Guest Post by Kavita Krishnan
The ‘Operation Black Rain’ film released by the web portal Cobrapost, based on secretly filmed boasts of the Ranveer Sena terrorists with detailed accounts of massacres of Dalit and oppressed caste labourers in the 1990s, has only confirmed public secrets that everyone in Bihar already knew.
We, the undersigned teachers, scholars and researchers within and outside the university system in India, are disturbed by the repeated and systematic attempts to undermine the academic autonomy of universities and other institutions of teaching and learning, such as the FTII (Pune), by the government. There is a concerted effort to monopolise academic spaces by replacing substantive academic autonomy with policies aimed at destroying academic excellence, diversity, creativity and an atmosphere in which students and teachers can think critically and function freely.
Further, we strongly protest the organised attacks against students and other individuals, in universities and elsewhere, for critiquing the state, be it through film screenings, books, talks or exhibitions. The growing number of censorships and bans is encouraging a widespread culture of intolerance and anti-intellectualism that is openly threatening the freedom of academic expression, democractic and participatory governance, and fundamental rights. Continue reading In Solidarity with the Students of the Film &Television Institute of India (FTII)
കേരളത്തിലെ മുസ്ലിംജനങ്ങളെക്കുറിച്ച് പൊതുമണ്ഡലത്തിൽ വ്യാപകമായിത്തീർന്നിരുക്കുന്ന തെറ്റിദ്ധാരണകളെ തിരുത്താനുള്ള ഒരെളിയ ശ്രമമാണ് ഈ ലേഖനം.
വിമർശനാത്മകമായി ചിന്തിക്കുന്നവരും പരന്ന വായനയുള്ളവരും പൊതുമണ്ഡലചർച്ചായിടങ്ങളിൽ ധാർമ്മികമായ മേൽനില സദാ അവകാശപ്പെടുന്നവരുമായ ബുദ്ധിജീവികളുടെ എഴുത്തുകളിൽപ്പോലും ഈ വാദങ്ങൾ പ്രത്യക്ഷപ്പെടുന്നത് അപകടകരമായിത്തോന്നുന്നതുകൊണ്ടാണ് ഇതെഴുതുന്നത്. കേരളത്തിലെ ജനജീവിതത്തെ സസൂക്ഷ്മം വീക്ഷിക്കാൻ നമ്മെ സഹായിക്കുന്ന വസ്തുതാശേഖരങ്ങളും ചരിത്രപഠന-സാംസ്ക്കാരികപഠനസംപത്തും കൈയിലുള്ളപ്പോൾ ആത്മനിഷ്ഠനിരീക്ഷണങ്ങളെ മാത്രം ആശ്രയിച്ചുകൊണ്ട് ബുദ്ധിജീവികൾ നടത്തുന്ന ഇടപെടലുകൾ ഗുണത്തെക്കാളേറെ ദോഷം ചെയ്യുമെന്ന് സംശയം വേണ്ട.
പ്രത്യേകിച്ചും, ഹിന്ദുത്വവാദഭീകരത സർവ്വത്തേയും വിഴുങ്ങാൻ ഒരുങ്ങിനിൽക്കുന്ന നമ്മുടെ കാലങ്ങളിൽ മുസ്ലിംസമുദായത്തെക്കുറിച്ച് പറയുംപോൾ, വിശേഷിച്ചും ഭൂരിപക്ഷസമുദായത്തിലെ മേൽത്തട്ടുകാർ പറയുംപോൾ, ശ്രദ്ധ ആവശ്യമാണ്. ഭൂരിപക്ഷതാതാത്പര്യങ്ങളാൽ രൂപപ്പെട്ടുവരുന്ന സാമാന്യബോധത്തെ കണ്ണുമടച്ച് ആശ്രയിക്കുന്ന രീതിയെ പ്രതിരോധിക്കാനാണ് ഞാനിവിടെ ശ്രമിക്കുന്നത്. (മേലാളാവബോധത്തിൻറെ വാഹനമായാണ് സാമാന്യബോധത്തെ Marx മുതൽ Bourdieu വരെയുള്ള സമൂഹശാസ്ത്രജ്ഞന്മാർ കണ്ടത്. അതിനെ വിമർശിക്കലാണ് സമൂഹശാസ്ത്രത്തിൻറെ മുഖ്യധർമ്മമെന്ന് അവർ അവകാശപ്പെട്ടതും അതുകൊണ്ടു തന്നെ).
