Category: Asia

Sarojini Naidu

Published May 16, 2022 by Rush Lee

Sarojini NAIDU (1879-1949) was an Indian freedom fighter, poet, and good friend of Mahatma Gandhi. Her primary focus was advocating for India’s emancipation from British colonial rule. She proscribed to Gandhi’s method of Satyagraha and participated in the Quit India Movement. Like Gandhi, she opposed Partition and advocated for the secularism of Indian as well as Hindu-Muslim unity. She succeeded Gandhi as the President of the Indian National Congress and later became the first Governor if the United Provinces.

Naidu’s advocated heavily for women’s emancipation, providing a feminist perspective from Partition-era India. After working for women’s suffrage in London, she articulated that women’s freedom and agency were essential to the independence movement. She tailored her arguments to satisfy both men and women, using poetic rhetoric to convince people of women’s capability and importance.

Further reading

Shekhani, Ummekulsoom. “Sarojini Naidu-The Forgotten Orator of India.” Rhetoric Review 36, no. 2 (2017): 139–150.

Naidu, Sarojini. Speeches and Writings of Sarojini Naidu. Third edition. G.A. Natesan, Madras, 1919.

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Jahanara Imam

Jahanara Imam

Published May 16, 2022 by Rush Lee

Jahanara IMAM (1929-1994) was a Bangladeshi nationalist writer and political activist with a focus on shedding light on the atrocities committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Jahanara’s eldest son Rumi joined the resistance movement, yet she was anxious about his fate. She kept a diary detailing the buildup of the conflict between West and East Pakistan, the martial law instituted on March 25th, the burning of buildings, and the shootings of civilians. She includes a conversation with her and Rumi discussing the potential outcome of deliberations between Yahya Khan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as well as the nationalist sentiments from the resistance movement. Her diary becomes an essential publication in understanding the toils of the independence movement so much so that she earns the title of “Shaheed Janani,” which means “Mother of Martyrs.”

FURTHER READING

McDermott, Rachel Fell, Leonard A. Gordon, Ainslie T. Embree, Frances W. Pritchett, and Dennis Dalton, eds. “BANGLADESH: Independence and Controversies Over the Fruits of Freedom.” In Sources of Indian Traditions: Modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, 3rd ed., 852–857. Columbia University Press, 2014.

Imam, Jahanara. Of Blood and Fire: The Untold Story of Bangladesh’s War of Independence. South Asia Books, 1998.

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Bangladesh Liberation War

Bangladesh Liberation War

Published May 16, 2022 by Rush Lee

The Bangladesh Liberation War (1971-1971) occurred after Partition, where West and East Pakistan began to experience conflict and discontent due to its geographic separation and its economic, language, ethnic, and religious differences. Bengali nationalists advocated for self-determination and independence from West Pakistan. In 1970, Pakistan’s General Election granted Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a Bengali from East Pakistan, a majority. Deliberations over forming a government failed, prompting West Pakistan to instigate a crackdown in East Pakistan with increased military presence and martial law. On March 25, 1971, Sheikh Mujib declared Bangladesh independent.

Bengali nationalists urged resistance and used guerrilla tactics to combat the East Pakistani military, which began to weaponize violence and engage in massacres. East Pakistan committed genocide, targeting Bengali people. Millions of Bengali refugees fled to India, prompting India’s involvement as an ally. Pakistan surrendered on December 16, 1971, in Dhaka, the site of horrific massacres, which officially cemented Bangladesh as an independent and sovereign nation.

FURTHER READING

Raghavan, Srinath. 1971. Harvard University Press, 2013.

Bass, Gary Jonathan. The Blood Telegram : Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide. First edition. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2013.

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Mahatma Gandhi

Published May 6, 2022 by Neil Bhatia

MAHATMA Gandhi (1869-1948), through the self-coined concept of Satyagraha (“asserting for truth”) as well as the idea of ahimsa (“nonviolence”), fought discrimination in South Africa in his early life and later resisted British occupation in India.

This resistance of British authority with the goal of Indian independence came through secular organization of ahimsa, as civil disobedience in response to violence and oppression was paramount to Gandhi. He led by example through what some call his nationalist-asceticism during the Indian Independence Movement, as he played the role of a political Gandhi as well as the role of Gandhi the spiritual hermit. His political nature shows within his nationalist “Quit India” speech and his attempts to prevent the partition of India, while his ascetic lifestyle is evident in how he used his body as a vehicle to embody self-discipline and simplicity during his hunger strikes and chosen attire of loin cloth. While Gandhi did not succeed in his negotiations with the Muslim League and Muhammad Ali Jinnah for a unified India, the British granted independence to India in the face of growing Indian nationalism and economic pressures.

