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.

Culture, Frontiers, Images, Language, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Through the screen, not so darkly: Raza Rumi

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Guest post by RAZA RUMI

Pakistanis love Bollywood. There is no question about that. Amidst the love-hate perceptions, Indian cinema has for decades fed public imagination. Before the 1965 war that took place when Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s first military ruler, was in power,  Indian films were released in Pakistan regularly. They competed with the local cinema. The healthy contest enriched filmmaking and gave choice to Pakistani cinema-goers. The war and competing imaginary nationalism halted this process and for decades, Indian films stayed away from cinemas until another military ruler, Parvez Musharraf, allowed limited releases. Such is the power of Bollywood and its commercial viability that for the past few years, Bollywood flicks have revived cinema in Pakistan. Continue reading Through the screen, not so darkly: Raza Rumi →

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, Centre watch, Identities, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Which terrorism is a greater threat to India?

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Rahul Gandhi’s answer to that question, given to American diplomats who seem to have his ear more than the people of India, was unequivocal: it’s the Hindu right whose violence he fears more. But fellow-Kafila-ite Subhash Gatade makes the point in an interview to Rediff.com that such violence is difficult to quantify and compare because it takes only a few from a community to perpetrate it:

…one sincerely feels that it is difficult to quantify the relative threats. Remember the period when India witnessed Khalistani terrorism, which involved a fraction of the misguided youth of the Sikh community and the danger it posed to peace and tranquility in the country then. [Link]

The interview discusses his new book, Godse’s Children: Hindutva Terror in India.

Capitalism

Appeal from the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union: Shiv Kumar

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Appeal from the MSEU 

(Maruti Suzuki Employees Union) to All Trade Unions, Organisations and Individuals, by SHIV KUMAR, general secretary, MSEU, via Rakhi Sehgal of the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI)

(Cross-posted from the Facebook group, Citizens Front in Support of Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Struggle.)

15th October 2011

We, the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU), Suzuki Powertrain India Employees Union (SPIEU) and Suzuki Motorcycle India Employees Union (SMIEU), have been on strike in our respective plants in Gurgaon-Manesar from the 7th of October, 2011, demanding our right to respectable and non-precarious employment and unionization. Our movement stands at a crucial juncture today, we therefore send this appeal to all the labouring people of the country and beyond, the trade unions and all other sections of society which have stood with us in solidarity to come forward with renewed vigour to take this movement forward.

Our struggle is not a struggle for a mere wage-hike of any one section of workers, but is a struggle for our dignity and right to organise. We struggle also more importantly for the contract workers among us, whose insecurity and precarious condition of existence is a burning issue before the entire labouring people of the country today, which puts the very framing of the available labour laws into question.

Continue reading Appeal from the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union: Shiv Kumar →

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

Aadmi hoon aadmi se pyar karta hoon: Indu Vashist

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This is a fun radio show of various songs that queer spaces in Delhi and Bombay have reclaimed as our own. It is also a a coming together of songs that lend itself to queering almost effortlessly. A fun listening experience with snippets of information and laughs mixed in. 

Guest post by Indu Vashist

Soundtrack of the Indian Queer Movement originally aired on Sunday October 9, 2011, 6-7pm EST. Hosts, Indu Vashist and Srinath Baba had special guests Ponni Arasu and Gautam Bhan in studio for commentary, history and a whole lot of laughs. Listen to full broadcast here.

Montreal-based Indu Vashist and Srinath Baba are the hosts of Desi Dhamaka, a South Asian music show with a political and social twist. It airs on CKUT, a non-profit, campus-community radio station based at McGill University. CKUT provides alternative music, news and spoken word programming to the city of Montreal and surrounding areas, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Hear us at 90.3 MHz on the FM dial, 91.7 by cable, or listen on-line.


Bad ideas, Culture, Right watch

An act of Academic Compromise

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The Delhi University academic council’s decision to drop A.K. Ramanujan’s essay, ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas’, from the prescribed readings for BA (honours) history and BA (programme) students, brings back memories of Bombay University’s move to remove Rohinton Mistry’s novel Such a Long Journey from the syllabus. The victimisation of art-historian Shivaji Pannikkar by Baroda’s Maharaja Sayajirao University is another long and painful story. The many, many cases of books and plays being proscribed by various governments form the general climate in which our universities operate. Continue reading An act of Academic Compromise →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Media politics

Everybody Loves a Good War – Tehelka and Essar: Bobby Kunhu

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Update: A Day after the publication of this post, Tehelka changed the status of Essar from “Principal Sponsor” to merely one of several “patrons” on the Goa ThinkFest website.

Guest post by BOBBY KUNHU

Tehelka: Free, Fair, Fearless?

