Urvashi Butalia on Rape in India

Highly recommended


Urvashi Butalia on Rape in India

Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings

A team of sociologists studied a number of cases of mass shootings. Here is a brief synopsis of their findings in a recent issue of The Nation

Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings

Arundhati Roy on Rape in India

A week ago, a woman while riding a public bus with her friend in New Delhi, was brutally gang-raped, beaten up and thrown out of the running bus. As she battles for her life in a New Delhi hospital, waves of protests and demonstrations all over the country have been held. In New Delhi today, police used tear gas to break up a massive protest march outside Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Anti-Rape demonstrators gassed in New Delhi

Finally, an issue that has been rampant but more often than not, ignored, might actually be addressed, not just by the so-called authorities, but more importantly by society at large. All too often, as is common in many other countries, the victims of rape have been blamed for their predicament. Arundhati Roy puts the horror of rape in India in its historical and contextual perspective.

Arundhati Roy on rape in India

Indeed....

Quite predictable indeed....

predictable indeed

On his part, the White House spokesperson Jay Carney continued with his platitudes:

"Gun violence such as the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting is a "complex problem," and "no single piece of legislation, no single action will fully address" it, White House spokesman Jay Carney says."

Few thinking people deny that such massacres occur due to "complex problems" - the state of the economy, the rates of unemployment and the stress and strain induced by these larger structural issues. However, no thinking person really believes that regulating guns will actually escalate the problems.  Gun control is merely the first step in the right direction. 

Amazingly enough, "In Newtown right now, you can shoot any gun at anytime on your property," said town police commission member Joel Faxon (CNN)

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association has yet to respond to the Connecticut massacre. It's website features a story from late November - touting, not unexpectedly, the same predictable message:

"The point is, gun owners and the NRA have been right all along. It's the criminals, not the law-abiding gun owners, who are the issue. More guns, less crime isn't just "quite possible," it's a fact."

Robert Biernacki on the measurement of meaning

At about the same time when C. Wright Mills tried to chart a course between what he called "this statistical stuff and heavy duty theoretical bullshit" by publishing The Sociological Imagination, the British philosopher Peter Winch also declared war on the pretensions of physics envy based on a caricature of physics. In   The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy (1958) Winch did not mince words:

"That the social sciences are in their infancy has come to be a platitude amongst writers of textbooks on the subject. They will argue that this is because the social sciences have been slow to emulate the natural sciences and emancipate themselves from the dead hand of philosophy; that there was a time when there was no clear distinction between philosophy and natural science; but that owing to the transformation of affairs round about the seventeenth century natural science has made great bounds ever since. But, we are told, this revolution has not yet taken place in the social sciences, or at least it is only now in process of taking place. Perhaps social science has not yet found its Newton but the conditions are being created in which such a genius could arise. But above all, it is urged, we must follow the methods of natural science if we are to make any significant progress....I propose, in this monograph, to attack such a conception of the relation between the social studies, philosophy, and the natural sciences. [...] It will consist of a war on two fronts: first, a criticism of some prevalent contemporary ideas about the nature of philosophy: second, a criticism of some prevalent contemporary ideas about the nature of the social studies. The main tactics will be a pincer movement: the same point will be reached by arguing from opposite directions. To complete the military analogy before it gets out of hand, my main war aim will be to demonstrate that the two apparently diverse fronts on which the war is being waged are not in reality diverse at all; that to be clear about the nature of philosophy and to be clear about the nature of the social studies amount to the same thing. For any worthwhile study of society must be philosophical in character and any worthwhile philosophy must be concerned with the nature of human society."

Under different guises and names, overtly and covertly, positivism continues to thrive even in areas where one would least expect it. This year, a new book by Robert Biernacki titled Reinventing Evidence in Social Inquiry: Decoding Facts and Variables  (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)  provides a trenchant critique of the attempt by some sociologists to codify, quantify and measure culture and meaning.

The premise of coding is that meanings are entities about which there can be facts. But we all know that novel questions and contexts elicit fresh meanings from sources, which is enough to intimate that meaning is neither an encapsulated thing to be found nor a constructed fact of the matter. It is categorically absurd to treat a coding datum as a discrete observation of meaning in an object-text. My preference is to think of “meaning” as the puzzle we try to grasp when our honed concepts of what is going on collide with the words and usages of the agents we study. Describing meaning effectively requires us to exhibit that fraught interchange between cultures in its original: the primary sources displayed in contrast to the researcher’s typifying of them (p.131)

This volume has shown that humanist inquiry on its own better satisfies the “hard” science criteria of transparency, of retesting the validity of interpretations, of extrapolating from mechanisms, of appraising the scope of interpretations, of recognizing destabilizing anomalies, of displaying how we decide to “take” a case as meaning something, of forcing revision in interpretive decisions, of acknowledging the dilemmas of sampling, and of separating the evidence from the effects of instrumentation (p.151) 

The book has also been selected by sociologist (and colleague of Biernacki at UCSD) Andrew Scull as one of the Times Literary Supplement's "book of the year.










"

The Connecticut Massacre and "meaningful action"

Entirely predictable:

"President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to join in solidarity as they mourned the victims, saying the hearts of parents across the country were "heavy with hurt".

He called for "meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this", but stopped short of specifically calling for tighter gun-control laws in his weekly radio and Internet speech." (Reuters)

Meanwhile, at a press conference with the White House spokesperson:

"Q: The President made a campaign promise to work to renew the assault weapons ban. Why won’t you stand up here today and say that that remains a commitment of his?

