History

Collage of photos of Karl Marx, V.I.Lenin and Julius Martov (the Menshevik leader) downloaded from Wikimedia Commons.

What’s Left? What’s Right? Or When Left Is Right

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It goes back to the French revolution of 1789. At the Revolutionary Convention the most radical of the insurgents decided to seat themselves on the left side. “Why not on the other side, the right side, the place of rectitude, where law and the higher rights resided, when man’s best hand could be raised in righteous honour?” wrote Melvin Lasky in what was then Britain’s most influential intellectual monthly, Encounter. “Anyway they went left, and man’s political passions have never been the same since.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 03 December 2019

Photo: U.S. political scientist Francis Fukuyama (left) and DW's Simon Young at the Berlin Wall Memorial. Source: SDYoung Twitter

Fukuyama Expects People to Still Mark 1989 in 100 Years

Deutsche Welle Interview

BERLIN (IDN-INPS) – "I think democracy has got a lot of strengths that may not be evident in the short run, but will play out over the longer run because the ability to change your leaders, ability to hold them accountable is really important," American political scientist and writer Francis Fukuyama, author of the much debated 1989 "The End of History" article, told Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 November 2019

Photo: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressing a mass audience. Source: IISG/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

How the Kashmir Debate in India Is Being Fuelled by Falsehoods

Viewpoint by A.G. Noorani

India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah claims that if it wasn't for the country’s first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir would have been in India’s possession. The truth is, if Kashmir is a part of India, it is almost entirely because of Nehru, writes A. G. Noorani, an Indian lawyer, constitutional expert and political commentator. This article first appeared in The Wire on 9 August 2019.

MUMBAI (IDN-INPS) – The Sangh parivar’s hatred of Jawaharlal Nehru is perfectly understandable. At the time of the Partition of India, he stood by Gandhi and bravely fought back the rising surge of hate fostered by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS supremo, M.S. Golwalkar’s plans to exterminate Muslims were detected, as the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Rajeshwar Dayal revealed in his memoir A Life in Our Time.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 August 2019

Photo: Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah (right), interacting with Members of Parliament at one of the sittings at the first Session of Parliament in Ghana. Credit: Graphic Online.

Ghanaians Reflect on Legacy of Former President Nkrumah

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The anniversary of the passing of Ghana’s first Prime Minister and President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, prompted reflections by Ghanaians on social media of his legacy and contributions.

He led the 'Gold Coast' to independence as the nation of Ghana from Britain in 1957. An influential advocate of pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.

Dr. Nkrumah’s daughter Samia, in an open letter, wrote: “Kwame Nkrumah may not be with us physically but he lives in our hearts and minds as the fire he lit burns aloft giving us guidance for the total liberation and unification of Africa.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 April 2019

Photo: Ottoman capitulation at Nikopol, 1877. Credit: Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky | Wikimedia Commons.

Exploring How Europe Conquered the World

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – By 1914 Europeans ruled 84 percent of the globe. How did they do it? Eleven hundred years ago Europe was a backwater. There were no grand cities, apart from Muslim Cordoba in Spain, and the remnants of Rome and Athens. The Middle East, India and China were further ahead. It was the Arabs who kept alive the teachings of the Ancient Greek' knowledge of science, medicine, architecture and philosophy.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 March 2019

Photo: Nava Nalanda Mahavihara. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS

Nalanda Grapples With Making Pali Relevant 2500 Years Later

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 27th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous series.

NALANDA, India (IDN) – It is believed that more than 2500 years ago Gauthama Buddha chose to preach in Pali rather than Sanskrit because the latter was the language of the elite while Pali was spoken by the masses. Today nobody speaks Pali in India, but, the Buddhist scriptures that were originally written in Pali are still used to educate monks as well as in Buddhist chantings.

: Lotus News Features; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 10 February 2019

Photo: As part of Count Folke Bernadotte action, Danish Red Cross buses drive through Odense on the way to Sweden, carrying Danish prisoners from German concentration camps April 17, 1945. CC BY-SA 2.0.

Folke Bernadotte, A Forgotten Humanitarian With Legendary Will Power

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Many know about Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat in Budapest, who led his embassy in a successful attempt to issue “protective passports” to at least 6,000 Hungarian Jews so they could escape the Nazi occupiers and travel to Sweden. He also helped forestall a planned massacre. He became the second person to be given honorary U.S. citizenship.

Many also know about the magnificent effort by the occupied Danes to use small boats to enable around 7,000 Jews to cross the water that separates Denmark and Sweden to get them to neutral Sweden.

And about the German businessman, Oskar Schindler, who later became the star of Stephen Spielberg’s masterpiece film Schindler’s List that showed how he used his business in Poland as a means of sheltering a thousand Jews.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 15 January 2019

Photo: A stone memorial “The rebels were dispersed here” stands on the Matale-Kandy road till this day. Credit: Matale Rebellion, Ceylon.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 4

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. The following is Part 3 of the text of his keynote address delivered at Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya, Kandy, on 26 November 2018. – Click here for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Many reasons can be given for the failure of the uprising. First and foremost were the immense power and enormous resources of the rising British Empire at the time. A small nation, and its chiefs, though demonstrating exceptional valour and purpose, had little chance of defeating Britain which was also basking in the glow of having recently defeated Napoleon and the French empire and was exuding supreme confidence.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; History; 09 December 2018

Photo: The Royal Palace of Kandy. Wikimedia Commons.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 3

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – As to whether Kandy could have managed to hold the British at bay for much longer or extract much more from the British in the negotiations at that point in history is highly debatable. My view is that for a leadership which was not much familiar with the momentous events shaping the future of the world and Britain emerging the undisputed super power of the world, the chiefs did remarkably well.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; History; 08 December 2018

Photo source: The Island Daily, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's Heroic Freedom Struggles of 1818 and 1848 – Part 2

By Dr. Palitha Kohona

The author is former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary. The following is Part 2 of the text of his keynote address delivered at Sri Lanka's University of Peradeniya, Kandy, on 26 November 2018. – Click here for Part 1.

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – The first major British invasion of Kandy suffered the same fate as those of the Portuguese and the Dutch. The King commanded the loyalty of the chiefs, the people and the monks and the invaders were just massacred at Le Wella (Bloody Beach) but the world’s only superpower at the time did not take this defeat lying down.