Chinese firms iFlytek and Hytera highlighted AI translation and public safety tech — sidestepping disputes over surveillance and trade secrets.
On a sweltering June day, an artificial intelligence-powered humanoid
robot built by Chinese firm Ubtech entertained a crowd of hundreds
waiting to enter the China pavilion at the Osaka World Expo.
Robotics is just one of several industries where Chinese companies are challenging
their Western rivals — Ubtech’s latest model can speed-walk, scan
barcodes, and handle receptionist tasks. But rather than presenting a
cold futuristic ambience, the design of the 3,500-square-meter pavilion
embraced traditional materials and culture: bamboo panels etched with
poetry, wooden displays, and augmented reality experiences where
visitors can toss virtual snowballs and rake autumn leaves.
The serene setting highlighted Chinese prowess and masked any
potential tension regarding tech firms entangled in U.S. sanctions and
the broader geopolitical rivalry over AI.
Staff throughout the pavilion used handheld radios from Hytera, a Chinese walkie-talkie maker that has admitted conspiring to steal trade secrets from Motorola and faces a potential injunction restricting global sales. Hytera proudly demonstrated
its products at the expo, emphasizing that their durability and
extended battery life can play a role in protecting public safety.
An interactive AI display, featuring the Monkey King from the classic tale Journey to the West,
showcased technology from iFlytek, a partly state-owned company making
voice recognition software and AI translation tools. The U.S. had
sanctioned iFlytek in 2019 and 2021
for “actively cooperating” in Beijing’s repression of ethnic and
religious minority groups and working against U.S. foreign policy
interests. A senior executive said the sanctions have hurt global partnerships, and that iFlytek is seeking business in Japan. In 2019, China’s foreign ministry called the sanctions interference and denied human rights abuses.
More broadly, Chinese tech companies face mounting barriers
from tariffs and expanded export controls on microchips, aimed at
curbing their ability to advance in AI and high-performance computing.
In recent years, Chinese firms have rapidly scaled their businesses in
non-Western markets, according to an Atlantic Council study.
Rest of World visited the Osaka World Expo to understand how Chinese technology companies are marketing themselves to a global audience.
The Middle East’s only real weapons of mass destruction are
Zionism, U.S. imperialism, and Israel’s nuclear arsenal—a toxic trifecta
fueling endless war.
Last
week, in response to Israel’s latest aggression against the Islamic
Republic of Iran, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) issued a statement
with a title that adroitly articulates the current situation, The Middle East is on Fire Because U.S. and Israeli Imperialism Lit the Match.Therein, BAP, in part, declares, “The
idea of Israel, the zionist occupation, claiming a moral position is
absurd. And the fact that the international community continues to give
Israel any credibility is a dereliction of duty and forms a vacuum of
morality…” To this end, any prosecution of the zionist ethnostate’s
continued aggression against Arab and Persian people in the region
requires an analysis of the variables that prevent even a semblance of
interdiction for Israel’s impunity that’s bringing the Middle East
region and the entire world to the brink of a new season of armed
conflicts with the potential to draw in multiple nations directly and indirectly. Some would argue that this is already happening.
The
zionist ethnostate has been spoiling for a war with Iran for decades.
Who can forget the comedic, cartoonish, yet dark presentation of
Benjamin Netanyahu to the United Nations in 2012 when he suggested that
Iran was on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu and
other neocons have been peddling the false narrative about Iran’s
nuclear timeline for decades, but this time is much different because it
was acted upon, which has resulted in more death, more illegal acts
that are egregious violations of international law and more global
instability at the hands of the zionist ethnostate and its willing
collaborators in the U.S. and the West. Even a recent report by the
bourgeois media outlet, CNN, indicated that according to U.S. intel, Iran was not only years away from possessing nuclear capabilities, but was also not in the process of doing so.
Nonetheless,
Israel is in the process of attacking Iran, taking out its military
leaders and scientists, targeting its main source of income – oil
refineries and infrastructure – and signaling a desire for regime change
against this sovereign nation. And Israel is doing so with the full
blessing of the U.S. and Donald Trump, who declared that he was fully
aware and supportive of the first round of Israeli strikes against Iran.
This vindicates BAP’s statement, which also asserted, “BAP rejects the
notion that the U.S. was unaware of this attack. The U.S. had the
ability to stop this attack if it was serious about containing Israel’s
perpetual war crimes and disregard for international law, which is a
major threat to any form of true peace.”
Black Agenda Report’s Glen Ford says AIPAC sent a long-time member to discredit Cornel West and give the impression that blacks oppose the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement
One day, a young prince died in the city of Unch in the Indian subcontinent. The boy had had great respect and love for a Shia Ismaili Pir Shams. (Pir means saint and Shams means Sun – Saint Sun.) The king was devastated; he ordered his magistrates and jurists to get a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad because only he could revive the prince. Failure to do so would result in severe punishment for them and their families. They went to Pir Shams and begged him to come because otherwise they would be victims of the king’s wrath.
Pir Shams came to the palace and without invoking Allah held the prince by arm who then came back to life. The prince recognized Pir Shams and they both left the palace. The nonbelievers were stunned. They shamed Pir Shams and charged him with acting like God. Pir Shams and the boy left the town. When it dawned upon Pir Shams, while he was meditating, that he had played the role of God, he removed his skin from head to toe as penalty. He, with the boy, returned to the city and gave his skin to the people.
Pir Shams and the boy were hungry but no one wanted to give or sell them food. Eventually, Pir Shams was able to get raw mutton, but was unable to get fire to cook it, so he prompted the Sun to descend and thus was able to cook the mutton.
The people were terrified by the heat and started burning, and they thought the Day of Judgement had arrived.
Once the mutton was cooked, the Sun went back to its celestial abode.
(This Ismaili saint Pir Shams (died 1356 CE) should not be confused with Mawlana Rumi’s spiritual mentor Shams Tabrizi (1185–1248 CE)).
The People’s Sun — today’s reality
350,000 people are homeless in NYC as of April 2025.
53% of New Yorkers’ debt has gone up due to high food costs. The number is 62% for New Yorkers, with children, who are under more debt.
$4200 is the rent New Yorkers pay for 1 bedroom apartment — the highest in the country.
Prior to losing the Democratic primary for NYC mayor in June 2025, Andrew Cuomo had been governor of New York state from 2011 to 2021. He was accused of cheating and screwing immigrant workers who cleaned the subways during the COVID 19 pandemic.
The people of New York City, when Cuomo was governor, suffered many cuts in Medicaid, public schools weren’t provided enough money because of austerity measures, and it was the same with the New York City’s subway system.
Corruption, inequality, injustice, police brutality, unemployment, underpaid, overworked, frustrated New Yorkers screamed enough is enough. They brought Zohran (means Sun) on the NYC mayoral platform making so many people happy. Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Democratic Party was also supported by the Working Families Party. He won the primary.
Zohran Mubarak
Zohran Mubarak to the US ruling class.
The word “mubarak” is of Arabic origin but is also used in many non-Arab countries and means “auspicious, blessed, lucky propitious, happy.” It is used in greetings such as Eid Mubarak,” “Diwali Mubarak,” Christmas Mubarak,” Wedding Mubarak,” “Ramzan Mubarak,” etc.
Gheraoe-d (Encircled or Besieged)
“We were gheraoed by every Age, No one ever came to our rescue! Then, one day, we gheraoed them, And every tyrant shouted his rage. No reason to worry: We shall rise soon despite the pain. And every city which is now dark Will see the light once again.”
The rise of a people’s Sun burned the tyrants badly. The tyrants — the elites, racists, and moneyed class of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party; the Israeli Lobby; Israeli assets; Israeli agents; the billionaires; the media moguls; corporate bosses; Modi’s Hindutva supporters; and so many others shouted their rage.
Mamdani’s parents Mira Nair, a filmmaker, and Mehmood Mamdani, an academic, are Indians. So why are Modi’s supporters opposing Mamdani? Well, answering a question, Mamdani uttered the truth: like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a “war criminal” too.
Trump is 50% wrong, Mamdani is not a communist otherwise he would have said: “Let’s nationalize all industries; tech companies; universities; pharmaceutical companies; all financial institutes. including banks; Trump Towers, and so on and make common people’s life easy and give each family a house, free education, free healthcare, 10 hour work week, etc.”