CARNEY: It does remain a commitment of his. What I said is, today is not the day, I believe as a father, a day to engage in the usual Washington policy debates. I think that that they will come, but today is not that day, especially as we are awaiting more information about the situation in Connecticut."

White House Press Secretary Carney "today is not the day"

Responding directly to the White House Press secretary's claim that "today is not the day" to discuss gun control, Jerrold Nader, D-New York said:

" We cannot simply accept this as a routine product of modern American life. If now is not the time to have a serious discussion about gun control and the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our society, I don’t know when is. How many more Columbines and Newtowns must we live through? I am challenging President Obama, the Congress, and the American public to act on our outrage and, finally, do something about this.”

On its part, "The National Rifle Association, which advocates for gun rights, said in a statement it would not have any comment on the Connecticut shooting "until the facts are thoroughly known." (CNN)

Outdoing everyone else, the ex-governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee weighed in too:

"We don't have a crime problem, a gun problem or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem," Huckabee said on Fox News. "And since we've ordered God out of our schools, and communities, the military and public conversations, you know we really shouldn't act so surprised ... when all hell breaks loose."

Huckabee on lack of religion and mass killings

There are of course many other factors - structural, historical, ideological, social psychological - all seamlessly connected - that contribute to these endlessly recurring massacres. Michael Moore pinpointed many of these factors in his _Bowling for Columbine_ documentary. So while gun control in and of by itself will not be the proverbial magic bullet for preventing any further mass shootings, there is little doubt that it is a good first step that is actually within the realm of immediate action. If the political will is there - a big caveat for sure.

Massacre in Connecticut - unlikely to ignite debate on gun control

Tragically, it is unlikely that the horrendous mass killing in Connecticut, just a few days after a shooting in a mall in Oregon, will ignite any meaningful debate on gun control in the United States. Each such heart rending tragedy is amazingly enough always followed by its twin tragedy - the near complete absence of any real move to really regulate the ownership of guns. Any move in the right direction is almost always labeled as an attempt to "politicize" the issue. Sadly, some commentators on news-blogs will even use this occasion to promote more gun ownership - using the "logic" that such incidents could be prevented by arming everyone.

"The House I Live In" - on the American war on Drugs

Here is a powerful documentary on the tragic consequences of the American "war on drugs"

The House I Live In

The new University of California logo and the slickfication of everything

The furor over the new University of California logo signals both the profound transformation in the "business" of higher education as well as the unease with the increasing pattern of rationalization that results in "institutional isomorphism" (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983)  - or the situation where different organizations with very distinctive goals, practices and histories acquire formal similarities. As the "image consultants" laugh all the way to the bank and plan to be back in a few years for more,   the venerable UC logo that used to feature an open book, with a light shining on it accompanied by the words "let there be light" is now a deep blue U and a barely decipherable bright yellow C. The staple of all university logos - a motto expressing some overall value, is missing. Not even a slick, marketing slogan. During these cash-strapped times for public universities, perhaps the C stands for the not so implicit "let there be cash"?

The new UC logo

a sad sign for higher education

DiMaggio, Paul J. and Walter W. Powell. 1983. "The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields." American Sociological Review 48:147-160.

Harvard University - a giant hedge fund?

And interesting piece characterizing Harvard University as a giant hedge fund with some students and faculty members attached to it. As the writer puts it:

"Harvard’s Division of Arts and Sciences—the central core of academic activity—contains approximately 450 full professors, whose annual salaries tend to average the highest at any university in America. Each year, these hundreds of great scholars and teachers receive aggregate total pay of around $85 million. But in fiscal 2004, just the five top managers of the Harvard endowment fund shared total compensation of $78 million, an amount which was also roughly 100 times the salary of Harvard’s own president. These figures clearly demonstrate the relative importance accorded to the financial and academic sides of Harvard’s activities.

Unlike universities, the business model of large and aggressive hedge funds is notoriously volatile, and during the 2008 Financial Crisis, Harvard lost $11 billion on its net holdings, teetering on the verge of bankruptcy as its highly illiquid assets could not easily be redeployed to cover hundreds of millions of dollars in ongoing capital commitments to various private equity funds. The desperate hedge fund—ahem, academic institution—was forced to borrow $2.5 billion from the credit markets, lay off hundreds of university employees, and completely halt construction work on a huge expansion project, ultimately surviving and later recovering in much the same way as did Goldman Sachs or Citibank.

Harvard University - a giant hedge fund?

Satirist Tom Lehrer on Quantification in Sociology

Tom Lehrer on a certain kind of quantification in Sociology - "The Sociology Song"

Tom Lehrer on Sociology

Vijay Prashad on Real News

The Prashad Report Israel, Palestine, Drones etc. on Real News

The Prashad Report

"Land Grab" in Africa by Indian companies

"Land grab" in Africa by Indian companies - following in the footsteps of other companies who are already there. the nineteenth century "scramble for africa" is not quite over...

Land Grab in Africa by India

American exceptionalism on the rights of the disabled

"The treaty, already signed by 155 nations and ratified by 126 countries, including Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, states that nations should strive to assure that the disabled enjoy the same rights and fundamental freedoms as their fellow citizens. Republicans objected to taking up a treaty during the lame-duck session of the Congress and warned that the treaty could pose a threat to U.S. national sovereignty.

"I do not support the cumbersome regulations and potentially overzealous international organizations with anti-American biases that infringe upon American society," said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.

