Churnings of a movement: Sangtin's diary

This essay considers the relationships among silence, insight, violence, and possibilities in the context of movement making. It works through stories and vignettes associated with the lives of those who constitute a growing movement of peasants and laborers in the Sitapur District of Uttar Pradesh to explore the power of affect in shaping a political struggle. In so doing, the essay grapples with some difficult questions: what kinds of silences and sacrifices are borne out of struggles and how do they empower the relationships that make a movement? What violence may occur because of the political choices that a movement makes? Moreover, how does a movement find the hope and inspiration to grow in the face of non-stop violence?