Trump is 50% correct on the lunatic thing. Mamdani is a lunatic because:
Only a lunatic would think about providing free bus service for the common people.
Only a lunatic would criticize the 24/7/365 Israeli genocide of Palestinians, and risk losing easy-election-campaign money and support from the Israel Lobby to win the New York Mayor’s election with free trips to Israel.
Only a lunatic like Mamdani would refuse to be an Israeli asset. He could have become one of the Israeli assets like Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Andrew Cuomo, Kamala Harris, Hakeem Jeffries, and uncountable others in the Congress, US government, state governments, news media, universities, corporations, armed forces, and so many other organizations. Don’t be surprised, Israel is over the entire US body — like an end-of-life stage of cancer. Only people like Mamdani can save this sick state of affairs and people like Kshama Sawant and her Workers Strike Back can make it alive again.
In the first week of November 2026, Trump will most probably see 100% lunatic in the US House with the name of Kshama Sawant. The US desperately needs her, and many more like her.
“Zohran the Destroyer” is the title given by Fox TV’ reporter. Zohran is the destroyer, indeed. The New York City is stinking with the Farts Of Xenophobes which he is going to eliminate and make it a nice smelling city.
“Civilised people in America don’t eat like this,” says US House representative Brandon Gill (Republican from Texas). He was criticizing Mamdani for eating with hands rather than fork, knife, and spoon. A photo of Gill’s father-in-lawDinesh D’Souza, of Indian origin had been posted eating with his hands.
The “civilized people” use hands to accumulate all the money for themselves, to send arms and ammunition to Israel and other countries to kill people, to sign bills cutting Medicaid, etc., and so on.
Many more such criticisms have been hurled, suffice it to say much hatred has been spewed against Mamdani.
Interrogation by US-based Israeliagents
“Do you recognize Israel as a state? Does it have a right to exist?” and six other questions asked by Politico‘s Jason Beeferman and Jeff Coltin were all related to Israel and antisemitism.
“Does the State of Israel have the right to exist?” was the question Steven Colbert asked on his show.
“The first foreign visit by a mayor of New York is always considered significant. Where would you go first?” was one of the questions asked by one of the moderators David Ushery during the June 4, 2025, NBC Democratic mayoral primary debate.
Mamdani’s reply: “I would stay in New York City. My plans are to address New Yorkers across the five Burroughs and focus on that.”
“Mr. Mamdani, can I just jump in? Would you visit Israel as mayor?” was the question by the Israeli agent Melissa Russo, pretending to be another moderator, who just couldn’t accept Mamdani’s concern for New Yorkers.
Mamdani’s reply:“I’ve said in a UJA [United Jewish Appeal? – ?Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, Inc.] questionnaire that I believe that you need not travel to Israel to stand up for Jewish New Yorkers. And that is what I will be doing as the mayor. I’ll be standing up for Jewish New Yorkers and I’ll be meeting them wherever they are across the five Burroughs, whether that’s in their synagogues and temples or at their homes or at the subway platform because ultimately we need to focus on delivering on their concerns.”
Agent Russo was mad: “Answer just yes or no. Do you believe in a Jewish state of Israel?”
Mamdani: “I believe Israel has the right to exist …”
Agent Russo jumped in: “As a Jewish state?”
Mamdani:: “As a state with equal rights.”
Now Mamdani was attacked by Cuomo, an Israeli asset running for NYC mayor. Watch the entire video of this exchange after 1:56 here.
Israel has occupied Palestine and has been existing, expanding, and executing Palestinians regularly. So the question wasn’t: As a mayor, will you stop the genocide and end Palestinians’ misery?
The battle begins
All the forces arrayed against Mamdani are going to use full fledged power with all means, right or wrong, available at their disposal to defeat Mamdani in the election. They’ll go to any extreme because, this time it’s a people’s candidate and not a billionaires’ candidate — which is never acceptable in the US.
