Three years ago, this day, #GauriLankesh was assassinated. An independent journalist who spoke truth to power, she was one of the fiercest critics of Hindutva politics.
An unparalleled hero amongst us. Rest in Power, Gauri Lankesh.
“To assuage their collective guilt for their early years of indifference towards one genocide – the Nazi extermination of millions of European Jews – the US and Europe have prepared the grounds for another.”
Arundhati Roy, spot on as usual 👏
“Not all the power and money, not all the weapons and propaganda on earth can any longer hide the wound that is Palestine. The wound through which the whole world, including Israel, bleeds.”
“The new state was supported unhesitatingly and unflinchingly, armed and bankrolled, coddled and applauded, no matter what crimes it committed. It grew up like a protected child in a wealthy home whose parents smile proudly as it commits atrocity upon atrocity.”
Last week I visited the War Remnants Museum in Vietnam and clicked some pics: a thread 🧵
Trigger warning: US imperialism
“There was considerable pressure from some of the staff to continue the Christmas truce for a few more days. But I disagree completely. In fact, I personally ordered one of the biggest bombing raids for December 26: 116 B-52 sorties were flown against targets in the Hanoi and Haiphong area."
Excerpt taken from The Memoirs of Richard Nixon
An American soldier with the skull of a Vietnamese patriot.
Today's press conference by Kerala CM @pinarayivijayan was a political masterclass where he launched a full-fledged attack against Sangh Parivar's fascist politics and tore into Governor Arif Mohammed Khan who has been acting as a Sanghi puppet.
Thread with key excerpts👇
"Kerala's general public and the Left have a definite attitude towards the RSS. It is based on a strong realisation that they are advocates of communalism, hatred and sectarianism."
"The Governor who is worried about the political murders in Kerala is glorifying RSS which has always stood on one side of these murders and conflicts. It is unacceptable to anyone who has faith in the basic values upheld by the Constitution."
1. In Sep, Kohli announced his resignation from T20 captaincy claiming too much work-load. In Oct, he stood up for Shami who faced islamophobic attacks. In Dec, BCCI unceremoniously sacked Kohli as the ODI captain via a tweet.
2. Few days ago, BCCI President Ganguly claimed that he had requested Kohli not to step down as T20 captain, but since he did, they had to remove him as ODI captain because they "can't have two white-ball captains". Kohli today clarified that no such conversation happened.
3. From the moment Kohli stood up for Shami, he became an adversary for India's ruling party. He faced targeted attack on social media from their minions. The act of his sacking as the ODI captain was a form of "punishment" for "turning out to be woke".
Gender-neutral uniforms in schools is definitely the way to go and kudos to Kerala schools for getting the ball rolling. Gender-based clothing is a social construct that needs to be disassembled, especially as it is riddled with the oppressive binary of men vs women.
The argument that gender-neutral uniforms in schools go against the student's individual freedom doesn't quite hold water because the idea of uniform in itself is against individual freedom but it is justifiably mandated to create a sense of equality and unity among students.
However, "why pants for all, and not skirts?" is not a question to be mocked or ignored. It is indeed relevant to address the fact that our idea of gender-neutral may be influenced by the existing patriarchal norms but using this to oppose gender-neutral uniform is disingenuous.
It would be foolish not to acknowledge that many more Hindus (and even Christians) in Kerala are indeed gradually buying into Sangh Parivar’s communal narratives (both Hindu supremacism & Islamophobia) even though they don’t vote for BJP yet. 1/n
This is why INC had to take a position indistinguishable from that of BJP in Sabarimala case to appease their vote base. Or why Shashi Tharoor flaunts his Nair legacy. Or why politicians across the spectrum came to defend the Bishop who recently made Islamophobic remarks. 2/n
The vast participation of non-Sanghis in the recent anti-Muslim propaganda about “spitting in food” is a testament to how ubiquitous islamophobia is in Kerala. The propaganda of “love jihad” that resulted in immense anti-Muslim violence across India started in Kerala too. 3/n