#Power Crisis in Delhi

[tired-reader-writer]

Tentatively decided to name the new OC (Shapur's former tutor who now teaches his two kids) Sadiq, meaning “true, sincere, loyal”— derived from the root صدق (ṣadaqa) meaning “to tell the truth”! I have yet to figure out his whole deal but the vague strokes are that he had probably been taught to be ruthless even against family, tangled up in a succession crisis against his brother, only to eventually go “wait, none of this is even remotely worth it” and fucked off— maybe he even tried his hand at serving at court but got disillusioned and left— probably because Gotatzes deteriorated and he witnessed again brother fighting brother and got so Tired of it all. Kinda gave up on the world, only dedicating himself to his... nephew? of a sort? He probably had blood ties to Shapur's father or something to have been able to become his tutor. I get the sense that he's mellowed out quite a bit since his younger years. Actually, why do I keep visualizing this man as Froi Tiedoll from D Gray Man????

?????????????????

I don't know if the mental image will end up sticking or not. We shall see.

(Man I need to reread D Gray Man don't I)

Some other vague stuff about him:

Has lingering regrets over broken familial bonds. Maybe he wishes he'd known better, known to have not feuded against his own brother when he was younger.

Pretty chil???? (Tis the Froi influence I swear)

(but if he's so chill how'd he produce not one but TWO very rigid students?! my dude??)

“The fact that you two (Isfan and Areyan) have never once considered it (competing against each other for the heir seat, or even feuding with Shapur for the family head and lord position) then it means I have taught you two well.”

Eternal Bachelor™

Could he possibly have been peers with Lushan and Munzhir (Zaravant's dad)? Discuss.

His tutelage likely expanded its bounds beyond just Isfan and Areyan after the clan settles in Shapur's lands.

(now that I think of it I still haven't decided why they'd want to settle there, FUCK)

(maybe Sadiq could've helped convince them but with what arguments?)

Easygoing demeanor hides his sharp mind and eyes

Approved of Shapur trying to rescue Golnar and Isfan.

Wanted to see where Shapur would go with Ayunnen, Kashi, and Kazai, though knew that they probably wouldn't have a good time so long as Shapur's father and Jahanara still held power over the castle so he could have advised to wait until after Shapur became lord.

But then they DIED...

Could he have faint knowledge about things to do with magic? He could have been in Gotatzes' court after all— and that means magic and soothsaying and the like were more prominent during his times (and then Andragoras killed all court sorcerers upon attaining the throne, and here we arrive at Pars' current attitude towards magic. at least in the capital and among warriors?)

Like This™ about his students at all times:

Bonus round: two other name candidates that didn't quite end up making the cut!

Mehdi

Means "guided one" in Arabic, a derivative of هدى (hadā) meaning "to lead the right way, to guide".

Firouz/Firuz/Pirouz/Piruz

From Persian پیروز (pīrūz) or فیروز (fīrūz) meaning "victorious". This name was borne by Firuz Shah Tughlaq, a 14th-century sultan of Delhi who did much to build the city's infrastructure.

[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 को, 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.

[fatehbaz]

Sheetal Chhabria sets her finger on the core of a shared problem that her book Making the Modern Slum: The Power of Capital in Colonial Bombay, Yahia Shawkat’s Egypt’s Housing Crisis: Shaping the Urban Space and my own Possessing the City: Property and Politics in Delhi 1911-1947 are outlining. The settings and periods are diverse and the particular histories diverge. But, in each of our work, we point to both the commodification of shelter and the paradoxical histories of efforts to oppose or mitigate that commodification. The Housing Question – how to provide decent and dignified shelter to every human – seems to be hummed to a drearily repetitive tune (with a few varying notes) in the Global South. Indeed, many of the same problems are reproduced in the Global North as well.

The stubbornness with which mass housing initiatives are reinserted into commodity circuits is a key lesson in all three works. This despite a related phenomenon that Chhabria points to the sheer variety of ways in which housing has been used by the state to ‘manage populations’. Chhabria and Shawkat both refer, for instance, to moments in which housing has been utilized as a tool to ensure the immobilization of working populations. Much like in a prison, to use housing as a way to prevent or restrict the mobility of working people.

---

Part of the reason for this is that Chhabria’s work on Bombay culminates at a point of unique labor mobility: the migration away from the city of much of Bombay’s mill labor force in the wake of the late nineteenth century plague epidemic. [...] But it was also a project of housing in which luring workers back to the city and holding them there was an essential component. The Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT), whose trajectory from inception to failure Chhabria meticulously chronicles, bears the marks of exactly such an origin point. The BIT was in the final reckoning a mix of welfarism, state-subsidy for financial speculation, attempts to signal a more sanitary city and immobilising labour. [...] However, this limited decommodification of shelter was a mere sub-theme among the other agenda of the BIT.

Crucially, Chhabria points out, Indian elites and the colonial state joined in their appreciation of the opportunities for profit-making and governing on the cheap, while solving labor supply problems through the BIT’s housing initiatives.

In Shawkat’s Egypt too, both in the late nineteenth century and in the present, the ‘izba recurs as a form of housing designed to immobilize labor – converting peasants more fully into workers. [...]

---

The slum must also [...] be an active source of a reserve army of labor. [...] Here the establishment of a Delhi Improvement Trust (in 1937, nearly 40 years after the BIT) was initiated by a piece of bad press. [...] The DIT’s major success was in [...] (something that Chhabria points out happened in Bombay too) participating in a round of speculative development in the Delhi countryside. [...] These and myriad other pathways have tended to return housing – even housing built at subsidized rates for the city’s working poor – to circuits of accumulation and profit.

---

Shawkat [...] is clear-sighted about the terminal point – decommodified housing. Any intermediate position, he argues, would prove unstable and return housing to the circuits of capital circulation. [...] As I have been pointing out, each of our three works provides templates by which waves of partial decommodification are clawed back into circuits of profit and loss.

How, then, could a more permanent extrication of shelter from commodification be achieved? The unsuccessful efforts to decommodify housing in colonial Delhi illustrate some potential pitfalls. [...] The weakness of struggles to decommodify housing in Delhi meant that even housing for Partition refugees would become the launchpad for what is today India’s largest private real estate firm -- Delhi Land and Finance. [...]

