We, a group of concerned citizens and feminists wish to register our sorrow and shock at the death of W R Varadarajan, member CPI (M). We also wish to record our extreme unease at the manner in which crucial facts to do with the events and circumstances that preceded his death appear to have been deliberately ignored by the party leadership. That the party was aware of these facts is evident from a letter that the late Varadarajan addressed to CPI (M) General Secretary, Prakash Karat, and extracts from which were reproduced in the Indian Express, New Delhi edition, dated 24. 02.2010. Continue reading Statement of Concerned Citizens and Feminists on the Death of W R Varadarajan
Appeal for talks with broader section of people’s struggles in the forest and mineral belt
Aditya Nigam, Dilip Simeon, Jairus Banaji, Nivedita Menon, Rohini Hensman, Satya Sivaraman, Sumit Sarkar, Tanika Sarkar
In the light of the recent demands raised by sections of the intelligentsia urging the government to heed the CPI (Maoist) “offer of talks”, we insist that “civil society” should rather, put pressure on the government to initiate talks with representatives of all struggling popular and adivasi organizations. The CPI (Maoist) cannot be treated as the sole spokesperson of all the people in the forest and mineral belt, convenient though this may be for the state and for that party. Does the government believe that violent insurgents are the only deserving interlocutors? Continue reading Appeal for talks with broader section of people’s struggles in the forest and mineral belt
Trickster City
Trickster City, the English translation of Behrupiya Shahar, a collection of writings on Delhi by young writers was launched on the 12th of February at Sarai. During the event the writers performed segments from their new work which is excerpted below for those who missed the event, or those who simply want to read the texts. The details of Trickster city is also provided below the text.
Translation of the writers’ text
Azra Tabassum:
They say in Delhi, there are no red lights; there are only the hands of strangers.
We, along with all our co-writers of Trickster City, who are among the audience, welcome you all. We would like to thank Ankur and Sarai, along with whom we have made, through Cybermohalla, a generative space. A space where we pose and think through our most challenging questions. We thank all our co-travellers, who argued and debated with us, challenged us further as we wrote and questioned. Continue reading Trickster City
The Headley Trail
I
Have you had a chance to browse through the latest media interaction of the US ambassador to India, a gentleman called Mr Timothy Roemer? (US wants Headley to be brought to justice: Roemer, February 18, 2010 17:53 IST, rediff.com ) And could anyone decipher that it was a response to the growing clamour in a section of the media about seeking access to American terror suspect Headley whose name has surfaced in the light of his links with the 26/11 plot and who is at present lodged in the US jail. There were also reports about Headley’s visit to India in March 2009 and his survey of the Osho Ashram, Chabad House as well as the German Bakery in Pune, which became a site of the bomb explosion in second week of February 2010. Continue reading The Headley Trail
“Living outside the track”: A woman worker’s struggle against caste and patriarchy in Kerala
This is the report of a solidarity mission that was invited by Feminists Kerala Network to visit Payyanur and attempt to ascertain the facts around an incident of violence involving Chithralekha, a Dalit woman auto driver, on January 20, 2010.
Feminists Kerala Network is a loose network based in Kerala and outside, of feminists, Dalit activists, queer activists and other individuals involved with new social movements in Kerala.
The solidarity mission consisted of
Gail Omvedt, Professor, B. R. Ambedkar Chair at Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi; V Geetha , Publisher (Tara Books), author and social activist, Chennai; K.K Preetha, Advocate, Kerala High Court, Ernakulam; Nivedita Menon, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.
The team visited Payyanur on February 7-8, 2010.
“Police killed them” say the villagers
I have been following the Gompad case for the past month and a half, and have been surprised at every turn. The issue is centred on the deaths of 12 villagers on October 1 2009 in Chhattisgarh. The matter is currently sub judice – so I would prefer not to comment on what I think happened, but this is my most comprehensive piece on the issue till date.
a.
