Everyday Life, Violence/Conflict

‘Don’t Hold My Hand Longer Than You Need To’

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There is such a thing as an exhaustion of witnessing. Glued to the television for long snatches of time over the last forty eight hours, while I watched gun battles and firestorms in Bombay, the first thing that i found failing was reason, the second thing that failed was speech, the third thing that failed was the capacity to do anything meaninful in the face of such disproportionate horror. I did nothing. I was parched, I drank a lot of tea, and water. I nursed insomnia to fitful, erratic snatches of sleep, populated by lucid dreams that smelt of cordite.

Continue reading ‘Don’t Hold My Hand Longer Than You Need To’ →

Identities, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

An SMS and an online signature

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An SMS doing the rounds: Continue reading An SMS and an online signature →

Politics, Violence/Conflict

A Pre-Emptive Defence of an Idea of India

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As I write, the siege is not yet over. These words may thus appear to some to be premature, to others alternatively unpatriotic or blasphemous. Perhaps this is precisely the reason to write them now: a pre-emptive defence of what will and has already begun to emerge as the next siege: calls for security, for intelligence, forsurveillance, for safety, for blame, and for control.

Continue reading A Pre-Emptive Defence of an Idea of India →

Violence/Conflict

Watching and not-watching

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For three days now I have tried to not watch the horror that has unfolded in Mumbai. I am un-sure what my motivations are. In the rooms around me, three televisons harmonize incessantly – talking heads on one channel blending into the sound of gunshots on another; the advertisements on the third seguewaying into the robotic chatter that emerges from the laptops scattered on couches. On my laptop’s tiny speakers, the voices appear shriller, the grenades are accompanied by static, the television guests appear more agitated. Continue reading Watching and not-watching →

Bad ideas, Everyday Life, Images, Language, Media politics, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Witnessing Madness 24/7

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What is happening? The Taj is burning, gunmen are shooting, the police is storming, the Oberoi is burning, the army is descending, people are running; bleeding; dying. Barkha Dutt is talking, Rajdeep Sardesai is talking, Srinivasan Jain is talking, Vilas Rao Deshmukh is talking, L.K Advani is talking, Manmohan Singh is talking, Vikram Chandra is talking, an eye-witness is talking, the army chief is talking, the naval chief is talking, an ex-hostage is talking, the terrorist is talking, Javed Jaffery is talking, Arnab Goswami is talking, is anyone even listening, is everyone listening—But what is happening?

Continue reading Witnessing Madness 24/7 →

Everyday Life, Violence/Conflict

Words After Violence

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The madness of what has happened in Bombay leaves us speechless, even as the media din around evacuates words from their meaning.

So it only appropriate that we borrow words to remind us, in the midst of death, what it means to live. Continue reading Words After Violence →

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Law, Media politics, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Grotesque Terror Attacks in Mumbai

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Courtesy Indian Muslims Blog
Courtesy Indian Muslims Blog

In one of the most daring and yet cowardly terror attacks, Bombay/Mumbai has been attacked. In an earlier post we had discussed the question of violence – ‘revolutionary’ violence, and the utter futility of resort to such methods. Violence is not a solution to anything; it cannot be. If anything, it is part of the problem; it is the problem. For violence begets more violence. Continue reading Grotesque Terror Attacks in Mumbai →

Culture, Debates, Identities, Movements, Politics, Theory, Violence/Conflict

Ecstatic Archaisms of Aurobindo Ghose – Prasanta Chakravarty

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Guest post by PRASANTA CHAKRAVARTY

In Reflections on Revolutionary Violence Aditya Nigam makes some nuanced points about the nature of Maoist violence and by contrast, comments on the bedrock character of democracy itself. Can we trace the sublime cult of blood and gore further down, to the founding principles of Forward Bloc, for instance? Or espy it in the millennial longings of a few Gita wielding swadeshis, for that matter? One may begin to see a pattern.