---

The Housing Question, cannot be separated from the much broader question of power. Mobilizations from below which are committed to a vision of broad human emancipation are the only viable way forward. Neither a brilliant urban plan nor the temporarily persuaded ear of a state official can achieve the decommodification of shelter that Shawkat calls for. [...] Stubbornly enough, [...] at the heart of it tends to lie a nexus between industrialists, richer traders, real estate speculators, and the state. Yes, temporary relief might be won [...]. But, as the history of the return of housing to circuits of commodity demonstrates, [...] the battle to provide shelter as a right is first about building [...] [movements] that can fight and win a broad decommodification of everyday life.

---

Text by: Anish Vanaik. “Shelter as Capital: Housing and Commodification: Lessons from the Global South.” Borderlines [open-access site mentored by editors of Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East]. Published online: 18 February 2021. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[gayhomebody]

Books I've read in 2024

'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens

'Bandits' by Eric Hobsbawm

'Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson' by George Jackson

'The Violence of Britishness: Racism, Borders and the Conditions of Citizenship' by Nadya Ali

'Black Power' by Kwame Ture and Charles V. Hamilton

History Today February 2024 Vol. 74 Issue 2

'The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian' by Nirad C. Chaudhuri

'Booth' by Karen Joy Fowler

'Making Sense of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine' by Paul Le Blanc

History Today March 2024 Vol. 74 Issue 3

'Walter Benjamin's Archive'

Granta 15, Spring 1985, 'The Fall of Saigon' by James Fenton

'Kitchen Confidential: Insider's Edition' by Anthony Bourdain

'End British Support for Zionism, Isolate the Israeli State' by FRFI

'East into Upper East: Plain Tales from New York and New Delhi' by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

'From the Four Corners' by Jan Morris

'Common Sense and The American Crisis I' by Thomas Paine

'Renaissance Europe, 1480-1520' by J. R. Hale

'Reformation Europe, 1517-1559' by G. R. Elton

'Europe Divided, 1559-1598' by J. H. Elliott

'Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888-1938' by Stephen F. Cohen

'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson

'Israel's War on Gaza' by Gilbert Achcar

'What does Israel fear from Palestine?' by Raja Shehadeh

'Fascism and Dictatorship: The Third International and the Problem of Fascism' by Nicos Poulantzas

'A Grand Tour of the Roman Empire' by Marcus Sidonius Falx with Jerry Toner

'The Roman Empire' by Colin Wells

'Lessons of October' by Leon Trotsky (Reread)

'Coming up for Air' by George Orwell

[mikeo56]

Princeton, N.J. — As I write this, the sun is a hazy reddish orange orb. The sky is an inky yellowish gray. The air has an acrid stench and leaves a faint metallic taste in my mouth. After 20 minutes outside, my head starts to ache, my nose burns, my eyes itch and my breathing becomes more labored. Streets are deserted. The ubiquitous lawn service companies with their machine mowers and whining gas-powered leaf blowers have disappeared, along with pedestrians, cyclists and joggers. Those who walk their dog go out briefly and then scamper back inside. N95 masks, as in the early days of the pandemic, are sold out, along with air purifiers. The international airports at Newark and Philadelphia have delayed or canceled flights.

I feel as if I am in a ghost town. Windows shut. Air conditioners on full blast. The Air Quality Index (AQI) is checked and rechecked. We are hovering around 300. The most polluted cities in the world have half that rate. Dubai (168). Delhi (164). Anything above 300 is classified as hazardous.

When will the hundreds of forest fires burning north of us in Canada — fires that have already consumed 10.9 million acres and driven 120,000 people from their homes — be extinguished? What does this portend? The wildfire season is only beginning. When will the air clear? A few days? A few weeks? 

What do you tell a terminal patient seeking relief? Yes, this period of distress may pass, but it’s not over. It will get worse. There will be more highs and lows and then mostly lows, and then death. But no one wants to look that far ahead. We live moment to moment, illusion to illusion. And when the skies clear we pretend that normality will return. Except it won’t. Climate science is unequivocal. It has been for decades. The projections and graphs, the warming of the oceans and the atmosphere, the melting of polar ice sheets and glaciers, rising sea levels, droughts and wildfires and monster hurricanes are already bearing down with a terrible and mounting fury on our species, and most other species, because of the hubris and folly of the human race. 

The worse it gets the more we retreat into fantasy. The law will solve it. The market will solve it. Technology will solve it. We will adapt. Or, for those who find solace in denial of a reality-based belief system, the climate crisis does not exist. The earth has always been like this. And besides, Jesus will save us. Those who warn of the looming mass extinction are dismissed as hysterics, Cassandras, pessimists. It can’t be that catastrophic.

At the inception of every war I covered, most people were unable to cope with the nightmare that was about to engulf them. Signs of disintegration surrounded them. Shootings. Kidnappings. The bifurcation of polarized extremes into antagonistic armed groups or militias. Hate speech. Political paralysis. Apocalyptic rhetoric. The breakdown of social services. Food shortages. Circumscribed daily existence. But the fragility of society is too emotionally fraught for most of us to accept. We endow the institutions and structures around us with an eternal permanence.

“Things whose existence is not morally comprehensible cannot exist,” Primo Levi, who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, observed. 

I would return at night to Pristina in Kosovo after having been stopped by Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) rebels a few miles outside the capital. But when I described my experiences to my Kosovar Albanian friends — highly educated and multilingual — they dismissed them. “Those are Serbs dressed up like rebels to justify Serb repression,” they answered. They did not grasp they were at war until Serb paramilitary forces rounded them up at gunpoint, herded them into boxcars and shipped them off to Macedonia.

Complex civilizations eventually destroy themselves. Joseph Tainter in “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” Charles L. Redman in “Human Impact on Ancient Environments,” Jared Diamond in “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed” and Ronald Wright in “A Short History of Progress,” detail the familiar patterns that lead to catastrophic collapse. We are no different, although this time we will all go down together. The entire planet. Those in the Global South who are least responsible for the climate emergency, will suffer first. They are already fighting existential battles to survive. Our turn will come. We in the Global North may hold out for a bit longer, but only a bit. The billionaire class is preparing its escape. The worse it gets, the stronger will be our temptation to deny the reality facing us, to lash out at climate refugees, which is already happening in Europe and along our border with Mexico, as if they are the problem. 

