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In the past few columns I have tried to argue that democracy, and the universalisation of the democracy idea, demands a rethink from Marxists and communists about their political practice. Today, I will try to conclude this series of articles by attempting to show that it is not merely the question of democracy, but the very development of capitalism which demands such a rethink. Read the rest of this entry »
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If my column last week had spoken about the importance Marx gave to freedom of thought and expression, it is also necessary to answer why he supported the idea of “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” (proletariat = working class). Does not this idea of “dictatorship” of the working class negate individual freedom? In fact, most critics of Marxism identify this concept of “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” as the root of the authoritarianism and totalitarianism of communist societies. Read the rest of this entry »
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In his famous book, The Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn speaks of a function to praise Stalin where everyone got up and started clapping after the tribute was read out. The clapping went on, as no one wanted to be the first to stop. No one dared, as the secret police was watching to see who would quit first. This was their way of identifying who the independent-minded people were. Finally, after more than 10 minutes of unceasing applause, the director of the factory where the function was being organised stopped clapping and sat down. As if on cue, the entire congregation stopped clapping and sat down. Solzhenitsyn goes on to say that the director was arrested that same night.
While Solzhenitsyn has been dismissed by supporters of the Soviet Union as a Western agent, this account seems believable because there are so many other, more objective, records of the lack of freedom of thought and expression in the Soviet Union and other communist states. Read the rest of this entry »
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On this day (28 March), in 1871 the citizens of Paris proclaimed the first socialist government of this world. The Paris Commune, as it came to be called, was an epoch making effort by the workers and middle classes of Paris to build a new form of government which would be democratic, just and transcend the narrow walls of nationalism.
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As we recover from the dismal performances of India and Pakistan in the on-going cricket World Cup, it may be a good time for everyone to take another look at the role spectator sports play in our lives today. It is well known that cricket, the unassailable king among sports in the Subcontinent, rides on and sustains a multi-billion economy, provides super profits to those who own and administer its performances, and gives our people a distraction from the unhappy grind of their daily lives. Read the rest of this entry »
This column pointed out last week that ideologies and politics which deny the equality of men and women are growing stronger in today’s world despite women having gained unprecedented political rights and social acceptance for public activity. Read the rest of this entry »
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(The first part of this article can be seen here)
This column ended last week by arguing that women’s struggle for equality cannot be fought independent of the larger struggle for human equality. Does that imply that an independent women’s movement is not desirable? That it could actually be self-defeating in the longer run? Would celebrating the International Women’s Day (which falls tomorrow) split the unity required to struggle for human emancipation by disconnecting women’s issues from larger concerns? Read the rest of this entry »
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This is perhaps one of the defining questions of the modern world.
Irrespective of the country and culture one lives in, it is next to impossible to negotiate life today without running into this question lurking behind office desks, popping out of the messy bed sheets, and mixing with the food on our plate. How we ask and answer this question marks our politics, paints our ideology, highlights our socio-cultural context as well as gives hints about how we live our private lives.
So I might as well ask and answer this question, even though I can hear Alexander Pope whispering in my ear: “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread”! Read the rest of this entry »
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Humpty Dumpty reportedly gave “Living on the Edge” as his last known address to the King’s men who came to rescue him as he lay dying.
It may well be a metaphor for the times — Living on the Edge!
As this column has argued over the past two weeks, our astounding progress of the past two and an half centuries has been accomplished at a terrible cost. Not only have we irreversibly changed our climate and the Earth’s ecosystem, we have become addicted to a non-renewable resource, oil and coal, for our very existence. Read the rest of this entry »
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Climate change, as was pointed out in this column last week, has been primarily driven by carbon emissions from human activity in the past two and a half centuries. The industrial age has thrown more carbon di-oxide into the atmosphere than was done in the past 650,000 years. The effects of this massive infusion will last us for millennia to come and change the entire ecology of planet Earth. Read the rest of this entry »
This article started off my column with The Post (http://thepost.com.pk) which is an English language daily newspaper published from Lahore and Islamabad, Pakistan.
It was published on 7 February, 2007.
You can find all my writings for The Post at http://thepost.com.pk/PrevColumns.aspx?src=Aniket%20Alam
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