Hate speech or freedom of speech, the Indian judiciary has failed on both fronts. On one hand activists, lawyers, authors, poets, comedians (you can add your favorite 'wtf' moment here from the wide range of people targeted by the government) have been hounded and silenced by the government, while on the other hand the likes of Anurag Thakur and Kapil Mishra have openly incited violence through hate speeches. In both situations all that the Judiciary has done is remained submissive to the government diktat.

Our high judiciary should therefore be called "High High Judiciary". And who else can be a better person to talk about this than Dr. Ritumbra Manuvie? Dr. Manuvie, is a lawyer by training and academic by choice. Her work lies at the intersection of politics and policy. She is a Lecturer of Law at the UCG Groningen (khroningun) in the Netherlands. She is the CEO of Foundation: the London Story and is currently on a mission to stop hate speech & associated violence, and promote accountability, integrity and pluralism at all levels and across all sectors of society. She has been a fellow with the United Nations and worked in Tokyo and Bonn. A well-versed lawyer in international laws, her work traverses between immigration, citizenship and asylum laws, and policies governing transnational issues. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship and has conducted her doctorate research at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom on governance of climate migration in Assam.

Well, that was a short bio of our guest on the the show this month. We hope that you have been listening to our podcast and sharing it with your friends and family and following us on social media @the_ghadar.

Links:
1. Communal violence tracker
2. EU India People's Summit

Memes are perhaps the most influential and intuitive form of expression. Once a meme is out in the wilderness of internet, no one can predict when, and how a meme will "go viral". Like all means, memes have also carried hateful ideas and while we are talking about hate speech this month, there could not be a better movie to review than "Feels Good Man".

This is the story of a cartoon character created by Matt Furie, "Pepe the Frog" a chill college kid who hangs out with his friends and does weird stuff that college students do. But unbeknownst to Matt Furie, Pepe the Frog becomes a symbol of hate, used by alt right and neo-Nazis for hate propaganda. By the time Matt Furie realizes how his benign, fun character has metamorphosed into a poster child of hate, it is too late and Pepe the Frog has become a hated and a hateful symbol. 

Take this journey with us, as we navigate through the complexity of meme world, artistic responsibilities, misuse and abuse of art works and of course, hate speech vs. freedom of speech.

You can watch the trailer of Feels Good Man here-

Feels Good Man Trailer

From our beloved "Shehenshah" Prime Minister Modi Ji to his chaddi-buddy, the Chanakya of Modiocracy, Home Minister Amit Shaah, to the budding Hindutva hero and Delhi pogrom fame Kapil Mishra- hate speech (subtle, and not so subtle) has been one of the most effective tools used by the politicians to polarize the electorate for poll gains. It is impossible to imagine the contemporary right wing politics in India (and for that matter right wing politics in any other country) without the frequent 'garnishing' of popular narrative with hate speeches. Historically too, hate speech has remained a highly debated topic, especially because it often clashes with the notion of freedom of speech.

This month, we focused our attention on this topic. In this  sixth episode we talk briefly about some recent and famous cases of hate speech in India, what we think makes a speech, a hate speech, what motivations lie in saying hateful things openly and how the society and institutions like the Supreme court, play a role in creating an environment where hate speech can go unchallenged.

We also discussed about the recent custodial death of Fr. Stan Swamy, a fearless activist who fought for the rights of the marginalized in Chhattisgarh for thirty years. To Fr. Stan Swamy, we can only say on thing- "Sab yaad rakha jayega" (we will remember everything).

We also dive into "Pegasus" and the abuse of institutional authority of cyber snooping, espionage and use of cyber attack against civilians in India. The list of atrocities seem endless.

Despite all that, we have Ghadar, and innumerable activists joined together by the common camaraderie to seek justice. In our podcast we celebrate their grit and commitment.  And of course, we need you, our listeners to support this spirit by identifying and speaking against hate speech,  by talking about hate speech to friends and family, and ask them to listen our lovely podcast (wink wink).

We hope you will like our podcast as much as we love making it. During our research, we collected some material on the topic:
1. Getting away with hate speech in India- Al Jazeera
2. NY times talks about (missing) hate crime data
3. News of Father Stan Swamy's death by the Economist
4. Background on Pegasus by Vice
5. Court case filed against the NSO group, founder of Pegasus

 

As content creators, it is not easy to talk about a crisis as heartbreaking and sad as farmers suicide while keeping everyone engaged in a world where entertainment is instantly available. While working on this episode, this reality hit us hard, and for the "Culture Kush" segment, nothing better came to our mind than the 2010 dark satirical comedy,  "Peepli Live", where a poor farmer decides to commit suicide because the Indian government gives hefty payouts to the families after their death.  This leads to a hilarious and ridiculous media frenzy that unfortunately is not too far from reality.

"Peepli Live" is now available on Netflix.   We would love to know what you think of the new format. Tune in, write to us,  share and support our farmers  fighting for their lives and still standing strong together protesting! 

"What do you know about India? You are sitting in Amreeka, enjoying". If this sounds like a familiar response when you criticize the Indian government on how the farmers protest has been mishandled, you are not alone. And the grass is not really greener either. Farmers in the US are struggling with the fallout of the privatization of farming in a way similar to what has already happened in some states in India (namely Bihar).  The new farm laws that the Modi government is trying to shove down the throats of the farmers are so indistinguishable from those already tried in the US, that the makers of the movie we interviewed in this episode, named their creation "Deja Vu".

In this episode listen as our guests on the show narrate to us what the investigation of the four decades of the neo-liberal experiment of privatization of farming in the US has revealed. How their lives and communities have slowly been destroyed. The makers of the movie "Deja Vu", R. Tarafder, S. Agrawal and B. Pain speak about farmers suicides, loss of farm lands, devastation of entire towns and so on. A story that sounds like the ones coming out of the Vidarbha in Maharashtra.

