Category Archives: Rationalism

Critical Race Theory (CRT) indoctrination is already largely illegal under federal law. But states must now go further and protect all students from racial discrimination by asserting the power to enforce the principles of the Civil Rights Act.

Many parents might not yet understand what CRT is. The ideology has gone by a number of names in recent years: identity politics, intersectionality, wokeness. Academics have generated convoluted justifications and rationalizations for it; journalists have crafted stilted narratives to promote it. But at its core and in practice, CRT amounts to institutionalized racial hatred.

When Paul Rossi, a high school teacher at Manhattan's Grace Church School, objected to CRT at his school, the lead teacher admitted: "We're demonizing white people for being born." Robin DiAngelo, author of the bestselling White Fragility, argues that all whites are inherently racist. Bettina Love, an education professor, has written in Education Week that "white teachers need a particular type of therapy" to address their "white emotionalities" and to undo "whiteness" in education. Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of The New York Times' CRT-infused "1619 Project," has plainly stated that her project's deepest ambition is "to get white Americans to stop being white."

Anyone who doesn't immediately understand how morally abhorrent this all is need only swap the races and/or epithets used in these statements. Can you imagine if school leaders admitted that they were demonizing children for being born black? If bestselling authors insisted that all blacks are inherently vicious and must work on their Black Instability? If teacher magazines suggested that black teachers need therapy to address "black emotionalities?" If curriculum designers explained that their goal was to get black kids to stop being black?

There would be a nationwide moral outcry that there must be laws to bring these bigots to heel and protect our nation's children from their morally demented ideology. Indeed, there already has been such an outcry and such a law passed: the civil rights movement and the Civil Rights Act.

CRT, however, defines itself explicitly against traditional civil rights. According to Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, CRT is "unlike traditional civil rights discourse" in that it "questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism and neutral principles of constitutional law."

When most Americans think about the civil rights movement, they think of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream that his children "will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

But Robin DiAngelo has declared that it is "dangerous" to say that you try to treat people equally, regardless of race. Teacher magazines like Educational Leadership insist that teachers must "challenge racial 'colorblindness.'" Teacher support books recommended by the Department of Education declare that when teachers try to be color-blind, they are actually creating an "unsafe environment" for students.

Indeed, Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist and arguably the most influential CRT public intellectual, has issued a clarion call on behalf of racial discrimination: "The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination."

In the context of education, this is a call for teachers to racially discriminate against white children as a supposed remedy for past racial discrimination against black children.

It's no wonder, then, that CRT practices are the mirror images of some historic practices that horrified us when we learned about them in school (or, for many older Americans, witnessed them firsthand).

For instance, in Evanston, Illinois, a school separated staff by race for training, offered racially segregated "affinity groups" for students and parents, told teachers to treat students differently based on race and publicly shamed white students based on their race.

This is all obviously illegal, and the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights had declared it, properly, to be sothat is, until the Biden administration officially suspended that decision, suggesting that all of this might be totally acceptable.

No one could possibly doubt that if a school district shamed black students based on their race, told teachers in writing to discipline black students more severely or offered "whites-only" professional development opportunities, that Biden's Office for Civil Rights would force them to stop.

Unfortunately, the Biden Department of Education has clearly gone "woke." When Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona was Connecticut's commissioner of education, he declared, "We need teachers behind this wave of our curriculum becoming more 'woke.'" When Deputy Education Secretary-nominee Cindy Marten was superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, she oversaw training that told white teachers that they were "spirit murdering" black students. And last month, the Department of Education issued a proposed regulation for federal civics grants that name-checked the "1619 Project," Ibram X. Kendi and a book by education professors advocating against "colorblindness."

State-sanctioned racism is, of course, not a new phenomenon in America. It is only the group being intentionally victimized and the institutions endorsing (or even enforcing) racism that have changed.

By the 1960s, it had become undeniably clear that some states would not apply the protections of the 14th Amendment to all of their citizens. Because of that, Congress gave the federal government express authority to enforce the principle of equal protection. But today, it is becoming clear that, when it comes to education, the federal government is not exercising its authority to protect all students. Therefore, it is time for state legislatures to step forward and ensure that the Civil Rights Act is vigorously enforced.

Critics of proposed state laws addressing CRT in schools contend that these proposals constitute "censorship." While the details of these proposed laws varyand matter greatlythis charge is, by and large, bogus.

No teacher today is free to say things like "black students are ignorant and therefore I decenter, disrupt and dismantle blackness in the classroom." Such rank bigotry is (properly) illegal under the Civil Rights Act. Only by abandoning Enlightenment rationalism and the avowed neutral principles of the rule of lawas CRT affirmatively encourages its adherents to docould one argue that stopping what is obviously "illegal discrimination" when applied to one race becomes "un-American censorship" when another race is the target instead.

