Deepa Kurup

I write in @AJEnglish on India's unemployment crisis. Beyond numbers, I report on what the crisis looks like for young firstgen graduates in smalltowns, villages. And, why the crisis is structural. This is how Indian squanders its demographic dividend aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/w…

Bangalore: KITU May Day Rally Hundreds of IT employees under the banner of Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) marched from Bangalore Town Hall to Freedom Park on the occasion of May Day Long Live Working Class Unity Long Live May Day

I cannot count the number of articles over the past 20 years (including from Nobel prize winners) that I read about how China cannot innovate b/c it is not a free market economy. But now I have to read the articles from the same people telling me how a state-directed economy innovates much more efficiently than a market economy & how we have to fight against that.

Banksy has unveiled a new sculpture of a man stepping off a stone base with his face obscured by a flag. The overnight installation in Waterloo Place, London, was revealed in a video shared by the artist, and has drawn fans of his politically charged works.

Asked if he thinks Israel committed genocide in Gaza, Obama accuses the questioner of not following the rules, then says “there are disasters and catastrophes everywhere” Obama is a historically inconsequential former president who believes in nothing but his own celebrity

My exit poll! As I leave #Bengal, it would be a disservice not to say this: I have come to deeply admire the way women inhabit space here. There is a quiet, almost subconscious elevation of women as independent beings . something that stands in stark contrast to the entrenched misogyny that still finds resonance across much of northern India. Perhaps it stems from a cultural understanding of shakti. A form of empowerment that manifests here in ways both subtle and profound, unlike anywhere else in the country, even in the south. Any woman journalist who has covered political rallies across India will recognize the difference immediately. Other states, a crowd is not just a logistical challenge, it carries risk. the inevitability of wandering hands, the violation masked by chaos. Here, the crowds are no less dense, the air no less heavy with sweat and alcohol—but the hands, for the most part, do not grope. Men step aside to make way. When contact happens, as it inevitably does in chaos, there is visible embarrassment rather than entitlement. What you encounter is not chivalry, but something far rarer: equality. And equality feels far more meaningful. Was never a fan of chivalry in any case :)  There is more. Women politicians across party lines campaign with a striking freedom, aggressive, sharp, unapologetically irreverent, often using what would elsewhere be labelled as ‘masculine’ rhetoric. In most states, such behaviour would invite judgment, even censure. Here, it is met with acceptance,  applause. What feels liberating to an outsider is, in Bengal, simply normal. What we frame as empowerment  here is a cultural undercurrent. I have covered four elections in this state, and each time I have returned with the same sense of awe. Bengal, meanwhile, ambles on with a certain bemusement, as if unaware of what sets it apart. But it is a big deal. And perhaps the most remarkable part is that Bengal does not think so. Governments will come and go. One can only hope that this constant endures, not just how Bengal sees its women, but how, in many ways, it doesn’t. ♥️♥️♥️

From: Iran is begging for negotiations so I'm sending Jared and Witkoff to: We're not sending anyone because we have all the cards. All within 24 hours. Iran kept saying they won't negotiate with Jared Kushner (who they correctly see as an agent of Israel) or with Witkoff (who they think is dumb). They want someone on Vance's level. And they kept saying they won't negotiate under a US blockade. But a huge group of people believe anything Trump says, even if he says the exact opposite the day before or they after. Hence: Iran is on its knees begging for a deal and will give us everything we want: as we've been hearing for two months now.

