Bobby Kunhu

"There is no escape – we pay for the violence of our ancestors" – Frank Herbert

 It has been the fate of every radical social and political activist in history from Jesus to Ambedkar to Malik el-Shabbazz to be mistreated by their peers during their lifetime and to be celebrated and coopted by entrenched hegemons – be it the deep state or the deep caste – across ideologies. Kalathilparambil Raman Gouriamma, popularly known as K. R. Gouriamma, who passed away at the ripe old age of 101 on 11th May, 2021, was to be no different.

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Rahul Gaikwad

Every now and then one comes across some or the other celebrated so-called progressive leader/writer/activist who turns out to be absolutely shallow, superfluous and even hypocritical upon closer examination. This has been the case with Vijay Tendulkar and his Kanyadaan drama; or Pandit Anand Patwardhan's Jai Bhim Comrade where he portrayed Ambedkarite assertion in a bad light and manipulated it. It is no coincidence these so-called progressives invariably come from upper castes, mostly brahmin class.

A couple of weeks back, one such celebrated writer/director who wrote/ directed/produced many award winning marathi films passed away. While I was talking to one my friends, she mentioned how she happened to watch this much hyped and celebrated movie by Ms Sumitra Bhave named Kasav (Turtle) and was particularly disturbed with a couple of scenes and questioned their need in the movie. So after listening to her objection I decided to watch the movie myself.

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Kranthi Kumar Mungamuri (ముంగమూరి క్రాంతికుమార్)

ఉత్తర్ ప్రదేశ్ యువ బహుజన కార్యకర్త యశ్ పాల్ గౌతం

మరణం లేని నీలి విప్లవం

నా పేరు మరణం లేని నీలి విప్లవం
సమానత్వం కోసం బహుజన తల్లి పురిటి
నెప్పుల నుండి జన్మించినవాడిని
ప్రాచీన కాలపు బుద్ధుడిని, మానవత్వపు దిగంబరుడిని
వర్తమాన సమాజంలో యశ్ పాల్ గౌతముని
బహుజన వారసత్వాన్ని భుజాలపై ముద్దాడినవాడిని
ఏసు ప్రభువు వలె విముక్తీ నినాదాలను గుండెల్లో నింపుకుని
కుల రక్కసి రాజ్యాలపై నృత్యం చేసినవాడిని
విలాస్ గోగ్రే విప్లవ పాఠాలను గ్రామ గ్రామాన భోధించినవాడిని
అందుకే ఆశ తీరని కోరికలాగ మళ్ళీ మళ్ళీ
ఈ నేల మీదే జన్మించాలని ఉంది
అందుకే నా పేరు మరణం లేని నీలి విప్లవం
మీ యశ్ పాల్ గౌతముని....

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JS Vinay

I got the chance to watch the Telugu movie 'Palasa 1978' on Amazon Prime a few days back. Though I am from Maharashtra, I like to see films on anti-caste assertion in different languages. Will try to get straight to some key points:

The movie is set in a small town called Palasa in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh state. The film concentrates on the exploitative relationship between the Bahujans and the dominant upper castes. Will not go into the details of the plot. The story primarily revolves around the two brothers Mohan Rao and Ranga Rao, who are from the "Untouchable" community and the conflict between two mercantile upper caste landlords. The plot is gripping and the pace of the movie is very fast. It is mostly in the flashback mode.

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The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), IIT Bombay

It is amidst desolate cries and the numbing daily reports of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic raging across the nation, that we all have witnessed a video recording of an online class for the Prep English Course (IITs Preparatory Course for SC/ST and PD Candidates) of IIT Kharagpur that have been doing the rounds in social media since yesterday. Shocking would surely be an understatement, as we watch Associate Professor Seema Singh of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department of IIT Kharagpur, abusing the students and their families on record. She openly threatens the students that she would fail them in the course and arrogantly challenges them to complain to the Ministry of Women and Child Care and Ministry of SC/ST/Minorities after repeatedly calling them “bloody bastards”. Some of the students had not stood up to the National Anthem that was played and this was, apparently, the reason that the Professor had started throwing casteist slurs at the class.

 There was also another video recording where she humiliated a student who had requested for leave from the class for a few days as the student had lost his/her grandfather who had been infected with covid. The professor is seen explaining to the entire class how excuses such as birth, death and marriage cannot be used for taking leave from class. She is seen asserting that she is a ‘Hindu’ and respects the rituals associated with death, but as the covid protocols do not allow for any rituals to be performed, there is simply no cause for the student to have taken leave from her class.

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Niharika Singh

With the eighth and final phase in Bengal only now concluded, India conducted another local election amidst a collapsing healthcare infrastructure, administrative miscalculations and immense scheming. It appears that the world's largest democracy and its rulers aim for an electoral win over any collateral damage, a term that arose in the 1960s. Largely used as military vocabulary collateral damage in essence can always be placed squarely in the conditions in India at the moment.

Before we proceed, let's understand the numbers. In an article published in The Print on 20 April 2021, the assertion has been that in a way large gatherings during the election campaigning have been a spreader of COVID-19 virus – "Since March 20, the number of active Covid cases in the state is over 53,000 — a 1500 per cent rise. While several factors have contributed to the spread of Covid infection, large gatherings have been the major reason for the spike in cases."

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Umar Nizar

Grief manifested in ways that felt like anything but grief; grief obliterated all feelings but grief, grief made a twin wear the same shirt for days on end to preserve the morning on which the dead were still living; grief made a twin peel stars off the ceiling and lie in bed with the glowing points adhered to fingertips; grief was bad-tempered, grief was kind; grief saw nothing but itself; grief saw every speck of pain in the world...

-Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire

A token execution is a spectral rumour in the air. It traumatizes subjects and hampers the emergence of subalterns, since they would be 'taught' a lesson. Universities and institutions that set the agenda of pedagogy all become part of this 'teaching' enterprise.

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