Countryside, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Movements, Politics, Scams

The Making of Anna Hazare

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[This piece is based on my extensive field work on Anna Hazare and his movement in Ralegan Sidhi over some years and is also a part of my forthcoming book Green and Saffron: Hindu Nationalism and Indian Environmental Politics. MS]

The anti-corruption movement, spearheaded by Anna Hazare, and the passage of the Lokpal Bill have generated unprecedented interest amongst a wide spectrum of society about the ideas, politics and organisations of civil society in general, and Anna Hazare in particular. Hazare’s anti-corruption crusade merits attention not only for its importance in ensuring a corruption-free society, but also due to its multifaceted nature. Hazare’s politics however has to be seen in a larger framework and in a wider historical context. Howsoever laudable the goals of anti-corruption movement in India today, the movement is not beyond the categories of gender, caste, authority, democracy, nationalism and ultra-nationalism. Far from transcending them, the movement is transforming and being transformed by the implicit deployment of such categories. I wish to place Hazare in the larger context of his environmental journeys, where the elusive but crucial element is one of authority that is exercised due to a large degree of consent and conservatism. Yet, almost all accounts on him, largely celebratory in nature, do not examine the ideology and politics of his works. These are crucial not only to critically assess the present and the future of our anti-corruption movements, but also to interrogate certain brands of civil society activisms and environmentalisms. Continue reading The Making of Anna Hazare →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Law, Violence/Conflict

JKCCS demands probe into killings of political workers

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Press release from the JAMMU KASHMIR COALITION OF CIVIL SOCIETY

11th April 2011

Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) is concerned at the spate of killing of civilian political workers belonging to different religious and political parties. So far in this year, five civilian political workers have been killed.

Culture, Debates, Government, Media politics, Movements, Scams

‘Anna Hazare’, Democracy and Politics: A Response to Shuddhabrata Sengupta

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In an earlier post, (hits to which have broken all records on Kafila), Shuddhabrata Sengupta has raised some extremely important points in the context of the media-simulated coverage and celebrations around the ‘Anna Hazare’ movement. I agree with the central argument made by Shuddha – which is about the authoritarian, indeed totalitarian implications of the proposed Jan Lokpal Bill (though, as many commentators to the post have pointed out, the Bill really remains to be drafted and passed in parliament).

I have no doubt whatsoever that any demand that simply seeks a law of the sort that has been raised by the movement (even in the proposed form), is completely counterproductive. Indeed, it is naive. Matters like corruption or communalism cannot simply be legislated out of existence through tougher laws. Inevitably, they will lead us up to China type situations where you will end up demanding summary trials and executions. Even in the best of cases, a law and state-dependent mode of addressing such problems, adds to the powers of a corrupt bureaucracy. I also agree with his (and Bobby Kunhu’s) criticisms of some aspects of what they have both chosen to designate as ‘mass hysteria’ of sorts – I certainly do not agree with this description but that need not detain us here. I am  interested in something else here and that has to do with the way the movement has struck a chord among unprecedentedly large numbers of people – mainly middle class people I am sure, but the support for it is not just confined to them. In fact, on the third day of the dharna at Jantar Mantar I received an excited call from a CPM leader who works among the peasants in villages of northern India in the Kisan Sabha, about the response to the movement he had encountered in his constituency. I doubt that this was a support simulated either by the government or by the electronic media. Continue reading ‘Anna Hazare’, Democracy and Politics: A Response to Shuddhabrata Sengupta →

Culture, Debates, Media politics, Movements, Politics, Scams

Of a Few, By a Few, For the Few: Bobby Kunhu

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Guest post by BOBBY KUNHU, carrying the debate on the Anti-corruption movement forward

I am distinctly uncomfortable with predictions – using either scientific or unscientific tools. For me it smacks of charlatanry – from astrology to psephology to stock market speculation. But with the charade that was unleashed for the past few days on news television by the mainstream media and of course at Jantar Mantar and a few other town squares across the “mainstream” Indian political landscape by Anna Hazare’s fast – I did dare to make an attempt – both at prediction and more comfortably with dissent. I foretold the outcome of the fast tableau at an emergency meeting that was convened by some co-travellers at the Salem Citizen’s Forum to debate on whether and how to show solidarity to Anna Hazare…

