#Anti-CAA

[curtwilde]

Welcome to the preparatory phase of Declared Fascist Hindu Rastra. Indian State has always been a Brahmanical Fascist State, now it is being declared to be one with implementing CAA-NRC-NPR in order to snatch the citizenship of Indian Muslims under the garb of "providing nationality to the persecuted minorities of neighbouring countries." We're in 2024 and today is 28th day of March. According to today's The Hindu this is the main headline. "Priest can give CAA eligibility certificate, says govt. helpline: It is mandatory certificate to be submitted along with other documents by the applicants on the portal; as per the rules, the certificate can be issued by a 'locally reputed community institution'. This is the final nail on the coffin of a rotten 'secular' democracy.

Link to the full artice

Caption source

Welcome to Hindu Rashtra where a fucking PRIEST can give or take your citizenship.

[indizombie]

The birth of the 21st century unleashed the onslaught of neo-liberal economic policies and the religious fundamentalist insurgence changed our concept of nation, nationalism, and politics. The Hindutva politics of cultural nationalism and its violent disposition toward indigenous and minority sections in this country provoked us to ask “Who sings the nation?” (Spivak) and “Whose imagined community?” (Partha Chatterjee). The issues such as the Babri Masjid case, Muthalaq case, Uniform Civil Code, the CAA, anti-conversion laws, and attacks on Dalit/Tribal Christians so and so forth have unveiled the wretched status of minorities in this country. Realizing that Muslims are hard to nationalize/ Hinduise, Christians are now targeted to be  integrated into the pan-Indian Hindu cultural identity. Recently, some of the church leaders are satiated through frequent visits and political offers by the communal forces, and of course, few of them have already preyed on it due to the issues connected with foreign funds or any other personal issues of corruption. However, Christians should not forget the ideological position of Hindutva as it renders Christians, Muslims, and Communists internal threats to the Indian Nation.

Fr. Dr. Y.T Vinayaraj, director, Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS)

[uniqueeval]

North East Delhi Violence: Delhi Court grants interim bail to Meeran Haider

Representative image. Delhi Police has alleged that Meeran Haider was a key coordinator for the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) and played a significant role in organising protest sites during  protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma The Delhi Court has granted interim bail to Meeran Haider, a Jamia student and leader of the RJD youth wing,…

[massivelyspeedyobject]

The real story of prosecution of minorities by Hitler & the resemblance

Credit: quora The prosecution of minorities under Hitler’s regime, particularly targeting Jews, is a dark chapter in history. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party implemented policies of systematic discrimination, persecution, and ultimately extermination of various minority groups, most notably Jews, but also including Romani people, disabled individuals, homosexuals, and others. The persecution…

[rightnewshindi]

स्वामी प्रसाद मौर्य ने भी किया सीएए के विरोध, कानून को बताया केंद्र सरकार का जनविरोधी निर्णय

स्वामी प्रसाद मौर्य ने भी किया सीएए के विरोध, कानून को बताया केंद्र सरकार का जनविरोधी निर्णय

Swami Prasad Maurya on CAA : अक्सर अपने विवादित बयानों को लेकर सुर्खियों में रहने वाले स्वामी प्रसाद मौर्य ने नागरिकता संसोधन कानून को लेकर केंद्र सरकार पर निशाना साधा है। केंद्र सरकार की ओर से सोमवार 11 मार्च 2024 को नोटिफिकेशन जारी कर देश में CAA लागू कर दिया। स्वामी प्रसाद मौर्य ने ट्वीट कर कहा, “नागरिकता संसोधन विधेयक (CAA) कानून लागू करना केंद्र सरकार का जन विरोधी निर्णय है, जो आदिवासी,…

[q-posts]

hideaway

You need a place to unwind, to get away, change of pace, you have a choice, where would you go ,, ie, my car yesterday decided that it was in danger, it put itself in anti-theft mode. Go figure. I’m in the middle of the woods, no one around.. it was perfectly safe. I was back and forth to it every few minutes filling up bird feeders. I was using the doors, (side) to get at peanuts, sunflower…

[dstriple]

And here's Spyglass Media Group explaining why they fired Melissa Barrera: 👇

"FALSE REFERENCES TO GENOCIDE AND ETHNIC CLEANSING"

Let's be clear here... she wasn't fired for making an antisemite comment.

Mel Gibson was even more obvious with the whole "Jews control the media" narrative. And yet he has had no problem getting work in Hollywood.

No, Barrera was fired for accusing Israel of commiting genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Which Spyglass considers to be completely false.

Last October, Maha Dakhil, a prominent CAA talent agency agent, was forced to step down from leadership roles after she dared to criticize Israel's war crimes in Gaza.

Guess who was among the powerful Hollywood big-wigs leading the charge to get her to resign from CAA? Gary Barber, the CEO of Spyglass Media Group.

Even more proof that this has nothing to do with antisemitism is that Hollywood big wheels are now trying to go after writer/director Boots Riley, for voicing similar views as Melissa's. Boots Riley is Jewish.

BTW, Jenna Ortega is Pro-Palestine as well...

As a result of that Tweet, Ortega was quickly tagged as an antisemite & a HAMAS supporter by The Times of Israel.

It REALLY becomes harder to combat actual antisemitism when people who dare to criticize Israel's war crimes get quickly branded as antisemites for doing so.

