Note: This piece contains sensitive content about mental health. Originally published on 18 May 2021.
It was ten years ago today that my friend Sofia took her own life. Ten years is a long time, and at the time when it happened I hadn’t even turned 21 yet. I would like to say that in those years her death has become easier to deal with, but in reality, while it may no longer be a constant presence in my mind every day like it was for the first couple of years, even now, when I think of her I become…
This is still not a story about Labour and antisemitism
In the 13 long months since the 2019 General Election, it would be an understatement to say that the topic of racism, and in particular antisemitism, has been a hugely polemicised issue. I wrote an article in the summer of 2018 about the Labour antisemitism crisis, and while we live in an entirely different world today, I still very much stand by the basic underlying argument, which I believe has if anything become more relevant with time. I argued that while yes, there is antisemitism in the Labour Party and…
Thoughts on the George Floyd protests and the crumbling world order
There was a moment during last year’s climate protests in October. We had set off from our Global Justice Rebellion site at St. James’ Park to a rally in front of the Royal Courts of Justice to show solidarity for the people trying to save the iconic Latin Village in Seven Sisters, a true cornerstone of the local South American community, from gentrification and demolition. Over the course of an hour, the crowd grew in size, impassioned speeches were given by the organisers, a samba drum band showed up…
Preparing for Lockdown
Almost exactly one year ago, I entered the worst depressive episode of my life. I was three and a half years into being stuck working at a call centre doing charity fundraising, having seen my morale, self-esteem and motivation beaten down into a pulp through the daily tedium of a job which provided me with no self-respect and years of substance abuse. I reached a point where I no longer felt like I could go into work or go out and meet people — and since I was paid hourly anyway, not going into work meant I no longer had…
How Jeremy Corbyn has played a blinder on Brexit
There is little doubt that the following two months are set to be the most defining period in British politics for many generations. Captain Boris and his band of merry marauders are steering HMS Britannia with delighted glee headfirst into a catastrophic collision with the iceberg of No Deal Brexit despite having no clear support from the public. …
Reflections on the politics of memory and history
I’ve been thinking a lot about nostalgia lately. The very first piece I uploaded when I was getting back into writing was about what can be loosely referred to as the “nostalgia industry”. In it, I discussed the way in which the powerful emotion of nostalgia serves as a tool to anchor ourselves with as the increasing pace of technological “progress” under late capitalism continues to warp our collective sense of the passage of time, and how a vast industry had emerged to capitalise on it. However, over the course of the…
A week of resistance against the hostile environment policy
A coalition of campaigning groups has carried out a series of direct actions last week, aimed at the Home Office’s inhumane immigration policies. Beginning on Monday, the Home Office itself was put on trial, as its policies were held to question by a people’s tribunal at their Marsham Street office. On Wednesday morning, campaigners dyed the fountain outside the Home Office red to symbolise the blood on their hands. The entrances were blockaded for three hours. Two people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. …
The first day at the Stansted 15 anti-deportation activists’ trial
I’ve never really been much of a morning person. Like many others I presume, when I go to sleep needing to be up early I always have an irrational fear that I’ll oversleep the alarm, even though I end up waking up ten minutes before it’s set to go off. Things were no different on Monday morning at ten to six, as I opened my eyes in a slightly startled state. After a summer of record-breaking heat followed by a month of rain, the temperature had seemingly plummeted overnight. I…
This is not a story about Labour and antisemitism
The entire discussion surrounding antisemitism and the Labour Party has been in equal parts both frustrating and exhausting. Frustrating because anyone who is a leftist, who is committed to the values of equality, justice and peace, who abhors any form of racism including antisemitism, and is also a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour, is forced into an awkward position when trying to defend his record due to the very nature of the issue. Exhausting because we have been having to adopt this position without any pause for the past six months…
On football and nation in the 21st century
So you may have heard, there’s a World Cup of football going on. At least until Sunday. There is a particularly odd feeling on the streets of London, as through what has surely been the easiest route to Moscow since the Wehrmacht in 1941, England are in the semi-finals, with a genuine chance of winning the whole thing for the first time in over half a century. England fans can be seen nursing their tepid pints in pubs across the land during an unusually warm summer, vacillating between euphoric disbelief, and full-on…
Aranyo Aarjan
North London Bengali, writing about politics, culture, football and climate