He and other opponents were not swayed by support for the treaty from some of the GOP's prominent veterans, including the 89-year-old Dole, who was disabled during World War II; Sen. John McCain, who also suffered disabling injuries in Vietnam; Sen. Dick Lugar, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee; and former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh. Eight Republicans voted to approve the treaty."

American Exceptionalism on the rights of the disabled

the presentation of self at seminars

In his memoir The Gatekeeper, Terry Eagleton has a hilarious section where he sketches out portraits of members of the audience who ostensibly seek to contribute to the discussion at seminars and conferences.  In the same spirit, with more than a little help from Erving Goffman, here are some of my observations on "The Presentation of Self at Seminars and Conferences"

1. Although many attend seminars to hear and, more importantly, to be heard, there will always be that person who under the guise of asking a question will preface his/her query (if it is ever articulated), by an extensive, well prepared and honed statement about their own research, publications - existing as well as forthcoming. In the company of a really relevant audience (consumers), the temptations of selling oneself and accumulating career capital are hard to resist. A minority of those who cannot help but operate in this mode actually manage to get to a genuine question at the end of their sales pitch.

2. Members of another tribe will begin to vigorously nod in agreement, ostensibly to signal their enthusiastic agreement with the speaker -  even before the speaker has made any significant claims. Once in a while I have worried about the more enthusiastic nodders sustaining serious neck injury. Eventually, many of these congenital head shakers, particularly those who make it a point to sit quite close to the speaker, fall asleep. Not sure whether the rhythmic rocking of the head eventually induces sleep, or whether the manic rocking was actually meant to (unsuccessfully) resist a sleep attack. In either case, when they periodically force themselves to wake up, the action can sometimes be camouflaged - with a little tacit support from others who are in the know but do not want to disrupt the performance of the seminar - as a particularly vigorous expression of agreement with the speaker.

3. Then there are those who while not specifically in the business of self-advertizing, when given the chance to comment or ask a question, will ramble on forever. A colleague of mine who once chaired a seminar in which one such rambler really took up about ten minutes, concluded the session by thanking "both the speakers".

4. Then there those who come armed with their Mac Airs. They also shake and nod their heads vigorously as they type away energetically. Some of them are possibly taking notes. One suspects that a few might actually be helping themselves to the ideas presented at the seminars - in an era of "publish and perish", an efficient way to write a paper without too much effort. Some MacAir owners are also busy googling and fact checking. When they finally get a chance to ask a question, they can appear confident and eminently knowledgeable about facts acquired a few minutes earlier.

5. There are others who take special delight in pouncing on, attacking and ridiculing the speaker of the day. A heckler-lite as it were. On one memorable occasion, one such almost heckler lite got more than he expected when the speaker upped the ante in the ridicule register. "Look, I don't come to these seminar series to be insulted!" responded the academic heckler. To which the speaker coolly retorted "Well, why don't you go where you usually go for your weekly dose of insults?"

Christian Parenti's _Tropic of Chaos_

Democracy Now interviews Christian Parenti on his book _Tropic of Chaos_ on climate change

Christian Parenti _Tropic of Chaos_

The Vote on statehood for Palestine at the UN

For the record - the countries that voted against statehood for Palestine at the UN

"Voting "no" Thursday were Israel, the United States and Canada, joined by the Czech Republic, Panama and several Pacific island nations: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. "

Gilad Sharon on "A Decisive Conclusion" in Gaza

Without comment - Gilad Sharon, son of Ariel Sharon on Gaza in The Jerusalem Post (18th November 2012)

"We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too."

Nice take on the Occupy Movment

Here's a great take by Marco Giugni on the Occupy Movement - particularly for those who are impatient with the obvious lack of its immediate effects...

Long term possibilities of the Occupy Movment

Lindsey Graham's "angry white guys"

Despite absurd claims about the disappearance of racial politics after Obama's first election and then re-election, republican  Lindsey Graham's response to Mitt Romney's loss was that the complaint about there not being enough "angry white guys" for the republican party to do well.

Lindsey Graham's "angry white guys"

South Korea shuts down two nuclear reactors

South Korea, unsure of the effects of uncertified parts used in their construction, shut down two nuclear reactors. This is good news, even though, all nuclear reactors - even and especially those built with certified and proper components - represent a demonstrably lose-lose situation for everyone. Except for those who, thanks to the massive subsidies offered by governments everywhere, benefit financially in the short term.

South Korea shuts down two nuclear reactors

mutant butterflies and radioactive fish in fukushima, japan

Mutant butterflies in Fukushima, butterflies. And record radiation found in fish caught off the coast in Fukushima - with grave implications for the food-chain

mutant butterflies in fukushima

highly radioactive fish

New York Times On Warrantless Surveillance and Wire-Tapping

A recent editorial in the New York Times on the case against warrantless wire-tapping


New York Times editorial on warrantless wiretapping

Eric Alterman on the American Elections and the Media Circus

When one thinks the mainstream media coverage of the American presidential elections couldn't possibly get any worse, it does. Here's _The Nation's_Eric Alterman on the hows and the whys of the abysmal state of affairs:

Eric Alterman on the media coverage of the American elections

President Obama on "the Indispensable Nation"

Some years ago Madeleine Albright claimed that the United States was the "indispensable nation". Not sure what the dispensable nations thought about this claim. During the so-called debates, President Obama sort of recycled the same words of wisdom by reassuring voters that his nation's status was still the same. As he put it,

“America remains the one indispensable nation...." President Obama

The dispensable nations are still not sure about what to make of this claim. Since they are quite dispensable, it probably does not matter what folks in those nations, think.

Homi Bhabha and Indian languages

Apparently Prof. Homi Bhabha of Harvard University, born and brought up in India where he graduated from with his first university degree, is not quite at home with any major Indian language. Strange, but as he himself admits it, all too true.

"Do you feel incapacitated because of a lack of access to major Indian languages?

Yes, I do. There is not much I can do about it. And I can't blame the West for it."

homi bhabha on linguistic options

the toilet rights movement in India

Unsurprisingly, narratives of India shining do not include the fact that a majority of the people in India have no access to toilets. This fact should naturally create a stink, but it mostly does not because the people who are excluded from this basic right are not from the urban middle-class. However, open defecation can be witnessed, and smelled, not just in remote rural areas, but along the railway tracks as well as other wooded areas in all major and minor Indian cities. The problem is particularly acute for women in the rural areas who, due to obvious safety concerns - from other predatory humans as well as snake-bites - have to hold it until it's dark or get to it before dawn breaks. As a result of this inhuman exercise of patience, thousands are afflicted with serious urinary tract infections. The situation is simply beyond belief, but not really on the radar screen of the official policy makers since it obviously does not affect them directly.

Farah Naqvi A Loo of One's Own

Toilet Museum in India

Malise Ruthven on the stink in India

The fact that an Indian sociologist -  Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak - is doing something about it through his Sulabh International, is a good start. And the fact that Mr. Jairam Ramesh, an Indian minister, who unlike most other politicians is actually focusing on this issue helps too.

Sociologist Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak

It is however, the proverbial long battle. But the lack of action on this critical issue generates more than stench and stink. It is a serious health issue that affects millions. It is also an issue of basic human dignity.

Governor Pawlenty becomes a lobbyist for Wall Street

Given other global and local events, this bit of news did not get much air-time, but Tim Pawlenty, the ex-Governor of Minnesota who was hoping to be selected as the VP running mate of Mitt Romney, quit as the co-chair of Romney's campaign to become the chief executive for Financial Services Roundtable, a Wall Street lobbying company.

 C. Wright Mills would have been surprised!

Governor Pawlenty becomes a wall street lobbyist

"WASHINGTON - Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday ruled out a run for political office in Minnesota in 2014, leaving Republicanswithout a top prospect in what are expected to be competitive races for U.S. Senate and governor.

Advisor Brian McClung told The Associated Press that Pawlentyruled out the races as he prepares to take a new job as chief executive of The Financial Services Roundtable, a Wall Streetlobbying group."  (www.newsday.com)

"Pawlenty was rumored to be a contender for both the Republican president and vice president nominations during the 2008 election, and he officially sought the 2012 Republican presidential nomination from May to August 2011. After withdrawing from that race, he became a finalist to join his party's nominee on the 2012 ticket as its vice presidential candidate.^[2] Pawlenty was not selected as Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate, but served as co-chair of Romney's campaign. He subsequently quit Romney's campaign to become a Washington lobbyist for financial institutions.^{[3]" (wikipedia)}

the american presidential debates

it seems a tad unfair to expect the public to ponder weighty issues such as divining the "winner" of the american presidential debate. sure, self-appointed commentators on the airwaves do provide the necessary cues for the clueless, both before and after the debates. still, given the existence of exacting standards for pretty much everything in this world, it seems a bit odd that the participants in the debates are not graded by non-self-appointed experts according to strict, objective and of course scientific criteria. as the following from a recent BBC report indicates, the general public appears uncertain and confused.

"Half of uncommitted voters in a CBS poll said Mr Biden had won the encounter, with Mr Ryan receiving 31%. A CNN poll of registered voters said that Mr Ryan was the winner by 4 points."

how could this be? in the age of smart phones and drones that can be controlled from thousands of miles away, such fuzziness is not simply inexcusable but possibly not good for such a vibrant and healthy democracy. there is no reason why a commission, funded by the same corporate conglomerate that sets the rules and organizes the debates, to study the feasibility of creating metrics necessary for calibrating and grading each performance should not be struck. the criteria could of course include a whole range of variables - from whether the candidate does or does not make total eye contact with the camera while making a weighty point, to the measurement of facial contortions when making snide remarks or smirking. since the debates are recorded, the results based on objective fool-proof evaluation could easily be made available immediately after the jousting is over. like the photo-finish at the olympics. perhaps even faster. at some point, cheer leaders too could be added to enhance the super-bowl festive atmosphere. but, in the interests to objectivity and detachment, this ought to be done only after the technology to factor out the cheer leaders' sounds from the technological grading has been developed and refined enough to prevent bias.

in the unlikely event of a technological glitch, there's always the fool-proof totally objective criterion: "which candidate can you imagine having a beer with with?" quiz to fall back on.

an unlikely capitalist

an unlikely capitalist, but not quite. many others in the past have realized that the current trajectory unregulated capitalism will eventually ruin everyone and everything, including the environment and of course, the capitalists too. as marx put it, it's really a choice between  'socialism or the common ruin of all'. for the moment we seem to be on course for the latter outcome....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8OfEKXRoE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmbwc5NznDo&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXVPSLrC5rs&feature=related

the American presidential debate

Apparently the so-called presidential debate was "lost" by Obama because he did not look directly into the camera while making some point or the other. The political theatre, as most everyone knows, is heavily choreographed, with advance agreement on topics that can and cannot be touched and discussed. Yet, everyone also loves a show and reality TV. Besides, the airwaves and newsprint columns need to be filled by intricate analyses of style or lack thereof. So it goes. More "debates" to follow.

