From peter.ksmtf at gmail.com Sun Jun 1 12:55:14 2008 From: peter.ksmtf at gmail.com (T Peter) Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2008 12:55:14 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fish workers oppose reforms Message-ID: <3457ce860806010025u7fc9156ay5afbbcd52f46ee15@mail.gmail.com> Fish-workers national campaign reaches Kollam Staff Reporter Date:30/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/30/stories/2008053053320300.htm A precursor to their Parliament march Coastal march: The Kutch-Kanyakumari-Kolkata campaign of the National Fish-workers Forum passing through Kollam on Thursday. KOLLAM: The Kutch-Kanyakumari-Kolkata vehicle campaign of the National Fish-workers Forum (NFF) to garner support for the Parliament march of fish-workers in July reached Kollam on Thursday. The campaign that began on May 1 from Kutch will reach Kolkatta on June 27 after covering the entire coastal belt of the country. NFF chairman Harikrishna Debnath who leads the campaign said that the Parliament march was in protest against the move to replace the 1991 Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification with the Coastal Zone Management notification. He alleged that the basic intention behind the move was to sell the coastal areas for commercial plunder. Addressing the campaign at Vady Junction here, NFF activist and former Tourism Minister of Goa Mathani Saldhana said that there had never been any attempt from the government side to garner the strength of the fishing community in managing coastal resources. On the contrary, there had been a systematic effort to shut off this community from any meaningful participation in coastal management. He said that the CZM notification would result in the fishing community's future turning uncertain. Traditional fishing grounds could be denied to the fishermen. The CZM reflects the Government of India's determination to sell the sea for commercial looting by foreign companies. Mr. Saldhana, who champions the movement against special economic zones in Goa, said that in order to resist the CZM, fishermen of the country had to unite. He alleged there was a concerted effort by vested interests to keep the fishing communities divided on the basis caste and creed. The fishing community should see through this game plan and oppose the CZM. Some of the demands to be raised during the Parliament march include recognition of the customary and traditional rights of the fishing community over coastal land and waters, implementation of the CRZ notification, ban on intensive aquaculture along the coast, announcing a comprehensive legislation for the exclusive economic zone waters, sufficient cheaper fuel for sustainable fishing and reforming the Marine Fishing Regulation Acts of the States to improve fisheries management. The Kerala course of the campaign was also led by president of the Kerala Matsyathozhilali Federation T. Peter and general secretary A. Andrews. ........................................................................... Fish workers oppose reforms Date:01/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/01/stories/2008060158720300.htm Special Correspondent Thiruvananthapuram: Hundreds of fish workers took out a march to the office of the Accountant-General here on Saturday in protest against the proposed reforms in the fisheries sector and the government's move to replace the Coastal Regulation Zone policy with the Coastal Zone Management policy. The stir was organised as part of a nation-wide campaign by the National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF) urging the Central and State governments to take steps to ensure the livelihood security of fisherfolk. Inaugurating the march, Pannian Ravindran, MP, said the government had a responsibility to protect coastal and marine resources. NFF leaders alleged that the proposed reforms in the fisheries sector would expose traditional fishermen to unhealthy competition from multinational companies and lead to plunder of marine resources. They said the Coastal Zone Management policy and the decision to permit the operation of foreign trawlers would affect the livelihood of traditional fishermen all over the country. NFF leaders Harekrishna Debnath and Matanhy Saldanha; State president of Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation T. Peter; and general secretary A. Andrews; were among those who spoke. The NFF national campaign for the rights of fish workers began in Gujarat on May 1. During the Kerala leg of the campaign, the team visited fishing villages and landing centres along the coast from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram and addressed public meetings. Mr. Debnath said the team had received complaints from fish workers against sand-mining, import of fish, inadequate supply of kerosene for outboard engines and discrepancy in utilisation of tsunami rehabilitation funds. From naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com Mon Jun 2 15:17:46 2008 From: naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com (Naeem Mohaiemen) Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 15:47:46 +0600 Subject: [Reader-list] Islamic Hardliners attack Jakarta Peace Rally Message-ID: >From Indonesian author Laksmi Pamuntjak Yesterday afternoon my partner Goenawan and I were in the National Monument (Monas) area in Central Jakarta to commemorate the 63rd year of Pancasila state ideology (and its spirit of pluralism and diversity). We were part of the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) which comprises 70 institutions of different faiths. Suddenly, members of our alliance who had already congregated below the National Monument, getting ready for our peace parade scheduled at 2 pm, were ambushed by members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) wielding sharp bamboo sticks. At least 34 alliance members including women and children and our close friends were chased and beaten, some sustaining severe injuries. We are okay -- we had stopped briefly at the National Gallery nearby to use their toilets -- and so escaped, by ten minutes, the worst of the attacks. But our thoughts and prayers are with the wounded, some of whom are still in hospital. But we are deeply saddened and angered by this heinous crime, committed by a group bent on imposing a fascist interpretation on Islam through the use of violence upon our vast diversity and ignoring the principles of pluralism and tolerance upon which our nation was founded. Actually, the peace rally yesterday by the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) that comprises some 70 institutions of different faiths (including Indonesia's two Muslim organizations Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah and Christian communities) was not to defend the Ahmadiyah sect (as was alleged by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) but to reiterate a point begun in 2006, during the height of opposition to the proposed anti-pornography bill (drafted and fought for also by Islamic hardliners), ie. 1) to reclaim space, through the state ideology Pancasila, for a renewed sense of nationhood and diversity vis a vis faith-based sectarianism, 2) to appeal to, reeducate and refresh public memory of the strength and beauty of difference; 3) to turn on their heads deeply entrenched nation-building rhetoric such as the state ideology Pancasila and the Unity in Diversity slogan of Bhineka Tunggal Ika long used by the New Order regime under Suharto to repress civil society, by bringing them back to their pluralistic essence. This latest assault on pluralism, as with earlier FPI attacks on human freedom and civil rights—which has seen countless pubs and restaurants destroyed or closed down or banned from serving alcohol during the Islamic Fasting Month, art exhibitions attacked for displaying works of pornographic content, and the Ahmadiyah sect as well as others living under threat—is inhuman and unacceptable. It is un-Islamic, unconstitutional and anti-Indonesia. FPI has to be disbanded. What saddens us more is the fact that no one was arrested in the incident even though there were 1,200 police officers at the scene when the clash occurred. One of the alliance's cars was burned by FPI, while police officers who were barely 5 meters away, just looked on! I am flummoxed that these thugs have been roaming freely for years with alarming impunity without the police clamping down on them. The fact that the state and its security apparatus are intimidated by these Islamic hardliners of course plays a crucial role in perpetuating the situation. Indeed, there is no more a state vs civil society dicothomy as per the Suharto years. In its place, we have groups bent on imposing a single value, a fascist interpretation of Islam through the use of violence, upon this vast diversity that is Indonesia while the state is relegated to the sidelines, often as a mute spectator rather than an actor, let alone one with authority to put a stop on this criminal act. Furthermore, the statement by the Chief of Police of Central Jakarta yesterday, claiming that the alliance had been warned of a possible attack but did not pay heed, is so typical. It's like saying, to quote a Singaporean activist friend, "You deserve to be raped because you are in a place where you can be raped." In a somewhat belated corrective P.R. attempt, Jakarta Chief of Police Sr. Commr. Budi Winarko told reporters he would arrest perpetrators beginning today (Monday, 2/6/08). However, in the same breath, he said that arresting them at the scene would only "worsen the situation." One wonders what the police as an institution is there for in the first place if it cannot protect citizens from arbitrary, unlawful violence. Today we just received word from the presidential spokesperson that the President has instructed the Chief of Police of the Republic of Indonesia to take legal action against FPI. We know more than to be hopeful but let's see what will happen in the next few days. In the meantime, I join others in hoping that the natural resources we have that make pluralism a foregone conclusion in our country—our own vast diversity that cobbles together 17,000 islands, some 450 languages and different faiths as guaranteed by Pancasila—as well as our hard-earned freedom of expression following the collapse of the Suharto regime, will withstand this increased Talibanism. The government will also have to toughen up, or else its authority will be destroyed, the hardliners will be emboldened, more innocent lives will be risked, and we can say goodbye to religious freedom. Below is a more comprehensive report, taken from Koran Tempo and The Jakarta Post. To see some of the photos I've taken please click on: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27744&l=f3d1e&id=533987122 and here's another useful link including photos, videos, news reports and news links: http://aksidamai.blogspot.com/ On 1 June 2008, the National Day of Pancasila State Ideology, National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) activists preparing for a peace parade celebrating pluralism and diversity in the National Monument (Monas) area were confronted and beaten by Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) members wielding sharp bamboo sticks. At least 34 people from an alliance that comprises 70 institutions including Nadhlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim association in Indonesia , The Church Community, the Cirebon Islamic Boarding School community, the Liberal Islam Network and the much-maligned Ahmadiyah sect (the last FPI's alleged target) were injured, including women and children. Among the injured are the Director of the International Conference for Islamic Peace Syafii Anwar, Wahid Institute director Achmad Suaedi, leader of the Cirebon-based As-Zaman Islamic boarding school Kiai Maman Imanulhaq and one of our dear friends, Utan Kayu curator and Jurnal Perempuan activist Mohamad Guntur Romli, who underwent surgery last night. Guntur 's cheekbone and nose were fractured by repeated blows from FPI members wielding sticks. No one was arrested in the incident even though there were 1,200 police officers at the scene when the clash occured. In a somewhat belated attempt by the police to take some responsibility for this incident, Jakarta Police Chief Sr. Comr. Budi Winarko said he would arrest perpetrators starting Monday. Earlier yesterday, the Chief of Central Jakarta police claimed that the alliance had been warned of a possible confrontation but did not pay heed. Meanwhile FPI spokesman Munarman told reporters that the incident was a reaction to AKKBB's "offensive" statement in several newspapers last Tuesday, saying it endorsed pluralism and urged everybody not to be intimidated by people who threatened practitioners of different beliefs, as in the case of the Ahmadiyah sect, whose thousands of followers all around the country have lived under threat after the sect was declared blasphemous by several hard-line groups. The attack was quickly condemned by human rights activists, politicians and Muslim organisations Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. From naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com Mon Jun 2 17:42:25 2008 From: naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com (Naeem Mohaiemen) Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 18:12:25 +0600 Subject: [Reader-list] Specks Of Dirt in Dubai Message-ID: >From The Times March 24, 2008 Endemol exec sent to Dubai jail after customs find 'speck of dirt' Warning to travellers over Dubai drug laws as it is claimed officials 'are paid bounty for each arrest' A speck of dirt invisible to the human eye was all it took to land Cat Le Huy in a Dubai jail. Officials at Dubai airport claimed they had found 0.03 grams of hashish in the Endemol television executive?s bag after he had travelled to the United Arab Emirates to visit a friend last month. They accused him of possession ? which would have led to a mandatory four-year prison sentence had he been convicted. After he spent six weeks in Dubai?s jails protesting his innocence, prosecutors dropped the case this month. Mr Le Huy, 31, a German citizen living in London, claims that Dubai officials are paid a ?bounty? for arresting drug offenders, a practice confirmed independently to The Times by sources who did not wish to be named. ?People shouldn?t go to Dubai until the laws change,? Mr Le Huy said. ?They are running a risk. Even if you?re innocent and know about the laws, if they suspect you of anything, you run the risk of incarceration.? Taking medicine into Dubai Russell Secker is concerned that the country's strict policy on drugs may outlaw some prescription medicine Tourists get four years in a Dubai jail Two Britons visiting Dubai have each been jailed for four years for possessing tiny amounts of soft drugs for personal use Background His experience is common, according to Fair Trials International, a legal charity, which says that drug-related arrests have increased rapidly since 2006, when the laws changed in Dubai so that trace amounts of banned substances picked up by airport detection equipment were deemed to indicate possession. ?People are being subjected to very thorough searches,? said Saima Jirji, a solicitor at the charity. ?Even seams in their clothing and the fluff in their pockets is being checked.? Mr Le Huy claims that he was also approached by a detective asking whether he knew any drug-takers back in Britain and whether he could coerce them into coming to Dubai. He alleged that at least two other foreign inmates had been approached with similar requests. The UAE Embassy in London refused to comment. At first he was accused of smuggling heroin after officials found pills in an unmarked container that turned out to be jet-lag medicine sold freely over the counter in Dubai and the US. He was strip-searched. Officials claimed to have found a trace of hashish in his bag and detained him. He was asked to sign letters in Arabic, which he could not read. Only after being told that he would at once be deported if he signed did he do so, but he wrote ?under duress? beneath each signature. Instead of being deported he was put in solitary confinement. Because he was dehydrated and forbidden from drinking he was only able to produce a urine sample after eight hours. Last year 59 British people were detained in Dubai over drugs offences, and so far this year the figure is nine, according to the Foreign Office. Keith Brown served nine months after customs officers found a 0.003 gram trace of cannabis stuck to his shoe. This month the BBC Radio 1 DJ Grooverider, whose real name is Raymond Bingham, started a four-year sentence for possessing 2.16 grams of cannabis. Fair Trials said the list of prohibited substances included everything from antidepressants to a cough medicine for children. Even those in Dubai on transit to another destination can be arrested under the regulations. Mr Le Huy denies that there were ever any drugs on his person. ?Hashish isn?t something available in my social circle ? the idea it was in my bag is absolutely ludicrous,? he says. He was pressed by the authorities to plead guilty, but his refusal left him in a legal limbo. After a persistent campaign by his friends in Britain and after negotiations with his lawyer in the UAE, the Dubai authorities agreed to drop the investigation. He had initially spent two weeks at the airport jail, where he couldn?t shower because of the condition of the bathrooms. To compensate, he ?discovered the magic of Dettol?, using the disinfectant to shower. At Dubai Central Jail he suffered even worse conditions. Inmates slept eight to a cell. Because of the poor food he lost 15 kilograms in weight (more than two stone). ?Every day was a bad day when you wake up and realise, ?I?m still here.? ? When he was finally released, he was taken to a police station to pick up his passport, only for detectives to put him in a bloodstained cell for another four hours. During the six weeks he had found solace in the company of other English-speaking inmates such as Grooverider. Mr Le Huy said that foreign inmates were treated with ?distant contempt? by guards, who ?played mind games? with them. ?They?d ask us to go out in the courtyard at 1am, then take four hours to search all our cells. There was a lad from London who had a bronchial infection. They made him wait in the rain for four hours even after we asked the guards if he could stand in the corridor.? ?The laws and punishments of a nation are theirs to set,? he emphasised, adding: ?My point is that you will be detained for a minimum of 21 days if they suspect you of anything, whether or not you?re innocent.? From indersalim at gmail.com Mon Jun 2 22:37:07 2008 From: indersalim at gmail.com (inder salim) Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 18:07:07 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Book now for: Plum Flower in the Snow at home In-Reply-To: <32140028.9061212337105654.JavaMail.www@wwinf3106> References: <32140028.9061212337105654.JavaMail.www@wwinf3106> Message-ID: <47e122a70806021007q715fdc90uc155d6606eb4244a@mail.gmail.com> > Book now for: Plum Flower in the Snow at home > > home is a leading creative production company in the UK; specializing in > innovative live events with contemporary artists and performers. We explore > diverse contexts and spaces, create new forms of cultural experience and > emphasize interactivity, entertainment and participation. > > Plum Flower in the Snow > > Created by: Greta Mendez > > Designed by: Martina von Holn > > Performers: Nina Baden-Semper, Jacqui Chan and Inder Salim > > Co-produced by London Artists Projects and home live art and presented as > part of China Now 2008. > > Live artist and raconteur Greta Mendez fuses her Trinidadian roots with > Asian cultures. > Plum Flower in The Snow is an artist residency and performance installation > at HOME which traces her recent travels in China and India. > Through image and recital, Greta deconstructs moments, rituals and > encounters that left their mark. > Join her for an oriental bite and a cup of chai as Greta interprets the > cultures she once only knew as a child. > A feast for the senses. > Click here for more info... > Man with horse photo by: Inder Salim > > Booking Details > > Performances: > 6th June from 7pm: food and drinks, screenings and performances. > > 9th–10th June Performances: 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm > > Booking is essential. > > Tickets: £8/£5 (includes food and drinks). > > To book call: 07957 565 336 or email: laura at homeliveart.com > > Venue: home London, 1a Flodden Road, SE5 9LL > Funded by Arts Council England, London. > Greta Mendez acknowledges financial support from Dr Neville Linton and > Artsadmin > Click here for more info... > Greta Mendez > > home live art forthcoming: Pub Crawl > > Pub Crawl at Camberwell Arts Festival > Saturday 14th June, 7pm – 2am > > A performance tour of some of Camberwell's best-loved pubs, linking with > Dukie's Camberwell Cabaret in Vauxhall. > > Featuring: Yara El-Sherbini, Lottie Leedham, The Dulwich Ukulele Club, > Duckie. > A tour of all venues starts at The Sun & Doves, 61-63 Coldharbour Lane, SE5 > 9NS at 6.45pm. > > Commissioned by Camberwell Arts, produced by home live art and Duckie. > Click here for more info... > Readers Wifes at Duckie > > home live art forthcoming: The Alternative Village Fete > > The Alternative Village Fete at Watch this Space Festival, National Theatre > Saturday 5th July, 1pm - 7.15pm > > A free event which celebrates the great British Tradition of the village > fete, with performances, music, interactive artists stalls, produce and > environmental stalls. > > Featuring: Bob & Roberta Smith, Shane Waltener, Barby Asante, Society of > Wonders, Fete Encounter, The Bollywood Brass Band, Rediscovered Urban > Rituals, Morris Dancers, Cake Stalls and much much more tbc. > Click here for more info... > Rediscovered Urban Rituals > > home > Email; laura at homeliveart.com > Website; www.homeliveart.com > Tel. 07957 565336 > London; 1a Flodden Road, SE5 9LL > > You have received this email because you are subscribed to the home mailing > list. Select this link, if you would like to unsubscribe, or update your > details. -- http://indersalim.livejournal.com From gowharfazili at yahoo.com Tue Jun 3 14:03:10 2008 From: gowharfazili at yahoo.com (gowhar fazli) Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 01:33:10 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] THE SOCIAL VISION OF ANTICASTE INTELLECTUALS Message-ID: <50979.6093.qm@web65607.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> http://www.scholars withoutborders. in/item_show. php?code_ no=DST034&ID=undefined&calcStr= Seeking Begumpura THE SOCIAL VISION OF ANTICASTE INTELLECTUALS Author/Editor : Gail Omvedt The bhakti radical Ravidas (c 1450–1520), calling himself a 'tanner now set free', was the first to envision an Indian utopia in his song "Begumpura"—a modern casteless, classless, tax-free city without sorrow. This was in contrast to the dystopia of the brahmanical kaliyuga. Anticaste intellectuals in India posited utopias much before Thomas More, in 1516, articulated a Renaissance humanist version. Gail Omvedt, in this study, focuses on the worldviews of subaltern visionaries spanning five centuries—Chokhamela , Janabai, Kabir, Ravidas, Tukaram, the Kartabhajas, Phule, Iyothee Thass, Pandita Ramabai, Periyar and Ambedkar. She charts the development of their utopian visions and the socioeconomic characteristics of the societies conceived through this long period. Reason and ecstasy – dnyan and bhakti/bhav – are the underlying themes in this book. They constitute the two main strands of the utopian vision: the joy taken in the consciousness of a promised land and the analytical power that defines the contours of that land. Together, they make the road that leads to the promised land. Rejecting Orientalist, nationalist and hindutva impulses to 'reinvent' India, Omvedt says all we need to do is take up the India envisioned by its dalit-bahujan intellectuals and leaders—the Begumpura of Ravidas, the Bali Rajya of Phule, the Dravidastan of Periyar, the Buddhist commonwealth of the Sakya Buddhists and Ambedkar's Prabuddha Bharat. These are contrasted with Gandhi's village utopia of Ram Rajya, Nehru's hindutva-laced socialism and Savarkar's territorialist Hindu Rashtra. Finally, Omvedt emphasizes the continued relevance of the vision of the anticaste intellectuals in the era of globalization. Price Rs. 450 Product Details Hardback : 304 pages Author/Editor : Gail Omvedt Year of Publication : 2008 Publisher : Navayana, Pondicherry Language : English Product Dimension : Demy Shipping Weight : 550 ISBN Number : 978-81-89059- 11-8 Table of Contents : Reviews and Author details: Gail Omvedt is the author of Dalits and the Democratic Revolution (1994), Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste (2003) and Ambedkar: Towards an Enlightened India (2004) among other books. Seeking Begumpura is the product of five years of research and writing as Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. She lives in Kasegaon, Maharashtra. Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares. Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. Peter Ustinov From anivar.aravind at gmail.com Tue Jun 3 18:29:26 2008 From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind) Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:29:26 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] An Open letter on OOXML happenings in India Message-ID: <4845402E.4050704@gmail.com> It is time of Open Letters, this time it is from Dr Deepak Phatak of IIT Bombay. "With reference to the recent happenings in connection with the ISO standardization process of OOXML, actions by or on behalf of Microsoft have caused me deep pain and hurt. Apart from the personal anguish, these actions have tarnished the name of my Institute along with that of several other organizations represented on our committee. In my opinion, these actions go well beyond the behavioral boundaries for a commercial entity. some of these amount to interference with the governance process of a sovereign country. Luckily, wiser and experienced people are in-charge of governance of the nation. However, as a humble teacher and a proud Indian, I wish to register a strong and visible protest." It is a really long post, but surely worth reading. It will give you an insight into a real and personal experience by a professor in one of the most respected institutions of our country. Read full letter at http://deepakphatak.blogspot.com/2008/05/this-is.html Cheers Anivar Aravind -- I know my rights; I want my phone call! What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak? (as seen on /.) Join The DRM Elimination Crew Now! http://fci.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-DRM-Campaign From rashneek at gmail.com Wed Jun 4 09:26:18 2008 From: rashneek at gmail.com (rashneek kher) Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 09:26:18 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Kashmir: the war for hearts and minds by Parveen Swami(in The Hindu) Message-ID: <13df7c120806032056k23d94c0bn36fa9a0c406fdf53@mail.gmail.com> Last week, thousands of young Srinagar residents turned out to hear the Pakistani rock band, Junoon, performing the hit, *Sayonee*. Days earlier, the Hizb ul-Mujahideen chief, Mohammad Yusuf Shah, demanded that the Pakistan government order Junoon not to perform in Jammu and Kashmir, claiming its presence in Srinagar would "add insult to injury." Defiant, Junoon leader Salman Ahmad invited the portly terror commander to join him "in a musical jihad for peace." Not too many years ago, a remark like that would have invited certain death; now, all it provoked was an irate protest by a handful of Kashmir University campus Islamists. A week before the Junoon concert, though, a more familiar script played itself out. In April, students from the Anantnag Women's Degree College travelled across India on a college tour. One evening in Goa, the girls danced to the tunes of a rock band at a beach restaurant — dressed, it perhaps needs noting, in nothing more immodest than full-length trousers and shirts. A student videotaped the evening's harmless fun. When she gave the tape to an Anantnag storeowner to have it transferred to the compact disc, someone made copies — and the girls' dream holiday turned hell. Islamist leader Hilal Ahmad War led the charge, alleging that the girls had been "made to dance in nightclubs outside the State." It was "shameful and shocking that our sisters are being exploited and taken to dance clubs and bars in different States of India under the garb of educational and cultural tours." He lashed out at officials for "not only encouraging promiscuity in Kashmir but also facilitating the exploitation of our girls at the hands of outsiders." No less than Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the powerful Srinagar cleric who heads the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, weighed in with the claim that the Anantnag events pointed to Indian "cultural aggression to keep the younger generation [away] from religious and moral values." Several similar instances took place this summer, though their worrying message has been drowned out by the loud chorus of good news from Jammu and Kashmir — the flood of tourists, for example, or the decline of violence — and, of course, the resounding success of Junoon. Mumbai-based Meenakshi Sharan, who visited Srinagar to counsel school students on their career options, found herself at the receiving end of a scurrilous campaign that she was spreading vice — this because, according to one account, she offered beauty tips and relationship advice to teenage students. Mirwaiz Farooq announced that "notorious beauticians" had been "introduced as career counsellors and sent to girls' educational institutions to promote obscenity and immorality". For once, his far-right enemies agreed. Asiya Andrabi, head of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, lashed out at Ms Sharan, claiming she was "actually doing the job of luring girls into modelling [to] later exploit them sexually." This, the Islamist politician claimed, was part of a larger enterprise of "marketing Kashmiri girls [which] sometimes surfaces by means of education tours, sometimes through the Army's Operation Sadbhawana and sometimes through the appointment of Kashmiri girls in different airlines and insurance companies." "If we don't wake up to this threat, the day won't be far off when our daughters would be marketed like tulips in the outside world," Ms Andrabi concluded emphatically. Leaving aside the minor point that Jammu and Kashmir does not yet have the infrastructure to market tulips to the world, her paranoiac language contains in it important clues to the concerns which drive Islamism in the State. Islamists in Jammu and Kashmir — correctly — identify culture as a more elemental threat to their project than any number of Indian troops. Over the years, the idea that the West and Hindu India are together engaged in a cultural project to annihilate Kashmir and Islam has figured repeatedly in Islamist discourse. Examples aren't hard to come by. As scholar Yoginder Sikand has recorded, the Jamaat-e-Islami long claimed that "a carefully planned Indian conspiracy was at work to destroy the Islamic identity of the Kashmiris, through Hinduizing the school syllabus and spreading immorality and vice among the youth." It was even alleged that "that the government of India had dispatched a team to Andalusia, headed by the Kashmiri Pandit [politician] D.P. Dhar, to investigate how Islam was driven out of Spain and to suggest measures as to how the Spanish experiment could be repeated in Kashmir, too." Just how little distance there is between these ideas and the invective directed at the Anantnag students is startling — but it ought not to surprise anyone. Among the first acts of jihadists in 1989 — when the long war in Jammu and Kashmir began — were attacks on bars and stores stocking liquor, followed by the proscription of popular film and television and the prohibition of beauty parlours. Women who resisted edicts to wear the veil were often attacked — some with acid; others with guns. One particularly gruesome incident was the 1993 murder of Shamima Parveen, the first woman to perform in the traditional Kashmiri satirical dance-drama form, *Bhaand Paather* — a tragedy that later formed the core of a play by author M.K. Raina. Women under Islamist rule In an article written eight years ago, journalist Suchita Vemuri provided a graphic illustration of what life was like for women under Islamist rule. "Women were pushed into purdah," she wrote, "deprived of access to contraception and abortion, and prevented from moving freely." Asma Khan, a senior gynaecologist in the Lal Ded Maternity Hospital, told Ms Vemuri: "Before this problem, there was a growing awareness of contraception in the State, and vasectomies and tubectomies were routine. But for several years now, no vasectomy has been performed; tubectomies have been attempted only in cases where another pregnancy could be life-threatening." Tanvir Jehan, Jammu and Kashmir's first woman District Magistrate, made clear that resistance was impossible: "Till 1995," she said, "I too would do exactly what they dictated." Islamists no longer have the military muscle needed to ensure compliance — a fact demonstrated in stark relief by Mr. Ahmad, whose exemplary courage ought to teach a lesson or two to politicians in the State. And that, in turn, has led them to begin to panic. Writing in the Srinagar-based *Daily Etelaat* on May 16, commentator Omar Akhtar asserted: "We are losing this battle because we forget [it] is not only about removing the Indian Army from Kashmir and the Indian flag from our Secretariat." Back in 1990, Mr. Akhtar argued that the "Kashmiri nation … sought to bring about the establishment of an Islamic state, from the suppressive [sic.] influence of the Indian state." Kashmiris, he claimed, "rose in unison against a perceived 'non-Muslim,' 'unbeliever'." However, "as a nation, we have failed to stick to the ideals of Islam and we are [therefore] losing this struggle." "Kashmiris," Mr. Akhtar said, "are more morally corrupt than ever before; they are more dishonest than ever before; they are more unseemly in their conduct than ever before." Arguments like these have long been made by followers of South Asia's most important Islamist, Abul Ala Maududi. He believed that true believers needed to be insulated from their cultural environment — from the complex interactions with local traditions and religions that gave Islam in South Asia its special character. Islamist patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani, drawing on this tradition, has argued that Hindus and Muslims in India are "members of two different nations despite living in the same territory." For Muslims to stay among Hindus is as difficult as it is "for a fish to stay alive in a desert." For Islamists like Mr. Geelani, modernity and the pluralist cultural currents which bear it hold out an existential threat. http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/04/stories/2008060455311000.htm Through much of its history, Mr. Geelani's parent organisation, the Jamaat-e-Islami, represented the traditional urban and rural middle class. Enriched by modernity but denied political space by the National Conference, these classes saw religion as an instrument with which to defend their traditional power. The Islamists sought to undermine the National Conference's influence by representing modernity as a force that threatens Jammu and Kashmir's identity and honour. Figures like Ms Andrabi have developed on this tradition, building careers by fuelling paranoia. In the wake of the uncovering of a large-scale prostitution racket in Srinagar last year, Ms Andrabi organised physical attacks on unmarried couples seen together in public. A summer on, the Islamists are at it again — minus the violence, it is true, but with no less venom. What kind of society do the Islamists want? Mr. Akhtar put it simply and honestly: "There should be no guilt in the effort to establish Allah's rule over our nation." In a fundamental sense, the conflict in Kashmir is not about its stated causes. It is not about India, Pakistan and independence; nor about democracy, secularism, and human rights; not even about Hinduism or Islam. It is, instead, a showdown between the god of the Islamists and the fiercely polytheist icon-suffused culture of modern high capitalism. For better or for worse, young people's responses to the Junoon concert make clear that Mr. Geelani's god is losing. -- Rashneek Kher Wandhama Massacre-The Forgotten Human Tragedy http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com From jeebesh at sarai.net Wed Jun 4 16:48:22 2008 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh) Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 16:48:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] riverfront update Message-ID: On 6/2/08, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan wrote: Dear Friends, Today's incident at the Satyagrah Sthal not only highlighted the true face of the highly controversial structure called the Akshardham in the river bed bringing to fore its evil existence but a strange dilemma that we Satyagrahis came to be faced with as a result. A phone call during mid day alerted us to impending demolition of the Satyagrah Sthal by the police. Rushing to the scene we found that while the Satyagrah Sthal was untouched all the jhuggies nearby (about 10 of them) had been demolished by a strong police force on orders from the 'top'. These are labourers (migrants from East UP and nearby) who used to tend the nurseries, many plants from which grace the residences of the greenery lovers in the city. Discreet enquiries revealed that the Akshardham authorities had written to the Home Department about a security threat to the so called temple and hence these jhuggies had to go. And lo ! with no political voice whatsoever they were brought to ground by a police force obeying orders from their superiors. As if now Akshardham, not withstanding a prison like walls all around it, extra special security at its 'restricted' entrance, prison like watch towers in all corners could sleep in peace. If jhuggies and the like around the 'precious' Akshardham is a security risk then almost the whole of Pandav nagar (incidently the area where the Akshardham had first been allotted a piece of land for an educational and cultural centre that they refused to 'accept' – we have official documents to support this) and some part of the Samaspur Jagir village and Mayur Vihar should also have no right to exist ! But would the state have the guts to bring them down like wise? What is this Akshardham after all? Claiming to be a 'temple' as its public face it is a cultural centre on paper run by a private trust of monied and politically connected swamis (sic). It today encroaches upon about 100 acres of the river bed against its initially allotted 18 acres which had later on been extended to 30 acres. It must be perhaps the only temple anywhere with a highly restricted entry, paid parking and paid visits to some of its facilities. The MCD which is today controlled by the Party that facilitated its construction in the first place have surreptitiously also exempted it from payment of commercial taxes, despite it being an out and out commercial facility making crores of rupees annually through entry charges as well as payments for other commercial activities within the premises. A temple is ideally a place of worship where the devout get attracted for spiritual rejuvenation in a voluntary manner with no restricted entrance and receive whatever is given out freely as a parshad. Is any of this true of Akshardham? It is an illegal structure (has never sought any permission from the Yamuna Standing Committee) that is founded on deceit and illegal appropriation of farmer's land abetted by a party in power. (Even the so called approval by the SC of it on a dismissed PIL is based more on default rather any merit of the case – the fact that a sprawling concrete parking space stands where the SC was made to understand that no land use change would happen is a glaring example of the SC having been taken for a ride by the temple managers). With so much of evil intent, ill-gotten land and artificial security how can any devout really visit it with faith and fervour is beyond our comprehension. But people either attracted by its architectural grandeur (which indeed it exhibits) or blinded by faith continue to visit it in hordes almost everyday enriching the coffers of the trust managers. It is time that the civil society exposed its real face and advocated its public boycott as a structure which is not only illegal but is 'evil' in its existence in the river bed. That today it has taken toll of the hapless jhuggies in the river bed is but yet another instance of its power and reach. That the party that created it may yet again come into power more by default of the present regime's poor governance than any positive vote for the party in question may have played a part in today's action by the concerned authorities. Whatever, it presented a serious dilemma in front of us Yamuna Satyagrahis whereby us being better 'secured' politically by our high moral (?) ground of a public cause stood watching helplessly the demolitions of the homes of the helpless and the hapless. Two scenes of the day add to our dilemma. Two small kids of the 'homeless' labourers 'swinging' away to glory without a care on a 'vine swing' while their parents searched for their belongings amongst the demolished jhuggies and a police wallah carrying away a small plant home (presumably free) from a nursery whose help he had just dispossessed and made homeless ! Shall we call it 'Karma' and consign the happenings of the day to history? manoj -- www.yamunajiyeabhiyaan.blogspot.com From taraprakash at gmail.com Wed Jun 4 23:00:23 2008 From: taraprakash at gmail.com (TaraPrakash) Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 13:30:23 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] China Shuts Out 2 Lawyers Over Tibetans' Cases... (Washington Post) Message-ID: <03a501c8c668$aefe02c0$6400a8c0@taraprakash> China Shuts Out 2 Lawyers Over Tibetans' Cases; Activists Had Offered to Defend Those Arrested After Crackdown. By:Edward Cody. BEIJING, June 3. Chinese judicial authorities have in effect disbarred two activist lawyers who offered to defend Tibetans arrested in a recent Chinese security crackdown, lawyers said Tuesday. The two, Jiang Tianyong and Teng Biao, were denied renewal of the annual licenses necessary to practice law in China because of what Beijing Judicial Bureau officials described as a willingness to take on "sensitive" cases such as those involving charges of human rights abuses by the government, Jiang said. The decision was consistent with a broad security tightening in recent months in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics in August. Authorities have shown particular sensitivity about Tibet, which is still closed to foreign tourists and reporters, and Xinjiang, where the Public Security Bureau has accused Muslim separatists of plotting terrorist attacks to disrupt the games. Jiang and Teng were among 18 Chinese lawyers with a record of human rights activism who signed an open letter offering legal help to Tibetans arrested after riots erupted March 14 in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, and quickly spread to a number of other Tibetan-inhabited areas of the country. Responding to the riots, Chinese security forces arrested a large number of Tibetans on such crimes as arson and inciting subversion of state authority. Scores have been jailed since then and many more forced to undergo what are called patriotic education courses, designed to promote loyalty to the Chinese government and discourage Tibetan nationalism. Human Rights in China, the U.S. -based advocacy group, denounced the bureau's decision against the two lawyers as an attempt by the Chinese government to discourage lawyers from representing people who have human rights complaints. China cannot claim to enjoy rule of law unless lawyers are genuinely allowed to defend those accused of crimes, the group said. The targeting of lawyers who take cases deemed sensitive by the authorities makes a mockery of rule of law and newly effective amendments to the Lawyers Law, which claims to protect the practice of law by lawyers," Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China, said in a statement. The politicized use of the annual registration system undercuts a critical component of any rule of law: independent and professional lawyers doing their jobs. Li Xiongbing, a lawyer along with Jiang at the Gaobo Longhua law firm in Beijing, said almost all those who signed the letter offering help to Tibetans had trouble getting their licenses renewed before the Sunday deadline. Five already had lost their licenses because of previous run-ins with judicial authorities, he said, and most of the others received their renewal only at the last minute. Li said he got his renewal Thursday. Jiang said that after the letter was issued, authorities told his law firm to "strengthen internal management. That, Jiang said, meant that the firm should control the lawyers more and steer them away from such human rights cases. The Judicial Bureau wanted us to make promises like not to take sensitive cases and not accept media interviews, especially foreign media," he said. I just couldn't agree to that. To ask me to cede some of my rights and not be a lawyer and defend other people's rights, this is not possible for me. From taraprakash at gmail.com Wed Jun 4 23:07:19 2008 From: taraprakash at gmail.com (TaraPrakash) Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 13:37:19 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Awareness about dyslexia in India, thanks to the movie "Taare Zameen Par" (washington Post) Message-ID: <03b201c8c669$a44d6360$6400a8c0@taraprakash> The Pain of Dyslexia, As Told by Bollywood; Film on Disability Raises Awareness About Touchy Issue. By:Rama Lakshmi. NEW DELHI. A recent Bollywood movie about a dreamy 8-year-old boy had all the ingredients of an Indian blockbuster -- six songs, tearful ups and downs and a happy ending. But the film has also planted the seeds of a movement to raise public awareness about dyslexia in India. When Madhu Mangla, 45, watched the movie, "Taare Zameen Par," Hindi for "Stars on Earth," she broke down and wept in the theater. She recalled feeling as if it were her son's life reenacted on screen. My son changed five schools, but he could not read and write. He was labeled a failure by teachers. Children picked on him at school. I scolded him at home all the time," Mangla said of her son, now 18. But after watching the movie, she went home and looked up dyslexia online. She read all night, and the next day she printed out the addresses of support groups in the city. The film gave me the strength to come out and admit he has dyslexia. It has taken me a very long time to do that," she said, as she played with the end of her floral chiffon sari and watched her son study at a learning center for dyslexic children. In the past three months, Mangla said, she has seen remarkable changes in her son, Rahul Mangla, who has been working with special-education teachers. He took the national 10th-grade test for the first time recently, and he has begun to type and send text messages from his cellphone. I learned in the movie that I have something called dyslexia," Rahul said. But I also learned that I can overcome it with the right kind of teachers. A runaway hit, the film is about a bucktoothed, wide-eyed boy who is scolded and punished by teachers and parents for poor test scores, and repeatedly called an "idiot" and "duffer. He retreats into a shell of silence and tears -- until a new, messiah-like arts teacher discovers the boy has dyslexia and encourages him to paint. The film has lifted the veil on an issue that has remained shrouded in private pain for many families in India. Parents, schools, activists and policymakers have held conferences and public meetings to talk openly about dyslexia since the film was released in December. Though a handful of groups have addressed the issue of dyslexia in India's big cities for more than a decade, public awareness and acceptance have been woefully low. Dyslexia is the most common learning disability among children, and it affects a person's ability to process the written word, symbols and numbers. Most Indian schools do not have programs to help children with learning disabilities, and teachers are generally not trained to deal with the issue, if not completely ignorant of it. The few private schools that offer special education charge extra fees. Activists estimate that 5 to 10 percent of Indian children show signs of dyslexia, but there are no official figures on the matter. There has been a sudden awakening about dyslexia in the popular consciousness after the movie. So many people are hearing the word for the first time. People who lived in denial or hid it for years are now coming out to talk about it," said Anjuli Bawa, a parent-activist who founded Action Dyslexia Delhi and fought for the right to an amanuensis, or a scribe, for dyslexic children taking national high school exams. Since the movie was released, Bawa said, the number of parents who come to her office every month has increased tenfold. Some women who live with traditional extended Indian families call about their children without the knowledge of their husbands or mothers-in-law. Earlier, they would come when the child was thrown out of school or when they were up against the wall. Now, they come proactively and want to know if their child has dyslexia. Educators and analysts say that as Indian schools have become more competitive, they have put too much emphasis on textbook studies and not enough on other skills. Schools dismiss children with learning disabilities as hopeless and badly behaved. In the film, when the father is told that his son has dyslexia, he asks: "My son is not normal? Is he mentally retarded? The screenwriter, Amole Gupte, said his film has changed the way dyslexia is seen in India. Since the film's release, Gupte has been asked to write on the subject in the press and has answered countless reader questions. I get so many painful letters and phone calls from parents across the country," Gupte said in a telephone interview. Fathers weep on the phone and say they saw the film and realized that they have been wrong in the way they treated their children. This is catharsis. The Indian government passed a comprehensive disabilities law in 1995 that guarantees rehabilitation, job quotas and housing for people with visual, hearing, mental and physical disabilities. But it does not mention learning disabilities. Unfortunately, many in India still think learning disability comes under the mental illness category, and that adds to the shame and stigma," said T.D. Dhariyal, the government's deputy chief commissioner for persons with disabilities. Officials are now considering a list of amendments that would expand the definition of disability. The government estimates that there are 21 million Indians with a disability, but the number would shoot up if learning disabilities are taken into account," Dhariyal said. At a recent meeting with parents, Bawa Aditya Singh, a 27-year-old executive who has emerged as the public face of dyslexia for many in the capital, took to the stage and introduced himself, saying "I am dyslexic. There was pin-drop silence for some minutes. People kept staring at me," Singh recalled. Then they asked what I did for a living. I said I have worked with Disney in the U.S. and am now the general manager at an upscale restaurant here. Their jaws dropped. After a few minutes, they began bringing their children in. And one after the other they stood up and said their child had dyslexia, too. From tapasrayx at gmail.com Wed Jun 4 23:50:08 2008 From: tapasrayx at gmail.com (Tapas Ray) Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:20:08 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] China Shuts Out 2 Lawyers Over Tibetans' Cases... (Washington Post) In-Reply-To: <03a501c8c668$aefe02c0$6400a8c0@taraprakash> References: <03a501c8c668$aefe02c0$6400a8c0@taraprakash> Message-ID: <4846DCD8.5080406@gmail.com> Proof, if any was needed, that China has "opened up". This "openness" is an embarrassment even to some people in "the party"/government. Shortly after the earthquake, I was watching an interview of its young Deputy Information Minister or something like that, on PBS, which - for those who may not be familiar with it - is the US Public Broadcasting Service very much unlike the commercial networks in style and content. The gentleman's job title reminded me of 1984, because "information" in the hands of the Chinese government seems to be all about censorship, just as it has sometimes been about disinformation and even censorship in the West. But there is nothing new about this. What I found interesting, instead, was that the Minister momentarily lost his voice in embarrassment and had to clear his throat to speak when an inconvenient question about China's "openness" was thrown at him. Now, if "the truth" is that he had an infection of the upper respiratory tract and that made things difficult for him at that very moment, we must give the germs their due, and I must stand rebuked for distorting "the truth". TaraPrakash wrote: > China Shuts Out 2 Lawyers Over Tibetans' Cases; Activists Had Offered to Defend Those Arrested After Crackdown. From elkamath at yahoo.com Thu Jun 5 09:19:28 2008 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 20:49:28 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd : Entitled to their opinions, yes. But their facts? Message-ID: <175879.48731.qm@web53608.mail.re2.yahoo.com> FYI June 1, 2008 The Public Editor Entitled to Their Opinions, Yes. But Their Facts? By CLARK HOYT ON May 12, The Times published an Op-Ed article by Edward N. Luttwak, a military historian, who argued that any hopes that a President Barack Obama might improve relations with the Muslim world were unrealistic because Muslims would be "horrified" once they learned that Obama had abandoned the Islam of his father and embraced Christianity as a young adult. Under "Muslim law as it is universally understood," Luttwak wrote, Obama was born a Muslim, and his "conversion" to Christianity was an act of apostasy, a capital offense and "the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit." While no Muslim country would be likely to prosecute him, Luttwak said, a state visit to such a nation would present serious security challenges "because the very act of protecting him would be sinful for Islamic security guards." At a time when fears about Obama's security keep bubbling to the surface and an online whispering campaign suggests that he is secretly a Muslim — call him by his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, some Times readers demand — the Luttwak thesis was a double whammy: Obama cannot escape his Muslim history, and a lot of Muslims might want to kill him for trying. Many Times readers saw the article as irresponsible ("gasoline on the fire," said Paul Trachtman of Tierra Amarilla, N.M.) or false ("Islam is not like our hair or the color of our skin, which we inherited from our parents," said Ali Kamel of Rio de Janeiro). The blogosphere lit up with assertions that Luttwak did not know what he was talking about. The Times Op-Ed page, quite properly, is home to a lot of provocative opinions. But all are supposed to be grounded on the bedrock of fact. Op-Ed writers are entitled to emphasize facts that support their arguments and minimize others that don't. But they are not entitled to get the facts wrong or to so mangle them that they present a false picture. Did Luttwak cross the line from fair argument to falsehood? Did Times editors fail to adequately check his facts before publishing his article? Did The Times owe readers a contrasting point of view? I interviewed five Islamic scholars, at five American universities, recommended by a variety of sources as experts in the field. All of them said that Luttwak's interpretation of Islamic law was wrong. David Shipley, the editor of the Op-Ed page, said Luttwak's article was vetted by editors who consulted the Koran, associated text, newspaper articles and authoritative histories of Islam. No scholars of Islam were consulted because "we do not customarily call experts to invite them to weigh in on the work of our contributors," he said. That's a pity in this case, because it might have sparked a discussion about whether Luttwak's categorical language was misleading, at best. Interestingly, in defense of his own article, Luttwak sent me an analysis of it by a scholar of Muslim law whom he did not identify. That scholar also did not agree with Luttwak that Obama was an apostate or that Muslim law would prohibit punishment for any Muslim who killed an apostate. He wrote, "You seem to be describing some anarcho-utopian version of Islamic legalism, which has never existed, and after the birth of the modern nation state will never exist." Luttwak made several sweeping statements that the scholars I interviewed said were incorrect or highly debatable, including assertions that in Islam a father's religion always determines a child's, regardless of the facts of his upbringing; that Obama's "conversion" to Christianity was apostasy; that apostasy is, with few exceptions, a capital crime; and that a Muslim could not be punished for killing an apostate. Obama was born in Hawaii to a mother from Kansas with Christian roots and a Kenyan father whose own father had converted to Islam. When Obama was a toddler, his father left the family. His mother later married an Indonesian Muslim, and Obama spent five years in Jakarta, where he attended Catholic and Muslim schools and, according to The Los Angeles Times, was enrolled in the third and fourth grades as a Muslim. Luttwak wrote that given those facts, Obama was a Muslim and his mother's Christian background was irrelevant. But Sherman A. Jackson, a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Michigan, cited an ancient Islamic jurist, Ibn al-Qasim, who said, "If you divorce a Christian woman and ignore your child from her to the point that the child grows up to be a Christian, the child is to be left," meaning left to make his own choice. Jackson said that there was not total agreement among Islamic jurists on the point, but Luttwak's assertion to the contrary was wrong. Khaled Abou El Fadl, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, said the majority opinion among Islamic jurists is that the law of apostasy can apply only to individuals who knowingly decide to be Muslims and later renege. One school of thought, he said, is that an individual must be at least a teenager to make the choice. Obama's campaign told The Los Angeles Times last year that he "has never been a practicing Muslim." As a young adult, he chose to be baptized as a Christian. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, a professor of law at Emory University, said that Sharia, or Islamic law, including the law of apostasy, does not apply to an American or anyone outside the Muslim world. Of the more than 40 countries where Muslims are the majority, he said, Sharia is the official legal system only in Saudi Arabia and Iran, and even there apostasy is unevenly prosecuted, and apostates often wind up in prison, not executed. Several of the scholars agreed that, in classical Sharia, apostasy is a capital crime, but they said that Islamic thinking is evolving. Mahmoud Ayoub, a professor of Islamic studies and comparative religion at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., said, "Whether (apostasy) is punishable by death or not, there are different opinions." Last year, Egypt's highest Islamic cleric, Sheik Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti, spoke out against killing apostates. He said punishment for those abandoning the religion would come in the afterlife. All the scholars argued that Luttwak had a rigid, simplistic view of Islam that failed to take into account its many strains and the subtleties of its religious law, which is separate from the secular laws in almost all Islamic nations. The Islamic press and television have reported extensively on the United States presidential election, they said, and Obama's Muslim roots and his Christian religion are well known, yet there have been no suggestions in the Islamic world that he is an apostate. Luttwak said the scholars with whom I spoke were guilty of "gross misrepresentation" of Islam, which he said they portrayed as "a tolerant religion of peace;" he called it "intolerant." He said he was not out to attack Obama and regretted that, in the editing, a paragraph saying that an Obama presidency could be "beneficial" was cut for space. Shipley, the Op-Ed editor, said he regretted not urging Luttwak to soften his language about possible assassination, given how sensitive the subject is. But he said he did not think the Op-Ed page was under any obligation to present an alternative view, beyond some letters to the editor. I do not agree. With a subject this charged, readers would have been far better served with more than a single, extreme point of view. When writers purport to educate readers about complex matters, and they are arguably wrong, I think The Times cannot label it opinion and let it go at that. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company ------------------------------------------------------ cross posted from Debate _______________________________________________ DEBATE mailing list DEBATE at debate.kabissa.org http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/debate From dash.suryashankar at gmail.com Wed Jun 4 18:11:02 2008 From: dash.suryashankar at gmail.com (Surya Dash) Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 18:11:02 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Niyamgiri Film on DVD/VCD In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Samadrusti Televisions Date: Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 9:55 AM Subject: Niyamgiri Film on DVD/VCD To: Dear Friends After two years of hard work our film on Niyamgiri (the mountain of law) is now complete and was released on 1st June 08 at a small gathering in Lohia Academy. The film is divided into two parts named 1. Struggle for Democracy and 2. Development & Devastation. The first part is about the forceful land acquisition in Lanjigarh for the alumina factory, the role of state, mafia presence and political patronage as well as the resolution of the Dongria Kondh tribals of Niyamgiri who claim not to leave the mountain even if they are beheaded. The second part is what has happened since the factory came up - the pollution, the loss of livelihood, accidents, trafficking of women, and unimaginable terror. The film is a major expose of the state govt and central govt and more so of the company. After the first screening on Sunday Debjit Sarangi of Living farms said "The film shatters all notions about the pre dominant development paradigm and should be seen by as many people as possible". We haven't been funded by anyone to make this film and it was possible only through small donations and loans from friends. The only way to repay back and continue making films is by ensuring bulk orders of the film from institutions who are supportive of the cause of Niyamgiri. We request you to buy at least 10 copies of the film. It is 96 min long and available on DVD and CDs. The film costs Rs.1000/- per copy for instituions, Rs. 750/- for individuals and we don't have a choice but to give it for free to people who cant afford it like the tribals. In fact the more orders we get the more free copies we can distribute in villages so please do order for as many copies as you can! We would like to mention that our last film PANI (WAR FOR WATER) on the diversion of water from the Hirakud reservoir to industry (including Vedanta's aluminium smelter) was a major factor in the success of a farmer's movement against it. The film was screened in all the villages that were to be affected by the diversion of water and not less than another 10,000 people joined the movement after watching the film (as claimed by senior activists). The success of PANI motivates us to carry a similar exercise for Niyamgiri. We request you to buy copies of PANI film which is priced at Rs. 500/- per copy. The film is 25 min long and is a short essay on the farmers struggle to save their water and also for the first time the voice of those displaced by the Hirakud dam fifty years ago has been captured in the film. Looking forward to hear from you. Thank you. Best wishes, Surya Shankar Dash, Filmmaker, Samadrusti TV P.s. A preview of the Niyamgiri film is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3sNFrU9qJc a preview of War for Water is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZRu0hHstpw From chiarapassa at gmail.com Tue Jun 3 15:44:25 2008 From: chiarapassa at gmail.com (Chiara Passa) Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 12:14:25 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] =?utf-8?b?W0Fubm91bmNlbWVudHNdICJwcm9kdWN0IuKAkyBG?= =?utf-8?q?estival_of_Contemporary_Art_Varna=2C_Bulgaria?= Message-ID: "product"– Festival of Contemporary Art Varna, Bulgaria The "product" will take place from June 5th to June 15th 2008 in Varna, Bulgaria. The theme of this year's Festival is "Hope". The festival functions as transmitter and forum between artists and audience, art and institutions creating an atmosphere of confidence. It is designed as a cultural portal where the ideas of authors are to be developed, shared, discussed, and nurtured in workshops, lectures, discussions and performances. The festival is organised by KERA, a group of artists and cultural operators based in Varna – a major seaport on the Bulgarian Black Sea. In 2008, hope will be the leitmotif of the festival. We are looking forward to an exciting programme with contributions from different fields of contemporary art as well as to a series of lectures and an extensive film programme. There will be chance to meet some of the 28 artists and 55 filmmakers from 28 countries (Colombia, United Kingdom, Argentina, Germany, Bosnia, France, Peru, Spain, USA, Bulgaria, Austria, Ireland, Canada, Italia, Switzerland, Mexico, Chile, Japan, Netherland, Turkey, Belgium, Iran, Norway, Korea, China, Finland, Slovenia) and to find out about their artistic positions. Curators team exhibition: Emil Mirazchiev (Bulgaria), Nevan Lahart (Ireland), Rustha Luna Pozzi-Escot (France), Peter Anders (Germany), Michele Fiori (Italia) and Luis Gonzales Toussaint (Mexico), Curator "Some are watching" film program: Martin A. Dege (Germany). We are glad to invite you to this hopeful anniversary of the "product" festival of contemporary art in Bulgaria. KERA AssociationThe Festival Team etualartmachine.com FILMPROGRAM 2008 http://www.product-festival.com/film_08.html videoscreening Block 1 Open call: "about hope" Curator: Martin A. Dege Length: 74.00 minutes OPEN CALL Videoscreening "saw - some are watching" at "product– Festival of Contemporary Art 2008" The paradise garden Hyun-Joo MIN Finnland 2005, 03.38min. How to Fool your Fears Serafina Ouistiti United Kingdom 2007 Room Temperature Zhana Ivanova Bulgaria 2008, 26.14min. Malocchios Puppetshow Serafina Ouistiti United Kingdom 2007 - ohne Titel - Kristin Meyer Germany 2008, 12.45min. 'time is running and say nothing' Antea Arizanovic Slovenia 1988 - 2006, 16.30min. Dad´s Cellar Susan Schmidt und David Buob Germany 2006, 06.34min. Block 2 FAIRPLAY FILM & VIDEO AWARD SELECTION -1- Lugano / Switzerland Organizer: FAIRPLAY FILM & VIDEO Festival www.fairplay-lugano.com Curator: Silvia Anna Barrilà Length: 45.00 minutes Pendule Antonella Kurzen Switzerland / Germany 2006, 00.5min. When I wish upon a star Mai Yamashita & Naoto Kobayashi Japan / Switzerland 2004, 2.2min. Kino Krov Elise Florenty France / Germany 2005, 5.45min. Attica Manon de Boer Belgium 2008 9.55min. Rise Niklas Goldbach Germany 2007 2.22min. Six Apartments Reynold Reynolds USA / Germany 2007 12.00min. Twist Alexia Walther Switzerland / France 2006 11.00min. Block 3 The best of "loyal_rooftops_2007" Organizer: Martin A. Dege www.madege.de/projekte/rooftops Curator: Martin A. Dege "loyal_rooftops_2007" zeigte Videoarbeiten, die soziale Diskrepanzen und unwirtliche Urbanität aufnehmen und sich so zum Festival 'Bürgerstolz & Stadtfrieden - kurz vor der Schließung dieser Freiräume, genau am richtigen Ort und zum richtigen Zeitpunkt positionierten. Talking walls Kristoffer Ardena Spain 2007, 3.44min Time bomb the love Chiara Passa Italy 1998, 5.00min. untitled Fotis Theotis United Kingdom 2004 All the Kings Horses and all the kings Men Marisa Cunningham United Kingdom Zone End Nooshin Farhid United Kingdom 2007, 2.30min. The desreet charm of the bourgeoisie Ron den Daas & Kathy Kenny Canada 2006, 1.00min. follow Andrew Thomas Germany 2007, 3.00min. touch Lieve D'hondt Belgium 2007 Fliessband Sandra Becker Germany 1996-2006, 2.00min .one day, 2000 Martin A. Dege Germany 2000, 2.23min. 25 horses in the room next door Eric Pries Germany 2007 Home Martin Sommer Germany 2007 Rompiendo Nubes Bongore Spain 2006, 1.47min. Nur ich lache Liu Ke China / Germany 2007 Force 2 Peter Borgers Netherland Block 4 "PAM Perpetual Art Machine" Organizer: PAM Perpetual Art Machine - living archive, USA www.perpetualartmachine.com Curator: Lee Wells, Raphaele Shirley, Chris Borkowski and Aaron Miller Length: 83.00 minutes Perpetual Art Machine is a living archive of 21st century international video art, featuring over 1000 videos from more than 700 artists from over 70 countries culminating in an immersive interactive video experience. Created in December 2005 as a collaboration between the artists Lee Wells, Raphaele Shirley, Chris Borkowski and Aaron Miller as a means to democratize the curatorial process by inviting both the artist and the viewer/user to participate through live interactive installations and online through [PAM]'s free community video portal. The artists represented in this program are just but a small cross section of the great artists [PAM] has been lucky enough to work with. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Scared at Birth Hackworth Ashley USA 2006 0.5min. Shouting Match George Barber United Kingdom 2004, 4.59min. Hibernation Josephin Böttger Germany 2006, 10.50min. Modern Times Chris Coleman USA 2004, 2.45min. Cloths for a Summer Hotel Cecilie Dahl Norway 2004, 6.36min. False Hope & Invented God G.H. Hovagimyan USA 2006, 2.00min. Read My Lips Stephanie Lempert USA 2005, 1.12min Soon & Sleep Iris Piers Netherland 2006, 7.46min. A Life of Errors Nicholas and Sheila Pye Canada 2006, 14.24min. Star Alexander Reyna USA 2007, 3.21min. Pampering Jaye Rhee Korea 2006, 2.25min. Una Sporca Vacanza Cinzia Sarto Italy 2004, 9.53min. Would you rather it was love Melissa Schubeck USA 2006, 1.35min. Building Endre Tveitan Norway 2006, 1.18min. The Other Lam Mai Kit China 2004, 2.05min. The State of Things Amelia Winger-Bearskin USA 2007, 9.00min. Block 5 "Stay here..." Organizer: Open Space Zentrum für Kunstprojekte – Wien, Austria www.openspace-zkp.org Curator: Gulsen Bal In its focus on a space of possibilities reflected within the realm of 'event' that we inhabit, Stay here... will address the ambivalent relationship with local epistemology in new political understanding of habitual durations rooted in precarious condition of the nomadic 'enclosures' within and against available structures where other worlds are possible. The statement thus spans a discursive field that ranges from hybridity, the "difference and rupture" to the issues of identification within unnameable potentials, with which all political and social questions are opened up. This traces a dynamics between nomadic 'enclosures' and what temporarily traversing them; conducting a journey, which makes long-hidden mystery into the open. Inevitably, this is bound to lead to the idea of "being against in any place", given that it includes both the possibility of belonging to "any" place and the necessity of opposition in "every" place. And these places must be sought. Diglossia Fatih Aydogdu Turkey / Austria 2007, 2.44min. WEST Nada Prlja United Kingdom 2007, 2min. One cannot deny it might just happen Anne-Britt Rage Norway 2007 Block 6 FAIRPLAY FILM & VIDEO AWARD SELECTION -2- Lugano / Switzerland Organizer: FAIRPLAY FILM & VIDEO Festival www.fairplay-lugano.com Curator: Silvia Anna Barrilà Length: 55:52 minutes Voice Over Nevin Aladag Turkey / Germany 2006, 14.0min. Lucía Cristóbal León, Niles Atallah, Joaquin Cocina Chile 2007, 3.55min. Charismatic Fates & Vanishing Dates Sara Rajaei Iran / Netherland 2006 3.20min. The sun shines in Kiev Rossella Biscotti Italy / Netherland 2006, 9.0min. Indocumentado Edgar Endress Chile 2005, 10.0min. -- Chiara Passa chiarapassa at gmail.com http://www.chiarapassa.it http://www.ideasonair.net http://twitter.com/jogador Skype: ideasonair _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From pratilipi.in at gmail.com Thu Jun 5 11:55:14 2008 From: pratilipi.in at gmail.com (Pratilipi) Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 11:55:14 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcement: Pratilipi 2 In-Reply-To: <435290ba0806030217p42a810c7w9475a35bf372b544@mail.gmail.com> References: <435290ba0806030217p42a810c7w9475a35bf372b544@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <435290ba0806042325i54cedaa9nb9be94ab1219603b@mail.gmail.com> मित्रों/ Friends प्रतिलिपि के प्रवेशांक ने पाठकों, लेखकों, प्रकाशकों, सरकारों को हिला के नहीं रख दिया. हमें ऐसी अपेक्षा नहीं थी. न ही इसने (ऑनलाइन) साहित्यिक पत्रकारिता के नए प्रतिमान तय कर दिए. ऐसी अपेक्षा भी हमें नहीं थी. हमारी साईट पर रोज़ पाँच सौ पाठक नहीं आए. अपेक्षा हमें इसकी भी नहीं थी. क्या हम कुछ अपेक्षा कर भी रहे थे? बस यही कि जो पाठक/लेखक इस अंक तक पहुँचें, वे इसे संजीदगी से लें और ज्यादातर ऐसा हुआ भी. अब दूसरे अंक का समय है. हमारा पूर्वानुमान था दूसरा अंक निकलना कठिन होगा लेकिन ऐसा नहीं हुआ. * * Pratilipi's inaugural issue did not take readers, writers, publishers or governments by storm. We didn't expect that. It did not set new standards for (online) literary journalism. We didn't expect that either. It didn't have five hundred visitors a day and that too was not unexpected. Did we expect anything, then? Yes, we expected it to be enjoyed by readers/writers once they came to visit/read it. And they did. At least, most of them. Now it is time for the second issue. We anticipated it to be a tougher task than it turned out to be. * * * * *दूसरा अंक** / THE SECOND ISSUE* * * *Features* आन येदरलुण्ड की बारह कवितायें, स्ताफान स्यदरब्लुम की परिचयात्मक टिप्पणी के साथ Ann Jäderlund : 12 Poems Introduced by Staffan Soderblom विशेष - एक तिलस्मी उपाख्यान: वागीश शुक्ल / Vishesh – Ek Tilismi Upakhyaan : Wagish Shukla १८५७ के विद्रोह में दलितों की भूमिका पर बद्री नारायण / Badri Narayan on the Role of Dalits in the 1857 Revolt डैथ एंड द सेल्फ : रुस्तम (सिंह) / Death and the Self: Rustam (Singh) मलयज के पत्र: Malayj's Letters *Fiction* कृष्ण बलदेव वैद / Krishna Baldev Vaid सम्पूर्णा चटर्जी / Sampurna Chattarji तेजी ग्रोवर / Teji Grover सारा राय / Sara Rai संगीता गुन्देचा / Sangeeta Gundecha *कविता / Poetry* पुरुषोत्तम अग्रवाल/ Purushottam Agrawal मंगलेश डबराल / Mangalesh Dabral के.वी.के. मूर्ती / KVK Murthy शीन काफ़ निज़ाम/ Sheen Kaaf Nizam एच.एस.शिवप्रकाश / H.S. Shiva Prakash समीर रावल / Sameer Rawal विवेक नारायणन / Vivek Narayanan एनी ज़ैदी / Annie Zaidi *कथेत्तर/ Non-Fiction* के.एन.पणिक्कर के रंगमंच पर उदयन वाजपेयी /Udayan Vajpeyi on KN Panikkar's Theatre शेक्सपीयर, भारतीय पूर्वग्रहों और ए लुनेटिक इन माय हैड पर चंद्रहास चौधरी/ Chandrahas Choudhuri on Shakespeare, Indian prejudices and A Lunatic in My Head आन येदरलुण्ड को अनुवाद करने पर तेजी ग्रोवर / Teji Grover on Translating Ann Jäderlund *संपादक / Editors* गिरिराज किराडू / Giriraj Kiradoo राहुल सोनी / Rahul Soni *संपादक कला / Art Editor* शिव कुमार गाँधी / Shiv Kumar Gandhi http://pratilipi.in/ -- www.pratilipi.in ----Pratilipi is (for the time being) a completely non-commercial magazine running on the editors' investments and on the works of likeminded contributors. Pratilipi forbids itself nothing – except taking on a representational role on the web or catering to such expectations – and, hopefully, never will. -- www.pratilipi.in ----Pratilipi is (for the time being) a completely non-commercial magazine running on the editors' investments and on the works of likeminded contributors. Pratilipi forbids itself nothing – except taking on a representational role on the web or catering to such expectations – and, hopefully, never will. From pratilipi.in at gmail.com Thu Jun 5 12:01:11 2008 From: pratilipi.in at gmail.com (Pratilipi) Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 12:01:11 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcement: Pratilipi 2 Message-ID: <435290ba0806042331s63d69f58h1b52910d347aef47@mail.gmail.com> मित्रों/ Friends प्रतिलिपि के प्रवेशांक ने पाठकों, लेखकों, प्रकाशकों, सरकारों को हिला के नहीं रख दिया. हमें ऐसी अपेक्षा नहीं थी. न ही इसने (ऑनलाइन) साहित्यिक पत्रकारिता के नए प्रतिमान तय कर दिए. ऐसी अपेक्षा भी हमें नहीं थी. हमारी साईट पर रोज़ पाँच सौ पाठक नहीं आए. अपेक्षा हमें इसकी भी नहीं थी. क्या हम कुछ अपेक्षा कर भी रहे थे? बस यही कि जो पाठक/लेखक इस अंक तक पहुँचें, वे इसे संजीदगी से लें और ज्यादातर ऐसा हुआ भी. अब दूसरे अंक का समय है. हमारा पूर्वानुमान था दूसरा अंक निकलना कठिन होगा लेकिन ऐसा नहीं हुआ. * * Pratilipi's inaugural issue did not take readers, writers, publishers or governments by storm. We didn't expect that. It did not set new standards for (online) literary journalism. We didn't expect that either. It didn't have five hundred visitors a day and that too was not unexpected. Did we expect anything, then? Yes, we expected it to be enjoyed by readers/writers once they came to visit/read it. And they did. At least, most of them. Now it is time for the second issue. We anticipated it to be a tougher task than it turned out to be. * * * * *दूसरा अंक** / THE SECOND ISSUE* * * *Features* आन येदरलुण्ड की बारह कवितायें, स्ताफान स्यदरब्लुम की परिचयात्मक टिप्पणी के साथ Ann Jäderlund : 12 Poems Introduced by Staffan Soderblom विशेष - एक तिलस्मी उपाख्यान: वागीश शुक्ल / Vishesh – Ek Tilismi Upakhyaan : Wagish Shukla १८५७ के विद्रोह में दलितों की भूमिका पर बद्री नारायण / Badri Narayan on the Role of Dalits in the 1857 Revolt डैथ एंड द सेल्फ : रुस्तम (सिंह) / Death and the Self: Rustam (Singh) - Hide quoted text - मलयज के पत्र: Malayj's Letters *Fiction* कृष्ण बलदेव वैद / Krishna Baldev Vaid सम्पूर्णा चटर्जी / Sampurna Chattarji तेजी ग्रोवर / Teji Grover सारा राय / Sara Rai संगीता गुन्देचा / Sangeeta Gundecha *कविता / Poetry* पुरुषोत्तम अग्रवाल/ Purushottam Agrawal मंगलेश डबराल / Mangalesh Dabral के.वी.के. मूर्ती / KVK Murthy शीन काफ़ निज़ाम/ Sheen Kaaf Nizam एच.एस.शिवप्रकाश / H.S. Shiva Prakash समीर रावल / Sameer Rawal विवेक नारायणन / Vivek Narayanan एनी ज़ैदी / Annie Zaidi *कथेत्तर/ Non-Fiction* के.एन.पणिक्कर के रंगमंच पर उदयन वाजपेयी /Udayan Vajpeyi on KN Panikkar's Theatre शेक्सपीयर, भारतीय पूर्वग्रहों और ए लुनेटिक इन माय हैड पर चंद्रहास चौधरी/ Chandrahas Choudhuri on Shakespeare, Indian prejudices and A Lunatic in My Head आन येदरलुण्ड को अनुवाद करने पर तेजी ग्रोवर / Teji Grover on Translating Ann Jäderlund *संपादक / Editors* गिरिराज किराडू / Giriraj Kiradoo राहुल सोनी / Rahul Soni *संपादक कला / Art Editor* शिव कुमार गाँधी / Shiv Kumar Gandhi http://pratilipi.in/ -- www.pratilipi.in ----Pratilipi is (for the time being) a completely non-commercial magazine running on the editors' investments and on the works of likeminded contributors. Pratilipi forbids itself nothing – except taking on a representational role on the web or catering to such expectations – and, hopefully, never will. From sonia.jabbar at gmail.com Thu Jun 5 15:42:50 2008 From: sonia.jabbar at gmail.com (S. Jabbar) Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:42:50 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Burma cyclone & China Message-ID: Requests For Aid to Burma ŒJunk Mail¹ Says China 30 May 2008 Supporters of the Burma Campaign UK who have written to the Chinese Embassy in London calling on China to support moves for the Security Council to authorise aid to cyclone victims are being told that their requests are Œjunk mail¹. More than 2,000 people have emailed the embassy in London. The email sends condolences following the Sichuan earthquake, notes the stark contrast between the responses of the Chinese and Burmese authorities, and asks China to stop blocking efforts at the United Nations Security Council to authorise aid deliveries under the doctrine of ŒResponsibility to Protect¹. China has blocked the Security Council even discussing the current crisis in Burma. ³The Chinese government thinks calls to saves the lives of cyclone victims are junk mail,² said Mark Farmaner. ³Once again they are protecting the dictatorship in Burma, and this time they are helping them kill thousands of people by denying them aid. To dismiss these requests as junk mail is not exactly a sophisticated response to a serious issue.² Despite Than Shwe, the dictator of Burma, telling UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that aid workers would be allowed into the country, access to the delta region is still restricted. The Burma Campaign UK has received reports from aid agencies in the UK that they have still had visas refused by the embassy in London, and sources in Burma report that some Burmese people trying to deliver aid are also being turned back. The regime is also refusing to allow in foreign military with the helicopters and boats needed to deliver aid, further delaying aid reaching those in need. ³China has blood on its hands by stopping international action to deliver aid² said Mark Farmaner. ³Thousands will have died because aid didn¹t reach them. How can they say calling for lives to be saved is junk mail?² For more information contact Mark Farmaner on 020 7324 4710. Text of email sent by Burma Campaign UK supporters: ŒWe send you our deepest condolences for the recent terrible loss of life in China following the devastating earthquake. This tragedy follows the recent devastation and tragic loss of life caused by Cyclone Nargis in neighbouring Burma. However, the response to the two natural disasters could not be more different. Your government responded without delay, dispatching 50,000 troops to help, and Premier Wen Jiabao immediately flying to the disaster area. In contrast, the Burmese regime has not only failed to deliver aid to the people in desperate need, it has blocked international efforts to help deliver aid and the expertise needed in such a crisis. I am concerned that China is not doing all it can to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis. Over 1.5 million people are at risk from disease, starvation and famine because of Cyclone Nargis, yet Burma¹s Generals refuse to let the world help. Every delay is unacceptable; if aid does not reach those in need urgently, the death toll could rise by thousands every day. Your government has the power to make the generals listen. By blocking UN Security Council action your government is condemning thousands of innocent Burmese people to death. China has a responsibility to the world, and the Burmese people, to immediately back the world¹s efforts to help the people of Burma.¹ Text of response from Chinese Embassy in London: ŒThere are over 68,000 died in this earthquake and 21,000 more still missing. Millions of people are at risk from disease, starvation and famine due to Sichuan earthquake.Our task is daunting. Do you think it is appropriate to ask us to dictate other government? pls stop sending this kind of junk mail.¹ From vishal.rawlley at gmail.com Fri Jun 6 01:05:11 2008 From: vishal.rawlley at gmail.com (Vishal Rawlley) Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 01:05:11 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Surviving Globalization In-Reply-To: <4840C514.7060609@ranadasgupta.com> References: <4840C514.7060609@ranadasgupta.com> Message-ID: <31d5ea920806051235m6f1af7aby11fe891f0ad4d6bb@mail.gmail.com> what a beautifully written piece! congratulations. it got me thinking about a point that I have been pondering a while: counter culture will there be a repeat counter culture? what precipitated it, then? was the vietnam war cause alone? and why is the iraq war not cause enough? have societies lost their ability to feel and react? is the job pressure that high? what about songs, bandanas and bikes? sex and drugs? no one craves it anymore? wasn't the counter culture mostly an emotional and artistic response - a popular sentiment rather than an intellectual movement or informed activism? isn't that why it caught the fancy of so many of us? can we hope for a counter culture from india? why not? yesterday i met a guy who wore a Che t-shirt and who works in a call center in Gurgaon. last month i attended a *hasya kavi sammelan* which was full of genuine wit, satire and humour. few months ago i saw young guys from Orrisa on bikes doing an all India tour spreading the message of "world peace". Jaspal Bhatti is doing a protest on fuel hike on TV just now... should i laugh or should i cry? On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 8:55 AM, Rana Dasgupta wrote: > An essay I wrote recently about globalization, paranoia, apocalypse and > the reconstruction of human society. > > :-) > > http://www.ranadasgupta.com/texts.asp?text_id=44 > > R > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> From naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com Fri Jun 6 08:54:10 2008 From: naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com (Naeem Mohaiemen) Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 09:24:10 +0600 Subject: [Reader-list] And Then There's Always Bangladesh Message-ID: >From today's Indian Express. I made some revisions from the original op-ed. They changed the title... And Then There's Always Bangladesh http://www.indianexpress.com/printerFriendly/319312.html From markcmarino at gmail.com Fri Jun 6 11:43:48 2008 From: markcmarino at gmail.com (Mark Marino) Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 22:13:48 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] =?windows-1252?q?=5BAnnouncements=5D_Electronic_Lit?= =?windows-1252?q?erature_Collection=2C_Vol=2E_2_=97_Call_for_Work?= Message-ID: <287213f30806052313j6569f87cs41049d2951899736@mail.gmail.com> Hi, Here's a big call: Please, pass this along! Electronic Literature Collection, Vol. 2 — Call for Work The Electronic Literature Organization seeks submissions for the Electronic Literature Collection, volume 2. We invite the submission of literary works that take advantage of the capabilities and contexts provided by the computer. Works will be accepted from June 1 to September 30, 2008. Up to three works per author will be considered; previously published works will be considered. The Electronic Literature Collection is a biannual publication of current and older electronic literature in a form suitable for individual, public library, and classroom use. Volume 1, presently available both online (http://collection.eliterature.org) and as a packaged, cross-platform CD-ROM, has been used in dozens of courses at universities in the United States and internationally, and has been widely reviewed in the United States and Europe. It is also available as a CD-ROM insert with N. Katherine Hayles' full-length study, Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary (University of Notre Dame Press, 2008). Volume 2, comprising approximately 50 works, will likewise be available online, and as a cross-platform DVD in a case appropriate for library processing, marking, and distribution. The contents of the Collection are offered under a Creative Commons license so that libraries and educational institutions will be allowed to duplicate and install works and individuals will be free to share the disc with others. The editorial collective for the second volume of the Electronic Literature Collection, to be published in 2009, is Laura Borràs Castanyer, Talan Memmott, Rita Raley and Brian Kim Stefans. This collective will review the submitted work and select pieces for the Collection. Literary quality will be the chief criterion for selection of works. Other aspects considered will include innovative use of electronic techniques, quality and navigability of interface, and adequate representation of the diverse forms of electronic literature in the collection as a whole. For volume 2, we are considering works of electronic literature in video. Works submitted should function on both Macintosh OS X (10.5) and Windows Vista. 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Director of Communication -- Writing Program University of Southern California http://WriterResponseTheory.org http://CriticalCodeStudies.com _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com Fri Jun 6 18:59:51 2008 From: mahmood.farooqui at gmail.com (mahmood farooqui) Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 18:59:51 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] How about banning the police Message-ID: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZzOAFYllWI From bawazainab79 at gmail.com Fri Jun 6 19:10:30 2008 From: bawazainab79 at gmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 19:10:30 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Of claimed spaces, messy spaces and property markets Message-ID: It is strange to feel a sense of communion with Bangalore city. In recent times, someone mentioned how he found Bangalore to be a flat city while Bombay was a city thick with stories. Perhaps those stories abound in Bangalore too, but I have isolated myself enough not to recognize them. One such story has been surfacing since the last two days and has gotten me thinking, once again, about space, about accessing the city, about urban land, and about the notions and practices of property. It is indeed strange to feel a sense of communion with this city, this city which has since sometime been labeled as the epitome of fast paced and messy growth. "It is S. M. Krishna's fault," I am told, "He has brought the city to be the way it is today. He sold it to the real estate sharks and to the global land developers." I wonder whether the story of today's Bangalore is as simple as this. It is rhetorical to even make such a statement, but what needs to be stated is the fact that the story of this city is yet to be told, in all its thickness and richness. The story of this city is not all flat; it is the story of our times. I will try a little now ... So, it is absolutely strange to feel a sense of communion with this mad city called Bangalore. The airport has moved to 40 kms away from the city. The traffic is as bad as it could be. The city's drains are already overflowing even with the wee bit of heavy showers. What is becoming of this city? That is the plaint with which civil society movements and organizations started in Bangalore, the city which is overflowing and teeming with the good governance and fight-corruption organizations. But that indeed is a flat paradigm of the city. I am confronted with the question of how do I understand and frame the notion and process of change? Yes, it is indeed strange to feel one with this city, this city that is usually seen as a flat and a doomed-to-fail city. But it is not. It is a city which is at the crossroads of very important trajectories and what defines these trajectories are the contests and conflicts over accessing urban space. I was watching the Majestic area through the windows of the BMTC bus - every nook and corner of Majestic is occupied, legally and illegally. Sometimes, the illegal don't even know that what they are engaging in is deemed illegal by law and planning. Everyone needs access to space - space, both metaphorically and physically. Booksellers on the footpath, pirated VCDs and pornographic material, bags, shoes, clothes, security services, banking services, pawnbrokers, jewellers, restaurants, hotels, malls at the side of the roadside messiness and occupied spaces - in Bombay they call this cheek by jowl. In Bangalore, I would say that the different times of the city co-exist in Majestic area and beyond. Different groups of people and individuals have occupied space, some nook, some corner, some cranny. And there are occupations and professions that exist in this area which are hidden from the eye but very much located in this geography. Majestic reminds me of a different time in the city. Yes, there are plots on which malls are being constructed in Majestic too and in a few years, the malls will be there unless something drastic happens. But what you see in Majestic is the existence of all kinds of time streams - yesterday, today and tomorrow. That yesterday is not disintegrated from today and tomorrow; it is intimately connected. And that yesterday will be shaped by today and tomorrow just as much as today and tomorrow will be shaped by yesterday. The physicality and the mortality of yesterday may disappear, but yesterday itself cannot disappear. Majestic says this to me as I observe the hectic and frenzied pace of urban space in this part of Bangalore. As I move from Majestic into Rajajinagar, I am further surprised. Rajajinagar appears much more insular than the Richmond Town area that I live in. It appears that Rajajinagar is living in a time of its own. Photographs of Dr. Rajkumar, the famous cinestar whose death rocked the city, abound in this area. Rajkumar seems absolutely alive and kicking in the spirit of Rajajinagar. Perhaps, his presence even defines the locality of Rajajinagar and marks this space as distinct from other parts of the city. A strong feeling of Kannadiga-ness envelops you if you walk carefully through the area - the sounds, sights, smells, scenes- they strongly remind you that you are in the state of Karnataka of which Bangalore is an important geographical party and symbolic aspect. A subtle sense of the Kannada nation grips you as you walk preceptively, a feeling that is distinct and particular to this area. Now, with the Bangalore Metro expected to run through this area, one will have to wait and watch to see what processes the notions and practices of modernity, locality, community, urbanity, nation and globalization will generate. Clearly, what has been most interesting about this form of participant observation across the Western parts of the city is the ways by which people have occupied urban space. At Magadi, as we see the hectic and frenetic construction of an underpass, we also simulataneously note that under the trees, there are people who are making and selling bamboo curtains. At Majestic, one notices fruit-cake kind of constructions that were certainly not planned, but created over time, through various networks of politics, graft, deception, illegality, identity and finance. Rajajinagar abounds with spaces that are known in our parlance as "neeche dukan, upar makaan", again a form od practice that planning defies as illegal and that is increasingly coming under scrutiny with the construction of the Metro Rail. These are spaces which are being practiced variously and in ways that may not be recognnized by urban planning and law. They exist and yet, there is a strong feeling that runs through a large number of us that eventually, these spaces may be destroyed, taken over, annihilated and subsumed. Urbanity is being conceived as this process of the big fish eating the small and the small eating the smaller. The question is whether the current stream of urbanization requires much more intense attention to the processes that are taking place, irrespective of outcomes, if we are to nuance our understanding of change, growth, future, 'development'? As I moved into Nagarbhavi, I noticed that virgin properties which were once rocky lands, are now being constructed over. The pace of construction in the area is tremendous. I realized that the potential construction of the Bangalore Metro Rail around Vijaynagar will lead to property prices rising in and around the interiors of West Bangalore. I recognize that this is one of the ways in which property markets develop. The question that arises is whether the growth of property markets, the conversion of multiply claimed spaces into single ownership and title deeds that can be traded between people 'legally', is an irreversible process? Are the trajectories of cities defined? How do we conceive of the future? How does one draw on the past to understand and conceive the future? I begin with these questions and many more ... It is absolutely strange, yet wonderful, to feel a sense of communion with the city. It is an enabler, one that allows you to see the city as an organic entity that has life and is not a determined/controlled mass of space ... -- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher Between Places ... http://wbfs.wordpress.com From sonia.jabbar at gmail.com Sat Jun 7 14:42:15 2008 From: sonia.jabbar at gmail.com (S. Jabbar) Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:42:15 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fisk Message-ID: Robert Fisk: The West's weapon of self-delusion There are gun battles in Beirut ­ and America thinks things are going fine The Independent. Saturday, 7 June 2008: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-the-wests-weapon-of-selfd elusion-842117.html So they are it again, the great and the good of American democracy, grovelling and fawning to the Israeli lobbyists of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), repeatedly allying themselves to the cause of another country and one that is continuing to steal Arab land. Will this ever end? Even Barack Obama ­ or "Mr Baracka" as an Irish friend of mine innocently and wonderfully described him ­ found time to tell his Jewish audience that Jerusalem is the one undivided capital of Israel, which is not the view of the rest of the world which continues to regard the annexation of Arab East Jerusalem as illegal. The security of Israel. Say it again a thousand times: the security of Israel ­ and threaten Iran, for good measure. Yes, Israelis deserve security. But so do Palestinians. So do Iraqis and Lebanese and the people of the wider Muslim world. Now even Condoleezza Rice admits ­ and she was also talking to Aipac, of course ­ that there won't be a Palestinian state by the end of the year. That promise of George Bush ­ which no-one believed anyway ­ has gone. In Rice's pathetic words, "The goal itself will endure beyond the current US leadership." Of course it will. And the siege of Gaza will endure beyond the current US leadership. And the Israeli wall. And the illegal Israeli settlement building. And deaths in Iraq will endure beyond "the current US leadership" ­ though "leadership" is pushing the definition of the word a bit when the gutless Bush is involved ­ and deaths in Afghanistan and, I fear, deaths in Lebanon too. It's amazing how far self-delusion travels. The Bush boys and girls still think they're supporting the "American-backed government" of Fouad Siniora in Lebanon. But Siniora can't even form a caretaker government to implement a new set of rules which allows Hizbollah and other opposition groups to hold veto powers over cabinet decisions. Thus there will be no disarming of Hizbollah and thus ­ again, I fear this ­ there will be another Hizbollah-Israeli proxy war to take up the slack of America's long-standing hatred of Iran. No wonder President Bashar Assad of Syria is now threatening a triumphal trip to Lebanon. He's won. And wasn't there supposed to be a UN tribunal to try those responsible for the murder of ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005? This must be the longest police enquiry in the history of the world. And I suspect it's never going to achieve its goal (or at least not under the "current US leadership"). There are gun battles in Beirut at night; there are dark-uniformed Lebanese interior ministry troops in equally dark armoured vehicles patrolling the night-time Corniche outside my home. At least Lebanon has a new president, former army commander Michel Sleiman, an intelligent man who initially appeared on posters, eyes turned to his left, staring at Lebanon with a creditor's concern. Now he has wisely ordered all these posters to be torn down in an attempt to get the sectarian groups to take down their own pictures of martyrs and warlords. And America thinks things are going fine in Lebanon. And Bush and his cohorts go on saying that they will never speak to "terrorists". And what has happened meanwhile? Why, their Israeli friends ­ Mr Baracka's Israeli friends ­ are doing just that. They are talking to Hamas via Egypt and are negotiating with Syria via Turkey and have just finished negotiating with Hizbollah via Germany and have just handed back one of Hizbollah's top spies in Israel in return for body parts of Israelis killed in the 2006 war. And Bush isn't going to talk to "terrorists", eh? I bet he didn't bring that up with the equally hapless Ehud Olmert in Washington this week. And so our dementia continues. In front of us this week was Blair with his increasingly maniacal eyes, poncing on about faith and God and religion, and I couldn't help reflecting on an excellent article by a colleague a few weeks ago who pointed out that God never seemed to give Blair advice. Like before April of 2003, couldn't He have just said, er, Tony, this Iraq invasion might not be a good idea. Indeed, Blair's relationship with God is itself very odd. And I rather suspect I know what happens. I think Blair tells God what he absolutely and completely knows to be right ­ and God approves his words. Because Blair, like a lot of devious politicians, plays God himself. For there are two Gods out there. The Blair God and the infinite being which blesses his every word, so obliging that He doesn't even tell Him to go to Gaza. I despair. The Tate has just sent me its magnificent book of orientalist paintings to coincide with its latest exhibition (The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting) and I am struck by the awesome beauty of this work. In the 19th century, our great painters wondered at the glories of the Orient. No more painters today. Instead, we send our photographers and they return with pictures of car bombs and body parts and blood and destroyed homes and Palestinians pleading for food and fuel and hooded gunmen on the streets of Beirut, yes, and dead Israelis too. The orientalists looked at the majesty of this place and today we look at the wasteland which we have helped to create. But fear not. Israel's security comes first and Mr Baracka wants Israel to keep all of Jerusalem ­ so much for the Palestinian state ­ and Condee says the "goal will endure beyond the current American leadership". And I have a bird that sits in the palm tree outside my home in Beirut and blasts away, going "cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep" for about an hour every morning ­ which is why my landlord used to throw stones at it. But I have a dear friend who believes that once there was an orchestra of birds outside my home and that one day, almost all of them ­ the ones which sounded like violins and trumpets ­ got tired of the war and flew away (to Cyprus, if they were wise, but perhaps on to Ireland), leaving only the sparrows with their discordant flutes to remind me of the stagnant world of the Middle East and our cowardly, mendacious politicians. "Cheep-cheep-cheep," they were saying again yesterday morning. "Cheap-cheap-cheap." And I rather think they are right. From asitredsalute at gmail.com Sat Jun 7 14:54:59 2008 From: asitredsalute at gmail.com (Asit asitreds) Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 14:54:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] sez landquestion and urbanisation in india Message-ID: From asitredsalute at gmail.com Sat Jun 7 14:56:55 2008 From: asitredsalute at gmail.com (Asit asitreds) Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 14:56:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] sezs, land question and urbanisation in india a marxist persepective Message-ID: Dear Friends and Comrades there is a tendency amongst activists and acdemics to look at the land question, displacement, agrarian crises,and urban poverty in isolation. Iam sending you a write up where I have tried to trace the linkages among the above factors.Please send your comments, criticisms and suggestions . *Special Economic Zones and the Land Question in India* The land question in India has suddenly attained extraordinary importance in the Media for the past few months. Ekta Parishads Janadesh Yatra few months ago, the agitations for notification of the Adivasi forest land rights bill, the social movements trenchant criticisms of the Rehabilitation Act and Land Acquisition Act has brought the land question into the centre stage of the public discourse. However the news media, which work overtime to sell the American dream and Propogating the 9% growth story suffers from a criminal historical amnesia land rights, tenancy and share cropers rights mere central issue of the historical uprisings massive tribal rebellions from Rajmahal hills in the east to Khandesh in the West more fought by the heroic adivasis against the Marauding British imperialists to save their habitats and commons. Land and share croppers rights were the central issue in the great Telengana, Punappra Vylar and Moplah Uprisings. In the post Independent India the fight continued in the strong holds of the organised left and other Social Movements like Naxal bari, Bodh Gaya, Srikakulam were some of the well known areas while the struggle continued all over the sub continent. In fact, land to the tiller has been the central slogan of the organized left other organisations like Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini fought for land rights against the Bodh Gaya Mahant struggles against tribal land alienation is a perpetual phenomenon in all over tribal India. Postcolonial social movement added a new dimension to the land question in India this time the protest against forcible displacement from the homes, habitats and commons for Mega developmental projects. Bigdams, Mines, Factories and Industrial townships were declared to be the temples of Modern India, the Indian ruling classes took a path of capitalist development through heavy Industrialisation forcibly displacing millions adivasi's peasants from all over India. There were protests in all over India. Arundhati Roy in her essay Greater common goods says that by early nintees more the four crore farmers and adivasis were displaced due to mega development projects. Post-Independent India has seen massive protests in Hirakud, Baliapal, Gopalpur, Koel Karo, Netarhat, Narmada Valley, Kalinganagar, Singrauli and many other places against their forcible displacement for construction of dams, steel plants, thermal power stations etc. Displacement, right over natural resources including forest and commons, against usury and feudal opression has been the main issues of discontent in Rural India. India is endowed with huge natural resources and vast fertile lands, forest and labour power, but the paradox is in this country of enormous wealth majority of the population live in extreme poverty. The Indian ruling classes used the label of socialism following independence to adopt a public sector supported capitalist path of development sustained by rapacious neocolonial plunder through bretton woods institutions and imperialist transnational corporations. This paradigm is founded on the predatory profit oriented mercantile principle of inequality as an essential condition of development and decimation of peasantry through the continuation of the extreme backwardness of agriculture. According to the Arjun Sen Gupta committee report on unorganised sector more than 75% of the population subsist on twenty rupees a day around 20% of the population which includes majority of the Dalits and Adivasis hover on the brink news of starvation deaths poor in everyday from different regions of the country. Excruciating poverty causes mass starvation, rampant disease and premature deaths amidst vulgar affluence for a few. In addition large sections of the population have to face crude discrimination in the form of caste, religion, ethnicity and gender reduce them to the status of a slave in their own country. About 70% of the country's population depends on agriculture directly and indirectly even today. Capital intensive developments has been foisted by the Neocolonial masters for the profits multination corporations who supply agricultural machines, fertilizers pesticides and seeds. The policy has proved to be not only anti poor but against the interests of the country as a whole. It has rendered agricultural labourers and small farmers nonviable who are loosing their lands joining the impoverished reserve army of labour. Under the pressure from the bretton woods institutions subsidies are with drawn while the costs of inputs soar making farming unviable for the majority of farmers especially small middle and marginal peasants. Rising costs of input and low prices of primary commodities has pushed agriculture and its dependant into the brink of disaster. The neoliberal state has been with drawing credits through nationalised bank and cooperatives pushing the farmers to take loans from usurious moneylenders forcing thousands of farmers to commit suicide. The new agricultural policy of 2000 has transformed the very paradigm of agricultural development by throwing the concept of land to the tiller to winds. In its place it introduced priority for cash crops and agriculture for profits to facilitate Mnc's and corporate take over, in the process small and middle farmers are forced to commit suicide and are driven off agriculture. Infact the phenomenon of reverse tenancy has been taking place in the name of contract farming at the behest of agribusiness.In fact, the MNCS and Indian corporations have emerged as new feudal lords in this predatory neoliberal era of global enclosure and ruthless 21st century primitive accumulation. The powerful class of upper caste absentee landlords represented by the Kulak Lobby in politics are the biggest facilitators for entry of International big business into Indian agriculture in spite of the much flaunted but failed cry about the land reform measures, most of the cultivable lands are in the hands of 10% of the landed gentry. Neither the land ceiling act nor security of Tenancy and other land reforms acts have been implemented effectively during the last six decades. While their is no security of livelihood of landless labourers in spite of the much trumpeted national employment guarantee act, so massive distress migrations to urban slums are a living reality of rural India. The feudal relations in land is one of the biggest reason for the backwardness in agriculture and the chief cause for the extreme poverty and socio economic disparity in rural India. Under the pressure of radical peasant movements land reform acts were made with enough 100 loopholes to circumvent it with the active connivance of the corrupt upper caste judiciary and bureaucracy. Therefore radical land reforms with the principle of land to the tiller is the highest priority for India Today. With neoliberal restructuring of Global Capitalism known as globalisation, the Indian ruling classes adopted the New Economic Policies in 1991 giving up all the pretensions of self reliance, egalitarianism, welfare state, non aligned status etc. Special Economic Zones were a logical outcome of this anti people neoliberal paradigm. A Special Economic Zone Act was passed in the Indian Parliament in 2005 various states have their own SEZ Acts. Salient Features of SEZs A Special Economic Zone is an especially demarcated area of land, owned and operated by a private company, which is deemed to be foreign territory for the purpose of trade, duties and tariffs. SEZs will enjoy exemptions from custom duties, income tax, sales tax, service tax. From the point of view of industry, a SEZ is an industrial cluster with assured infrastructure aimed at increasing the country's export the stated purpose of creating SEZs across India is the promotion of exports. The Commerce and Industries Minister Kamal Nath Claims that exports will ultimately grow five times, GDP will rise 2% and the 30 lakh jobs will be generated by SEZs across India. His also claimed by the Govt. that SEZ will attract global manufacturing through foreign direct investment, enable transfer of Modern Technology and will create incentives for infrastructure. As of 30 November 2007 according to the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, total no. of approved SEZs are 760, formally approved SEZs are 404, SEZs with in principle approval are 165 SEZs notified after 2005 Act are 172 SEZs functional before SEZs Act are 19. Many more applications await processing. Total are under SEZs, in 20 states across India is expected to be over 200,000 hectares, an area the Size of National capital region. This land predominantly agricultural and multi cropped is capable to producing close to one million food grains. If SEZs are seen to be successful in the future and more cultivated land is acquired, they will endanger the food security of the country. Displacement and loss of livelihoods in SEZs Estimate Show that close to 114,000 farming household (each house hold on an average comprising five members) and an additional 82,000 farm worker families who are dependent upon these farms for their livelihoods will be displaced. In other words, at least one million people who primarily depend upon agriculture for their survival will face eviction. Experts calculate that the total loss of income to the farming and farm workers family will be at least Rs. 212 crore a year. This does not include other income tax (for instance artisans) due to the demise of local rural economies. The government promise humane displacement followed by relief and rehabilitation. However historical records does not offer any room for hope on this count an estimated 40 million people (of which nearly 40% area Adivasis and 25% Dalits) have lost their land since 1950 on account of displacement due to large development projects. At least 75% of them still await rehabilitation. Almost 80% at the agricultural population owns only about 17% of the total agricultural land, making them near landless farmers. Farmers families and communities depend on a piece of land (for work, grazing) than those who simply own it. Employment in SEZs The growth of employment in the entire organised sector since inception of the economic reforms in 1991 has been negligible. The total employment in the organised sector is still less then 3 crore. Even in the IT and ITES the boom areas of the economy employment is less than 15 crore (60% of SEZs are for IT). The Indian labour force is estimated at 45 to 55 Crore. Thanks to growing automation modern manufacturing grows joblessty around the world. In India automobile production has grown rapidly, while employing hers labour than before. With more automation, rganized services also require limited supplies of labour. SEZ are actually land grab by the real estate mafia and the coroporate sector What are SEZs likely to become in few years time? According to a clause in the SEZ Act (section 5(2) as much as 75% of the area under large SEZs above 1000 hectares) can be used for non-industrial purposes. What will the remainder of the land used for? This lacuna in the law is likely to become a loophole for massive accumulation of land by private players including the real estate mafia, developers and property dealers for the purposes of real estate speculation. This explains why so many of them have been buying land for SEZs. In fact it may well be the case that the rationale for the above clause in the SEZ Act is the uncertainty surrounding the economic attractiveness of SEZs. If adequate productive investment is not forthcoming, the SEZ developer can at least cash in on the land value. Conglomerates like Reliance already own upwards of 100,00 acre of land in the countywide (courtesy - seminar no. 582, sez issue Feb 2008). In the light of the real estate boom and imposition of JNNURM SEZs have also emerged as a new form of colonial urbanisation. As all of know the majority of urban population are slum dwellers. Slums are not made by slum dwellers, not even by the poor they may actually be built by the poor or by the not so poor slumlord, but they are conceptualised and designed by the capitalist system itself. They exist because the capitalist system needs them. Being designed upon making a profit by exploiting labour the system requires that the cost of labour power kept as low as possible. Imagine if every citizen of Mumbai or Delhi had to buy a flat or a house. Would that be possible on the wages that they are getting today? Even in the organised sector? In Mumbai even a small flat on the outskirts of the city would not cast less than Rs 20 lakhs. Even in the organised sector a worker, with diligence and frugality throughout his life, cannot expect to save that amount even after a lifetime of working. With the rise of capitalism after the renaissance in Europe, many new cities came up all over the world. Many of the cities that we live in today are a product of these times. New York and Mumbai provide prime examples. These were industrial cities made with the express purpose of utilising the new opportunities for vastly enhanced exploitation of workers afforded by the Industrial revolution. Even the older cities like Rome, London and Delhi had to adapt to this new world order. From the beginning of 18th and 19th centuries and get industrialised. These not able to make this transformation perished, as cities - like Susa in Persia and Badami in Karnataka. In today's globalised context after the enactment of SEZ Act it is necessary to see the new colonial urbanisation and its connection with, displacement, agrarian crisis, growth of slums and migration. Some growth centres like, Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore etc tell the sordid human drama behind their glazed tiles and golf courses. It is interesting to look at the neocolonial urban growth in Maharastra in context of the special economic zones. It will lead us to the reality behind slum demolitions and the hidden hands of the Bombay under world, the builders mafia and the honorable members of the Indian big bourgeoisie. Maharashtra has always been the favourite destination for investment, especially foreign investment in India. At one time the most Industrialised state in country, it still ranks among the top. However in terms of investment it is clearly, without any close rival, the top most state in India. For example, the amount of bank credit disbursed by public sector banks, in Maharashtra was over 3,71,000 crores in June 2006 (About 32% of the total National Figure). The next closest state was Delhi with less than half the investment in Maharashtra. The total amount in investment projects under execution, in September 2006, in Maharashtra was over Rs. 92,000 crores and the total of investment projects at the same time was around 2,53,000 crores, the highest in the country. In terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) The Economic Survey 2005-06 states "In terms of FDI approvals, however, Maharashtra topped the list followed by Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat. In some estimates Maharashtra accounts for almost one-third of the total foreign investment in India. Fittingly, Maharashtra is also therefore, the state with the largest number of SEZS (both formally approved in principle) with 89 formally approved and another 32 SEZS approved in principle is more than twice the total area of those which have already been formally approved. This is because the in principle stage mainly applies to those large SEZS where the land has still to be acquired in total, all the SEZS planned till today will occupy around 60,000 hectares of land. Since the new Economic Policies were adopted Maharashtra has seen fast urban growth. Maharashtra has the highest level of urbanization in India at 42% Compared to 25.7% percent as the all India average. In the context of Land question and Sezs writing about the urbanization experience in Maharashtra is important because this urbanization has not been in the normal organic fashion as in the advanced capitalist countries in the west. The urbanization of Maharashtra has been artificial engrafted urbanization. The people have been driven out of their land by the devastation of agriculture. It must be noted that while Maharashtra has the highest level of urbanization in India and has one of the highest per capita incomes in the country. It also has the lowest yield per hectare of food grains in the country at 872 kg/hectare as against 1667 kg / hectare as the national average. It is no coincidence that Maharashtra also has the highest level of peasant suides in the country. It may be argued that the same process of devastating agriculture to feed the cities has taken place in cities like London and Paris in the 17th and 18th centuries and the US during the Civil war However though the condition in urban Maharashtra may be as dismal and revolting as the Western Countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, this misery and poverty is painted not on the background of the London of that time but on the Canvas of today's Mumbai and Delhi where the rich have the latest Cars in the world and the costliest properties in the world. This makes all the difference in the world. The very degree of massiveness' in the cities of today makes a qualitative difference from the cities of medieval times. Engrafted into this is the unthinkable advanced system of communication and transport. This brings people into more close and intimate contact with the rest of the world. All this makes the level of disparity that is produced and reproduced in cities like Mamba and Delhi, qualitatively different from that in medieval London or Paris. The people thrown out of agriculture (both in Maharashtra and out side) have been forced to stay in hovels in over crowded and disease ridden slums in the cities. No new cities have been suburban satellites of Mega Polis's. Cities like "New Mumbai and Noida were originally planned as independent cities with their own industrial area. Commercial areas and transport systems. However, they have only developed as suburbs to larger and older cities like Mumbai or Delhi. This has not helped to solve the problems of the cities but only has accentuated them. It is again no. coincidence that all most all the Sezs are being built only on the fringes of cities - like satellites all over again. A rough Study based upon the "in principle" approved Sez's in Maharashtra shows that around 67% of the land for Sezs's is within 100 km. Of Mumbai. If the cities of Pune and Nagpur are also considered, then a figure of 85% of land for Sezs is arrived at, and if Nashik and Aurangabad are also thrown then about 98% of the land for Sezs in within 100 km of these five cities. Thus there will be no real development. The rural areas will be further devastated. Farmers will commit more suicides larger slums with even more squalor will be created. There will be more crime, more communal riots, more atrocities against dalits and more attacks and exploitation of women as always happens in the condition of squalor. However the Sezs are not the only instruments for grabbing the lands of the peasantry, millions of acres of land are taken by national and international big business for construction of Greenfield projects, private airports, tourist resorts , health tourism, smart cities, entertainment parks, building of private townships for the superrich including vast areas for golf courses and luxury hotels. To provide infrastructure for super profits of local and multinational big business the state is acquiring millions of acres of fertile land to build industrial zones, golden corridors, express ways including the much flaunted golden quadrangle express highway systems. This is the glaring phenomenon of contemporary global enclosure of forcible depeasantisation ruthlessly divesting the producers from their means of production, cultural moorings and commons. Adding salt to the injury the neoliberal state is resorting to the most predatory inhuman primitive accumulation of forcing the farmers and adivasi's out of their land when the entire peasantry is reeling under acute agrarian crisis where more than 2 lakh farmers have committed suicide in the past decade under the neoliberal economic regime. Another despicable instrument of forcibly uprooting adivasi's from their habitats and livelihoods is the New Mines Policy. The dangers of New Mining Policy has been brilliantly Analysed by friend Mansi Ashar in September October issue of Combat law 2007. (See mined games by Mansi Asher Combat law Volume 6 issues 5 2007) The key reason being that several recommendation and clauses of the new national mine policy were not acceptable to mineral rich states and Mining Companies, especially steel makers with every party wanting to maintain their control over the rich mineral resources of the country. What has slipped the public eye is probably the very critical changes being proposed to ensure that investments in the mining sector gets a boost by deregulating procedures of environmental and forest clearances. These clearances have been seen as hurdles for quick implementation of mining projects in the past 10 years. It is interesting to note that the sector which was essentially dominated by the public sector companies has in the past decade become the money bags for companies ranging from domestic giants like Tata, Jindal and Birla to global companies like Mittal, Posco, Vedanta, BHP, Billiton Riotinto et al. Hence the stakes of the market are higher, and the new mineral policy is paving the way for second generation reform in the mining sector in India to protect and promote these stakes (Mansi Asher, Combat law). It is needless to say that real estate and the construction boom is the motor force behind Indias high growth Indicators. Infact the whole country has been converted into a construction site. The real estate and mafia developer and other unscrupulous speculators make millions while the small and middle peasantry is pauperized. In this context the value of land should be critically examined. The entire valuation process is arbitrary and exploitative while the builders and developers buy cheap land sell the developed plots many times higher than the original market price of the said land. On the other hand the peasantry is paid a pittance for the land forcibly acquired through the draconian land acquisition act. In fact land is never valued in financial terms by Adivasi's and farmers for them agriculture is a way of life and they consider land as their mother. For adivasi's the commons, the forests, pastures and water resources are equally important as the tilled land and is sacred. In any Mega projects these are snatched away from them which is like taking the fish out of water. Of late this notion of sacredness has become a powerful instrument of resistance by the adivasi's for protecting their habitats. In March this year thousands of adivasi's gathered in Niyamagiri hills in Lanjigarh Orissa to worship. They consider the Niyamagiri hills as sacred and this mass worship has become a powerful symbol of protest to save their habitats greedily eyed by the Vedanta Aluminium Company. In nearby Baphlimali hills in Kashipur a heroic struggle is ongoing on for past twelve years to save their habitats from Utkal Alumina at the time of writing this note a dharma is still go in on against Utkal Alumina by Prakrutik Sampad Suraksha Parishad at Kashipur in Rayagada district of Orissa. It is important to note that the artisans, sharecroppers and landless labourers are the biggest loosers in any forcible land acquisition process they loose both their livelihoods and habitats and don't get any thing in return other than forced destitution and marginilasation . The entire peasantry is up in arms against their forcible eviction all over India for Sezs and other projects. The blood bath at Nandigram was a signal event of peasant resistance against forcible displacement, Fierce Struggles against Sezs and other projects are going on in Raigad Maharashtra against reliance Maha Mumbai Sez, against Posco in Jagatsingh Pur Orissa, Infact entire Orissa has become a battle field. Farmers are struggling against proposed Sezs in Kakinada in Andhra, Mangalore in Karnataka, Jhajjar in Haryana, against the proposed entertainment Sez in gorai near Mumbai and so on. The land question, the fundamental failure of Independent India, has become one of most debatable and controversial topics today. Although the mass media and the dominant parliamentary political parties suppress any public mention of radical land reform, land to the tillers and the abolition of feudal remnants. The irrepressible reality raised the question in one or another form. Today land grabbing by the private corporate sector, both Indian and of foreign origins especially the MNCs of advanced capitalist countries, in the name of so called "development" and with the aid of government agencies and state machinery, has become a subject that can not be avoided. The reason at base is sixty years of failure to meet the legitimate demands of many crore landless peasants who depend on agricultural land for their subsistence but have no claims deemed fully worthy by the judiciary, still the firmest bastion of colonial mentality. With the introduction of the new economic policy since 1991 what has been a half century of localized injustice and repression became a qualitatively different phenomenon; the theft of land on a scale that could not be kept from public attention. Thus the land question is the most important question in India today and the slogan "Land to the tiller the core political slogan today. The struggle for land is going on all over India. *Asit** Note- For the case studies of farmers resistance struggle against Reliance Maha Mumbai SEZ in Raigarh Maharastra and POSCO, Jagatsinghpur, Orissa.See the author's personal webpage at www.revolutionarynucleus.blogspot.com * From anansi1 at earthlink.net Sun Jun 8 01:27:52 2008 From: anansi1 at earthlink.net (Paul D. Miller) Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 15:57:52 -0400 (GMT-04:00) Subject: [Reader-list] Dj Spooky, Dj Rekha present - Loving Day: a Festival of Multiculturalism, NY Message-ID: <25975256.1212868673069.JavaMail.root@elwamui-huard.