Anyone arguing in good faith against state laws addressing CRT in schools must argue against what these proposed laws actually say. For example, Idaho's recently passed bill to ban CRT in the classroom declares that no educational institution "shall direct or otherwise compel students to personally affirm" that "any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color or national origin is inherently superior or inferior [and/or] that individuals should be adversely treated on the basis of their sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color or national origin." Therefore, the Idaho law's critics must argue that schools actually should tell students that certain races are inherently superior or inferior, and that individuals should be treated differently based on their race.

This, as we have seen, may well be what leading CRT activists actually believe. But it is not what everyday critics of such laws typically contend. They'll make arguments about censorship or the First Amendment, or claim that these laws will hurt efforts "intended" to address racism.

But we, as a nation, must not address the legacy of institutional racism by institutionalizing a new form of racism in our schools. As the federal government appears to have abandoned its duty to protect all students from racial discrimination, state legislatures must step forward and accept the responsibility of enforcing the Civil Rights Act by banning CRT indoctrination in public schools.

Max Eden is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

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Ban Critical Race Theory Now | Opinion - Newsweek

By Express News Service

RAMANATHAPURAM: In 1996, when the then Minister Anthiyur Selvaraj and DMK MLAs V A Andamuthu and S K Rajendran took part in a firewalk and walked on burning coals at Bannari Amman temple as an offering for the longevity of the DMK government, the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who was sworn atheist, publicly asserted I am not bothered about how long my government lasts.

I am worried about how long it will adhere to the principles of rationalism, and threatened to remove Selvaraj from cabinet terming his action as a barbaric act. Analogously, on Monday, in Podhuvakudi village near Paramakudi, a 30-year-old woman, who is a long-time supporter of DMK, severed her tongue in a bid to fulfil her vow to do so if DMK President MK Stalin becomes the CM.

She has been a long-time supporter of DMK although not an official member in the party. So is the family, for decades, her brother told TNIE. During the recently-concluded Assembly polls, she actively canvassed votes for the DMK MLA-elect S Murugesan, added sources.

Link:

Woman cuts off tongue over Stalins win in Tamil Nadu - The New Indian Express

Though today is the first Monday in May, we are not rolling out the red carpet on the front steps, says the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Marina Kellen French Director Max Hollein. But that doesnt preclude the release of exciting new information about the Costume Institutes two-part 2021 exhibit In America: A Lexicon of Fashion and In America: An Anthology of Fashion. Hollein was joined by Eva Chen of Instagram and Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, this morning at a virtual press conference that revealed all the details about the upcoming exhibits and galas.

Part one of the exhibition, A Lexicon of Fashion, will open September 18 at the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Met, marking the Costume Institutes 75th anniversary. An intimate gala to celebrate the exhibits opening will take place on September 13, cochaired by Timothe Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman, and Naomi Osaka with honorary chairs Tom Ford, Instagrams Adam Mosseri, and Anna Wintour. The exhibit will be organized to resemble a home, with intersecting walls and rooms that will establish what Bolton calls a new vocabulary thats more relevant and more reflective of the times in which were living.

Traditionally American fashion has been described in terms of the American tenets of simplicity, practicality, and functionality. Fashions more emotional qualities have tended to be reserved for more European fashion, Bolton says. In part one well be reconsidering this perception by reestablishing a modern lexicon of fashion based on the emotional qualities of dress. The many rooms in this part of the exhibit will be titled to reflect the personal and emotional relationship we have to fashion: Well-Being for the kitchen galleries, Aspiration for the office, and Trust, the living room, for example.

In pushing the human connections to our clothes, Bolton is writing a new history of American style that focuses less on sportswear and Seventh Avenue dressmakers, instead framing designers as creators, innovators, and artists. Taken together these qualities will compromise a modern vocabulary of American fashion that prioritizes values, emotions, and sentiments over the sportswear principles of realism, rationalism, and pragmatism, he says. Pieces from Christopher John Rogers, Sterling Ruby, Conner Ives, Prabal Gurung, and Andre Walker feature in part one of the exhibition. Rubys Veil Flag, a short film presented at Paris Fashion Week, was recreated at the Met, and its central piece, a denim American flag, will open the show. Director Melina Matsoukas will also create a film for the exhibit that will evolve over the course of its run.

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Everything You Need to Know About the 2021 Met Gala and Costume Institute Exhibition - Vogue

With the DMK winning Tamil Nadu Assembly elections after crushing the AIADMK-led front, and M.K. Stalin set to become the Chief Minister, the cult politics, which had subsided after the passing away of M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalithaa, may as well return.