Michael Ignatieff on the annals of political science

Michael Ignatieff:

"America's empire is not like empires of times past, built on colonies, conquest and the white man's burden ... The 21st century imperium is a new invention in the annals of political sciences, an empire lite, a global hegemony whose grace notes are free markets, human rights and democracy, enforced by the most awesome military power the world has ever known." 

The absurdity of his proposition was quite obvious at the time he made it, so no comment is necessary...except for the fact that the hyperbole "new invention in the annals of political science" appears to be his favourite. Here he is, writing about a decade later on Syria:

"A loose alliance of struggling capitalist democracies now finds itself face to face with two authoritarian despotisms—Russia and China—something new in the annals of political science..."

new in the annals of political science

Eric Hobsbawm 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012

Cliched though it may sound, the passing away of Eric Hobsbawm represents the end of an era. It is not very often that the death of an historian is covered by all the major dailies in the world, particularly if the historian in question happens to be an unrpentant Marxist. But then again, it is not very often that the work of an historian so dramatically influences how we think about our past and about ourselves.

"Social injustice still needs to be denounced and fought," he said. "The world will not get better on its own."

Almost all major newspapers in the world published obituaries and remembrances of this incredible thinker. And not unexpectedly, the most important of all Indian dailies _The Hindu_ carried not one, not two, but four appreciations of his life and work:


Remembering Eric Hobsbawm The Hindu

Eric Hobsbawm Times Literary Supplement

Eric Hobsbawm The Guardian

The Times of India

The Toronto Star

Eric Hobsbawm Washington Post

Eric Hobsbawm Montreal Gazette

Eric Hobsbawm Hindustan Times

Eric Hobsbawm BBC

Eric Hobsbawm The Nation

Eric Hobsbawm in quotes

Ha-Joon Chang on the economic crisis in Europe

A great piece by the Cambridge University economist Ha-Joon Chang in _The Guardian_. If only all academics could write with such lucidity!

Ha-Joon Chang on the European economic crisis

Globe and Mail's columnist Margaret Wente accused of Plagiarism

Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente has never been short of smug, self-righteous indignation when taking on people, social movements or ideas that deviate from her ideologically world-view. Indeed, in all her columns she never betrayed any hint of self-doubt and never gave the impression that she was not perfect.  Now that she has been accused  of plagiarism by Carol Wainio, a University of Ottawa professor, she makes the surprising admission that she, of all the people is not only not perfect but sometimes she even make mistakes:

"I’m far from perfect. I make mistakes"

In her latest column, she begins with what appears to be an apology of sorts, but by adopting the best-defence-is-offence strategy:

But I’m not a serial plagiarist. What I often am is a target for people who don’t like what I write.

Plagiarism is of course nothing new, but it so happens that Wente herself had expressly railed indignantly against plagiarism in an earlier Globe and Mail column. Here is what she wrote sometime ago:

"When I was a kid…if you were caught plagiarizing, you got a zero”

She now claims that: "I haven’t always lived up to my own standards". Not sure what her own standards are, but most of her columns have always displayed fairly low standards - unless ideological bubbles, unintended humour and lack of irony count constitute the measures.

After the plagiarism accusations, an editor of the Globe and Mail announced that "appropriate action" will be taken but did not bother to elaborate on what that would be.

Link to Carol Wainio's blog:

Media Culpa Carol Wainio's blog

"Taking it Big" A New Book on C. Wright Mills by Stanley Aronowitz

Excited, indeed salivating at the prospect of getting a hold of and enjoying a new book on C. Wright Mills by Stanley Aronowitz. Among other things, the work on Mills demonstrates the importance of "big picture" sociology where already existing concepts and theories are deployed for making sense of the current social and political predicaments. The title of the book comes from the Mills's constant refrain "Take it Big" to his graduate students. Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, overwrought theoretical discussions of theory ("heavy-duty theoretical bullshit" as Mills labeled it) and methodological discussions of methodology that Mills so incisively analyzed, criticized and lampooned continues. In some ways, the narrow "professionalization" (in the bad sense of the term) of Sociology is inevitable and not all of it is necessarily totally useless nor always driven only by the compulsions of career capital accumulation. However, more often than not, the "professional" game ceases to be worth the candle. Witness the ceaseless proliferation of mostly pointless neologisms or the splitting of theoretical hair merely to claim novelty and distinction.

Many of Mills detractors assume that he was merely an ideological ranter unconcerned with the so-called facts of the issues he investigated and unwilling to honour the norms of professional research.  Of course, anyone who has actually read and engaged with his work would know that this is far from the truth - with the pragmatic small "t" of course! As Mills himself pointed out, "I claim to be objective. I do not claim to be detached" (paraphrasing the exact quote). As his collaborator and friend Hans Gerth as pointed out, the passion that fuelled his sociology was broadly informed by the title of one of Paul Gauguin's paintings - "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going"?

Aronowitz plies his sociological craft in the spirit of C. Wright Mills and his new book promises to be an engaging read.


