[sacw] sacw dispatch #2 (23 June 00)

[aiindex@mnet.fr]

South Asia Citizens Web - Dispatch #2.
23 June 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

__________________________

#1. Pakistan: Conflict & Violence in the Educational Process
#2. India: On xenophobia & intolerence in Uttrakhand
#3. India: The River & Life: People's Struggle in the Narmada Valley

__________________________

#1.

As part of the current debate about Pakistan's education curriculum, the
essay 'Conflict and Violence in the Educational Process' by K. Hasanain
and A.H. Nayyar makes a very valuable reading. It is from the book
"Making Enemies, Creating Conflict: Pakistan's Crises of State and
Society", edited by Zia Mian and Iftikhar Ahmad, Mashal Press Lahore,
1997.

It is also on the web at
http://members.tripod.com/~no_nukes_sa/chapter_8.html

[All those having trouble accessing the WWW and would like to recieve the
text of above chapter via e-mail should send a request to
<aiindex@m...>;
All others are invited to order copies of the book via the website of
Mashal Books <http://www.mashalbooks.com>
_______

#2.

The Hindu
Sunday, June 11, 2000

THE HURT STILL RANKLES

AT NIGHT when I sleep, sometimes my legs twitch uncontrollably, as though
they want to run away with my body. The doctor says it is nervous anxiety
triggered maybe by stress and a vitamin deficiency. But what is this
nameless fear and why is coursing through my aging body like an electrical
current, deficiency or no deficiency? Is it because for the first time in my
life I fear not being able to imagine the future? I have watched first the
familiar world of the media change into a globalised forest full of dot.com
predators, and now I find my own people of Uttarakhand becoming unbelievably
xenophobic and merciless as they bay for a separate state, and begin to
suspect all outsiders as the "hated - Others". Am I overcome with a sense of
guilt on their behalf? Or is it a sense of helplessness at my own lack of
power that makes my old legs twitch and thrash uncontrollably?

I grew up in a tolerant, laid-back and liberal area up in the middle
Himalayan region in the 1950s and 1960s. My father was an educationist, my
mother a well-known writer of Hindi fiction, and their world blossomed in th=
e
small, but erudite and idealistic, towns of Almora and Nainital, that valued
quality education and vernacular literature. With my siblings, I grew up
switching between languages and schools, speaking Kumaoni at home, while the
world and the school systems around me spoke Hindi and English. And if today
I am writing this piece in English, it is because for the likes of me,
English may not have become the language of love and intimacy but it is a
vehicle for a certain type of logical discourse. Today I wish to use an
alien language to distance myself from trite emotionalism being bandied
about in my mother tongue and in Hindi, as I plead for sanity and normalcy.
I use English to protest against xenophobia and a disregard for democratic
norms, and a separatist tendency that marked the Hindi media's reporting of
certain recent incidents in Uttarakhand.

By now most readers of newspapers have learnt, that the Uttarakhand region
was recently up in arms against a 35-page booklet AIDS Aur Hum, published by
a non-government organisation, Sahyog. People from Garhwal to Kumaon
vociferously protested against its contents and even went on a rampage in
Almora, damaging the property of the NGO. And although various eminent
people from the region have been condemning the booklet in no uncertain
terms, the fact remains that the gestation period for this anger was
suspiciously long. The booklet had been distributed as early as October
1999, but protests erupted only in April. What is also surprising is that
even though the NGO had tendered an unconditional apology and offered to
withdraw and destroy all copies of the booklet, the coordinator and the
secretary of the organisation (Dr. Abhijit Das and his wife Yashodhara Das)
along with nine others, were kept in jail and bail was denied to them till
the Allahabad High Court ruled on May 30 that they be granted bail. In the
meanwhile they were taken out for their "Peshi" in the local court on foot
and handcuffed, while the local lawyers refused to take up their case for
bail.

On May 11, the National Security Act (NSA) was slapped against them, making
theirs a non-bailable offence. This was mercifully criticised by the Home
Minister and has been removed now, but the sting remains. As is usual,
several unsubstantiated stories about a foreign hand and some huge
international conspiracy against the region, after still doing the rounds,
about what was at best a shoddily cobbled together survey report couched in
bad Hindi, and which has now been scrapped totally.

It is not my kinsmen's exaggerated concern for the image of Uttarakhand or
use of "bad words" that makes me want to curl up and disappear. It is their
indifference to a grave transgression of the human rights of an NGO. One had
thought that after their own not too distant humiliation by Mulayam Singh
Yadav's Government as "outsiders", working as menials in the plains of Uttar
Pradesh they would be kinder to others sharing the same status.

But no, their turn came, they were equally callous and dismissive of the
human rights of those who were "outsiders" in their region. It makes one
feel that suffering does not lead people to sainthood or even plain
maturity. I fear I now represent a region and a language which does not give
a damn for the freedom and human rights of others; and for who nobody in
times to come, may give a damn.

I spoke to several relatives and friends in the past weeks, who were there
in Almora while all this was happening and some are still there. They still
do not think their area could be under any threat from the AIDS/HIV virus.
Nor do they seem to share an anxiety for the rights of "outsiders" who, in
their opinion, had done them grievous harm by projecting the people of the
area as lascivious, kinky and uncouth bumpkins. Even those of them, who are
not very sure if the workers of Sahyog deserved to be detained under the
NSA, are reluctant to confess to their misgivings, and begin to protest
shrilly how they have been exploited again and again by the Centre, by the
people from the plains, by foreign tourists and will not put up with it any
more.

