Why are there increasing attacks and violence in Public Universities in India?
1. There is no real opposition to BJP in National politics, Congress is decimated and BJP's ideology is not challenged by any political party.
2. University campuses, especially where people study humanities, tend to be left leaning - left leaning, and not Anti National, Maoist, Leninist and Islamist as the regular media wants us to believe. Humanities teach us to be with the oppressed, the shoshit varg, and not with Adanis, Ambanis and Modis.
3. Liberalism, or for that matter any study of any kind, is based on critical thinking and questioning. We question about electricity and power when we read engineering, we question power structures and existing biases in the society when we read humanities.
4. Hence, the only group of people who are effectively and relentlessly questioning the Government - that is their job, and most societies take it positively - are the students, especially in Government funded (since private universities could be easily snubbed), humanities institutes.
5. An effective but sinister and unprincipled way of control in democracy is the propaganda model, well described by Noam Chomsky. In this model, the government essentially controls all important information sources and creates a reality for the masses which suits Government's existing power structures. This model is well perfected in the US, and Modi-Shah's unethical MBA marketers and advertisers have copied this model to India. This is what we are witnessing in the last 10 years, this is what Trudeau is doing to an extent too.
6. What still probably makes Modi-Shah's propaganda model unique is that it is based at the top of an ideological campaign run by RSS for 75+ years. This gives them lot of material to manipulate with, use selectively, and a lot of cultural currency in unsuspecting masses who still believe that TV news is reliable.
7. This Propaganda model has been insanely successful, with Modi-Shah getting 350+ seats. This emboldened them to take it to next level and act with almost complete impunity. A small example of its effectiveness is that at such high unemployment rates, sinking economy, and closing businesses, BJP still got 300+ seats, and people are choosing to commit suicide or join Hindu Yuva Vahini instead of questioning government, since they simply have no effective theory and language to explain what is happening with their lives!
8. The recklessness and total impunity of Modi-Shah still drew limited reaction after 370, after Ayodhya, after Assam NRC. But CAA-NRC was the breaking point, a tipping point. Those who could see all this finally started coming out on the streets, and of course humanities students would lead the pack.
9. JNU has been a long standing nuisance for this government primarily because it can make itself heard, and of course because it questions them. Hence we have seen its vilification. But AMU, Jamia, DU, Xavier's, Jadavpur, Hyderabad, TISS, Ashoka and so on too have been targeted by the propaganda model, with doctored videos, charges of using too many condoms and drinking too much alcohol, beef eating, Tukde Tukde gang and so on - very effective for upper caste Indian audiences which hates all this.
They all joined the protests and started coming on the streets.
10. This panicked the government, which was not expecting it, or not at this scale. But given the amount of confidence they are riding on, and given the success of this in Kashmir, they thought a police repression would do. It actually worked in Jamia and AMU, where students are now sent home and colleges are practically shut.
11. JNU was practically the final fort to be won. CAA protests have been controlled or at least mollified. After 5 years of incessant propaganda against JNU, the government was sure that it could do anything and people will support it - it can practically bomb JNU and people will still be happy that the 'tukde tukde gang' got killed. So that's what they did - the ABVP was likely not directly told to attack, but given the reality of Indian colleges and given the likely backgrounds of ABVP folks, they thought they can kill and then blame the 'left', since anyway 'naxalis' are known to use violence.
12. The jury is now open. Most unsuspecting people still support the attacks, people like our elders and those of the generation of my father. But lot of young people have started getting this conspiracy.
13. For Modi-Shah, things are still in control at national level. But if the fort of Delhi is to be won, something crazy needs to be done there to win over the youth. Expect some more bloodbath and extremely filthy campaigning in next few days. Amit Shah gave a demonstration of this by calling Rahul Gandhi a rioter Yesterday.
There is no guarantee that this Propaganda model will unravel anytime soon. We have to work hard and keep exposing it for a critical mass of people to understand what is happening.
2. University campuses, especially where people study humanities, tend to be left leaning - left leaning, and not Anti National, Maoist, Leninist and Islamist as the regular media wants us to believe. Humanities teach us to be with the oppressed, the shoshit varg, and not with Adanis, Ambanis and Modis.
3. Liberalism, or for that matter any study of any kind, is based on critical thinking and questioning. We question about electricity and power when we read engineering, we question power structures and existing biases in the society when we read humanities.
4. Hence, the only group of people who are effectively and relentlessly questioning the Government - that is their job, and most societies take it positively - are the students, especially in Government funded (since private universities could be easily snubbed), humanities institutes.
5. An effective but sinister and unprincipled way of control in democracy is the propaganda model, well described by Noam Chomsky. In this model, the government essentially controls all important information sources and creates a reality for the masses which suits Government's existing power structures. This model is well perfected in the US, and Modi-Shah's unethical MBA marketers and advertisers have copied this model to India. This is what we are witnessing in the last 10 years, this is what Trudeau is doing to an extent too.
6. What still probably makes Modi-Shah's propaganda model unique is that it is based at the top of an ideological campaign run by RSS for 75+ years. This gives them lot of material to manipulate with, use selectively, and a lot of cultural currency in unsuspecting masses who still believe that TV news is reliable.
7. This Propaganda model has been insanely successful, with Modi-Shah getting 350+ seats. This emboldened them to take it to next level and act with almost complete impunity. A small example of its effectiveness is that at such high unemployment rates, sinking economy, and closing businesses, BJP still got 300+ seats, and people are choosing to commit suicide or join Hindu Yuva Vahini instead of questioning government, since they simply have no effective theory and language to explain what is happening with their lives!
8. The recklessness and total impunity of Modi-Shah still drew limited reaction after 370, after Ayodhya, after Assam NRC. But CAA-NRC was the breaking point, a tipping point. Those who could see all this finally started coming out on the streets, and of course humanities students would lead the pack.
9. JNU has been a long standing nuisance for this government primarily because it can make itself heard, and of course because it questions them. Hence we have seen its vilification. But AMU, Jamia, DU, Xavier's, Jadavpur, Hyderabad, TISS, Ashoka and so on too have been targeted by the propaganda model, with doctored videos, charges of using too many condoms and drinking too much alcohol, beef eating, Tukde Tukde gang and so on - very effective for upper caste Indian audiences which hates all this.
They all joined the protests and started coming on the streets.
10. This panicked the government, which was not expecting it, or not at this scale. But given the amount of confidence they are riding on, and given the success of this in Kashmir, they thought a police repression would do. It actually worked in Jamia and AMU, where students are now sent home and colleges are practically shut.
11. JNU was practically the final fort to be won. CAA protests have been controlled or at least mollified. After 5 years of incessant propaganda against JNU, the government was sure that it could do anything and people will support it - it can practically bomb JNU and people will still be happy that the 'tukde tukde gang' got killed. So that's what they did - the ABVP was likely not directly told to attack, but given the reality of Indian colleges and given the likely backgrounds of ABVP folks, they thought they can kill and then blame the 'left', since anyway 'naxalis' are known to use violence.
12. The jury is now open. Most unsuspecting people still support the attacks, people like our elders and those of the generation of my father. But lot of young people have started getting this conspiracy.
13. For Modi-Shah, things are still in control at national level. But if the fort of Delhi is to be won, something crazy needs to be done there to win over the youth. Expect some more bloodbath and extremely filthy campaigning in next few days. Amit Shah gave a demonstration of this by calling Rahul Gandhi a rioter Yesterday.
There is no guarantee that this Propaganda model will unravel anytime soon. We have to work hard and keep exposing it for a critical mass of people to understand what is happening.
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