So you have a ridiculous situation where celebs who openly hate Israel's government are tagged as antisemites. Placing their careers in peril.

While people who openly spread antisemitism, such as Elon Musk, they rarely face any consequences - see attached Tweets below where Musk promotes the White Supremacist "great replacement theory" that claims that Jews want to destroy the white race/Western Civilization. His dog whistles are not subtle at all.

Despite his antisemitic tweets, Musk received praise by the Anti-Defamation League because the so-called champion of "free speech" threatened to ban anyone that called for the decolonization of Palestine.

So apparently, the real antisemites are the people that dare to criticize Israel. Not the people who actually hate jews. It's f*cked up.

Anyway, Spyglass has made their move. Let's see if it pays off.

[timetravellingkitty]

hi!! I just found out about tumblr having an anti-hindutva tag and I shall be making myself comfortable here! just found your account like a few mins ago and if it’s ok, i wanted to ask some questions (you absolutely don't have to answer if you don't like any of them or even if you don't feel like answering :) ) (edit added, this ask got way too long lol. feel free to skip it! also, you're kinda super cool lol)

I'm Indian, currently outside India, and I've only started learning about the shitshow going on in my 'mahaan bharat' since November (specifically since finding out that we are Irahell's biggest weapons buyer). and the more I find out the more shocked and heartbroken I feel...

like this week i learnt about the immigration ban in US against Chinese women that existed a few decades ago, and the ongoing discrimination against Palestinians in Canadian immigration services... and both the times I was so disgusted and there was this subconscious feeling that India should never be like that. but then an hour ago I learnt about the 2019 CAA and wtf!?

another example being that currently we're seeing israhell's continuous bombing of heritage sites of great cultural and religious significance, that also held so many centuries old records and histories... and learning about how they are bulldozing over graveyards and exhuming them...

and then today I learnt about Akhonji Masjid and Gyanvapi Masjid and of course have known about Babri Masjid for a few weeks now...

and only learnt about Kashmir in november...

and I feel like my whole worldview has shifted from a previous foundation, except it's so drastic and I still don't have a new foundation...

I try to talk to members of my family about this but they're the Indian equivalent of the U.S. liberals, and every single time they'll tell me "whatever news you're hearing is propaganda written by Pakistan/China/U.S./Russia. trust me I have Muslim friends and they're very happy. you just don't know the situation cause you're not in India" and like it sometimes make me think maybe I'm the one losing my mind...

I even read some places about free Punjab and that confused the fuck out of me cause I'm Punjabi (who does not live in Punjab) and I don't have any clue what it's about... I asked my fam, but they just gave me a weird look and told me to stay away from anyone that mentions Khalistan😭💀

(this got way longer than I expected, so sorry) but would you have any recommendations for any blogs/articles/books/podcast resources or any personal recommendations for news publications that are reliable (finding God would probably be easier than finding such publications lmao) like I thought Al-Jazeera is super credible, but then read that they're super credible when it comes to Palestine, not when it's global...

like where tf do I go from here lol

hello nonnie! some news sites I'd recommend are newslaundry (they have a youtube channel too), the wire, scroll.in and newsclick. maktoob media is mostly focused on minority rights in india. hindutvawatch.org is about hindu fascist violence committed against minorities. I still think you should stick to al-jazeera at least when it comes to palestine (they have journalists on the ground there, shireen abu akleh was one of them)

this is a good introduction to anyone wanting to learn about hindutva, this and this are about how india is becoming increasingly unsafe for minorites and is undergoing a democratic backsliding. this and this are about the rss link to nazism

hostile homelands by azad essa is about india's historical relationship with israel and the parallels between hindutva and zionism. the brown history podcast has an episode about how india went from the first non-arab state to recognise palestine to its largest buyer of weapons, featuring azad essa (x). you can also read colonising kashmir by hafsa kanjwal about how india came to militarily occupy kashmir. if you want to learn more about kashmir there are the blogs kashmiraction.org and standwithkashmir (which is um. blocked in india. i wonder why)

i have not read khaki shorts and saffron flags yet but this one is about the history of the rss. i also suggest watching the documentaries ram ke naam and jai bhim, comrade which are about the hindutva mobilisation in the 1980s

for me free punjab is very ?? the indian government is beyond evil as they continue to spy on sikhs abroad (and ofc, the 1984 sikh genocide) but i don't think liberation will be achieved through a religious ethnostate. any state formed on the basis of religion will inevitably turn out to be a disaster. i do encourage you to read lost in history: 1984 reconstructed by gunisha kaur, which is about the human rights violations committed against sikhs during this time and why operation bluestar was in fact not about freeing sri harmandir sahib from "terrorists." all i can say is to stand with sikhs unapologetically as our shitass government continues to commit more and more human rights violations against them

in general, i'd tell you to observe the language used by different news outlets and question it (eg. american news referring to israelis below the age of 18 as children but the same courtesy is not extended to palestinians) and check their sources. if it's from whatsapp university don't even bother

[darcytaylor]

People using "jobless" as an insult, especially about Luke Newton who is and continues to be hydrated, staying in his lane, riding high on his paycheck from a highly successful Season 3, and enjoying a relaxing summer to decompress after a stressful and jam packed world tour, is already weird as it is, but using "jobless" as an insult on THE anti-capitalist website, our holy Tumblr? smdh

It is true he is still contracted with Bridgerton, so for at least a little while longer he still does have a job.

