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The Polis Project, Inc. is a New York-based digital magazine and a hybrid research and journalism organisation that documents communities in resistance at the intersection of politics, art and culture.

Our work sheds light on the rise of authoritarianism, especially in democracies, and focuses on issues of racial, class and caste injustice, Islamophobia and State oppression around the world.

State violence & carcerality

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Ish Imran Perretta

Imran Perretta on His Debut Film, ‘Ish,’ Immigration, and the Psychological Impact of Routine State Violence

Kaashif Hajee
India's new deportation regime

Marked, Detained, Pushed Back: Inside India’s New Deportation Regime

Srinath Rao
The Eyes of Gaza by Plestia Alaqad

The Eyes of Gaza: Plestia Alaqad’s Portrait of Endurance Amid the Horrors of Genocide

Adithya Kamesh
Jama Masjid, mosque situated in Upperkot, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

Patterns of Erasure: How India’s Mosques and Islamic Shrines are Systematically Targeted

Nikita Jain

Arrested, Tortured, Declared Innocent After Death: A Muslim Prisoner’s Two-Decade Struggle Exposes India’s Justice System

Nishtha Sood
Mimi Syed

Genocide Through the Eyes of an Emergency Physician: Dr. Mimi Syed on Her Experience at Al-Aqsa and Nasser Hospital in Gaza

Nilofar Absar

DISSENT

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Gauri Gill Farmer Protests

Photographer Gauri Gill Reimagines India’s Farmer Protests as ‘The Village on the Highway’

Jaishree Kumar
Jamia student protest

The Systematic Witch-Hunt of Jamia Students: How Authorities Are Crushing Dissent

Aatif Ammad
Vinod Kumar Shukla

Language as a Home, Not a Ladder: Vinod Kumar Shukla’s Resistance in Remaining Where He Belongs

Poulomi Das
Millions of Italian workers held a massive strike against their government's support for Israel

The Italian Model: How Workers Shut Down Italy for Palestine

Sara Tanveer
Nandhan and Blue Star

Food, Caste, and Popular Cinema: How Blue Star and Nandhan Subvert Brahminical Codes of Commensality

Sumaiya Mustafa

Inside Nepal’s Gen Z Protests: A Fight Against Deep Political Rot, a Leap to Reclaim Democracy

Subeksha Poudel

MAJORITARIANISM & MASS VIOLENCE

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Jama Masjid, mosque situated in Upperkot, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

Patterns of Erasure: How India’s Mosques and Islamic Shrines are Systematically Targeted

Nikita Jain
The Pathan Sisters

The Pathan Sisters: Resistance and Sisterhood in the Face of Hindutva Violence

Sanhati Banerjee
Zara Chowdhary on The Lucky Ones

Zara Chowdhary on Memory, Muslim Girlhood, and the Violence of Forgetting

Kaashif Hajee
Follower

The Anatomy of a Troll: “Follower” Expertly Exposes The Geopolitical Fault Lines of a Fractured India

Rahul Desai
Shooting the Sun review Manipur violence

Shooting The Sun Explores Violence and Death in Manipur—And The Indian State’s Complicity

Mishika Chauhan
Ajay Devgan as Bajirao Singham in Singham Again.

Hindu Heroes and Muslim Demons: How Singham Again Retells the Ramayana in Troubling Ways

Sohini Sarah Pillai

LAWFARE

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Ministry of Comedic Affairs

Indian Govt Launches Ministry of Comedic Affairs

The Savala Vada
The Oyerepa Afutu show hosted by Auntie Naa in Ghana

Sensationalism, Insensitivity, and Shock Value: Why Ghana’s Media Courts Cannot Replace Its Failing Justice System 

Menenaba

Silencing Solidarity: Europe’s lawfare against pro-Palestine activism

Sara Tanveer
Pakistan's blasphemy laws

A Holy Terror: The fear and control of blasphemy in Pakistan

Ana

The weaponisation of laws to prevent interfaith marriages in Uttarakhand

Poorvi Gupta
Photo of the ICJ from Craig Murray’s blog. 

Ray of Hope Amid Heart-Wrenching Horror: A Personal Account of The ICJ’s Ruling in South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel

Rameez Rahman

HYPERIMPERIALISM & TECHNOLOGY

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Kathputli puppet

Kathputli’s Lost Artisans: Displacement and the Making of a Digital Music Scene

Anuj Behal
Sunny Singh Empire

Undoing Empire One Story at a Time: Featuring Sunny Singh

Bhakti Shringarpure
Delhi Metro

Who Can Afford Delhi’s Metro? How a Dream Project Became a Commuter’s Nightmare

Ankush Pal
Dystopia

From Severance to Squid Game: How Your Favorite TV Dramas Gamify Oppression

Debiparna Chakraborty
Aranya Sahay Humans in the Loop.

“Could We See AI as a Child?”: Aranya Sahay on His Debut Film, Humans in the Loop

Gayle Sequeira
Maxamed Abumaye Black Mulim Refugee

Black Muslim Refugee Resistance to US Militarism and Policing: Featuring Maxamed Abumaye 

Bhakti Shringarpure

CLIMATE & ECOCIDE

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Debris from Dharali flood.

Disaster as Policy: Dharali Flash Floods Reveal the Making of a Himalayan Catastrophe

Prashant Rahi

एक नई अर्थव्यवस्था: कर्ज और निर्भरता के दुश्चक्र में फंसे हुए उत्तराखंड के वन गुज्जर

Sharjeel Usmani
Forest fire in Uttarakhand, India

परस्पर नुकसान: उत्तराखंड में वन गुज्जरों के बिना वनों पर और वनों के बिना वन गुज्जरों पर होने वाले गंभीर परिणाम

Sharjeel Usmani

जंगल राज: भारतीय सेना पर, शिवालिक जंगलों में फ़ायरिंग रेंज के गैर कानूनी इस्तेमाल के दौरान वन गुज्जरों की हत्या का आरोप

Sharjeel Usmani

A New Economy: How Van Gujjars in Uttarakhand are trapped in a cycle of debt and dependence

Sharjeel Usmani
Olive trees in Palestine

The Enduring Significance Of Olive Trees In Israel’s Colonization of Palestine

Aysha Sana

Mind – Memory & Trauma

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Wajid Yaseen's Tape Letters Project

Tape Letters: Wajid Yaseen’s “Sound Archaeology” Project Captures Pakistani Diasporic Memory

Priyanka Sacheti
Anuparna Roy Songs of Forgotten Trees

Anuparna Roy on Love, Labor, and Resistance in ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’

Kaashif Hajee
Gaza women children

Displaced Women in Gaza: A Life Without Safety, Healthcare, Dignity

Doaa Shaheen
Gaza Disavowal

Why Does Knowledge Not Galvanize Action Anymore? On Gaza, Disavowal, and the Myth of ‘Ethical Consumerism’

Narayanan Gopalakrishnan
Kashmiri ponywallah Adil's death devastates his mother.

Photo Essay: In Kashmir, after deadly military conflict, a village hero who will never return home 

Zainab
When We Were Arabs Massoud Hayoun

When We Were Arabs: Massoud Hayoun’s Literary Resistance to Zionism

Aysha Sana

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