Trialogue on Small-Hearted Resistance

The deaths of young people under authoritarian regimes have fueled massive democratization movements throughout contemporary Asia. This has been a familiar grammar of resistance: desperation or sorrow as a political force, youth deaths as a catalyst for change. Even in eras of supposed democracies, such tragedies continue to function as engines of regime change. Our panel brings together a graduate student, art activist, and scholar to compare cases in Itaewon (South Korea) and Lalitpur (Nepal), two Asian countries with unstable democracies. We notice that mainstream politics (regardless of national party or platform) is failing to secure the safety and integrity of politically marginalized communities (ones that may be doubly marginalized by their socio-economic disenfranchisement). Across both locations, we trace how everyday acts of remembering and caring become necessary sites where grief is transformed into resistance beyond formal political arenas. In South Korea, a Sewol Ferry tragedy of 2014 and a Itaewon Halloween tragedy of 2022 resulted in the massive loss of young people’s lives. These were followed by the impeachment of conservative presidents. In this political landscape, death and mourning have become powerful resources for resistance where grief rarely exists on its own but is quickly folded into partisan narratives of regime change. Acts of mourning that spill into the streets are increasingly scrutinized for their political intent, while memories are curated into official forms to represent bereaved families and the state. In Nepal, a massive revolutionary uprising resulted in open elections and a new democratic era. But it came at the cost of many thousands of people dead and erased from history. Last year’s peaceful, Gen Z Uprising against ongoing authoritarianism was met with a similar tragedy. Now an interim government covers up state violence by painting truth-tellers and public mourners as vandals and terrorists. Activists place little hope that the 2026 elections will help make the police administration accountable as countless people continue to privately mourn their lost loved ones. Within a narrow framework of what counts as resistance, some people are afraid to name their tears, their acts of remembering, or even their ways of forging or forgetting trauma as resistance at all. When politics claims exclusive ownership over the term “resistance,” such dispersed, private, and non-collective practices tend to fall outside recognition. Drawing on our examples from Itaewon and Lalitpur, where everyday practices of mourning and care operate unseen, in underground, ephemeral, and communal spaces - from zine-making, parties, and neighborhood gatherings in Itaewon to alternative living spaces for revolutionary artists in Lalitpur - we will explore how resistance emerges, not only in protests, but more pervasively through the textures of daily life. Our relay panel will attempt to draw those unrecognized, small-hearted resistance communities together in an open dialogue. We will conclude by sharing resources about our communities with our participants. In addition, Anuj Chandal will talk about his experience running a Black Book Distro, an anarchist library and collective in Nepal, discussing the necessity of autonomous spaces in the building of resistant movement. That such spaces are the building blocks in the history of revolutionary struggle.