Category Archives: Debates

Culture, Debates, Genders, Technology

High theory, Low ‘Kolaveri Di’: Why I am a Fan of this Flop Song: AS Ajith Kumar

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Guest post by AS AJITH KUMAR

YouTube’s search results for the `Kolaveri di ’ song are amazing. It is hard to pick the `original’ from the plethora of `kolaveri di ’ songs -the `reply cover version’, kids version by Naveen Nigam, the damn version, and many more. I was very excited to find this possibility-a song has initiated a dialogue, and that too a musical engagement. This I think are the new possibilities that the new media has brought into the field of music. Here  is not the two- way process that we are familiar with, between the music and the listener, but a number of activities in multiple tracks.

The ‘listener’ is more visible  now, and has more powers. He/she shares, likes, comments, makes his/her own videos and broadcasts them by herself/himself. I am not trying to jump into a sort of technological determinism, but approaching the shifts in the music field – in the making, listening, broadcasting and sharing of music. I would say that it is within this context that we have to reflect on the popularity of the `kolaveri di ’ song.

Continue reading High theory, Low ‘Kolaveri Di’: Why I am a Fan of this Flop Song: AS Ajith Kumar →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Law, Media politics, Politics

What Kapil Sibal does not understand: the internet

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A  few days ago a friend asked me if I knew someone who had the ability and inclination to help out a certain department of the central government with using social media. My friend did not name who the prospective employer was, but clearly, with even Digvijay Singh on Twitter, the Congress party is worried about social media. No surprise that this should happen in a year when the UPA government’s popularity has taken a nose-dive.

The New York Times revealed on 5 December that Kapil Sibal summoned Facebook officials and showed them a Facebook page that allegedly maligned Congress president Sonia Gandhi and said that this was unacceptable. While HRD officials refused to reveal much in that NYT copy, they must have realised that shit has hit the fan, because the next morning’s Indian Express the spin doctoring was clear: there was now a mention of allegedly derogatory pictures of Prophet Mohammed along with the Prime Minister and the Congress President (who are no doubt as sacred in his books as Prophet Mohammed).By the time he held his press conference yesterday, it became about things that Hurt Our Religious Sentiments. On the 19th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, it is very interesting to see a Congress minister using religion to cover up power politics.  Continue reading What Kapil Sibal does not understand: the internet →

Bad ideas, Debates, Excavation, Frontiers, Identities, Language, Mirror Worlds

Hindi and Urdu: Sa’adat Hasan Manto

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This is MUHAMMAD UMAR MEMON‘s translation of an article by SA’ADAT HASAN MANTO. The translation first appeared in The Annual of Urdu Studies.

The Hindi-Urdu dispute has been raging for some time now. Maulvi Abdul Haq Sahib, Dr Tara Singh and Mahatma Gandhi know what there is to know about this dispute. For me, though, it has so far remained incomprehensible. Try as hard as I might, I just haven’t been able to understand. Why are Hindus wasting their time supporting Hindi, and why are Muslims so beside themselves over their preservation of Urdu? A language is not made, it makes itself. And no amount of human effort can ever kill a language. When I tried to write something about this current hot issue, I ended up with the following long conversation:

Munshi Narain Parshad:  Iqbal Sahib, are you going to drink this soda water?

Mirza Muhammad Iqbal: Yes, I am.

Munshi: Why dont you drink lemon?

Iqbal: No particular reason. I just like soda water. At our house, everyone likes to drink it.

Munshi: In other words, you hate lemon. Continue reading Hindi and Urdu: Sa’adat Hasan Manto →

Capitalism, Debates

Indian Government’s Claims About Corporate Retail and the Reality: Shankar Gopalakrishnan

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The vociferous supporters of corporate retail in India seem to believe, or would like us to believe, that there is no previous experience of corporate retail anywhere in the world to learn lessons from. In this guest post, SHANKAR GOPALAKRISHNAN analyses available data on the experience of the entry of corporate retail globally, to outline the disastrous consequences it has had everywhere it has been introduced.  On the basis of extensive research, he concludes:  “The growth of corporate retail not only will not address the key problems plaguing India’s economy today – it will greatly exacerbate many of them. In particular, the crisis in agriculture, environmental destruction, declines in land productivity, urban unemployment, price volatility and unequal access to resources would all be worsened by unchecked growth of corporate retail.” Shankar’s article follows.