Mamdani should counter his opponents as he did during the June 12 second and final debate. When Cuomo, whose PACs received $25 million from billionaires, went after Mamdani’ inexperience, Mamdani shot back:
“To Mr. Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace, I’ve never cut medicaid, I’ve never stolen 100s of millions of dollars from the MTA, I’ve never hounded the 13 women who have credibly accused me of sexual harassment, I’ve never sued for their gynecological records, and I have not done those things because I am not you Mr. Cuomo. And further more the name is Mamdani, m-a-m-d-a-n-i, learn to get it right.”
Mamdani has a once in the US lifetime chance to change things, if not in the country, then at least in the most populated city.
The country’s major newspaper, the New York Times, during the 2024 presidential election, refused to publish hacked information on Donald Trump and his VP candidate JD Vance but in case of Mamdani, it didn’t hold off on publishing hacked information, supplied by one “who opposes affirmative action and writes often about I.Q. and race.” The info was about Mamdani’s 2009 college admission form. The paper had stopped endorsing any candidates except presidential but it criticized Mamdani in an editorial which “effectively served as an anti-endorsement“, Gabe Whisnant noted in Newsweek.
Mamdani should always remember his middle name Kwame, named after independent Ghana’s first Prime Minister and then President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, “Pan-Africanist visionary” who was voted as “Africa’s Man of the Millennium.” By the grace of Uncle Sam, in the form of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Nkrumah was overthrown, like many others before and after him, while he was on a state visit to China and Vietnam in February 1966.
Nkrumah wrote in his book Dark Days in Ghana what methods the US uses in ousting foreign leaders:
“It has been one of the tasks of the CIA and other similar organizations to discover … potential quislings and traitors in our midst, and to encourage them, by bribery and the promise of political power, to destroy the constitutional government of their countries.”
Former Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri and Jamaal Bowman of New York lost in 2024 when the AIPAC (American Israel Political Action Committee) poured $20 million to help their opponents. Bush and Bowman had called for ceasefire in Gaza.
This happens regularly to many candidates. Cynthia McKinney and Earl Hilliard were the victims too. More than two decades back, Alexander Cockburn pointed out,
“Don’t you think that if Arab-American groups or African-American groups targeted an incumbent white liberal, maybe Jewish, congressperson, and shipped in money by the truckload to oust the incumbent, the rafters would shake with bellows of outrage.”
“All the powers of predatory capitalism, militarised fascism and genocidal Zionism have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre.”
Don’t be Obama or Sanders
As President, Barack Obama had a great opportunity to change the course of ruthless capitalism that it has been on for many decades. He and his advisors instead strengthened those very forces who were responsible for the 2007-2008 financial crisis by bailing them out.
Multimillionaire Obama is a system’s man who is making millions and is ever ready to protect it when he senses even slight danger as he did it in 2020 when it seemed Bernie Sanders might overtake Joe Biden.
Bernie Sanders, an independent (but works with the Democratic Party), had twice, in 2016 and 2020, a chance to form a third party when he lost the presidential candidacy to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, respectively. His supporters were crazy for him and he could have changed the course of history. But no, he betrayed his cause and his supporters, and supported Hillary and Biden, instead.
So Zohran, don’t be like Obama or Sanders. If the anti-people-forces succeed in derailing your pursuit, join hands with Kshama Sawant and Jill Stein to form a third party. If Elon Musk with his hundreds of billions could make a third party, America Party, you could do too with your millions of voters, as the following video of yours acknowledges the voting power of people. Even if you’re elected, the Israel Lobby, the New York Governor Kathy Hochul, and all others will try to make your victory as miserable as they can as Cuomo had done with former mayor Bill de Blasio during his 2014 – 2021 rule.
IMAGE/Violet Frances; Source: Abraham Morgentaler (scientist reviewer)
To boost mood and manliness, men are spending lots of money on the hormone testosterone—yet they may see trouble instead of benefits
Rob, 42, is a fitness guy. He loves working out, spends his spare time in the jujitsu gym and eats a high-protein diet heavy on avocado oil. He cares about his health and wants to optimize it, and a lot of the social media influencers he follows are the same.
So a
few years back, when Rob started seeing ads for testosterone replacement
therapy—TRT—pop up in his feeds, he was intrigued. (Names of patients
in this story have been changed to protect their privacy.) Rob was
already a man in good shape. But testosterone sounded like a great way
to get an extra edge.