I do think that when people say he is jobless they are looking at people like Nicola who has multiple opportunities lined up, she was just signed with CAA, she continues to focus on her career and not her social life. But I also know that Nicola is the exception and not the rule.

There is also the fact that in the industry he is in, it is hard to keep steady work. Luke was set up to be able to book more jobs and I think it's confusing to see that he still only has Bridgerton.

In order to continue booking work you have to network, you have to showcase your talents, you have to go to auditions and events, you have to keep your name out there (and for the correct reasons). While Luke's name is out there at the moment, it is not for the betterment of his career. It's showcasing his private life in a way that makes the statement of him not doing any of the above (even if he is). At the end of the day we don't know what he has been doing in regards to his career, but what we do know is where he goes on vacation.

I think people are tired of being bombarded about his social life and want to focus on his career (but his friends and Luke himself aren't letting people do that). So when people say he is "jobless" I think it's just frustration.

[aspoonofsugar]

What are your thoughts on the yorkshin arc? My main issue is the arc never really lingered on Kurapika's feelings that much. I honestly didn't feel much for it. We were shown how angry and vengeful he was, but we never really got to see or feel just how hurt Kurapika was over losing his family, friends and home.

Maybe it's my own perception problem. This may sound mean but Kurapika just seem to be this badass arrogant cold-blooded chain bastard. After killing Uvo, he remained stone-cold. He wasnt bothered. He doesnt feel guilty at all. Was he supposed to be like this in the manga?

I still like it overall but i kinda wish it was more emotionally compelling just as Chimera Ant Arc. Chimera arc was super long so it has it's highs and lows. But I would say the highs of Chimera ant are higher than Yorknew.

Hello anon!

I love the York Shin arc tbh :)

I think it is not fair to compare it to the CAA, though, because imo its role in the narrative is more similar to the Zoldyck short arc for Killua, the Celestial Arena's arc for Nen, Greed Island for Gon and the Election Arc for Leorio. These are all set up arcs, where you are not expected to see all the conflicts solved.

The zoldyck arc introduces the main family members and dynamics, but it does not solve them

The Celestial Arena introduces nen, but it doesn't show its most interesting powers or applications

Greed Island sets up Gon's flaws, but it does not really deconstruct them

The Election Arc sets up Leorio's arc and potential as a politician, but it ends with Leorio losing the elections

Similarly, York Shin doesn't solve Kurapika's arc, but simply introduces its major themes together with the Spiders. It is the current arc (the Succession War Arc), that is supposed to give Kurapika and the Spiders the major characters development. Exactly like the CAA does for Gon and Killua. Notice, for example, that it ends in an anti-climax (like many HXH arcs that postpone conflicts). There is no final showdown between Kurapika and Chrollo, really.

That said, I disagree with with your reading of Kurapika as stone-cold. I would say the arc actually makes clear he is going through a huge emotional turmoil. Here are some examples:

Kurapika gets angry at Uvo and Pakunoda because they refuse to betray their comrades. That is because they go against Kurapika's ideas of the spiders as inhuman monsters. Senritsu even comments on this by saying how deep down Kurapika is starting to have doubts about his revenge, as he sees the spiders as humans.

He completely loses its cool and basically runs after them recklessly in a way that makes him easy to find. He is 100% ready to give in to his anger and to foolishly die in a 1 vs 3 fight. The only reason he survives is that Gon and Killua let themselves get caught.

In general, Kurapika is shown clearly suicidal, as he feels that without the Spiders he has no real reason to live. He even says so, which is why Gon telling him to look for his comrades' eyes helps him.

In the end, he temporally gives up his revenge to save Gon and Killua because he realizes that saving his friends that are still alive is better than avenging his dead ones. We even get a little foreshadowing of Pairo there.

Finally, Kurapika is so consumed by everything he literally sleeps for days and everyone is worried sick for him

So, his behavior is not really something I would call cold. Quite the opposite really. He is angry and desperate and at the same time the person he hates the most is really himself. So, he is sacrificing his life and his sense of self in a revenge, which will only lead to his death. I have written more about his arc here, if you are interested.

In short, I understand you expecting a more emotional narrative, but York Shin is not a climatic arc and in general Togashi's style tends to show in subtext much more than saying :) I am expecting more emotional outburst in the current arc, though, even if so far it is incredibly complex and a lot of time is given to explaining everyone's strategy.

Thank you for the ask!

[curtwilde]

"CAA is not about Hindus because it doesn't mention Hindus persecuted in Sri Lanka"

And why is that? Why are Sri Lankan Hindus excluded? Is that because they are not being persecuted by Muslims specifically? Because sanghis don't really care about Hindus even half as much as they say and this bill and everything else they do is driven by their hatred of Muslims.

[dailyanarchistposts]

India witnessed the rise of two large protest movements in last 2 years which saw millions taking to streets against the oppressive laws passed by the government. These were the Anti-CAA protests against the discriminative Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and the farmers protests against the 3 pro-corporate farm laws. During the Anti-CAA protests, the loudest voices of dissent have been the women, from housewives to grandmothers, lawyers to students, women across India have been at the forefront of this struggle. This female-driven political awakening has been most jubilantly epitomized by the sit-in protest at Shaheen Bagh, drawing a cross-generational, largely female crowd never seen in India before [1]. Then came the farmer protests, where millions of farmers took to streets to fight the anti-farmer legislation that was passed in the Indian parliament and to highlight the issues of agrarian crisis which has been growing in India for the last few decades. In these protests, there is an unprecedented solidarity being displayed in the daily rallies that draw out thousands of people all over Indian cities. There are no visible leaders calling out to people to protest in one mode or another, yet the country has found a way to speak truth to power [2].