അതുകൊണ്ട് ഈ ലേഖനത്തിൽ പറയുന്ന പല കാര്യങ്ങളും പുതിയ അറിവല്ല. കേരളീയപൊതുബോധത്തിൽ നിന്ന് ഭൂരിപക്ഷമേധാവിത്വം അവയെ മായ്ച്ചുകളഞ്ഞുവെന്ന് തോന്നുന്നതുകൊണ്ടാണ് അവ ഇവിടെ ആവർത്തിക്കുന്നത്. Continue reading പൊതുചർച്ചായിടം അങ്കത്തട്ടല്ല : കേരളത്തിലെ മുസ്ലിംജനങ്ങളെക്കുറിച്ച് ചർച്ച ചെയ്യുന്നവരോട്
As the people of Sri Lanka complete the voting process for the Parliamentary elections of 2015, PRADEEP JEGANATHAN reflects on his country’s history and politics.
We’ve never really had a father. We like to think we did, of course, be it D.S. Senanayake, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike or S.J.V. Chelvanayagam. But they never had a vision for Lanka that made sense, in the end. Unlike a Mahathir, Nehru or a Mandela, their vision was partisan, and the results plain to see. Senanayake’s great contribution was to disenfranchise the up country Tamils, and ignore the vernacular language question. Bandaranaike and Chelvanayagam were his children, fighting for the house that he never finished building.
We’ve gone along since, fatherless children that we are. So many have been killed, and so many have killed. Maimed. Seen the essence of inhumanity, lived with it, so it has become ordinary. Many of us like to think Rajapakse is our father, since it is said he rescued us from all this, took us over the mountains to the valley of peace. Certainly, he’s proclaimed himself father and king, and his sons princes. And he’s had his moments.
Read the rest of this piece in Colombo Telegraph.
The penultimate paragraph refers to a song by Nanda Malini:
We’ve always had our mother. She is Lanka. That is the third thing I know about my country, and when I say, our mother is Lanka, or Ilankai or Eelam (for that too is a name for Lanka), I do not mean it in the sense of an inanimate goddess that is to be adored, appropriated and used as a cover for racism, violence and inequality. No, I mean it in the sense of Lanka’s lament, in the great songstress’ lyric, “Deddahas Pansiya Vasarak. (For 2,500 years).” In this beautiful song, Nanda Malini sings Lanka’s lament, her almost helpless sadness and deep grief, at the robbers and killers she has given birth to, who have then become big men and women, clinging to power by selling her name.
Here is the song:
Pradeep Jeganathan is currently Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University.
Guest post by RAM PUNIYANI
A video of Shashi Tharoor speaking at Oxford on a debate related to the colonial period has been ‘viral’ on the social circuit for a while. In this video Tharoor makes a passionate plea to the British that they make reparations for the losses to Indian economy during the British rule. He puts the blame of India’s economic decline on the British and also recounts Jalianwala Bag, Bengal famine as the major highlight of British rule which reflected the attitude of British towards this colony of theirs’. Tharoor points out that resources from India were used by British to build there economic prosperity and to fund their Industrial revolution.
However, Dr. Manmohan Singh (2005), the previous prime minister, had made a very different kind of argument. In this Dr. Singh as a guest of British Government extols the virtue of British rule and gives them the credit for rule of law, constitutional government, and free press as the contributions which India benefitted from.
So where does the truth lie? Not only the context and tone of the speeches by these two Congressmen is totally different, the content is also totally on different tracks. Dr. Singh as the guest of the British Government is soft and behaving as an ideal guest and points out the contributions of the British rule and there is some truth in that. Tharoor as an Indian citizen with memory of the past; is narrating the plunder which this country suffered due to the British rule. He is also on the dot. These are two aspects of the same canvass. What Tharoor is saying is the primary goal of British and what Dr. Sigh is stating is an incidental offshoot.
