Freedom at 75

Independence in Pakistan and India

August 14–15, 2022.

As Pakistan and India celebrate 75 years of independence from Britain, I think about the land of my birth (India), of my people, and of the meaning of freedom across South Asia. I think about:

• the freedom fighters and committed masses who forced the British out after decades of sacrifice, by every means at their disposal;
• the partition violence that accompanied independence, the product of imperialist meddling and our own sectarianisms;

Kalpana Dutt was a freedom fighter and joined the Chittagong Armoury Raid of 1930. She later joined the Communist Party of India. So many leaders and struggle in the long fight against the British Raj — across present-day South Asia — are unknown outside the region but were central to raising mass consciousness and pushing the British out.

• the ongoing crises and struggles that led, in 1971, to the creation of Bangladesh; the ongoing struggles in Kashmir and elsewhere for “azadi” and a taste of self-rule;
• the struggle of women and queer communities, Dalits and Adivasis, workers and farmers and oppressed groups and activists of every stripe to make the promises of freedom real for everyone, not only the wealthy and elite;
• the desire of ordinary people across South Asia and the diaspora for peace, and an end to militarism, sectarian violence, and strife;
• the work of writers and musicians and artists and filmmakers and storytellers who convey to us, everyday, who we are, what defines us, what in our past and our traditions needs to be cherished, and what can be let go.