Monthly Archives: February 2011

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Excavation, Law

Ravinder Tyagi of Batla House (in)fame in yet another frame up!: JTSA

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This release comes from the JAMIA TEACHERS’ SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION

10th February 2011

Ravinder Tyagi of Batla House (in)fame in yet another frame up!

Veteran of fake encounters must be suspended immediately!

It seems there is no end to Special Cell’s gallantry. One of its most celebrated and decorated heroes, Ravinder Tyagi, also the key architect of the Batla House ‘encounter’ has been found guilty of yet another frame-up of innocents as terrorists. The additional sessions judge Virendra Bhat yesterday absolved and acquitted seven men accused of terrorism in a case dating back to 2005; while pronouncing four officers of the Delhi Police guilty of manufacturing a fake story about an ‘encounter’. The Police had claimed to have recovered AK-47 assault rifles, fake currency and ammunition from the men they claimed were ISI agents—a brazenly false claim. Continue reading Ravinder Tyagi of Batla House (in)fame in yet another frame up!: JTSA →

Excavation, Law, Mirror Worlds

Remembering Shahid Azmi, the Shaheed: Mahtab Alam

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Guest post by MAHTAB ALAM

It must have been around nine pm on 11th February last year. The nightfall and Delhi’s infamous wintry chill ensured that I stayed indoors at the mercy of closed walls and work for company. Sure enough, I was seated warmly in my setting of a cyber cafe of Jamia Nagar in Okhla. Okhla, an area I had migrated to as a 14 year boy from my hometown, to pursue my further education, like many other Muslim students from other parts of this country. As Basharat Peer has rightly observed, ‘India’s Muslims don’t move to Delhi; they move to Okhla’. Continue reading Remembering Shahid Azmi, the Shaheed: Mahtab Alam →

Everyday Life, Language, Law, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

Tragedy and Anguish: Can We Be True to Soumya?

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There are no words to express the terrible anguish into which many of us have been plunged at the entirely-preventable fate of 23-year-old Soumya, raped and brutally murdered on her journey back home from work a week back. A criminal kicked her out of a slow-moving train between Shornur and Vallathol Nagar, robbed her, dragged her into the bushes, where he raped and wounded her fatally. After five days in hospital, she died. There were other passengers, men, who heard her cries. But none of them bothered to pull the chain, which would have saved her from both rape and murder.There are no words for anguish anymore in the Malayalam media. It has plenty of words to convey, to inspire craven fear and rancid sentimentalism, but none to express and pass on anguish. Continue reading Tragedy and Anguish: Can We Be True to Soumya? →

Capitalism, Countryside, Law

Of land and other demons

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The Hindu/Aman Sethi

Since January this year, I have been traveling in North Chhattisgarh to try to understand the scale of land acquisition and dislocation in a state that markets itself as India’s “Power Hub”.

There is something pretty massive going on in North Chhattisgarh – as a recent Down to Earth Cover pointed out :

The state has 10,300 MW of coalbased power capacity, including the captive 2,063 MW that industry consumes. This is about 12 per cent of India’s current coal-based power capacity. To this, it will add 56,000 MW, which is 65 per cent of the country’s coal-based installed capacity, as per the Central Electricity Authority. Nearly two-thirds of this capacity are planned in Raigarh (37 per cent) and Janjgir- Champa (34 per cent).

For this to happen, the state has to acquire vast amounts of land – in some places because the land happens to be above a coal bed, and in other because the land happens to be adjacent to a coal-bed. Most developers prefer “pit head plants”, or plants just adjacent to coal mines to reduce transportation difficulties.

Over the last month, I worked on two interesting legal cases that point to how such acquisition is taking place.  I think the two cases offer an interesting insight into the sort of battles that villagers are fighting.

Continue reading Of land and other demons →

Bad ideas, Law, Mirror Worlds, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Blasphemy, Sedition, Democracy

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Have you ever wondered?

Why does our media get so worked up when someone in Pakistan is accused of or convicted for blasphemy but is not overly perturbed when someone is charged with or convicted for Sedition in India?

