Tipu Sultan, also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was a renowned ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in Southern India from 1782 to 1799. He was known for his military prowess, his efforts to modernize the administration and economy of his kingdom, and his resistance against British colonialism. Tipu died in battle against the British forces during the Fourth[Read More…]
The World Health Organisation (WHO) urges caution while employing extensive language model tools (LLMs) produced by artificial intelligence (AI) to protect and enhance human well-being, human safety, and human autonomy, as well as to preserve public health. Some of the most rapidly growing platforms that mimic comprehending, processing, and creating human communication are LLMs, including ChatGPT, Bard, Bert, and many[Read More…]
It may be considered a matter of the most ordinary wisdom, indeed of common sense, that given a choice between performing various tasks, we will choose to take up the most important ones first, and perhaps later select others too in terms of their considered importance. Yet in real life, how many decisions are really taken on this basis? Given[Read More…]
On 14th May we commemorated the birth centenary of film maker Mrinal Sen. Mrinal Sen was the last surviving member of the famed trio of Bengali directors, Ray-Sen-Ghatak (Ritwik Ghatak), seen as the founders of India’s ‘New Wave Cinema’. Sen, like Ghatak, may not have achieved the level of fame Ray did, but his work was equally admired the world[Read More…]
Australia is a country addictively hostile to the elderly. Despite being a continent that speaks to immemorial origins, respect for those who age is uncommon. In The Lucky Country, that seminal, repeatedly misunderstood text, written in frustrated, sour prose, Donald Horne observes that Australia is not a place where one should grow old. And so, it follows: the rampant, habitual[Read More…]
Sheetla Singh, the great Hindi editor from Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, breathed his last on May 16. He was 93, and was on duty till the last day in his editorial office when he collapsed. Bringing out a small cooperative newspaper is not easy in the best of times, but it becomes more difficult when the editor has a tendency to[Read More…]
Monika Ertl was renowned for avenging the murder of Che Guevera. She was given the tag “the avenger of Che Guevara” for her efforts, a name that would create a sensation all around the world. Till the last drop of her blood Monika Ertl embarked on road to avenging injustice and emancipating humanity from oppression. Her relentless spirit is an[Read More…]
There is a recent article, Why Conscious AI Is a Bad, Bad Idea, where the author stated that, “While some researchers suggest that conscious AI is close at hand, others, including me, believe it remains far away and might not be possible at all. But even if unlikely, it is unwise to dismiss the possibility altogether. The prospect of artificial consciousness[Read More…]
“Whoever controls the information, controls the imagination.” –George Orwell “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” –Albert Einstein “Imagine there’s no countries… It isn’t hard to do…. Nothing to kill or die for…. And no religion too…. Imagine all the people… living life in peace” –John Lennon Preludes “’We hold these truths to be[Read More…]
Consciousness is often defined by what it is like to be or what it means to have an experience, like seeing a color or hearing a sound. There are also definitions of consciousness with feeling and thinking. However, could it be that part of the difficulty in understanding consciousness is due to labels of the brain, rather than a uniform[Read More…]
This paper considers the involvement of locals in various ecotourism businesses, which are an essential component of successful ecotourism initiatives in different areas. Ecotourism has the potential to contribute to poverty reduction, employment generation, improved living standards, and long-term economic sustainability. The crux of the argument in this note is that the participation of locals in ecotourism practices offers greater[Read More…]
Bhagat Singh with a pseudo name of Balwanth Singh wrote an article titled ‘Viswa Premi’ in a Calcutta based Hindi weekly ‘Math Wala’. In that article he praised the Italian revolutionary Mazzini, Russian revolutionary Lenin, American revolutionary George Washington and the leaders of the French revolutionaries as those who are being loved by the people of the universe. The following[Read More…]
Chaman Lal, author of Life & Legend of Bhagat Singh (A Pictorial Volume), talked about his life’s work on the inspirational freedom fighter. The interview was taken by Rohan Datta. For nearly two decades, Chaman Lal, a professor of Hindi literature, has been gathering information and photographs relating to freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, who was executed by the British when[Read More…]
An alternative education path (ATP) which is well integrated with the creation of a better and safer world is presented here. One part of ATP can be called Core 1 and the essence of this remains the same from the beginning of school education to post-graduation, although of course the learning is different for various classes and age-groups. This core[Read More…]
If despite impressive increase in mental health facilities, mental health problems rise to almost an unprecedented extent in several advanced societies, it may be time to re-examine the entire perspective of present-day approach. Treatment of mental health problems has made remarkable progress from several points of view. Many new medicines are available. Several advanced forms of counseling are available. Several[Read More…]
Mufti Saud ud Din of famous Mufti Family of Wazpora had two sons, namely, Mufti Ghulam Mohi ud Din & Mufti Rafi ud Din. Mufti Saud ud Din was a courtier of the Nizam Hyderabad. Mufti Ghulam Mohi ud Din was born at Wazpora Srinagar, Kashmir on 15 the October 1904 and was educated in Kashmir upto Intermediate. He was[Read More…]
Bertolt Brecht was one of the most original and creative dramatists, poets, and thinkers of the twentieth century. An unorthodox Marxist who pioneered forms to integrate art and politics, during his lifetime he was often considered a menace in the side of more traditional communist theorists and cultural policy-makers, but also one of the most innovative modern writers. He pioneered[Read More…]
Accidents at world level result in millions of fatalities and serious injuries and constitute one of the most widespread causes of human distress. Of course fatal accidents cause the most distress and shock but several times the injuries caused by accidents are so serious, painful, disabling or unbearable due to various reasons and circumstances that victims consider their situation to[Read More…]
They used to call him ‘the young knight f the Third World’, but he was not pleased as he believed that was meant to weaken the credibility of his scientific arguments, besides his disdain for the phrase third world. This is about the environmentalist Dr S Faizi, and his detractors were the western negotiators at UN environmental conferences, in the[Read More…]
The outstanding Jamaica-born artist, Civil Rights activist and internationalist, Harry Belafonte, died from congestive heart failure at age 96, a week ago, on April 25, 2023.A mascot of people’s emancipation from injustice. His life story that shaped his life are amongst the most gripping commentaries ever. Belafonte achieved gigantic fame almost 70 years ago, when he was only in his[Read More…]
An advance 100th birthday greetings sent to Ranajit Guha by Sumanta Banerjee. Ranajit Guha breathed his last on 28th April 2023 at Vienna Woods in Austria just before his 100th birthday. This letter was published in the journal ‘Frontier’ Dear Ranajit da Do you remember me? I was your student for a brief while in 1953 on the eve of[Read More…]
The recent developments on artificial intelligence (AI) seem to move way too fast for way too many people. As a consequence, an AI moratorium – including a petition – has been suggested to slow down the penetrating speed of AI growth. Some ethics experts argue that the potential risks of AI suggesting everything goes too fast, support such a move.[Read More…]
Ranajit Guha breathed his last on 28th April 2023 at Vienna Woods in Austria. Indisputably, he was the greatest historian of the past century, and his passing away is an intimate loss to the field of social sciences. Guha was born on 23rd May 1922, in Siddhakati village of Bakarganj district, now in Bangladesh. He was born in a family[Read More…]
This year, on January 27th, democratic forces commemorated the 10th anniversary of late Professor Dipankar Chakraborty, the founding editor of the independent left Bangla journal Aneek and a stalwart of the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights. Without doubt one of our finest and most progressive intellectuals, who till his last breath, strived to render service to humanity. Above all a[Read More…]
Chris Matlhako left us on Thursday morning, 20 April 2023. He served as mascot to the entire liberation movement till he breathed his last, as well as the working-class across the world. His exit is major loss to the anti-imperialist movement worldwide, in which he played a most laudable role. At the time of his passing, Chris Matlhako served the South African[Read More…]
Tarek Fatah was born in Pakistan and recently passed away in Toronto, Canada. I knew him since my arrival in Canada as an immigrant in 2002. He was the mentor, guide, and philosopher of the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), established in Toronto not long after 9/11 in December 2001. The MCC aims at establishing a “progressive, liberal, pluralistic, democratic, and[Read More…]
All democrats should unequivocally condemn in the strongest terms the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the brutal torture and cowardly killing of CPP leaders Benito Tiamzon (and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon), together with eight other revolutionaries after they were captured in Samar province on August 21, 2022. The murder of the Tiamzons follows the pattern of the wilful killings perpetrated[Read More…]
Universities are no longer producing critical mass to question power for social, political and economic transformation of society for greater common goods. Universities are no longer producing independent knowledge traditions to address essentialist and emancipatory needs of individuals and societies in short run and long run. The governmental and non-governmental funding bodies control the nature, scope, structure and outputs of[Read More…]
Dear Stan, It is your birthday today here on earth! You would have completed eighty-six years, if you were around. Well, that was not to be; on 5 July 2021 you were murdered by a brutal and fascist regime, which did not want a human rights defender like you to continue living! This is your second earthly birthday up above.[Read More…]
Kshama Sawant, who was declared as Radical Desi Person of the Year 2023 for being instrumental behind the historic ordinance to outlaw caste-based discrimination in Seattle, making it the first city outside India to do so, has carried forward the legacy of two great men. April being the birthday month of the Ghadar movement – cofounded by Sohan Singh Bhakna[Read More…]
Often portrayed as a trigger happy radical, the towering Indian revolutionary should be remembered as a book lover, who continues to inspire many to read even today. Bhagat Singh was executed for waging war against the British occupation of India in 1931. He believed in an armed resistance for not only a liberated homeland, but to establish a classless and[Read More…]
In the context of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governments introducing English medium in all Government schools to give confidence to the village children and teachers, Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd gave these 10 youtube lectures in simple English. They cover a whole range of agrarian, animal and human relations. They also trace how the industrial process started in the villages. These lessons[Read More…]
The concept of voluntary simplicity has been integral to some of the greatest human beings in all history and the inspirational value of their life and message influenced a very large number of followers. More generally, those who adopted voluntary simplicity used to get a lot of respect in society. Unfortunately, at a time when the world needs voluntary simplicity[Read More…]
Harish Chandola breathed his last on March 26. His life of 94 years, including over six decades of active work as a journalist as author, was full of highly energetic, interesting and meaningful reporting and writing from several parts of world. He was born and brought up in a remote Himalayan village of Garhwal. At a young age he started[Read More…]
Charles Bettleheim was one of the most creative, analytical and illustrious intellectuals and economists of the last century, who made a path breaking contribution. Life Sketch Charles Bettelheim was born on November 20, 1913 in Paris into a banker’s family, but he spent his early life in Switzerland and Egypt before moving back to Paris in 1922. In 1933, affected[Read More…]
Since they were first published in the mid-nineteenth century, Karl Marx’s early writings on alienation have served as a radical touchstone in the fields of social and philosophical thought, generating followers, contestation and debate. It was in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 that Marx first developed his theory of alienation. His concept of “alienated labour” pushed beyond the[Read More…]
Today on April 13th we commemorate the 50th death anniversary of Balraj Sahni. Rarely has any actor let alone Indian actor as skilfully or as deeply immersed into the character of a common or oppressed man or expressed sensitivity in such depths, which could appear surreal at times. Balraj Sahni infused realism in acting to depths almost unprecedented. Balraj blended[Read More…]
The eminent Marxian socialist scholar and critic of Lenin’s Marxism, Paresh Chattopadhyay (PC) passed away on January 14, 2023, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was emeritus professor of political economy in the department of sociology at the University of Quebec, Montreal. With a mastery of Marx in the original and an admirable presentation of Marx’s thought, PC made his readers[Read More…]
This essay is a brief exploration of the life, times and legacy of one of the most distinguished cultural figures of modern Africa – the Senegalese trade unionist, writer and filmmaker, Ousmane Sembene (1923-2007), whose birth centenary is being observed this year. Sembene made practically all his films out of his own writings, which were often autobiographical in character. Commonly[Read More…]
An interview with Professor Chris Stringer, one of the leading experts on human evolution. There’s a paradigm shift underway in our understanding of the past 4 million years of human evolution: ours is a story that includes combinations with other Homo species, spread unevenly across today’s populations—not a neat and linear evolutionary progression. Technological advances and a growing body of archaeological evidence[Read More…]
After so many years, I have forgotten his first name, but can readily recall in my mind’s eye the pint-sized lawyer with a clean, shaven face and a shining bald to match. Mr. Dasan – that is the way I used to address him. In the mid-eighties, Mr. Dasan had a fairly good practice at the Calcutta High Court, but[Read More…]
Radical Desi has given its very first human rights journalism award to a senior Punjabi journalist. On Friday, March 31, at the commemorative event held for Bhai Balwant Singh Khurdpur at the New Westminster Gurdwara, Dr. Gurvinder Singh Dhaliwal, who has also done his PhD on Punjabi journalism in Canada, was presented with the award. Radical Desi, an online magazine[Read More…]
William Hinton was the most renowned American scholar on post-1949 China. With unflinching resilience he defended the positive or even path breaking achievements of China and the manner the Socialist past shaped a society where the workers and peasants established their rule. His simple, flowing style is model for progressive writers to emulate, which got down to the very roots[Read More…]
J Reghu is one of the most prominent and controversial public intellectuals in Kerala. Even in recent years, publications by Reghu have been either withdrawn due to pressure from the far right or they were burned by the far right. He studied economics at the university and he dropped out of his doctoral program, which was registered under the title[Read More…]
2023 commemorates the fortieth year since the passing of Joan Robinson and her one-hundred-and-twentieth birth anniversary. Without doubt she was one of the most illustrative, logical and creative Marxist economists of her time, whose role was path was breaking. Quoting David Henderson “Joan Robinson was arguably the only woman born before 1930 who can be considered a great economist. She[Read More…]
There is more to mental health besides the absence of mental diseases. The WHO’s definition of health, which is stated in its constitution, emphasizes the positive aspect of mental health: “Health is a state of complete bodily, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Concepts of mental health include subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy,[Read More…]
In a world defined by competition over cooperation, and the acquisition of arms prioritised over the pursuit of diplomacy, the threat of a nuclear weapon being used is higher than it has been in generations. Promising national security, the modern state has come to regard nuclear weapons as an irresistible force for peace strategic stability and a more tranquil future.[Read More…]
George Lukacs’s “History and Class Consciousness” is a truly landmark work, and its English translation, after almost fifty years of neglect by English and American publishers, was a major development. This year we commemorate 100 years of this work being published, in year 1923. Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat section of this work, published in 1923, is a[Read More…]
