Introducing our new project, Watch The Resistance; and remembering Richard Sultan
Introducing our new project, Watch The Resistance; and remembering Richard Sultan
Hello hello, with a bewildered sigh. So Trump really did it, he defied any reasonable standards given his track record, and won the election. And he’s done so with not just the electoral college, but also the popular mandate. I know I should not be throwing stones from the colossal glass house that is India, but at least Modi captured our institutions, controlled our media, destroyed our civil society, and enjoyed more financial support than all the opposition put together. Trump won a relatively free and fair election. An election that ought to have been anyone else’s to win, that highlights the inherent failures of the Democratic party and the two-party system, and that raises serious concerns about the future of American democracy as well as the domino effects a second, uninhibited Trump presidency will have across the world.
As we anxiously wonder what terror Trump will unleash over the next four years, now seems as good (or bad) a time as any to announce the launch of our new project, Watch The Resistance. The project will follow social movements and communities in resistance across India, and globally. In doing so, we hope to shine a much-needed spotlight on the many acts of defiance and solidarity that do not receive the necessary platform because of the inevitable focus on the acts of suppression and violence by the state. It is important to remember that for every such incident of state violence, there is often an untold story of resistance against the state. Watch The Resistance will document those stories.
In the past month, we have published two new pieces as part of the project, both by the veteran journalist Prashant Rahi, who will be tracking social movements across India at Polis Project. In his first report, Prashant looked at the ongoing movement by collectives of Dalit landless labourers in Punjab to assert their land rights, in defiance of prevailing caste hierarchies. The Dalit collectives have united in solidarity against harassment, intimidation and violence by the dominant caste Jatt Sikhs, revenue officials and the local police. They have not only been successful in securing a lease over land, as is their lawful right, but inspired similar movements in villages across the state.
In the second piece, Prashant reported on the latest hunger strike by the Elgar Parishad/Bhima Koregaon prisoners in Taloja jail against their non-production in court, and why it marks a particularly momentous victory for prison rights and jail movements. As he observes, the significance lies not just in what they achieved—the prisoners were assured of being taken to court within 24 hours, and were all produced on the next date of hearing—but also in how it was executed.
He reports, “Despite being incarcerated in different barracks of Taloja Central Jail, the seven political prisoners somehow manoeuvred their way to the jail compound’s inner main gate, bypassing various internal checkpoints to be within earshot of the prison superintendent and senior jailers, and raised slogans against the Mumbai Police for not producing them in court.” Prashant highlights the different obstacles at each step of the way, and observes how the Elgar Parishad prisoners have been forced to undertake numerous hunger strikes for the most basic of prison rights. Yet, with each successful movement, the morale of political prisoners is said to be higher than before, having compelled the prison administration to initiate a compromise.
In some ways, it even feels like Watch The Resistance was a missing part of the puzzle. At The Polis Project, the editorial focus has always been underlined by our approach of “Research. Reportage. Resistance.” Our stories have highlighted the various facets of authoritarianism, in policy and in practice, through in-depth research and reportage. In December 2019, in the wake of the severe State backlash against the protests opposing India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, we launched Watch The State project, which has since been closely documenting State violence with reporters from the ground. While our focus on resistance has always been reflected in our stories and our social media, Watch The Resistance creates a platform for a dedicated focus to a core aspect of the Polis Project’s vision and philosophy.
Photo: Richard Sultan (Source:Facebook)
This past month, we were unfortunately unable to publish our stories from South Sudan and Uttarakhand on the intersection of climate change, pastoralism and state actions, as I had mentioned in my last newsletter. The report from South Sudan was written by Richard Sultan, a young journalist with whom I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working on two stories previously. On 14 October, Sultan passed away from a sudden illness. While I get in touch with his friends and family to decide how to proceed with the story, I wanted to take this moment to remember Sultan. He was a fiercely passionate young reporter, who was very keen to bring out the best possible story. Sultan was keen to learn, improve and hone his craft of storytelling. He was self-taught and determined, and that dedication revealed itself with every story and every follow up in the editorial process. I was fortunate to have gotten a chance to work with him, and he will be missed, by me, and certainly by everyone else who knew him as well.
We will be publishing the report on climate and pastoralism from Uttarakhand this month. Meanwhile, Watch The State has been tracking the ongoing campaigns of targeted anti-Muslim violence and extremism in the state. We are also looking forward to publishing another investigation from the Uttarakhand in the coming weeks, on the challenges to interfaith marriages in the state due to the state’s anti-conversion law and Uniform Civil Code. As we look at the weaponisation of religious laws in India, we will also be publishing another investigation looking at similar abuses in Pakistan, with its blasphemy law and how it’s embedded in the socio-political fabric of the nation.
In our other projects, the Demolitions project will continue with another profile this month, while the Disappearance project will look at the manufactured narrative of Bangladeshi infiltration in Jharkhand. We hope to publish one of our final pieces in the BK-16 Prison Diaries series this month, and in the meanwhile, do read Varavara Rao’s raw and honest account of prisons as institutions of sadism, dehumanisation and corruption.
As always, we have lots of promising stories to look forward to. So do watch out for them, until next month!
Arshu John
Political Editor
The Culture Section!
In other very exciting news, Polis Project launched its Culture section last month, and it has gotten off to a hell of a start. In the last four weeks, the Culture desk has published two insightful pieces by Ruby Hamad for her column, Re/Orient; an interview with the artist Emmalene Blake about making street art for Palestine; an analysis of Kamala Harris’s attempts to embrace GenZ’s language in her meme campaign; and a searing, long-overdue critique of Mindy Kaling’s “Coconut Empire.” There’s more already, and there’s a lot more to come. Don’t miss out.
Disappearance
In the Disappearance project, Aabha Muralidharan will document the State practice of disappearances. This month, we will look at the disappearances caused by heatwaves in India, apart from looking at other State-enforced disappearances of land, bodies and mind. Sign up for Aabha’s newsletter for updates and discussions from her research!
Demolitions
In the Demolitions project, our research will delve into important issues surrounding demolitions in India, including housing rights, impact on communities, legal frameworks, displacement and development, and the broader socio-political contexts that lead to it. This month, we are excited to publish our first profile of one of the houses, studying the demolitions through an ethnographic lens by looking at the lives and histories associated to these properties. Through this research, we hope to amplify the voices of affected communities and advocate meaningful interventions. Sign up for our Demolitions newsletter!