The Shaheen Bagh protest was led mostly by Muslim women, in response to the passage of the discriminative and unconstitutional CAA passed by Parliament of India and the police attack on students of Jamia Millia Islamia University. Protesters agitated not only against the citizenship issues of the CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), but also against economic crisis, rising inequality, police brutality, unemployment, poverty and for women’s safety. The protesters also supported farmer unions, unions opposing the government’s anti-labour policies and protested against attacks on academic institutions. The protest started with 10–15 local women, mostly hijab wearing Muslim housewives, but within days drew crowds of up to a hundred thousand, making it one of the longest sit-in protests of this magnitude in modern India. The Shaheen Bagh protest also inspired similar style protests across the country, such as those in Gaya, Kolkata, Prayagraj, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. The protesters at Shaheen Bagh, since 14 December 2019, continued their sit-in protest in New Delhi using non-violent resistance for 101 days until 24 March 2020 when it ended due to COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

Most of the women who came to Shaheen Bagh protest were first-time protesters, mostly homemakers, who were standing up to the government [3]. This was the first time they came out on a national issue which cut across religious lines. Some came with their newborns and children and some were grandparents. The women were center of protests and men supported them from the sidelines. They were creative and strategic. They governed their worlds quietly from the background and knew when a crisis needed them to cross invisible boundaries and step into the foreground. They emerged into the public space to collectively confront a looming crisis [2]. Armed with thick blankets, warm cups of tea and songs of resistance, these women have braved one of the coldest winters Delhi faced in the last 118 years [4]. These women were drivers of this protest, joining in irrespective of caste and religion, taking turns to sit-in at the site. They broke down the historically prevailing gender binary of patriarchy and took control. They also destroyed the popular imagination claiming Muslim women as powerless and lacking agency.

Shaheen Bagh in many ways typifies the protest movement that erupted across India as it was leaderless. No political party or organization could claim to be leading the protest. Instead, it was fueled primarily by these women who were residents of working-class neighborhoods of Shaheen Bagh. Since it was a leaderless protest, it could not be terminated by a few prominent organizers [5]. When they tried to “called off” the protest citing interference of political parties and security threats, the women of Shaheen Bagh rejected it and decided to continue the protests. The movement had no formal organizers and thrived on a roving group of volunteers and the local women’s tenacity alone. The lack of leaders also confused the police who are clueless on whom to approach to make these women vacate the site.

The protesters were supported and coordinated by a diverse group of more than hundred volunteers, including local residents, students and professionals. These volunteers organized themselves around different tasks such as setting up makeshift stages, shelters and bedding; providing food, water, medicine, and access to toilet facilities; installing CCTV cameras, bringing in electric heaters, outside speakers and collecting donations [6]. Donations includes mattresses, an assortment of tables that form the foundation of the stage and endless cups of steaming tea that provide warmth on cold winter days. Local residents formed informal groups which coordinated security, speakers, songs, and cultural programs that happened on these makeshift stages. People distributed tea, snacks, biryani, sweets and other eatables at the protest site. Some donated wood logs to keep the protesters warm. Collection drives for blankets and other essentials were organized through social media. A health camp was also set up beside the camped protesters which provided medicines for them. Doctors and nurses along with medical students from different medical institutes and hospitals voluntarily joined for the purpose [7]. A group of Sikh farmers from Punjab came and set up a langer (free community kitchen) in the area.

The space was decorated with art and installations [8]. Stairways leading to the closed shops in the vicinity of the protest circle were transformed into a public library and art centre by student volunteers from Jamia along with the young children of Shaheen Bagh. Protest art became the voice of resistance and dissent during the event, and the area was covered in murals, graffiti, posters and banners [9]. A reading area called “Read for Revolution” had been set up with hundreds of crowd-sourced books as well as writing materials [10]. A nearby bus stop was converted into the Fatima Sheikh-Savitribai Phule library, which provided material on the country’s constitution, revolution, racism, fascism, oppression and various social issues [11]. Public reading spaces were created for the cause of dissent and to amplify the idea of education amongst the protesters of Shaheen Bagh. Since a majority of women of Shaheen Bagh have stepped out of their homes for the first time, this was an attempt to bring these women closer so that they read and facilitate the social change they exemplify. Besides young children, senior citizens, working people, domestic workers and many from Shaheen Bagh and nearby areas were occupying the area, choosing books or picking up colors and chart paper, while some also come to donate their old books and stationery.

लड़ो पढ़ाई करने क��, पढ़ो समाज बदलने को (Fight To Read, Read To Change)

The children who were present alongside parents also participated in the protest. Most of these children would visit school in the morning before joining their parents at the protest site, which became an art space for many children [12]. They would express their thoughts and join in the protest through storytelling, poetry, puppetry, singing and painting. Student volunteers engaged the local children in reading, painting and singing, and held informal reading lessons.