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Hello people - on Sunday (tomorrow!!!) we're presenting a festival to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Loving vs Virginia, the Supreme Court Case that de-criminalized relationships across racial lines. In 1967, a mixed race couple brought a case to the Supreme Court to legalize their relationship, and won. Mildred Loving passed away a little while ago, and we're presenting a festival to celebrate their victory. There will be several thousand people, and I guess you can think of it as a NY update of Love Parade in Berlin. It's a big outdoor festival!!! come out to the show! Paul aka Dj Spooky 388 U.S. 1 (1967)[1], was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States. On June 8 we celebrate their victory - there will be music from all over the world: India, Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, France, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Iraq, Tibet, Israel, Palestine, England, Jamaica, Nigeria etc etc - and yes, it's about digital media art as well. There will be surprise guests throughout the day. http://www.lovingday.org/ Details: Sunday June 8, 2008 3:00 - 7pm EDT Loving Day proudly presents: The 5th Annual New York Loving Day Celebration Come celebrate the 41st anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court case that legalized interracial relationships in the United States. FREE MUSIC Enjoy incredible music all day long! DJ SPOOKY (http://www.djspooky.com) DJ REKHA (http://www.djrekha.com) DHUNDEE (http://www.sugarcutsmusic.com) FREE BBQ Grilling for you all day long! FREE BEER Free Asahi the first hour! FREE ICE CREAM Free Ben & Jerry's for the 1st hour! BIG PRIZES Raffle all day: Puma and Zipcar! RAIN OR SHINE Our huge tent will keep you happy! No Cover • Everyone is Welcome • All Ages (21+ to drink) • Multicultural • International • Good Sunday Vibes SUBWAY: 6 train to 23rd, the M23 bus or walk east past Ave. C & FDR. Look for the Gulf gas station. Or, L train to 1st Ave: Walk N. to 23rd. BY CAR: from the south, FDR to 20-23rd St. exit. Right on Ave. C, right on 23rd as if going to Gulf gas station, then service road to Solar 1. RSVP your spot: lovingdayparty at gmail.com For more info, visit us online: www.lovingday.org Thanks to our sponsors: Asahi, Ben & Jerry's, Zipcar, Steaz, Solar One, WorldUp, DJ Spooky, DJ Rekha, Puma Also, thanks to our supporter in the multiethnic community: Association of MultiEthnic Americans (AMEA) Swirl NYC From naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com Sun Jun 8 09:49:18 2008 From: naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com (Naeem Mohaiemen) Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 10:19:18 +0600 Subject: [Reader-list] Bangladeshi is 3d South Asian Attacked in South African Riots Message-ID: http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=052508094309 Durban, May 25 (PTI) A Bangladeshi citizen has become the latest victim of the anti-foreigner violence in South Africa, as xenophobic violence spreads in new areas. The Bangladeshi, whose name has not been disclosed, was attacked and his shop was looted yesterday in the town of George in the Western Cape province, the latest area to be affected by the violence. "I don't know why these people attacked my shop."They just came here and without saying anything began to loot the shop. I have now lost everything," said the Bangladeshi with tears running down his face. He is the third south Asian national to be affected by the violence. Shops of two Pakistani nationals were looted in the town of Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, and in the Free State province early this week. The attack against the Bangladeshi man came hours after an 18-year-old local youth in Cape Town was shot dead by a Somali man who was protecting his small shop. On Thursday, a Somali man was killed by mobs attacking foreign nationals in Cape Town. The latest death brings the toll to more than 44, since the violence first broke on May 11 in the township of Alexandria in Johannesburg. More than 30,000 foreigners have now been made destitute, while more than 50,000 Mozambicans have now returned to their country for fear of the attacks. Meanwhile, hundreds of people took part in protest marches in Johannesburg and Durban against the xenophobic attacks. The protest marches come at a time when South Africans in general, including political, religious and civic leaders, condemning the attacks as a "shame" on the country. President Thabo Mbeki, who has come under severe criticism for failing to take action after the first violent attacks, will address the nation today evening. From elkamath at yahoo.com Sun Jun 8 17:29:27 2008 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 04:59:27 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] FW: the failed harvest of food policy by Aseem Shrivastava Message-ID: <535128.32519.qm@web53609.mail.re2.yahoo.com> FYI The failed harvest of food policy Any way you cut it, the food crisis in Southasia and around the world is bordering on the critical. And the culpability extends all the way from the Chicago Board of Trade to the power corridors of New Delhi, as organised greed takes control of our lives and diets. By : Aseem Shrivastava http://www.himalmag.com/2008/june/cover_food_policy.htm From vivek at sarai.net Sun Jun 8 20:41:55 2008 From: vivek at sarai.net (Vivek Narayanan) Date: Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:11:55 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Chithralekha's Burning Auto Message-ID: <484BF6BB.8050405@sarai.net> Hi all, this is a recent follow up related to an independent fellowship project by P. Jenny and C. Christy, relating to their research on the Dalit woman autorickshaw driver in Kerala, Chithralekha... First posting: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2007-March/008969.html Final presentation: http://cid-eb2914bb9c5b6880.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Chithra%20Lekha/Chithra%20Lekha.doc Chithralekha Gets a New Autorickshaw: http://venukm.blogspot.com/2008/06/chithralekha-gets-new-auto.html Cheers vivek > > > *CHITHRALEKHA REHABILITATION COMMITTEE > Update As On 07-06-08* > > Dear friends, > It is 10 months since the campaign to raise the targeted amount of Rs 1.5 > lakhs in rehabilitating Chithralekha by restoring her means of livelihood by > procuring a new auto rikshaw for her, with the money raised from concerned > citizens took off. The whole story needn't be repeated here, as we are too > well aware of the background from which this campaign happened to take > place. > > As we conclude on 7th June 2008, we have an amount of over Rs *1,53,700/*= > collected . > *Please peruse here the details of contribution we received so far:* > S/sri > 1.Salim T.K ( Thalassery/ UAE): Rs1,500.00 > 2.Dr.Jayasree A.K (Rajamundry,A.P) : Rs 1,000.00 > 3.Mr.K.K.Baburaj(Kottayam) : Rs 1,000.00 > 4.Prof. Shiva Shankar > (Chennai Mathematical Institute) : Rs 1,000.00 > 5.Sri.K.Panur (Kannur) :Rs 100.00 > 6.Dr.Jenny Roweena, } > Carmel Christy, Dr.Ranjith.R} } : Rs 10,000.00 > and Dr.Hani Babu(Hydbad), } > 7.Jenson Joseph (Hydbad): Rs 1,000.00 > 8.P.V.Ayyappan(Trissur): Rs 1,000.00 > 9.Dr.A.V.Bharathan(Trissur): Rs 1,000.00 > 10.Dr.M.R.Govindan(Thrissur) Rs 500.00 > 11.Dr.K.K.Rahulan(Thrissur) Rs 200.00 > 12.C.R.Parameswaran(Thrissur) Rs 500.00 > 13.K.Venu(Thrissur) : Rs 2,000.00 > > 14.Dr.A.K.Ramakrishnan > (MGU,Kottayam): Rs 1,000.00 > 15.Dr.V.C.Harris, > (MGU,Kottayam): Rs 1,000.00 > 16.Dr.K.M.Seethi > (MGU,Kottayam): Rs 500.00 > 17.Dr.N.J.Phillip(Kottayam) :Rs 1,000.00 > 18.V.P.Zuhara(Kozhikkode) :Rs 500.00 > 19.Deepa V.N( Kottayam): :Rs 5,000.00 > 20.Mythri, Roshni, > Sunitha, Vijaya(CDS,Tvm) } :Rs 500.00 > 21.Dr.Alice(CDS,Tvm) :Rs 500.00 > 22.Dr.Binita Thampi(CDS,Tvm) :Rs 500.00 > 23.B.R.P.Bhaskar(Tvm): Rs 1,000.00 > 24.Dr.Ranjini Lakshmi(CDS): Rs 6,650.00 > 25.Dr.Shivanandan(CDS,Tvm): Rs 500.00 > 26.P.N.Gopeekrishnan(Thrissur) Rs 500.00 > 27.M/s.SNA Oushadhashala(Thrissur) Rs 500.00: > 28Prof. V.G.Thampi (Thrissur): Rs 250.00 > 30.Prof.Hiranyan(Thrissur) : Rs 500.00 > 31.M/s Anveshi (Kozhikkode): Rs 2,000.00 > 32.Dr.Mini Sukumar(Calicut University): Rs 400.00 > 33.Ravi.P.C(Thrissur) : Rs 500.00 > 34.Prof.N.N.Gokuldas,(Thrissur) : Rs 1,000.00 > 35.K.Radhakrishnan(Thrissur) : Rs 500.00 > 36.Dr.Jayaraj,(Thrissur) : Rs 1,000.00 > 37.Anil, Altermedia(Thrissur): Rs 250.00 > 38.K.V.Abdul Azeez(Thrissur) : Rs 2,000.00 > 39.Dr.T.T Sreekumar (Singapur) : Rs 6,000.00 > 40.Dr.K.V.Devadhasan(Payyanur): Rs 1,000.00 > 41.V.P.Sreenivasan(B'lore/Payyanur) Rs 1,000.00 > > 42.K.M.Hrisheekeshan > (Gurgav/Payyanur) : } Rs 1,000.00 > 43.K.M.Nandakishor(UK/Payyanur) Rs 1,000.00 > 44.Dr.K.Aravindakshan(Thrissur) : Rs 500.00 > 45.T.P.Yakub(Kozhikkode) : Rs 2,000.00 > 46.Suresh,K.P.Mohsin, > Dinesh,Dr.K.V.Balakrishnan, } : Rs 500.00 > Dr.Geethakumari,Raju Kuttan, > (Calicut University) > 47.Dr.Mohanakrishnan.V (Calicut University): Rs 500.00 > 48.Smt.Ganga Parvathi Shankar (Pune) : Rs 1,000.00 > 49.Ajesh C.A (Calicut University) :Rs 500.00 > 50.O.P.Ravindran (Calicut University) : Rs 500.00 > 51.C.R.Ramesh(Thrissur) : Rs 200.00 > 52.Harinarayanan (Mumbai) : Rs 1,000.00 > 53.U.K.Nair(Mumbai) : Rs 1,000.00 > 54.Harishankar,(Mumbai) : Rs 1,000.00 > 55.Dr.J.Devika (CDS) and others : Rs 1,100.00 > 56.Balakrishnan V.Rtd Officer, > Shipyard,Cochin > (Narath,Kannur) : } Rs 500.00 > 57.K.P.Girija (Hydbad) : Rs 500.00 > 58.Bindulakhsmi/Suprathik (Mumbai) Rs 5,000.00 > 59.Prof.K.G.Shankara Pillai : Rs 500.00 > 60.Prof.Sujatha.R, > Chennai Mathematical Institute } :Rs 1,500.00 > 61.Mr.Pradeepan,Kannur :Rs 500.00 > 62.Prof. Alladi Sitharam IISC,B'lore :Rs 2,000.00 > 63.Prof. Annapoorna Sitharam ,, :Rs 2,000.00 > 64.Prof Shobha Madan ,, :Rs 2,000.00 > 65.Prof Gadadhar Mishra ,, :Rs 1,000.00 > 66.Mr.Aftab Ellath(Champad/UAE) :Rs 3,000.00 > 67.Mr.Krishnakumar.A.V(UAE) :Rs1,000.00 > 68.Mr.Abdul Kareem M.K (UAE) :Rs 1,000.00 > 69. A friend from New Delhi > (Prefers anonymity) } :Rs 5,000.00 > 70.Mr.Mitesh Damania (US) :Rs 10,000.00 > 71.Dr.Ratheesh Radhakrishnan : Rs 1,000.00 > 72.Ms.Smriti,Nokia Seimens > Network Group,B'lore. } : Rs 1,500.00 > 72.Mr.Vinod Chandran, > Ivory Group,Dubai } :Rs I,000.00 > > 73.Mr.P.Dasan, > Ani Gas Agencies,Kannur : Rs 1,000.00 > 74.Mr.P.Shekhara Poduval : Rs 1,000.00 > 75.Mr.P.C.Jose, Alakkode : Rs 100.00 > 76.Mr.Anil, Alakkode : Rs 300.00 > 77,Mr.K.K.Kochu : Rs 100.00 > 78.Mr.V.Krishnan ,Kannur : Rs 50.00 > 79.Mr.K.Rajan, Kannur : Rs 50.00 > 80.Mr.K.M.Venugopalan,Payyanur : Rs 500.00 > 81.Mr.Dileepraj (Thuravoor) : Rs 2,000.00 > 82.Ms.Reshma Bharadwaj :Rs 2,000.00 > 83.Mr.Damodar Prasad(C-dit) :Rs 500.00 > 84.Dr.T.V.Sajeev (KFRI,Thrissur) :Rs 500.00 > 85.Dr.V.J Varghese(CDS,Thiruvananthapuran) Rs 500.00 > > 86.Dr.Hari P Sharma} (President,SANSAD,Canada) : Rs 5,000.00 > 87.M/s South Asian Network > for Secularism And Democracy > (SANSAD),Canada :Rs 5,000.00 > ** 88.Mr.Joy Charles(US) :Rs 5,000.00 > > 89-92: Donations through Ambedkarscolarships: > > (*1).Mr.Benjamin Kaila.(US) : *Rs.5,000.00 > > *(2). Prof Anand Swarup, Australia :*Rs.5,000.00 > > *(3). Prof K Ravishankar(US) :*Rs 5,000.00* > * > *(4).Mr Karthik Subramanian, US :*Rs 5,000.00. > > 93. <94.humaneight at gmail.com>A friend who prefers anonymity : Rs 600.00 94.Mr Rajan Robert, Kollam : Rs 1,000.00 95.M/s Neethi Agencies, Puthiyatheru,Kannur } :Rs 1,000.00 *TOTAL DONATIONS ** RECEIVED AS ON 07-06-2008: Rs 153,700.00 * *(Rupees One Lakh Fiftythree Thousand and Seven hundred ):* *This figure excludes bank charges for collection of out station cheques and DDs ; it aslo excludes the small amount of interests accrued for the money deposited with the bank . ** * Chithralekha had been violently deprived of her means of livelihood by political actors encouraged by the characteristically casteist and sexist hate toward a dalit woman who wanted to stand up against the hegemony at the workplace. Eversince her autorikshaw was destroyed in 2005 December by putting it on fire , Chithralekha has been eking out livelihood by going out for unskilled manual jobs in house construction and farming sectors. Hence, notwithstanding the outcome of the cumbersome legal battle in which she needs support too, steps to immediately rehabilitate her became the imperative for all concerned . > *The kind of caste- gender related violence that had been acted out > against Chithralekha is hoped to be remembered only in the restricted > context of a collective wish for it not showing up again, and otherwise, we > would rather forget it.* > The Rehabilitation Committee based at Kannur is having a public function > at Kannur at 2pm on 7-06-2008; Ms.C.K.Janu of Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha, > Keralam will hand the keys of a new Bajaj Diesel Autorikshaw to > Chithralekha.Many leading figures and activists on the human rights front > will either give felicitation addresses directly or the messages received > from them will be to read over to the audience. > > Hence, the new vehicle is going to be gifted to Chithralekha with a view > to creating a firm resolve to support Chithralekha in her struggle for > justice ans right to live with honour , though in a much changed different > atmosphere of goodwill and understanding, where the old hostilities are best > expected to be rolled back. > > > Yours sincerely, > *Venugopalan.K.M,* > *Convener,* > *Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee* > *,Kannur.* > *e-mail: kmvenuannur at gmail.com* > *phone: 09447488215* > * > [You may please read here the original message by the Chithralekha > Rehabilitation Committee here, which may help recap the whole story ]:* > > *[Following is the translated text of an appeal released at a press > conference on 26-09-07 in Kannur, by the Chithralekha Rehabilitation > Committee, Kannur, Kerala ] * > Dear friends, > Despite our pride in having achieved 100% literacy, we have to acknowledge > sadly that Kerala's social life continues to be reigned by several unwrit > rules of caste and gender, rather than by law. A series of incidents that > took place at Edat (Payyanur, Kannur District) starting from organized abuse > and harassment of a dalit woman at her workplace, physically attacking her > for having complained to the police, and finally seeing her only means of > livelihood, an autorikshaw, destroyed by unknown persons setting fire to the > vehicle in the dead of night, and to cap these all, a CITU autorikshaw > workers' union coming out openly to defend the accused persons, seems to > demonstrate this. > Chithralekha had procured her autorikshaw under the PMRY Scheme in October > 2004. Nevertheless, she had to wait for three months before the permission > to park her vehicle in the Payyanur College bus stop Autostand as well as > the membership in the Union was given to her by the CITU Union. > When finally she did succeed in this, she was greeted by an all-male group > of non-dalit autoworkers by the following comments"Look, the pulachi ( > female gender for pulaya, name of a prominent SC) is coming with with her > auto". > Since then, Chithralekha had to suffer a host of humiliations and untold > sufferings. On 11-10-2005, Ajith, a fellow auto driver tore the hood of her > vehicle. She complained to the Union only to be ridiculed and turned back. > Further, a complaint made to the Police ended up with her tormentor being > warned by the police. Obviously outraged by this daring act of Chithralekha > petitioning against a comrade to the police, Ajith along with Pavithran, > Naveen and Rameshan physically attacked Chithralekha at her workplace, the > auto stand on 14-10-2005 morning. They publicly dragged her out from the > vehicle and drove one of the autorikshaws on to her body, which caused > injury to her leg serious enough to stay as inpatient in the Payyanur Govt > hospital for many days. As they were doing all these acts of brutality, one > of them shouted these words" pulachies of your ilk in future shall never > ride auto here, and it is the union's decision" > The above incident has been booked by the Payyanur Police under various > sections of IPC as well as under sections of the SC/ST Atrocities > (Prevention) Act of 1999. This case with FIR No 367/05 is presently posted > for trial before the Special Court (SC/ST Atrocities), Thalassery. > We believe that but for the timely intervention of the District Level > Monitoring Committee which is a statutory committee for monitoring such > cases of atrocities against dalits, the above mentioned case would not have > been booked at all; on the contrary, the dominant caste-gender set up in > combination with the generally existing status-quoist bias of individual > police officers would have ensured impunity for the offenders and further > institutionalization of such crimes. > Even against the successful intervention on the part of the Dist Level > Monitoring Committee to get the case booked and properly pursued, > collectively expressed hatred and openly displayed hostility against > Chithralekha were only heading to a point of vantage. In the night of > 31-12-2005, her vehicle was burned by unidentified persons. This incident > was registered as FIR No 474/05 in the Payyanur Police Station. > As we hear further stories of intimidation and demoralizing of witnesses by > several quarters of vested interests with a view to weakening of > these cases as such, we notice that unless the civil society actively > involves in the process of bringing justice to the victim, this kind of > crimes motivated by caste and gender is going to get institutionalized. > Chithralekha is presently dependent solely on the Monitoring Committee that > includes a few civilian(dalit) representatives and the State mechanism > available. While it needs to be clearly reiterated that without such State > mechanism it would not have been possible to bring the culprits to book > under the relevant provisions of law, the ridiculously unwarranted attempts > to impose virtual compromise on the victim by intimidating and demoralizing > her witnesses and in many other ways need to be resisted. The absolutely > unfair interventions of political manipulators to protect the non-dalit, > male accuseds from the reach of law, in this case, should be effectively > challenged by vigorous pursuit of the Rule Of Law by an informed civil > society. > It is worth mentioning in this context, that a citizens' action committee > based at Payyanur was indeed on the scene until April 2006 to support > Chithralekha. The committee though succeeded in getting an auto for her on > rental basis and as part of their endeavour to restore work to > Chithralekha, it became defunct soon after the election campaign for the > Kerala Assembly picked up momentum. Due to several reasons, Chithralekha was > virtually compelled to return the hired vehicle to its owner. Since then, > she had to support herself and her family by going outside for unskilled > labour in the building sector, evenwhile she refused to compromise in her > determined struggle against the cast-gender hostilities still propagated > against her. > On the 29th August of this year, a new initiative to support Chithralekha > came to existence by forming a new forum based at Kannur, the District > headquarters. The meeting convened by Dr D.Surendranath was personally > attended by Mr. K.K.Kochu,the well known dalit leader.Several other > prominent dalit activists and intellectuals had also extended thier support > to this initiative. This committee was named as Chithralekha > Punaradhivasa (Rehabilitation) Committee and it took stock of the situation > as a whole.,against the background of conspicuous lack of any collective > expression of solidarity with her continuing struggle.The next meeting of > this committee on 4-09-2007resolved to extend unconditional support to > Chithralekha in her struggle for justice.The committee identified the urgent > need of rehabilitating Chithralekha, with the work as well as a > nightmares-free workplace restored to her. For this, it was decided to > purchase a new autorikhshaw for her by collecting the necessary fund from > the people. For carrying out this effectively and transparently, Dr > Surendranath(Chairman), Mr.P.K.Ayyappan (Treasurer) and Mr.K.M.Venugopalan > (Convenor) would jointly operate an account in the Thalap branch of the > Kannur District Central Co-operative Bank in connection with collecting and > depositing of a targeted fund of Rs1,50,000/= > While we ourselves fully endorse the above mentioned objectives of the > Chithralekha Punaradhivasa Committee,Kannur, we would like to request the > entire civil society of Kerala to come forward in support of these causes > ,viz; of ending hostilities toward a dalit woman and allowing the law to > take the right course on the one hand, and helping rehabilitation of > Chithralekha by restoring her means of livelihood and work. > Hence,we request everybody to make contribution to the Cithralekha > Rhabilitation Fund either by depositing direct to *Chithralekha > Rehabilitation Committee SB Ac. No.1* of *Thalap* branch of *CDCC bank of > Kannur ( Kannur District Central Co-operative Bank)*, or by sending in *Ac.Payee > Cheque or crossed DD payable at Kannur, or Money Order, to the following > address :- * > *Dr.D.Surendranath,* > *Chairman,* > *Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee, * > *Pallikunnu P.O., Kannur. > > * > > Among the persons who have already signed this draft are ---Bhargavi > Thankappan (former Dy Speaker,Kerala Assembly), L.Natarajan ( Retd > IAS),K.C.Venu ( Retired Director, Public Relations, Thiruvananthapuram) > K.K..Kochu (Dalit activist and writer),Sunny Kapikkad (Dalit writer and > activist, Kottayam) , M.B.Manoj ( Poet and Dalit activist, Kottayam), Rekha > Raj (Dalit Women's Forum, Kottayam), K.Panur (Senior campaigner and writer > on Adivasi-Dalit issues & Human Rights, Kannur), K.Venu , Dr.M.Gangadharan, > Dr .A.K.Ramakrishnan (School Of International Relations, MG University, > Kottayam), K.Ajitha (Campaigner in Womens' issues and the leading activist > in Anweshi, Womens'Organization, Kozhikkode) , A.Vasu ( Human Rights > activist, Kozhikkode), Dr.J.Devika (CDS, Thiruvananthapuram), V.P.Zuhara ( > Nisa,Organization For Progressive Muslim Women, Kozhokkode) , Anivar Aravind > (Greenyouth Forum& GAYA, Trissur), B.R.P.Bhaskar (senior Human Rights > campaigner and journalist, Thiruvananthapuram), Dr.V.C.Harris (School Of > Social Sciences, MGU, Kottayam) , C.K.Janu (leader, Adivasi Gothra > Mahasabha, Wynad), Prof Sara Joseph ( Literatuer and Womens' Rights > campaigner, Thrissur), Advocate P.A.Pauran (PUCL-Kerala, Manjeri), > K.Haridas ( writer and Human Rights activist, Mumbai ), Dr.Jenny Roweena > (Writer and Researcher in Gender and Caste Issues ,Hydbad), Carmel Chrity > (Research Scholar, Hyderabad Central University & activist researcher In > Gender and Caste ), Elizabeth Philip( Sahaja, Womens' Rights organization, > Kottayam), Ranjith Thakappan ( Lecturer, Indira Gandhi Open University, New > Delhi), I.Gopinath (Media Initiatives and Human Rights activist, Thrissur), > Sarat (Thirdeyefilms , Ernakulam), A.Arun (Research Scholar, Hyderabad > Central University), P.Baburaj (Thirdeye films,Ernakulam), K.K.Ushakumari > (Janakeeya Samskarika Kendram, Kodungallur), Radhika Menon (Forum For > Democratic Initiatives,New Delhi), Vinod.K.Jose ( Human Rights activist and > Fellow, Columbia Journalism School, New York), K.P.Sasi( Human Rights > activist and film maker, Bangalore), Bauraj.K (writer and activist, > Kodungallur), Shyla.K.John (Secretary, AIMSS, Kerala), Advocate Kasthuri > Devan (social activist, Kannur), Dr.A.K.Jayasree( womens'rights > campaigner,Rajamundri, A.P) ,Dr.K.M.Seethi (School Of International > Relations and Political Science, MG University, Kottayam), Deepa V.N > (Sahayatrika, Kerala), Girija K.P (Kerala),S.Sanjeev (Kerala), Rev Sunil Raj > (Bangalore), Mustafa Desamangalam ( Media and Films activist, Kerala), > Sudeep Joseph (Bangalore), Bobby Kunju (Human Rights and Legal activist,New > Delhi),Sandhya P.C (GAIA,Thrissur, Kerala), Anil Tharayath Varghese > (National Centre For Advocacy Studies, Pune), Dr.Ratheesh Radhakrishnan > (Kerala), Shinaj.P.S(Hyderabad Central University), I.K.Shukla (Writer, Los > Angeles ) ,Sushovan Dhar (Radical Politics,Mumbai).Subhash Lokjith (Pune), > Sukla Sen, (Peoples' Media Initiative, Mumbai ), George Pulikuthiyil > (Jananeethi Institue, Kerala), Bindhulakshmi (Hyderabad), Ajay(People's > Watch), Dr.Sanal Mohan (School Of Social Sciences, MGU,Kottayam), Salim.T.K > (Greenyouthsgooglegroup), Savad Rahman (Journalist, Kochi),Rajesh > Ramakrishnan (Activist and Researcher, New Delhi), Dr.Soma Marik( Kolkatha), > Dr.T.T.Sreekumar ( Academic / Asst Professor, National University Of > Singapore), Gilbert Rodrigo (Pondicherry Fisher peoples' forum),T.Peter > (Secretary, National Fishworkers' Forum & President, KSMTU,Kerala), > Dileepraj ( writer and Human Rights campaigner, Kerala ). > We look forward to your co-operation in further spreading the message. > > > Thanking you, > > K.M.Venugopalan. > for Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee, Kannur . > > *Kindly use the following postal addresses/ emails as well, for future > communication: * > > Dr.D.Surendranath, > ( Chairman, Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee), > Pallikkunnu P.O; > Kannur-4, > Kerala (State), > S.India > Pin code- 670004 > email: dskannur at gmail.com > phone: 04972-701279 > > > > K.M.Venugopalan, > Convener, Chithralekha Rehabilitation Committee, Kannur. > email: kmvenuannur at gmail.com > phone: 09447488215. > C.K.Vishwanath, > Member, Chithralekha Punaradhivasa Committe, kannur > email: ckvishwanath at gmail.com > ck_vishwanath2000 at yahoo.com > ck_vishwanath at yahoo.com > phone: 04985-277680. > > With immense gratitude to everybody and In solidarity, > K.M.Venugopalan, Convener. From the.solipsist at gmail.com Mon Jun 9 00:52:55 2008 From: the.solipsist at gmail.com (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:52:55 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] "Anti-begging drive" in New Delhi Message-ID: <4785f1e20806081222p9324b97v36b02a5e9809382f@mail.gmail.com> Dear All, Reopening the debate on criminalisation of poverty vs. "beautification" of urban spaces, the Delhi Government (Social Welfare Department) has started enforcing anti-begging legislation (by rounding up beggars) and, as a new measure, fingerprinting them as well. Delhi is not alone in this regard. Received knowledge tells me that in some cities (Dubai and Hong Kong come readily to mind) the poverty levels are much higher than one realises by casually walking through most of the streets because the governments have worked hard in concealing the poverty. (Many years back, a news documentary on one of the two major networks in Hong Kong dealt with this issue, showing the squalid chicken-coops (which were positively inhuman) in which the poor were provided "free housing" by the government.) The issues aren't that clear-cut. While we all know of artificially scarred/burnt/crippled children, who are thrown into the deep end of the begging pool, and we also know that government-run "beggars' homes" are more often than places filled with corruption (a Tehelka investigation brought this to light, if memory serves me right). A simple pro-poor/pro-government stance can't be taken, as the issues can't be reduced to a poor vs. the State dichotomy. What are the ways out of this (apart from a magical reduction in poverty)? Any thoughts? - Pranesh ------ http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=39500 Anti-begging drive intensified in Delhi Press Trust of India / New Delhi June 08, 2008, 16:41 IST Intensifying the anti-begging campaign in Delhi, authorities have picked around 100 beggars, including women and children, in the last three days and sent them to the homes meant for their rehabilitation. The drive is being launched by the Department of Social Welfare in a bid to make the national capital beggar-free by 2010, when it will host the Commonwealth Games. "In the last three days, we picked these beggars spotted in Connaught Place, Hanuman Mandir and Janpath area and sent them to the homes in Lampur and Kingsway Camp," Social Welfare Department director S K Saxena said. He said the beggars are being produced before respective magistrates and to prove their case the department have done videography of the beggars seeking alms. The anti-begging campaign had to be stopped in March because of shortage of officials. Now the drive has been restarted and will continue with an aim to put an end to the practice of begging in the city, the official said. Saxena said there is a provision under the anti-begging legislation in Delhi to remove beggars from the streets and keep them in beggars' homes or at juvenile rehabilitation centres if they are under the age of 16. He said, "begging in the city is on rise and at times the involvement of mafia has been found." "To ensure that the beggars do not start begging again, we are taking their finger-prints through bio-metric system installed at the beggars' homes," he said. From b_vjg at yahoo.com Mon Jun 9 01:20:41 2008 From: b_vjg at yahoo.com (Gandhi, Valentine Joseph) Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 12:50:41 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] A Query on Urban and Peri Urban Agriculture Message-ID: <797773.89642.qm@web65405.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Dear Colleagues, I am in the process of drafting a report for one of the centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) on the state of urban agriculture in India with particular reference to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. According to the Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF), urban agriculture (includes peri-urban agriculture) can be defined shortly as the growing of plants and the raising of animals within and around the cities. (Home gardens, small plots of vegetables, etc). Some important urban and urban agricultural facts are: · 50% of the world’s population lives in cities. · 800 million people are involved in urban agriculture world-wide and contribute to feeding urban residents. · Low income urban dwellers spend between 40% and 60% of their income on food each year. · By 2015, about 26 cities in the world are expected to have a population of 10 million or more. To feed a city of this size – at least 6000 tons of food must be imported each day. The most striking feature of urban agriculture, which distinguishes it from rural agriculture, is that it is integrated into the urban economic and ecological system. Urban agriculture is embedded in - and interacting with - the urban ecosystem. Such linkages include the use of urban residents as laborers, use of typical urban resources (like organic waste as compost and urban wastewater for irrigation), direct links with urban consumers, direct impacts on urban ecology (positive and negative), being part of the urban food system, competing for land use with other urban land use requirements, being influenced by urban policies and plans etc. Urban agriculture tends to increase when the city grows. It is an integral part of the urban system. In the above context, I would appreciate inputs/ideas/suggestions and any case studies from members on the following points: 1. Role of Urban and Peri Urban Agriculture (UPA) in contributing to food security, and the kind of institutional mechanism required for its promotion 2. Key issues related to UPA in India (with specific experiences if any, from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) 3. What are various policies or laws that could impede/or aid the urban agriculture process in Indian cities and who should be the key stakeholders in promoting Urban and Peri urban agriculture Regards, Valentine J Gandhi Independent Consultant From kuhutanvir at gmail.com Mon Jun 9 13:08:32 2008 From: kuhutanvir at gmail.com (Kuhu Tanvir) Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 13:08:32 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] theatre reading - Russia Dying Message-ID: The First City Theatre Foundation invites you to OFF THE MANTLE#10 The First City Theatre Readings Russia Dying New versions of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Alexei Arbuzov's The Promise 12 June 2008 | 7 pm | The Attic (36, Regal Building. Connaught Place) To celebrate its tenth Off The Mantle reading, The First City Theatre Foundation picks scenes from two recent rewritings of classic plays from the Russian theatre. The first is American playwright David Mamet's adaptation of Chekhov's masterpiece, The Cherry Orchard. Audacious and consistently arresting, Mamet's version blows a gust of fresh air into this classic. Similarly, Nick Dear's striking adaptation of The Promise brings out the lyrical subtleties of Alexei Arbuzov's original play from the 60s – a powerfully historic and ironic drama set amidst the post-war reconstruction in Russia. For more details call: 011-46070317 | email: theatre at firstcitydelhi.com From jeebesh at sarai.net Mon Jun 9 13:40:10 2008 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh) Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 13:40:10 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Mobile Videos Message-ID: <253F4401-E082-4E1D-BC7D-4485D849FC40@sarai.net> Dear All, Below are the transcripts of a discussion on videos shot by mobile phones. The link to the mobile video Mobile Sketches Memory Card 01 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbnSth4cxOY best Jeebesh --------------------------------- Extracts from a discussion on Mobile Videos Cybermohalla Ensemble June 2008 Suraj Rai: A mobile phone... It's in our pockets. We just take it with us to the fair, take it with us to the play, take it with us when going from one place to the other, carry it with us on the way. Kiran Verma: Often, while looking out of the window of a bus, I used to wonder... if I were to pause and think, what would I think about the outside? I made a mobile video of the view from the window of the bus. And then when I saw it later, I realised, while music played and people chatted, and there was a restlessness in the bus, people on the road were very quiet and completely solitary. Jaanu Nagar Just day before yesterday, in the evening, it was raining heavily. It is said a downpour can ruin many things. But when I stood and watched, it seemed to me everything was becoming more resplendent. I found this attractive. Everything looked so different from usual. Descriptions of rain are usually about how people run for shelter, leave what they are doing, But what I was seeing was something different. I thought a photo may not capture this difference. I wanted to see if I could make a video resonate with what I was thinking. I looked through the screen and started recording. Someone held an umbrella, another had covered himself with a plastic sheet. Someone was returning from work, a scarf thrown over his head. People were not running around. Some were buying vegetables for home. And there was a chowmein stall - It was open to the sky. The man was busy frying chowmien in the pan. I thought a photograph would not have helped me capture this style, the special music... Along with the raindrops was the sound "chhan-chhan-chhan", as the stirrer moved in the pan, while everyone stood around under their umbrellas, waiting to eat. Tripan Kumar - That day my parents, my sisters and cousins - they all started dancing together, spontaneously. I had never seen them like this before. I mean, it wasn't any special occasion... We just happened to be in a room together, and everyone started dancing. The young and the old, all danced together. For no special reason. I'd never seen such a burst of joy, expressed in this way, inside a room, before. I was surprised. And I wanted to keep with myself this memory of having been surprised. Nasreen - It could be something banal. But was I attracted by it? If it attracted me, then it was significant enough to be shot. It's possible it remained banal for someone else. But if it seemed important to me, then, yes, it was something worthy of being looked at. Love Anand - For instance, I'd often look out of my window at the shadows cast by clothes put out to dry. These shadows would hover over the entire lane, and create a very special ambience. Shadows would glide over people's faces, knock against things. I'd always try to search a language to think, to describe this environment of shadows. Babli Rai - To make a mobile video, one doesn't need to go out in search of a "special" event or occasion. Mobile videos draw from the simplest moments of our lives. In that sense, the mobile phone camera makes one look for the special within the ordinary. A woman may wear make-up everyday. But to make a mobile video of this simple thing, makes her, her make-up and the ordinariness of that moment, special. Lakhmi Chand - One immediately thinks of a mobile video as being something personal. But mobile phone conversations, sms, photos, videos, ring tone etc have a velocity in everyday life - they get their life from being in circulation. That is why, even though mobile phones have very small screens, the staggered circulation of its images stretches their lived beyond the first moment in which they were taken. Love Anand - In the two years that we have been making mobile videos, it seems to me that all of us have deepened out ways of looking through the act of looking around us, everyday. In writing, we think about what we have seen and how to write it. But in making mobile videos, the view before us unravels itself frame by frame. There is a relation between the practice of writing and the practice of making mobile videos. One requires inner stillness, and the other requires us to still our surroundings. I think with a mobile video, we try to find a stillness amidst the speed around us. We try to find a moment of stillness in the world. Yashoda Singh And in writing? Love Anand - In writing... In writing it is as if we are inhabiting a stillness and trying to write it. By making a mobile video, we still that which is speeding, so we may think from within it. Yashoda Singh - So a mobile video makes us go deeper into something than writing does...? Love Anand - No, I'm not saying that. I can try to understand that which I can see by revisiting it in my mind's eye. But what about that which elides me? A mobile video can help me bring it into my view. So I can be with it. Yashoda Singh - Is it that we see something and immediately know it is interesting, we should make a mobile video of it? Love Anand - No... The question for me is, how do we perceive something that races past us? What can we do to bring it into our field of vision? How can I hold it, even for a moment, while it rushes past me, so I may enter it to think with it? Lakhmi Chand - Mobile phone videos are embedded in networks. This opens up a big playing field. The shrinking and expanding images around us become a player here. As do those minor moments which would not even have been thought of as occasions before. Jaanu Nagar - The world is foggy. When you capture a grain from it, as you may sometimes do with a mobile video, it helps you understand the expanse and the detail. Tripan Kumar - I may have made an image of something that I don't recognise. This image may allow others to address those images which remain unnamed in their lives. Azra Tabassum - A frame is like a hook that gathers that which lies scattered around us. And I join a few of my own hooks to think ahead with the frame. Probably the attempt is that what lies scattered in my life is brought to speech through the movement within the frames. Or maybe I depict the dilations of my eyes and in this I connect the various scattered flickers that are around me. Rakesh Khairalia - In the depiction of things around us, we sometimes see them still, sometimes in movement, and sometimes in turmoil. So this is a way to try to understand how to look. And when this is deepened, we create generative environments. From where does this generative form come into our thinking? This is a question. What is in our imagination that searches the generative both in stillness and in change? Whose mind is this? Where did it come from? Where is it about to go? It is the turmoil of these questions that shapes the way we construct a frame. They are an occasion to think, to rethink what we have thought before, and to plough further. Where can it take us? How deeply are we connected to it? This life, things around us, changes around us, the time in which we live - how are we related to all this? This is how we think with mobile videos. ----------- From sabyesachi at cultureunplugged.com Mon Jun 9 17:28:22 2008 From: sabyesachi at cultureunplugged.com (Sabyesachi Bharti) Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 17:28:22 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] festival invite Message-ID: Dear Friend, You are invited to the Film Festival 08 : East Speaks, Here - Asia & Middle East 's first online film festival, now live at www.cultureunplugged.com the hearts & minds of storytellers, from various countries, unveiled at this open film festival presented by Culture Unplugged Studios in partnership with you and all the film-makers participating. the festival, wishing to focus on not just films, nor just film-makers, but the consciousness transplanted thru cinema. Be the jury and Enjoy! Film Festival 08 : East Speaks, Here. http://www.cultureunplugged.com watch, vote and spread the buzz in your community, on your social networks, in your blogs. promote films. promote consciousness. Enjoy, Sabyesachi Bharti www.cultureunplugged.com Culture Unplugged Film Festival Team From deelited at gmail.com Sat Jun 7 18:05:08 2008 From: deelited at gmail.com (deepti) Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 18:05:08 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Announcing the Nigah QueerFest '08: www.thequeerfest.com Message-ID: <2617ab630806070535q5bcb779bn37dc563fd3e6c00a@mail.gmail.com> *The Nigah QueerFest '08* *8th-17th August 2008, New Delhi* Following the success of the inaugural festival last year, we are excited to announce the Nigah QueerFest '08 which will be held in multiple venues in Delhi from 8th-17th August 2008. This year, the ten-day celebration of queerness is anchored around August 11th, the date of the first queer protest in Delhi sixteen years ago. The QueerFest remains proud to be entirely funded by individual donations from queer and queerfriendly people from India and abroad in its attempt to continuously expand queer-positive spaces around us. The festival includes a film festival, a photography exhibit, interactive workshops, parties and new publications. All the info you need is on our website: www.thequeerfest.com For submissions, please see these links: Call for films: http://www.thequeerfest.com/Calls08/nqf_filmcall.pdf Call for photo: http://www.thequeerfest.com/Calls08/nqf_photocall.pdf To support us: http://www.thequeerfest.com/Calls08/nqf_supportcall.pdf For updates and announcements, keep checking our website! Cheers Nigah >>Apologies for Cross Posting<< -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From logos.theword at gmail.com Mon Jun 9 12:09:35 2008 From: logos.theword at gmail.com (Logos Theatre) Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 22:39:35 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] A date with Shakespeare - Shreds and Patches at the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore Message-ID: <33bc2ee60806082339h24283722v8b3826de923b6116@mail.gmail.com> He's there in your morning newspaper... he's there on the TV news... that film you are watching is probably ripped off from one of his plays... you use words coined by him all the time - now meet the man himself: Logos Theatre presents Shreds and Patches based on the works of William Shakespeare Devised and performed by: Arka Mukhopadhyay Alliance Francaise, Vasanthnagar June 13th, 11 AM and 2 PM (for schools/colleges only), 6 PM and 8 PM (open to all) June 15th, 11 AM (for schools/colleges only), 2 PM, 6 PM and 8 PM (open to all) Tickets: Rs.125/- for the 13th and Rs. 150/- for the 15th Available at: Alliance Francaise Cafe and Crossword, Residency Road For bookings call: 9945799224 or 9886765198 For bulk bookings: 9845530323 "...refreshing... "Shreds and Patches" was an innovative and comprehensive whole-hearted performance ... leaving the audience with the fact that even today, there is a little bit of Shakespeare in each one of us." - The Hindu "...commendable" - Mid Day "...riveting performance" - WOW, Hyderabad. A little classical, a little contemporary, a little funny, a little serious, and a whole lot of the Bard -- Logos Theatre In the beginning was the word No. 126, 3rd Main Road, Jayamahal Extension, Bangalore 560046 -------------------------------------------------------- If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is 't to leave betimes? Let be. -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From J.Dow at leeds.ac.uk Mon Jun 9 23:14:10 2008 From: J.Dow at leeds.ac.uk (Jamie Dow) Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 18:44:10 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Bibliography on the Ethics of Free Software Message-ID: Dear listmembers, This post is partly for information, partly to see if this information can be improved upon. It's a bibliography of serious academic work on the ethics of Free (Libre) and Open-Source Software - but mainly Free Software. The bibliography is pasted below - I know that this is an issue on which many on this list take a keen interest. I hope this is a useful source to you. I'd be interested to hear of any important or good pieces that you know of that are not listed here. In that connection, I'm interested specifically on the *ethics* of free and non-free software (so history of the movement, technical evaluations, and sociological analysis are not relevant here. Legal stuff on licensing can go either way - I'm only interested in jurisprudential stuff that deals with the ethical issues.). Best wishes, Jamie Dow *Free Software Bibliography* _2 Classics:_ Raymond, Eric (2001) /The Cathedral and the Bazaar, 2/^/nd/ / Edition, /O’Reilly. Stallman, Richard M (2002) /Free Software, Free Society/, (Intro by Lawrence Lessig, edited by Joshua Gay) Cambridge, MA: Free Software Foundation. _General (lightly vetted, and simply in the order they came to me):_ Falquet, G and Grin, F (2008) “Free Software, Proprietary Software and Linguistic Justice” in eds. Gosseries, A, Marciano, A and Strowel, A (2008) /Intellectual Property and Theories of Justice/, London: Macmillan. Nissenbaum*,* Helen (1995) “Should I copy my Neighbour’s Software?” in eds. Nissenbaum, H & Johnson, D (1995) /Computers, Ethics and Social Values/, Prentice Hall, pp.201-213. Lerner, Joshua and Tirole, Jean (2000) /The Simple Economics of Open Source (NBER working paper series), /NBER. Kimppa, Kai K. (2005) “Intellectual Property Rights in Software—Justifiable from a Liberalist Position? The Free Software Foundations Position in Comparison to John Locke's Concept of Property”, in Richard A. Spinello and Herman T. Tavani (eds.), /Intellectual Property Rights in a Networked World: Theory and Practice/, Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Kimppa, Kai K. (2004) “Intellectual Property Rights – or Rights to the Immaterial – in Digitally Distributable Media Gone All Wrong?”, in Lee Freeman and Graham Peace (eds.), /Information Ethics: Privacy and Intellectual Property/, Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Kimppa Kai K. (2007) /Problems with the Justification of Intellectual Property Rights in Relation to Software and Other Digitally Distributable Media: PhD thesis/, May 2007. Available (in part) at: _http://www.tucs.fi/publications/attachment.php?fname=DISS83.pdf_ Tavani, Herman T. (2004) “Balancing intellectual property rights and the intellectual commons: a Lockean analysis”, /Information, Communication and Ethics in Society,/ 2: S5–S14 Tavani, Herman T. (2005) “Locke, Intellectual Property Rights, and the Information Commons”, /Ethics and Information Technology,/ 7:87–97 DiBona,Chris; Ockman, Sam and Stone, Mark (1999) /Open Sources : Voices from the Open Source Revolution/, Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media Inc.. DiBona, Chris; Stone, Mark and Cooper, Danese (2005) /Open Sources 2.0 The Continuing Evolution, /Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media Inc.. Sunstein, Cass R. (2006) /Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge/, New York: Oxford University Press. Esp. ch 5. Moglen, Eben (2003) /Freeing the Mind: Free Software and the Death of Proprietary Culture, /http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/maine-speech.html. Moglen, Eben (2003) /The dotCommunist Manifesto, /http://emoglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/dcm.html Berry, David M. (2004) “The Contestation of Code: A Preliminary Investigation into the Discourse of the Free/Libre and Open Source Movements”, /Critical Discourse Studies/ 1 (1): 65–89. Berry, David M., and Moss, Giles (2006) “Free and Open Source Software: Opening and Democratising E-Government’s Black Box”, /Information Polity/ 11:21–34. Cusumano, Michael; Shirky, Clay; Feller, Joseph; Fitzgerald, Brian; Hissam, Scott A. and Lakhani, Karim R. (eds.) (2005) /Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software,/ Cambridge: MIT Press. Weber, Steven (2004) /The Success of Open Source,/ Cambridge: Harvard University Press. M. Wolf (moderator), D. Gotterbarn, K. Bowyer, and K. Miller. (2002) “Open Source Software: Intellectual Challenges to the Status Quo”/,/ /ACM, SIGCSE 2002/, Cincinnati, OH (March 2, 2002). F. Grodzinsky, K. Miller and M. Wolf. (2004) “Ethical Issues in Open Source Software”, /Readings in Cyberethics 2/^/nd/ /edition,/ R. Spinello and H. Tavani, eds. Jones and Bartlett, 2004. 