March 30: Day 1 of my fast, day 763 of our chain.

I’m fasting in solidarity with the hungry people, specially children, who are suffering due to the huge unemployment in our country 😥

ChainFastingForPeace

FastingAgainstFascism

ResignAmitShah

FreeSanjivBhatt

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March 27: Day 1 of my fast, day 760 of our chain.

I had to jump in today after a new volunteer who was supposed to take on this slot became unresponsive. Thankfully, Pratyay Ghosh and Ankita Ghosh will be stepping in tomorrow and the day after to bridge this unexpected gap. It is always heartening to see how quickly chain fasters come forward to fill up such gaps ❤️

I will use my post today to amplify Preethi Maroli‘s disgust at Indians hyperventilating over fictional atrocities presented in a propaganda movie (Kashmir Files) while coolly ignoring our promising youth rotting away in prison for the crime of speaking out against actual injustices while being Muslim (or having Muslim names).

ChainFastingForPeace

FastingAgainstFascism

ResignAmitShah

FreeSanjivBhatt

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March 21: Day 1 of my fast, day 754 of our chain.

Today, I want to remind myself and my friends of the signs of fascism, that we are now living in the midst of in India, and risk normalizing if we don’t pay attention:

EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF FASCISM

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for human rights
3. Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
4. Rampant sexism
5. Controlled mass media
6. Obsession with national security
7. Religion and government intertwined
8. Corporate power protected
9. Labor power suppressed
10. Disdain for intellectual and the arts
11. Obsession with crime and punishment
12. Rampant cronyism and corruption

ChainFastingForPeace

FastingAgainstFascism

ResignAmitShah

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March 22: Day 2 of my fast, day 755 of our chain.

Today, after days of bewildering news about the Kashmir Files, I was thankful for the following article, in which a Kashmiri Pandit (KP) actually still living in Kashmir explains what truly happened.

1. He neither tries to cover up the atrocities meted out by the JKLF on Kashmiri Hindus nor sensationalizes it.
2. He attributes the brutalities to an emotionally charged atmosphere created by the unchecked spread of rumors.
3. He also considers the attacks on Kashmiri Pandits as an intelligence failure on the part of the BJP supported V.P. Singh Government at the center.
4. KPs were never attacked indiscriminately – they did not encounter any attacks on their parting journey through the length and breadth of Kashmir.
5. Most importantly, when KPs were being viciously targeted, it was their friends and neighbors in the Muslim community who took tremendous personal risk to keep them informed and protected.

The final point reminded me of Fred Rogers anecdote about his mother, who reassured him that no matter how terrible a situation was, there were always the helpers. And it would do us well to remember that the helpers usually look no different from those we believe to be the oppressors. Be they Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, or of any other extraction. Humanity is a glue we can only ignore at our own peril.
https://sabrangindia.in/interview/kashmiri-pandit-fact-checks-kashmir-files

ChainFastingForPeace

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March 23: Day 3 of my fast, day 756 of our chain.

Modi, Trump, Putin, Erdogan, …Hitler.

Each of them tried to consolidate their base by appealing to people’s nostalgia for a glorious distant past during a present that demanded introspection and radical change.

Each of them made allusions to their base’s superiority in some way – especially over a socially constructed “other,” who were held responsible for all the problems faced by the people.

Each of them manufactured first fear, and then hate of this illusory “other.”

Each of them attempted to (with varying degrees of success) to usurp independent democratic institutions including the judiciary and the free press to carry out their unconstitutional agendas.

Each of them is a megalomaniac, who believes themselves to be above the people’s mandate. They don’t listen to the people, or experts, or facts. They dictate to the people, prosecute experts, and sell their own preferred fantasies as the unquestionable reality.

Each of them expects the adulation of an impoverished people, while doing nothing to alleviate their suffering.

Each of them, when cornered, responds with indiscriminate violence.

Each of them worships themselves above anything else.

Each of them proves that the fascist’s playbook is as dull, boring and lacking in imagination as it is evil.

In view of all this, I find it baffling to meet people who astutely recognize and revile the fascist attitudes of some while reserving a soft spot for others doing the exact same things, e.g. Hindu NRIs who detest Trump but respect if not adore Modi.

Where is the fine line between loyalty to one’s own kind and complete cognitive dissonance? What drives it? How does one address it?

ChainFastingForPeace

FastingAgainstFascism

ResignAmitShah

FreeSanjivBhatt

ResignModi