The India Blog
The India Blog is about the socio-political-economic landscape of the country, its cultural moorings and the challenges it faces – whatever affects the lives and future of the people living within its boundaries and beyond.
by In 1956, 34-year-old Garry Davis travelled to India on a quest. Having served as a bomber pilot through World War II, Davis was struck by the plight of millions rendered stateless once the war was over. For Davis, such suffering was sad and absurd, the forced consequence of a flawed and anachronistic system of nation states that governed the planet. In 1948, in Paris, he renounced the American citizenship of his birth and declared himself a world citizen with a world passport created on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights[1]. He soon picked up the support of the Alberts Einstein, Camus and Schweitzer [2].
What had spurred Davis was the idea of "one world" that had been articulated by former American Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie, and supported by the Alberts, by Bertrand Russell and by Gandhi [3]....Read more...
More about Manu Bhagavan
Manu Bhagavan is the author of "The Peacemakers: India and the Quest for One World" and associate professor of history at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Recent Posts by Manu Bhagavan
- 66th year of Independence: meet Garry Davis, world citizen
In 1956, 34-year-old Garry Davis travelled to India on a quest. Having served as a bomber pilot through World War II, Davis was struck by the plight of millions
Monica Verma
Not losing sight of a few realities in the euphoria of Modi maniaOur generation is the Internet generation with access to a lifestyle which our peers across the world enjoy. An average young Indian who can afford university education also has
Zafar Sareshwala
Why Gujarati Muslims are with ModiWhenever would-be prime ministerial candidates of the country for the 2014 elections is being discussed, it cannot be complete without mentioning Narendra Modi, who is, by far, way ahead
Jayshree Misra Tripathi
Little things of joy: sipping chai in an ancient cave in Urfa castleChai or cay, what would we and the world be without it? From the sweet, milky, cardamom-flavoured repeatedly- boiled chai of our dhabas, here I am, thousands of miles
Shailey Hingorani
India should embrace UN's ambitious proposal to end povertyThe Indian growth story has recently been marred by episodes of great violence against children, by reports of children dying of malnutrition, by stories of children going to bed
Desh Gaurav Sekhri
A guide to how and under which laws, plaThe ongoing situation regarding illegality around the IPL has led to much speculation regarding the scope and scale of those involved, as well as the possible punishment that could
Karan Thakur
A de-railed UPA falls flat on its face on coalgateThe euphoria of a victory in state elections in Karnataka proved to be pyrrhic for the Congress Party as the observations by the Supreme Court on the Coal allocation
