Category Archives: Movements

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

For the sake of Form

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The Aam Admi Party it seems has now decided to hit back at critics by uploading videos on Youtube to defend the controversial actions of Somnath Bharti, its Law Minister in Delhi done purportedly ‘in public interest’. Bharti has been chastised even by AAP supporters for his vigilantism and for trying to force the Delhi police to raid the house of suspected sex and drug racketeers and who in fact ‘helped’, along with his followers to catch two of the fleeing women.

Eight videos have been uploaded. They, according to the party contain incriminating evidence to prove that sex and drug racketeers were very much active in that area. Reporting the videos The Times of India says “… some of the scenes are not so easy to judge. Two clips show an African national walking around naked in the area. In another, three women in a car are rubbing some substance in their hands. Yet another shows several condoms lying about a car.” .

We do indeed see an African national moving around naked in the video. This is supposed to prove the allegation by the party that drugs are being used as according to one AAP worker “Walking around naked like this is an after-effect of drugs and this is a regular occurrence in the area”. You can also see for yourself condoms lying in the car. Do you need any more evidence to prove that the occupants of the car were indeed prostitutes carrying condoms with them and luring men to indulge in sex? Why are these three women rubbing some substance in their hands or trying to hide something by putting on gloves? Continue reading For the sake of Form →

Bad ideas, Culture, Education, Everyday Life, Media politics, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

सतत क्रान्ति की पैरोडी

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पिछले कुछ समय से नागार्जुन और हरिशंकर परसाई की याद बेइंतहा सता रही है: भारतीय राजनीति के इस दौर का वर्णन करने के लिए हमें उनकी कलम की ज़रूरत थी !

क्रान्ति सतत चलने वाली प्रक्रिया है और असली विद्रोही वह है जो छह महीने बाद अपनी कुर्सी खुद उलट दे. आम आदमी पार्टी और दिल्ली सरकार के मुखिया ने केंद्र सरकार के खिलाफ़ बगावत की शुरुआत की,तो ऐसा ही लगा. दिल्ली के केंद्र में रेल भवन के पास दिल्ली की पूरी सरकार  अपने समर्थकों के साथ दस दिनों के धरने पर बैठ गए. उन्होंने धमकी दी कि वे राजपथ को लाखों लोगों से पाट देंगे और केंद्र सरकार की नींद हराम कर देंगे.किसान और सैनिक जब मिल जाएं तो क्रांति शुरू हो जाती है. इसकी पैरोडी करते हुए अरविंद ने दिल्ली के पुलिसवालों को वर्दी उतार कर धरने पर शामिल होने का आह्वान किया. कुछ लोगों को जयप्रकाश नारायण की याद आ गई. एक साथ लेनिन, लोहिया,क्रोपाटकिन और जयप्रकाश का तेज अरविंद केजरीवाल के रूप में पुंजीभूत हुआ. गांधी का आभा वलय अन्ना हजारे से हट कर अरविंद के माथे के पीछे पीछे तो तब ही लग गया था जब उनका भरपूर इस्तेमाल कर ठिकाने लगा दिया गया. क्या यह 2014 का भारतीय तहरीर चौक होने जा रहा है?

दिल्ली के मुख्य मंत्री ने एक बार फिर  आज़ादी की  नई लड़ाई की घोषणा की.यह दृश्य क्रांतिकारियों,समाजवादियों,अराजकतावादियों, सबके के लिए एक पुराने सपने के  पूरा होने जैसा ही था. एक पुरानी, दबी हुई इच्छा के पूरा होने का क्षण!यह आज़ादी झूठी है वाले नारे , वंदे मातरम और भारत माता का जयकार से रोमांचित होने का सुख!! Continue reading सतत क्रान्ति की पैरोडी →

Government, Left watch, Movements, Politics

The Party Left and Aap: Satya Sagar

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GUEST POST by Satya Sagar

“Comrade! There is a man dying of thirst at the door. What is the Party line on giving water to thirsty people?”

