All posts by Shuddhabrata Sengupta

Bad ideas, Education, Everyday Life, Government, Images

Delhi Police Tells Lies about Attacks on Protesting Students – #OccupyUGC

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[ Video Footage, courtesy Akhil Kumar, taken from his Facebook Page ]

The ongoing movement to #OccupyUGC by students from all the universities in Delhi has so far seen two instances of vicious attack by the Delhi Police. Students were manhandled, abused and badly beaten with sticks and batons. Several had to be hospitalized and some are severely injured. However, police officers have been lying about their actions.

The Indian Express reported the lathi charge and also quoted a senior police officer – DCP (Central), Paramaditya as saying, “Around 45-50 protesters were detained. No one was lathicharged. Policemen did not have lathis… the protesters attacked and injured policewomen.”

 

Post on Akhil Kumar's Facebook Wall
Post on Akhil Kumar’s Facebook Wall

Here is a series of videos shot by Akhil Kumar, a young independent photo-journalist (who was himself severely beaten after this). This footage clearly shows up DCP (Central) Paramaditya as a liar.

Meanwhile, #OccupyUGC continues.

Culture, Debates, Identities, Images, Language

Statement by Artists, Curators and Critics Against Rising Intolerance in India

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Text of a Statement by Artists, Curators and Critics in India against a Climate of Rising Intolerance in India

(Followed by Names of the 300 + Signatories, in Alphabetical Order)

The artist community of India stands in firm solidarity with the actions of our writers who have relinquished awards and positions, and spoken up in protest against the alarming rise of intolerance in the country. We condemn and mourn the murders of MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, rationalists and free thinkers whose voices have been silenced by rightwing dogmatists but whose ‘presence’ must ignite our resistance to the conditions of hate being generated around us.

We will never forget the battle we fought for our pre-eminent artist M.F. Husain who was hounded out of the country and died in exile. We remember the rightwing invasion and dismantling of freedoms in one of the country’s best known art schools in Baroda. We witness the present government’s appointment of grossly unqualified persons to the FTII Society and its disregard of the ongoing strike by the students of this leading Institute. We see a writer like Perumal Murugan being intimidated into declaring his death as a writer, a matter of dire shame in any society.

While the Prime Minister of the country has been conspicuously reticent in his response to the recent events, the reactions of BJP ministers in his government reveal their ignorance and prejudice. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture, has made abhorrent comments about mob lynching and murder. His remarks suggesting that writers should stop writing to prove their point are alarming – empowered as he is to take policy decisions in the domain of culture. Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Information & Broadcasting, has mocked the actions of our respected writers as a manufactured ‘paper rebellion’. He asks for scrutiny of the political and ideological affiliations of those who are protesting.

To these and other such provocations there is a clear answer: while the actual affiliations of the protesting writers and artists, scholars and journalists may be many and varied, their individual and collective voices are gaining cumulative strength. It is this that the ruling party will have to reckon with: the protestors’ declared disaffiliation from a government that encourages marauding outfits to enforce a series of regressive commands in this culturally diverse country.

The scale of social violence and fatal assaults on ordinary citizens (as in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh; Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir; Faridabad, Harayana) is escalating. The contemptuous comments about the religious minorities and Dalits made by those within the government confirm that there is little difference between the RSS-BJP mainstream and supposed ‘fringe’ elements. The perfunctory warnings and regrets issued by ruling party ideologues – to defend the agendas of ‘development’ and ‘governance’ advanced by Mr Narendra Modi – are merely expedient. The Sangh Parivar and its Hindutva forces operating through their goon brigades form the support base of this government; they are all complicit in the attempts to impose conformity of thought, belief and practice. Continue reading Statement by Artists, Curators and Critics Against Rising Intolerance in India →

Bad ideas, Education, Government, Metropolis

BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON THE STUDENTS IN Day 7 of THE #‎OccupyUGC MOVEMENT in Delhi: Kanhaiya Kumar, President JNUSU

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Guest Post by Kanhaiya Kumar, President, Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union (JNUSU)

BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON THE STUDENTS IN THE #‎OccupyUGC MOVEMENT: DAY7