Wright, who calls industrial society “a suicide machine,” writes: 

Civilization is an experiment, a very recent way of life in the human career, and it has a habit of walking into what I am calling progress traps. A small village on good land beside a river is a good idea; but when the village grows into a city and paves over the good land, it becomes a bad idea. While prevention might have been easy, a cure may be impossible: a city isn’t easily moved. This human inability to foresee — or to watch out for — long-range consequences may be inherent to our kind, shaped by the millions of years when we lived from hand to mouth by hunting and gathering. It may also be little more than a mix of inertia, greed, and foolishness encouraged by the shape of the social pyramid. The concentration of power at the top of large-scale societies gives the elite a vested interest in the status quo; they continue to prosper in darkening times long after the environment and general populace begin to suffer.

We will frantically construct climate fortresses, like the great walled cities at the end of the Bronze Age before its societal collapse, a collapse so severe that not only did these cities fall into ruin, but writing itself in many places disappeared. Maybe a few of our species will linger on for a while. Or maybe rats will take over the planet and evolve into some new life form. One thing is certain. The planet will survive. It has experienced mass extinctions before. This one is unique only because our species engineered it. Intelligent life is not so intelligent. Maybe this is why, with all those billions of planets, we have not discovered an evolved species. Maybe evolution has built within it its own death sentence.

I accept this intellectually. I don’t accept it emotionally any more than I accept my own death. Yes, I know our species is almost certainly doomed — but notice, I say almost. Yes, I know I am mortal. Most of my life has already been lived. But death is hard to digest until the final moments of existence, and even then, many cannot face it. We are composed of the rational and the irrational. In moments of extreme distress we embrace magical thinking. We become the easy prey of con-artists, cult leaders, charlatans and demagogues who tell us what we want to hear. 

Disintegrating societies are susceptible to crisis cults that promise a return to a golden age. The Christian Right has many of the characteristics of a crisis cult. Native Americans, ravaged by genocide, the slaughter of the buffalo herds, the theft of their land and incarcerated in prisoner-of-war camps, clung desperately to the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance promised to drive away the white invaders and resurrect the warriors and buffalo herds. Instead, followers were mowed down by the U.S. Army with Hotchkiss MI875 mountain guns.

We must do everything in our power to halt carbon emissions. We must face the truth that the ruling corporate elites in the industrialized world will never extract us from fossil fuels. Only if these corporatists are overthrown — as proposed by groups such as Extinction Rebellion — and radical and immediate measures are taken to end the consumption of fossil fuel, as well as curtail the animal agriculture industry, will we be able to mitigate some of the worst effects of ecocide. But I don’t see this as likely, especially given the sophisticated forms of control and surveillance the global oligarchs have at their disposal.

The awful truth is that even if we halt all carbon emissions today there is so much warming locked into the oceans deep muddy floor and the atmosphere, that feedback loops will ensure climate catastrophe. Summer Arctic sea ice, which reflects 90 percent of solar radiation that comes into contact with it, will disappear. The Earth’s surface will absorb more radiation. The greenhouse effect will be amplified. Global warming will accelerate, melting the Siberian permafrost and disintegrating the Greenland ice sheet. 

Melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica “has increased fivefold since the 1990s, and now accounts for a quarter of sea-level rise,” according to a recent report funded by NASA and the European Space Agency. Continued sea level rise, the rate of which has doubled over three decades according to the World Meteorological Organization, is inevitable. Tropical rainforests will burn. Boreal forests will move northward. These and other feedback loops are already built into the ecosystem. We cannot stop them. Climate chaos, including elevated temperatures, will last for centuries. 

The hardest existential crisis we face is to at once accept this bleak reality and resist. Resistance cannot be carried out because it will succeed, but because it is a moral imperative, especially for those of us who have children. We may fail, but if we do not fight against the forces that are orchestrating our mass extinction, we become part of the apparatus of death.

Stop, stop, stop believing America is great. It isn't.

[mariacallous]

India’s Middle East policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is often seen as both successful and perplexing. The governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to which Modi belongs, has a nationalist Hindu-right bent, and yet India’s outreach toward the Persian Gulf region under the current government, particularly to the Arab world, has been a defining success over the past decade.

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the latter’s audacious strike on Oct. 7, has brought under the spotlight New Delhi’s diplomatic balance between a “new” Middle East and its traditional support for the “old.” The new is defined by New Delhi’s increasingly close proximity to the security ecosystem of the United States, while the old is highlighted by a visible shift away from the idea of nonalignment. India’s participation in new tools of economic diplomacy—such as the I2U2 minilateral between India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the United States, as well as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) announced on sidelines of the G-20 summit in September—are evidence of these not-so-subtle changes in posture, led by a burgeoning consensus between New Delhi and Washington to push back against an increasingly aggressive China.

India has been a steadfast supporter of the Palestinian cause since its independence, viewing the crisis through moral support for Palestinian sovereignty and as an anti-colonial struggle. In 1975, India became the first non-Arab state to grant full diplomatic status to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Its then-chief, Yasser Arafat, regularly visited New Delhi. That relationship has become more complicated.

Last month, Modi condemned Hamas terrorism just weeks before the youth wing of Jamaat-e-Islami in the southern state of Kerala, which has close ties with the Gulf, hosted a virtual talk by former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal—showcasing the wide range of views that have long existed within India.

After decades of leaning toward the Arab world, in 1992, then-Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao established full diplomatic ties with Israel. This was done at a time of great change in the across the subcontinent, marked by the country’s economic liberalization following years of crisis. However, Israel was quietly building a strong foundation for this eventuality over the previous decades, supplying India with military aid in two crucial wars that it fought against Pakistan in 1971, before normalization, and then again in 1999, after full diplomatic ties were established.

This normalization forced India to perform a balancing act between three poles of power in the region: the Arab world, Israel, and Iran. All three remain important to Indian interests. The larger Arab world hosts more than 7 million Indian workers, who send back billions of dollars into the Indian economy as remittances; Israel remains a critical technology and defense partner; and Iran’s strategic location helps promote Indian interests in both Central Asia and a now much more volatile Afghanistan under a Taliban regime.

Fast-forward to 2023, and Indian foreign policy toward the region increasingly looks more pragmatic in design, balancing opportunities and challenges in an increasingly fractured global order, or what scholars Michael Kimmage and Hannah Notte have aptly termed “the age of great-power distraction.” As India’s economy rapidly grows, setting its sights on becoming the third largest in the world by 2030, so does its desire for influence. And the Middle East, from a foreign-policy perspective, is where a lot of this influence is being tested.