There was a moment’s silence at the other end of the telephone and then the Great Ideologue said, “That is reformist activity. Tell him we can give our lives for the Revolution but cannot- as matter of policy- give water to the thirsty”

“But Comrade, he will die at our doorstep if we don’t give him water. Think what the bourgeois media will say then”

“You are right. Positive media coverage is important as that is the only way we reach the masses these days. But before you give him water to drink first ask him whether he believes in public or private supply of water” Continue reading The Party Left and Aap: Satya Sagar →

Bad ideas, Debates, Movements, Politics

AAP and the Ideology Warriors

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If ideology-warriors had their way, they would rather have Narendra Modi as the next prime minister than have their ideological purity compromised. Soon after AAP’s victory, many secularists rushed to declare, on Facebook and elsewhere, that they do not and will not partake of the AAP euphoria. ‘What is their stand on communalism?’, they asked indignantly. Some other friends insisted that Muslims need an assurance about AAP’s position on communalism and it should clarify its stand if it wanted the Muslim vote.

So what do the ideology warriors want? Just when the political agenda for the elections has decisively changed, throwing the BJP into a complete quandary, upsetting its strategic plans, they want the old familiar, secular/ communal divide back in place, opening up the political field once more to the same Hindu-Muslim polarization that we are so used to. The secular/ communal divide has been the millstone around our neck, preventing any other issue from being brought into public debate at election time and effectively preventing the emergence of any new force or formation. And let there be no mistake that in a communal polarization of Hindus and Muslims, secular forces will always, in the on-going drama of secular masochism, have to deposit themselves tied hand and foot, into the Congress party’s dungeon. The Amit Shahs will have a field day, creating one Muzaffarnagar after another, and erstwhile secular mascots like Mulayam Singh Yadav will vie with them in further entrenching the Hindu-Muslim divide. In all of this, the Congress will present itself as the saviour of Muslims.

The Congress, the BJP, the imaginary ‘third front’ – all have been able players and winners in this game. Continue reading AAP and the Ideology Warriors →

Debates, Frontiers, Metropolis, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Violence/Conflict

The Aam Aadmi Party and Animal Farm

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The plot of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ can be summarized in a single sentence – “This novel demonstrates the consequences of the addition of four important words -‘but’,  ‘some’, ‘more’, and ‘others’ to the phrase – <all animals are equal>”.

In other words, it describes the transition from the axiomatic statement <all animals are equal> to the qualified formula <all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others>.

Aam Aadmi Party founder and Delhi’s new chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s ruling out the possibility of referendums in Kashmir about the presence of the armed forces in Jammu & Kashmir (in response to his party colleague Prashant Bhushan’s endorsement of the idea of such a referendum during a recent television appearance) could signify a shift within the Aam Aadmi Party’s evolving political doctrine that parallels the transition that the pigs in Animal Farm made while turning their revolution into a counter-revolution. Continue reading The Aam Aadmi Party and Animal Farm →

Debates, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Language, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Politics

Azadi in the Lexicon of the Aam Admi: Gowhar Fazili

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Guest Post by GOWHAR FAZILI

During the swearing in speech at Ram Leela Maidan, the word Azadi found its place of pride on Arvind Kejriwal’s symbolic cap. ‘ Mujhe Chahiye Poori Azadi’ it said.   The word Azadi has travelled from the freedom struggle in Kashmir, to the movement against gendered violence in Delhi and is now entering the lexicon of Aam Aadmi.  The Aam Aadmi’s historic ascension to power through a referendum resonates well with the long standing demand in Kashmir seeking to let the people decide their political future directly.

Continue reading Azadi in the Lexicon of the Aam Admi: Gowhar Fazili →

Bad ideas, Genders, Identities, Law, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Sex

Sex and the courtroom

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A politician is exposed using State surveillance to allegedly woo his love interest. An editor tells a reporter his daughter’s age that the easiest way for her to keep her job would be to have sex with him. A godman and his son are both arrested for sexual assault and rape. A riot in Muzaffarnagar over false rumours of inter-religious ‘eve teasing’ left 48 dead and 15,000 homeless. The debate on rape, consent, gender relations sparked by December 16, 2012 continued throughout 2013. And by the end of it the Indian Supreme Court decided that the Indian Constitution’s letter and spirit were not being violated by criminalising consenting adults for having sex, in case the sex happened to be anything other than peno-vaginal.

