Book Review: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Book Review: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy's second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, was much anticipated in 2017. I kept hearing about the author, peeking into her non-fiction work, and I decided to read her first, well-known novel before diving into the current one. I began 2018 by reading The God of Small Things, a book published in 1996 and winner of the Booker prize in 1997. It's an epic story about twins growing up in India, and the bits of life that change their course.

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Freethinker: The Life and Works of Éva Circé-Côté

Freethinker: The Life and Works of Éva Circé-Côté

'Éva Circé-Côté was a diehard Montrealer,” writes Andrée Lévesque in her account of a woman whose impact has been, for too long, underestimated. As it turns out, this Montrealer was also a skilled journalist, a prolific writer, a provocative columnist, a lifelong librarian and an independent thinker who occupied a prominent place in the city. Yet her name is barely remembered. And without Freethinker, references to Circé-Côté would be limited to a handful of historical documents from the early 1900s.

The Crisis of Social Democracy | Asbjørn Wahl

All over Europe the crisis of social democracy is being debated. Given a situation in which several of these traditionally strong parties have almost been wiped out at particular elections or on a permanent basis, this should not surprise anybody. Although the situation is not as dramatic in Norway/Scandinavia, the crisis is discussed also here. After all, during the last two decades, the Norwegian Labour Party has experienced two of its worst elections (2001 and 2017) since the 1920s. Further, it is widely perceived, at least in large parts of the trade union movement, that the Labour Party messed up something, which should have been an easy victory at last year's parliamentary elections, precisely because of circumstances that can easily be interpreted into a crisis scenario.

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Apologists, failure, and always being wrong about privatization | What's Left 2018-01-21 Volume 104

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Economics, Privatization, Neoliberalism

The fight against privatization is framed by liberals and the right-wing as a clear and unsubstantiated ideological position of the left. And, no matter how much research is presented exposing how privatization of state services and programs costs more and has no positive (but, in many cases negative) impacts on quality of services, the dominant narrative is privatization works. But, at this point, believing that privatization leads to increased efficiency and lower costs is akin to the denial of climate change and thinking vaccines cause Autism. Decades of real life examples, economic analysis, and trial and error policy show that there are so many ways that do not work when it comes to privatization. So, why do people still believe this nonsense?

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Apologists, failure, and always being wrong about privatization | What's Left 2018-01-21 Volume 104

WhatsLeft

The fight against privatization is framed by liberals and the right-wing as a clear and unsubstantiated ideological position of the left. And, no matter how much research is presented exposing how privatization of state services and programs costs more and has no positive (but, in many cases negative) impacts on quality of services, the dominant narrative is privatization works. But, at this point, believing that privatization leads to increased efficiency and lower costs is akin to the denial of climate change and thinking vaccines cause Autism. Decades of real life examples, economic analysis, and trial and error policy show that there are so many ways that do not work when it comes to privatization. So, why do people still believe this nonsense?

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Norman Finkelstein on the Many Lies Perpetuated About Gaza | Democracy Now

'Israel faces a possible International Criminal Court war crimes probe over its 2014 assault on Gaza, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, including over 500 children. For more, we speak with Norman Finkelstein, author of the new book “Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom.” He is the author of many other books, including “The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Human Suffering” and “Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance with Israel Is Coming to an End.”'

State Power Apologists and Propaganda | What's Left

State propaganda is sophisticated. To a point that we do not even call it 'propaganda' any more. Narratives glorifying soldiers of war, spies, and good cops defending the poor and innocent from external threats are everywhere in Western media. All celebrating the moral individual fighting an immoral other. Or, the take down of a Rogue by a broken state system made up of good people.

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