Category: Brief Thoughts

XR allows anyone to join if they agree with the values – so how do our actions stay nonviolent?

Key points from an event by Extinction Rebellion UK: XR has designated de-escalators who scan the crowd and empathize with the individuals that make up the crowd. XR is nonviolent, but our tactics, even down to the tone we sing songs in, can become aggressive by causing harm to people without us wanting to. We … Continue reading XR allows anyone to join if they agree with the values – so how do our actions stay nonviolent? →

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Can there be Mental Health in the Workplace? A Modern Marxist Critique in 5 Minutes!

How to make the work place less detrimental for mental health? When invited to speak at the Legal Wolf's global event, I had a clear response to this: 1. Help people realize that it's not an individual weakness, but structural (so basically topple neoliberalism).2. Introduce a 4-day working week.3. Introduce a Universal Basic Income. Here … Continue reading Can there be Mental Health in the Workplace? A Modern Marxist Critique in 5 Minutes! →

Voice Messages from Friends: Bhaavya on the Disappearance of Indigenous Knowledge in Cotton Farming

In the series 'Voice Messages from Friends', I type down and edit for clarity (with permission) the voice messages friends have sent me explaining to me topics they are passionate about. Bhaavya is the founder of IROIRO, a zero-waste fashion brand with a circular economy model. IROIRO up-cycles discarded cotton shreds from textile companies. Bhaavya … Continue reading Voice Messages from Friends: Bhaavya on the Disappearance of Indigenous Knowledge in Cotton Farming →

Voice Messages from Friends: Kaninik on Unlimited GDP Growth

In the series ‘Voice Messages from Friends’, I type down and edit for clarity (with permission) the voice messages friends have sent me explaining topics they are passionate about. Kaninik works as a teacher at IIT Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Because of his background in Construction Technology and Urban Systems, he has worked to implement government … Continue reading Voice Messages from Friends: Kaninik on Unlimited GDP Growth →

Testing the COVID-19 vaccine in Africa is a terrible idea – but could it still happen?

My professor at Leiden University College recently asked us as a class about the recent suggestion of French doctors to test a possible COVID-19 vaccine on vulnerable populations in the African continent (read more here). Apart from the fact that this case is absolutely appalling, especially to us as a class studying public health ethics, we were asked to write about whether pharmaceutical companies are bound to respect the ethical guidelines - that is: Even though we agree that it's an absolutely stupid idea, could it still be done? Is there anything stopping pharma companies from doing it? And if there isn't anything stopping them, would they do it?

This was my answer. 

Brief thoughts on the use of petitions and the Indian legal system

Do petitions work? That totally depends on what they are for and in what legal system they seek to operate. Today, I sent around a petition to my Indian friends, which asks to sign in order to bring charges for a politician who apparently incited violence at the recent Delhi protests. Many of my friends … Continue reading Brief thoughts on the use of petitions and the Indian legal system →

Why Seek Inner Peace? The Concept of Transformative Sprituality

This is a transcript of a lecture by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, the founder of the concept of Non-Violent Communication. Find the exact passage at 33:25. When have this transformative spirituality, we need to integrate it with political consciousness. We need to really understand how the structures are working that are oppressing us. We have to … Continue reading Why Seek Inner Peace? The Concept of Transformative Sprituality →

Shit, I’m a fish

Leviathan, a "documentary horror film" by Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, is all about departing from a human-focussed way of telling stories, and helping viewers emerge into the story the documentary wants to tell from the other perspective. What better way is there to see the horrors of corporate fishing, than through the eyes of a fish?