The immoralist at the heart of André Gide‘s The Immoralist, Michel, does not travel just anywhere; he travels to French colonies like Algeria and Tunisia; the boys who he meets, is attracted to, and falls in love with, are not just any boys; they are Muslim Arab boys. He is old; they are young. He is white;Continue reading “Gide’s Immoralist And The Existential Necessity Of The Colony”
Tag Archives: colonialism
On Being Both ‘Bad’ And ‘Great’
Recently, in response to Richard Seymour‘s essay on Winston Churchill in Jacobin–one whose tagline read “Churchill was no hero — he was a vile racist fanatical about violence and fiercely supportive of imperialism,” I wrote the following on my Facebook status page: Indians have known this and said this forever. Hopefully, now that a whiteContinue reading “On Being Both ‘Bad’ And ‘Great’”
Oscar López Rivera And FALN Were Right: Puerto Rico Is A US Colony
Oscar López Rivera served many years in prison–before finally having his sentence commuted by Barack Obama earlier this year–for having the temerity to suggest that the US treated Puerto Rico like a colony–and that Puerto Ricans should do something about it, including taking violent measures if necessary, a standpoint forced upon them by the systematicContinue reading “Oscar López Rivera And FALN Were Right: Puerto Rico Is A US Colony”
A Theological Lesson Via Military History
In Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu (J. B Lipincott, New York, 1966, p. 85), Bernard B. Fall describes the build-up which foretold the grim military disaster to unfold at Dien Bien Phu–the lack of adequate defenses and ammunition, the poor tactical location etc–making note, along the way, ofContinue reading “A Theological Lesson Via Military History”
Oscar López Rivera and the Cabanillas
My essay on the Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera “Oscar López Rivera and the Cabanillas” is out in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Please read and share. Oscar’s case–and the miscarriage of justice at the heart of it–deserves to be known and talked about far more widely than it is now. I oweContinue reading “Oscar López Rivera and the Cabanillas”
Steven Salaita, Palestinians, And Autobiography
Last night, along with many Brooklyn College students, faculty (and some external visitors) I attended ‘Silencing Dissent: A Conversation with Steven Salaita, Katherine Franke and Corey Robin‘, organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine. (My previous posts on this event can be found here and here.) As Robin has noted over at his blog,Continue reading “Steven Salaita, Palestinians, And Autobiography”
‘Empire,’ ‘Self-Government,’ and ‘Religious Conflict’
In The Colors of Violence, an attempt to contribute ‘a depth-psychological dimension to the understanding of religious conflict, especially the tensions between Hindus and Muslims [in India]’, Sudhir Kakar writes¹: If Hindu-Muslim relations were in better shape in the past, with much less overt violence, it was perhaps also because of the kind of polityContinue reading “‘Empire,’ ‘Self-Government,’ and ‘Religious Conflict’”
Brawling at Twenty Thousand Feet: The Everest Punchup
The high-altitude slopes of the world’s highest mountain–Mt. Everest–might seem like a strange place to indulge in fisticuffs but that’s precisely what happened on April 27: It takes a lot to rattle Swiss climber Ueli Steck….on April 27, while attempting to climb Mount Everest, it wasn’t the mountain that nearly killed him but a mob ofContinue reading “Brawling at Twenty Thousand Feet: The Everest Punchup”
Samir Chopra 