Once upon a time, universities were the places, where intellectuals, teachers and students as a community of learners used to reflect on everyday realities, learn the skills to use it in their professional life, discover the knowledge, to understand themselves and dissect the complexities of society. They also used to practise their utopian dreams in pursuit of knowledge for the[Read More…]
The world is silently witnessing the erosion of democratic, progressive, secular and liberal cultures of governance. The contemporary governments are becoming more authoritarian and threaten the multicultural mosaic of societies around the world. The governing and non-governing elites falsely argue that democracy breeds inefficiency and creates functional barrier to the animal spirit of profit making and entrepreneurial activities. The majority[Read More…]
The post pandemic economic recovery looks uncertain and the economic growth projections look gloomy in every stretch of policy paradigm within capitalist imaginations. The strong and existing multilateral cooperation within the Westphalian international system is falling apart and facing its existential threats due to its entrenched Eurocentric bias, democratic deficits and institutional dominance by the erstwhile colonial powers. The world[Read More…]
Prof John Weeks, widely admired development economist passed away on 26th of June 2020 at the age of 79. His death is a blow to many friends, comrades, colleagues, students and fellow progressive economists. He was born in Austin, educated in Texas and Michigan, lived and worked most of his professional life in the School of Oriental and African Studies[Read More…]
The triumph of capitalist chimeras based on false propaganda and its criminal follies at the millennium, raises several questions on the rise of celebrity culture of fame and fortune. The celebrity cultures use popular culture and establish its grip over public imagination on different issues in the society, politics, economy, culture and religion. The celebrity culture shapes people’s ideas, interests,[Read More…]
In early 15th century Europe, news used to be political, economic, military and diplomatic messages of the ruling classes. There was no mass media. It was often the voices of the businessmen and ruling elites circulated within their own networks. The revolutionary upheavals and democratisation of society during 19th century led to the growth of mass media. People used mass[Read More…]
The reactionary upheavals are taking place in different parts of the world with diminishing democratic culture in 21st century. The conservative alterations are pushing humanity into the darkness of dictatorship in the so-called glory of god, gold and national greatness. The god is represented by religious right-wing forces to capture gold or resources for the capitalist forces and national greatness[Read More…]
The prime master of propaganda, Mr Narendra Modi survives all ordeals of Indian politics with the help of media myth making and diversionary strategies. It gives Modi an immediate edge over other political opponents. The organisational network of RSS and BJP provide the ideological framework on which Modi pursues his politics of otherness. In short run, Modi and his ideological[Read More…]
The right-wing henchmen and their liberal brethren provide moral justifications for extra judicial deaths during colonial plunders and imperialist wars. From Iraq wars to the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and from honour killings to domestic violence, police encounters, and custodial deaths around the world are part of the same genealogy, that justifies violence on moral grounds. Colonialism as civilising[Read More…]
The Hindutva fascism is replacing seven decades of secular democratic traditions and liberal constitutional practices in India. The well-established decentralised institutions of governance are destroyed with processes of the centralisation of power by the BJP government led by Mr Narendra Modi. The civilizational traditions of inter-faith dialogue and religious harmony in Indian society is ruined by the majoritarian politics of[Read More…]
The horrors of deaths, destitutions and common vulnerabilities due to the pestilence of COVID-19 has brought back the ideals of universal unity, peace and solidarity into the center stage of a fragile world. These ideals are historically proved shelter during every crisis created by colonial, imperialist and reactionary nationalist adventures during 19th century, and productivist plunders of capitalism during 20th[Read More…]
As social, economic and political Darwinism dominates the intellectual debates and discourses to naturalise and normalise capitalist exploitation and inequalities, survival of the fittest is becoming the new normal. The best human qualities based on love, peace, sympathies, empathies and coexistence are becoming the signs of human weakness in the rat race success and survival. In this process, human beings[Read More…]
Co-Written by Dr Bhabani Shankar Nayak and Dr Gopabandhu Das The pandemic of Coronavirus has exposed all limitations of free market economies and anomalies in capitalist global economy. The world economy is in shambles. The unprecedented restrictive and unavoidable lockdown measures by governments across the world has led to the loss of livelihoods, growth of unemployment, economic stagnation and crisis.[Read More…]
The world is facing its deepest crisis after the world wars. The legitimacy of Westphalian international systems and their post-war reincarnations are falling apart. The political parties are losing the public trust and people question their legitimacy. The states and governments are becoming hostage and facilitators of neoliberal capitalism, where people live in an environment of unfreedom and market oligarchs[Read More…]
Modi represents contradictory character of Hindutva politics to hide its fascist character. The political history of so-called Hindu nationalism is neither consistency nor chaos. But it is a methodological contradiction in shaping the power of national and international capital in India with the help of state power. The people of India have been beguiled by the claim of Modi’s consistent[Read More…]