Speeches, lectures, rap and shayari poetry readings were held every day [13]. Activists, artists and social workers came and gave talks on various issues faced by Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, the disabled, LGBTQ people, and all those who are oppressed. The stage is democratic and hosts poets and professors, housewives and elders, civil society groups and civic leaders, actors and celebrities and of course students – from Jamia, JNU to the local government schools. A large number of women participate in open-mics to express their thoughts, many speaking in public for the first time. The protestors read the Preamble of the Constitution which reminds them of their rights of Liberty, Equality and Justice. If the Shaheen Bagh stage had a bias, it is towards women and those, from academia and elsewhere, who can educate them not just on CAA-NRC-NPR, but also the freedom struggle, Ambedkar, Gandhi and the ideas that animate the preamble to the constitution [13]. The chants of “inquilab zindabad (long live the revolution!)”and “save the Constitution” filled the site. At night people would watch films and documentaries which were screened on the site, about refugee crisis, anti-fascist struggles and revolution. Musical and cultural events were also conducted in solidarity with anti-CAA protests. This occupy protest provided an example of how to create a community without government support by voluntary association and mutual aid, make decisions in a democratic way where everyone takes part and decentralize power by having no organizers or leaders who control everything. These elements of anarchist organizing is also visible in the farmers’ protest.

Small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land account for 86.2% of all farmers in India, but own just 47.3% of the crop area. A total of 2,96,438 farmers have committed suicide in India from 1995–2015 [14]. 28 people dependent on farming die by suicide in India every day [15]. India is already facing a huge agrarian crisis and the 3 new laws have opened up door for corporatization of agriculture by dismantling the Minimum Support Price (MSP) leaving the farmers at the mercy of the big capitalist businesses.

The farmers protest began with farmers unions holding local protests against the farmer bills mostly in Punjab. After two months of protests, farmers from Punjab and Haryana began a movement named Dilli Chalo (Go to Delhi), in which tens of thousands of farmers marched towards the nation’s capital [16]. The Indian government used police to attack the protesters using water cannons, batons, and tear gas to stop them from entering Delhi. On 26 November 2020, the largest general strike in the world with over 250 million people, took place in support of the farmers [17]. A crowd of 200,000 to 300,000 farmers converged at various border points on the way to Delhi. As protest, farmers blocked the highways surrounding Delhi by sitting on the roads [18]. Transport unions representing 14 million truck drivers also came out in support of the farmers. The farmers have told the Supreme court of India that they won’t listen to courts if asked to back off. They organized a tractor rally with over 200,000 tractors on the Republic day and stormed the historic Red Fort [19]. The government barricaded the capital roads with cemented nails and trenches to stop farmers and electricity, Internet, and water supply were cut off from the protest sites.

Scores of langars, i.e. free community kitchens have been set up by farmer’s organizations and NGOs to meet the food needs of the hundreds of thousands of farmers in the farmers-camps that have sprung up on the borders of Delhi [20]. The farmers came fully equipped to prepare mass meals in these community kitchens with supplies coming from their villages daily. Tractors and trucks with sacks of vegetables and flour as well as cans of oil and milk arrive daily from villages and towns where pooling resources for community meals is a way of life. These langars work round the clock and provide free food without distinction of caste, class, or religion. Supporters of the farm protest often bring almonds, apples, sweets, and packaged water. They even supplied a machine that rolls out a thousand “rotis” every hour. Social media is used to collect blankets and other essentials for these protests who are braving the harsh winter. Many protestors camp on the roadside in the cold Delhi winter and spending nights curled up in tractor trailers. Volunteers have set up solar-powered mobile charging points, laundry stalls with washing machines, medical stalls for medicines, arranged doctors and nurses, dental camps and brought foot massage chairs for elderly protesters [21].

A makeshift school has been set up at the camp, called “Sanjhi Sathh” (a common place) to recreate a village tradition of holding discussions on important issues. Children from underprivileged families who are unable to attend school due to financial issues and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic come to this tent. It has library, which displays biographies of Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, revolutionary Che Guevara, and other books of various genres and newspapers in English, Hindi and Punjabi languages. Dozens of posters with slogans written on them cover every inch of the tarpaulin tents [22]. Farmers also installed CCTV cameras to keep a watch on the protest site and keep a record of what is happening and counter any narrative to discredit their protest. Farmers protest also saw participation of women coming out to protest in large numbers. Women farmers and agricultural workers were riding tractors from their villages and rallying to the protest sites, unfazed by the gruesome winter.

Just like Shaheen Bagh protest, this is a decentralized leaderless protest by hundreds of farmer unions. Even though the negotiations with the government are being attended by representatives of 32 farmer unions, they act as spoke persons who present the collective demand of all farmers. Whenever Government introduces a new proposal, the representatives come back to the unions where they sit together, discuss, debate and decide the future course of action together in a democratic way. Farmers are conducting Kisan Mahapanchayats (public meetings) which are attended by hundreds of thousands of people in villages around Delhi, UP, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana to discuss strategies and ways to put pressure on the government. It was this decentralization that made the protest robust and overcome the condemnation around violence during Republic day Truck Rally. Even though many farm union leaders called for ending the protest, the farmers remained steadfast in their decision to not go back till the laws were repelled.

The sites of the two protests mentioned above can be compared to the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) that was set up in Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington by Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters during the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by Police [23]. CHAZ was a nascent commune, built through mutual aid where no police was allowed and almost everything was free.