A visit to the Maharashtra government archives in the historic Elphinstone college building Mumbai on March 29 was depressing. The archives are fine with their valuable records dating back to the East India company and Shivaji era but reaching there is messy. Old chairs, tables and other furtniture are dumped in the passage and adjoining areas. What a contrast to[Read More…]
On March 17th we commemorated the 35th martyrdom anniversary of Jaimal Singh Padda, who laid his life down in combating Sikh religious fundamentalism, and fell to bullets of Khalistani terrorists, in 1988.Jaimal Singh Padda was a poet of revolutionary thought who was born in Lakhan Ke Padda village of Kapurthala. He was killed by terrorists on 17 March 1988. A[Read More…]
A few weeks s ago on March 5th, we commemorated the 10th death anniversary of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Without doubt one of the most progressive or impactful leaders in shaping the destiny of a Latin American nation ,who confronted and gave a mortal blow to American imperialism at it’s strongest point, and paved the path towards liberation. Few Third[Read More…]
In August 1893, when the chair called on her to speak at a session of the Zurich Congress of the Second International, Rosa Luxemburg made her way without hesitation through the crowd of delegates and activists packed into the hall.She was one of the few women present, still in the flush of youth, slight of build, and with a hip[Read More…]
Biographical details of Bhagat Singh’s life have been the main concern of the very valuable work of many scholars and activists who want to portray him as a fearless revolutionary of the highest order. Only in a scholarly work such as that by S Irfan Habib (not the historian Prof Irfan Habib), To Make the Deaf Hear: Ideology and Programme[Read More…]
For some obscure and hard-to-understand reason, man feels superior to everything else on Earth. The irony of it all is that we humans forget that we have evolved from nature. Nature is the source of all our food, air and water; we are thus dependent on nature for our survival. We are co-dependent on everything around us! We[Read More…]
135 years ago, on March 13th 1888, world famous Soviet teacher and writer, Anton Semyonovich Makarenko (1888 – 1939) was born in the family of a painter, who studied at the Poltava Teachers’ Institute and received a pedagogical education. During the First World War, he did not recruit into the army due to poor eyesight. But his brother Vitaly[Read More…]
by Jyoti Raina and Mansi The work of Brazilian philosopher-educator Paulo Freire continues to have great relevance in the world today. Born to a middle-class family in Recife, in the state of Pernambuco in northeast Brazil, South American philosopher Paulo Reglus Neves Freire’s (1921-1997) life experience shaped his vision of education. In his younger days he faced hunger, poverty and[Read More…]
Last November we commemorated the 10th anniversary of the death of Han Suyin who left us on November 2nd, in 2012. Apart from the gratuitous obituaries in official newspapers her death was received with scant attention: passing away in obscurity, like so many revolutionary women. On her birth centenary, no noticeable commemoration meeting was staged. Han Suyin carves a permanent[Read More…]
On March 6th, we commemorated the 67 th birthday of Sandra Lima. Sandra Lima‘s life was a manifestation of the spirit or creative energy of women to emancipate themselves from the clutches of merciless exploitation. She displayed revolutionary resilience of single-mindedness and creativity at a height almost unparalleled amongst Brazilian women activists of her time. Her life story was one[Read More…]
The evergreen Marxian socialist scholar and critic of Marxism, Paresh Chattopadhyay (PC) left us on January 14, 2023, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at age of 96.He was emeritus professor of political economy in the department of sociology at the University of Quebec, Montreal. With in depth mastery of Marxism, PC made his readers think and reflect over what he wrote,[Read More…]
I don’t want any new monuments to individuals to replace any ripped down for racism or other offenses. Individuals are deeply flawed — every single one of them, and morality changes with the times. Whistleblowers are by definition less than divinely perfect, as their service is revealing the horrors of some institution they’ve been part of. But when you look[Read More…]
The life of Dervla Murphy both inspires us and leaves us awestruck. She was a multitude of people in one. She was a travel writer, an explorer, an environmentalist and a political activist. Born in November 1931, in the historic Irish town of Lismore in County Waterford. She was the only child of her parents. Her father was the County[Read More…]
Recently when I visited several villages of Bhil tribal communities in Banswara district of Rajasthan, the greeting most often heard in villages was Jai Guru. The reference here is to Guru Govind, also known as Govindgiri, a social reformer and freedom fighter of 19th and 20th centuries who continues to live on in the songs, prayers, greetings and campaigns of[Read More…]
In a remarkable new study, the broad-brush patterns between how we use and mark public space and our collective well-being were investigated in 2022 by Quynh C. Yue and colleagues who analyzed 164 million Google Street View images from locations across the United States. The study extracted information on the built environment with a focus on the directionality of traffic, the incidence[Read More…]
by Priti Gulati Cox and Stan Cox So many crises — from war to mass species die-offs to climate meltdown — afflict our world that we often don’t take time to draw insights from what generally passes for the small stuff, the things that happen all too close to home, including aging. Most of us don’t relish the prospect of[Read More…]
Sometimes, okay, not sometimes, a lot of the time, we feel we’re in the front row seat at an irrational, incongruous, illogical tragicomedy which rivals tabloid televisions’ moronic, futile and pointless reality shows, like the discussions on news channels. This reality show that we have a front row seat at is about life in our world today, it is called[Read More…]
For the last two years, various programs are being organized to commemorate the birth centenary of socialist leader Madhu Limaye (1 May 1922-8 January 1995). January also marks the birth centenary years of two other prominent socialist leaders, Madhu Dandavate (21 January 1924–12 November 2005) and Karpoori Thakur (24 January 1924–17 February 1988). Karpoori Thakur’s birth centenary celebrations began on[Read More…]
Today we commemorate the 70th death anniversary of Stalin, who died on March 5th, 1953. Some people suspect that he was poisoned by his enemies It is hard to find words that do justice to the irreparable loss it caused for the International Communist Movement as a whole, creating a sensation of the earth shaking. The International media left no[Read More…]
Harry Haywood was for a prolonged period a member and leader of the Communist Party-USA and other communist organizations from the 1920’s until his death in 1985. On February 4th this month we commemorated his 125th birth anniversary. He championed the crystallisation of the concept that Blacks represented a separate “nation” inside the United States. Haywood’s theoretical writings probably contributed[Read More…]
The bicycle, invented two hundred years ago in 1817, was called an iron horse because like a horse it is an individual transport. However on occasions it can carry two persons and sometimes two adults and two children too. And like a horse it can also carry loads up to 250 Kg. easily. And it is cheaper too both as[Read More…]
First of all, I think we should not categorize tradition and modernity as exclusive or contradictory terms. We cannot call any tradition as only (or exclusively) a tradition, devoid of modernity. For example, when Islam emerged as a new religion in the world, it rejected most (if not all) the previous existing traditions and presented/evolved itself as a harbinger of[Read More…]
A poet in Russia is more than a poet,” Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a leading author of his time, famously stated. He knew what he was talking about. During Nikita Khrushchev’s cultural years of Thaw, Soviet poets were public figures like rock stars. They performed to sell-out crowds, predicted the future and helped get over the past. Poetry, like any form of[Read More…]
To start with a few words about myself, I am a conservationist serving the rainforests of the Western Ghats in India. It has been my lifelong inquiry to look at how a biome can recover from assault—from colonial-neocolonial-capitalistic-civilizational assault. I know, and the biome knows, that it can heal from most travesties and injuries, and that it will do its[Read More…]
Most meat-eaters want to believe that the animals they eat don’t suffer, but time and again, federal records have shown that they do. It’s not unreasonable to assume otherwise; after all, most U.S. meat production is subject to the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which requires that animals be stunned (rapidly rendered insensible to pain) before they’re hoisted upside down and killed. But[Read More…]
The discourse over the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code has often stirred up a whirlwind of uproar by political advocates and religious objectors. India follows a system of legal pluralism that allows different religious communities to be governed by their codes of personal law. This has been seen as a way of protecting distinct communal identities and safeguarding[Read More…]
So many serving and retired bureaucrats and politicians live and work in the vicinity of Y.B. Chavan Centre in Mumbai but few attend significant events there. Felt this particularly after watching the opening film at the Chavan international film festival last evening. The film Holy Spider directed by Iranian film maker Ali Abbasi is particularly relevant to our times since[Read More…]
In India, Valentine’s day is the time when patriarchal authorities can exercise the powers of moral policing that they have bestowed upon themselves. Acting under the banner of Indian civilization, which supposedly legitimizes their war against “Western” ideas of romantic love, vigilantes will subject young men and women to “head shavings, face blackening, public thrashings and forcibly solemnized marriages”. “Politically-connected[Read More…]
World Radio Day is a day that is celebrated annually on February 13th to recognize the role that radio plays in bringing people together, fostering communication and promoting a better understanding of different cultures, communities, and perspectives. The United Nations General Assembly declared World Radio Day as an official day of celebration in 2012 to pay tribute to the significant[Read More…]
Harbhajan Singh Atwal was presented with a Human Rights Defender certificate on Sunday, February 12, at Gurdwara Sukh Sagar Sahib, New Westminster, BC for his continued advocacy for the release of political prisoners. The certificate was given to Atwal by Gurpreet Singh, the cofounder of Radical Desi, an online magazine that covers alternative politics. While addressing the congregation, Singh raised[Read More…]
Today on February 12th, we commemorate the 25th death anniversary of student leader and youth leader Anil Ojha, of Bihar. He fell in the early morning hours on February 12th, as a result of severe head injuries. He had been admitted to hospital a week previously. He languished in hospital without receiving any proper treatment. It was diagnosed that sheer[Read More…]
This is an ode to a film script/story/dialogue writer known for his films like ‘I am Kalam’ and ‘Paan Singh Tomar’- Sanjay Chauhan. He passed away recently and this write-up is an attempt to commemorate his connect with all those who met him I recall meeting you for the first time in that wooden cubicle which served as a sitting room[Read More…]
Today’s Google Doodle features an ode to PK Rosy, a long-forgotten first Malayalam cinema Dalit actress also known as ‘Rajamma’, ‘Rosamma’ and ‘Rajammal’. This is not only a great moment to see that her participation has been honoured; rather it is a moment to feel sorrow for the state of Indian cinema and academia, which has taken decades to at[Read More…]
One of the most successful plays in New York in the last few days is against the planner Robert Moses who destroyed so many poor neighbourhoods in the city, promoted the car lobby, worked against public transport. He was strongly opposed by Jane Jacobs, a pro people urban planner who fought automobile dominance. The play portrays the conflict between the[Read More…]
Barbara Anna Kistler was born in 1955 in Zurich, Switzerland. We just commemorated her 30th death anniversary, with her death in January, 1993. Barbara was a Swiss revolutionary, anti-imperialist, and guerrilla fighter. Kistler was a torch bearer in shaping the anti-fascist and anti-imperialist struggle in Switzerland. She also worked in various women’s groups, seeking to bring a Marxist-Leninist line to[Read More…]
The anti-Shudra, Dalit and women language of Tulsidas in his Ramcharitamanas engendered a major controversy in North India. Its impact could also be seen in the South, which already had a strong Shudra mobilization history. He equated them with animals and drums and wanted to keep punishing them forever. The new consciousness of the Shudras, Dalits and women is not going to accept[Read More…]
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was born September 12, 1924 in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, one of Portugal’s African colonies. On January 20, 1973–50 years ago Cabral was murdered by fascist Portuguese assassins just months before the national liberation movement in which he played a central role won the independence of Guinea-Bissau. Cabral was amongst the most dialectical, critical and creative Marxist[Read More…]
Tributes to respected Shanti Bhushan-ji, a tall lawyer, great teacher and humble leader ! Instrumental in dethroning Indira Gandhi, gathering of forces for the post-Emergency Janata Party and bringing AAP and Kejriwal to the political forefront. I remember his surprise appearance for me in the Operation Bluestar Report – bail matter in the district Court of Tis Hazari, when I[Read More…]
Ranajit Singh expired on 24-1-2023 at the age of 82 in Jaipur. His body is going to be handed over to SMS hospital in Jaipur.For 4 decades he selflessly served the Communist movement as a central Committee member of CPI (ML) Ranajit Singh gained his baptism in communist politics from student level in Rajasthan. In response to battles waged in[Read More…]
Mr B.V. Doshi, renowned architect who passed away in Ahmedabad on January 24 at the age of 96, was a big institution builder but towards the end of his life he had come to realise that architects should think not only of rich clients but ordinary people. Many tend to look at Mahatma Gandhi as anti-modern, anti machinery. But he[Read More…]
‘Phir Subah Hogi’ (New Morning will be born” is dream which anticipates Birth of New Future from the womb of the darkest Night which has overshadowed the Struggles of the Humanity led by Working Class. Sahir Ludhianvi, a Poet , Lyricist and Rebellious psychologist by Birth has set an illustration for innumerable Artists, Film makers, Poets and Revolutionaries. During 1944[Read More…]
Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975) would have been a centenarian this year had he not fell foul of an extreme-Right conspiracy at the age of 53. Murdered on the beaches of Ostia, near Rome, ostensibly for his homosexuality, Pasolini passed into a world where there is no death, only homages to creative subversion or heated controversies born more of social prejudice[Read More…]
What makes a good society? Is it a guaranteed right to pursue happiness, as our Declaration of Independence proclaimed? Perhaps, as Gandhi said, it’s providing the poorest and most vulnerable among us with the means to control their own lives. But what happens when it’s the pursuit of happiness that makes someone most vulnerable? Let me introduce you to my child,[Read More…]
The freedom movement of India was known for its many-sided efforts to create a better society out of the ruins of the massive destruction caused by colonial rule. Hence many constructive activities and social reforms were pursued side by side with the struggles against colonialism. This included continuing efforts for inter-faith harmony by some of the most inspiring leaders of[Read More…]
Karpoori Thakur, popularly known as Jananayak (people’s leader), devoted his entire life for the welfare of socially backward classes. He is considered to be one of the greatest and honest leaders that Bihar has ever produced. In the words of Paul Brass, Karpoori is one among the leaders whom he “loved and admired” because they see “politics as their vocation,[Read More…]
Helenita Pardalis, was an ever popular figure of masses of Bicol and Eastern Visayas as Ka Ning, Ka Eliz, Ka Celine and Ka Elay. Ka Elay was mercilessly killed in an early morning aerial bombing raid conducted by the 8th Infantry Division in Barangay Imelda, Las Navas, Northern Samar, last November 23. She was 65 years old. Five other fighters[Read More…]
80 years ago, on January 15, 1943, one of the most mortal blows occurred in the history of the Great Patriotic War. This event will carve a permanent place in history of brutality of oppressors unleashed on liberators. On this day in Krasnodon in the Luhansk region, Nazi forces flung bodies of members of the Young Guard youth anti-fascist organization[Read More…]
Dara Shikoh (1615-1659) was a prince of Mughal Empire who made significant contributions but was deprived of the opportunity of potentially making even greater contributions as he was executed at a young age of 44. Son of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, he was the chosen heir to be the next successor to the great empire but was captured and[Read More…]
“For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these—It might have been” –John Greenleaf Whittier Emperor Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, had a dream about two of his grandchildren. Even though he had emerged as one of the most powerful emperors in the world, he had suffered more than his share of distress. He was[Read More…]
