AGITATE Now!
Dear Rohith…
By Ponni Arasu This letter is part of Holding Movements, Agitating Epistemes: A Multipart Series On Remembering, Retelling, And Dreaming For Justice co-convened and co-edited by Richa Nagar and Ponni Arasu. I dedicate this piece to Radhika Vemula, Rohith Vemula’s mother and to A. Mangai aka V. Padma, my mother. Two women who fight for…
For Life, When Death Crumbles
By Sima Shakhsari Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a 22-year old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in the hospital on September 16, 2022, three days after being arrested by the Iranian Guidance Patrol (also known as the “morality police” in English ) for her alleged “improper hijab.” Her murder became the mobilizing cry for the massive protests that have…
Woman Life Freedom: A Panel on the Protests in Iran
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died while in the custody of the Iranian Guidance Patrol, has become the symbol of the massive protests in Iran. Iranian women have been in the forefront of the protests, removing their hijabs and/or cutting their hair. In this conversation, Professors Yalda Hamidi, Minoo Moallem, and Fatemeh…
On the protests in Iran
By Sima Shakhsari 23 September 2022 I got an interview request by a journalist from Switzerland and these are the questions: “My main question is why autocrats, including the Iranian regime, fear women and queer movements/activism and perceive them as a threat to their survival. Why is there a need to control women’s bodies? What…
AGITATE! As Creative Commons: AGITATE! Editorial Collective Speaks to Nancy Sims
This interview was compiled by Nancy Sims, Copyright Program Librarian at the University of Minnesota for Against the Grain. It was published in the Charleston Hub on November 30, 2021. AGITATE! Editorial Collective members Keavy McFadden, Richa Nagar, Sara Musaifer, Emina Bužinkić, Nithya Rajan, Sima Shakhsari, and Samira Musleh participated in the interview. Introducing AGITATE!…
Demolition Politics in India: An Anti-Muslim, Anti-Dissent Strategy
By AGITATE! Editorial Collective In the past few months, the Indian state under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has weaponized yet another mechanism of terror as part of its virulent anti-Muslim pogrom: the demolition of Muslim homes. Since coming to power in 2014, but especially after it was reelected in the 2019 elections, the BJP…
Life, War, and Everything Else
By Roksana Bahramitash Long ago, I took refuge from a war and settled in the unceded land of Kanien’kehá:ka Nation. I now live in Tiohtià:ke, known as Montreal, and at times feel like I am an accomplice by default, with the white European settlers. ********* I left Iran, a country, where the sunflowers of my…
Shimu–Made in Bangladesh: A story of women’s struggles
By Elora Halim Chowdhury Rubaiyat Hossain’s Shimu—Made in Bangladesh,[1]Shimu—Made in Bangladesh was jointly produced by France, Denmark, Portugal, and Bangladesh. The main financing came from international grants from CNC, Eurimages, Sørfond+, and the Danish Film … Continue reading which had made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, finally had its premiere in…
Doing History Through Art: The story of the green glasses
By Kamala Vasuki and Ponni Arasu *This is the second offering by Ponni Arasu and Kamala Vasuki in the Doing History Through Art cluster of the multi-part series Holding Movements, Agitating Epistemes: Remembering, Retelling, and Dreaming for Justice convened and co-edited by Richa Nagar and Ponni Arasu.* Vasuki and I are living through the worst…
On access to housing, anti-capitalist struggles, decolonization and mothering in the Balkans
A conversation with Ana Vilenica This conversation with Ana Vilenica is a part of the new series of contributions titled Voices from the Balkans: Unsettling the politics of divide. The series is organized and curated by Emina Bužinkić, AGITATE! Editorial Collective Member. Emina: Ana, I stand in awe of your work, of how thoughtfully woven…