Battle of Plassey Day – 23rd June

How should we remember the Battle of Plassey Day on 23rd June every year ? Since 2007 Brick Lane Circle has been organising annual events – conferences, East India Company Walks and poetry readings – to explore important issues relating to the English East India Company’s rule over Bengal.  The first conference was held in [...]

The Non-Nation – A Short Story of Racism by Javed Iqbal

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” -Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850), French economist ‘But are the tribals doing anything with that land?’ ‘We need the [...]

A Disappearing World : Ancient Traditions Under Threat in Tribal India

Tradition, Continuity and Conflict in Jharkhand State An exhibition supported by The Gandhi Foundation An exhibition of photography by Robert Wallis and artwork by members of the Tribal Women’s Artist Collective from Jharkhand, North Central India 14th April – 25th June 2011 at The Brunei Gallery, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Sq, London WC1H 0XG In [...]

Nehru On Gandhi, Views On Political Culture – by Prem Misir

  In an effort to review India’s emergent move into global economic dominance I thought that it might be useful to look at a few of Gandhi’s ideas of something called ‘political culture’ through the eyes of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. And indeed, Gandhi and Nehru did not have a monopoly over ideas to craft a [...]

Major Victory for Dongria Kondh Adivasis Against Vedanta’s Mining Plans

Jairam Ramesh, India’s Minister for Environment and Forests, has handed a major victory to campaigners working to protect the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa from planned bauxite mining by the British-registered company Vedanta. Activists in the region had faced violence and intimidation from police and armed gangs. The campaign, using which included Intellectual Satyagraha type methods [...]

Mahatma Gandhi: A Father with No Nation – by Bhikhu Parekh

Mahatma Gandhi has most probably realised his ambition of attaining moksha [spiritual liberation] and is unlikely to return to earth. However, should he do so, he would be deeply disturbed by many aspects of contemporary India. He would be shocked at the corrosive corruption that has spread to all walks of life and eroded the [...]

Indian Secularism Revisited – by Antony Copley

A very distinctive Indian version of secularism has underpinned India since independence and is the critical guarantee in the continuing existence of its multi-cultural pluralist society. Were it to weaken then terrifying forces of communal violence are always at risk of breaking out. These thoughts are prompted by the Olympian lecture on this theme by [...]

Searching for Justice and Peace in Eastern Central India – by Felix Padel

People outside India as well as inside it are becoming aware that there are thousands of local movements of people trying to save their land from being invaded and taken over by big corporations, and the contractors, subcontractors, NGOs, media firms, biofuel and seed companies, banks, hedge fund/private equity fund investors and others who serve [...]

Mahatma Gandhi and Environment Protection – by Anupma Kaushik

Mahatma Gandhi never used the words environment protection however what he said and did makes him an environmentalist. Although during his time environmental problems were not recognized as such however with his amazing foresight and insight he predicted that things are moving in the wrong direction. As early as in 1909 in his book Hind [...]

Martin Luther King on Gandhi

Excerpt of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Radio Address to India – All India Radio – March, 1959 Leaders in and out of government, organizations, particularly the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and the Quaker Center, and many homes and families have done their utmost to make our short stay both pleasant and instructive. We have learned [...]

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