351-366. (reprinted conference paper) Miller, Keith (2007) “Open source software and consequential responsibility: GPU, GPL, and the no military use clause”, /APA Newsletter of Philosophy and Computers/, Vol. 6, No. 2 (ed. Boltuc, P), 17-22. _More towards Legal-Theory:_ Rosen, Lawrence (2004) /Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law,/ Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall PTR. St Laurent, Andrew (2004) /Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing/, O’Reilly. (The Eben Moglen writings may belong in this “legal” category.) Zittrain, Jonathan (2004) “Normative Principles for Evaluating Free and Proprietary Software”, /Harvard Law School Public Law Research Papers,/ No. 98, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=529862 . From logos.theword at gmail.com Mon Jun 9 12:08:08 2008 From: logos.theword at gmail.com (Logos Theatre) Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 22:38:08 -0800 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Workshop : Selves, Masks, Performance - The Stage And Beyond In-Reply-To: <33bc2ee60806082238i4d8821f0wd674f96a658312a1@mail.gmail.com> References: <33bc2ee60806062328t5b82a261vc8bf318e7f953bc2@mail.gmail.com> <33bc2ee60806070959j7306435u98118c988b1a11c3@mail.gmail.com> <33bc2ee60806080306i34258c54s574bcc8f51a8b814@mail.gmail.com> <33bc2ee60806080320g6ab5a6f3h99438b2d42174b47@mail.gmail.com> <33bc2ee60806082238i4d8821f0wd674f96a658312a1@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <33bc2ee60806082338m38993acv24ad73a585a825f4@mail.gmail.com> Move... laugh... cry... emote... argue... resolve... play... and discover a person called 'you', somewhere along the way... Logos Theatre presents Selves, Masks, Performance - The Stage And Beyond A workshop for aspiring performers and for those who want to discover themselves through performance, conducted by artistes from the fields of drama, movement, storytelling, etc. An outline: •Patterns of movement: Threads in space •Breath and voice •Play and playing - ideas, objects and space. •Body sculpts, images, thought tracking, power and hierarchy - conflict and mediation •Associations, images, and imagination. •Improv •Speaking the speech - A physical approach to text. Classical Indian and Greek theatre, Shakespeare, and beyond. •Theatre of the absurd, contemporary performance texts and devised work Feedback from our previous workshops: 'superb and eye-opening' 'very informative and a lot of fun' 'fantastic... very useful. Especially with regard to... realistic conflict resolution' 'insightful and a great learning experience' 'interesting concepts and methods' Dates: June 16th - June 26th. Venue: Abobve Chung Wah, Church Street, Bangalore Workshop timings: 19:00 to 21:30 Fees: Rs. 2,200/- Registration deadline: June 12th. contact: 9880966313/ 9845530323 e-mail: logos.theword at gmail.com Do pass this along -- Logos Theatre In the beginning was the word No. 126, 3rd Main Road, Jayamahal Extension, Bangalore 560046 -------------------------------------------------------- If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is 't to leave betimes? Let be. -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From asitredsalute at gmail.com Tue Jun 10 12:58:09 2008 From: asitredsalute at gmail.com (Asit asitreds) Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:58:09 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] sez land question and urbanisation in india a marxist persepective Message-ID: Dear Friends and Comrades there is a tendency amongst activists and acdemics to look at the land question, displacement, agrarian crises,and urban poverty in isolation. Iam sending you a write up where I have tried to trace the linkages among the above factors.Please send your comments, criticisms and suggestions . *Special Economic Zones and the Land Question in India* The land question in India has suddenly attained extraordinary importance in the Media for the past few months. Ekta Parishads Janadesh Yatra few months ago, the agitations for notification of the Adivasi forest land rights bill, the social movements trenchant criticisms of the Rehabilitation Act and Land Acquisition Act has brought the land question into the centre stage of the public discourse. However the news media, which work overtime to sell the American dream and Propogating the 9% growth story suffers from a criminal historical amnesia land rights, tenancy and share cropers rights mere central issue of the historical uprisings massive tribal rebellions from Rajmahal hills in the east to Khandesh in the West more fought by the heroic adivasis against the Marauding British imperialists to save their habitats and commons. Land and share croppers rights were the central issue in the great Telengana, Punappra Vylar and Moplah Uprisings. In the post Independent India the fight continued in the strong holds of the organised left and other Social Movements like Naxal bari, Bodh Gaya, Srikakulam were some of the well known areas while the struggle continued all over the sub continent. In fact, land to the tiller has been the central slogan of the organized left other organisations like Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini fought for land rights against the Bodh Gaya Mahant struggles against tribal land alienation is a perpetual phenomenon in all over tribal India. Postcolonial social movement added a new dimension to the land question in India this time the protest against forcible displacement from the homes, habitats and commons for Mega developmental projects. Bigdams, Mines, Factories and Industrial townships were declared to be the temples of Modern India, the Indian ruling classes took a path of capitalist development through heavy Industrialisation forcibly displacing millions adivasi's peasants from all over India. There were protests in all over India. Arundhati Roy in her essay Greater common goods says that by early nintees more the four crore farmers and adivasis were displaced due to mega development projects. Post-Independent India has seen massive protests in Hirakud, Baliapal, Gopalpur, Koel Karo, Netarhat, Narmada Valley, Kalinganagar, Singrauli and many other places against their forcible displacement for construction of dams, steel plants, thermal power stations etc. Displacement, right over natural resources including forest and commons, against usury and feudal opression has been the main issues of discontent in Rural India. India is endowed with huge natural resources and vast fertile lands, forest and labour power, but the paradox is in this country of enormous wealth majority of the population live in extreme poverty. The Indian ruling classes used the label of socialism following independence to adopt a public sector supported capitalist path of development sustained by rapacious neocolonial plunder through bretton woods institutions and imperialist transnational corporations. This paradigm is founded on the predatory profit oriented mercantile principle of inequality as an essential condition of development and decimation of peasantry through the continuation of the extreme backwardness of agriculture. According to the Arjun Sen Gupta committee report on unorganised sector more than 75% of the population subsist on twenty rupees a day around 20% of the population which includes majority of the Dalits and Adivasis hover on the brink news of starvation deaths poor in everyday from different regions of the country. Excruciating poverty causes mass starvation, rampant disease and premature deaths amidst vulgar affluence for a few. In addition large sections of the population have to face crude discrimination in the form of caste, religion, ethnicity and gender reduce them to the status of a slave in their own country. About 70% of the country's population depends on agriculture directly and indirectly even today. Capital intensive developments has been foisted by the Neocolonial masters for the profits multination corporations who supply agricultural machines, fertilizers pesticides and seeds. The policy has proved to be not only anti poor but against the interests of the country as a whole. It has rendered agricultural labourers and small farmers nonviable who are loosing their lands joining the impoverished reserve army of labour. Under the pressure from the bretton woods institutions subsidies are with drawn while the costs of inputs soar making farming unviable for the majority of farmers especially small middle and marginal peasants. Rising costs of input and low prices of primary commodities has pushed agriculture and its dependant into the brink of disaster. The neoliberal state has been with drawing credits through nationalised bank and cooperatives pushing the farmers to take loans from usurious moneylenders forcing thousands of farmers to commit suicide. The new agricultural policy of 2000 has transformed the very paradigm of agricultural development by throwing the concept of land to the tiller to winds. In its place it introduced priority for cash crops and agriculture for profits to facilitate Mnc's and corporate take over, in the process small and middle farmers are forced to commit suicide and are driven off agriculture. Infact the phenomenon of reverse tenancy has been taking place in the name of contract farming at the behest of agribusiness.In fact, the MNCS and Indian corporations have emerged as new feudal lords in this predatory neoliberal era of global enclosure and ruthless 21st century primitive accumulation. The powerful class of upper caste absentee landlords represented by the Kulak Lobby in politics are the biggest facilitators for entry of International big business into Indian agriculture in spite of the much flaunted but failed cry about the land reform measures, most of the cultivable lands are in the hands of 10% of the landed gentry. Neither the land ceiling act nor security of Tenancy and other land reforms acts have been implemented effectively during the last six decades. While their is no security of livelihood of landless labourers in spite of the much trumpeted national employment guarantee act, so massive distress migrations to urban slums are a living reality of rural India. The feudal relations in land is one of the biggest reason for the backwardness in agriculture and the chief cause for the extreme poverty and socio economic disparity in rural India. Under the pressure of radical peasant movements land reform acts were made with enough 100 loopholes to circumvent it with the active connivance of the corrupt upper caste judiciary and bureaucracy. Therefore radical land reforms with the principle of land to the tiller is the highest priority for India Today. With neoliberal restructuring of Global Capitalism known as globalisation, the Indian ruling classes adopted the New Economic Policies in 1991 giving up all the pretensions of self reliance, egalitarianism, welfare state, non aligned status etc. Special Economic Zones were a logical outcome of this anti people neoliberal paradigm. A Special Economic Zone Act was passed in the Indian Parliament in 2005 various states have their own SEZ Acts. Salient Features of SEZs A Special Economic Zone is an especially demarcated area of land, owned and operated by a private company, which is deemed to be foreign territory for the purpose of trade, duties and tariffs. SEZs will enjoy exemptions from custom duties, income tax, sales tax, service tax. From the point of view of industry, a SEZ is an industrial cluster with assured infrastructure aimed at increasing the country's export the stated purpose of creating SEZs across India is the promotion of exports. The Commerce and Industries Minister Kamal Nath Claims that exports will ultimately grow five times, GDP will rise 2% and the 30 lakh jobs will be generated by SEZs across India. His also claimed by the Govt. that SEZ will attract global manufacturing through foreign direct investment, enable transfer of Modern Technology and will create incentives for infrastructure. As of 30 November 2007 according to the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, total no. of approved SEZs are 760, formally approved SEZs are 404, SEZs with in principle approval are 165 SEZs notified after 2005 Act are 172 SEZs functional before SEZs Act are 19. Many more applications await processing. Total are under SEZs, in 20 states across India is expected to be over 200,000 hectares, an area the Size of National capital region. This land predominantly agricultural and multi cropped is capable to producing close to one million food grains. If SEZs are seen to be successful in the future and more cultivated land is acquired, they will endanger the food security of the country. Displacement and loss of livelihoods in SEZs Estimate Show that close to 114,000 farming household (each house hold on an average comprising five members) and an additional 82,000 farm worker families who are dependent upon these farms for their livelihoods will be displaced. In other words, at least one million people who primarily depend upon agriculture for their survival will face eviction. Experts calculate that the total loss of income to the farming and farm workers family will be at least Rs. 212 crore a year. This does not include other income tax (for instance artisans) due to the demise of local rural economies. The government promise humane displacement followed by relief and rehabilitation. However historical records does not offer any room for hope on this count an estimated 40 million people (of which nearly 40% area Adivasis and 25% Dalits) have lost their land since 1950 on account of displacement due to large development projects. At least 75% of them still await rehabilitation. Almost 80% at the agricultural population owns only about 17% of the total agricultural land, making them near landless farmers. Farmers families and communities depend on a piece of land (for work, grazing) than those who simply own it. Employment in SEZs The growth of employment in the entire organised sector since inception of the economic reforms in 1991 has been negligible. The total employment in the organised sector is still less then 3 crore. Even in the IT and ITES the boom areas of the economy employment is less than 15 crore (60% of SEZs are for IT). The Indian labour force is estimated at 45 to 55 Crore. Thanks to growing automation modern manufacturing grows joblessty around the world. In India automobile production has grown rapidly, while employing hers labour than before. With more automation, rganized services also require limited supplies of labour. SEZ are actually land grab by the real estate mafia and the coroporate sector What are SEZs likely to become in few years time? According to a clause in the SEZ Act (section 5(2) as much as 75% of the area under large SEZs above 1000 hectares) can be used for non-industrial purposes. What will the remainder of the land used for? This lacuna in the law is likely to become a loophole for massive accumulation of land by private players including the real estate mafia, developers and property dealers for the purposes of real estate speculation. This explains why so many of them have been buying land for SEZs. In fact it may well be the case that the rationale for the above clause in the SEZ Act is the uncertainty surrounding the economic attractiveness of SEZs. If adequate productive investment is not forthcoming, the SEZ developer can at least cash in on the land value. Conglomerates like Reliance already own upwards of 100,00 acre of land in the countywide (courtesy - seminar no. 582, sez issue Feb 2008). In the light of the real estate boom and imposition of JNNURM SEZs have also emerged as a new form of colonial urbanisation. As all of know the majority of urban population are slum dwellers. Slums are not made by slum dwellers, not even by the poor they may actually be built by the poor or by the not so poor slumlord, but they are conceptualised and designed by the capitalist system itself. They exist because the capitalist system needs them. Being designed upon making a profit by exploiting labour the system requires that the cost of labour power kept as low as possible. Imagine if every citizen of Mumbai or Delhi had to buy a flat or a house. Would that be possible on the wages that they are getting today? Even in the organised sector? In Mumbai even a small flat on the outskirts of the city would not cast less than Rs 20 lakhs. Even in the organised sector a worker, with diligence and frugality throughout his life, cannot expect to save that amount even after a lifetime of working. With the rise of capitalism after the renaissance in Europe, many new cities came up all over the world. Many of the cities that we live in today are a product of these times. New York and Mumbai provide prime examples. These were industrial cities made with the express purpose of utilising the new opportunities for vastly enhanced exploitation of workers afforded by the Industrial revolution. Even the older cities like Rome, London and Delhi had to adapt to this new world order. From the beginning of 18th and 19th centuries and get industrialised. These not able to make this transformation perished, as cities - like Susa in Persia and Badami in Karnataka. In today's globalised context after the enactment of SEZ Act it is necessary to see the new colonial urbanisation and its connection with, displacement, agrarian crisis, growth of slums and migration. Some growth centres like, Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore etc tell the sordid human drama behind their glazed tiles and golf courses. It is interesting to look at the neocolonial urban growth in Maharastra in context of the special economic zones. It will lead us to the reality behind slum demolitions and the hidden hands of the Bombay under world, the builders mafia and the honorable members of the Indian big bourgeoisie. Maharashtra has always been the favourite destination for investment, especially foreign investment in India. At one time the most Industrialised state in country, it still ranks among the top. However in terms of investment it is clearly, without any close rival, the top most state in India. For example, the amount of bank credit disbursed by public sector banks, in Maharashtra was over 3,71,000 crores in June 2006 (About 32% of the total National Figure). The next closest state was Delhi with less than half the investment in Maharashtra. The total amount in investment projects under execution, in September 2006, in Maharashtra was over Rs. 92,000 crores and the total of investment projects at the same time was around 2,53,000 crores, the highest in the country. In terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) The Economic Survey 2005-06 states "In terms of FDI approvals, however, Maharashtra topped the list followed by Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat. In some estimates Maharashtra accounts for almost one-third of the total foreign investment in India. Fittingly, Maharashtra is also therefore, the state with the largest number of SEZS (both formally approved in principle) with 89 formally approved and another 32 SEZS approved in principle is more than twice the total area of those which have already been formally approved. This is because the in principle stage mainly applies to those large SEZS where the land has still to be acquired in total, all the SEZS planned till today will occupy around 60,000 hectares of land. Since the new Economic Policies were adopted Maharashtra has seen fast urban growth. Maharashtra has the highest level of urbanization in India at 42% Compared to 25.7% percent as the all India average. In the context of Land question and Sezs writing about the urbanization experience in Maharashtra is important because this urbanization has not been in the normal organic fashion as in the advanced capitalist countries in the west. The urbanization of Maharashtra has been artificial engrafted urbanization. The people have been driven out of their land by the devastation of agriculture. It must be noted that while Maharashtra has the highest level of urbanization in India and has one of the highest per capita incomes in the country. It also has the lowest yield per hectare of food grains in the country at 872 kg/hectare as against 1667 kg / hectare as the national average. It is no coincidence that Maharashtra also has the highest level of peasant suides in the country. It may be argued that the same process of devastating agriculture to feed the cities has taken place in cities like London and Paris in the 17th and 18th centuries and the US during the Civil war However though the condition in urban Maharashtra may be as dismal and revolting as the Western Countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, this misery and poverty is painted not on the background of the London of that time but on the Canvas of today's Mumbai and Delhi where the rich have the latest Cars in the world and the costliest properties in the world. This makes all the difference in the world. The very degree of massiveness' in the cities of today makes a qualitative difference from the cities of medieval times. Engrafted into this is the unthinkable advanced system of communication and transport. This brings people into more close and intimate contact with the rest of the world. All this makes the level of disparity that is produced and reproduced in cities like Mamba and Delhi, qualitatively different from that in medieval London or Paris. The people thrown out of agriculture (both in Maharashtra and out side) have been forced to stay in hovels in over crowded and disease ridden slums in the cities. No new cities have been suburban satellites of Mega Polis's. Cities like "New Mumbai and Noida were originally planned as independent cities with their own industrial area. Commercial areas and transport systems. However, they have only developed as suburbs to larger and older cities like Mumbai or Delhi. This has not helped to solve the problems of the cities but only has accentuated them. It is again no. coincidence that all most all the Sezs are being built only on the fringes of cities - like satellites all over again. A rough Study based upon the "in principle" approved Sez's in Maharashtra shows that around 67% of the land for Sezs's is within 100 km. Of Mumbai. If the cities of Pune and Nagpur are also considered, then a figure of 85% of land for Sezs is arrived at, and if Nashik and Aurangabad are also thrown then about 98% of the land for Sezs in within 100 km of these five cities. Thus there will be no real development. The rural areas will be further devastated. Farmers will commit more suicides larger slums with even more squalor will be created. There will be more crime, more communal riots, more atrocities against dalits and more attacks and exploitation of women as always happens in the condition of squalor. However the Sezs are not the only instruments for grabbing the lands of the peasantry, millions of acres of land are taken by national and international big business for construction of Greenfield projects, private airports, tourist resorts , health tourism, smart cities, entertainment parks, building of private townships for the superrich including vast areas for golf courses and luxury hotels. To provide infrastructure for super profits of local and multinational big business the state is acquiring millions of acres of fertile land to build industrial zones, golden corridors, express ways including the much flaunted golden quadrangle express highway systems. This is the glaring phenomenon of contemporary global enclosure of forcible depeasantisation ruthlessly divesting the producers from their means of production, cultural moorings and commons. Adding salt to the injury the neoliberal state is resorting to the most predatory inhuman primitive accumulation of forcing the farmers and adivasi's out of their land when the entire peasantry is reeling under acute agrarian crisis where more than 2 lakh farmers have committed suicide in the past decade under the neoliberal economic regime. Another despicable instrument of forcibly uprooting adivasi's from their habitats and livelihoods is the New Mines Policy. The dangers of New Mining Policy has been brilliantly Analysed by friend Mansi Ashar in September October issue of Combat law 2007. (See mined games by Mansi Asher Combat law Volume 6 issues 5 2007) The key reason being that several recommendation and clauses of the new national mine policy were not acceptable to mineral rich states and Mining Companies, especially steel makers with every party wanting to maintain their control over the rich mineral resources of the country. What has slipped the public eye is probably the very critical changes being proposed to ensure that investments in the mining sector gets a boost by deregulating procedures of environmental and forest clearances. These clearances have been seen as hurdles for quick implementation of mining projects in the past 10 years. It is interesting to note that the sector which was essentially dominated by the public sector companies has in the past decade become the money bags for companies ranging from domestic giants like Tata, Jindal and Birla to global companies like Mittal, Posco, Vedanta, BHP, Billiton Riotinto et al. Hence the stakes of the market are higher, and the new mineral policy is paving the way for second generation reform in the mining sector in India to protect and promote these stakes (Mansi Asher, Combat law). It is needless to say that real estate and the construction boom is the motor force behind Indias high growth Indicators. Infact the whole country has been converted into a construction site. The real estate and mafia developer and other unscrupulous speculators make millions while the small and middle peasantry is pauperized. In this context the value of land should be critically examined. The entire valuation process is arbitrary and exploitative while the builders and developers buy cheap land sell the developed plots many times higher than the original market price of the said land. On the other hand the peasantry is paid a pittance for the land forcibly acquired through the draconian land acquisition act. In fact land is never valued in financial terms by Adivasi's and farmers for them agriculture is a way of life and they consider land as their mother. For adivasi's the commons, the forests, pastures and water resources are equally important as the tilled land and is sacred. In any Mega projects these are snatched away from them which is like taking the fish out of water. Of late this notion of sacredness has become a powerful instrument of resistance by the adivasi's for protecting their habitats. In March this year thousands of adivasi's gathered in Niyamagiri hills in Lanjigarh Orissa to worship. They consider the Niyamagiri hills as sacred and this mass worship has become a powerful symbol of protest to save their habitats greedily eyed by the Vedanta Aluminium Company. In nearby Baphlimali hills in Kashipur a heroic struggle is ongoing on for past twelve years to save their habitats from Utkal Alumina at the time of writing this note a dharma is still go in on against Utkal Alumina by Prakrutik Sampad Suraksha Parishad at Kashipur in Rayagada district of Orissa. It is important to note that the artisans, sharecroppers and landless labourers are the biggest loosers in any forcible land acquisition process they loose both their livelihoods and habitats and don't get any thing in return other than forced destitution and marginilasation . The entire peasantry is up in arms against their forcible eviction all over India for Sezs and other projects. The blood bath at Nandigram was a signal event of peasant resistance against forcible displacement, Fierce Struggles against Sezs and other projects are going on in Raigad Maharashtra against reliance Maha Mumbai Sez, against Posco in Jagatsingh Pur Orissa, Infact entire Orissa has become a battle field. Farmers are struggling against proposed Sezs in Kakinada in Andhra, Mangalore in Karnataka, Jhajjar in Haryana, against the proposed entertainment Sez in gorai near Mumbai and so on. The land question, the fundamental failure of Independent India, has become one of most debatable and controversial topics today. Although the mass media and the dominant parliamentary political parties suppress any public mention of radical land reform, land to the tillers and the abolition of feudal remnants. The irrepressible reality raised the question in one or another form. Today land grabbing by the private corporate sector, both Indian and of foreign origins especially the MNCs of advanced capitalist countries, in the name of so called "development" and with the aid of government agencies and state machinery, has become a subject that can not be avoided. The reason at base is sixty years of failure to meet the legitimate demands of many crore landless peasants who depend on agricultural land for their subsistence but have no claims deemed fully worthy by the judiciary, still the firmest bastion of colonial mentality. With the introduction of the new economic policy since 1991 what has been a half century of localized injustice and repression became a qualitatively different phenomenon; the theft of land on a scale that could not be kept from public attention. Thus the land question is the most important question in India today and the slogan "Land to the tiller the core political slogan today. The struggle for land is going on all over India. *Asit** Note- For the case studies of farmers resistance struggle against Reliance Maha Mumbai SEZ in Raigarh Maharastra and POSCO, Jagatsinghpur, Orissa.See the author's personal webpage at www.revolutionarynucleus.blogspot.com * From jeebesh at sarai.net Tue Jun 10 16:39:26 2008 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh) Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:39:26 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Cyclonudist Message-ID: From a friend in Paris: [On Saturday, a "cyclonudist" protest was organised in Paris : women and men who wanted to cycle naked, to claim for their rights to circulate safely on their bikes in the city. Police said : only upper waist nakedness allowed for men, not for women (the video shows a Green member of the City hall council cycling with her breast covered by her national "scarf", the emblema of her elected status). 3 people have been arrested by the police for so called "sexual exhibition" charges. Exhibiting naked women on giant advertising posters, all over the city, is definitely less provocative and dangerous than 3 naked cyclists. Thanks to the French police, our morality standards are well guarded. Welcome to the 21st century, thank you Mr Sarkozy. To see the video of the naked "mob" http://videos.leparisien.fr/video/iLyROoafYg3T.html ] From project.labels at gmail.com Tue Jun 10 17:28:57 2008 From: project.labels at gmail.com (Raheema Begum) Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:28:57 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] And proclaim to mankind the pilgrimage... Message-ID: Hi everyone! This is to open out the labels game and announce the completion of a poora cycle on the labels blog.I invite you to play! -- http://whosebody.wordpress.com *And*, as always I invite a long term involvement in my work especially towards making collaborative stories and performances from those stories. If you follow the narrative pattern of the game then I would ask that you think about each level a little closely and see if you can fit your life into it, in any way.If you wish to work with that story, then allow us to colour it bring it to life in the form of a performance, about you. So do write in and let me know, because this all I'm saying until we go any further! Best Wishes, Raheema. From oishiksircar at gmail.com Tue Jun 10 23:26:47 2008 From: oishiksircar at gmail.com (OISHIK SIRCAR) Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:26:47 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Play for Peace: Workshop in June In-Reply-To: <62cba67a0806101047n23a06e5bsf044b752d1842c48@mail.gmail.com> References: <62cba67a0806101047n23a06e5bsf044b752d1842c48@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <62cba67a0806101056q1e1b7d5bu2c7a1ecbdda79ea1@mail.gmail.com> Please circulate widely PEACEWORKS, An initiative of The Seagull Foundation for the Arts presents A 3-day intensive workshop on peace-building and conflict resolution conducted by 'Play for Peace' (PFP) – a global organization now in its 10th year which brings together children, youth and organizations from communities in conflict. PFP has worked extensively with young people, notably with Hindu-Muslim and Arab-Jew children/ youth in Gujarat, and in Israel. PFP is a process of community building. It is the creation of ongoing learning partnerships that teaches people to be leaders for peace. The workshop is aimed at training socially committed young people and professionals with the PFP tools to become peacemakers in their own unique ways. WORKSHOP VENUE: 46 Satish Mukherjee Road, Calcutta-700026 (near the Rashbehari crossing) WORKSHOP DATES 27, 28, 29 JUNE 2008 10 am TO 5 pm daily ELIGIBILITY: AGE 16 AND ABOVE REGISTRATION FEE: RS 500 for students Rs. 700 for sponsored candidates SEATS: 30 LAST DATE FOR REGISTRATION: 20 JUNE 2008 CONTACT: INDRANI ROY or SUMEET THAKUR at 2455 6942/43 REGISTER NOW AT SEAGULL ARTS & MEDIA RESOURCE CENTRE 36C S.P. MUKHERJEE ROAD, CALCUTTA-700025 www.seagullindia.com www.playforpeace.org -- OISHIK SIRCAR Scholar in Women's Rights Faculty of Law, University of Toronto oishiksircar at gmail.com oishik.sircar at utoronto.ca From indersalim at gmail.com Wed Jun 11 03:29:24 2008 From: indersalim at gmail.com (inder salim) Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:59:24 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Vivek Narayanan: Readings in Amerika In-Reply-To: <79705fb50806100617x793053dl9f4b229a0d941bd0@mail.gmail.com> References: <79705fb50806100617x793053dl9f4b229a0d941bd0@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <47e122a70806101459g92be0cag47bc386334fff941@mail.gmail.com> hi my dear poet i yearn to see u in a dream you ,be in america or not-america my best of wishes and deep hugs and love to you as ever is On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 2:17 PM, Vivek Narayanan wrote: > Hi friends, > > I'm sending this note perhaps a little indiscriminately, since you never > know who (or whose friends) who might be in New York, Boston or Chicago this > summer... If it's an irritant, do let me know please. Need tips on how to > do this mailing list thing efficiently and non-intrusively. > > If you are around, I hope you can come to one of my readings: > > *Boston*: tonight (June 10), with Katia Kapovich (Russian poet, and one of > the most amazing, intense poets I know of, the very embodiment of poetry) at > Pierre Menard Gallery. Sorry if you weren't invited earlier! The event > invitation is here: > > http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=19886680094&ref=mf > > This event kindly sponsored by Fulcrum Annual and Pierre Menard Gallery. > > *New York* > > 1. Friday June 20: Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY. (T: > 718-681-6000) 7-9 pm. > > I will be performing with Rodrigo Toscano, Camille Guthrie, Drew Gardner, > Brandon Downing and Monica de la Torre, for an event linked to the ongoing > show at the Bronx Museum, "How Soon Is Now?", featuring 30 emerging > artists. Each of us will be collaborating with an artist in the exhibition; > for my part, I am working with Laura Napier on a performance in relation to > her fascinating piece that looks at crowd formations in New York City: > > http://www.lauranapier.com/there.pdf > http://www.lauranapier.com/ > > It's really interesting to watch the different kinds of crowds from the > vantage points listed in the brochure, so do go there! > > This event kindly sponsored by Poets and Writers and the Bronx Museum. > > > > 2. Sunday June 22: Zinc Bar Poetry Reading Series, Greenwich Village: > http://www.zincbar.com/ . 6.30 pm. > > I'll be reading with Michael Scharf. This event kindly sponsored by Poets > and Writers. > > > > *Chicago*: Thursday June 26 (location TBA). > > This event kindly sponsored by Desilit.org and the Kiran Bavikatte > Foundation. > > > > I'll also be in LA (July 1 - 9) and San Francisco (July 9-15), and would be > open to doing readings in those cities. > > > > Cheers > Vivek -- http://indersalim.livejournal.com From luigi at artificialia.com Wed Jun 11 14:04:32 2008 From: luigi at artificialia.com (Luigi Pagliarini) Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:34:32 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] move final release In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <483219C102CB5CFB@> (added by postmaster@aa012msr.fastwebnet.it) re:move final release [http://www.move2digital.net/en/index.html] fernando casás [http://www.fernandocasas.es] intervention uses leds put together by francis naranjo [http://www.francisnaranjo.blogspot.com] in a mural outside expocoruña exhibition centre [http://www.expocoruna.com] fernando casás launches the first of the series of leds which have been set by francis naranjo in a display unit outside expocoruña trade centre. his work _despois de m/arte_, is a contribution to the collective works titled _re:move final release_ on the 10 july 2008 at 12 noon begins the temporary interventions of the electronic display unit set outside expocoruña exhibition centre fernando casás, the galician artist known by his ephemeral work on nature, will open up these series with _despois de m/arte_, his first digital project. he succeeds thanks to his treatment of what is ephemeral which goes together well with this luminous writing on 15 leds which are the framework of frances naranjo´s display unit each intervention will last around a month and will be part of the _re:move final release_ a collective work which is one of the fundamental components of new media art; without each artist's contribution a complete production would not be possible. curator: nilo casares [http://comisario.net] artists: fernando casás (gondomar, spain) [http://www.fernandocasas.es] darko fritz (amsterdam, holland, born in croatia) [http://darkofritz.net] dionisio cañas (tomelloso, spain) [http://www.dionisioc.com] yucef mehri (venezuela) [http://www.cibernetic.com] eva y franco mattes (europe) [http://www.0100101110101101.org] luigi pagliarini (pescara, italia) [http://www.artificialia.com/luigi] arcángel constantini (méxico df, méxico) [http://www.unosunosyunosceros.com] antonio mendoza (los angeles, usa) [http://www.subculture.com] fernando llanos (méxico df, méxico) [http://www.fllanos.com] gazira babeli (second life) [http://gazirababeli.com] brian mackern (montevideo, uruguay) [http://netart.org.uy] jimpunk (paris, france) [http://www.jimpunk.com/] From anivar.aravind at gmail.com Wed Jun 11 14:42:53 2008 From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind) Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:42:53 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] ISO has put the OOXML standardisation process on hold Message-ID: <484F9715.5070402@gmail.com> http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/10/2018238&from=rss schliz alerts us that ISO, in response to the four appeals (Denmark, India, Brazil, South Arica) filed in recent weeks, has put the OOXML standardization process on hold. Here is ISO's press release, which says that ISO/IEC DIS 29500 will not be published for at least "several months" while the appeals process goes forward. Importantly, as ISO's press release states, 'according to the ISO/IEC rules, a document which is the subject of an appeal cannot be published as an ISO/IEC International Standard while the appeal is going on. Therefore, the decision to publish or not ISO/IEC DIS 29500 as an ISO/IEC International Standard cannot be taken until the outcome of the appeals is known'. From moinakb at yahoo.com Thu Jun 12 20:27:30 2008 From: moinakb at yahoo.com (moinak biswas) Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:57:30 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Journal of the Moving Image No. 6 Message-ID: <198611.78277.qm@web55003.mail.re4.yahoo.com> Journal of the Moving Image, No. 6, issue on 'Sound Cultures in Indian Cinema', is available online http://www.jmionline.org/jmi6.htm Moinak Biswas On behalf of the Editorial Borad Department of Film Studies Jadavpur University, Calcutta 700 032 From info at fondation-langlois.org Fri Jun 13 01:20:39 2008 From: info at fondation-langlois.org (La fondation Daniel Langlois) Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:50:39 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Daniel Langlois Foundation Newsletter Message-ID: <282a768ee57c32112e04c324388b7ec7@fdl-webmestre> An installation by Juliana Rosales in Montreal >From April to May 2008, artist and architect Juliana Rosales from Montevideo (Uruguay) participated in a research and experimentation residency at OBORO's MediaLab as part of the program Research and Experimentation Residency in Montreal for Professional Artists from Emerging Countries or Regions, offered jointly by the Daniel Langlois Foundation and OBORO. Inside the lobby of the Caisse populaire Desjardins du Mont-Royal in Montreal, Rosales has created a botanical installation with native plants from the Laurentian. Various sensors monitor a range of environmental parameters as well as the reactions of passers-by: http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?Lstsrv=200806&NumPage=2093 Latin American Electroacoustic Music Collection We are pleased to present the third component of the research project conducted by Ricardo Dal Farra, the Latin American Electroacoustic Music Collection. Mr. Dal Farra has received permission from 33 Latin-American composers to post an additional 200 audio files on the Foundation's Web site. In all, 231 electroacoustic pieces are now available online, which translates into more than 40 hours of music: http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?Lstsrv=200806&NumPage=556 From berlin at bodhiart.com Thu Jun 12 19:10:22 2008 From: berlin at bodhiart.com (BodhiBerlin) Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:40:22 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Invitation for BlindStars StarsBlind by Shilpa Gupta Message-ID: <1102132797596.1101864521903.3563.1.130935DE@scheduler> Shilpa Gupta Berlin Invite [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001HuSWhFyY2C1-s1xrvNxHoz3hvLTH_icHeFtanFsdEP1IK1LlAnTVefwskO0iXZ-MgKiqWdCBFwAAon8-FkLYZQbu7487OqObiqB01Q-GpBPdQIhVZPsWNhXdGkWjLdN4zn_gvfP156D19fRSkoRosFz4rb3NycWDa5zxlrj625BzK2ZfH6gAeA==] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BlindStars StarsBlind Vernissage June 13th, 2008 6 pm at BodhiBerlin 8 pm at Galerie Volker Diehl BodhiBerlin and Galerie Volker Diehl are proud to present the first monograph exhibition in Germany of the eminent media artist, Shilpa Gupta. Both galleries have collaborated with the artist to allow both Berliners and an international audience further access to her particular use of regional and political geography in which she tackles issues that include notions of borders within and in-between media, religion and nations. The work of Shilpa Gupta has been widely shown in the context of major group exhibitions, including the Media City Seoul Biennale in 2004, the Biennales of Sydney, Shanghai, Havana, and Liverpool in 2006, and Lyon in 2007. She has had a number of monograph shows in New York and in Bombay, where her oeuvre has been widely acclaimed and welcomed for its vehement reworking of the mixed media tradition. Her ensemble of works, begun after graduating in 1997 from the B.F.A. Sculpture Program at the prestigious Sir J. J. School of Fine Arts, Bombay, has included the use of interactive mediums fused with traditional sculptural and photographic elements. Performance has also played a major role in demonstrating her ability to contextualise difficult contemporary subjects and subjectivities, including personal space, and the abrupt global relationship to security and alterity: the internal experience of what Jacques Derrida aptly called "difference". BlindStars StarsBlind is an apt title for an exhibition and a book by an artist who uses language in a fragmented form of translation. The works by Gupta talk about region, border, and territory to express themselves in their own kind of historical intention. This exhibition highlights a spectrum of works that help to grasp those concerns that drive her aesthetic and media judgments in the age of global mediation and cultural translation. In an interview with Shaheen Merali, she described her concerns as follows: "Often artists like myself who are working in a so called 'activist' role become branded as activist artists". The role of activism is a driving force for many of her observations as she visually vocalizes her deeply felt concerns for the plight of those who remain speechless and are made silent through disempowering conditions. The crossover between facilitation, production, performance, and gallery practice creates a rich mix that helps render the agonizing cosmopolis of cultural exchange and political discourse. Triggering such mechanisms and positions, Gupta allows us to evaluate the lived and perceived experiences of our realities by bringing together a number of contradictions in the fabric of contemporary life and our notions of freedom. Furthermore, Gupta's leanings towards a more democratising, even socialist, agenda in terms of ideology allows her to remain somewhat skeptical of the role of the market place in the artistic realm. Her works question this contradictory position in both their construction and in their context. In creating a world as her ambition, she helps us to manage the necessary labour in looking at and measuring a strategic globalisation, which is based on disruption, rather than focussing on a crisis state where consumerism seems to be the only measurable form of change. The exhibition BlindStars StarsBlind prompted an identically titled publication which will be launched at the end of June 2008. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forward email http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?m=1101864521903&ea=announcements at sarai.net&a=1102132797596 This email was sent to announcements at sarai.net, by berlin at bodhiart.com Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe(TM) http://visitor.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?v=001ZfiuR_73g8obnMC1KRdBd9agKBrt5l_1Ec5zydF54cP5ztxR7t_Bt9LVXSGmt1dvDFcAN8J1P8ETdt0DljFinw%3D%3D&p=un Privacy Policy: http://ui.constantcontact.com/roving/CCPrivacyPolicy.jsp BodhiBerlin | Hamburger Bahnhof | Invaliden Strasse 50-51 | Berlin | Berlin | 10557 | Germany -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From sreejatac at gmail.com Fri Jun 13 15:21:54 2008 From: sreejatac at gmail.com (sreejata roy) Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:51:54 +0100 Subject: [Reader-list] Invitation Message-ID: Khoj Studios invite you for the Open Day of the City[In]visible by Sreejata Roy Associate Residency (Community Art Project) on Sunday, 15th June 2008 Part I An Exciting Space is Opening Soon Venue: Open ground in front of Gyan Deep School Time: 5pm-7pm Part II Paar Nazar Ke Venue: Khoj Studio 6:30pm onwards Khoj Studios S-17 Khirki Extension New Delhi - 110017 Tel: 11 65655873/74 http://khojworkshop.org/ From khurramparvez at yahoo.com Fri Jun 13 16:37:26 2008 From: khurramparvez at yahoo.com (Khurram Parvez) Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:07:26 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] =?utf-8?q?=E2=80=A6and_injustice_for_all?= Message-ID: <551355.75602.qm@web31813.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Press Statement by the Relatives of the  victims of  Triple Murder case   The acquittal of Abdur Rashid Khan Alias Rashid Billa (SDPO) and the other police officials responsible for the killing of three youth namely Nazir Ahmed Gilkar, Javed Ahmed Shah and Ghulam Rasool Mattoo who were arrested on 23rd of June 1999 is condemnable and serious miscarriage of justice.   On 23rd June 1999 the trio while returning from the marriage ceremony were detained by the Soura Police station, where Nazir Ahmed Gilkar was tortured to death and his body was thrown in Dal Lake . The other two detainees were taken to Sheeri Baramulla where they were killed and buried secretively in Kichama graveyard.   The case became high profile and was entrusted to Crime Branch and accused except Rashid Billa who remained absconding, were arrested and put on trial. Rashid Billa was believed to be living under the protection and patronage of then IGP Mr. Gill and staying at his farm house. The accused got the case transferred to Jammu . The Special Leave to Appeal filed against the transfer of case to Jammu which caused inconvenience to the family members of the victims was dismissed by the Supreme Court of India on 01-10-2001.   During trial out of 63 witnesses only 36 deposed and all the police witnesses turned hostile. They even contradicted their own statements made under section 161 of Cr. P.C. thereby paving way for the acquittal of the accused. According to the Sessions Judge Jammu, observations:   “The police witnesses on whom the prosecution could depend upon ion the case have not deposed even a word against the accused. The police witnesses have in totality denied the occurrence having taken place in the police station Soura. The statement of the police witnesses at the very first glance proves fatal for the prosecution. Their statements were very key for the prosecution as very important link could be established connecting the accused with the commission of offence. If the police witnesses are not supporting the prosecution version then who else is expected to depend for the prosecution.   Judiciary has now become very sensitive against acquittals in the cases where the investigation remains under pressure or the witnesses are turned hostile. The important cases like Priyadarshini Mattoo’s, Jessica Lal’s and the Best Bakery Case of Gujarat violence were the cases in which superior judiciary ordered re-trial and set aside the acquittals made in the trial courts. In Priyadarshini Mattoo’s case the accused Santosh Kumar who was acquitted by the trial court was finally convicted after the Delhi High Court in consequence of massive public outcry had fixed day-to-day trial and judgment was reached in 42 days. The original acquittal was over turned and Santosh Singh was found guilty of murder and rape. The court also observed that there has been inaction by Delhi Police and under influence of his father who was then the Joint Commissioner of Police in Delhi . Similarly in Jessica Lal’s case, the accused Mannu Sharma, son of the influential politician was also acquitted by the trail court but finally after the massive outcry from the civil society groups the Delhi High Court set aside the acquittal order and convicted Mannu Sharma for life imprisonment. Even the witnesses who turned hostile initially have been put on notice to explain why they should not be tried for perjury.   The Best Bakery murder trail received wide attention after witnesses retracted testimony in court and all accused were acquitted. The Indian Supreme court ordered a re-trial outside Gujarat and 9 accused were found guilty. Even Zahira Sheikh the prime witness was found guilty of perjury.   In the state of Jammu Kashmir the acquittals are normal and conviction of the police officials is very rare. Even in the rape cases the accused have been acquitted. The glaring example is the rape case of mother and daughter from Banihal, where the accused army official has been acquitted by court. No appeals have been filed by the state. The triple murder case demonstrates that even in the high profile murder cases the conviction rate is zero and justice is a mirage for people. The only option left for the relatives of the triple murder case is to mobilize the public opinion and also expose the farcical institutions claimed to be upholders the rights of the people.   The relatives have decided to file an appeal seeking for re-trial of the investigation expecting the judiciary to follow the precedents outside the state. The family members also expect the Judiciary to initiate action against the police witnesses for perjury. Fair trial in future demands prosecution of the high ranking official Mr. Gill who has been patronizing the prime accused, Rashid Billa, who is still absconding even after acquittal.   We the family members pledge that we shall not rest till we get justice.   Relatives of the victims of triple murder case From elkamath at yahoo.com Sat Jun 14 11:24:56 2008 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:54:56 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] FW: Missing Public Intellectual by S Srinivasaraju Message-ID: <590895.2770.qm@web53612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> FYI http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080611&fname=sugata&sid=1 Print This Page Web| Jun 11, 2008 Bangalore Byte Missing: Public Intellectual The simple fact about the just concluded polls is that there was no big point made, no big idea discussed. No political leader or party took the risk of espousing a big cause. We still do not know what ideas we defeated and what we accepted. SUGATA SRINIVASARAJU The election dust has settled down in Karnataka. The BJP government is safe, at least for the time being. Even as I recover from the fatigue of closely watching the polls, I have been asking myself: What is it that we debated during these elections? Did we vote for a fresh perspective or was there any perspective at all? Surprisingly, the debate that obsessively took place about money-spent by candidates to buy votes, caste combinations, the various lobbies at play and the stability factor which, in the final reckoning, are segmented issues on the fringe. They are lazy stereotypes of any election season that simply devours newsprint and scatters attention. Surely, they are not the larger purpose of elections or a democracy. The simple fact about the just concluded polls is that there was no big point made, no big idea discussed. No political leader or party took the risk of espousing a big cause. With all the statistics and analyses of results before us we still do not know what ideas we defeated and what we accepted. I somehow get a feeling that imagining 'public interest' has itself been outmoded in recent years. It appears that for political parties there is no public, there are only caste or class groups; there are urban elite or rural masses. The latest addition to this are the various corporate entities vying for attention. A simplistic slotting of almost everything has taken place. Each caste, class or corporate entity represents only its interests, conveniently assuming that the whole is made up of such disparate interests. But we have often seen that this is not true. The truth is that the different parts of a whole are not equally sized or similarly endowed. When such is the case, isn't there a need to reconstruct, reimagine a whole, a larger public? Are we mistaking the trees for the woods? Do we need to allow elections to merely become an exercise in winning or should we ensure that big issues and grand ideas take the lead? Manifestos that political parties put out are shabby and dull documents that have no currency beyond the day of their release. Neither idealism nor ideology governs our political parties anymore. They are gripped by the bug of pragmatism. With our economic orientation placing a heavy accent on individual growth the resulting alteration that has taken place in our social outlook is reflected in the general attitude of our political parties during elections. The emphasis within parties is on the 'winnability' of candidates, not on the winnability of ideas. I am not saying that there was a lot of idealism in the past and it has now vanished, what I am trying to say is that there is not even a pretence of it anymore. Even as we try to resurrect the dream of a greater common good, a question that trails us is who should ensure that big issues are raised and brought to focus? It is here that we feel the absence of public intellectuals. This is a tribe that has diminished in the recent past. We are surrounded by academicians, professionals, experts, strategists, lobbyists, but one rarely comes across a public intellectual these days. An independent, non-aligned, amateur hell-raiser, dutiful letter writer and conscience-keeper has gone missing from our midst -- and hence the steep fall in public discourse. To borrow the words of Italian political philosopher Antonio Gramsci we are only left with "organic intellectuals." By which he means people who are used by 'classes' or 'enterprises' to organise interests, gain more power and get more control.Eminent thinker and activist Edward Said interpreting Gramsci's phrase in his Reith Lectures (on BBC in 1993) says that today's "advertising and public relations expert, who devises techniques for winning a detergent or airline company a larger share of the market, would (also) be considered an organic intellectual by Gramsci, someone who in a democratic society tries to gain the consent of potential customers, win approval, marshal consumer or voter opinion." In what can be seen as a symbolic decapitation of a public intellectual, a man who once actively filled up the 'letters to the editor' column on issues of public concern in Karnataka, Mumtaz Ali Khan, is now a cabinet minister in the new BJP government. He has submitted himself to BJP's tokenism of representing a minority person in the cabinet. This, after BJP did not give a single ticket to a person from any minority community to contest the elections. Very soon more intellectuals, irrespective of their professed ideological hues, will line up outside ministerial chambers in the Vidhana Soudha to corner positions in the various academies of arts and literature that are now up for grabs. The scene is such that every thinking man or woman is waiting for his or her turn to be co-opted by the state. Watching television during elections further confirmed my fears of the missing public intellectual. One heard spokespersons after spokespersons in different garbs, but nobody who spoke for the common man and a common good. Spokespersons have taken up the space vacated by public intellectuals. Similarly so in the print media, if one newspaper promotes a set of intellectuals 'close' to a party, the rival newspaper allows intellectuals from another party to cultivate the space. The game is so entrenched that pontiffs of powerful caste seminaries too have come to alternatively share space in the op-ed pages of newspapers. As a result, the space that a public intellectual once occupied is no longer a non-aligned, neutral space, but is a space that is cleverly shared by political parties and interest groups. As a result of all this, where we need to have a multiplicity of views, we have just two views in the public domain. I will conclude by quoting from Edward Said's Reith Lectures again: "...The intellectual is an individual with a specific public role in society that cannot be reduced simply to being a faceless professional, a competent member of a class just going about her/his business. The central fact for me is, I think, that an intellectual is an individual endowed with a faculty for representing, embodying, articulating a message, a view, an attitude, philosophy or opinion to, as well as for, a public. And this role has an edge to it, and cannot be played without a sense of being someone whose place it is publically to raise embarrassing questions, to confront orthodoxy and dogma (rather than produce them), to be someone who cannot be easily co-opted by governments or corporations, and whose raison d'etre is to represent all those people and issues that are routinely forgotten or swept under the rug..." So, isn't it time to recover the big idea and rescue the public intellectual? From b_a_r_u_k at yahoo.com Sat Jun 14 15:58:33 2008 From: b_a_r_u_k at yahoo.com (Baruk S. Jacob) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 03:28:33 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] FW: Missing Public Intellectual by S Srinivasaraju In-Reply-To: <590895.2770.qm@web53612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <824534.47788.qm@web54205.mail.re2.yahoo.com> interesting article. and while is correctly points out our lack of 'public' life, it doesn't look into why this public life is missing. have we all gone online? are we too disconnected from the immediate politics around us? too much work? too little time? or have we just stopeed caring? ~baruk --- On Sat, 6/14/08, lalitha kamath wrote: > From: lalitha kamath > Date: Saturday, June 14, 2008, 11:24 AM > FYI > > > http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080611&fname=sugata&sid=1 > > > Print This Page > Web| Jun 11, 2008 > > Bangalore Byte > > Missing: Public Intellectual > > The simple > fact about the just concluded polls is that there was no > big point > made, no big idea discussed. No political leader or party > took the risk > of espousing a big cause. We still do not know what ideas > we defeated > and what we accepted. From taraprakash at gmail.com Sat Jun 14 20:51:14 2008 From: taraprakash at gmail.com (TaraPrakash) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:21:14 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] FW: Missing Public Intellectual by S Srinivasaraju References: <590895.2770.qm@web53612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <01cd01c8ce32$498be250$6400a8c0@taraprakash> "The simple fact about the just concluded polls is that there was no big point made, no big idea discussed. No political leader or party took the risk of espousing a big cause. We still do not know what ideas we defeated and what we accepted. One would assume that the elections in India are otherwise about ideas. Was Karnataka election an exception? "what can be seen as a symbolic decapitation of a public > intellectual, a man who once actively filled up the 'letters to the > editor' column on issues of public concern in Karnataka, Mumtaz Ali > Khan, is now a cabinet minister in the new BJP government. He has > submitted himself to BJP's tokenism of representing a minority person > in the cabinet. This, after BJP did not give a single ticket to a > person from any minority community to contest the elections." That seems very correct. However, the author would look like practicing what he seems to be preaching if he had not singled out a supposed intellectual who joined BJP. It appears that Srinivasaraju is unhappy as BJP is the gainer. Many others have left the "intellectual" sphere to join the "pragmatic" sphere for the obvious perks. People previously known as "intellectuals" like Prabhat Patnaik were hellbent to defend all the brutal/"pragmatic" steps taken by CPI(M) Even though previously they had been lauded for opposing the "right wing" Congress for the similar "pragmatism". Sanjay Nirupam, whom the Sangh Parivar thought an "intellectual" for writing in Shiv Sena's mouthpiece Samna, lost his untouchability status once he joined Congress. Srinivasaraju would appear more "intellectual" if he had named such parties who are always open to anyone who renounces his/her party for the perks from different ones. Now BJP is not the only one, intellectuals have renounced their ideology to join other parties too. The question whether one should consider individual trees or the entire wood is very pertinent. In the context of the political parties, I think many trees stand out in the woods. It is not the wood that shapes them, it is the tree/s which shape the wood. Remember that the woods called Shiv Sena and BJP were not involved in the recent attacks on the North Indians, attack on Loksatta journalist or on Samna office in Maharashtra. Even though the trees that were involved were part of those woods. If one likes to join the woods and all the woods have same kind of trees in the available woods, one would look for the maximum perks that a particular wood can offer. ----- Original Message ----- From: "lalitha kamath" To: "reader-list" Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2008 1:54 AM Subject: [Reader-list] FW: Missing Public Intellectual by S Srinivasaraju > FYI > > > http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080611&fname=sugata&sid=1 > > > Print This Page > Web| Jun 11, 2008 > > Bangalore Byte > > Missing: Public Intellectual > > The simple > fact about the just concluded polls is that there was no big point > made, no big idea discussed. No political leader or party took the risk > of espousing a big cause. We still do not know what ideas we defeated > and what we accepted. > > SUGATA SRINIVASARAJU The election dust has settled down in Karnataka. The > BJP government > is safe, at least for the time being. Even as I recover from the > fatigue of closely watching the polls, I have been asking myself: What > is it that we debated during these elections? Did we vote for a fresh > perspective or was there any perspective at all? > Surprisingly, the debate that obsessively took place about > money-spent by candidates to buy votes, caste combinations, the various > lobbies at play and the stability factor which, in the final reckoning, > are segmented issues on the fringe. They are lazy stereotypes of any > election season that simply devours newsprint and scatters attention. > Surely, they are not the larger purpose of elections or a democracy. > The simple fact about the just concluded polls is that there was no > big point made, no big idea discussed. No political leader or party > took the risk of espousing a big cause. With all the statistics and > analyses of results before us we still do not know what ideas we > defeated and what we accepted. > > I somehow get a feeling that imagining 'public interest' has itself > been outmoded in recent years. It appears that for political parties > there is no public, there are only caste or class groups; there are > urban elite or rural masses. The latest addition to this are the > various corporate entities vying for attention. A simplistic slotting > of almost everything has taken place. > Each caste, class or corporate entity represents only its interests, > conveniently assuming that the whole is made up of such disparate > interests. But we have often seen that this is not true. The truth is > that the different parts of a whole are not equally sized or similarly > endowed. When such is the case, isn't there a need to reconstruct, > reimagine a whole, a larger public? Are we mistaking the trees for the > woods? Do we need to allow elections to merely become an exercise in > winning or should we ensure that big issues and grand ideas take the > lead? > Manifestos that political parties put out are shabby and dull > documents that have no currency beyond the day of their release. > Neither idealism nor ideology governs our political parties anymore. > They are gripped by the bug of pragmatism. With our economic > orientation placing a heavy accent on individual growth the resulting > alteration that has taken place in our social outlook is reflected in > the general attitude of our political parties during elections. The > emphasis within parties is on the 'winnability' of candidates, not on > the winnability of ideas. I am not saying that there was a lot of > idealism in the past and it has now vanished, what I am trying to say > is that there is not even a pretence of it anymore. > > Even as we try to resurrect the dream of a greater common good, a > question that trails us is who should ensure that big issues are raised > and brought to focus? It is here that we feel the absence of public > intellectuals. This is a tribe that has diminished in the recent past. > We are surrounded by academicians, professionals, experts, strategists, > lobbyists, but one rarely comes across a public intellectual these > days. An independent, non-aligned, amateur hell-raiser, dutiful letter > writer and conscience-keeper has gone missing from our midst -- and > hence the steep fall in public discourse. > To borrow the words of Italian political philosopher Antonio Gramsci > we are only left with "organic intellectuals." By which he means people > who are used by 'classes' or 'enterprises' to organise interests, gain > more power and get more control.Eminent thinker and activist Edward > Said interpreting Gramsci's phrase in his Reith Lectures (on BBC in > 1993) says that today's "advertising and public relations expert, who > devises techniques for winning a detergent or airline company a larger > share of the market, would (also) be considered an organic intellectual > by Gramsci, someone who in a democratic society tries to gain the > consent of potential customers, win approval, marshal consumer or voter > opinion." > > In what can be seen as a symbolic decapitation of a public > intellectual, a man who once actively filled up the 'letters to the > editor' column on issues of public concern in Karnataka, Mumtaz Ali > Khan, is now a cabinet minister in the new BJP government. He has > submitted himself to BJP's tokenism of representing a minority person > in the cabinet. This, after BJP did not give a single ticket to a > person from any minority community to contest the elections. Very soon > more intellectuals, irrespective of their professed ideological hues, > will line up outside ministerial chambers in the Vidhana Soudha to > corner positions in the various academies of arts and literature that > are now up for grabs. The scene is such that every thinking man or > woman is waiting for his or her turn to be co-opted by the state. > > Watching television during elections further confirmed my fears of > the missing public intellectual. One heard spokespersons after > spokespersons in different garbs, but nobody who spoke for the common > man and a common good. Spokespersons have taken up the space vacated by > public intellectuals. Similarly so in the print media, if one newspaper > promotes a set of intellectuals 'close' to a party, the rival newspaper > allows intellectuals from another party to cultivate the space. The > game is so entrenched that pontiffs of powerful caste seminaries too > have come to alternatively share space in the op-ed pages of > newspapers. As a result, the space that a public intellectual once > occupied is no longer a non-aligned, neutral space, but is a space that > is cleverly shared by political parties and interest groups. As a > result of all this, where we need to have a multiplicity of views, we > have just two views in the public domain. > > I will conclude by quoting from Edward Said's Reith Lectures again: > "...The intellectual is an individual with a specific public role in > society that cannot be reduced simply to being a faceless professional, > a competent member of a class just going about her/his business. The > central fact for me is, I think, that an intellectual is an individual > endowed with a faculty for representing, embodying, articulating a > message, a view, an attitude, philosophy or opinion to, as well as for, > a public. And this role has an edge to it, and cannot be played without > a sense of being someone whose place it is publically to raise > embarrassing questions, to confront orthodoxy and dogma (rather than > produce them), to be someone who cannot be easily co-opted by > governments or corporations, and whose raison d'etre is to represent > all those people and issues that are routinely forgotten or swept under > the rug..." > > So, isn't it time to recover the big idea and rescue the public > intellectual? > > > > > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> From iram at sarai.net Sat Jun 14 22:39:40 2008 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:39:40 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Re: from Kafila: to whom it may conecrn In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4853FB54.3050700@sarai.net> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: > Re: [Reader-list] from Kafila: to whom it may conecrn > From: > "Shivam Vij > Date: > Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:32:01 +0530 > > CC: > reader-list at sarai.net > > > > Dear friends, > > After being down for some weeks, Kafila is back, and you'll notice if > you visit it, with a bang. > > http://kafila.org > > > > > > On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 12:57 PM, Ravikant wrote: > >> Hey where did Kafila go? >> >> For those who have been thinking just that. This message comes from the Kafila >> bloggers- >> The Kafila Group of Bloggers wishes to inform >> a) those offended/satisfied by its recent trail of porn links, >> b) puzzled/thrilled by disappearance of autorickshaws and new First World >> global cityscape look >> c) frustrated/vindicated by its complete unavailability over the past few >> days >> d) all of the above, >> that we have been slowly and systematically HACKED but are working on it. >> We would like to believe that the hackers are >> a) the Chinese government >> b) the RSS >> c) They Who Must Not Be Named. >> But most probably the hacking is due merely to Search Engine Optimization >> (only one of us is even remotely near understanding what this means, so most >> of us continue to be in a state of smug smirkiness about how dangerous we are >> to all sorts of Forces of Evil.) >> We hope to be back soon, our impudent little autos intact, so please bear >> with us. >> For those who dont really give a damn either way about kafila - consider the >> fact that this is no worse spam than ads for Cialis. >> >> kafila Gr. >> _________________________________________ >> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. >> Critiques & Collaborations >> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header. >> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list >> List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> >> > > > -- > "Journalism 101, I am sure taught you the difference between reporting > and pontificating. However, the first amendment protects your right > to free speech and therefore your right to ponificate." > From iram at sarai.net Sat Jun 14 22:47:02 2008 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:47:02 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] In Trafalgar Square: The Other 1857: Short Performance by Inder Salim Message-ID: <4853FD0E.4070408@sarai.net> IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE: THE OTHER 1857 A short performance by Inder Salim Trafalgar Square 6pm June 19th, 2008 ================ One million died, And I was born: INDIA 1857 Blood all around, cries, cries of scattered limbs, Raped women and beheaded children, Men, either hanged or blown to pieces in front of cannons or drowned alive, That was my umbilical cord Which I didn't saw, but my mother Who is memory now… My father and me grew up, hand in hand Marching, left right, left right left, Hey, you Indian Sepoy, Keep your nails in check, else I chop off your fingers. That was Him to him in between left right left. Hey, you little boy, clean your hands before meals Else I chop off your fingers, that was him to me. Blue and red uniform brought food to me I remember, how I grew up with saxaphones, drums of Military Parade And that simmering disquiet against that Sun-that-never-sets. I remember, how violence met non-violence. Two million died And I was cut into two: FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT-1947. Celebrations, and unrest, hunger amidst few rich Few rich who hired me to perform. Perform and perform in those blues and reds Performing those crammed notes, I died. Nobody died, But I was Dalit: a born non-existent: A BAND-WALLA A monsoon wedding, or a simple wedding And they tell me to perform In my predecessors blues and reds Which brings food to me and my family. And ah! I play Bollywood tunes. Meri piyaari Bahaniyaa banighee dulhanihya Ban kay aayiangey dulhey rajaa Bhaiya rajaa bajayega bajaa ( my beautiful sister will become the bride, as he will come as a groom , this brother will perform) Perform, I will, to resurrect, 'the other 1857', I promised to my brothers and sisters back in India. In Trafarlgar square, London As I saw myself, living, inside the white concrete slab with 'text' Under General Sir Henry Havelock of1857, who is Silent, but standing confidently high in his robes, So this other 1857, too Silent, but standing confidently in his robes.. -- http://indersalim.livejournal.com From space.cotoners8 at gmail.com Sun Jun 15 00:24:36 2008 From: space.cotoners8 at gmail.com (Space Cotoners8) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:54:36 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] Open calling for artist :: Convocatoria artistas Message-ID: <2ad987420806141154n6b611f33s817113edb767fb17@mail.gmail.com> OPEN CALLING FOR ARTIST C8 offers you 'El Escaparate', a space placed in the main cultural district and busy shopping area of El Born in the city of Barcelona. 