Just in case history repeats itself, let us not be caught unawares!
The history presented in our textbooks is highly skewed; while a small section of leaders hog all the limelight, and a few others are presented as also-rans, the rest are conveniently ignored. The oft repeated statement, "Gandhiji won India's freedom" is only one such instance of selective hero-worship. Ofcourse, I don't dispute the fact that he was one of the most important leaders of our freedom movement. At the same time, it is only fair that we acknowledge the contributions of "lesser" mortals. This section on history is a tribute to the masses (who bore the brunt of the imperialist violence), and their forgotten leaders. Due to limitations of space and knowledge, I list here only a few people whose views I very much appreciate. I hope to continuously update this section.
The Martin Luther King papers project at Stanford
-- A comprehensive reference site on King.
-- A good reference source on King, and in general, civil rights in America.
-- Selected references from Louisiana State University libraries, also has links to African-American history.
-- The complete text of one of King's most famous speeches.
-- The ANC's resource site on their leader, probably the most comprehensive site on Mandela.
I am not too sure if Chomsky chould be placed in the history section, but in the absence of a section on "Current Affairs", I think this is where he fits in best! For the benefit of the uninitiated, let me start off with one of his quotes delivered, as always, with ruthless candor. "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate."
-- A comprehensive site on Chomsky, contains the full text of many of his major works, and also the complete audio of several of his lectures.
-- A supplement to The Noam Chomsky Archive.
-- A comprehensive listing of Chomsky's essays on politics and other topics.
-- A good collection of articles, essays and links.
-- A good reference and a critique on Chomsky.
-- A good reference site on Periyar.
Famous speeches
-- A comprehensive site on Indian history, it also features commentories on current issues.