The world is burning. Who can convince the comfortable classes of the radical sacrifices needed?

Simone Weil’s life illustrates the capacity to give up the things we feel we’re owed – such as a carbon-intensive consumer-driven lifestyle Justine Toh Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The saying takes on new meaning after the hottest July ever, devastating wildfires in Greece and Canada, and the declaration by the UN secretary general, António Guterres,… Read More The world is burning. Who can convince the comfortable classes of the radical sacrifices needed?

26th August 202326th August 2023 Dilip

Significance of Ashoka University’s Teachers Calling for a Strike Over Academic Freedom / Solidarity with faculty of Ashoka University by the international academic community

NB: A recurring bad dream.. Here’s relevant correspondence from the time a senior scholar was forced out of Ashoka University in 2021. University authorities should protect their faculty from ideologically motivated attacks, not undermine them. If you dont stand up to such bullying there will never be an end to it. You may as well… Read More Significance of Ashoka University’s Teachers Calling for a Strike Over Academic Freedom / Solidarity with faculty of Ashoka University by the international academic community

22nd August 202322nd August 2023 Dilip

A brilliant biography of an elusive genius

By Daniel Johnson Spinoza: Life and Legacy, by Jonathan Israel In mediaeval scholasticism, Aristotle’s reputation was such that he was usually referred to simply as “the Philosopher”. Amongst the moderns, this book makes the case for treating Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) similarly. If there is no philosopher but Spinoza, Jonathan Israel is his prophet. Spinoza: Life and… Read More A brilliant biography of an elusive genius

20th August 202320th August 2023 Dilip

A daughter’s fight, a son lost to drugs: families in J&K battle death and despair

Bashaarat Masood , Naveed Iqbal In district after district in the Valley, as The Indian Express found travelling to Srinagar, Anantnag, Kupwara and Baramulla, such stories are playing out in homes, hospital wards and deaddiction centres. Jammu and Kashmir’s drug pandemic which, as the first of this investigative series reported Friday, has seen a record seizure of heroin, an unprecedented… Read More A daughter’s fight, a son lost to drugs: families in J&K battle death and despair

19th August 202319th August 2023 Dilip

China’s recent economic woes suggest there is something seriously amiss

Underlying longer-term weaknesses in the economy are bound up with Beijing’s repressive political system George Magnus At a Politburo meeting last month, China’s leaders referred to the economic recovery this year as “torturous”. You won’t often hear such candour coming from a Chinese Communist party institution, let alone such an elevated body. They were referring… Read More China’s recent economic woes suggest there is something seriously amiss

13th August 202312th August 2023 Dilip

Varlık at 90: Culture depends on the suspension of power

A Turkish literary institution turns 90: reflections on Varlık’s evolution and achievements, as well as notable omissions Eurozine Review Only ten years younger than the Republic of Turkey itself, Varlık devotes its July issue to an accounting of the journal’s first 90 years. In its early days Varlık marched in step with the modernising spirit of the new order… Read More Varlık at 90: Culture depends on the suspension of power

11th August 202311th August 2023 Dilip

Donald Trump has gone off the deep end for real: He’s a danger to humanity

Donald Trump’s insanity is a clear and present danger to the existence of humanity. BRIAN KAREM Facing 78 felonies in three different jurisdictions, with a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, still waiting to weigh in — and perhaps facing additional federal charges or possible state charges in Michigan, Arizona and elsewhere — Donald Trump… Read More Donald Trump has gone off the deep end for real: He’s a danger to humanity

11th August 202311th August 2023 Dilip

The great libraries of Rome

Fabio Fernandes It’s around 200 CE, in Ephesus, an Aegean city of Greek roots, now a major hub of the Roman Empire. Meandering down marble-paved Curetes Street, a dweller is lost in the bustle of the town, procuring produce and wares in shops tucked beneath the colonnades, attending the public baths – even a conveniently… Read More The great libraries of Rome

10th August 20239th August 2023 Dilip

Antidepressants: I wasn’t told about the side-effects

About one in seven people in the UK now take medication to treat depression but some say they are not being given appropriate advice about the potential side-effects of the drugs they have been prescribed. By Anton Ferrie Seonaid Stallan’s son Dylan was a teenager when he began receiving treatment for body dysmorphia and depression.… Read More Antidepressants: I wasn’t told about the side-effects

9th August 2023 Dilip

Arkansas GOP rep’s wife shredded for ‘swapping’ library books with Bibles

Arkansas Republican State Representative Stephen Meeks’ wife Jennifer Meeks is receiving backlash after setting out to replace free neighborhood books with Bibles, Newsweek reports. Faulkner County Coalition for Social Justice (FCCSJ) recently called out the congressman’s wife via Facebook, saying “she has been busy posting about the little free libraries across Faulkner County and the ‘group of leftist[s],… Read More Arkansas GOP rep’s wife shredded for ‘swapping’ library books with Bibles