This is just pure unadulterated propaganda by The Economist, as is so often the case with their coverage of China (reminder that, if you read The Economist, the Chinese economy should have collapsed more or less every year for the past 20 years). I actually come from a country - France - where our minorities did actually get squashed, so I have a pretty decent understanding of what that concretely means. For instance in France our regional languages (Basque, Alsacien, Corsican, Breton, Occitan, etc.) have ZERO official status, cannot be used in government, and - under French law - were prohibited in classrooms under threat of punishment (kids at school were made to wear a necklace of shame around their neck if they spoke their regional language: #Fin_du_XIXe_si%C3%A8cle_-_Politique_et_h%C3%A9ritage_de_Jules_Ferry" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergonha#…). The first line of Article 2 of the French constitution (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_2…) - as amended in 1992 - specifies that French is the exclusive language in France and constitutionally excludes every other language from any official role whatsoever. There was, in France, an official policy of linguicide. The net result, according to official French statistics (ined.fr/fr/publication…), is that regional languages like Corsican or Breton went from being spoken in 70%-80% of local families at the end of WW1 down to sub-10% numbers by the end of the 20th century. Even Alsacien, the most resilient regional language, still saw its transmission rate collapse from 70% to 18% in just 2 generations. That, folks, is "squashing." Same thing, incidentally, in the UK - The Economist's own country: a reminder that in Wales schools used the "Welsh Not" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Not), a token of shame that a child would need to wear around their neck if they were heard speaking Welsh. Compare and contrast this with this new Chinese law. First of all, fact is that if you look at minorities with their own language in China, the immense majority of them still speak it and use it in their daily life. For instance, a 2017 survey conducted by 国家语委 (the National Language Commission, the authoritative Chinese body on language policy), only 30% of people in Tibet had functional Mandarin proficiency (tibetology.ac.cn/2023-02/10/con…). In other words, Tibetan, not Mandarin, remains the dominant working language of daily life for the overwhelming majority of the population in Tibet. Same story with Mongolian: according to China's Sixth National Census (2010), 85.25% of ethnic Mongols still used Mongolian in daily life (nmlr.muc.edu.cn/info/1119/2132…). Which means, as a starting point, that China already did a far better job than virtually any Western country at protecting their minority languages. Important context when we're speaking about Western media lecturing China on the topic... Heck, a good case could be made that they did TOO GOOD a job given that - among some ethnic minorities - most people speak ONLY their regional language, and can't even speak Mandarin, which is actually one of the main points of the new law. So let's look at this new law (full text here: neac.gov.cn/seac/xwzx/2026…). Does it officially recognize and protect minority languages? Yes, the law literally says "The state respects and protects the learning and use of minority languages and scripts, promotes the regulation, standardization, and digitalization of minority languages." Does it ban minority languages in schools? No. The new law does tilt education further toward Mandarin - requiring nationally unified textbooks and designating Mandarin as the basic language of instruction - but it does not abolish minority-medium schools (民族语授课学校 in Chinese, literally "minority-language-instruction schools") which can continue to operate with state funding in their respective regions. Does it ban minority languages from government? No. Article 15 explicitly states that "where relevant laws require documents to be issued in minority languages, both the national common language version and the minority language version shall be provided" (依照有关法律规定需要使用少数民族语言文字发布文书的，应当同时提供国家通用语言文字版本和少数民族语言文字版本). Does it ban minority languages from public signage? No. The law requires Mandarin to be displayed "prominently" alongside minority scripts in public settings - not instead of them. Does it undermine autonomous regions? No. Article 8 of the new law explicitly reaffirms "upholding and improving the system of ethnic regional autonomy" (坚持和完善民族区域自治制度). Which means that the 1984 Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law remains in force, with their local regions' legal authority to adopt regulations suited to local ethnic conditions. So all in all, what you CAN say is that the new law does indeed promote Mandarin and pushes to ensure every Chinese citizen can speak a common national language - which is, frankly, a pretty normal thing for any country to expect. What you CANNOT say - unless you are writing propaganda rather than journalism - is that this law "squashes" 55 ethnicities. Actual squashing is hanging a wooden clog around a child's neck for speaking his mother tongue. Actual squashing would be making minority languages or culture anticonstitutional. A law that funds minority-language preservation, preserves minority-medium schools, reaffirms regional autonomy, requires bilingual government documents and operates under a Constitution whose Article 4 guarantees all ethnic groups "the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages and to preserve or reform their own traditions and customs" is not "squashing" anything. It's a level of minority-language and cultural protection that the French Republic - or the UK - has never offered its own citizens in its entire existence.

Clara Mattei demonstrates how Marxist critique can calmly dismantle liberal/capitalist assumptions with intellectual rigor, responding not with anger but with patience and clarity that exposes the limits of a narrowly formed worldview. Radical_ideas_

NEW: Belgium officially joins Slovenia, Spain, and Ireland in announcing the request to suspend the EU–Israel Association Agreement The 4th European state to take this step.

Really enjoying these surreal "meanwhile, in Damascus" interludes The rest of the region is on the brink of a renewed war, meanwhile Ahmed Sharaa is jamming to Missy Elliott

Thought you’d find this outrageous @Taanya_K

Appalling behaviour by UK universities including my employer

aw this is so cute. speaking of buses do you all remember when Obama sent a 500-pound, laser-guided MK-82 bomb to hit a school bus in Yemen, killing 40 children on their way to a field trip.

Hungary’s PM-elect Peter Magyar says he would enact an ICC arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu and detain him on arrival. The PM-elect said Hungary would stay a member of the International Criminal Court which his predecessor Viktor Orban began withdrawing from last year.

⭕️ NEW: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has entered preliminary discussions with the United States regarding a financial backstop, specifically a currency-swap line, to insulate its economy from effects of the ongoing war with Iran, WSJ reports.  UAE Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama proposed a dollar-swap line in recent meetings with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve officials. Officials are reportedly concerned that the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz could soon choke off essential dollar revenues, despite UAE Fujairah port bypass. Economists have already downgraded GDP growth forecasts for the region, and there are concerns about potential capital flight from hubs like Dubai if the conflict persists.  Emirati officials reportedly warned the U.S. that a lack of dollar liquidity might force them to use alternative currencies, such as the Chinese yuan, for oil transactions.

Proud of my old newspaper, @the_hindu, take a bow @nambath, the only paper to have the correct headline for what transpired in parliament yesterday. All other newspapers seem to have bought the government’s spin that the ‘opposition defeated women’s reservation’!

🇧🇷🇨🇺🚨 BREAKING: Lula just said what the world has been thinking. "Stop this damned blockade on Cuba and let the Cuban people live their lives." Cuba has problems. But they are Cuba's problems. Not Lula's. Not Trump's. Not the empire's. The US has punished Cuba for decades. Sanctions. Blockades. Regime change attempts. None of it worked. Cubans are still standing. Still surviving. Still waiting for the world to let them breathe. Lula is not begging. He's demanding. The blockade is not policy. It's cruelty. And the world is tired of watching. Spread the truth. Free Cuba. Not from its leaders. From the blockade. Let the Cuban people live.

@prishmish Hi I’ve dmed you!

I’m moving in with my boyfriend (infinite runway woohoo) and selling my appliances: fridge, washing machine, tv cabinet, bed and mattress. All under a year old. I’m told this is the fastest way to do this. Plis help twitter gods. Notion link below 👇

"We are not alone. The entire working class of the world is with us." This powerful line comes from the 1979 Malayalam film Cheriyachante Kroorakrithyangal (The Cruelties of Cheriyachan), reflecting the communist movement that prevalent in Kerala's socio-political landscape.

Wow. Everyone should read this 1983 article by Roald Dahl. Every word of it. It's literally the same fucking shit as now, with the same kind of impunity, only now it's even much worse. He called it. He fucking called it and they just ignored him and called him an antisemite.