Sitting in a remote corner of Uttarakhand, perhaps one has a different idea
about HIV/AIDS virus and the threat it poses to all of us. Most have not
seen those with full-blown cases of AIDS inching their way towards a
horrible death. Nor have they met the HIV positive widows and children of
AIDS victims, thrown out of their homes and villages and living off the
pavements in hostile cities from Manipur to Maharashtra, like scavenging
animals. On many occasions, the West may have been guilty of
sensationalising issues, but not here. We know that world bodies are right
in trying to focus our attention on this plague of the 21st Century, while
there is still time. In the developed world they have by now have contained
the disease in their countries. Would we not like to be like them, safe and
prosperous and healthy? Certainly I also do not like to be described as a
stupid and ignorant bumpkin to outsiders, particularly to the international
bodies, but now that apologies have been offered and the booklet withdrawn,
isn't the hurt-little-me act wearing somewhat thin? Also the issue of
violation of human rights remains. And it is here, one should stand up even
for whose writings one does not necessarily condone.

=46amily members and friends from Uttrakhand ask me whether I realise how hu=
rt
people are about their gross portrayal by outsiders. I do. But forced to
choose between a compulsive guilt and a compulsive sense of justice, I would
opt for the latter. As a daughter's daughter and as a daughter-in-law with
daughters, I know what it is to be outside the pale of justice; to feel a
vagrant refugee in your own hometown, sometimes in your own home.

Meanwhile my legs continue to twitch. The doctor says it is tension and
certain deficiencies common among women of a certain age. I wonder, if that
is all there is to it.

MRINAL PANDE

The author is a freelance journalist and writes in Hindi and English.

_______

#3.

Dear friends,
We are shortly publishing Sanjay Sangvai's book,
"The River and Life: People's Struggle in the Narmada Valley".
A reproduction of the back-jacket text of the book is given below, for
your information. As you are aware, this people's movement has fought many
battles, and won a number of them. (eg: being the first to force the World
Bank to review its project and withdraw from it). The larger struggle,
however -- for justice and ecologically sane development -- continues,
with many challenges ahead, on many fronts.

The book provides a comprehensive over-view of the key issues, and
the history of this path-breaking movement over the last 15 years. The
book is expected to be out by mid-July, 2000. It is proposed to be priced
at Rs 150 (within India) and $12 (outside India).

As a special pre-publication offer, the book will be available at a
substantially lower price of Rs 100 per copy (within India) and $ 10 per
copy (outside India) -- for those who send in their orders along with
payment by the 15th July, 2000. (Packing and postage will be free.)

Please contact:

Earthcare Books
2 Anand, Anand Kamal Society,
17 Carmichael Road, Mumbai 400 026
E-mail: earth@b...
Phone: 022 - 496 4825
or
Earthcare Books/Classic Books:
10 Middleton Street, Calcutta 700 071
E-mail: earthcarebooks@v...
Phone: 033 - 229 6551
>
>Please also note that payments should be made only by cash/Demand
Draft/Money Order, or by cheques drawn on banks located within Bombay. Any
bulk orders should preferably be communicated to Vinita Mansata at the
Calcutta address.

We request you to pass on this information to whoever you know that
might be interested. And to help in whatever other way you can in
disseminating this book as widely as possible.

THE RIVER AND LIFE

Sanjay Sangvai
-----------------------------
At the threshold of the new millennium, a number of people=EDs movements
have been challenging the present, inherently destructive model of
=EBdevelopment=ED. Theirs is a non-violent mass struggle based on coscientio=
us
civil resistance.

One such major, popular movement in post-Independence India -- the
Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) -- has brought into focus serious issues
regarding the paradigm and planning of =EBdevelopment projects=ED. It has
exposed the fraud, deceit and suppression perpetrated in the name of
=EBpublic purpose=ED and =EBnational interest=ED, while indicating too,=
along with
many other such movements, alternative path of just, humane and
sustainable development, rooted in a truly democratic polity.

This book attempts to provide an outline of the historical background,
core issues and formative processes of this multi-pronged and tenacious
people=EDs movement in the Third World. It is an empathetic and honest
portrayal of the efforts of a movement in a complex context, depicting
the larger canvas in which it has been operating. The NBA, like most other
movements in India, has long felt the need of communicating its issues and
struggles in a clear and comprehensive manner. This assumes greater
urgency in the present era of hegemony of national-multinational capital
and its erosive =EBdevelopmental=ED paradigm -- undermining all human rights
and democratic values, usurping the resources of the people, and
devastating the environment.

Sanjay Sangvai, a journalist with a Master=EDs degree in Politics has been
writing about the issues and politics of the NBA and other people=EDs
movements in India in English, Hindi and Marathi, apart from being a
full-time activist of the Andolan from 1989.

EARTHCARE BOOKS
Mumbai & Calcutta

______________________________________________
SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WEB DISPATCH (SACW) is an
informal, independent & non-profit citizens wire service
run by South Asia Citizens Web (http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex)
since 1996. Dispatch archive from 1998 can be accessed
by joining the ACT list run by SACW. To subscribe send
a message to <act-subscribe@egroups.com>
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL