HOSTILE HOMELANDS | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
May 8, 2023 6:00 pm
Location
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
May 8, 2023 6:00 pm
14th & V
Under Narendra Modi, India has changed dramatically. As the world attempts to grapple with its trajectory towards authoritarianism and a 'Hindu Rashtra' (Hindu State), little attention has been paid to the linkages between Modi's India and the governments from which it has drawn inspiration, as well as military and technical support.
India once called Zionism racism, but, as Azad Essa argues, the state of Israel has increasingly become a cornerstone of India's foreign policy. Looking to replicate the 'ethnic state' in the image of Israel in policy and practice, the annexation of Kashmir increasingly resembles Israel's settler-colonial project of the occupied West Bank. The ideological and political linkages between the two states are alarming; their brands of ethnonationalism deeply intertwined.
Hostile Homelands puts India's relationship with Israel in its historical context, looking at the origins of Zionism and Hindutva; India's changing position on Palestine; and the countries' growing military-industrial relationship from the 1990s. Lucid and persuasive, Essa demonstrates that the India-Israel alliance spells significant consequences for democracy, the rule of law and justice worldwide.
Azad Essa, Laila Al-Arian and Sana Saeed will be joining us on the Busboys stage to share their knowledge on the political and ideological link between Israel and India. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and author Azad Essa will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of HOSTILE HOMELANDS will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is IN PERSON and will NOT be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Azad Essa is an award-winning journalist and author based between Johannesburg and New York City. He is currently a senior reporter for Middle East Eye covering American foreign policy, Islamophobia and race in the US. He is the author of The Moslems are Coming and Zuma's Bastardand has written for Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and the Guardian.
Laila Al-Arian is an investigative journalist based in Washington DC and executive producer of Fault Lines, an Emmy and Peabody award winning documentary program on Al Jazeera English.
Sana Saeed is a correspondent and senior producer at AJ+. She is the host of Backspace, a media critique show that looks at how news stories are told, the roots of contemporary narratives and considers what a different approach to those stories could look like.
CO-SPONSORSHIPS
The Bridge Initiative is a multi-year research project on Islamophobia housed in Georgetown University. The Bridge Initiative aims to disseminate original and accessible research, offers engaging analysis and commentary on contemporary issues, and hosts a wide repository of educational resources to inform the general public about Islamophobia.
Arab Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) is a professional journalist organization dedicated to supporting a flourishing community of Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African heritage journalists and providing a voice to the communities from which they come. It was founded in 2005 in New York City by a small number of people working for various media organizations, who recognized a commonality of interests and issues facing journalists in the US of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) heritage. The organization’s mission is to provide peer support for members as they advance in their careers, to offer a forum to discuss professional issues, encourage young people of MENA heritage to pursue careers in journalism, and to improve and provide nuanced coverage of the MENA region and its peoples, as well as its heritage communities in different parts of the world."
Georgetown Law Students for Justice in Palestine is centered on freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people, particularly as it pertains to Israeli occupation. SJP Nationals believe that all struggles for freedom, justice, and equality are interconnected and that we must embody the principles and ideals we envision for a just society. We seek to amplify the voices of Palestinian resisting annexation, settlements, and human rights abuses, to combat anti-Palestinian narratives and the silencing of pro-Palestine viewpoints in American politics and academia, to strengthen intersectional bonds, and highlight Palestinian culture, particularly in forums that are accessible to students in the DC area.
