Mirror Worlds

JOIN THE 1200 human rights and women’s rights defenders and civil society activists who have signed this petition. Text of petition below. Link to sign the petition. Women of Afghanistan demand a just peace that guarantees the rights of all people. We, the true friends of Afghanistan and signatories of this open letter, declare our … Continue reading Support Afghan women’s demand for a just peace guaranteeing the rights of all people →

Behavioural psychologists say hatred and fear are two sides of the same coin. That explains the Hindu Right obsession with Gandhi and Godse.

India cannot take its syncretic tradition for granted. A culture of communal amity has to be rebuilt from the ground up. Irony died a thousand deaths on Monday, 2 November, when 48-year-old non-violent activist Faisal Khan, a founder member of a revived Khudai Khidmatgar, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police. The charge against him … Continue reading The Tragic innocence of being faisal khan →

How discrimination is integrated into the daily lives of the Indian diaspora still needs to be understood. What happens to caste when Indians migrate to Western countries? Do their feelings of being born superior or inferior, their belief in the purity-pollution ethic, just melt away? The “model minority” has tried to avoid a conversation on … Continue reading Cisco Case Shows Indians Still Take Caste Where they Go →

Then and now, a conservative Hindutva organisation had a role in spreading rumours. Representational image. | Image Courtesy: Deccan Herald   Yad ihasti tad anyatra, yan nehasti na tat kavcit. ‘Whatever is here might be elsewhere, but what is not here could ever be found’.—The Mahabharata, 1.56.33, from Meera Nanda’s The God Market: How Globalisation is Making India More Hindu, Random … Continue reading Weaponising Idiocy: Milk-Drinking Ganesha to Taali Bajao →

Guest Post : Fact finding team of Communist Party of India ( CPI) [पिछले सितम्बर की 25 तारीख़ को मध्य प्रदेश के शिवपुरी ज़िले के एक गाँव भावखेड़ी में दो बच्चों की नृशंस हत्या कर दी गयी थी।  मीडिया में कारण यह आया था कि उन्हें खुले में शौच करते देख उसी गाँव  व्यक्ति को गुस्सा आ … Continue reading शौचालय: एक हत्यारी कथा  →

Academics focus on secularism when secularisation can save the day. Image Courtesy : NDTV A simple query sometimes occasions judicial intervention: Does the right to freedom of expression apply merely to believers? On September 6, the Madras High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation filed by M Deivanayagam raising such a question. The petitioner wanted … Continue reading There is no God And You Can Say so →

The German acceptance for stolpersteine plaques helps them honour victims of Nazism. One wonders if it will ever be possible to take up similar projects in this part of South Asia. Hier Wohnte Bernhard Marx JB 1897 Deportiert 20.07.1942 Minsk Ermordet 24.07.1942 ‘Here lived Bernhard Marx Year of Birth 1897 Deported 20.07.1942 Minsk Assassinated 24.07.1942’ … Continue reading Will India Remember Dadri’s Akhlaq, as Germany Recalls Victims of Nazi Barbarism? →

Caste discrimination, even while faced with a calamity, is a clear outcome of the brahminical ideology of purity and pollution that has permeated deep into Indian society. Image Courtesy: Al Jazeera “[U]ntouchability, is a kind of disease of the Hindus…it is a mental twist…. I do not know how my friend is going to untwist … Continue reading Cyclone Fani: Prejudice in Times of Natural Disasters →

For all women in India, what is happening in Kerala should be an eye-opener.  This is how Indian society rewards you for reaching the top, aspiring seriously to be on top, and actually asking questions to authorities about why they keep drawing on women’s energies and resources while simultaneously undermining the very ground on which … Continue reading Keep Calm and Carry On: Dealing with Patriarchal Carpet Bombing in Kerala →