In the flood of rhetoric following the government’s decision to permit FDI in retail, the actual reality of what this will mean is being lost. For that it is necessary to look at international data and what it shows about the claims being made. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma’s letter offers a good place to start. His claims can be summarised as follows: Continue reading Indian Government’s Claims About Corporate Retail and the Reality: Shankar Gopalakrishnan →

Capitalism, Countryside, Debates, Ecology/Environment

When an Ecofeminist Dies: Anupam Pandey

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Guest post by ANUPAM PANDEY

“The government said, “If they only planted trees, we wouldn’t bother with them. But they also plant ideas. And I say, it’s true”

Wangari Mathaai (1940-2011)

When the death of Steve Jobs evoked such unprecedented emotions of manic proportions in India which is not even a market of consequence for Apple, it is astounding that the passing away of Wangari Mathaai (a few days before Jobs’ death) did not even create a ripple of interest. But then, in the power hierarchy of global capitalism, what is the worth of the life of an ecofeminist compared to that of the one which is associated with one of the most popular consumer brands in the world? Continue reading When an Ecofeminist Dies: Anupam Pandey →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Debates

Some FAQs about Koodankulam and Nuclear Power: Nityanand Jayaraman and G. Sundar Rajan

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Steel drums with nuclear waste. The inescapable byproduct generated from the fission of nuclear fuel in the form of uranium or plutonium creates what is called nuclear waste. This waste comes in a huge variety of extremely radioactive material with half-lives ranging from 8 days to hundreds of thousands of years. In other words their radioactivity takes a really, really long time to decay, thousands of times our human life-times. These fission products if released to the environment will last a long time, and it is almost impossible to decontaminate them.

NITYANAND JAYARAMAN and G. SUNDAR RAJAN of the Chennai Solidarity Group for Koodankulam Struggle developed  the  fact-sheet below in response to real questions that they encountered during the course of street and college campaigns. They say: “The questions were sincere, so we felt a sincere response was warranted.”

Continue reading Some FAQs about Koodankulam and Nuclear Power: Nityanand Jayaraman and G. Sundar Rajan →

Debates, Government, Identities, Images, Law, Left watch, Politics, Right watch

Mobpublic vs. Counterpublic in Kerala

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[with inputs from Baiju John]

Recent events in Kerala convince me that we need to think more closely about the ways in which our political public life is being slowly overwhelmed by something that is profoundly anti-public but somehow manages to resemble it — I’m tempted to call it the Mobpublic. I’m of course not referring to formal politics, where political parties and powerful communities continue to squabble without any serious difference in their programmes. Very little of either the political or the public survives in them; all one hears for most of the time are the tales of internal squabbling which is neither political (yes, despite all of V S Achuthanandan’s efforts to coopt oppositional civil social struggles) nor public. Perhaps the decline of the political is a condition for the rise of the mobpublic.

Continue reading Mobpublic vs. Counterpublic in Kerala →

Capitalism, Debates, Frontiers, Government, Mirror Worlds

Trading with the Enemy: Raza Rumi

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Guest post by RAZA RUMI

Reports suggest that Pakistan has decided, in principle, to grant the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India. Much progress has taken place since the earlier announcement and several parleys between the officials suggest that trade relations may finally ‘normalise’. India already conferred MFN status to Pakistan in 1996. India and Pakistan have no formal trade agreement. Until now Pakistan maintained a Positive List of importable items from India consisting of 1075 items.

Most Favoured Nation: Under the WTO agreements, countries cannot normally discriminate between their trading partners. Grant someone a special favour (such as a lower customs duty rate for one of their products) and you have to do the same for all other WTO members. This principle is known as most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment. It is so important that it is the first article of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which governs trade in goods. MFN is also a priority in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Continue reading Trading with the Enemy: Raza Rumi →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Centre watch, Countryside, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Government, Law

‘A Call for Rejecting 2011 Land Acquisition Bill’

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This joint statement, signed and endorsed by various organisations and individuals from across India, named at the end, was put out on 12 November 2011. 

The 2011 Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill is a dangerous exercise in doublespeak that will worsen the injustice and devastation caused by the present law. Below is a joint statement on this legislation from a number of organisations and individuals, calling for the rejection of the new Bill and raising the basic issues that need to be addressed by any legal framework.

The statement points out that:

Continue reading ‘A Call for Rejecting 2011 Land Acquisition Bill’ →

Debates, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Statement by SASI on People-to-People Solidarity with Palestine and Duplicity of South Asian States

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A statement by the SOUTH ASIA SOLIDARITY INITIATIVE

SASI Calls for People-to-People Solidarity with Palestine and Condemns Duplicity of South Asian States in Palestine Bid for UN Recognition