…Well, it is not just Anna Hazare and his team who won this match comfortably. All actors who joined the show have won the match. Everyone – the “civil society” that sat on fast at Jantar Mantar and other places, the Corporate media, the glamour world, the Government, political establishment of all hues and shades – everyone who bothered to join the game. It was like bathing in the Ganges during the Maha Kumbh – everyone’s sins were washed away. And of course nobody in their right minds regardless of political affiliations or ideologies could take a position “for corruption”!!! A veritable Bush-ian position — either you are with Anna Hazare or you are with corruption. And yes, India Incorporated has won the match and it is time for celebrations!

Read the full post on Countermedia

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Government, Language, Law, Violence/Conflict

Dastan-e-Sedition Banaam Hakim Sen

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Dastangoi performed by Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain as part of Justice on Trial for the Free Binayak Sen Campaign, at the Alliance Francaise de Delhi on 6 April 2011. Video credit: Nicky Chandam.

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Law, Media politics, Politics

At the Risk of Heresy: Why I am not Celebrating with Anna Hazare

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At the risk of heresy, let me express my profound unease at the crescendo of euphoria surrounding the ‘Anna Hazare + Jan Lokpal Bill’ phenomenon as it has unfolded on Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and across several hysterical TV stations over the last few days.

This time around, I have to say that the print media has acted (upto now) with a degree of restraint that I think is commendable. Partly, this has to do with the different natures of the two media. If you have to write even five hundred words about the Jan Lokpal bill, you run out of platitudes against corruption in the first sentence (and who can speak ‘for’ corruption anyway?) and after that you have to begin thinking about what the bill actually says, and the moment you do that, you cannot but help consider the actual provisions and their implications. On television on the other hand, you never have to speak for more than a sound-byte, (and the anchor can just keep repeating himself or herself, because that is the anchor’s job) and the accumulation of pious vox-pop sound bytes ‘against corruption’ leads to a tsunami of ‘sentiment’ that brooks no dissent. Continue reading At the Risk of Heresy: Why I am not Celebrating with Anna Hazare →

Centre watch, Debates, Identities

Corruption has its Caste in the Judiciary: All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations

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This press release come from the ALL INDIA CONFEDERATION OF SC/ST ORGANISATIONS

New Delhi, April 4, 2011.

Dr. Udit Raj, National Chairman of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, said that corruption has its caste. The way the former Chief Justice of India, K. G. Balakrishnan and former Chief Justice of Karnataka, P.D. Dinakaran, are being treated, there is no doubt that corruption knows the caste. Here argument is not to absolve these people but to expose hypocrisy and double speak. The Supreme Court hastened to admit petition against K.G. Balakrishnan but why not in other cases? Continue reading Corruption has its Caste in the Judiciary: All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations →

Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Language, Violence/Conflict

A Lesson in Kashmiri: Hilal Mir

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Guest post by HILAL MIR

On a clear spring day in the year 2000, the first year of my masters in journalism at Kashmir university, the class was taken to Sogam for a field trip. Zafar Hyderi, our esteemed teacher much respected for his integrity than scholarship was keen on students having practical experience. We were supposed to visit areas where only radio works because the mountains girding these areas don’t allow television signals from Srinagar Doordarshan to enter the homes. Imagine the relief of not having to watch 24X7 the official propaganda. Since Zafar Sir taught radio, these places provided him a cathartic vindication of the superiority of his medium (though secretly he might have aspired to make a name in TV). Such places are aptly called Shadow Zones. These could well be called shadow zones for other reasons too, as much of the barbarity unleashed by the state in such areas remains buried under shadows, itching to be put into words or images. Continue reading A Lesson in Kashmiri: Hilal Mir →

Frontiers, Mirror Worlds, Politics, Sports, Violence/Conflict

Shiraz Hassan on cricket diplomacy

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کرکٹ ڈپلومیسی، تنازعات کے پرامن حل کا عزم

