Category Archives: Everyday Life

Everyday Life, Identities, Language, Violence/Conflict

Reflections on Dissent -How Is Hannah Arendt Relevant for Contemporary Israel and India? Ira Chadha-Sridhar

Leave a comment

This is a guest post by IRA CHADHA-SRIDHAR

In 2016, the age-old conflict between Israel and Palestine has become tougher and more violent at the ground level. The year has come with several disturbing developments in the region- the intensification of the Gaza blockade, the subsequent statement by the Hamas threatening to implement an explosion unless the blockade is lifted and Israel’s rejection of the French peace treaty for the region. Jean-Marc Ayrault, French Foreign Affairs Minister said, in April 2016 that, “The two sides are further apart than ever.” In other news, Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, has been criticized for his statements claiming Hitler himself was a Zionist before “he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews”. The merits of Livingstone’s statements and the fallacious reasoning he employs has been rightly criticized by several international commentators. However, he has unknowingly raised larger, more important questions by his statements about how to criticize the Israeli state without being branded as “anti-Semitic” within international discourse- a problem that several commentators critical of the Israeli regime have faced. How can the international community legitimately advance its criticism of the Israeli state? Although critics of Israel are usually non-Jews, there has been a vibrant critique of the oppressive Israeli regime from the Jewish diaspora itself. For historical instruction, in this article, I draw upon the work of one of the earliest and most controversial voices of critique from the Israeli diaspora- the brutally honest voice of 20th century political philosopher, Hannah Arendt. Her book of unparalleled political influence, ‘Eichmann in Jersulelam: A Report on the Banality of Evil’, created what scholars often refer to as a “war” amongst intellectuals across the world that brought to question the validity of her theories and their political and global ramifications. (Elon 2006) Amongst the Jews, and, in particular, in Israel, Arendt’s work was met with anger and severe political backlash. She was labelled “Anti-Jew”, “Nazi” and a “Jew-hater”- labels that were intended to act as violent threats against her distinct, free intellectual voice. (Elon 2006). Continue reading Reflections on Dissent -How Is Hannah Arendt Relevant for Contemporary Israel and India? Ira Chadha-Sridhar →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Countryside, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Images, Violence/Conflict

Black and Blue: A Short Story by Saunvedan Aparanti

5 Comments

This is a guest post by SAUNVEDAN APARANTI

[Based on Gujarat Dalit flogging. It chronicles the fictionalised life of one of the victims.]

What comes to your mind when you think of India? If you’ve been seduced by films, books, pictures and anglophile Indians over the last century then you will no doubt paint a happy picture. You might romanticise the poor yet happy people, the colours, the cuisine, the attire, the mystics, the music, the dance, the cacophony, the heat and the sensory overload of this one country. The only colour missing in your picture will be any shade of black because black is a colour that India hides.Black is a colour that India detests whether it be the colour of your skin or the colour of the sewer that you’re lowered in. A bottomless pit is where you will find the true colour of India. Continue reading Black and Blue: A Short Story by Saunvedan Aparanti →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Kashmir, Summer 2016: Angana Chatterji

1 Comment

Guest Post by Angana Chatterji 

In 2011, I had written an essay on Kashmir entitled: “The Militarized Zone,”which was published in an anthology on Kashmir (Verso Books).

What was apparent then is all too real now. I reproduce an edited fragment here today, in solidarity with Kashmiris who are being asphyxiated in their land and subjected to life under conditions akin to collective internment, and their allies across India who are being intimidated to conserve the silence. Speaking up on Kashmir is inevitably accompanied by fear for many even as silence is a betrayal of humanity. Continue reading Kashmir, Summer 2016: Angana Chatterji →

Centre watch, Debates, Education, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Government, Images, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Statement Against State Violence in Kashmir: Ashoka University Students and Alumni

9 Comments

Guest Post by Ashoka University Students and Alumni

Letter condemning the State Violence in Kashmir

To

The Govt of India. and the Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir.