Students at the Police Barricades - #OccupyUGC
Students at the Police Barricades – #OccupyUGC

Students from JNU, AUD, DU and Jamia Milia Islamia University who were protesting in front of the UGC building, were brutally lathicharged on 27th October and 33 students have been detained. This is the second time that students have been lathicharged and detained since October 21, 2015. Students across universities in and beyond Delhi initiated the #OccupyUGC movement protesting against UGC’s decision to discontinue non-NET fellowships, refuse any enhancement and introduce ‘merit’ and ‘income’ criteria in allocating fellowships to research scholars. In today’s lathicharge, one student was hospitalized in critical condition, female protestors were mishandled by male police, they were abused verbally and many have been seriously injured.

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JNUSU condemns the brutal lathicharge/crackdown against the protesting students by the Delhi Police and appeals to common citizens to support the cause of the ongoing #OccupyUGC movement.

Kanhaiya Kumar is President, JNUSU

Bad ideas, Countryside, Everyday Life, Frontiers

What the Sunped Atrocity Tells Us About Caste in Haryana: Tanvi Ahuja

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Guest Post by Tanvi Ahuja

The recent Dalit atrocity in Sunped, Ballabgarh is a stark reminder of how caste continues to shape our society and our very existence and dignity. Yes, it was an atrocity and any attempts to hide the same in the garb of personal dispute or family feud are not only misleading but a great disservice to the lived experiences of Dalits in this country.

Sunped is just another Jat- dominated village in the caste underbelly of the state of Haryana, famous for the Mirchpur atrocity that saw a 70- year old Dalit and his daughter burnt alive in 2010. Jitender’s is one of the approximately 80 Dalit families in Sunped, comprising the Chamaars and Balmikis. His immediate family and relatives are an educated lot; many of them employed in stable private sector jobs. The family also has a strong political lineage- Jitender’s grandfather and brother, Jagmal have held the office of Sarpanch in the last two decades, except in 2005-10 when the wife of the main accused Balwant became the Sarpanch on the reserved seat for women. It was Balwant however who called the shots throughout his wife’s term. Continue reading What the Sunped Atrocity Tells Us About Caste in Haryana: Tanvi Ahuja →

Bad ideas, Culture, Identities, Law, Mirror Worlds

Lessons in Religious Bigotry from Pakistan and America: Fatima Tassadiq

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Guest Post by Fatima Tassadiq

The last few months have been quite intense for Muslims in the US. The Syrian refugee crisis gave us gems like ‘hey, these people have smart phones! They cant possibly be fleeing a deadly war’ from twitter analysts. Then Donald Trump, the rising Republican star, informed us that some serious TV watching had led him to conclude that the presence of more men than women in the televised images of the refugees was ground for suspicion.

It took a heart-breaking picture of a dead Syrian toddler on a beach to compel conservatives to tone down their rabid xenophobia. And then there was the Ahmad Muhammad episode. The reaction to the arrest of the 14 year old for bringing a home made clock to school showed the best and worst of America. While many public figures including the president supported the teen, Atheist and Christian crusaders like Bill Maher and Bobby Jindal thanked the police for keeping them safe from a high school student. Continue reading Lessons in Religious Bigotry from Pakistan and America: Fatima Tassadiq →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Education, Government

Students Occupy UGC to Defend the Right to Research in Universities Across India: Sucheta De

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Guest Post by Sucheta De.

[ Videos by V. Arun, Om Prasad, Akhil Kumar, with Facebook Post Updates by Shehla Rashid and Akhil Kumar ]

 

#SaveNonNETfellowship: A movement for ensuring democratic, inclusive and pluralistic research in India

“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.”

― Karl Marx, The German Ideology

JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid addressing protestors at UGC
JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid addressing protestors at UGC HQ, Delhi

On the afternoon of 21st October, students from several universities in Delhi began ‘Occupying’ the Delhi premises of the head-office of University Grants Commission (UGC) –  the government mandated body under the Ministry of Human Resources that is supposed to govern the functioning of universities across the country.  The occupation continued through the night of the 21st, the day of the 22nd, and is still currently in process. The students occupying the UGC premises have decided, as of now, not to let the UGC function. Goons from the BJP aligned students organization Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) have now reached the UGC and are continuously harassing and abusing the student activists who are in ‘occupation’ of UGC. There is heavy police presence. There is a state of near siege at the UGC head quarters near ITO Chowk in Delhi.

