With the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza and renewed India-Pakistan tensions following the Pahalgam attack, there is a growing temptation to apply the framework of colonial violence (so viscerally visible in Palestine) to diverse geopolitical contexts across the Global South. This impulse, while rooted in a genuine desire for global solidarity, has often led to … Continue reading Not All Violence Is Colonial: The Dangerous Drift of Post-Modern Solidarity – Yanis Iqbal
Category: History
A Tuition in Nutrition — Urvi Khaitan
Nutrition, Bulletin no. 26 (February 1947). [The informational references are based on various bulletins of Food and Nutrition published by the Department (later Ministry) of Food, Government of India between 1945 and 1949.] Famine was no short-lived spectacle in modern South Asian history. Hunger is writ large across the twentieth century, its text of devastation … Continue reading A Tuition in Nutrition — Urvi Khaitan
D.D. Kosambi’s Appeal for Peace—Translated by Suchintan Das
Peace (Woodcut) by Haren Das (1950) Better remembered as a polymath and historian, D.D. Kosambi was also a globetrotting peace-activist in the 1950s and contributed to the world peace movement both within India and internationally as a first-rate organizer. This pamphlet was printed at Nagar Press Works, Indore and was published and distributed by Anant … Continue reading D.D. Kosambi’s Appeal for Peace—Translated by Suchintan Das
Finding Meaning in the Mythical: A Note on Collingwood’s Musings on Myths and Folktales—Arkaprava Sengupta
Everything men have made can be used as evidence for their history; but in order to do so, we must find out how to interpret it. R. G. Collingwood Are folktales and myths important tools of writing history? Given the current socio-political situation in India, answering affirmatively to this question carries significant risks. There is … Continue reading Finding Meaning in the Mythical: A Note on Collingwood’s Musings on Myths and Folktales—Arkaprava Sengupta
The Dam and The Deluge: Decoding the Tripura-Bangladesh Floods—Ananyo Chakraborty
Artwork by Tanun In the third week of August 2024, disturbing visuals of people — poor and helpless — relocating to relief camps from their houses submerged under water were seen on social media. With no regard for national boundaries, an unprecedented deluge had affected North Unkoti, Dhalai, Khowai, Gumti and South Tripura districts of … Continue reading The Dam and The Deluge: Decoding the Tripura-Bangladesh Floods—Ananyo Chakraborty
Other Futures are Always Possible: Tegart’s Long Shadow over Palestine—Suchintan Das
A Tegart Fort in Palestine (Image courtesy: http://quaderns.coac.net/en/2015/03/tegart-forts/) Imagine for a moment that you are not able to use future tense in speech. You will not be able to plan a vacation, consider your children’s education, or for that matter, think actively about retirement. Your life will be restricted to an immediate and unending present, where … Continue reading Other Futures are Always Possible: Tegart’s Long Shadow over Palestine—Suchintan Das
From the Vaults of a Communist Party Newspaper Archive: Writing the Unwritten—Rajarshi Adhikary
Tattered copies of Swadhinota, the mouthpiece of the undivided Communist Party of India Since the first printed newspapers appeared in Germany in the early 17th century, brutal repressive regimes of state censorship were up in arms to suppress them. During the tumultuous decades of the English Revolution, the radical press thrived but was nonetheless undermined … Continue reading From the Vaults of a Communist Party Newspaper Archive: Writing the Unwritten—Rajarshi Adhikary
The Politics of Demolition and the Displaced People of the Tughlaqabad Village—Monjima Kar
Ruins of the Tughlaqabad Fort. The Tughlaqabad Fort, built around the 14th century, stands in ruins now, seven centuries later. What remains are the various settlements outside the fort enclosure. These settlements are equally old, built around the fort and inhabited by the working-class people ever since. While Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq might have found it difficult to … Continue reading The Politics of Demolition and the Displaced People of the Tughlaqabad Village—Monjima Kar
Ahmed Chhafa’s ‘The Village Poor and Rural Class-Struggle’—Translated by Pritha Banerjee
Ahmed Chhafa [Sofa] (1943-2001) with his teacher, Professor Abdur Razzaq (left). Let us take a village. Assume that it contains a total population of 2000, which includes its men and women, infants and adolescents, young and the old. It is known to all that none of us lives alone in this society. Kith and kin, … Continue reading Ahmed Chhafa’s ‘The Village Poor and Rural Class-Struggle’—Translated by Pritha Banerjee
Samar Sen’s ‘Sans Reverence’—Translated by Suchintan Das
Samar Sen (1916-1987) [Image: Public Domain] The question of livelihood does not arise while discussing the term ‘intellectual’. The Bangla term ‘Buddhijibi’—one who lives off one’s own intellect—is therefore not an accurate translation. Perhaps the remnant of our old Brahminical baggage[1] has lingered on in this rendering. Brahmins were the custodians of intellectual culture and they … Continue reading Samar Sen’s ‘Sans Reverence’—Translated by Suchintan Das
Lokayata 