I am very fond of the movies, especially Malayalam movies. Particularly, comedy films in Malayalam. I was born in a family in which humour was cherished. There are jokes from my childhood which still make me laugh — for example, the one told by my maternal uncle who was a medical student back then, fifty years ago. His best friend, also a medical student, was a chap who seemed to specialise in unfailingly failing in every single exam he appeared for. One day, my uncle visited his friend’s home — it was an old ancestral seat. In the yard of that stately home, a well-fed billy goat was grazing calmly. The friend’s father sat on the veranda of the house and gazed at the animal chewing at the jackfruit leaves and said, “We need to make a good biriyani out of this fellow, after my son passes his exam!” Apparently, the goat heard this; he lifted his head and offered a wry smile! When I recreate this scene in my mind years after I first heard it, I still burst out laughing.
Continue reading Crime Foretold? Part 2 – Dileep Movies and the Normalisation of Putrid Jokes: Gayatri DeviCategory Archives: Media politics
Rotting Civil Society, Mounting Insecurity: Understanding Hijabophobia in Kerala
Last week, when most mainstream media was in the middle of yet another paroxysmal bout of Islamophobia over a thirteen-year-old child’s wish to wear the hijab to school, I was thinking: why is hijabophobia the most acceptable manifestation of the hatred of Islam in Kerala? Why is it that it seems to provoke many non-Muslim women to the point of anti-Muslim hysteria?
Continue reading Rotting Civil Society, Mounting Insecurity: Understanding Hijabophobia in KeralaAxom Nagarik Samaj Condemns the Attacks on Independent Media Platforms
The following is a statement issued by AXOM NAGARIK SAMAJ
Axom Nagarik Samaj condemns the banning of independent media platforms
Guwahati, 10 May: The terrorist attack at Pahalgam was an act of cowardice. To retaliate this the Indian armed forces conducted the ‘Operation Sindoor’ and destroyed several terrorist establishments inside Pakistan. Indian public and political parties irrespective of their ideological affiliation stood solidly behind our armed forces. It goes without saying that the national security of the country is of paramount importance. There shouldn’t be any let up in it. However, on the pretext of escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan there shouldn’t be any curtailment of freedom of expression which is a fundamental right. But unfortunately government of India has done exactly that by banning and blocking ‘4pm’ News Network, the YouTube channel of Punya Prasun Bajpai and ‘The Wire’. These are all truth speaking, independent and trust worthy media platforms. In the time of war mongering, spreading of fake news and falsehood by most of the mainstream electronic media, they tried to report and inform public objectively and truthfully. These platforms are manned by best of professional journalists in the country. What government has done is nothing but gagging of the independent media which is utterly harmful for a democracy. We condemn this and demand that the banning and blocking of all the three media platforms are withdrawn immediately.
Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, President,
Paresh Malakar, General Secretary
Axom Nagarik Samaj
An Open Letter to Sarada Muraleedharan about colourism in Kerala
Dear Sarada
I read your post. It is hard to describe the rage that I felt at the colourist dismissal of your work that you called out. As someone who has closely observed your admirable work of saving Kerala ‘s Kudumbashree network meant for the support of the underprivileged from deteriorating into a bunch of crumb-seeking women, I can only say that the comment was also probably driven by sheer envy, and not just shallow thinking. It may be true that your efforts did not fructify everywhere. It is also true that much has regressed, but some aspects continue to endure despite determined push from the political class. No one can deny your exemplary achievements, rare among civil servants.
Continue reading An Open Letter to Sarada Muraleedharan about colourism in KeralaBreakthrough in the Technology of Lie-Recycling: News from the ASHA workers’ strike in Kerala
I am not particularly fond of reviewing the writing of party-hacks or hired guns or mediocrities trying to fill their bellies. But citizens watching the struggle of the striking ASHA workers in Kerala’s capital city might be interested in how the ruling government’s toadies engage in logic- and plain fact-denying gymnastics to serve their masters. That is the only reason why I am taking apart this Facebook post by the (future) Secretary of the (yet to be formed) CITU-affiliated Kerala Fallacy-Peddlers and Outright and Recycled Lie Vendors Union (a post that surely must be reward for the production of such egregiousness-guaranteed discourse in ample quantities).
Continue reading Breakthrough in the Technology of Lie-Recycling: News from the ASHA workers’ strike in KeralaFast and Fallacious: The CPM Acolyte’s Guide to Confusing People
As the ASHA workers’ strike continues today despite pouring rain today, they have been subjected to a new line of attack. The BJP MP, Suresh Gopi, visited the protest site the other day. Nothing earth-shaking happened. No grand announcements of benefits were made; the striking workers did not hesitate to signal to him that he was speaking from a position of power, and hence the words offered were not enough.
