[sacw] SACW #1 (29 Nov. 01)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | Dispatch #1
29 November 2001
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

------------------------------------------

#1. The west wants to rebuild Afghanistan in its own image (Jeremy Seabroo=
k)
#2. Pakistan: CPC opposes MNCs, IFIs' role in Afghanistan's reconstruction
#3. Thrown out of the window are so called core interests of Pakistan=20
(MB Naqvi)
#4. Bangladesh: Reporter faces sedition charge for Hindu documentary=20
(S. N. M. Abdi)
#5. The Muslim mind (Akeel Bilgrami)
#6. India: Riots and politics (ANUPAMA KATAKAM)
#7. India: Shed the Ideological baggage (Ram Puniyani)

________________________

#1.

The Guardian
Tuesday November 27, 2001

Welcome to our world
The west wants to rebuild Afghanistan in its own image - whether the=20
locals like it or not

Jeremy Seabrook

In spite of having ransacked the academies and thinktanks of America=20
and Europe in order to consult experts on Afghanistan, the western=20
powers appear to have learned nothing, either from the September=20
terror or from their much-lauded prosecution of the war.

Even while the B-52s make their parallel furrows in the sky over=20
Kunduz, and a boletus of dust rises over each bombfall, western=20
politicians have already turned their attention to creating "a better=20
sort of Afghanistan" in the words of Clare Short. She joined James=20
Wolfensohn of the World Bank in recognising that rich countries=20
remain in constant danger while poverty persists and resentment at=20
injustice smoulders. The model for rebuilding, however, bears small=20
relation to the social and human reality of Afghanistan: it is=20
clearly to be an off-the-peg version of economic restructuring,=20
crafted by the global financial institutions with such conspicuous=20
success elsewhere in the world. [...]

Full Text at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,606717,00.=
html

_____

#2.

CPC opposes MNCs, IFIs' role in Afghanistan's reconstruction
http://www.dawn.com/2001/11/28/nat23.htm

By Our Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: The Citizen's Peace Committee has expressed
concern at the holding of a three-day conference on "Preparing for
Afghanistan's Reconstruction" hosted by the World Bank , Asian
Development Bank (ADB), and United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) in Islamabad.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday the CPC said the post-war
Afghanistan would need strong support in the areas of agricultural
recovery, revival of irrigation network, food security, livelihood
regeneration and provision of basic civic facilities. However, it
said, it was important to learn from history that the security
agenda, development and corporate business interests have been
intimately liked for as long as the conflict in the region has
lasted.
Corporate interests of Unocal, Delta Oil, Brides, Shell and
Mitsubishi in the lucrative but unexplored oil and gas reserves of
the Caspian region were initially consistent with foreign support to
the Taliban regime and other warring groups in Afghanistan, the
statement said.

These business giants are also very close partners of the
international financial institutions (IFIs) in the private sector.

Many commentators have pointed towards this politico-economic tussle
as underpinning the renewed military conflict in this region, it
said.
The CPC demanded that the Afghans rather than international
institutions should be allowed to make any decision about the social
and economic future of Afghanistan.

The situation in Afghanistan demanded immediate attention, but not in
terms of states such as America and international institutions
meddling with the affairs to secure their own benefit. International
institutions should be focusing on providing Afghans relief from
potential famine. They should also focus on preventing ongoing human
rights abuses, the CPC statement said.

The CPC demanded that the immediate human needs and rights of Afghans
be addressed. It stressed the need for an analysis on the link
between conflict and development paradigms. The CPC contended that a
number of policies unleashed by the IFIs in the region had
exacerbated ethnic, sectarian and other conflicts.

The CPC pointed out that the World Bank and other institutions were
already discussing the issue of loans to Afghanistan, including those
arrears that remained from earlier loans.

"For a war-torn county like Afghanistan, it is hypocritical for
agencies operating on a mandate to alleviate crisis to be offering
loans rather than grants."

The CPC said that like in the past, the IFIs would hire foreign
consultants and pay extravagant fees to them which should be opposed.