پاکستان اور بھارت کی تریسٹھ سالہ تاریخ تنازعات کی ایک لمبی داستان ہے۔ دونوں ممالک کے تعلقات اس دوران کئی بات انتہائی کشیدگی کا شکار بھی رہے۔ قیام پاکستان اور ہندوستان کی انگریز حکومت سے آزادی کے بعد سے ہی دونوں ممالک کے مابین اعتماد کی فضا قائم نہ ہو سکی۔ اس ضمن میں دونوں ممالک کے مابین پہلا معرکہ 1948ءمیں کشمیر کے محاذ پر ہوا۔ جس کے بعد حالات مزید کشیدگی کی جانب مائل ہوتے گئے۔ 1965ءمیں ایک بار پھر دونوں ممالک کے افواج آمنے سامنے آئیں۔ 65ءکی جنگ کو ابھی چند ہی برس بیتے تھے کہ پاکستان کو 1971ءکے سانحے کا سامنا کرنا پڑا۔ اس جنگ میں پاکستان کو شکست کا خمیازہ دولخت ہونے کی صورت میں بھگتنا پڑا۔ پاک بھارت کے درمیان 1999ء میں کارگل کے محاذ پر بھی فوجیں آمنے سامنے آئیں اور حالات روایتی جنگ کے آغاز کے دہانے تک آپہنچے۔ البتہ موجودہ دور میں ممالک کے سرحدی علاقے اس وقت خاموش ہیں اور امن کی فضاء تیزی سے فروغ پا رہی ہے گویا دونوں ممالک کے سیاسی و دفاعی ماہرین نے تناو ¿ بھرے ماضی سے یہ سبق سیکھ لیا ہے کہ ”جنگ سے نہیں بلکہ امن سے ترقی ممکن ہے۔ “
پاکستان اور بھارت کے سفارتی تعلقات کے استحکام اور امن کے فروغ کے لئے کرکٹ کا کردار بھی نہایت اہم رہا ہے۔ ورلڈ کپ 2011ءمیں دونوں ٹیمیں موہالی کے میدان میں سیمی فائنل میچ میں آمنے سامنے آئیں ۔ پاکستان اور بھارت کی کرکٹ ٹیموں نے 2008ءمیں ہوئے ممبئی حملوں کے بعد ایک دوسرے کے مدمقابل نہیں کھیلا تھا۔ ان دہشت گرد حملوں میں کم و بیش ایک سو پچاس سے زائد افراد ہلاک ہوئے تھے اور بھارت کی جانب سے ان حملوں کے لئے پاکستان کو ذمہ دار ٹھہرایا گیا تھا۔ ممبئی حملوں کے بعد پاکستان اور بھارت کے درمیان تعلقات ایک بار پھر سخت کشیدہ ہوگئے تھے جس میں وقت گزرنے کے ساتھ کمی آئی ہے تاہم بھارتی وزیراعظم من موہن سنگھ کی جانب سے وزیراعظم گیلانی کو موہالی میں میچ دیکھنے کی خصوصی طور پر دعوت دی گئی جسے وزیراعظم نے قبول کیا اور اس عزم کے ساتھ موہالی پہنچے کہ ان کا یہ اقدام نہ صرف پاکستان بھارت کے درمیان پیدا شدہ کشیدگی کو کم کرنے بلکہ خطہ میں مستقل امن و استحکام کے لئے بھی معاون ثابت ہوگا۔ وزیر اعظم گیلانی اور بھارتی وزیراعظم من موہن سنگھ نے ایک ساتھ میچ دیکھا اور مختلف امور پر تبادلہ خیال بھی کیا۔ میچ کے بعد وزیراعظم گیلانی نے خصوصی عشائیے میں بھی شرکت کی جسے پاکستان بھارت کے درمیان بہتر تعلقات کے استحکام اور تنازعات کے حل کی جانب Continue reading Shiraz Hassan on cricket diplomacy →
Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Sports

I dont love India but I love cricket: Sudipto Mondal

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Guest post by SUDIPTO MONDAL

They don’t love the deftness of a late cut
or the terror of a snorter;
the authority of a cover drive
or the seduction of a flighted one.

