Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Poem: Venceremos (We will Win) | Raul Zurita

  29 April 2023

  [This poem by the well-known Chilean poet Raul Zurita was written in 2019 when millions of Chileans came out on the streets to protest against social inequality and privatised education, and decimated public services. This poem was recited at demonstrations throughout Chile at that time]
  We will Win, We Will Win, We Will Win
  AND WE WILL HUG CRYING AND WE WILL HUG SINGING AND MY EYES WILL BE YOUR EYES AND ALL CHILE WILL BE YOUR EYES AND YOUR BLIND EYES MY LOVE, GIRL, MY BOY THEY WILL BE A (…)

• Poem: O Lordships! | Sagari Chhabra

  29 April 2023, by Sagari Chhabra

  Oh Lordships!
  We are all dealing with
  our individual traumas,
  pain and growth.
  Stories emerge
  from our tangled roots,
  blossom forth and grow;
  sediments slushed and slow
  of many lands and travellers
  makes the water flow
  towards the ultimate ocean.
  How then can the learned counsel claim
  with utmost devotion,
  that only a biological man and woman
  must be the norm;
  and everyone else be shorn,
  of basic human rights,
  to have a family,
  dignity and some space?
  Your lordships,
  I (…)

• Towards an Asian Union | S Faizi

  29 April 2023, by S Faizi

  by S Faizi *
  Europe, once a theatre of internecine wars, now has a robust European Union shaping the common destiny of its people. Although Europe is only a subcontinent of Asia as Arnold Toynbee had observed and as is visible to anyone looking at a map, we still not have a common Asian platform for economic and political cooperation. It is high time Asia had its well-mandated regional organisation to secure a common Asian future, ending the costly hostilities and political egos. We can (…)

• Ten Years of the Rana Plaza Factory Disaster in Bangladesh | Strachov, Gulrukh et al

  29 April 2023

  by Kristina Strachov, Saydia Gulrukh, Mushrefa Mishu, Amin Amirul *
  Looking back on a corporate crime in Bangladesh that cost over 1,000 lives
  The Rana Plaza textile factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed on 24 April 2013, burying some 5,000 people underneath. The day before, cracks had been discovered in the walls of the factory building and the collapse of the eight-storey building was already imminent. Textile workers raised their concerns, but were refused by the factory owner and (…)

• Sudan: violence between army and militia is a symptom of an old disease that is destroying Africa | Paul Jackson

  29 April 2023

  by Paul Jackson *
  April 21, 2023 A three-day ceasefire to mark the Islamic festival of Eid-al-Fitr in Khartoum appears to be dead in the water as fighting continues in the Sudanese capital. According to the World Health Organization, more than 330 people have been killed over the past week. Now, with reports emerging that arms are being sent from Egypt and Libya, there are growing fears the situation could develop into a civil war that could draw in regional powers.
  The violence (…)

• 

  IMSD condemns ‘Maulana’ Sajjad Nomani’s Talibani Firman (April 28, 2023)

  29 April 2023

  Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD)
  April 28, 2023
  PRESS STATEMENT
  Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) is shocked by the blatantly anti-women diktat of the spokesman of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, ‘Maulana’ Sajjad Nomani.
  In a video clip posted on youtube (https://youtu.be/tyO5E8MgQEQ), the influential cleric with a large following among Muslims across the country can be seen and heard issuing the edict: “Do not send your girls to college unaccompanied, (…)

• 

  Private Member’s Bill to Abolish the Office of the Governor - CPI Press Release, May 30, 2023

  29 April 2023

  Communist Party of India
  April 20, 2023
  Press Release
  CPI Parliamentary Group leader and National Secretary Binoy Viswam submits Private Members’ Bill for the abolishing Governor’s office.
  CPI leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shri Binoy Viswam submitted a private member bill for the abolishment of the Governor’s office which violates the balance of powers put in place by the Constitution between the Union and the states. The Governor, not being an elected representative of the people, ought (…)

• 

  Southasia Peace Action Network condemns Poonch attack, supports Pakistani foreign minister’s India visit (April 25, 2023

  29 April 2023

  Southasia Peace Action Network
  25 April 2023: We at Sapan, Southasia Peace Action Network, strongly condemn the cowardly, criminal and murderous attack on an Indian Army vehicle in Poonch last Thursday that killed five soldiers on the last day of the holy month of Ramzan, ahead of the auspicious festival of Eid.
  We extend our condolences to the families and loved ones of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit jawans deployed for counter-terrorism operations in the area, who were bringing fruits and (…)

• 

  The Rise and Fall of Basu Chatterji | M.R. Narayan Swamy

  29 April 2023, by M R Narayan Swamy

  BOOK REVIEW
  __0__
  Basu Chatterji: And Middle-of-the-Road Cinema by Anirudha Bhattacharjee
  Vintage/Penguin Random House Pages: 305; Price: Rs 699 ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0670096253 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670096251
  __0__
  He put his own hard-earned money into the making of his first film, whose story be bought from noted Hindi writer Rajendra Yadav for Rs 21. It was the late 1960s. Sara Akash became a huge success and gave Basu Chatterji not just fame but a standing in the film world that stood by (…)

• 

  The Looming Shadow of the 1866 Famine in Orissa | Suranjita Ray

  29 April 2023, by Suranjita Ray

  A Haunting Tragedy Gender, Caste and Class in the 1866 Famine of Orissa by Bidyut Mohanty ascertains understanding famine as a process to comprehend who starved during the famine and why. The book engages the reader in understanding the Orissa Famine in 1866 that had its worst impact on the poor, in particular the agricultural labourers, weavers, salt workers and fisher folks, invariably belonging to the lower castes who were marginalised and deprived. The growing consciousness of the (…)