Continue reading What did Colonialism do to India? Ram Puniyani
This is a guest post by JOYEETA DEY
Clubs in Delhi bar ayahs from from common spaces. It is not uncommon to find employers tacitly or overtly restricting domestic workers’ access to their toilets. In some multi-storey apartments, the refusal to share space extends even to elevators.
Such indignities constitute acts of “gratuitous humiliation,” according to Delhi School of Economics sociologist Satish Deshpande. Think of it this way. Police officers and auto drivers wear uniforms, which separate them out from the public. This serves a purpose because the ability to identify them has direct bearing on the execution of their duties and the provision of services. With domestic staff and lifts? No such need is satisfied. “There is no justification for it,” Deshpande suspects, “other than the fact that affluent, upper-caste people cannot tolerate proximity with those whom they consider their social inferiors.”
Naturally, it would be hard to find segregators admitting as much, on the record.
So, what do they say?
“The foremost reason is security.” Continue reading Upward Futility – The ‘Servant Class’ and Everyday Forms of Discrimination: Joyeeta Dey
This is a guest post by AYAN GUHA
The Central Government’s decision, to make the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) a qualifying paper in the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) Civil Services Examinationhas come as a huge boost to the morale and aspirations of the students of social science and vernacular background who have been badly bitten by the CSAT bug since introduction of the paper.Every time their counterparts from the science and technical fields raised the cut-off beyond their scoring reach. They have long been campaigning for scrapping the CSAT on the ground that it clearly favours the students of English medium and science and technical background. Continue reading Understanding the Neo-liberal Agenda of Knowledge: The Unexposed Dimensions of the CSAT Controversy: Ayan Guha
This is a guest post by CAVEAT EMPTY
As a twenty something year old it was not the first time I had gone to see a gynaecologist, and been asked what was now the question of the hour.
“Are you married?”
This question had bothered me even during the visits to the gynaecologists (and other doctors), which were prior to my abortion, and where I had not been horror-struck. This question was the doctor’s way of determining if I was sexually active. Apart from the warped moral high horse it was riding, it was completely unprofessional, and maybe even dangerous. There was the risk that someone may not make the connection that these doctors were making between marriage and being sexually active. I myself had only made the connection belatedly, and only after having responded to it instantly. And, even when I did understand the question I did not exactly want to scream “Hey you judgemental pig, I am having pre-marital sex!” Continue reading The Medical (Un)profession : Caveat Empty
Guest Post by Sharib Ali
With a finality that only history possesses, Yakub Abdul Razak Menon, an accused in the Bombay blast case, has transformed for many over the last few days, including me, into just Yakub. His name pronounced with a deep felt sadness that has come to characterize so many of our days. Days leading to terrible, terrible nights.
It is indeed sad, when a criminal -a sauve 20 year old looking for a way out- is, in death, turned into a rallying symbol of injustice. Flowing white beard, and a bloated body, suddenly turned around into an idea draped in flowers, garlanded, and marched on the shoulders of thousands of men through narrow streets- in complete silence. There were whispers, though, in the sweltering heat of bodies. But the pact was made. There would be no sloganeering. The state was there- to keep peace, no less. And it did what it does best: lined the streets with policemen. The policemen were out there defending a strange paradox: That it is right to kill to punish those who kill, so that others are deterred from killing. Stithi niyantran mein hai, still, they said. The rest, were silent.
Continue reading The State Playing God and Magician – Thoughts after Yakub Memon’s Death: Sharib Ali
PUBLIC STATEMENT BY MEDIA SCHOLARS AND TEACHERS ON FTII
As teachers, scholars and researchers of the media we are deeply disturbed by the obduracy and high-handedness shown by the authorities to the legitimate issues and questions raised by the students of FTII who have been on strike since June 12, 2015.