They don’t love the smell of spit on leather.
They don’t love one eased through long leg
unless its Deepika Padukone we’re talking about.

They don’t love cricket but they say they love India.

They don’t love Inzamam’s hulking sixes.
They don’t love Hayden’s muscular heaves
or Ponting’s nervous shuffle.

They don’t love Lara because he was
as good as Sachin.
And Kambli was after all just an urchin

They don’t love cricket but they say they love India.

They don’t love the man who cleans their shit.
They don’t love the colleague that eats meat.
They don’t love the ‘backdoor entrant’ who shares their seat.

They don’t love the hungry protestors
who block their path at the height of summer’s heat.
They don’t love the vendor on the street.

They don’t love cricket but they say they love India.

They don’t love the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders either.
They don’t love the man who puts food on their plate
because he asks for food in turn.

They don’t love them jungle boys
because they wouldn’t give them their hill.

They don’t love the dark ones.
They don’t love the short ones.

They don’t love a nose that lacks precision.
They don’t love circumcision.

They don’t love cricket but they say they love India.

Culture, Everyday Life, Government, Language, Movements

Dastan-e-Sedition

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Free Binayak Sen Campaign

Justice on Trial:
three days of cultural events
April 4 – 6, 2011
@ Alliance Francaise de Delhi
72, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi 110003

Justice on Trial (Facebookers RSVP here) is a collaborative programme put together by leading contemporary artists, photographers, film makers, musicians, performers, and activists to commemorate struggles for democracy, freedom and rights. An exhibition of photographs and art works, talks performances and screenings all are directed at drawing renewed attention to the trial of Dr. Binayak Sen, who has emerged in recent times as a symbol of courageous resistance, and a reminder of the many injustices that surround us. Our aim is to provoke a dialogue with the colours and sounds that emerge from the idea of what Dr. Sen represents.  Continue reading Dastan-e-Sedition →

Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Identities, Left watch

Why so serious?: Anuj Bhuwania

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Guest post by ANUJ BHUWANIA

Cellphone videos of the celebrations at India Gate after India won the semi-final against Pakistan

 

So cricket is the opiate of the Indian masses, and India’s left-liberals (henceforth LLs) can’t deal with it. Or with popular cinema or religion, for that matter. All of which are things that these oh-so-serious people can’t quite seem to fathom. The only cinema you should enjoy are art house/multiplex films with the right ‘social message’, the only religion you can profess is Sufism and the only cricket you are allowed to enjoy is West Indies winning a test match, because CLR James has apparently said it’s ‘empowering’ or  ‘anti-imperialist’ or some such. These trivialities – cinema, religion, cricket – are just there to distract people from the really important issues. We should all only obsess about ‘important’ topics like nuclear energy, the 2G spectrum scam or the UID. Continue reading Why so serious?: Anuj Bhuwania →

Excavation, Identities, Law, Violence/Conflict

Mecca Masjid police firing report dumped in cold storage: Lateef Mohd. Khan

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Guest post by LATEEF MOHD. KHAN

On Friday, 18th May 2007, the RSS terrorists planted bombs at historic Makkah Masjid and immediately after the bomb blast, a group of communal minded policemen started firing on the people who were helping the injured people in the blast. 9 people were killed and hundreds got injured in the blast. The sharp shooter policemen were chosen for firing on the people who came for prayers and who came forward to help the injured and this communal group of policemen was monitored by  the then Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime). Continue reading Mecca Masjid police firing report dumped in cold storage: Lateef Mohd. Khan →

Frontiers, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Sports, Violence/Conflict

Indians who want Pakistan to win and Pakistanis who want India to win!

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To make our point against jingoism.

To say that no one needs a cricket match to prove their patriotism.

To hope the best for those we’re told we should hope the worst for.

Please join this Facebook Event page and ask your friends across the border to do so, too.

