Hello friends, fam and comrades,

Happy New Year (in the Gregorian calendar, though we still have another month of the year of the snake)!

We’re off to a roller coaster start, though there have been some moments of light. I at least peripherally attended the inauguration of NYC’s first Socialist, South Asian, Ugandan, Muslim mayor. We were amongst massive, diverse crowds, hailing not only from the five boroughs but all over the world. I felt more than just symbolic pride and hope seeing the representation not only of my identity, but also someone who aligns with my foundational values. We shall see how he governs and continue to hold him accountable to his promises, and commitments the constituencies who got him elected. Politics is obviously a limited sphere for change, but can be a bellwether and help bolster engagement for people who are new to organizing.

Buy a Dada Strain limited edition “Turn the Volume Up” T-shirt inspired by NYC’s Mayor, with proceeds going to local food-accessibility, trans culture and youth music organizations.

I’m still reeling from flashbacks to the early 2000s, watching the shock-and-awe campaigns that got us into a nearly decade long war that resulted in the deaths of over a million Iraqis, spent more than $2.9 trillion dollars for the benefit of oil barons, defense contractors, arms dealers, and mercenary private security firms. As we stand to enter into more American imperial conquests, I wonder what, if any lessons we have learned. In 2026, I’m thinking of writing more extensive posts on the state of affairs, as things accelerate at a hectic pace globally — to process for myself, but also share a perspective that might be useful to others.

You can also look forward to a special live edition of my Outernational podcast from a panel discussion at Le Guess Who? festival in the Netherlands with the legendary poet/musician Saul Williams, South African musicians Masello Motana and Asher Gamedze, and Palestinian musician and Sonic Liberation Front founder Dirar Kalash. I listened back to it yesterday and it left me feeling inspired and hopeful which is desperately needed right now.

The first gig of the year is going to be a potent one, with Elder Ones and a very special guest, Nick Dunston on bass at NYC Winter Jazzfest. Nick was an Elder One from 2017-2020, but forever in our hearts. You can hear him on our second album From Untruth (2019), buy it on Bandcamp or stream it on Qobuz (there’s a 30-day free trial for new users and they pay 4x what other streamers do to artists). The gig is part of Dada Strain’s showcase featuring the excellent line-up of Joy Guidry, Bex Burch and Xenia Rubinos. If you don’t know about Dada Strain’s essential writing on music and community, subscribe to the Dada Strain Substack! We’ll be playing the material we recorded in December for our next album and we’ll have copies of our new double-LP Elder Ones New Monuments, Live in Vilnius. If you can’t make it to Winter Jazzfest, you can order it here on Bandcamp or if you are in the U.S. and want to avoid expense shipping, order directly from me.

In other news, I was awarded the Princeton Hodder Fellowship for the 2026-2027 academic year. I'll be researching the connection between labor movements and anti-fascist/anti-colonial struggles, looking for roadmaps for how to resist in this time, and creating new music for the struggle.

Hope to see you at a gig, an organizing meeting a demonstration, a comedy show, a dance party or in a park sometime in 2026.

Here’s to shedding our old skin and creating new ways forward.

Here’s me and socialist comedian Fareeha Khan near the inauguration. Gonna tell our kids we could feel Zohran’s spit in our eyes.

Solidarity,

Amirtha