In his absorbing profile of the writer Alex Haley (author of “Roots” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”) in the New York Times Book Review a year ago, Michael Patrick Hearn made a familiar mistake. He wrote: “Politically [Haley] he was a moderate, philosophically more Martin than Malcolm.” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was no moderate. Today, he is viewed as something of an[Read More…]
What if someone of consequence and world attention, difficult for US monopolized and controlled media to ignore, reminded us that one year before receiving a bullet to his brain, King had made bold print headlines in newspapers worldwide reading, “KING CALLS US “GREATEST PURVEYOR OF VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD.1 Would it not weaken US deep state media credibility as it[Read More…]
On July 2, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood behind President Lyndon Baines Johnson as the Texan signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although not the first civil rights bill passed by Congress, it was the most comprehensive. King called the law’s passage “a great moment … something like the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.” Johnson[Read More…]
Amongst the tallest leaders of the post-independence India, Sharad Yadav certainly deserves a place, not the least for his relentless pursuit of social justice for the backward classes. He was one of the strongest soldier during the turbulent times of Mandal Commission implementation battle back in the 90s. He started his political journey at a very early stage and was[Read More…]
Dr. King’s birthday is coming up soon- five days away- and I’m already cringing. Martin Luther King Junior was a towering figure in world history. He was one of the great leaders of the Civil Rights movement in the United States and as he aged, became increasingly radicalized. He left behind some of the greatest artifacts in American history- including[Read More…]
Shadia Abu Ghazaleh was born in Nablus on January 8, 1948, and educated in Nablus. She joined George Habash’s Arab Nationalist Movement as a young woman in 1964, in pursuit of the liberation of Palestine and the Arab homeland. We commemorated her 75th birthday 5 days ago. The tenacity and death defying courage in the life of Shadia Abu Ghazaleh[Read More…]
Commemorating the 13th martyrdom day of revolutionary working class leader Comrade Sunil Pal, a Central Convention was successfully organized jointly by IFTU (Sarwahara) and Proletarian People’s Front at Gandhi Peace Foundation in Delhi on December 29th in, from 10 am to 5 pm. The topic of this convention was “Challenges ahead in the path of the revolutionary workers’ and peasants’[Read More…]
My friend of sixty years,founder-member of Delhi Socialist Teachers Forum with Manoranjan Mohanty,brother of brave human rights crusader in Kashmir Balraj Puri, has died after a painful struggle with cancer.His friends remember him as a caring and humane person,totally unassuming and yet making a deep impression on his friends with the depth of his knowledge and firmness of his convictions.[Read More…]
A sad Christmas. I have been receiving innumerable phone calls and messages from friends, comrades, and academics, expressing disbelief over TG Jacob’s demise. I am equally shocked. His departure was like an unannounced walkout. Just the previous morning we had a long chat over phone on the political situation in Kerala and elsewhere, his ongoing writing on Kerala’s development[Read More…]
There is no god but God: Islamic belief. There is no race but human: scientific fact. The first holds true for many if not all the 1.8 billion Muslims of the world as a foundational belief. The second is true for all Muslims, Jews, Christians, agnostics, atheists, and all the other many belief systems based on creativity, hopes, dreams and[Read More…]
One surmises that the volunteer military system devised after the Vietnam debacle erases what had transpired before. Perhaps we all need to revisit that terrible era, when phony US incursions overseas had such horrific repercussions… on foreign nations and on our young men. As a college student in the late 60s and early 70s I had the ‘ Get out[Read More…]
by A.K Shiburaj/Jyotibhai Desai Jyotibhai Desai is a contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi whose life is lived true to the principles of the Gandhian philosophy. Jyotibai’s life-work has evolved in a place that has seen the worst instance of communal violence in contemporary India’s history. Yet he wields with conviction the philosophy of Ahimsa (non-violence) in the midst of this violence.[Read More…]
Today, on 3rd January, 2023, the nation is celebrating 192nd birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule, who was a great social reformer, educationist, author and poet. She was born on 3rd January, 1831 at Naigaon in Satara region of British India. As per the tradition of that time Savitrabai Phule was married to the Jyotiba Phule at the age of[Read More…]
There was the punk scene, Malcolm McLaren, their racy clothes shop at 430 King’s Road that started out as Let it Rock, the creation of a look, and the gathering of the earth rumbling Sex Pistols. In fact, the late Dame Vivienne Westwood was already a proven stirrer, suggesting that she, not Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, a.k.a Johnny Rotten,[Read More…]
As a child, I would watch with trepidation-tinged excitement and fascination the conversation between one of my uncles and the long-haired, sickle-sword wielding “velichappaad” (oracle through whom a revered deity, mostly the Goddess Bhagavati, would speak). This is how the conversation would play out. The long-haired velichappaad, ritualistically adorned and armed (anklets, waist-belt with bells and a sickle-sword), whole body[Read More…]
K P Sasi also bids adieu. On the Christmas of 2022, he breathed his last at 4 pm in a Private hospice in Thrissur. It was the last of an epoch historically significant and politically charged. All his works, his writings, cartoons, movies – brought into light a world once kept away from the discourses or even consideration of mainstream[Read More…]
On July 30, 2013 communist revolutionary movement and revolutionary trade union movement had lost a valiant fighter and most creative activist. Paltu Sen, President of the National Committee of IFTU and a member of the Central Committee of CPI(ML)-New Democracy had breathed his last. For nearly half a century, Paltu Sen heart and soul waged a battle for New Democratic[Read More…]
R.P. Amudhan captures the essence of K.P. Sasi in his short movie “Breath to Breath”. Sasi succinctly expresses his views on life, activism, creative work with his quirky humour and witticism. It is a glimpse of Sasi’s life in an unabashed manner. Watch it to relive the memories with Sasi
Turn, turn any corner Hear, you must hear what the people say You know that somethin’ is goin’ on around here It surely, surely, surely won’t stand the light of day… no Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness You got to speak your mind, if you dare It’s been a long time comin’ It’s going to[Read More…]
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Nelson Mandela). There are varied perspectives exist among the scholars with regard to the role of School as an agency of social change. For some, modern institutions like Schools and Colleges (by promoting secular and democratic thinking through critical pedagogy) could play progressive role in the[Read More…]
Today (25 December 2022) came to know about the sad demise of my dear and close friend K.P.Sasi. I came across this creative brilliant person when I was working for my book, ‘Communalism: Illustrated Primer’. I had long chats with him on the issue of communalism. He himself was very concerned about this issue and readily agreed to draw for[Read More…]
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
“You don’t need religion to have morals. If you can’t determine right from wrong, then you lack empathy, not religion.” Anonymous This anonymous quote that I received as a forward and in turn forwarded to my friends, though seemingly clear, rational and reasonable is however susceptible to misunderstanding and misinterpretation. On reading the quote, religionists’ first instinct is[Read More…]
Professor Joma Sison expired in the night of December 16th. Joma died peacefully after a period of confinement in a hospital in Utrecht, The Netherlands last night at around 8:40 p.m. (Philippine time). He was 83.An irreparable loss of one of the great Marxist intellectuals and leaders of our times. Sison has departed but he has planted seeds for many[Read More…]
Qazi Ahmad Naeem Qureshi,was a manifestation of the spirit of the historic student movement, which started from the plate of the National Students Federation, a revolutionary organization of students confronting the 10-year military dictatorship of General Ayub Khan in Pakistan in 1968. He died on December 3, 2022 in the city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It is a an irreparable loss[Read More…]
According to Heraclitus, “the only constant in life is ‘change’.” Our world has been changing constantly. So have been our lives. Recently the pace of such changes has been faster, and the resultant chaos left many of us trapped and bewildered. The political economies of most countries in the world have changed as oligarchies have taken firm roots in such[Read More…]
Every academic year comes to an end with the graduation of students who are ostensibly ready to take up a new set of challenges and goals. Many of them have dreams both big and small, however, it is merely survival that matters the most as many of them consider their dreams to be silly. Pash, a Punjabi poet says, “The most[Read More…]
Today we celebrate the birth centenary of late thespian Dilip Kumar. Not only was he arguably Hindi cinema’s finest actor ever but as an artist he was an epitome of Progressive values. Penetrating depth, intensity and sensitivity in realms rarely transcended he projected the theme of a character confronting the evils of social injustice. Dilip Kumar literally defined a new[Read More…]
Human beings are the most capable among the millions of life-forms on earth, but unfortunately their numerous capabilities cannot contribute adequately to reducing distress because of some highly undesirable traits among human beings afflicting them to a lesser or greater extent in the course of their known history. When persons of great spiritual strength and deep social concerns emerged to[Read More…]
Zoya Kosomdemyanskaya –birth centenary year On November 29th, in 1941, Soviet partisan Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was mercilessly hanged at the age of 18 by German fascist soldiers during World War II. Next year, we commemorate her birth centenary, on September 13th. Zoya symbolised how Marxism-Leninism or a Socialist Society paved way for a ‘new woman’ to bloom, who played a vanguard[Read More…]
by Cheng Enfu & Lu Baolin Building on Lenin’s Theory of Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century Neoimperialism is the specific contemporary phase of historical development that features the economic globalization and financialization of monopoly capitalism. The characteristics of neoimperialism can be summed up on the basis of the following five key features. First is the new monopoly of production and[Read More…]
Eric Hobsbawm (1917-2012) was one of the world’s most famous and perceptive communist historians. He pioneered a distinctive shape to method of historical research. exploring areas untouched. Around two months ago we commemorated his 10th death anniversary. Hobsbawm contributed major concepts, from the general crisis of the 17th century to the Dual Revolution, and terms like “the invention of tradition”[Read More…]
“The persons with disability do not need sympathy they need the dignity and honour that they deserve” It is the 3rd of December, and the day is observed as the ” International Day of Persons with Disabilities” . The purpose for the observance of this day is to widen our outlook and promote the understanding of the concept of disability[Read More…]
“He will be good for nothing without his arms. It is better that he dies otherwise who will take care of him?” was the reaction of Shreenarayan’s father when the doctors told him that his son’s arms will have to be amputated if he is to survive. Shreenarayan Yadav was just ten years old when he suffered an electric shock[Read More…]
If you feel pain then you are alive. If you feel the pain of others then you are human. Leo Tolstoy Similar profound statements about the nature of humans have been made in all cultures in all formats. It is there in folklore, songs and dances, fiction, arts and architecture, photographs and films. A[Read More…]
The pruning up of fingertips when we bathe or swim is a phenomenon of the human body that is so common and yet little understood. Despite many decades of scientific inquiry, until recently, the reasoning remained elusive. A common belief was that the wrinkling of wet skin was caused by osmosis. But a definitive study in 2011 turned the enigma of “wet-induced wrinkles”[Read More…]
As a consequence of my fledgling activism in my student life to my dedicated commitment towards socialism till now, I found umpteen occasions to meet and interact with many people active in this stream. I constantly learned and picked up something from verily everyone during my work and interactions with them. Of them some became the source of intellectual inspiration,[Read More…]
Aijaz Ahmad (1941-2022) who passed away on March 9 at Irvine, California earlier this year, was a truly original Marxist thinker, who applied Marxist concepts to interpret various events of the contemporary world. He underlined the importance of those concepts while rejecting all attempts to weaken or replace them through eclectic combinations formed by introducing post-modernist concepts into Marxism. He[Read More…]
She may have left us 16 years ago, but on her birth anniversary November 25, Surinder Kaur is being remembered very fondly by her countless admirers in India, Pakistan, Canada, UK, USA and several other countries as well. The contributions of the ‘Nightingale of Punjab’ to music can never be forgotten, all the more so in present times of degradation[Read More…]
Professor Jose Marie Sison ranks amongst the most accomplished Marxist leaders, and writers, to have landed their feet into the Communist movement. Few leaders have contributed so much to shape a nations’ path breaking achievements in revolutionary movement or defend citadel of Marxism –Leninism. Sison knitted the scattered seeds to sow the nucleus of the Communist Party and Philllipines and[Read More…]
Duncan Stone’s new book Different Class: The Untold Story of English Cricket has important lessons for Indian cricket and sports. It does not merely challenge the orthodoxy of English cricket, it demonstrates how the values and belief systems at its heart were developed in order to divide, rather than unite, the English at every level of the game. It was[Read More…]
[I must begin with a “thank you” to the Indian Diaspora of Washington DC* and to Razi Saheb for letting me say a few words here. It is an honour for me to share the dais, even if virtually, with Gauhar Raza and Pervez Hoodbhoy. I was stressed about Razi Saheb being a stern time-keeper. So, I decided to jot[Read More…]
My dear friend Staughton Lynd died Thursday five days before what would have been his 93rd birthday. It is no overstatement to say that Staughton inspired millions of people around the world and I will always cherish a glorious weekend I spent with him and his lovely wife Alice at their home in Ohio in 2010. In honor of a[Read More…]
If you mention the name of Macliing Dulag to a Cordilleran, you are going to arouse three possible responses. One, the person has no idea who Dulag was. Two, the person has heard of the man but can’t accurately place where Dulag stands in Cordillera history. Millions of people knew the name of Che Guevara but hardly aware of his[Read More…]
The much contested debate pertaining to the relationship between Literature and History dates back to the classical times. Beginning with Aristotle, there have been constant efforts to identify the links and natures of these two domains of knowledge. In the traditional scholarship, History was often regarded as an art of particulars, while on the contrast, Literature was identified with universals.[Read More…]
November 16 marks the 107th martyrdom day of a towering revolutionary of the Indian freedom struggle. Kartar Singh Sarabha was executed in 1915 in British India for waging a war against the Empire while he was only 18-and-a-half years old. He was a part of the Ghadar movement that was started to liberate India from foreign occupation through armed rebellion.[Read More…]
If 1 out of 2 high school girls feel persistently sad or hopeless and one out of six students plan suicide in a year, isn’t it time for a society so affected to look inwards at what has gone wrong, so that at least, and as a first step, the causes of such a dismal state of affairs can be[Read More…]
Increased consumption of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) was associated with more than 10% of all-cause premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019. That is the finding of a new peer-reviewed study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The findings are significant not only for Brazil but also for high income countries such as the U S, Canada, the UK, and Australia, where UPFs[Read More…]
There are few writers who have displayed such consistency and continuity in their writings on justice and concerns of the unprivileged as Jeremy Seabrook. His writings on these and other issues of high social relevance are marked by deep sympathy for those who deserve and need this the most. Readers are frequently awed by the sheer brilliance of his deep[Read More…]
We live in a fast-moving, technology-dominated era. Happiness is fleeting, and everything is replaceable or disposable. It is understandable that people are drawn to a utopian vision. Many find refuge in the concept of a “return” to an idealized past—one in which humans were not so numerous, and animals abounded; when the Earth was still clean and pure, and when[Read More…]
Paying homage to stalwart and martyr of Civil Liberties Movement, Japa Lakshma Reddy, a public meeting under the supervision of Civil Rights Association Joint Karimnagar District Committee, was held on Monday, 7th November, 2022, at Sneha Sahiti Library, Godavarikhani from 4:30 pm to 8:15 pm. Civil rights society and people’s association leaders obeyed two minutes of silence to Japa Lakshma[Read More…]
