Blog
-
Farmers on the March
From all parts of the country, Indian kisans will descend upon Delhi on November 24. They are marching as part of a Kisan Sangharsh Jatha, organised by the All-India Kisan Sabha. The farmers began their Jatha – their march – at the corners of the country, holding meetings as they go along to spread the word about the harsh attack on rural India. This attack has been on-going for the past twenty-five years – with cuts at rural credit, push to consolidation of farms and the emergence of a [...] -
21OctEarly Indian Communists and their Historian: An Interview with Suchetana Chattopadhyay
Suchetana Chattopadhyay, who teaches at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, has been producing some of the most important work on early Communist history. Her first book – An Early Communist: Muzaffar Ahmad in Calcutta, 1913-1929 (Tulika, 2011), traces not only the early life of Kakababu but also the world of colonial and radical Calcutta. The book was reviewed when it came out by Vijay Prashad in Frontline. Most recently, Chattopadhyay has contributed an essay for our own new volume – Communi[...] -
13OctA review of Acting Up: Gender and Theatre in India, 1979 Onwards
Acting Up: Gender and Theatre in India, 1979 Onwards, by A. Mangai, a book which examines the work of major women theatre practitioners in India since 1979 to explore the intersection of gender and theatre. Niharika Malimadugula has written about the book for The Wire. She writes, "Despite being a largely scholarly endeavor, there’s a sensitivity of description and a personal involvement from Mangai, both as a teller and participant in the world of theatre, that makes the book relatable and p[...] -
04OctP. Sainath and the Toofan Sena
P. Sainath, India’s most important journalist, has just released his new report on Satara District’s prati sarkar [provisional government] of the Quit India era. It is a dazzling account of the freedom movement – one that takes us through the audacity of the fighters, such as ninety-four year old Ramchandra Sripati Lad, to the disregard of such people in contemporary India. Lad tells Sainath about the arc of his aspirations, ‘We dreamed of bringing freedom to the common man. It was a bea[...] -
30SepIs Fascism Imminent?
A few weeks ago, CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat wrote a brief article in the Indian Express that assessed the character of the RSS and the BJP. He argued that the BJP is not capable of fascism because the conditions that would require the ‘terroristic dictatorship of finance capital’ – as the Communist International put it – do not exist. At the Sabrang website, historian Jairus Banaji responded tartly, saying that indeed the BJP-RSS is a fascist ensemble. Joining the debate then was LeftWo[...]