Continue reading Fast and Fallacious: The CPM Acolyte’s Guide to Confusing PeopleDigital Currency Panic in Kerala: How a Fictional Feature in Kerala Newspapers Triggered Real Fears: T T Sreekumar
[This is a guest post by T T Sreekumar]
On 25 January 2025, major newspapers in Kerala carried an advertorial on their front pages, styled as an imagined news feature from the year 2050. While a corner warning noted it was not actual news but a creative feature tied to a seminar by a deemed to be university, the format closely mimicked a genuine front-page report. The headline announced the ban of currency notes and a complete shift to digital currency starting February 1st, complete with fabricated names for officials such as the Reserve Bank Governor and opposition leaders. Despite slightly altered typography, the resemblance to legitimate news was convincing enough that many readers overlooked the disclaimer and were deeply alarmed.
Continue reading Digital Currency Panic in Kerala: How a Fictional Feature in Kerala Newspapers Triggered Real Fears: T T SreekumarReflections on the Kafila Journey: Seventeen Years of ‘Beyonding’
[This is the third of the “Reflection on the Kafila Journey” series. The first post in this series by Subhash Gatade can be read here and the second by Aditya Nigam can be read here.]
I started writing on Kafila in 2007. I met Nivedita at a conference in Delhi where she listened to my research on sexuality and development in Kerala; she took me by the arm gently, persuaded me to start writing in a non-academic but rigorous style, and showed me the possibilities of the new medium.
Continue reading Reflections on the Kafila Journey: Seventeen Years of ‘Beyonding’Reflections on the Kafila Journey – Looking Back at a Tumultuous Experience
An expanded version of the presentation at the panel on Kafila held as part of the W.I.P alt.FEST held in Bangalore and Delhi in December 2024. While the first post in this series by Subhash Gatade is linked below in the text, the third by J. Devika can be read here.
Kafila was formally launched on 6 November 2006 at a session of the India Social Forum in Delhi, though its first post had gone up a couple of weeks earlier, on 19 October. However, there is a prehistory to the actual formal formation of Kafila which goes back to two earlier movements that had brought many of us together.
As rightly mentioned by Subhash Gatade in his reflections, the first of these was the movement against the relocation of polluting/ hazardous industries starting from late 1996. It was this movement that, perhaps for the first time in India brought the issue of workers’ rights into the discourse on urban pollution and environment. It took the discussions on urban planning, linking air and water pollution, zoning, transport policy and questions of workers’ occupational health, outside the charmed circles of urban planners. Initiated by the Indian Federation of Trade Unions, the formation of the Delhi Janwadi Adhikar Manch was the platform that had enabled this by bringing all of us together.
Continue reading Reflections on the Kafila Journey – Looking Back at a Tumultuous ExperienceConcerns arising from the suicide of Atul Subhash – A feminist response: Naveddu Nilladiddare, Karnataka
Statement by Naveddu Nilladiddare, Karnataka, a state wide network of organisations and individuals concerned with issues related to women and all human rights
The tragic suicides of Atul Subhash and police constable, Tippanna Alagur in Karnataka have once again given rise to volatile debates on the ‘misuse’ of the laws related to gender violence specifically the (erstwhile) IPC 498 A and the Dowry Prohibition Act. It has provoked a PIL in the Supreme Court that seeks reform of these laws to “prevent harassment of Innocent husbands.” It has also given space for irrational and dangerous fears being unleashed by men’s rights organisations and a sensational media about “greedy and exploitative” women who are a threat to the institution of the family with their rapacious demands for maintenance and alimony. Even the Home Minister of Karnataka has legitimised these fears stating that the suicide has “opened up a debate about men’s rights” in the country. These statements and debates betray an ignorance of the processes of law in addition to a denial of violent patriarchy that continues to impact on the lives and deaths of women and men.
Towards a ‘Suitable’ Ambedkar and a ‘New’ Dalit !
How Ten Years of Modi Regime Has Undermined Constitutional Rights to Dalits
Image courtesy: Wikimedia commons
“If the fundamental rights are opposed by the community, no Law, no Parliament, no Judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the word”,..“What is the use of fundamental rights to the Negro in America, to the Jews in Germany and to the untouchables in India. As Burke said there is no method found for punishing the multitude’
– Ambedkar
Introduction
Within less than a fortnight we will have a new government in power.