We, the undersigned—current students, alumni of the Young India Fellowship, and faculty of Ashoka University—write to voice our deepest anguish and grave concern at the violent turn of events in Kashmir in the past few days. The violence perpetrated by the Indian State after the extra-judicial execution(1) of 22-year old Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani (2) is highly condemnable. The Indian Army, Kashmir Police and other task forces have reacted violently with bullets, pellets and lathis in the clashes that erupted after Burhan’s funeral. This was immediately followed by many more protests and demonstrations as part of Kashmiri resistance to the military occupation of Kashmir by the Indian State. In the violent repression of the protests which had a huge ground support (evident from the large attendance to Burhan’s funeral) , 55 civilians (3) have been killed and around 3100 people (4) were severely injured by the pellets(5), lathis and bullets, some of whom have lost their eyesight. We, unequivocally, condemn this brutal use of force by the Indian State in dealing with the protests after the killing of Burhan Wani. Continue reading Statement Against State Violence in Kashmir: Ashoka University Students and Alumni →

Debates, Education, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Images, Left watch, Metropolis, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Students Protest in JNU Over Rising Civilian Casualties in Kashmir

7 Comments

The number of unarmed civilians killed in instances of firing by the armed forces, police and paramilitaries enforcing the occupation of Kashmir by the Indian state in the latest wave of violence has crossed fifty. Many more have been blinded by pellet guns. Hundreds have been injured and hospitalized. Reports of protests are coming not only from the Kashmir valley, Kargil, Drass and Jammu, but also from many cities in India. From Delhi (where there has been a public protest at Jantar Mantar, a press conference at Gandhi Peace Foundation and a student protest at Jawaharlal Nehru University), from Kolkata, which saw a massive turn out in a public march, from Chennai, from Patna, and from Kochi and Tricky in Kerala.

On Friday 22nd July, I went to a night protest march and public gathering by students at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. The march was called by Shehla Rashid, Vice President, JNUSU and Rama Naga, General Secretary, JNUSU (Both AISA activists) There were perhaps two hundred students gathered peacefully. The march began around 10:00 pm, made its way around the university campus and the protest continued well past midnight. Several student organizations, AISA, BASO, Hundred Flowers, Collective, DSU and individual students participated in the march. Shehla Rashid, Vice President, JNUSU and an AISA student activist, addressed the gathering before the march began, stating clearly, that this was going to be a peaceful expression of the democratic right to protest against the atrocities being enacted by the Indian state on the people of the part of Kashmir that is under Indian occupation. She asked the students to be vigilant in case any disruptive slogans were raised by planted agent-provocateurs. The entire march, and the protest meeting was documented by the students, so as to ensure that no ‘doctored videos’ would raise their ugly digital heads in the days to come. The students raised the demand for freedom for the people of Kashmir, and for people in all parts of South Asia. The slogans connected the realties of the people of Kashmir, the North East, Bastar, Jharkhand, with the experiences of Dalits, Workers, Peasants, Women, Students and Minorities. Slogans were raised against the killings and blindings by pellet guns in Kashmir. against torture, again rape, against draconian acts like AFSPA and PSA. The march made its way through the entire campus and culminated outside Chandrabhaga Hostel, where a meeting was held on the steps. The meeting lasted over two hours, was completely peaceful,and more than two hundred students listened to the speakers with close attention.

Police officers and campus security guards were present, and recorded everything. The students also recorded everything. And the indefatigable Shamim Asghor Ali made video recordings of several speeches, and uploaded them on to youtube, which we are lucky to be able to share here. We are also grateful for the still images uploaded by V. Arun, several others also took pictures and videos, which are now being shared on Facebook. Continue reading Students Protest in JNU Over Rising Civilian Casualties in Kashmir →

Culture, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Language, Violence/Conflict

The Outsiders: Jagjit Pal Singh

4 Comments

This is a guest post by JAGJIT PAL SINGH

It was the year 2013; I took an auto-rickshaw from Dal Gate to Shankaracharya temple. As the auto-rickshaw took a right from the Boulevard towards the road that goes to the temple it was halted by a long queue of vehicles, mostly cars. I could see a security-check post from the distance, men in uniform grilling the drivers and their automobiles with the same thirst. You have to clear it before you pay visit to the deity. In Kashmir, these security-checks posts are just like traffic signals we habitually obey and cross in Delhi or in any other city, every day, every few kilometres. As I got off from the auto to take some fresh air a faujee approached me. He inquired from where I was coming, a very friendly tone in his voice. I was not new to these security-checks. I am half-Kashmiri, half-Punjabi, half-Sikh, half-Indian, half-Pakistani, half- refugee, and many others halves I could never put together to give a name to. He was visibly happy to see an ‘Indian’ in the land of ‘terrorists’, probably mistaken by my Punjabi/Sikh appearance. I’m more Kashmiri than a Punjabi though. If it were 1980’s or 1990’s the approach would have been different. Punjabis, mostly Sikhs, were terrorists those days. There are few other adjectives he used for Kashmiris I would like to skip. I instantly gathered all my Indian-ness and replied in an equally friendly-Indian tone to his friendly-Indian questions. It was a casual chat. Then, he went to the auto-driver in his role as a uniformed Indian in a ‘conflict-zone’; spoke to him in a dialect ‘only Kashmiris understand’, gave a green signal and in few minutes our middle-class auto-rickshaw bypassed all the expensive cars with JK number at the rear. Continue reading The Outsiders: Jagjit Pal Singh →

