“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.” – Cree Saying. This quote, possibly the biggest cliché in the environmental literature, inspired Jared Diamond’s seminal work “Collapse“. But humans seem to succumb to boredom fairly quickly, so [...]
Category Archives: India
Is this civil rights 2.0?
July 25, 2009 – 10:08 am
India just de-criminalised gay sex. That is a staggering fact, because it affects the sense of sexual freedom of 1 in every 6 human beings. Despite the fact that many of the laws currently being challenged date from colonial occupation, many in India identify this reform with dark forces of westernisation and globalisation rather than [...]
What is 'free' about the web?
May 23, 2009 – 8:27 pm
Perversely, Web 2.0 has become synonymous with an American mythology of freedom. But information technology works best in small well-organised political units with high levels of social protection. So there is every reason to believe that the net works best with another notion of freedom – the security of knowing that failure will not have [...]
Its the environment, stupid…
May 3, 2009 – 6:56 am
The recent revival of Marx on the Continent is causing a lot of chatter. Das Kapital is now selling like the latest batch of hot cakes, proving that even commies prefer to own the book. Ironic because they could watch David Harvey’s lecture series on Das Kapital online for free. By Daniel Taghioff. This development [...]
Adaptation, not mitigation, is the fairest way to address climate change effects
March 31, 2009 – 2:33 pm
The poor must use every form of leverage they can find to get the support they need to survive climate change. Control of land is key. By Daniel Taghioff, India. Foolish people have argued that there is a choice between preventing the worst effects of climate change and adapting to unavoidable changes, despite compelling evidence, such [...]
Oil on troubled waters
February 5, 2009 – 8:25 pm
We need to double food production, but we’re running out of oil and water. Obviously the market will sort this one out… By Daniel Taghioff, India When the Food and Agricultural Organisation says that another 40 million were pushed into hunger in 2008, what images spring into your mind? Is it possible to imagine that [...]
So, where are the poor in the Brave New World?
January 13, 2009 – 3:03 pm
Authors and filmmakers can answer this question but policy makers and pundits seem not to have a clue. Perhaps it’s because they see them as statistics, not people. By Daniel Taghioff, India. Aravind Adiga’s Booker winner White Tiger and Danny Boyle’s Golden-Globe-harvesting film Slumdog Millionaire (based on Indian Diplomat Vikas Swarup’s novel Q and A) [...]
Emigrate to Leicester: you could do a lot worse
January 5, 2009 – 11:54 am
Leicester is now officially one of the most diverse towns in the UK, forecast to be the first to have a majority non-white population by 2011. Good news for everyone, argues John Keyes. My memories of being brought up in Leicester are in most ways fairly typical of anybody of my age and class. Regiments of [...]
Ignoring India's poverty is a recipe for nuclear Armageddon
December 19, 2008 – 3:14 pm
Thank God for George Bush. He laughs in the face of fear as he gives more nukes to the country with the most hungry people in it. And the funny bit is that despite parts of the American Christian right actually jockeying for Armegeddon, he probably achieved all this by mistake, and in the process he [...]