Francesca Recchia speaks to Adrian Levy, co-author of Spy Stories: Inside the Secret World of ISI and RAW. With unprecedented access to the R.A.W. and the I.S.I., the world’s most inscrutable spy agencies, Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark describe the workings of bitter rivals, mapping their complicated history from the 1960s to the present day.
In this podcast, Francesca Recchia speaks to Hassan Javid about the decision to introduce electronic voting machines in Pakistan for the general elections to be held in 2023. Javid explores the circumstances under which the legislation was passed, the viability of the plan and its impact on electoral transparency given the history of military interference … Read more
In this podcast, Francesca Recchia sits down with Abbas Nasir to examine the rapidly deteriorating press freedoms in Pakistan. They discuss the Pakistan military’s intervention into the news media industry, news outlets that provide regular platform to state propaganda and the hope for the future.
In this episode, Suchitra Vijayan sits down with Dinesh Narayanan to discuss the formation of the RSS, its links with the BJP, its role in violence and the distortion of history to create role models out of RSS figures like V.D Savarkar.
In this episode, Suchitra Vijayan sits down with Abhishek Saha to discuss his new book, “No Land’s People: The Untold Story of Assam’s NRC crisis” and the xenophobic rhetoric around issues of migration and citizenship. The preparation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was an unprecedented exercise that sought to establish Indian … Read more
The Polis Project’s Francesca Recchia is in conversation with Mohammad Hanif, a fiction writer and journalist based in Karachi. An acclaimed name in South Asian literary circles, he often uses fiction to reflect upon realities oft-forgotten in the privileged mainstream. In this conversation, Hanif delves into reasons that motivate him to create fictional worlds, the … Read more
Karachi Bachao Tehreek is a grassroots coalition of lawyers and activists who are concerned about the sustainability of the development projects in the city. They work in collaboration with community leaders in the working class localities that bear the brunt of this so-called development. In this conversation, Zaidi details the timeline of urban violence and … Read more
Looking at the recent anti-encroachment drives that have targeted vulnerable communities the city, Hasan details how Karachi changed from a bustling multi-ethnic city after Independence to one blatantly favoring upper classes. He analyzes the impact of neoliberalism and private capital in determining an urban development based on project rather than plans as well as global … Read more
Reflecting on her experiences with refugees in Boden, North Sweden, Dr Hilal speaks of the passivity and agency of refugee lives and cultures as they navigate the manifestly European distinctions of the public and private space. How do refugees see themselves as political subjects who are in the position to demand and transform the societies … Read more
In this episode, Suchitra Vijayan is in conversation with Dr. Deana Heath about her book Colonial Terror. Focusing on India between the early nineteenth century and the First World War, Colonial Terror: Torture and Violence in Colonial India explores the centrality of the torture of Indian bodies to the law-preserving violence of colonial rule and … Read more