After M.G. Ramachandran, a matinee idol and superstar of Tamil Nadu entered the state politics, the cadres and sympathisers found in him a new messiah. He was adored and worshipped just like he was in the movies and there were jokes going round in Tamil Nadu that 'if MGR was found falling down during a fight scene in a Tamil movie, the spectators would throw knives at the screen so that MGR could use them and win the fight'. While this may be a joke, the point of adoring MGR as a Tamil icon and saviour of Tamil Nadu was clear. When MGR split the DMK and formed his own party, the AIADMK in 1972, the fans followed him and he won the elections with a comfortable majority.

M. Shivakumar, a political analyst and a former journalist with a Tamil news paper of Madurai told IANS, "While Periyarr and Annadurai gave the ideological moorings to the Dravidian politics in Tamil Nadu, MGR raised it to a cult status and he was adored and worshipped across the spectrum and his movie fans moved on with him as his political fans and there started the cult worship in Tamil politics."

Karunandihi, one of the best lyricists and writers of Tamil Nadu politics had a special gift of the gab and his oratory skills had kept the audience spellbound. He was also worshipped and adored within and outside the Dravidian politics even though the ideology was rationalism.

MGR had carefully picked Jayalalithaa, his one time pair in filmdom as his political successor. But after his passing away, Jaya was kicked out of the party and even from the funeral procession of her mentor. However, Jaya bounced back and became a powerful Chief minister with a huge fan following. She, as Chief minister took the cult politics and image of invincibility to a higher level and even ministers and senior party functionaries were seen prostrating at her feet in public domain. This was considered as a privilege by the political supporters and Jayalalitha silently supported this.

After the passing away of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, the cult politics of Tamil Nadu had taken a back seat and both Palaniswami and Panneerselvam were ordinary leaders who were accessible to the general public, bureaucracy and party office bearers.

However, after the DMK captured power in Tamil Nadu with a sizeable majority and M.K. Stalin is set to become the Chief Minister, the politics of cult worship will find an entry to the political firmament of Tamil Nadu as he has the aura of the political dynasty of Karunanidhi which is being worshipped by the cadres and leaders of the DMK.

C. Rajeev of the Centre for Policy and Development Studies, a think tank based out of Chennai while speaking to IANS said, "With Stalin coming to power, the DMK cadres and leaders will commence the worship culture again which will ultimately lead to cult worship. If Stalin does not fall into this trap and stick to his business of administering the state, there can be a respite but the culture of this politics is not easy to be erased and there is every likelihood that cult politics will continue in the state."

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

Excerpt from:

Cult politics set to return in TN with Stalin's win - Moneylife

Although some young teachers may be willing to take responsibility, the truth is that few schools practice true outdoor education (Midland School near Los Olivos is an exception).

About 220 years ago, German Romantic poets realized that an overdeveloped scientific rationalism threatened their cultural vitality and individual imaginations. Poets likeFriedrich Schiller, the early Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Novalis noticed that the Industrial Revolution and scientism had heavily impacted their epoch in the Germanies (and also in 19th century United Kingdom and United States).

Novalis claimed that the highest form of true culture was music, and later in the century, Friedrich Nietzsche agreed through his adulation of operas by Georges Bizet and Richard Wagner.

Like the English Romantic Lake poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey, the Germans looked to nature and the green vitality at the core of the cosmos for spiritual sustenance, proclaiming that simply walking in the woods or shrublands creates energy in the human spirit and mind. (Only a few hundred years earlier we would read only negative stories about scary nature [wildeor], vicious wild animals about, with no roads at all.)

Wordsworth memorably wrote: "Knowing that Nature never did betray the heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege, through all the years of this our life, to lead from joy to joy."

Accentuated by rigid COVID-19-based self-quarantining, many of us today remain wary of going farther outside past the local parks and frontcountry to the less populated backcountry trails in federal wildernesses. Like the materialistic central Europeans, we also need new and enchanting nature myths and stories to lift the brain fog and draw us away from town and its many cares.

I know that local Rattlesnake Canyon Trail has been inundated with hikers, hence, as with most of the other local frontcountry trails, there are now parking issues at some trailheads, e.g., along Hot Springs Road and at the Romero Canyon Trailhead.

We can imagine how indigenous people in pre-contact days also might have chosen to head across the local mountains (e.g., past Santa Barbara's Painted Cave site on todays Highway 154 to enjoy the interior areas during bounteous springtime. They might have been drawn by spiritual stories about alapay, petrified mythic boulders, skulking nunasin, coyote tales and the sheer animistic magic of the older times.

UCSB political science professor Tae-Yeoun Keum writes about those late 18th century German idealists and poets (including Friedrich Schlegel), who found themselves in a modern [German] political society so thoroughly dominated by a culture of rationality that it has become impossible to imagine it any other way (see 4.1.1 Books).

I definitely admire and appreciate logical thinking and the scientific method, and happily acknowledge the achievements of the Industrial Revolution.

