Romi Mahajan

Visualizing Palestine

For the most part coffee-table books serve only two purposes:  They look aesthetic in a living room, and they lend faux intellectual credibility to their owners:   The second, of course,…

visualizing Palestine

A Meditation on Palestinians

Growing up, I heard much about the Vietnam “War” from my parents and brother.   Few in the United States know that 6 million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians were killed in…

The Lidice Ratio

One to One HundredEven more at timesBut the OneIs the Only Focus One Hundred is a statisticOne Hundred heartsMinds, SoulsThousands of lovers A Pauper concedesA Billionaire succeedsIt might be timeTo…

The Amazing Indian Mind- Part 1

·       In the land of “Atithi devo bhava,” to suggest that Pakistani cricket fans should not be treated poorly is to be labeled an anti-national and a “Pakistan Lover,” whatever…

I Wrote this Myself and Enjoyed it

The excitement about ChatGPT has provoked the usual slew of profound rhetorical questions in technocratic circles.  “Can Education stay the same?”  “Will X job or Y profession survive the tide?” …

Poise

Young with the wisdom Of an elder Unfair. No childhood. That’s your life   Not allowed ever To be angry Not allowed to raise Your hands   Smile through it…

Guilty Women

Review of Hitler’s Girl by Lauren Young Historians and lay-people alike have for decades posed the counter-factual question, “How could Hitler have been stopped?”  The answer, shocking to those at…

Solidarities and Perversions

An Indian comedian did an experiment recently that tells us tales about people and their vituperations. The experiment was brilliant: Prime Minister Modi tweeted a standard-world-leader note of sorrow to…

The Sanctity of Life?

A victory For life’s sanctity? But not for the living. Black Lives were not sacred Gun-dead children neither Hungry kids- -freeloaders War-dead deserved it Snowflakes if seeking help Desperate mothers…

Three American Pathologies

Peloton The Peloton craze suggests a decadence that has marked and will continue to mark the utter failure of the American experiment.  Such statements are by design hyperbolic- even perhaps…

Bound Together

Air and water both flow And mix and merge Neither lives But give life   Noises echo Voices carry Smells and sounds Join us together   Colors can run If…

In Hate, Racism; In Love, Racism

In the world as it has come to be, certain gestures are obligatory while equivalent ones are not.   We are trained to have what can be deemed as inconsistent responses…

Oh Yemen

Oh Yemen, I’m sorry That No one remembers you That You are not White That You are not Christian That You were attacked by the “good guys” I know you…

Tired Propaganda Bandied as History

Review of Munich:  the Edge of War|Netflix, 2022 When I first saw an advertisement for Munich:  The Edge of War appear on my Netflix search screen, my blood pressure rose…

The Rittenhouse Verdict

Fanon had written that the colonized belonged to a higher cognitive category than the colonizer for a simple reason: The colonized have to be able to think of themselves and…

The Real Estate State?

Review of “Capital City:  Gentrification and the Real Estate State” by Samuel Stein.  Verso, 2019. Real Estate is the world’s largest asset class. The numbers are staggering- globally, real estate…

Please Pay for Great Content

Six years ago, I wrote an article that appeared on Countercurrents, just as this one does.  The piece was strident, even didactic, but was in large part a plea.  The…

In Defense of Military History

Some years ago, I was lucky enough to have a rich email dialogue with Colonel David Glantz, the foremost historian of the Eastern Front in World War 2. He was…

Farming Memories

If they are terrorists Then why do they feed us? If they are disruptors Then why do they make the world work? You might hit and insult You might tarnish…

Premature Death

Crossing the street A brush with death A thousand times Alive A door held A waiting elevator Stop Signs Back then front A stopped heart With sirens Beating again No…

Falling Off the Cliff

It gives me no pleasure to quote Cromwell, but so apposite was his dismissal of the Rump Parliament in 1653 as it relates to Trump and his cronies today- You…

De-housed for Me

You did not know did you? That my house gives me rights. You did not know did you? That my house gives me virtue. Food, Clothing, Shelter I demand that…

Keep it Hot and Don’t Move On

With the recent Democratic win in the US election, all sorts of people have been calling for a “lowering of the temperature,” “coming together,” and “forgiving and forgetting.” “Let’s heal,”…

Swift goes Democracy

Review of “PolyTicks, DeMocKrazy & Mumbo Jumbo: Babus, Mantras, & Netas (Un) Making Our Nation” By Avay Shukla|Forward by Shashi Tharoor. Pippa Rann books & media The public sphere in…

The Eyes of Their Whites

Review of “Dispatches from the Race War” by Tim Wise. City Lights Publishers, forthcoming December 2020 In a few short weeks- achingly painful weeks- the US will hold what is…

 Plucked, Zucked, and *ucked

Review of Bit Tyrants by Rob Larson.  Haymarket Books. Big Tech is in the news daily.  In fact, Big Tech makes the news, is the news, and owns the news. …

Reclaiming Freedom from the Edge

Review of “Azadi” by Arundhati Roy In approximately 5 weeks the United States will hold the most important Presidential election in its short and violent history. Bookmakers and Psephologists alike…

You Can Ask Me….But

Ask me How I’m doing What I’m thinking about But Ask me What the future holds Where I’ll be But Ask me About the pain About the sadness But Ask…

A Crack in the Earth

Opening before us A crack in the Earth So deep So deep Headphones on Chatting on the phone We walk Into the muck Insouciance Ambien-induced haze Our collective lives Under…

In Defense of Military History

Some years ago, I was lucky enough to have a rich email dialogue with Colonel David Glantz, the foremost historian of the Eastern Front in World War 2.  He was…

To Armaud, The Flame

A thread in our lives That never unravels Pinching at the seam Of our civilization As an unhealed cut Bleeds, even in dribbles Pains us until We learn to ignore…

Salim Bhai Please!

Salim Bhai please Get out of the house It is burning Please get out It is but one room I cannot leave It is my house After all Salim Bhai…

The Transparent People

The transparent people cannot be seen Is that true? The transparent people have no emotions Is that true? In a field, on a bus Walking down the road Singing, in…

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