The most religious communities…

Produce the most backward thinking citizenry.

This is probably difficult for some people to internalize, perhaps even offensive for many to state out loud.

But it’s a truth that has, without fail, made itself apparent to me time and time again, over many decades.

Adults who have their religion be the end all and be all of their lives imprison their own minds.

And this is their right to do so.

But what is unacceptable, indeed downright immoral, is when the minds of children are imprisoned.

So…make no mistake.

Some of us will always hold the line.

We’re stubborn that way.

For this age of reason has soldiers.

Hindu supremacists of the diaspora cannot hide behind “model minority” status any more…

The activators of an ordinance in Seattle just highlighted a powerful path to expose Hindu supremacists worldwide, with the city becoming the first in the US to ban caste-based discrimination.

Oh, what a beautiful day.

This is a welcome move to blow the lid open on the privileged caste diaspora from the Indian subcontinent – the so-called “model minority” of the West. Hindu nationalists will cry foul. The rest of the world should tell them to shove it where the proverbial sun don’t shine. Just as it should with religious nationalists and feudal scum of any ilk.

But for this post, let’s stick with privileged caste Hindus, who overwhelmingly dominate the wealthy Indian diaspora worldwide (apart from dominating the most privileged socioeconomic strata in the subcontinent itself, regardless of religion).

Like any semi-feudal, historically oppressive social setup, those outside the goings-on rarely know how deep the rot is.

Ranks close very tight, you see.

Ask your average diasporic South Asian about caste, and I guarantee you that the level of defensiveness is directly proportional to their privilege in the caste pecking order. If they live in the wealthy western world, especially in a well-paying position, you can bet your bottom dollar they are almost certainly from one of the privileged castes (priestly, princely, business, or landed). You will see them flail around trying to deny caste oppression, minimize it, even defend it. Hell, recently it was discovered that there was deep rooted caste discrimination in companies and projects dominated by Indians…in Silicon friggin Valley. Imagine how bad it might be in the subcontinent?

As a member of one of these privileged castes, I know this only too well from the other side; Even when dealing with seemingly intelligent people. For example, the university I got my masters from had many Indian students who hailed from the vaunted Indian Institutes of Technology. I tried speaking to them about caste oppression and the reservation system that India implemented many decades prior to correct historical injustices. Their takes made me shudder. It was white fragility on steroids emerging from skinny-fat brown bodies who were good at math and, apparently, nothing else. It was so bad that it caused me to break up with someone I was dating at the time and distance myself from former friends. It’s also one of the principle reasons why I avoid the Hindu community here in America. Most of them are just too damn religious and casteist. (Come to think of it, I avoid insular people in general, so this is just par for the course.)

Now, if you happen to run into a Dalit within the diaspora, then you’re going to get the real picture. A picture that might provide a glimpse into the medieval, generational barbarism they are subjected to en masse; A system that Dr. Suraj Yengde, former Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, describes as the “prison of caste” – a prison that can’t be avoided overseas either.

Even liberal Hindus in the subcontinent or diaspora will balk at acknowledging caste oppression. Barring the odd rationalist or progressive, this is a community that is willfully ignorant, refusing any meaningful self-reflection around caste privileges. Those who rock the prevailing order are effectively banished, like yours truly.

Mind you, this is not too dissimilar from imbeciles clinging on to any form of religious nationalism or feudalism in other parts of the world. No one wants to highlight the crap they grew up with because it involves self-reflection. Humans seem fundamentally inclined to be defensive about the social norms they grew up with. This hinders social progress, because covertly or overtly, they ultimately end up defending misogyny, slavery, racism, and child abuse; All found in spades in the religious books that provide codified legitimacy for brutal oppression. From the Manusmriti and Bhagavad Gita to the Quran, Bible, and Torah – we find many modern day humans defending the indefensible in these barbaric books that were written to control feudal peasants.

It’s batshit insane and can’t stop fast enough.

The Gandhis Need To Listen To Kishor (With Kumar In Mind)

You cannot win if you are afraid to lose.