India 2013 is like a pubescent 13 year old realising there’s something about the body that the mind needs to grapple with. There’s something about power, pleasure, social mores, class, law and so on, that comes together in the body and negotiates its way through bodily desire. There’s a sexual churning out there, and it’s not as titillating as the annual sex surveys news magazines do, nor is it as literary and profound as the language an incarcerated editor wields. Continue reading Sex and the courtroom →

Government, Identities, Movements, Politics

Why AAP is the new Congress

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There is nothing novel about new parties upsetting the two-party binary. We have seen that happen through the process of Mandalisation in many states. But all those new parties have come up in the name of one or more identities caste, community, region. The BJP is the Brahmin-Bania party of Hindu nationalism. The BSP is the party of the Dalits, the JD(U) of the Kurmis, the BJD of Odisha. Many of these parties don’t have ambitions to rival the Congress or the BJP on the national stage.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is an exception in that its central ideology is good governance. This helps it escape identity politics. At the same time, the AAP embraces identity politics like everyone else does: its symbol, the broom, was from day one targeted at the Valmikis. Be it Muslims or Dalits or Brahmins, the AAP quietly takes note of identity politics and gives lip service, even as the party as a whole does not identify itself with any one community. The only other party which handles identity politics this way is the Congress. Continue reading Why AAP is the new Congress →

Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Movements, Violence/Conflict

Hayaat-e-Azadi, The Life of Freedom: Suvaid Yaseen

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Guest Post by SUVAID YASEEN

Ho Agar Khudnigar-o-Khudgar-o-Khudgeer Khudi
Ye Bhi Mumkin Hai Ke Tu Mout Se Bhi Mer Na Sake

[If the ‘ego’ is self‐preserving, self‐creating and self‐sustaining, 
Then it is possible that even death may not kill you.]
— Allama Iqbal,  Hayaat-e-Abadi, Zarb-e-Kaleem

Hayaat / Life
Hayaat / Life

The News

On the evening of 14th July 2013, I received a text message from a friend saying Hayaat had been hit by pellets in the eyes. Both his eyes were damaged. As I read the text, I became numb. I was at loss how to respond, trying to sink in what had just happened.

Continue reading Hayaat-e-Azadi, The Life of Freedom: Suvaid Yaseen →

Culture, Language, Law, Movements

An Appeal for restraint to all by the family and friends of Khurshid Anwar

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Guest post by The Campaign for Khurshid Anwar

We are friends, family and well-wishers of the late Dr. Khurshid Anwar.  We have come together to keep alive the memory of his signal contribution to peace, secularism and communal harmony in the subcontinent, including his pioneering work in training thousands of volunteers to uphold these ideals over a long career as a grassroots activist.

We are deeply shocked and concerned at the trial by media and social media, which he was irresponsibly subjected to in the last few months, on a matter which had never been subjected to any kind of formal scrutiny by any responsible authority.

We seek to catalyze discussions on these aspects, via blogs, social media as well as public events and in responsible sections of the mainstream press. We strongly affirm the freedom of expression of the press as well as of individuals, but insist that such freedoms place an onus upon all to act with responsibility.

In keeping with this spirit of responsibility, we strongly discourage and dissociate ourselves from any attempts to reveal the identity of, or otherwise target the lady who has leveled serious allegations against Dr Anwar. As his family, personal friends and comrades, we do find it impossible to believe such allegations against a fiercely committed feminist such as himself, but do not presume to judge the matter ourselves.

Anybody who is indulging in any irresponsible statements about the lady in question is only doing a disservice to the memory of Khurshid Anwar.

We request all those commenting on the matter to desist from any conjectures and speculation upon the matter, and let the investigation take its course.

Ali Javed
Meenakshi Sundriyal
Ritwik Agrawal

On behalf of:

The Campaign for Khurshid Anwar

campaignforkhurshidanwar@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-For-Khurshid-Anwar-STOP-the-Media-Trials

Debates, Identities, Movements, Sex

Queering Christianity: Janice Lazarus

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Guest Post by JANICE LAZARUS

While there have been several writings, posts and comments on the web and in the print about the connection between homosexuality and Hinduism, there has been almost nothing said about the outlook of Christianity on homosexuality. One of the petitioners in Kaushal vs. Naz case is the Utkal Christian Council represented by its Secretary; and so I feel that it is crucial to write about Christianity and the way in which in many parts of the world a Queer Theology is embracing those previously deemed sinful by the Church. While I am in no way a theologian, I do feel that the Bible is open to be read by all and can be interpreted differently by many (as do the different sects within Christianity).

