‘Independence’ Day
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, s
Tory Crimes Against Cinematography
As this glorified JCR election of a Tory leadership contest heaves its way into a second month, the nation will be treated to the unedifying public spectacle of two Oxford alumni flirting with the Conservative Party membership. It’s all a bit Love Island, for retired bigots. However, if you swallo
Sri Lanka Needs a Prayer – But it Also Needs a Revolution
Ten years after the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, terror has returned to plague our country once more. Police reported 250 deaths and over 500 people injured during a series of eight bomb blasts on Easter Sunday. The attacks took place across a number of locations, including three churches and thr
Investigations
A background throb of birds and insects. Then the quiet chanting, tinny and dampened as if playing through a radio. Then the gentle scraping and clacking of tea being made as the black title screen fades to a beautiful palette of browns, and we first see Kusum. My second viewing of Burning Birds fee
The Destruction of Art and Architecture in Delhi
Wandering through the streets of Old Delhi at dawn is unlike anything else. While the crowds of market sellers, imams, and cycle rickshaws lie asleep, the last remaining traces of the Mughal capital loom over you through the morning mist. One discovers a whole new set of marvels on every trip: the m
India, unafraid.
tw: mentions of sexual assault, violence, rape 16th December 2012 – a day that started like any other, but which now marks a turning point in the struggle for women’s rights in India. In South Delhi, 23 year-old physiotherapy intern Jyoti Singh climbed aboard a bus with her male friend. They
The Isis: In conversation with Paul Mason
After spending over a decade at the BBC, Paul Mason became the economics editor for Newsnight, and would later fulfil the same role at Channel 4 News. He famously quit the latter to escape the constraints of the impartiality rules that govern broadcasters in order to fully engage with the political
Free-Speech for Progressives
‘No-platforming’ and freedom of speech are in the news at the moment. Under the new regulations introduced by Universities’ Minister Jo Johnson, academic institutions could be fined if it can be demonstrated that they have suppressed freedom of speech. It’s unclear why it is the role of gove
The Time is Now
‘In order to fulfil my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord’, announced President Donald Trump on June 1st 2017 from the White House. Yet the irony is plain to see as this summer both Texas and Florida were plunged