CHAZ, Shaheen Bagh and Farmers’ protests were occupation protests where the protestors set up a community themselves and created an autonomous zone. If one was against racism and police brutality, others were against religious discrimination and agrarian crisis. The protests were mostly self-organized and without an official leadership. The sites were filled with protest art, paintings, film screenings and musical performances [24]. Just like the mutual aid cooperative in CHAZ, free food, water, snacks and other supplies were provided to everyone. Areas were set up for assemblies and to facilitate discourse [25].

CHAZ was a leaderless zone, where the occupants favored consensus decision-making in the form of a general assembly, with daily meetings and discussion [26]. They slept in tents, cars and surrounding buildings, relying on donations from local store owners and activists. They collected donations for the homeless and created community gardens [27]. Medical stations were established to provide basic health care.

Anarchism tries to create institutions of a new society “within the shell of the old,” to expose, subvert, and undermine structures of domination but always, while doing so, proceeding in a democratic fashion, a manner which itself demonstrates those structures are unnecessary [28]. Anarchists observe what people are already doing in their communities, and then tries to tease out the hidden symbolic, moral, or pragmatic logic that underlie their actions and tries to make sense of it in ways that they are not themselves completely aware of. They look at those who are creating viable alternatives, try to figure out what might be the larger implications of what they are already doing, and then offer those ideas back, not as prescriptions, but as contributions [28]. They understand that people are already forming self-organized communities when the state has failed them and we can learn a lot about direct action and mutual aid from these communities.

Direct democratic decision making, decentralization of power, solidarity, mutual aid and voluntary association are the core principles of anarchist organizing. Anarchists employ direct action, disrupting and protesting against unjust hierarchy, and self-managing their lives through the creation of counter-institutions such as communes and non-hierarchical collectives. Decision-making is handled in an anti-authoritarian way, with everyone having equal say in each decision. They participate in all discussions in order to build a rough consensus among members of the group without the need of a leader or a leading group. Anarchists organize themselves to occupy and reclaim public spaces where art, poetry and music are blended to display the anarchist ideals. Squatting is a way to regain public space from the capitalist market or an authoritarian state and also being an example of direct action. We can find elements of these in all these protests and that is the reason for their robustness and success. It bursts the myth that you need a centralized chain of command with small group of leaders on top who decide the strategies and a very large group of followers who blindly obey those decisions for the sustenance and success of large scale organizing. All these protests were leaderless protests where people themselves decided and came to a consensus on the course of action to be followed in a democratic way. When people decide to take decisions themselves and coordinate with each other in small communities by providing aid to each other, it creates the strongest form of democracy and solidarity.

The fact that these protests happened, with so many people collectively organizing and cooperating, for such a long duration, shows us that we can self-organize and create communities without external institutions and it can be civilized and more democratic than the autocratic bureaucracy and authoritarian governments which concentrate all power and oppress people. These protests were driven by mostly by uneducated women, poor farmers and people from other marginalized communities, who showed that they can create communities which are more moral and egalitarian, than those that exist in hierarchical societies with the affluent and highly educated. They showed that people who are oppressed and underprivileged can organize themselves into communities of mutual aid and direct democracy which eliminates a need for coercive hierarchical systems of governance which exist only to exploit them.

What these occupy protests show us is that we can form communities and collectively organize various forms of democratic decision making simultaneously providing everyone their basic needs. There protests show us models of community organizing in large scales comprising hundreds of thousands of people. Even though they are not perfect we can learn the ideas these protests emulate – of solidarity, mutual aid, direct democracy, decentralization of power and try to recreate these in our lives and communities.

References

[1]

H. E. Petersen and S. Azizur Rahman, “‘Modi is afraid’: women take lead in India’s citizenship protests,” The Guardian, 21 January 2020.

[2]

N. Badwar, “Speaking truth to power, in Shaheen Bagh and beyond,” Livemint, 17 January 2020.

[3]

B. Kuchay, “Shaheen Bagh protesters pledge to fight, seek rollback of CAA law,” Al Jazeera, 15 January 2020.

[4]

“Shaheen Bagh: The women occupying Delhi street against citizenship law — ‘I don’t want to die proving I am Indian’,” BBC, 4 January 2020.

[5]

K. Sarfaraz, “Shaheen Bagh protest organiser calls it off, can’t get people to vacate,” The Hindustan Times, 2 January 2020.

[6]

“The volunteers of Shaheen Bagh,” The Telegraph (Culcutta), 24 December 2019.

[7]

“Behind Shaheen Bagh’s Women, An Army of Students, Doctors & Locals,” The Quint, 14 January 2020.

[8]

R. Venkataramakrishnan, “The Art of Resistance: Ringing in the new year with CAA protesters at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh,” Scroll.in, 6 January 2020.

[9]

A. Bakshi, “Portraits of resilience: the new year in Shaheen Bagh,” 2 January 2020.

[10]

J. Thakur, “Shaheen Bagh Kids and Jamia Students Make Space for Art, Reading and Revolution,” The Citizen, 11 January 2020.

[11]

F. Ameen, “The Library at Shaheen Bagh,” The Telegraph (Culcutta), 20 January 2020.

[12]

A. Purkait, “In Shaheen Bagh, Children Paint Their Protest while Mothers Hold Dharna,” Makers India, 22 January 2020.

[13]

S. Chakrabarti, “Shaheen Bagh Heralds a New Year With Songs of Azaadi,” The Wire, 31 December 2019.

[14]

P. Sainath, “Maharashtra crosses 60,000 farm suicides,” People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), 21 July 2014.