Indian people normally make a judicious choice while electing their representatives, their government and this year won’t be different.
One can recall their wisdom when their united resistance helped unseat Indira Gandhi regime after the emergency (1977) or their concerted action could overthrow the Vajpayi government ( 2004) despite the much hyped ‘India Shining’ rhetoric pushed by it.
Today also ground currents definitely suggest change is in the air.
People’s desire to defeat the Republic of Hate which is pushed before them and regain their Republic of Hope seems overwhelming.
As already expressed by scholars, political activists, concerned citizens, if the elections remain free and fair, if the various guardrails of democracy can remain true to their mandate , we will have real ‘Acche Din‘ waiting for us.
It is an opportune time to look back and see how this much trumpeted regime fared in the last decade in various aspects of India’s society and state.
It is opportune to see how the ‘New India’ – which we have supposedly ushered in – has fared via-v-vis Dalits. What follows is not an exhaustive picture of the last decade of Modi rule but a cursory glance at the issue at hand.
Perhaps it would be opportune to begin with RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat’s interview in the wee hours of Modi’s reign as PM. ( Read the full article here : https://countercurrents.org/2024/05/towards-a-suitable-ambedkar-and-a-new-dalit-how-ten-years-of-modi-regime-has-undermined-constitutional-rights-to-dalits/
बढ़ती जनसंख्या का डर: असलियत और फसाना
May 11, 2024
आधा ज्ञान या आधी जानकारी हमेशा ही खतरनाक साबित होती है।
2021 की जनगणना तक करने में फिसड्डी साबित हो चुकी मोदी सरकार की इकोनॉमिक एडवाइजरी काउंसिल की तरफ से चुनावों के ऐन बीच जारी आंकड़े शायद यही कहानी कहते हैं। इस रिपोर्ट के जरिए 1951 से 2015 के कालखंड के दौरान विभिन्न समुदायों की आबादी में हुए परिवर्तनों के आंकड़े पेश किए गए, जिसमें हिन्दुओं, जैनियों तथा अन्य धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यकों की आबादी मे कुल गिरावट देखने को मिली है, जबकि मुसलमानों की आबादी बढ़ी है। और इस रिपोर्ट को लेकर सत्ताधारी पार्टी के प्रवक्ताओं ने तथा मुख्यधारा के गोदी चैनलों ने जनसंख्या का हौवा दिखाते हुए बहस भी छेड़ने की कोशिश की ।
पीटीआई की तरफ से जारी यह आंकड़े इस प्रकार थे:
वर्ष 1951 से 2015 के बीच जहां हिन्दुओं की आबादी में 7.8 फीसदी की घटोत्तरी हुई वहीं मुसलमानों की आबादी 43.1 फीसदी बढ़ी। अगर हम आंकड़ों का ब्रेकअप करें तो 1950 में जहां आबादी में हिन्दुओं की तादाद 84.68 फीसदी थी तो वह 2015 में 78.06 फीसदी तक पहुंची थी , जबकि मुसलमानों की आबादी जहां 1950 में कुल आबादी का 9.84 फीसदी थी तो 2015 में वह 14.09 फीसदी तक पहुंची। भारत के जैन समुदाय के बारे में भी बताया गया कि उनकी आबादी देश की कुल आबादी के 0.45 फीसदी से लेकर 0.36 फीसदी तक कम हुई है।
पुराने आंकड़े-नया रंगरोगन ?
सबसे पहली बात यह है कि इकोनॉमिक एडवाइजरी काउंसिल की तरफ से जारी इन आंकड़ों में नया कुछ नहीं है। 2011 तक जो जनगणना का सिलसिला विधिवत चला है, उसके बाद यह आंकड़े पहले से ही चर्चा में रहे हैं। ( Read the full article here : https://janchowk.com/beech-bahas/fear-of-increasing-population-reality-and-trap/)
Keraleeyam, Or Narcissus Laughing
This evening I walked in the gaudily-lit main streets of Thiruvananthapuram among the crowds gaping at the show that is on, under the name of Keraleeyam or the Essence of Kerala.
Continue reading Keraleeyam, Or Narcissus LaughingAggressors Claim Hurt Sentiments While Victims Face Trial
History is a thin excuse for unrelenting majoritarianism in India and its neighbourhood
Recently, a senior advocate in Karachi was charged with blasphemy after another fellow lawyer complained about his having affixed ‘Syed’ to his name in an affidavit. This, supposedly, hurt the lawyer’s religious sentiments. The case is just one instance of the tremendous persecution the Ahmadiyya minority in Pakistan has faced since the eighties when the Benazir Bhutto regime declared it non-Muslim. Ever since, no Ahmadiyya can use Islamic symbols or names, such as Syed. Their persecution began with the notion that Islam has no space for another prophet, as the followers of Mirza Qadiani, founder of the sect, believed he was. That declaration brought the community into the spotlight of Pakistan’s blasphemy law, and their exclusion has continually expanded—from being denied space in public life, education, and employment, now they are even proceeded against for using certain names or titles.
