Culture, Everyday Life, Language, Media politics, Sex, Violence/Conflict

Sound Enough: How to Enjoy the Jaipur Literature Festival: Revati Laul

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Guest post by REVATI LAUL

“Excuse me, Mr. Farooqui, I just need a sound byte from you,” said a young reporter from the fairly young news channel News X. He was talking to my friend Mahmood Farooqui, author of Besieged: Voices From Delhi 1857, co-director of the Oscar nominated film Peepli Live and founder-revivalist of Dastangoi – the rich, medieval art of storytelling. Seeing that the setting was the beautiful and quaint Diggi Palace in Jaipur with a substantial gathering of the world’s literati for the Jaipur Literary Festival, Mahmood was preparing to hold forth on storytelling, culture, 1857…when this completely unexpected gem poured forth from the fearless reporter’s lips.

“Can you sum up what you think of literature in one word?” Continue reading Sound Enough: How to Enjoy the Jaipur Literature Festival: Revati Laul →

Bad ideas, Debates, Identities, Politics, Right watch

The doom-sayers are wrong about Pakistan. Here’s proof

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If you click on it, you can also see the rest 3 parts of the show with Veena Malik and a maulvi on Pakistan’s Express TV.

Capitalism, Everyday Life, Politics

The New Cellu-lar Jail: Madhumita Dutta & Venkatachandrika Radhakrishnan

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Guest post by MADHUMITA DUTTA and VENKATACHANDRIKA RADHAKRISHNAN
The writers are activists based in Chennai working on issues of land, labour, industry and SEZs.

Sriperumbudur grabbed media attention in 1991 when former Prime Minister Mr Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during an election rally. Since then, this nondescript little village-town in west Chennai, dotted with paddy fields and large expanses of natural water-bodies, has transformed itself into a little ‘Shenzen’- world’s largest special economic zone in Southern China, which churns out one out of every eight mobile handsets sold anywhere in the world. Slated to attract investments worth $4 billion in electronics and automobile manufacturing, Sriperumbudur is now home to the largest mobile handset making factory of Nokia, a Finnish company that can churn out 7.5 lakhs handsets a day. This town and its neighbouring region is also known as the Detroit of India, churning around 12,80,000 cars every year. With a booming manufacturing industry and a promise of 2 lakhs jobs, Sriperumbudur is touted as the jewel in the industrial crown of Tamil Nadu. But of recent this seemingly success story has turned a little sour. Continue reading The New Cellu-lar Jail: Madhumita Dutta & Venkatachandrika Radhakrishnan →

Capitalism, Everyday Life, Politics

Ambika’s Death: Madhumita Dutta & Venkatachandrika Radhakrishnan

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Guest post by MADHUMITA DUTTA and VENKATACHANDRIKA RADHAKRISHNAN
The writers are activists based in Chennai working on issues of land, labour, industry and SEZs.

A view of Nokia's Sriperumbudur plant. Photo credit: Economic Times

S Ambika, a 22 year old woman factory-worker, died in the middle of the night in a posh hospital in Chennai on 31st Oct. She was a permanent employee of Nokia Telecom Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Sriperumbadur in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu. Her agonising death was due to a fatal accident at a panel loading machine in the factory.

Continue reading Ambika’s Death: Madhumita Dutta & Venkatachandrika Radhakrishnan →

Centre watch, Identities, Law, Left watch, Media politics, Politics, Right watch

Un-Indianizing Kerala: How to defend K K Shahina

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Like the unseasonal and tenebrous rain clouds that are hovering over Thiruvananthapuram in what should be a sunny, light-mist-adorned January, a pall of gloom, of impending danger, hangs around my everyday life in Kerala. This is not a general feeling. It is however shared by many of us who write and speak critically about the powers that be. The space to speak and write thus has been shrinking for a while now, but now there is a sense of dangerously teetering on the edge: the Indian state seems to be upon us, and with a vengeance. Continue reading Un-Indianizing Kerala: How to defend K K Shahina →

Debates, Government, Politics

Taking Back Pakistan: Beena Sarwar

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Text of article by BEENA SARWAR
Reproduced from Viewpoint, January 14, Issue 33; courtesy South Asia Citizens’ Web

“There are no less than 24 groups as of now supporting Qadri on FB and 1 against what he did, that says it all.”

So went a tweet from a fellow Pakistani early morning on Jan 5, the day after the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab who took a courageous stand against religious extremists in Pakistan.

Continue reading Taking Back Pakistan: Beena Sarwar →

Bad ideas

The dirty ‘S’ word in Pakistan: Urooj Zia

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Guest post by UROOJ ZIA

Images aired earlier this month where lawyers and other citizens in Pakistan were seen garlanding and felicitating the murderer of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer might have made those involved look tasteless and crude, but their acts were far from shocking. All his faults aside, Taseer had stood up for a Christian woman who had been accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death by a district and sessions (lower) court. He was killed because he had referred to the blasphemy statutes as ‘black laws’ which are abused at will, and had called for reform. As such, Taseer was killed because he had stood up, albeit in a roundabout way, for secularism and basic humanity.  Continue reading The dirty ‘S’ word in Pakistan: Urooj Zia →

Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Excavation, Frontiers, Identities, Violence/Conflict

“These are not stones these are my feelings”

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An image taken in downtowon Srinagar.