That’s what I hear Prashant Kishor trying to tell the Gandhi clan of the grand old party in his incisive interviews with NDTV and Mojo Story.

Soniaji, Rahulji, and Priyankaji, with all due respect, you would do well to listen to this guy. He wants your party to continue being a strong, viable democratic alternative to the obscurantism of the BJP.

PK correctly identified BJP’s tripartite, winning formula as the rhetoric of Hindutva and Nationalism, matched on the ground with Welfarism.

The Congress needs to fight that with its own formula; utilizing the rhetoric of India and Federalism, matched on the ground with Employment and Growth.

That’s your message. Hone it down and regionalize as you deem fit. But stop playing this foolhardy game of 100% defense. Own your goddamn legacy, you guilded cage progressives, and don’t be afraid to throw some fucking punches. There are many of us who’ve been fighting these fascists for decades without any of your feudal backup or old wealth; You owe those of us who’ve kept punching up at the BJP (even as we wait patiently for you to adjust your fighting stance).

As far as the party’s Prime Ministerial face? One who can fight good fights as the face of the party for multiple election cycles? An electioneering face who can also be the face of governance?

It has to be someone with Hindi as their native tongue. I say this as a South Indian, mind you; But there is no way anyone from the east or south can be that face right now (unless they’re chosen post-coalition-making, a la Deve Gowda). If the Congress is going with an electioneering face, they would do well with a person from the Hindi heartland, preferably Dalit or OBC but with a very generically Hindu last name. Preferably from central India because the political parties of the south and east will always, by and large, resist the BJP in their regions but can’t challenge them in the north. Only a native Hindi speaker from the Congress party can do that. So someone, say, of Bihari origin, but educated in Delhi. Someone who’s also a gifted orator, with salt-of-the-earth roots, possessing a razor sharp intellect. Someone who’s guaranteed to bring in the votes left of the Congress, but also someone who can be a strong opposition voice to a weakened BJP central government in 2024, thus creating the foundation to win electoral battles beyond 2024.

Yeah, the Congress ain’t winning in 2024. But it can do better than 2019. Much better in fact (if the trends of the recent mood of the nation survey are anything to go by).

To do that however, the party bosses have to listen to the Prashant Kishors of the world. And they need to realize that their political candidates are the Kanhaiya Kumars of the world. The only Gandhi with even half a chance is Priyanka, not Rahul. She is absolutely doing the right thing focusing on galvanizing the women’s vote, and it’s perhaps first viable for her to look at getting the CM’s chair in Uttar Pradesh before making a push for Delhi.

But not yet. Maybe after at least one more non-Gandhi gets a chance to be PM. There are a lot of people who distrust the Gandhis and the BJP alike; And the Congress can still win many over with the right moves and adequate ego adjustments by the party bosses.

Until then, take full reigns of the party and foster candidates who capture the imaginations of India’s diverse masses. Don’t forget the words below:

Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana

To put it more succinctly…

Fight.

Geopolitical Roundup (Drones Levelling Asymmetric Warfare Playing Field, UP Election Trends, and Indian Chaos vs. Hindutva)

Experimenting with a new format to produce an abridged geopolitical post with hypotheses and verifiable secondary sources for the reader to explore should they desire to do so.

My method of pop culture and geopolitical research, which has generally been the case for past pieces of such a nature, is as follows: When I take breaks from my daily responsibilities I watch/listen to either geopolitical podcasts, or mma videos, and occasionally will listen to a philosophy or popular science podcast (mostly to sound pretentious). I follow this up by looking up articles and papers when I have a moment to do so on the topics that interest me the most (usually when I have bouts of insomnia or when I’m on the crapper). I use these secondary sources as a way of bolstering the general hypotheses (written in bold, El-Cucuy style #champshitonly) that I dare to have about these issues.