'El Escaparate' is a project that tries give a draft to the concept of a 'commercial shop window'. A draft towards the artistic contemporany creation and the expression of ideas. A specific space (2.11 height/1.81 wide/1.22 deep) where the artists can present their offers created through any artistic medium: painting, video, photography, light, text, action… You can send us your offers through our web page www.c8artwindow.com ABIERTA LA CONVOCATORIA DE ARTISTAS C8 te ofrece 'El Escaparate', un espacio situado en el barrio cultural y de compras más visitado de la ciudad de Barcelona: el Born. 'El Escaparate' es un proyecto que pretende dar un giro al concepto de 'escaparate comercial'. Un giro hacia la creación artística contemporánea y la expresión de ideas. Un espacio específico (211 alto/181 ancho/122 fondo) donde los artistas pueden presentar sus propuestas creadas a través de cualquier medio artístico: pintura, video, fotografía, luz, texto, acción... Puedes hacernos llegar tu propuesta a través de nuestra web www.c8artwindow.com From gowharfazili at yahoo.com Sun Jun 15 02:09:24 2008 From: gowharfazili at yahoo.com (gowhar fazli) Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:39:24 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Hong Kong and Kashmiriat Message-ID: <505820.11140.qm@web65601.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> Hong Kong is unnerving for someone who lives in India for more than one reason... the foremost being the level of organization, order and structure... The buildings.... the transport system... cry out and say the place seems to have no people... people the way we know in India... as active agents. High levels of organization that people in this region... the economy driven human change seems to have eaten away at life... Well there might be surprises in store...there ought to be. The glass faces are unnerving. The order is extremely alienating for someone used to nudges and pushes and glares and protests and mocks and general attitude communicated by the passers by in a typical full blown Indian city or even a town. But what is it really... a deeper cultural background or loss of all culture... a complete surrender to market forces... to live as abiding citizen to this huge engine called capitalist state? People do seem to be in rush to get somewhere. It is not that they are unhelpful and uncheerful. It is just that the help is so precise and the smiles are so too much measured and polite. Is everyone exactly the same... one wonders at first site. The hell is that a bus service from the metro... something we call a feeder service in India... goes to exact stations even while it is almost empty... even with just two people on board who the driver knows will get off at the last station. He actually stops at all stations.... goes to every hotel door to pick up imaginary people... moves only when the valet bids him to go! A Kashmiri mini bus driver would either stay on till he packs the bus with real people to the brim or would take major short cuts and sell off the state fuel he will save, for extra pocket money! A Delhi DTC guy will skip stations even when he sees real people, only because he wants to drive fast and be in control... may be even running down a couple of unsuspecting people in the process (thus the name killer dtc!) It is by experiencing the positive attitude of the people at another level of interaction that you understand that there is more to this culture and city. The energy is bewildering. The amount of themselves they put into their work... the effort to do it right... without making two bones about it (!) Wow! This is how they ACTUALLY are! They just don't pull you down and make you feel bad at all. How can PEOPLE be like this! This short visit has changed my view about East Asian people so drastically... I always felt Indian Asians are smarter. But negativeness is not actually smart. Because being positive and giving a pleasant feeling to others actually pushes everybody forward... while the cumulative effect of trying to pull others down to move up actually ensures collective backwardness and bad feeling... even if people do actually get a bit crafty in the process. There is a place called Ladies Market in Hong Kong... some thing comparable to cheap clothes market on JANPATH Delhi. There is bargaining... almost exactly alike in both places (but that Indians bargain much harder and break deals much too often)... except in Hong Kong... they make you feel beautiful at the end of every deal with a smile and a bow. The skeptic Indian mind wonders if this is real or just habit.... but even if it were mere gesture... we all love to be treated well. We deserve this minimum. In this case Hong Kong is right. Perfection, cleanliness, rules, have not yet left me comfortable just as yet. They are good but my South South Asian sensibilities long for chaos, disorder, warmth and some defiance... I am more at home in that. Perfection cleanliness and order are a mixed blessing and come at a price. We must bargain hard. We shouldn’t buy them at the cost of surrendering our individual autonomies... especially the right to speak up and express disgust. Freedom to the level of self destructiveness is necessary for ones being and soul... so says my Kashmiri mind (it tops the Indian one in all senses let me tell you! especially in the latter feature... probably we have understood the value of freedom over the centuries of denial... and its fake forms in recent history in a hard hard way. Give it to us I tell you!) How do we get a high dose of passion and kindness at the same time and that too without creating a bad upset! There must be a place in the world that has done it all well or is there any? I can't say... I have hardly travelled. But I buy this one from Irfan... one must travel... internationally... in order to feel the real difference among people living under different systems... if only to return and understand ones own better. Thanks for the realization that India, however massive and diverse... is not the World! Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of dreams is paid for by a growing potential for nightmares. Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. Peter Ustinov From anivar.aravind at gmail.com Sun Jun 15 17:32:59 2008 From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind) Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:32:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] =?utf-8?q?On_Chengara_Struggle=3A_Beyond_just_a_?= =?utf-8?b?4oCYSG9tZSBhbmQgYSBOYW1l4oCZ?= Message-ID: <485504F3.3050902@gmail.com> Translation of speech by Sunny Kapikkad Beyond just a ‘Home and a Name’ from Kafila by jdevika http://kafila.org/2008/06/14/beyond-just-a-home-and-a-name/ [The transformation of the agenda of the mainstream left in Kerala is beginning to produce resistance, and nowhere is this more visible than at Chengara in the south eastern Pathanamthitta district. The ongoing struggle for land there brings into relief not just the denial of productive resources to the real tillers of the soil – the Dalits – in Kerala’s land reforms, but also the shift of the left from the fight against inequality to the distribution of ‘minimum entitlements’. It also draws attention to the manner in which a ‘state-centric’ civil society, mainly the large network of poor women’s self-help groups sponsored by the State’s poverty eradication “Mission’, has been authorized as ‘authentic civil society’. All claims made outside these formal institutions are thereby rendered illegitimate and indeed, ‘against the law’. At Chengara, the protestors have been resisting the combined force of the state and the major political parties, laying claims to productive resources – and rejecting ‘minimum entitlements’. Indeed, the darker side of ‘democratic decentralization’ in Kerala, the ‘new Kerala Model’, as it has been called by its admirers, is the implicit legitimacy it grants to blatant violence unleashed upon people who struggle for economic equality, who do not find ‘minimum entitlements’ the solution to rampant and growing economic inequalities in contemporary Kerala. No wonder, then, that the Chief Minister of Kerala felt no qualms in warning the leader of the Chengara land struggle, Laha Gopalan, that if the protestors did not peacefully return to their villages (where they could put in applications for 3 or 5 cents of land for housing), they would have to encounter “police with horns and thorns” – in other words, not just armed police, but a bestial force. Nandigram, in short. The struggle, however, remains vibrant and growing. Below is a translated version of a speech made by leading Dalit activist and intellectual, Sunny M Kapicadu, at a night-vigil organized in support of the ongoing land struggle in Thiruvananthapuram on 7 March 2008, in which he defends the struggle against powerful efforts to malign and undermine it. - JD ] Friends, The land struggle at Chengara, the circumstances that led to the struggle and the government’s attitude towards it urgently demand our attention today. According to available information, in the past seven months or so, more than 7,000 families have settled down there and built hutments. Till today, no official attempt has been made by the government to approach those who are struggling with the intention of inquiring about their demands; no democratic talks have been initiated. It was on 4 August 2007 that 300 families entered the Chengara Estate, which was being held by Harrison Malayalam Plantations and began to live there. After that there has not been much of organizational work around this move. In other words, the struggle did not grow in force because the Sadhujana Vimochana Munnani, which leads the struggle, went about the length and breadth of Kerala, inviting landless folk. In fact, the reverse. The intensity of struggle was maintained by the 300 there, and because they successfully overcame the first crisis – a crisis that arose when organized plantation workers belonging to the CITU, AITUC, INTUC and other trade unions attacked them – landless people began to flow there, finding it to be a site of struggle in which violence had been beaten back. Thus, after two months, the number of families grew from 300 to more than 7000. The newly arrived folk have all built huts and settled down. People from many districts of Kerala – Alapuzha, Pathanamtitta, Kollam, Kottayam, Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kasaragod – have reached Chengara – large numbers of folk who have no land, who live on the streets, who lived paying rent in small rooms. They are not spending their lives there shouting slogans for all twenty-four hours; they lead lives as families, husbands, wives and children. The husband goes out seeking work outside the plantation; he returns with a few days’ earnings from manual labour. The next week, it may be the wife who goes out seeking work. So the 7000 families here live from their labour alone. I stress this because there is the idea that such a massive struggle can happen only if supported by crores of rupees flowing in from here and abroad. But the struggle has a very different ethical stance, and this is proof of that: the struggle committee constituted there is not one that helps those of come there to hang on through handouts of money and food. Rather, each person who lives there has survived on his or her own labour for all the past seven months. The second point I want to stress is that people from all castes and creeds are to be found among these 7000 families. I think there are no Nambutiri Brahmins , but there are Nairs, Syrian Christians, Muslims, members of the Scheduled Castes, Dalit Christians, Adivasis, and all others. But about 90 per cent are Dalits and Adivasis. Next come the Muslims. This is not the case in Chengara alone; in our visits to colonies of landless people in Kollam district and other places, we saw that next to the Dalit community, Muslims constitute the largest chunk of landless people. In Punalur, there are landless people living on both sides of the road, for kilometers altogether, most of who are Muslims. But in Chengara, the majority is Dalits, Dalit Christians, and Adivasis. In reality, this is a cross-section sample of the landless in Kerala. Sample surveys have shown that the Dalits constitute 85 per cent of the landless folk in Kerala. There is good reason to believe this. Thus wherever struggles around land occur in Kerala, the majority of the participants will be Dalits and Adivasis. Chengara is no exception. The struggle at Chengara is undoubtedly one of the major land struggles in Kerala’s history. Ten years back, such a struggle would have been unthinkable. Ten years back we all thought that there was no scope for another land struggle in Kerala. That there was no land to be redistributed in Kerala. Even social activists thought that all the land that could have been legitimately redistributed had been exhausted. It was the Adivasi land struggles that revealed to us that this notion was false, and that there is arable land in Kerala that may be redistributed. For whole of forty-eight days, the Adivasis laid siege by building little huts here, in front of the Secretariat where we have now gathered, and in front of the Chief Ministers’ House. An agreement was reached only on the forty-eighth day. In those days, when hundreds of Adivasis camped here demanding arable land, political leaders of both the ruling and opposition parties were united in proclaiming that C K Janu and her group were being propped up by funds from abroad. It is only natural that a political party thought that way. The parties may have assets worth crores, but they lack the ethical will to support 500 people for 48 days in this city. For that the daily expenses of these people will have to be met. As someone who had actively intervened in the organization of that Adivasi struggle, I can tell you that it was the colonies in this city that made it possible for the struggle to survive. It was from the dalit colonies in this city that sacks of rice arrived at the cooking shed here. A jeep used to go around for that purpose. The situation would be explained to folk there, and each house would contribute handfuls of rice to make sackfuls. After the struggle ended, after the forty-eighth day, there were just two sacks of rice left. I am saying this because the politicians were sure that the struggle was supported by foreign hands. My point here is that it was this struggle that taught the people of Kerala that arable land was indeed available for redistribution. It is in the context of this struggle that landless people of other communities entered the land struggle at Chengara. How the majority of such people happen to be Dalits and Adivasis is something that must be examined historically. It is not enough to understand this struggle as if it were merely a struggle for land by the landless, a united fight by all those who have no land. For it is those people who did not receive land in Kerala’s land reforms who are coming here. However may we idealise the land reforms, it has been proved beyond doubt that they failed to make available land to some social groups in Kerala. The crux of the land reforms that were put forward by the government in 1957, which were implemented on 1 January 1970 was the fixing of ceilings on the amount of land that a family could possess, and the promise that surplus land would be taken over by the government and redistributed among the landless. However, the plantation sector was exempted from land ceilings. We have to realize that once the plantation sector was exempted, all that was left for redistribution were some paddy land towards the west, some land in the midland areas, and some fallow fields that belonged to the Nilambur royal house. These famous land reforms that we’ve all heard of is actually a law that gave full ownership rights to tenant cultivators. The Dalit and the Adivasi who could never even once become a tenant within Kerala’s traditional caste system, they did not receive any protection from this law. Thus the historical fact about Kerala is that lakhs of people had to live outside the land reform law. The Hutment Dwellers’ Act was passed to deal with these surplus folk. It is estimated that 25 lakh families benefited from Kerala’s land reforms; we need to be clear about this. Nearly 5 lakh families gained from the Hutment Dweller’s Act. Of this, 4, 25,000 lakh families are Dalit or Adivasi. When the land reforms were interpreted by government officials in Wayanad, the Adivasi became the land lord, and the migrant farmer, the tenant! Besides, the person claiming ten cents of land as per the law had to prove that he had been residing there since 1968. These crafty fellows persuaded the Adivasis to move out of their traditional habitations, convincing them that they would be made possessors of the best land if they resided there at the time of the reforms. When the law was passed, evidence was produced that showed that the Adivasis had been residing in those lands only since 1970; and thus, in this strange way, they were dispossessed. Many more such frauds were perpetrated as part of the implementation of the land reforms. In 1968 the government had estimated that some 8, 75,000 acres of surplus land would be available for redistribution. However, till date, the government has been able to acquire just 1,24,000 acres. The rest has all been usurped through underhand practices. Trusts had been exempted from ceilings. Overnight, hundreds of trusts were formed in Kerala. Through creating trusts and registering deeds in false names and other ways, all this land was spirited away. Out of the roughly 1,25,000 acres acquired only 96,000 was redistributed. This is how land redistribution in Kerala is. The Dalit, the Adivasi, and the coastal people, who could not be tenants within Kerala’s traditional caste system did not gain anything, not even a cent. The Hutment Dweller’s Act was passed to accommodate this section of the people. According to this Act, 10 cents of landing the panchayat area, 5 cents in municipal areas, and 3 in corporation areas could be claimed by a family. But many people were yet to receive land even after such distribution. Because lakhs of people were still outside this law. The One Lakh Houses Scheme was announced in 1972 for these people. In 1970, a revolutionary land reform was implemented. The One Lakh Housing Scheme was announced only in 1972! One Lakh houses. A wall in the middle. A house on each side. Two houses in one building. Five cents per house. The government came forward to build one lakh houses with this calculation. Naturally, in those days all of us thought that this was a progressive scheme to provide housing for all people in Kerala. Actually, this was a scheme to accommodate all the people who had been excluded by the land reforms. And there were still more people left after the One Lakh Housing Scheme was implemented. It is for these people that hundreds of Harijan colonies were established in Kerala. The first Harijan colony in Kerala was formed in 1938. From one in 1938, their numbers have gone up to more than 12500 Dalit colonies in 14 districts, as the SC/ST Department’s figures admit. The Revenue Department has announced that there are 4083 Adivasi colonies in Kerala. Thus lakhs of people live today crowded into two and three cents of land in some 16000-20000 official or unofficial colonies. Besides, tens of thousands of people live in huts beside roads, canals, and other unoccupied marginal land – as we see when we travel in Kerala. These are the people who have become the focal point in a struggle like Chengara. Thus it is the people who, historically, have been excluded from land reforms, who have come forward with claims upon land today. We will be able to see why the government has taken such a hostile stand against the struggle only if we understand it from such a historical context. We need to take very seriously the fact that even though this section of society has waged a struggle since the past seven months and a half, the democratic government in Kerala has not bothered to invite them for talks. This is so, because land has always been a major issue. The intellectuals who asked us why we need land in this digital age need to understand that in Kerala, even a dispute over title deeds would make sparks fly. This means that the organized sections of society need their land, consider it valuable. If there is a dispute over title deeds in the hilly areas of Kerala into which migration has taken place from the plains, both the ruling party and the opposition would surely pitch in heavily. It would grow into a fiery issue. Why is it, then, in this politically-enlightened Kerala, that the powerful lack the democratic ethics, which would have made them go to the group that has struggled persistently for the whole of seven and a half months to ask what their struggle was for? Here we need to see deeper. We know from experience that Kerala’s society is shaken only if some particular groups struggle. That’s something we can’t miss. In a particular part of Kozhikode district, around 200 families have occupied some land, and have been staying there. It’s been many years since the High Court of Kerala ordered their eviction in clear terms. The government of Kerala has not yet evicted them, and further, their right to stay on has been protected through a special order. There’s something in this. These people have occupied land under orders from a certain church in Pala. Neither the LDF nor the UDF have any problems about offering them protection. But the government’s stand is that it will not respond justly when the Dalits, Adivasis, and those who sleep on the roadside take to the streets. The second experience comes from Muthanga. The then-Chief Minister, A.K. Antony had signed an agreement with the struggling Adivasis that land would be distributed to them, and that the constitutional provision for Adivasi self-government would be recommended. The same Chief Minister then deployed thousands of policemen against those who conducted another struggle to get the agreement implemented, not caring to find out why the struggle had been re-kindled, leading to the police firing. Four days before the firing, all four political parties in Wayanad held a joint hartal. It demanded that the Adivasis should be evicted from Muthanga. So it is clear that this enlightened Kerala, this Kerala which is considered the very home of political alertness, its legacy is one that turns away from the completely legitimate demands of Dalits and Adivasis. There is not even the recognition that such a struggle has been on since the past seven months and a half. The members of the Chengara Land Struggle Solidarity Committee met the Kerala Chief Minister, the convener of the Left Democratic Front, and the CPM State Secretary, with the demand that the government should redistribute land to the struggling families and bring their struggle to an end.I was a member of that group. All three told us, in the same voice, that this was no struggle, this was illegal land grab. We have plans to give land to the landless, they said, and we will indeed give. But we will not countenance your struggle; we will not accept it. This is a very important thing. The Dalits and Adivasis are trying to create a dialogue with the Kerala government, are trying to exercise collective social agency, within a democratic society. But the government tells us: you aren’t social agents. We are here to do all these things, and we will do them, they proclaim. This is illegal occupation. Indeed. Kerala is ruled today by a person who’d demanded that those who possessed land by illegal means should be blacklisted. If that list is even prepared, Harrisons Malayalam will figure topmost in it. Harrison has not paid a pie as rent on the Chengara Estate since 1994. And so, the lease agreement is invalid now. If I lease out land, I should pay rent. If I default voluntarily, then the lease expires. The Harrison lawyers have moved the law on an estate for which the lease has expired. The government, which ought to use the strong evidence against Harrison to take back the estate, is accusing us of illegal occupation! The same company sold 3500 acres of leased land held by it in the Cheruvally estate at Kottayam to an individual — a priest called Yohannaan — for 126 crores; it has sub-let leased land at an estate in Thrissur. The government’s own enquiry commission discovered that Harrison had amassed 99 crores this way. Yet the government’s ire is not against such persistent law-breakers, but against the struggling landless poor. It continues to argue that they have grabbed land, and that such actions are unacceptable. The other day, Kerala’s Minister in charge of SC/ST affairs said that we should not occupy land as part of political action. Balan, the communist, talks just like the pastor. Kerala is not going to find any respite as long as people of this ilk rule. These people ought to realize that India itself was born out of massive civil disobedience. It can happen only that way, that’s how history is. So I don’t claim that we aren’t breaking the law. We aren’t going to bow low and touch the government’s feet. We are indeed law-breakers. Balan tells us, don’t do it. Remember, this is a Minister who represents a movement that was born out of the successive waves of law-breaking initiated by many different groups of people in Kerala in their fight for rights. So in effect, what they are saying is this: if the law has to be broken, we are the ones who can do it. We alone. This Dalit, this Adivasi, they haven’t grown tall enough to do it. Balan reminds us that we aren’t citizens enough to break the law. The Home Minister declared that the people in Chengara don’t belong to those who hunger for land. According to the positions that the government has taken hitherto, Harrison and other similar players are the ones who hunger for land. The second announcement was that these struggling folk are actually land owners. That comes out of a conspiracy. Nowhere in Kerala does a struggle take life for land to land owners. Not in Chengara, not in Aaralam, or Aalakkot. ‘Land to the Landless’ is indeed the major demand of the struggle. The Struggle Committee, too, demand that if there are any land owners among the people demanding land, they should be identified and excluded. The very government that ought to inquire about this and exclude such elements, is indulging in slander. Laha Gopalan has land, they say. Laha Gopalan, who is the State President of the Sadhujana Vimochana Samyukata Vedi is not trying to communicate his domestic wants and lacks to the Chief Minister. The people who agree that EMS Nambutiripad, who owned tens of thousands of paras [a traditional measure] of land, could speak for the landless, they can’t accept that Laha Gopalan, who owns one and a half acres,can do so, too. This is what I call the Dalit issue. Do you know, the night the firing took place at Muthanga, Janu and Geethanandan went missing. After the rumour that he had been killed spread, press reporters went looking for Geethanandan’s house and ended up near a two-storied house in the Tayyil area of Kannur. They came back, saying that it can’t be Geethanandan’s house! I call this the Dalit issue: the idea that Geethanandan, who struggles for Adivasi land rights, must necessarily live in a run-down hovel. We can’t discuss political issues in Kerala without getting rid of such baggage. Laha Gopalan represents the Sadhujana Vimochana Samyukata Vedi and its demand that all landless people in Kerala should receive land. He doesn’t say, I don’t have land, give me some. The Chief Minister should understand that. He isn’t advancing a simple basic necessity of life. He is talking politics. The Chief Minster’s refusal indicated that he does not accept this. Finally the government says that it will give land only to the Adivasi. This is a strange defense, indeed. In 2001, when the Adivasis slept on the streets of this city for full 48 days, all these politicians said that they won’t be given land. Six years hence, when all the landless – Dalits, Dalit Christians, Muslims, and all others – joined together to struggle for land, they say that only the Adivasi needs land. This move is a well-planned one. In effect the government says that other than the Adivasi, there are no landless people in Kerala. That is, it does not accept that those of live in Harijan colonies, One-Lakh houses, by the roadside, and so on are landless. It does not accept that the fish workers who lead hellish lives in one and one and a half cents, without the land to even build a shelter are landless. By ignoring these landless groups, and picking out just the Adivasis, the government is trying to scatter the political action building up at Chengara. But someday the government will have to concede; it will have to accept the claims of these landless groups. The numbers of women and children who were ready to immolate themselves with kerosene there last week ran to hundreds. We do not favour self-sacrifice. We want all the landless in Kerala to gain land without a single life lost. But after a seven-and-a-half month long struggle in the face of social neglect, if the police march in there, these people have no other way. No other way but say, I sacrifice my life. We must understand that if one life is lost there, we will have to witness hundreds of deaths. I say this as someone who knows the place directly, who knows the tension the people there have been living through. If the news gets out that people sacrificed their lives for land in a place like Kerala, that will be counted as a tragedy in history. That’s why there should be pressure from the general public to resolve the issue without provoking unfortunate incidents there. Today we need such pressure that will force the government to deal with the issue democratically, to redistribute land to the landless without causing any loss of life. That is the only way this struggle can succeed. But today no such pressure exists. Kerala did not react to the terrible violence of the state at Moolampally. In Chengara hundreds of people came to the brink of self-sacrifice; Kerala has looked away. It is hard to be proud of this Kerala. We need to see Chengara as a struggle for a new Kerala, one that dismantles the old. This is new Kerala would be one in which the social agency of all marginalised groups including Dalits and Adivasis are recognized. We must reconstruct our sense of citizenship. Kerala needs to be turned into a physical and cultural space that includes all sections of society. A major task has been initiated at Chengara, one that exceeds the amount of land the occupants get. Our actions in solidarity need to be attentive to this fact. I end my words, with the plea that we need to think of the various forms of activism possible, and that individuals and organizations should take them forward. From elkamath at yahoo.com Sun Jun 15 20:56:04 2008 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:26:04 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Fw: Is It Time for Gay Arranged Marriages? Message-ID: <84954.90568.qm@web53607.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Is It Time for Gay Arranged Marriages? By Sandip Roy, New American Media Posted on June 10, 2008 When I left India for America, my aunts worried about who I might end up marrying. "I hope you'll marry another Bengali," an aunt told me. Over the years that relaxed to, "I hope she's a Hindu, even if she's not Bengali." Then it became, "At least another Indian," until finally we reached, "I hope you'll get married to someone before we all die." She probably didn't mean another man. But now it might just happen. Same-sex marriage is on a roll in California. First a Republican-dominated Supreme Court said there was no reason gays and lesbians couldn't get married. Now there comes a new Field poll that says that, for the first time ever, a majority of Californians think same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. As the pink confetti settles around us, I'm left wondering how immigrants are going to come out anymore. Many of us come from countries that really don't have a word for "gay." India certainly doesn't. There are epithets and some rather technical terms. Coming out in India is usually about marriage. This is the default coming out line: "Mom, Dad, I don't think I am going to get married." Now the California Supreme Court has yanked that line away. Perhaps it's time. After all, the Oxford English Dictionary has apparently had to recalibrate its definition of marriage to allow same-sex marriage. The Field poll shows that Californians support the right of same-sex couples to marry by a margin of 51 to 42 percent. In a state where one in four Californians is foreign-born, that seems to be an astonishing change. When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom started issuing same-sex wedding licenses in 2004, some of the first protests came from Chinese churchgoers. After all, immigrant families are supposed to be socially conservative. But that might be part of the reason why the tide is finally shifting on gay marriage. (Of course a younger, more socially liberal state helps.) For my immigrant friends, being gay in California is not much of an issue. Being unmarried in their 30s and 40s is the real issue, the conversation-stopper at Indian potlucks, the thing that makes them stick out at Chinese banquets. My friend said that when a heterosexual but unmarried Chinese friend of his told his parents that at least he wasn't gay, the parents retorted "We'd rather you were gay with kids." Immigrant families just understand marriage, even same-sex marriage more easily than singlehood. Singleness means you never grew up. It's the biggest failing of parenthood -- the incompleteness of the unmarried child. It leads to acts of desperation. I've seen the ads for marriages of convenience -- 29 year old professional Indian gay, 5'9", good job, looking for Indian lesbian facing similar family pressures. There was even a website devoted to Assisting Matrimonial Arrangements for Lesbians and Gays from India, complete with a "gaylerry" of posted ads [URL: ]. In 1993 my friend Aditya Advani went to India with his boyfriend Michael Tarr and complained to his mother that no one would ever come to his wedding. She promptly organized a ceremony. The family priest presided over it. "Openly gay and married in my parents' drawing room at the age of thirty," marveled Aditya. "Right on schedule as a good Indian boy should be!" I recently watched their wedding video again at their home in Berkeley while their cats purred on the couch. It still felt like a fairy tale, a lump-in-the-throat act of domestic revolution. In 2004 when San Francisco started issuing the same-sex wedding licenses Arvind Kumar and Ashok Jethanandani rose at 5:30 am to drive from their home in San Jose to San Francisco to stand in line to get married. The couple were already married in a sense. Arvind's mother, who had once adamantly rejected her son's sexuality, presided over a Hindu ceremony for the two after they had been together for more than a decade. They are registered as domestic partners in Palo Alto and the state of California. The registration licenses hang on the wall where other couples might have pictures of their children. Arvind and Ashok couldn't get married in 2004. Despite getting up so early they were behind 300 other couples in line. They finally got an appointment but by then the Supreme Court had halted the marriages. At that time Arvind was philosophical. He knew it was going to be a long fight. "We are just fighting to simplify our lives," says Arvind. "I don't want a Palo Alto date, a state of California date, a Hindu ceremony date. I just want one date, one wedding anniversary like everyone else." Now Arvind and Ashok can get their one date after all. On June 17 California counties will start issuing marriage licenses to couples like them. The next generation of gays and lesbians will have to come up with some other coming out line. And the revolution will have to find some new frontier. Imagine this ad in the local Indian weekly - Hindu very well-established Los Angeles family invites professional match for daughter, 25, 5'3", slim, wheatish complexion, U.S. born, Senior Executive in Fortune 500 company. Loves music and dance. Prospective brides encouraged to reply in confidence with complete biodata and returnable photo. Must be professional, under 30, caste no bar. It might just be time for the gay arranged marriage. Sandip Roy (sandip at pacificnews.org) is host of "Upfront," the Pacific News Service weekly radio program on KALW-FM, San Francisco. -- Cross posted from DEBATE From anansi1 at earthlink.net Mon Jun 16 04:57:41 2008 From: anansi1 at earthlink.net (Paul Miller) Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:27:41 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Palestine - Another normal saturday, another invasion of Dheisheh References: <63fbdb420806141202q3855ffb7mea96796125005c64@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <747A1912-AB24-4AF3-9A99-618F0919FDE6@earthlink.net> > In the process of recording an album with the hip hop group DAM from > Ramallah, Palestine, I came into contact with some interesting > figures from the electronic music scene from both Israel and > Palestine. DAM is doing 2 songs on my next album, and so is Hadag > NacHash, from Tel Aviv, I'm also working on material with JDUB > records, a progressive Jewish record label in Brooklyn. During the > process everyone ended up sending me alot of interesting blog > material from alot of different perspectives. DAM is also the > subject of a friend of mine's new film "Sling Shot Hip Hop" about > hip hop in the Middle East: Sling Shot Hip Hop www.slingshothiphop.com and you can view the trailer at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rdS8zNp3ow I just thought I'd forward this - it's from yesterday, Saturday, June 14, 2008. in peace, Paul aka DJ Spooky From: DAM Subject: another normal saturday, another invasion of Dheisheh Suhell - more to come. > i'll add more pictures on www.norabf.com soon. > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Nora Barrows-Friedman > Date: Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 9:16 PM > Subject: another normal saturday, another invasion of Dheisheh > > > > friends, fam, > > on the table next to me as i write this are two steel bullets, one > encased in hard black rubber, and the other a naked, dull silver. > they were picked up from the street in dheisheh this afternoon, > fired from US-made and financed Israeli weapons. > > At about 2pm, over two dozen israeli armored jeeps and APCs and > bulldozers and secret service rolled into the main street right > outside of Ibdaa center, cut traffic off, and began firing sound > grenades, tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition. > israeli snipers kicked people out of their homes on the other side > of the street and used the top floors as sniper posts. > > my friend Hanin and i were up north in Nablus, catching up with old > friends and planning/researching a few stories for later next week, > and my friend Marcy Newman called my phone with the news. we > immediately headed back to bethlehem, and were receiving updates > throughout the whole two-hour, three-taxi, five-checkpoint ride. two > people shot. then three. half an hour later, five people shot and > injured, one of them a woman. the count is now at 15 people injured. > i felt horrible that i wasn't there as the invasion began. > > hanin and i got out of the taxi about 500 meters down the street > from ibdaa, right in front of a huge APC (armored personnel carrier) > parked next to an armored jeep. several israeli occupation soldiers > were inside and outside, reloading their M16s and firing sound > grenades into the camp. a rain of stones would come, bouncing off > the hoods of the vehicles. the entire street, a normally bustling > thoroughfare that connects Hebron with Bethlehem, was eerily quiet > except for the stones and the blasting fire of the israeli weapons. > we ran across the street, into a shwarmeh cafe, where people were > watching the events unfold from the back room. > > we cut into the camp with some of my former students, a group of > beautiful, tall girls who were coming back from their high school > exams and surprised to see the camp under seige, and headed back > toward Ibdaa. > > we found ourselves running with the throngs of stone-throwing > Dheisheh boys, as we tripped over white stones and green and silver > tear gas canisters with hebrew and english ("made in Philadelphia, > USA") written on them, my camera and digital recorder working > overtime trying to document as much as possible. tear gas stinging > noses, eyes, the backs of our mouths. we made our way carefully back > to ibdaa from the back, tear gas permeating the entire front area of > the camp. hours later, you can still smell it and taste it on your > lips. > > at about 6pm, the soldiers began piling back in their jeeps, > followed by dozens of young men, encroaching closer and closer to > the remaining occupation soldiers, throwing stones and beating them > back in defense of the street, the camp, the community. as the last > jeep turned the corner to leave the camp, soldiers still firing > sound grenades indiscriminately, dozens of boys turned into > hundreds, cheering and holding up the international victory sign. > > more than four hours of siege, shooting, and resistance. > > my former radio production student Loai lives in the house that the > Israelis destroyed during this invasion. they apparently were > looking for his 16 year old cousin who was "wanted" by the israeli > military. "wanted," after his father Ahmed was killed by the same > military just four months ago. "wanted," for throwing stones. an > invasion for this boy. a relative told me, his hands in the air, > "it's not like he had an RPG! he's just a kid!" > > Loai took me and Marcy into his cousin's house. the israelis hadn't > needed to use their Caterpillar bulldozer; they did a smashing job > with their guns and their bare hands. the walls were smashed in. the > sink and the entire bathroom was smashed to pieces. furniture was > smashed to splinters. cooking gas poured on the rugs and on the > couches and beds. mirrors smashed to glass slivers. the door was > bombed. the wardrobes were open, rummaged through, pocked with > bullet holes. Another one of Loai's young cousins came in the front > room with a giant plastic bag full of bullet casings, including > several tear gas canisters, heavy sound grenades, and some shrapnel- > like slivers of metal that no one had seen before. "they're using > new ammunition, we have no idea what it is," Loai explained. > > the entire place was destroyed. the 16 year old "wanted" boy managed > to escape. and the boys of dheisheh had beat the fourth-largest > military in the world. > > now, as the sunset casts a purple-orange glow over the streets, > littered with stones and normal traffic rumblings, the television is > set to the sweden-spain soccer match and people are laughing, white > dust still on some of the boys' hands. > > there are kites flying over the camp now. one of them has a > palestinian flag fluttering behind it, one hundred feet up in the air. > > another day in occupied palestine. > > more to come. > i'll add more pictures on www.norabf.com soon. > > nora > > > > -- > ☆┌─┐　 ─┐☆ > 　│▒│ /▒/ > 　│▒│/▒/ > 　│▒ /▒/─┬─┐ > 　│▒│▒|▒│▒│ > ┌┴─┴─┐-┘─┘ > │▒┌──┘▒▒▒│ > └┐▒▒▒▒▒▒┌┘ > 　└┐▒▒▒▒┌┘ > 　 ＼__　___/ > 　 ＼__　___/ > YaMaN > ☆　　　 ▦　　　 ☆ > -- > Suhell from DAM > www.myspace.com/damrap > www.slingshothiphop.com > www.dampalestine.com From sonia.jabbar at gmail.com Mon Jun 16 10:38:53 2008 From: sonia.jabbar at gmail.com (S. Jabbar) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:38:53 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Another Lal Masjid Message-ID: Another Lal Masjid in the Making? Ahmad Bilal >From Chowk, June 8. In April, I had to make an emergency trip to Pakistan due to declining health of my father. Since my last couple of trips had been very short, this was after more than two years that I was visiting Pakistan for four weeks, most of them to be spent in my hometown of Bahawalpur. When I had visited back in 2005, it was a visit after 4 years, so new roads and cell phones in every hand looked quite fresh. This time, at least on the surface, little seemed to have changed since my last trip. On my way home from the airport, it looked like the same old desert town of Bahawalpur. The date palms, the early summer heat, the dust and the desert wind were all too familiar. As the car stopped at the main gate of my parents¹ house, a poster pasted on the gate caught my attention. The title of the poster was ³Azmat-e-Quran Conference². And the key speaker was going to be someone named Masood Azhar. Why did the name sound familiar? I thought about it for a moment, but then as the car moved in, the happy feeling of meeting my parents again overwhelmed me and I quite forgot about it all. The next few days were spent making courtesy calls and getting over the jet lag. Then came the day when I was fresh again to go out and meet relatives and family friends in the city. As I went out, I saw the same poster pasted all over the city with a lot of white flags hoisted on all major intersections. I wondered what was going on, and the name Masood Azhar clicked with some old memories of watching this man on the news a long time ago. Yes, he was the same Masood Azhar who founded the Jaish-e-Muhammad organization and served time in Indian jails before getting freed through hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet. Bahawalpur always used to be laid back small town where everyone knew everyone. Masood Azhar was a neighbor of my cousins and used to have a small low profile house which wasn¹t even visible from the road. I remember when he was released, the BBC wanted to film his return from the terrace of my cousins¹ house, but they refused due to privacy concerns. Since then, we heard little about him in the news or local gossip. In general, the people didn¹t give him much credibility. While I was thinking about the past, my attention was drawn towards the wall chalking around me. Gone were the usual slogans of old times, directing people to visit miraculous witchdoctors for solutions of all their problems. The walls were filled with anti-west hate slogans, with ³Al-Jihad Al-Qital² (holy war, bloody battle) written everywhere around the central mosque. This was not the Bahawalpur I knew when I was growing up. As we got closer to the central mosque, I saw the adjacent ground filled with bearded men in white robes, with more of them reaching the place in buses, chanting the slogans which were written all over the city. A number of men were uniformed, and they had closed the road to facilitate movement of buses into the place. The purpose of the conference was to distribute a new book of Masood Azhar which had supposedly substantiated that the jihad these men thought they were preparing for was actually sanctioned by the verses of Quran, based on their strict politically-motivated interpretation. We reached the house of our family friends with mixed thoughts. Obviously disturbed by these developments, I asked them what was going on in the city. They said it had been silently going on for a long time. Over the years, Masood Azhar had converted his small house into a multi-floor concrete compound housing 700 armed men, who freely did target practice there. All this was located in a very central part of the city, ironically called Model Town. The police dared not touch these men, and instead of putting pressure on them to stop their activities, the local politicians were actually hiring these men as bodyguards during the elections. After leaving their house, as we got closer to my cousins¹ house, a strange tall building with the same white flags on top was visible from a distance. This was Masood Azhar¹s compound. A few blocks away from my cousins¹ house, our car got stuck in a crowd of the same bearded men in white robes who flocked outside the compound and watched us suspiciously as we drove through them. For a moment, I felt like a stranger in my own hometown. Everyone at my cousins¹ house thought of all this as something normal and didn¹t seem to be bothered. While talking to people about this, I had some interesting conversations with some of the people who were involved in local politics and the internal politics of Islamabad. Their understanding was that Masood Azhar was like Rasheed Ghazi of Lal Masjid. The way they explained it was that ISI gets money channeled through CIA. Some of it goes to fund extremists, some of it goes to eliminate them, and most of it goes in shady bank accounts. The agencies get their money, the US benefits from the instability in the region to maintain military presence here, Musharraf gets to stay in power by showing his performance in war on terror, and the bearded men in white robes think they are doing some great service to religion by dedicating their lives to militancy. So this was a win-win situation for all parties, at the expense of the fabric of Pakistani society. Although I took their explanation with a grain of salt, I thought a lot of it did make sense. On my way back home, a huge billboard at the heart of the city grabbed my attention. It showed a passenger plane on fire with a slogan on top: Another Victory for Muslims. I had a flight back to the US coming up, and the plane on the billboard resembled the 777 I took to fly to Pakistan. I wondered if the ones behind this billboard actually realized what they were portraying. Beneath the billboard, the cityscape was filled with common Pakistanis going about their everyday struggle for survival. From sonia.jabbar at gmail.com Mon Jun 16 11:19:42 2008 From: sonia.jabbar at gmail.com (S. Jabbar) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:19:42 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] NREGA Message-ID: From: aruna roy Date: Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 7:23 PM Subject: Please read and Sign - Statement in response to DC and SP Palamau report Dear friends, We are attaching (and enclosing inline text with some of the initial signatories) a statement on the happenings in Palamau jharkhand related to uncovering of fraud in NREGA works in social audits and violent reactions to that. The latest is a report that has been sent by the District Administration of Palamau which, amongst other things contains many ridiculous allegations against Jean and the survey team. we are also attaching the scanned copy of the DCs report as carried by Prabhat Khabar, and a link to an article in the Indian Express on the growing violence against NREGA activists: http://indianexpress.com/story/322527.html Could you please go through the statement below, and if you approve send your concurrence as soon as possible so that the signed statement can go to various newspapers. Please send this urgently to kiranshaheen at gmail.com with a copy to mkssrajasthan at gmail.com . Also please send this on to others for them to sign. If you need any more details, do let us know. in solidarity, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey (for the MKSS) Palamau Report: Enquiry or Cover-up? We are shocked by the recent report prepared by the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Palamau, commenting on Lalit Mehta's murder as well as on the survey of NREGA conducted there in May 2008 by the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad. This report is a deliberate attempt to divert attention from the real issues, which effectively protects those responsible for corruption and violence in the area. The report shows that the police have made no serious enquiries into Lalit Mehta's murder. It does not provide any credible clue to this murder, but raises a number of mischievous conjectures using selective evidence. For instance, the report refers to interviews with Lalit Mehta's brother and his sons, without mentioning that the sons are one and three years old, respectively. Meanwhile, evidence from extensive interviews with Lalit's wife, Ashrita, is ignored. Further, the report is full of factual mistakes. Even the date of the murder is incorrect: Lalit Mehta was murdered on 14 May, not on 15 May as stated in the report. Instead of presenting a serious analysis of the circumstances of the murder, the report makes absurd insinuations, such as Jean Drèze's possible involvement in the murder, or the allegation that he and his team manufactured evidence of fraud in NREGA works. Equally ridiculous is the unsubstantiated claim of the possible role of an old family dispute about Lalit Mehta's inter-religious marriage being the cause for the murder. The report also makes insidious allegations about the survey team, Vikas Sahyog Kendra, and Lalit Mehta's family. For instance, the report presents a ludicrous picture of the social audit activities conducted by the survey team, and even accuses the team of using devious means to collect testimonies. No-one familiar with the team's work (which was conducted in a transparent manner in full view of the public and the media) can take this seriously. Casting unwarranted aspersions on people like Jean Drèze, who is a member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (and therefore mandated to monitor and investigate NREGA implementation anywhere in the country), and on students from Delhi University and other reputed universities, is in fact an attempt to snuff out any independent monitoring of government expenditure. The report reinforces earlier suspicions that there is an entrenched and deep rooted nexus of corruption and violence surrounding NREGA in Palamau, with powerful connections. Otherwise, why would the district's seniormost officers go to such length to undermine a forthright examination of the use of NREGA funds in this area? We demand that the report of the DC and SP Palamau be rejected by the Central Government as well as by the State Government, and that a CBI enquiry into Lalit Mehta's murder and the corruption in NREGA works in Palamau District be initiated immediately. signed Aruna Roy Bunker Roy Arundhati Roy Prabhash Joshi Harsh Mander Kiran Shaheen Nikhil Dey Shanker Singh -- Aruna Roy Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) Village Devdungri, Post Barar District Rajsamand 313341 Rajasthan Telephone : 09929519361 01463-288247 From radhikarajen at vsnl.net Mon Jun 16 13:00:51 2008 From: radhikarajen at vsnl.net (radhikarajen at vsnl.net) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:30:51 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] NREGA In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi, as usual, all this much hyped poverty alleviation programmes of the central government be it national rural emplyoment guarantee schemes or the suraksha, vidya abhiyans are all hogwash at the stage of implementation irrespective of which political party rules the state and implements the schemes as seen in free India. Inspite of foreign banks openly announcing the fact that there are 900 indian accounts in overseas banks with billions of rupees in safekeeping, the present FM being a "criminal" lawyer with income tax practise has the audacity to tell that he has sent legally worded letter asking for the details of these accounts under a separate classification of avoidance of double taxation.! To add to the misery we have a PM who is "honest" economist and has to follow dictates of Madam for mafia appeasements even at the cost of the economy of the nation with wasteful expenditure. Public attention is sought to be drawn with spins of diverting attention from main issue of wastage of funds with differently ruled states be it law and order or criminal offences, as CMs of congress ruled states are holy cows for the neo journalists as they refuse to see the crimes committed in daylight in such states but cry hoarse about states ruled by other party.? Crime and governance of the state is bad in any state but daily dose of rapes, in moving cars, murders and thuggery is highlighted only of some states and ignored if they are in other states by our "secular visual media journalists" thus giving a spin to crimes and sustaining themselves as sellers of miseries of human beings as trp driven titllation mongering living on speculative narratives of the victims.! Regards. ----- Original Message ----- From: "S. Jabbar" Date: Monday, June 16, 2008 11:20 am Subject: [Reader-list] NREGA To: sarai list > From: aruna roy > Date: Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 7:23 PM > Subject: Please read and Sign - Statement in response to DC and SP > Palamaureport > > > Dear friends, > We are attaching (and enclosing inline text with some of the initial > signatories) a statement on the happenings in Palamau jharkhand > related to > uncovering of fraud in NREGA works