Culture, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Identities, Images, Politics, Violence/Conflict

What Made Burhan a Hero?: Muzaffar Ali

4 Comments

This is a guest post by MUZAFFAR ALI

Around two lakh people participated in the funeral procession of Burhan Wani: the slain Hizb militant from Shareifabad, Tral. Without a break Kashmiris are offering prayers in absentia and paying tributes to the `martyr.` Community kitchens in his locality have been set up to feed people who come to pay tributes. Defying curfew, people are crossing hills and hamlets on foot to reach his native place. Graffities in the Lalchowk area of Srinagar hail him as a hero who lives in “our hearts.” Never before has anyone witnessed such a tremendous support or tribute base for a slain militant. Militants have died before as well, but his death has given life to something unprecedented. Banners in his honour have been installed across the valley to convey the message that he will be remembered. The valley is on boil, and people are risking lives to attack armed police officers and CRPF personals. The death toll according to reports in Rising Kashmir has reached 43 and thousands of people are injured, many of them critically. While the state and the propagandistic TRP driven media emphasize Burhan being a ‘terrorist’, Kashmiris hail him as their ‘hero’ and ‘saviour.’ The question is what turned Burhan into a hero and why are Kashmiris across age groups eulogizing him? What is inspiring people to raise a slogan like, “mubarak tas maajeh yes ye zaav: shaheed hai aav, shaheed hai aaav” (congratulations to the mother who gave birth to Burhan—the Martyr). Continue reading What Made Burhan a Hero?: Muzaffar Ali →

Culture, Everyday Life, Identities, Left watch, Politics

A Non-Obituary – Life and Times of an Insaan: Bobby Kunhu

1 Comment

Guest post by BOBBY KUNHU

“To be mortal is the most basic human experience, and yet man has never been able to accept it, grasp it, and behave accordingly. Man doesn’t know how to be mortal. And when he dies, he doesn’t even know how to be dead.” – Milan Kundera, Immortality
Insaan was a person who deliberately and desperately sought to mortalise himself in a world obsessed with immortality. He was very clear that he did not want to leave any footprints of his life when he died, no children, no money, no property, no awards, no monuments, no records, no pictures – except for those inevitable because of State restrictions that could trouble people who handled his death – like death certificate. He was working hard since his retirement towards his death fighting his way through the bureaucracy for anonymity in death! Then why am I writing about him disregarding his long cherished wish? Firstly his life was too important not to be chronicled; secondly whenever we joked that we would make a saint of him after he died he responded that he did not believe in an afterlife and what people did after he died was not his concern and finally, this is my way of grieving the loss of someone who was dear to me and whose relationship with me is not at all definable!
Insaan was not new to obituaries. In fact it was an obituary that brought him into my life. The story dates back to 1982, when Advocate P. M. Padhmanaban was visiting his relatives in Bombay. My grandfather, M. Rasheed had asked him to look up Insaan, his political co-traveler and fellow trade unionist from whom he had not heard in a while. On enquiries Padhmanabhan was informed that Insaan had succumbed to a long bout of jaundice and was no more. Dutifully he passed on the information to my grandfather, who wrote a long obituary in the Sunday edition of the Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi. The following Sunday as my grandfather was sitting with his cup of tea and perusing his morning newspapers at the Verandah of his Calicut house, Insaan walked in with a copy of the newspaper that carried his obituary!