November 9, 2022, was the 145th birth anniversary of Allama Muhammad Iqbal – a globally renowned South Asian Muslim poet, and philosopher. The contemporary period of renewed cultural atavisms has reduced him to an ideologically zealous proponent of Pan-Islamism, leading to a crude anti-Westernism that rejects the universal values of freedom and equality to justify internal hierarchies within the Muslim[Read More…]
On November 9th yesterday, we commemorated the 38th death anniversary of Chandra Pulla Reddy, one of the most dedicated Communist revolutionaries of India. Confronting the darkest waters he combated revisionism with the tenacity of a boulder and shimmered light of Mao thought. No doubt he made serious errors of left and right variety but strived to practice mass line to[Read More…]
by Bharat Dogra and Madhu Dogra A true mark of greatness is that the message conveyed by a person by work as well words, conduct as well as character, brings solace to people and reduces distress of people in contemporary times, but at the same time is also found to be of enduring importance to people when they cope with[Read More…]
Shyam Benegal ranks amongst the most defining architects of the art movement in Hindi cinema. Few directors transcended such layers in manifesting feudal or social oppression or displayed mastery at such a scale in exploring characters. Even when projecting social reality his plots were ever buoyant. Social reality was concurrent theme in movies of Benegal,who was a creature of the[Read More…]
If very high and increasing mental health problems are reported from any society, then the most obvious response is to increase the availability of mental health services. However, if despite this, the trend of high incidence of such problems persists, then isn’t it time to inquire at a wider level regarding what problems of society are causing this and then[Read More…]
Today on November 3rd, we commemorate the 40th death anniversary of E.H.Carr who made an outstanding contribution as a liberal historian and gave a new dimension to method of historical research. Carr was an epitome of historical accuracy, being more illustrative than any historian on Soviet Russia. Even though a liberal democrat he applied the Marxist historical materialist method. Carr[Read More…]
Herman Daly passed away on 28th October. He was an ecological economist who championed steady state economics. In 1996, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for “defining a path of ecological economics that integrates the key elements of ethics, quality of life, environment and community.” Daly’s death is a great loss to humanity and ecological economics. Countercurrents.org has published a[Read More…]
On October 30th we commemorate the 17th death anniversary of late Shamsher Singh Sheri. Shamser Singh Sheri is arguably the most defining figure of the Communist Revolutionary of Naxalite movement in Punjab, torch-bearer of the Communist Revolutionary camp or mascot against revisionism. His name is still inscribed in letters of gold by revolutionary ranks. I hold Sheri in great esteem[Read More…]
Late Hrishikesh Mukherjee more popularly known as ‘Hrishi Da’ just celebrated his birth centenary last month. Hrishi Da ranks amongst India’s most progressive and innovative film makers, exhibiting mastery in craft of making socially relevant themes. Mukherjee knitted plots together with great visualisation, and sensitivity, be it in comedy, pathos, anger or romance, weaving every ingredient in proper proportion. Melodrama[Read More…]
History is small fry to seasoned craftsmen like the RSS who can come up with dummies that look more authentic than the real. There is no better testimony to this statement than the mangled legacy of the greatest of all Mughals, Emperor Akbar, who is deservedly called Akbar the Great. A malicious campaign against the peerless monarch has been going[Read More…]
Saw Aaditya Thackeray, the young, embattled Shiv Sena leader at a public event last week. He was cheerful, showed no sign of stress. Seems to have taken the recent political setback in his stride. Things are clearly looking up for Shiv Sena and the Congress. He inaugurated a play area for physically and mentally challenged children in Joggers Park in[Read More…]
There is not much that I can do for Laura except to extend myself in a loving way to her. I learned of her through a mutual friend and decided that I wanted to do something supportive of her since she has suffered a great deal. Therein I want to soften her suffering and try to be a little bit[Read More…]
Zero Waste Solution, Wareham, MA PHOTO: DAVID RATCLIFFE “I cling like a miser to the freedom that disappears as soon as there is an excess of things.” – Albert Camus, Lyrical and Critical Essays. Let me tell you a story about a haunted house and all the thoughts it evoked in me. Do we believe we can save ourselves by saving things? Or[Read More…]
(1) The so-called ‘Western powers’ in a rash bid to turn the Ukraine offensive into a nightmare for Russia and shell-shock the comity of nations that desperately yearn for peace has prodded Ukraine to launch more and more provocative attacks on Russia. Naturally it has entrapped Russia into more and more ruthless reprisals,which might well escalate to a nuclear strike.Whereas[Read More…]
21st October marked the 38th death anniversary of Satyanarayan Singh (SNS). He was one of the pioneering leaders of the revolutionary party CPI (M-L), which was formed demarcating from the neo-revisionist CPI (M) after the historic Naxalbari uprising. SNS was Central Committee and Politbureau member of that party. Faced with grave losses and damages in CPI (ML) under the leadership[Read More…]
Occupational diseases constitute a much more serious risk to the health and welfare of workers than is normally realized. The International Labor Organization and the World Health Organization got together jointly to estimate the number of deaths caused by occupational diseases and injuries at world level for 2016. The two international agencies found that as many as 1.90 million ([Read More…]
It has been three years since Sayed Abdul Rahman Geelani known as SAR among his friends, at the age of 50, suddenly and much too soon, left us, on 24 October 2019. The shock of his untimely demise is a void very hard to fill. He played the role as a teacher, an educator and a tireless defender of human[Read More…]
The suffering of US women under the iron heel of abortion is intensifying, especially for women of color. This makes it imperative to closely examine possible paths forward. As a teenager during the 1960s I witnessed two political paths that remain imprinted on my mind. LBJ and 14 (b) Even before classes began in 1963, I had organized the first[Read More…]
There has been growing concern in recent years regarding the extent to which workers and employees are stressed in their work and have strong feelings of alienation. In this context the findings of one of the most extensive surveys on this subject are significant. These can be seen in Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report 2022. This is based[Read More…]
Jean Luc Goddard who left us at age of 91 on 13th September, ranks amongst the greatest film makers ever .Godard, was a filmmaker, critic, essayist, polemicist, philosopher, scientist, a preacher, educator, journalist, and artist rolled into one. The motion-picture medium was elevated to a new dimension by him, penetrating barriers untranscended in terms of creativity. Its hard to think[Read More…]
Accidents are a leading cause of human distress. However most discussion has been concentrated on road accidents while occupational accidents which affect mostly the working class have received comparatively much lesser attention. This should not lead to neglect of the very heavy price that workers have to pay in terms of serious injuries or even loss of life caused[Read More…]
When we talk about any museum, the first thing that comes to our mind is something that is, perhaps, old, past, historical, etc. But besides this, there are a few other prime things to which we won’t relate, and even can’t imagine that something important and meaningful like “research” and “education” can be associated with museums either. Museums’ jobs are[Read More…]
On the morning of October 12, 2022 veteran communist revolutionary leader from Punjab, Tara Singh Chalaki passed away at his home in Mohali. For a considerable period he was ailing, suffering from bad health. His death is a grave loss to the communist revolutionary camp of India to which he from his early days he played a monumental role in[Read More…]
Nikolai Alexandrovich Semashko was an outstanding scientist and was major architect in Soviet health care, the first People’s Commissar of Health of the RSFSR, Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences and the RSFSR Academy of Sciences, Honoured Scientist of the RSFSR, Professor. Semashko’s entire life was a concrete example of selfless service to the service of humanity, with[Read More…]
Socialist thinker Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, whose death anniversary is today, often used to say that the life force of true democracy lies in the reversal of governments. He did not make any effort till his last breath for this reversal, which was considered ‘impossible’ in those days of Congress domination. His uneasiness towards these efforts was such that even[Read More…]
Kumar Shiralkar, activist, served the adivasis and other oppressed people for decades with great devotion and selflessness.. He in turn was so much loved by the adivasis that after his passing way on October 2 they buried his body. Kumar was born in a Brahmin family but he had completely given up his caste and class affiliation, totally identified with[Read More…]
We commemorate the 13th death anniversary of K. Balagopal (1952-2009). Earlier this year we celebrated his 70th birthday. A mathematician, civil rights activist rolled into one and one of post-independent India’s most creative thinkers, who gave revolutionary humanism a new perspective. One of the great stalwarts of the civil Rights Movement, and till his death, one of the best sons[Read More…]
When India closed its alcohol outlets during the recent pandemic-driven lockdown, many western countries such as Canada did not take a similar step on liquor sales. Alcohol was easily available in these countries just like any other grocery item in the market. Why did India’s state governments decide to stop the sale of liquor while it continued selling all other[Read More…]
Annabhau Sathe, was an immensely admired dalit communist writer, performer who galvanised people’s struggles in Mumbai in the 1940s and 1950s. Seeing a revival of his play on Mumbai’s working people’s struggles against capitalist domination, written in the 1950s, makes one realise that he in way preceded eminent urban radical thinkers like David Harvey and Henri Lefebvre who have emphasised[Read More…]
Obscenely high prices for prescription medicine create billions of dollars of profit for giant pharmaceutical companies to the financial detriment for those whose health depend on their products. Reforming that system in lowering prescription drug prices has become an ongoing contest of money and influence prevailing over the lives and health of those who simply cannot afford the high costs.[Read More…]
Civic participation in issues of public importance has been at the heart of many debates in our world history. Philosophers and theorists have attempted to determine how the ordinary citizen can grasp the external world with all its nuances and subtleties. Professor John Dewey believed in strengthening our citizenry through various means such as promoting logic & reason, scientific temperament,[Read More…]
Every year in India we celebrate 5th September as the National Teachers’ Day and just a month later the world observes 5th October as ‘World Teachers’ Day’. The theme this year is: “Teachers at the heart of education recovery”. It was UNESCO that established this day in 1994 to celebrate and recognize the immense contribute of all those in the[Read More…]
Jahanara–The First Lady of a Great Empire Who Devoted Herself to Reducing Suffering and Distress In times when royalty was characterized by the craze for luxury and constant intrigues for power, Princess Jahanara (1614-81) is almost a unique character in the Mughal Dynasty who devoted most of her time, efforts and wealth to reducing the distress and suffering of others.[Read More…]
A Muslim youth was beaten recently when he tried to witness the famous Garbha performance during the Hindu religious 9 days festival of Navratri in Gujarat. There was a time when Muslims could easily participate in Garbha events in an atmosphere of cordiality. Bilkis Bano was gang raped in 2002 Gujarat communal violence, her 3 years old daughter, the child[Read More…]
We are celebrating yet another Gandhi Jayanti. Given the significance that Mahatma Gandhi holds not only for Indians but globally, some introspection about the current state of affairs in India and Gandhi’s philosophy as a possible antidote to rapidly increasing hatred and violence is urgently required. Let me begin by using Dharma as an example. The contemporary fallacy of collapsing dharma into[Read More…]
An unsung hero Hassan Nasir is known to none in this present generation! A heroic people’s leader was sent to oblivion. Though Hassan Nasir is our Hyderabadi (Deccan), a great working class organizer, sacrificed his life in Pakistan, for the Communist Party . He was born on August 2nd, 1928 in Bank Street near Koti, Hyderabad and hacked down on[Read More…]
On October 2 an increasingly divided and troubled world observes the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi (MG). This is a good time to reflect on the essence of some of his enduring messages. Firstly, he said that economics should never be separated from ethics. In particular he gave a call for placing the poorer and weaker sections at the center[Read More…]
Are you sad because a bout of Covid-19 disrupted your life with illness, bills, or even the death of a friend or family member? Are you anxious because your benefits have ceased and you can’t find a new job? Are you worried because the brain fog after Covid has persisted so long? Are you angry because you are being evicted[Read More…]
Without doubt Bhagat Singh was one of the greatest revolutionaries, who chalked out a genuine revolutionary anti-colonial programme and not the Indian National Congress. He pioneered the formation of an organisation charting out a programme opposing landlordism, capitalism and imperialism. Initially he supported the path of individual terrorism and was influenced by the Irish revolutionaries but later after studying Marx[Read More…]
I am tempted to write this after seeing a report in a vernacular newspaper today. It was about someone named V Bright Saigal who died recently in a rented room in Delhi as a lonely man with no significant social contacts. It was his landlord who brought him dead to Delhi’s Safdar Jung Hospital. Saigal originally belonged to Kakkanadu in[Read More…]
Maharashtra’s progressive record has taken a beating in the last few years. But occasionally there are signs of hope. One of the best reprsentatives of the progressive tradition was Narhar Kurundkar. He was a real public intellectual, atheist, rationalist, outspoken critic whoquestioned almost ridiculed false,established notions. The orthodox told him he would go to hell but they could do not[Read More…]
Today on September 28 many, many people in Chattisgarh and other parts of India will be remembering Shankar Guha Niyogi on his death anniversary. It was on this day that he was assassinated at the peak of his efforts to mobilize workers for a big struggle. Niyogi, a labor leader who became a legend in his lifetime, led a very[Read More…]
Today September 28 is the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh, the revolutionary freedom fighter from India who could dare to think at a very young age of fighting imperialism all over the world! Although he was hanged by colonial rulers at the age of only 23 in 1931, he is still not only remembered with great affection and respect by[Read More…]
India is quite young. Its population of 1.3 billion has an average age of 29 years. Much of the country’s focus, therefore, has been on its “youth bulge” and the “demographic dividend” this should potentially yield since the working age population is greater than the segment of dependents. While the country will be able to hold on to this advantage[Read More…]
In a popular quote from his speech “The Ballot or The Bullet” , American activist Malcolm X says “…you don’t have a revolution in which you are begging the system of exploitation to integrate you into it. Revolutions overturn systems. Revolutions destroy systems.” In abstraction, this quote only half describes what a revolution is because indeed , revolutions do destroy[Read More…]
A worrying aspect of Russia-EU relations is that certain creepiness has got the better of people’s senses. Things have gone so far that Europeans are proscribing even the ownership of Russian pets. Clearly, the western media seems to have gone overboard in demonizing ordinary Russian People. An attempt has been made here to bring flavour of Russia and its people,[Read More…]
Darshan Singh Canadian was martyred today 26 years ago on September 25th, at the hands of the Khalistani terrorists. His entire life was manifestation of relentless spirit to serve the downtrodden. Darshan Singh was a very warm personality, extremely well read, a versatile conservationist and resonating with wit and humour. In Canada In 1937, at the age of 19, Darshan[Read More…]
Someone I know very well has just completed his engineering course and joined an IT company. He was selected by the company after a rigorous online selection test. Many of his friends have also taken the selection test in other renowned companies. I have seen him taking online selection tests on behalf of his friends and all of his friends[Read More…]
On September 25th today ,we celebrate the 100 th birth anniversary of justice O.Chinnappa Reddy.His life is an illustration of relentless service to the cause of social justice. He is most relevant today when our judicial system has been completely defaced or fabric torn apart with the penetration of Hindutva fascism . At every juncture of his life he braved[Read More…]