in social audits and violent > reactions to > that. The latest is a report that has been sent by the District > Administration of Palamau which, amongst other things contains many > ridiculous allegations against Jean and the survey team. we are also > attaching the scanned copy of the DCs report as carried by Prabhat > Khabar,and a link to an article in the Indian Express on the > growing violence > against NREGA activists: http://indianexpress.com/story/322527.html > Could you please go through the statement below, and if you > approve send > your concurrence as soon as possible so that the signed statement > can go to > various newspapers. > Please send this urgently to kiranshaheen at gmail.com with a copy to > mkssrajasthan at gmail.com . Also please send this on to others for > them to > sign. If you need any more details, do let us know. > in solidarity, > Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey > (for the MKSS) > > Palamau Report: Enquiry or Cover-up? > > We are shocked by the recent report prepared by the Deputy > Commissioner (DC) > and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Palamau, commenting on Lalit > Mehta'smurder as well as on the survey of NREGA conducted there in > May 2008 by the > G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad. This report is a > deliberateattempt to divert attention from the real issues, which > effectively protects > those responsible for corruption and violence in the area. > > > > The report shows that the police have made no serious enquiries > into Lalit > Mehta's murder. It does not provide any credible clue to this > murder, but > raises a number of mischievous conjectures using selective > evidence. For > instance, the report refers to interviews with Lalit Mehta's > brother and his > sons, without mentioning that the sons are one and three years old, > respectively. Meanwhile, evidence from extensive interviews with > Lalit'swife, Ashrita, is ignored. Further, the report is full of > factual mistakes. > Even the date of the murder is incorrect: Lalit Mehta was murdered > on 14 > May, not on 15 May as stated in the report. > > > > Instead of presenting a serious analysis of the circumstances of > the murder, > the report makes absurd insinuations, such as Jean Drèze's possible > involvement in the murder, or the allegation that he and his team > manufactured evidence of fraud in NREGA works. Equally ridiculous > is the > unsubstantiated claim of the possible role of an old family > dispute about > Lalit Mehta's inter-religious marriage being the cause for the murder. > > > > The report also makes insidious allegations about the survey team, > VikasSahyog Kendra, and Lalit Mehta's family. For instance, the > report presents a > ludicrous picture of the social audit activities conducted by the > surveyteam, and even accuses the team of using devious means to > collecttestimonies. No-one familiar with the team's work (which > was conducted in a > transparent manner in full view of the public and the media) can > take this > seriously. Casting unwarranted aspersions on people like Jean > Drèze, who is > a member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (and > therefore mandated > to monitor and investigate NREGA implementation anywhere in the > country),and on students from Delhi University and other reputed > universities, is in > fact an attempt to snuff out any independent monitoring of government > expenditure. > > > > The report reinforces earlier suspicions that there is an > entrenched and > deep rooted nexus of corruption and violence surrounding NREGA in > Palamau,with powerful connections. Otherwise, why would the > district's seniormost > officers go to such length to undermine a forthright examination > of the use > of NREGA funds in this area? > > > > We demand that the report of the DC and SP Palamau be rejected by the > Central Government as well as by the State Government, and that a CBI > enquiry into Lalit Mehta's murder and the corruption in NREGA > works in > Palamau District be initiated immediately. > > > > > > signed > > > > Aruna Roy > > Bunker Roy > > Arundhati Roy > > Prabhash Joshi > > Harsh Mander > > Kiran Shaheen > > Nikhil Dey > > Shanker Singh > > > > > > > > -- > Aruna Roy > Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) > Village Devdungri, Post Barar > District Rajsamand 313341 > Rajasthan > > Telephone : 09929519361 > 01463-288247 > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader- > list > List archive: From rashneek at gmail.com Mon Jun 16 15:25:17 2008 From: rashneek at gmail.com (rashneek kher) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:25:17 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Invitation Message-ID: <13df7c120806160255q4617d611sbe8af4f46e1f8ebe@mail.gmail.com> *In commemoration of those who were brutally massacred in an un-ending saga of ethnic cleansing* * * *Roots in Kashmir* requests your presence for an Audio-Visual Presentation and an interactive panel discussion featuring 1.Shankarshan Thakur(Eminent Journalist and Coulmnist) 2.Gautam Kaul( former DGP-ITBP) 3.Mukul Sharma(Director-India,Amnesty International) 4.Zafar Meraj(Freelance Journalist and JKLF idealogue) 5.Tarun Vijay(Noted Columnist and Former Editor-Panchjanya) on *Wandhama Massacre* *The Forgotten Human Tragedy* At Chinmaya Auditorium,Lodhi Road at 6 PM on 20th June,08 Blog: http://kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com/ E-mail: kashmiris.humanrights at gmail.com -- Rashneek Kher Wandhama Massacre-The Forgotten Human Tragedy http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com From asitredsalute at gmail.com Mon Jun 16 16:29:58 2008 From: asitredsalute at gmail.com (Asit asitreds) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:29:58 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] endorsement campaign of official apathy into lalitmehta murder enquriy Message-ID: Dear friends, We are attaching (and enclosing inline text with some of the initial signatories) a statement on the happenings in Palamau jharkhand related to uncovering of fraud in NREGA works in social audits and violent reactions to that. The latest is a report that has been sent by the District Administration of Palamau which, amongst other things contains many ridiculous allegations against jean and the survey team. we are also attaching the scanned copy of the DCs report as carried by Prabhat Khabar, and a link to an article in the Indian Express on the growing violence against NREGA activists: http://indianexpress.com/story/322527.html *Could you please go through the statement below, and if you approve send your concurrence as soon as possible so that the signed statement can go to various newspapers. *Please send this urgently to kiranshaheen at gmail.com with a copy to mkssrajasthan at gmail.com . Also please send this on to others for them to sign. If you need any more details, do let us know. in solidarity, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey (for the MKSS) *Palamau Report: Enquiry or Cover-up? * We are shocked by the recent report prepared by the Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Palamau, commenting on Lalit Mehta's murder as well as on the survey of NREGA conducted there in May 2008 by the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad (As published in the newspaper Prabhat Khabar, Ranchi on 12th, 13th and 14th June ). This report is a deliberate attempt to divert attention from the real issues, which effectively protects those responsible for corruption and violence in the area. The report shows that the police have made no serious enquiries into Lalit Mehta's murder. It does not provide any credible clue to this murder, but raises a number of mischievous conjectures using selective evidence. For instance, the report refers to interviews with Lalit Mehta's brother and his sons, without mentioning that the sons are one and three years old, respectively. Meanwhile, evidence from extensive interviews with Lalit's wife, Ashrita, is ignored. Further, the report is full of factual mistakes. Even the date of the murder is incorrect: Lalit Mehta was murdered on 14 May, not on 15 May as stated in the report. Instead of presenting a serious analysis of the circumstances of the murder, the report makes absurd insinuations, such as Jean Drèze's possible involvement in the murder, or the allegation that he and his team manufactured evidence of fraud in NREGA works. Equally ridiculous is the unsubstantiated claim of the possible role of an old family dispute about Lalit Mehta's inter-religious marriage being the cause for the murder. The report also makes insidious allegations about the survey team, Vikas Sahyog Kendra, and Lalit Mehta's family. For instance, the report presents a ludicrous picture of the social audit activities conducted by the survey team, and even accuses the team of using devious means to collect testimonies. No-one familiar with the team's work (which was conducted in a transparent manner in full view of the public and the media) can take this seriously. Casting unwarranted aspersions on people like Jean Drèze, who is a member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (and therefore mandated to monitor and investigate NREGA implementation anywhere in the country), and on students from Delhi University and other reputed universities, is in fact an attempt to snuff out any independent monitoring of government expenditure. The report reinforces earlier suspicions that there is an entrenched and deep rooted nexus of corruption and violence surrounding NREGA in Palamau, with powerful connections. Otherwise, why would the district's seniormost officers go to such length to undermine a forthright examination of the use of NREGA funds in this area? We demand that the report of the DC and SP Palamau be rejected by the Central Government as well as by the State Government, and that a CBI enquiry into Lalit Mehta's murder and the corruption in NREGA works in Palamau District be initiated immediately. signed Aruna Roy Bunker Roy Arundhati Roy Prabhash Joshi Harsh Mander Kiran Shaheen Nikhil Dey Shanker Singh and many more A comprehensive list is being prepared . From mail at shivamvij.com Mon Jun 16 21:48:21 2008 From: mail at shivamvij.com (=?UTF-8?Q?Shivam_Vij?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=B6=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=B5=E0=A4=AE?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8D_=E0=A4=B5=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=9C=E0=A5=8D?=) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:48:21 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Firefox 3 Message-ID: <9c06aab30806160918t654c7276saf37005e8c051096@mail.gmail.com> 26,947 people from India alone have pledged to download Firefox 3 on 17 June, that is, tomorrow. You can do so, too: http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/ If you don't know what Firefox is, it is an open-source alternative to Internet Explorer that's faster, safer and does not make you loyal to Micro$oft :) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox This is part of Firefox's attempt to set a world record in maximum number of software downloads in a span of 24 hours. If you love Firefox, you will know the passion behind this. Here's why Firefox version 3 is special: http://www.dria.org/wordpress/archives/2008/06/12/655/ From elkamath at yahoo.com Tue Jun 17 10:41:56 2008 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:11:56 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Fw: Web resource for researchers Message-ID: <581899.7286.qm@web53612.mail.re2.yahoo.com> H-ASIA June 16, 2008 A Web resource for researchers ************************************************************************ From: Daniel Niles Here is a site that should be of interest to some on this list: a peer-to-peer cross-disciplinary clearing-house for researchers of all kinds. http://cooperative.ning.com The site will evolve, but it is envisioned as a place where research writers, fieldworkers, local experts, publishers, editors, translators and others can find and help one another. All languages, topics, and research-related requests and offers are appropriate. Once there, for more about the site, see "notes" > "All notes." Daniel Niles National Museum of Ethnology Senri Expo Park, Suita City, Osaka 565-8511, Japan ****************************************************************** From oishiksircar at gmail.com Tue Jun 17 11:31:29 2008 From: oishiksircar at gmail.com (OISHIK SIRCAR) Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:31:29 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Please Endorse Statement on Bhopal to PM TODAY - PLEASE CIRCULATE TO YOUR CONTACTS urgent ! In-Reply-To: <485751FD.9030708@gmail.com> References: <485751FD.9030708@gmail.com> Message-ID: <62cba67a0806162301h121123d0uff79709d5692160f@mail.gmail.com> Friends, Help us get as many endorsement as possible from all cross the country. It would really be helpful. We plan to release it tomorrow at a press conference here and send it to PM. Thanks ! June 17 2008 *Request to Federations, Alliances, Movements, Organisations and Individuals for Endorsement on the Statement to PM in support of Bhopal. Send endorsements to madhuresh at cacim.net * Dear Friends, The survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster and activists have been on a dharna at Jantar Mantar for over 75 days. So far there has been no concrete response from the Prime Minister on their demands. On June 9 in response to a peaceful sit-in at South Block they were arrested and children were abused by the Delhi police. In protest, 5 days ago, nine activists started an indefinite hunger strike. Even till today 23 of the Bhopalis are in Tihar Jail and our attempts to secure bail for them has been met with stiff resistance from the State. This shameful state of affairs must stop. It is crucial that groups across the country unite in support to up the ante on the Manmohan Singh Government. In consultation with the Bhopal Groups it has also been decided to observe a *National Day of Action and Solidarity for Bhopal* on 17^th June 2008 across the country. *We hope you will endorse the statement to PM (pasted below) so that it can be delivered collectively to PMO after 17^th and released to media on 18^th June in a press conference in Delhi. * We have heard from friends and comrades in Delhi, Bombay, Chennai, Coimbatore, Raipur and some other places who will hold some kind of action there today. Let us all join hands now… Please circulate this to your friends, networks and ask them to endorse it too. Every small action counts … In Solidarity Supporters of Bhopal (Send endorsements to madhuresh at cacim.net ) *Statement to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh* *BHOPAL** INJUSTICE A BLOT ON INDIAN DEMOCRACY* We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, express our dismay and indignation at the indifference of the Prime Minister's office towards the rightful demands of the Bhopal gas survivors. Rather than meet their demands promptly, the Government has ignored their march from Bhopal to Delhi, met their 2 month-long dharna with empty promises, and dealt their non-violent protests with beatings and jailing. Your silence has now prompted them to launch an indefinite fast, where they are being joined by a growing number of people, including several from the USA, UK and India, who have volunteered to fast indefinitely along with them. For the past 23 years they have had a set of basic and simple demands; those that should have been met decades ago by any Government that claimed to work for its people. However, on February 20, 2008, women, children and men from Bhopal, had to undertake a grueling march of 800 kms to reach Delhi to press their demands. We are concerned for the health of the people who have begun an indefinite fast. In particular, we are concerned about the well-being of those among the hunger strikers who have already been affected by Union Carbide's poisons. We also are dismayed with the treatment meted out by the police on the protesters who resorted to a peaceful protest in South Block on June 9. 14 Bhopali children, along with 22 adults, were arrested and later beaten up in police custody. To add insult to injury, the Prime Minister's Office and the Police have denied this, hinting that the Bhopalis are liars. The PMO cannot reach any such conclusion without conducting an enquiry, and without speaking to the children who allege this abuse. We urge you to initiate an enquiry and take legal action against the policepersons, many of whose names are known. The PMO has also conveyed that the Bhopalis would need to understand that the law will take its course if they break it – for instance, by breaching a high-security area around your house or office. How is it that the law takes its course for the Bhopalis, but not for Union Carbide or Dow? How is it that the law does not take its course in delivering water to the Bhopalis for years after the Supreme Court orders that this should be done? Sir, the statement read by your emissary Mr. Prithviraj Chavan gave us a little hope, and we thank you for that first step. But we are disappointed by the tentative manner in which the Government is approaching the setting up of the Commission, claiming that the matter requires the complete assent of the State Government. The Government forgets that by declaring itself /parens patriae/, it assumed the role of a parent to the Bhopalis during the civil litigation for damages from Union Carbide. While we welcome the initiative taken by the Prime Minister towards meeting their demands, we request him to take adequate measures to make his promises genuine. The signatories to this statement reiterate the demands of the Bhopalis: · Set up an Empowered Commission on Bhopal by endorsing the bill proposed by survivors organisations and committing to introducing it in the Parliament in the monsoon session. This includes committing the funds required to allow the Commission to function for 30 years for medical, economic, social and environmental rehabilitation. · The Government should immediately initiate legal action against Dow Chemical and Union Carbide. /Endorsed by: / 1. Aasha Parivar, 2. AID India 3. AISA 4. Amnesty International 5. Delhi Solidarity Group 6. Fishermen Coordination of Tamil Nadu & Pondycherry 7. INSAF 8. International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal 9. JNUSU 10. NAPM Delhi 11. MKSS – Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan 12. Nadi Ghati Morcha 13. NCDHR 14. NFFPFW 15. PSU 16. PUCL Rajasthan 17. People's Union for civil Liberties - Tamil Nadu 18. Stree Adhikar Sangathan 19. Students for Bhopal 20. Tamil Nadu Womens' Collective 21. Yuva Samvad 22. CACIM 23. Corporate Accountability Desk, Chennai 24. Delhi Forum 25. Focus on the Global South 26. Intercultural Resources 27. Jagori 28. The Other Media 29. Swechcha 30. Tamil Nadu Environment Council-Dindigul 31. Human Rights Initiative- Tamil Nadu 32. Cuddalore District Consumer Protection Organisation 33. Kanchi Makkal Mandram 34. Chankya Group -- ********************************************** CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98-1890 5316 (Mobile) madhuresh at cacim.net / kmadhuresh at gmail.com www.cacim.net Check out the OpenSpaceForum @ www.openspaceforum.net Subscribe to WSFDiscuss, an open and unmoderated forum on the World Social Forum and on related social and political movements and issues. Simply send an empty email to worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe at openspaceforum.net And, NEW ! : Join CEOS at openspaceforum.net, the CEOS (Critical Engagement with Open Space) listserve for exchange and coordination on open space theory and practice and to facilitate a critical discussion of the idea of 'open space'. Just send an empty mail to CEOS-subscribe at openspaceforum.net -- OISHIK SIRCAR Scholar in Women's Rights Faculty of Law, University of Toronto oishiksircar at gmail.com oishik.sircar at utoronto.ca From radhikarajen at vsnl.net Tue Jun 17 13:02:37 2008 From: radhikarajen at vsnl.net (radhikarajen at vsnl.net) Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:32:37 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] endorsement campaign of official apathy into lalitmehtamurder enquriy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: All citizens must raise the question of propriety of central government and state government which is scared to go into any probe in the irregularities in utilisation of funds in the NREGA scheme, for one this state government is foisted on the citizens by the political parties without any ethics or morals in politics with one point agenda of keeping "communal" BJP out of power. What the citizens should understand is that this communal label is as applicable to all the political parties as it is to BJP as all these parties are with votes of communities based on faith and castes. In the whole process misuse of national exchequer for personal gains has become hallmark of governance with allies of UPA, be it RJD or BSP or Congress itself, where is the funds of oil coupons Sonia. ? Regards. ----- Original Message ----- From: Asit asitreds Date: Monday, June 16, 2008 4:31 pm Subject: [Reader-list] endorsement campaign of official apathy into lalitmehtamurder enquriy To: Sarai Reader List > Dear friends, > We are attaching (and enclosing inline text with some of the initial > signatories) a statement on the happenings in Palamau jharkhand > related to > uncovering of fraud in NREGA works in social audits and violent > reactions to > that. The latest is a report that has been sent by the District > Administration of Palamau which, amongst other things contains many > ridiculous allegations against jean and the survey team. we are also > attaching the scanned copy of the DCs report as carried by Prabhat > Khabar,and a link to an article in the Indian Express on the > growing violence > against NREGA activists: http://indianexpress.com/story/322527.html > *Could you please go through the statement below, and if you > approve send > your concurrence as soon as possible so that the signed statement > can go to > various newspapers. > *Please send this urgently to kiranshaheen at gmail.com with a > copy to > mkssrajasthan at gmail.com . Also please send this on to others for > them to > sign. If you need any more details, do let us know. > in solidarity, > Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey > (for the MKSS) > > *Palamau Report: Enquiry or Cover-up? > * > We are shocked by the recent report prepared by the Deputy > Commissioner (DC) > and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Palamau, commenting on Lalit > Mehta'smurder as well as on the survey of NREGA conducted there in > May 2008 by the > G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad (As published in the > newspaperPrabhat Khabar, Ranchi on 12th, 13th and 14th June ). > This report is a > deliberate attempt to divert attention from the real issues, which > effectively protects those responsible for corruption and violence > in the > area. > > The report shows that the police have made no serious enquiries > into Lalit > Mehta's murder. It does not provide any credible clue to this > murder, but > raises a number of mischievous conjectures using selective > evidence. For > instance, the report refers to interviews with Lalit Mehta's > brother and his > sons, without mentioning that the sons are one and three years old, > respectively. Meanwhile, evidence from extensive interviews with > Lalit'swife, Ashrita, is ignored. Further, the report is full of > factual mistakes. > Even the date of the murder is incorrect: Lalit Mehta was murdered > on 14 > May, not on 15 May as stated in the report. > > Instead of presenting a serious analysis of the circumstances of > the murder, > the report makes absurd insinuations, such as Jean Drèze's possible > involvement in the murder, or the allegation that he and his team > manufactured evidence of fraud in NREGA works. Equally ridiculous > is the > unsubstantiated claim of the possible role of an old family > dispute about > Lalit Mehta's inter-religious marriage being the cause for the murder. > > The report also makes insidious allegations about the survey team, > VikasSahyog Kendra, and Lalit Mehta's family. For instance, the > report presents a > ludicrous picture of the social audit activities conducted by the > surveyteam, and even accuses the team of using devious means to > collecttestimonies. No-one familiar with the team's work (which > was conducted in a > transparent manner in full view of the public and the media) can > take this > seriously. Casting unwarranted aspersions on people like Jean > Drèze, who is > a member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (and > therefore mandated > to monitor and investigate NREGA implementation anywhere in the > country),and on students from Delhi University and other reputed > universities, is in > fact an attempt to snuff out any independent monitoring of government > expenditure. > > The report reinforces earlier suspicions that there is an > entrenched and > deep rooted nexus of corruption and violence surrounding NREGA in > Palamau,with powerful connections. Otherwise, why would the > district's seniormost > officers go to such length to undermine a forthright examination > of the use > of NREGA funds in this area? > > We demand that the report of the DC and SP Palamau be rejected by the > Central Government as well as by the State Government, and that a CBI > enquiry into Lalit Mehta's murder and the corruption in NREGA > works in > Palamau District be initiated immediately. > > > signed > > Aruna Roy > > Bunker Roy > > Arundhati Roy > > Prabhash Joshi > > Harsh Mander > > Kiran Shaheen > > Nikhil Dey > > Shanker Singh > and many more > A comprehensive list is being prepared . > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader- > list > List archive: From swakkhyar at gmail.com Tue Jun 17 18:25:54 2008 From: swakkhyar at gmail.com (swakkhyar deka) Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:25:54 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case Message-ID: <99ca36500806170555i48eed1f8q32b36345dbffc35e@mail.gmail.com> hey folks.....what is going on with the case of the little girl Aarusih's killing....CBI seems to be going round and round with the investigation and finding it very hard come to any conclusion.....has the mystery surronding the case getting too deep for the agency?...in the meantime media have found a cracker material to keep the circulation and TRPs going strong....c'mon give it a break guys...Channels like Star News dramatising and doing everything to make the case a potboiler...I think the CBI men should be allowed to concentrate on their work and Media should hold back a bit....what say? From mail at shivamvij.com Tue Jun 17 19:37:16 2008 From: mail at shivamvij.com (=?UTF-8?Q?Shivam_Vij?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=B6=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=B5=E0=A4=AE?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8D_=E0=A4=B5=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=9C=E0=A5=8D?=) Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:37:16 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case In-Reply-To: <99ca36500806170555i48eed1f8q32b36345dbffc35e@mail.gmail.com> References: <99ca36500806170555i48eed1f8q32b36345dbffc35e@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <9c06aab30806170707w23bb5f0fya5722de5e52af4f9@mail.gmail.com> "Little girl Arushi"... Why aren't you equally bothered about big man Hemraj? On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 6:25 PM, swakkhyar deka wrote: > hey folks.....what is going on with the case of the little girl Aarusih's > killing....CBI seems to be going round and round with the investigation and > finding it very hard come to any conclusion.....has the mystery surronding > the case getting too deep for the agency?...in the meantime media have > found > a cracker material to keep the circulation and TRPs going strong....c'mon > give it a break guys...Channels like Star News dramatising and doing > everything to make the case a potboiler...I think the CBI men should > be allowed to concentrate on their work and Media should hold back a > bit....what say? > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> -- "Journalism 101, I am sure taught you the difference between reporting and pontificating. However, the first amendment protects your right to free speech and therefore your right to ponificate." From mail at shivamvij.com Tue Jun 17 20:03:54 2008 From: mail at shivamvij.com (=?UTF-8?Q?Shivam_Vij?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=B6=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=B5=E0=A4=AE?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8D_=E0=A4=B5=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=9C=E0=A5=8D?=) Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:03:54 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again Message-ID: <9c06aab30806170733t48302bablf56c69c6427f5b82@mail.gmail.com> An organisation in Ahemdabad called National Council for Civil Liberties has filed a case against Ashis Nandy for his article in The Times of India in January after Modi's election victory. The case has been filed for for 'promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language' [Sections 153 (A) and (B) of IPC]. 178 academics and intellectuals have signed a statement in protest, which is available at http://www.sacw.net/FreeExpAndFundos/defendNandy16June08.html Given below is the 'offending' article: o o o Blame The Middle Class By Ashis Nandy 8 Jan 2008 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/LEADER_ARTICLE_Blame_The_Middle_Class/rssarticleshow/2681517.cms Now that the dust has settled over the Gujarat elections, we can afford to defy the pundits and admit that, even if Narendra Modi had lost the last elections, it would not have made much difference to the culture of Gujarat politics. Modi had already done his job. Most of the state's urban middle class would have remained mired in its inane versions of communalism and parochialism and the VHP and the Bajrang Dal would have continued to set the tone of state politics. Forty years of dedicated propaganda does pay dividends, electorally and socially. The Hindus and the Muslims of the state — once bonded so conspicuously by language, culture and commerce — have met the demands of both V D Savarkar and M A Jinnah. They now face each other as two hostile nations. The handful of Gujarati social and political activists who resist the trend are seen not as dissenters but as treacherous troublemakers who should be silenced by any means, including surveillance, censorship and direct violence. As a result, Gujarati cities, particularly its educational institutions are turning cultural deserts. Gujarat has already disowned the Indian Constitution and the state apparatus has adjusted to the change. The Congress, the main opposition party, has no effective leader. Nor does it represent any threat to the mainstream politics of Gujarat. The days of grass-roots leaders like Jhinabhai Darji are past and a large section of the party now consists of Hindu nationalists. The national leadership of the party does not have the courage to confront Modi over 2002, given its abominable record of 1984. The Left is virtually non-existent in Gujarat. Whatever minor presence it once had among intellectuals and trade unionists is now a vague memory. The state has disowned Gandhi, too; Gandhian politics arouses derision in middle-class Gujarat. Except for a few valiant old-timers, Gandhians have made peace with their conscience by withdrawing from the public domain. Gandhi himself has been given a saintly, Hindu nationalist status and shelved. Even the Gujarati translations of his Complete Works have been stealthily distorted to conform to the Hindu nationalist agenda. Gujarati Muslims too are "adjusting" to their new station. Denied justice and proper compensation, and as second-class citizens in their home state, they have to depend on voluntary efforts and donor agencies. The state's refusal to provide relief has been partly met by voluntary groups having fundamentalist sympathies. They supply aid but insist that the beneficiaries give up Gujarati and take to Urdu, adopt veil, and send their children to madrassas. Events like the desecration of Wali Gujarati's grave have pushed one of India's culturally richest, most diverse, vernacular Islamic traditions to the wall. Future generations will as gratefully acknowledge the sangh parivar's contribution to the growth of radical Islam in India as this generation remembers with gratitude the handsome contribution of Rajiv Gandhi and his cohorts to Sikh militancy. The secularist dogma of many fighting the sangh parivar has not helped matters. Even those who have benefited from secular lawyers and activists relate to secular ideologies instrumentally. They neither understand them nor respect them. The victims still derive solace from their religions and, when under attack, they cling more passionately to faith. Indeed, shallow ideologies of secularism have simultaneously broken the back of Gandhism and discouraged the emergence of figures like Ali Shariatis, Desmond Tutus and the Dalai Lama — persons who can give suffering a new voice audible to the poor and the powerless and make a creative intervention possible from within worldviews accessible to the people. Finally, Gujarat's spectacular development has underwritten the de-civilising process. One of the worst-kept secrets of our times is that dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail. Post-World War II Asia too has had its love affair with developmental despotism and the censorship, surveillance and thought control that go with it. The East Asian tigers have all been maneaters most of the time. Gujarat has now chosen to join the pack. Development in the state now justifies amorality, abridgement of freedom, and collapse of social ethics. Is there life after Modi? Is it possible to look beyond the 35 years of rioting that began in 1969 and ended in 2002? Prima facie, the answer is "no". We can only wait for a new generation that will, out of sheer self-interest and tiredness, learn to live with each other. In the meanwhile, we have to wait patiently but not passively to keep values alive, hoping that at some point will come a modicum of remorse and a search for atonement and that ultimately Gujarati traditions will triumph over the culture of the state's urban middle class. Recovering Gujarat from its urban middle class will not be easy. The class has found in militant religious nationalism a new self- respect and a new virtual identity as a martial community, the way Bengali babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different times have sought salvation in violence. In Gujarat this class has smelt blood, for it does not have to do the killings but can plan, finance and coordinate them with impunity. The actual killers are the lowest of the low, mostly tribals and Dalits. The middle class controls the media and education, which have become hate factories in recent times. And they receive spirited support from most non-resident Indians who, at a safe distance from India, can afford to be more nationalist, bloodthirsty, and irresponsible. [The writer is a political psychologist.] From siddharth.narrain at gmail.com Tue Jun 17 21:54:59 2008 From: siddharth.narrain at gmail.com (siddharth narrain) Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:54:59 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] TOI's "Private Treaties" Message-ID: <1773a06d0806170924s39c6faaas743fa569c0fbb02e@mail.gmail.com> Here's an interesting piece on the way the Times of India's "Private Treaties" work. While its not the first piece to be written on the subject, this piece has triggered off a serious debate within the journalist community http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=3174&mod=1&pg=1§ionId=4&valid=true From taraprakash at gmail.com Wed Jun 18 08:50:08 2008 From: taraprakash at gmail.com (TaraPrakash) Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:20:08 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case References: <99ca36500806170555i48eed1f8q32b36345dbffc35e@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <025001c8d0f2$445344f0$6400a8c0@taraprakash> How about jumping in Rahel? I think you covered the news for CNNIBN initially. And the news has been amongst top two headlines on the channel for sometime. I'm not being judgemental about the channel's coverage. CNNIBN is the only channel available to me at the moment. Regards ----- Original Message ----- From: "swakkhyar deka" To: Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 8:55 AM Subject: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case > hey folks.....what is going on with the case of the little girl Aarusih's > killing....CBI seems to be going round and round with the investigation > and > finding it very hard come to any conclusion.....has the mystery surronding > the case getting too deep for the agency?...in the meantime media have > found > a cracker material to keep the circulation and TRPs going strong....c'mon > give it a break guys...Channels like Star News dramatising and doing > everything to make the case a potboiler...I think the CBI men should > be allowed to concentrate on their work and Media should hold back a > bit....what say? > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> From sonia.jabbar at gmail.com Wed Jun 18 10:28:15 2008 From: sonia.jabbar at gmail.com (S. Jabbar) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:28:15 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] FW: Demonstration on 19th June In-Reply-To: <004d01c8d0fe$1e03df60$4d01a8c0@ridhima> Message-ID: On Thu, 12/6/08, vijay bahadur wrote: Dear all, Thanks for all the support that I have been getting from you all in my struggle for justice. Please do try to mark your presence, if possible. Thanks Regards Vijay Dear Friends, 2nd floor, 165, Dr. Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi, is the address where Kanak Lata, an M. Phil student from University of Delhi, her sister Manorama and Brother Chandra Bhushan shifted on 11th February 2007 as tenants. These siblings were in very good relations with the landlord¹s (Grover¹s) family. They would sometimes even help the kids in her house owner¹s family with their studies. Suddenly on 30th April 2008 the Grover family came to know that Kanak belong to the Chamar (Dalit) Community. From there started the acts of caste based abuses, and efforts to get the house vacated, and warnings of brutal beatings and gang rape upon Kanak Lata and her siblings living with her. Grover family even disconnected the water supply for Kanak and her siblings. For three days they underwent inhuman sufferings for water. On 3rd May 2008 evening, Kanak Lata went to fetch water from the tap on the ground floor. At a sudden the whole Grover family attacked her and started beating Kanak Lata very brutally. They shouted, ³saali kutiya chamarin aaj hum tum logon ko batayenge! poore eek saal se jaat chhupa kar hamare ghar ko apavitra kar rakha hain². When her sister Manorama and a brother, Chandra Bhushan came down stairs on hearing the cries of Kanak Lata they too were very brutally kicked, punched and beaten by the whole Grover family. When Kanak¹s one brother and a friend living in nearby colony went to their rescue they too were very brutally beaten by the Grover family. This went for several minutes. The Grover family members were abusing Kanak¹s parents and were shouting to gang rape Kanak and Manorama. They were publicly shouting, ³Saale ek to Bihari aur doosare Chamar ­ neech jaati ke hokar hamaara poora ghar ek saal se apavitra kar rakha hain, aabhi bhago nahin to botiyan kaat kar phek doonga² (you Bihari chamars - the lower caste people, you have been polluting my house for an year, leave my house immediately otherwise I will cut you in pieces and throw it). ³Saalon Chamaron tumhara dilli se namon nishan mita denge² (we will erase your name from Delhi), and many such other abuses and insulting statements. When this shameful act of caste atrocity reached the Mukherjee Nagar Police Station the SHO, Smt. Indra Sharma used all the means to discourage the victims to not lodge an FIR/complaint. The five victims were forced to sit in Mukherjee Nagar police station for more than 18 hours and that too without a drop of water or a grain of food. Meanwhile, the SHO herself directly warned about filing case of molestation and other cases under different sections on Kanak Lata and her brothers. The SHO even talked about monetary compensation. Lastly, when Kanak and other victims did not agree to compromise, a case under Section 354, 324, 341/34 of IPC was registered against Grover family, even though the matter was very visibly of Caste Atrocity and was to be registered under Section 3 of The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. The nexus between Police and Grover family is so strong that Police imposed same sections i.e. 354, 324, 341/34 on Kanak Lata, her siblings and their friend. On arrival of her father from Bokaro Steel City, Kanak Lata with her father and other victims visited the ACP North West Delhi, Mr. Chandrahas Yadav for many a times with the hope to get justice. But to utter surprise, even the ACP very clearly tried to protect Grover family. He asked Kanak Lata to take back the complaint and work towards making her carrier. He also showed the fear of court and examination of the charges made on Kanak Lata, her siblings and a friend. He too also talked about monetary compensation. In the process of seeking justice to the victims of the caste atrocity, Kanak Lata, her siblings, her parents, and friends visited the offices starting from Mr. ACP to the Police Commissioner of Delhi, Mr. Dadwal, and SC/ST Commission, set up to work for the justice to the SCs/STs, Woman Commission, set up to provide justice to the women, and the vice ­ chancellor of University of Delhi. Besides, the print and the electronic media to have been discussing the issue quiet often. But, to our utter surprise, even after completion of one month of this shameful act of caste atrocity in the Capital of Indian Republic, neither the case of caste atrocity has been registered against the Grover family, nor against those Delhi Police officials, who has been highly negligent and unbelievably partial, from the date of this inhuman incident to till date, in this matter. In these adverse situations, Kanak Lata, her siblings, friend, and the supporters of their struggle are now left with no other means, than coming on the road to voice out for justice and let the world, and of course, The Government of India, hear from the victims, the reality of Caste Atrocity in the Very Capital of The Indian Republic. We request all the Progressive People and supporters of Human Rights and Dignity to join hands in Kanak Lata¹s struggle for justice and join the demonstration at the Police Headquarter, ITO, Delhi, on June 19th 2008. Our Justifiable Demands Includes: 1. Imposition of Section 3 of The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 on Om Prakash Grover and his family members and thus their immediate arrest. 2. Suspension and legal proceedings under Section 4 of The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 against the ACP, North West Delhi, Mr. Chandrahas Yadav, and SHO Dr. Mukherjee Nagar, Smt. Indra Sharma, who very strongly and willfully overlooked this shameful matter of caste atrocity. 3. The immediate withdrawal of the fraudulent cases made against Kanak Lata, her siblings and a friend. ------ End of Forwarded Message From sonia.jabbar at gmail.com Wed Jun 18 10:34:01 2008 From: sonia.jabbar at gmail.com (S. Jabbar) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:34:01 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Ramjas case Message-ID: Insult to Injury By Dilip Simeon On June 13, I was reminded that the past never leaves us. The newspapers reported an 'HC clean chit' of the Ramjas ex-Principal in the 26 year-old case of an assault on a college lecturer named 'Dalip'. Since I was the person assaulted, I was deeply perturbed by this judgement. I had no idea that the state had approached the High Court. Where does this leave me, as a law-abiding citizen? The bare facts are as follows. I joined the Ramjas History Department in 1974. In October 1981 I went on hunger-strike to obtain the salary of Sita Ram the head mali, who had been wrongfully denied it without an inquiry. My actions were part of a campaign that I did not initiate. The backdrop was an autocratic regime, allegations of administrative corruption and divisions amongst teachers. Efforts to secure a just procedure had been scornfully turned down. After a nine-day strike joined by teachers from Ramjas and SRCC, we resolved to pursue the struggle by other means. Ramjas remained extremely tense in the new year. On February 18, my scooter was intercepted near ISBT by six young men who had followed me in a car. I was beaten with iron rods, my left leg broken in two places and my upper jaw permanently damaged, with five teeth lost. But for my helmet, I might have suffered severe skull injuries. I was picked up by a kindly couple in a car and taken to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital. The Vice Chancellor, colleagues and friends arrived, and that evening I was taken to AIIMS. The subsequent agitation brought about the Principal's suspension. I was removed to Bombay for surgery, and needed nine weeks to walk again. We knew who had instigated and carried out the deed, but the public prosecutor could prove nothing in court. When I appeared as witness, the magistrate treated me as if I were a defendant, rather than the victim of a crime. In acquitting the accused, he implied that I was using an opportunity to implicate certain persons on account of personal enmity. There was no curiosity as to how I came to be so grievously injured, or whether my injuries were compatible with a traffic accident. There was no effort to get at the truth. The High Court judge has observed that my failure to speak to the police "at the first opportunity" indicates that my statement was 'tutored', and hence he upholds the acquittal. How fair is this reasoning? Medical records will show that I lost five teeth, my upper jaw was damaged and my left leg broken in two places. I lay in Hindu Rao the entire day, during which time stitches were applied inside my mouth without anaesthesia. I was unable to speak, and needed pencil and paper to state my identity. Even the application of plaster took place after 10 pm. Owing to the severity of my condition, the police recorded my statement the following day: this was not my personal decision. Is this an adequate reason for the trial court and the honourable judge to impugn my honesty? Would it not have been reasonable to conclude that the delay in recording my statement was due to my medical condition? The prosecution did not have the courtesy to inform me of the appeal in the HC. Surely as the victim I would have been most interested in pursuing the matter? Had it done so, I might have asked for representation, and prayed for the infirmities of the judgement to be overturned. The recent news report came as a bolt from the blue. And it is misleading, for I never accused the principal and physical training instructor of assaulting me. I only stated my suspicion of their being implicated in the assault. I had this intuition at the moment of the attack and have not altered it since. Of course, intuition is not evidence. But the investigation and framing of charges was the job of the police. Incidentally, in October 1982 I was introduced to my assailants in a police station. They said they had been misled and asked for forgiveness. One of them visited my house to ask me not to give evidence. The events of the 1980's had many repercussions. Teachers launched a campaign for democratic functioning. A movement against goondaism was undertaken by students. In 1988 I was elected to the university's Academic Council and chaired the DUTA Committee on Accountability. Our college became the first to set up a staff committee to maintain academic standards. All that energy was not expended in vain. We often come across the term "judicial conscience". Where exactly does this entity reside? The CJI has observed that the judiciary is the ultimate defender of citizens' rights. Who will defend these rights if the courts fail us? One of the most twisted problems in legal theory is the assumed neutrality of judges. Not to mention the distinction between forensic and narrative versions of truth. What is the guarantee of this neutrality and how is it manifested? Truth is surely not a mere technical or formal detail. The idea of justice is antecedent to the emergence of constitutional systems or governments. Otherwise we would not speak of natural law. But does justice reside exclusively in the utterances of courts? Law is the basis of an orderly society. It represents the need for a fair resolution of conflicts. Although democratic governments may exist only upon public approval, judges cannot be subject to the whims of electorates. What then, can ensure that those entrusted with the care of justice will fulfil their charge? Ultimately the social contract is a historical gamble. It depends upon the alertness of the citizenry and a public ethos that respects the ideals that lie behind the phrase "the rule of law". Homer's Iliad describes a dispute in a market-place between two men over the blood-price for a victim of murder. The crowd asks the elders to arbitrate whilst they keep the antagonists in check. "Between them, on the ground lay two talents of gold, to be given to that judge who in this case spoke the straightest opinion". The public stands in judgement over the arbitrators. Here is a clue to the mystery of the judicial conscience. It is a circular thread that runs through all of society's constituents, the ones that are wise and the ones who accord them the status of being wise. There is no exclusive judge and no exclusive witness - all judge and are judged. When this thread is broken, we are on the brink of disintegration. The circle of public conscience points to the true meaning of law and judgement in a democratic society. The seat of law is not synonymous with the person occupying it, nor are judicial decisions always coterminous with justice. In 1982 I became the victim of a violent crime. But in the eyes of the justice system no one is guilty. All that it has done is to suggest that I made a 'tutored' accusation. The crime has now become invisible. I expect no recompense for that murderous assault on me 26 years ago. I still respect the law. I cannot say the same for those to whom I turned for justice. From radhikarajen at vsnl.net Wed Jun 18 13:30:53 2008 From: radhikarajen at vsnl.net (radhikarajen at vsnl.net) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:00:53 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case In-Reply-To: <025001c8d0f2$445344f0$6400a8c0@taraprakash> References: <99ca36500806170555i48eed1f8q32b36345dbffc35e@mail.gmail.com> <025001c8d0f2$445344f0$6400a8c0@taraprakash> Message-ID: Hi, all of you who are concerned with the judicial process of investigation can be sure of one aspect after CBI investigation. NOTHING except some small fries will be booked and all the rich and powerful, politically connected accused will be let off with lame excuses like bungling of police in initial investigation etc. CBI once autonomous premier investigating agency is also made up of humans with all their flaws intact, once a ferociuous hound to seek jusitce in all the cases it handled is now a poodle of rich and powerful, pounces only on weak law abiding citizens, not the rich and powerful as all those in CBI work for their gains, even after their retirement of the tenure in CBI. Modus operandi of CBI investigation after the 1984 fiasco of bofors case is a point to be noted for the free India as to how the case was handled, is being handled even now with the active connivance of the judiciary and its' single judges extending stays and delaying the process of investigations, rich and powerful getting away from all the malfeasence and ommissions and commisssions they committed and being declared innocents and the lawyers who defended the accused becoming the MPs in the rajyasabha is not missed by the citizens of the nation, just as the queen bee in the whole process getting releaqsed 21 crores from London Bank with the attorney general himself requesting the crown for release of funds with out knowledge of the Supreme court of india, is well documented and for all in public domain to see and wonder whether the judiciary is fair in handling the case in their perview. Ofcourse as citizens we always have "faith" in judiciary and "media" but not necessar ily in individuals in judiciary and media who play games of spin doctors for their rewards and awards for the personal gains of Padma awards, post retirement benefits totally sacrificing the the ethics and morals of their life.! Regards. ----- Original Message ----- From: TaraPrakash Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 8:51 am Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case To: swakkhyar deka , reader-list at sarai.net > How about jumping in Rahel? > I think you covered the news for CNNIBN initially. And the news > has been > amongst top two headlines on the channel for sometime. > I'm not being judgemental about the channel's coverage. CNNIBN is > the only > channel available to me at the moment. > Regards > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "swakkhyar deka" > To: > Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 8:55 AM > Subject: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case > > > > hey folks.....what is going on with the case of the little girl > Aarusih's> killing....CBI seems to be going round and round with > the investigation > > and > > finding it very hard come to any conclusion.....has the mystery > surronding> the case getting too deep for the agency?...in the > meantime media have > > found > > a cracker material to keep the circulation and TRPs going > strong....c'mon> give it a break guys...Channels like Star News > dramatising and doing > > everything to make the case a potboiler...I think the CBI men should > > be allowed to concentrate on their work and Media should hold > back a > > bit....what say? > > _________________________________________ > > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > > Critiques & Collaborations > > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net > with > > subscribe in the subject header. > > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > List archive: > > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader- > list > List archive: From radhikarajen at vsnl.net Wed Jun 18 14:02:35 2008 From: radhikarajen at vsnl.net (radhikarajen at vsnl.net) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:32:35 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again In-Reply-To: <9c06aab30806170733t48302bablf56c69c6427f5b82@mail.gmail.com> References: <9c06aab30806170733t48302bablf56c69c6427f5b82@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Hi all, it is very nice to find flaws with BJP and gujarathis at the drop of a hat even after Modi asserted time and again that he is administrator and chief minister with the difference of of governance of all in the same state without favour or fear as per the oath he has taken to administer the state. Times of India and its media group is owned by Bennet group which traditionally has been political and supporting sycophants of Congress and media generally feels if it has to be "secular" it has to bash hindu sentiments and encash its trp and circulation, Times group is never fair and free in its journalism and always favoured Congress and its employees have to toe the line of media bosses and pritish is no exception to the rules of survival of the fittest in journalism by sycophancy. The worst part of it is this "secular"media can not digest the fact that hindu society is slowly and steadily getting out of caste conundrums and beginning to gel as one homogeneous society, while muslim community is being systematically divided by christian missions to achieve its divide and rule game, into smaller forms of shias, sunnis and other denominations with terror as subtextt just as the vote banks are getting divided between good governance and sycophancy and secular media keeps on playing old footage of "carnages so that they remain in the ghettos and wounds are never allowed to heal.The ultimate goal of Sonia and her mafia is to divided and rule with rome as its remote control which hindus have understood except for a few handful of sycophants in Congress of all faiths who have no mass base or electoral prospects and have to live on doleouts of the mafia queen. These along with christian mafia in the kitchen cabinet have used all those "journalists" and "int ellectuals" of modern day to devise the spins to bring back the old lost horse of Congress in new avtar as christian brigade for the crusade, while in comity of nations it is seen that Bush uses- the terror and weapons of mass destruction as excuses to bring in his form of democracy in the nations of muslim faith, first by attack of shia dominated Afghanistan and then on Iraq for the imaginary weapons of mass destruction.?