Continue reading A Non-Obituary – Life and Times of an Insaan: Bobby Kunhu →

Bad ideas, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Identities, Law, Metropolis, Movements, Violence/Conflict

Bangalore Police Revoke Permission for Protest on Kashmir: Greeshma Aruna Rai

1 Comment

Guest Post by Greeshma Aruna Rai, with Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS), Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) & Karnataka for Kashmir Forum.
Police has revoked the permission which they had given yesterday to hold a democratic protest in solidarity with Kashmiris in Bangalore by concerned citizens and activists. This is another way in which the State shows its true colours to all Indian citizens who are against State repression and State colonialism in Kashmir.
Permission for today’s protest condemning atrocities on the people of Kashmir has been revoked by the Karnataka State Police. They have threatened us with legal action if we proceed.

As organisers we have been bombarded by the police, demanding that we withdraw this demonstration.

As we publish this message, the 11th day of curfew continues and valley remains awash with the blood of Kashmiris.
Today’s protest is postponed. We, however, refuse to be stifled by the very same state that is ravaging Kashmir. We have resolved to move against the actions of the Police. We’ll be releasing a Press Note shortly while discussing other options to challenge this.

[ Shortly after this post was uploaded, the organizers of the protest held a press conference where they released the following statement.]

Continue reading Bangalore Police Revoke Permission for Protest on Kashmir: Greeshma Aruna Rai →

Bad ideas, Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Media politics, Movements, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Statement On the Unfolding Situation in Kashmir : NSI Delhi Chapter

1 Comment

Guest Post by New Socialist Initiative, Delhi Chapter

The valley of Kashmir is on the boil again. Forsaking the so-called normal routines of their lives, people are on the streets. Not just young men, but even children and women are out, challenging the military might of the Indian state. Any fear of the police and army appears to have been discarded. Police stations and even CRPF camps have been attacked. A popular upsurge, it is energised by mass fury. Forty people have lost their lives in one week at the hands of the Indian security establishment. Hundreds of others have suffered serious eye and other injuries from presumedly ‘non-lethal’ pellets used by the police. While people are out confronting the police, para-military and army, the other organs of the Indian state in Kashmir, the elected government and its bureaucracy, elected members of the legislature, panchayats, etc. are in a rathole, fearing public appearance. It is just the people of Kashmir valley versus the institutions of organised violence of the Indian state.

While the immediate cause of popular anger is the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani, reasons for this anger go much deeper and have a longer history. The stifling and repression of the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination stands at the root of this conflict. This repression has taken on extreme violent forms. For twenty five years now, the Kashmir valley has been among the most militarised places in the world. More than half a million troops of Indian army and para-military forces have been stationed in the state and its border with Pakistan. Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF camps dot the land scape. Highway checkpoints and random searches are part of everyday life. Thousands of men have disappeared, been picked up by security forces, thrown in the black hole of interrogation camps, often ending up in unmarked graves. The hated AFSPA gives Indian security forces legal cover to assault basic rights of Kashmiris to live a life of elementary dignity. If an average valley resident is alienated from the normal practices of the Indian state such as elections and its administrative initiatives, s/he harbours deep resentment against the presence of Indian security forces in their homeland. This resentment has erupted in mass protests again and again.

Continue reading Statement On the Unfolding Situation in Kashmir : NSI Delhi Chapter →

Everyday Life, Feminism, Law, Right watch

Uniform Civil Code – Once again, where is gender justice?

9 Comments

This article appeared in The Hindu today

For nearly eight decades, the women’s movement has discussed and debated the desirability and feasibility of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and has ended up posing a simple question – what is the value of uniformity? Is it for the “integrity of the nation” that uniformity in laws is required, as some judicial pronouncements have suggested?  If so, who exactly is the beneficiary? Which sections of people benefit from “integrity of the nation”, that abstract entity which is not exactly at the top of your mind as your husband throws you out on the street?

Or are uniform laws meant to ensure justice for women in marriage and inheritance?

In that case, a UCC would simply put together the best gender just practices from all Personal Laws. So yes, polygamy and arbitrary divorce would be outlawed (a feature derived from Hindu Personal Law). But conversely, as feminist legal activist Flavia Agnes has often pointed out, a UCC would require the abolition of the Hindu Undivided Family, a legal institution that gives tax benefits only to Hindus, and all citizens of India would have to be governed by the largely gender-just Indian Succession Act, 1925, currently applicable only to Christians and Parsis.

Muslim Personal Law is already modern in this sense, since it has since the 1930s, enshrined individual rights to property, unlike Hindu law, in which the family’s natural condition is assumed to be “joint”. In the decades of the 1930s and 1940s, contrary to later discourses about Muslim law being backward, it was Hindu laws that were considered “backward” and needing to be brought into the modern world of individual property rights. Continue reading Uniform Civil Code – Once again, where is gender justice? →

Bad ideas, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Images, Law, Violence/Conflict

The Killings in Kashmir: Kavita Krishnan

72 Comments

Guest Post by KAVITA KRISHNAN

An appeal to the conscience of every Indian citizen – to tune down the shrill media noise for a bit, take a step back from the easy, packaged ‘discourse’ being dished out, and ask try and ask ourselves some uncomfortable but necessary questions. 

I am being asked by various persons in the media to comment on my apparently ‘controversial’ and ‘shocking’ claim that Burhan Wani’s killing was extra-judicial’ and must be probed. Let me begin with a few remarks about this issue.

For most Kashmiris, it may not matter all that much whether or not Burhan Wani was killed in a ‘fake’ encounter or a ‘genuine’ one. What matters is that the Indian State killed him – just as it has killed and is killing so many other Kashmiri youngsters. Their grief, their rage, does not depend on the authenticity or otherwise of the encounter. They have no expectations of due process or of justice from the Indian State. It it civil liberties activists who – in what sometimes feels like an exhausting, futile exercise – demand that due process be followed, that the mandates of the Indian Constitution be respected, that the armed forces in conflict areas be held accountable.

Continue reading The Killings in Kashmir: Kavita Krishnan →

Bad ideas, Debates, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Images, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Violence/Conflict

Kashmir Burns, Again

50 Comments

A hundred and twelve lives, most of them young, some very young, were lost in Kashmir when the army, paramilitaries and police forces opened fire on several occasions from June to September in 2010. That was only six years ago. The latest reports indicate that around twenty three lives have already been lost in the last two days alone, in the aftermath of state troopers, soldiers and paramilitaries firing at funeral protests, after Burhan Wani, a twenty two year old insurgent, who had acquired the aura of a folk hero in Kashmir, was killed in an ‘encounter’, along with two of his associates, on Friday morning in a village in Kokernag.

Several more people have sustained serious injuries. The body count is likely to rise. Curfews have returned, phone and internet links are suspended, but nothing seems to keep people from spilling out onto the streets, and unlike previous instances, the communications ban seems to be unworkable. No one can pretend that Kashmir is not in crisis, again, today.

The people in power, at the state and the centre, were different in 2010. Omar Abdullah, then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was offering mealy mouthed rationalizations for killing kids then, while Mehbooba Mufti, was weeping crocodile tears. It is the other way round right now. Omar is being ‘sensitive’, Mehbooba, who the roll of the dice has placed in the position of chief minister now, is ’sullenly’ presiding over a badly timed by-election victory. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was silent then, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is playing percussion instruments in Africa now. If Nero played the harp while Rome burnt, Modi beats drums while Kashmir goes up in flames.

Continue reading Kashmir Burns, Again →

Culture, Education, Everyday Life, Identities

How Background Works – Reflections on NLS Socio-Economic ‘Census’ 2015-16: Chirayu Jain

3 Comments

Guest post by CHIRAYU JAIN

Last year I carried out a study to record background and performance data of all students at NLS. Managing to get 97.9% compliance, the data helped in preparing the report “The Elusive Island of Excellence”, which provides a microanalysis of the institution touted as the country’s best law school, and answers two broad questions: who is likely to get admitted to NLS, and how much does background influence one’s performance within NLS? This article details why this year-long study was conducted, reflections on certain key findings and insights received from academics and scholars hypothesizing probable reasons for the outcomes of the report.

When the final figures of the Census were tabulated, the dearth of Muslims or the financial affluence of the under-graduate students at NLS came as no surprise. But what was shocking was the magnitude. Muslims form not even 1% of the student body and with average family incomes being higher than Rs. 20 lakhs per annum- majority of the NLS students come from top one percentile of the country! Not a single student who declared their caste as scheduled caste/tribe was admitted through general category, and Brahmins continue to be disproportionately dominate the numbers by forming more than a quarter of the student body. Likewise, 77.8% of the students came from families where even their grandparents had gone to college, while 26% are those with even longer history of graduates in their families.

Continue reading How Background Works – Reflections on NLS Socio-Economic ‘Census’ 2015-16: Chirayu Jain →

Bad ideas, Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life, Metropolis

[Kafila Audio] Dilli Tha Jiska Naam: Recollections of a Forgotten City

2 Comments

Last week I caught up with Shubhum Mishra, a cartographer/geographer/urban planner, in Sundar Nursery – a Mughal garden turned  colonial green house spanning 70 acres in the heart of Delhi – that shall should be open to the public sometime next year.

Shubhum has just transliterated Intizar Husain’s famous book – Dilli Tha Jiska Naam – from the original Urdu/farsi script to devnagari, in the hope of making this incredible resource more accessible to north Indian readers. In this conversation he reads excerpts from the book and I asked him why modern Indian cities are so spectacularly ugly.

Listen in for a fascinating description of Chandini Chowk and “Old Delhi” – back from when “Old Delhi” was the only Delhi around.  Shubhum will respond to comments on the site. His book is now available in most book stores around the city and you can buy it here

 

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life, Feminism, Genders, Government, Identities, Law, Media politics, Sex, Violence/Conflict

Moral Police-Police!

2 Comments

 

The Kerala police has once more revealed how utterly unreconstructed it is since colonial times, in their brutal attack on transgender people in the city of Kochi. Stuck in 19th century Victorian morality on the one hand, and in the unabashed sense of power that only colonial authority can bequeath, these policemen thought it perfectly alright to use violence to correct what they perceive as a ‘moral problem’, sex work and that too, by transgendered persons. Continue reading Moral Police-Police! →

Bad ideas, Debates, Everyday Life

[Audio: Hindi] Prashant Jha on Upper Caste Madhesis taking the Sorry Pledge

Leave a comment

In the second instance of what I hope will become a regular feature on Kafila, I caught up with fellow journalist and Kafila contributor Prashant Jha on the We Are Sorry Campaign for Social Reform in Madhes , where upper-caste Nepali Hindus acknowledge they have benefited from the centuries long oppression of pretty much everyone else.

In our conversation Prashant addresses the substantive and well-founded criticism of the pledge [another example of upper-castes setting the terms of debate and discourse, largely symbolic] as well as broader questions of Nepali politics and nation-hood.

He will respond to comments on this site. Let me know if there are any particular themes you would like us to explore in our new audio work. All audio files in this series are freely downloadable, and shareable – so you can download them to your phone and listen on your commute to where ever.

 

Bad ideas, Debates, Education, Everyday Life, Government, Movements, Politics

Resist the Modi Regime’s Assault on Students, Reject the Subramaniam Panel Report on Student Politics: Shehla Rashid

8 Comments

Guest Post by Shehla Rashid

When politics decides your future, decide what your politics should be !

Shehla Rashid (AISA), Vice President JNUSU, speaks at a student protest, during the 'Occupy UGC' Movement
Shehla Rashid (AISA), Vice President JNUSU, speaks at a student protest, during the ‘Occupy UGC’ Movement

The recent government constituted panel‘s (headed by former cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramaniam) report on student politics is unconstitutional, highly regressive and politically motivated, and signals the upcoming onslaught of total commercialisation of education and imposition of Hindutva ideology in universities. The TSR Subramaniam Panel’s report is the logical follow up to the Birla Ambani report (which was submitted in 2000), following which student unions across the country were banned. The Birla Ambani report had lamented that student unions are not allowing commercialisation of education: we accept the charge and take pride in it! We believe that education should be a right of everyone, not a privilege of a handful of people.

Continue reading Resist the Modi Regime’s Assault on Students, Reject the Subramaniam Panel Report on Student Politics: Shehla Rashid →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Movements, Religion, Right watch

रौशनी के बीज बोने का माददा – ‘अंधविश्वास उन्मूलन’ पुस्तकत्रयी के बहाने चन्द बातें 

Leave a comment

 

(‘पहल’ के आगामी अंक हेतु )

Andhavishwas Unmoolan : Vichar - 1

1.

