Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Africa, African Diaspora and the Prospect of Global Cultural Dialogue

  11 November 2008, by M. OLABIYI BABALOLA JOSEPH YAÏ

  Mr Chairman,
  Distinguished Elders,
  Excellencies,
  Dear Friends
  Bharat ki yatra par âna, meré liyé ek sapné ka poora hona hé. Meré mann mai Mahatma Gandhi aur Rabindranath Tagore ké liyé aapaar shraddha aur sam-mân ki bha van hé. Mujhe yahaa âkar bahoot khushi ho rahi hé.
  In this international year of languages, it is indeed a pleasurable duty to great you in an Indian language, even at a risk of hurting your ears.
  ¨
  Allow me to thank the India International Centre (…)

• Energy Superpower Emerges in the Caspian

  11 November 2008, by M K Bhadrakumar

  Turkmenistan knows better than any other country that predators will go to any extent to take away its valuable possessions. Five successive empires—Scythian, Parthian, Ywati, Hun and Turkmen—invaded the area to locate the “Akhal” oasis nestled in the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains in southern Turkmenistan, and laid waste everything that came across their way until they could take away the treasured Akhal-Teke horses as spoils of war.
  The ancient race of Akhal-Teke horses, (…)

• Mullahs, Indian State and Muslim Backwardness

  11 November 2008, by Abhay Mishra, Badre Alam Khan

  The following article reached us on October 27. The authors wrote in a covering note: “We are with the Jamia Millia Islamia. We are sending an article in the wake of Arif Muhammad Khan’s piece which appeared in The Indian Express. Our article was not published by the daily. Now we are sending it to you. We think it should be published to counter Arif Muhammad Khan, now a BJP leader, who is not at all concerned with the
  Muslims’ development.”
  The fight against conservative elements (…)

• Work for All: An Alternative Path of Development

  11 November 2008

  DOCUMENT
  “Discussions with Prof Amit Bhaduri regarding his concept of “Development with Dignity” led some of us to think that the alternative path of development he was trying to chart could present before the resistance movement against the current onslaught of the big corporations a current programme of action which would also be relevant to the greater task of social transformation. A draft of such a programme of action is being hereby circulated for discussion.”
  —Meher (…)

• India’s Most Dangerous Move

  11 November 2008, by Ghulam Muhammed

  COMMUNICATION
  As if Israeli Army Chief Major General Avi Mizrahi’s visit to India, in these trouble times, is not provocative enough, the Indian adminis-tration has allowed him to visit the inflamed State of Jammu and Kashmir, to put oil on raging fire. If the signal is being given that Kashmiris should prepare themselves for a fate that befelt Palestinians, as the Indian adminis-tration is determined to hand over the dirty job of ‘pacification’ to an outside power, it only shows the utter (…)

• The Red Vignettes

  11 November 2008, by Yevgeny Yevtushenko

  Remembering October Revolution on its 91st Anniversary
  Seventh November this year marks the 91st anniversary of the historic October Revolution. Although the politico-economic situation in Russia has undergone a sea-change since 1991, the worldwide significance of the Russian Revolution of 1917 has not waned in the least; on the contrary its importance has been heightened in the light of the latest international events capped by the global financial meltdown that has shaken the world (…)

• November Revolution : Some Reflections

  11 November 2008, by Hiren Mukerjee

  Sixtyone years have passed since the November Revolution, “the ten days that shook the world”—in the American eye-witness John Reed’s memorable words—almost in literal fulfillment of the prophecy in the International hymn—-
  The world will shake to its foundations
  And we who are nothing shall be all!
  Students of history will recall the exhilaration of the English radical, Charls Jams Fox, when he learnt of the fall of the Bastille (July 14, 1789) in Paris after assault by (…)

• Salute From Prison

  11 November 2008, by Ajoy Ghosh

  The revolutionary martyr Bhagat Singh, along with his death-defying comrades looked upto the Russian Revolution for inspiration and guidance. Here is what Ajoy Ghosh, one of Bhagat Singh’s comrades-in-arms (who later became the General Secretary of the CPI and whose birth centenary we will observe on February 20 next year), writes about their prison days in his booklet, Bhagat Singh and His Comrades:
  Prolonged discussions took place in our ranks about what to do to break the stagnant calm. (…)

• Lights of Moscow

  11 November 2008, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  The following piece was written by N.C. fortyfive years ago, published as it was in Mainstream (November 9, 1963).
  As the Ilyushin 14 touched down on the hard rust of the Siberian snow, the pretty Chinese comrade next to me said: “It seems we have reached Omsk. But don’t be upset by the bitter cold of the Russian blizzard. The Soviet people are as warm in their heart as the tea served out of their samovar.” She spoke fluent English, a medico, graduating from Peking, taking specialised (…)

• Nehru’s First Visit to Soviet Union

  11 November 2008, by Leonid Mironov

  Jawaharlal Nehru’s first visit to the Soviet Union in 1927 was connected with the Tenth Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. His two subsequent visits were in 1955 and 1961, after he became the Prime Minister of Independent India. Of these the 1927 visit has a special importance.
  From the early days of the October Revolution, Nehru closely followed the socialist transfor-mations in Soviet Russia, studied her experience, and strove to use it in the interests of the (…)