There hasn't been much in the media about the massacres, the systematic killings that have been going on in the Indian state of Gujarat recently. With all the attention focused on Palestine and Afghanistan, some news just slips out of sight, like the war in Chechnya.

News of the violence in Gujarat has reached me mainly through postings on Nettime. While an excellent essay by Arundhati Roy provides both an angry and alarming take on these recent events. A random quote: "Genocides can become the subject of opinion polls and massacres can have marketing campaigns".

Roy's article is well worth reading, raising as it does questions regarding the current state of democracy, nationalism, a new rise in fascism. Questions that do not remain contained to the state of Gujarat, or to India, but involve us all.

It was sickening to read the opening paragraph. The sheer inhumanity of mob violence.

I remember an evening I spent in the town mentioned, Baroda. I remember buying some street kids an ice-cream and then a couple of young men offering to take me to the best ice-cream parlour in town. The streets teeming with people, vibrant with life. Beyond its vast oceans of poverty, a country generous in its hospitality. I felt at home standing against a car, talking the warm night away. I could have easily been in the south of Italy.

The south is metaphysical after all. It shares common dreams. Be it if you are from Bari or Baroda. The south is, nothing more. Like when you drive south from LA towards San Diego, and there is never any sign that tells you Mexico, or Tijuana, or whatever is not far. All the signs say is "THE SOUTH".