Continue reading Ecstatic Archaisms of Aurobindo Ghose – Prasanta Chakravarty →

Debates, Everyday Life, Left watch, Movements, Politics, Theory, Violence/Conflict

Reflections on Revolutionary Violence

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In the last one year, I have often found myself going back to a conversation I had had with a Maoist ideologue. As it happened, it was he who started interrogating me about my stand on violence. ‘So, you have become a Gandhian?’ he demanded. I must confess I was a bit taken aback, not quite able to figure out the context of this poser. ‘What do you mean by Gandhian’, I kind of mumbled. Pat came his reply: ‘Well you have been making some noises lately about Maoist violence, haven’t you?’ Suddenly it all became clear. Through this ridicule, he was trying to appeal to that part of me that still remained marxist – presumably now buried in some remote past – and to resurrect it against my ostensible ‘non-marxist’, ‘liberal’ present (for which ‘Gandhian’ was some kind of a short hand code). I found myself at a loss of words. Does a criticism of the mindless and nihilistic violence of the Maoists make one a Gandhian? Is there no space left between these two polar positions? The conversation did not go very far that day but has kept coming back to me ever since.

Continue reading Reflections on Revolutionary Violence →

Everyday Life, Government, Law, Violence/Conflict

Collateral Damage in our ‘War on Terror’

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The Express Story today on the detention and torture of 6 Muslim men/boys in the wake of the Hyderabad blasts makes for chilling, terrifying reading. Amongst over 70 Muslim men who were arrested by the Hyderabad police, they detail custodial abuse and torture which ranges from stripping, to severe beatings on the hands and soles of their feet, to electrical shocks administered to genitalia. With characteristic insouciance and perversity the government has announced a ‘healing touch’ compensation of Rs 30,000 to each victim of the police’s tactile ministrations.

Continue reading Collateral Damage in our ‘War on Terror’ →

Capitalism, Empire/ Imperialism, Left watch, Right watch

The Millennium that Never Came

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by Mike Keefe - The Denver Post
by Mike Keefe – The Denver Post

 

One day the story of the decade gone by will be unpacked by others. This was a decade that was bizarre and terrifying – cluttered with event-scenes: massacres, spectacles, war, endless staged media events, and a mysterious violence with shadow perpetrators whose names changed every day in police stories – a million changing acronyms of ‘terror’ groups.

Continue reading The Millennium that Never Came →

Violence/Conflict

Bihar, Bombay, Boston: Dilip D’Souza

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Guest post by DILIP D’SOUZA

What’s the real issue in the whole Raj Thackeray-fueled mess?

Well, according to someone who left a comment on my blog, it is “migration”. With some elaboration, here’s how our back and forth went, after that.

While this person was opposed to the violence, he also thought migration is indeed the issue, and with the agitation, Raj T “has brought out the failure of the UP & Bihar governments to create jobs for the last 50 years.” Continue reading Bihar, Bombay, Boston: Dilip D’Souza →

Capitalism, Left watch, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will be grateful to the Maoists – Monobina Gupta

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[Guest post by MONOBINA GUPTA. As things begin to change on the ground in West Bengal, the irresponsible attempts by both the Maoists and the Trinamool Congress, to take over and ‘represent’ the popular discontent, in order to legitimize their own brand/s of politics, can only benefit the CPI-M. The alternative to the CPI-M, it might appear, are the Maoists – a sure put off , even for large sections supporting the Singur and Nandigram struggles. AN]

A deadly ambush executed by Maoists earlier this month has given the badgered West Bengal chief minister a god-sent opportunity to deflect attention from the burgeoning resistance in Nandigram-Singur to the more chilling phenomenon of ‘red terror.’

The story runs somewhat like this …

Continue reading Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will be grateful to the Maoists – Monobina Gupta →

Culture, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Identities, Movements, Politics

The ‘Obama Moment’: Sangay Mishra and Jinee Lokaneeta

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The ‘Obama Moment’ and Conversations on Race
Guest post by SANGAY MISHRA and JINEE LOKANEETA

[The ‘Obama moment’ is much more than the man. Elementary, one would have thought. But maybe not. For, it has been intriguing to watch and listen to people – radical and nonradical liberal alike – mock this moment in a cynical, ‘we-know-it-all’ and ‘what-do-you-expect?’ mode. Intriguing, because, somewhere the insinuation is that those who celebrate are just being carried away by an ephemeral event. Maybe. It seems however, and the authors argue below, that this persona we now know as ‘Obama’ was not there even a year or two ago; he emerged in this present form, through a series of ‘encounters’ – with race, with his own history and with ‘blackness’. In his present form, Obama is produced by a certain African American investment in the earlier Obama (of, say, the pre-campaign Obama). – AN]

Much as the Obama victory on the 4th of November was expected and already predicted by a number of polls, the reaction to his victory both inside and outside the United States was breathtaking.