The South Asia Solidarity Initiative (SASI) recognizes the importance and urgency of the Palestinian bid for recognition by the United Nations this September. Despite the threatened U.S. veto in the Security Council, all member nations have an opportunity to weigh in on the outcome through the General Assembly. We welcome the overwhelming support shown for Palestinian membership in the UNESCO. While noting the support for recognition of Palestine by South Asian states, SASI is dismayed by the duplicity of some of these states in continuing to build economic, military, and intelligence ties with Israel. SASI supports the efforts of all peoples movements in South Asia and elsewhere towards solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Continue reading Statement by SASI on People-to-People Solidarity with Palestine and Duplicity of South Asian States →

Centre watch, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Identities, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

My Days with Nationalism in Assam: Ankur Tamuli Phukan

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Guest post by ANKUR TAMULI PHUKAN

Many of us who have been studying the political process in Assam were surprised when we received the news in December 2009 that Chairman Arabindo Rajkhowa and some of his colleagues of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had been arrested in Bangladesh. This moment had to come some day, but we were not prepared to face it. We were familiar with the brave and somewhat legendary image they had created for themselves and needed time to believe that they could be defeated. Continue reading My Days with Nationalism in Assam: Ankur Tamuli Phukan →

Bad ideas, Debates, Genders, Government, Identities, Sex

Invitation to a Debate: Queer Politics and Aid Conditionalities

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Breaking from usual practice, I am cross-posting a piece from Akshay Khanna writing as part of the Participation, Power and Social Change blog over at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. Akshay is writing in response to this statement by UK Prime Minister David Cameron where, in a nutshell, he threatens cutting off aid to countries that still ban or make homosexuality illegal. Continue reading Invitation to a Debate: Queer Politics and Aid Conditionalities →

Countryside, Debates, Everyday Life, Law, Politics

Crime redefined in Bihar: Ibne Ali

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Guest post by IBNE ALI

John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton is said to have said in 1887, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” After 124 years it is being felt that Lord Acton could have added one more thing; Power gives you the exclusive right to define and redefine things according to your convenience. The ‘all-possible-awards-winner’ chief minister of Bihar Mr. Nitish Kumar could have prompted Lord Acton to enrich this famous quotation for a couple of reasons.

Continue reading Crime redefined in Bihar: Ibne Ali →

Debates, Frontiers, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Politics

Understanding the Nepali Revolution: Baburam Bhattarai

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(Nepal’s Prime Minister, Dr BABURAM BHATTARAI, visited India in his first bilateral trip since taking office, in the third week of October. Bhattarai spoke at the Jawaharlal University, Delhi, where he had earned his PhD from the Centre for Study of Regional Development, about the political evolution in Nepal, particularly after the 1990 and 2006 movements as seen through the prism of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

Before beginning his substantive speech, he declared, “I am what I am because of JNU,” amidst thundering applause and cries of Lal Salaam.

The full text of the speech, provided to Kafila by his office, is being posted below for the record.)  Continue reading Understanding the Nepali Revolution: Baburam Bhattarai →

Centre watch, Debates, Frontiers, Violence/Conflict

Signs of improving times

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Two incidents that took place recently provide hope, underlining that the India-Pakistan peace process must indeed be on track. One incident was related to the UN and the other to Kashmir, if you can believe it. Continue reading Signs of improving times →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Genders, Law

Guardian Angelic Moral Police

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[co-authored with Bobby Kunhu]

 

Of all the different kinds of moral police that inhabit the land of Kerala, the species that should be feared most must probably be the ‘Guardian Angelic Moral Police'(GAMP). The GAMP is just as potent as the Goonda-Activist Moral Police (G-AMP) but in striking contrast to the latter, the former thrives on the surface precisely on values dear to the Malayalee middle-class – the sanction of law, paternal concern, state protectionism of women as the ‘weaker sex’. This makes it much harder for victims of moral policing to fight off their intrusions all of which are couched in the language of benevolent concern. We just got a taste of that from the Hon. Justice V R Krishna Iyer with his controversial Women’s Code Bill, but since so much of his language is such antiquated hyperbole, it was impossible to take any of it seriously. However, it appears that the judiciary in Kerala has more sophisticated GAMP, and  recent orders passed by the bench consisting of Justices R Basant and M C Hari Rani of the Kerala High Court seem to leave no reason for scepticism. Continue reading Guardian Angelic Moral Police →

Debates, Identities, Movements

Letter to Occupy Together Movement: Harsha Walia

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Cross-posted from Rabble.ca

I wish I could start with the ritual “I love you” which the Occupy Movement is supposed to inspire. To be honest, it has been a space of turmoil. But also, virulent optimism.

What I outline below are not criticisms of the Occupy movement. I am inspired that the dynamic of the movement thus far has been organic, so that all those who choose to participate are collectively responsible for its evolution and development. To all those participating — I offer my deepest gratitude and respect. I am writing today with Grace Lee Boggs on the forefront of my mind: “The coming struggle is a political struggle to take political power out of the hands of the few and put it into the hands of the many. But in order to get this power into the hands of the many, it will be necessary for the many not only to fight the powerful few but to fight and clash among themselves as well.” This may sound dramatic and counter-productive, but I find it a poignant reminder that, in our state of elation, we cannot underestimate the difficult terrain ahead and I look forward to the processes that will further these conversations.

