Is India Still a Democracy? Political Prisoners Tell Their Stories

During the three-year-long trial against Professor GN Saibaba and the other men, which ran from 2014 to 2017, the prosecution produced no real evidence. Of 23 witnesses presented before the court by the prosecution, 22 were police officers. The only civilian witness retracted his confession after claiming it resulted from torture. While Saibaba’s health deteriorated in prison, Rahi, the social activist and journalist, alleged that he, Mishra, Narote, and Mahesh Tirki were tortured in custody by investigating officer Suhas Bawache.

https://time.com/6305728/voices-of-political-prisoners-from-authoritarian-india/

#PoliticalPrisoners #GNSaibaba #activism #dissent #HumanRights #TribalRights #adivasis #UAPA #DraconianLaws #environment #EcoDestruction #authoritarianism #PressFreedom #FalseCases #torture #StateViolence #UnionGovt #india #books #bookstodon #SuchitraVijayan #FrancescaRecchia

Criticize capitalism around here and very soon you'll have replies arguing that your complaints may be accurate but the things you object to are somehow not intrinsic to capitalism. That capitalism can be reformed so there's no need to destroy it. All we need is better laws, all of these arguments go. Often Scandinavian countries get mentioned.

None of these arguments convince me, but the silliest one of all is that capitalism can exist without coercion, without organized state violence. It's an intrinsically contradictory position. If all we need are better laws to eliminate the flaws of capitalism well, then how will those laws be enforced if not through violence?

So, you know, tax billionaires at 99% and use the money for social programs and universal health care and basic income. Take laws protecting workers seriously, and limit the amount of money CEOs make to some small multiple of what workers make. Institute rent control and whatever social programs you want. More laws to eliminate the influence of money on politics. Make destroying the environment illegal, outlaw private jets and SUVs, and on and on and on.

But what if the billionaires won't pay? What if employers violate all the worker protections and landlords refuse to charge legal rents? What if the politicians take money under the table? What if the polluters keep polluting? How will you make them comply if not through courts and police? And if they won't comply with a judge's orders what will you do? At some point someone has to go to jail or your laws won't reform anything, and putting them in jail is intrinsically a violent process. It can't be done without violence.

Like I said, none of these reformist arguments convince me. Even if all these schemes were effective they still require violence to work, therefore it's still not possible to keep capitalism, no matter how reformed, without violence and the threat of violence. Violence is absolutely a necessary condition for the existence of capitalism.

P.s. This isn't the main reason capitalism requires violence. Mostly it requires violence because no one would allow themselves to be exploited by landlords and bosses if there weren't violent consequences for refusing, but arguing from that fact that capitalism requires violence doesn't leverage the opposition's own hypothesis against their argument.

#Capitalism #Anarchism #Anarchy #StateViolence

#HRW: "The Israeli military and border police forces are killing Palestinian children with virtually no recourse for accountability."

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/28/west-bank-spike-israeli-killings-palestinian-children #impunity #israelPalestine #Palestine #israelApartheid #zionism #stateViolence #WestBank #policeViolence #coloniality #militaryJustice #colonialism #occupation #children

#FarRightWinningElections: The Hindu Right, says Sippy, employs rhetoric that #progressive groups who see themselves as #racializedminorities would use, as well as the talking points of #whiteChristian #conservative and right-wing Zionist groups who play the #victim in the face of #criticism.

#ReadBannedBooks
#India #1619project #DalitClaims #stateviolence
#supremacistterror

#desantisflorida
#ReadBannedBooks
#India #1619project #DalitClaims #stateviolence
#supremacist #democraticterror #MajorityRule

From: @SteveSilent
https://thecanadian.social/@SteveSilent/110786999772704176

@IranIntl_En@twitter.com:

Images and reports on social media indicate that a large crowd of people held a protest gathering outside the city hall of Rasht in northern Iran on Sunday evening after security forces tried to arrest three women over hijab.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202307165145

https://twitter.com/IranIntl_En/status/1680711544944902145

#tyranny #misogyny #theocracy #stateviolence #freedom #enslavement #hijab #Rasht #Iran

#Listen 11 minutes to Dr. Crystal #Fleming's interview with Singapore’s Lynlee Foo regarding the police killing of #Nahel and the long history of French colonial racism targeting Arab and Black people: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2cc5Xfsix4wk9YVV3dyF9C?si=aIIB6-oXSACbQtNhugYoRg&nd=1 #FRPol #Nahel #stateViolence #police #policeViolence #France #colonialism #riots #BlackMastodon

How blasphemy laws haunt Pakistan’s financially oppressed Christians

Christians and other religious minorities make up a mere 4% of Pakistan’s population, but they account for about half of blasphemy charges.

#pakistan #blasphemy #christians #hindus #minorities #law #oppression #christianity #protestants #StateViolence

https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/how-blasphemy-laws-haunt-pakistan-s-financially-oppressed-christians-179656

France riots: #socialmedia is being blamed for fueling street violence

>"What the young people in #France are doing right now is protesting against state violence, which is a crucial kind of political activity,"

"[..] how social media companies respond in this moment is really influential over people being able to find their political voice. It’s an incredibly difficult line to walk".
https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/07/03/france-riots-why-is-social-media-is-being-blamed-for-fueling-street-violence #FranceRiots #StateViolence #WhiteSupremacy #PoliceBrutality #Society #PoliceViolence

Interview: PDP President Mehbooba Mufti's take on Kashmir's plight, India's current situation and more

"Kashmir is no longer for Kashmiris. All the big contracts are being given to outsiders, to businessmen from Gujarat and Haryana and such places. Our businesses cannot match their wealth, so they are now subcontractors to outsiders. From sand to the big discovery of lithium, everything is being handed over to outsiders. And in a corrupt fashion. Apart from everything else, this is also the most corrupt government."