---- Original Message ----- From: Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 8:04 pm Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again To: sarai list > An organisation in Ahemdabad called National Council for Civil > Liberties has filed a case against Ashis Nandy for his article in The > Times of India in January after Modi's election victory. The case has > been filed for for 'promoting enmity between different groups on > grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language' [Sections 153 > (A) and (B) of IPC]. > > 178 academics and intellectuals have signed a statement in protest, > which is available at > http://www.sacw.net/FreeExpAndFundos/defendNandy16June08.html > > Given below is the 'offending' article: > > o o o > > > Blame The Middle Class > > By Ashis Nandy > 8 Jan 2008 > http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/LEADER_ARTICLE_Blame_The_Middle_Class/rssarticleshow/2681517.cms > > Now that the dust has settled over the Gujarat elections, we can > afford to defy the pundits and admit that, even if Narendra Modi had > lost the last elections, it would not have made much difference to the > culture of Gujarat politics. Modi had already done his job. Most of > the state's urban middle class would have remained mired in its inane > versions of communalism and parochialism and the VHP and the Bajrang > Dal would have continued to set the tone of state politics. Forty > years of dedicated propaganda does pay dividends, electorally and > socially. > > The Hindus and the Muslims of the state — once bonded so conspicuously > by language, culture and commerce — have met the demands of both V D > Savarkar and M A Jinnah. They now face each other as two hostile > nations. The handful of Gujarati social and political activists who > resist the trend are seen not as dissenters but as treacherous > troublemakers who should be silenced by any means, including > surveillance, censorship and direct violence. As a result, Gujarati > cities, particularly its educational institutions are turning cultural > deserts. Gujarat has already disowned the Indian Constitution and the > state apparatus has adjusted to the change. > > The Congress, the main opposition party, has no effective leader. Nor > does it represent any threat to the mainstream politics of Gujarat. > The days of grass-roots leaders like Jhinabhai Darji are past and a > large section of the party now consists of Hindu nationalists. The > national leadership of the party does not have the courage to confront > Modi over 2002, given its abominable record of 1984. > > The Left is virtually non-existent in Gujarat. Whatever minor presence > it once had among intellectuals and trade unionists is now a vague > memory. The state has disowned Gandhi, too; Gandhian politics arouses > derision in middle-class Gujarat. Except for a few valiant old-timers, > Gandhians have made peace with their conscience by withdrawing from > the public domain. Gandhi himself has been given a saintly, Hindu > nationalist status and shelved. Even the Gujarati translations of his > Complete Works have been stealthily distorted to conform to the Hindu > nationalist agenda. > > Gujarati Muslims too are "adjusting" to their new station. Denied > justice and proper compensation, and as second-class citizens in their > home state, they have to depend on voluntary efforts and donor > agencies. The state's refusal to provide relief has been partly > met by > voluntary groups having fundamentalist sympathies. They supply aid but > insist that the beneficiaries give up Gujarati and take to Urdu, adopt > veil, and send their children to madrassas. Events like the > desecration of Wali Gujarati's grave have pushed one of India's > culturally richest, most diverse, vernacular Islamic traditions to the > wall. Future generations will as gratefully acknowledge the sangh > parivar's contribution to the growth of radical Islam in India as this > generation remembers with gratitude the handsome contribution of Rajiv > Gandhi and his cohorts to Sikh militancy. > > The secularist dogma of many fighting the sangh parivar has not helped > matters. Even those who have benefited from secular lawyers and > activists relate to secular ideologies instrumentally. They neither > understand them nor respect them. The victims still derive solace from > their religions and, when under attack, they cling more passionately > to faith. Indeed, shallow ideologies of secularism have simultaneously > broken the back of Gandhism and discouraged the emergence of figures > like Ali Shariatis, Desmond Tutus and the Dalai Lama — persons who can > give suffering a new voice audible to the poor and the powerless and > make a creative intervention possible from within worldviews > accessible to the people. > > Finally, Gujarat's spectacular development has underwritten the > de-civilising process. One of the worst-kept secrets of our times is > that dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail. > Post-World War II Asia too has had its love affair with developmental > despotism and the censorship, surveillance and thought control > that go > with it. The East Asian tigers have all been maneaters most of the > time. Gujarat has now chosen to join the pack. Development in the > state now justifies amorality, abridgement of freedom, and > collapse of > social ethics. > > Is there life after Modi? Is it possible to look beyond the 35 years > of rioting that began in 1969 and ended in 2002? Prima facie, the > answer is "no". We can only wait for a new generation that will, out > of sheer self-interest and tiredness, learn to live with each other. > In the meanwhile, we have to wait patiently but not passively to keep > values alive, hoping that at some point will come a modicum of remorse > and a search for atonement and that ultimately Gujarati traditions > will triumph over the culture of the state's urban middle class. > > Recovering Gujarat from its urban middle class will not be easy. The > class has found in militant religious nationalism a new self- respect > and a new virtual identity as a martial community, the way Bengali > babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different times > have sought salvation in violence. In Gujarat this class has smelt > blood, for it does not have to do the killings but can plan, finance > and coordinate them with impunity. The actual killers are the lowest > of the low, mostly tribals and Dalits. The middle class controls the > media and education, which have become hate factories in recent times. > And they receive spirited support from most non-resident Indians who, > at a safe distance from India, can afford to be more nationalist, > bloodthirsty, and irresponsible. > > [The writer is a political psychologist.] > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader- > list > List archive: From iram at sarai.net Wed Jun 18 13:23:37 2008 From: iram at sarai.net (Iram Ghufran) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:23:37 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Fwd: The MRC Fellowships Message-ID: <4858BF01.7050304@sarai.net> From: Shohini Ghosh Date: 17 June 2008 9:28:17 AM GMT+05:30 To: CACDelhi at yahoogroups.co.in Subject: [CACDelhi] The MRC Fellowships Reply-To: CACDelhi at yahoogroups.co.in ===================== CALL FOR PROPOSALS The Media Resource Centre, AJK MCRC announces its first round of annual fellowships from August 1, 2008 to January 31, 2009. CATEGORIES: Senior Research Fellowships & Jamia Student Fellowship The MEDIA RESOURCE CENTRE, set up with a grant from the Sir Ratan Tata Trust (SRTT), is devoted to the study, research and contemplation of documentary and contemporary media practices with particular emphasis on film, television, photography and multi-media. The MRC also plans to build an archive of material on Documentary and Asian Cinemas. Both categories of work are defined expansively and include both film and film culture. It plans to house curated film collections in addition to journals, books, monographs and catalogues. Locating itself at the intersection of theory and practice, it plans to offer fellowships, conduct courses, organize public lectures, conferences, seminars, workshops and special screenings. It seeks to complement the hands-on learning experience at the MCRC by creating an intellectually vibrant space for theoretical engagement, research and study. The Fellowships are designed to contribute to the building of the archives and the ongoing research and scholarly work at the MRC. AIM /PURPOSE OF FELLOWSHIPS: The Research Fellowships are expected to contribute to the creation of the Visual Archives as well as engage with the scholarly preoccupations of the MRC. Applicants are encouraged to send in proposals that seek to provide analyses, histories, ethnographies, empirical data and/or critical commentaries on any theme relating to contemporary visual media and documentary cultures. The MRC has a special interest in Documentary film making practices, cultures and activities. Similarly, it is invested in encouraging scholarly work on photographic practices. Therefore, proposals that deal with the above two themes will be given special importance. It is hoped that the written text finally submitted to the MRC will be accompanied by visual material that will substantively enrich the Visual Archive of the MRC. The MRC will grant two categories of Fellowships that is, (1) Senior Research Fellowships and [@15,000 per month] (2) Jamia Student Fellowships [@ 5,000 per month] ============================ CONDITIONS: Ø Applicants are required to be resident in India and should have an account in a bank operating in India. In case of the Senior Research Fellowships, He/She must also be a Pan Card Holder. Ø Applications can only be in English. Ø While the Student Fellowship is available only to students pursuing their Masters Course in Jamia, anyone can apply for the Senior Research Fellowship. There is no age limit. Ø The Fellowship will run from August 2008 to the end of January 2008. The Senior Research Fellowship is extendable to one year based on performance evaluation. Ø The Fellowship Grant will be disbursed in three stages over a period of 6-8 months. The fellows are required to make written submissions every three months on their research progress following which each installment will be released. The last installment would be given after the presentation and submission of the research. Ø Individuals, partners and groups/collectives can apply to a single fellowship, where the grant will be payable to the account of one. Ø A working draft would be expected by the end of December. A detailed research report must be submitted to the MRC at the end of the fellowship. Ø When the Fellowship period comes to an end it is mandatory for all Fellows to make a public presentation at the Media Resource Centre. Ø Although the participation in the fellowship programme does require a substantial time commitment, participants are welcome to pursue their primary occupations in addition to the fellowship research. However, Fellows of the MRC cannot be committed to any other grant or fellowship during the same period. Ø The primary material collected as part of the Fellowship must be submitted at the end of the grant period to the MRC. This should preferably be in a digital form, that is, CDs, DVDs, scans, digital images etc. All material submitted along with the report must be annotated. Ø The MRC may select some the research for publication as monographs if they are of a high academic calibre. Ø Copyright: The Copyright for the research will be shared by both the MRC and the individual scholar concerned. The scholar is free to publish the material while duly and fully acknowledging MRC support through the Fellowship programme. =============================== GUIDELINES FOR APPLICATION The Senior Fellowships: The Proposal for the senior fellowships should be between 1500-2000 words. It should be accompanied by a Statement of Purpose of not more than 1000 words explaining to how the Proposal connects to work previously done Two Letters of Recommendation Student Fellowships: The Proposal for the Student Fellowship should be between 800-1000 words. It should be accompanied by a Statement-of-Purpose. Two Letters of Recommendation of which one should be from a Faculty member in Jamia Millia Islamia. Please Note: All paper work submitted should be typed. Handwritten proposals will not be accepted. Your proposal package should include: Applicant's name, email address, telephone number and Postal Address Category of Fellowship Proposal Work Sample related to the Proposal Work Plan An Updated CV A Self-addressed & stamped envelope ========================= Fellows can submit their applications by post or hand-deliver them to the AJK MCRC at the following address: 'ATTN: FELLOWS PROPOSAL 2008-2009', to SHOHINI GHOSH MEDIA RESOURCE CENTRE AJK MASS COMMUNICATION & RESEARCH CENTRE JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA NEW DELHI -110025. Last Date for Proposal Submission: June 30, 2008 Inquiries: mrc.jamia at gmail.com _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From deelited at gmail.com Wed Jun 18 12:48:49 2008 From: deelited at gmail.com (deepti) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:48:49 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Announcing Delhi Queer Pride '08: June 29th: 5:30pm, Regal, CP In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <2617ab630806180018ue96e220j9e9deebd30a30c4a@mail.gmail.com> _______________________________________________ announcements mailing list announcements at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements From radhikarajen at vsnl.net Wed Jun 18 14:08:03 2008 From: radhikarajen at vsnl.net (radhikarajen at vsnl.net) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:38:03 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case In-Reply-To: <9c06aab30806170707w23bb5f0fya5722de5e52af4f9@mail.gmail.com> References: <99ca36500806170555i48eed1f8q32b36345dbffc35e@mail.gmail.com> <9c06aab30806170707w23bb5f0fya5722de5e52af4f9@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: CBI is doing its best to what it is known for, weakening all the forensic evidence to save the culprit, rich and powerful, throw the weak innocents to prosecution, it is no more an autonomous body that it once was. Media is doing its best to catch the eyeballs of the viewers by unncecessarily investigating rather than reporting, flaunting neo journalism of dispensing favours for awards and rewards.?Media in other noted cases like katara, Mattoo or Jessicas case had a role AFTER the judgement in the cases but in this case what is seen is speculative views touted as news and playing to the galleries by celebs of journalists for heir channels for the trps. Shame on this kind of journalism without ethics and morals, who seem to worry more about competetion and trp than good work of journalism of reportage ? ----- Original Message ----- From: Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 7:37 pm Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Aarushi murder case To: swakkhyar deka Cc: reader-list at sarai.net > "Little girl Arushi"... > > Why aren't you equally bothered about big man Hemraj? > > On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 6:25 PM, swakkhyar deka > wrote: > > > hey folks.....what is going on with the case of the little girl > Aarusih's> killing....CBI seems to be going round and round with > the investigation and > > finding it very hard come to any conclusion.....has the mystery > surronding> the case getting too deep for the agency?...in the > meantime media have > > found > > a cracker material to keep the circulation and TRPs going > strong....c'mon> give it a break guys...Channels like Star News > dramatising and doing > > everything to make the case a potboiler...I think the CBI men should > > be allowed to concentrate on their work and Media should hold > back a > > bit....what say? > > _________________________________________ > > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > > Critiques & Collaborations > > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > > subscribe in the subject header. > > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > List archive: > > > > > -- > "Journalism 101, I am sure taught you the difference between reporting > and pontificating. However, the first amendment protects your right > to free speech and therefore your right to ponificate." > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader- > list > List archive: From shuddha at sarai.net Wed Jun 18 16:32:00 2008 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:32:00 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again In-Reply-To: References: <9c06aab30806170733t48302bablf56c69c6427f5b82@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Dear Radhikarajen, Thank you for your pertinent critique on the Sarai Reader List of the way in which the media represents issues, particularly with regard to the murder of Hemraj Banjade and Arushi Talwar in NOIDA. I think that your thoughts on 'media trials' are salutary. Had newspapers and TV channels been more restrained in the matter of the way in which they report 'sensational' crimes, then the grave and malicious harrassment that had been the fate of S.A.R.Geelani in the '13 December' case might not have taken place. And nor would there have been currency for the hysterical and blood-thirsty demand for the execution of Muhammad Afzal Guru, which continues to beseige our consciousness today. I do hope that you, in the spirit of your own argument, will join me in condemning the irresponsible behaviour of much of the media in these instances. Having said that, I am a bit mystified by your anger against the condemnation of the strange attempt at filing a case on grounds of 'promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language' 'under Sections 153 A and B of the IPC against Ashis Nandy for his op-ed piece 'Blame the Middle Class' in the Times of India of January 8, 2008. Ashis Nandy is, in my opinion, one of the most acute analysts of political culture and modernity in South Asia. It is ironic that a person, who has maintained a life time of critique against the excesses of the state- secularist agenda in India, (for which he was at times unfairly and idiotically denounced as an apolgist of the hindu right by some un- intelligent so called 'left-liberal' critics) is someone you now are prepared to argue against, merely because he happens to have taken on the poster boy of hindutva hate-mongering, the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Damodarbhai Modi. To be fair to Nandy, there is no particular group that escapes the sharp edge of his sadness in his article on Gujarat. His words (in this particular article) criticize the actions done by people speaking in the name of Bengali Hindus, Kashmiri Muslims, Punjabi Sikhs, Non Resident Indians, Dalits and Adivasis and most of all - the middle classes. If all these kinds of people were to be united because they were all attacked by Ashis Nandy, then, we would see a rare example of the promotion of conviviality between groups that are otherwise expected to be at each others throats. Unfortunately, for you, and for the petitioner belonging to the Ahmedabad based National Council for Civil Liberties, there is as yet no provision in the the Indian Penal Code for the offense of the promotion of conviviality on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language. . I find it equally strange that you should impute the sentiments and the analysis contained in Nandy's trenchant criticque of Moditva, (or should it be Moditude, or Modismo) to the antipathy of the Bennet Coleman Group, who happen to own the majority shares of the Times of India newspaper, and their so called pro Congress bias. It is instructive to do a careful analysis of the press that Modi and Modismo get in the Times of India's sister publication, the Economic Times, (which for my money, is the more serious of the two publications, the one that actually gets read by captains of industry and politics, not one that teenagers decorate their lockers with because it has scantily clad men and women, the publication of images of which, you will no doubt agree, is the primary reason for the Times of India to exist.) Now, were you to look at the Economic Times reportage of Modi, Modismo and Gujarat, you would find a glowing picture that would warm your hearts. All you (and everyone who is interested on this list) needs to do is to type Narendra Modi on the search bar of the Economic Times home page, and you will be showered by what looks like a public relations campaign for Gujarati Asmita and Modismo. You will find articles such as - Rajiv Gandhi Foundation finds Gujarat No 1 state Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, today hailed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying that he has a "bias" for action. And there are many more where these came from. Even your own pet hate, the Times of India, has articles such as 'Women Mesmerised by Narendra Modi' What are we to make of this, other than that this is but an instance of the totally commonplace practice of a media group trying to placate all sides. So damn Modi in one article in one publication that you own, and then praise him to the skies in another. A detailed analysis of the politics of who reports what about whom, and when, in the Indian media can be an entertaining, and instructive diversion. What, however, are we to make of your own pathological anxiety whenever Shri Narendra Damodarbhai Modi is criticised ? You have (again) neatly sidestepped the substance of Ashis Nandy's critique and taken us on the pursuit of the red herring of the Times of India's pro-Congress bias, which for you, explains everything that there is to understand about what Ashis Nandy has written. Take a break from the computer, and go take a long look at the mirror, and you will see the visage of that same middle class Indian, quick to fume, quick to claim an injury to your precious pride, quick to demand that the slate be cleaned of all 'others', and short, tragically, comically short on anything like the ability to reflect on the tightening limits of the sources of your self. I sympathise with your predicament. It must be really hard, and sad, to be you. regards Shuddha media trials of this sort were On 18-Jun-08, at 2:02 PM, radhikarajen at vsnl.net wrote: > Hi all, > > it is very nice to find flaws with BJP and gujarathis at the drop > of a hat even after Modi asserted time and again that he is > administrator and chief minister with the difference of of > governance of all in the same state without favour or fear as per > the oath he has taken to administer the state. Times of India and > its media group is owned by Bennet group which traditionally has > been political and supporting sycophants of Congress and media > generally feels if it has to be "secular" it has to bash hindu > sentiments and encash its trp and circulation, Times group is never > fair and free in its journalism and always favoured Congress and > its employees have to toe the line of media bosses and pritish is > no exception to the rules of survival of the fittest in journalism > by sycophancy. > > The worst part of it is this "secular"media can not digest the > fact that hindu society is slowly and steadily getting out of caste > conundrums and beginning to gel as one homogeneous society, while > muslim community is being systematically divided by christian > missions to achieve its divide and rule game, into smaller forms of > shias, sunnis and other denominations with terror as subtextt just > as the vote banks are getting divided between good governance and > sycophancy and secular media keeps on playing old footage of > "carnages so that they remain in the ghettos and wounds are never > allowed to heal.The ultimate goal of Sonia and her mafia is to > divided and rule with rome as its remote control which hindus have > understood except for a few handful of sycophants in Congress of > all faiths who have no mass base or electoral prospects and have to > live on doleouts of the mafia queen. These along with christian > mafia in the kitchen cabinet have used all those "journalists" and > "int > ellectuals" of modern day to devise the spins to bring back the old > lost horse of Congress in new avtar as christian brigade for the > crusade, while in comity of nations it is seen that Bush uses- the > terror and weapons of mass destruction as excuses to bring in his > form of democracy in the nations of muslim faith, first by attack > of shia dominated Afghanistan and then on Iraq for the imaginary > weapons of mass destruction.?---- Original Message ----- > From: Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् > Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 8:04 pm > Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again > To: sarai list > >> An organisation in Ahemdabad called National Council for Civil >> Liberties has filed a case against Ashis Nandy for his article in The >> Times of India in January after Modi's election victory. The case has >> been filed for for 'promoting enmity between different groups on >> grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language' [Sections 153 >> (A) and (B) of IPC]. >> >> 178 academics and intellectuals have signed a statement in protest, >> which is available at >> http://www.sacw.net/FreeExpAndFundos/defendNandy16June08.html >> >> Given below is the 'offending' article: >> >> o o o >> >> >> Blame The Middle Class >> >> By Ashis Nandy >> 8 Jan 2008 >> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/ >> LEADER_ARTICLE_Blame_The_Middle_Class/rssarticleshow/2681517.cms >> >> Now that the dust has settled over the Gujarat elections, we can >> afford to defy the pundits and admit that, even if Narendra Modi had >> lost the last elections, it would not have made much difference to >> the >> culture of Gujarat politics. Modi had already done his job. Most of >> the state's urban middle class would have remained mired in its inane >> versions of communalism and parochialism and the VHP and the Bajrang >> Dal would have continued to set the tone of state politics. Forty >> years of dedicated propaganda does pay dividends, electorally and >> socially. >> >> The Hindus and the Muslims of the state — once bonded so >> conspicuously >> by language, culture and commerce — have met the demands of both >> V D >> Savarkar and M A Jinnah. They now face each other as two hostile >> nations. The handful of Gujarati social and political activists who >> resist the trend are seen not as dissenters but as treacherous >> troublemakers who should be silenced by any means, including >> surveillance, censorship and direct violence. As a result, Gujarati >> cities, particularly its educational institutions are turning >> cultural >> deserts. Gujarat has already disowned the Indian Constitution and the >> state apparatus has adjusted to the change. >> >> The Congress, the main opposition party, has no effective leader. Nor >> does it represent any threat to the mainstream politics of Gujarat. >> The days of grass-roots leaders like Jhinabhai Darji are past and a >> large section of the party now consists of Hindu nationalists. The >> national leadership of the party does not have the courage to >> confront >> Modi over 2002, given its abominable record of 1984. >> >> The Left is virtually non-existent in Gujarat. Whatever minor >> presence >> it once had among intellectuals and trade unionists is now a vague >> memory. The state has disowned Gandhi, too; Gandhian politics arouses >> derision in middle-class Gujarat. Except for a few valiant old- >> timers, >> Gandhians have made peace with their conscience by withdrawing from >> the public domain. Gandhi himself has been given a saintly, Hindu >> nationalist status and shelved. Even the Gujarati translations of his >> Complete Works have been stealthily distorted to conform to the Hindu >> nationalist agenda. >> >> Gujarati Muslims too are "adjusting" to their new station. Denied >> justice and proper compensation, and as second-class citizens in >> their >> home state, they have to depend on voluntary efforts and donor >> agencies. The state's refusal to provide relief has been partly >> met by >> voluntary groups having fundamentalist sympathies. They supply aid >> but >> insist that the beneficiaries give up Gujarati and take to Urdu, >> adopt >> veil, and send their children to madrassas. Events like the >> desecration of Wali Gujarati's grave have pushed one of India's >> culturally richest, most diverse, vernacular Islamic traditions to >> the >> wall. Future generations will as gratefully acknowledge the sangh >> parivar's contribution to the growth of radical Islam in India as >> this >> generation remembers with gratitude the handsome contribution of >> Rajiv >> Gandhi and his cohorts to Sikh militancy. >> >> The secularist dogma of many fighting the sangh parivar has not >> helped >> matters. Even those who have benefited from secular lawyers and >> activists relate to secular ideologies instrumentally. They neither >> understand them nor respect them. The victims still derive solace >> from >> their religions and, when under attack, they cling more passionately >> to faith. Indeed, shallow ideologies of secularism have >> simultaneously >> broken the back of Gandhism and discouraged the emergence of figures >> like Ali Shariatis, Desmond Tutus and the Dalai Lama — persons >> who can >> give suffering a new voice audible to the poor and the powerless and >> make a creative intervention possible from within worldviews >> accessible to the people. >> >> Finally, Gujarat's spectacular development has underwritten the >> de-civilising process. One of the worst-kept secrets of our times is >> that dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail. >> Post-World War II Asia too has had its love affair with developmental >> despotism and the censorship, surveillance and thought control >> that go >> with it. The East Asian tigers have all been maneaters most of the >> time. Gujarat has now chosen to join the pack. Development in the >> state now justifies amorality, abridgement of freedom, and >> collapse of >> social ethics. >> >> Is there life after Modi? Is it possible to look beyond the 35 years >> of rioting that began in 1969 and ended in 2002? Prima facie, the >> answer is "no". We can only wait for a new generation that will, out >> of sheer self-interest and tiredness, learn to live with each other. >> In the meanwhile, we have to wait patiently but not passively to keep >> values alive, hoping that at some point will come a modicum of >> remorse >> and a search for atonement and that ultimately Gujarati traditions >> will triumph over the culture of the state's urban middle class. >> >> Recovering Gujarat from its urban middle class will not be easy. The >> class has found in militant religious nationalism a new self- respect >> and a new virtual identity as a martial community, the way Bengali >> babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different times >> have sought salvation in violence. In Gujarat this class has smelt >> blood, for it does not have to do the killings but can plan, finance >> and coordinate them with impunity. The actual killers are the lowest >> of the low, mostly tribals and Dalits. The middle class controls the >> media and education, which have become hate factories in recent >> times. >> And they receive spirited support from most non-resident Indians who, >> at a safe distance from India, can afford to be more nationalist, >> bloodthirsty, and irresponsible. >> >> [The writer is a political psychologist.] >> _________________________________________ >> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. >> Critiques & Collaborations >> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with >> subscribe in the subject header. >> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader- >> list >> List archive: > _________________________________________ > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > Critiques & Collaborations > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > subscribe in the subject header. > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> Shuddhabrata Sengupta The Sarai Programme at CSDS Raqs Media Collective shuddha at sarai.net www.sarai.net www.raqsmediacollective.net From shuddha at sarai.net Wed Jun 18 16:57:26 2008 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:57:26 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Blood in the Water Message-ID: <82AE2DFC-2B97-419D-B778-DE50139B4AA0@sarai.net> Dear All, A friend forward this article, published recently in the Asian Sentinel, to me recently. I think that it introduces an element, control of water and natural resources, that are actually key to an understanding of how conflicts such as Kashmir get played out. In the longer term, these issues may be far more significant than the issues of ethnic and religious identity. it is a pity, that whenever the question of say Kashmir, comes up, or whenever the issue of Bangladeshi migrants to India rears its head, all that everyone wants to talk about is the 'identity' issue, what gets left behind is thought about things like water. Ask a Bangladeshi immigrant to Delhi about what drove him to cross so many miles of hazardous territory, and the chances are, that if you are prepared to pay attention, he or she will have something to say about floods, and the lethality of rivers, and the rising sea. I know many people who are ambivalent about their identities, but I have yet to come across a person who does not feel thirsty. Given that water is so important to our survival and life, it is a sad travesty that we pay it so little attention when it comes to politics. We wouldn't be around to protect our identities and our nationalities if we could not drink water, or did not have the guarantee that our homes would not be flooded, year after year. regards Shuddha ------------------ http://asiasentinel.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=1269&Itemid=31 Blood in Kashmir's Water Sankar Ray 18 June 2008 A decades-old competition for water complicates the already-bitter relationship between India and her neighbors Water is destined to be a determining factor in the regional conflicts of South Asia in the years to come, particularly between India and Pakistan. Unquestionably one of the most crucial of environmental resources, this essential ingredient for human life is growing so scarce in some areas globally that if current trends continue, two-thirds of humanity will suffer "moderate to severe water stress" within 30 years, according to a comprehensive assessment of freshwater resources by the United Nations. Nowhere is this truer, however, than in the parched regions of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where overpopulation, poverty and scarce resources make the competition more acute. In a remarkably even- handed paper published in a recent issue of the Journal of International Affairs, Saleem H. Ali, associate professor of Environmental Policy and Planning, at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources of the University of Vermont in the US, identifies the lack of environmental cooperation in bilateral and multilateral relations as the root cause of a potential conflict "between two nuclear neighbours, India and Pakistan, predicated in a history of religious rivalries and post-colonial demarcation." The Pakistani scholar urges India and Pakistan to put aside their mutual distrust to reconfigure the riparian issues for lasting piece in the region, their inveterate, decades-old antagonism notwithstanding, and concentrate on a matter of equal importance to their survival of each country. Ali praises the World Bank's "instrumental role in its negotiation during the height of the Cold War to bring the two countries to the negotiating table with the Indus Water Treaty after bilateral negotiations failed. The outcome of this historic treaty was the unrestricted use by India of the three eastern rivers, the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas and complete control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, Chenab and Indus by Pakistan. The rivers all have their origin in the bitterly disputed region of Kashmir. And thus, theoretically whoever controls Kashmir controls the rivers, a fact conveniently forgotten for years as Pakistan and India tested each other's mettle in a series of wars. The Pakistani Prime Minister, Hussain Suhrwardy, in 1958 pointed to the geographical importance of Kashmir when he emphasized the importance of the six rivers of the Indus Basin. "Most of them rise in Kashmir. One of the reasons why, therefore, that Kashmir is so important for us is this water, these waters which irrigate our lands," Suhrwardy said at the time. He proved himself a prophet. The only other international statesman who thought along the same lines was the British Premier, Anthony Eden, who believed that the resolution of the water dispute would reduce the tension over Kashmir, hence the Indus Water Treaty. India denied the link between Kashmir and the water issue, however, a denial that has contributed to the growing resentment between the two countries, and an amazing one given reality. The head of the Indus flows through the valley corridor that connects Indian and Pakistani- held Kashmir. Further south India has been engaged in a running dispute with Bangladesh over the Farakka Barrage over the River Ganges since 1973. This project involved a dam built on the Ganges in West Bengal, about 10 kilometers from the Bangladesh border. Bangladeshi objections that the project would seriously affect the country's water supply have proved correct. Falling water levels below the dam have raised salinity levels, affecting fisheries and hindering navigation. Falling soil moisture levels have also also led to desertification. Ali firmly believes that "environmental factors can play a pivotal role since they help link various issues such as economic development and security." He points out that, "states that are ecologically vulnerable to extreme climatic events, such as Bangladesh, are recognizing that poor environmental planning in coastal areas can have devastating economic impacts". "I have long been criticizing the brazenly reactionary promotion of water disputes among Indian states by the political parties in power," said Surajit Guha, the former deputy-director general of the Geological Survey of India and one of India's top hydrologists "It may not be confined within the Indian territory. The Farakka impasse is a clear evidence of this. Have you seen European countries through which the mighty River Danube flows engaging themselves in dispute over sharing of water during the last one hundred years? I do not know why water is increasingly politicized when most of the peoples of SAARC region are deprived of access to safe and potable water." While the west is busy concentrating its efforts on securing a ready supply of oil, in South Asia the governments are slowly but surely waking up to the fact that in the not too distant future water is going to be equally, if not more important to the survival of their people. Shuddhabrata Sengupta The Sarai Programme at CSDS Raqs Media Collective shuddha at sarai.net www.sarai.net www.raqsmediacollective.net From radhikarajen at vsnl.net Wed Jun 18 17:07:39 2008 From: radhikarajen at vsnl.net (radhikarajen at vsnl.net) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:37:39 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again In-Reply-To: References: <9c06aab30806170733t48302bablf56c69c6427f5b82@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Dear Shuddha, my concern is not for the critciism of our "bhai" Modi. But it is more for the fact that citizens fail to recognise the merits of good governance that is now in force in Gujarath.When Modi addresses all the citizens of the state, each and every visual media journalist was more keen to create a controversy during the election campaign as if on cue from madam about "communal" Modi, after he comments about muslims and other vote banks. Truth of the matter is hindus do not hate muslims, having been living in harmony with them in free India inspite of the fact that the muslim leaders divided the nation on faith and most of the muslims did not prefer to go to that portion of the land, making me wish that these areas are again joined together to put an end once for all for the hate campaign. A Rajdeep or a Barkha can do more harm to the society than a Modi today with their 24 x 7 campaign on the channels showing the same old footage and whipping up the frenzy of passions and at the same time blaming the parties for using emotions for electoral victrories.As to Times group, it is wellknown how sycophancy works after the journalism of courage of Indian Express strayed away from it after the days of Chitra Subramaniam and her expose" on Bofors and now how the Shekhar Gupta is doing the balancing act of praise and critical journalism which is seen in all media barons approach. If a citizen carefully observes the role of CNNIBN in N-deal and its commentary, it is obivious in whose pay rolls they are working with new designations of HR departments.! Are any of these celeb journalists caring to inform the citizens of the role of hyde act vis-a-vis the 123 deal. ? India has suffered enough earlier after Indira and Pokhran I with sanctions crippling the atomic plant at Bombay after thousands of crores invested in that plant, used for peaceful energy generation for the nation.Why our journalists crawl when they are only supposed to bend is the big question that haunts me. Regards.. ----- Original Message ----- From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 4:33 pm Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again To: radhikarajen at vsnl.net Cc: Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् , sarai list > Dear Radhikarajen, > > Thank you for your pertinent critique on the Sarai Reader List of > the > way in which the media represents issues, particularly with regard > to > the murder of Hemraj Banjade and Arushi Talwar in NOIDA. I think > that > your thoughts on 'media trials' are salutary. Had newspapers and TV > > channels been more restrained in the matter of the way in which > they > report 'sensational' crimes, then the grave and malicious > harrassment > that had been the fate of S.A.R.Geelani in the '13 December' case > might not have taken place. And nor would there have been currency > for the hysterical and blood-thirsty demand for the execution of > Muhammad Afzal Guru, which continues to beseige our consciousness > today. I do hope that you, in the spirit of your own argument, will > > join me in condemning the irresponsible behaviour of much of the > media in these instances. > > Having said that, I am a bit mystified by your anger against the > condemnation of the strange attempt at filing a case on grounds of > > 'promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, > race, place of birth and language' 'under Sections 153 A and B of > the > IPC against Ashis Nandy for his op-ed piece 'Blame the Middle > Class' > in the Times of India of January 8, 2008. Ashis Nandy is, in my > opinion, one of the most acute analysts of political culture and > modernity in South Asia. It is ironic that a person, who has > maintained a life time of critique against the excesses of the > state- > secularist agenda in India, (for which he was at times unfairly and > > idiotically denounced as an apolgist of the hindu right by some un- > intelligent so called 'left-liberal' critics) is someone you now > are > prepared to argue against, merely because he happens to have taken > on > the poster boy of hindutva hate-mongering, the chief minister of > Gujarat, Narendra Damodarbhai Modi. To be fair to Nandy, there is > no > particular group that escapes the sharp edge of his sadness in his > article on Gujarat. His words (in this particular article) > criticize > the actions done by people speaking in the name of Bengali Hindus, > Kashmiri Muslims, Punjabi Sikhs, Non Resident Indians, Dalits and > Adivasis and most of all - the middle classes. If all these kinds > of > people were to be united because they were all attacked by Ashis > Nandy, then, we would see a rare example of the promotion of > conviviality between groups that are otherwise expected to be at > each > others throats. Unfortunately, for you, and for the petitioner > belonging to the Ahmedabad based National Council for Civil > Liberties, there is as yet no provision in the the Indian Penal > Code > for the offense of the promotion of conviviality on grounds of > religion, race, place of birth and language. > . > I find it equally strange that you should impute the sentiments and > > the analysis contained in Nandy's trenchant criticque of Moditva, > (or > should it be Moditude, or Modismo) to the antipathy of the Bennet > Coleman Group, who happen to own the majority shares of the Times > of > India newspaper, and their so called pro Congress bias. It is > instructive to do a careful analysis of the press that Modi and > Modismo get in the Times of India's sister publication, the > Economic > Times, (which for my money, is the more serious of the two > publications, the one that actually gets read by captains of > industry > and politics, not one that teenagers decorate their lockers with > because it has scantily clad men and women, the publication of > images > of which, you will no doubt agree, is the primary reason for the > Times of India to exist.) > > Now, were you to look at the Economic Times reportage of Modi, > Modismo and Gujarat, you would find a glowing picture that would > warm > your hearts. All you (and everyone who is interested on this list) > needs to do is to type Narendra Modi on the search bar of the > Economic Times home page, and you will be showered by what looks > like > a public relations campaign for Gujarati Asmita and Modismo. > > You will find articles such as - > > Rajiv Gandhi Foundation finds Gujarat No 1 state > > Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, today hailed > Gujarat > Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying that he has a "bias" for action. > > And there are many more where these came from. > > Even your own pet hate, the Times of India, has articles such as > 'Women Mesmerised by Narendra Modi' > > What are we to make of this, other than that this is but an > instance > of the totally commonplace practice of a media group trying to > placate all sides. So damn Modi in one article in one publication > that you own, and then praise him to the skies in another. A > detailed > analysis of the politics of who reports what about whom, and when, > in > the Indian media can be an entertaining, and instructive diversion. > > What, however, are we to make of your own pathological anxiety > whenever Shri Narendra Damodarbhai Modi is criticised ? You have > (again) neatly sidestepped the substance of Ashis Nandy's critique > and taken us on the pursuit of the red herring of the Times of > India's pro-Congress bias, which for you, explains everything that > there is to understand about what Ashis Nandy has written. Take a > break from the computer, and go take a long look at the mirror, and > > you will see the visage of that same middle class Indian, quick to > fume, quick to claim an injury to your precious pride, quick to > demand that the slate be cleaned of all 'others', and short, > tragically, comically short on anything like the ability to reflect > > on the tightening limits of the sources of your self. > > I sympathise with your predicament. It must be really hard, and > sad, > to be you. > > regards > > Shuddha > > > > > > > > > > media trials of this sort were > On 18-Jun-08, at 2:02 PM, radhikarajen at vsnl.net wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > it is very nice to find flaws with BJP and gujarathis at the > drop > > of a hat even after Modi asserted time and again that he is > > administrator and chief minister with the difference of of > > governance of all in the same state without favour or fear as per > > > the oath he has taken to administer the state. Times of India and > > > its media group is owned by Bennet group which traditionally has > > been political and supporting sycophants of Congress and media > > generally feels if it has to be "secular" it has to bash hindu > > sentiments and encash its trp and circulation, Times group is > never > > fair and free in its journalism and always favoured Congress and > > its employees have to toe the line of media bosses and pritish is > > > no exception to the rules of survival of the fittest in > journalism > > by sycophancy. > > > > The worst part of it is this "secular"media can not digest the > > > fact that hindu society is slowly and steadily getting out of > caste > > conundrums and beginning to gel as one homogeneous society, while > > > muslim community is being systematically divided by christian > > missions to achieve its divide and rule game, into smaller forms > of > > shias, sunnis and other denominations with terror as subtextt > just > > as the vote banks are getting divided between good governance and > > > sycophancy and secular media keeps on playing old footage of > > "carnages so that they remain in the ghettos and wounds are never > > > allowed to heal.The ultimate goal of Sonia and her mafia is to > > divided and rule with rome as its remote control which hindus > have > > understood except for a few handful of sycophants in Congress of > > all faiths who have no mass base or electoral prospects and have > to > > live on doleouts of the mafia queen. These along with christian > > mafia in the kitchen cabinet have used all those "journalists" > and > > "int > > ellectuals" of modern day to devise the spins to bring back the > old > > lost horse of Congress in new avtar as christian brigade for the > > crusade, while in comity of nations it is seen that Bush uses- > the > > terror and weapons of mass destruction as excuses to bring in his > > > form of democracy in the nations of muslim faith, first by attack > > > of shia dominated Afghanistan and then on Iraq for the imaginary > > weapons of mass destruction.?---- Original Message ----- > > From: Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् > > Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 8:04 pm > > Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again > > To: sarai list > > > >> An organisation in Ahemdabad called National Council for Civil > >> Liberties has filed a case against Ashis Nandy for his article > in The > >> Times of India in January after Modi's election victory. The > case has > >> been filed for for 'promoting enmity between different groups on > >> grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language' > [Sections 153 > >> (A) and (B) of IPC]. > >> > >> 178 academics and intellectuals have signed a statement in protest, > >> which is available at > >> http://www.sacw.net/FreeExpAndFundos/defendNandy16June08.html > >> > >> Given below is the 'offending' article: > >> > >> o o o > >> > >> > >> Blame The Middle Class > >> > >> By Ashis Nandy > >> 8 Jan 2008 > >> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/ > >> LEADER_ARTICLE_Blame_The_Middle_Class/rssarticleshow/2681517.cms > >> > >> Now that the dust has settled over the Gujarat elections, we can > >> afford to defy the pundits and admit that, even if Narendra Modi > had>> lost the last elections, it would not have made much > difference to > >> the > >> culture of Gujarat politics. Modi had already done his job. Most of > >> the state's urban middle class would have remained mired in its > inane>> versions of communalism and parochialism and the VHP and > the Bajrang > >> Dal would have continued to set the tone of state politics. Forty > >> years of dedicated propaganda does pay dividends, electorally and > >> socially. > >> > >> The Hindus and the Muslims of the state — once bonded so > >> conspicuously > >> by language, culture and commerce — have met the demands of both > > >> V D > >> Savarkar and M A Jinnah. They now face each other as two hostile > >> nations. The handful of Gujarati social and political activists who > >> resist the trend are seen not as dissenters but as treacherous > >> troublemakers who should be silenced by any means, including > >> surveillance, censorship and direct violence. As a result, Gujarati > >> cities, particularly its educational institutions are turning > >> cultural > >> deserts. Gujarat has already disowned the Indian Constitution > and the > >> state apparatus has adjusted to the change. > >> > >> The Congress, the main opposition party, has no effective > leader. Nor > >> does it represent any threat to the mainstream politics of Gujarat. > >> The days of grass-roots leaders like Jhinabhai Darji are past > and a > >> large section of the party now consists of Hindu nationalists. The > >> national leadership of the party does not have the courage to > >> confront > >> Modi over 2002, given its abominable record of 1984. > >> > >> The Left is virtually non-existent in Gujarat. Whatever minor > >> presence > >> it once had among intellectuals and trade unionists is now a vague > >> memory. The state has disowned Gandhi, too; Gandhian politics > arouses>> derision in middle-class Gujarat. Except for a few > valiant old- > >> timers, > >> Gandhians have made peace with their conscience by withdrawing from > >> the public domain. Gandhi himself has been given a saintly, Hindu > >> nationalist status and shelved. Even the Gujarati translations > of his > >> Complete Works have been stealthily distorted to conform to the > Hindu>> nationalist agenda. > >> > >> Gujarati Muslims too are "adjusting" to their new station. Denied > >> justice and proper compensation, and as second-class citizens in > > >> their > >> home state, they have to depend on voluntary efforts and donor > >> agencies. The state's refusal to provide relief has been partly > >> met by > >> voluntary groups having fundamentalist sympathies. They supply > aid > >> but > >> insist that the beneficiaries give up Gujarati and take to Urdu, > > >> adopt > >> veil, and send their children to madrassas. Events like the > >> desecration of Wali Gujarati's grave have pushed one of India's > >> culturally richest, most diverse, vernacular Islamic traditions > to > >> the > >> wall. Future generations will as gratefully acknowledge the sangh > >> parivar's contribution to the growth of radical Islam in India > as > >> this > >> generation remembers with gratitude the handsome contribution of > > >> Rajiv > >> Gandhi and his cohorts to Sikh militancy. > >> > >> The secularist dogma of many fighting the sangh parivar has not > >> helped > >> matters. Even those who have benefited from secular lawyers and > >> activists relate to secular ideologies instrumentally. They neither > >> understand them nor respect them. The victims still derive > solace > >> from > >> their religions and, when under attack, they cling more > passionately>> to faith. Indeed, shallow ideologies of secularism > have > >> simultaneously > >> broken the back of Gandhism and discouraged the emergence of > figures>> like Ali Shariatis, Desmond Tutus and the Dalai Lama — > persons > >> who can > >> give suffering a new voice audible to the poor and the powerless > and>> make a creative intervention possible from within worldviews > >> accessible to the people. > >> > >> Finally, Gujarat's spectacular development has underwritten the > >> de-civilising process. One of the worst-kept secrets of our > times is > >> that dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail. > >> Post-World War II Asia too has had its love affair with > developmental>> despotism and the censorship, surveillance and > thought control > >> that go > >> with it. The East Asian tigers have all been maneaters most of the > >> time. Gujarat has now chosen to join the pack. Development in the > >> state now justifies amorality, abridgement of freedom, and > >> collapse of > >> social ethics. > >> > >> Is there life after Modi? Is it possible to look beyond the 35 > years>> of rioting that began in 1969 and ended in 2002? Prima > facie, the > >> answer is "no". We can only wait for a new generation that will, > out>> of sheer self-interest and tiredness, learn to live with each > other.>> In the meanwhile, we have to wait patiently but not > passively to keep > >> values alive, hoping that at some point will come a modicum of > >> remorse > >> and a search for atonement and that ultimately Gujarati traditions > >> will triumph over the culture of the state's urban middle class. > >> > >> Recovering Gujarat from its urban middle class will not be easy. > The>> class has found in militant religious nationalism a new self- > respect>> and a new virtual identity as a martial community, the > way Bengali > >> babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different > times>> have sought salvation in violence. In Gujarat this class > has smelt > >> blood, for it does not have to do the killings but can plan, > finance>> and coordinate them with impunity. The actual killers are > the lowest > >> of the low, mostly tribals and Dalits. The middle class controls > the>> media and education, which have become hate factories in > recent > >> times. > >> And they receive spirited support from most non-resident Indians > who,>> at a safe distance from India, can afford to be more > nationalist,>> bloodthirsty, and irresponsible. > >> > >> [The writer is a political psychologist.] > >> _________________________________________ > >> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > >> Critiques & Collaborations > >> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > >> subscribe in the subject header. > >> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader- > >> list > >> List archive: > > _________________________________________ > > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > > Critiques & Collaborations > > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > > > subscribe in the subject header. > > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > List archive: > > Shuddhabrata Sengupta > The Sarai Programme at CSDS > Raqs Media Collective > shuddha at sarai.net > www.sarai.net > www.raqsmediacollective.net > > > From radhikarajen at vsnl.net Wed Jun 18 17:23:52 2008 From: radhikarajen at vsnl.net (radhikarajen at vsnl.net) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:53:52 +0500 Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again In-Reply-To: References: <9c06aab30806170733t48302bablf56c69c6427f5b82@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Dear Shuddha, sometimes I wonder whether any ethics and morals are left in these neo journalists who are working in visual media as anchors. ? As they so fluently talk about the IG of police as if they are above the law when they comment on the character of the 14 year child, as if these anchors are living a clean life.? And at times I wonder what made a brilliant social scientist to become a puppet in the hands of a channel with so many if and buts added for his pre poll survey in channel degrading himself along with channel and loss of credibilty.! ----- Original Message ----- From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 4:33 pm Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again To: radhikarajen at vsnl.net Cc: Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् , sarai list > Dear Radhikarajen, > > Thank you for your pertinent critique on the Sarai Reader List of > the > way in which the media represents issues, particularly with regard > to > the murder of Hemraj Banjade and Arushi Talwar in NOIDA. I think > that > your thoughts on 'media trials' are salutary. Had newspapers and TV > > channels been more restrained in the matter of the way in which > they > report 'sensational' crimes, then the grave and malicious > harrassment > that had been the fate of S.A.R.Geelani in the '13 December' case > might not have taken place. And nor would there have been currency > for the hysterical and blood-thirsty demand for the execution of > Muhammad Afzal Guru, which continues to beseige our consciousness > today. I do hope that you, in the spirit of your own argument, will > > join me in condemning the irresponsible behaviour of much of the > media in these instances. > > Having said that, I am a bit mystified by your anger against the > condemnation of the strange attempt at filing a case on grounds of > > 'promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, > race, place of birth and language' 'under Sections 153 A and B of > the > IPC against Ashis Nandy for his op-ed piece 'Blame the Middle > Class' > in the Times of India of January 8, 2008. Ashis Nandy is, in my > opinion, one of the most acute analysts of political culture and > modernity in South Asia. It is ironic that a person, who has > maintained a life time of critique against the excesses of the > state- > secularist agenda in India, (for which he was at times unfairly and > > idiotically denounced as an apolgist of the hindu right by some un- > intelligent so called 'left-liberal' critics) is someone you now > are > prepared to argue against, merely because he happens to have taken > on > the poster boy of hindutva hate-mongering, the chief minister of > Gujarat, Narendra Damodarbhai Modi. To be fair to Nandy, there is > no > particular group that escapes the sharp edge of his sadness in his > article on Gujarat. His words (in this particular article) > criticize > the actions done by people speaking in the name of Bengali Hindus, > Kashmiri Muslims, Punjabi Sikhs, Non Resident Indians, Dalits and > Adivasis and most of all - the middle classes. If all these kinds > of > people were to be united because they were all attacked by Ashis > Nandy, then, we would see a rare example of the promotion of > conviviality between groups that are otherwise expected to be at > each > others throats. Unfortunately, for you, and for the petitioner > belonging to the Ahmedabad based National Council for Civil > Liberties, there is as yet no provision in the the Indian Penal > Code > for the offense of the promotion of conviviality on grounds of > religion, race, place of birth and language. > . > I find it equally strange that you should impute the sentiments and > > the analysis contained in Nandy's trenchant criticque of Moditva, > (or > should it be Moditude, or Modismo) to the antipathy of the Bennet > Coleman Group, who happen to own the majority shares of the Times > of > India newspaper, and their so called pro Congress bias. It is > instructive to do a careful analysis of the press that Modi and > Modismo get in the Times of India's sister publication, the > Economic > Times, (which for my money, is the more serious of the two > publications, the one that actually gets read by captains of > industry > and politics, not one that teenagers decorate their lockers with > because it has scantily clad men and women, the publication of > images > of which, you will no doubt agree, is the primary reason for the > Times of India to exist.) > > Now, were you to look at the Economic Times reportage of Modi, > Modismo and Gujarat, you would find a glowing picture that would > warm > your hearts. All you (and everyone who is interested on this list) > needs to do is to type Narendra Modi on the search bar of the > Economic Times home page, and you will be showered by what looks > like > a public relations campaign for Gujarati Asmita and Modismo. > > You will find articles such as - > > Rajiv Gandhi Foundation finds Gujarat No 1 state > > Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, today hailed > Gujarat > Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying that he has a "bias" for action. > > And there are many more where these came from. > > Even your own pet hate, the Times of India, has articles such as > 'Women Mesmerised by Narendra Modi' > > What are we to make of this, other than that this is but an > instance > of the totally commonplace practice of a media group trying to > placate all sides. So damn Modi in one article in one publication > that you own, and then praise him to the skies in another. A > detailed > analysis of the politics of who reports what about whom, and when, =3E in > the Indian media can be an entertaining, and instructive diversion. > > What, however, are we to make of your own pathological anxiety > whenever Shri Narendra Damodarbhai Modi is criticised ? You have > (again) neatly sidestepped the substance of Ashis Nandy's critique > and taken us on the pursuit of the red herring of the Times of > India's pro-Congress bias, which for you, explains everything that > there is to understand about what Ashis Nandy has written. Take a > break from the computer, and go take a long look at the mirror, and > > you will see the visage of that same middle class Indian, quick to > fume, quick to claim an injury to your precious pride, quick to > demand that the slate be cleaned of all 'others', and short, > tragically, comically short on anything like the ability to reflect > > on the tightening limits of the sources of your self. > > I sympathise with your predicament. It must be really hard, and > sad, > to be you. > > regards > > Shuddha > > > > > > > > > > media trials of this sort were > On 18-Jun-08, at 2:02 PM, radhikarajen at vsnl.net wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > it is very nice to find flaws with BJP and gujarathis at the > drop > > of a hat even after Modi asserted time and again that he is > > administrator and chief minister with the difference of of > > governance of all in the same state without favour or fear as per > > > the oath he has taken to administer the state. Times of India and > > > its media group is owned by Bennet group which traditionally has > > been political and supporting sycophants of Congress and media > > generally feels if it has to be "secular" it has to bash hindu > > sentiments and encash its trp and circulation, Times group is > never > > fair and free in its journalism and always favoured Congress and > > its employees have to toe the line of media bosses and pritish is > > > no exception to the rules of survival of the fittest in > journalism > > by sycophancy. > > > > The worst part of it is this "secular"media can not digest the > > > fact that hindu society is slowly and steadily getting out of > caste > > conundrums and beginning to gel as one homogeneous society, while > > > muslim community is being systematically divided by christian > > missions to achieve its divide and rule game, into smaller forms > of > > shias, sunnis and other denominations with terror as subtextt > just > > as the vote banks are getting divided between good governance and > > > sycophancy and secular media keeps on playing old footage of > > "carnages so that they remain in the ghettos and wounds are never > > > allowed to heal.The ultimate goal of Sonia and her mafia is to > > divided and rule with rome as its remote control which hindus > have > > understood except for a few handful of sycophants in Congress of > > all faiths who have no mass base or electoral prospects and have > to > > live on doleouts of the mafia queen. These along with christian > > mafia in the kitchen cabinet have used all those "journalists" > and > > "int > > ellectuals" of modern day to devise the spins to bring back the > old > > lost horse of Congress in new avtar as christian brigade for the > > crusade, while in comity of nations it is seen that Bush uses- > the > > terror and weapons of mass destruction as excuses to bring in his > > > form of democracy in the nations of muslim faith, first by attack > > > of shia dominated Afghanistan and then on Iraq for the imaginary > > weapons of mass destruction.?