T T Sreekumar, an important commentator on contemporary politics in Kerala — a public intellectual who now qualifies to be an irritant in the eyes of the Kerala police, now that he has openly declared his allegiance to the dalit people fighting injustice and Vadayambady and inaugurated a protest-event there — writes about the issue … Continue reading The Festering Sore of the Caste-Wall at Vadayambady: T T Sreekumar
The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, not our own powerlessness, stupefy us. Adorno. As frightening spectres of untouchability and unseeability hover around the festering sore of the ‘caste-wall’ at Vadayambady in Kerala, as the so-called mainstream left-led government here continues to pour its energy and resources into aiding and … Continue reading Malayali Feminism 2018: In the Light of Vadayambady and Hadiya’s Struggle
Dear Comrade I can hardly describe the joy and relief I felt reading your piece on the Hadiya case in the Hindu yesterday. By now I am nearly deaf from the cacophony of misogyny, islamophobia, and sheer short-sighted rage that CPM supporters on Facebook are unleashing against this young woman.
When Hadiya Shafin shouted to the crowd that she converted voluntarily, that Shafin was her chosen husband, and that she wished to spend her life with him, some leading rationalist liberal feminists in Kerala sniggered at her: be grateful for the Indian Constitution which allows you to make a choice. This statement hid a despicable … Continue reading The Gates of Vaikuntam?
[This is the text of the open letter to the Chief Minister of Kerala from the celebrated Tamil poet Rajathi Salma, a leading literary and activist voice from South India whose writing has often revealed the pain and poignancy of women’s unfreedoms and the denial of a creative life of choice to them.
After the atrocious indifference and trivialisation of domestic violence displayed by the sneering alpha-male brigade of the CPM during the discussion of the Hadiya Case, nothing surprises me. However, it appears important to point out how such callousness is indeed becoming normalised here alarmingly.
This is a modified version of the article that was published earlier in The Wire (T)he economic dialectic is never active in the pure state; in History, these instances, the superstructures etc – are never seen to step respectfully aside when their work is done or, when the Time comes, as his pure phenomena, to … Continue reading ‘Revolution against Das Kapital’ and the ‘Lonely Hour of the Economy’
(This is the text of the open letter written by the eminent left cultural activist Sohail Hashmi to Com. Pinarayi Vijayan on the Hadiya case) The Honourable Chief Minister of Kerala Shri Pinarayi Vijayan 7th October, 2017 Dear Shri Pinarayi Vijayan, I write to you because I am unable to understand how the Left Front … Continue reading Defend the tradition of fighting for the oppressed: Sohail Hashmi writes to the Chief Minister of Kerala
(This is the text of the open letter from Prof. Satish Deshpande to the Chief Minister of Kerala on the Hadiya issue.
[A version of this letter has also been sent to Com. MC Josephine, Chairperson, Kerala State Women’s Commission] To The Chief Minister Kerala Dear Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan We write to you as individuals and organizations who are part of the women’s movement to express our outrage and concern regarding the dangerous implications of Hadiya’s … Continue reading End the isolation and imprisonment of Hadiya: Feminists write to the Chief Minister of Kerala
