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‘The ruling elites have boycotted humanity’

The following is a transcript of an interview with Vijay Prashad for Covid-19 Chronicles broadcast on April 6, 2020. Frank Barat (FB): People are talking about ‘before’ and ‘after’ coronavirus. But many are saying they can’t wait to go back to ‘normal’. But in a recent newsletter of the Tricontinental Institute, you say: ‘We won’t go back to normal, because normal was the problem’. Can you tell us what you meant? Vijay Prashad (VP): The pandemic is an occasion to think [...]

सफ़दर के शुरुआती साल

सफ़दर हाश्मी एक जानी-मानी हस्ती थे। पर शायद आप रज्जू से परिचित नहीं हैं। उसका स्वभाव कैसा था? उसे पढ़ने-लिखने का शौक़ कैसे हुआ? और उसके सेन्स ऑफ़ ह्यूमर का स्रोत क्या था? सफ़दर के जन्मदिन पर, सुधन्वा द[...]

Defiance in the Rubble

Over 2,000 killed, over four times as many wounded, according to official figures; infrastructure destroyed, including—lest one forgets—schools and hospitals. All in (and for) a tiny piece of land. But if ever a personality trait described a nation, resilience would fit Palestine. Here’s Max Blumenthal’s account of one aspect of the aftermath of the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza, taken from the chapter ‘Defiance in the Rubble’ in The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza. On Augu[...]

Davida and Goliath

One of the people who have consistently sought justice for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom is Teesta Setalvad. As one would expect, she faced harassment at the hands of the government. Fortunately, she didn’t give up. In this extract from Foot Soldier of the Constitution: A Memoir (also available in Hindi), she talks about the treatment meted out to her. Being their Target I had a premonition on 24 July 2015, the day of the hearing before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) c[...]

Putting a lid on it

Calamities feel like calamities only when the citizenry above a certain class deems them to be so. Earthquakes, tsunamis, epidemics – these do not discriminate, and hence become topics of 24-hour news coverage. But there are other calamities that claim far more lives. Surprisingly – or unsurprisingly – we hardly ever hear about them. Subhash Gatade, in this extract from Modinama: Issues That Did Not Matter (also in Hindi), talks about one such, reminding us in the process that apathy kills[...]