Continue reading Queering Christianity: Janice Lazarus →

Debates, Law, Movements, Sex

JTSA extends support to the LGBT community, calls for committed judicial activism: JTSA

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Guest Post by JAMIA TEACHERS’ SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION

On 11 December, 2013 a two judge bench of the Supreme Court of India (SC) ruled that section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which considers homosexuality a criminal offence, does not ‘suffer from the vice of unconstitutionality’ and hence, legally valid.  By this highly regrettable ruling the apex court astounded and disappointed not only the LGBT community but the wider public at large.

Continue reading JTSA extends support to the LGBT community, calls for committed judicial activism: JTSA →

Debates, Feminism, Genders, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Sex, Violence/Conflict

The Anti-Rape Movement -The Political Vision of ‘Naari Mukti/Sabki Mukti’: Kavita Krishnan

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Guest Post by KAVITA KRISHNAN

Anti Rape Protest at CM Shiela Dixit's House, Photo by Vijay Kumar
Anti Rape Protest at CM Shiela Dixit’s House, Photo by Vijay Kumar

A year ago, a massive movement erupted on the streets of Delhi and the country – against the brutal gangrape of a young woman on a bus, leading to her death. Looking back at that movement a year later, it is clear that the questions, concerns and above all the tensions and debates embedded in that movement are with us still – and are quite crucial to the political discourse around us.

Continue reading The Anti-Rape Movement -The Political Vision of ‘Naari Mukti/Sabki Mukti’: Kavita Krishnan →

Culture, Genders, Movements

Jurrat – 10 to 16 December 2013, Delhi

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Majma and Swaang are organizing JURRAT – A week long campaign on violence against women, from Dec 10-16.

image

About Jurrat

On 16th December 2013 one year would have passed since the shameful, horrific and brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi. And yet this whole year, city after city and village after village has screamed ‘Rape’ ‘Gang Rape’ in the months after the much publicized and condemned Delhi-gang rape. Continue reading Jurrat – 10 to 16 December 2013, Delhi →

Capitalism, Countryside, Ecology/Environment, Empire/ Imperialism, Movements

Indian Government needs to differentiate the real vs false solutions in agriculture this World Food Day : Neha Saigal

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This is a guest post by NEHA SAIGAL

 

It is well-recognized globally that hunger and malnutrition are serious issues, but even after years of failed attempts by world leaders to try and solve this complex problem there has been little change. In 2009 for the first time in history the population considered to be malnourished exceeded one billion people signalling the serious issue of food insecurity we are faced with. In an effort to bring this serious issue to the forefront, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations marks 16 October every year as ‘World Food Day’. Continue reading Indian Government needs to differentiate the real vs false solutions in agriculture this World Food Day : Neha Saigal →

Culture, Everyday Life, Feminism, Movements

Storm in a Calm IIT Campus Over a Sexual Harassment Case: Pronoy Rai

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Guest post by PRONOY RAI

The serene, picturesque campus of the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati has been witnessing some very noteworthy events in the recent past. According to reports in the popular media, a professor at the institute’s biotechnology department was accused of sending obscene text messages to his PhD student over her phone. Though the professor pleaded innocence, claiming that messages were sent from his sim card that was stolen, the local police found this hard to believe. The professor has also been accused of harassing the student during other instances on campus. Upon receiving the advice of the ‘Working Women’s Committee’ of the institute, the professor was recently suspended. This narrative constructs for us a simple, fair story of a just state-society system. A person breaks the law, and he is disciplined, as one would expect in a fair democratic society. If only that was the case.

The suspension of the professor was not immediately followed by the submission of the report, let alone the filing of complaint at the institute and with the local police. On August 13, Amingaon police in Assam arrested the professor for sending obscene text messages to a student. The arrest happened because the student had to file a FIR in order to request a telecom company to reveal the identity of the owner of the phone, from where the obscene messages being sent to her, were emanating. The delay in the inaction of the institute administration is unjustified, but perhaps not very inexplicable. Continue reading Storm in a Calm IIT Campus Over a Sexual Harassment Case: Pronoy Rai →

Bad ideas, Debates, Everyday Life, Genders, Identities, Left watch, Metropolis, Movements

In Delhi’s defence

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Reuters photo
Reuters photo

By SHIVAM VIJ: The census counts ’urban agglomerations’, and the Census of India says that Mumbai is India’s largest urban agglomeration. This includes Mumbai’s suburbs. In counting Delhi, the suburbs are not added because They are separated by state boundaries. If you were to add suburbs of the ’National Capital Region’, Delhi’s population would be not 16 million but over 22 million, making it the world’s largest urban agglomeration after Tokyo. This bustling urban centre is made of its people. Today’s Delhi cannot be stereotyped as just the seat of power. There is more to Delhi than the endless roundabouts of Lutyens’ capital.