Yet, it remains that the Holocaust is still the major lesson of the 20th century, and our industries continue to decimate the Earths climate. The growing dystopian worldview, especially the cynicism growing among the young, is partly a result of the mistakes of materialism and just too many humans (and their 1.5 billion cows) on the platform.

Therefore, we really need new stories and poetry to illuminate the positive, to cheer on good solutions-oriented science, and to entice humans to drag their kids farther out of doors for longer sojourns.

UCSBs Keum writes that those German idealist-poets thus made calls on the literary genre of myth to serve as a ground from which individuals can begin to imagine different possibilities for what politics and the society can look like (see 4.1.1).

Honestly, I gain absurd joy from roaming around the backcountry, out past Cachuma Reservoir and into the dry hinterlands beyond Nira Camp. Today, we have some truly depressed children and adults. Vitamin N nature therapy is an infallible cure for such conditions! Despite the driving and gasoline costs, day-hiking and car-camping is pretty inexpensive ($20 a night at Fremont Camp along Paradise Valley Road vs. $200-plus a night at El Capitan Ranch glamping center).

It seems like many local schools, including private schools, have given up leading students out into local wilderness areas or on light backpacking treks anywhere and they gave this up long before the COVID-19 pandemic erupted.

A wonderful 20th century Santa Barbara public school teacher and legend led many students into local nature areas for decades without any issues. Frank Van Schaik taught for several decades at the old Wilson School (since shuttered), eventually becoming principal and retiring in 1982.

In his fascinating 1994 memoir, "Home of the Wilson Wildcats" (see 4.1.1), he eloquently describes repeatedly hauling students into nearby nature areas, much as we did at Crane School when I taught there in the 1980s and 1990s. Thirteen chapters cover outdoor trips he led, some with his pal, the legendary Dick Smith, and the adventures became very exciting for the students and truly educational (and somewhat outlandish).

My gosh, did they take chances back in the day! Yet, some of this camping and rough play was precisely the attraction for the students. I located a dozen activities in Van Schaiks book that simply would not be sanctioned or allowed at any school I know about today.

These are outdoor losses for children in my view, and most of the hikes and regions remain fabulous and enticing today. See below, although the B.B. gun wars (!) would certainly have gotten me fired at any school!

Van Schaik lists these destinations among those he visited with his Wilson Wildcats: We went to Rattlesnake Canyon to Bear Meadow and to Figueroa Mountain to the beach camps at Gaviota and Las Varas to Big Sur to the Monterey coast to Blue Canyon and to Pine Mountain to Mineral King to various spots on the Mojave Desert to Mount Abel and Mount Pinos ... (partial listing).

Intriguing stories about backcountry characters such as the Kansas farmers led by faith-healer Hiram Wheat in the 1880s, or memorable vignettes from the Chumash oral tradition (Blackburn, 4.1.1) including the "Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island" (cf. Scott ODell novel), and scores of semi-mythological tales about the Road to Similaqsa abound.

In truth, uttering a few tales around a tiny campfire at Nira Camp with 15 students, all enjoying a mug of hot chocolate, strumming a few guitar chords and singing, may be worth any five or six algebra classes (especially if the class has been on Zoom!).

Make every effort to go over into Santa Ynez or Matilija Creek or Manzana Creek areas and entice your children to come along and enjoy the greenery, too. Good nutrition and gear make it more enjoyable, of course.

We all desperately need Vitamin N and new backcountry tales told after hiking and climbing around. As Wordsworth chants, Nature leads us from joy to joy as we tread the shrubland path beside the flowing creek.

Tae-Yeoun Keum, "Plato and the Mythic Tradition in Political Thought" (Harvard, 2021); Frank Van Schaik, "Home of the Wilson Wildcats" (Capra, 1994), p. 169 for BB gun wars and pp. 333-334 for partial list of places he camped with fifth-grade students; Thomas Blackburn, "Decembers Child" (UC Press, 1975); I discuss the Road to Similaqsa in "Autobiography in the Anthropocene" (2019), pp. 139-147 and rock art pictograph N-1, p. 133.

Dan McCaslin is the author of Stone Anchors in Antiquity and has written extensively about the local backcountry. His latest book, Autobiography in the Anthropocene, is available at Lulu.com. He serves as an archaeological site steward for the U.S. Forest Service in Los Padres National Forest. He welcomes reader ideas for future Noozhawk columns, and can be reached at [emailprotected]. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.

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Dan McCaslin: Outdoor Education and New Nature-Based Myths Needed in the Anthropocene - Noozhawk

May 2, 2021 marked the birth centenary of Satyajit Ray. Mostly known for his highly acclaimed films, Ray was a remarkable polymath whose contribution is not restricted to just filmmaking.