Is this differentiated response occasioned by the belief that a modern state should overlook things like blasphemy but give no quarter to sedition?

Do anti-Blasphemy laws encroach upon Individual freedom while anti-sedition laws protect national interests? Is convicting someone for blasphemy essentially undemocratic but doing the same for sedition not so?

Let’s for the time being leave these major issues aside and engage ourselves with more mundane issues. Continue reading Blasphemy, Sedition, Democracy →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Law

Md. Salman discharged from the 2008 Delhi Blasts Case

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Release from the JAMIA TEACHERS’ SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION
5th February 2011

Show me the evidence, says Judge
The Prosecution is able to produce none!
Md. Salman discharged from the 2008 Delhi Blasts Case!

Md. Salman, arrested by the Uttar Pradesh ATS from Siddharthnagar on 6 March 2010, was accused of being a conspirator in the 2008 Delhi blasts. Today (5th February 2011), additional sessions Judge Ms. Santosh Snehi Mann threw out all charges against him— at the point of charge—in all five cases in Delhi bomb blasts for lack of any evidence that could prove that he had conspired to bomb various places in Delhi in 2008. Continue reading Md. Salman discharged from the 2008 Delhi Blasts Case →

Everyday Life, Politics, Violence/Conflict

A Photo Album of Women of the Egyptian Revolution: Leil-Zahra Mortada

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A photo collection by various photographers, compiled by Leil-Zahra Mortada

This is a homage to all those women out there fighting on the streets of Egypt, to those whose voices and faces were hidden from the public eye during the first days of the revolution! The album by now has traveled the world back and forth via online social networks, blogs and websites.
First and foremost the credit for this album goes to the courageous people of Egypt who are teaching us that freedom is taken and not given.
Second, to the women who by their courage, determination and strength are inspiring millions of us around the world.
Third to the photographers who took these photos and especially to those who have caused absolutely no problems when it came to copyright issues.

 

See the album and read more here

Debates, Everyday Life, Excavation, Frontiers, Mirror Worlds, Movements

‘How Leaving the Internet Fueled Our Revolution’

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For those who worry themselves sick about laptop radicalism, this is essential reading:

The web is in many ways a more modern, much larger version of the kinds of public spaces and forums that have made citizenship possible throughout history. Losing it for a week didn’t stop Egyptians from protesting or airing their frustrations; we still know how to use physical public spaces, after all. But it did remind us that a forum for the open exchange of words and ideas is central to any sustainable democracy; alternatively, we end up in a perilous cycle of control and chaos. Instead of expressing pent-up opinions with fists and bullets, as is happening now in the streets of Cairo, people who can express them freely in conversation, even in a virtual one, have a chance to hear one another and deliberate together about the future. Never mind the vacant symbolism of “Twitter revolutions” and Youtube activism: losing the Internet at the hand of our own government simply offers us a powerful reminder of why we actually want the Internet to begin with, and why we’re doing any of this. [Read the full article by Haisam Abu-Samra]

Excellent as the al-Jazeera coverage is, if you’re tired of it, see videos from Egypt on YouTube, created and uploaded by the people whose revolution it is. It will give you the closest possible feel of what it’s like to be there. Not even al-Jazeera can manage that!

And if you’ve been watching the events in the Arab world and consoling yourself that it’s not that bad in India, consider this: India recently gave Hosni Mubarak an award in Nehru’s name for ‘international understanding’ and Vice President Hamid Ansari addressed him thus:

Your support for regional and international efforts to promote and maintain peace in the West Asian region is eloquent testimony to your commitment to the promotion of international peace and goodwill. I feel deeply privileged to convey my warmest greetings to you. [Press Information Bureau]

Bad ideas, Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life, Excavation, Government, Metropolis

Death of a River

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This was first presented as a paper in a seminar on “The River” organised by the Max Muller Bhawan on 11 and 12 December 2010. Photo credits: Gigi Mon Scaria, Himanshu Joshi and Sohail Hashmi. Maps: The coloured map of Delhi is the restored version of an 1850 map; restoration is by E Ehlers and T Krafft. The black and white map is based on an 1807 map of the draingage of Delhi, made by a British cartographer. The three current three maps have been drawn by Shela Hashmi Grewal. You can stop at any image in the silde show above, by using the controls that you will discover once you hover the cursor over the slideshow.

