The Polis Project
@thepolisproject.bsky.social
NY-based digital magazine documenting communities in resistance at the intersection of politics, art & culture. 501(c)(3)
The story of Kerala is often narrated through numbers: 100% literacy, less than 0.5% absolute poverty, the highest life expectancy in the country, and the lowest infant mortality rate. But these numbers conceal rising inequality, debt-led consumption, mass internal migration, ecological precarity.
November 5, 2025 at 9:52 AM
The story of Kerala is often narrated through numbers: 100% literacy, less than 0.5% absolute poverty, the highest life expectancy in the country, and the lowest infant mortality rate. But these numbers conceal rising inequality, debt-led consumption, mass internal migration, ecological precarity.
Mumbai, pull up! In his new book, scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde turns 31 months behind bars into a searing account of caste, class, cruelty, and the human bonds within India’s broken prison system.
Join us for the book launch.
Join us for the book launch.
October 22, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Mumbai, pull up! In his new book, scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde turns 31 months behind bars into a searing account of caste, class, cruelty, and the human bonds within India’s broken prison system.
Join us for the book launch.
Join us for the book launch.
On October 3, 2025, Italy shut down. Trains stopped running, ports closed, and highways were blocked as 2 million people joined the largest general strike in recent history. The following day, more than a million marched in Rome. The reason was Palestine.
October 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
On October 3, 2025, Italy shut down. Trains stopped running, ports closed, and highways were blocked as 2 million people joined the largest general strike in recent history. The following day, more than a million marched in Rome. The reason was Palestine.
At the edges of the Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza, Sadiqa Abu Hashish, 23, sits inside a tattered tent, holding her three-year-old daughter. She fled with her children from northern Gaza in February 2024, joining the millions displaced by Israel’s war on the region.
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 AM
At the edges of the Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza, Sadiqa Abu Hashish, 23, sits inside a tattered tent, holding her three-year-old daughter. She fled with her children from northern Gaza in February 2024, joining the millions displaced by Israel’s war on the region.
Nothing shocks us anymore, presumably because we have been anesthetized for far too long. The tragic reality of our present is not that we are being lied to or kept in the dark; it is far stranger and darker: we know that things are going horribly wrong, but we are not able to do anything about it.
October 16, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Nothing shocks us anymore, presumably because we have been anesthetized for far too long. The tragic reality of our present is not that we are being lied to or kept in the dark; it is far stranger and darker: we know that things are going horribly wrong, but we are not able to do anything about it.
In 2023, I had a tough time locating online links to some key citations for an essay. Links to most articles were broken, and the websites did not work. It seemed that most of the archival data I was looking for had either been erased or replaced.
October 15, 2025 at 6:15 AM
In 2023, I had a tough time locating online links to some key citations for an essay. Links to most articles were broken, and the websites did not work. It seemed that most of the archival data I was looking for had either been erased or replaced.
Today is scholar, writer, and human rights activist, G. N. Saibaba’s, death anniversary. After 3,592 days in prison and only 219 days of freedom, he died in Hyderabad on October 12, 2024. He was born in a peasant family in rural Andhra Pradesh and paralysed by polio at age five.
October 13, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Today is scholar, writer, and human rights activist, G. N. Saibaba’s, death anniversary. After 3,592 days in prison and only 219 days of freedom, he died in Hyderabad on October 12, 2024. He was born in a peasant family in rural Andhra Pradesh and paralysed by polio at age five.
On July 21, 2025, the Bombay High Court delivered justice to a dead man. Kamaal Ahmed Ansari had already perished behind bars, his spirit crushed by nearly two decades of juridical indifference. The court quashed earlier convictions of all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai local train bombings.
October 7, 2025 at 7:36 AM
On July 21, 2025, the Bombay High Court delivered justice to a dead man. Kamaal Ahmed Ansari had already perished behind bars, his spirit crushed by nearly two decades of juridical indifference. The court quashed earlier convictions of all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai local train bombings.
On a November morning last year, two dozen Delhi University students stood outside Nirman Bhawan, demanding a concessional pass for the Delhi Metro. By noon, police had detained more than thirty of them. How did Delhi build a metro that remains unaffordable for the workers who keep the city running?
October 7, 2025 at 7:31 AM
On a November morning last year, two dozen Delhi University students stood outside Nirman Bhawan, demanding a concessional pass for the Delhi Metro. By noon, police had detained more than thirty of them. How did Delhi build a metro that remains unaffordable for the workers who keep the city running?
A section of Tamil cinema is undoing the culinary worldviews of the past. Popular Tamil films like Blue Star and Nandhan have stretched the boundaries of what is showable food on screen. Close-up visuals of pork and beef are a big deal because meat eating is directly linked to caste.
