Blog
Two Songs, Two Visions: TM Krishna on Why India Chose ‘Jana Gana Mana’ Over ‘Vande Mataram’
The Carnatic vocalist and public intellectual argues that India must defend its founding symbols and also reimagine their meaning for a changing time.
From Swaraj to Subordination: The New India–US Trade Regime – 6 Articles
‘India-US Trade Deal: Five Takeaways from the White House Statements’; ‘Minister Piyush Goyal’s Notes Mentioned “India’s Calibrated Opening of Agriculture”’; ‘The US-India Trade Deal is Unbalanced and Potentially Devastating’; ‘US-India Trade Deal: A Colonial Era-Like Unequal Treaty’; ‘Modi’s Skewed Trade Deal with Trump Demolishes the Idea of Swaraj Envisioned by Dadabhai Naoroji and Gandhi’; ‘Is the Corporate Conquest of Indian Agriculture Complete?’.
Democracy Damned by Doctored Data
When growth numbers flatter power, hide job scarcity, and mute rising costs, bad data stops disciplining policy and democracy pays a hefty price, writes the famed economist professor.
Incinerating Labour: Courts, Capital, and the Shrinking Space for Workers’ Rights
‘The Supreme Court’s Remarks on Trade Unions Are Not in Conformity with the Constitution’; ‘Domestic Workers, Women’s Labour, and the Language of the Courts’; ‘Incinerated in the Name of Growth: The Price of India’s War on Trade Unions’.
Chronicle of a Disaster Foretold: The Privatisation of Mumbai’s Bus Services
Mumbai’s public bus transport, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), once considered a model for bus services in the country, is now in complete shambles. Yet this situation was foreseen and was publicly warned against more than seven years ago, when the authorities took the fatal decision to privatise BEST’s core operations.
The Hollowing Out of Our Universities – 4 Articles
‘“Indianisation” of Syllabi is Hollowing Out Knowledge in Our Universities’; ‘Gagged Campuses, Hollowed Classrooms: The Universities in India Today’; ‘Cash Crunch, Research Void and Guest Faculty Surge: The Collapse of Social Sciences in India’; ‘The Cost of Learning: Protests Mount Across Universities as Fee Hikes Deepen Crisis of Accessibility’.
Aggressive Majoritarianism Crippled Pakistan. Will India Fare Differently?
The merging of faith with State has not worked out well anywhere.
Secularism is a Stick with Which to Beat Multiculturalists
The philosopher argues that in modern liberal states, secularism has become a cudgel used by elites to oppose multicultural accommodations for religious minorities.
Indian Railways Are Under Strain. What’s Burdening Them?
Despite high-speed trains and higher safety spending, Indian Railways continue to battle chronic delays. Data and experts point to aging infrastructure, poor maintenance, and congestion.
Why Indian Farmers Can’t Escape the Trap of Monocropping
Diversified farming can resolve ecological and monetary concerns but an agricultural transformation is impossible without better government support. Part II: Thirsty Crops, Tired Soil: Vicious Loop Threatens India’s Food and Water Security. Part III: The Fertiliser Addiction of Indian Farming is a Crisis.
In Maharashtra’s Palghar, Huge Protests Against Development Plans; Adivasi-Farmer March to Palghar for Land Rights – 2 Articles
‘Fighting for Our Existence: In Maharashtra’s Palghar, Huge Protests Against Development Plans’: Fisherfolk and farmers fear they will lose their land and livelihoods to plans to build the Vadhvan port and a ‘fourth Mumbai’ in the district. Also: ‘Maharashtra: 50,000-Strong Adivasi, Farmer March to Palghar on Indefinite Dharna for Land Rights’.
Living Under the Gaze: Muslims, Majoritarian India, and Acts of Quiet Defiance – 3 Articles
‘A Low-Grade Fever, a Relentless Sadness: Being Muslim in the New India That is Bharat’: This fear that rubs away insidiously at the idea of belonging must at least be acknowledged. Also: ‘Kashmir: Belonging, Conditional’; and: ‘Against Hate Script: How Ordinary Citizens Are Reclaiming Public Space’.
