With all their historical limitations, the Sangha, Church, Ummah, Commune, and so on were early attempts to forge non-hierarchical “communities of care.” 1/
They were subsequently transformed into narrow religions, ideologies, and identities that became a proxy for powerful interests in association with state power. 2/
We need to revitalize this idea and create new and inclusive communities of care across digital/physical spaces and beyond official electoral, identity, and ideological politics. 3/
The guiding norms in such an enterprise should be non-ethnocentric renderings of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
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#Thread I have seen the response of a few Ambedkarite-Buddhist friends on my recent social media posts on Buddhism, internal inequality among Bahujans, and so on. 1/n
A few of them are unfair characterizations of my position, and I want to further reflect on these responses in a spirit of dialogue and learning: 2/n
a) The stories of the involvement of Buddhism with militarism and fascism in Japan, Myanmar, or Sri Lanka were shared to indicate the perversities of formal Buddhism in association with the State. 3/n
A few Ambedkarite Buddhist missionaries, often from leading Dalit castes, exercise a sleight of hand when they advance Buddhism as the spiritual solution to suppressed sections. 1/
On the one hand, organized religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and so on are critiqued from the vantage point of Navayana Buddhism, Babasaheb's libratory reinterpretation of Buddhism. 2/
On the other hand, there is curious silence on similar liberation theology exercises in non-Buddhist faith traditions. 3/
In the context of the unfortunate lynching of the Dalit-Sikh, my plea is that we should not miss the wood for the trees. + #FarmerProtest#DalitSikh
We are no longer confronted with the pre-1990s state of “passive revolution” where no single class—corporate-business, agrarian elite, bureaucratic-administrative, etc.—had acquired hegemony, and there was space for coalitions and negotiations. +
At present, the corporate capitalist class has attained hegemony, and the state’s relative autonomy has significantly eroded. Most political parties have been either silenced or bought off. +
Babasaheb in AoC:
“Whether the Hindu religion was or was not a missionary religion has been a controversial issue. Some hold the view that it was never a missionary religion. Others hold that it was." +
"That the Hindu religion was once a missionary religion must be admitted. It could not have spread over the face of India, if it was not a missionary religion. That today it is not a missionary religion is also a fact which must be accepted." +
"The question therefore is not whether or not the Hindu religion was a missionary religion. The real question is why did the Hindu religion cease to be a missionary religion?" +
शिया, सुन्नी, देवबंदी, बरेलवी, अहल-ए-हदीस, अहल-ए-कुरान, सूफी, वहाबी, सलाफी, मुताज़िला, अशरी, अरबी, फारसी, अहमदिया, बोहरा, खोजा, इस्माइली, अल्वी, हज़ारा, क़रामता, खारजी, इत्यादि. यह है उम्मत की एकता का हाल. 1/n
मुहम्मद साहब की वफ़ात के बाद ज़बरदस्त संघर्ष होता है इमामत/खिलाफ़त के लिए. खुलफ़ा-ए-राशिदून में चार खलीफाओं में से तीन की अप्राकृतिक कारणों से म्रत्यु होती है. 1500 साल से मार-काट मची हुई है जिसमें मुसलमान ही एक-दूसरे को मार रहे हैं. 2/n
इस के बाद भी जब ‘मुस्लिम एकता’ की बात होती है तो फूल खिले हैं गुलशन-गुलशन हो जाता है. सब इतिहास दरी के अन्दर चला जाता है. मुसलमान की बात तो ऐसे होती है जैसे यह कोई शाश्वत श्रेणी हो. खूब कोशिश होती है रोज़-बा-रोज़ मुसलमानों को एक करने के लिए. 3/n
Remembering Maulana Ali Hussain "Asim Bihari" (15 April 1890-6 December 1953) on his birthday. Maulana Asim Bihari was one of the key members of the first wave of the Pasmanda-Muslim mobilizations in undivided India known as the Momin Movement (1913-1947). 1/n #Pasmanda
He was an excellent orator and mass organizer and was widely known as the “Gashti Safeer” (roving ambassador) of the Momin movement. Asim Bihari also edited the journal “Al-Ikram”. 2/n
The term “Momin” refers to the caste of subjugated Muslim weavers (also termed Julahas or Ansaris). The Momin movement originated with the formation of the caste association called the “Falah-ul-Momineen” in Calcutta in the year 1913-1914. 3/n