Taking it Big by Stanley Aronowitz

"The Meltdown of Reason"

Neither time nor energy to write...enough time though to link a recent editorial in _The Hindu_ on the ongoing struggle against nuclear power in Tamil Nadu:

Meltdown of Reason

Ten years after "The Karma of the Brown Folk" - Vijay Prashad

Vijay Prashad interview with Brown Town Magazine

Vijay Prashad in Browntown interview

Anti-Nuclear Protesters at Kudankulam face Police Action

A few months ago, the anti-nuclear protesters at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, India were offered psychotherapy to "cure" them of their affliction. Yesterday they faced police action. Right on cue, the Union Home Minister Mr. Shinde detected a "foreign hand" behind the anti-nuclear protest as he re-cycled myths about unlimited "clean" energy allegedly indispensable for "development".  Predictably, the protesters were branded "anti-national" by some commentators in the media. Meanwhile, many prominent scholars and activists such as Yogendra Yadav, Shanti Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal came out in support of the anti-nuclear activists and condemned the police action.

The full report and an editorial in _The Hindu_

Anti-Nuclear Protest turns violent in India

Editorial in _The Hindu_

Yadav, Bhushan and Kejriwal condemn police action

Vijay Prashad on Occupy

Vijay Prashad on Occupy:

Vijay Prashad on Occupy

Tony Judt on "Bush's Useful Idiots"

Tony Judt on "Bush's Useful Idiots"


Bush's Useful Idiots

Political Philosopher and Theorist Sheldon Wolin

Sheldon Wolin, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Princeton University is a remarkable "theorist" who, unlike many other "theorists", is allergic to pompous, vacuous abstractions. His recent book, Democracy Incorporated (Princeton University Press) in which he expands on his concept of "inverted totalitarianism" is, like his other works, extremely insightful. His lucidity comes from deep learning and understanding that contrasts with the "theoretical" obfuscation from self-conscious "theorists" that usually arises from an admixture of insecurity and either a half-baked understanding of the role of "theory" in illuminating critical aspects of society or perhaps a cynical playing of the academic game of one-up-personship.

Here is Sheldon Wolin an interview with Bill Moyers.

Sheldon Wolin part 1

Sheldon Wolin 2

And here is the brilliant and articulate Chris Hedges on Wolin's concept of "inverted totalitarianism"

Chris Hedges on "Inverted Totalitarianism"

"Hardnews" from India

For those sick of the total dumbing down and "slickification" of news,  here's an exciting newsmagazine from India. Highly recommended!

Eight years ago, Hardnews was conceived as a reaction to the dumbing down that was taking place in the mainstream media. Newspapers, magazines and television were celebrating trivia and giving precedence to lifestyle and fluff. It was (and continues to be) a phase of terrible political and social decline, with stunning mediocrity and celebrity success replacing aesthetic refinements, deeper intellectual pursuits and cultural high points. The big picture had become shallow and metro-centric. Hence the urge and need for hard news. 

Hardnews had no pretensions to compete with what was called the “jute press” of the yore or the new money that is showing up in scores of TV channels or media outlets, since it does not have the funds to match their reach. Unmindful of its obvious limitations, it has, however, tried to give expression to old-fashioned public-spirited journalism that is angry, adversarial and irreverent. Search of truth is the lodestar for us, even if at times it is seen as unpopular and controversial. 

Hardnews believes that tough, unsparing oversight of the government and other political and economic power centres is critical for the deepening of democracy. It believes fervently in giving ‘mainstream’ space and voice to those people who are shouted down, who constitute the silent scaffolding of the pluralist, secular Indian ethos at the vast margins. 

Hardnews is entirely owned and run by media professionals and has no support of a corporate house or a political party. Central to its existence is the search to find ways and means to sustain an independent media in these difficult times. 

Hardnews magazine and its new website are put together by media professionals who are conscious of smart design elements, responsible, original and quality writing. Many reckon it is one of the best-designed magazines in the country. 

We have had a galaxy of eminent writers, including Indian, South Asian and western academics, policy-experts and seasoned journalists. In the coming days, we hope to network with a global network of veteran and new, old and young writers, journalists, thinkers, academics,artists and activists and others who are fighting injustice at different levels. It will explore new, in-depth intellectual limits, and push the threshold beyond the comfort zones of political, social and cultural conformity — stuff that no one wants to touch. 


Hardnews India

Jayati Ghosh on wage-led growth in Argentina

The economist Jayati Ghosh on wage-led growth in Argentina and lessons for the rest of the world:

Jayati Ghosh on wage-led growth in Argentina

Monsanto and Genetically Modified Crops in India

To some extent, the news that genetically modified cotton or Bt Cotton is not the panacea that was promised to Indian farmers is of course no news at all. Monsanto has near monopoly over the sterile seeds and its cultivation has, not unexpectedly, led to the obliteration of a wide variety of cotton crops. What has been in the news, thanks to P. Sainath and others, is the horror of tens of thousands of farmers who unable to recoup their investment in capital intensive agricultural inputs and technologies, have committed suicides, usually by ingesting the very pesticides that were meant for the Bt cotton crops. 

Now comes the news even the farmers who were supposedly thriving after taking advantage of the new pest resistant seeds and inputs supplied by the biotech companies such as Monsanto, now have their crops infested by the very pests they were supposedly immune to. Yet another entirely predictable and indeed predicted major crisis is unfolding in Telangana.

According to recent report in _The Hindu_: 

"Cotton farmers across Telangana are in for rude a shock with Bt cotton being attacked by bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, the very pest that it is supposed to resist and repel, in large areas of Warangal and neighbouring districts."