Given below is a note written by a Kashmiri student from downtown Srinagar who calls himself ‘Kale Kharab’, meaning ‘hot headed’. Taken from his blog, the note reads like a personal manifesto, a statement of purpose, a testimony more telling than what the most patient interviewer can elicit. This note gives you more insight into what is happening in Kashmir than a lot of what you may have read or seen on TV news about the killing of 115 protestors across Kashmir in 2010 by Indian forces. This testimony, written early on during the uprising, on 30 August 2010, shows how irredeemably India has lost the plot in Kashmir all over again, with a new generation of Kashmiris.

How and why I became a stonepelter

by KALE KHARAB

I am from downtown srinagar born in 1991. I was admitted to one of the best school of valley. As a child I had dream to became engineer. Whenever somebody used to ask me about my aim I would proudly say engineer. As I started to grow up I started to became familar with many words which everyone used to talk about that among them few were “azadi” (freedom), “hartal” (shutdown) but I was unable to understand the meaning of these words. I loved the word hartal as it was holiday, so I always wished for hartal. As I grew up I came to know about mujahids. I used to listen stories of mujahids. I would oftenly ask my elders to tell me about mujahids. They told me stories of many mujahids like Issac, Ishfaq, Jan Malik which I liked to share with my friends.  Continue reading “These are not stones these are my feelings” →

Bad ideas, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

‘Kashmir ho ya Guwahati, Apna desh, apni maati’: Mahtab Alam

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This is a guest post by MAHTAB ALAM

The graffiti reads: '26 Janwari ko Kashmir chalein. Nivedak: Rakesh Kumar Munmun, BJYM'. Trans: 'Let's go to Kashmir on 26 January. Appeal by Raksh Kumar Munmun, BJYM.''

 

A policeman walks by a street in Kashmir, summer of 2010. Graffiti demanding azadi was all over the Valley this summer.

In Hazaribagh, one of the oldest cities of the newly formed state of Jharkhand, one is more likely to come across the word Kashmir than the name of the city itself these days. Kashmir, a place that most of the residents of Hazaribagh would have only heard of. At almost every nook and corner, teashop, wall of the city one would find an invitation to the ‘raashtriya ekta yatra’ from Kolkata to Kashmir to hoist the revered Indian flag at Lal Chowk. And this public invitation comes from none other than the youth wing of BJP, namely the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha. Continue reading ‘Kashmir ho ya Guwahati, Apna desh, apni maati’: Mahtab Alam →

Centre watch, Empire/ Imperialism, Excavation, Frontiers, Government, Law, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Is the cat out of the bag?

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Veteran journalist Coomi Kapoor wrote this small snippet in the Indian Express yesterday. Hope it is only the beginning of more information on what this country’s intelligence agencies have been up to in the name of its citizens.

Culture, Language, Movements

Sumangala Damodaran on IPTA’s protest music

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See also: Singing of Defiance

Bad ideas, Identities, Mirror Worlds, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Blasphemy, Bigotry

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From Kafila archives:

If blasphemy is an attempt to speak truth to power, bigotry is the reverse: an attempt by power to instrumentalize truth. [Mahmood Mamdani]

See also: Citizens for Democracy

Bad ideas, Culture, Media politics, Metropolis

Ab Bhi Dilli Dur Hain: On ‘No One Killed Jessica’: Kartik Nair

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Guest post by KARTIK NAIR

Why does No One Killed Jessica open with the execution of Jessica Lal but rush so quickly to the windswept altitudes of Kargil? And why, when she first blasts on to the screen as embedded journalist Meera reporting on the war, does Rani Mukerji look more like she’s embedded inside an SNL skit on Barkha Dutt? I let out a little laugh then, but the laughs only got bigger from there. Here is a film that knows nothing about how the media works; worse, it fails to pass off its version of the media as believable. Here are a few lessons I learned watching the film:

1. Aspiring reporters will be glad to note that though journalists generally fight tooth-and-nail at press conferences to get their questions heard, a helpful “Yaar, please, mujhe poochne do!” will elicit total co-operation and rapt attention.

Continue reading Ab Bhi Dilli Dur Hain: On ‘No One Killed Jessica’: Kartik Nair →

Frontiers, Identities, Politics, Right watch

‘Islamic secularism’ in Bangladesh: Jyoti Rahman

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'Bengal's mothers and daughters are all freedom fighters'

Guest post by JYOTI RAHMAN

Bangladesh will mark its 40th year of independence in 2011.  The celebrations have already begun, and will continue until next December.  The TV channels are already playing patriotic tunes.  One such tune is Shona shona shona.  The song says the land, mati, of Bangladesh is better than gold, and under this land sleeps many heroes: Rafiq, Shafiq, Barkat, Titu Mir and Isa Khan.