Onward…

Drones Are Levelling The Asymmetric Warfare Playing Field In A Once In A Generation Way

Not unlike the bow & arrow or hand-held rifle, weaponized drones are a gamechanger for significantly disempowered geopolitical actors waging asymmetric warfare against vastly more powerful ones. Take groups like Yemen’s Houthi rebels fighting against a vastly more powerful Saudi-led coalition, or Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighting against the ridiculous military might of Israel. Drones even the playing field in a big way. They provide relatively inexpensive ways for the less powerful nation or group to bleed the wealthier, more powerful nation. This way they can accelerate ceasefire negotiations as equals across a diplomatic table.

There are other ways in which weaponized drones are changing the military game. Take two small, somewhat evenly matched states fighting over a swathe of territory like the recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Drones were an absolute game changer for Azerbaijan smashing Armenia. Or take two mismatched regional powers, like Israel and Iran, with Israel having far greater military power and geopolitical heft than Iran. Iran has nonetheless been able to challenge Israel, often toe-to-toe in proxy battle theaters, with its own drone warfare adding heft to their traditional proxies (and this despite Israel being the world leader in drone technology). Drones can be engineered or reverse-engineered by anyone. Like the Enfield bolt-action in the 19th century, or the AK-47 in the 20th century, there’s no question about it – drones are evening the asymmetric warfare playing field.

Uttar Pradesh Election 2022 Trends Suggest A Wounded But Victorious BJP (With A Likely Modi Victory In 2024)

It pains me to say this, but it seems that, while the BJP is going to be wounded by their attempts to sell out India’s farmers to the highest bidders, UP is not Punjab. Their Hindutva-Welfarism still holds currency among a sizeable chunk of the electorate, including their upper-caste Savarna base, and portions of the OBC and SC communities. The BJP is likely going to be the single biggest party, thought not with the 312 out of 403 seats they have now, but more likely in the early to mid 200s. The Samajwadi Party will come in second for damn sure, the question is whether they can run the BJP close, and this could well be possible with India’s age-old protections against fascism – chaos and competition – potentially affecting the BJP in India’s largest state. This might be the best case scenario for the parties trying to uproot the BJP; With the SP leading the anti-BJP coalition, and the RLD, BSP, and Congress as the three likely players in distant third, fourth, and fifth positions, but with potentially enough seats to put an SP-led coalition over the mark (with enough sops that is). This remains the less likely outcome, but really the only route for an opposition coalition to come to power. The likelier outcome is, as I mentioned, a wounded BJP government in Lucknow.

Funnily enough, a weaker Yogi government in UP might be a blessing in disguise for Modi and Shah to retain their thrones in Delhi come 2024. Modi does not want a powerful Yogi in UP; a powerful chief minister now nursing potential prime ministerial ambitions. I doubt Shah wants that either because with Yogi challenging Modi, Shah might never realize his own ambitions at the PMO – with a newly empowered Yogi doing to Shah, what a rising Modi did to Advani during the end of the Vajpayee-Advani era of the BJP. Right now, Shah is a clear second-in-command (and some would say he holds the real strings over Modi, though I think those speculations are exaggerated). Modi and Shah want to rule India for as long as they possibly can. They have a great working relationship, built on garnering power and no small amount of ideological unity points. Some might even say, it would be in their interests for a wounded Yogi to limp into power on a regional NDAesque coalition in UP. They are already cutting Yogi down to size (the party’s publicity images have Modi basically big-brothering a petulant Yogi in the staged photo-ops). The Modi acolytes can claim Modi did all he could to save Yogi from embarrassment (and they would be partially right), Modi and Shah can launch a concerted bid for 2024 having successfully played defense in 2022. It is a sobering thought, but it is important, as someone who’s trying to adhere to reason and rationality, to remain true to facts. It’s quite possible that the BJP have to drive India further down the toilet than they already have for them to lose power at the center. They are well capable of that as their hubris and megalomania seems to have few limits. It will eventually lead to their downfall, but I think they still have a few more years in them. The Savarna middle classes of North India, and some other parts of the country, have also expressed a bafflingly undying loyalty for the BJP that can be classified as nothing other than a sociopathic mass delusion. I would be thrilled beyond belief if they got smashed, but I just don’t see that happening…yet.

