#quietobservations

The students who came out on the streets in India asked for something straightforward — a system that works as it is supposed to. The response told us more about the system than the protest did.

Independence is worth celebrating. It is also worth asking, each year, independence for whom and on what terms. That question is not unpatriotic. It is the most patriotic question there is.

There is a version of patriotism that cannot tolerate criticism. That version is not confidence in a country. It is anxiety about one. The two are worth distinguishing, especially on days when the flags come out.

There is a difference between silence that is peaceful and silence that is the result of people being told their voice doesn't matter. The second kind is not peace. It is suppression.

Something I keep returning to about what is happening in India: the energy that goes into questioning who is protesting and why could go into addressing what they are protesting about. That choice is not accidental.

A system that works only for some people is not a broken system. It is a system working exactly as designed. That is a harder thing to fix than a broken one.

The protests in India are being described in many ways depending on who is describing them. What they actually are is straightforward: people asking institutions to be fair and transparent. The complexity is being added by those who find the simplicity inconvenient.

In India right now, young people are being asked to prove that their anger is legitimate before anyone will listen to what they are angry about. That is not how accountability works. That is how accountability is avoided.