The Coronavirus pandemic has forced the world into an uncharted territory, where businesses suffer with unpredictability, and people look at the future with hopeless abyss. The fragile global, national and local systems are becoming more fragile, in which risks and crisis causing esoteric turmoil in human lives. The crisis is proliferating in every step of human lives, institutions, and networks.[Read More…]
In the middle of a global pandemic, China has started an unprovoked border conflict with India. It is unravelling trust deficit and ties between two neighbours. As thousands of Chinese troops are occupying Indian territory, Mr Narendra Modi led BJP government directs the RBI to allow the Bank of China to start regular banking services in India. The Bank of[Read More…]
On 25th of May 2020, Derek Chauvin, a white American police officer has killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was on a broad day light; the police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck like a coward trophy hunter. There were eighteen complaints against Mr Chauvin; the killer police officer. He is the first white officer to be charged[Read More…]
Mass movements are not always oppositional movements. The mass movements can be offensive, defensive and alternative at the same time. It offers progressive alternatives to face and recover from various crisis. Mass movements establish lasting solidarities between different social, religious, cultural, economic, political and professional groups. It helps to overcome the old barriers and established fault lines of regressive societies. [Read More…]
The rise of China is not only a hope for the Asian people but also inspires working class people all over the world. It instils hopes that there is an alternative to predatory capitalism of the west. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) played a major role in transforming China as a major world power while uplifting many Chinese from poverty,[Read More…]
Is globalisation over after the COVID-19 pandemic? There are three visible signs during the unending Coronavirus led health crisis, which substantiates the end of globalisation thesis. The first sign indicates reversal of capitalist globalisation led by market integrations. The people and their nation states are fighting the pandemic alone. As a result, there is growth of ultra nationalist and right-wing[Read More…]
‘To be or not to be productive’ is an old constructed dilemma that surfaces during the Coronavirus pandemic. This Shakespearean tragedy is pushing people in two contradictory directions. In one hand, the states and governments are asking people to stay at home and stay safe during the lockdown period. The inevitable lockdown and physical distancing policies produce social alienation and[Read More…]
The spread of COVID-19 infused crisis has huge impact on all aspects of life and economy across India. It is particularly posing a serious challenge to the social and economic development of rural poor, migrants and farmers. The local businesses and communities are significantly affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. The Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced[Read More…]
Democracy is a product of struggles and sacrifices of the working classes. The October revolution, French revolution in Europe and anti-colonial struggles in Africa, Asia and Americas shaped democracy. The struggles for freedom, equality and justice, anti-capitalist struggles, and people’s movements against war and terrorism, social and political movements for livelihoods have helped to deepen democratic practices all over the[Read More…]
“In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.” -Bertolt Brecht These historic lines are prophetically relevant today as we witness the forward march of right wing and reactionary forces in India and UK. These forces are destroying the multicultural mosaic of our society and all other progressive achievements of[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic has aggravated existing economic, and social crisis in India. The country is witnessing incomprehensible distress among the migrant workers, farmers, and poor masses both in urban and rural areas. In such a situation of utter crisis, Mr Narendra Modi; the Prime Minister of India is busy in manipulating Indian public by false propaganda to hide all his[Read More…]
The spectre of pandemic led crisis and its relationship with social transformation is not new. The Plague of Justinian and the Black Death had huge impact on weakening of feudalism in Europe. It did not pave the path for democratic movements in Europe but made people conscious about the difference in sufferings. The masses suffered in different plagues while the feudal[Read More…]
The policy practitioners in the World Bank, OECD, and other development agencies used the term ‘fragile state’ during 1990s before using of the term ‘failed state’. The failure to provide security to the citizens, failure to provide public services including health and monopoly of state violence are three central components that define ‘failed state’. The incubation and spread of deadly[Read More…]
In search of profit, the growth of managerialism and marketisation of education crippled the abilities of teachers and destroyed institutions of learning all over the world. The managerialist revolution in education is designed to transform education as a commodity for sale by privatisation. The processes of commodification and privatisation of education is central to the principles of market in education[Read More…]
Neoliberalism as an ideology emerged in central Europe during early 20th century in opposition to socialism as an alternative to imperial, colonial and capitalist plunder, war and economic crisis. The Department of Economics at the University of Chicago shaped neoliberalism as a strategy to shift the power from workers to the owners of capital by weakening the state and expanding[Read More…]
There was no escape from acting as it was in his blood; he did not struggle for fame and fortune as it came with his family lineages, Rishi Kapoor wrote in his memoir. Acting was not a profession for him. His passion for life was embedded within acting. He was undoubtedly one of India’s finest actor. He inherited not only[Read More…]