GOMPAD: A charred wooden stake and three graves are all that remain of the Madavi family in this remote village in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district.
“Madavi Kanni was lying face down in front of the burnt house,” said an eyewitness. “She had been slashed with a sword and shot in the chest.” The bodies of her father, Madavi Bajar, her mother Madavi Subbhi and her 12-year-old sister Madavi Mutti, were found under a tree, 50 metres away.
Testimonies collected by The Hindu from Gompad allege that a composite force of Adivasi special police officers and security force regulars appeared on the outskirts of the village in the early hours of October 1, 2009. “We ran away when we saw the force,” said the witness, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We found the bodies when we returned.”
Continue reading “Police killed them” say the villagers
Jayaram and Tamil – Some scattered thoughts on the anti-black mass culture in Kerala: JoeMS
This is a guest post by JOE MS
The recent ‘jest ‘of film star Jayaram against the Tamil as black skinned , buffalo like and therefore less human has been taken as just a joke in the cultural scene of Kerala. Not only has sympathy been expressed for the poor victim that he is, inadvertently cracking an innocent joke and becoming the target of the ire of ‘violent’ Tamils, even solidarity was expressed with the right to crack such jokes by the ’ordinary folks’. The latent ideological and cultural premises hidden behind this whole controversy needs to be enquired into, to understand the reality. The natural outburst of violence against Jayaram for upholding the dignity of the Tamil has been understood by the ‘superior’ Malayali culture as typical of those who are inferior, passionate, emotional, devoid of political education , filmy so on and so forth.
The height of irony was the sigh of relief heaved by Sebastian Paul, the (retired? ) left liberation theologist, in his newspaper article in Madhayamam (dated 12th February), for the end of the controversy as the fight against Jayaram subsided in Tamilnadu. Here he presumes that Jayaram only made a joke, and therefore absolved him of all sins (because of the kinship of the Malayali fraternity), and holds that the Tamils reacted violently and unnecessarily , which is nothing but parochialism. This is no wonder. At the level of mass culture, cracking of jokes and the ‘wit’ mania , epitomised by ‘mimicry’ as a form of entertainment, which basically insultingly ‘mimics’ a range of people from the physically challenged to the people of subaltern cultures, and internalised by the Malayalee to fill the philosophical void in his competitive life, is simply racist. Popular culture as practiced in Kerala, is naked racism, which would have called forth acts of reprimand even from a capitalist state in the west. And all such jokes have however escaped criticism of the left-oriented Kerala.
Whose Morality is This?
From the Hindustan Times this morning.
Saleem Kidwai, Nivedita Menon, Mary John, V. Geetha, Shilpa Phadke and 13 other teachers and academics from universities across India.
We, as teachers and academics from universities across India, read with outrage and dismay that Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, reader and chairman of Modern Indian Languages at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was suspended for having consensual sex with someone of the same sex within the privacy of his home.
What made the press report that came out on Thursday in certain sections of the media particularly shocking was that there were either cameras placed by students within Dr Siras’ house or television reporters got into the house and made a video film of the alleged incident that was then passed on to the university authorities. The university authorities instead of going by the constitutionally recognised right to privacy within the four corners of one’s house have instead chosen to act against Dr Siras. Continue reading Whose Morality is This?
‘Non-violent terrorism’ and India’s dirty war in Kashmir
Guest post by MOHAMAD JUNAID
Dozens of young boys have been arrested across Kashmir under draconian laws over the last few weeks. The charges that have been filed against them range from “waging war against the state” to defiling “state honor”. In recent months Indian military and police commanders have described protests in Kashmir as “agitational terrorism” and “non-violent terrorism” in order to justify violent clampdown on protests by Kashmiris.
As the headlines go, Stone-pelting an act of war: J-K gov.