---- Original Message ----- > > From: Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् > > Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 8:04 pm > > Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again > > To: sarai list > > > >> An organisation in Ahemdabad called National Council for Civil > >> Liberties has filed a case against Ashis Nandy for his article > in The > >> Times of India in January after Modi's election victory. The > case has > >> been filed for for 'promoting enmity between different groups on > >> grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language' > [Sections 153 > >> (A) and (B) of IPC]. > >> > >> 178 academics and intellectuals have signed a statement in protest, > >> which is available at > >> http://www.sacw.net/FreeExpAndFundos/defendNandy16June08.html > >> > >> Given below is the 'offending' article: > >> > >> o o o > >> > >> > >> Blame The Middle Class > >> > >> By Ashis Nandy > >> 8 Jan 2008 > >> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/ > >> LEADER_ARTICLE_Blame_The_Middle_Class/rssarticleshow/2681517.cms > >> > >> Now that the dust has settled over the Gujarat elections, we can > >> afford to defy the pundits and admit that, even if Narendra Modi > had>> lost the last elections, it would not have made much > difference to > >> the > >> culture of Gujarat politics. Modi had already done his job. Most of > >> the state's urban middle class would have remained mired in its > inane>> versions of communalism and parochialism and the VHP and > the Bajrang > >> Dal would have continued to set the tone of state politics. Forty > >> years of dedicated propaganda does pay dividends, electorally and > >> socially. > >> > >> The Hindus and the Muslims of the state — once bonded so > >> conspicuously > >> by language, culture and commerce — have met the demands of both > > >> V D > >> Savarkar and M A Jinnah. They now face each other as two hostile > >> nations. The handful of Gujarati social and political activists who > >> resist the trend are seen not as dissenters but as treacherous > >> troublemakers who should be silenced by any means, including > >> surveillance, censorship and direct violence. As a result, Gujarati > >> cities, particularly its educational institutions are turning > >> cultural > >> deserts. Gujarat has already disowned the Indian Constitution > and the > >> state apparatus has adjusted to the change. > >> > >> The Congress, the main opposition party, has no effective > leader. Nor > >> does it represent any threat to the mainstream politics of Gujarat. > >> The days of grass-roots leaders like Jhinabhai Darji are past > and a > >> large section of the party now consists of Hindu nationalists. The > >> national leadership of the party does not have the courage to > >> confront > >> Modi over 2002, given its abominable record of 1984. > >> > >> The Left is virtually non-existent in Gujarat. Whatever minor > >> presence > >> it once had among intellectuals and trade unionists is now a vague > >> memory. The state has disowned Gandhi, too; Gandhian politics > arouses>> derision in middle-class Gujarat. Except for a few > valiant old- > >> timers, > >> Gandhians have made peace with their conscience by withdrawing from > >> the public domain. Gandhi himself has been given a saintly, Hindu > >> nationalist status and shelved. Even the Gujarati translations > of his > >> Complete Works have been stealthily distorted to conform to the > Hindu>> nationalist agenda. > >> > >> Gujarati Muslims too are "adjusting" to their new station. Denied > >> justice and proper compensation, and as second-class citizens in > > >> their > >> home state, they have to depend on voluntary efforts and donor > >> agencies. The state's refusal to provide relief has been partly > >> met by > >> voluntary groups having fundamentalist sympathies. They supply > aid > >> but > >> insist that the beneficiaries give up Gujarati and take to Urdu, > > >> adopt > >> veil, and send their children to madrassas. Events like the > >> desecration of Wali Gujarati's grave have pushed one of India's > >> culturally richest, most diverse, vernacular Islamic traditions > to > >> the > >> wall. Future generations will as gratefully acknowledge the sangh > >> parivar's contribution to the growth of radical Islam in India > as > >> this > >> generation remembers with gratitude the handsome contribution of > > >> Rajiv > >> Gandhi and his cohorts to Sikh militancy. > >> > >> The secularist dogma of many fighting the sangh parivar has not > >> helped > >> matters. Even those who have benefited from secular lawyers and > >> activists relate to secular ideologies instrumentally. They neither > >> understand them nor respect them. The victims still derive > solace > >> from > >> their religions and, when under attack, they cling more > passionately>> to faith. Indeed, shallow ideologies of secularism > have > >> simultaneously > >> broken the back of Gandhism and discouraged the emergence of > figures>> like Ali Shariatis, Desmond Tutus and the Dalai Lama — > persons > >> who can > >> give suffering a new voice audible to the poor and the powerless > and>> make a creative intervention possible from within worldviews > >> accessible to the people. > >> > >> Finally, Gujarat's spectacular development has underwritten the > >> de-civilising process. One of the worst-kept secrets of our > times is > >> that dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail. > >> Post-World War II Asia too has had its love affair with > developmental>> despotism and the censorship, surveillance and > thought control > >> that go > >> with it. The East Asian tigers have all been maneaters most of the > >> time. Gujarat has now chosen to join the pack. Development in the > >> state now justifies amorality, abridgement of freedom, and > >> collapse of > >> social ethics. > >> > >> Is there life after Modi? Is it possible to look beyond the 35 > years>> of rioting that began in 1969 and ended in 2002? Prima > facie, the > >> answer is "no". We can only wait for a new generation that will, > out>> of sheer self-interest and tiredness, learn to live with each > other.>> In the meanwhile, we have to wait patiently but not > passively to keep > >> values alive, hoping that at some point will come a modicum of > >> remorse > >> and a search for atonement and that ultimately Gujarati traditions > >> will triumph over the culture of the state's urban middle class. > >> > >> Recovering Gujarat from its urban middle class will not be easy. > The>> class has found in militant religious nationalism a new self- > respect>> and a new virtual identity as a martial community, the > way Bengali > >> babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different > times>> have sought salvation in violence. In Gujarat this class > has smelt > >> blood, for it does not have to do the killings but can plan, > finance>> and coordinate them with impunity. The actual killers are > the lowest > >> of the low, mostly tribals and Dalits. The middle class controls > the>> media and education, which have become hate factories in > recent > >> times. > >> And they receive spirited support from most non-resident Indians > who,>> at a safe distance from India, can afford to be more > nationalist,>> bloodthirsty, and irresponsible. > >> > >> [The writer is a political psychologist.] > >> _________________________________________ > >> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > >> Critiques & Collaborations > >> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > >> subscribe in the subject header. > >> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader- > >> list > >> List archive: > > _________________________________________ > > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. > > Critiques & Collaborations > > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with > > > subscribe in the subject header. > > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list > > List archive: > > Shuddhabrata Sengupta > The Sarai Programme at CSDS > Raqs Media Collective > shuddha at sarai.net > www.sarai.net > www.raqsmediacollective.net > > > Dear Shuddha, From asitredsalute at gmail.com Wed Jun 18 17:44:54 2008 From: asitredsalute at gmail.com (Asit asitreds) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:44:54 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] protest demonstration at jharkhand bhawan, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi on Lalt Mehta murder case Message-ID: Dear Friends, In a meeting held at 7, Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on 17th June 2008, it has been decided to hold a dharna (Sit-in protest) in front of Jharkhand Bhawan on 20th June, friday at 12 pm. As you know a NREGA activist Lalit Mehta has been killed by the vested interests in Palamau while he was helping Social Audit team led by Prof. Jean Drez. People all across the Jharkhand and elsewhere are demanding for a CBI probe into the killing of Lalit Mehta and enquiry into the irregularities in NREGA implementation in Jharkhand. Please join in and raise your voice collectively. Location : New Jharkhand Bhawan Near PRIYA Cinema, Close to India Airlines Colony Kusumpur Pahadi Vasant Vihar On Priya Cinema Road turn left after Priya Complex Phone No of Jharkhand Bhawan : 011-2673 9000 In Solidarity, Aruna Roy Swami Agnivesh Anne Raja Nikhil Dey Kiran Shaheen Contact no : 91-11-99116 41423 From kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com Wed Jun 18 19:31:43 2008 From: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com (Kshmendra Kaul) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:01:43 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Blood in the Water In-Reply-To: <82AE2DFC-2B97-419D-B778-DE50139B4AA0@sarai.net> Message-ID: <338938.44785.qm@web57206.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Many moons back I had seen a documentary, either on BBC or one of the 'environmental' channels that put 'water wars' as the backgrounder for very many on the global conflicts including the ones over Kashmir and Palestine.   In Pakistan, Kashmir is often called the "Shah Rug" (jugular vein) of Pakistan. One of the interpretations of that term is the importance of Kashmir as a 'water source' for Pakistan. I would not know who first used it but Benazir Bhutto in her Primeministership often mouthed it. It was the phase when she would be frothing at her mouth while she screamed "Jihad, Jihad, Jihad".   Was looking at some available material on the Web:   1.    - From "Water Wars of the Near Future" by Marq de Villiers Found at http://www.itt.com/waterbook/Wars.asp          -   Ismail Serageldin, the bank's (World Bank) vice president for environmental affairs and chairman of the World Water Commission, stated bluntly a few years ago that the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water.      -   There is another way of looking at the notion of water conflicts, which Homer-Dixon acknowledges and urges on the world's policy makers. Water shortages may not lead to shooting wars, but they most certainly lead to food shortages, increased poverty, and to the spread of disease. .................. Bangladesh may never go to war with India--even before the recent settlement, the Bangladeshis were too poor to do much more than grumble--but the stress caused by water shortages led to massive migrations of people, upsetting the ethnic balance of several Bangladeshi and Indian states, and leading to the rise of terrorist and nascent revolutionary movements. By other definitions, then--water wars.    2. - From excerpts from the book "Water Wars" by Vandana Shiva Found at http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Vandana_Shiva/Water_Wars_VShiva.html      - By the late 1890s, Los Angeles had already tapped its local supplies and city officials were secretly purchasing land and water rights in neighboring Owens Valley. ........... In 1924, Owens Valley residents blasted an aqueduct to prevent water diversion to Los Angeles. The water war had begun.     - The 1967 war, which led to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Golan Heights, was in effect an occupation of the freshwater resources from the Golan Heights, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, and the West Bank. As Middle-Eastern scholar Ewan Anderson, notes, "The West Bank has become a critical source of water for Israel, and it could be argued that this consideration outweighs other political and strategic factors."     - Neither international nor national water laws adequately respond to the ecological and political challenges posed by water conflicts. No legal document in contemporary Iaw mentions the most basic law related to water-the natural law of the water cycle. Claims are derived from and protection is limited to artificial concrete structures. This limitation has propelled regions and states to enter a contest for the most extravagant water projects as a means of establishing their rights to water-the more you extract and divert water through giant projects, the more you can claim rights. Water conflicts continue to escalate and, to date, no appropriate legal framework exists to resolve these conflicts.      - Not only has the World Bank played a major role in the creation of water scarcity and pollution, it is now transforming that scarcity into a market opportunity for water corporations.       - Water has become big business for global corporations, which see limitless markets in growing water scarcity and demand. The two major players in the water industry are the French companies Vivendi Environment and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, whose empires extend to 120 countries. Vivendi is the water giant, with a turnover of $17.1 billion. Suez had a turnover of $5.1 billion in 1996.      - The privatization of water services is the first step toward the privatization of all aspects of water.   3. From "The next major conflict in the Middle East - Water Wars" -  A Lecture by Adel Darwish- Geneva conference on Environment and Quality of Life June 1994. Found at http://www.mideastnews.com/WaterWars.htm     - When President Anwar Sadat signed the peace treaty with Israel in 1979, he said Egypt will never go to war again, except to protect its water resources. King Hussein of Jordan has said he will never go to war with Israel again except over water and the Untied Nation Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has warned bluntly that the next war in the area will be over water.      - In theory, peace between the Arabs and Israel should end their rivalry over water, but it is just as likely that water will delay, if not altogether prevent, peace. In a final settlement, Israel would have to give up the West Bank which gives it control of the southern portion of the Jordan, the west bank of the river with its aquifers; the Golan Heights in Syria which contains the headwaters of the Jordan and the strip of land along the southern Lebanese border where the Zahrani and Litani rivers flow.       - Most alarming, and perhaps most telling, was an off-the-record comment by a leading politician about his country's water need. `` A time may well come,'' he said,`` we have to calculate whether a small swift war might be economically more rewarding than putting up with a drop in our water supplies.''    4.  - Potential for Water Wars in the 21st Century - Erwin E. Klaas, Professor Emeritus of Animal Ecology, Iowa State University Found at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/waterwars.htm   5.  - Water Wars: Cauvery, Chinatown and Cadillac Desert by Rajeev Srinivasan Found at http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jan/17rajeev.htm   6.  - Asia's Coming Water Wars By Chietigj Bajpaee Found at http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=545&language_id=1   7.  - "Water wars - Sindh’s struggle for control of the Indus" by Hasan Mansoor Found at http://www.himalmag.com/2002/july/report_4.htm     Kshmendra --- On Wed, 6/18/08, Shuddhabrata Sengupta wrote: From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta Subject: [Reader-list] Blood in the Water To: "sarai list" Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 4:57 PM Dear All, A friend forward this article, published recently in the Asian Sentinel, to me recently. I think that it introduces an element, control of water and natural resources, that are actually key to an understanding of how conflicts such as Kashmir get played out. In the longer term, these issues may be far more significant than the issues of ethnic and religious identity. it is a pity, that whenever the question of say Kashmir, comes up, or whenever the issue of Bangladeshi migrants to India rears its head, all that everyone wants to talk about is the 'identity' issue, what gets left behind is thought about things like water. Ask a Bangladeshi immigrant to Delhi about what drove him to cross so many miles of hazardous territory, and the chances are, that if you are prepared to pay attention, he or she will have something to say about floods, and the lethality of rivers, and the rising sea. I know many people who are ambivalent about their identities, but I have yet to come across a person who does not feel thirsty. Given that water is so important to our survival and life, it is a sad travesty that we pay it so little attention when it comes to politics. We wouldn't be around to protect our identities and our nationalities if we could not drink water, or did not have the guarantee that our homes would not be flooded, year after year. regards Shuddha ------------------ http://asiasentinel.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=1269&Itemid=31 Blood in Kashmir's Water Sankar Ray 18 June 2008 A decades-old competition for water complicates the already-bitter relationship between India and her neighbors Water is destined to be a determining factor in the regional conflicts of South Asia in the years to come, particularly between India and Pakistan. Unquestionably one of the most crucial of environmental resources, this essential ingredient for human life is growing so scarce in some areas globally that if current trends continue, two-thirds of humanity will suffer "moderate to severe water stress" within 30 years, according to a comprehensive assessment of freshwater resources by the United Nations. Nowhere is this truer, however, than in the parched regions of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where overpopulation, poverty and scarce resources make the competition more acute. In a remarkably even- handed paper published in a recent issue of the Journal of International Affairs, Saleem H. Ali, associate professor of Environmental Policy and Planning, at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources of the University of Vermont in the US, identifies the lack of environmental cooperation in bilateral and multilateral relations as the root cause of a potential conflict "between two nuclear neighbours, India and Pakistan, predicated in a history of religious rivalries and post-colonial demarcation." The Pakistani scholar urges India and Pakistan to put aside their mutual distrust to reconfigure the riparian issues for lasting piece in the region, their inveterate, decades-old antagonism notwithstanding, and concentrate on a matter of equal importance to their survival of each country. Ali praises the World Bank's "instrumental role in its negotiation during the height of the Cold War to bring the two countries to the negotiating table with the Indus Water Treaty after bilateral negotiations failed. The outcome of this historic treaty was the unrestricted use by India of the three eastern rivers, the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas and complete control of the three western rivers, the Jhelum, Chenab and Indus by Pakistan. The rivers all have their origin in the bitterly disputed region of Kashmir. And thus, theoretically whoever controls Kashmir controls the rivers, a fact conveniently forgotten for years as Pakistan and India tested each other's mettle in a series of wars. The Pakistani Prime Minister, Hussain Suhrwardy, in 1958 pointed to the geographical importance of Kashmir when he emphasized the importance of the six rivers of the Indus Basin. "Most of them rise in Kashmir. One of the reasons why, therefore, that Kashmir is so important for us is this water, these waters which irrigate our lands," Suhrwardy said at the time. He proved himself a prophet. The only other international statesman who thought along the same lines was the British Premier, Anthony Eden, who believed that the resolution of the water dispute would reduce the tension over Kashmir, hence the Indus Water Treaty. India denied the link between Kashmir and the water issue, however, a denial that has contributed to the growing resentment between the two countries, and an amazing one given reality. The head of the Indus flows through the valley corridor that connects Indian and Pakistani- held Kashmir. Further south India has been engaged in a running dispute with Bangladesh over the Farakka Barrage over the River Ganges since 1973. This project involved a dam built on the Ganges in West Bengal, about 10 kilometers from the Bangladesh border. Bangladeshi objections that the project would seriously affect the country's water supply have proved correct. Falling water levels below the dam have raised salinity levels, affecting fisheries and hindering navigation. Falling soil moisture levels have also also led to desertification. Ali firmly believes that "environmental factors can play a pivotal role since they help link various issues such as economic development and security." He points out that, "states that are ecologically vulnerable to extreme climatic events, such as Bangladesh, are recognizing that poor environmental planning in coastal areas can have devastating economic impacts". "I have long been criticizing the brazenly reactionary promotion of water disputes among Indian states by the political parties in power," said Surajit Guha, the former deputy-director general of the Geological Survey of India and one of India's top hydrologists "It may not be confined within the Indian territory. The Farakka impasse is a clear evidence of this. Have you seen European countries through which the mighty River Danube flows engaging themselves in dispute over sharing of water during the last one hundred years? I do not know why water is increasingly politicized when most of the peoples of SAARC region are deprived of access to safe and potable water." While the west is busy concentrating its efforts on securing a ready supply of oil, in South Asia the governments are slowly but surely waking up to the fact that in the not too distant future water is going to be equally, if not more important to the survival of their people. Shuddhabrata Sengupta The Sarai Programme at CSDS Raqs Media Collective shuddha at sarai.net www.sarai.net www.raqsmediacollective.net _________________________________________ reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city. Critiques & Collaborations To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header. To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> From shuddha at sarai.net Wed Jun 18 21:57:28 2008 From: shuddha at sarai.net (Shuddhabrata Sengupta) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:57:28 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Reading Radhilarajen and the Hyde Act/123 Deal Message-ID: <36CC6A0F-92B3-49AD-A75A-4131867D80D6@sarai.net> Dear Radhikarajen, It is interesting that you mention the Hyde Act, and its supposed role vis-a-vis the so called "123 treaty" on Nuclear Co-Operation between the United States and India in one of your recent posts in the thread on "Gujarati Pride".You have done this, while making some ad-hominem attacks on journalists of the CNN-IBN channel (for whom I hold no brief, for and against) for being 'obviously on someone's payroll' etc. I find it interesting that you have to jump from an imputed defence of the person or persons who have brought a specious case against Ashis Nandy, to a rant on governance and finally to your casual observations on the Indo-US Nuclear deal. What connects these disparate threads remains a mystery to me. I think you need to be careful when saying things like 'being on payrolls'. Such speculations, are deeply unethical, and do not aid the climate of a healthy discussion. In any case, whether or not 'they' (whoseover they may be) are indeed on someone's payroll is a fact that neither aids nor damages your argument. Especially all those who oppose the said (nuclear) deal do not necessarily oppose Modi, and all those who support Modi do not necessarily oppose the deal. So I don't quite understand why, in trying to argue about the treatment that Narendra Damodarbhai Modi gets in the media, you have to unnecessarily drag in the question of the so called Nuclear deal. Is there some kind of special training you have received of trying to distract your audience whenever you are criticized on the basis of the logic of your argument? I will spend some time trying to think through the issues that you have raised, because, the kind of loose reasoning that you bring to this list needs, in my opinion, a redressal, from time to time. Now, what is the Hyde Act, what exactly is the 123 Treaty These matters need a little clarification. The Hyde Act, or, the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006, to give the act its full title, is a piece of legislation, introduced by Congressman Henry Hyde, passed by the US Congress, which creates the legal basis (under US Law) for co-operation between the United States and India. US law, ordinarily, declares that the United States cannot enter into nuclear collaboration with a country that is not governed by the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. India, Israel, and Pakistan are countries that have not joined the NPT and the CTBT. North Korea joined, but later withdrew. Iran, for instance, is a signatory. (which is why it has to allow for International Atomic Energy Agency inspections, which it does, dodgily) US law permits the United States to enter into nuclear energy collaboration with declared non-nuclear weapons states who have signed the NPT and the CTBT under section 123 (titled - "Cooperation with Other Nations") of the United States Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Hence, the United States enters into '123 Agreements' with other countries. At the present moment, 25 such agreements have been signed, including with countries such as Morocco, Ukraine, Romania etc. The Hyde Act, which incidentally includes provisions inserted by Democratic representative for Illinois, Barack Obama to restrict fuel supplies to India at a scale commensurate only with "reasonable civilian reactor requirements" is in a way, a one-time only exemption being made by US lawmakers with regard to India. It may come as surprise to some, but the United States has refused, and continues to refuse to make the same exemption even for its close ally, Israel. Some of the people (both CPI-M and BJP, for instance) who say that the Hyde Act and provisions of the 123 are discriminatory towards India, forget that the acts in themselves represent an exception that the United States is prepared to make for India, but not even for Israel. Israel has recently lobbied with the US government for an extension of the same treatment, effectively saying that the US government is unfairly favouring India over Israel. see - a recent AP news report to this effect at - http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ 2007/09israel_seeks_exemption_from_at.php Indeed, the Hyde Act puts limitations on the scope of the 123 Treaty. And we might ask, why not? A nuclear power is making a special case for relating to another nuclear power that has not joined the NPT or the CTBT (that the US has not either is another, not un-interesting fact, but nothing compels the United States government to enter into treaties with itself, hence this, strictly speaking is of no consequence), and in doing so, it might wish to maintain some safeguards. Those who oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal on the grounds that it discriminates against India are wrong. It makes a special case for India, despite Inida's status as a non-signatory to the NPT and CTBT and in a sense puts the Indo-US relationship on an even closer footing (in the specific instance of nuclear cooperation) than US- Israel ties. Those who support the Indo-US nuclear deal on the grounds that it places no limitations on India are also wrong. Because, the Hyde Act clearly places limitations in the events of testing, or any trace of military use (which have to be verified by the IAEA). Both (Indian Pro and Anti Nuclear Deal partisans) see a perfectly ordinary piece of legislation through the lens of Indian exceptionalism. In one case, by refusing to see that India is not discriminated against (because provisions are made for India that are not in force for Israel) on the other hand by refusing to see that India is treated just like any other country that has signed the 123 agreement is treated. Why should India be treated any differently from Morocco. What makes India, so special? My take on this is very simple, and I have said it before on this list. We do not need nuclear weapons. Hence, the Indian government should be pressuriezed to sign the NPT and the CTBT, and then, the debate on whether we need nuclear energy supplies can have a real meaning. This debate would be on the ecological and political implications of nuclear power as a source of energy per se. Until that occurs, there is nothing to be gained by moving close to the United States, or Russia, or France, or any other nuclear power for obtaining nuclear supplies. Those opposed to the deal are barking up the wrong tree if they think that there can be better 'deals' on offer. The only 'better deal' on the terms that these people set, are the ones that place on limits or caveats on testing and further weaponization. In other words, those, such as the CPI(M) and the BJP that oppose the deal, do so, only because they want to keep building bombs. Those that support the deal, are somehow convinced that the deal wont stop them from testing and building bombs, which is why they tell the opponents of the deal that nothing changes once the deal is signed. Both parties speak from a position that clearly wants to keep building bombs and testing, one with and another without the operationalization of the deal. It would be good were a real public debate on this fact to occur, instead of the pro and anti US shadow boxing that generally takes place in its stead. If this list is a space where this could occur, (clearly, it is not happening in the mainstream media, again) it would be a welcome thing. I hope I have made myself abundantly clear. regards Shuddha Shuddhabrata Sengupta The Sarai Programme at CSDS Raqs Media Collective shuddha at sarai.net www.sarai.net www.raqsmediacollective.net From space.cotoners8 at gmail.com Wed Jun 18 23:12:05 2008 From: space.cotoners8 at gmail.com (Space Cotoners8) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:42:05 +0200 Subject: [Reader-list] Call for artist :: Convocatoria artistas Message-ID: <2ad987420806181042y2cc815e0g23c9f0cbd15ccf7@mail.gmail.com> SpanishABIERTA LA CONVOCATORIA DE ARTISTAS C8 te ofrece 'El Escaparate', un espacio situado en el barrio del Born de Barcelona: . 'El Escaparate' es un proyecto sin animo de lucro que pretende dar un giro al concepto de 'escaparate comercial'. Un giro hacia la creación artística contemporánea y la expresión de ideas. Un espacio específico (211 alto/181 ancho/122 fondo) donde los artistas pueden presentar sus propuestas creadas a través de cualquier medio artístico: pintura, video, fotografía, luz, texto, acción... Mas informacion en el pdf adjunto. Puedes hacernos llegar tu propuesta a través de nuestra web www.c8artwindow.com English OPEN CALLING FOR ARTIST C8 offers you 'El Escaparate', a space placed in the main cultural district and busy shopping area of El Born in the city of Barcelona. 'El Escaparate' is a project that tries give a draft to the concept of a 'commercial shop window'. A draft towards the artistic contemporany creation and the expression of ideas. A specific space (2.11 height/1.81 wide/1.22 deep) where the artists can present their offers created through any artistic medium: painting, video, photography, light, text, action… More information in pdf. You can send us your offers through our web page www.c8artwindow.com From tasveerghar at gmail.com Thu Jun 19 10:50:48 2008 From: tasveerghar at gmail.com (Tasveer Ghar) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:50:48 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Announcing the Fellows for 2008 Message-ID: <484c1050806182220j7573a844r374a8e094264f1df@mail.gmail.com> Dear friends Tasveer Ghar, the house of images, is delighted to announce the selection of candidates for its 2nd Popular Art Fellowship for the year 2008. The theme for this year's fellowships is "Kaleidoscopic Sites and Sights: The Printed Visual Culture/s of Religious Pluralism", and we received an overwhelming number of exciting ideas and proposals for the same. This year we needed to select only four fellows, hence the job of the 4-member selection committee was even more difficult. We congratulate the following four candidates/teams that have been selected as Tasveer Ghar Fellows for 2008, for their respective topics: 1. Subah Dayal and Suzanne Schulz Topic: Outside the Imambara: The Lives of Pilgrimage Souvenirs 2. Shirly Abraham and Amit Madhesiya Topic: Religious Iconography in the Public Sphere - Painted and Tile Gods Adorning the Streets. 3. Daljit Ami Topic: Exploring Ravidas, Understanding a Meeting Point of Faiths and Resistance 4. Joe Christopher/Alice Sampson Topic: Challenging Dominance: The Visual Repertoire of the Bonallu Festival and Subaltern shrines in Hyderabad More details about these fellows and their proposed work would soon be available on our website. They would work towards creation of art collections to be culminated in virtual galleries and an essay at the end of their 6 months fellowship period. Their galleries are likely to be inaugurated in January 2009. Invitation: Besides the above fellowships, Tasveer Ghar is always open to contributions of exciting images representing the unique examples of popular visual culture of India/South Asia, from artists, art collectors, photographers, students and everyone else. You can send us photo prints, old photographs, old printed material, photo negatives, transparencies, digital photographs, high-resolution scans, posters, calendar, old advertisements, printed packing material, wall graffiti, hoardings, road-side banners, or any other medium, preferably mass-produced or truly archival and rare, but representing certain popular trends of our society. Kindly see more details in our Call for Proposals. Your contributions, if accepted by us, would be compensated with a basic honorarium. We can also sign a contract with you about the use of such images. Kindly send us samples of such artwork, so that we can immediately respond. Past Galleries on our website: Kindly visit the exciting image essays and galleries that have been posted on Tasveer Ghar so far. Good Morning – Welcome – Svagatam: Kitschy Indian 'Welcome' Posters
By Patricia Uberoi http://tasveerghar.net/welcome/ Celebrating More Than the New Year: The Hindu Nationalist Greeting Cards
By Christiane Brosius http://tasveerghar.net/hgreet/ When a Language Becomes a Mother/Goddess - An Image Essay on Tamil
by Sumathi Ramaswamy http://tasveerghar.net/stamil/ This is What They Look Like: Stereotypes of Muslim Piety in Calendar Art and Hindi Cinema. By Yousuf Saeed http://tasveerghar.net/mstereo/ Remediation: Iconic Images and Everyday Spaces - 'Female Film Stars' in Print Media: by Madhuja Mukherji http://tasveerghar.net/2007/madhuja/ Miss Use: A Survey of Raunchy Bhojpuri Music Album Covers: By Vishal Rawlley http://tasveerghar.net/2007/vishal/ Catering to Indian and British Tastes: Gender in Early Indian Print Advertisements: By Javed Masood http://tasveerghar.net/2007/javed/ Miniature Societies & Grihani Aesthetics: Traditional Dolls from South India: By Annapurna Garimella http://tasveerghar.net/2007/annapurna/ Objects of Desire: Commodification of Gender in the Titles of Popular Hindi Novels: By Atmaram K. Bhakal http://tasveerghar.net/2007/atmaram/ We welcome you to visit our website and spread the word to more people. We would also welcome your comments, queries, and criticism about the work Tasveer Ghar is doing. Yours sincerely, Christiane Brosius Manishita Dass Sumathi Ramaswamy Yousuf Saeed -- http://www.tasveerghar.net From abhijit8086 at yahoo.com Thu Jun 19 11:06:40 2008 From: abhijit8086 at yahoo.com (Abhijit) Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:36:40 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Reader-list] Minions of US Media Message-ID: <820114.82822.qm@web36908.mail.mud.yahoo.com>   Did rogue network leak nuclear bomb design? An infamous atomic smuggler may have had blueprints for a compact, sophisticated nuclear warhead, and that could mean that the world's proliferation problem is even worse than many experts had thought. Posted Jun 18, 2008 09:36 AM PST Category: PAKISTAN Right on time, just right after the Pakistani government has expressed its fury over the US killing of their soldiers to the point where they are perhaps going to suspend the US training of their paramilitary soldiers.   In an earlier comment this morning, I mentioned we would probably see more demonization of Pakistan. And although the original story broke on Monday, here it is again, getting waived in our faces.     I thought that was an illustrative example. From kauladityaraj at gmail.com Thu Jun 19 13:43:53 2008 From: kauladityaraj at gmail.com (Aditya Raj Kaul) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:43:53 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Wandhama: A Forgotten Carnage Message-ID: <6353c690806190113u1ea130bcuf58e96e50e617acf@mail.gmail.com> Wandhama: A Forgotten Carnage *On the eve of International Refugee's Day I pay my homage to 23 innocent victims of terrorism in the valley. Wandhama was an unknown village in central Kashmir till 26th Jan. 1998. Its been 10 long years now....* *"It didn't occur on the midnight of 25th of January, 1998. It wasn't those odd 23 Kashmiri Pandits including 4 young children from Wandhama; a village on the outskirts of Srinagar who fell to the bullets". This is what the state government of J&K wishes all the common people to believe.* - It surely may seem to be a strange occurrence but is a hard fact. The J&K Police has closed its investigations into one of the most cold-blooded massacres and that too in its 10th anniversary year. Read more at - http://activistsdiary.blogspot.com/ *Be there at Chinmaya Mission Auditorium on 20th June, 2008 at 6:00pm.* ** *Campaign Blog - www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com/ * ** *Thanks* *Aditya Raj Kaul* *Roots In Kashmir* *New Delhi* From asitredsalute at gmail.com Thu Jun 19 14:15:14 2008 From: asitredsalute at gmail.com (Asit asitreds) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:15:14 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] protest demonstration at jharkhand bhawan, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi on Lalit Mehta murder case and nrega scams Message-ID: Dear Friends, All over the country, activists who have sought to struggle for implementation of NREG, PDS, and BPL schemes have faced the brunt of state repression, custodial torture and killing and assassinations at the hands of political vested interests. The latest in the series are Lalit Mehta and Kameshwar Yadav in Jharkhand. *Please join a protest meeting at Jharkhand Bhawan, (Near PVR Priya, Near Indian Airlines Colony, Kusumpur Pahari, Vasant Vihar*) on 20th June (Friday) at 12 noon to raise our voice against the brutal cycle of corruption and violence, and to demand justice for Lalit Mehta and Kameshwar Yadav. * * * Please bring your banners and placards. Please also find below a letter of protest addressed to the Governor of Jharkhand. Kindly send your endorsement to manisha.sethy at gmail.com or radhikamenon1 at gmail.com or fdidelhi at gmail.com In solidarity, Radhika Menon, Lalit Batra, Manisha sethi, Ahmed Sohaib, Ritu Sinha, Suchetna Ghosh and others Forum for democratic Initiatives 9811625577; 9868038981 * To reach Jharkhand Bhawan, Go down the road past Vasant Continental and PVR Priya market and take the first left. Go past the Gurdwara. Jharkhand Bhwan is a green-coloured building close to it. From anansi1 at earthlink.net Thu Jun 19 17:54:24 2008 From: anansi1 at earthlink.net (Paul Miller) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:24:24 -0400 Subject: [Reader-list] Project Kashmir: A Film In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3E0F83A8-463C-458C-B781-36519B746970@earthlink.net> Senain Kheshgi is an interesting film maker. I think that the Sarai reader group would enjoy the film. It's a kaleidoscope of perspectives, but hey, what occupied place - whether it was Ireland, or Palestine, or Kashmir... isn't? Paul aka Dj Spooky Details: http://www.projectkashmir.org/index.html THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF PROJECT KASHMIR Dir. Senain Kheshgi & Geeta V. Patel US, 2008, 89 min, Documentary In English, Urdu, Kashmiri, Hindi with English subtitles From directors Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel comes PROJECT KASHMIR--a feature documentary in which the directors, two American friends from opposite sides of the divide, investigate the war in Kashmir and find their friendship tested over deeply rooted political, cultural and religious biases they never had to face in the U.S. PROJECT KASHMIR explores war between countries and war within oneself by delving into the fraught lives of young people caught in the social/ political conflict of one of the most beautiful, and most deadly, places on earth--Kashmir. Most Indians and Pakistanis cant agree where Kashmir is on a map. But ask them who started the war, and they will have an answer. For over 50 years, India and Pakistan have fought over Kashmir; a lush mountainous region nestled in the Himalayas. By Indian estimates, Asia's most bitter conflict has claimed 40,000 lives, while Pakistan says the number is closer to 80,000. Human Rights groups, says that more than 4,000 civilians have "disappeared" since the Line of Control was established by the UN in 1949. Harassment continues in the countryside, and many Kashmiris believe that killings in "encounters" with the army or police are in fact deaths after torture in custody. Yet the West remains mostly ignorant of this bloody conflict, and its potential to escalate into a full-scale nuclear war. Unlike the Middle East, the war in Kashmir does not make headlines around the world. As peace talks between India and Pakistan continue and a historic road opens between their respective portions of Kashmir, dodging artillery fire and escaping rape or torture remains the daily reality of living in any region of Kashmir. The fact that no Kashmiris are currently at the peace table with India and Pakistan compounds the skepticism toward any improvement in the lives of civilians. Beautifully lensed by Academy Award® winner, Ross Kauffman, the film captures the stunning beauty of Kashmir, while expertly interweaving deeply moving personal stories of Kashmiris with those of the two American women, who strive to reconcile their ethnic and religious heritage with the violence that haunts their homeland. Presented in association with: Breakthrough Tribeca All Access Tribeca Film Festival Screening info: Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center Sat., June 21st, 6:30 p.m. Discussion w/ filmmakers and reception to follow Sun., June 22nd, 8:30 p.m. Discussion w/ filmmakers to follow Mon., June 23rd, 4:00 p.m. From arshad.mcrc at gmail.com Thu Jun 19 18:07:13 2008 From: arshad.mcrc at gmail.com (arshad amanullah) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:07:13 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] INVITATION FROM CMM FOR 1ST JULY SHAHEED DIVAS AT BHILAI. Message-ID: <2076f31d0806190537x299578e2iee06dea45e7d3c99@mail.gmail.com> 1st July, Shaheed Diwas-Shapath Diwas Bhilai Chalo! Dear Friends, Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti, Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, Bhilai,Chhattisgarh invites to join us in observing 1st July, Shaheed Diwas, commemorating the martyrdom of 17 workers who were killed in the police firirg on the Rail Roko Agitation by the BJP govt. of Sunderlal Patwa in 1992. The onslaught of big capital - foreign and Indian on the working class as well as adivasis in Chhattisgarh has much intensified since then. CMM Bhilai has been battling bravely to implement 8 hour work day, minimum wages and safe working conditions for the young generation of contractual workers and has been successful in several companies after braving serious attacks by management goons, long periods of lockouts, repeated arrests of agitaing workmen etc. The working class bastis, particularly the women, are militantly resisting the land mafia of industrialists and struggling for the bare necessities - water, electricity, ration cards, BPL survey ..Workers in the cement factories of multinationals Holcim and Lafarge and of Aditya Birla are trying to unite and agitate across unions to break the Chhattisgarh cement cartel and implement the Cement Wage Board to abolish contract labour in the cement industry. Fighting economism and continuing Shaheed Niyogis tradition: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere", the CMM has been actively participating in the struggle of 7 villages of Rajnandgaon against the forcible acquisition of their lands for a SIZ -Food Park; protested against the arrests of Adivasi Mahasabha leaders and peasants in their agitation against land acquisition by Tata and Essar; demonstrated against the deaths of workmen in a factory explosion in Godavari Ispat Factory at Urla etc. etc... and is active in the movement for the release of Dr Binayak Sen and the repeal of the black law: Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act (CSPSA).Its cultural wing is taking the story of the 1857 adivasi hero Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh to village after village and trying to build upon the rich progressive folk culture of Chhattisgarh.Recently irked by the vocal protest of the CMM agaisnt the violent widespread displacement of lakhs of adivasis in Bastar in the name of Salwa Judum and also against the atrocities of police and paramilitary, the DGP had issued a statement "Niyogi was a Naxalite", a not-so-veiled threat that CMM activists would be booked under the CSPSA.There was a strong protest demonstration against this on 7 April 2008with CMM activists saying openly "Shaheed Niyogi was a declared Marxist-Leninist and if the sacrifices he made for the working class made him a Naxalite, then we are too!" Unionising in these tough times of "free hand to industrialists", "hire and fire economic regime" and "militarised state", demands a high level of integrity commitment and political maturity from the leadership.Developing committee system at all levels of the organisation to allow for the most democratic participation and carrying out incessant struggle through this against the efforts of the industrialists to terrorise, buy off, or sweet talk the leaders is a big challenge and CMM can proudly say that it is carrying out this democratic exercise with vigour. On 1st July there will be a procession and public meeting at the site of the police firing namely Bhilai Powerhouse, about 40 km from Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh. The nearest railway station is Durg. All are welcome to stay in our union office and partake of the modest working class fare in the common mess. Please contact 0788-3205766, 09754777988 (kaladas, bansi); 09826689317 (kalyan patel); 09926603877 (sudha); We look forward to your active participation: Sudha Bharadwaj (advsudhacmm at yahoo.co.in) C/o CMM Office, Labour Camp, Jamul, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. From mail at shivamvij.com Thu Jun 19 22:00:09 2008 From: mail at shivamvij.com (=?UTF-8?Q?Shivam_Vij?= =?UTF-8?Q?_=E0=A4=B6=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=B5=E0=A4=AE?= =?UTF-8?Q?=E0=A5=8D_=E0=A4=B5=E0=A4=BF=E0=A4=9C=E0=A5=8D?=) Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:00:09 +0530 Subject: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again In-Reply-To: References: <9c06aab30806170733t48302bablf56c69c6427f5b82@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <9c06aab30806190930u20fc56efj5ba9a21f72994fa8@mail.gmail.com> Dear Radhikarajen, Your responses on this thread are a little intriguing, and I wonder if you would mind explaining them? Let us go point-by-point, so that you can also reply point by point. This will prevent us from meandering from, well, the point, either inadvertently or because of deliberate shifting of goal-posts. The post: Two days ago I posted an article written by Ashis Nandy in the Times of India in January. I mentioned why I was posting the article though not my views: a little known organisation in Ahemadabad has filed a police case against Nandy for "'promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language," which under the Indian Penal Code is a criminal offence. The protest: I gave out a link to a joint statement made in protest of this case by 178 academics and activists, who thought that this was done for no reason other than legal harassment and intimidation. The article: In the article Ashis Nandy wrote that even if Modi had lost the December 2007 elections, it wouldn't have made a difference because thanks to the Gujarati middle class, the political culture of Gujarat has been communalised to an extent that "recovering" it won't be easy. For the situation he blames Hindus and Muslims, Congress and Left, NGOs and Gandhians. And secularists. That is all. On Modi, Bajrang Dal, VHP, RSS, the Gujarat government - he just says things matter of fact and does not have much direct condemnation or criticism to offer. His aim is not to attack them but those who should be helping defuse the social and political crisis cause d by the Hindutva forces. He does blame them for being the cause of exacerbating "radical Islam" in India. On development: he is not denying Gujarat's "spectacular development" but linking it to historical examples where development and authoritarianism have gone hand in hand. Your first response: In your first response you make these points: 1) " it is very nice to find flaws with BJP and gujarathis at the drop of a hat even after Modi asserted time and again that he is administrator and chief minister with the difference of of governance of all in the same state without favour or fear as per the oath he has taken to administer the state." Now, as I paraphrased above, Nandy's article is not denying the qualities you attribute to Modi's administrative skills and governance. And he has found faults in many others but very few in Modi. In fact, none in Modi: it is the Sangh Parivar in general. So what you are doing is, creating a straw man [ http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/straw-man.html ]. You are representing Nandy as saying he never did, and then attacking him for saying something he never did! 2) "Times of India and its media group is owned by Bennet group which traditionally has been political and supporting sycophants of Congress and media generally feels if it has to be "secular" it has to bash hindu sentiments and encash its trp and circulation, Times group is never fair and free in its journalism" Having created your straw man and having attacked it, you begin to explain it. You explain it by attacking the newspaper where Nandy's article was published. Since the pro-Congress Times of India published this article, the article must also be pro-Congress. How does it matter that the article actually *attacks* the Congress! By doing so you are committing the logical fallacy of post hoc: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/post-hoc.html Also the fallacy of circumstantial ad hominem: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/circumstantial-ad-hominem.html The tone of the issue was the harassment of Nandy by legal means, but you shift it to The Times of India and its alleged biases, which, as Shuddha said, amount to a red herring: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/red-herring.html As Shuddha demonstrated, there's been no dearth of pro-Modi, pro-BJP articles in Times of India. The Times is not politically aligned like, say, The Pioneer, The Hindu, the recently buried National Herald, or even magazines such as India Today or Outlook. You are guilty of making a hasty generalisation about the paper, and on that basis applying it to Nandy just because the paper published Nandy's article on its opinion-editorial page. See http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/hasty-generalization.html Also, similarly, the fallacy of questionable cause: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ignoring-a-common-cause.html Please also note that newspapers don't have TRP ratings, and that if most people in Gujarat vote for Modi, publishing anti-Modi articles would affect the Times of India's circulation in Gujarat adversely, not positively. 3) "and its employees have to toe the line of media bosses and pritish is no exception to the rules of survival of the fittest in journalism by sycophancy" This is my favourite set of words in your response. Your attention span and presence of mind are both so feeble that you confused Ashis Nandy with one pritish! The article was not by pritish my dear Radhikarajen, but by Ashis! Factual error! You cannot even save face on this by claiming poor eyesight or broken glasses, because there's no way 'Ashis' could read like 'pritish', even though Gujarat could read like Gujarath :) And as you might now Ashis Nandy is a scholar at CSDS and not an employee of The Times of India. The article introduced him as a political psychologist, so he is clearly not a journalist, but this detail was mentioned at the end of the article which you didn't even glance carefully enough to realise which brother wrote it. If you read the article you would realise that it does not amount to sycophancy of anyone, but, as Shuddha said, takes on *everyone*. I presume that you thought the article was by Pritish Nandy [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pritish_Nandy ] but even he is not an employee of the Times of India or a journalist. He is a former editor who also happens to be related to Ashis Nandy. By calling Pritish Nandy a sycophant for an article he did not write, you are committing a personal attack [ http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/personal-attack.html ] I presume, with all the above evidence, that you did not even *read* the Nandy article and began to attack it. No wonder about the straw man then. I am not going to count and cite the number of logical fallacies you make by calling pritish a sycophant, attributing the motive of surviving in journalism to his sycophancy, and presuming that The Times of India bosses are his bosses, who are pro-Congress, and so therefore is Pritish. a) He is not pritish b) He is not a journalist, so he does not have to 'survive in journalism' c) He is therefore not forced to resort to sycophancy of anyone to 'survive in journalism' d) He does not work at The Times of India, he merely wrote an article for the paper, which they either commissioned or chose to publish. His bosses are not The Times of India's bosses but CSDS'. e) You have stated without evidence that The Times of India is pro-Congress but even if that were to be considered a proven fact, it does not by implication mean that all their employees are Congress sycophants, and even if it did it wouldn't make Nandy do so because he is not a Times employee, and in any case the article itself speaks against the Congress. * That is just the first paragraph - 144 words - of your response. All the 245 words in the second paragraph amount to red herring(s) but I would repond to the points raised therein as well, if you respond to my three points above. Please reply, as I said, point by point, to make it comprehensible. And do read Nandy's short article, it is interesting. I will soon find the time to similarly analyse your response to Shuddha's response. Looking forward to your response. best shivam On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 5:23 PM, wrote: > > Dear Shuddha, > > sometimes I wonder whether any ethics and morals are left in these neo journalists who are working in visual media as anchors. ? As they so fluently talk about the IG of police as if they are above the law when they comment on the character of the 14 year child, as if these anchors are living a clean life.? > > And at times I wonder what made a brilliant social scientist to become a puppet in the hands of a channel with so many if and buts added for his pre poll survey in channel degrading himself along with channel and loss of credibilty.! > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta > Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 4:33 pm > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Gujarati 'pride' hurt once again > To: radhikarajen at vsnl.net > Cc: Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् , sarai list > > > Dear Radhikarajen, > > > > Thank you for your pertinent critique on the Sarai Reader List of > > the > > way in which the media represents issues, particularly with regard > > to > > the murder of Hemraj Banjade and Arushi Talwar in NOIDA. I think > > that > > your thoughts on 'media trials' are salutary. Had newspapers and TV > > > > channels been more restrained in the matter of the way in which > > they > > report 'sensational' crimes, then the grave and malicious > > harrassment > > that had been the fate of S.A.R.Geelani in the '13 December' case > > might not have taken place. And nor would there have been currency > > for the hysterical and blood-thirsty demand for the execution of > > Muhammad Afzal Guru, which continues to beseige our consciousness > > today. I do hope that you, in the spirit of your own argument, will > > > > join me in condemning the irresponsible behaviour of much of the > > media in these instances. > > > > Having said that, I am a bit mystified by your anger against the > > condemnation of the strange attempt at filing a case on grounds of > > > > 'promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, > > race, place of birth and language' 'under Sections 153 A and B of > > the > > IPC against Ashis Nandy for his op-ed piece 'Blame the Middle > > Class' > > in the Times of India of January 8, 2008. Ashis Nandy is, in my > > opinion, one of the most acute analysts of political culture and > > modernity in South Asia. It is ironic that a person, who has > > maintained a life time of critique against the excesses of the > > state- > > secularist agenda in India, (for which he was at times unfairly and > > > > idiotically denounced as an apolgist of the hindu right by some un- > > intelligent so called 'left-liberal' critics) is someone you now > > are > > prepared to argue against, merely because he happens to have taken > > on > > the poster boy of hindutva hate-mongering, the chief minister of > > Gujarat, Narendra Damodarbhai Modi. To be fair to Nandy, there is > > no > > particular group that escapes the sharp edge of his sadness in his > > article on Gujarat. His words (in this particular article) > > criticize > > the actions done by people speaking in the name of Bengali Hindus, > > Kashmiri Muslims, Punjabi Sikhs, Non Resident Indians, Dalits and > > Adivasis and most of all - the middle classes. If all these kinds > > of > > people were to be united because they were all attacked by Ashis > > Nandy, then, we would see a rare example of the promotion of > > conviviality between groups that are otherwise expected to be at > > each > > others throats. Unfortunately, for you, and for the petitioner > > belonging to the Ahmedabad based National Council for Civil > > Liberties, there is as yet no provision in the the Indian Penal > > Code > > for the offense of the promotion of conviviality on grounds of > > religion, race, place of birth and language. > > . > > I find it equally strange that you should impute the sentiments and > > > > the analysis contained in Nandy's trenchant criticque of Moditva, > > (or > > should it be Moditude, or Modismo) to the antipathy of the Bennet > > Coleman Group, who happen to own the majority shares of the Times > > of > > India newspaper, and their so called pro Congress bias. It is > > instructive to do a careful analysis of the press that Modi and > > Modismo get in the Times of India's sister publication, the > > Economic > > Times, (which for my money, is the more serious of the two > > publications, the one that actually gets read by captains of > > industry > > and politics, not one that teenagers decorate their lockers with > > because it has scantily clad men and women, the publication of > > images > > of which, you will no doubt agree, is the primary reason for the > > Times of India to exist.) > > > > Now, were you to look at the Economic Times reportage of Modi, > > Modismo and Gujarat, you would find a glowing picture that would > > warm > > your hearts. All you (and everyone who is interested on this list) > > needs to do is to type Narendra Modi on the search bar of the > > Economic Times home page, and you will be showered by what looks > > like > > a public relations campaign for Gujarati Asmita and Modismo. > > > > You will find articles such as - > > > > Rajiv Gandhi Foundation finds Gujarat No 1 state > > > > Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, today hailed > > Gujarat > > Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying that he has a "bias" for action. > > > > And there are many more where these came from. > > > > Even your own pet hate, the Times of India, has articles such as > > 'Women Mesmerised by Narendra Modi' > > > > What are we to make of this, other than that this is but an > > instance > > of the totally commonplace practice of a media group trying to > > placate all sides. So damn Modi in one article in one publication > > that you own, and then praise him to the skies in another. A > > detailed > > analysis of the politics of who reports what about whom, and when, > > in > > the Indian media can be an entertaining, and instructive diversion. > > > > What, however, are we to make of your own pathological anxiety > > whenever Shri Narendra Damodarbhai Modi is criticised ? You have > > (again) neatly sidestepped the substance of Ashis Nandy's critique > > and taken us on the pursuit of the red herring of the Times of > > India's pro-Congress bias, which for you, explains everything that > > there is to understand about what Ashis Nandy has written. Take a > > break from the computer, and go take a long look at the mirror, and > > > > you will see the visage of that same middle class Indian, quick to > > fume, quick to claim an injury to your precious pride, quick to > > demand that the slate be cleaned of all 'others', and short, > > tragically, comically short on anything like the ability to reflect > > > > on the tightening limits of the sources of your self. > >