A recent spat between India and Qatar offers an interesting example for managing inflection points. In October, Doha announced a verdict of death sentences for eight former Indian Navy officials who were working for a private contractor involved with Qatar’s defense modernization. They were charged, according to reports, of spying on behalf of Israel. Since then, New Delhi has responded legally, appealing the Qatari court’s verdict while both countries continue to keep the judicial verdict confidential.

This is not the first time New Delhi has become embroiled in the regional fissures of the Middle East. In 2012 and 2021, Israeli diplomats were targeted in bombings in the capital, and in both cases, India hinted at Iranian involvement and having to delicately manage the situation behind closed doors—effectively telling Iran and Israel not to let their conflict spread to Indian soil.

Today, India is becoming more of an economic stakeholder in the Middle East, and by association, its security postures. This is not just the result of New Delhi’s reoriented foreign policy designs, but also depends on the personal involvement of Modi himself.

In 2017, Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel. Considering his brand of politics, he also visited Ramallah in the West Bank in 2018 to maintain India’s diplomatic consistency. He hosted Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2019 at the height of the Jamal Khashoggi murder scandal, when the Saudis were not welcome in most capitals. And finally, Modi has visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) five times since taking charge in 2015, and is often found referring to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as “brother.”

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Modi has talked to six regional leaders to put India’s position across, from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The Modi government has attempted to walk a fine line between Israel’s counterterrorism aims against Hamas and the Palestinian humanitarian crisis. Countering terrorism has been an important tool for Modi’s international diplomacy, coming from India’s efforts to isolate Pakistan internationally for its state-sponsored terrorism.

But Indian diplomacy in the Gulf also has another objective: strengthening India’s position on Kashmir, which defines the India-Pakistan conflict, and weakening Islamabad’s case within organizations such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). In February 2019, India’s then-Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj became the first Indian minister to be invited to speak at the organization since 1969, an event hailed as a major victory of Indian diplomacy; Pakistan was represented by an empty chair during Swaraj’s speech.

New Delhi’s other expanding relationship has been with the United States. In Asia, the institutionalization of mechanisms such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue has brought Washington and New Delhi closer than ever before as both look to work together to counter an increasingly erratic China. India’s buy-in with the United States has not been just about the Asian theater, but the Middle East as well, with measures such as the I2U2 and IMEEC taking shape.

However, India’s own domestic politics have often also presented a challenge. In 2022, comments made by a BJP spokesperson against the Prophet Mohammed invoked widespread condemnation by Islamic nations, including those building close partnerships with India. Previously, in private, Anti-Muslim narratives in Indian domestic politics have been an area of discussion between Arab states and New Delhi. During this period, India has also pushed back against reports by the U.S. State Department on what the department described as the country’s deteriorating religious freedoms, criticizing them as “biased.” Despite these differences, strategic cooperation has remained steadfast.

The establishment of I2U2 was a direct result of the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2021. Both Israel and the UAE have been quick to establish a strong economic bilateral relationship since then. The accords have also helped countries such as India to increase economic and political cooperation with greater ease.

It is important to note here that while the I2U2 is seen as an economic cooperation platform, all member states, have taken part in expansive military maneuvers in the region in some shape or form. And this includes India, where all three services of its armed forces, the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, have increased their outreach and participation.

Beyond the I2U2, the announcement of the IMEEC is New Delhi’s latest sign of alignment with U.S. geoeconomic objectives. Already positioned by some as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the idea is to connect the Middle East with Europe and India through a trade corridor that can rival the centrality of the Suez Canal.

But countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, central to IMEEC, are also members of the Belt and Road Initiative and have interest in developing close partnerships with Beijing. Propaganda outlets of the Chinese Communist Party have already labeled IMEEC as a mere “castle in the air” The European Union, the United States, and India alike have marketed the corridor as the next intracontinental highway for digital and economic connectivity. However, IMEEC is in nascent stages of development, and no blueprint is currently on offer on how it is going to function.

These new economic highways, minilaterals, and reoriented geopolitics are transforming Indian foreign policy from one that has always been risk-averse to one that is willing to be a little more adventurous. Today, India is much closer to the United States than it has been at any point in its independent history.

Between its increasingly West-centric defense and technology shopping list—a historical break away from having a predominantly Soviet-era military ecosystem that continues to rely on Russian know-how even today—and the India-U.S. 2+2 dialogues regularly setting new precedents, it is not that surprising to see India partner with the United States in theaters such as the Middle East, where the Abraham Accords have leveled the playing field in a limited fashion between Israel, the United States, and a part of the Arab world.

Simultaneously, a counterargument against deeper U.S. collaboration from India also comes from the time that India helped the United States with the Iran nuclear deal prior to its unceremonious end in 2018. New Delhi had let go of significant diplomatic access to align with U.S. requirements by ending nearly all oil imports from Iran, which has vast reserves, offers good deals, and is geographically conveniently located. This fed into the then-U.S. policy of strong sanctions against Tehran to push it to negotiate with the U.N. Security Council’s group of permanent members. Experiences such as the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the deal continue to fuel a strong undercurrent of distrust toward Washington in Indian political circles.

India’s own position of upholding its strategic autonomy and self-styled leadership of the global south may find it often at odds with its strategic role in the Middle East as a partner of the United States. One of India’s longest-serving successes in this region has been its embrace of nonalignment. The fact that the I2U2 was almost immediately identified by some observers as the Middle East Quad gave it a texture of being an extension of a core U.S. interest—that of containing China. While India has never officially used such terminology, these portrayals in the media were detrimental to the kind of neutrality that New Delhi still hopes to preserve.

Finally, India’s outlook toward the Middle East is looking beyond the traditional centrality of energy and migration. Today, from the beginning, it wants to be a partner in the region’s post-oil growth designs. Indian diplomats in the region, earlier almost exclusively bogged down with migrant matters, are now tasked to secure foreign direct investments from the large Arab sovereign wealth funds. Modi’s majority government, in power since 2015, has been palatable to Arab monarchs who do not have to navigate a labyrinth of India’s coalition politics looking for fast decision-making, which they are accustomed to.