As the sun sets in the gloomy sky, I sit down to write my scattered thoughts and shattered feelings after reading the death of one of my favourite actors in contemporary times. Mr Irrfan Khan’s death justifies the poetic prediction of T. S Eliot; April is truly the cruellest month in memories and desires of life. It is death that[Read More…]
Historically, the idea of Bengali renaissance and anti-colonial struggles dominated the folklores of Indian intellectual awakening, political consciousness, and social reforms led by upper caste and upper-class Hindus. “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow” reflects Eurocentric propaganda based on narrow nationalist glory. Such ideological narrative is based on singularity of Bengali renaissance, which dominated, destroyed, and marginalised the representation[Read More…]
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani created the foundation for Hindutva forces to access power by forming BJP led coalition governments in New Delhi. This duo experimented with the troika of liberal, moderate and hard-line Hindutva slogans during the Babri Mosque-Ram Janmabhoomi movement to mobilise and expand their electoral base among the masses. They happily compromised their so-called RSS ideology of[Read More…]
The world is heading towards worst economic recession in its history. The governments are worried about their citizenry and future of their country. But Mr Narendra Modi cares very little as long as his popularity and electoral victory remains intact. Mr Modi fiddles with the future of India and Indians by manipulating the public mind with the help of mass[Read More…]
The colonial and imperialist militaries, political and economic systems are defeated by the mutilating powers of the pestilence. The COVID-19 virus is controlling our so-called modern lifestyles and quarantining ourselves within walls of our rooms to reflect and reimagine. The ‘end of history’, ‘clash of civilisations’ and ‘there is no alternative’ were three rotten ideological theses advanced to established market[Read More…]
The ugly head of racism is out in open air amidst COVID-19 pandemic. The racism against Chinese people and propaganda against the achievements of the Chinese revolution spreads like coronavirus. The anti-Chinese media coverage also replicates the history of anti-communist propaganda and campaign against the Soviet Union from the days of its inception to fall. The anti-Soviet propaganda continues to[Read More…]
The coronavirus pandemic is battering lives and wreaking havoc in world economy at the same time. This world wide health and economic crisis reveal the inherent structural fault lines within neoliberal economic system dominated by global corporations. The fault lines are further exacerbated by the amoral market led states that protect interests of big businesses and pharmaceutical corporations. The incoherent,[Read More…]
Hindutva fascism is no more an imaginary political depiction of reactionary and right-wing Narendra Modi led BJP/RSS government in India.These reactionary forces are the original anti nationals of India. Any serious analysis of forward march of Hindutva fascism in India needs to understand Indian social and economic conditions where caste, tribe, gender and class interact within a Brahmanical order both[Read More…]
Co-Written by Bhabani Shankar Nayak & Ernesto Gallo What is happening to democracies across the globe? Neoliberalism and the rise of authoritarianism are moving together and, by dismantling social harmonies and states, are threatening democracy’s very existence. In fact they are combining and consolidating in different forms, of which three look more remarkable. First, there is the rise of nationalist[Read More…]
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Hiroshima Spring 
Can Israelis broaden their protests beyond Netanyahu? 
U.S. Cold War China Policy Will Isolate the U.S, Not China 
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Indian Matchmaking: Decoding India’s love affair with arranged marriages 
Diaries of Life, Death and Life Anew – Enduring Legacy of Bangladesh Liberation Cinema 
Online Classes Are Also Detrimental to Teachers and Neoliberalism Is to Be Blamed 
Balcony class is different from Cattle class 
Release Prof. Hany Babu; Stop Vindictive Raids on his Family members 
Huge rise in Amazon wildfires alarms scientists and environmental groups 
Now, lifeline has disappeared in the U.S. but millions rely on emergency pandemic benefits for food, medicine, and rent, 
Crossing the Creepy Line: Google, Deception and the ACCC 
Intellectuals as Lumpen Herds in the Universities 
Accountability Is Gone in America 
Four Months Into the Global COVID-19 Health and Economic Crisis… 
Dalit Politics needs a New Radical Direction 
Deva Basha Vs Mlechha Basha and Ram Vs Ravan! 
DU Professor Hany Babu’s arrest: Media takes a blinkered view to the issue 
Teachers in the e-box 
Kashmir; A year after 
Small Steps and Future Course: Answering the ‘How’ 
The Problematic Story of Draft EIA Notification 2020 
C Achutha Menon: Communist Aspirations in India 
Stop the Celebration of Hatred at Times Square, New York City 
Should Diamond symbolize happily ever after? 
India To Take China On Its Own 
The plight of Journalists in Bangladesh in the age of Covid-19 Oppose and condemn the arbitrary, vindictive arrest of Prof. Hany Babu 
Human Rights Defenders: Palestinian Eyewitness Testimony of the Execution of Abdul Fattah al-Sharif by Israeli Soldier, Elor Azaria 
Regimes Without Reason and Conscience 
Legal Education under NEP 2020: Big Promises with Little Substance 
Macaulay Putras And The New Education Policy: Shudras/Dalits/Adivasis Must Be Vigilant 
Remembering Kamlabai 
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Our Lungs Are Under Attack—We Must Protect Them to Stay Alive 
How the national movement influenced our art, culture and cinema 
U.S. jobless claims top 1 million again in latest week as the pandemic keeps on biting workers 
EIA 2020: Why is it so perilous? 
Today, the Republic of India faces its gravest moment since it was born seventy years ago. What has hit the second most populous nation in the world – just in the last few months itself – is nothing short of a crisis of Biblical proportions. An untreatable viral epidemic, a debilitating lockdown, a collapsed economy, hunger stalking every corner of[Read More…]
