The Polis Project
@thepolisproject.bsky.social
NY-based digital magazine documenting communities in resistance at the intersection of politics, art & culture. 501(c)(3)
High in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, flash floods and mudslides ripped through the village of Dharali in August, sweeping away everything in its way. Several shops, resorts, multi-storey hotels, and homestays were destroyed in a single wave. The map of Dharali was changed.
December 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
High in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, flash floods and mudslides ripped through the village of Dharali in August, sweeping away everything in its way. Several shops, resorts, multi-storey hotels, and homestays were destroyed in a single wave. The map of Dharali was changed.
Photographer Gauri Gill's exhibition The Village On The Highway captured the "architecture of resistance"—the improvised structures that housed India's historic farmer protests from 2020 to 2021. "I just thought it's incredible how they are managing to inhabit the highway," Gill reflected.
December 16, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Photographer Gauri Gill's exhibition The Village On The Highway captured the "architecture of resistance"—the improvised structures that housed India's historic farmer protests from 2020 to 2021. "I just thought it's incredible how they are managing to inhabit the highway," Gill reflected.
Across North Indian cities and towns, bulldozers have become instruments of unchecked state power. In recent years, authorities have demolished hundreds of Muslim homes, mosques, businesses, and community spaces—often without due process, or with little warning.
December 12, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Across North Indian cities and towns, bulldozers have become instruments of unchecked state power. In recent years, authorities have demolished hundreds of Muslim homes, mosques, businesses, and community spaces—often without due process, or with little warning.
Students allege that since the December 15th, 2019 incident, Jamia Millia Islamia has steadily increased surveillance on campus, effectively banning protests against the administration. While the first official notice came in August 2022, students claim they were under watch even before that.
December 11, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Students allege that since the December 15th, 2019 incident, Jamia Millia Islamia has steadily increased surveillance on campus, effectively banning protests against the administration. While the first official notice came in August 2022, students claim they were under watch even before that.
In July, The New York Times published Bret Stephens’s op-ed that Israel “is not committing genocide”, even as UN bodies document mass killing, starvation, and systematic destruction in Gaza. Stephens questioned why the death toll — nearly 60,000 — was “not higher” if genocide were occurring.
December 10, 2025 at 9:35 AM
In July, The New York Times published Bret Stephens’s op-ed that Israel “is not committing genocide”, even as UN bodies document mass killing, starvation, and systematic destruction in Gaza. Stephens questioned why the death toll — nearly 60,000 — was “not higher” if genocide were occurring.
When Anuj Behal first met 30-year-old Vicky Bhatt in West Delhi’s Anand Parbat, he was in a rush. “It’s my eleventh time going abroad for a show,” he said, casually counting on his fingers. “Germany, Poland, Canada—three times—London…” He trailed off, losing track of the countries he’d been to.
December 8, 2025 at 5:39 PM
When Anuj Behal first met 30-year-old Vicky Bhatt in West Delhi’s Anand Parbat, he was in a rush. “It’s my eleventh time going abroad for a show,” he said, casually counting on his fingers. “Germany, Poland, Canada—three times—London…” He trailed off, losing track of the countries he’d been to.
Every June 30, Rehana Khan and her two sisters celebrate their father’s birthday with chocolate cake. This year, the cake remained on one side of a video call in Mumbai. Their father, Dadamiya Khan, marked his 48th birthday 2,000 kilometers away in Bangladesh, the country he had left as a child.
December 2, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Every June 30, Rehana Khan and her two sisters celebrate their father’s birthday with chocolate cake. This year, the cake remained on one side of a video call in Mumbai. Their father, Dadamiya Khan, marked his 48th birthday 2,000 kilometers away in Bangladesh, the country he had left as a child.
In Episode 4 of our podcast, Technologies of Genocide, host Suchitra Vijayan is in conversation with activist, writer, and poet Abduweli Ayup on the Uyghur genocide. She reflects:
December 2, 2025 at 12:50 PM
In Episode 4 of our podcast, Technologies of Genocide, host Suchitra Vijayan is in conversation with activist, writer, and poet Abduweli Ayup on the Uyghur genocide. She reflects:
Zareena Darr’s wistful voice reaches out to me, journeying from a decades-old cassette tape to a website as part of the UK-based Tape Letters project. The project highlights the practice of recording and sending messages on cassette tape, as a mode of long-distance communication by Pakistanis.
December 1, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Zareena Darr’s wistful voice reaches out to me, journeying from a decades-old cassette tape to a website as part of the UK-based Tape Letters project. The project highlights the practice of recording and sending messages on cassette tape, as a mode of long-distance communication by Pakistanis.
