In his Sarai lecture, on 4 Jan 2010, Slavoj Žižek called Gandhi a ’soft fascist’ and said he was more in line with Ambedkar’s radical approach to the question of caste. In this interview to the Sunday Times of India (10 Jan 2010), he elaborates on these questions. Excerpts with links to full text.
Q: You have also been accused of glorifying political violence. Do you support violence as a means of political change?
A: Here I must be frank. For me, the 20th century communism is the biggest ethical-political catastrophe in …

Slavoj Žižek on
“Capitalism and Particular Life-Worlds: In Defense of Universalism”
7 Jan 2010. 11 a.m.
Room 1, New Academic Building, EFLU Campus
Interlocutor: Madhava Prasad
Come early to ensure seats. Žižek books and other latest Navayana titles will be available for sale at the venue.
To order Žižek’s latest book First as Tragedy, Then as Farce and The Sublime Object of Ideology, or any other Navayana title online in any part of South Asia, visit Scholars Without Borders.

5 Jan 2010. 7 p.m.
Slavoj Žižek on “Tragedy and Farce”
Interlocutor: Nivedita Menon
Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
This evening see how Slavoj Žižek, in a talk ostensibly on 11 Sept 2001 and the crisis in capitalism (the Tragedy and the Farce), manages to speak on Ambedkar, caste, Gandhi, shit, manual scavenging and the Laws of Manu…
Prof Nivedita Menon will critically engage with  Žižek’s book, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, and his talk.
Come early to ensure seats.

The rest of the schedule of his India tour is as follows:
7 Jan 2010. …

At the Navayana-Sarai First Annual Lecture
on Monday, 4 January 2010, at 5: 00 p.m.
Seminar Room, CSDS
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054
Slavoj Žižek speaks on “Ideology in the Post-ideological World: The Case of Hollywood”
to a full house.

In this interview to TimeOut ahead of his India tour, Slavoj Žižek says:
What sorts of intellectual movements in India are you curious about?
I am now jumping between two books, a collection of speeches by Dr Ambedkar, and one of the founding texts of ideology of all times, the laws of Manu. Ideology is precisely these daily rituals: how do you enter a house? Who will clean your toilet? Whom you are allowed to touch? I am also reading a book called Red Sun, about these Maoists - the Naxalites. I’m …

Navayana presents preeminent Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek in its 1st Annual Lecture series. The lectures, beginning 4 Jan 2010, are preceded by screenings of films on/with Žižek. After the screening of two films on 24 Dec 2009 at Sarai, the show now moves to Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, where Astra Taylor’s Žižek! will be screened on 2 Jan 2010. All the events are open to the public.
“Cinema is the ultimate pervert art. It doesn’t give you what you desire — it tells you how to desire.” — Slavoj Žižek
“Žižek!” …

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce
Slavoj Žižek
Paperback   B Format   156 pages   Rs 200
ISBN 9788189059019
The title of this book is intended as an elementary IQ test for the reader: if the first association it generates is the vulgar anti-communist cliché —“You are right—today, after the tragedy of twentieth-century totalitarianism, all the talk about a return to communism can only be farcical!”—then I sincerely advise you to stop here. Indeed, the book should be forcibly confiscated from you, since it deals with an entirely different tragedy and farce, namely, the two …

In the first annual Navayana lecture series, Navayana, which turns six on 5 November, is delighted to present Slavoj Žižek – maverick marxist from Slovenia, “the Elvis of cultural theory”. He shall be in India from 2 Jan to 9 Jan 2010, participating in two public events in Delhi and one each in Hyderabad and Kochi. His tour shall coincide with the Navayana edition of his latest book, First and Tragedy, Then as Farce. There will also be pre-event shows – film screenings, launches, discussions. A …

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Imagining a Place for Buddhism
Literary Culture and Religious Community in Tamil-Speaking South India
Anne E. Monius

272 pages | Rs 350 | Paperback | 9788189059194 | For sale only in South Asia
Focusing on two extant Buddhist Tamil texts, Anne Monius sheds light on the role of literature and literary culture in the formation, articulation and evolution of Tamil Buddhist religious identity and community.
From the Blurb | Read Reviews | Read Excerpt

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Myth of the Holy Cow
D.N. Jha
(With additional material: …

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| Other Headings | Holocaste

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce
Slavoj Žižek
156 pages | Rs 200 | Paperback | 9788189059019 | For sale in S. Asia only
“The title of this book is intended as an elementary IQ test for the reader: if the first association it generates is the vulgar anti-communist cliché —“You are right—today, after the tragedy of twentieth-century totalitarianism, all the talk about a return to communism can only be farcical!”—then I sincerely advise you to stop here. Indeed, the book should be forcibly …