Bad ideas

Four Months the Kashmir Valley Will Never Forget: A Fact Finding Report

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A fact-finding team of VRINDA GROVER, RAVI HEMADRI, BELA BHATIA and SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN will release their report, Four Months the Kashmir Valley Will Never Forget at a press conference in the Committee Room of the Constitution Club in Delhi, today, 4 pm. You can download the report (.pdf) here. Given below is the text of the introduction.

The mass uprising of mid-2010 in Kashmir sent shock waves across all of India. It caught most experts on Kashmir thoroughly unawares, after they had managed to persuade themselves that the situation in the valley – routinely referred to as “troubled” – had rapidly changed for the better. Continue reading Four Months the Kashmir Valley Will Never Forget: A Fact Finding Report →

Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Identities, Mirror Worlds

Why Bangladesh?: Jyoti Rahman

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Guest post by JYOTI RAHMAN

Singing Amar Shonar Bangla with the whole stadium — the highest point during a cricket match attended by fellow blogger Rumi Ahmed.

For those of us born in Bangladesh, which turns 40 today, along with the red-and-green flag, there is an instinctive, natural identification with Amar Shonar Bangla. Less recognised is the fascinating history of the song, which also tells us the twists and turns in the history of the 20th century Bengal. Continue reading Why Bangladesh?: Jyoti Rahman →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Everyday Life, Government, Metropolis

Hundreds of lives reduced to rubble in Delhi: Paul Divakar

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Guest post by PAUL DIVAKAR

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This was written yesterday, 24 March 2011: Today we witnessed most humiliating, fascist nature of pulverising already vulnerable communities – most of whom are Dalits and backward castes in Gayatri colony near Faridpur of Baljit Nagar. Continue reading Hundreds of lives reduced to rubble in Delhi: Paul Divakar →

Capitalism, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Government

The Earthquake and Japan: Kojin Karatani

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[We are posting below a piece by Japanese philosopher and literary critic Prof Kojin Karatani, sent to us by a friend. Karatani has authored a number of works, including a very important recent book Transcritique: On Kant and Marx (MIT Press 2003). In this brief but thoughtful piece, Karatani talks about the ways in which the experience of the earthquake is forcing many Japanese people to rethink the whole idea of becoming a world economic power and its concomitant idea of development. AN]

I was on the streets of Tokyo when the earthquake struck. The ground shook violently, while buildings swayed around me for a long time. It was beyond anything I had experienced before, and I sensed that something terrible had happened.  My first thought was of the Kobe earthquake that killed more than 6,000 people in 1995.  Although I did not experience the Kobe earthquake first hand, it hit the region of my hometown where many close relatives lived, and so I headed immediately to the scene of the disaster. I walked the streets where building after building had collapsed into rubble.

Clearly, the scale of the current disaster far surpasses that of the Kobe earthquake. For it also includes the damage caused by the tsunami to coastal regions across hundreds of kilometers as well as the danger of nuclear catastrophe. Yet these are not the only differences. The Kobe earthquake was completely unexpected. Aside from a small number of experts, no one had imagined the possibility of an earthquake there. The recent earthquake, on the other hand, had been anticipated. Earthquakes and tsunamis have struck the Northeastern region of Japan throughout its history, and frequent warnings had been sounded in recent years. Meanwhile, nuclear power had always given rise to strong opposition, criticism, and warnings.  Yet the scale of the earthquake went far beyond any prior anticipation.  It was not that anticipating the scale of such a disaster was impossible, just that people had purposely avoided doing so.

The full article can be read in Counterpunch.