FURTHER READING

Chakraborty, Chandrima. “Speaking through Bodies, Exhibiting the Limits: British Colonialism and Gandhian Nationalism.” Forum for world literature studies 6, no. 4 (2014): 675–691.

Jahanbegloo, Ramin. “Gandhi and the Global Satyagraha.” Social Change (New Delhi) 51, no. 1 (2021): 38–50.

Prem Anand Mishra. “POLITICAL THEORY OF ANARCHISM IN GANDHI’S WRITINGS.” Indian journal of political science 74, no. 3 (2013): 453–462.

Singh, Frances B. “A Passage to India, the National Movement, and Independence.” Twentieth Century Literature 31, no. 2/3 (1985): 265–78. https://doi.org/10.2307/441295.

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Yamakawa Kikue

Published April 29, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

YAMAKAWA Kikue (1890-1980) was a renowned socialist, activist, and advisor to the Sekirankai throughout 1921. Born to a prominent family of former samurai, she attended a women’s academy, where she formulated her progressive philosophy. Through encounters with socialist literature, the hypocrisies of capitalist society, and her future husband and founder of the Japanese Communist Party, Yamakawa Hitoshi, Yamakawa Kikue cultivated a belief in the necessity of socialist revolution to attain freedom which transferred to her work with the Sekirankai.

In Mikiso Hane’s Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan, Yamakawa’s unique perspective emerges within her memoir. Via descriptions of her formative experiences, she demonstrates a desire to denounce labor abuses and the governmental oppression of women through a cooperative organization. Hence, even without being active in the Sekirankai’s political demonstrations, she engaged with the group through a unified desire to acquire female liberties by overthrowing capitalism. Therefore, despite her eventual disappointment with the Sekirankai’s dissolution, Yamakawa’s revolutionary views influenced the socialist ideology of the collective, which demonstrates feminine resistance throughout the modern period of Japan.

FURTHER READING

Hane, Mikiso. 1998. “The Sekirankai.” In Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan, 161–74. University of California Press.

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Hashiura Haruko and the Photographic Legacy of Protest

Published April 29, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

Hashiura Haruko at the Second May Day Protest, 1921

HASHIURA Haruko (1898-1975) was one of the pivotal figures of the Sekirankai. While not a prominent leader of the small feminist collective, she is recognized for her acts of protest with the group, especially for her work in the second May Day Protest. Moreover, as she was born to a family of active socialists, she learned at an early age about socialist principles despite later embracing a nihilist perspective later in life.

Detailed in her testimonies within Mikiso Hane’s Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan, Hashiura was famously photographed at the age of 23 while being arrested for participating in the socialist demonstration and assaulting a police officer. Depicting her with confidence and composure, this photograph was published by the Yomiuri Shinbun, which rallied members of the left and represented the power evoked by the Sekirankai. While Hashiura died displeased with the success of her photo, her writings indicate that she utilized the abuse and struggles she encountered to advocate for feminist reform.

FURTHER READING

Hane, Mikiso. 1998. “The Sekirankai.” In Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan, 131–38. University of California Press.

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The Sekirankai

Published April 29, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

The Sekirankai (1921), or Red Wave Society, was a Japanese women’s-rights organization born from leftist members of a Japanese newspaper group called the Seito circle. Established explicitly by Sakai Magara, Hashirura Haruko, Kutsumi Fusako, and Akizuki Shizue, these socialist figures assembled the group as a response to the Taisho government’s misogynistic policies, censorship, and increased militarism. Moreover, with the assistance of various political connections to the Japanese Communist Party and prominent advisors, Yamakawa Kikue and Itō Noe, the organization pushed for a reformist transformation of the Japanese government.

Overall, the Sekirankai is notable for its political rallies in support of feminism and its position as the first women’s socialist organization. Throughout 1921, the association participated in a variety of seminars, leftist book distributions, and public demonstrations, such as the prominent May Day Protest. However, following a surge in imprisonment and assassination of the leadership, the group eventually disbanded only six months after its inception. Regardless, the Sekirankai remains an organization that demonstrates the origins of organized female political resistance and reformist ideology within the Taisho period.

FURTHER READING

Hartley, Barbara. 2020. “Sakai Magara: Activist Girl of Early Twentieth Century Japan.” Girlhood Studies 13 (2): 103–18. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2020.130209.

