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Dr Sheena Sood from Philadelphia, gave a talk last night at SOAS University, London , entitled The Far-Right's weaponization of spirituality towards ethnonationalism. Her PHD research questions the use of Yoga in military environments by far right regimes. She explained "how Indian, Israeli, and US state institutions co-opt Asian spiritual traditions to advance their cultural and political agendas".
In certain circumstances (Cachemire, Palestine, US detention centers), Yoga and meditation are used to hide, behind their peaceful, serene image, acts of violence .
She argues "that far-right regimes are allied in a practice of omwashing, or in using yoga as a colonial and ethnonationalist tool to divert the public gaze from their supremacist agendas."