And Finally, Chaos – Of The Caste And Regional Kind – Will Always Resist Hindutva

I have said it before. The caste, clan, linguistic, and regional identities of India will always be resistant to any homogenizing Hindu nationalist project. They will be bought over and will be negotiated with, but they will never give in to the homogenization. Not because of some higher morality. Far from it. It’s because there is too much entrenched power, cultural and political, behind these identities. There are too many vested socioeconomic interests preventing people and communities from being homogenized into some shallow fascist project (in a country where even the fascists can’t stop themselves from developing a crabs-in-a-bucket mentality). This doesn’t mean mini pogroms or mini projects of cultural genocide and ethnic persecution won’t keep happening. They will. But I think there is far more rational, organic resistance to Hindutva than your average, bratty English-speaking, progressive might give credence to.

(I’m trying to do better.)

Roundup over.

References:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/18/houthi-drone-attack-exposes-uae-vulnerabilities-in-region

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2021/11/11/new-missile-order-reveals-true-cost-of-assymnetric-drone-war/?sh=7fe7d5b616f2

Drone Technology Driving Iran’s Asymmetric Warfare – Analysis

Drones A Game Changer In Nagorno-Karabakh

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2022/01/07/Israeli-security-says-downed-drones-show-Hezbollah-surveillance-

https://www.business-standard.com/article/elections/up-polls-bookies-give-230-seats-to-bjp-in-early-trends-130-to-sp-122011901285_1.html

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/opinion-poll-shows-bjp-win-in-up-uttarakhand-goa-hung-assembly-in-punjab-101633748008212.html

https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/2022-up-elections-bjps-welfarism-hindutva-model-has-struck-a-chord-with-rural-voters-4448555.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59979808

https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/up-polls-obc-churns-lesson-for-bjp-shed-the-upper-caste-mindset

https://www.firstpost.com/politics/up-assembly-elections-bjp-to-woo-voters-by-releasing-180-page-booklet-highlighting-its-achievements-10304601.html

https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/uttar-pradesh-assembly-elections-defections-ministers-aparna-yadav-samajwadi-party-akhilesh-yadav-yogi-adityanath/2411528/

Raja Beta…more like Raja Chutiya

Savarna Hindu culture has some of the oldest traditions of misogyny and sexism.

(and they probably don’t like talking about it when bringing up the thousands of years of great Hindu culture they like to celebrate…)

Your average upper caste Hindu male in all likelihood has had a pathetic, soft upbringing while being socially feted for achieving precious little other than being born with a penis.

Raja Beta, so the culture projects…

Raja, king. Beta, son.

Oh, have I mentioned that India is ranked 140 (and falling) in the gender gap index?

Yes indeed.

There are only 156 countries that are ranked, so there’s really not that far to go before the country hits rock fucking bottom.

Holy fucking regression, Batman!

*sigh*

You know, there are many reasons Sus and I choose to raise our family in America. It’s a helluva nicer life with more liberal social moors.

But above all, the single biggest reason is because America, while not perfect by any stretch of imagination, is far, far better for women and girls on average than India is. More freedom, greater opportunities, and lesser inequality.

The misogyny and sexism in India is off the charts.

Sorry raja betas… y’all a bunch of sociopathic little shits and you’re dragging the country down with your insecurities and ignominies.

Raja beta…pfft

Raja chutiye hai sab.

Arrey…

Sab savarna manuwadi chutiyapan se hua he.

Kaun hai ye andh bhakt log… desh barbaad kar rahe hai…haraam zaadey scumbag chutiye bastards.

Fuck ’em.

No surrender.

The Myth of the Indian-American “Model Minority” (more like bratty 5 percenters from the subcontinent…)

Ask your average American, indeed your average Westerner, and they will likely have a positive viewpoint of the Indian diaspora – hardworking, generally smart, and with good family values.