The citizens body, also condemned the past and present policy
prescriptions of the IFIs because they had contributed to an increase
in poverty, inflation, and unemployment in Pakistan over a prolonged
period of time. There has also been worsening of Pakistan's debt
situation and a vicious cycle of borrowing to repay earlier loans has
been established.

The Pakistani government has increased indirect taxes on basic
commodities to boost revenues-such taxes are regressive and further
impose difficulties on the majority of Pakistanis.

The CPC demanded that the anti-poor policies of these institutions be
retracted immediately. It also demanded immediate debt relief to
Pakistan instead of debt rescheduling.

All conditionalties asserted by the IFIs in their agreements with
Pakistan that had a negative effect on social sector development, and
employment and incomes of low-income groups, should be withdrawn.

The CPC demanded that the privatization policy, forced upon Pakistan
by the IFIs, which has rendered thousands of workers jobless, should
be halted.

The economic policies being implemented by the government as a result
of pressures from these institutions, are forcing more and more
workers into the informal sector where they have no protection from
exploitation.

The rights of these workers should be protected, the CPC demanded.
Ban on workers organizations should be lifted immediately, it said.

_____

#3.

Thrown out of the window are so called core interests of Pakistan
M.B. Naqvi

Karachi Nov 28:

How many Pakistanis have died in tragic circumstances and how many are
prisoners of war in the hands of Northern Alliance Commanders? All six
hundred prisoners in revolt in a jail near Mazar-e-Sharif have been
killed is known but not the how of it. What really happened to all those
who were trapped in Kunduz remain unknown. Are they still holding out,
in a pocket, surrounded in all sides; or have they been killed or taken
prisoners? The whole situation is obscure.

Ordinary Pakistanis in general and hard core religious enthusiasts in
particular are gloomy and bitter about the denouement in Afghanistan.
They are searching the debris of the entire edifice that was built by
Pakistan's Afghan policy for their near and dear ones or friends. The
Pakistan press is reflecting a profound bewilderment. All their
assumptions made by successive Pakistan governments have proved to be
ill founded and all their much tom-tommed achievements have turned to
dust. The Taliban regime has been defeated and more or less destroyed.
At the moment, a small pocket around Kandhar city is all that is left to
Taliban power. The outlook for this redoubt is quite bleak; it is only
a matter of time before they are actually smoked out. All this may
technically be Afghan developments. But emotionally and from the point
of view of consequences, it is a major Pakistani defeat.

The Musharraf regime is being buffeted by irresistible external
pressures, on the one hand, and it is presiding over a thoroughly
disenchanted and down-hearted populace, on the other. The military
chief who holds all of Pakistan in his palm has said to his people that
'not only I was your recent past I shall be your future too'. He is
quite emphatic on the subject: He continues to proclaim his decision to
remain the President of Pakistan indefinitely, elections to be scheduled
for Provincial and National Assemblies by October 2002 notwithstanding.

The tasks before his regime now and in near future are enormous. He is
so wise as not to feel the need for any broad-basing of his essentially
one-man rule. There are near shrieks from commentators, observers and
analysts that Pakistan has to revise all its major policies forthwith
and radically too. The answer from the general in command is muffled; he
is crowing about his success in making Pakistan secure, preserving the
integrity of Kashmir cause and keeping the nuclear assets safe.

Pakistan press is full of prognostications about the international
Coalition's policies vis-a-vis Kashmir, nuclear deterrent and chances of
democracy. All such expectations are based on a gloomy perspective that
leaves Pakistan as the odd man out in the region. Where Pakistan
commentators have gone to town on the regime is the naivete of the
general in trusting the off-hand verbal assurances of George W. Bush and
Colin Powell. Not one of these has been honoured according to most
observers. Nor is there any chance of the US or Coalition ever acting
in a way that would preserve or promote Pakistan's core interests.

