LeftyProf

In my last post, I talked about the current social and political conjuncture in the Indian subcontinent. Here, I want to develop this further by examining various elements of this conjuncture in detail.

It makes sense, I think, to begin first with some basic economic observations and presuppositions, particularly as they pertain to the Indian economy. I am no economist per se, but I can navigate my way through a few concepts, and I would like to throw them open for discussion, particularly among progressive desis. In other words, let us begin a genuine, collaborative debate across the continents (that’s what blogging is all about, anyway).

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Krish’s excellent post raises some very important questions that often get silenced in desi circles, regardless of the continent on which they occur. Why is Indian culture so incredibly intolerant these days? Anti-Muslim prejudice, casteist anti-dalit blindness, anti-Pakistani sentiment…. Racism and sexism run rampant in our society today (and Krish might have included homophobia and prejudice towards transgendered/transsexual community).

A small example of such intolerance can be seen in the knee-jerk objections that are raised against even a mere passing reference to Hindu fundamentalism in an excellent recent blog post on the Lal Masjid crisis.

Troublingly enough, many of these forms of intolerance that Krish outlines are weaving themselves into the fabric of Indian and Indian diasporic commonsense, particularly among the urban, educated upper-middle and lower-middle classes, but not excluding well-paid BPO and call-center workers who see…
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According to CBC News, Sikhs are being forced to change their names by Canadian immigration authorities! The claim, apparently, is that Kaur and Singh are too “common” among Sikhs! Read about it here.