Continue reading Students Occupy UGC to Defend the Right to Research in Universities Across India: Sucheta De →

Bad ideas, Education, Everyday Life

UGC Guidelines on the Safety and Security of Students in Higher Educational Institutions – Protecting Students or Building Walls ? Sujata Chandra

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Guest Post by Sujata Chandra

The University Grants Commission has issued a set of ‘Guidelines on Safety of Students On and Off Campuses in Higher Educational Institutions‘ in April 2015, which is beginning to be discussed recently by students and faculty in many universities and higher educational institutions (HEI). They begin by discussing the height of walls and kind of barbed wire that are needed to ‘fence’ in higher educational institutions. But the most disturbing thing is the kind of walls and barbed wire they seek to install in the minds of students.

The ‘Guidelines’ feature a number of problematic provisions in the name of assuring a ‘safe and secure learning environment’ for students. These provisions, if implemented, will simply assert the state’s notion of morality and end up transforming students into submissive entities. The vision of ‘students’ in these guidelines is that of infantile beings who require ‘permission’ from authority figures (university administration, law enforcement officials and ‘parents’) at every stage of their life on and off campus.

One of the key provisions relates to the necessity of setting up police stations within university campuses. The presence of police forces within university campuses can only have a ‘chilling effect’ on student life, especially with regard to the quality of political activism and discussion. Universities are meant to be spaces of liberty and autonomy, and the presence of policemen on campus does not bode well for either. One can clearly envisage university authorities asking students to obtain ‘police permission’ to hold meetings, protests, screenings and simple gatherings. Ostensibly, the presence of a police station on campus is supposed to act as a deterrent to sexual harassment and sexual violence. Continue reading UGC Guidelines on the Safety and Security of Students in Higher Educational Institutions – Protecting Students or Building Walls ? Sujata Chandra →

Culture, Debates, Education

Appeal by the Striking Students of Delhi College of Art – Students of Delhi College of Art and Ambedkar University, Delhi

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Guest Post by Students of Delhi College of Art, with a statement in solidarity by students of  Ambedkar University, Delhi (Department of Visual Arts)

[ This post compiles communications sent out by students of the College of Art, Delhi, their charter of demands (which include very basic and fundamental demands – and it is indeed a revelation that students have to resort to a strike to get this charter even noticed) and a letter in solidarity (see end of the post) with the College of Art students from Students of the Department of Visual Arts, Ambedkar University, Delhi. We are posting this to continue to bring to attention the condition of students of art, media and film in the country. Kafila has already posted articles on the conditions of the students of the Film & Television Institute of India. This post also needs to be seen in the context of the recent statement by the Minister of Culture, Government of India, about ‘cultural pollution’. Clearly, the rot is within institutions, and has not been caused, as the minister seems to think, by the ‘encroachment of Western culture’. We hope that this series of posts can contribute to a real debate about the state of art, culture and cultural institutions in India and the rest of South Asia. ]

Students of College of Art, New Delhi have been on strike for last thirteen days. The strike had to happen, when the individual voice of art students in the college was ignored and suppressed for years. This bundling up of dissent was inevitable.

Continue reading Appeal by the Striking Students of Delhi College of Art – Students of Delhi College of Art and Ambedkar University, Delhi →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Politics, Right watch, Scams

Old Age Culture Homes and other Cultural Pollutants – Lessons in Toxicity from the Minister of Culture

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The world’s largest ‘cultural’ organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Organization) recently met with the minister responsible for what is probably, in real terms, the world’s smallest ‘culture’ ministry, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Under Khaki shorts, size does matter. The big tell the small, what’s what.