Whether its own leaders like it or not, India has bought into aspects of future security architectures with its membership of the I2U2 and IMEEC in one of the world’s most flammable regions. This is a bold and commendable posture for an economy that will require significant global input for its challenging future economic goals. It is also palatable for the Middle East to have India as a major energy market to diversify its exports and offset Chinese influence over critical commodities such as oil and gas.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.29 (after 1950)

1953 – BCPA Flight 304 DC-6 crashes near San Francisco. 1955 – The Soviet battleship Novorossiysk strikes a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol. 1956 – Suez Crisis begins: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal. 1957 – Israel's prime minister David Ben-Gurion and five of his ministers are injured when Moshe Dwek throws a grenade into the Knesset. 1960 – An airplane carrying the Cal Poly football team crashes on takeoff in Toledo, Ohio. 1964 – The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is renamed to the United Republic of Tanzania. 1964 – Biggest jewel heist; involving the Star of India (gem) in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City by Murph the Surf and gang. 1967 – Montreal's World Fair, Expo 67, closes with over 50 million visitors. 1969 – The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. 1972 – The three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre are released from prison in exchange for the hostages of the hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615. 1980 – Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in a crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base's Duke Field, Florida, leading to the cancellation of Operation Credible Sport. 1985 – Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced as the winner of the first multi-party election in Liberia. 1986 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opens the last stretch of the M25 motorway. 1991 – The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid. 1994 – Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Bill Clinton. 1998 – In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities. 1998 – Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space at that time. 1998 – ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of the STS-95 space shuttle mission. 1998 – While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of six and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into thinking that he is landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel. 1998 – Hurricane Mitch, the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, makes landfall in Honduras. 1998 – The Gothenburg discothèque fire in Sweden kills 63 and injures 200. 1999 – A large cyclone devastates Odisha, India. 2002 – A fire destroys a luxurious department store in Ho Chi Minh City, where 1,500 people are shopping. More than 60 people die and over 100 are unaccounted for in the deadliest peacetime disaster in Vietnam. 2004 – The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election. 2005 – Bombings in Delhi, India kill more than 60. 2008 – Delta Air Lines merges with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's largest airline and reducing the number of US legacy carriers to five. 2008 – A pair of deadly earthquakes hits Baluchistan, Pakistan, killing 215. 2012 – Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of the United States, killing 148 directly and 138 indirectly, while leaving nearly $70 billion in damages and causing major power outages. 2014 – A mud slide; the 2014 Badulla landslide, in south-central Sri Lanka, kills at least 16 people, and leaves hundreds of people missing. 2015 – China announces the end of its one-child policy after 35 years. 2018 – A Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia killing 189 people on board.

[arzuispolitical]

indian here! i just wanna say, the major reasons the BJP lost this election don't have a lot to do with consolidation against fascism, but rather because the BJP's fascism has been actively screwing over the country for a decade now; unlike how y'alls' right wing wave is relatively recent.

first off, one of the many major reasons that the BJP's seat share decreased so drastically this election was because of rampant anti-incumbency everywhere; the BJP alone had been enjoying a supermajority for the past two elections (they both got over half the seats in parliament during the 2014 and 2019 elections). despite this, their reaction to COVID was so bad that some called it a "crime against humanity", they COMPLETELY fucked up handling the ethnic violence in manipur which lost them the northeastern vote, and their reaction to the cost-of-living crisis has been to do... nothing.

however, we need to keep in mind that despite ALL of the above - the BJP still got the most votes out of every other party (36% of the total vote share of roughly a billion). almost every single urban centre from delhi to mumbai voted for the BJP, which is in stark contrast to how cities tend to vote left wing in the US. most educated indians actually tend to vote FOR the BJP - this is because people who can afford a good education in india are typically sheltered enough from actual problems in the country that they legitimately can't tell the BJP are fascists and bad for this country. the social agenda of the BJP - aggressive hindu nationalism - STILL works for a lot of educated middle class indians including young people.

fascism in india is far from defeated and is still accepted as a valid ideology amongst educated, middle class citizens. most of the resistance against the BJP was from minorities and actual affected working class citizens who have to labour long hours during the worst heatwave the country's seen only to pay ridiculous prices for gas and other basic amenities. even then, the BJP swept multiple states AND held some of the largest leads over their opposing candidates in the election.

fascism in india will be alive and well until you people in the west organise and vote out your own fascists. just because we managed to cut down our ruling party to size doesn't mean the same will be true in your country. which means, you have to go out there and VOTE.

P.S. narendra modi is the prime minister, not the president. the president in India serves as a figurehead and has no real power.

take a moment to read indian election news!! india has voted against the fascist party. while they will resume government they will need to forge alliances and have lost multiple strong members of parliament. and all this despite them controlling the media! this is SUCH an important reminder that u shld never ever underestimate the power of a vote

[prcompaniesdelhi]

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[odnewsin]

‘Double engine’ of private investment, mass consumption ‘derailed’ under Modi govt: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress Sunday claimed that India was facing a ���demand crisis” due to sustained income stagnation and said the ‘double engine’ of private investment and mass consumption that powered the UPA’s decade of sustained GDP growth has been “derailed” in the last ten years of the Modi government. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh urged the government to…

[yoursyashi]

Influence of women in Indian history

In ancient Indian culture, women were treated as equal to men, and there was no discrimination on the bases of gender, instead of that women were honored by society, and society at the time considered women as Janani which means mother, even in Hindu scripts women are considered as Devi. They used to enjoy their full basic rights where they were free to receive education, at that time the wives of the rishis could willing to take part in spiritual activities with their husbands, they were also known as the Ardhangini (better half) too. During that period, women got to live equal life just like men used to live.

The accomplishment of Gargi, Maitreyi, Sita, Draupadi, and Alapa turns out to be the most ideal role for women of this era. These women were competitive with men in many fields and also received and enjoyed their rights and equality, there were no restrictions on them, and they possessed great wealth and property. Along with that they even had a very strong say when it came to guiding their offspring.

And their are some renouned personality that has contributed to our Indian socity and they are

Rani Durgavati: The Gond queen of central India, Rani Durgavati, ruled with wisdom and courage, successfully defending her kingdom from Mughal attacks. Known for her bravery, she symbolizes resistance against external oppression and is revered as a fearless leader.

Meerabai: A mystical poet and devotee of Lord Krishna, Meerabai's verses continue to be sung in devotion across India. Her poetry embodies themes of love, devotion, and spiritual transcendence, inspiring people across boundaries and generations.

