2024

On 28th April this year the birth anniversary of Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das is being celebrated. On that day in 1848 he was born and his many splendoured legacy which, among others, encapsulated his pioneering initiative to launch a movement for establishment of Orissa (now Odisha) as separate British province on the basis of language constituted a significant step not just for Odisha but the whole of India. That movement led by him brought together Odia speaking areas forming part of (…)

I write this as a very concerned citizen who has been following the environmental crisis on the planet closely. I do not claim to be an ‘ expert’ and am open to a critique of what I have written below from people who work closely at the ground with these issues along with the affected communities. I see this as a beginning blue-print for a people’s manifesto which we should present to our politicians and make them accountable to us. As I am currently based in Kerala, many of the examples (…)

Why do degrowth intellectuals publicly neglect combative self-defense against “growth” projects? The connection between degrowth and anti-capitalist, autonomist and (ecological) anarchist movements exists, and it can be strengthened by acknowledging the legitimacy of a diversity of tactics as necessary pathways towards degrowing the techno-capitalist system and protecting habitats form infrastructural invasion.
Degrowth is about reducing total material and energy throughput, which entails (…)

Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD)
Date: 16.04.2024
Press Note
Nuclear weapons do not serve as a deterrent - IDPD
Prime Minister Modi’s statement eulogizing nuclear weapons is flawed
Nuclear weapons do not serve as a deterrent; instead, their presence poses a persistent threat of escalation to nuclear war. This was said by Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) in reaction to Prime Minister Modi’s statement. In the news published in the media, the Prime (…)

Adopted at “Campaign for scientific temper culmination program and National convention for declaration on scientific temper” held on 28th Feb 2024 at Kolkata
Statement on Scientific Temper in the Current Context
Executive Summary There is an urgent need for a renewed commitment to evidence-based reasoning, critical thinking and a scientific approach in India, especially amidst growing socio-political movements that challenge a scientific temper and universal knowledge production based on (…)

Sunday April 7, 2024 marked exactly six months since Israel unleashed its brutal war on the Palestinian people in Gaza, a war that shows no sign of stopping any time soon.
We at Feminist Dissent can barely find the words to describe the pain and the rage we feel at the cruelty and injustice that has unfolded since 7 October 2023. On that day, Hamas and its associates assaulted, tortured and murdered many Israeli civilians and foreign nationals, including women and children – 1200 people (…)

[fond noir][blanc]BOOK REVIEWblanc]fond noir]
In the book India vs RSS by Pinarayi Vijayan asserts that the battle for democratic and secular India against totalitarian RSS is winnable. CPI (M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan is the chief minister of Kerala. He served as Minister of Electric Power and Cooperatives from 1996 to 1998. He was born in Kannur which was the “ground zero of RSS terror.”
The majoritarian ideology is steeped in hatred and parochialism. Vijayan in this book shows that (…)

[fond noir][blanc]BOOK REVIEWblanc]fond noir]
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Cooperating with the Colossus: A Social and Political History of US Military Bases in World War II Latin America
by Rebecca Herman
Oxford University Press
2022. 320 pp. (paper), ISBN 978-0-19-753187-7
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During World War II, the United States Army deployed aircrafts and troops in sixteen Latin American countries, utilizing existing defense sites, but more importantly, constructing numerous new bases. Focusing on Brazil, (…)

* Ladakh Fights to Restore Statehood and Mountain Ecology | Soma Marla
* Live-in lover law opens door to attacks on freedoms | Arpan Acharya
* My Life in the PLO The Inside Story of the Palestinian Struggle | Shafiq al-Hout

Letter to the readers, Mainstream, April 13, 2024
It is campaign time for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Most opposition political parties have released their ‘Election Manifestos’, highlighting their proposed policy promises to voters. We had in our last issue provided links to manifestos of the Congress Party and of the three major Left parties. They make interesting proposals on a range of themes that need public debate and attention. The Congress manifesto makes a socially progressive (…)