Continue reading The ‘Obama Moment’: Sangay Mishra and Jinee Lokaneeta →

Politics

A Letter from America

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I was out all night in Oakland, California, last night. One of the most “dangerous” cities in the country, crime statistics say. Usually, that’s always code for historic black neighborhoods. This one is no different. Close to us are some of the districts and towns worst hit by the foreclosure crisis: one in three homes in parts of California are now owned by banks and not people. A generation of voters in this district remember what it was like not being able to vote because they were black. This is part of the America that has elected Obama. Continue reading A Letter from America →

Capitalism

Surfing the Wave: Chrystel beats the bubble

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In 2008, Ramu Dhara bought his first house, fathered his first child, and weathered his first financial crisis.  While Chrystel Garipuy, his partner, had no role to play in the crisis and an equal role in parenthood; she is, as they both readily confess, wholly responsible for the biggest purchase of their lives: A late nineteenth century brownstone currently valued at approximately $825,000. “I was a committed renter,” explains Ramu, a user-interface design consultant who has rented all over New York City for more than 15 years, “She was the one who convinced me to take the plunge.” Continue reading Surfing the Wave: Chrystel beats the bubble →

Bad ideas, Identities

Muslim Madrasa Modernisation

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A rather animated debate is on among different sections of the Muslims as also among the civil and the uncivil society in India about the Madrasa, their importance, the role they play and the need to make them more modern, thereby converting them into institutes that are more relevant to the contemporary requirements of both the Muslims and the market. The former is openly stated while the latter is rarely articulated.

Before proceeding with an exploration of some of these concerns and to try to understand the trigger behind the proselytising zeal to modernise the madrasa, let us understand the institution of the madrasa itself. Continue reading Muslim Madrasa Modernisation →

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life, Identities, Politics, Right watch

Bhaiyya Troubles in Mumbai

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The Juhu Versova beach is divided into two sections, guarded by two stray dogs and the bare dirty arses of bhaiyyas who step off their kholis to shit straight into the sea. The other side of the invisible divide is reserved for the civil society which comes to walk, exercise and meditate in the morning. Including well off bhaiyyas like ourselves.

Returning from the beach when I accosted the panwalla by calling him bhaiyya, three bystanders gave me a sharp look. I figured they were marathi manoos. Leaving the shop I tried to inject some pathos by saying that it has become so dangerous to call anyone bhaiyya these days. They did smile, all of them. But I detected a gleam of satisfaction in their expression.

Continue reading Bhaiyya Troubles in Mumbai →

Politics

Human Rights Defenders As Petty Swindlers: It is all Maya

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“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That’s our problem.”

– Howard Zinn, Failure to Quit

Three month old Babu who is affectionately called Yuvraj also is not in a position to read the changes in his mother’s face nor can comprehend why everyone in the family has suddenly started looking tense these days. For the kid the world remains the same, but for his family members it has rather changed a lot.

Continue reading Human Rights Defenders As Petty Swindlers: It is all Maya →

Everyday Life, Metropolis, Politics

Right to the City? Rethinking Urbanization, Urban Restructuring, Change and How the City is Accessed Physically and Symbolically …

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David Harvey published his piece Right to the City in the New Left Review Issue of September-October 2008. Briefly, he describes the capitalist process and how the city has been the space for investing surplus capital. Specifically, this is done through the constant construction boom, be it housing or infrastructure creation. Harvey is suggesting that the global crises which has affected cities across the world (also because these cities were deeply implicated in the conditions that produced the crisis) is now offering an opportunity for the marginalized “classes” of the world to come together and take control of the “surpluses” which are generated at the expense of the cities. He proposes that if the marginalized people across the world were to unite, they could probably demand a human right to the city which goes beyond merely accessing individual urban resources. The right to the city involves re-creating ourselves in the process of re-creating our cities, in consonance with the higher values of equality and social justice. Continue reading Right to the City? Rethinking Urbanization, Urban Restructuring, Change and How the City is Accessed Physically and Symbolically … →

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