Continue reading Old Age Culture Homes and other Cultural Pollutants – Lessons in Toxicity from the Minister of Culture →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Identities, Language, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

On keeping Open the Door that was Opened by Dr. Malleshappa Kalburgi

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On Sunday morning, seventy seven year old scholar Dr. Malleshappa Kalburgi opened his door in Dharwad town in Karnataka to some people who asked for ‘sir’. They pumped bullets into ‘sir’ when he appeared in front of them. Throughout his life, Dr. Kalburgi had the habit of opening doors. His scholarship into Kannada literature opened many doors. Those who killed Kalburgi abused not just his hospitality, and his willingness to open his doors to strangers (he had asked that his security be ‘lifted’ despite threats to his life), they abused all the traditions in the world that promise kindness to strangers, and keep doors open.

Continue reading On keeping Open the Door that was Opened by Dr. Malleshappa Kalburgi →

Bad ideas, Countryside, Everyday Life, Excavation, Media politics, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Public Secrets Now Proven – Ranveer Sena Terrorists Caught on Camera by Cobrapost: Kavita Krishnan

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Guest Post by Kavita Krishnan

The ‘Operation Black Rain’ film released by the web portal Cobrapost, based on secretly filmed boasts of the Ranveer Sena terrorists with detailed accounts of massacres of Dalit and oppressed caste labourers in the 1990s, has only confirmed public secrets that everyone in Bihar already knew.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9b3rP079PY

Continue reading Public Secrets Now Proven – Ranveer Sena Terrorists Caught on Camera by Cobrapost: Kavita Krishnan →

Bad ideas, Law, Violence/Conflict

The State Playing God and Magician – Thoughts after Yakub Memon’s Death: Sharib Ali

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Guest Post by Sharib Ali

With a finality that only history possesses, Yakub Abdul Razak Menon, an accused in the Bombay blast case, has transformed for many over the last few days, including me, into just Yakub. His name pronounced with a deep felt sadness that has come to characterize so many of our days. Days leading to terrible, terrible nights.
It is indeed sad, when a criminal -a sauve 20 year old looking for a way out- is, in death, turned into a rallying symbol of injustice. Flowing white beard, and a bloated body, suddenly turned around into an idea draped in flowers, garlanded, and marched on the shoulders of thousands of men through narrow streets- in complete silence. There were whispers, though, in the sweltering heat of bodies. But the pact was made. There would be no sloganeering. The state was there- to keep peace, no less. And it did what it does best: lined the streets with policemen. The policemen were out there defending a strange paradox: That it is right to kill to punish those who kill, so that others are deterred from killing. Stithi niyantran mein hai, still, they said. The rest, were silent.

Continue reading The State Playing God and Magician – Thoughts after Yakub Memon’s Death: Sharib Ali →

Bad ideas, Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Language, Law

Who gets caught – From death row convicts to ‘criminals by birth’: Anuja Agrawal

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Guest Post by Anuja Agrawal

The recent reports regarding the findings of the Death Penalty Project of the National Law University, Delhi, confirm some of the worst fears we have about our criminal justice system: the system is exceedingly tilted against the interests of the poor, disadvantaged and the marginal while the rich and the advantaged often get away, literally, with murder. The results are very important as such systematic studies help in confirming what are often vague impressions and unconfirmed suspicions.

While this study focuses only on the convicts on death row, what we urgently need is data which give us a caste and community wise breakup of the incarcerated population as a whole. While some may think that this would be useful in establishing the ‘criminality’ of some social groups, in fact this data, when juxtaposed with degrees of conviction, will help in establishing not only the conditions in which people take to criminal activities but also how our system is systematically biased towards particular groups.

Continue reading Who gets caught – From death row convicts to ‘criminals by birth’: Anuja Agrawal →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Language, Law, Violence/Conflict

All That Remains for Us to Consider in the Wake of the Death of Yakub Memon

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Yakub Menon was murdered yesterday morning. Apparently it was his birthday. When his brother Suleman and his cousin Usman met him on Wednesday afternoon his words to them, as reported in today’s Indian Express, were – “Agar woh mujhey mere bhai ke gunahon ke liye sazaa de rahe hain, toh mujhe kabool hai. Par agar unko lagta hai ki mein gunehgaar hoon aur sazaa de rahe hain, toh yeh galat hai. Main bekasoor hoon.” (If they are punishing me for the sins of my brother, then I accept this verdict. But if they are punishing me because they think I am guilty, then it is wrong. I am innocent.)