They probably don’t know that your average Indian American very likely comes from a soft, privileged, upbringing, having internalized the kinds of everyday racism that we last saw in the developed West decades, if not centuries, ago.

(Oh, just ask any NRI, especially those in high falutin’ jobs, about his or her caste and watch them fumble and flail around like a beached salmon.)

The lay American probably doesn’t know that your average immigrant from India almost certainly grew up with domestic help; Domestic help (still called “servants” by the family btw) who were from significantly more oppressed castes; Domestic help who were likely far more undernourished than their Savarna employers (whom they still often have to refer to as “master” in the local dialect.) Savarna caste members are, how to put this delicately, quite blatantly honest about their feelings of caste supremacy.

Indeed, watch your average period film showcasing slave-owner households in pre-Civil War America, and I can tell ya, it doesn’t look a whole lot different than your average Brahmin-Baniya household in India today.

In case y’all wondering how I know this shit…ah well, it is to my great shame that I must admit to coming from such a community of Savarna Hindus – i.e. so-called “upper” caste Hindus (the ones with the most vociferous victimhood complex.)

‘tis why English is my native tongue, and why I’m a dual American-Canadian citizen, leading the underachieving life of a soft, privileged NRI.

Takes one to know one you see…

Let me exemplify my point with some numbers and nuggets of information from folks who are much smarter and harder working than yours truly.

With the backdrop of a legal case that revealed despicable casteist practices by Savarna Hindus in America’s Silicon Valley no less, Yashica Dutt (herself a Silicon Valley engineer and author of the critical, best-selling memoir, ‘Coming Out as a Dalit’) asserts thus in a gut-wrenching opinion piece for the New York Times:

“The overwhelmingly higher-caste Indian-American community is seen as a “model minority” with more than an average $100,000 median income and rising cultural and political visibility. But it has engendered a narrative that is as diabolical as it is in India: insisting that they live in a “post-caste world” while simultaneously upholding its hierarchical framework that benefits the higher-caste people.

Ranging from seemingly harmless calls for “vegetarian-only roommates” (an easy way to assert caste purity), caste-based temple networks that automatically exclude “impure” Dalits, and the more overt and dangerous arm twisting of American norms — right-wing Hindu activist organizations tried to remove any mention of caste from California’s textbooks in 2018 — caste supremacy is fiercely defended, almost as a core tenet of Indian Hindu culture.”

This is hardly surprising when you consider that “over 90% of migrants” from India to America came from dominant castes, i.e. Savarna castes, as shown in a 2016 OUP study, ‘The Other One Percent: Indians in America’ undertaken by Chakravorty, Kapur, and Singh.

Hell, when you consider that barely 3% of the Indian population has been on a goddamn airplane, and all privileged castes put together are barely 15% of the population, you can do the math and come to realize that even among the wealthier castes in India, there’s still competition to get on them precious flights out of the country (only to then celebrate a fascist leader who has led India down the toilet but that’s a discussion for a different day.)

Of course, not only is there this myth of the model-minority Indian-American, there is also oodles of insecurity…manifested by rape and death threats to anyone (in India or abroad) who dares question the sanctity of Savarna Hinduism.

One can only imagine the kind of vile filth that Yashica Dutt’s inbox and messages must have been subject to after she wrote her memoir.

If the experiences of Thenmozhi Soundararajan are anything to go by, it’s a sobering thought. In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, she narrates:

“In the United States, caste does not operate with the same virulence as in our countries of origin. But the diaspora has seen our share of structural and interpersonal caste violence. I have experienced caste discrimination here: casteist slurs, untouchability practiced on me and my family, and aggression from police while protesting for our rights. When I came out as a Dalit-American woman, I faced rape and death threats that were part of campaigns to intimidate me. This violence forces many caste-oppressed people into silence.” (emphasis mine)

Ask anyone who has dared to speak ill of the Hindu nationalists, and they will tell you similar stories of such vile, despicable threats. (For crying out loud, I’m a veritable nobody with 64 followers currently on my blog, one of them being an alias of mine, and even I have gotten threats. One can only imagine what genuinely influential voices are undergoing on a regular basis. I shudder to think about it…)

The model-minority spin that the majority of Indian Americans and other members of the Indian diaspora, especially those who come from privileged caste backgrounds, put forward needs to be revealed for what it truly is. Enough is enough. As Dr. Suraj Yengde writes:

“We need to know the numbers of the beneficiaries of the caste system as well. Without this, the SC, ST census is akin to counting the protected species in a jungle.”

