• Podcast 026 | Week of 13.01.2013
Photo: Daniel Novisedlak
Download entire podcast (320 kbps mp3).
Tag Archives: India
Ultraman, Newsweek #lastprintissue, India’s Lost Tribe, Silvio Berlusconi, Sattar Beheshti, Berlin, Marilyn Monroe, Flatulence, 2012 in Review
A Clothing Store, Hitler, Gandhi and Indian Independence
ALMOST PRECISELY seventy years ago, in March of 1942, Winston Churchill dispatched his Marxist-leaning cabinet minister and political rival Stafford Cripps to secure India’s co-operation in the war against Hitler. Partly a result of the well-founded suspicions of Indian nationalists — chief among whom were Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajaji, Subhas Chandra Bose and Mohandas Gandhi — but mostly the result of Churchill’s covert efforts, the negotiations of the Cripps mission failed (as Churchill all along intended). In the subsequent months Gandhi, anticipating a German-Japanese victory, led his colleagues in the Quit India movement, demanding the withdrawal of Britain and immediate Indian independence.
How Different are Anna Hazare and Mohandas Gandhi?
IN RECENT days, critics of the so-called anti-corruption activist and Lokpal Bill agitator, Anna Hazare, have contested the notion that a Gandhi-like leader today walks among us. A National Post article, “Gandhian lookalike good for the messiah business, bad for democracy,” summarizes the efforts to refute the analogy. The question arises however: is Hazare really that different from the man with whom he so eagerly connects himself?
A Shame Indeed: The Persecution of Christians Considered
The predictable and vile business of the Christmas attack has produced a renewal of concern with worldwide persecution of Christians. An idea now tendered is that these acts are outcomes of the Iraq war. Accept at your own risk this counterfeit of history, which requires you to believe nothing like this could have occurred eight years ago. Religious persecution is an old habit of our species, a primal barbarism which establishes the enduring threat and generalized impediment to our evolution. Continue reading A Shame Indeed: The Persecution of Christians Considered
Good Things, Bad Things, and the Ayodhya Dispute
WHEN KARAN JOHAR’S excellent film, My Name Is Khan, was released worldwide this past January, the Hindu right-wing nationalist group Shiv Sena attempted a disgraceful and ultimately failed boycott. At the centre of this meddling was the film’s lead actor and owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Shahrukh Khan, who had recently said “Mumbai belongs to all Indians” and had supported the inclusion of Pakistani cricketers on the eight teams of the Indian Premier League. Due however to the IPL’s fears that Visas would be denied following the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (the work of SIMI and Lashkar-e-Toiba, who today jointly operate as Indian Mujahideen), no Pakistani cricket players were chosen. Continue reading Good Things, Bad Things, and the Ayodhya Dispute
Journalism, Essays, Broadcasting, Books 