ISSUE VII : Note from the Managing Editor
introduction
By Niyati Pendekanti
The world is burning, and the smoke engulfs us in deepening divides, increasingly polarized minds, and a rising intolerance reminiscent of days past. As a student from India stepping into both my new role as Managing Editor of The New Context and my second year of the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA), I must tread with caution. International students find themselves traversing precarious ground as visas are being indiscriminately revoked, and related policies face a spate of changes.
The news is both overwhelming and overwhelmed. Among many simultaneously occurring phenomena are protests, flash floods, genocides, school shootings, famines, racially motivated attacks, anti-immigration marches, protracted conflicts, and a term being heavily used in the wake of a recent shooting: political violence. “There is no place for political violence in this country,” reads every tweet, statement, and speech put out by those in government, and other positions of power.
Though a righteous enough thing to say, it rings hollow due to its paradoxical claim.
Politics are inherently violent, and the state, an inherently violent entity. There will always be place for political violence when power structures and institutions are predicated on enacting violence in pursuit of political gain. This violence takes various forms – sometimes brutal and direct, sometimes cloaked by the supposed benevolence of the state, and other times slow and torturous.
The United States isn’t a stranger to political violence and settling political differences this way. But the closest analogue to today’s uptick in political violence, according to historians, is the 1960s and 1970s, when President John F. Kennedy, civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, as well as presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy and George Wallace were shot; and only Wallace survived. In 2023, the Gun Violence Archive reported that nearly 47,000 people died of gun violence, while Reuters documented around 200 instances of political violence starting from January 2021.
Gun violence and shootings are unimaginable tragedies that take thousands and thousands of lives. But so are decisions and policies that deny access to healthcare, ban aid from entering stricken regions, slash funding for research, pull the plug on clinical trials, criminalize informal economies, privatize and grant monopolies over basic needs and services, delegitimize entire communities and peoples, and deprive people of their very humanity.
I repeat, I must tread with caution; and so must many others. But the cruel price of caution is suffocated beliefs, drowned out words, and extinguished voices.
Here at The New Context, our hope is to provide not only a platform but also a shelter for your thoughts and ideas. They hold real power and potential for change, and that is why they elicit fear from those they seek to challenge. The pen may or may not be mightier than the sword, but preserving free speech for all, as opposed to free speech for some, is of unbelievable and critical importance.
Enjoy reading the pieces in this issue, and issues past, and join us in writing for and looking forward to the issues to come.
You may notice, once again, this issue carries a few pieces from the archives of previous versions of this journal. And the reason, once again, is simple: We were coming off of summer, into the start of a new semester. We hope you enjoy those pieces as well as new ones written specifically for this issue.