A horrific video from Balochistan shows a couple, Bano Bibi and Ahsan Ullah, being executed in cold blood for marrying without family consent. The now viral footage reveals the brutality of what is labelled an “honour” killing. Thirteen arrests have been made. But the story runs deeper.
The Indian government frequently speaks of cultural decolonisation. But this is not the emancipatory ideal it appears to be. Under Modi, the term has been weaponised to recast pluralism as a colonial imposition and consolidate a majoritarian identity.
A few months ago, Suchitra, Madhuri and Bhakti turned their lens to exactly this: the insidious, galvanizing power of the opinion column. They dissect how elite liberal media platforms have weaponized their op-ed pages to manufacture consent.
Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ju6...
Mass death is imminent in Gaza. Palestinians are collapsing from hunger, organs are failing, famine is here. And Bret Stephens, in the New York Times, argues it can’t be genocide because not enough people have died yet. Yes. That is his argument.
On April 22, a brutal gun attack in Kashmir’s Baisaran Valley killed 26 people. Among the dead was Syed Adil Hussain Shah, a local tourist guide from Pahalgam who took visitors on horseback. A crowd of mourners gathered for Adil’s funeral prayers. Word had spread that he died saving lives.
When We Were Arabs: Massoud Hayoun’s Literary Resistance to Zionism by Aysha Sana
www.thepolisproject.com/read/when-we...
Q: What does being a “political artist” mean to you?
Hayoun: You’ll never find me painting pretty things that the very wealthy can use to illuminate their lives. I couldn't possibly do this if I didn't feel a thirst for life and dignity welling up within me.
“I am a Jewish Arab. For many, I am a curiosity or a detestable thing. Some say I do not exist, or if I did, I no longer do.” These unapologetic words of reclamation are the opening lines from Massoud Hayoun’s 2019 decolonial memoir, When We Were Arabs: A Jewish Family's Forgotten History.
For 15 years, the aroma of warm bread, the rustle of wrappers, and the clatter of trays filled Best Bakery in Madhya Pradesh. Amjad Khan, a 48-year-old father, had built the business brick by brick. But communal violence during a Ram Navami procession changed all of this.
NCERT’s new Grade 8 Social Science textbook portrays the Mughals as “brutal,” while adding a disclaimer that “no one today should be held responsible for events of the past.”
Suchitra Vijayan (writer, educator, & human rights lawyer;
the founder of The Polis Project, teaches at NYU Gallatin & Columbia Uni., & serves as a Barrister & as Chair of the Int'l Human Rights Committee at the New York City Bar) leaves X by August (91.493 followers)
Bluesky: @suchitrav.bsky.social
My review of “How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners” by @suchitrav.bsky.social & Francesca Recchia has been published in Social Change!
Read it here: journals.sagepub.com/action/showM...
Journalism is under threat in the US and around the world. At MPV we amplify the voices of journalists who are confronting authoritarianism with courage and clarity. This July, we’re raising $40k to grow this work. Give now at makingpeacevisible.org. @suchitrav.bsky.social @tonyfrangie.bsky.social
Google pays out $32 billion to buy an israeli cybersecurity company that helped the israeli regime commit genocide against the people of #Gaza t.co/7z5Uw1nzYc
State-sanctioned demolitions by Israel and India weaponize architecture as control and punishment, targeting Palestinians and Muslims. While histories differ, both states justify destruction through legal, security, and punitive rhetoric—revealing chilling parallels. Read more here
t.co/9ysD1ouDXq
We are at @rightscon.org come join us for the talk
Did you know the term woke originated in Black liberation movements? Now, it’s a buzzword on tote bags and “progressive” ad campaigns. 🙃
Our podcast It’s Not You, It’s the Media explores how the media diluted its radical roots.
🎧 tinyurl.com/8pp6cm7x
Vedanta is back, this time targeting Odisha’s Tijmali hills. Fake gram sabhas, arrested activists, and sacred lands under siege.
Corporate greed vs. Adivasi resistance—this is the front line.
✍️ By Prashant Rahi
🌍 www.thepolisproject.com/read/protect...
Heard an interview with Suchitra Vijayan, co-author of the new book "How Long Can the Moon be Caged? and it made me feel dread, honestly. Inspired by their project and the book, but dread of what may happen in the US.
May we all be united in the struggle against autocracy.
Email from @suchitrav to a censored recipient: Dear (blank) Thanks for the email and invitation. However, I am boycotting Germany - including events associated with German academics. As a writer, woman of colour and grandchild of a formerly colonised, I can't, in good faith, be part of the conversation that does not acknowledge what is happening in Palestine. I just can't in good conscience say yes to any events in Germany, it's academics or institutions that uphold these silences. Knowledge production, learning, and writing global histories can't happen in silos. Best, SV
maybe i've missed it on here but folks have started to BOYCOTT GERMANY & AUSTRIA and rightfully so.
this is an email Suchitra Vijayan, author, photographer and founder of The Polis Project se to a German institution that invited her to speak & there are many others who are doing the same.
Book talk with Suchitra Vijayan at University of Amsterdam.
It's official: I am one of the recipients of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship for Non-Fiction for Midnight's Borders: A People's History of Modern India.
www.nyfa.org/blog/introdu...
Later this week, I will be joined by @suchitrav.bsky.social and Dr. Hafsa Kanjwal at Socialism Conference in Chicago to discuss: 1) India's colonial project in Kashmir; 2) Indian political prisoners; 3) impact of India-Israel ties on global authoritarianism; & 4) why India gets a pass