The Kashmir Times' defunct office in Jammu was searched based on a First Information Report alleging criminal conspiracy, Jammu and Kashmir’s State Investigation Agency stated on November 19. We completely reject these allegations. This action is yet another attempt to discredit and silence us.
December 1, 2025 at 12:49 PM
The Kashmir Times' defunct office in Jammu was searched based on a First Information Report alleging criminal conspiracy, Jammu and Kashmir’s State Investigation Agency stated on November 19. We completely reject these allegations. This action is yet another attempt to discredit and silence us.
As part of our newest podcast series, Technologies of Genocide, host Suchitra Vijayan was in conversation with Abdullahi Halakhe on the genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Suchitra reflects on their conversation:
thepolisprojectinc.substack.com/p/what-is-ha...
thepolisprojectinc.substack.com/p/what-is-ha...
“What is happening in Congo will not stay in Congo”: Technologies of Genocide, Episode Three
Abdullahi B. Halakhe on the global economy of exploitation fueling a genocide in DRC
thepolisprojectinc.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:06 PM
As part of our newest podcast series, Technologies of Genocide, host Suchitra Vijayan was in conversation with Abdullahi Halakhe on the genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Suchitra reflects on their conversation:
thepolisprojectinc.substack.com/p/what-is-ha...
thepolisprojectinc.substack.com/p/what-is-ha...
Field reportage and research by The Polis Project reveal the patterns underlying the campaign to erase India’s Islamic sites under the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule.
Mosques, madrassas, tombs, and mazars—shrines built over graves of Muslim saints—are razed, fenced off, or dragged to court.
Mosques, madrassas, tombs, and mazars—shrines built over graves of Muslim saints—are razed, fenced off, or dragged to court.
November 14, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Field reportage and research by The Polis Project reveal the patterns underlying the campaign to erase India’s Islamic sites under the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule.
Mosques, madrassas, tombs, and mazars—shrines built over graves of Muslim saints—are razed, fenced off, or dragged to court.
Mosques, madrassas, tombs, and mazars—shrines built over graves of Muslim saints—are razed, fenced off, or dragged to court.
Poet and novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla is widely regarded as one of the greatest living writers in the Hindi language. His refusal to relocate from Raipur, to write in English, or to self-mythologize within the circuits of Delhi and Mumbai has long become an act of dissent.
November 14, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Poet and novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla is widely regarded as one of the greatest living writers in the Hindi language. His refusal to relocate from Raipur, to write in English, or to self-mythologize within the circuits of Delhi and Mumbai has long become an act of dissent.
'The Eyes of Gaza: A Diary of Resilience' is a first-hand account of life during the genocide in Gaza, narrated through the diary entries of Plestia Alaqad, a journalist and author. Alaqad brought the daily realities of the genocide to a global stage on her social media platforms.
November 14, 2025 at 11:11 AM
'The Eyes of Gaza: A Diary of Resilience' is a first-hand account of life during the genocide in Gaza, narrated through the diary entries of Plestia Alaqad, a journalist and author. Alaqad brought the daily realities of the genocide to a global stage on her social media platforms.
The story of Kerala is often narrated through numbers: 100% literacy, less than 0.5% absolute poverty, the highest life expectancy in the country, and the lowest infant mortality rate. But these numbers conceal rising inequality, debt-led consumption, mass internal migration, ecological precarity.
November 5, 2025 at 9:52 AM
The story of Kerala is often narrated through numbers: 100% literacy, less than 0.5% absolute poverty, the highest life expectancy in the country, and the lowest infant mortality rate. But these numbers conceal rising inequality, debt-led consumption, mass internal migration, ecological precarity.
Mumbai, pull up! In his new book, scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde turns 31 months behind bars into a searing account of caste, class, cruelty, and the human bonds within India’s broken prison system.
Join us for the book launch.
Join us for the book launch.
October 22, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Mumbai, pull up! In his new book, scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde turns 31 months behind bars into a searing account of caste, class, cruelty, and the human bonds within India’s broken prison system.
Join us for the book launch.
Join us for the book launch.
On October 3, 2025, Italy shut down. Trains stopped running, ports closed, and highways were blocked as 2 million people joined the largest general strike in recent history. The following day, more than a million marched in Rome. The reason was Palestine.
October 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
On October 3, 2025, Italy shut down. Trains stopped running, ports closed, and highways were blocked as 2 million people joined the largest general strike in recent history. The following day, more than a million marched in Rome. The reason was Palestine.