BT Cotton Crisis in India

Meanwhile, although so far the pressure to introduce genetically modified brinjals or eggplants have been resisted, one should not be complacent about the range of forces allied with the biotech corporations that seek to provide chimerical "solutions" to India's food security. In this important and revealing interview with Basudeb Acharia, Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, the imminent dangers of relying on genetically modified crops and intense pressures that are currently being brought to bear upon the government of India are highlighted:

genetically modified crops no panacea for food security

Despite the ongoing crisis and the tragedy of continuing suicides of farmers, it is likely that with the expected exceptions such as The Hindu, Frontline and Outlook, the Indian media will continue to be pre-occupied with the tantrums of celebrities ranging from Bollywood stars to Anna Hazare. 

Nandini Sundar on Chattisgarh and the "Maoist" issue

Nandini Sundar's (Professor of Sociology at Delhi University, India) insightful analyses of and possible steps towards a peaceful resolution of the "Maoist issue" in Chattisgarh and beyond. Published in a recent issue of "Outlook" magazine.

Nandini Sundar on Chattisgarh

"After the killing of 17 civilians in Kottaguda, Bijapur, the SP of Bijapur reportedly told a reporter, “It is difficult to differentiate between Naxals and villagers.  They all have voter ID cards and ration cards. On regular days, they take part in farming activities and at other times, they help the Naxals. In effect, they are also Naxals.” The CRPF, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and senior ministers at the Centre also went on to talk of ‘human shields’ and tried to obfuscate the killing of unarmed children attending a meeting in their own village by bringing in the Maoist recruitment of child soldiers.  The latter needs to be condemned but is a different issue altogether.

What is shocking in the Kottaguda case is not just the massacre itself but the cover up that followed and the refusal to observe the basic laws of war, despite evidence that many of those killed were minors, and all were unarmed. Magisterial enquiries and even judicial enquiries ordered by the Chhattisgarh government are designed as eyewashes – the few that have been ordered in response to public protest have been pending for years. As for revising the standard operating procedures to be followed by the CRPF and police – the fruits are already before us. In response to the killing of a constable in Orcha on August 1st, the police have ransacked all the shops in the village. 

As armed conflict spreads to more parts of the country and the frontlines are drawn through homes and fields, it is imperative that the security forces and politicians are trained in basic humanitarian law.  Noting the growing problem of ‘farmers by day turning fighters by night’ on the one hand, as well as the increasing use of state sponsored vigilantism on the other, whereby civilians are brought in to fight the government’s war, the ICRC has come out with a useful advisory on when a civilian is entitled to protection under the Geneva conventions, especially Common Article 3 to which India is a signatory (see http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/feature/2009/direct-participation-ihl-feature-020609.htm). All those who are not members either of the state armed forces or organized armed groups are entitled to protection ‘unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities’. And only those persons will be considered members of an organized armed group who have ‘continuous combat functions’. Providing information or supplies to Maoists, or attending village meetings even with Maoists present does not in any sense constitute direct participation in hostilities or justify killing unarmed villagers. 

But the level of impunity is such in this country that we will go on, with the state become ever more lawless while it intensifies the use of drones and Israeli style decapitation policies where leaders are targeted, and the Maoists resorting to desperate measures like kidnapping. In the meantime, citizens are being reduced to ciphers, with even their status as civilians questioned. Is there a way out and is there any hope that the political class will seek it?  Currently the scenario for peace talks appears bleak but it is the only possible and lasting solution and one that civil society must struggle for.

The security establishment is against peace talks on the grounds that it will provide time for Maoists to regroup. They argue that talks are only possible if the Maoists give up arms (though the language may be of “abjuring violence”). At the same time, however, no politician can afford to be seen as closed to peace talks. Hence, the cover up of the Azad killing as an ‘encounter’ since shooting the messenger would directly implicate the Home Ministry.  For the government nothing hinges on peace talks – it has endless money and time to continue with repressive holding operations as the experience of both Kashmir and the Northeast has shown us. Some amount of ‘development’ will also give a veneer of concern and legitimacy to the government, and the government is hoping that the expansion of jobs in the paramilitary and reserve battalions  - the only sphere where public employment is expanding - will buy them support among youth. And finally, since all political parties are united on their militarist approach, there is no political pressure to act, and no one to challenge the government to ‘abjure’ its own violence.   

The Maoists are skeptical about peace talks since both in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal peace talks have proved fatal for Maoist presence and organization.  They have led to police infiltration of ranks, and in West Bengal, the major PCPA leaders have either been arrested or have joined the TMC to save themselves. The Maoists also feel that talks will lead to no basic change, since there is no way the government will give up trying to capture all the adivasi areas for mining, or give people land rights. The experience of the AP peace talks where they came up with a list of areas around Hyderabad which had been illegally given to corporates is one indicator, as is the failure of the government to keep any of its promises in the recent hostage cases. The CPI ML Liberation experience in Bihar shows that revolutionary parties find it hard to compete with the money of bourgeois parliamentary parties when it comes to elections.  But at the same time, the Maoists are more likely to engage in peace talks than the government because the adivasis are their main constituency and they need respite.   

Even though human rights activists say they want peace, in fact, many of them are ambivalent.  One view is that since non-violent activism has been unable to prevent mass arrests or mining in other areas of the country, why stop the Maoists from continuing their fight?  The parceling out of North Chhattisgarh – and now potentially Saranda in Jharkhand  - to mining companies reinforces the notion that the Maoists are the only bulwark against the wholescale decimation of adivasis for corporate loot.  After the killings of Kishenji and Azad, potential mediators are worried about being implicated in endangering the lives of Maoist leaders. The long drawn ennui of the Naga peace talks – where people’s aspirations are being co-opted or ground into internecine conflict – also does little to inspire faith in peace talks as a political tool. In the absence of a strong movement for peace and justice, there is a sad tendency among activists to get diverted in personalized campaigns for the release of certain individuals while thousands of prisoners languish in jail on false charges, and to play to the radical gallery from the comfort of their urban spaces.  

