This was a jammed pack day. The weekends are always even more crowded then the week days because of all the students that attend. There will be over 300,000 total attendance for the 5 days. It is the biggest Literary Festival is South East Asia by far. Most of the sessions were very anxiety provoking. These are tough times we are heading into. We attended a wide variety of sessions covering many projects.
The first session was on Civil Wars. The subject of Civil
Wars has really never been examined in depth. Throughout history, wars between
nations has been the norm. We have been living in an abnormal time. It is
commonly called: “The Long Peace”. It started in 1945 and has lasted till now.
It is abnormal. It is also called: Pax Americana. A peace guaranteed by the
power and might of the United States. Obviously, if you lived in Viet Nam, the
Koreas or many other countries you wouldn’t feel that it has been A Long Peace.
But in this period the Major Powers: US, Russia and China have been able to
avoid a major confrontation. This is all in jeopardy now because of the Trump
Administration. The professor and author of this book on Civil Wars went
through the history of Civil Wars (they started in Rome) and explained the
implications of living in world dominated by various types of rebellions. The
idea of Civil Wars is basically people fighting their neighbors. The issue
today is: has our politics itself devolved in to Civil Wars? It was politics
that was supposed to resolve these issues. But if the hatred between Democrats and
Republicans is so great, will polititics fail, and Civil War be the result? Not a
hopeful way to start the day. The first speaker Professor David Armitridge through out his lecture refused to speak Trump's name instead calling him "The President Who Can Not Be Named". I liked that and will use that phrase.
Civil
Wars: A History in Ideas - David Armitridge
We attended a session on "Battling the Gods, Atheism in the Ancient World". This was a very erudite session, that was way over our heads. Much quotation of obscure Sanskrit texts. Bottom line: There has always been atheists, it isn’t a new idea brought about by the enlightenment. It isn’t a particularly a western idea. Eastern philosophy has always included Atheism.
Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World - Tim Whitmarsh
The next session was a panel discussion on Brexit. Three of
the panelists thought it was a dreadful idea, one was a supporter. The key take
away for me was the parallel between the Brexit Voter and the Trump Voter. Both
voters feel the effect of globalization and alienation from the central
Government. Both campaigns were run very effectively with the opposition
running a rather incompetent campaign. Both elections were close with profound
changes being enabled. It is very hard to predict the ultimate good or bad of
the choices made, only time will tell. We know Brexit is setting off a chain of
major events that are going to change the world. Trumpism will probably do the same. It is impossible
to predict the future, but the three panelist who support remain in Brexit,
feel there will be a rise in right wing fascism as a result, and an even more expansionist
Russia. It isn’t a pretty picture.
We then attended a great lecture on Free Speech. By Timothy
Ash. He is a passionate professor and author. He explained the major issues of
Free Speech ranging from government censorship to censorship by corporations
such as Google or Twitter to what he calls The Assassin’s censorship (if you
write or say this we will kill you). The issues of free discourse on college
campuses, the feeling that people have of being offended by speech all are very
complicated issues that he has thought through. The lecture was most provocative
and interesting.
Free
Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World – Timothy Ash
The British East India Company was one of the vilest companies ever created. It was also one of the first stock companies. Prior to its existence, most companies were family affairs. This was a stock company. It was one of the world’s first multinationals. It was also a company with its own army. Its reach was far larger than just India. It was enormously successful for a long period of time. It eventually came to actually rule over India. It plundered and caused an amazing amount of death and destruction. When the Indians rose up in 1857 the Company was so brutal that Parliament took away its power and simply gave India to Queen Victoria.
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