Paradoxes of the Popular

Humanitarianism, civil society and the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh

“…For example, the largely middle class 2013 Shahbag street protests in Dhaka were a response to concerns that the AL government's International Crimes Tribunal that had been set up in 2009 to retrospectively secure justice in relation to war crimes committed during 1971 by the Pakistan army and its collaborators was wavering in its administration of justice "long delayed". 46 In 2013 the had wobbled in its determination to follow through on the execution of those convicted of collaborating with the Pakistan authorities in the massacre of Bengali civilians. 47 The protests were an assertation of secularism that quickly became portrayed as anti-religious by interests sympathetic to the JI leaders who were implicated in the trials.…”

The limits of bodies: Gatherings and the problem of collective presence

“…They empty the streets of bodies by calling for harthal , or mass closures of roads and shops, and they clog the streets with bodies by holding huge demonstrations and rallies. With both tactics, they use strength in numbers to show their support among the populace (see also Chowdhury 2019, 8–9; Mitchell 1988, 125–26; Tambar 2009, 532) 16…”

“…Second, the distinction relies on a misleading contrast between the materiality and immediacy of the crowd and the immaterial and mediated quality of the public (Chowdhury 2019; Cody 2015; Warner 2002). A collective is never merely a pre‐semiotic aggregate of individual persons, embodied or virtual (Shilling 2005, 218).…”

Recuperación territorial, weychafes y vigilancias. Reflexiones sobre una economía moral de resistencia mapuche

“…Como observó Chowdhury (2019) estudiando la resistencia popular a las empresas mineras en Bangladesh, en ciertos escenarios la sospecha se vuelve una lengua franca. El modo en que Pedro colocó el asunto pareció hablar ese lenguaje.…”

“…El hecho de dormir con un weychafe a cada lado fue tal vez la expresión más gráfica de esta condición; y la acusación subrepticia en el almuerzo fue un modo contundente de volver palpable esa vigilancia. La sospecha, como mecanismo político inscripto en determinada economía moral, fortalece la soberanía colectiva y funciona a través del miedo a la alteridad en el interior (Chowdhury 2019). Es por eso que todo aquello que pudiera generar sospechas merecía ser cuidadosamente administrado, contorneado, supervisado.…”