स्मशान में कवि सम्मेलन और वह भी अमावस की पूरी रात।

पिछले साल के अन्त में पुणे से आयी इस ख़बर की तरफ बहुत कम लोगों का ध्यान गया था। ( देखें इंडियन एक्स्प्रेस 14 नवम्बर 2015) उधर शहर में लोग दीपावली मना रहे थे और वहां सैकड़ों की तादाद मंे एकत्रित लोगों के बीच कविताएं पढ़ी जा रही थीं, एक कविता संग्रह का विमोचन भी हो रहा था, कुछ सांस्कृतिक  समूह भी बीच बीच में अपनी प्रस्तुतियां दे रहे थे। पुणे के उपनगर बोपोडी की स्मशानभूमि का परिसर उस अलग ढंग के कार्यक्रम का गवाह बना था।

‘अमावस्या की पवित्र रात में स्मशान में कवि सम्मेलन’ शीर्षक से आयोजित इस कार्यक्रम के मुख्य आयोजक थे , महाराष्ट्र अंधश्रद्धा निर्मूलन समिति – जिसके निर्माण में शहीद विचारक डा नरेन्द्र दाभोलकर ने पहल ली थी – तथा सिद्धार्थ संघ और सिद्धार्थ महिला संघ। समिति के सदस्यों द्वारा गाया एक गीत काफी चर्चित हुआ, जिसके बोल थे ‘बो रहे हैं हम प्रकाश बीज’। भूतों-प्रेतों के ‘अस्तित्व’ या उनके ‘विचरण’ को लेकर समाज में व्याप्त भ्रांत धारणाओं को चुनौती देने के लिए अंधश्रद्धा निर्मूलन समिति के बैनर तले आयोजित इस कार्यक्रम ने बरबस कुछ समय पहले कर्नाटक के बेलागावी सिटी कार्पोरेशन के अन्तर्गत आते वैंकुंठ धाम स्मशान में हुए एक अन्य आयोजन की याद ताजा कर दी थी,  जहां कर्नाटक के उत्पादनशुल्क/एक्साईज मंत्राी जनाब सतीश जरकीहोली ने सैकड़ों लोगों के साथ वहीं रात बीतायी थी अंौर वहां भोजन भी किया था। याद रहे कि महाराष्ट्र की तर्ज पर कर्नाटक विधानसभा में अंधश्रद्धा विरोधी बिल लाने में अत्यधिक सक्रिय रहे मंत्राीमहोदय दरअसल लोगों के मन में व्याप्त इस मिथक को दूर करना चाहते थे कि ऐसे स्थानों पर ‘भूत निवास’ करते हैं। Continue reading रौशनी के बीज बोने का माददा – ‘अंधविश्वास उन्मूलन’ पुस्तकत्रयी के बहाने चन्द बातें  →

Everyday Life, Feminism, Genders, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

India vigils in memory of Orlando shooting victims

Leave a comment

FROM ORINAM

The mass shooting in Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, US, on the night of June 11, resonates with those of us who have faced intolerance, hatred and violence simply for being who we are. The lesbian, gay, bi, trans*, intersex, queer, ally and other (LGBTIQA+) communities in India stand in solidarity with the families, biological and chosen, of the victims of this senseless crime.

LGBTIQA+ people have always been at the receiving end of bigots from all faiths, and we register our protest against initiatives by ideologues of all stripes to use this incident to advance political and personal agendas of xenophobia and Islamophobia. Bigotry is a form of violence against a community, and we stand firmly against all attempts to make this part of a global anti-Islam narrative, just as we resist the dastardly celebration of this incident by homophobic groups.

We condemn all forms of hatred and violence, whether based on sexuality, gender, religion, caste or ethnicity.

Protests and vigils are being planned in the following cities and towns.

FOR DETAILS SEE ORINAM.NET

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Identities, Images, Language, Violence/Conflict

Ashley Tellis ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai? What makes Ashley Tellis so Angry: Pallavi Paul

8 Comments

Guest Post by Pallavi Paul.

[ This is a response by Pallavi Paul to a post by Ashley Tellis titled ‘Indians are racist, but Africans are not nice either’ that was published recently on the Daily O]

Let me, at the outset state that I feel almost bad taking on such a soft target . I say soft because there is nothing redeemable about Ashley Tellis’ hatred towards ‘dangerous’, ‘morally corrupt’, ‘threatening’ and most importantly ‘unfriendly’ Africans. However, because we are dealing with someone who stakes claim in political-critical thought (or so I am told), this is important to do.

While Tellis cursorily signposts the odd murder and some statements made by a few ministers, he dedicates the rest of the article to creating a portrait of these “Africans” (an all subsuming term that can accommodate an entire continent). By having been a resident of Kishangarh, a colony in Delhi where some ‘Africans’ also happen to live, he takes on the role of the expert in ‘African’ behavior. He produces eye witness accounts of the depravity of these people.

Continue reading Ashley Tellis ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai? What makes Ashley Tellis so Angry: Pallavi Paul →