From the blurb
Surviving the Century — Facing Climate Chaos & Other Global Challenges: Edited by Herbert Girardet; Earthscan, London, Viva Books Private Limited, Jamals Fazal Chambers, 26, Greams Road, Chennai-600006. Rs. 895.
This book, the first major publication by the World Future Council (WFC), a new international voice for future generations, shows how a dramatic transformation of how humans relate to the Earth, and to one another can be achieved. Environmental and human catastrophe looms ever larger for planet Earth. From the necessity to prevent runaway climate change, to the need to create sustainable habitats for a population expected to reach nine billion by the middle of this century, and to transform the world’s industrial production systems powerful action is required now to turn a deepening global crisis into an unprecedented opportunity for positive change.
It reflects the positive mission of the WFC. Each chapter addresses a different critical issue and the eight main themes covered are: countering climate chaos, renewable energy policy, local farming systems, rainforests and climate change, creating sustainable cities, cradle to cradle production systems, a radical vision for trade, and creating a living democracy. It offers an action plan for all those who want to be a part of the historic opportunity to provide solutions to the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced.
The Everyday Life of Hindu Nationalism — An Ethnographic Account: Shubh Mathur; Three Essays Collective; B-957, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon, Haryana-122017. Rs. 275.
This is an ethnographic account of the rise of Hindu nationalism in Rajasthan during the period 1990-94. It looks at the transformation of cultural meanings in everyday life that make possible the political success because media and academic accounts of the Hindu right draw attention away from the world of the everyday and the ordinary, from the homes, workplaces, schools and communities where the realities of Hindu nationalism are created and maintained.
This book takes seriously the claims of RSS activists that theirs is a cultural organisation, and that its main task is ‘character building’, in order to answer the central question: How does one comprehend the selves that are capable of the extraordinary violence witnessed in India at the turn of the millennium? The author documents that the patterns of anti-minority violence that accompanied the rise of Hindu nationalism show that it follows not a political or economic logic, but a cultural one.
The geographic and demographic distribution of violence maps and confirms cultural beliefs about the nation and its enemies.
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