Asst Prof @cps_iitb @iitbombay. PhD from @umdcs. AI, NLP, labour, policy. Ask me about socialism. Luxemburgist @arekhcollective. Founder convenor @kosambicircle
Aug 28, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
While I slept it seems that fascism came knocking at doors.
I have woken up to news of arrests of activists in India. The establishment has conveyed its message. I have no hope in legalism, but if there is something that can protect the republic, it is defiance by the people.
It seems that the charade which followed Bhima Koregaon continues and these arrests are meant to strike terror using the narrative of "urban naxalism". Classical use of a created spectacle. I don't have enough words to condemn this barbarity.
Capitalism cannot function without State terrorism.
Perfect example of that is the Sterlite protest. My solidarity with the tens of thousands of brave protestors resisting for years that copper smelting plant resulting in nine martyrs. Down with Vedanta! indianexpress.com/article/india/…
I was quite numb with anger, but Vedanta does deserve one of my long threads. So here it is, a history of the twin sisters of capitalism and barbarity, courtesy of the sarkar and Vedanta.
We begin our story in Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa, India, 2009. 1/n
This is frankly, the most wrongheaded and reactionary thing Bhagat has written in a while.
Politics is the thing which determines how society is arranged and who owns what. Not caring for politics is a luxury only those have who are rich, and doing so is utterly selfish.
(1/n)
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Those who have power, present the current world as being "natural". In old monarchies, divine right of kings was natural, in our times, capitalist concepts are natural. Elites want no one to doubt why certain things are natural. They would like no one to think of politics. (2/n)
Jan 3, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Political aesthetics remain the same over millennia. The ongoing vilification of the oppressed in India, in the name of Order, Nationalism, and Peace (ironically the propaganda is always coupled with brutality) reminds me of the tale of the Gracchi Brothers of ancient Rome. (1/n)
Two thousand year back, in 133 BC, Tiberius Gracchus is elected the Tribune of the People in ancient Rome. He quickly figures out that the root cause of the misery of the Roman plebeians is the fact that the ruling classes have cornered all the agricultural land. (2/n)
Dec 7, 2017 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Historically, lynching is a tool to brainwash the majority into becoming uncritical about power by giving them violent agency. What happened in Rajasthan is more than a murder, and needs to be analysed in detail right now. If you are horrified, you are a human, lets talk. 1/n
Mob violence is an old tool in India used by almost all political dispensations. But something new was seen. This incident of the victim being hacked to death and then burnt was recorded and posted on social media. Thus, the act was calculated to create a chilling effect. 2/n