In the same period around 8 people, mostly teenagers, have been either shot to death or fatally injured by indiscriminate use of tear-gas shells. Over the last two years the number of dead in shootings is more than a hundred. Meanwhile thousands of people have been injured. Many of them will be left with permanent physical disabilities. The police authorities have banned any peaceful assembly of people. Many places in downtown Srinagar and other towns have reported police brutalities. Even the villages are not being spared. Only yesterday, mourning villagers were attacked by CRPF troopers in Redwani in South Kashmir. Dozens of them were injured by CRPF’s indiscriminate firing. Most of the injuries were inflicted above the waist showing an intention to kill Continue reading ‘Non-violent terrorism’ and India’s dirty war in Kashmir
Bagh-e-Bedil
As part of the Festival of Spiritual Music being organised in February 2010, we are trying to rekindle interest in Mirza Abdul Qadir “Bedil’ one of the most significant poet of Persian from India. In fact Khusrau, Bedil and Ghalib are rated very highly in persian speaking countries. Khusrau and Ghalib need no introduction but Bedil has almost totally been forgotten in the Land of His Birth. Mirza Bedil is buried roughly opposite the dargah of Matka Peer, that all of you must be familiar with because of Bundoo biryaani wala.
We have got one of the finest qawwals of Delhi, Chand Nizami, and his group to specially prepare a few ghazals of Mirza Bedil and they will be presented in a qawwali mehfil at the shrine of Mirza Bedil on Feb 25,at 6.30 pm. Continue reading Bagh-e-Bedil
“Twenty million out of twenty-seven million Nepalis are with the Maoists”: Interview with Prachanda
(This interview of Pushpa Kamal Dahal by me appeared in the Nepali Times a few days ago, along with another report.)
A conversation with Maoist supremo Prachanda this week not only brought out the party’s new line, but also offered a glimpse into his analysis of current politics and future strategy.
The root of the problem, according to Prachanda, is that the 12-point understanding was ‘tactical’ for everyone who signed the agreement. “The other side felt they could get us into the mainstream and weaken us. We thought we could use the process to create a new mainstream, which would include political competition.” Neither side got what they wanted, entirely. This paradox has forced the parties to make a more fundamental strategic choice. “This was inevitable and we are now heading for a crisis climax.”
The army issue is key. Neither side feels it lost the war. Prachanda concedes that no one won the war in material terms, but believes the Maoists won the war politically. “It was the then Royal Nepalese Army’s mandate and goal to protect the monarchy and block a republic,” he says. “They failed, and the PLA played a big part in bringing about this change.” The way forward for these “recognised and legitimate” outfits, he says, is “sticking to the peace accord, democratising the army and professionalising the PLA.” Continue reading “Twenty million out of twenty-seven million Nepalis are with the Maoists”: Interview with Prachanda
Johannesburg – Notes from a Mother City
Mother City?!? What is a Mother City?
We arrived at the Tambo airport, waiting to be received by the taxi driver. The taxi driver, also the initiator of the taxi services company led us from the arrival hall into the parking lot. He was an old, white man, with a completely white beard. He looked a bit like Santa Claus. Upon reaching the car, he opened the door to the boot and started lifting our heavy bags, one by one, to load into the boot. I said I would lift my bag myself (because somewhere inside my conscience, it seemed incorrect for an elderly person, my grandfather’s age, to lift my bags and put into the boot). He looked up and said,
In this country, we are all slaves. Let me do this. Continue reading Johannesburg – Notes from a Mother City
Undermining Political Reconciliation with Post-Election Repression
The following are my prepared remarks at the Global South Asia conference at New York University on 13 February 2010. My prepared remarks on the Sri Lanka panel in titled, ‘Return of the Displaced and Political Reconciliation’ are below. The remarks in the Sri Lanka panel which I chaired were to complement the presentations by Sharika Thiranagama, New School for Social Research titled, ‘Houses of the Future: Return and Reconciliation amongst Northern Muslims and Tamils’ and V. V. (Sugi) Ganeshananthan, University of Michigan, Lanka Solidarity, journalist and author of Love Marriage titled, ‘Dialogue in the Diaspora’. The February 2010 issue of Himal Southasian magazine is a special issue on Jaffna, Sri Lanka and has a number of articles that address the post-war moment. The Sri Lanka Democracy Forum (SLDF) statement on 18 January 2010 titled, ‘SLDF Calls for National Attention on Demilitarization and a Political Solution’ details many of these issues in depth.
