The Polis Project
@thepolisproject.bsky.social
NY-based digital magazine documenting communities in resistance at the intersection of politics, art & culture. 501(c)(3)
Kuttavum Shikshayum begins with a jolt from the unconscious: CI Sajan Philip (Asif Ali) is haunted by a dream where he shoots a protester. Yet, Sajan’s grief does not lead to rupture; instead, it becomes a private burden that lets him continue working. The protestor is not remembered or named.
November 5, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Kuttavum Shikshayum begins with a jolt from the unconscious: CI Sajan Philip (Asif Ali) is haunted by a dream where he shoots a protester. Yet, Sajan’s grief does not lead to rupture; instead, it becomes a private burden that lets him continue working. The protestor is not remembered or named.
Anjaam Pathiraa shifts this function to the outsourced consultant—still individualized, but mediated through investigative expertise of Anwar Hussain. The labor of the psychologist appears autonomous, but is structurally in service of reimposing order and bypassing democratic frameworks.
November 5, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Anjaam Pathiraa shifts this function to the outsourced consultant—still individualized, but mediated through investigative expertise of Anwar Hussain. The labor of the psychologist appears autonomous, but is structurally in service of reimposing order and bypassing democratic frameworks.
Action Hero Biju presents a disturbing vision of a society where institutions create a void that is filled by a singular, authoritarian figure. Biju's role as a self-appointed protector valorizes individual heroism to mask state withdrawal — masculinity holds together the illusion of order.
November 5, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Action Hero Biju presents a disturbing vision of a society where institutions create a void that is filled by a singular, authoritarian figure. Biju's role as a self-appointed protector valorizes individual heroism to mask state withdrawal — masculinity holds together the illusion of order.
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.
In an increasingly militarized and unequal Europe, Italy’s strikes have demonstrated that workers still have power. Whether they can wield it decisively enough to change the course of war and empire remains an open question, one that resonates far beyond Italy’s borders.
October 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
In an increasingly militarized and unequal Europe, Italy’s strikes have demonstrated that workers still have power. Whether they can wield it decisively enough to change the course of war and empire remains an open question, one that resonates far beyond Italy’s borders.
Italy is trying to play both sides. At the United Nations, Prime Minister Meloni condemned Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s “disproportionate” military response. Italy has voted for UN resolutions supporting a two-state solution.
October 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Italy is trying to play both sides. At the United Nations, Prime Minister Meloni condemned Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s “disproportionate” military response. Italy has voted for UN resolutions supporting a two-state solution.
The strike’s power stemmed from its sectoral composition. “Port workers and the logistics sector are the strategic chokepoints,” USB’s De Angelis explained. “When you block the ports, you’re actually interrupting the flow of goods, including military equipment.”
October 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
The strike’s power stemmed from its sectoral composition. “Port workers and the logistics sector are the strategic chokepoints,” USB’s De Angelis explained. “When you block the ports, you’re actually interrupting the flow of goods, including military equipment.”
Italy’s general strike offers a model in which organized labor leads the charge. Solidarity with Palestine is inseparable from the opposition to austerity, low wages, and the military-industrial complex.
October 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Italy’s general strike offers a model in which organized labor leads the charge. Solidarity with Palestine is inseparable from the opposition to austerity, low wages, and the military-industrial complex.
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.
In an overcrowded school shelter in Deir al-Balah, 19-year-old Fatima (pseudonym) lives with trauma that she cannot speak about. She has been living in dilapidated classrooms turned into makeshift shelters. While waiting for food in a queue, she was sexually harassed by a man.
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 AM
In an overcrowded school shelter in Deir al-Balah, 19-year-old Fatima (pseudonym) lives with trauma that she cannot speak about. She has been living in dilapidated classrooms turned into makeshift shelters. While waiting for food in a queue, she was sexually harassed by a man.
Nancy Abu Mousa, 23, walked ten kilometers on foot from Al-Nasr neighborhood in northern Gaza to the south. It was an 18-hour journey. Pregnant with twins at six months, she had carried her two-year-old daughter on her back and pushed her injured husband on a cart.