Ray the Writer: Ray had said, My family runs on royalty from my books. Among Bengalis, is Satyajit Ray more popular as a writer or as a filmmaker? Perhaps, most are proud of his films, while he is dearer for his books. Feluda, Rays detective, is a household name, and Feluda books have been sitting atop bestseller charts for five decades now. Amitabh Bachchan had said that his one regret is never having played Feluda on screen, which his compatriot Shashi Kapoor did.

Science fiction is another genre of Rays expressive best. His protagonist, Professor Shonku, the inventor of Evolutin a drug that makes people evolve ten thousand years in a jiffy and such wonder products, is as comfortable in the rarified academic circles of Germany and Sweden, as in his adventures in Bolivia and Congo, chasing inexplicable phenomena or fighting evil forces.

Rays short stories, other than detective and sci-fi ones, are both fascinating and intriguing. Interestingly, while rationalism and realism reign in his films, many of his stories explore the occult and the supernatural.

Ray has also written a few weighty books on films.

Master Filmmaker:Award-winning director Rituparno Ghosh said Satyajit Ray showed us how to create poetry with the camera. There are volumes written and reels of films shot on Rays filmmaking. From Shyam Benegal to Adam Low to Goutam Ghose, acclaimed film and TV producers across the globe have captured Ray the filmmaker.

Starting from Pather Panchali to his last film Agantuk (The Stranger), Ray has received countless awards,including the Oscar for LifetimeAchievement. Akira Kurosawa, one of the greatest filmmakers, said, Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.

Insightful Artist:Ray was lucky. After graduating in Economics from Presidency College, on Rabindranath Tagores insistence he reluctantly enrolled in Shantiniketans Art Department Kala Bhavan. During his brief stay, his artistic finesse sharpened under some of the greatest modern artists of India Nandalal Bose, Ramkinkar Baij and Benode Behari. Ray acknowledged the lasting effect of this serendipitous twist in his life, how Shantiniketan shaped his way of looking at nature and his understanding of human sensibility. On a lighter note, Nandalal Bose, the departmental head, got a longer cot made in the dorm for the 6 foot 4 inch Manik Satyajits nickname to family and friends.

Rays artistic manifestation spattered wide from being a visualiser in advertising to designing posters for his films, delightful illustrations for his stories, and book covers for Signet Press, which revolutionised printing and publishing in 1940s India.

Ray learnt calligraphy from Benode Behari while in Shantiniketan, which he applied extensively in Bengali fonts. He eventually created his own font of Roman alphabets, internationally known as Ray Roman.

Rays Music:Satyajit Ray had one international and two national awards for music under his belt. Artist Annada Munshi said Ray was Beethoven in his previous life. He could identify any Western Classical piece by listening to any part for a moment. While in Shantiniketan, Ray and Alex Aronson, professor of English Literature, spent countless evenings listening toBach and Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Vivaldi. Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who scored music for four of Rays films, said Rays mastery over music has no parallel in the world of film direction.

From the trilogy of Teen Kanya (Three Girls), filmed in 1961, Ray started scoring music for his own films. He also scored music for Merchant Ivorys Shakespeare Wallah. Ravi Shankar profusely praised Rays music in Piku, a film Ray made for French Television. In his penchant for realism, Ray made Kishore Kumar untrained in Tagore-Songs sing one in Charulata, arguably Rays finest film.

In his long spell in film music, Ray created two full-scale musicals in which he wrote the lyrics too. Songs of Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (GGBB), a fantasy adventure, and Hirak Rajar Deshe (Land of Diamond King), a political satire in the form of a childrens film, are still sung in carefree and concerned moods.

Using a mix of western and Indian musical instruments, Ray created a signature genre for himself. Which music would he carry to a remote island? Ray had quipped, Mozarts opera, The Magic Flute.

Ray for Children:The intellectual halo and the baritone voice obfuscate the voluminous work Ray has done for children. To think of it, most of his writings are for children. He resurrected the children magazine Sandesh, and wrote, edited and drew for it amid hectic film shootings. Four if his films are for children, and in one of them, GGBB the musical fantasy, Ray lent his deep voice, singing as Bhuter Raja (King of Ghosts).

Satyajit Ray wore his laurels lightly and remains an icon reflecting the finest flavours of a modern man.

(The writer is a Bengaluru-based software entrepreneur)

Read more:

The five Rays of Satyajit - Deccan Herald

Rabindranath Tagore said that the world can be seen in the reflected convexity of a dewdrop. As I write this in Edinburgh, Scotland, 5,000 miles away from Kolkata, it makes me think of the films of Satyajit Ray. So many of them are microcosms. So many of them are small worlds in which we can see the world reflected. The English title of his film Ghare Baire is The Home And The World, which describes his approach to his art. The small and the large in the same place.