I want to begin with the end of the war, which inevitably leads to a shift in politics. Post-war politics can not be same as war politics.
During the last couple years of the war, President Rajapaksa put together a war coalition comprised of a broad spectrum, from Sinhala nationalists to sections of the Old Left. Despite the end of the war, the President and his government attempted to keep the war mentality alive, as we have seen through the continued suffering of the displaced as they were herded into internment camps with no freedom of movement. It was indeed a lost opportunity for political reconciliation. Continue reading Undermining Political Reconciliation with Post-Election Repression
Bt brinjal – understanding the issues involved: Sunita Narain
In the prevailing arguments and counter arguments on the baingan gaatha, I found the following brief piece in Times of India by Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi, invaluable for outlining the critical issues involved – evaluation of risks to health, control over seeds, threat to biodiversity, consumer choice and independence of research.
Jairam Ramesh, the Union minister for environment and forests, has agreed to put Bt brinjal on hold. I believe this is the right and only decision that he could have taken.
The fact is that we are not talking about a new technology of genetic modification here. We are talking about its use in a daily-use vegetable, cooked in our homes. Let us understand that Bt brinjal, if permitted would have been the world’s first genetically modified vegetable. It is therefore completely erroneous to argue that Bt brinjal should be cleared because the world is already growing genetically modified plants and believe these are safe.
Vote! Or else…
In Lingagiri, it didn’t take long to tally the results of the recently concluded panchayat elections. On January 31 this year, a sum total of four people voted in this remote village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district. The polling booth opened on time, the polling officers were present, and then the force arrived.
Pujari Rajamma, 35, was combing her hair in her courtyard. “I was getting ready to walk down to the polling office, when the uniformed men stormed in,” she said. “They checked my fingers for the voting mark.” When they didn’t find it, they beat her with sticks. The bruises are still visible on Rajamma’s back; she can barely move her swollen left arm.
Royal Purple with a Green Crown
There is a story about Birbal and Akbar that goes something like this:
One day Akbar invited Birbal to join him at Lunch, one of the dishes served was the Brinjal, called Baigan in Hindustani, akbar liked the preparation and said as much, Birbal not only agreed but also praised the vegetable to high heavens, talking about its great qualities and about its ancient roots in the Indian lore. Several days later he was invited for another meal with the Emperor and this time too Brinjal was on the Menu, Akbar did not like the preparation said that Baigan was an affront to finer sensibilities, Birbal promptly agreed and added that it had no taste of its own, had the consistency and colour of mud and destroyed anything that it was cooked with. Akbar remembered the fulsome praise that Birbal had just a few days earlier heaped upon the vegetable and reminded him. Birbal bowed his head and said, my lord, I am beholden to you, not to the Brinjal. Continue reading Royal Purple with a Green Crown
Green Hunt: The Anatomy of An Operation
An operation is underway in Central India, but no one really knows what it is. Variously described as a media myth, a comprehensive hearts and minds strategy, and an all-out offensive by paramilitary forces and the state forces along the borders of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, Operation Green Hunt has become a shoebox of news clippings, police reports, public demonstrations and armed encounters.
