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EMS and the Caste Question: A Response

Sat, 2012-04-21 01:53 | R. Ramakumar
EMS.jpg

"Gross misinterpretations of Marxist writings on caste, as by Manash Bhattacharjee in the Outlook, would only help divide the united movement against caste in India. The Marxist Left, always respectful of Ambedkar, has successfully demonstrated the need to integrate issues of caste oppression with class struggle. Ambedkar himself had argued that if the French revolution was the first stage of human liberation, the Russian revolution would indeed be its second stage. These are important meeting points in political practice. A movement forward from here requires opening up of spaces where Marxists respectful of Ambedkar and Ambedkarites interested in Marx can meet, engage in debates and integrate their movements for emancipation. The evolution of such a united movement should not be allowed to be weakened by spreading falsehoods and misinterpreting positions." R.Ramakumar writes. 

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

Wed, 2008-10-22 16:40 | Walter Rodney

PRAGOTI reproduces first chapter of Walter Rodney's classic book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, published in 1973.

This chapter and the entire book can be found at http://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/rodney-walter/how-europe/index.htm

Walter Rodney Speaks: the Making of an African Intellectual (a selection)

Wed, 2008-10-22 16:27 | Walter Rodney
Walter Rodney speaking

I have had a rare privilege of traveling around and living and working with black people in a lot of contexts. This has sensitized me to ways in which we need to understand the specificity of different situations. To talk about Pan-Africanism, to talk about international solidarity within the black world, whichever sector of the black world we live in, we have a series of responsibilities. One of the most important of our responsibilities is to define our own situation. A second responsibility is to present that definition to other parts of the black world, indeed to the whole progressive world. A Third responsibility, and I think this is in order of priority, is to help others in a different section of the black world to reflect upon their own specific experience.

Walter Rodney and the Rodney Riots

Wed, 2008-10-22 16:10 | Walter Rodney and Pragoti Team
Walter Rodney close up

PRAGOTI publishes two excerpts from the writings of Walter Rodney on the 40th anniversary of the Rodney Riots in Jamaica in October 1968.

D D Kosambi: The Scholar and the Man

Mon, 2008-08-04 15:17 | Meera Kosambi
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D D Kosambi enjoys a unique international identity as a brilliant, profound and original scholar who straddled many fields of knowledge where he made multiple scholarly contributions. This essay, written by daughter Meera, outlines the vastness of his intellectual canvas, provides a short biographical sketch and also describes some facets of a fascinating personality. The article is courtesy, Economic and Political Weekly, which has published a series on DD Kosambi's birth centenary.