A Noble Initiative
The Rajasthan Youth Association’s Book Bank is a beacon of hope, providing books to underprivileged students. By illuminating their paths with knowledge, they empower the youth to dream big and achieve greatness. Let’s support this noble initiative!
T.S. Karthik, Chennai

Zionism is a Crime against Humanity
The world watches in horror as the unfolding genocide against the Palestinian people is committed by Zionism in partnership with America. This is done in the name of Jews. Jews and people of Jewish descent everywhere - those whom the Zionist state claims to speak for–are uniting to declare their unwavering opposition to Zionism.

Since the First Zionist Congress over a century ago, Zionism has claimed to speak on behalf of all Jews, while permanently attempting to silence their opposition to its constant crimes. Jewish tradition, history, and culture are totally opposed to genocide.

The impressive history of Jewish resistance to Zionism is as long as Zionism–it included religious communities as well as secular movements of Jewish descent, and the vehement Jewish opposition to the creation of the Zionist state in Palestine itself.

Zionism is a crime against Judaism and the indigenous people of Palestine, and progressive Jews are committed to putting an end to it. Over the years, it became clear that Zionism, instead of protecting Jews, placed them in great danger by committing atrocious acts in their name. Zionism is based on racial supremacy, adopting the very racist assumptions which are inherent to antisemitism–describing Jews as belonging to some chosen race, a notion which is fundamentally racist and which has no relation to Judaism.

The Zionist settler-colonial entity denies Palestinians their most basic rights. Zionism operates through colonialism, apartheid, ethnic-cleansing, and genocide in Palestine, even before 1948. Fourteen million Palestinians worldwide are its direct victims.

Above all, Zionism is a crime against humanity. Dedicated to the oath of the survivors of Mauthausen concentration camp, handed down to Jews as testimony of resistance against Nazi fascism, progressives follow their universal legacy and reiterate their message:

“The permanence in the camp, lasting years, has reinforced in our minds the knowledge of the value of brotherhood among the people of all nations. True to these ideals, we make a solemn oath to continue to fight, firm and united, against imperialism and against the instigation of hatred between peoples.”
First Jewish
Anti-Zionist Congress

End Sewer Deaths
New Delhi, 25 May 2025–More than a hundred participants–including sewer and septic workers, union representatives, researchers, lawyers, academics, journalists, and civil society members–gathered at the Constitution Club of India for a workshop titled ‘‘Underground Voices: Empowering the Backbone of Our Cities” on 24th May 2025. The event was a powerful call to action against the widespread and preventable deaths of sewer and septic tank workers in India and a demand for dignified, lawful, and safe working conditions.

The workshop was jointly organised by Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) and a coalition of unions and civil society organisations, foregrounding the voices and experiences of sewer workers who are regularly exposed to life-threatening risks with little to no institutional support or protection. Despite repeated Supreme Court rulings and statutory bans, hazardous manual scavenging continues, underscoring a failure of enforcement, regulation, and political will.

Manual scavengers in India remain one of the most exploited labour groups. The vast majority–estimated at 92%–belong to historically oppressed and marginalised communities, predominantly Dalits, and are routinely subjected to systemic caste-based discrimination. These workers are typically hired through private contractors or informal arrangements, depriving them of job security, fair wages, legal protections, and access to safety equipment.

It is within this context that the workshop was convened–to bring attention to the plight of sewer workers and to create a collective and participatory platform to advance dignified, safe, and equitable working conditions for them.

The workshop also exposed a stark contradiction between official government records and the ongoing deaths of manual scavengers. While government statistics report a relatively low number of fatalities each year, independent investigations and reports–including the latest DASAM fact-finding study–indicate that the true figures are significantly higher. This discrepancy reflects systematic under-reporting, lack of accurate data collection, and deliberate obfuscation by contractors and municipal agencies.

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 52, June 22 - 28, 2025