On today’s two-part show, we get updates on issues facing the Indigenous peoples of India and Kashmir. Host Esty Dinur is joined by advocates Lokita Singha and Apekshita Varshney to talk about the violence being done to the Adivasi people and their mineral rich lands and by anthropologist Ather Zia who discusses the state of colonialism in Kashmir.

The Adivasi people make up about two-thirds of the population of Bastar, India. They are one of the most ancient tribal populations and they follow communitarian and sustainable practices, says Singha. They live in a highlands region covered in forests, and these mineral-rich lands are coveted by corporations and the state. Increasingly, the state is using militarized intervention to help mining companies make inroads in this region. Those who resist are being repressed, arbitrarily detained, and the state is also enacting sexual violence or killing Adivasis. Varshney says it’s important to build international awareness to pressure the Indian government to stop these acts of violence. 

In the second half of the show, Zia discusses the ongoing colonialism in Kashmir, following a deadly attack on tourists earlier this year. Zia says that in this disputed region, colonialism never ended, and that though Kashmiris have experienced some autonomy from India, they have still been seeking their own self-determination since 1947. In 2019, India eliminated much of the territorial sovereignty that existed in Kashmir and now Zia says the region is experiencing “settler colonialism on steroids.” The region is being heaviliy militarized, the environment is being destryed, and those writers who speak out are being suppressed. Zia asks, “What kind of colonial modernity have we accepted as democracy?”

Lotika Singha is a founder-member of International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF India), a collective of diasporic Indians from across the globe. InSAF India advocates for collective academic freedoms and building global solidarities with Indian and  international peoples’ movements for radical social, economic and ecological justice.

Apekshita Varshney is a campaigner with Ekō, a global corporate accountability organization.

Ather Zia is a political anthropologist, poet, short fiction writer, and columnist. She is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Gender Studies program at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. Ather is the author of Resisting Disappearances: Military Occupation and Women’s Activism in Kashmir. In addition, Ather is the founder and editor of Kashmir Lit and co-founder of the Critical Kashmir Studies Collective, an interdisciplinary network of scholars focused on the Kashmir region and is the co-editor of Cultural Anthropology.

Featured image of Adivasi women dancing via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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