The situation in India is sometimes no different. ( Read the complete article here)
B 32 to 44: Body Politics or No Body/Politics?
B 32 to 44 is the title of a movie — it refers to the bra sizes of the protagonists of director and scriptwriter Sruthi Sharanyam’s debut film, which has been generating highly positive reviews in the Malayalam facebook world. It has also been highly-awaited after it received funding from the Ministry of Culture and the Kerala State Film Development Corporation.
Continue reading B 32 to 44: Body Politics or No Body/Politics?Peru, Honduras, Chile and Challenges before the Latin American New Left
A New Left Resurgence
‘Leftists are Ascendant in Latin America as Key Elections Loom‘ announces a recent report in New York Times. And this report isn’t talking only of Leftist victories of the last two years but also of possible forthcoming ones in Brazil and Colombia, later this year. ‘Economic suffering, widening inequality, fervent anti-incumbent sentiment and mismanagement of Covid-19 have all fueled a pendulum swing away from the center-right and right-wing leaders who were dominant a few years ago’ underlines the report.
Close on the heels of the victory of Xiomara Castro as the first Left-wing, woman President in Honduras in the beginning of December 2021, came the news of the victory of Gabriel Boric in Chile (19 December). Unlike the socially conservative Left wing position of Peru’s Pedro Castillo, who stands opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage, the Chilean victory, in particular, has been strongly backed by the feminist and queer movements. Honduras’ Xiomara Castro too has legalization of abortion as one of her election planks, which is significant since it is one the few countries that has a complete ban on abortion as of last year.
Continue reading Peru, Honduras, Chile and Challenges before the Latin American New LeftHey Ram ( Rajya) !
Teachers as Cannon Fodder During Covid 19 ?
“There is in every village a torch – the teacher; and an extinguisher – the priest.” -Victor Hugo
Hugo, the great French writer and activist, had famously described the role education or a teacher plays in a backward society, where education was still a preserve of the few.
Perhaps we Indians can associate with it more since this has been a society where education was denied to the vast majority of people for hundreds of years just because they were born into so-called unclean families. How the mere exposure to rudimentary education could transform someone like a Muktabai – a girl born to one of the depressed caste families – challenges these age-old denials with vehemence.
It can be said with a degree of certainty that Hugo would not have envisaged a situation when the Priest himself assumes power or where a monk himself becomes the ruler.
The biggest state within the Indian Union, namely Uttar Pradesh, with a population of more than 200 million people, provides a glimpse of this phenomenon unfolds in the field of education. The state is presently governed by monk-turned-politician Yogi Adityanath; a man who till he became Chief Minister was a member of Parliament and had the sole experience of running a religious mutt.
Reports mention that 135 teachers and teaching assistants died owing to their duties in Panchayat elections in the state. A teachers’ association said how right from the days of training teachers for election duty to the actual elections, thousands of teachers and teaching assistants had contracted COVID-19.The counting of votes for these elections will occur on May 2.
( Read the full article here)
When-an-Assassin-Fascinates-a People”
Behavioural psychologists say hatred and fear are two sides of the same coin. That explains the Hindu Right obsession with Gandhi and Godse.
Image Courtesy: India TV News
For now, the invidious project of the Hindu Mahasabha to set up a Nathuram Godse Gyan Shala in Gwalior has been shelved. Perhaps what terminated the ill-conceived venture was the sheer anachronism: while the country would mark Gandhi’s 73rd death anniversary on 30 January, one section would be found singing paens to his assassin, Nathuram Godse. It would only have served to remind people of how an unarmed man was shot down on his way to a prayer meeting.
This killing was Godse’s so-called contribution and, according to leaders of the Mahasabha, marked his patriotism. The same Hindu Mahasabha has already launched a “Godse workshop”, where the members exhort Indians to “strive to follow his path”. It was also instrumental in installing his statue in the city which had invited opprobrium.