Evaluating Indian Kings: Tipu Sultan
Tipu stands very tall in the scale of religious tolerance. The half-baked propaganda of the communal forces is trying to divide communities.
Bangladesh at the Crossroads: Elections and the Future of the World’s Eight Largest Country
To understand what has happened in Bangladesh, we must situate this transition within the broader production of a new political geography in Southern and Eastern Asia. The United States is trying with all its instruments to prevent the growth of sovereignty across Africa and Asia as well. Bangladesh’s transition is part of that process.
How Street-Level Direct Action is Challenging Trump’s Authoritarianism
Every day, the nation collectively witnesses horrific violence against the most vulnerable among us. Street-level support people around the country, like Chicago’s rapid response volunteers, not only provide direct aid and protection, but double as crucial documentarians.
Trump, Europe and the International Neo-Fascist Movement: From Ideological Support to Political Coordination
Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, US foreign policy towards Europe has undergone a significant transformation. This shift reflects a desire for direct and systematic intervention in the internal political power struggles of European nations, favouring far-right and neo-fascist parties or governments.
Iran’s Comprehensive Peace Proposal to the United States
The Middle East stands at a crossroads between endless war and comprehensive peace. A framework for peace does exist. Will the US finally seize it?
Lavrov Sees a New Era of Global Development
The rare appearance by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the State Duma is always a special occasion to read the tea leaves in Russian politics. A summary of his remarks.
It’s Time to Confront Big Tech’s AI Offensive
We need to begin building organized labor-community resistance to the unchecked development and deployment of these systems and support for a technology policy that prioritizes our health and safety, promotes worker empowerment, and ensures that humans can review and, when necessary, override AI decisions.
Ten Years of the France Insoumise: A Marxist View
Next February, the France Insoumise, “France in Revolt”, largest organization of the radical left in France, will be ten years old, but in-depth Marxist writings on its nature and prospects, particularly those published in English, have been very few. This article aims to show what is specific about it, and give a view on how revolutionaries should engage with the movement.
Oxfam Report Shows the Staggering Inequality at the Heart of Capitalism
The 2020s have been “a good decade for billionaires”, according to Oxfam’s annual report on global wealth inequality. It’s somewhat of an understatement. In the first half of the decade, the number of billionaires passed 3,000 for the first time.
The World Needs Peasants
Far from being a relic of the past, peasants are vital to feeding the world. They need to be supported, not marginalised.
UK National Emergency Briefing Wakes Up World
An impressive display of world class scientists recently (Nov. 27th) held a ‘UK National Emergency Briefing’, informing the world of impending climate change disaster scenarios that can no longer be ignored. A war-time footing is necessary.
Indomitable Cuba – 4 Articles
‘For Cuban People, Surrender is Not an Option’: Once again, Cubans have reaffirmed their commitment to the revolution and their creative resistance in the face of the latest US attacks. Also: ‘The Cuban Revolution Holds Out Against U.S. Imperialism’; ‘Will Cuba Survive?’; ‘5 Cuban Women Resistance Stories That Defy U.S. Blockade Brutality’.
“In Venezuela, the People Are Truly the Subject of the Revolution”: Interview with Thierry Deronne
The filmmaker explains that in Venezuela the Bolivarian revolution is not just about leaders like Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, but about popular participation through grassroots structures called “communes” and “municipalities.” These are democratic bodies where ordinary people organize, decide, and manage local projects.
Victory for Palestine Action as ‘Filton 6’ Acquitted
Six Palestine Action activists who broke into an Israeli arms factory in the UK have been acquitted or not convicted of all charges against them.
Marx and Alienation: A Simple and Powerful Idea
Marx’s concept of alienation is a crucial idea that bridges his early philosophical work with his mature critique of political economy. The development of this concept emerged, for Marx, as a necessary way to think about the limitations of purely political and religious movements for freedom.
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