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Vortex in Bengal.
Violence in West Bengal's western districts has reached crisis proportions. Each day, one or more cadre member or sympathizer of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPM] is killed either by Maoists or the Trinamul Congress (TMC). The total figure is now over two hundred dead since late 2007 (most are members and supporters of…
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Bad Sufi
The Bad Sufi A look at the practise of Contemporary Sufism in Pakistan.  It is often assumed that Sufism stands opposed to Wahhabism. Wrong. Sufism and Wahhabism, in fact, share a fatal characteristic – they are religions of the status quo.  In Pakistan, Sufism legitimises barbarities of inequality and starvation – ‘do nothing, it’s god’s…
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Christian Communists, Islamic Anarchists?
In Part 1 of this article we argued that Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou's account of the foundation of Communist universalism in the event of Christianity signals a number of inconsistencies immanent to their respective ontologies (Coombs 2009).  For Žižek it appears difficult to reconcile his touted open interpretation of Hegel with the ontological significance he accords…
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Running down the wrong road
Vijay Prashad considers the regional alternative to troop escalation in Afghanistan, and suggests its neighbours are ready to take on the burden of stabilising the country - but only if the US doesn't use their efforts to build its empire. This article has been cross-posted from THE SAMOSA More US troops are being prepared for Afghanistan. The President charged…
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On Frantz Fanon
Forward to Black Skin, White Masks By Zia Sardar. Black Skin, White Masks by Franz Fanon, Pluto, London, 2008 http://www.plutobooks.com/cgi-local/main.pl I think it would be good if certain thing were said Franz Fanon.   Fanon and the Epidemiology of Oppression (Direct quotations from Black Skin, White Masks are set in italics) The opening gambit of Black Skin, White Masks ushers us…
INTERVIEWS Uncategorized
‘Between Art and Life’: NP Interview with Arthur Danto
From Naked Punch 03,  Summer, 2005. NP: We’re familiar with the discontinuity between art produced before, say, the 14th century, and art produced after that period, with the earlier work being almost exclusively religious or devotional in character. The devotional and religious meanings really structured people’s relations to this art: their artistic character didn’t enter into their production,…
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Violent Thoughts About Slavoj Zizek
Slavoj Zizek has been telling lies about me. He attacked a recent book of mine, Infinitely Demanding, in the London Review of Books.[1] Since then, things have gone from bad to worse, but I will spare the reader the grisly details. What I would like to do here is to use this debate as a lever for trying…
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The Violent State
Whose headless body is this Whose scarlet shroud Whose torn and wounded cloak Whose broken voice? (1) I Meditations on violence  The macho encounter between Simon Critchley and Slavoj Zizek over competing ethics of violence staged in the recent Naked Punch Supplement left me with the distinct feeling that violence is too important a matter…