THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL

Friday, January 29th, 2010 by Guest Blogger Sushma Joshi Why are people willing to trade freedom for prosperity and material comfort, asked John Kampfner. His book, Freedom for Sale, looks at eight countries as examples of places which have traded in freedom for material security and prosperity. He was born in Singapore and lived in China and Russia—where except for a group of “fearless troublemakers,” most people have bowed down to the imperatives of prosperity in exchange for public freedoms. The UAE and Dubai have a Disney quality about them, says Kampfner, where everyone is trading freedoms for other things, including slave labor. In India, pollution is the tradeoff, while in Italy, Berlosconi has dismantled the independent judiciary and media. In the UK, the ascent of the Left has dismantled civil liberties, and in the USA, self-censorship after 2001 is at an all time high, with people trading in public freedoms for public security. Niall Ferguson tried to play the Oxford don and ...

ART REALLY DOES MATTER | Oped | ekantipur.com ART REALLY DOES MATTER SUSHMA JOSHI JAN 02 - I admit it—I’m a culture hound. That’s why I may have been asked to do this roundup for the year’s arts and culture by The Kathmandu Post. Despite my desire to attend every programme and be everywhere, that’s simply not been possible, so I’ll focus myself on the arts I do know best—literature (fiction, more than poetry or non-fiction), cinema (independent more than commercial), and modern visual arts, with a little bit of theatre. For the vast world of music you better ask somebody else. On dance I’m clueless. I pontificate about architecture but am zero when it comes to real knowledge, so please ask the experts. I know nothing about sculpture, or traditional arts like thangkas, brass and bronze, and wood or stone carvings. So do not expect this to be comprehensive. A week or so ago, I taught two workshops to a group of young people. The workshops on fiction and non-fiction writing was organised...