At the edges of the Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza, Sadiqa Abu Hashish, 23, sits inside a tattered tent, holding her three-year-old daughter. She fled with her children from northern Gaza in February 2024, joining the millions displaced by Israel’s war on the region.
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 AM
At the edges of the Nuseirat refugee camp in southern Gaza, Sadiqa Abu Hashish, 23, sits inside a tattered tent, holding her three-year-old daughter. She fled with her children from northern Gaza in February 2024, joining the millions displaced by Israel’s war on the region.
Nothing shocks us anymore, presumably because we have been anesthetized for far too long. The tragic reality of our present is not that we are being lied to or kept in the dark; it is far stranger and darker: we know that things are going horribly wrong, but we are not able to do anything about it.
October 16, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Nothing shocks us anymore, presumably because we have been anesthetized for far too long. The tragic reality of our present is not that we are being lied to or kept in the dark; it is far stranger and darker: we know that things are going horribly wrong, but we are not able to do anything about it.
In 2023, I had a tough time locating online links to some key citations for an essay. Links to most articles were broken, and the websites did not work. It seemed that most of the archival data I was looking for had either been erased or replaced.
October 15, 2025 at 6:15 AM
In 2023, I had a tough time locating online links to some key citations for an essay. Links to most articles were broken, and the websites did not work. It seemed that most of the archival data I was looking for had either been erased or replaced.
Today is scholar, writer, and human rights activist, G. N. Saibaba’s, death anniversary. After 3,592 days in prison and only 219 days of freedom, he died in Hyderabad on October 12, 2024. He was born in a peasant family in rural Andhra Pradesh and paralysed by polio at age five.
October 13, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Today is scholar, writer, and human rights activist, G. N. Saibaba’s, death anniversary. After 3,592 days in prison and only 219 days of freedom, he died in Hyderabad on October 12, 2024. He was born in a peasant family in rural Andhra Pradesh and paralysed by polio at age five.
On July 21, 2025, the Bombay High Court delivered justice to a dead man. Kamaal Ahmed Ansari had already perished behind bars, his spirit crushed by nearly two decades of juridical indifference. The court quashed earlier convictions of all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai local train bombings.
October 7, 2025 at 7:36 AM
On July 21, 2025, the Bombay High Court delivered justice to a dead man. Kamaal Ahmed Ansari had already perished behind bars, his spirit crushed by nearly two decades of juridical indifference. The court quashed earlier convictions of all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai local train bombings.
On a November morning last year, two dozen Delhi University students stood outside Nirman Bhawan, demanding a concessional pass for the Delhi Metro. By noon, police had detained more than thirty of them. How did Delhi build a metro that remains unaffordable for the workers who keep the city running?
October 7, 2025 at 7:31 AM
On a November morning last year, two dozen Delhi University students stood outside Nirman Bhawan, demanding a concessional pass for the Delhi Metro. By noon, police had detained more than thirty of them. How did Delhi build a metro that remains unaffordable for the workers who keep the city running?
A section of Tamil cinema is undoing the culinary worldviews of the past. Popular Tamil films like Blue Star and Nandhan have stretched the boundaries of what is showable food on screen. Close-up visuals of pork and beef are a big deal because meat eating is directly linked to caste.
October 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
A section of Tamil cinema is undoing the culinary worldviews of the past. Popular Tamil films like Blue Star and Nandhan have stretched the boundaries of what is showable food on screen. Close-up visuals of pork and beef are a big deal because meat eating is directly linked to caste.
TOMORROW — Varsha Bharath, director of ‘Bad Girl’, joins host Suchitra Vijayan and guest host Aditya Shrikrishna. She brings along five objects that have shaped her life and work.
WHEN: Tomorrow, September 29
TIME: 10 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST
WHERE: YouTube
Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5-objects-...
WHEN: Tomorrow, September 29
TIME: 10 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST
WHERE: YouTube
Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5-objects-...
5 Objects with Varsha Bharath
Director of 'Bad Girls', Varsha Bharath, joins host Suchitra Vijayan and guest host Aditya Shrikrishna on Polis' 5 Obejcts podcast.
www.eventbrite.com
September 28, 2025 at 1:22 PM
TOMORROW — Varsha Bharath, director of ‘Bad Girl’, joins host Suchitra Vijayan and guest host Aditya Shrikrishna. She brings along five objects that have shaped her life and work.
WHEN: Tomorrow, September 29
TIME: 10 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST
WHERE: YouTube
Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5-objects-...
WHEN: Tomorrow, September 29
TIME: 10 AM ET / 7:30 PM IST
WHERE: YouTube
Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5-objects-...