The killing of Gandhi has been shown to be part of an elaborate conspiracy hatched by the higher-ups in the Hindutva supremacist forces. Remembrance of Godse would have been a reminder of the five attempts on Gandhi’s life since the mid-thirties that involved Hindutva forces. There was even a sixth attempt, according to Chunnibhai Vaidya, a Gandhian from Gujarat. Justice Jinvanlal Kapur, who was entrusted with examining the conspiracy to assassinate the Mahatma had concluded in 1969, “All these facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group.”
( Read the full article here)
डॉक्टर राजकुमारी बंसल – एक अंबेडकरवादी दलित जिन्हें ‘नक्सल भाभी’ बना दिया गया
A statement by WOMEN AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND STATE REPRESSION
हाथरस में एक दलित लड़की के साथ हुई बलात्कार की घटना व उसकी जघन्य हत्या के बाद, पीड़ित परिवार के साथ डॉक्टर राजकुमारी बंसल जिस निर्भीकता और साहस के साथ खड़ी हुईं उन पर देश भर की मीडिया ने जिस तरह की फर्ज़ी और झूठी खबरें चलाईं उसके विरोध में हम सभी सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता, प्रोफेशनल व तमाम संगठन, जो जातिगत और यौनिक हिंसा का विरोध करते हैं, डॉ. राजकुमारी बंसल के समर्थन में एकजुट हैं। उनकी निर्भीकता व मानवीय प्रयास के लिए हम उन्हें सलाम करते हैं।
विगत 24 अक्टूबर 2020 को मध्य प्रदेश महिला मंच, छत्तीसगढ़ महिला अधिकार मंच, एनएफआईडब्ल्यू (मध्य प्रदेश), नागरिक अधिकार मंच, डब्ल्यूएसएस (मध्य प्रदेश-छत्तीसगढ़) के प्रतिनिधियों ने डॉ. राजकुमारी बंसल से जबलपुर में उनके घर पर मुलाकात की।
Continue reading डॉक्टर राजकुमारी बंसल – एक अंबेडकरवादी दलित जिन्हें ‘नक्सल भाभी’ बना दिया गया
Postcolonial Critiques of Modernity : Dr Ravi sinha
( New Socialist Initiative presents the 2nd Lecture* in the Series on Modernity, 18 th October 6 pm IST)
*Youtube Link to the first lecture : https://youtu.be/J5m7Z-I8jPg
Continue reading Postcolonial Critiques of Modernity : Dr Ravi sinha
Petition to Ban Toxic News Channels
The following petition initiated by Prof Apoorvanand ; Bhasha Singh, Journalist/Activist ; Jitendra Kumar, Senior Journalist ; Mahendra Mishra, Editor, Janchowk and Subhash Gatade appeals to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), The Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DICCI) and The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to boycott toxic new channels. The petition can be signed here :
It is a welcome sign that two prominent business houses, namely Bajaj Auto and Parle have taken the WELCOME DECISION to not advertise on TV channels spreading hatred. We urge all the advertisers to BOYCOTT HATE MONGERS, because the history is witness that the hate ruins the whole society and does not spare anyone, however rich and high and mighty a person may be. Let us remind ourselves the unforgettable words of Pastor Martin Niemoller that he spoke on emerging from the Nazi prison: “… When they came for me, there was none left to protest”. Don’t ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
These corporates need to recall that not long ago when Black Lives Matter movement was at its peak in the West, more than 1,000 companies had decided to boycott a section of social media platforms for their dubious stand on race.
We are aware of the background: The qualitative changes – for the worse – that have taken place in the Indian media, especially the electronic variant during last few years. The ownership of the large media houses has become limited to a few big players. And these big corporates are not concerned with the concerns of the common people, and use the media for their own and their political masters’ vested interests by focusing on non-issues and indulgence in sensationalism, false propaganda and hatred – thereby actively participating in the destruction of social unity in diversity among Indians that has existed despite any and every difference of class, caste, gender, region, religion, language, ideology or any other.
Without going back to the times when the lynching became the new political weapon – with the accused being welcomed by the ruling party leaders and even minister – during the last few months, we saw that in order to deflect attention from the catastrophe that had befallen on the people in general but migrant labour in particular because of the COVID-19 pandemic and to advance the agenda of demonizing Muslims – a la Jews in Nazi Germany – how ‘Tablighi Jamat’ was willfully portrayed falsely as the ‘corona jehadi’ and what not. Then, we witnessed the suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput being transformed into an endless ‘issue’, and the less said about the latest Hathras gang-rape, the better – the bizarre brazenness of hate-speech and hate-driven crime is unmistakably on the rise!
HIGH TIME THAT BOYCOTT OF HATE MONGERS BECOMES A COLLECTIVE PRACTICE!
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 