“I
bought into what I was listening to on social media, which is, ‘You’re
going to feel better, you’re going to get stronger, and you’re going to
look better,’” he says.
Rob
went to a local, privately owned clinic. There he got a blood test,
which revealed that his testosterone was well within normal range. “I
certainly didn’t need TRT,” he says.
The clinic prescribed it anyway.
Rahim,
48, tells a similar story. He walked into a men’s health clinic a
decade ago looking for an energy and fitness boost. He got an injection
that very day. On subsequent visits the clinic pushed his dose higher
and higher, but he perceived little benefit. “I just felt like I was
taken advantage of,” he says now. “I felt like somebody was using my
body to make money.”
Testosterone
therapy—prescription supplements in the form of pills, patches,
injections or implantable pellets—has probably never been more
publicized or popular. Podcaster Joe Rogan is on it. On Reddit and on
TikTok, on highway billboards and in TV commercials, you’ll see
testimonials in praise of TRT promising mood boosts, better sex, extra
energy and quite possibly an abdominal six-pack. The global market has
been estimated at $1.9 billion.
For the right men, usually those with seriously low levels of the hormone, TRT can improve mood, energy levels and sex drive. It can increase muscle, decrease fat and lower levels of biomarkers for heart disease. Rigorous studies have dispelled once common medical concerns that the supplements increase the chance of prostate cancer; they don’t. And many responsible clinics that prescribe TRT inform their clients of the potential risks and benefits and monitor them closely.
But many men getting
supplements may not have low testosterone to begin with, and for them,
boosting levels of the hormone even higher could cause harm. There is a
lot of medical disagreement about what constitutes “low,” driven by
several studies with different populations and different cutoffs.
Because of this uncertainty, some clinics will legally prescribe TRT for
men whose hormone levels are, according to many measures, just fine.
“It will not make you live longer. It will not make you otherwise
healthier,” says Channa Jayasena, who is a reproductive endocrinologist
at Imperial College London.
And TRT carries risks. Supplemental testosterone can increase the chances of infertility and shrink testicles. It can lead to an abnormal blood condition called erythrocytosis. It is also associated with heightened rates of acne and painful swelling of male breast tissue. So urologists and endocrinologists who study the hormone caution men thinking about TRT to proceed very carefully.
The Palestinian killings have already resulted in nearly 55,000 deaths
Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, escalated the tone
again in opposition to the Israeli military massacre in Gaza Strip in
the last weeks. During a meeting with the French president, Emmanuel
Macron, in Paris, Lula classified the offensive from Israel as a
“planned genocide by an extreme right wing governant”.
“What is happening in Gaza is not a war, what’s happening there is a
genocide carried out by a highly trained Army against women and
children”, he said to journalists. Lula also supported that the
international community should say “enough” to the military campaign in
Gaza and pointed out that “it is sad to know that the world keeps silent
facing a genocide”.
The Itamaraty Palace, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had
already expressed an opinion about the deaths of Palestinians seeking
humanitarian aid who were shot by Israeli troops. “The use of hunger as a
weapon of war and violence against civilians searching for food are
absolutely unacceptable,” the ministry said in its statement.
According to Itamaraty, Brazil supports independent investigations
into the circumstances of recent attacks that occurred at humanitarian
aid centers run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Despite the strong rhetoric and accusation of genocide, civil society
organizations and pro-Palestinian movements are putting pressure for
concrete actions against the Israeli government. Earlier this month, a
letter with more than 12,000 signatures was handed directly to Lula
during his official visit to Paris, demanding that the federal
government adopt tangible measures against Israel.
The Palestinian genocide, that takes place in the Gaza Strip since
October 7, 2023, has already resulted in nearly 55,000 deaths, most of
them women and children. In addition to bomb attacks, the entire
population of over 2 million people in the territory face a severe risk
of undernutrition, as Israel blocks food aid. Dozens of deaths from
starvation have already been registered, mainly among young children and
the elderly.
Brazilian civil society calls for effective actions, such as the
immediate severance of diplomatic and trade relations with Israel. The
document, organized by the BDS Brazil movement (Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions), demands the end of the Brazilian-Israeli free trade
agreement, suspension of military cooperation, an energy embargo, among
other sanctions.