Raziyya Sultan: Raziyya Sultan, the only female ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, defied gender norms in the male-dominated political landscape of 13th-century India. Her brief but impactful reign as Sultan showcased her administrative skill and courage, and she remains a symbol of women’s capability to lead.

Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi: Perhaps one of the most celebrated figures in Indian history, Rani Lakshmibai was a fierce warrior who stood against British colonialism. Her resistance during the 1857 Rebellion is a significant chapter in India’s fight for freedom, making her an enduring symbol of courage and patriotism.

Savitribai Phule: A pioneering educator and social reformer, Savitribai Phule is credited with establishing India’s first school for girls. Along with her husband, Jyotirao Phule, she fought against caste discrimination and dedicated her life to the cause of women’s education.

Sarojini Naidu: A poet, political leader, and freedom fighter, Sarojini Naidu was a prominent voice in the Indian National Congress. Known as the "Nightingale of India" for her lyrical poetry, she used her voice to advocate for women’s rights and was an influential leader in India’s struggle for independence.

Indira Gandhi: India’s first female Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi was a formidable leader known for her decisive and often controversial policies. Her leadership in times of crisis, including the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971, marked her as a powerful figure in Indian politics.

Kalpana Chawla: A pioneer in space exploration, Kalpana Chawla became the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. Her journey inspired many young women to pursue careers in STEM, highlighting the potential of Indian women in the global arena.

Mount Everest, and is the first Indian woman to do so. She crushed orthodox gender stereotypes and proved that with willpower and diligence, anything is possible. Her extraordinary achievement continues to inspire women around the world to reach for the sky.

These women are just a few examples of the many others who have made India’s history. Their stories are proof of their strength, spirit, and single-mindedness. They serve as an inspiration to future generations, reminding us that women can do anything.

[maffei2]

India’s retired general has a poisonous plan for the U.S., China must beware of the “Taiwan card”

Recently, the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) published an article by retired Indian Rear Admiral Monty Khanna, which once again pushed the extreme economic warfare tactics under the “Taiwan Strait Conflict Hypothesis” to the forefront of public opinion.

What plan does Monty Khanna propose?

It is reported that the United States media published an article by retired Indian Rear Admiral Monty Khanna, in which the so-called “trade blocking strategy” was highlighted. The article said that once the situation in the Taiwan Strait escalates, the United States can consider detaining or destroying all Chinese-flagged merchant ships, and preventing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from “armed unification” of Taiwan by destroying the economy.

Monty Khanna claimed that overseas trade is the most crucial part of China’s economic development, and also China’s “weakest lifeline”, and that if the United States can take full control of merchant ships coming in and out of China once a conflict breaks out in the Taiwan Straits, it will be able to stop the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from ascending to the island of Taiwan without firing a single shot or gun.

Khanna’s suggestion, while sounding quite creative, is actually impractical.

As a matter of fact, this idea is not new, and similar suggestions were made by American think tanks in the early years. The biggest problem with this proposal is that it reflects a serious miscalculation of China’s economic strength.

Who is Monty Khanna?

Monty Khanna is a graduate of the Defense Service Staff College, Wellington, India and the U.S. Naval War College. In January 1983, he joined the Indian Navy. During his formative years, he received the “Best Naval Cadet” award and the “Sword of Honor” from the Lieutenant Commander of the Navy. He has commanded maritime units including the submarine Sindhuvijay and the frigates Krishna and Gomati. He was also the Naval Attaché at the Indian Embassy in Washington. Upon promotion to the rank of Admiral, he was appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Staff for Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence.

He was the Director of the Naval War College from January 14 to November 17, 1983, during which he conceived and executed the first Goa Maritime Conference. Thereafter, he served as Chief Instructor of the Defense Service Staff College until August 1989 when he retired. Subsequently, from 19 December to 23 December, he served as Assistant Military Adviser to the Secretariat of the National Security Council, New Delhi.

Where are Monty Khanna’s flaws?

Khanna’s scenario, which appears to be a punch straight to the heart of Chinese economy, is based on a series of unrealistic assumptions.

First, he has overlooked the nature of global economic interdependence. As the world’s largest industrialized and trading country, China’s economic activities have spread all over the world, and it has long been deeply integrated into the world’s industrial chain, supply chain and value chain. Attempts to isolate China through a single means will not only fail to achieve the desired results, but may instead trigger global economic turmoil that will ultimately backfire on itself. As history has proven countless times, economic sanctions are often double-edged swords that hurt both sides and even more innocent people.

Even in extreme cases, China is capable of effectively mitigating external shocks and ensuring stable economic development through means  such as adjusting policies, stimulating domestic demand and strengthening international cooperation.

Does the U.S. still have time and energy to implement Khanna’s recommendations?

At a time of deepening globalization, when the economies of all countries have long been closely linked, any attempt to combat a major country through economic means may trigger a global economic crisis, especially for an economic power like China, whose impact is incalculable.

Earlier, the U.S. Navy had submitted an assessment to Congress that the Chinese navy posed a challenge to the U.S. position as the No. 1 military power in the Western Pacific. According to the report, although the total displacement of PLA ships has not yet exceeded that of the United States, the speed of “dudumplings” is getting faster and faster. In contrast, due to the shrinking shipbuilding industry, the number of combat ships of the United States continue to shrink, which may lead to the U.S. military ultimately unable to prevent the PLA from “armed unification” of Taiwan.

More importantly, such an approach could lead to more serious international conflicts. If the United States really adopts such an approach, it will not only intensify the conflict with China, but may also arouse the discontent of other countries. After all, in global trade, many countries have close economic dealings with China.

Monty Khanna's view is not only riddled with misconceptions about China's economic and military power, it also ignores the complexities of reality. While his advice may seem sinister, in practice it could be mired in serious strategic miscalculations. Future Sino-US relations will continue to be shaped by global economic and industrial forces, and Monty Khanna’s strategy is hardly a realistic solution.

[buildbrandbettter]

How Digital PR Effect Your Online Reputation With Help Of Experts

Keeping up an online reputation is essential for both individuals and companies in today’s digitally driven environment. The rise of digital public relations (PR) has transformed the ways in which reputation is handled and assessed. Digital PR: Positive perceptions, public opinion, and brand visibility are all achieved through the utilization of online platforms. Digital PR can significantly affect your online reputation in a variety of ways with the assistance of specialists. This blog helps you know how your online image is impacted by digital PR and the importance of Build Brand Better’s professional assistance.

