Posts
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05NovThe Russian Revolution Is Still Relevant Today
Brinda Karat with Aleida Guevara March, veteran of Cuba’s medical brigades and daughter of Che. The upcoming 7th November will mark the 100 years of the Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution changed the course of history in many ways. In what is remarked as one of the most significant events of the 20th century, the ordinary Russians took control of the stage to overthrow the provisional government and established a rule of the proletariat. Various organizations around the world have o[...] -
30OctGetting to know the ‘Bolsheviks’
In the cities of colonial India, caught in the vortex of war-time/post-war scarcity and political repression, how did the colonizers and a segment of their literate middle-class subjects perceive and depict the Bolshevik Revolution through newspaper pages? In the course of November 1917, the colonial world became gradually acquainted with Bolshevism through hostile news networks based in the West. In Kolkata, the former capital of British Empire in India until 1912 and the provincial cap[...] -
Writing About Caste Violence in Southern Tamil Nadu
K.A Manikumar I moved from Tirunelveli to Erode in 1992 to become Reader in History at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University. I was struck by the frequency with which people in the area plunged into social violence. The flimsiest pretext seemed to be sufficient. I decided to study the underlying factor for social violence in Erode. The University Grants Commission (UGC) accepted my proposal and sanctioned me to do a Major Research Project. As I began to work on the project ‘caste riots’ brok[...] -
26OctCommunist Prints: Sidenotes to the Asian Women’s Conference of 1949
The paper caught my attention. The pictures slipped into my fingers from the archive file. The paper was fine and strong, with a subtle texture and sheen. It felt as if it were made of silk. Three of the brightly colored woodblock prints shared the same paper. All featured peasant women were reveling in the benefits of communism. The images suffered from mild water damage. This blurred the writing and spread a pink wash of watercolor paint over parts of the image. The stories they tell, however[...] -
26OctThe Fight Against Sexual Harassment: A Call for the Long Road rather than the Short Cut
We want to start with extending our deepest solidarities to the survivors of sexual harassment that runs rampant in the academy and beyond. We acknowledge that sexual harassment, in all its forms, is far too widespread. That senior and serial offenders have operated with impunity and survivors have been maligned and blamed for the assault. One of us is a woman and having handled enquiries with the GSCASH in JNU, has experienced and fought alongside the complainants for justice if the accused is [...]