Delhi’s core – the Partition refugee Punjabi – is not xenophobic like the Marathi ’manoos’ of Mumbai. In fact Delhi today is what Bombay once was, India’s foremost cosmopolitan metropolis. It is the city of choice for people from across India to migrate to with dreams of riches.

A lot has been written about “the Delhi gang-rape”. 16 December 2012 started a conversation that doesn’t seem to end. This conversation has largely been about rape, not about Delhi.
Continue reading In Delhi’s defence →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Movements, Violence/Conflict

When the lid will burst: Fahad Shah

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This is an excerpt from the introduction to the anthology Of Occupation and Resistance: Writings from Kashmir, edited by FAHAD SHAH

Once militancy took root in the Valley, it continued unabated, with a few exceptions in the years to come. The sentiment of the resistance movement prevailed across Jammu and Kashmir. At one point in time, blasts and encounters occurred almost every day. The first few years of the 1990s were the most brutal in the history of the conflicted Valley. After the 1996 assembly elections, when people were forced to vote at gunpoint, the National Conference Party and counter-insurgent groups ruled the state. People lived with trauma and threat – treating the injured, mourning for the dead and searching for those who had disappeared.

This was the story for more than a decade. A shift in the nature of resistance has been seen in the past few years; the generation that was born during the start of the war has been able to glean the nuances of the homeland’s political situation. Most of the youngsters from this generation, born between the late 80s and early 90s, choose stones over guns. Continue reading When the lid will burst: Fahad Shah →

Bad ideas, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Movements

Nationalism in India: Rabindranath Tagore

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From RABINDRANATH TAGORE‘s lectures on Nationalism, 1917

tagore-gandhi

Our real problem in India is not political. It is social. This is a condition not only prevailing in India, but among all nations. I do not believe in an exclusive political interest. Politics in the West have dominated Western ideals, and we in India are trying to imitate you. We have to remember that in Europe, where peoples had their racial unity from the beginning, and where natural resources were insufficient for the inhabitants, the civilization has naturally taken the character of political and commercial aggressiveness. For on the one hand they had no internal complications, and on the other they had to deal with neighbours who were strong and rapacious. To have perfect combination among themselves and a watchful attitude of animosity against others was taken as the solution of their problems. In former days they organized and plundered, in the present age the same spirit continues—and they organize and exploit the whole world. Continue reading Nationalism in India: Rabindranath Tagore →

Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Identities, Movements, Politics

The Sunset of the Century: Rabindranath Tagore

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rabindranath-tagoreThe eve of India’s 66th Independence Day is a time as good as any to read this poem by RABINDRANATH TAGORE, even as India gets ready to sing to martial tune another Tagore poem, Jana Gana Mana. This English translation was published at the end of Tagore’s 1918 book, Nationalism.

THE SUNSET OF THE CENTURY

(Written in the Bengali on the last day of last century)

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The last sun of the century sets amidst the blood-red clouds of the West and the whirlwind of hatred.
The naked passion of self-love of Nations, in its drunken delirium of greed, is dancing to the clash of steel and the howling verses of vengeance. Continue reading The Sunset of the Century: Rabindranath Tagore →

Capitalism, Countryside, Ecology/Environment, Government, Law, Movements

A Fight till Death, A Fight for the Commons – The Story of Kathikudam, Kerala: Parvathy Binoy

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This is a guest post by PARVATHY BINOY

“There is a lot of polluted rivers and lands in India…but this is not a big issue in Kerala”, Kerala Pollution Control Board Chairman (KPCB), 2011

“We have no one with us now, neither the party in power nor its opposition, we only have the people with us” – Daisy Francis, Kadukutty Panchayat President, June 2013 Continue reading A Fight till Death, A Fight for the Commons – The Story of Kathikudam, Kerala: Parvathy Binoy →