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Nancy Abu Mousa, 23, walked ten kilometers on foot from Al-Nasr neighborhood in northern Gaza to the south. It was an 18-hour journey. Pregnant with twins at six months, she had carried her two-year-old daughter on her back and pushed her injured husband on a cart.
Besides healthcare, women have also been robbed of privacy. “There is nowhere to change or bathe. I wait until darkness to relieve myself in an empty agricultural field behind the camp, but the fear of harassment or assault is constant,” Sadiqa adds.
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Besides healthcare, women have also been robbed of privacy. “There is nowhere to change or bathe. I wait until darkness to relieve myself in an empty agricultural field behind the camp, but the fear of harassment or assault is constant,” Sadiqa adds.
Sadiqa: “I am six months pregnant and receive no medical care. I fear losing my baby every day. What if I fall ill? What if I lose my child? There is no hospital to go to, no ambulance can reach us.”
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Sadiqa: “I am six months pregnant and receive no medical care. I fear losing my baby every day. What if I fall ill? What if I lose my child? There is no hospital to go to, no ambulance can reach us.”
Inside the suffocating tent, the heat clings to her face, yet she cannot complain. Her husband has been missing for a month with no news of his whereabouts.
Sadiqa says: “I used to live in a simple home. Every day is a battle for survival. I am both the mother and the father to my child.”
Sadiqa says: “I used to live in a simple home. Every day is a battle for survival. I am both the mother and the father to my child.”
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Inside the suffocating tent, the heat clings to her face, yet she cannot complain. Her husband has been missing for a month with no news of his whereabouts.
Sadiqa says: “I used to live in a simple home. Every day is a battle for survival. I am both the mother and the father to my child.”
Sadiqa says: “I used to live in a simple home. Every day is a battle for survival. I am both the mother and the father to my child.”
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.
While ethical consumerism deepens the structure of disavowal, boycotts interrupt it. BDS uses collective refusal to confront entrenched structures of violence. It reframes global complicity: Israeli occupation is intimately connected to systems with which ordinary consumers interact daily.
October 16, 2025 at 7:38 PM
While ethical consumerism deepens the structure of disavowal, boycotts interrupt it. BDS uses collective refusal to confront entrenched structures of violence. It reframes global complicity: Israeli occupation is intimately connected to systems with which ordinary consumers interact daily.
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.
Kashmircore manifests in platformized memory that privileges state-backed or compliant content while burying critical archives. It comes with the manipulation of search, rendering broken links, editing Wikipedia, or down-ranking critical archives.
October 15, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Kashmircore manifests in platformized memory that privileges state-backed or compliant content while burying critical archives. It comes with the manipulation of search, rendering broken links, editing Wikipedia, or down-ranking critical archives.
It is here that I propose the term Kashmircore. Kashmircore is the glut of state-driven political, cultural, and academic works that aim to erase and replace Kashmiri counter-memory of resistance. Kashmircore adapts global strategies of erasure into an Indian ethnonationalist idiom.
October 15, 2025 at 6:15 AM
It is here that I propose the term Kashmircore. Kashmircore is the glut of state-driven political, cultural, and academic works that aim to erase and replace Kashmiri counter-memory of resistance. Kashmircore adapts global strategies of erasure into an Indian ethnonationalist idiom.
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.
To the state, a wheelchair-bound academic publicly naming its violence was intolerable. He connected universities to forests, law to lived experience, and political education to movements. As he explained, arresting a 90% disabled professor “would send a message that no one is spared.”
October 13, 2025 at 9:39 AM
To the state, a wheelchair-bound academic publicly naming its violence was intolerable. He connected universities to forests, law to lived experience, and political education to movements. As he explained, arresting a 90% disabled professor “would send a message that no one is spared.”
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.
Read Sumaiya Mustafa's essay: thepolisproject.com/read/blue-st...
October 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Read Sumaiya Mustafa's essay: thepolisproject.com/read/blue-st...
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.