Depending on the definition, Green Hunt either began in July 2009, September 2009 or November 2009. Speaking off record, senior policemen confirmed that the intensification of “search and comb” operations in Chhattisgarh began as early as July last year. In September 2009 the press reported on the progress of “Operation Green Hunt”: a massive 3 day joint operation in which the central CoBRA force and state police battled Naxal forces in Dantewada. Continue reading Green Hunt: The Anatomy of An Operation
Uncanny parallels between Beg’s and Shah’s deaths
This is a guest post by Akhilesh Upadhyay
The gruesome murder on Sunday of media entrepreneur Jamim Shah, 47, has brought back chilling memories of June 29, 1998. On that day, Mirza Dilshad Beg, a sitting lawmaker, was gunned down outside his home in Siphal, Kathmandu. It was a dark night and the hillside neighbourhood looked darker still due to load-shedding, when we (reporters and photographers from Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post) arrived at the scene, soon after the 9.30 hit-and-run incident.
The newsroom had received a tip-off from a local who had heard what he suspected were gun-shots. It was an innocent world in many ways. Nepalis were still unfamiliar with sounds of bombs and gun-shots, the Maoist-waged “people’s war” was still in its infancy, violent deaths still shook everybody, and political assassination was unheard of. But what shocked the Nepalis most was how ugly games from powerful external forces could play out in Nepal, as it watched haplessly. The incident also gave many of us in the newsroom a first-hand lesson on forces which operate from behind the scene. Two of the theories that made the rounds then clearly pointed at the cross-border nature of the operation; the third one was that Beg’s death had to do with “family problems,” which turned out to be false. Continue reading Uncanny parallels between Beg’s and Shah’s deaths
Drop A Beat, Turn Up My Symphony
This is a guest post by John Bevan
Nearly half the 8 million population of Haiti, (the size of Wales, Belize and El Salvador— seems that was one of the standard sizes for countries at the time) lived in the Capital Port-au-Prince. So the elimination of the Capital approximates to the loss of half the country’s entire infrastructure, limited as it was. The loss of many of its intellectuals and elected politicians, few enough in the first place, given the brain-drain northwards, with some third of Haitians living in the US, adds to the knock the country has taken.
In 2006, the main Port-au-Prince daily proudly lead with the story- “Haiti there at World Cup Final”- referring not to their football team but Wyclef Jean who sang a duet with Shakira before the France-Italy final in Berlin. Wyclef boosted the image and self-image of Haitians a few years earlier when he won a Grammy for the 1996 Fugees album, The Score, and accepted it while wearing a Haitian flag, Haitians still being at the bottom of the pile of all US immigrant groups. He rarely appears on videos without the flag somewhere about his body. Continue reading Drop A Beat, Turn Up My Symphony
The Many ‘Vices’ of Chitralekha
Chitralekha, a dalit woman from Payyanur, Kannur, has been in the news since 2005, for her open challenge to the CITU in that left bastion. An autorickshaw driver, she had protested at the CITU’s constant interference at work and the intensely male hostility against her presence in an almost exclusively male line of work. Braving ‘character-assault’ from the CITU which called her a ‘loose woman’, a ‘regular drunk’ and so on, she continued working until,in December 2005, her autorickshaw was burned down. She fought, however, and was supported by various Dalit, Feminists and Citizen’s initiatives. In June 2008, she procured a new autorickshaw with their support. This did not mean that she was now acceptable to the CITU . Now recently, she complained that the CITU had seized a chance encounter to beat her and her husband, and the police, who arrived on the scene, took them to the police station and unleashed even worse violence. Her complaints have been ignored or treated with hostility by the mainstream media in Kerala. Activists and concerned persons in and outside Kerala, however, have rallied to her support. Continue reading The Many ‘Vices’ of Chitralekha
A response from a Sri Lankan friend: Priya Thangaraja
By PRIYA THANGARAJAH
The last two days have left me like I have just come from a storm and I dont even feel the tingling of rain drops on me. But this began long before. The state media I hear showed movies of Idi Amin and Hitler and a constant barrage of pro Mahinda Rajapakse propaganda. “they were brainwashed” is what I am hearing. I agree with everyone that its not like we had a better option. A military man who got rid of many when asked to get rid of one cant be the harbinger of a new era. Continue reading A response from a Sri Lankan friend: Priya Thangaraja