Also read | 100 reasons to love Ray: The full list

The village in the Apu trilogy was his first contained place. Though it was full of specifics about Bengali life, people around the world could see elements of their existence in it. The mansion in Devi is another microcosm. In it, a man dreams that his daughter-in-law is a goddess, people flock to her and the universe seems to become centred on their home. In Charulata, the lonely wife seems confined to the home but looks outside with binoculars. Days And Nights In The Forest is about going on a trip, so at first sight it doesnt seem to be about confinement. But the trip centres on a forest, the film becomes a temporary village and, in its famous game of word- play, the feeling of microcosm intensifies. As the layers of memory build, we feel that we are in a kind of whirlpool.

Rays most intense and haunting whirlpool is, for me, Jalsaghar. At its centre is an ageing landlord. Outside his home, society is changing, the elite way of living is being challenged by new economies but like a crab in a rock pool, he wants to stay in his own music room. The famous visual moment in the film is when he sees a chandelier reflected in his drink. It is confined, just like him.

Of course great film-makersRobert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman, etc.were interested in closed worlds, but theres a particular sense of the camera obscura, the huis clos, in Rays films, I feel. Where Hindi cinema, for example, is all about escape and travelogue and often doesnt have what the French call terroir, the specific ground on which a vine grows that gives its grapes flavour, Rays confinements enrich his work. Centrifuges spin things outwards but Rays was in part a centripetal imagination.

Also read | 100 reasons to love Ray: His bag of tricks

There are dangers in this. Such films can feel claustrophobic or insular but his usually dont because focusing on small places deepened his stories. It pushed him to metaphor and psychology. Confinement led to thematic density and layering. We often talk about Hindi cinema as masala cinema, by which we mean a generic mix. In Rays microcosms, we get an existence mix. On the most obvious level there is the human drama, the conflict. But beneath that surface we can see the landscape of Bengali society. Within that we hear the melody of feminism. And beneath thatharmonising with thatwe get the recurrent threat (or opportunity) of modernity, capitalism and rationalism. And indistinctly above all this, hanging in the air, is the question of the sacred.

I value the films of Ray so much because his microcosms dont feel far away from my European, Celtic one. I have still so much to learn from Satyajit Ray (and I have a tattoo of one of his drawings on my arm!).

Mark Cousins is a film-maker and writer based in Edinburgh.

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100 reasons to love Ray: His love of microcosms - Livemint

A university is ordinarily a reservoir of intellectualism and rationalism. It is a marketplace of knowledge derived from reason, not only in the process of imparting knowledge to their students but also in all its interactions with the public.

To effectively play its role in society, a university should jealously guard its autonomy and must never see itself as a mere adjunct or servant of any other entity.

It therefore comes to us with a deep sense of shock that the University of Zambia management seeks to disown and discard intellectualism in the manner envisaged by their latest press statement flagged off by Dr Brenda Bukowa, Acting Head Communications and Marketing. In avowing to expressly disassociate itself from the opinions and views expressed by Dr Sishuwa Sishuwa in an article entitled, Zambia may burn after the August elections: Heres how to prevent this, published in the Mail & Guardian of South Africa on 22nd March 2021, the UNZA management has shown that intellectualism is not a hallmark that they are keen to uphold. Two reasons are apparent; first, a reading of the article in question reveals that at no place does Dr Sishuwa state that he was expressing his views for and on behalf of UNZA, its management or his fellow academics. It is therefore troubling that the entire communications and marketing machinery of the countrys oldest university can swing into swift action in this manner. Secondly, this article was published on 22nd March, 2021 in the Mail & Guardian. Why was the UNZA Acting Head Communications and Marketing, intellectually dormant on this issue between 22nd March, 2021 and 27th April, 2021? It is anyones guess that something drastic happened, eliciting the ill-conceived statement which in itself, now actually diminishes the intellectual and professional standing of the author of the UNZA press statement, UNZA management and all academics associated with UNZA!

To put these matters into perspective, acclaimed scholars are settled that the concept of academic freedom is the freedom to pursue truth in the course of teaching and research activities wherever it seems to lead, without fear of punishment or termination of employment for having offended some political, religious or social orthodoxy. A close reading of the views that Dr Sishuwa expressed reveals that he had a deep reflection of ideas on the democratic future of this country, as ought to be done by any seasoned academic; ready to face the temerity of his thoughts. The least any other person chosen to a contest of ideas could do is respond with ideas to discount those held by Dr Sishuwa, thereby enhancing liberties of conscience and expression. The move by the UNZA management to disown Dr Sishuwas views, to which they were not invited, anyway, spells doom for intellectualism at UNZA.