 

Genders, Politics

Enter the Paavam: Women Candidates in Kerala’s Elections

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I am not surprised that  neither the LDF nor the UDF both of which had endorsed the reservation of fifty percent seats in the panchayats for women, have not fielded a significantly higher number of women in the forthcoming elections to the Kerala State Assembly.  Anyone who has observed the shaping and widening of the division between ‘high politics’ and ‘local governance’ in Kerala since the mid-1990s can well see that the rules of the game remain totally unchanged in ‘high politics’ and it will stay so even if ‘local governance’ is entrusted completely to women’s love and care.  None of the women leaders who entered public life through the panchayats and have by now completely got beyond the loving-caring-maternal stereotype are in, of course. At least one of them,Latika Subhash, who had indeed been a successful leader in local governance, saw the writing on the wall well in advance. I had a chance to listen to an interview she gave a researcher from our team studying gender and governance a few years back, in which she clearly indicated that in order to move up the political ladder, it was necessary to move into high politics. This is how she justified her decision to get back into politics despite being quite popular as a leader of the panchayat.Not surprisingly, most of the women who have indeed become candidates are well-versed with the ways of high politics and possess the necessary connections. Continue reading Enter the Paavam: Women Candidates in Kerala’s Elections →

Debates, Ecology/Environment, Technology

हिरोशिमा से फ़ुकुशिमा: अनिल मिश्र

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Guest post by ANIL MISHRA

पिछले सप्ताह जापान में सुनामी के साथ आए भूकंप ने समूची दुनिया को दहला कर रख दिया है. इस विभीषिका से होने वाले नुक़सानों का वास्तविक आकलन, एड़ी चोटी के प्रयासों के बावजूद, अभी तक नहीं हो पाया है. सब कुछ धरती के नीचे दफ़्न हो जाने की सैकड़ों ख़बरें अभी तक आ रही हैं. रही सही कसर  परमाणु संयंत्रों में विस्फ़ोट के बाद विकिरण के ख़तरे ने पूरी कर दी है जिसके असर कई कई सालों और पीढ़ियों तक मारक होते हैं.

People evacuated from a nursing home
Fukushima - evacuated people

जापान के प्रधानमंत्री नाओतो कान के बयान कि ’दूसरे विश्वयुद्ध के बाद यह उनके देश में सबसे भयानक तबाही है, और कुछ मायनों में उससे भी ज़्यादा विनाशकारी’, के कई पहलू हैं. इसे प्राकृतिक आपदा में नष्ट हो चुके एक देश द्वारा महज वैश्विक मानवीय सहायता और सहानुभूति की अपील की तरह देखना पर्याप्त नहीं होगा. प्रधानमंत्री का बयान परमाणु ऊर्जा के ख़तरनाक पहलुओं की भी एक स्वीकारोक्ति है. मानवतावादी संकटों से निपटना निश्चित ही एक अहम और तात्कालिक चुनौती है. लेकिन परमाणु संयंत्रों में विस्फ़ोट और विकिरण के जो खतरे पैदा हो रहे हैं उनसे निपटना आने वाले दिनों में बेहद कठिन होगा. साथ ही, ऊर्जा के लिए परमाणु ईंधन को प्रोत्साहन देने वाले अन्य देशों की योजनाओं के लिए इससे कई महत्वपूर्ण सबक़ मिले हैं.
Continue reading हिरोशिमा से फ़ुकुशिमा: अनिल मिश्र →

Empire/ Imperialism, Movements

I Wish You Egypt: An open letter to people of conscience in the West. Omar Barghouti

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Guest post by OMAR BARGHOUTI

I wish you Egypt!

I wish you empowerment to resist; to fight for social and economic justice; to win your real freedom and equal rights.

I wish you the will and skill to break out of your carefully concealed prison walls. See, in our part of the world, prison walls and thick inviolable doors are all too overt, obvious, over-bearing, choking; this is why we remain restive, rebellious, agitated, and always in preparation for our day of freedom, of light, when we gather a critical mass of people power enough to cross all the hitherto categorical red lines. We can then smash the thick, cold ugly, rusty chains that have incarcerated our minds and bodies for all our lives like the overpowering stench of a rotting corpse in our claustrophobic prison cell.

Your prison cells, however, are quite different. The walls are well hidden lest they evoke your will to resist. There is no door to your prison cell — you may roam about “freely,” never recognizing the much larger prison you are still confined to. Continue reading I Wish You Egypt: An open letter to people of conscience in the West. Omar Barghouti →

DISSENT, DEBATE, CREATE