Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

One of India’s most important historians

“[W]hether demographic, democratic or cultural, the central tropes of the ‘looming crisis’ approach are monolithism—migrants are African for Smith, Muslim for Caldwell, Mexican for Huntington—and scale: the unprecedented numbers that are about to set forth.” Some figures are crucial to dispel myths and misconceptions. “[T]he latest figures for international migrants—defined as those who have been dwelling for at least a year outside their country of birth—is just over a quarter of a billion, or 3.6 per cent of the global population. Around 60 per cent of these are ‘labour migrants’, roughly 20 per cent are people displaced by war, repression or natural disaster, while 6 million are international students. “[O]ver half the cross-border migrants in Europe—44 million, out of a total 87 million—come from other European countries, mainly in Eastern and Southeastern Europe; ‘irregular’ arrivals by land and sea totalled only 189,000 in 2022. “Economic migration has grown and changed, but the ...

Note the distortion by the BBC: “Admirers see her as a leading voice for liberal values and a champion of the marginalised.” Roy is liberal? Celebrated writer faces prosecution

Indian-made drones on their way to Israel Related The Palestine Laboratory

Amit Dave/Reuters via merip.org “ Karim’s experience is the product of an evolving strategic partnership between India and Israel , where an increasingly overt convergence of interests and ideology has led to both states tangibly supporting one another in working towards their respective political and economic ambitions. Through this partnership, state repression in Indian-occupied territories is not an exclusively Indian project. It has become part of a broader network, linking India to the Israeli state and its own colonial project.”

The unending pain of sewer workers

Among the 150-plus photographs, images of Latin America, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent appear hardly at all and usually as a foil or kitschy reflection of Euro-American modernity. North Korea, the kitschiest foil of them all, appears as many times as the entire African continent. For all our differences, [the exhibition ] Civilisation seems to preach, we people of the world are essentially the same, and we’re all trying to make the best of life within the inescapable confines of US-exported late capitalism.

“Both Hindutva and Zionism draw on ancient mythology to exert their statehood and entitlement to land and power. They both instrumentalise religion to justify their perspectives. Because it is in Palestine and Kashmir that the outcomes of Zionism and Hindutva are most visible. The Indian occupation and the Israeli occupation are not the same, but once again, they share many similarities.” The past and present of the Indian-Israeli relations

In 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, charges for domestic violence were filed with the Indian police every four minutes. Forced marriages involve nine couples out of ten and remain the norm. Since 2020, eleven States have adopted anti-conversion laws. Ironically, ‘Love Jihad’ was a reference first used in the socially and politically most progressive state in India. According to the India Spend Initiative, an independent research body, 90% of all crimes motivated by religious hatred perpetrated since 2009 have taken place during Modi’s term of office.  According to the statistics compiled by Hate Crime Watch, an independent database which was shut down in 2019, 74% of the victims are Muslims, who only constitute 14% of the population. A crusade against mixed marriages Related Arundhati Roy on religious nationalism and dissent 

A very illuminating essay. The myth of the ‘national bourgeoisie’

Critics of Marx have accused him of imposing a European model of historical development on the rest of the world.

British colonialism in India between 1880 to 1920

An Extinction Rebellion that cannot rebel. A Trade Union Congress that bows in front of class rule. An excellent article by Chris Hedges Related

According to  a 2014 YouGov poll , 50 percent of people in Britain believe that colonialism was beneficial to the colonies . Related Interview with Usta Patnaik Inglorious Empire by Shashi Thahroor

“ All dissent has been criminalized in India. Until recently, dissenters were called anti-national. Now we are openly labelled intellectual terrorists. We are currently in that dangerous place where there is no set of facts or histories that we can agree upon, or even argue wi th.  The narratives do not overlap or even intersect with each other. It’s myth versus history. We’re on our own. No help will come. It didn’t come to Yemen, to Sri Lanka, to Rwanda. Why should we hope otherwise in India? In international politics, only profit, power, race, class, and geopolitics determine morality. Everything else is merely a posture, a shadow dance.” Arundhati Roy on religious nationalism and dissent 

I don’t like Tariq Ali, but the topic is one of my favourites. In his Preface, Tariq Ali makes clear that he does not support toppling Churchill’s statues wherever they stand—but rather, a deeper battle on the field of historiography, against a consensus that “appears hegemonic but remains vulnerable.” This is the context in which  Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes  is written—and in which, if I’m any judge at all, it succeeds admirably. Timidity of a ‘radical’. What about opposing all statues, be it of Churchill, Thatcher, Lenin or Chavez? A review of Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes

Could ‘bioregions’ be the answer?

The pandemic slump has raised poverty across the globe