The open letter has the support of prominent figures in Brazilian
culture, law, and politics. Signatories include artists such as Chico
Buarque, Ney Matogrosso, Letícia Sabatella, Milton Hatoum, and Gregório
Duvivier; magistrates Carol Proner and Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro; former
minister Guilherme Estrella; and the philosopher Vladimir Safatle.
Politicians from the Workers’ Party (PT) and Socialism and Liberty Party
(PSOL), such as Guilherme Boulos, Erika Hilton, Sâmia Bomfim, Luiza
Erundina, and João Daniel, also signed the letter.
Thérèse Ndarubyariye joined a militia group after an abusive marriage, fighting against M23 rebels in eastern Congo. IMAGE/SOPHIE NEIMAN.
Sophie Neiman reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo to shine a light on the neglected stories of women bearing the brunt of war.
The sharp sound of glass breaking under a rubber boot echoes
over the rooftop like the crack of gunfire, as Thérèse Ndarubyariye
leans forward in her chair. Her mouth is set in a thin, determined line
and she speaks in a voice no louder than a whisper.
Ndarubyariye,
who is using a pseudo-nym for her protection, is a soldier with the
Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo (APCLS), just one of
the 120 armed groups battling in the east of the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC). ‘I joined to protect my country,’ she says simply.
We
meet on the roof of a rundown bar on the outskirts of Goma, the
lakeside capital of the DRC’s North Kivu province and the region’s
strategic and economic hub. It is a safe place to talk freely, she tells
me. Other uniformed fighters with bullets strung across their chests
and AK-47s slung on their backs admire the view, drinking beer and
smoking cigarettes. Far below us, a line of people with yellow jerry
cans waits to collect water from a pump. White land cruisers stamped
with the insignia of international NGOs speed towards sprawling
displacement camps, further along a potholed road that stretches from
Goma to the frontlines north of the city. Ndarubyariye goes to battle
there whenever she is called.
APCLS is part of the Wazalendo, a
loose network of militias whose name means ‘patriots’ in Swahili. These
government-aligned units fight against rebels from the March 23rd
Movement (M23), who are in the midst of an insurgency in the DRC.
Originally formed in 2012 by disgruntled members of formerly disbanded
armed groups, M23 took its name from the date of failed peace
agreements. The insurgents managed to capture Goma briefly that year,
with support from neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda.
M23 surrendered a
year later, following an offensive by the Congolese military, backed by
a United Nations peacekeeping force. Fighters laid down their weapons
or slipped over the border into Rwanda and Uganda.
But the same
guerrillas resurfaced in late 2021. A series of attacks on farming
villages have forced nearly two million civilians to flee their homes
and take refuge in ramshackle tents on the outskirts of Goma and other
small cities. M23 has been accused by Amnesty International of indiscriminately targeting civilians, while using high-tech weaponry such as drones and guided mortars.
Women have borne the brunt of this violence.
Some
have taken up arms and joined the fighting themselves or been wounded
by bombs and bullets. Others are caring for fellow displaced women raped
in war. Still others have emerged as peace activists striving to build a
better future for their homeland. Together, their experiences reveal
the difficult decisions women must make in wartime and how, day by day,
they are trying to break the DRC’s cycle of conflict.
A banner at a memorial rally for victims of the 2014 massacre of migrants at Tarajal, 2021 IMAGE/via Fotomovimiento on Flickr
Over 10,000 people died in transit to Spain in 2024 alone.[1]
On June 2022, the border fence of Melilla, one of two Spanish enclaves
in Morocco, was witness to a massacre that killed or disappeared over a
hundred African migrants.[2]
A recent BBC investigation revealed that Greek border guards
systematically repeal immigrants already on Greek land, hurling them
back into the sea. Meanwhile, Frontex (Europe’s ICE) has become the EU
agency with the largest budget and is fast assembling 10,000-man-strong
army to counter immigration, with its own ships, aircrafts, drones and
weapons. The Standing Corps, as it’s called—the first and only
pan-European armed force.
Reports of massacres punctuate the short history of European borders.
The repetitive media cycle of death, indignation and forgetting is by
now customary. The accumulation of massacres barely even
registers among political forces or the broader public. Europe’s “left,”
both moderate and “radical,” alternately decries or plays down migrant
death, depending on their own position in government.
In between the more mediatized massacres, however, an uninterrupted
stream of death is the rule. Mostly unreported, hard to even count.
Advocates calculate that at least 60,000 people have been
killed at Europe’s borders since 1993; others calculate that over 30,000
have died or gone missing since 2014 alone (excluding the 10,000 of
2024).[3]
These are minimum estimates. The reality is bleak—it is time to
transcend moral lamentation and understand this situation structurally.
Critical social forces in Europe have called it a “human rights
crisis.” Nonprofits highlight the contradictions between “European
values” and this ongoing “scandal.” But is it a crisis? Mass
slaughter at Europe’s southern borders undoubtedly is—but not in the way
painted by liberal-progressive European civil societies. The migrant
genocide is not a crisis because it shakes the consciousness or
self-perception of Northern publics. Rather, it is at once a structural
imperative of the late imperialist arrangement and among the direst
expressions of the broader crisis of global capital. This piece attempts
to explain how, exactly, this is.
‘Operation Sindoor’ echoes Indian nationalism’s trope of the motherland as a chaste body needing protection
In the days following the recent Indo-Pak conflict, a freshly written
short story — a tale of a theatre actress who grieves, resists, and
ultimately reclaims her identity on her own terms — by veteran Hindi
writer Mamata Kalia appeared on a social media outlet.
“A Pinch of Sindoor” (Chutki Bhar Sindoor, titled after the red pigment that married Hindu women apply as a dot on the forehead or in the parting of the hair)
is the story of Rita, a celebrated stage actress at the peak of her
theatrical career, who marries Alam Khan, a devoted admirer and dry
fruit merchant, defying warnings from her peers. Their marriage,
however, becomes strained when Alam grows insecure and disapproving of
Rita’s progressive roles on stage. Unable to reconcile with her public
life and independence, he commits suicide, using her wedding dupatta.
The media frenzy and his family’s backlash force Rita into isolation and
grief. Yet, the world of theatre, unwilling to lose its star, draws her
back.
With time, she returns to the stage, emotionally scarred but
professionally resilient. Her comeback role portrays a widow finding
hope again, mirroring her own journey from personal trauma to public
performance. The story ends with Rita reclaiming her identity and
agency, symbolised by her act of applying glitter and lipstick like
sindoor, marking both continuity and rebirth. Through Rita’s journey,
the story delicately explores themes of artistic autonomy, gender
expectations, public versus private identity, and the quiet strength
required to survive love, loss, and societal judgment.
Set far from the battlefield, the story appears to bear no direct
reference to geopolitics or military conflict, yet its timing and
symbolic gestures — particularly the protagonist’s final act of adorning
herself with sindoor as an assertion of self rather than subservience —
invite a deeper reading.
Around the same time, the Indian state named a retaliatory military
operation “Operation Sindoor”, invoking a traditionally feminine,
conjugal symbol to frame a nationalistic act of aggression. What does it
mean when a symbol of love and marriage is militarised by the state,
while in fiction it becomes a gesture of survival and autonomy?
The gendered language of war, as this article explores, is never innocent.
The naming of India’s recent cross-border retaliation as “Operation
Sindoor” is not just a tactical code — it is a deeply symbolic gesture,
with Sindoor being the traditional symbol of marital status for
women. The phrase evokes themes of marriage, conjugal unity, identity,
tradition, femininity and feminine sacrifice.
By using this intimate, culturally potent symbol to name a military
operation, the state effectively feminizes the nation and sacralises
militarism — embedding within the language of war a narrative of
chastity, purity, protection, and violation.
This is not a neutral move. It reflects a long-standing gendered
metaphor in Indian nationalist discourse, where the motherland (Bharat
mata) is cast as a chaste, violated body needing protection. In this
symbolic schema: The nation becomes the wife or mother whose honour must
be avenged; The soldier becomes the husband or son whose duty is to
protect or restore that honour; blood becomes sindoor — a conflation of
sacrifice and sanctity.