Continue reading All That Remains for Us to Consider in the Wake of the Death of Yakub Memon →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Identities, Images, Law, Politics, Right watch

Appeal to Release Raif Badawi, a Saudi Blogger: Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism

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Guest Post by Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism

To:

The Ambassador,
Embassy of Saudi Arabia at New Delhi,
2- Pachchimi Marg, VasantVihar,!
New Delhi-110057  Fax: 00911126144244

This is an appeal regarding Raif Badawi, a blogger and Saudi citizen, founder of the website ‘Free Saudi Liberals’. Mr Badawi has been under arrest since 2012 for insulting Islam and apostasy. He was sentenced to be punished with 10 years in prison along with 1000 lashes (50 lashes to be received on every Friday) and a fine of one million riyals. Though he was cleared of charges of apostasy in 2013, there are new reports that indicate he may be tried again under the same charge.

We are mindful that India and Saudi Arabia have long-standing friendly political and commercial relations and that large numbers of Indians live and work in your country. It is because of this that we feel constrained to convey to you our concerns. Raif Badawi is a public intellectual who communicated his thoughts to the public through a blog. We do not believe that any of its contents constituted a threat to the state. To the contrary, his advocacy for secularism and the separation of religion and state is a suggestion that would strengthen it.

Whether or not his ideas are pleasing to your government, the fact remains that as a member state of the United Nations, Saudi Arabia is presumed to be respectful of the freedom of speech that is provided for under Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. This article states: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers‘.

The sharing of information and ideas is a basic human practice and natural right that should be available to everyone regardless of their nationality or identity and (barring extremist incitement) should not be restricted by law. The state should protect and promote our rights instead of restricting them.

It has been reported that Raif Badawi received the first set of lashes on 9 January, after Friday prayers outside the Al-Juffali Mosque in Jeddah. The next round of punishment has been suspended on medical grounds to give his wounds time to heal prior to wounding him again. We consider this an example of barbaric cruelty, not befitting any member state of the UNO. Such practices are a travesty of justice and will bring you only disrepute.

We are Indian citizens who speak for human rights both within our own country and beyond. We are in solidarity with Raif Badawi and all those demanding freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia. We condemn the inhuman punishment being meted out to him as we condemn all measures that punish people for defending human rights and sharing their thoughts

We ask that Saudi Arabia:
•  Immediately suspend the punishment of Raif Badawi,
•  Release Raif Badawi and provide him security,
•  Take measures towards the provision of full freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia

Submitted by:

Ravi Nitesh, Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism
, Dipak Dholakia
, Rajashri Dasgupta, 
Prithvi R Sharma, 
Rana P Behal, 
Shamsul Islam, 
Suman Keshari, 
Aseem Shrivastava, 
Viren Lobo
, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Kashif Ahmed Faraz, R.Sasankan, Journalist, Delhi , Rohit Sharma, Pilani, India
, Mandeep Singh from Revolutionary Youth Student Front
, Firoz Ahmad, Public School Teacher
, Chaman Lal, 
J.S.Bandukwala
, Devika Mittal (Mission Bhartiyam), 
Apoorvanand
, Sudha Vasan
, Dheeraj Gaba, 
Nawed Akhter, 
Dilip Simeon , Shabnam Hashmi, Rohini Hensman 
Ovais Sultan Khan, Ram Puniyani, Vinerjeet Kaur, Kiran Shaheen
, Battini Rao, Convener, Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)
, Javed Anand
, Harsh Kapoor
, Subash Mohapatra, Global Human Rights Communications, Bhubaneswar 
Sagar Rabari, Ahmedabad
, Nayanjyoti
, Shailendra Dhar, Journalist, Nihal Parashar
, Linus Ayangwoh 
Embe, Peter Marshall , Sudarshan Juyal
, Dhruv Singhal (Political Science student), 
Mohammad Imran, NRISAHI, Suresh Bhat
, Prof. S Ratnagar, Mumbai
, Ilma Iqbal
, Michael Karadjis
, Vasantharajan, Research Scholar , Rabin Chakraborty, 
Shruti Arora
, Hiren Gandhi, 
Anand Patwardhan, Dr. D. Gabriele, Mukul Mangalik, Neeraj Malik, academic, 
Suhas Borker
, Virginia Saldanha, Mumbai , Kasim Sait
, Waliullah Ahmed Laskar
, Kaveri Rajaraman, University of Hyderabad, 
Parth Sarthu
 Ram
, Mahesh Elkunchwar,  
Suman Kumar , Kamayani Bali Mahabal, 
Syed Ghazanfar Abbas, Jawad Mohammed
, Prof. Anil Sadgopal, Shiksha Adhikar Manch, Bhopal
Satya Pal, Secretary General – South Asian Fraternity 
Deepak Kabir / Veena Rana, Dastak, Lucknow 
Madhu Sarin
, Kavita Panjabi, Kolkata
, Xavier Dias Editor, Khan Kaneej aur ADHIKAR ,Jharkhand India , Muhammad Murad, from Pakistan, Sindh
, Sanjay Halder
, Gurpreet Singh, Ravi Tripathi, Francis Gonsalves
, Subhash Gatade, New Socialist Initiative, 
Shahid Siddiqui
, P.I. Jose, 
Ishwarbhai Prajapati, 
Deepak Kabir
, Fr. T.K.John , Professor 
Rohan Dandavate – TPI WORD, Daniel Varghese
, Sanjay T , Prasanth Menon
, Zakia Soman and Dr. Noorjehan SN from Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan , Antony Aruloraj, New Delhi, India, 
Aarti Tikoo
, Ashish Biswas, Online Journalist, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 
Devaki Khanna, 
Alok Chadha
, Renu Singh, Samir Dholakia, Mushtaq Dar
, Narinder Singh Sandhu, 
P R Vaidya, Bombay
, Dr V Prasad
, Ameeque Jamei
, Padma Velaskar, Bhanu Bharti, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Delhi
, M.Balanna, PADS, Andhra Pradesh
, Ajay Kumar, PADS Andhra Pradesh
, Roja Ramani Mahila Sravanti, Kurnool

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life

A Short Guide to Appropriate Behaviour in the Wake of A Judgement on Historically Respectable Personalities

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[ This short guide is being released to the general public which is liable to fall into error and confusion in the wake of the recent Supreme Court judgement in Devidas Ramachandra Tuljapurkar vs. State of Maharashtra restricting freedom of speech and expression pertaining to what the Honourable Justices who have looked at this case call ‘historically respectable personalities’.]

1. Petition all history departments to start courses in historical respectability so that you know who is who and what is what.

2. Having carefully studied the history of respectability, separate out all historically respectable personalities. Genuflect.

3. Then, from those that remain, make a list of historically disrespectable personalities, starting with yourself.

4. Refer to a historically respectable dictionary of slang – for instance, ‘Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang’ by Jonathan Green, the works of William Shakespeare, or a set of curses of the historically respectable Muni Durvasa

5. Choose at least ten colorful insults, curses and terms of abuse, from the above. and construct a poem, written in the ‘voice’ of a historically disrespectable person.

6. Print in large characters, along with an image of a historically disrespectable personality.

7. Stand singly, or in groups, with the large character posters with the poems in the ‘voice’ of  historically disreputable personalities in meditative silence in front of the honorable Supreme Court of India, and in other public spaces, while considering the sagacious wisdom of our historically respectable judiciary.

8. Be ever grateful that you know now that you can always protect your constitutionally guaranteed and judicially protected freedom of speech by ventriloquizing to your hearts content in the abusive voice of a historically disrespectable personality.

9. And learn this formula by heart – “The dignity of historically respectable personalities cannot be protected without the self-flagellation and abuse of historically disrespectable personalities, which includes the majority of all populations, in all societies, in all times.”
10.  Never disobey a law, or a judgement. Only take obedience to its logical conclusion.

Bad ideas, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Metropolis, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Enabling Dissent, Defying Silence – In Memory of Sabeen Mahmud: Yaminay Chaudhri and Mariam Sabri

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Sabeen Mahmud's Slippers

Guest Post by Yaminay Chaudhri and Mariam Sabri

[ This is a post from two friends in Pakistan responding to the tragic assasination of Sabeen Mahmud, activist and director of ‘The Second Floor’ (T2F) – a space that hosted many wonderful conversations and brave events. Sabeen was killed as she was going home after an event dedicated to a public discussion of disappearances and human rights violation in Balochistan.]