This investigation is a result of 10,000km long journey through rural America, and the stories that have emerged are eye opening.

 "There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch"... which is true for documentaries as well. So here is the "go fund me" page for the documentary that links the US farm laws and the farmer's protests in India-  from curious, passionate people making their way into uncharted territories  trying to uncover the truth.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/Fundraiser-for-Deja-vu

Since the passing of the new farm laws by the Indian government, thousands of farmers are sitting in protest around Delhi, the capital of India, trying to tell the government that they are not happy with the laws. The impact of this protest is felt across the world and has resonated with the farmers all over the world. But the Narendra Modi government is busy diverting attention from this huge protest. The "mainstream media" is busy debating why the farmers are eating pizza and why they are not legitimate farmers because they do not look poor. The irony of this narrative is why we named this episode "Protest Mela". While the farmers are facing water cannons, police brutality, trying to tell the government and the public that the new farm laws are not just about farmers but about consumer prices and food security too. If that was not enough, more than four hundred farmers died while protesting.

As grim as the situation is, farmers protest has cracked open the agenda of the Modi government to open up public space entirely for the private players. Recent developments in Lakshadweep is yet another consequence of this agenda, and as always, the progressive diaspora is pushing for a progressive India.

In this segment we talk about all of this, and we also think that Modiji has "precogs" who can predict a crime before it has actually happened. Who are they? We know, and we are going tell you. Tune in and let us know what you think of the new format! 

Links:
1. Farmer's laws explained by Vox 
2.  Farm sector suicide statistics
3. BAPS temple coverage by CNN
4. TRIPS agreement by WHO
5. Lakshadweep news by BBC
6. National Crime Records Bureau's silence from 2016-2019 on farmer suicides
7.  3 year gap on farmer suicide statistics 

As the COVID crisis rages in India, the Modi government does what it does best-create distractions. So, in this episode we reminisce all that has happened since the pandemic came to India. The theatrics of our beloved Prime Minister to the overly enthusiastic response of his followers creating an outrageous display of absurdity for the whole world to witness. But, it is only so long that one can distract an entire nation, and the cost of ineptitude combined with arrogance is now for everyone to see in the number of dead bodies floating on the banks of Ganges (ironic, isn't it?). As macabre as it gets, there is much to learn from this fiasco- that in a democracy, one should pay a close attention to what the government does, and try to see beyond the obvious.

In this context, what could be a better movie to talk about than "Wag the Dog"? The 1997 political satire black comedy centers on the creation of a war in Albania to distract the US public from a sex scandal implicating the incumbent that surfaces right before the presidential elections. While our Prime Minister seems to have stayed clear of any scandal involving a woman (wink-wink), he seems to be particularly dexterous in shedding some precious tears to overwhelm public sentiments.

However grim the situation be, hope is always kept alive by a few who try to do what they can to help each other without bias. Sunita Vishwanath, a fierce supporter of egalitarianism and a seasoned social worker and activist, talks about her journey, disappointments, and motivations that keep her going. We talk to her to explore the difficult space in which she operates, being an anti-caste Savarna, challenges of creating trust in a diverse coalition of communities historically oppressed by Hinduism and re-imagining Hinduism sans the evils that traditionally come along. We also talk about the attack that she has to endure for her advocacy and much more. Due to limited time, we could not include the full interview in the podcast, but we will make the entire interview available on our website- www.theghadar.org.

Link to the articles used in this episode:

1: Patanjali ripped jeans

2: Al-Jazeera article 1- Covid funding
     Al-Jazeera article 2- Covid funding   

3: Article by Sunita Vishwanath

4:Bodies of COVID victims floating on the banks of Ganges

5: FCRA restrictions hurting COVID relief

6: Sunita Vishwanath full interview

Errata:
In the podcast it was mentioned that he Kumbh mela happened in Allahabad, while it actually happened in Haridwar.

In this episode we talk about political prisoners in India. Dissent in India is seen as an "act of treason" by both the government and propaganda fed public. This has created a crisis in the form of indiscriminate arrest of dissenters all over the country.

We talk about the movie "The trial of Chicago 7" directed by Aaron Sorkin and an article about political prisoners by Bhanwar Meghwanshi. Our guest, movie maker and activist Saumya Tejas talks about the visual book she is working on the 2020 Delhi pogrom.

Please follow the links below to refer to the sources we used in the podcast-

1. https://www.article-14.com/
2. https://euindiasummit.com/
3. "To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races—the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by." ( quote from  "We or Our Nationhood defined", M. S. Golwalkar). 

In this teaser for the upcoming podcast Hindu Muslim High High, Meraj and Prerna talk (and banter) about (pop) culture and politics of and about the Indian diaspora. 

Over the last several years, there has been a tectonic shift as India moves from a more "progressive" outlook to definitely a more divisive regressive democracy .  We struggle everyday with this constant push and pull of ideologies that exist within us as a nation, and the fact is, the picture is not as grim as it seems. There is a constant effort by groups/individuals on the ground and in the Indian diaspora rigorously fighting the malady that has engulfed Indian politics to try and save the soul of this beautiful and chaotic country we call home. 

Join us, as we talk every month about what has been going on in the Progressive Indian diaspora, raise some questions, rant and laugh about silly things while making sense of the current news from India. 
Fact check & Notes: 
This teaser was recorded in February 2021. Secondly, while talking about the movie, "The Favorite" we got the time period and the queen's name wrong. It was Queen Anne of England in the late 1700s. Before someone tries to say "Actually this is incorrect..." in our comments.