bhagat singh

happy diwali! and thank you, anisha, for pointing out that it is in fact that time of year ;)

in celebration i'm posting this clip from the legend of bhagat singh. too bad there are no leftist rock en español musicals. well, probably the political musicals are best left to the indians & sri lankans anyway. bhagat singh was martyred in 1931 at the age of 23, in the fight against british colonialism. his vision was for a liberated secular & socialist india. the legend of bhagat singh is one of my favorite bollywood films ever!

the legend of bhagat singh:



anecdote from the trial of bhagat singh & his comrades:

on january 21, 1930 [anniversary of the death of lenin] the accused in the lahore conspiracy case appeared in the court wearing red scarves. as soon as the magistrate took his chair they raised slogans "long live socialist revolution", "long live communist international", "long live the people", "lenin's name will never die", and "down with imperialism". bhagat singh then read the text of this telegram in the court and asked the magistrate to send it to the third international:

on lenin day we send hearty greeting to all who are doing something for carrying forward the ideas of the great lenin. we wish success to the great experiment russia is carrying out. we join our voice to that of the international working class movement. the proletariat will win. capitalism will be defeated. death to imperialism.

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update: oohh, sweet. anisha's dad saw this post and he sends these recommendations: mangal pandey (the rising) & rang de basanti. can't wait to see them. ¡abajo los imperialistas! ¡hasta la victoria!