The lid needs to be thrown open, else historical caste oppression will never be dismantled in India. Your average NRI likely comes from a privileged, ruling caste background, whilst carrying around a gargantuan victimhood complex. We need self-reflection, not self-praise. And we need to use our privileges to expose the vile garbage and sickness that is enmeshed in our history.

The greatest hypocrisy of it all is that we’ll gleefully accept the goodies of model minority status in America and the West, while forgetting that our lives were led like semi-feudal, semi-colonial lords back in India.

We’ll put out tweets and posts supporting Black Lives Matter but barely even acknowledge the significantly worse atrocities towards oppressed minorities in India.

It’s nothing if not downright shameful.

(But not to worry, I’m sure there’s a festival celebrating Holi or Diwali at your local mall, for NRIs to eat junk food and watch shoddy artistic performances…all while celebrating their great “culture”…sab changaazi indeed.)

References:

Opinion | The Specter of Caste in Silicon Valley – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Preface-The-Other-One-Percent-page-proofs.pdf (temple.edu)

All Come to Look for America | Lifestyle News,The Indian Express

SpiceJet CEO: Only 2 or 3 % of Indians fly – Rediff.com Business

In the Memoir of One Young Woman, the Story of Indian Racism (thewire.in)

Opinion | California’s lawsuit against Cisco shines a light on caste discrimination in the U.S. and around the world – The Washington Post

Hindu nationalists target U.S.-based scholars over ’Dismantling Global Hindutva’ conference – The Washington Post

Suraj Yengde writes: We need to know the numbers of the beneficiaries of the caste system as well. (indianexpress.com)

Dear Indian Diaspora, We Need to Talk About Caste | Varsity

Gender Equality = Development (or so Sidney Deane paraphrased to Billy Hoyle)

This map says it all…

Take a good look at that world map above.

It’s based on the gender disparity index by the UNDP, published in 2020, with data collected in 2019. It’s unlikely to have changed much since the pandemic. If anything, it’s probably gotten worse.

You don’t need to be a genius to see, as clear as day, that people in the greener-tinged countries (i.e. with greater gender equality) have it better than countries that are red-tinged. Not just women. Everyone.

For the most part this is also an indicator of godlessness and obscurantism, or rather lack thereof. The countries in green are trending towards rationalism, agnosticism, secularism, reason, and science. The countries in red…well, they’re seriously falling behind the curve if you think about it.

They need to catch up if our global civilization is to have a chance.

Before people accuse me of Eurocentric bias (my younger self included), I acknowledge colonialism, imperialism, and the very real fact that there is shit to be dealt with everywhere. We are all going down with this ship we call humanity.

But there’s no denying that some places have more shit to deal with than others. Precious few can argue against the fact that nationalism and religion are the breeding grounds for gender inequality. Fewer still can argue against the fact that gender inequality results in shittier, more violent societies, with stunted economies.

Not good for any of us.

I repeat. We don’t need genius solutions. We’ve known this a long time. You want a strong economy and a liberal society? You want resilient communities who can survive the coming storms? Stop waving your flags. Stop worshipping your gods. Just destroy the fucking patriarchy.

As a species it’s the only chance we’ve got…

I shall leave you with this clip from a great epic of my time, where a wise philosophizing baller provides the best solution for the world’s problems:

***

References:

“Human Development Report 2020 – Table 5: Gender Inequality Index” – United Nations Development Programme. (http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII)

Map was created by Asus2004 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 – Wikimedia Commons. (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99155585)

“White Men Can’t Jump” (1992) – 20th Century Fox

Is India A FAILED STATE Under The BJP? (2014-2021 Rankings Suggests YES)

Let the numbers be the judge…

All of you who voted for the BJP;

Who voted for obscurantist nationalism and religious pride.

