Introducing AGITATE! Volume 5

Abdul Aijaz and Richa Nagar

The editorial introduction to AGITATE! Journal’s fifth volume—Stories and Ecologies of Violence: Walking Together in Solidarity and Silence/ Chup by Richa Nagar and Abdul Aijaz.

In the Absence of a Corpse

Soibam Haripriya

In this poem, Soibam Haripriya asks what we should we do in the absence of a corpse.

Buried Waters

Efadul Huq

Efadul Huq’s visual poem revisits journeys along Dhaka’s besieged rivers, where the silent struggle against land developers echoes through cracked lines traced from memories captured on the banks of Turag.

Act One: The Multan Railway Station

Abdul Aijaz

Reflecting on his journey with Chup, Abdul Aijaz writes about how stories come together in surprising ways.

Silence | CHUP

Fawad Khan

English translation of the script of CHUP | Silence by Fawad Khan.

Performing Chup: Resonance Across Borders

Fawad Khan, Tarun Kumar, Sunil Shanker, Parakh Theatre

Recordings of the performances of CHUP in Karachi (2018) and Bombay (2023).

चुप्पी की बोली: एक मंथन

Richa Nagar

Richa Nagar interweaves collective reflections of Parakh Theatre group and Chup’s audiences in Mumbai.
Roman transliteration by Gwendolyn Kirk & Richa Nagar.

Playing With Silence: Fawad Khan Speaks with Richa Nagar and Abdul Aijaz

Fawad Khan with Richa Nagar and Abdul Aijaz

Fawad Khan speaks to Richa Nagar and Abdul Aijaz about the journey of writing ‘Chup,’ bringing it to the stage given its critique of the oppressive state apparatuses, his vision and hope for art, and what the border-crossing by ‘Chup’ has meant for him.

Carrying Silences Across Borders: Tarun Kumar Speaks with Abdul Aijaz and Richa Nagar

Tarun Kumar with Abdul Aijaz and Richa Nagar

Tarun Kumar reflects on Parakh Theatre’s journey with Chup in the midst of the Pandemic and dwindling spaces of artistic freedom and expression in India, in this conversation with Abdul Aijaz and Richa Nagar.

A Haunting, Howling Chup: Literature and Ecology of Violence

Abdul Aijaz

Reflecting on Chup, Abdul Aijaz asks, “How do you tell a tale that resists narration and yet screams to be told? How do you weave a narrative around a ‘chup’ that  is haunted by what it cannot say. How to share a story that so clearly unveils what it does not tell?”

New Gaza

Marwan Makhoul and various translators

Marwan Makhoul’s poem ‘New Gaza’ with translations in various languages that have been organized by a transnational solidarity effort.

New Narratives of Old Wars: Testimonios from the Co-Madres of El Salvador

Heider Tun Tun, Ruby Steigerwald, and Inez Steigerwald

Heider Tun Tun, Ruby Steigerwald, and Inez Steigerwald write about how the testimonios of Co-Madres in El Salvador resist war narratives and break the conspiracy of silence about the scale of death, violence, and displacement during years of civil war in El Salvador.

Untitled

Ather Zia

A short story by Ather Zia set in Indian-occupied Kashmir where the Indian army routinely disappears Kashmiri men.

غزہ کی خُدائی | ग़ज़ा की ख़ुदाई | Ghaza’s World

عمران فیروز | Imran Feroze

Imran Feroze’s poem asks us to “Listen to the pleas of the dwellers of Ghaza, unsung, written in blood.”
English translation and Devanagari transliteration by Gwendolyn Kirk and Abdul Aijaz.

Poetics is Political: Politics and Poetics of Difference Across the Borders of the Nation-States

Papori Bora

Papori Bora highlights how the political condition of Palestine resonates with the Northeast (India)—a global interconnected history of violence of colonialism and its aftermath in the life and politics of postcolonial nation-states, shared in histories of modes of governance, militarization, racial projects, and capitalist development.

इंतिफ़ादा | Intifada | انتفادہ

अशोक कुमार पाण्डेय | Ashok Kumar Pandey

This poem by Ashok Kumar Pandey mediates on how hope and resistance stubbornly persists in Palestine.
English translation by Richa Nagar & Medha Muskan.
Transliteration in Nastaliq by Abdul Aijaz & Gwendolyn Kirk.

Amaithi as Stillness: Holding Palestine in the Batticaloa Justice Walk

The Batticaloa Justice Walk

In this interweaving of visuals, poetry, and collective reflection, the justice walkers from Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, express their feelings about the war in Palestine within the silence of their everyday walk of protest—a collective practice of reflection, protest, grieving, hope, and healing.