Nothing can stop Germany’s moral panic over antisemitism It would be hard to surpass the absurd spectacle of a Jewish philosopher being blocked from speaking at a German Holocaust memorial because he intended to say that the lessons of “never again” should be applied universally. And yet such perverse distortions of Germany’s ‘memory culture’ have… Read More Bad memories
Carolina Landsmann Apropos talk about a plea bargain for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in exchange for his retirement from political life, which President Isaac Herzog is working on; apropos the Supreme Court’s attempts to buy time to postpone the “constitutional crisis” (that is, the “storming of the Bastille,” aka the court, by “the people,” which,… Read More Netanyahu Will Go, but the State Will Die With Him
NB: A thought provoking essay to which some caveats could be placed. To begin with, Hindutva is not synonymous with Hindu Nationalism, the latter being more widespread and accomodative than Hindutva. The fascination with violence that characterised early militant nationalist groups was something which held sway in Maharashtra and Punjab as well; and the tendency… Read More Bengal was the First Breeding Ground of Hindu Nationalism
Education is under attack across occupied Palestine. The situation is most severe in Gaza, where more than 600,000 school-age children are approaching the end of a third year without formal in-person education. Israeli attacks there have killed at least 792 teachers and 18,639 students, according to the UN, and damaged or destroyed nine out of 10… Read More ‘Go inside, he will kill you’: Israeli militants step up West Bank school attacks
Colombia president Gustavo Petro tells 57-country talks on a green energy transition that fossil fuel interests could destroy humanity Jonathan Watts and Fiona Harvey in Santa Marta, Colombia The world is threatened by a “suicidal” model of capitalism that is leading to war, fascism and the potential extinction of humanity, Colombia’s president has said, as he convened 57 governments… Read More ‘Suicidal’ model of capitalism leading to war and fascism, climate summit told
NB: A gripping and very informative account of the intertwined crises that led to war and global confrontation in 1970-1971. I was a small witness to it from the Indian side of the border; and was caught up in the political cyclone which became the central theme for my novel Revolution Highway. Indeed, it was… Read More The Vortex
Residents waking to find line has moved overnight and they are now in free-fire zone as army takes more territory Seham Tantesh in Gaza and Julian Borger Israeli forces have been moving an agreed truce line in Gaza westwards over the six months since the ceasefire, expanding their zone of control and making the state of limbo… Read More Gaza’s yellow line creeps forward as Israeli forces expand zone of control
Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Aakash Hassan in Delhi Millions of people in the Indian state of West Bengal have been stripped of their vote ahead of a critical state election this week, after a controversial electoral revision described by critics as a “bloodless political genocide” and mass disenfranchisement of minorities. In West Bengal, a total of 9.1 million names… Read More Millions in India stripped of vote before critical state election, as government seeks to ‘purify’ electoral roll
it’s hard for the human brain to encounter evil in ludicrous form, and still recognise it as such. That’s how it creeps up on you. That’s why you ask how such crimes were allowed to happen in the past. The answer is that it rarely arrives with the intent and identifying hallmarks of a villain.… Read More Trump’s presidency is what evil looks like: absurd, frightening, cruel
Some of today’s far right is openly violent and undemocratic – and even in its less extreme forms, far-right populism is a profound threat. But that doesn’t mean it is just a re-run of history By Daniel Trilling Politics, before it is about anything else, is about emotion. We all base our judgments about the world… Read More The impossible promise: are we witnessing the return of fascism?
After the truth-shower 