In the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, academic freedom has also been defined as the freedom claimed by a college or University Professor to write or speak the truth as he sees it without fear of dismissal by his superior or by authorities outside his college or University. The revolutionary, Kwame Nkrumah is on record too, as having noted that there was sometimes a tendency to use the phrase academic freedom to assert the claim that a University is more or less an institution of learning having no respect or allegiance to the community or the country in which it exists and which it purports to serve. According to a Ghanaian scholar, Collins Owusu-Ansah, this assertion is unsound in principle and objectionable in practice. Universities and distinguished constituent intellectuals like Dr Sishuwa have a clear duty to the community which maintains and trains them at great expense to the national treasury. The views that Dr Sishuwa expressed in his original article in the Mail & Guardian may have rattled the powers that be, excited their fanatical supporters to lose concentration, and commit legal wrongs such as defamation; but that does not make it criminal or an affront to the values of intellectualism and academic freedom that UNZA must embrace if it must remain relevant.

Against the sound practices of academic freedom and intellectualism, UNZA management deemed it correct to launch an attack on the person of Dr Sishuwa by crying out to the world that the intellectual is not in their active employment for the reason that since the year 2018, he has been and continues to be on an unpaid leave of absence outside the country and therefore, his opinions and views in the mainstream and social media do not represent the official position of the University of Zambia. As fallacious and untrue as these views may be, we would imagine that the individual views of academic staff at UNZA do not bind the University. Why does UNZA feel duty bound to stress the obvious?

Falling short of explaining how Dr Sishuwas well thought out views are an abuse of academic freedom, UNZA management asserts that they would not be party to the abuse of academic freedom to advance personal agendas while using the name of the University to give credence to such abuses. UNZA remains committed to its motto of Service and Excellence. It is common knowledge that universities are unique institutions in democratic societies charged with the tasks of conducting critical and original research in the pursuit of knowledge and of training and educating students. Universities provide a forum in which both academic staff and students are encouraged to think for themselves and not through proxies. Academic freedom is the idea that universities should be subject to no external authority in the matter of critical reflection. Academic freedom is a sub-set of freedom of expression protected under the Republican Constitution. It includes not only information or ideas that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also includes those ideas that may offend, shock or disturb. The fact that a section of the public finds some intellectual discourse offending on account of their political inclination should not sway a reputable institution of higher education to be cowed into disowning their bona fide academic member of staff, whatever disowning means in this context. Every citizen has recourse to impartial arbiters and UNZA must not see itself as that arbiter in the circumstances of this case.

Like other accepted freedoms, academic freedom requires individuals, authorities and government to not only allow scholarly work without restraint, but also prevent any interference with this freedom; new ideas must be generated, nurtured and freely exchanged. Historic examples show the need for academic freedom. Socrates opted to be put to death for corrupting the youth of Athens with his ideas. Galileo (1564-1642), was sentenced to imprisonment for advocating the Copernican view of the solar system. Descartes (1596-1650), suppressed his own writing to avoid similar trouble. Teachers were fired for teaching their students about Darwins views.

Does the UNZA management seek to take the country back to pre-medieval times by maintaining their unfounded views seeking to disown Dr Sishuwa, academic freedom and intellectualism?

Continued here:

UNZA disowns intellectualism and academic freedom! The Mast Online - themastonline.com

Scribbled across the back of the T-shirt Riccardo Tisci wore to take his virtual bow were the words: Dont believe everything you think. Perhaps more than he realized, they summarized a collection driven by instinct rather than method. Since Tisci arrived at Burberry nearly three years ago, he has endeavored to interpret and celebrate an esoteric Britishness thattake it from a fellow foreignerwill always be better understood by native Brits. On a video call from Lake Como, where he was visiting his mother, he cited his love of British eccentricity as a source of inspiration. But todays show largely felt as if Tisci had departed his Anglophile approach in favor of what he knows best: his own inclination.

Re-thinking a lot was how he described his pandemic experience. I had time to slow down. The fashion business is very fast. Its a huge company. I was ticking boxes, and I was like, Okay, stop. Rather than over-saturating his runway with multiple market categories and menswear, Tisci presented a focused womens collection rooted in the ferocious and sensual but viable glamour that has defined his career. Slowly weve built an identity, and I realized my identity was very strong within the label, he said, evaluating his tenure at the house. Its the most free collection Ive done at Burberry.

Tisci expressed it through references to the clothes historically worn in nature, most specifically around the turn of the last century. Through history, the costume of people going to the forest has been very child-designed: a nave outline, but made much more sensual, he said, explaining his approach to the idea. The ease and adaptability represented by those garments (in an age when you couldnt have applied those words to many wardrobes) inspired dresses constructed as if from squares sewn together, and transformative takes on tailoring which could be de- and reconstructed by the wearer using closing techniques. There was an arts-and-craftsy character to the collection, backed up by manipulated flag and astronomy motifs and the lashings of eco faux-fur that drove home Tiscis nature-centric message.