Read the rest of the article here.

Capitalism, Debates, Everyday Life, Left watch, Metropolis, Movements

A Big Red River: Solidarity Meeting with Maruti-Suzuki Workers

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(this video, courtesy, Pratyush, Correspondence Delhi)

A big red river streamed out of the gates of Kamla Nehru Park in Gurgaon last evening (17th October, 2011). Several thousands of workers (according to one estimate – one hundred thousand workers), from many factories in the Gurgaon-Manesar belt had occupied the park from 4:00 pm onwards to stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Maruti-Suzuki, Suzuki Powertrain and Suzuki Motorcycle India Limited workers. In an unprecedented demonstration of solidarity, permanent workers are on strike to demand justice and re-instatement of their contract worker colleagues. The atmosphere at the meeting was of celebration, workers who had been occupying three different factories for more than a week had been evicted by an administration that had brought out all the police and coercive power at its disposal. But yesterday’s gathering was like a reunion, the workers of the three ex-occupied factories, and their comrades in other plants throughout the Gurgaon-Manesar belt were meeting, like old and new friends, to taste the heady experience of peacable solidarity. Continue reading A Big Red River: Solidarity Meeting with Maruti-Suzuki Workers →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Debates, Media politics, Violence/Conflict

The Black Hole of Manesar : (Non) News of a Strike at Maruti-Suzuki

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It is not yet dawn, and I am wondering what is happening inside the Maruti Suzuki Factories in Manesar. How exactly is the Haryana Police, armed, along with its usual ordnance, with a High Court order, and the Haryana Labour Department’s ‘go ahead’, going about its stated business of ‘escorting’ a few thousand unwilling workers out of their factories under cover of darkness? Apparently, the factory fence has been layered with tent cloth. No light gets in, no light gets out. The Maruti Factories in Manesar have become black holes.They are producing more darkness than cars in Manesar tonight.

There is no way of knowing just what is going on inside. And yet, a few hundred surveillance cameras must be recording what the management, police,  administration and ‘security personnel’  are doing to ‘convince’ the workers to leave. Someday, this archive, every inch of video footage, should be played and rewound repeatedly, in order to arrive at a clearer understanding of the evolution of class relations in the industrial belt around the National Capital Region in the second decade of the twenty first century in India. Unfortunately, I have a strong feeling that tonight’s footage is going to go where all inconvenient truths go – to the limbo of unsolicited erasure.

Continue reading The Black Hole of Manesar : (Non) News of a Strike at Maruti-Suzuki →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Identities, Law, Violence/Conflict

Assaulting Prashant Bhushan only proves the moral strength of his argument

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Threatening people whose views you don’t like with violence is a sure-shot way of letting the world know who is right and whose argument is morally superior. To those who attacked Prashant Bhushan today for the comments he made in this video below, thank you for bringing more attention to them!

This is how “integral” a part of India Kashmir is – so integral that voices that doubt it must be silenced with vigilante force!

See also: a recent interview he gave to Kashmir Life in Srinagar

Capitalism, Debates, Everyday Life

Strike in Maruti-Suzuki and Seven Other Factories in Manesar: The Struggle Continues: Nayanjyoti

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Guest post by NAYANJYOTI

(On behalf of Krantikari Naujawan Sabha, part of the solidarity effort with struggling workers of Maruti Suzuki.)

The struggle of the workers in Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, IMT Manesar refuses to die, and just when quietening under settlement truce, has stood up again, gathering political edge and crucial concrete support among workers in the area. In a significant development this morning, 7th October 2011, the workers in seven nearby factories along with workers of MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD, IMT MANESAR have gone on strike. These are workers in the nearby plants of SUZUKI POWERTRAIN INDIA LTD. and SUZUKI CASTINGS (Plot 1, Phase 3A), and SUZUKI MOTORCYCLE INDIA PVT. LTD (in the Gurgaon-Manesar road), along with the workers of LUMAX AUTO TECHNOLOGIES LTD (165, Sector-5), SATYAM AUTO COMPONENTS LIMITED (26 C, Sector – 3), ENDURANCE TECHNOLOGIES LTD ( Plot no. 400, Sector 8), HI-LEX INDIA PVT LTD, (Plot No.55 Sector-3) completely halting production. Continue reading Strike in Maruti-Suzuki and Seven Other Factories in Manesar: The Struggle Continues: Nayanjyoti →