"Is This the Desi Future? "

On the 18th of August, the India Day Parade, grandly marshaled by Madhuri Dixit (Chandramukhi to Shahrukh Khan's Devdas), was meandering its way down Madison Avenue, when it ran into an irresistible force. A band of around 100 desi youth, comprising members of Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS), The International South Asia Forum (INSAF), South Asians Against Police Brutality and Racism (SAPB&R), Not in Our Name (NION), stood on the frontlines, giving love to marchers from SALGA (South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association), DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), labor unions and numerous other service groups, while holding the line against corporations and Hindutva groups. A variety of colorful signs were on display: "Brown, Proud and Loud," "Anti-Capitalist Queer Desi," "VHP, stop raping my sisters in Gujarat," and "Dow shalt not forget Bhopal". Slogans rose above the noise of the parade. "Beautiful, one and all, we don't want your Barbie doll" (this to a float advertising a beauty contest celebrating the likes of the Miss India contest). "INS, FBI, no more detentions, no more lies." "Bad Capitalist: No Martini" (to the corporate floats). The desi frat boys that were forced to wait for the parade to start moving again stared in confusion at the group that looked like their peers yet were chanting at them: "2-4-6-8, don't assume you're all straight" and "down with brown misogyny."

This is the continuation of an organized youth response to the politics of model-minorityism in the desi community. This is the face of assertive desi youth. Conservative right-wing desis, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Comments

Submitted by monclerjassen on Mon, 2012-10-29 23:00.

Goedkope Moncler Kids Vests 06 te koop Goedkope Moncler Kids Vests 07 te koop Goedkope Moncler Kids Vests 20 te koop Goedkope Moncler Womens Coats 59 te koop Goedkope Moncler Mens Coats 02 te koop Goedkope Moncler Mens Coats 03 te koop Goedkope Moncler Mens Coats 04 te koop Goedkope Moncler Mens Coats 05 te koop Goedkope Moncler Mens Coats 06 te koop Goedkope Moncler Mens Coats 07 te koop

Submitted by Jesse Cannon on Tue, 2012-10-23 21:50.

Thanks for longchamp outlet sharing your article. I really enjoyed longchamp handbags it.

Submitted by Sepeda Motor Bebek Injeksi Kencang dan Irit Jupiter Z1 on Tue, 2012-10-16 20:42.

Nice Information Sepeda Motor Bebek Injeksi Kencang dan Irit Jupiter Z1

Submitted by Lindy on Fri, 2012-10-12 02:21.

Conservative right-wing desis, be afraid. Be very afraid. Agree

Submitted by Blogger Indonesia on Sat, 2012-09-22 08:56.

This is the face of absolute desi youth. Conservative bourgeois desis, be afraid. Be actual afraid.. Sepeda Motor Bebek Injeksi Kencang dan Irit Jupiter Z1 | Sepeda Motor Bebek Injeksi Kencang dan Irit Jupiter Z1 | Bisnis Indonesia

Submitted by seo on Sat, 2012-09-22 08:54.

This is the face of absolute desi youth. Conservative bourgeois desis, be afraid. Be actual afraid

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2012-08-27 10:33.

The concept of your blog is very fresh i definitely sure the visitors who visit your will like your content and pointers.research proposal writing

Submitted by jasmine on Mon, 2012-08-27 02:40.

Excellent post. I want to thank you for this informative read, I really appreciate sharing this great post. Keep up your work. Thanks for this very useful discounthandbagsguide.com

Submitted by hguqhgiuqe on Tue, 2012-07-31 02:29.

This is the face of absolute desi youth. Conservative bourgeois desis, be afraid. Be actual afraid. click this backlink

Submitted by james on Fri, 2012-07-13 21:40.

There is so much that you can get from this work. You will be able to take advantage with everything that they offer here. It looks like an amazing time here. Used Cars Windsor Ontario

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2012-07-06 06:09.

http://www.guncabinet.net/ This is the assiduity of an organized adolescence acknowledgment to the backroom of model-minorityism in the desi community. This is the face of absolute desi youth. Conservative bourgeois desis, be afraid. Be actual afraid.

Add comment

Issue:Issue 15: Dogmas of War (//)

Author(s):SAMAR Collective

Region:New York

Section:Editorial

Topic(s):Public Health, Youth/2nd Gen

Recent Articles

Making Sense of Incoherent Math: The Indian Election and Diasporic Politics

By: Biju Matthew | From: Issue 43: Special Issue: The 2014 Indian elections (6/18/2014)

How can an event be at once ordinary and extraordinary, simultaneously decisive and indecisive? The victory of Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Indian parliamentary elections of 2014 is indeed a watershed moment; for the first time in the history of independent India, it will be ruled exclusively by a Hindu supremacist party. And yet, a careful look at the way the Modi/BJP campaign produced this victory yields a picture that can only be characterized as simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary, decisive and indecisive.

To the Hindu middle-class: Why “wait and see” won’t cut it

By: Deepa Panchang | From: Issue 43: Special Issue: The 2014 Indian elections (6/18/2014)

In 2006 and 2007, I spent several months in Ahmedabad while on a fellowship from my university in the US. During my time in Ahmedabad, I interacted with the mostly-Hindu NGO staff where I was based, residents of the largely Hindu shantytown where the NGO was working, and professors at Gujarat University. Less than five years had passed since the city had gone through its nightmare: vicious riots involving saffron-clad men entering urban neighborhoods and brutalizing, gang-raping, and burning other human beings. Some 1,500 Muslims were killed.

Policing Sex

By: The SAMAR Collective | From: Issue 42: Policing Sex (3/24/2014)

This issue on Policing Sex explores the wider context of the criminalization of homosexuality in India, as well as visions put forth to challenge heterosexism, the police state, and misogyny.

insh'allah & airport ode #1

By: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha | From: Issue 42: Policing Sex (3/24/2014)

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's poems evoke borders of bodies and nation.

Pride: There is no going back

By: Sabelo Narasimhan | From: Issue 42: Policing Sex (3/24/2014)

Sabelo Narasimhan reflects on this year's Gay Pride parade in Bombay, India. In the wake of the recent judgement criminalizing homosexuality, the images in this photoessay reveal the unbounded spirit of rebellion and resistance of the community.