The departure of Ross Longhurst (aka Harry Powell), on 28th September 2020.was an inconsolable loss to the Communist Movement. Ross till his last breath unfurled the flag of Communism and proletarian internationalism when many others rejected it it in favour of tailing nationalism of all kinds. One of the finest students of Marxism-Leninism in Imperialist countries, who in many junctures resisted[Read More…]
My father died in Delhi when I was barely 18. My mother was returning to Kerala. I told her that I would look after myself and there was no need for her to worry about me. The only skill I had was a bit of knowledge in typing. I got a job as a typist at the CPI Parliamentary office.[Read More…]
Introduction In almost all myths, the low-born non-Aryan characters, from Bali to Barbareek to Eklavya to Karna, are presented as generous to the extent that none of them cry foul at being robbed of their life. In fact they willingly give it away. What does their lack of protest say? What kind of consciousness does it reflect? The essence of[Read More…]
Barbara Ehrenreich died at the age of 81 on September 1. The American author had reached a worldwide readership with her over 20 books which are best known for their strong voice of justice and dignity for the weakest sections as well as for opposing hypocrisy and social deceit at several levels. Her brilliant reportage, social commentary and book reviews[Read More…]
Communal propagandists who want to disrupt inter-faith harmony often distort and misrepresent history to peddle their lies. While this can be shown in the context of many instances, the times of Dara Shikoh are particularly relevant in this context. As is well known , Dara Shikoh (1615-59) was the favorite son of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the buider of[Read More…]
by Bharat Dogra, Anupam Bhandari & Tristan Partridge Perhaps the most widespread and persistent cause of human distress has been relationships based on dominance, whether across differences in class, gender, caste, race, or other imposed social categories. These tendencies are clear and undeniable, yet very difficult to change at a fundamental or societal level – as reflected in the ongoing[Read More…]
Where do we stand in 2022? A lot could be found on the web, when someone searches for ‘Suicide Statistics’ or a similar keyword. There have been detailed reports published by various departments and NGOs on the figures (numbers) and the stated reasons behind a person dying by suicide. I pick a few from those, as I move towards my[Read More…]
1. We lost Gauri Lankesh, journalist, activist and very passionate human being, exactly five years back It is now history how she was assasinated by rightwing Hindutva fanatics outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on 5 September 2017. A killing which shocked not only the people of Karnataka but everyone who believed in a just and equitable society elsewhere.[Read More…]
Today the world commemorates the 25th death anniversary of Mother Teresa. Whatever her gross flaws, she rendered service to humanity in regions almost untranscended, resembling the relentless spirit of the waves of an Ocean. Irrespective of community or religion. she offered her service. Even those not drawn by sainthood revere the role of Mother Teresa. For 68 years, she had[Read More…]
This is the birth centenary year of renowned playwright, director, actor Habib Tanvir. He was born on 1 September 1923 in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Habib Tanvir’s father Hafiz Ahmed Khan was a resident of Peshawar (Pakistan). Habib Tanveer completed his schooling in Raipur. After this he graduated from Nagpur University in 1944 and MA from Aligarh Muslim University. After that he[Read More…]
Gorbachev’s was a betrayer’s life. He has physically left this earth, hours back; but has kept kilometer posts of betrayal on a land years ago identified as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). He’s the person who led a band of betrayers to dismantle the USSR – Soviet Union. The biggest country in the world stretching from the Pacific[Read More…]
Last Saturday on 27 August we commemorated 21 years since the martyrdom of Abu Ali Mustafa, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, targeted for an Israeli assassination raid with a U.S-made and -provided missile in occupied Al-Bireh, Palestine, in 2001.Till this day his memories shimmer like an inextinguishable light. Abu Ali Mustafa’s was[Read More…]
George Berkeley is one of the greatest and most influential philosophers of the early modern period. In defending the immaterialism for which he is most famous, he redirected modern thinking about the nature of objectivity and the mind’s capacity to come to terms with it. Along the way, he made striking and influential proposals concerning the psychology of the senses,[Read More…]
Economist Abhijit Sen passed away on the night of 29 August, 2022. He was 72. For a long time he has been regarded as one of India’s leading agricultural economists who made a very important contribution to government policy, particularly in the context of public distribution system. India’s structure of food security has been created to a considerable extent on[Read More…]
A statue of Alluri Srirama Raju, ( July 4, 2022 – May 7th 1924) with bow and arrows; this model is the standard depiction seen in most places, across the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State. He is mostly presented in saffron robes of a Sanyasi. A centenary of the popular armed struggle, Rampa Adivasi Revolt, led by[Read More…]
Dr. Iravati Karve [15 December 1905 —-11 August 1970 ] is India’s first pioneer, leading anthropological researcher and world-renowned researcher in sociology. Anthropologist, social scientist, atheist, rationalist and literati, the great writer and orator known to Maharashtra in various capacities. A progressive thinker who has become an example of women’s freedom is Dr. Iravati Karve. A very highly educated, cultured[Read More…]
Despite the extremely disheartening developments across the spectrum of worldly life, despair and defeat are –while understandable–not inevitable. That is the good news. We are never obliged to surrender the best of our humanity, even as things around us devolve. But in order to find our footing, it is important to begin by seeing the current reality without fear[Read More…]
Vimal Bhai breathed his last on 15 August at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. He was 60. He will be remembered for a long time for his contributions to many ecological and social movements, but perhaps most prominently for the movements against the excess of several ill-planned hydro-electricity projects in Uttarakhand. He was involved in this[Read More…]
“I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.” — Intro, Village of Madison NY, Facebook Page In May of 2016, I gave a talk as part of Madison, NY’s Bicentennial celebration, a talk to honor Madison’s foremothers. I began by speaking about my own Madison foremother, Caroline[Read More…]
Stigmatising the women’s life after 30 is not a new strategy in the market, especially when it comes to the cosmeceutical industries which have been selling some anti-aging promises since ages. Marketing the fear of ageing is the by-product of the constant social pressure of being young, the desired age characterized by beauty, energy, and strength. The advertising industry is[Read More…]
Souren Bose left us on the early morning of 17 August, exactly 25 years ago. One of the most dedicated torch bearers of the Indian Communist movement. His sudden death was an irreparable loss to the Indian Communist movement. His interview with Premier Zhou En lai in China in 1970 is an invaluable lesson for all Marxist cadre in grasping[Read More…]
Debiprosad Ghosh, the distinguished but undeservedly neglected Calcutta film scholar and historian, has painstakingly researched the life, times and achievements of an important but forgotten Bengali actress. The beautiful and gifted Begum Anwara Nahar had to take on the name of ‘Bonani Chaudhuri’ for the same reason that one Yousuf Khan of Peshawar had to transform himself into ‘Dilip Kumar’,[Read More…]
I am deeply shocked to know about such a brutal attack on the globally renowned writer Salman Rushdie in New York by forces that have been planning to kill him for a long time. As a writer and columnist myself I cannot sit silent without condemning such a brutal attack on fellow writers. He was an Indian born writer with[Read More…]
Today, on 10th of August, we are celebrating the 59th Birth anniversary of Phoolan Devi, who was a former member of parliament and fearless leader of marginalized. She was born on 10th August 1963 at Ghura ka Purwa village of Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh in a mallah caste which is considered as extremely backward caste and scheduled caste in[Read More…]
It has been Forty years since Revolutionary poet Cherabanda Raju left us. Thinking of him is reminiscent of a lotus blooming in full. Chera was an epitome of creativity of revolutionary poetry, transcending realms few revolutionary poets did in his era. The VIRASAM staged a meeting in his memory on July 3rd, this year in Hyderabad in Sundaraya Vigyan hall,[Read More…]
Statement issued by HIV activists and civil society organisations Civil Society organisations and activists working on the HIV response in India are putting out this statement in utter distress and in strong solidarity with people living with and affected by HIV whose simple and basic demand for uninterrupted flow of life saving anti-retroviral drugs is being ignored by the Government[Read More…]
Scientific advances are not always linear; they zigzag in unexpected ways. This is particularly true of genetics, which has a dark history of being coopted into eugenics and race science. In July, the world celebrated 200 years since the birth of Gregor Mendel, who is widely accepted as the “father of modern genetics” for his discovery of the laws of inheritance.[Read More…]
In various streams of the freedom movement, we meet Yogendra Shukla ( 1896-1960) in different roles: what is common to all these roles is that he always worked with the highest commitment. If at an early stage of his life we find him living as an inmate of Sabarmati Ashram attracting the admiration of none other than Mahatma Gandhi, at[Read More…]
Tragedy of Hundreds of Children Dying in Pond and Well Accidents Can Be Avoided In a very tragic accident in Una ( Himachal Pradesh) on August 1, 7 teenagers and youths from Punjab drowned in Govindsagar lake. 4 of them were from a single family. In a joyful mood they had gone for a routine bath in the lake but[Read More…]
Rachakonda Viswanatha Sastri (Raavi Sastri) (30 July 1922 – 10 November 1993), India’s Gorky, was a great Telugu writer whose birth centenary celebrations are presently going on in Telugu states. Reviewing the works of Ravishasri is like doing a social audit, said one judge. “Raa Vi Sastry gave a powerful narrative on India’s bureaucracy, police, legislature, parliament, apart from[Read More…]
“The Earth does not rest on the forehead of Sheshanaga. It is safe in the hands of the Dalits, the farmers and the workers.” (Annabhau Sathe) As we celebrate the birth centenary of Tukaram (Annabhau Sathe) we not only see the relevance of his writings at that time but even today. Here is a man who belonging to Maanag (Matang)[Read More…]
One of my closest comrades Steve Otto, expired 4 days ago, while sitting on the porch of his house. Some months ago, he lost his wife Cammy.He ran blogs ‘Ottos War Room’ and ‘Idiot Factor.’ I may not have personally met him but I don’t have words to express my sense of loss at his demise and my gratitude for[Read More…]
Vijay Singh Pathik (1882-1954) was an eminent freedom fighter, peasant leader, journalist, poet, author, educationist and historian who worked tirelessly all his life to fight both imperialism and feudalism at several levels. At one level he was active in the Indian National Congress, fulfilling important responsibilities in Rajasthan in particular but also in other areas. However he had started life[Read More…]
Some Gandhians are feeling indignant about the special issue of ‘Antim Jan’ on Sarvakar. It is a monthly magazine published by a government organization, ‘Gandhi Darshan and Smriti’. Some journalists, intellectuals and party spokespersons/leaders too have expressed their unhappiness over the special issue. Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi’s statement also has come against the same. ‘Gandhi Darshan and Smriti’ is an[Read More…]
A memorial meeting, remembering Com DV and TN was held in Khammam town of Telangana State on July27, 2022. Hundreds of people who are fighting for and supporting agrarian revolution attended, including a big number of adivasi and poor peasants, and large number of women. The meeting held in the peak of rainy season went on from10.30 am to[Read More…]
On 28th July we commemorate the 50th death anniversary of Charu Mazumdar,who was tortured to death in police custody. It ranks amongst the worst abuse of human rights of a political prisoner or leader in India or the world. Today history is repeating itself in with Custodial deaths being a routine occurrence in prisons.Charu’s assassination illustrated the neo-fascist nature of[Read More…]
One: Earth is in danger. We are the source of Earth’s endangerment. Troubles are real. Consequences are rapidly becoming global reality. Two: Each person living on this Living Earth must take a clear, unwavering stand, standing in responsibility and raising an alerting voice. Three: Individual voices need to become a global chorus—the chorus of human choices. Four: Often people will[Read More…]
All of us who yearn to see a mass movement of workers united across national, racial and gender lines against capitalism and imperialism should remember and learn from the life of Walter Rodney. A Guyanese historian and activist who was murdered by his own ruling class in 1980 at the age of 38, Rodney understood the pitfalls of pseudo-socialism and[Read More…]
First Movement: Round Table and the Peers When Arthur realized he was to become king, and not just any king, but the illustrious Once and Future King, he went apart in solitude, looked out over the rolling land and for a long time contemplated the condition of the realm he was destined to guide, guard, and govern. Visibly on[Read More…]
An avoidable controversy has arisen recently due to the unfortunate comments of a politician of Punjab who called Shahid Bhagat Singh a terrorist. That this politician is linked closely to the Khalistani ideology explains his narrow worldview, and his comments regarding Bhagat Singh were quickly dismissed by most people. However to counter false propaganda based on such comments, it will[Read More…]
Despite the promise by all countries to end TB by 2030 (and India to end TB by 2025), decline in TB rates, deaths, and number of new infections, is not steep enough to meet the target. Lot more action (and investment) needs to urgently happen if we are to #endTB in next 101 months globally (and next 41 months in[Read More…]
by Sahba Husain & Meera Velayudhan Dakshayani Velayudhan was born on this day in 1912 at Bolghatty, a small island off the coast of the then princely state of Cochin, in an agrestic slave caste, Pulaya. She was the child of social change, for the early 1900s saw some of the earliest struggles for equality and recognition across Kerala. At[Read More…]
by Sahba Husain & Meera Velayudhan Dakshayani Velayudhan was born on this day in 1912 at Bolghatty, a small island off the coast of the then princely state of Cochin, in an agrestic slave caste, Pulaya. She was the child of social change, for the early 1900s saw some of the earliest struggles for equality and recognition across Kerala. At[Read More…]
On Sanjoy Ghose’s 25th death anniversary, Ashutosh Tosaria tells us through a microstory how collectives are transforming lives of young girls and women across the country – an idea in which Sanjoy believed strongly. Two hours from Kolkata, a group of thirty young girls and women, all in the age group 16-22, had gathered in a village in Baruipur. They[Read More…]
A year ago, on 5 July 2021, when Father Stan Swamy left us, the world mourned the death of a great human being who epitomised compassion, courage, collaboration and commitment! ‘Stan’, as he was lovingly called by those close to him, died whilst he was still incarcerated. From the time he was illegally arrested on 8 October 2020, he languished[Read More…]
How labour and God shaped the world As I went late to school in life, perhaps after eight years I was born, in mid 1960 (my school record birth day is 5 October, 1952), for quite some time I was with cattle and agrarian operations in my early juvenile days even after going to school in my village. Throughout the[Read More…]
My name is Ilaiah–O, you are from a wretched caste I added Shepherd to it–O, you have become a Christian I read and write–O, you have violated the Dharma I read and write in English–Then, you want to break India I travel abroad– O, Christians fund your travel I believe in one God–Then, you are in touch with Jesus My[Read More…]
India is going through a lot of communal tensions for the last few years. As a response to it some secular persons have been, among other things, organising ‘Inter – Faith Meetings’. Recently in Hyderabad we have been having such meetings. Many religious leaders came. I was asked to represent the Atheists. In the meeting I declared myself ‘atheist, irreligious[Read More…]
As an Indian who sometimes finds himself abroad, I get puzzled often by notions of ‘Indian food’. I have three reasons. For one, Indian food is a misnomer. There’s nothing like it – because different regions and subregions, religious and caste groups, and tribes in India have different cuisines. They use different spices in different combinations, not to mention different[Read More…]
Recently Arun Kumar Sinha posted in Marx_Forum, Murray Bookchin’s pamphlet ‘Listen! Marxist!’ This was published in the ’50s in which he admonished and rebuked the ‘Marxists’ community. To Marx_Forum Dear Arun, You are opening a Pandora’s Box by introducing Murray Bookchin. You are introducing Anarchism! Maybe time has come to introduce Anarchism to Marx_Forum although Marxists (including Marx) have never looked[Read More…]
