-
Viva Castro, the Michelangelo of revolutionaries!
The towering personality of the 20th century has passed away. His achievements and those of Cuba under him are monumental. Forget the fact that he led the charge against the brutal imperial power in the hemisphere. Forget how he and the country survived the ruthless embargo imposed by their monstrous neighbor and not only built…
-
Father Berrigan: For the Children and the Bread
Father Dan Berrigan died yesterday (April 30, 2016). He was one of the leading lights of the antiwar and civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s. Father Berrigan continued his activism till the last days of his life, in recent years protesting against the latest imperialist ventures including the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. During…
-
Patrice Lumumba-Never to forgive, never to forget
The Jewish culture has this very powerful saying, which many Jews especially repeat on a day called the holocaust memorial day: Never to forgive, never to forget. On face value, this statement might seem a bit extreme, especially the “never to forgive” part.
-
Paris Attacks: Collective Moral Blindness Spells Collective Doom
What happened in Paris was heart-wrenching and tragic. My first reaction was intense anger at the monstrous perpetrators. Soon after, it was accompanied by an equally intense anger and sense of frustration at the western reactions that had already started coming in. As a Pakistani who has been living in Europe for some time, there was also…
-
Rational Fools
Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen, coined the term “Rational Fools” nearly 35 years ago. In his famous paper, Sen criticized the first principle of economics: “Every agent is actuated by only self-interest”. On top of this axiom of rational self-interest lie rational action and rational expectations, leading all the way up to the efficiency…
-
Dilip Kumar: The Chekhovian Amateur who redefined acting
Anton Chekhov revolutionized modern playwriting and short stories. And he is one my favorite writers. Thus, I remember being confused when I first read that Hemingway had said the following about him: “Chekhov wrote about 6 good stories. But he was an amateur writer”. I have never quite been able to understand why Hemingway called…
-
Mandela and the Sisyphean quest for freedom!
It was a hot summer’s day. I remember standing in front of his cell in the Robben Island prison. He spent eighteen years of his life there. The cell was very small and a bucket had been provided to him for excrement. But this is not what moved me. What has stayed with me is the…
-
Ali’s Greatest Fight; the sweet science of boxing, the bitter philosophy of dissidence, and the dicey art of jurisprudence
The most exciting fight of the 20th century did not take place in a boxing ring but in the sociopolitical-legal arena. This is the story of Cassius Clay, who changed his name to Muhammad Ali, vs the United States Govt. (With special appearances from the who’s who of the 20th century)
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Realm of the SCENSCI 