Without doubt, one of the most important documents to make its appearance after the arrest of Soni Sori by the Chattisgarh Government in Delhi on 4th October 2011 was the cover story titled, “The inconvenient truth of Soni Sori” that appeared in Tehelka, written by Shoma Chaudhary. It tells the story of Soni Sori and her nephew Linga Kodopi as narrated to Tehelka and the sequence of events that led to their persecution.

Nonetheless there is an intriguing twist to how this story was framed. The introduction of the story goes:  “Why were two tribals and the Essar group framed by the Chhattisgarh police? Why are Soni Sori and Linga Kodopi being systematically silenced? This chilling story of one family reveals more about India’s Naxal crisis than any official document can.”

In other words, Tehelka is arguing that Essar is also being framed in this narrative along with Soni Sori and Linga Kodopi.

Continue reading Everybody Loves a Good War – Tehelka and Essar: Bobby Kunhu →

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

Culture, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Identities, Images, Mirror Worlds

Navratri in Karachi

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The report above is by Zanobia Ilyas, who writes: Continue reading Navratri in Karachi →

Centre watch, Excavation, Frontiers, Identities, Law, Violence/Conflict

The unspeakable horrors of Delhi, 1947

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In Freedom’s Shade, by Anis Kidwai; translated from Urdu by Ayesha Kidwai; Penguin Books India 2011, Pp 382, price Rs. 450

Anis Kidwai belonged to the illustrious Kidwai family of Barabanki. The family has made more than a signal contribution to the making of India. Not only in politics and governance but also in diverse fields of creative endeavour. This short piece, though, is not about her or about her family but her most remarkable record of the unfolding tragedy in the Capital of India and in its surroundings in the aftermath of independence and partition.

Anis Kidwai, though extremely politically aware with sharp and clear views on what she saw happening, was not a political activist and would have probably continued to lead a well settled, almost sedentary life in Mussoorie, had the unthinkable not happened. Her husband, Shafi Ahmad Kidwai, the administrator of the Municipality, who had almost single handedly tried to keep peace in Mussoorie when everyone else had either given up or joined the rioters, was murdered.

Continue reading The unspeakable horrors of Delhi, 1947 →

Culture, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Language, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Untitled: Najeeb Mubarki

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Guest post by NAJEEB MUBARKI

I could have met Sebald.
I went to Britain in September 2001,
And he died in December.
East Anglia wasn’t all that far way
From London, nothing, really,
Is all that far away in Britain.
I could have met him, if I had known him
Then.
What I would have wanted to say, I think Continue reading Untitled: Najeeb Mubarki →

Bad ideas, Frontiers, Identities, Law

Gopal Das is free, Khaleel Chishty is not

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Justice Markandey Katju, who has upon retirement just been appointed head of the Press Council of India, today addressed the media at his residence in Delhi. Towards the end of his speech, he said:

Before I conclude, I once again repeat my appeal to the Indian Government through the Prime Minister to release Dr Khaleel Chishty who is in Ajmer Jail. He is 80 years old and has not very long to live. He was an eminent virologist in Karachi Medical College and was a PhD from Edinburgh University. He is a heart patient and has many other ailments also. He is unable to walk. In the name of humanity I appeal to the Indian Government to release him and allow him to get back to home in Karachi to his wife and daughter who live there. The Pakistan Government honoured my appeal and released Gopal Das from a Pakistani jail. I am sad that the Indian Government has not yet honoured my appeal made several months ago to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Hon’ble Home Minister, and His Excellency the Governor of Rajasthan. In my opinion, the prestige of our country will be invreased if Dr. Chishty is released, whereas if he dies in jail, we will be disgraced. Continue reading Gopal Das is free, Khaleel Chishty is not →

Everyday Life, Genders, Metropolis, Mirror Worlds, Movements

Bengal Power in Jaipur: Kavita Srivastava

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Guest post by KAVITA SRIVASTAVA

4 October 2011

More than 3000 Domestic Workers Take to the Jaipur Streets
SHARE THEIR WOES AND DEMAND RIGHTS

PUBLIC HEARING PANEL:
• Aditi Mehta (Principal Secretary Social Justice and Empowerment),
• Anuradha Talwar. Trade Union Activist, Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Sangathan, Kolkata
• Jose Mohan, DCP, Jaipur Police Commissionerate
• Bhagwan Sahai Sharma, member Secretary, State Social Welfare Board,

Domestic worker women power made history today in Jaipur when they took to the streets of Jaipur and demanded their rights from the State and society. We are not “naukranis” they said. We are workers in free India and want the dignity of being a worker. We run two homes, yours and ours, can any of you in society do without our labour, they asked boldly. Ninety percent were Bengally with abotu ten percent from who had come from different parts of Rajasthan. Continue reading Bengal Power in Jaipur: Kavita Srivastava →