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The Final scene in the epic tragedy of the Jamna is being enacted at these very moments and the agencies that have wrought this havoc continue to initiate decisions that will permanently erase all signs of the river that has sustained the city that you and I call Hamari Dilli.

Before coming to my understanding of what needs to be done to save the Jamna, instead of what is being done to destroy it. I would like to draw your attention to certain geographical features of the land around Delhi, in order to better understand the factors that contributed to the location of the several Delhis and their relationship to the river. Continue reading Death of a River →

Bad ideas, Frontiers, Media politics

The Flea Market of the Indian Media: Dibyesh Anand on the Karmapa story

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Guest post by DIBYESH ANAND

India prides itself for having a free and vibrant media. A recent story around Tibetan exile leader Karmapa lama has exposed the Indian media scene as closely resembling a chor bazaar. One where uninformed assertions, distorted facts, libelous statements, ad hominem attacks, and lazy analysis are recycled again and again to create a sensation.

The remarkable convergence in how the different channels and newspapers covered the story of police raids and findings of unaccounted foreign currencies at Karmapa’s temporary establishment near Dharamsala is conspicuous. In the media, the unaccounted money is however presented in salacious and sensationalist manner. Money is not the focus, the Karmapa’s alleged China connection is. A possible financial irregularity of $1.6 million is a non-story in India where scams, schemes and scandals of billions erupt with the regularity of tides. The story becomes one of Karmapa as a probable Chinese spy. Continue reading The Flea Market of the Indian Media: Dibyesh Anand on the Karmapa story →

Bad ideas, Law, Media politics, Mirror Worlds

My friend in Thailand, may you be free

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‘Prachatai’ means “free people” in Thai. Prachatai calls itself an online newspaper, with Thai and English versions. You can see the English version here. Prachatai in the Thai internet universe is a bit like this website, Kafila, only a lot more popular. Prachatai’s webmaster, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, is facing trial for comments posted on the site that allegedly violated Thailand’s lese majeste (insulting the monarch) laws. While the lese majeste charges against the person who wrote that comment have been dropped, Chiranuch is still being charged under lese majeste and other laws, including ‘intermediary liability’ laws. Intermediary liability laws in relation to internet freedom mean that if you post a comment on my site that violates the law, I too will be charged as having abetted the crime. India’s cyber crime laws were amended some time ago to remove the intermediary clause, not because the Government of India was concerned about free speech, but because of Ebay India, whose head was charged and arrested when a user uploaded a pornographic ‘MMS’ on Ebay India that featured minors.

I first met Chiranuch at an social media workshop in Thailand, and then again last September in Budapest, Hungary, at a Google conference on internet freedom across the world. It is curcuial to note that upon her return from Budapest, she was arrested, given bail for a very high bail amount, and fresh new charges – and a lot of them – were added against her – clearly, they don’t like her talking about internet freedom. If convicted, she faces up to 50 years in jail! See here an article in The Economist. The trial began today, 4 February, a few hours ago.

Chiranuch could easily have escaped Thailand and taken asylum elsewhere by now. She hasn’t done that because she is consciously fighting a battle for freedom of expression in Thailand. She didn’t want to run away because it would have discouraged, rather than encouraged, that crucial fight.

One expresses solidarity with her, one hopes she is free, and that her case becomes the turning point in the fight from democracy and democratic rights in Thailand. Above all, one salutes her courage. For those who are interested in the details, given below are notes from the Thai Netizen Network.

Continue reading My friend in Thailand, may you be free →

Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Images, Movements, Politics

Tahrir at Midan Tahrir

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These six photos come to Kafila from an art collective in Cairo. Photographs by artist HR and other members. They do not want their identities revealed for their safety. Note how that gas canister says Made in USA!

