South Asia Citizens Web

Swamy prefers to shine in solitary splendour as the president of a virtually one-man Janata Party, but has been quick to make common cause with the parivar on issues of crucial importance to it such as Narendra Modi’s nationalist virtues and the reprehensible crimes of religious minorities. Humanity as a whole may not have heard of Andreas Behring Breivik a month ago but was forced to take note of his ’manifesto’ after the Norway massacre of July 23. Subramanian Swamy presents a parallel. The outside world may not have heard much of the Indian politician, but his own manifesto, released through a newspaper article, deserves wider notice.

Simon Johnson, co-author of "13 Bankers" describes the rise of concentrated financial power and the threat it poses to economic well-being. He explains that over the past three decades, a handful of banks became spectacularly large and profitable and used their power and prestige to reshape the political landscape. He argues that the largest banks have become more powerful and more emphatically "too big to fail," with no incentive to change their behavior in the future. Is this setting the stage for another financial crisis, another government bailout, and another increase in our national debt?

Can the governments which consistently let their lawyers down, be trusted to uphold the rights of their people? How much longer will the State fight against its own citizens, inside and outside court, asks Professor Nandini Sundar, the lead petitioner in the Salwa Judum case.

Memories and associations have a strong role to play in creating the fabric of a city’s history. The demolition of the house at 46 Dharmatalla Street, known as Lenin Sarani now, apart from being a pointer to the little value attached to culture in Bengal today, obliterates an entire episode of the Leftist movement in Bengal.

Even though Anders Breivik alone pulled the trigger, the massacre in Norway was by no means the work of Breivik alone. He is a product of years of immersion in a worldwide web of anti-Islamic ideas espoused by cultural purists and nationalists of all stripes. India, it turns out, figures quite prominently in this web of hate. So far, the India connection has been limited in media reports to the 100-odd references to India that appear in Breivik’s massive manifesto, including his ringing defence of ‘Sanatan Dharma movements’.