The wise men of the establishment are again telling us that hopes for lasting peace are a delusion. They declare that human nature makes it impossible, that war is built into our genes. They point to research by evolutionary biologists that indicates our closest genetic relatives, the chimpanzees, make war. Therefore war must be part of our heredity. “We’ve always[Read More…]
In 1972 a British doctor stumbled to refugee camps in Bangladesh, making sincere but rather clumsy efforts to make a contribution amidst an ocean of unmet medical needs. Five decades later, this uncertain initial effort has grown enough to reach out to over 500,000 of the poorest patients, many of them with serious conditions who would not have been able[Read More…]
Kartik Pannalal was simply an ornament in his own right to the democratic Rights, Student and Communist revolutionary movement whose memories will shimmer forever.Kartik may be gone but his souls still sparkles in the hearts of many a well-wisher like an inextinguishable star. Today night on June 4th we commemorate his 25th death anniversary when he perished in a road[Read More…]
Few men can give us a better understanding of the saffronisation of archaeology and the temple mosque controversy than Ashish Avikunthak. He has spent 20 years researching Indian archaeology, he is a sensitive film maker, social activist, a multi faceted figure.He has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Stanford university, he teaches archaeology and film studies in Rhodes Island university[Read More…]
May 28 is the 92nd death anniversary of Bhagwati Charan Vohra who sacrificed his life in 1930 at the age of only 25 while making preparations for rescuing Bhagat Singh from jail. As he was preparing for his own martyrdom in jail, Bhagat Singh paid very rich tributes to the great sacrifices of Bhagwati Charan Vohra in the course[Read More…]
It is a true mark of greatness if what a leader struggles to achieve in his lifetime is widely realized to be even more valuable in the years or decades after he has left the world. This is exactly how Jawaharlal Nehru is being remembered by more and more people of his country, despite a persistent tendency on the part[Read More…]
South Asian activists came together to mark the 100th birthday of a towering human rights defender of Punjab, at Strawberry Hill Library in Surrey on Sunday, May 22. The late Ajit Singh Bains passed away on February 11, leaving a rich legacy of tireless work for social justice. He would have turned 100 on May 14. Bains, a retired judge,[Read More…]
On his 150th birth anniversary on May 18th we must salute late Bertrand Russell .He ranked amongst the greatest intellectuals of the last millennium who gave philosophy a new dimension. Even Although a committed atheist he exuded spiritual overtones. Russell challenged dogma and tradition in the very thick of it’s skin and opened up the mind of his generation to[Read More…]
In an incident that raised eyebrows recently, budget airline IndiGo denied boarding to a specially-abled child on a Hyderabad-bound flight at the Ranchi airport. The wheelchair confined boy in his teens apparently posed a safety hazard for the flight because he was in a state of panic. There were doctors on board the flight who felt otherwise and suggested that[Read More…]
Inge Deutschkron, Holocaust survivor, author, and lecturer, was a force of nature. She died at the age of 99 on March 9, 2022, and was buried on April 8 in her hometown of Berlin, where she fought for justice against right-wing extremists. She was honored by officials and political leaders from Berlin, few of whom knew her personally, at the[Read More…]
This year’s Mother’s Day must have been the hardest for 92-year-old Anusaya Teltumbde. She has not recovered from the recent loss of her insurgent son, while the other one is locked up in jail for the past two years. Milind Teltumbde, a Maoist leader, was gunned down by the police in November 2021, while Anand, his elder brother, a well[Read More…]
They are often victims of neglect and even cruelty, while the wild ass is badly endangered People who are sincere and hard-working, simple and quiet should be highly valued for these virtues, yet their simplicity and sincerity are often misused by others. This can also be said about donkeys, who have much the same virtues and have suffered much the[Read More…]
Freedom fighters often face immense difficulties, all the more so if they are challenging the biggest imperial power in the world. This is precisely what Sufi Amba Prasad (1858-1917) did ever since his young days. In fact he took up this challenge not in one but in two countries—India and Iran—and finally died fighting for this cause in Shiraj ([Read More…]
He is not from the troubled, picturesque, paradise Valley. He is from Jammu. And soon, sooner than India or the world can imagine, Umran Malik, 22, the newest fast-bowling sensation, will play for India in the world stage. According to another opening batting legend, who has faced the best of fast bowlers during his hey-days, on fast-tracks, in foreign lands,[Read More…]
Exactly 40 years ago on May 3rd Rajni Patel left us. Whatever his flaws his human touch to offer selfless service and ability to galvanise or influence human beings from all walks of life, was remarkable. Few people would ever go out of the way to help someone or serve as selflessly without aim of personal gain.Rajni championed Nehruvian secular[Read More…]
A freedom fighter who was killed at the age of 45 in prison in the most cruel way, Sagarmal Gopa was one of those who dared to challenge the might of the cruel royal kingdoms which often operated in even more arbitrary ways than the main colonial government and provided hardly any avenues for dissent. Gopa stood up against such[Read More…]
by Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young Many people would quite correctly argue that the conceptual pair of “communication and capitalism” are more about capitalism than communication and the media. While the imperatives of capitalism carry on, the requirements of corporate media become ever more determining. More and more, the media – print, TV, online, etc. – define our lives from[Read More…]
Pawan Guru, Paani Pita, Mata Dharat Mahatt (Air is the guide, Water is the father, the earth is a mother)”. That’s the message of Guru Nanak, the founder of one of the most progressive and modern religions of the world. While everyone across the globe celebrated Earth Day recently, the idea of respecting nature was never alien to the followers[Read More…]
Marx regarded peasants as incapable of revolution, and it was the industrial proletariat that Marxists reposed their faith to defeat the Capitalist class in Europe. However, it was a different case in China because China was a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society during Mao’s time. China was an agrarian society. So, Mao took advantage of the large population of peasants and aroused[Read More…]
Dear Stan, It is your earthly birthday! You would have certainly felt embarrassed and even winced at the thought of anyone wishing you, leave alone celebrating your birthday today! In a style which has characterised you all your life here on earth – you would have shunned and even run away from the very idea of anyone attempting to organise[Read More…]
Fascist groupings and their associated policies of religio-fanaticism are in the ascendant throughout the world. While some are emerging from the political peripheries – slowly but steadily gaining traction on the terrain of ideological hegemony – some have already taken the reins of state power. India is no exception to this global trend. In this political context, April 22, 2022[Read More…]
(This tribute to Justice Rajinder Sachar had been written on his second death anniversary, 20 April 2020, and was published in several magazines/portals. The same has been reissued on the occasion of his fourth death anniversary, 20 April 2022.) The second death anniversary of Justice Rajinder Sachar falls on 20 April 2020. On this solemn occasion as we remember him[Read More…]
Prologue Some years back, I was visiting government schools in an eastern state of India, when the government official accompanying me said, “Let me take you to a SMART school, which is doing exceptionally well”. With much anticipation and apprehension (because I’ve already had experienced some SMART schools in other states), I agreed, and within half an hour’s drive we[Read More…]
Apathy!! Add that one to the list of: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride. Sadly, the dumb down nature of our country lends for the nurturing of apathy. Travel through the supermarkets, Main Streets, malls and just about anywhere that Americans congregate and you can almost smell the foul odor of apathy. It seems that, with some exceptions,[Read More…]
The school in which I study has been harshly trumpeting the need to unthinkingly follow strict rules regarding hair. While boys have been ordered to keep their hair short, girls have been asked to plait their hair. These practices – prevalent in almost all schools in India – are highly problematic. First, the association of short hair with boys perpetuates[Read More…]
Long, long ago — a very clichéd way to start a narrative — but none the less, long ago, I remember there was a time when my grandfather would graft roses in his garden in Delhi. White and red were his favourite combination. Eventually, the roses would blend together to become a pink. Some would retain their shades distinctly, but[Read More…]
On 14th April we commemorate the 50th death anniversary of Student martyr, George Reddy who was slain by ABVP goondas.George virtually carved out a new epoch in the student movement. Today we need a George Reddy to be reborn to challenge our slavish educational system when Hindu Communal fascism, Brahmanical casteism consumerism and imperialism. We need to introspect the spiritual[Read More…]
A rapid increase in mental health problems has been reported by several studies among children and adolescents (roughly the age-group 7-17) in several rich countries, particularly during the last decade or so. Such a trend is visible even in studies that end in early or mid-2019, or before this, and hence entirely exclude any COVID impacts. At the same time,[Read More…]
A historic speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered even 55 years later as one of the most courageous speeches ever made. This speech stated those truths which no other leading political leader or even leading activist was willing to state in such a clear and sharp way. The reference here is of course to the speech delivered[Read More…]
For more terrestrially grounded people, writing about cricket can be seen as an exercise in distant planetary speculation. The Nobel laureate Harold Pinter did not think so, calling this old English game “the greatest thing that God ever created on earth.” Others might disagree with mild disgust, finding it archaic, jargon heavy and slow. In the early 1990s, one figure[Read More…]
Review of “Essay Competition” Sponsored by ‘Anti-Dowry Movement” BACKGROUND OF THE ESSAY COMPETITION This year An Inter collegiate Essay competition for College students across Maharashtra State was sponsored on 1st January 2022, by ‘Anti Dowry Movement’. It involved students from all Sr. Colleges (All Faculties) affiliated to most of the Universities in Maharashtra. Holding such competitions annually are regular[Read More…]
Reports of women joining far-right movements have vexed many feminist scholars across the world. Their presence in neo-fascist neo-Nazi movements raised many questions insofar as such movements tend to denigrate their basic rights. However, scholars agree that these are not new issues. There are studies that shed insights into how Italian women were cooped in the fascist programmes and how[Read More…]
On March 25 is observed the death anniversary of Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, a great editor, a highly dedicated freedom fighter and a lifelong crusader for justice and freedom who sacrificed his life at a young age of 41 in 1931 while trying to stop communal violence and rescue trapped people. His death in Kanpur, the central place of his work[Read More…]
Mallu Swarajyam, a fighter of Telangana pesant armed struggle (1946-51 ) lived up to 91 years and breathed her last in Hyderabad on March 19, 2022. *** Her father wanted to name her Samrajyam in praise of British empire. Her mother Chokkamma thought in her own away, and gave an independent name, ‘Swarajyam,‘ (the self-rule). Those were the days[Read More…]
by Bharat Dogra, Jagmohan Singh and Madhu Dogra It is often said that those who excel brilliantly at a very young age or else make big sacrifices at such an age are inspired by close family members or relatives. This can be very clearly seen in the inspirational impact of several members of the extended family or joint family[Read More…]
I have just completed 50 years as an independent writer. This is no news for a world busy with big things, but democracy needs truly independent, unbiased journalists and in this context my experiences of five decades have some relevance. At the more obvious level, I could contribute about ten thousand articles/reports, and four hundred books and booklets in Hindi[Read More…]
This article owes nothing to philosopher Nietzsche except a faint echo of the title of his celebrated work,TWILIGHT OF THE GODS,suggesting a similar crisis and detour of European spiritual culture as its icons were getting brittle after reigning supreme for a century. Nietzsche promises to go to them with a hammer.I have no such pretensions.I am only referring to the[Read More…]
The Barefoot College, which has emerged as one of the most creative institutions in the field of rural development, discussed and admired at world level as a symbol of the often hidden but great abilities of ordinary people, particularly women and weaker sections, is completing 50 years of its eventful journey this year. Its experiences are important in the context[Read More…]
Is history being converted into a bomb factory? How does it promote the culture of hate? Does it fall us apart to embroil in violent communal skirmishes, riots and bloodshed? How can we differentiate between genuine and false histories? The answer to these questions is furnished by the following discourse. The truthful historical knowledge has become too scarce to be[Read More…]
The results of Term 1 exam of class X have been declared. As a student myself, I can intensely feel how the educational atmosphere is laden with the brute bulkiness of marks-mania. Toppers have got 100% marks, and this has naturally created an ugly scenario where each student’s worth is measured vis-à-vis this standard. While schools are garlanding the toppers[Read More…]
Ambedkar is a man of our times. From RSS to communists all are busy including Ambedkar in their programs. It is a fact that Ambedkar is more popular among Indian people now, than during his life times. Starting from Indian ruling class at the top to the working masses below, attention has been drawn towards Ambedkar. This is an anachronism.[Read More…]
‘Society does not consist of individuals, but express the sum of interrelations, the relationships within which this individual stand’- Karl Marx. The interrelation of individuals and the production process was defined by Karl Marx in his analysis of Superstructure. The industrial revolution and the state of the global economy during the 17th century incited Marx to give the analysis of[Read More…]
The place where I live in is predominantly a Bengali refugee area. It would be no exaggeration if one calls it a Bangal Para. Bengalis[Read More…]
“Everyone’s entitled to live their life as they want to”, there can be no truer words. These are the words of Margaret Gallagher, a woman who has lived all her life without the basic amenities of modern daily living, out of choice not necessity. Born on 26th January, 1942, Margaret is eighty years old, never married and lives in[Read More…]
Morality in Political Discourse in India This is a three part article and each part is complete in itself. Therefore each part is being published with the same title. The Introduction will be repeated in each part for the sake of making it complete in itself. PART II SHABAB ‘We are, therefore, largely a drinking, smoking and meat-eating people’! Dr.[Read More…]
Morality in Political Discourse in India This is a three part article and each part is complete in itself. Therefore each part is being published with the same title. The Introduction will be repeated in each part for the sake of making it complete in itself. PART I SHARAB ‘We are, therefore, largely a drinking, smoking and meat-eating people’! Dr.[Read More…]
Several students of mine on Saturday came to meet me. Since I stay near JNU, we decided to go to the campus. For those who may not know, I am teaching a paper on political science at Moti Lal Nehru College, University of Delhi. Please do not think that I am a permanent teacher. Nor am I an ad-hoc teacher.[Read More…]
Today ( Feb. 27 ) is 91st death anniversary of Azad While travelling in Uttar Pradesh I have often been struck by the extent to which people still become inspired and excited by the sheer mention of the name of a freedom fighter, legends of whose courage are spread[Read More…]
There were many women who sacrificed their lives in the freedom struggle. One of them is ‘Matangini Hazra’. She was born on 19th October 1870 in the village of Hogla in Midnapore district of East Bengal to a peasant family. Due to extreme poverty at home, she married Trilochan Hajra, Aged 62, when she was barely 12 years old. From[Read More…]
That academia which preaches justice is itself an unjust environment has been pointed out by some of the academia themselves (Kumar 2016, Guru 2002). The major complaint is that the marginalised do not get due recognition. I published a book in 2011 out of my PhD (Khora 2011). However, it has not been referred in academic writings in India in[Read More…]
The demise of two outstanding , organic intellectuals who served the cause of annihilation of caste and the destruction of capitalist system and highlighted a number of burning social problems in Tamil Nadu and the rest of the world passed largely unnoticed or ignored by the mainstream media , while activists in Dalit , Periyarist and Communist movements could pay[Read More…]
Yesterday, 22 February, was Kasturba Gandhi’s 78th death anniversary. Kasturba died in 1944 and at the time she was in prison, arrested on 9 August 1942, the first day of the “Quit India Movement”. Gandhiji had already been arrested the previous evening, and both of them along with some of their closest colleagues were imprisoned at the Agha Khan Palace[Read More…]
