrast between the content of the first three letters… Read More Ashoka University: Correspondence on Professor P. B. Mehta’s Resignation (2021)

Dilip

Bharat Bhushan: Nervous government explores ways to 'manage' media

The leaking of the alleged Report of Group of Ministers (GoM) on Government Communications is an exceptional event for a government that prides itself in being successfully opaque. Reminiscent of McCarthyism, the report suggests “neutralising” journalists who write against the government and spread “false narratives”. An incredible proposal from an establishment journalist suggests that journalists… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Nervous government explores ways to 'manage' media

Dilip

George Orwell Reviews Mein Kampf: “He Envisages a Horrible Brainless Empire” (1940)

Published in New English Weekly, 21 March 1940 It is a sign of the speed at which events are moving that Hurst and Blackett’s unexpurgated edition of Mein Kampf, published only a year ago, is edited from a pro-Hitler angle. The obvious intention of the translator’s preface and notes is to tone down the book’s ferocity and… Read More George Orwell Reviews Mein Kampf: “He Envisages a Horrible Brainless Empire” (1940)

Dilip

'Endure, everyone': final messages from Hong Kong democracy figures before detention

On Sunday, 47 Hong Kong pro-democracy figures were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion over accusations they organised unofficial primary elections aiming to “paralyse” the government by winning a majority and blocking legislation. The election was ultimately postponed for a year, purportedly because of the pandemic. All face terms of up to life in prison if convicted.… Read More 'Endure, everyone': final messages from Hong Kong democracy figures before detention

Dilip

Nivedita Menon: Toolkits of democracy and a paranoid Hindu Rashtra

Let me tell you what the Delhi Police knows. And I do not mean the abstract entity called Delhi Police. I mean every single IPS officer and every constable involved in carrying out the “toolkit investigation.” They know that 22 year old Disha Ravi is not the Prime Mover along with the relatively recently formed… Read More Nivedita Menon: Toolkits of democracy and a paranoid Hindu Rashtra

Dilip