“My book has no thesis, and any conclusions to be found in it were reached only during the writing, perhaps the most meaningful being that Hitler was far more complex and contradictory than I had imagined. ‘The greatest saints,’ observes one of Graham Greene’s characters, ‘Have been men with a more than normal capacity for evil, and the most vicious[Read More…]
Mein Kampf (1925; 1926) is a rambling political manifesto, disguised as autobiography. This book offers an insight into the long roots and broad appeal of extreme ideas – and, given the persistence of nationalism, racism, religious extremism, and conspiracy theories – should be required reading for every citizen of a contemporary democracy. *** Mein Kampf is a political manifesto disguised as[Read More…]
A Passage to India demolishes the racism that sustains imperialism; the novel exemplifies the power of literature to catalyse social progress Exploitation has a long history. Nations subjugate other nations and enslave peoples. Exploitation imposes psychological costs. Not just on the exploited. On the exploiters, too. How do exploiters handle these psychological costs, in order to keep exploiting? From Romans[Read More…]
COVID-19 is the latest in a long line of devastating zoonoses. Unless we radically alter our behaviour, it won’t be the last. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is one of a family of coronaviruses, named for the wreaths that ‘coronate’ them. As of March 16, SARS-CoV-2 has infected 171,000 and killed 6,500. SARS-CoV-2, first reported in China, is[Read More…]
Orwell is best-known for his novel 1984. His essays, invaluable for themselves, gain further interest as workshops where Orwell developed the ideas that he was to immortalise in his last and greatest novel. 2020 is the 70th anniversary of Shooting an Elephant And Other Essays: a collection of some of George Orwell’s nonfiction (Secker & Warburg, 1950). Penguin republished[Read More…]
Black Mirror does best when it shows how, in a world that’s almost this world, mass media and social media cause problematic behaviour at the mass level. Premiering in 2011 in Britain, before taking the world by storm on Netflix, Black Mirror blends science-fiction with social commentary to galvanise discussions of how technology and human behaviour intersect in unforeseeable ways. [Read More…]
The Ancestor’s Tale (2nd ed.) (2016). Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Great Britain. The subject of Richard Dawkins’s popular-science books has always been ambitious: life itself. The Ancestor’s Tale is an even more ambitious entry in his oeuvre. It dives into the findings, challenges,and methods of evolutionary science using the frame narrative from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: a[Read More…]
In the end, Joker remains a laughter-free, irony-free, subtle-as-a-sledgehammer disappointment, partly redeemed by an Oscar worthy performance from Joaquin Phoenix. I wanted to like Joker. I became a fan of all things Batman in middle school, when Batman: The Animated series was on reruns in India. Christopher Nolan’s masterful Batman trilogy sent me to the source material: the comics. [Read More…]
Amidst a global renaissance of xenophobia and antiscientific fundamentalism, Jared Diamond’s book is a valuable reminder that man is after all an animal shaped by his ecology When The Third Chimpanzee appeared in 1992, the claim that humans should be classified with the common and the pygmy chimpanzee was novel. TTC is the first of a series of popular[Read More…]
Co-Written by Amita Basu and Shilpi Bhardwaj One of the countless Holika pyres dotting the Allahabad cityscape before Holi Amid growing environmental awareness, government has recently targeted Diwali fireworks. Laws on manufacture, sale and hours of use have been passed, altered, flouted and forgotten. But public awareness is growing: pockets of concerned young people are boycotting fireworks and[Read More…]
Dear All, A lot of people are very angry. But I hope we will all think very carefully before we call on our leaders for war or any extreme measure. India is indeed great. And a great nation can endure acts of free speech, including criticisms of the government. We can endure and appropriately handle acts of terrorism without resorting[Read More…]
NewsClick Office Sealed, Founder Arrested 
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Okinawa: A Bastion for Peace? 
Modi’s Cricket Ploy: Hindutva as Twelfth Man 
Protecting Highly Creative and Sustainable Livelihoods of Handloom and Khadi 
The Passing of the Father of India’s Green Revolution – But What Did the GR Really Do for India? 
I Have Written Only Facts: Paranjoy Guha Thakurta 
PUCL Condemns NIA Raids on Human Rights Defenders and Rights Organisation in AP and Telangana 
European Union foreign ministers meet in Ukraine to escalate war with Russia 
The emergence of Bangladesh: Dynamics of people’s cultural and political struggles – Part III 
The Muslims in A Pathetic Condition in India and The Way Forward Them 
Bernie: Are you really in support of another endless war? 
Some Basic Remarks on the National Identities of the People Living in Ukraine with Short Historical Background 
Call It Only Clean India Mission—Nothing Beyond Investment and Capital Gains 
Of The Silent Shames of a Privileged Indian! 
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Addressing Malnutrition in Jharkhand: Progress, Challenges, and the Path Forward 
For modernization and mechanization of sanitation work, Sanitary Workers must exert pressure 
Satyagraha, Sarvodaya & Swachhagraha for Sustainable Living 
Why Our Popular Mass Movements Fail 
The Slow-Motion Equivalent of a Nuclear War? 
Australian National Anti-Corruption Commission Rejects Submissions Re Huge Australian War Crimes and Carbon Debt 
Modi regime’s double standards 
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Flagging Support: Zelenskyy Loses Favour in Washington 
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The Kenya Resistance Archives Adds the Missing Links to the History of Kenya 
Review of Immanuel Ness’s Migration as Economic Imperialism 
Artsakh Almanac: Ancestral History, Memory and Place in Subjugated Artsakh 
Ignorance and Egoistic Leaders Destroying Mankind and the Living Earth 
Rights of Older Persons must be fulfilled! 
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Manipur needs healing touch and Trust building – Not AFSPA 
Mass migration from Nagorno-Karabakh continues as breakaway republic dissolves 
Commemoration of Swaminathan Calls for a Revisit of Green Revolution 
Antarctica Hits Records as Global Heat Looms Large for 2024 
Book Review: Building A Just World Order 
Canada Needs Urgent Reforms to Bring Long-Delayed Justice to its Indigenous People 
My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
