Cafe Dissensus Everyday

The Blog of Cafe Dissensus Magazine – we DISSENT

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Statement Condemning Violence at Ramjas College, Delhi University

By Students, Alumna, and Associates of Department of English, Delhi University
An attack on Dr. Prasanta Chakravarty is a blatant attack on each and every member of the English Department, as we have learned more than we can encompass in this statement from his lectures, ideas, and discussions both inside and outside the classroom. He taught us to speak truth to power and this practice is most needed today when he was physically assaulted not more than five hundred meters away from the English Department.

Two Poems

By Amit Kumar Das
Find me a home,
a small corner that doesn’t weep the slow decay of time,
a bed of forest where roots never give up in the face of melting clocks

Beyond ‘bringing down a dictator’: rethinking nonviolent resistance in the wake of right wing populism

By Janjira Sombatpoonsiri
Populist figures such as Trump and le Pen could mobilise popular support sufficient to contest other liberal/centrist candidates because of their anti-establishment rhetoric addressing the crisis of liberal democracy. They acknowledge the injustice and humiliation inflicted on their constituents through the loss of jobs and neglect of the political class.

Do Kashmiri women have a voice of their own?

By Javeed Bin Nabi
Why are we unable to give due opportunities and space to women in Kashmir? Once outside the Valley, Kashmiris from our society claim that Kashmiri women are more liberated and freer than women in Pakistan and India. But the truth remains that women in Kashmir remain a soft target for both the gun-wielding soldiers and the vicious and intolerant men of our society, who with each passing day infringe the freedom of women.

An Interview with Yashwant Sinha on Kashmir

By Adil Bhat
I do not agree that religious radicalism in the Valley is an outcome of occupation. In fact, it is not an occupation. If it was an occupation, then why would we see the military organizing large number of welfare projects like the Sadbhavna Operation under which a number of Army Goodwill Schools were opened mostly in inaccessible remote areas of the Valley?

Defying authoritarianism with humor

By Janjira Sombatpoonsiri
The experiences of Serbia and Thailand show how humor can be deployed differently, and towards different ends. In Serbia, Otpor had used humorous protest actions in a systematic way, with a well-crafted strategy of nonviolent defiance and nationwide franchises attracting broad-based support. As a result, the number of actions quantified, and effects of humor maximized. In contrast, Thailand’s Red Sunday was an ad hoc group working on a smaller scale.

China and India: The New Great Game Redefined

By Mir Sajad
Only time can tell whether India and China can live up to the high expectations among many that they will be rising for decades to come. If both giants were to become the leading actors in the “New Asian Drama” and help transform the region from the “poverty of nations” to the “wealth of nations”, then their rise will not only benefit themselves but also possibly spearhead a new Asian Renaissance.

Book Review: Lopamudra Banerjee’s ‘Thwarted Escape’

By Bhaswati Ghosh
Thwarted Escape is a woman’s journey – not only through the alleys of memory – but also in the physical realm, from the East to the West. The narrative oscillates between the author’s life in Kolkata, India and cities in the US, where she moved post-marriage. Some of the book’s most tender parts are where the author is seen synthesizing her experiences of her home country with those of her adopted one. In doing so she realizes that despite her impulse to fly abroad, the escape from her old universe never actually happened on the emotional plane.

10 Theses For The Fight Against Right-Wing Populism

By Marc Saxer
It has been the neoliberal policies of enriching the elite, eroding the middle classes and excluding the “redundant” that have provided the fertile ground for right-wing populism. A truly transformative agenda, on the other hand, has the potential to rob right-wing populists of their greatest asset: to be the only alternative to the neoliberal mainstream.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the latest chapter in the rise of Hindu radicalization

By Murtaza Ali Khan
Everybody keeps talking about the extreme side of Islam and its endless dangers but tend to overlook the maleficent ways of Hindu fundamentalism. What has happened to Bhansali is a classic example of the rise of Hindu extremism in the country, post-2014 general elections. With the NDA government not too keen on tightening its grip on them, these Hindu extremist groups feel that they can take the law in hands and still go scot-free.

Culture Wars: Jallikattu as Separatism

By Ananya S Guha
We have an edifice, diverse yet rounded. We must neither bring nasty politics into it, nor religiosity, nor cultural chauvinism, nor racial jingoism. Let culture not trump the economic well-being of communities. The diversity of the country mustn’t be turned into war cries of separatism, especially on social media, which tend to fuel such tendencies.