October 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
A section of Tamil cinema is undoing the culinary worldviews of the past. Popular Tamil films like Blue Star and Nandhan have stretched the boundaries of what is showable food on screen. Close-up visuals of pork and beef are a big deal because meat eating is directly linked to caste.
TOMORROW — Varsha Bharath, director of ‘Bad Girl’, joins host Suchitra Vijayan and guest host Aditya Shrikrishna. She brings along five objects that have shaped her life and work.
WHEN: Tomorrow, September 29
TIME: 10 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST
WHERE: YouTube
Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5-objects-...
WHEN: Tomorrow, September 29
TIME: 10 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST
WHERE: YouTube
Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5-objects-...
5 Objects with Varsha Bharath
Director of 'Bad Girls', Varsha Bharath, joins host Suchitra Vijayan and guest host Aditya Shrikrishna on Polis' 5 Obejcts podcast.
www.eventbrite.com
September 28, 2025 at 1:22 PM
TOMORROW — Varsha Bharath, director of ‘Bad Girl’, joins host Suchitra Vijayan and guest host Aditya Shrikrishna. She brings along five objects that have shaped her life and work.
WHEN: Tomorrow, September 29
TIME: 10 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST
WHERE: YouTube
Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5-objects-...
WHEN: Tomorrow, September 29
TIME: 10 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST
WHERE: YouTube
Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5-objects-...
Septuagenarian Tapan Chatterjee is one of the last living survivors of a daring attempt by political prisoners to break free from the “condemned” cells of a notorious Indian jail. 16 of his comrades were gunned down. Chatterjee is now the only surviving witness to this chapter of Naxalite history.
September 22, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Septuagenarian Tapan Chatterjee is one of the last living survivors of a daring attempt by political prisoners to break free from the “condemned” cells of a notorious Indian jail. 16 of his comrades were gunned down. Chatterjee is now the only surviving witness to this chapter of Naxalite history.
September 11, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Suchitra and Vaniya will discuss how technology companies have become active collaborators in systems of occupation, apartheid, and genocide. From AI surveillance and predictive policing to cloud infrastructure for military logistics, Big Tech has become indispensable to Israel’s genocide.
September 9, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Suchitra and Vaniya will discuss how technology companies have become active collaborators in systems of occupation, apartheid, and genocide. From AI surveillance and predictive policing to cloud infrastructure for military logistics, Big Tech has become indispensable to Israel’s genocide.
Call for Volunteers in New York City
The Polis Project is a New York–based global magazine of dissent. In the past, we’ve hosted lecture series such as Dissent in Dangerous Times. We’ve held James Baldwin reading clubs, screenings and conversations with award-winning filmmakers.
The Polis Project is a New York–based global magazine of dissent. In the past, we’ve hosted lecture series such as Dissent in Dangerous Times. We’ve held James Baldwin reading clubs, screenings and conversations with award-winning filmmakers.
September 1, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Call for Volunteers in New York City
The Polis Project is a New York–based global magazine of dissent. In the past, we’ve hosted lecture series such as Dissent in Dangerous Times. We’ve held James Baldwin reading clubs, screenings and conversations with award-winning filmmakers.
The Polis Project is a New York–based global magazine of dissent. In the past, we’ve hosted lecture series such as Dissent in Dangerous Times. We’ve held James Baldwin reading clubs, screenings and conversations with award-winning filmmakers.
As soon as I settled onto the plush red carpet, Gul Noor Bibi handed me a cup of steaming qahwa. She was displaced from Pakistan’s erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. I arrived expecting to document displacement but discovered something more: a story of resilience and adaptation.
September 1, 2025 at 11:11 AM
As soon as I settled onto the plush red carpet, Gul Noor Bibi handed me a cup of steaming qahwa. She was displaced from Pakistan’s erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. I arrived expecting to document displacement but discovered something more: a story of resilience and adaptation.
In August 2025, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran construction worker who had lived in Maryland for years, entered the Baltimore field office of ICE. He did not walk out again. He was detained, facing yet another attempt by the Trump administration to deport him.
August 28, 2025 at 2:59 PM
In August 2025, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran construction worker who had lived in Maryland for years, entered the Baltimore field office of ICE. He did not walk out again. He was detained, facing yet another attempt by the Trump administration to deport him.
The title of Hafsa Kanjwal’s book, 'Colonizing Kashmir: State-Building under Indian Occupation', was renamed A Fate Written on Matchboxes: State-Building in Kashmir Under India for Indian readers. This change speaks volumes about India’s claim of political supremacy over Kashmir.
August 28, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The title of Hafsa Kanjwal’s book, 'Colonizing Kashmir: State-Building under Indian Occupation', was renamed A Fate Written on Matchboxes: State-Building in Kashmir Under India for Indian readers. This change speaks volumes about India’s claim of political supremacy over Kashmir.