A normally quiet and desolate gali is packed with camera crews and hundreds of attendees for the funeral of Sabeen Mahmud. While there is a steady trickle of mourners entering and exiting the premises of the vibrant community space Sabeen created, the crowd waiting in the gali outside seems to be arrested by a mixture of disbelief, anger and grief.

Similar emotions paralyze us as we write about Sabeen in the past tense. It is difficult to believe she is gone, infuriating to think about the way she went, and, perhaps, the hardest to accept the beginning of her absence.

While watching her interview with PBS NewsHour last month, one is struck by how her cavalier attitude to fear and security, reverberates eerily in the wake of her murder.

“I grew up playing cricket on the streets” she said, “I just feel when the time comes, the time will come”.

Continue reading Enabling Dissent, Defying Silence – In Memory of Sabeen Mahmud: Yaminay Chaudhri and Mariam Sabri →

Bad ideas, Debates, Left watch, Movements, Politics

While “Exposing 300 days of Modi’s Rule”, Let us not fall into the Trappings of Old Congress Style Politics: Nayan Jyoti

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Guest Post by Nayan Jyoti

SOME QUESTIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF MASS ORGANISATIONS OF CPI(ML)LIBERATION, CPI, CPI(M) & OTHERS INVITING CONGRESS, RJD, JD(U) TO DEFEND ‘SECULARISM, INDIAN CONSTITUTION, INDIAN NATIONALISM’

Janta Dal (United) leader Ali Anwar, in an ‘united’ program in Jantar Mantar on 19th March had a frank admission to make in the first 15 minutes of his speech: “Elections ki hi baat se shuru kare, to haan, hum sab milkar Modi ko harayenge” (“If we begin with the question of elections, yes, we will unite to defeat Modi together”). He was indicating a plain and simple ‘unity’ of convenience for elections, of a converging pole in Indian politics. He indicated: “Bihar assembly elections are waiting to happen.” He of course, remembered the theme of ‘secularism’ for the event and said, “now I will say a few ideological things” and did utter a few lines against the BJP-RSS.

Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on 19th March thus saw a (not very?) strange unity. Various “civil society and secular political parties, victims, artists, intellectuals” came together to organize an Exposing 300 days of Modi’s Rule program. Many of the organizers included mass organisations of the Left like AISA, AICCTU, AIPWA connected with CPI(ML)Liberation, and SFI, AIDWA, CITU, DYFI, AILU connected with CPI(M), and AITUC, NFIW, PWA related to CPI, among others. In these dark times of achhe din, where unity and collaboration of various left, democratic and progressive forces has come up with renewed necessity to fight the present regime, it becomes important for us to interrogate such attempts without any sectarianism. An important question that requires asking here is the basis of these ‘Unities’ and Forums being variously attempted. ‘Unity’ is definitely required in these times of combined attack of brutal neoliberal and communal attack, but standing on what ground, and in what direction? Continue reading While “Exposing 300 days of Modi’s Rule”, Let us not fall into the Trappings of Old Congress Style Politics: Nayan Jyoti →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Images, Violence/Conflict

Kill it Before it Hatches, Attack it Before it Grows – On State Sanctioned Vandalism against Contemporary Art in Kashmir: Syed Mujtaba Rizvi

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Guest Post by Syed Mujtaba Rizvi

A Work of Art Vandalized at Gallerie One, Srinagar
A Work of Art Vandalized at Gallerie One, Srinagar

On the opening day of Gallerie One, I was in a conversation with Rajendra Tickoo, Masood Hussain, Shabbir Mirza, M A Mehboob, Shaiqa Mohi and several other senior artists from Jammu and Kashmir. The opening of the first ever centre for contemporary arts and research in Kashmir was a dream come true for all of them. They told me that they had waited all their lives for such an initiative and how several great artists had died with the dream of having an art gallery in Kashmir. They were all very excited. They shook my hand again and again and hugged me before and after. Continue reading Kill it Before it Hatches, Attack it Before it Grows – On State Sanctioned Vandalism against Contemporary Art in Kashmir: Syed Mujtaba Rizvi →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