Contrary to all three positions, there is need for peace in and of itself. After such prolonged conflict people need breathing space, but so does the government in order to assess where its policies have been going. For the last seven years villagers across central India  - especially but not only in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa - have lived in fear of sudden attacks by the police and combing operations, and thousands have been jailed. The government has been hoping that the more difficult life gets for them, the less they will support Maoists, but the experience of Salwa Judum shows that this has boomeranged into having just the opposite effect. While people need respite, they also need justice. Urban India, on the other hand, is fed with almost daily news of Maoist attacks on police, informers and infrastructure. The government is hoping that in this kind of situation any attack on civil liberties and activists will be seen as justified, but as the Maruti incident showed us, urban India is also waiting to explode. 

The current policy of killing Maoist leaders is likely to lead to an increasing number of fake Maoist groups, some of which are already being supported by the IB. While long term conflict may suit the police and paramilitary forces who gain in unaccounted for security related expenditure, it will mean disaster for everyone else. The proliferation of underground groups in the Northeast and their extortion demands are clearly before us. In the absence of experienced leaders it is also harder to control cadre who may resort to measures like kidnapping on their own.

Above all, the country needs a democratic space to re-imagine its future. This is precisely what the Concerned Citizens Committee was struggling to achieve in the run up to peace talks in Andhra Pradesh in 2004. While many claimed that those talks were a failure, on the contrary, they showed what determined citizens can and should do. But to last, any such peace must be a just peace – it cannot be a peace on the government’s terms alone or the Maoist terms alone such as the boycott of elections. It must be a peace that takes into account people’s need for basic rights, control over their own resources, and the need for democracy at both the village level and up the political chain to Delhi. 

In the interim, there are many steps that can be taken. To start with, we could have an all party team that visits ‘Maoist areas’ and talks to ordinary people and not just chief ministers and DGPs, and a semi-permanent group of interlocutors who will have sustained discussions on peace talks, as against the knee jerk use of mediators in times of hostage crises.  Second, a just peace would recognize the violence inflicted on people, and rest upon both a political and material apology by the government. This has been long overdue both in Kashmir and the Northeast, but maybe central India can serve as a model for a truth and reconciliation commission, followed by a judicial commission that would grant amnesty to all those arrested on political charges. And third, there are all kinds of potential political and administrative steps that could be taken – such as the creation of adivasi dominated states like Gondwana (Dandakaranya), Bhilistan, and a redrawn Jharkand, greater cultural and economic autonomy to these states, including the right of local communities to decide how their land should be used and whether and on what terms they want to lease it to private companies.  

We have two years left till 2014 – we can either waste it and sink further into civil war or rise above ourselves and forge a new future. "

Indians in Australia

Over a decade ago at a party in Singapore, a more than slightly inebriated graduate student who had just arrived from India turned to me and mumbled "Indian culture is the BEST culture in the world." Yes, he emphasized the word "best". "What do you mean?" I responded. "Well, you know what I mean." I said I did not. He walked away with a half-smirk on his face. He had just arrived from India, and was obviously going though the simultaneously painful and exhilarating process of dealing with a dramatically different cultural environment. The absurdity of descriptors such as the "best" culture or the "best" country was highlighted once by the American comedian Bill Maher who had fun poking fun at some fellow-Americans - and non-American unhinged nationalists - who sometimes proclaim that their nation is without a doubt, "the best". Well, pointed out Maher, it's like claiming my "wife, husband, partner" is the best. Sure, he/she may be best for somebody, but not necessarily for everyone else.

In a recent BBC piece on recent Indian migrants to Australia, some of the respondents express similar sentiments. According to Amitabh Mattoo, an academic who has just recently re-located from Delhi to Melbourne:

"There is something unique about India and even though it is a difficult country and you want to probably work elsewhere, there is something about the richness of Indian culture and the affection of the people around you which keeps pulling you back," said Professor Amitabh Mattoo, the Kashmiri-born director of the Australia-India Institute at the University of Melbourne.

"Of course, then there is also nostalgia, which can often make you dream about things that probably didn't exist," he added.

Of course there is something unique about every country or even locale within the same country, and yes, all cultures are "rich" - at least for those who happen to be immersed in it. 

The narratives of imminent return to one's place of birth are also quite predictable, the chances of such sentiments fuelling social action are rare. 

Another respondent, when asked if he ever thinks of going back, says: 

 "There's a very good chance it might be sooner than I realise."

More than a century ago Max Weber wrote about the "persistent effect of the old ways and of childhood reminiscences [that] continues as a source of native-country sentiment among emigrants even  when they have become so thoroughly adjusted to the new country that return to their homeland would be intolerable -this being the car of most German-Americans, for example" (Economy and Society, Vol. 1, p. 388)

It is however not just the immigrant who tries to adjust to or rejects a new cultural environment. The cultural environment they move to also, slowly but surely as the cliche goes, is also transformed in the process. Part of this process also involves - globalization and hybridization notwithstanding -  varying degrees of cultural chauvinism and ethnocentrism, both from the "host" culture as well as the new arrivals. And then there is of course the outright racism that taps into and feeds off these powerful emotions and structural locations. As well as the defensive and reactive chauvinism of those dealing with the challenges of dealing with a new structural and cultural environment.

Indians in Australia