As part of our Dispatches series, Suchitra Vijayan was recently in conversation with Professor Heba Gowayed on how U.S. universities are increasingly silencing scholarship and speech on Palestine.
August 27, 2025 at 4:47 PM
As part of our Dispatches series, Suchitra Vijayan was recently in conversation with Professor Heba Gowayed on how U.S. universities are increasingly silencing scholarship and speech on Palestine.
In episode one of our newest podcast, Technologies of Genocide, Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitrav) speaks with Eric Sype and Jalal Abukhater from @7amleh. They interrogate how Israel’s assault on Palestinians is enabled by global tech giants. Eric's key points:
August 27, 2025 at 4:42 PM
In episode one of our newest podcast, Technologies of Genocide, Suchitra Vijayan (@suchitrav) speaks with Eric Sype and Jalal Abukhater from @7amleh. They interrogate how Israel’s assault on Palestinians is enabled by global tech giants. Eric's key points:
On 25 August 2025, Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, killing at least twenty people. Among them were four Palestinian journalists:
— Hossam al-Masri (Reuters)
— Mohammed Salama (Al Jazeera)
— Mariam Abu Daqa (freelance)
— Moaz Abu Taha (NBC)
— Hossam al-Masri (Reuters)
— Mohammed Salama (Al Jazeera)
— Mariam Abu Daqa (freelance)
— Moaz Abu Taha (NBC)
August 25, 2025 at 3:22 PM
On 25 August 2025, Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, killing at least twenty people. Among them were four Palestinian journalists:
— Hossam al-Masri (Reuters)
— Mohammed Salama (Al Jazeera)
— Mariam Abu Daqa (freelance)
— Moaz Abu Taha (NBC)
— Hossam al-Masri (Reuters)
— Mohammed Salama (Al Jazeera)
— Mariam Abu Daqa (freelance)
— Moaz Abu Taha (NBC)
Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day: Eight years on, the violence continues.
On 25 August 2017, Myanmar’s military junta, the Tatmadaw, launched a campaign of killings, mass displacement, and systemic persecution against the Rohingya. 700,000+ people were forced into Bangladesh.
On 25 August 2017, Myanmar’s military junta, the Tatmadaw, launched a campaign of killings, mass displacement, and systemic persecution against the Rohingya. 700,000+ people were forced into Bangladesh.
August 25, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day: Eight years on, the violence continues.
On 25 August 2017, Myanmar’s military junta, the Tatmadaw, launched a campaign of killings, mass displacement, and systemic persecution against the Rohingya. 700,000+ people were forced into Bangladesh.
On 25 August 2017, Myanmar’s military junta, the Tatmadaw, launched a campaign of killings, mass displacement, and systemic persecution against the Rohingya. 700,000+ people were forced into Bangladesh.
It isn't every day that we witness a voice long silenced by the state return to public discourse. Shoma Sen, scholar, activist, and political prisoner, writes for The Polis Project on 'Viyyukka', a landmark collection of stories by women revolutionaries.
www.thepolisproject.com/read/resista...
www.thepolisproject.com/read/resista...
Resistance And Democracy: Women’s Trajectories Towards Social Equality And Liberation – A Profile Of Shoma Sen - The Polis Project
In collaboration with maraa, The Polis Project launched Profiles of Dissent — a new series centered on remarkable voices of dissent and courage in India and
www.thepolisproject.com
August 24, 2025 at 3:40 PM
It isn't every day that we witness a voice long silenced by the state return to public discourse. Shoma Sen, scholar, activist, and political prisoner, writes for The Polis Project on 'Viyyukka', a landmark collection of stories by women revolutionaries.
www.thepolisproject.com/read/resista...
www.thepolisproject.com/read/resista...
On 15 August 2010 in Oaxaca, México, Pablo López Alavez was driving home with his wife and his grandson when a red pickup truck cut them off. Fifteen hooded and armed men dragged him from the driver’s seat, threw him into their truck, and drove away.
August 15, 2025 at 5:12 PM
On 15 August 2010 in Oaxaca, México, Pablo López Alavez was driving home with his wife and his grandson when a red pickup truck cut them off. Fifteen hooded and armed men dragged him from the driver’s seat, threw him into their truck, and drove away.
We speak with those documenting and resisting the digital and material infrastructures of mass violence. From Gaza to Myanmar, from Kashmir to Xinjiang, from Tamil Eelam to Sudan, states are enabled by platforms, financed by banks, armed by corporations, and legitimised by silence.
August 13, 2025 at 6:54 PM
We speak with those documenting and resisting the digital and material infrastructures of mass violence. From Gaza to Myanmar, from Kashmir to Xinjiang, from Tamil Eelam to Sudan, states are enabled by platforms, financed by banks, armed by corporations, and legitimised by silence.