#kashmir #MehboobaMufti #PDP #article370abrogation #HumanRights #StateViolence #militarisation #security #hindutva #corruption #gujarat #BJP #manipur #india

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/pdp-president-mehbooba-muftis-take-on-kashmirs-plight-indias-current-situation-and-more/cid/1949186

"It's a bad tradition: In #France, the police don't protect citizens first and foremost, they protect the state. This fundamental principle permeates all units, from specialized intervention forces to road checks. The desire to de-escalate is foreign to many of them. As long as this does not change, such incidents will continue to occur."

Süddeutsche Zeitung: "It is time for a change of heart" [de] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/meinung/polizeigewalt-frankreich-kommentar-sinneswandel-1.5976807?reduced=true #FRPol #Nahel #stateViolence #police #Polizeigesetz #Polizeigewalt

"It's a bad tradition: In #France, the police don't protect citizens first and foremost, they protect the state. This fundamental principle permeates all units, from specialized intervention forces to road checks. The desire to de-escalate is foreign to many of them. As long as this does not change, such incidents will continue to occur."

Süddeutsche Zeitung: "It is time for a change of heart" [de] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/meinung/polizeigewalt-frankreich-kommentar-sinneswandel-1.5976807?reduced=true #FRPol #Nahel #stateViolence #police

The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook

Inspired by Jewish groups that cast criticism of Israel as antisemitism, Hindu American organizations are advancing a concept of “Hinduphobia” that puts India beyond reproach.

#india #hindutva #zionism #HinduNationalism #israel #muslims #bulldozers #StateViolence #islamophobia #IndianDiaspora #israel #palestine

https://jewishcurrents.org/the-hindu-nationalists-using-the-pro-israel-playbook

103 of 194 scribes target of hostile action by state actors: Delhi-based group

Of the 194 journalists who faced police action or assault or threats last year, 103 were targeted by State actors and 91 by non-State actors.

#PressFreedom #journalism #democracy #PoliceViolence #StateViolence #RRAG #media #kashmir #telengana #india

https://sabrangindia.in/article/103-of-194-scribes-target-of-hostile-action-by-state-actors-delhi-based-group/

Minneapolis Police Department rightfully slammed by the feds for long history of ignoring and perpetuating dangerous, racist policing.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/06/16/investigation-of-minneapolis-police-garland-remarks

It's long past time for something new.

Just saw the brilliant Santos Dumont by Kehinde Wiley at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Let him help us see differently:

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/107241/santos-dumont-the-father-of-aviation-ii-kehinde-wiley

Jenauda Petrus' poem Can We Please Give the Police Departments to the Grandmothers is now a picture book. Let Petrus help us imagine what could be possible:

https://www.junauda.com/can-we-please-give-the-police-department-to-the-grandmothers

Looking forward to reading a new book by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba, "Let this Radicalize You" - let them help us grow movements: https://moonpalacebooks.com/item/MsyLPnlFY39PWgWgGUz8-Q/lists/LRg-mQM1NGmU

#police #abolition #stateviolence

Interesting juxtaposition of everyday life, revolution, and state violence in an early 20th-century short by film pioneer Alice Guy. Gender, class, and respectability also figure in this tale, which features a nonchalant summary execution.
#barricades #revolution #FrenchHistory #OldFilms #history #gender #stateviolence
https://youtu.be/jALA_G6n5-E

Really appreciate my neighbors' commitment to choosing self help over state violence.

#SelfHelp #StateViolence #Anarchy #Anarchism

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/06/keenan-anderson-lapd-taser-death-undetermined | After LAPD Tases and restrains teacher, coroner says manner of death ‘undetermined’ |

"The Los Angeles county coroner on Friday released the official autopsy of a man who died after being repeatedly Tased and restrained by Los Angeles police officers, declaring the manner of death to be “undetermined”, a conclusion that has sparked outrage from advocates and his family." | #UnitedStates #California #LosAngeles #KeenanAnderson #LAPD #police #education #StateViolence

Inciting hate with tweets; Twitter suspends retired IPS officer NC Asthana’s account

This comes after the former top cop had made anti-Muslim comments in a series of tweets. Last week, a video of at least nine Muslims being brutally beaten by policemen in a Saharanpur police station was shared by Asthana on Twitter with the caption “Beautiful, very beautiful.”

#NCAsthana #police #islamophobia #HateSpeech #CommunalViolence #StateViolence #muslims #twitter #india

https://maktoobmedia.com/india/inciting-hate-with-tweets-twitter-suspends-retired-ips-officer-nc-asthanas-account/amp/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/26/alabama-prison-conditions-tiktok | Incarcerated people use TikTok videos to expose Alabama’s prison conditions |

"Understaffing, overcrowding and a lack of healthcare fueled a crisis in a state with the world’s highest incarceration rate" | #UnitedStates #Alabama #prisontoks #law #HumanRights #StateViolence