Hane, Mikiso. 1998. “The Sekirankai.” In Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan, 125-27. University of California Press.

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The Meiji Restoration

Published April 1, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

Throughout most of Japanese history, monarchies and feudal military dictatorships ruled the country. However, after a coup d’etat in January 1868 that stripped Tokugawa Yoshinobu of authority, Japan entered a tumultuous and revolutionary period known as the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912). Following hundreds of years under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the country was forced to construct a new government that appealed to the people. Moreover, as this period marked the continuation of Japan’s new relations with foreign countries for the first time in centuries, there was tremendous pressure to pursue distinct ideologies from foreign governments.

Therefore, the Meiji Era enabled vastly different perspectives to propose courses of action for economic, social, and cultural development. From socialism rooted in Christianity to Japanese Marxism, various systems were posited as options for the new centralized government. Thus, this section explores the numerous perspectives of Japanese resistance against the former government and the dominant ideologies that persisted throughout the era.

FURTHER READING

Beasley, William G. 1972. The Meiji Restoration. ACLS Humanities EBook. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00345.

Theodore, William, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E Tiedemann. 2005. “The Meiji Restoration.” In Sources of Japanese Tradition. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press.

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Nakano Shigeharu

Published April 1, 2022 by Franchesca Johnson

NAKANO Shigeharu (1902-1979) was a Japanese author and activist that utilized his writings to advocate for Marxist philosophy. Following the teachings of Fukumoto Kazuo and other Japanese Communist Party leaders, he crafted poetic critiques that employed the traditional tanka format to spread radical ideas throughout the 1920s.

Specifically, much of Nakano’s work lies in Miriam Silverberg’s translated compilation, Changing Song: The Marxist Manifestos of Nakano Shigeharu. Within pieces like “Farewell Before Daybreak” and “Imperial Hotel,” Nakano utilizes poetry to comment on the daily suffering of Japanese workers and illustrate an aversion to the effects of Westernization that accompanied foreign influence on Japan. Therefore, while many activists worked to expose the hypocrisy of the Japanese government with Marxist beliefs, Nakano Shigeharu championed radical change through his literature. While his advocacy for the Marxist ideology already exhibits opposition against Western democracies in Japan, his poetry also displays how culture was a vital tool of resistance against the hostile regime during the Meiji Restoration.

FURTHER READING

Silverberg, Miriam Rom. (1999) 2019. Changing Song: The Marxist Manifestos of Nakano Shigeharu. Princeton Legacy Library.

Theodore, William, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E Tiedemann. 2005. “Socialism and the Left.” In Sources of Japanese Tradition. Vol. 2. New York: Columbia University Press.

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Edward Said

Published April 1, 2022 by jeforte

Edward SAID (1935-2003) was an outspoken critic of the field of orientalism and was hugely influential in redefining how scholars approach the field. Born to Palestinian parents in Jerusalem, Said attended the Egyptian branch of Victoria College in Cairo and then North Field Mount Herman in Massachusetts. As an Arabic-speaking Palestinian in these heavily English-dominated schools, Said frequently felt like an outsider, caught between identities in a space that denied his very existence. These boyhood experiences proved highly formative for Said, and by the time he graduated from Princeton in 1957 Said had become an insightful literary critic.

His most famous work is Orientalism (1978), a deconstruction of the field of “oriental” scholarship, which had long been dominated and shaped by western interpreters. Said’s primary argument is that the very notion of the “Orient” presupposes certain assumptions about the superiority of the west and deprives people who actually live there (“Orientals”) from telling their own stories, by means of a process of othering, in which non-western peoples come to be understood as “other” and fundamentally different or lacking in some way (compared to Westerners), often culminating in the elevation of trivial (superficial and/or cosmetic) differences to the level of constituting different natures. In this manner, people who have been “othered” can cease to be considered human and lose any associated human rights and dignities. Because this Orientalists perform this othering subconsciously, Said takes it upon himself to demonstrate the various ways in which these presupposed power-relations have shaped the west’s creation of the “Orient,” in large part through contrast to the West (or “Occident”). Said’s goal in writing Orientalism was to change discourse within the field of orientalism and more broadly, so as to allow “Oriental” voices to be heard and enable those voices to take the lead in shaping how their history is taught and understood, through new, authentic perspectives. After all, shouldn’t a people be allowed to shape its own legacy?

FURTHER READING

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. London, UK: Penguin Books, 2019.

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