It has now been established that Gajendra Chauhan, an official member of the BJP since 2004, was chosen to be the Chairman of the Governing Council and consequently, President of the FTII Society for his loyalty to the party and not because he has any credentials to occupy these posts. A `star campaigner” for the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections, Chauhan’s only claim to visibility has been his role as Yudhisthir in the TV series Mahabharata and his role in the current controversy. He does not possess any professional or academic qualification that makes him remotely eligible for the job. It is a an absolute travesty that Chauhan should be handed a chair that has in the past been occupied by nationally and internationally recognized personalities like UR Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mahesh Bhatt and Mrinal Sen. Continue reading A Demand to Restore the Stature and Reputation of FTII: Statement by Media Scholars and Teachers
भारतीय फिल्म एवं टेलीविज़न संस्थान के छात्रों की हड़ताल लम्बी खिंच रही है. उनका ऐतराज स्थान के अध्यक्ष पद पर ऐसे व्यक्ति को नियुक्त किए जाने से है जो फिल्म और टेलीविज़न की दुनिया में औसत से भी नीचे दर्जे के माने जाते हैं.फिर उनकी किस योग्यता की बाध्यता थी कि वे उस स्थान पर बैठाए गए जिसके साथ मृणाल सेन, अडूर गोपालकृष्णन,श्याम बेनेगल,गिरीश कर्नाड, विनोद खन्ना सरीखे श्रेष्ठ निर्देशकों और अभिनेताओं का नाम जुड़ा है?एक अनुमान शासक दल से उनके जुड़ाव को लेकर लगाया जा रहा है. यह अनुमान मात्र नहीं है, संस्थान की शासी परिषद में भी सत्तधारी दल से जुड़े अनाम लोगों को जगह मिली है, जिन्हें फ़िल्मी या संस्कृति की दुनिया में कोई नहीं जानता. इन नियुक्तियों के प्रति छात्रों के विरोध को यह कह कर लांछित किया जा रहा है कि वे उनका विरोध मात्र उनकी विचारधारा और शासक दल से उनके संबंध को लेकर कर रहे हैं.लेकिन क्या ऐसा कहना उचित है? Continue reading औसतपन के दिन
Following the murders of Rajeeb Haider, Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahmna, and Ananta Bijoy Das, today, the Mukto-Mona writer, blogger, and activist Niloy Neel has been hacked to death. He wrote in Mutko-Mona as well as in Istishon, and Facebook under the name of “Niloy Neel” (twitter: #NiloyNeel). In addition to writing, Niloy Neel was involved in various social justice movements and was the founder of the Bangladesh Science and Rationalists Association.
Ansar Al Islam, the Bangladesh branch of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for murdering Niloy Neel in his own home, in front of his family, because of his writing. The fundamentalists continue in their tradition of responding to the pen with machetes; the government of Bangladesh continues to supply the fundamentalists with all that is necessary to keep their machetes honed. One by one the enlightened, the freethinking writers, and activists of Bangladesh, are being brutally murdered. Their only crime is taking a stand against injustice, and superstitions prevalent in society. A machete may kill, in a cowardly manner, a human being of flesh and bone; it cannot kill their ideology. Our fight will continue. With all our strength we will continue to speak our minds, our dreams. For as long as there is even a single member of the freethinking community alive; for as long as a single sentence written by freethinking writers survives.
Niloy Neel’s FB status regarding lack of safety:
“Two men were following me two days ago. This happened when I was on my way back from attending the rally organized to protest “The Murder of Ananta Bijoy Das.” First, when I reached a certain place via public bus, they came with me to the same spot. Then, when I got on to a Laguna to reach my destination, one of them climbed aboard the Laguna with me. On the Laguna I realized this was the same guy who was on the bus with me, but there were two of them then. I thought to myself, well, it’s possible; perhaps one of them was going somewhere else so he took a different route.
Until then it seemed as usual. But on the Laguna, the young man was continually texting from his cellphone which made me suspicious. When I exited the Laguna before I reached my actual destination, he got off with me. I was quite scared, and hurried into a unfamiliar alley. Later when I looked back, I noticed that another young man, who had also been on the bus, had joined this young man, and they had not followed me into the alley; they were waiting at the alley entrance. Then I was quite certain that I was being followed. Because even if their destination was the same, they reached their through separate routes, following me. I went farther into the alley, and took a rickshaw keeping the hood up, and traveled to my destination. I reached in apparent safety with the help of a friend nearby.
