In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans are finally — or is it once again? — confronting the racism that afflicts this country and extends into just about every corner of our national life. Something fundamental just might be happening. Yet to state the obvious, we’ve been here before. Mass protests in response to racial inequality and discrimination,[Read More…]
Martin Luther King deserves being the only American whose birthday is celebrated with a three day holiday, but not only as the successful US civil rights movement’s leader, but even more for having been martyred confronting the American killing machine at its source, investors in military atrocities, covert violence and predatory finance. Martin Luther King deserves being the only American[Read More…]
The following is the transcribed text of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final speech, delivered on April 3, 1968 at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It’s always good to have[Read More…]
Click on the link and read and/or listen to King’s sermon that made headlines in bold print on newspapers around the world fifty years ago, and notice it is NOT addressed to the government but to all Americans. (King’s nightmarish sermon came 4 years after “I Have a Dream” at the March on Washington) King spoke to the people to[Read More…]
On January 15, millions of Americans commemorated Martin Luther King’s Day. His famous speech, ‘I Have a Dream’ was repeated numerous times in media outlets as a reminder of the evil of racism, which is being resurrected in a most pronounced way in American society. But that is only one version of Dr. King that is allowed to be[Read More…]
Maybe we just have to admit that the day of violence is here, and maybe we just have to give up and let violence take its course. The nation won’t listen to our voice – maybe it’ll heed the voice of violence. – Martin Luther King, Jr. (1) In “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Cold War”, Thomas Noer describes[Read More…]
How strange it is that the African American community has been, either openly or indifferently, supportive of white racist regime change, imperialist bombings, invasions and bloody occupations in smaller nations of people whose skin color is of various hues even though MLK condemned them as “atrocity wars and covert violence on three continents since 1945 to maintain unjust predatory investment in countries overseas,”[Read More…]
As Martin Luther King’s birthday is celebrated with a national holiday, his death day disappears down the memory hole. Across the country – in response to the King Holiday and Service Act passed by Congress and signed by Bill Clinton in 1994 – people will be encouraged to make the day one of service.Such service does not include King’s[Read More…]
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. held his world-famous speech; “I Have a Dream”. A dream we all dream and dreamed of. I was almost 7 years old and still remember. His speech was full of fire and passion, right out of his honest heart. A speech, and also in that time the greatest demonstration ever in America,[Read More…]
Fifty years ago Dr. King risked his life to tell us that ‘the world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve,” that a nation focused on military defense more than social uplift “is approaching spiritual death,’ and that we still had a choice: “nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation.” How much longer will[Read More…]
Henry Hampton‘s work — like his groundbreaking Eyes on the Prize (1987-1990) — should be applauded. His grand efforts and accomplishments — along with those of his many hardworking, talented colleagues, such as the dedicated and incomparable Judy Richardson — are praiseworthy by any standards. That said, to have one’s eyes on any prize in the realm of social activism usually means a[Read More…]
Gary Younge’s The Speech– released in 2013 by Haymarket Books (updated edition)- is increasingly important in these early days of Trumplandia. A real account of the lead up to, acceptance, and political trajectory of King’s famous 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, the book is a clear reminder of the power of rhetoric but also of the forces of “nullification”[Read More…]
We all need to rise up and have the courage that M. L. King, Jr. had. I am humbled by his writings because they remind me that I have to even stretch further than I have on behalf of social and environmental justice. My “sin” or “wrong” (since I don’t like the word “sin” due to its religious implications —[Read More…]
Sometime during the next twenty-five years, as the United States slowly begins to lose economic, political, cultural and communications hegemony over the rest of the world, a much nicer, peaceful, pleasant, prosperous, free and expressively energetic America will begin to take shape and will trend toward seeking the unity, harmony and enjoyment found in its African American communities Sometime during[Read More…]
Democracy or ‘Kakistocracy’? 
Reform monarchy, demands, biggest protest in years in Thailand 
Assange’s Thirteenth Day at the Old Bailey: Mental Health, Managed Risk and Publication Chronologies 
The Legend of Bhagat Singh: In Conversation with Prof Jag Mohan Singh 
Uphold the Constitutional Right of Farmers to Protest 
John Hersey, Hiroshima, and the End of World 
Imagine Trump or Biden In Church Praying For Yemeni Children Facing Starvation and US missiles? 
Film Screening On Kandhamal And Webinar 
Hyderabad Police Action (1948 Sep 13-17, Part-2) : The Screen Play and the Heroes 
What If Preventing Collapse Isn’t Profitable? 
Breonna Taylor protests erupt across the U.S. and 2 police officers shot 
The Ecological Impact Of Militarism 
Need for enhancing old age pension and other pension benefits under NSAP 
Assange’s Twelfth Day at the Old Bailey: Autism, Suicide and Prisons 
Palestinians Are Not Numbers: On the Future of the Palestinian Discourse 
Andrei Tarkovsky, Satyajit Ray And Mani Kaul 
How old is the Kashmir Dispute? 
Our duty is to ensure that our young ones survive 
The Dying Planet Report 2020 
The US is using the Guardian to justify jailing Assange for life. Why is the paper so silent? 
Andre, friend 
Has Living in America been a “Serendipitous Outcome?” Farm Bills: Punjab Farmers Rise Up In Anger 
Refer FCRA bill, 2020 to a Select/Standing Committee of the Parliament 
“Older!” … “Not: Old!” 
Arctic sea ice shrinks to its second-lowest annual minimum extent ever 
Assange’s Eleventh Day at the Old Bailey: Suicide, Hallucinations and Psychological Torture 
The UAE-Israel deal’s historicity is in the fine print 
(Un)Civil War? 
Strange Celebrations of the UN 75th Anniversary 
“Manifest Destiny” and the Mexican-American War 
A peacock, divine providence and we 
Iran – US Sanctions – Unilateralism – Turning the Clock Back to Before the Nuclear Deal 
Another Reason to Change Our Species Name! 
André Vltchek – Remembered 
You Can Ask Me….But 
Before teaching in English medium, first improve the shoddy text books 
A Moral Debate 
The End of Reality? 
RSS As A Terrorist Outfit: Evidences From Its Archives 
This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture delivered on 20 September 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the event was organized by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades gathered here; I am very honoured to be invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture this year but I cannot say[Read More…]