If you regularly drink water from plastic bottles, you’re likely ingesting even more plastic than the average consumer. We are no better protected from plasticized air outdoors than we are indoors. Minuscule plastic fibers, fragments, foam, and films are shed from plastic stuff and are perpetually floating into and free-falling down on us from the atmosphere. Rain flushes micro- and[Read More…]
With the re-opening of schools, there is a need for pedagogic support for students belonging to the marginalized sections to help them acquire linguistic, numerical, and cognitive competencies. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the contradiction between instrumentalism and morality as educational aims has reached the state of a full-blown crisis. This has percolated in the educational institutions as they[Read More…]
Well irrigated paddy fields and rich economy, as shown in Telugu cinemas come to one’s mind whenever there is any reference to East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh (AP) in India which are part of central coastal region of the state where canal irrigation and capitalism arrived earliest, thanks to a record 3.5 km long Dowlaiswaram[Read More…]
Debating on religion, culture, and nationalism is a challenging task in contemporary times. Given the multifarious dimensions of issues related to religion and nationalism, this has become extremely complex today, more than ever before in the history of philosophy. This is the theme of a special lecture by Italian philosopher Dr Sabrina Lei, Director, Tawasul International Centre for Publishing, Research[Read More…]
Veer Narayan Singh (1795-1857) is remembered today as a great freedom fighter of Chattisgarh and India who sacrificed his life fighting colonial rulers. A huge cricket stadium has been named after him in Chattisgarh, and this provides a convenient identity point with him to the youth. However there is more to his valiant life that we need to know and[Read More…]
by Prof Raashid Nehal & Zain Mohammad Sulaiman What do we understand about digital ethnography? Digital or Virtual Ethnography is using online digital resources and data for reporting and documentation often used by media professionals. Media professionals access different dimensions of online data done on different digital platforms such as making videos for YouTube or sharing photos on Internet services[Read More…]
A legacy of the freedom movement of India which remains extremely important not just for India but for all of South Asia relates to the enduring great importance of inter-faith harmony which is extremely important for peace, stability and prosperity of this region. A very important achievement of the freedom movement was that some of the greatest leaders, each of[Read More…]
by Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young In January 2022, the East-Germany city of Leipzig started to host an exhibition about the siblings of one of Germany’s greatest anti-war activists, working class speaker, theoretician of mass strike, and a struggling working class: Rosa Luxemburg. Yet, unlike her well-known political activist side, this new exhibition focuses on the much less known years of Luxemburg’s so-called “Polish life”. Almost to this[Read More…]
We need to be practical when it comes to politics, to work for policies that we can enact today, inadequate though they may be to answer calls for social justice and ecological sustainability. We also need to maintain a relentlessly radical analysis, to highlight the failures of systems and structures of power, aware that policies we might enact today won’t[Read More…]
Despite its pedigree as a fundamental element in civilization’s greatest stories, nostalgia has come to be associated with treacly sentimentality, defeatism, and spurious spiritual inclinations. Homer, Vergil, Dante, the Biblical writers, and their ilk would demur, of course, but they have been dead for a few years, so progress’s mantra urges us to get on with it. This is now.[Read More…]
On all counts 4 February 2019 was a memorable day for the world! On that day, Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad al-Tayyib, met in Abu Dhabi, and together signed the historic and pathbreaking document entitled ‘Human fraternity for world peace and living together’. The document is one of the most comprehensive ones written in recent times.[Read More…]
I do not find Vijay Parshad’s idea of the place of the individual in socialism very convincing.Though I salute the strength and courage of his conviction in the world-wide fight against imperialism it does not seem he has spared much thought for this crucial question.This hesitancy and silence marked all previous revolutionary leaders with possible exception in Che Guevara.All of[Read More…]
Rich tributes paid to Mahatma Gandhi on his 74th death anniversary (January 30, 2022) are hardly suggestive of similar importance accorded to Gandhism. Undeniably, Gandhi is still remembered “ritualistically”, but little importance is accorded to Gandhism, particularly democratic values promoted by Mahatma in India as well as other democratic countries. Not surprisingly, key power holders are being literally lashed at[Read More…]
“Ahh, you know Aai what happened today”? I entered Home with excitement, threw my college bag and entered the kitchen. Mother was preparing Dinner. “Don’t you dare to come into the kitchen with shoes you idiot, go remove them”. Aai shouted at me. “Ooops, sorry, sorry”. I was really guilty as shoes were dirty due to rain and mud, moreover[Read More…]
Interviewing Vijay Prashad about the question of “What Should the Left do About China?” Transcript of the Anti-Empire Project’s Anti-Empire Radio Episode 101, recorded January 13, 2022. Justin Podur: Well, Vijay Prashad, welcome. Here we are. Vijay Prashad: Thanks. Great to be with you, Justin. Justin Podur: For the listeners who don’t know, Vijay is the director of the Tri[Read More…]
Prof Randhir Singh was a Marxist scholar, political theorist and teacher from India. He was one of the founders of the student movement in India in the 1930s and a freedom fighter who remained in jail during India’s freedom struggles in the 1940s. He was put in the same barrack in Lahore Central Jail where India’s foremost revolutionary Bhagat Singh[Read More…]
On January 11th we celebrated the birth centenary of the Marxist intellectual Randhir Singh. who perished on January 31st in2016.For 4 decades he served as a Lecturer of political science in Delhi University. Randhir Singh was an embodiment of Marxist scholasticism .With utmost consistency he exposed the autocratic nature of the Indian parliamentary democracy, the fatal consequences of globalisation from[Read More…]
On 22 January, 2022 a 106 years old Bandru Narsimhulu died in Hyderabad with a heart attack. Otherwise he was still active. When he was much active he entered into an agreement with Mahabub Nagar district Government hospital, to give his body for research use. On the very day of his death after his friends, political supporters and relatives saw[Read More…]
During 1917-1947 for three decades tens of millions of people in India, including a large number of women, were drawn towards a path of freedom struggle whose most non-negotiable precept was that of non-violence. This remains perhaps the biggest non-violent mobilization of people against injustice, which also had reasonable continuity over the longest period. This struggle against what was then[Read More…]
In the land of the ignorant. The dictionary defines ignorant as ‘ Lacking knowledge, information or awareness of a particular thing’ . It seems, regardless of the level of education obtained by many of my fellow citizens, we have always been a nation of ignorance. How far do you wish to go back? Let’s just go back to what myself and other baby boomers can perhaps recall, and[Read More…]
Solidarity reporting calls on journalists to push beyond reporting the easy soundbite from an official press release in order to do the work of representing people experiencing injustice. Imagine that a reporter is writing a story about your house, which has become practically unlivable. The reporter wants to understand the issues in the house, how it affects people who are[Read More…]
Is history an ocean of knowledge without shores? Is it a seamless fusion of interdisciplinary knowledge? How does it reach us and help us develop our perspectives of lived and living lifestyles? Why does it motivate us to integrate for common good? These are some important questions whose answers we shall try to seek through the following discussion. History is[Read More…]
Writing about sex in the year 2022 is not at all, like writing about sex in the late 1960s – the time of student revolution, and 1970s – the time of the sexual revolution. At that time, the air was charged with sexual curiosity. Women’s lives were changing at a fabulous rate and many engaged in the exploration of women’s[Read More…]
Some time ago, I met the daughter of a friend who has by now finished 2 years of college life without setting foot in the college campus. All this time the classes have been held online and just as she was looking forward to getting ready for offline college and making some friends, Omicron surfaced and things were back to[Read More…]
Co-authors: D Hanumanta Rao & MA Krishna Prof M. Radhakrishna, aged 80, passed away around 8.30 pm, January 21, 2022, at Hyderabad, in his residence. He had lung infections towards the end. The Eminent Computer Scientist-Teacher was fondly known as ‘RK Sir ’ by his students and colleagues. The above photo was taken when he was around 75. He was[Read More…]
These days there is a lot of enthusiasm in progressive liberal circles about the powerful presence of dissent in Indian traditional thought.Accompanied by head-shaking about the pernicious effect of Anglophilia and dominance of the Engish language in academic circles. Inordinately nettled at the saffron camp’s repression of liberal thinking in the name of pristine Indian tradition and at its hostile[Read More…]
In the death of Mr N.D. Patil on January 17 we have lost a dedicated, honest leader of the Peasants and Workers Party. His wife Saroj is the sister of Mr Sharad Pawar and the two leaders represent two contrasting approaches to politics. Mr Pawar, the leader of the Congress and then the National Congress party, in fact comes from[Read More…]
Long before intersectionality became a prevailing concept which helped delineate the relationship between various marginalized and oppressed groups, late South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu said it all in a few words and in a most inimitable style. “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together,” he said. Like other freedom and justice icons, Tutu[Read More…]
MLK day was observed on January 17 yesterday in the USA and many parts of world. Actually there was some confusion regarding the exact day as last year MLK day was observed on January 18 which is the date today. This confusion can be cleared by remembering that the MLK day is actually observed on the third Monday of January,[Read More…]
As Muslims are facing increased threat in several countries, like the unending public lynching and the recent open call for genocide by the Hindutwa militia in India, some sections of them are shrinking into their shells. Hijab or veil is one expression of this shrinking phenomena. This uniform, often black, lose covering over one’s dress, known as purdah in south[Read More…]
On this, as we approach the 77th Anniversary of the Defeat of Fascism, a small commemoration of my Father’s contribution as a Radio Operator in the Indian 8th Army in North Africa during 1944. The above picture is of my Father, who was a Radio Operator in the Indian 8th Army; slugging it out for the British Imperialists in a[Read More…]
Hrishikesh Mukherjee (1922-2006) is very widely, and fondly, remembered as one of the greatest directors, editors and story-tellers of Hindi cinema who also contributed in a smaller way to cinema of other languages. Leaving his career of teaching Maths to train under an editor of Bangla films predictably called Kenchi Da, he shifted to Hindi to learn from great masters[Read More…]
In early 2020, we saw the beginning of the COVID-19 ‘pandemic’. The world went into lockdown and even after lockdowns in various countries had been lifted, restrictions continued. Data now shows that lockdowns seemingly had limited if any positive impacts on the trajectory of COVID-19 and in 2022 the world – especially the poor – is paying an immense price[Read More…]
As we celebrate the birth anniversary (12th January) of the saffron robed monk who projected spirituality of Hinduism, the diversity and syncretic nature of India, it is very reassuring. His teachings are in total contrast to the present scenario, where many saffron robed are promoting hate and inciting violence in the name of same religion. Swami Vivekananda, the legend who[Read More…]
Quite recently, I have observed and spoken to dozens of people about the impact brought in by ongoing waves of recent pandemics in the name of Covid, Delta and Omicron. One must understand that the history of science demonstrates many more pandemics that took the toll of millions of people worldwide and in India. COVID-19 was a once-in-a-lifetime event that[Read More…]
Capitalistic Chasms and the Disenchanting Age A grotesque imagination of pluralism beholds a complex aura of experiencing diverse cultures, faiths, traditions, belief systems, existential principles, undercurrents of ideologies and imaginations. Excavating oneself through the convoluted layers of social relationships, interactions, organisations and realities can prove liberating as well as enslaving in manifold senses. Such concoctions of manoeuvred sociality and dogmatic[Read More…]
Was Mahatma Gandhi a Coward, Who Preached Non-violent Struggle Against the British Due to His Cowardice? India was attacked by Mahmud of Gazani in the 11th century. He attacked 17 times. The last time was in 1025. He robbed Somnath Mandir and carried its wealth to his own country. But none of the Hindu rulers could stop him. Later, Gori[Read More…]
“History begins in a barbarism of sense and ends in a barbarism of reflection,” says Italian Philosopher Giambattista Vico. Vico claimed that men ‘make’ their own history, and his claim had a different view of what ‘making’ means. When Dr. Abdel Latif Chalikandi—a Rome-based scholar, who serves as the Cultural Advisor, Tawasul Europe Centre for Research and Dialogue—was speaking on British Raj:[Read More…]
I have a confession to make. That I have been converted many times. From one faith to another to yet another, endlessly. And I simply love it. Sometimes I got converted through the power of a compelling idea, just by reading a wonderful book. Or watching a well-made movie or listening to a song (especially sung by Mohammad Rafi saheb).[Read More…]
Some peoples possess shamans to explain how the world works. We have charlatan economists and politicians posing as intellectuals who claim to be able to reveal the mystery of running society. The ideas of Marx did not arise out of thin air but were grew from the works of many others before him. But the purpose of this short essay is not to explore[Read More…]
When the British ordered the exclusive use of the Nagari script in school in 1880 to meet a Hindu demand in the state of Bihar, the Muslims howled. The Hindi-Urdu duel in the end exploded into Hindu-Muslim war. In free India, Hindi gained the national stature as a symbol of Hindu pride and spread nationwide like wildfire, partly thanks to[Read More…]
It has taken my slow brain a long time to figure it out but finally, as 2021 comes to an end, I have found a sure shot way of bringing about a social and political revolution in India. A transformation that will sweep away Indian society’s deep caste and class inequalities, deepen democracy and end the venal politics of hatred[Read More…]
Golden names like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu invariably surface on the mental canopy of world public when topics as human rights, liberation struggle, human freedom and the like, especially when those of the oppressed, suppressed, persecuted and downtrodden among coloured and black peoples go afloat. The last of the above noble souls left the[Read More…]
Photo Credit—Jan Swasthya Sahyog Recently when top Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan withdrew from surrogate advertising of smokeless tobacco (SLT), it was welcomed but with a caveat- some other popular film actors still continue to contribute to booming sales of a product that is the number one cause of a very serious oral cancer crisis in S.Asia. The Cigarettes and Other[Read More…]
This may sound either arrogant or forgetful, but I could not possibly remember the number of times I was in the same room or at the same protest as Desmond Tutu. And the main reason I know he was there is because I was there listening to him speak, often from a distance of not more than two meters or[Read More…]
“Oddly enough, it (potato) was introduced to the Himalayas by two Irishmen, captain Young of Dehra and Mussoorie and captain Kennedy of Simla, in the 1820s. The slopes of Young’s house, ‘Mullinger’, were known as his Potato Farm. Looking up old books, I was surprised to learn that the potato wasn’t known in India before the nineteenth century, and now[Read More…]
An era has ended with the passing away of an anti-apartheid hero on Sunday, December 26. Archbishop Desmond Tutu left us at the age of ninety. He was in the forefront of the struggle against brutal white minority rule in South Africa. A Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Tutu was famously known for his quotation; “If you are neutral in situations[Read More…]
By Shobha Shukla & Bobby Ramakant Covid pandemic is a grim reminder of what can go wrong when we do not work with an integrated “One Health” approach to human health, animal health, food system and climate. The critical link between these sectors, has only deepened over the years. But will our public health approach pass the litmus test of[Read More…]
It is a paradox—and a very worrying one too- that in the middle of overall high levels of prosperity the burden of mental health problems is very high in several rich countries and appears to be increasing in some important contexts. In the USA 1 in 4 adults suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, according to[Read More…]