TWICE.

You are responsible.

Don’t look away, coward.

Look at the numbers. LOOK AT THEM.

2014 to 2021 under the BJP…

55 to 101 in hunger. (Your Hindutva ideals haven’t solved hunger. HUNGER!!! You egomaniacal fools.)

27 to 53 in democracy (World’s largest democracy? People in banana republics are laughing at India.)

140 to 142 in press freedom (Two words…godi media.)

114 to 140 in the gender gap (Misogyny is finding great support in India these days it seems.)

112 to 139 in the happiness index (Does happiness stand much of a chance when you consider the above?)

Thus, I repeat…

All of you who voted for the BJP;

Who voted for obscurantist nationalism and religious pride.

TWICE.

You are responsible.

Wallow in your shame.

Reflect on your mistake.

Then do better…

As a member of the Indian diaspora today…

one survives the madness only by looking forward.

It doesn’t feel great to be from the subcontinent these days.

With the ongoing mad rise of fascist, autocratic states, it doesn’t feel great to be human even.

But it feels particularly acute with the country of my birth.

The most powerful classes and communities in India and the Diaspora are descending into utter, obscurantist tragedy.

Friends and relatives included; Ones I couldn’t have imagined.

Supporting an irrational, nationalist political ideology that has seen the country plummet in pretty much every criteria of human development. From democracy to food security, from health to gender equality, it’s never looked this bad in India for quite a while.

Still the nationalists cheer and dance; While the autocrats loot and pilfer.

I feel lost as I see this mass psychosis unfold before me.

Lost and helpless.

All I can do is keep looking forward.

In hope…

Adapting Massoud Sr’s 4-phase strategy of attritional liberation for 2021

This is a layman position paper.

Ahmad Shah Massoud’s 4-phase strategy has great validity for the current struggle that the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan is waging to bring about a more moderate Islamic republic with greater rights for women and minorities. They struggle against the more hardline Islamic emirate that the Taliban is currently establishing by force, something Massoud Sr stood staunchly against.

It feels like this attritional battle can be won via popular support for a moderate Islamic republic, by doing two things: (a) ensuring that aspirational hope for choice and opportunity is internalized by the the average Afghan, and (b) ensuring the same average Afghan realizes that a moderate Islamic republic is the way to achieve this as opposed to the misogynistic autocracy of the Taliban. Massoud Sr’s strategy provides a great blueprint to achieving this.

{First, a note for naysayers who suggest that the NRFA shouldn’t be supported because it’s got the likely support of the CIA, or that it has corrupt warlords among its alliance: This world is not perfect and striving for perfectionism is a fools errand. This is a battle against a misogynistic feudal autocracy. It is going on across the subcontinent. It is not Afghanistan’s problem alone, and no doubt we must be wary of one fascist using another fascist to hide their own human rights violations. For instance, those gleeful Hindutwadis who look at what’s going in Afghanistan with sick delight are the same people who support the Hindu Taliban in India, and their misogynistic feudal autocracy in states like Uttar Pradesh. So this fight against religious fundamentalist ideologies like Salaffism, Wahabbism, Savarna Manuwadism, Baniya-Brahminism, and other obscurantist garbage is pretty pan-subcontinent.}

Anyway, back to the Lion of Panjshir and his strategy…

With each phase of Massoud Sr’s strategic plan, comes distinct advantages and challenges in today’s global context. The two biggest possible differences in the last 40 years are: (1) the rapid spread and anarchic democratization of digital communication, along with (2) the multi-polarity of imperial capital.

