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To be or not to be is not the question â€“ On Beckettâ€™s Film

We never know self-realization. We are two abysses – a well staring at the sky. (Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet) Samuel Beckett wrote just once for the cinema. Film was written in 1963 and first shown publicly in 1965, forty years ago (Beckett 1986, 321-334). Film was shot in New York in 1964, with the opening external shots in Lower…

BySimon Critchley

Janam’s Commitments

On January 4, 1989, Jana Natya Manch (Janam) convened at Jhandapur village, on the outskirts of Delhi, to complete an interrupted play. Three days before, Janam began to perform their play Halla Bol in support of Ramanand Jha's campaign for the Ghaziabad municipal elections. Jha was backed by the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the federation…

ByVijay Prashad

INTERVIEWS Uncategorized

Scoundrel times: Paris, Baghdad, Lahore…Interview with TARIQ ALI

Qalandar Bux Memon and Jacopo Moroni in conversation with Tariq Ali: Jacopo Moroni – Mr. Ali, we would like to begin by concentrating on the recent events in the French banlieues. First of all, it seems undeniable that the events are of fundamental importance for the future political and socio-cultural European landscape, forcing us to grasp for a theoretical understanding…

Israel’s Bankrupt Politics

To this historian of empire, the Israeli onslaught on the captive Palestinians of Gaza strikingly recalls the tactics of colonial counterinsurgency, as recent research by Laleh Khalili at SOAS underlines. Attempting to crush nationalist resistance, the British surrounded civilian populations with barbed wire during the Southern African War, 1899-1902. Aiming to destroy Algerian nationalism, the…

ByJohn Chalcraft

THE LAWYERS AND THE OLD GRANITE BLOCK

First Historical Note by way of Prologue 'Those who sow should eat' [Jo kheray so khai] - this was the slogan upon which the radical and revered Sufi poet Shah Inayat set up, in the 18th century, an agrarian commune. Shah Inayat was born in Multan; in youth he affiliated himself with the Qadiriya…

ByQalandar Bux Memon

Socialism of the 21st Century

Companeros and Companeras: Permit me to bring you the most affectionate and fraternal greetings from our president Evo Morales. He has followed this continental gathering step by step, has followed your discussions with rapt attention. Because of complicated work - pending negotiations on petroleum and minerals – he could not be here with you. He…

ByAlvaro Garcia Linera Vice President of the Republic of Bolivia

INTERVIEWS Uncategorized

Gayatri Spivak, Interviwed by Oscar Guardiola-Rivera

Oscar Guardiola-Rivera: At this point in your life, in your career, how would you cast yourself? Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: I have always had great difficulty casting myself, surely it is others who cast me. I think what I really do is teach. I don’t ever have a sense that I do anything other than teach. I…

ByGayatri Spivak

Sri Lanka’s Common Future by Pradeep Jeganathan

“Every prospect pleases, but only man is vile” goes the racist, colonial refrain, which is still the dominant ‘international’ framing of ‘news’ of the coveted pearl that seems to hang from India’s ear. In this colonial story a ‘model colony’ become a ‘troubled paradise’ after the British left it kindly and quietly. In the hands…

ByPradeep Jeganathan

Further Reflections on Violence By Oscar Guardiola-Rivera

When confronted by the usual line of questioning about the ‘totalitarian’ potential of universal truths, I’m often reminded of the following joke: a group of tourists go on holidays to some exotic location. First they’re taken to the museum where local guides explain the significance of ruined temples, golden idols, and menacing fetishes. Then the…

ByOscar Guardiola-Rivera