[15]

R. Sengupta, “Every day, 28 people dependent on farming die by suicide in India,” Down to Earth, 3 September 2020.

[16]

“Dilli Chalo | Farmers’ protest enters fifth day,” The Hindu, 30 November 2020.

[17]

S. Joy, “At least 25 crore workers participated in general strike; some states saw complete shutdown: Trade unions,” Deccan Herald, 26 November 2020.

[18]

“Farmers’ Protest Highlights: Protesting farmers refuse to budge, say ‘demands are non-negotiable,” The Indian Express, 1 December 2020.

[19]

G. Bhatia, “Tractors to Delhi,” Reuters, 29 January 2021.

[20]

“Langar Tradition Plays Out in Farmers Protest, Students Use Social Media To Organise Essentials,” India Today, 2 December 2020.

[21]

J. Sinha, “Protest site draws ‘Sewa’ – medicine stalls, laundry service, temple & library come up,” Indian Express, 11 December 2020.

[22]

B. Kuchay, “A school for the underprivileged at Indian farmers’ protest site,” AlJazeera, 24 January 2021.

[23]

D. Silva and M. Moschella, “Seattle protesters set up ‘autonomous zone’ after police evacuate precinct,” NBC News, 11 June 2020.

[24]

C. Burns, “The Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone Renames, Expands, and Adds Film Programming,” The Stranger, 10 June 2020.

[25]

H. Allam, “‘Remember Who We’re Fighting For’: The Uneasy Existence Of Seattle’s Protest Camp,” NPR, 18 June 2020.

[26]

K. Burns, “Seattle’s newly police-free neighborhood, explained,” Vox, 16 June 2020.

[27]

h. Weinberger, “In Seattle’s CHAZ, a community garden takes root | Crosscut,” Crosscut, 15 June 2020.

[28]

D. Graeber, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology, 2004.

[allycat75]

Happy April Fool's Day, Boston Dumb Fuck! But then it is no longer just a day for you anymore, is it?

You really gave it the office over the past few years, haven't you? Made a joke of your life, your family, friends and fans and look at where it has gotten you.

In honor of this most sacred of days, let's take a quick look back down Untrustworthy Lane, shall we?

You saying you loved love in your SMA article, then taking this massive dump on it. That was awesome!

Also saying you hated yourself in the same SMA article. Too bad no one close to you believed you or intervened. Maybe this mess could have been avoided

Your then fake girlfriend, now fake wifey, crashing the Thanksgiving family celebration at Disney World, where you pretended to be creepy niece-creepy uncle. I am sure your family laughed and laughed at that one

Tried to convince us jump scares were cute beyond brothers and could be easily staged

Also thought it would be fun to hide a misogynistic snuff film behind a dumb chin puppet video

Tried to trick us into thinking being good at Mario Cart was a noteworthy feat, and being bad at it was worthy of derision

Proved Valentine's Day is a joke by releasing a few handfuls of unflattering photos, plus some obvious photshop fails and even 2 or 3 photos that had absolutely nothing to do with the day of forced love. The joke was on you, however, since all that accomplished was to murder so many lady-boners it doomed you to only finding pleasure in your own hands, or perhaps a realistic fleshlight, for the foreseeable future. But you are a big "alone guy" so that should suit you well!

Extending this shameful stunt to the "Ghosted" premiere. That was a double whammy- the little racist, clout chasing twit thinking she was going to walk the red carpet and Ana and Dexter thinking they could save that festering turd of a movie from further embarrassment. Are they still talking to you after that prank?

Orchestrating two ghost kinda ceremonies using only vague descriptions of locations and pictures from family and friends in the vicinity of possible kinda locations, including a very real and special birthday party for a young lady that was probably ruined, but all in the name of a fun manipulation, right? Pepper in some online quotes about getting mentored by RDJ (he's doing a bang up job, by the way), as well as a line in the online version of the disaster of all disaster interviews in GQ, (that if people truly cared, would have put a 5150 hold on you and your dissociated life) and voila! Sham marriage complete.

Continuing with the joke-in-and-of-itself ASP. I mean, having a discussion on antisemitism where your guest chides those who normalize this behavior, just as you shove that poison ring in the camera, symbolizing the unholy union between you and the Nazi wifey. Great job, man!

Almost as good as you wearing the colors of the Nazi flag for your red carpet debut with your charming anti-semetic "bride", fake kisses and all

The best jest, however, was you not even getting to catch up with your more successful friends at the Vanity Fair party because you and that prize woman of yours were shuffled off immediately to the pick up line to be taken home, alone to your fleshlight

But you should be used to not getting into parties. There was the pathetic loitering in front of the CAA and UTA pre-Oscar bashes, but the best prank on yourself had to be the SNL Christmas party, where the wifey recreated the bratty niece look from the first pap walk and you tried to drive a wedge between one of your best friend's marriages (at least Colin has gotten in some good jabs at you on the show), all while the two of you probably were hid away in a dimly lit basement room for 20 minutes, then let out a back door to go home, alone to your fleshlight. And Alec Baldwin and his wife were actually invited. That's gotta hurt!

And just recently being called a "car enthusiast". More subtle than some of your other hoaxes, but still hilarious!

