Month: July 2023

Hello from the diasporic battleground! 

This week, we’re joined by investigative journalist and filmmaker Anjali Kamat to discuss Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s red-carpet state dinner and the spread of his Islamophobic, anti-democratic Hindutva ideology. (1:45) We start with a short history since Modi was elected in 2014, (12:20) dig into the conspiratorial lynchings that mirror right-wing campaigns in other countries, and (26:15) consider how Indian diasporic communities help maintain (and challenge) Modi’s power. We also track the responses of U.S. politicians, from Trump’s “Howdy Modi” rally in Texas, celebrating the Prime Minister’s reelection in 2019, to progressive Representative Ro Khanna’s unwillingness to critique and Obama’s surprising willingness to do so. 

In this episode, we ask: 

What differentiates the last nine years under Modi from previous periods of large-scale sectarian violence in India? 

Why do the myths around Modi persist, despite cracks in the facade of him as an efficient and non-corrupt leader? 

What was the dream of Indian multiculturalism?

How do Indian diasporic communities influence Modi’s ability to consolidate power? 

For more, check out: 

* Aparna Gopalan in Jewish Currents, on how Hindu nationalists are using the pro-Israel playbook

* An opinion piece by Maya Jasanoff: Narendra Modi Is Not Who America Thinks He Is

* Background on the rise of Hindu nationalism in the U.S. 

* The first installment in our White House State Dinner critique series, from May: Karaoke soft power + left media cowardice 

🎧 Heads-up: Next week’s episode will be a subscriber-only listener Q&A! Subscribe on Patreon or Substack to ask a question and hear the episode. 

Thanks for listening. As always, you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and email us at timetosaygoodbyepod@gmail.com. 

Peter Turchin is not like most historians. 

For starters, he has an unusual background as an evolutionary biologist studying lemmings and mice. He says that analyzing the complexities of the natural world has allowed him to understand the most complex system of all: human society. He has pioneered a field of history that he calls cliodynamics that applies hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of historical data points to a mathematical model in order to understand the present and to predict future trends.

Using these tools, Peter and his team published an article in the journal Nature in 2010 making a bold prediction. They said that economic, social, and political instability in the United States would hit a “peak” in or around the year 2020. Many of Turchin’s critics said he was crazy to make such a speculation, that it’s too hard to predict how history will progress, that the study of history is more art than science. But then came 2020.

It turned out to be a massively turbulent year, one that would bring outbreaks of political violence that the U.S. hadn’t experienced in decades. It felt like complete chaos, between Covid lockdowns, mask and vaccine protests, BLM riots, and then, only six days into 2021, the storming of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. 

What did Peter see that everyone else missed?

Peter is the author of over 200 articles and eight books, and his fascinating new one is called End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration. It argues that societies operate cyclically, going through golden ages and end times. And he says that we’re currently looking at the telltale signs of an imminent revolution. 

On today’s show, Peter talks to us about how he studies history, what American history can tell us about our current moment, why 2024 is going to be a year to watch, and what individuals can do to change the direction of history.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices