Arsh K.S
Words, surface, marks
To find these lines in a snapshot on Instagram, or perhaps a small poetry book, as you may - attests to the possibilities that the written word is recognised to command - even if, as in the former case, it is presented in the form of a picture. And is this not Wittgenstein's perspective? Of an association between images, at its essence, a relation, that we call language? But a relation between what; here is where the authority of a master mediates between a poet and the surface which bears his marks. But is this to concede that the master exists? Folly for certain! None could believe such childish gibberish today! And yet, the child who screams in anger was perhaps as mature, as a soul as he ever will be.
18 Theses on the Reactionary
In times such as these, with the ascent of reactionary politics the world over our capacity to grasp what is progressive hinges on our ability to identify that which is not so. Ambiguity here, under the many blanket categories that it uses, such as ‘gas-lighting’, manipulation, or intimidation no longer cut it as while generically accurate they do not depict the situational intervention which characterizes the act of the reactionary. This is not a demonology for the writer identifies in himself, as he is sure, with all others, the utility of a circumspect distance which a subject may choose to withhold for themselves when encountering that which is new or strange. The terms used to apprehend this however are, as is characteristic, often inhibitions, expressions of mock-shock, outrage, and complacency afforded only by a position or station in one’s life that facilitates a relation with labour as a means of rent. For such is how capitalist relations in India, on the 6th of May, 2021, amidst a global Coronavirus pandemic yet remain. In these circumstances I believe it is important to identify the stance, mood, apprehensions, inclinations, and perhaps even the beliefs that characterize the reactionary in their grasp of a world which does not abide by their categories. And, to this end, I present the following theses.
The difference between sublation and subsumption
The Oxford English dictionary defines sublation as - 'assimilate (a smaller entity) into a larger one.' The example of its use in a sentence provided is "fragmented aspects of the self the subject is unable to sublate".Here, I think it is important to point out the common Anglo-Saxon conflation of sublation and subsumption.
On the difficulty of interpretation
It is not easy to posit a reason or cause when faced with misfortune, even if the degree is relatively minor. The term gaslighting has been used to describe what in college campuses are occasionally referred to as microaggressions. The way these are treated tend to range from outright dismissal, as is often the case when the perspective which deems it such may have confronted rather more direct or abusive forms of violence. Or they are incorporated into what is commonly understood as the culture of a campus or milieu.
'Pew' by Catherine Lacey
An unnamed protagonist, if this word is still suitable for the character in question, is found on the Pew of a church, asleep. The service awakens her, I presume the gender, and she is shown kindness by a family who takes her in.
Response to 'Zombie Apocalypse and How Not to End Capitalism'
You can find the original essay in this link - https://radicalnotes.org/2016/05/18/zombie-apocalypse-and-how-not-to-end-capitalism/
Review of 'Neoliberalism and Hindutva' by Shankar Gopalakrishnan
I had written this review four years ago and the events of the subsequent years have further emphasised how important this book is. Today we are in the midst of a set of coordinates that are accurately placed forth in Shankar Gopalakrishnan’s Neoliberalism and Hindutva: Fascism, Free Markets and the Restructuring of Indian Capitalism (2009). The aftermath of the 2014 (and now 2019) general elections in India have been most ominous with a rise in hate crimes against communities and the entrenchment of moral police at multiple levels of our social reality, be it the media, in educational institutions and in the streets. I strongly feel these conditions have ossified after the mandate received by the BJP in the 2019 general elections.
Children ask bleak questions
Children ask bleak questions. ‘What is worse than death?” Unfreedom perhaps. But a child knows that rare feeling of being attached to sorrow -