His post-pandemic mindset had discovered a kindred spirit in the naturalist movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which informed the collection. Fueled by the malaise of the fin-de-sicle, it was a time when instinct and whim were put above rationalism and materialism, when artists felt the call of the wild, and sought to de-program themselves from the rules of society. Sound familiar? Before the show, Burberry released a video of a British-ly diverse crew of women reflecting on the meaning of femininity now. And the spoken-word show-opener by the British performer Shygirl, who starred as Mother Nature, was an homage to the waves of liberation and celebrations of identity washing over contemporary culture today.

Its very sexy, I think, but without being vulgar. Femininity is something I really wanted to achieve at Burberry when I arrived, because its a very masculine company, Tisci said, referring to the trench-tastic roots of the house. As with the progressive young generations to which his videos paid tribute, authenticity is key. For Burberry, its found in a menswear-y character that its female clientele probably expects. For Tisci, its the sensual and almost athletic glitz in which he excels. This collection showed that the two can co-exist on the same runway. As he said, I feel like Im starting to see my vocabulary at Burberry.

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Burberry Fall 2021 Ready-to-Wear Collection - Vogue.com

NATIONAL security and foreign relations policy should never be ruled by petty concerns. In many countries the agencies that handle these portfolios are relatively shielded from the exigencies of partisan politics and the excitability of popular opinion. The foundations of our West Philippine Sea (WPS) strategic thought should be a cold rationalism that is informed by a brutally honest assessment of our situation, capabilities and options. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Thus, the starting point of it all is the fact that China and its egregious nine-dash line will not go away. It is our unavoidable curse and other countries as well to be neighbors with China.

Superpowers bullying smaller states is everywhere inevitable.

Titans like the United States prefer to think of themselves as benign superpowers but that is far from reality. Neighboring countries have been grumbling for years about the insufferable behavior of the US. They are simply enduring American bullying just like we are with China.

The US has intervened in Latin American affairs far too many times to enumerate but some examples are necessary: the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba; American support for the Contras against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua; US Drug Enforcement Agency involvement in Colombias war on drugs, among others.

In contrast, China does not interfere in Philippine domestic political affairs. However, Beijing is bullying us out of the WPS and that problem will not disappear unless we arrive at a compromise on the matter. There is no realistic circumstance where China abandons its WPS claims. Not even an addled brain can conjure up a powerful hallucination where China drops out of contention.

International pressure, on the other hand, is fools gold.

If China were to succumb to international pressure, it would have happened when Beijing was considerably weaker, not right now when it has grown massively stronger. The success of international pressure against China in the WPS simply defies logic given the circumstances. There is not a brain damage in the world capable of making that sound logical.

This is the situation we cannot escape from unless China magically crumbles as it did during the onset of its century of humiliation.

Ours is a supremely lopsided chess match with China. It is the kind of match where the slightest mistake on our part can mean an immediate and crushing loss. Our moves need to be textbook, following the established lines of the most formidable chess theories, careful and measured, without a hint of panic or excitement. China as our opponent is like a top-tier super grandmaster who does not want a draw against an amateur; he wants a victory.

As a heavy underdog, we must be realistic enough not to target a win against such a powerful adversary; a draw should suffice for us as we continue to climb the ladder of the sport.

The starting point of our preparation against such a formidable opponent is to study its moves in the past and understand the logic behind them. Subsequently, we need to search for textbook countermoves for every move that it typically makes. That is the only way to survive.

We have not the experience and resources to try new lines of response; China is cool, calculated and has a massive advantage against us. Any rookie mistake on our part can prove disastrous. We saw this happen during the time of Benigno Aquino 3rd, who was buried by his own incompetence and inexperience. China seized Panatag (Scarborough Shoal) away from the stupefied Aquino in 2012.

The US is a useful foil against China, but as the bumbling Aquino found, we can only tap the Americans under specific circumstances; Uncle Sam is not available to us all the time. Even as Beijing tries to avoid a confrontation with Washington, so does the US desperately want to avert conflict with China.

Timing saved Julian Felipe Reef this time around; the Americans were coming for the yearly Balikatan exercises this month and the Chinese wisely retreated consequently. Theirs was a strategic retreat. It was obviously temporary. They will be back.

We cannot rely on good luck all the time.

The Duterte administration manifested great wisdom in its self-restraint toward the Julian Felipe Reef situation as well as the incident involving an ABS-CBN team in Ayungin Shoal. The subsequent move to send coast guard ships to the area with the navy just on standby in Palawan is a textbook move. It signals a mature response from our country without unnecessarily escalating the situation.

Our defense officials must master the rules of engagement and the textbook brinkmanship moves and countermoves.

Whoever sits in Malacaang in 2022 should not be pee-uncontrollably-in-your-pants excitable as Aquino was in 2012. The chess match with China is not a joke. The stakes are sky high.

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Bitter truths The Manila Times - The Manila Times