Monthly Archives: September 2017
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28SepAdi Cooper and her research on the Tebhaga and Tanka Movements (1946-50)
Elisabeth B. Armstrong Adrienne’s Book In 1988, K. P. Bagchi of Kolkata published Adrienne Cooper’s Sharecropping and Sharecroppers’ Struggles in Bengal, 1930-1950. A Bengali version of the book was published in Bangladesh, but this version tells only the economic history not the political history of rural people’s lives. In Economic and Political Weekly, Ranajit Das Gupta reviewed the English edition favourably. To tell the story of the 1946-47 Tebhaga movement in Bengal, Das Gupta wr[...] -
26SepIn solidarity with Teesta Setalvad
In the times when the government institutions are happily dismantling the democratic values enshrined in the constitution of the country, renowned civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad was detained by police in Varanasi yesterday. She was in Varanasi to attend a youth training camp organized by Samajvadi Jana Parishad and to deliver a speech on 'Communalism and Education'. Teesta Setalvad, in a Facebook live, said that she had been arrested on the orders of the higher authority. On 21st Septem[...] -
24SepThe Killing of History (Guest Post by John Pilger)
John Pilger is an Australian journalist, author of a number of important articles and maker of some crucial documentaries (including about Cambodia, Indonesia and the indigenous peoples of Australia). I have long been a fan of John Pilger's work - it is well-researched, honest and powerful without being sensational. There is a dignity to his prose that I very much admire. In a lecture he gave at Columbia University, Pilger spoke of 'censorship by omission'. In that lecture, Pilger pointed to[...] -
Lessons from Sikar: a passionate, disciplined and successful Agitation
On the 12th of September, the farmers in Rajasthan succeeded in making the government surrender to their key demands. Their victory was achieved by a non-violent protest that drew popular support from all sections of society. The farmers in the Sikar district of Rajasthan had started this struggle in the middle of July under the banner of All-India Kisan Sabha, an organization associated with the CPI(M). The farmers had a list of 11 demands which they wanted the government to accept. These d[...] -
21SepThird World Quarterly and a False Case for Colonialism
Last week, Third World Quarterly, a development studies journal, published an article by Bruce Gilley titled ‘The case for Colonialism.' In his piece, Gilley not only claimed that Colonialism was good, but he went on to argue that we need a new program for colonialism. The publication of this article was followed by the protests against it by numerous scholars and members of the editorial board of the Third World Quarterly journal. A change.org petition asking for the retraction of the artic[...]