When I tried to lodge a General Diary about this incident, I faced an even more bizarre situation. A police officer had told me in confidence that the police do not want to accept General Diaries like this because the officer who accepted such a General Diary, related to the personal safety of an individual, remains accountable to ensure the personal safety of said individual. If the said individual faces any difficulty, then the relevant police officer may even lose his job for negligence in duty. This is what I saw when I visited the thanas to file a General Diary. When the surveillance on me had occurred, I had had to pass by several thanas, and so today when I visited one that had been in the vicinity, they refused to accept my General Diary. They told me this isn’t under our jurisdiction, go to this other thana, it’s their jurisdiction, and also, leave the country as soon as possible.”
On May 15, 2015, Niloy had been followed by some people when he was returning from participating in a protest rally for the murder of Ananta Bijoy Das. When he realized what was happening, he had gone to the police station to file a General Diary (GD). His GD was not accepted. He posted in detail about this incident on Facebook, where he expressed fear that his life was under threat. With his life he has proved that people who are atheists, non-religionists, secular, anti-fundamentalist, and pro-freedom-of-speech are not safe in Bangladesh; as if they have no other choice than to leave their country. They are not safe even in their own homes—Niloy Neel was murdered in his house. One man gained entrance to his house by pretending to be there to rent an apartment; then others entered, locked everyone in the house in one room, while hacking Niloy to death in the other. Niloy died right there; his blood spattered over all the books he loved, his computer.
The Mukto-Mona family will always remain by the side of Niloy Neel’s family. The pain of losing a child or a husband in this untimely and brutal manner is not to be forgotten. But know that there are thousands of us beside you—and we will be there forever. To send any information about Niloy Neel, and for Niloy’s family to contact Mukto-Mona for any support, please write to: contact@mukto-mona.com
Mutkto-Mona strongly condemns the continuing murders of writers, bloggers, and humanists. We call to the government of Bangladesh: Do not pander to fundamentalism anymore. Because no state has been spared by compromising with fundamentalists. Take immediate and effective steps to quell fundamentalism, and to create public awareness against it.
Guest Post by Prateek Vats
Picture of Demonstration before Parliament
“In a two-finger test, a doctor at the government hospital inserts two fingers into the rape victim’s vagina to check for the presence or absence of the hymen and also to check the ‘laxity’ of the vagina, ostensibly to check if penile penetration has taken place. The test is deemed to establish whether the woman has had sexual intercourse and if she is habituated to it. Incidentally even that can’t be ascertained from this test since the presence or absence of hymen or width of the vagina has no correlation with virginity or sexual activity.”1
The correlation between Pune police’s impending raid at the FTII campus and the faulty appointments at the FTII society seem to be equally baffling. What logic justifies the police being used against the students when it is they who have faced vandalism and open threats during the course of their strike? It is they who need to be protected so that attention is not diverted from the grave questions they have raised. Unfortunately, the coercive steps taken by FTII administration and local law enforcing agencies betray the same indifference, insensitivity and irresponsibility epitomized by an archaic procedure like the two-finger test, which serves the twin functions of terrorizing and humiliating the already brutalized victim. Continue reading The Two-Finger Test at FTII: Prateek Vats
[While in complete agreement with the statement posted below, I would like to add a personal note. I am a citizen of Delhi who believes that in its short stint in office so far, and despite every attempt by the central government to paralyze its functioning, the Aam Admi Party has taken decisive, creative and positive steps in several fields – education, health, and above all in its strong assertion that water is a natural resource that should not be treated as a commodity.
Nevertheless, it is unfortunately increasingly clear that on gender related issues, AAP’s functionaries exhibit the deepest conservatism – from Kejriwal’s speech on March 8th, which thanked his wife for keeping “his” home running, to Somnath Bharti on making Delhi safe enough for even “beautiful women” to be out at night, as if sexual violence is a tribute and compliment to the beauty of women, to Swati Maliwal’s aligning herself with the deeply conservative abolitionist position on sex work.
