Democracy
Nothing Surprises Me… Everything Remains To Be Done!
It’s been hard not to be flabbergasted by Donald Trump’s return to the White House. And yet, all we are witnessing is, no more and no less, the most caricatured but assumed, unfiltered form of the dominant model of society that we have been living in for several centuries. We are the educated, polite Westerners…
Read MoreUnpacking the Word “Peasant”
Today is the International Day of Peasant Struggle. We dedicate this article to the many agrarian movements we work with and are inspired by, in their fight for food sovereignty around the world. * * * When we refer to “the global food system”, we tend to picture an elaborate and complex supply chain that…
Read MoreThe Flower of Transformation
With growing news of war and conflict, ecological and climate catastrophe, stark inequalities, health crises related to both poverty and affluence, the authoritarianism of governments, and the increasing stranglehold of mega-corporations in all aspects of our lives, it is understandable that there is deep anxiety about the present and future of humanity. On the brighter…
Read MoreWhat does self-reliance really mean? Amazing stories from India’s villages
Not so long ago, Dalit women farmers in Telangana used to face hunger and deprivation. Today, they have contributed foodgrains for pandemic relief. Farmers on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border have been sending organic produce to Bengaluru even during the lockdown. And Adivasi villages in central India are using community funds to take care of migrant…
Read MoreWe will survive the Coronavirus. Will we survive ourselves?
What an astonishing slap in humanity’s face, this coronavirus. But the silver lining is that it is also a rude wake up call. I say ‘silver lining’, for at the centre of this is a massive humanitarian crisis of illnesses and deaths – and for working classes who cannot switch to ‘online’ work, whose workplaces…
Read MoreIowa, Pseudo-Events, and Hyperreality
The Iowa caucus affair last night was a masterclass in hyperreality. The relevant facts are as follows. It was the long-anticipated kickoff to the primary season in an ever-expanding election cycle that now seems more or less co-terminous with the president’s four-year term. Iowa has an outsized place in this process, as it traditionally holds…
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