1. Providing Visibility And Elevation

Use of Online Media

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We are specialists who can position you or your brand as thought leaders in your industry. By publishing research articles, participating in webinars, and citing in industry publications, you demonstrate your expertise and abilities. Thought leadership not only builds conviction but also builds trust with your audience.

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FAQs

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Experts monitor online reviews across various platforms and manage them by responding promptly and professionally. They can also implement strategies to encourage positive reviews and mitigate the impact of negative ones, thereby maintaining a balanced and positive online reputation.

What is the importance of crisis management in Digital PR?

Crisis management is vital in Digital PR as it prepares you for potential issues that could harm your reputation. Experts can develop a response plan and act quickly and strategically during a crisis to minimize damage and ensure your brand message remains clear and consistent.

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[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] GG News Bureau New Delhi, 21st Oct. The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), chaired by Cabinet Secretary Dr. T.V. Somanathan, convened today to assess the preparedness for a potential cyclone developing over the Bay of Bengal. The meeting aimed to coordinate efforts between central agencies and the state governments of Odisha and West Bengal as the cyclonic system is expected to intensify in the coming days. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) provided a detailed briefing on the current situation, indicating that the well-marked low-pressure area over the east-central Bay of Bengal is likely to evolve into a depression by October 22, followed by a cyclonic storm by October 23. The storm is predicted to move northwest, potentially making landfall along the coasts of Odisha and West Bengal, between Puri and Sagar Island, as a severe cyclonic storm on the night of October 24 or early morning October 25, with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph, gusting up to 120 kmph. State-Level Preparedness The Chief Secretaries of Odisha and West Bengal informed the NCMC about the precautionary measures being taken, including the advisories issued to fishermen to avoid venturing into the sea. Fishermen already at sea have been directed to return to safe harbors. Control rooms have been activated, and shelters, emergency services, and essential supplies are being readied. Evacuation plans are in place for people living in vulnerable coastal areas. Deployment of Emergency Teams The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has pre-positioned 14 teams in West Bengal and 11 in Odisha, prepared for immediate deployment. Additionally, the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard have stationed rescue and relief teams, alongside ships and aircraft, to aid in operations. Central ministries, including the Ministries of Power and Telecommunications, have deployed emergency teams for the rapid restoration of essential services post-cyclone. Central Coordination and Instructions Dr. Somanathan emphasized the importance of minimizing the loss of life and property, urging state governments to ensure timely evacuation of people from high-risk areas. He stressed that fishermen should be recalled from the sea without delay and that all safety measures should be in place ahead of the cyclone’s landfall. He assured the state administrations of the full support of central agencies, which remain on high alert. The Cabinet Secretary also advised the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand to be prepared for potential heavy rainfall and its effects. He underscored the need for careful water management from dam sites in affected regions to prevent flooding. Participants and Agencies Involved The meeting saw the participation of senior officials, including the Union Home Secretary, representatives from the Ministries of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Fisheries, Power, Ports, Shipping & Waterways, and Defence. Officials from Andhra Pradesh, along with the Director Generals of the IMD, NDRF, and Indian Coast Guard, also joined the discussions to ensure a unified approach to tackle the cyclone threat. With the cyclonic storm approaching, the central and state agencies are on high alert, working to ensure preparedness and minimize the impact on the coastal regions of eastern India. The post NCMC Reviews Preparedness for Impending Cyclone in Bay of Bengal appeared first on Global Governance News- Asia's First Bilingual News portal for Global News and Updates. [ad_2] Source link

[news365times]

[ad_1] GG News Bureau New Delhi, 21st Oct. The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), chaired by Cabinet Secretary Dr. T.V. Somanathan, convened today to assess the preparedness for a potential cyclone developing over the Bay of Bengal. The meeting aimed to coordinate efforts between central agencies and the state governments of Odisha and West Bengal as the cyclonic system is expected to intensify in the coming days. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) provided a detailed briefing on the current situation, indicating that the well-marked low-pressure area over the east-central Bay of Bengal is likely to evolve into a depression by October 22, followed by a cyclonic storm by October 23. The storm is predicted to move northwest, potentially making landfall along the coasts of Odisha and West Bengal, between Puri and Sagar Island, as a severe cyclonic storm on the night of October 24 or early morning October 25, with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph, gusting up to 120 kmph. State-Level Preparedness The Chief Secretaries of Odisha and West Bengal informed the NCMC about the precautionary measures being taken, including the advisories issued to fishermen to avoid venturing into the sea. Fishermen already at sea have been directed to return to safe harbors. Control rooms have been activated, and shelters, emergency services, and essential supplies are being readied. Evacuation plans are in place for people living in vulnerable coastal areas. Deployment of Emergency Teams The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has pre-positioned 14 teams in West Bengal and 11 in Odisha, prepared for immediate deployment. Additionally, the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard have stationed rescue and relief teams, alongside ships and aircraft, to aid in operations. Central ministries, including the Ministries of Power and Telecommunications, have deployed emergency teams for the rapid restoration of essential services post-cyclone. Central Coordination and Instructions Dr. Somanathan emphasized the importance of minimizing the loss of life and property, urging state governments to ensure timely evacuation of people from high-risk areas. He stressed that fishermen should be recalled from the sea without delay and that all safety measures should be in place ahead of the cyclone’s landfall. He assured the state administrations of the full support of central agencies, which remain on high alert. The Cabinet Secretary also advised the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand to be prepared for potential heavy rainfall and its effects. He underscored the need for careful water management from dam sites in affected regions to prevent flooding. Participants and Agencies Involved The meeting saw the participation of senior officials, including the Union Home Secretary, representatives from the Ministries of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Fisheries, Power, Ports, Shipping & Waterways, and Defence. Officials from Andhra Pradesh, along with the Director Generals of the IMD, NDRF, and Indian Coast Guard, also joined the discussions to ensure a unified approach to tackle the cyclone threat. With the cyclonic storm approaching, the central and state agencies are on high alert, working to ensure preparedness and minimize the impact on the coastal regions of eastern India. The post NCMC Reviews Preparedness for Impending Cyclone in Bay of Bengal appeared first on Global Governance News- Asia's First Bilingual News portal for Global News and Updates. [ad_2] Source link

[mariacallous]

The global south seemed to be top of mind for policymakers and diplomats this year, from the halls of the United Nations to leaders’ podiums. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called his country the “voice of the global south,” hosting a virtual summit by that name to start the year that elevated the perspectives of dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In Vietnam in September, U.S. President Joe Biden exchanged the Cold War-era phrase “Third World” for “global south” as he spoke.