This conservatism is at odds not only with “elite activists”, as AAP may think, but with the views of the majority of ordinary people, who poured out into the streets after December 16th 2012, and sent scores of petitions to the Justice Verma Committee, expressing basically the belief in the rights of all women to public spaces at all times, and condemning victim blaming; sex workers are ordinary people too, and so are housewives, who even while they run homes with devotion and efficiency, are not unaware of the unfairness of the shared domestic space being considered to belong to the husband and “his” family. A March 8th message could have recognized women in their different roles, as housewives, domestic servants, CEOs, political activists. As a party that has learnt from other social movements, AAP needs to urgently start a conversation with women’s organizations of different kinds, including sex workers’ organizations.]
The statement follows:
The National Network of Sex Workers and women’s organisations in India strongly condemn the observations and statement of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), Ms. Swati Maliwal calling sex work and prostitution akin to “rape” and calling for its “eradication”. We call on her to immediately withdraw her statement and tender an unconditional apology to the all women in sex work, whose dignity has been impacted by her observations.
The Honorable Supreme Court has recognized the need to ensure that sex workers are able to live a life of dignity. The Court set up a panel to discuss “Conditions conducive for sex workers to live with dignity in accordance with the provisions of Article 21 of the Constitution.” (Budhadev Karmaskar vs. Government of West Bengal).
The Chairperson of DCW should do her homework before launching into a campaign that has not engaged with the ongoing debates and dialogues to recognize the rights of adult consenting workers to remain in sex work and ensure that their human rights and dignity are protected, such a short sighted and uninformed perspective demeans the office of a Commission set up to protect the rights and dignity of women. Continue reading Sex Workers And Women’s Organisations Condemn DCW Chair Swati Maliwal’s Statement On Sex Work
പ്രിയ പത്രാധിപർക്ക്
ഇതൊരു വിടവാങ്ങൽ കത്താണ്. Continue reading മാതൃഭൂമി പത്രാധിപർക്ക് ഒരു തുറന്ന കത്ത്
Guest post by SAIDALAVI P.C.
“True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity”
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
On the evening of 21 February, 2015 I and my friend walked through the narrow lines of Vasant Kunj, New Delhi looking for an accommodation for him. On both sides of narrow roads, three-storied buildings blocked sun rays reaching the ground. Here and there scrapheap assaulted our nostrils and a flock of bees and mosquitoes hovered around the area keeping watch. Our eyes waded through the gates of the buildings looking for a signboard announcing vacancies. We pushed a gate open and entered the building looking for the owner. A middle-aged man announced his presence pushing his belly in front of him. We asked, room koi khali hai, bhayya (Is there any room vacant, brother?) He scrutinised us for a moment. May be nonplussed by seeing no marks of our identity (we are clean shaven, well-dressed, normative secular self with supposedly a neutral identity in public) he was bit confused and his lips contorted a bit towards the left. Impassively, he nodded us to follow him since the room was on the second floor. My friend was visibly satisfied by the room, it was well-furnished, with a bathroom, kitchen and a balcony. He said he would take it. Listening to it, the owner’s face had taken a bit more serious expression, and at last he asked what our names are. It seemed our neutral identity was the bomb he wanted to diffuse. The moment we uttered our names, his facial expression changed into one who is caught by colic, he was startled and flushed, and his ears instantly became red. We were unable to make sense of what he was thinking. Then, he spoke hoarsely and told us to leave immediately. He said that if he had known earlier that we were Muslims, he wouldn’t have invited us to see the rooms. He never let rooms to Muslims. We tried to reason with him by asking why he is not renting it to Muslims.
Continue reading Of Housing, Jobs and Everyday Communalism: Saidalavi P.C.
JOIN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST SAFFRONISATION
The voice of the students at FTII has resonated with other students, artists, filmmakers, cultural organizations, civil rights and political groups across the country that have openly come out in support. Support for the students is pouring in from a plethora of cities and centers every day. International students and mainstream media, alarmed at the developments, have started registering their support.
In midst of it all, FTII students has decided to take our democratic protest to the streets of Delhi
100+ students from FTII will lead a march from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament Street, at 2pm on 3rd of August.