Now I don't know if you signed onto this because of duress or the promise of something great (hopefully not the Gene Kelly movie, because that was never going to fly- that was another trick on you, and even if it was miraculously offered to you, after this, it would not be a good look playing a male chauvinist who preferred young women).

I am sure you have had your fun, but let's hope this time next year you will have long hung up the jester's hat and become a real life boy!

[massivelyspeedyobject]

The real story of prosecution of minorities by Hitler & the resemblance

Credit: quora The prosecution of minorities under Hitler’s regime, particularly targeting Jews, is a dark chapter in history. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party implemented policies of systematic discrimination, persecution, and ultimately extermination of various minority groups, most notably Jews, but also including Romani people, disabled individuals, homosexuals, and others. The persecution…

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Dion J. Pierre

Jewish and Israeli students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have warned in a new letter to university president Sally Kornbluth that radical anti-Zionism and intimidation of Jewish students on campus has become intolerable and reminiscent of Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust.

The letter, shared on X/Twitter by MIT professor Retsef Levi, recounted an incident from Thursday in which students from the MIT Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA), a campus anti-Israel group, “physically prevented” them from attending class by forming a “blockade” of bodies in Lobby 7, a space inside the main entrance of the university. Non-students were invited to attend CAA’s demonstration, and together the entire group spent hours chanting “Intifada” — a term used to describe violent Palestinian uprisings against Israel — and declaring solidarity with Hamas.

“Instead of dispersing the mob or de-escalating the situation by rerouting all students from Lobby 7, Jewish students specifically were warned not to enter MIT’s front entrance due to a risk to their physical safety,” wrote the MIT Israel Alliance. “The onus to protect Jewish students should not be on the students themselves.”

Even after being threatened with suspension should they not disperse, the letter continued, CAA remained in Lobby 7, inviting more non-student protesters, which caused the university to issue through its emergency notification system a directive to “avoid” the area. The students added that a high-level official of MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning vowed, in defiance of official orders, to protect any CAA students who continued the demonstration.

The MIT Israel Alliance said that by the end of the day, Jewish students were told to enter the university through its back entrance and avoid the campus’ Hillel building.

“On the 9th of November, on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, which marked the beginning of the Holocaust, Jews at MIT were told to enter campus from back entrances and not to stay in Hillel for fear of their physical safety,” the group concluded. “We are seeing history repeating itself and Jews on MIT’s campus are afraid.”

When asked for comment, an MIT spokesperson told The Algemeiner that the school is closed in observance of Veterans Day, but MIT President Sally Kornbluth addressed the incident late Thursday after the MIT Israel Alliance issued its letter. Her statement did not mention antisemitism.

“I am deliberately not specifying the viewpoints, as the issue at hand is not the substance of the views but where and how they were expressed,” Kornbluth said, noting that Jewish and pro-Israel counter-protesters were also present in Lobby 7 and that all students were recently reminded of guidelines forbidding holding protests in the building. “Today’s protest — which became disruptive, loud, and sustained through the morning hours — was organized and conducted in defiance of those MIT guidelines and polices. Some students from both the protest and counterprotest may have violated other MIT policies, as well.”

Kornbluth added that protesters who remained after being told to leave will receive a non-academic suspension.

[eretzyisrael]

It is almost impossible to overstate how far the Guardian has fallen. Once the voice of the liberal left – the paper has turned into a ‘Palestine’ obsessed rag that consistently promotes voices that are attacking British Jews. Just this week we were given yet another example – Haroon Siddique wrote an article about a report attacking the use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism on campus grounds.

Two organisations are behind the report – ‘BRISMES’ and ‘ELSC ‘ (I will deal with both later in this piece) and at no point does Siddique mention the fact that these anti-Israel organisations – and many of the names attached to them – have spent the last few years promoting and defending antisemites.

Why give their rancid report legitimacy? It is so blatant in its flawed methodology that none of the other mainstream outlets appear to have gone anywhere near it. It was promoted in Middle East Eye – a Qatari state mouthpiece. Also in Mondoweiss, a US based anti-Zionist conspiracy rag. As it stands – these are the Guardian’s ideological bedfellows.

Haroon Siddique

The Journalist, Haroon Siddique is a habitual offender. Just a few months ago, in a post attacking the government’s anti-BDS bill, he tried to pass off a bunch of extremists, antisemites and Muslim Brotherhood figures as UK ‘civil society’. He has also consistently attacked the Government’s counter-extremism policy ‘PREVENT’.

I searched his Twitter account for use of the word ‘antisemitism’. I found ten tweets:

Report attacking the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

Dropping of lawsuit against Labour over antisemitism.

To attack EHRC commissioner, who led Labour party antisemitism inquiry.

Ditto..

Ditto.

Support for JVL’s Diana Neslen – against the IHRA and in support of anti-Zionist belief.

Ditto.

 On Telegraph apology for false description of Laura Murray as ‘anti-Jewish racist’.

On Charity Commission opening case against the CAA (Campaign against Antisemitism).

On Toby Young apologising to Philip Hammond over accusation of antisemitism.

That’s it – all ten. A one-way narrative. On the Guardian website I also found these articles – all authored by Siddique:

Council worker sacked for comments about Zionism wins back job

Tracy-Ann Oberman pays ‘substantial damages’ for antisemitism claims

New NUS president accuses media of printing falsehoods