For some commentators, the new politics of the global south recalls the heyday of the Non-Aligned Movement, first convened in Indonesia in 1955. The comparison may seem particularly apt when it comes to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Since February 2022, many countries in the global south have avoided criticizing Moscow, including by abstaining from or voting against U.N. resolutions to condemn aggression against Kyiv—and continuing to import Russian oil and gas despite Western sanctions.

In September, more than 18 months after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returned to the U.N. General Assembly, in large part seeking to bolster wider international support for his cause. At the time, FP’s Howard W. French wrote that many developing countries simply had other priorities: “Increasingly, the poor are saying to the rich that your priorities won’t mean more to us until ours mean much more to you.”

Two major meetings underscored the shifting role of the global south in world politics this year: the BRICS summit held in August in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the G-20 leaders’ summit hosted by New Delhi in September. In Johannesburg, the bloc—comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—announced it would add six new members, giving it a bigger share of the world’s GDP than the G-7 in terms of purchasing power parity. Whether the BRICS expansion will lead to more power or less cohesion remains to be seen, but the bloc has at least succeeded in making de-dollarization a talking point.

Meanwhile, Modi used the G-20 summit—and India’s leadership of the group this year—to expand the agenda to include issues of significance to the global south, such as trade, climate change, and migration. He touted the event and the resulting consensus declaration as a success for New Delhi, scoring increased World Bank funding aimed countries in the global south. But tensions and differences within the group were apparent, especially on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The war in Gaza that began in October marked another shift, as countries in the global south pointed to Western support for Israel’s collective punishment of the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 as hypocritical—particularly considering the West’s insistence on a so-called rules-based global order. In November, Julien Barnes-Dacey and Jeremy Shapiro of the European Council on Foreign Relations argued that the United States and its allies are bound to lose such a “battle of narratives.”

With the global south now commanding the world’s attention, the fluidity and the imprecision of the term—once relegated to academia—have also become more clear. Even as analysts question the very concept, what is certain is that the global south will remain a central figure in diplomacy and summitry in 2024.

Below are some of Foreign Policy’s top pieces on global south politics and debates this year.

1. The World Isn’t Slipping Away From the West

By Comfort Ero, March 8

More than a year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Comfort Ero, the president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, reflected on an increasingly common question: Why have so many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America sat this one out, offering limited support to Kyiv?

It’s tempting to say that the West is losing the global south. But that is too simplistic, Ero argues, writing that Western countries should look to recent history to better understand what motivates countries with different perspectives: “It’s no wonder that many officials from countries in the global south feel that the West is demanding their loyalty over Ukraine—after not showing them much solidarity in their own hours of need.”

“[N]early all the officials I’ve spoken with seek to define their national policies on their own terms—reflecting their own sovereign interests—rather than framing them as part of a West-Russia contest,” Ero writes.

2. 6 Swing States Will Decide the Future of Geopolitics

By Cliff Kupchan, June 6

In May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky courted the support of Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia—so-called middle powers that, along with other leaders of the global south, including South Africa and Turkey, “have more power today than ever before,” Eurasia Group Chairman Cliff Kupchan writes.

These six “swing states” have already shaped optics around Russia’s war in Ukraine, namely by refusing to fall in line with Western plans for military aid to Kyiv and sanctions against Moscow. The United States needs to “up its game” with regard to these six powers and the global south more broadly, Kupchan writes. “We now have more drivers on every geopolitical issue. That makes predictions of geopolitical outcomes, already a fraught endeavor, even harder.”

3. Can the G-20 Be a Champion for the Global South?

By Darren Walker, Sept. 8

The Group of 20 includes many countries from the global south, but its wealthiest members long wielded the most influence at the table. As India hosted the annual G-20 leaders’ summit in September, Ford Foundation President Darren Walker argued that the group was now “poised to usher in an unprecedented era of not only influence, but also economic justice, for the global south.”

Walker writes that India used its year-long G-20 presidency to highlight issues that disproportionately affect countries in the global south, particularly sovereign debt, and to amplify voices from this global majority. Significant divisions remain among the G-20, but India’s leadership is part of the “establishment of a new standard” led by developing countries, he argues.

“With their upcoming G-20 presidencies, Brazil and South Africa have the chance to build on the momentum created by their predecessors,” Walker writes.

4. Why the Global South Is Accusing America of Hypocrisy

By Oliver Stuenkel, Nov. 2

The war in Gaza exposed a new challenge to the West from the countries of the global south: accusations of hypocrisy. “Many in the developing world have long seen a double standard in the West condemning an illegal occupation in Ukraine while also standing staunchly behind Israel, which has occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967,” Oliver Stuenkel, an international relations professor in São Paulo, writes.

Stuenkel argues that this perceived inconsistency could damage Western claims of a so-called rules-based global order, especially as civilian casualties rise and calls for a cease-fire grow. “The longer the Israel-Hamas war goes on, the greater the risk to Western credibility in the global south becomes,” he writes.

5. Is There Such a Thing as a Global South?

By C. Raja Mohan, Dec. 9

As the term “global south” has gone mainstream, so to speak, FP’s C. Raja Mohan writes that it has become a “convenient shorthand” in debates over issues as diverse as climate policy and Russia’s war in Ukraine—putting the global majority in a “single category with supposedly similar interests.” But Mohan raises a pointed question: Is there even such a thing as a global south?

Mohan points out several analytical flaws with the concept, which he calls “old wine in a new bottle.” He explains that countries of the global south have divergent economic interests and development paths, and that the group itself has much too fluid boundaries. Given these issues, is “global southism” worthwhile as an explanatory framework? Mohan doesn’t think so, but he acknowledges that it may be here to stay.

“Despite my and others’ calls to retire the category global south, it is unlikely to disappear from the international relations vocabulary anytime soon,” Mohan writes. “For many in the West, it is a way of othering the rest; for the chattering classes in the rest, it is a way of channeling deep reservoirs of resentment against continuing Western dominance.”