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 →

Capitalism, Ecology/Environment, Government, Politics, Right watch

Development in the ICU: Swagato Sarkar

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Guest post by SWAGATO SARKAR

Montek Singh Ahluwalia (MSA) has taken over the English news channels [okay, perhaps not all, but two “exclusive” interviews to Headlines Today and CNN-IBN’s FTN (F stands for ‘Face’, btw)] tonight to shoot back at his opponents and detractors, the likes of Roys, Drezes, Aiyars. The discourse had three parts: the sermon, gloss and proto-penance, and the affirmation of the revealed Truth.

The Planning of Commission of the sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic of India is not a Stalinist Planning Commission. It has the solemn duty of finding India’s rightful place in the world at the average rate of 8% per year. But India is a poor country [exclusive news which cannot be shared at Davos]. The GDP has to enlarge. Market is what will make it happen. But market has limits. Hence, welfare. But MSA is not happy that the Growth-Decline story did not work out as he would have wished. But that is no reason to be anti-Growth [now go to the first line of the para and read it all over again.]

Continue reading Development in the ICU: Swagato Sarkar →

Capitalism, Empire/ Imperialism, Government, Movements, Politics

Occupy Wall Street – An American Spring Amidst Media Blackout?

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As governments across the world prostrate themselves before corporations and corporate greed takes over the daily business of governing, mass struggles are breaking out all over the world. What started as the much propagated ‘Arab Spring’ – apparently the Arab world’s yearning for American and Western values represented by ‘democracy’, has now, after spreading through Europe (France, Greece, Spain, Portugal…) engulfed the heart of Empire – the United States of America. The Occupy Wall Street movement that started almost three weeks ago, with thousands of people assembling in Zucotti Park in Lower Manhattan, New York, has now spread amdist media blackout and police repression, to other parts across the United States. A glimpse of the situation about a week ago:

Continue reading Occupy Wall Street – An American Spring Amidst Media Blackout? →

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

Kavita Srivastava: ‘Chhattisgarh Police Raided My House Today in Collusion with Jaipur Police’

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A note from KAVITA SRIVASTAVA

3rd October, 2011

Dear friends,

The police today raided my house between 6.30 and 7 am. I was out of the house when they did it. One of those days when I was not at home. They came with a search warrant and said that a khatarnak Naxalite was being shielded in my house.

My family was unable to gather the name, but they had come looking for a woman they said some Sunit / Sumit Sodi. The Bajaj Nagar police station of Jaipur, which very well knows my house, brought them. It was led by the DY SP of our area Rajendra Singh Shekhwat and they also sent police outside the People’s Union for Civil Liberties office. The Chhattisgarh raid was led by one Mr. Memon who was in plain clothes. His rank we do not know. He got papers from a court that my house has to be searched. Continue reading Kavita Srivastava: ‘Chhattisgarh Police Raided My House Today in Collusion with Jaipur Police’ →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Law, Mirror Worlds, Violence/Conflict

Release Indian and Pakistani fishermen with their boats

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PRESS STATEMENT: We, the undersigned, express our deep concern regarding the continuous arrests of Indian and Pakistani fishermen and confiscation of their boats by each country of the other. The poor, innocent fishermen go to sea to catch fish and in the deep sea it becomes virtually impossible for them to recognise where their countries waters end and other’s start.

The fishing season has begun couple of days ago and boats in a big number go to the mid-sea to catch and earn some money. Both the governments need to recognise the fact that these traditional fishermen go to the mid-sea for their livelihood. Arresting them and confiscating their boats means depriving their families from the livelihood, and causing them extreme distress. Continue reading Release Indian and Pakistani fishermen with their boats →

Centre watch, Government, Law, Movements

Statement condemning raid on Kavita Srivastava’s house: Right to Food Campaign

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This statement come from the RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN

October 3rd, 2011

Arbitrary Raid on Kavita Srivastava’s house: Latest act of harassment of human rights workers

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the arbitrary raid this morning (3 October), in Jaipur, on the house of Kavita Srivastava, General Secretary of PUCL and convenor of the Right to Food Campaign’s steering group. This is yet another instance of harassment of human rights workers under the cover of fighting Naxalism. Kavita Srivastava is the convenor of the Steering Committee of the Right to Food Campaign and PUCL is the petitioner in the Supreme Court case on the Right to Food which has recently challenged the Government on the issue of the poverty line. Continue reading Statement condemning raid on Kavita Srivastava’s house: Right to Food Campaign →

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