Let us address each of the four phases of Massoud Sr’s ultimately successful plan, keeping in mind these two critical geopolitical shifts:

Phase 1 – Establish a popularly based resistance front that has the loyalty of the people. For the sake of establishing a usable framework, I’m going to assume that the NRFA is in this current phase and building towards Phase 2. Here, like Massoud Sr did in the 80s and 90s, it would be absolutely critical for the NRFA to utilize its rank and file to prove that life for the average Afghan will be materially, spiritually, and socially better under the moderate Islamic republic governance of the various parties under the NRFA, as opposed to the hardline autocracy of the Taliban. Training of a popular peoples army, which is already likely underway, is done in this phase. For 2021 in the age of social media, it feels like non-violent, civil disobedience actions in other parts of Afghanistan are an absolute must via the activation of disaffected groups there, including tribal factions who are getting hammered by the Taliban, minorities, democracy-seekers, and religious moderates.

Phase 2 – “Active defense” of the Panjshir stronghold, while carrying out asymmetric warfare. It is also quite possible that the factions of the NRFA are already variously in this phase. Massoud Sr essentially established a strategy of liberate-consolidate-repeat in a district by district manner. This is akin to many guerilla strategies of popular liberation across the world, but Massoud Sr necessarily had to make it bespoke to the specifics of the region’s objective conditions and subjective forces. So once Panjshir is firmly established as a liberated zone (and thus in Phase 2 or 3) Phase 1 is conducted by the NRFA in geographically and socially contiguous regions. Here, for 2021, I believe the usage of international solidarity groups from across the world would be of significant benefit to the resistance. Internationals are generally more protected than locals in terms of upping the ante on the rhetoric against fascist regimes and publicizing the atrocities of those regimes on social media. I have been a Palestine-solidarity activist for a long time and have personally seen the social landscape shift in America with the consistent usage of solidarity visits and actions. It has been a game changer in the movement and has essentially cornered Israel (a staunch American ally no less) into being seen, correctly, as a fascist state. With the NRFA and Afghanistan however, I believe it would be more prudent to organize solidarity visits from Muslim-majority countries, especially moderate regimes who also have a lot of sway with the more hardline regimes, including the explicitly fascist ones, who are either supporting the Taliban or playing the waiting game.

Phase 3 – “Strategic offensive” phase which seeks to gain control of large parts of Northern Afghanistan. Massoud Sr established the Northern Alliance as the counterweight to the Taliban in this phase. In 2021, this absolutely must include demonstrations, civil disobedience, and agitations specifically calling for a nationwide election, which the Taliban can participate in as a political party. The “Northern Alliance” of 2021 is the “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” with Saleh as its current caretaker president. Needless to say, there needs to be a specific shift in the Panjshir leadership of Saleh, Massoud, and Khan to equally promoting strong, popular leaders into a cohort of sorts that can run in general elections. It cannot just be the Panjshir Resistance or Northern strongmen, but it must legitimately be representative of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for it to have any chance of uprooting the Taliban.

Phase 4 – “General application” of phases towards regaining control of the whole country using similar tactics. In 2021, it feels like this has to be done in as democratic a way as possible, no matter how corrupt and shoddy that democratic process is. In other words, once enough provinces have been liberated, those members of the NRFA who wish to establish a moderate Islamic republic in Afghanistan need to provide adequate governance to those provinces that have been liberated, while calling for immediate nationwide elections. They then have to win a majority of those elections, and reduce the Taliban to a political party, albeit a likely very powerful one. The Taliban have to be cornered into accepting some kind of tribal democracy, with a likely stalemate for a while where the Taliban controls some provinces, while other provinces of Afghanistan controlled by moderate parties, establishing some greater freedoms for women and minorities. Equally importantly is to play up the infighting factions of the Taliban against one another via temporary, tactical alliances – through phases 3 and 4.

Again, not perfect, but better for the people by at least giving them options of choosing a moderate Islamic society to live in or a hardline one. This can be achieved through the strategic use of international capital interests, social media, and, most importantly, establishing the resistance as the popular aspirational hope of the average Afghan. Doesn’t sound romantic, but it has proven to be effective.

Because you know who else is doing that to great effect?

The Taliban.