Moderate Rebels episode 10 – Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton are joined by Indian activist Shehla Rashid Shora, a leader in the student movement and a prominent leftist organizer.
Shehla discusses the growing influence of Hindutva, the far-right Hindu nationalist movement, under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP, and the Nazi-inspired RSS.
We analyze the alliance between the far-right governments in the US, India, and Israel, which are all united in their anti-Muslim “war on terror.” And we highlight India’s abandonment of Palestine.
Shehla also speaks of her experiences growing up amid conflict in Kashmir, the constant struggle against caste, and communal violence against Muslims and Dalits.
We address the specter of fascism haunting not just India, but much of the world, and talk about how neoliberal capitalism has fueled these ultra-nationalist politics.
TOPICS
0:00 – 5:47 Intro
5:47 – 9:54 Kashmir, women’s rights, student activism
9:54 – 14:50 Anti-Muslim violence, Modi
14:50 – 34:29 Hindutva, RSS, Modi, fascism
34:29 – 41:02 Neoliberalism, capitalism, fascism
41:02 – 45:00 Youth in India
45:00 – 52:30 India’s foreign policy, Israel-Palestine, China
52:30 – 58:31 The “war on terror” in India and the US
58:31 – 1:10:26 Kashmir
1:10:26 – 1:12:01 End
Show Notes
Shehla Rashid Shora and the JNU Student Union
- Gulam Jeelani Gulam Jeelani, “Shehla Rashid, firebrand Kashmiri, leading JNU students’ fightback“, Hindustan Times, 20 February 2016
- Bhargavi Kulkarni, “Shehla Rashid: The face of India’s millennial resistance“, India Abroad, 10 November 2017
Hindutva
- Palash Ghosh, “Hindu Nationalist’s Historical Links to Nazism and Fascism“, International Business Times, 6 March 2012
- Harit Mehta, “In Modi’s Gujarat, Hitler is a textbook hero“, The Times of India, 30 September 2004
- RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar, We, or Our Nationhood Defined (PDF), 1939:
Every Nation has necessarily its own National Race, Religion and Language…
German race pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races—the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.
- “Inside an Indian camp for radical Hindu women“, BBC, 9 November 2014
- Achin Vanaik, The Rise of Hindu Authoritarian: Secular Claims, Communal Realities, Verso Books, 2017
Communal violence
- Delna Abraham, Ojaswi Rao, “86% killed in cow-related violence since 2010 are Muslim, 97% attacks after Modi govt came to power“, Hindustan Times, 16 July 2017
- “Muslim man shot dead by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar, body thrown onto railway tracks“, The New Indian Express, 12 November 2017
Israel and India
- “India takes part in first ever military drill with Israel“, Middle East Monitor, 14 November 2017
- Pramit Pal Chaudhury, “Israel likely to become India’s largest arms supplier“, 5 July 2017
- Anna Ahronheim, “Israeli firm inks historic $2 billion defense deal with India“, Jerusalem Post, 6 April 2017
- Yair Rosenberg, “In Historic Shift, India Abstains from United Nations Vote Condemning Israel: Move illustrates warming ties with Israel under Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, Tablet, 6 July 2015
Listen to Moderate Rebels episode 10