That Elusive Thing with Feathers – After the Killing of Avijit Roy: Abdul Bari

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Guest Post by ABDUL BARI

Avijit Roy was brutally murdered in Dhaka a few days ago. His wife, after heroically trying to shield his person with her own body, now lies in an ICU bed, fighting for her life.  I was an infrequent visitor to his website, Muktomona. Visiting it was like running your tongue over that tooth you’re missing, or reflexively checking whether you had your keys with you in the morning. Its presence was a reminder that, no matter how circumscribed, the nation-state of Bangladesh still had men and women who liked to think unconventional thoughts; give expression to unpopular ideas; endeavored to stand, as it is, in the very edge of what the societal limit of what could be expressed, and then take another firm step, not back, but forward. Continue reading That Elusive Thing with Feathers – After the Killing of Avijit Roy: Abdul Bari →

Bad ideas

A poem for Rafida Ahmed Banna – Avijit Roy’s Partner: Irfanur Rahman Rafin

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Guest Post by Irfanur Rahman Rafin, translated from Bengali

[ Kafila normally does not carry poetry. But sometimes we make an exception, and we are making one in the case of this tribute by Irfanul Rahman Rafin, dedicated to Rafida Ahmed Banna, Bangladeshi blogger and partner of Avijit Roy, the Bangladeshi-American writer and blogger who was attacked and killed by Islamist thugs while the couple were on their way back from the Dhaka Book Fair. Roy wrote regularly on the Bangla blog Mukto Mona, and had written several books about religious belief, doubt, homosexuality and other issues. He had recieved death threats from Islamist groups in Bangladesh in the recent past. Roy is not the only blogger, writer and intellectual to have been attacked in this way. Last year, Ahmed Rajib Haider, another blogger opposed to Islamic fundamentalism, was hacked to death in February by a gang of Islamist thugs.

Hundreds of people have come out in protest against the killing of Avijit Roy in Dhaka. The killings of Avijit Roy and Rajib Haider mirror the assasinations of Narendra Dabholkar, and only recently, of Govind Pansare, in India by Hindu Fundamentalist thugs. ]

Avijit Roy and Rafida Ahmed Banya
Avijit Roy and Rafida Ahmed Banna

Sister Banna, listen
by Irfanur Rahman Rafin (translated from Bengali)

I don’t have the words to beg forgiveness
But something still has to be said
So I whisper in your ear sister Banna
Seven brothers still stand by Parul

I know some will say it was atheism
I will say he was child of my mother
We will see if they or Nazrul was right
Those who claim divinity to take life

Do not believe their prophecies
Those who play games with corpses
The war began with bullets and fire
Bringing white shrouds to each home

In this land nobody’s life has value
I know blood flows equally for all
But sister Banna listen to these words
Even the hardest heart cries out today

February 28, 2015

বন্যাদি তুমি শোনো

ক্ষমা চাইবার ভাষা নেই আজ কোনো
কিছু একটা তো বলতেই হয় তাই
কানে কানে বলি বন্যাদি তুমি শোনো
বোন পারুলের পাশে জেগে সাত ভাই

জানি কেউ কেউ বলবে সে নাস্তিক
আমি বলে দেবো সন্তান মোর মা’র
দ্যাখা যাবে তারা নাকি নজরুল ঠিক
খুন করে যারা নিয়ে নেয় দায়ভার

তুমি বিশ্বাস করো না ওদের বাণী
লাশ নিয়ে যারা পাশা খেলে অগোচরে
বুলেট আর আগুন নিয়ে যেই হানাহানি
সফেদ কাফন নিয়ে আসে ঘরে ঘরে

জীবনের দাম এই দেশে কারো নেই
কোনো রক্তই বেশি লাল নয় জানি
তবু বন্যাদি তুমি শোনো আজ এই
দেশে পাষাণেরও চোখ জুড়ে আছে পানি

ফেব্রুয়ারি ২৮, ২০১৫