We call out to all the students, youth, parents, artists, educators, everyone who is concerned about the institutions of higher education & throttling of independent & critical voices in our country. This is a call to all who value spaces where rational, reasonable and scholarly debate can happen. Where voices critical of majority are not labelled as ‘anti hindu’ ,where a certain variety of nationalism is not forced upon people. We urge people, from all walks of life who are concerned and alarmed by the ‘environment of fear’ where any criticism is simply not allowed, to come out vociferously in support of the students and join them in this march which represents a historic struggle for the sake of preserving academic autonomy and the universal tenets of freedom of thought, expression and right to criticise and dissent.
On 3rd each voice will be standing for the fight to save our institutions from undemocratic and fascist forces.
JOIN US AT JANTAR MANTAR, 2pm , 3rd august (MONDAY).
“NOTHING STRENGTHENS AUTHORITY SO MUCH AS SILENCE” – Albert Einstein
Facebook Event Page Link :
https://www.facebook.com/events/112883655724607/
For further information:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/FTII-Wisdom-Tree/1607915209448356?ref=hl
warmly
FTII STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
Kislay: 9049479725, Kritika: 9168463662, Sakshi: 9049019217, Nakul: 9560924115, Raju: 9665983328, Devas: 7838927232, Dinkar: 9764706370, Shwetaabh: 9890881684
Thanks to Kalyani Menon-Sen!
Porcupine Jacket – free hugs to molesters
Bagzilla – portable monster assist
Intergalactic Pest Control
Guest Post by Anuja Agrawal
The recent reports regarding the findings of the Death Penalty Project of the National Law University, Delhi, confirm some of the worst fears we have about our criminal justice system: the system is exceedingly tilted against the interests of the poor, disadvantaged and the marginal while the rich and the advantaged often get away, literally, with murder. The results are very important as such systematic studies help in confirming what are often vague impressions and unconfirmed suspicions.
While this study focuses only on the convicts on death row, what we urgently need is data which give us a caste and community wise breakup of the incarcerated population as a whole. While some may think that this would be useful in establishing the ‘criminality’ of some social groups, in fact this data, when juxtaposed with degrees of conviction, will help in establishing not only the conditions in which people take to criminal activities but also how our system is systematically biased towards particular groups.
Continue reading Who gets caught – From death row convicts to ‘criminals by birth’: Anuja Agrawal
Guest post by ISHANI CORDEIRO
A reply to ‘An Open Letter By A Cop To Those Opposing Death Penalty To Yakub Memon’ by ‘ A Thulla’.
Dear ‘Thulla’
Let me begin by stating, for the record, that a lot of people who have raised their voice against death penalty (and not just Yakub Memon’s) are not necessarily sitting in ‘plush AC offices’ or writing ‘editorials seeking clemency for a murderer’ or visiting TV studios and shouting themselves hoarse. A lot of them are activists and lawyers and the aam aadmi – working on the ground. Having said that, let’s not disregard the voices of the public based merely on where they decide to park their backside! Also, I would like to bring to your notice that terms like human rights, due process and fake encounter are not ‘ramifications’ of pulling a trigger per se. The term ‘ramification’ implies an unwelcome consequence of an action. Human rights and due process are pillars of a democracy and fake encounters are constitutional infringements. The fact that ‘terrorists’ don’t consider these of much value but you have to consider these burdensome terms before taking any action also implies that the law (read constitution) considers you to be ‘reasonable person’ and not the ‘terrorist’. Continue reading Response to ‘Open letter by a Cop’ on Yakub Memon: Ishani Cordeiro
The video is being used to promote a petition targeting the Anglodutch MNC’s CEO Mr. Paul Polman. Unilever spends more than $8 billion marketing itself as an ethical, transparent, caring and environmentally responsible company. However, for more than a decade, it has failed to walk its talk in Kodaikanal. Its CEO talks exhorts other corporate leaders to be responsible and compassionate, and is a great proponent of a concept called “Inclusive Capitalism.” Kodaikanal is proof of how Unilever is no different from Union Carbide.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 