D Accardi
@accardid
Historian of Kashmir, religion, gender & politics | conncoll.academia.edu/DeanAccardi
Yes. Apparently his official home is in Long Branch, NJ, but he also has been living in France and Monaco in the last couple years serving as Trump’s ambassador to those countries (and is already in legal trouble in France due to failure to attend a summons from the French Foreign Minister)
“Finally: AI cannot do your job, but an AI salesman can 100%convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can't do your job, and when the bubble bursts, the money-hemorrhaging ‘foundation models’ will be shut off and we'll lose the AI that can't do your job…” - Cory Doctorow
This is what we have to do across the United States—or at least it’s major cities: a general strike. It may be one of the last levers we have left to stop our government from supporting genocide
“The UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel has committed four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention, just one of which would legally constitute a genocide.“
In contrast to the recently released problematic film Songs of Paradise, Arfat Sheikh’s film on Kashmir—Saffron Kingdom—looks to be a tour de force, addressing Kashmiri life & struggles & the experience of the diaspora & those who have remained in the Valley with insight & nuance. A must see!
Excellent review of the new, problematic film on Kashmir — Songs of Paradise. I especially appreciated the section of the article “The persistent binary in Kashmir-centric cinema”:
Here’s the kind of smug, self-righteous condescension and victim blaming I was talking about:
For some this image may provoke a self-righteous scoff at red staes. But this is so sad, because most people do not reach financial distress due to profligate spending on unnecessary luxuries but are in debt due to medical expenses, high housing costs, & income too low to cover basic costs of living
This article addresses well why debate bros and preachers like Charlie Kirk who hold events in which they appear to genuinely take Q&A from an audience are actually a problem. 1/4
On the India’s recent book ban in Kashmir: “But we know that books live beyond bans. In the digital age, such measures are not only moot, but also reiterate that the state continues to fear ideas. Now, more than ever, readers across the world should decide for themselves what to read and why” (1/2)
Excellent article on 16th-century Suhrawardi hagiographer Daud Khaki’s early text Qasīda-e-Zarūriyya and what it implies about Islamic faith and Muslim (especially Sufi) life in early modern Kashmir
Also, vaccines have reduced rates of death & hospitalization, but COVID is hardly over or gone. And if there are long-term health impacts from repeated COVID infections, we’re hardly doing anything to save us from them
Intellectual loneliness also arises from the other extreme—from other “academics” & “intellectuals” trying to complicate & muddy what are fairly clear, factual issues that should morally & ethically compel one to take a stand & act rather than “reimagine” or endlessly debate particular matters (1/3)
The Indian government is banning award-winning scholarship in Kashmir. The information these books contain is all thoroughly researched, proven, footnoted and cited, and vetted by peers reviewers. The only problem is that the truth they reveal contradicts the claims & policies of the government. 1/4
Excellent article on how removing Urdu proficiency for civil servant positions & requiring Sanskrit in schools in J&K participates in the longer Orientalist erasure of Muslims & their contributions to the history, culture, and heritage of the Indian Subcontinent and the promotion of Hindu supremacy
With fascist governments increasingly changing history and social studies textbooks to promote their myths about the nation and remove anything that contradicts them, this problem may become more real in the future than it has been up until now
“It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the red lines have all just been a smokescreen.” “The rules bend like reeds when it comes to Israel.”
I am ecstatic that Zohran Mamdani won the Dem primary for NYC mayor, and we should enjoy and celebrate 🎉💃 If we can get him to win the general election, that’s when the real work starts: (1/6)