Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to offer his country’s unequivocal support to Israel following the Hamas-led attack on October 7th. India has since dispatched combat drones as well as replacement labor to Israel to facilitate violence against Palestinians; it has also refused to criticize Israel on the international stage. At the same time, Indian police have been replicating Israeli tactics to repress protests within India itself. Now, eight months into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, India heads to the polls in an election that is expected to deliver Modi’s Hindu nationalist movement its third term in office. For India’s religious and caste minorities, Modi’s return will mean the consolidation of India as a Hindu supremacist state; on a global scale, meanwhile, it heralds the expansion of authoritarianism and the strengthening of India’s deadly alliance with Israel.
Join Jewish Currents and Middle East Eye at the People’s Forum at 320 West 37th Street, New York, NY, for a conversation about ascendant fascism in India and Israel. Azad Essa of Middle East Eye, Suchitra Vijayan of the Polis Project, and Raja Abdulhaq of Quds News Network will discuss the rise of far-right movements in the two countries; their symbiotic military and political partnership; how Hindu nationalists and Zionists are working together in the US; and the question of solidarity at a time of erasure and genocide. Moderated by Aparna Gopalan of Jewish Currents.
The People’s Forum is a wheelchair accessible space with gender neutral bathrooms. We are looking forward to being together in person. To help keep all of us safe, please rapid test prior to attendance. Masking is encouraged.
Registration is required for attendance. Livestream will also be available (registration not required).
Azad Essa is a senior reporter for Middle East Eye based in New York City. He worked for Al Jazeera English between 2010-2018 covering southern and central Africa for the network. He is the author of Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel.
Suchitra Vijayan is an essayist, lawyer, and photographer working across oral history, state violence, and visual storytelling. She is the author of the critically acclaimed book Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India (Melville House, New York) and How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? Voices of Indian Political Prisoners (Pluto Press). She is the founder and executive director of the Polis Project, a hybrid research and journalism organization.
Raja Abdulhaq is a Palestinian political activist and community organizer. Raja is a co-founder of Quds News Network and a former Executive Director of Islamic Leadership Council of New York. Raja has a masters degree in Political Science from Brooklyn College.
Aparna Gopalan is news editor at Jewish Currents, where she reports and edits coverage on Palestine, anti-colonial and left struggles, the US labor movement, and the Hindu right.
This event is cosponsored by Middle East Eye.