Comrade Raj Kishore left us at 2 in the morning on December 22nd in his village Champaran., battling illness since 2014.At time of death he was 89 years.He devoted his entire energy when alive into the liberation of the masses. Even a non Maoist or non Marxist liberal may admire his contribution towards serving the people. Tears literally flow in[Read More…]
” HAPPINESS AND WELLBEING INDICES There is an ever-growing number of research reports from global economists that go far beyond the limited metric of GDP to gauge nations’ overall happiness and wellbeing. These studies use somewhat different measurements (whether the strength of social connections or obesity rates), so rankings can vary—but this research is giving us a clearer, more meaningful[Read More…]
By Shobha Shukla & Bobby Ramakant Despite over 350 million people living with hepatitis B and C virus globally, and 3 persons dying every minute, much-needed efforts are yet to be on-track to end viral hepatitis in next 108 months (by 2030) as promised by heads of all countries in UN General Assembly (by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals). More[Read More…]
The current age is an age of absurdity. In the thesaurus, absurd is defined as “utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false” (“absurd”). Unfortunately, one need not rely on a dictionary to point out the tension between the way one desires the world to appear and the harsh[Read More…]
Being neither a believer in gods or against believers, the existence of supernatural, gods and supernatural ultimately running the human affairs do not form part of my consciousness. Belief in supernatural also brings with it the division of this world and the other world. This world which is the human world is considered a ‘maya’ ‘an illusion’. Ultimate merging with[Read More…]
How did Islam reach the Subcontinent: through Socialization or Coercion; Trade or Invasion? It is a very important question which has a direct bearing on the social ecology in which people live their lives nowadays. It requires a fair and satisfactory answer to clear the doubts that have crept into the minds of many people owing to their not so[Read More…]
by Md Tabrez Alam & Md Afroz “Elders are not liabilities, they are asset. A Banyan tree not only survives but shelters many under it shadow to grow harmoniously” Introduction Ageing is a natural course of development and increasing longevity has wonderful human achievement. An active secure and healthy ageing population can present enormous contribution to the society. This demographic[Read More…]
Hi! I’m Aniketh Brian Madhok, an 18-year-old boy with a smiley face, little mischevious, fun loving and always polite with others. Living in the metropolitan city of Kolkata in West Bengal, India. I am currently studying in 12th Standard and am about to take my Term-1 ISC exams. It has been a year since I have not paid any heed[Read More…]
by Thomas Klikauer & Meg Young Under the motto, “a different world is possible, a different economy is needed” – a German language magazine called Lunapark was born in 2008. It is dedicated to providing a much needed critique of the global economy. Perhaps as a pre-reflection of Glasgow’s 2021 Blah-Blah-Blah-COP26 PR-pageant, Germany’s failed environmental record is on stage, Lunapark started with the political economy on global warming.[Read More…]
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day is 12 December Stopping antimicrobial resistance by promoting infection prevention, responsible and appropriate use of antimicrobial medicines in human health, livestock and food systems, is the bedrock for promoting universal health coverage. Failing this, the absence of efficacious antimicrobials will effectively return the world to the pre-antibiotic era before the 1920s when lives were lost[Read More…]
by Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant #EndTobacco is an essential part of the bedrock for Universal Health Coverage Can we deliver on the promise of health for all unless we fix the gaping and widening punctures that are causing epidemic-proportion of preventable diseases and untimely deaths? No one needs to suffer from preventable illnesses or die from curable diseases. Tobacco[Read More…]
I was in PM Modi’s constituency witnessing some changes and listening to demands for changes- all for the better. I got a chance to attend a public dialogue on Front-of-Pack Labelling (FOPL). FOPL is similar to the warning labels in tobacco products informing the consumers what they are about to intake. Sub-optimal or poor nutrition is escalating diet related non[Read More…]
India’s responses to HIV/AIDS through the national AIDS Programme have been widely acclaimed as the most successful public health intervention in its history since the Independence. From 1992 onwards we have witnessed a concerted effort in all fronts to tackle the AIDS crisis in a radical manner by a participatory framing of health discourse and practice. An effective and active[Read More…]
When we know how to prevent HIV transmission, and how to keep every person living with HIV healthy, then how can one fathom deaths of at least 680,000 people due to AIDS-related illnesses in 2020 worldwide? And how can one explain, at least 1.5 million new HIV infections occurring globally in 2020? “Every new HIV infection is a reality check[Read More…]
The caste system in India has long been considered as “the most resilient and adaptive system of inequality and oppression ever invented, the most inhuman too, even excluding sections of people from the very domain of the human, of the moral and the spiritual, of sociality, fraternity, etc.” Joseph Tharamangalam, Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Mount St. Vincent University[Read More…]
Poor diet is responsible for more deaths worldwide than any other risk factor, and is a leading cause of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Global estimates suggest that almost 2.3 billion children and adults are overweight. The growing availability of ultra-processed foods, which contain high levels of sugars, sodium, saturated fats and refined carbohydrates, is a key contributor[Read More…]
Hasan Azizul Huq (1939-2021), one of the leading Bangladeshi writers, passed away on 15 November 2021, leaving behind him an exceptional body of works. He was mainly a short story writer, but he also wrote three novels and many essays. His first book, Samudrer Swapna, Shiter Aranya, a collection of short stories, was published in 1964. Each volume he published[Read More…]
The 97th death anniversary of Abadi Banu Begum passed subduedly and unobtrusively, much like every other year in the past. Bi-Amma, which was the popular sobriquet bestowed upon her by comrades, was a stand out marvel of astonishing courage and patriotism in India’s independence saga. She broke the religious taboo for feminist activism to inspire thousands of Muslim women to take to[Read More…]
by Sandeep Pandey, Seema Muniz and Gopal Krishna Verma Some people are disheartened with the disruption in children’s education due to the menace of Covid and the successive lockdowns. While a number of children are getting used to attending online classes, their counterparts from the weaker socio-economic backgrounds continue to struggle either because of unfamiliarity with technology or because of [Read More…]
by Shobha Shukla, Bobby Ramakant When medicines become resistant, even curable diseases are at risk of becoming incurable Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to medicines. This makes common infections harder to treat and increases the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. That is why India and other[Read More…]
The following article on the life of President John F. Kennedy, and his assassination on this date, November 22, 1963, is the lead piece in the eighth issue of Garrison: The Journal of History and Deep Politics that has just been published: “The Political Assassinations of the 1960s.” From JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X, to Hammarskjold and Lumumba, the 1960s were[Read More…]
The Corona crisis was becoming more dangerous with every passing day. At that time, I was living in my dormitory in Moscow. I was planning to come to India in March 2020 to attend Holi. By the time I started to look for flights, the crisis had already changed travel policies. Two weeks quarantine upon arrival with very less clarity[Read More…]
It was Sunday, November 13 in 2016. We had gathered at Holland Park in Surrey to protest against the growing attacks on religious minorities and political dissidents in India under the current right wing Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi. The keynote speaker at the event held by Radical Desi was the visiting[Read More…]
by Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant Medicines which aim to relieve pain and suffering, may cure us of diseases and avert untimely deaths, are at increasing risk of becoming ineffective against disease-causing microbes. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microbes such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to medicines. This makes common infections harder to treat, more expensive to[Read More…]
November 19, Friday is Guru Nanak Jayanti. The great saints of Bhakti movement combined in their personality and work very precious aspects of social reform and deep spirituality. Their message of social reform was often much ahead of their times and the strength of deep spirituality was needed to take this forward. When confronting tyrants and oppressors Guru Nanak and[Read More…]
A two-day seminar cum webinar convened by the World Buddhist Culture Trust brought together a select group of academics and researchers as well as concerned citizens to discuss what is “human mind”, its descriptions as portrayed in various spiritual texts, its functions in tandem with other faculties and problems facing humanity. The elusive “mind”, it was noted, has been sought[Read More…]
The corona crisis has shown us a stark reality that was otherwise ignored for a long time. Our health systems and healthcare facilities are inadequate, overly expensive, and largely out of reach. When someone in our families falls sick then we get bothered about familial health. Running between doctors, pharmacies and pathologies our budgets get imbalanced, yet we do not[Read More…]
“The President’s been shot!” he shouted, clamoring his way down the stairs in the dorm. The upper-classman! I was making my way to the third floor, and he was rushing down, letting our small world know—startled, young faces peeping from behind closed doors, aghast and in wonder. I got to my room, and my 2 freshman roommates were staring[Read More…]
Mannu Bhandari, the eminent and popular Hindi writer is no more. She passed away on Monday November 15 at Gurugram, near Delhi, at the age of 90. Apart from her countless readers, she will be missed by many teachers and students, particularly those at Miranda House, Delhi University where she taught Hindi literature for a long time. She won early[Read More…]
As the pandemic has demonstrated, global supply chains with multiple dependencies are extremely fragile and collapse easily. This has been particularly the case for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), that has seen the prices of medicine skyrocketing. The need of the hour is not only to build alternative and localized supply chains which are also environmentally sustainable, but also to draw[Read More…]
Rarely is the pragmatist admired. Be it in policy or politics, such a figure induces suspicion, a concern that principles will have to be subordinated to broader goals. True dreamers and visionaries, for all their glaring faults, can take the accolades; the pragmatists can be given lower pegging. These differences have proven stark with the late FW de Klerk, South[Read More…]
When Surya Sen sacrificed his life at the age of only 40 for the freedom of India in 1934, he had already succeeded in inspiring a very large number of youth to devote their life to the freedom movement. Although he had been subjected to extremely painful torture before being hanged on 12 January, he was completely unwavering in his[Read More…]
Born 1949 June 1 – Died on 2021 Sep 29 Com.P.Suryanarayana, President, Organisation for Protection of Democratic Rights-OPDR, Andhra Pradesh (AP). Nearly 25 leaders of Girijan, rural poor, teachers, and other organisations paid rich and revolutionary tributes to Com.PSN in an inspiring meeting to pay homage to him held on 10th October 2021 in Srikakulam and that indicates[Read More…]
For most of civilization physical labor, that labor which creates a tangible object, has been seen as an unfortunate task done merely for the sake of acquiring the necessaries of life. The Greeks and Romans in large part relegated this sort of work to slaves. The Middle Ages tell stories of kings, philosophers, theologians, and priests, but not of workers.[Read More…]
S N Subbarao is no more, born in Karnataka, he breathed his last in Jaipur (Rajasthan), Jaura (Madhya Pradesh) became the spectator of his last rites and then his ashes were flown into the river at Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh). The passing away of this soldier of peace and goodwill, popularly known as Bhaiji, at the age of 92, was like[Read More…]
Is it not a paradox if a preventable, diagnosable, treatable, and curable disease becomes a top killer? Till Covid-19 struck our world, Tuberculosis (TB) – a disease that can be prevented, diagnosed and treated – was the most deadly infectious disease worldwide. Covid-19 pandemic has also adversely impacted the fight against TB, as well as other diseases. Not surprisingly, the[Read More…]
Eminent Gandhian S.N.Subba Rao is no more. He breathed his last at the age of 92 in Jaipur on October 27. He will be remembered by countless people for spreading the message of justice, peace and non-violence for over seven decades, but above all he will be remembered by those who had the cherished the experience of attending his youth[Read More…]
“General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that education is the foundation of a century-old plan. It is hoped that the People’s Education Press will focus on the fundamental task of fostering morality, adhere to the correct political direction, carry forward the fine traditions, promote reforms and innovations, and create excellent teaching materials with Bacon casting soul, enlightening wisdom, and making new[Read More…]
The global (and largest) lung health conference opened with not one but at least three major scientific announcements. The 52nd Union World Conference on Lung Health was marked with the announcement of three major scientific developments that can potentially impact the global response to tuberculosis (TB), the world’s second deadliest infectious disease after Covid-19. Researchers from the University of Cape[Read More…]
“Vexilla regis prodeunt Inferni” – Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy: The Inferno Try to look ahead and see if you can see what’s been coming for decades. Try to climb higher and see the beautiful things that Heaven bears, where we came forth, and once more see the stars and raise a banner of resistance to the King of Hell and[Read More…]
With the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, together with the emergence of Critical Race Theory, the spotlight has once again been shone on the heinous institution that was slavery and its aftermath, racial discrimination. Could anything be worse than a system in which a human being becomes the property of another, to do with as the slave owner[Read More…]
On 27th September we commemorated the 10th death anniversary of the late playwright Gursharan Singh.Punjab has never witnessed a revolutionary theatre activist who has penetrated the soul of the Punjabi masses in such depth Be it in the era of the Naxalbari uprising, the Emergency, the Khalistani movement or period of Globalization, he kept the flag of revolutionary resistance afloat[Read More…]
Terror, terrorism, terrorists Terror is the emotion of “extreme fear” caused by the threat or use of violence. Terror is also an instrument to cause fear, “a weapon of the impotent, the disenfranchised and the unorganized in the face of profound grievance“. Causing extreme fear using the instrument of terror are both age-old. However, only in recent times has terrorism[Read More…]
On September 26th, we commemorated the 35th martyrdom anniversary of Comrade Baldev Singh Mann, who succumbed after waging a valiant battle against the Khalistani terrorism. On the night of 26th September he fell to the bullets of the Khalistani Commando force. He was the Amritsar district secretary of the C.P.I. (M.L) Chandra Pulla Reddy group. and editor of party magazine[Read More…]
All parts and aspects of life have been occupied by capitals. This is the broader picture. This is one of the facts from reality that composes context of life of people in almost all lands. This is one of the brutal facts that dominate people in exploitative societies. The dominance is so much powerful and so much shrewd that the[Read More…]
A cultural transmission or meme is an element of culture (e.g., a perception, value or belief) that is copied and spread virally from one individual to another among people who find favor in their contents. Cultures generate memes. Thanks to science, a culture presents us with many memes that are reality oriented or based upon objective, compelling evidence. But other memes that are deluded are also promulgated. From a[Read More…]
A picture containing text, person, person, suit Description automatically generatedOne year and 10 months ago when first case of corona virus was reported in Wuhan, China, entire world was terrified because no one knew if we have any medicine that will work against it. Possibly our worst fears came true and we witnessed the horrendous impact of the pandemic. One[Read More…]
“True religion is a revolutionary force: it is an inveterate enemy of oppression, privilege, and injustice.” Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Justice, Diversity, Enemy) Many philosophers, writers, thinkers and critics have, over the centuries, handed down a wealth of writings and speeches on life and its existence. From Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, etc., to modern thinkers like Marx, Engels, Lenin, Rosa Luxembourg, Mao, everyone