Also see this video doing the rounds, perhaps its not the only effort that brought about the 25 January uprising in Egypt but may still be an important one.

Previously on Kafila: A Phone Call From Alexandria

Culture, Debates, Genders, Identities, Images, Mirror Worlds

Chitrasutram: Post-modern Cinema?

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Months ago, while watching what was in effect a docu-hagiography about a prominent literary icon in Malayalam and wondering about its structure, I was enlightened by a little voice that piped up from a few rows behind. “Nyoosh” (news), it said. On screen, the literary icon appeared and began to talk. A few minutes later, the little voice trilled again, “Parshyam” (commercial). And lo! The icon dissolved, followed by what looked exactly like a commercial, a sequence of visual tricks, visual hallelujah to the wisdom of the revered sage. The little voice thus revealed to me that the structural rhythm of the docu-hagiography was effective precisely through its prayer-like repetitiveness; it also alerted me to the fact that it was extraordinarily similar that to the visual strategy of television (Truth-dream-Truth-dream…), which again is perhaps vital to its sway over viewers. Continue reading Chitrasutram: Post-modern Cinema? →

Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Violence/Conflict

Thus Sudan Splits, What’s Next for the Aspiring Rest?: Tanmoy Sharma

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Guest post by TANMOY SHARMA

Pro-separation activists hold signs and chant pro-independence slogans outside the Juba airport in southern Sudan, on Jan. 4, where Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrived. Photo credit: Pete Muller/AP/File

To add to the tumultuous political dynamics of Africa, the world is most likely to see a new country adorning its map by the middle of this year with the two-way split of the continent’s largest country, Sudan.  For Africa, which has again hit the international headlines for fresh troubles in Ivory Coast, Tunisia and most recently in Egypt, civil wars based on identity and protests against despotic governments are nothing new. However the larger question that has kept many wondering is whether the world is going to see a new era of a large-scale statebirth with the formation of South Sudan, a process that almost stopped barring the examples of Kosovo two years back or East Timor ten years back. As millions of jubilant south Sudanese in the city of Juba, went to vote in a long awaited independence referendum in the second week of January to see their war torn region emerge as a new nation, it will be important to revisit the troubling status quo of other regions of the world demanding secession. Continue reading Thus Sudan Splits, What’s Next for the Aspiring Rest?: Tanmoy Sharma →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Countryside, Ecology/Environment

A “Green Signal” for The Rape of Justice and the People: POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti

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The following is the statement issued by the POSCO PRATIRODH SANGRAM SAMITI on the latest decision of the Environment Ministry on POSCO. The image below from an earlier round of land acquisition attempt is a telling illustration of how the ‘free market’ functions. Received via Shankar Gopalakrishnan.

Courtesy The Hindu
Land being acquired for POSCO. Image courtesy The Hindu

Jairam Ramesh and the UPA government have shown their true colours with their decision today on the POSCO project. Ignoring the reports of its own advisory bodies and enquiry committees, violating its own orders and the laws of the land, this Ministry has shown that the naked face of corporate greed – it is not the “rule of law”, the “aam aadmi”, “inclusive growth” or any of these other lies – that rules this country. The decision today can be summarised in one sentence:”Repeat your lies, give us promises that we all know are false, and then loot at will.”

We repeat: we will not give up our lands, our forests and our homes to this company. It is not the meaningless orders of a mercenary government that will decide this project’s fate, but the tears and blood of our people. Through the road of peaceful demonstrations and people’s resistance we have fought this project, in the face of torture, jail, firings and killings. If this project comes it will come over our dead bodies.
Continue reading A “Green Signal” for The Rape of Justice and the People: POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti →

Centre watch, Images, Movements

More photos from the Free Binayak Sen rally, Delhi, 30 January 2011

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Photographs by Koyel Lahiri, Antara Rai Chowdhury, Anil Tharayath, Joe Athialy and Amrita.

Some photographs post here, earlier.