2023

A Diary
At first, they stripped them of their clothes and jewellery, even the gold from their teeth, then they cut their hair, sending them to a lair the gas chamber at Auschwitz.
In Birkenau, they made them toil in fields, extracting all they could, then further to Dachau, to be gassed enmasse. This was the horrific Final Solution the Jews were made to suffer, while the whole world looked away. We who watched, said, never again; but after what we have seen, why must you repeat that (…)

November 9, 2023
“How come we’ve never heard of this beautiful instrument until now?” This was posted by a first-year college student to my world music course discussion board recently. He voiced what many of his peers probably felt after watching the extraordinary documentary Ballaké Sissoko, Kora Tales.
The film follows Sissoko, a world-class musical artist, from his home in Bamako, Mali to a sacred well and baobab tree in The Gambia on the Atlantic coast. In the film, the (…)

by Erich Fromm
What do we mean by “authoritarian personality”? We usually see a clear difference between the individual who wants to rule, control, or restrain others and the individual who tends to submit, obey, or to be humiliated. To use a somewhat friendlier term, we might talk of the leader and his followers. As natural as the difference between the ruling and the ruled might — in many ways — be, we also have to admit that these two types, or as we can also say, these two forms of (…)

Press Release
The following statement was issued by the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions, Sectoral Federations/Associations on 22nd November 2023.
41 workers trapped in Silkyara Tunnel exposes the callous attitude of the Government towards Occupational Safety and Health of the workers.
The Platform of Central Trade Unions and Sectoral Federations/Associations express their anguish at the failure of the authorities to take responsibility for the Silkyara Tunnel collapse in (…)

Binoy Viswam Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
To, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Government of India Respected Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw ji, 116, North Avenue New Delhi - 110 001
Dt. 21st November, 2023
I write this letter to bring your attention to a matter concerning the future of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) of the Indian railways located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. ICF has proven its forte and virtuosity throughout the history of the Indian Railway through its performance (…)

October 16th, 2023
Statement on Behalf of Israel-based Progressives and Peace Activists
Regarding Debates over Recent Events in Our Region:
We, Israel-based academics, thought leaders and progressive activists committed to peace, equality, justice, and human rights, are deeply pained and shocked by the recent events in our region. We are also deeply concerned by the inadequate response from certain American and European progressives regarding the targeting of Israeli civilians by (…)

BOOK REVIEW
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Yuddhakalin Sahitya Samgraha 1942 Editor: Utpal Sengupta
Publisher Parul Prakashani Pvt. Ltd., 8/3, Chintamani Das Lane, Kolkata 700009 info[at]parulprakashani.in Price Rs. 500.00
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Eminent economist John G. Gurley thought that India was one country where communist and Marxist tenets should take root, along with Italy, France, and Japan. “Marxism and Capitalism are now engaged in an intense, worldwide struggle. When Americans look beyond their borders, many (…)

BOOK REVIEW
Reviewed by Judd Kinzley (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
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Building a Nation at War: Transnational Knowledge Networks and the Development of China during and after World War II
by J. Megan Greene
(Harvard East Asian Monographs) Harvard University Asia Center 2022. xiv + 319 pp. ISBN 978-0-674-27831-8 https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674278318
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During the Anti-Japanese War (1937-45), Nationalist Party planners in China drew up ambitious (…)

* Air Quality Crisis in Delhi and Agroecological Alternatives | Soma Marla
* 2023 State polls - Toughest contest for the Congress in Rajasthan | Papri Sri Raman
* Ill-effects of Politicisation of India’s Armed Forces | S G Vombatkere
* IPES Food Statement on siege in Gaza, Oct 24, 2023
* Ukrainian Letter of Solidarity with Palestinian people

According to UNHCR global estimates, some 108.4 million people were forcibly displaced by the end of 2022. These days world’s media is focused on the war in Gaza it has more or less forgotten about the war in Sudan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Russia-Ukraine war. All of these wars have left hundreds of thousands of people displaced and turned into war refugees. Closer home in South Asia, over the past five decades successive wars & conflict led to several million (…)