Who are these heroes?  Rafiq, Shafiq and Barkat were killed by the Pakistani authorities during the language uprising of 1952 — a milestone moment in Bangladesh’s nationalism. Titu Mir defied the East India Company and organised a peasant revolt in the 19th century. Isa Khan was a Bengali chieftain who resisted the Mughals in the 16th century.

Notice how all of these heroes are Bengali Muslim men?

Continue reading ‘Islamic secularism’ in Bangladesh: Jyoti Rahman →

Frontiers, Language, Politics

Celebrating Faiz

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2011 marks the birth anniversary of one of Southasia’s greatest poets, Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Centenary celebrations are planned in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh throughout this year. The Southasian magazine Himal has brought out in its January 2011 issue a set of six articles on Faiz. A note accompanying the issue reads:

Over the course of human history, intellectuals and artists have helped broaden the scope of citizenship and the nebulous contours of citizen rights. Southasia is no exception. Despite its colonial past and internal fault-lines, it can boast of extraordinary individuals who have stood up against tyranny and reaffirmed the innate strength of the human spirit. Continue reading Celebrating Faiz →

Centre watch, Law

Look who has faith in the judiciary!: Mahtab Alam

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Guest post by MAHTAB ALAM

Ilina Sen, wife of the human rights’ activist and people’s doctor, Binayak Sen, reacting over the judgment, which gave life imprisonment to Dr. Sen said, “My faith in the judiciary has been shattered”. “I am in a state of complete shock…in our stupidity we believed the judicial process would be fair,” she told media persons at a press conference in Delhi. Continue reading Look who has faith in the judiciary!: Mahtab Alam →

Bad ideas, Frontiers, Identities, Law, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Justice for Aasia Bibi; Speedy Trial of Salman Taseer’s Killers: New Socialist Initiative, Delhi

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Statement from the NEW SOCIALIST INITIATIVE, Delhi

History is said to be made when humanity has tried to break asunder forces of unreason, irrationality, bigotry, intolerance and reaction which keep reappearing in newer forms in its onward journey. But what can one say when it tries to do the exact opposite, or prefer to go back on the path undertaken.

Pakistan, a country of 170 millions, stands at a similar juncture today.  Continue reading Justice for Aasia Bibi; Speedy Trial of Salman Taseer’s Killers: New Socialist Initiative, Delhi →

Capitalism, Centre watch, Everyday Life, Government, Law

Democracy and the Politics Around NREGA: Ruchi Gupta

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Guest post by RUCHI GUPTA

Subverting Democracy [1]

It took 47 days of a protest sit-in in Jaipur to make the State budge[2]. It’s notable that the objective of this protracted protest wasn’t to coerce the government for an extra share of State resources but to hold the government accountable to the Constitution and its own laws. The protest, “mazdoor haq satyagraha” was staged by workers employed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to demand enforcement of their constitutional right to earn minimum wage. Even now after some initial encouraging signs, the matter seems to have stalled. Continue reading Democracy and the Politics Around NREGA: Ruchi Gupta →

Culture, Government, Law, Politics

लोकतंत्र के बुझते चिराग़: अनिल

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Guest post by ANIL [freelance journalist and researcher, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalay, Wardha]

इक्कीसवीं सदी का पहला दशक ख़त्म हो गया है. 1991 में उदारवाद के अभियान की बुनावट जिन आकर्षक शब्दजालों से शुरू हुई थी अब उसके परिणाम सतह पर स्पष्ट दिखने लगे हैं. इन दो दशकों में इज़ारेदारी ने सियासत से लोकतंत्र के मूल्यों के पालन की उम्मीद को तो पहले ही दफ़्न कर दिया था लेकिन इस क्रम में जो हालिया प्रगति हुई है वह और ख़तरनाक संकेत दे रही है. Continue reading लोकतंत्र के बुझते चिराग़: अनिल →

Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Frontiers, Identities, Violence/Conflict

Would the secession of South Sudan be good for Africa?

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On January 6th, it is almost certain that a referendum in South Sudan will lead to a vote to secede from the rest of the country, thus paving the way to the formal inauguration of Africa’s 54th sovereign state. The vote comes after many years of discord between Sudan’s Arab-and-Muslim north and its black, animist and Christian south, and civil war in which almost 2m have died. Thus, divorce seems the only option in Sudan’s case. However, many in Africa, including the African Union, which has long inveighed in principle against secessionist tendencies in Africa, worry that it could set a trend that encourages other self-determination movements on the continent, potentially causing instability and worse. Others argue that the right of all peoples to self-determination must be allowed to hold good. In these terms, would the secession of South Sudan be good for Africa?

Well, you can cast your vote here.

See also: Celebrations across south as millions flock to polling stations.

Law, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Everything you wanted to know about the Binayak Sen judgement

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Great job, Balaji Narasimhan and Jyoti Punwani.

DISSENT, DEBATE, CREATE