The ongoing Bonn conference of Afghan leaders is a standing reminder to
all Pakistanis that whatever may happened in Afghanistan, Pakistan is
unlikely to have any significant role or get any significant benefit.
The whole war, insofar as Afghanistan is concerned, was to oust Taliban
and with it Pakistan's influence over that country. Also thrown out of
the window are so called core interests of Pakistan. Except for
politeness, no one is going to ask Pakistan's wishes while those of
Russia and India, along with Central Asian neighbours of Afghanistan,
are to be taken into account --- by the Americans, the only people who
matter. Ends story. MBN

_____

#4.

South China Morning Post
Wednesday, November 28, 2001
BANGLADESH
Reporter faces sedition charge for Hindu documentary

S. N. M. ABDI in Calcutta

A prominent Bengali journalist and human rights activist is=20
facing a sedition charge after making a documentary about the plight=20
of Hindus in the predominantly Muslim nation who have been attacked=20
by Islamic militants.

Shahriar Kabir, 50, has been a thorn in the side of right-wing=20
Islamic groups for nearly three decades. An outspoken critic of=20
fundamentalism, he was stabbed last year in Dhaka by alleged members=20
of Harkat-ul-Jehad, which is believed to have links with the Taleban.

On Saturday Kabir was arrested at Dhaka airport on his return from=20
Calcutta. He had spent a fortnight in West Bengal province filming a=20
documentary about the plight of Bangladeshi Hindus who have fled to=20
India.
Nearly 25,000 Bangladeshi Hindus have sought refuge in India in=20
recent weeks after a spate of attacks by hardline Islamic political=20
parties sharing power with new Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.

Police seized Kabir's passport, notebooks, video- and audio- tapes=20
and detained him under the draconian 1974 Special Powers Act, which=20
allows law enforcers to imprison anybody for 90 days without formal=20
charges.
A Bangladeshi Home Ministry spokesman said: "Legal action has been=20
initiated against Mr Kabir, who had been indulging in anti-state=20
activities in another country."

The spokesman added the material seized from Kabir contained=20
information, statements and photographic documentation which could=20
inflame sectarian passions in Bangladesh and lead to communal clashes.
Paris-based journalists' rights organisation Reporters Sans=20
Frontieres has written to Home Minister Altaf Hussain Chowdhury=20
demanding the immediate release of Kabir.

Begum Zia's Government is under increasing domestic and international=20
pressure, particularly from New Delhi, to punish Jamat-e-Islami and=20
Islam Oikya Jote cadres, the alleged perpetrators of attacks on the=20
minority Hindu community since the defeat of Sheikh Hasina Wajed's=20
Awami League Party in the October 1 elections.

Hindus, who constitute barely 10 per cent of the population, are=20
generally perceived as supporters of the Awami League.
Kabir, a staunch advocate for minority rights, worked for the=20
Bangladesh government-owned Bichitra weekly magazine in the 1980s. He=20
was sacked when Begum Zia came to power in 1991. He has since worked=20
as a freelance reporter. He is also actively associated with the=20
Movement Against Communalism and Fundamentalism in South Asia, which=20
promotes secularism in the region.

His wife said he was being held in Dhaka central jail. A bail=20
petition is to be moved today.

Copyright =A9 2001. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights res=
erved.

_____

#5.

Communalism Combat November 2001

The Muslim mind

Islam seems to provide an ideological peg of dignity and resistance=20
to hang Muslim resentments on. This is a dangerous and brittle source=20
of self-respect but there does not seem to be any viable alternative.=20
It is this conflicted position of many Muslims which is crucial to=20
any analysis of our present times

BY AKEEL BILGRAMI

My commission is to speak about the minority Muslim population of=20
India. The term 'minority' marked a subject of study, only after=20
statistics began to influence the governance of societies as well as=20
influence the methodology of the social sciences. But its point and=20
rationale, of course, was to generate a site of much more than=20
statistical importance - such is the power of numbers.

Thought of in purely descriptive terms, it is intended to convey the=20
site of ethnicities, religions, races, and less often these days, of=20
socio-economic station. Thought of in more evaluative terms, it is=20
often the carrier of rights, partly because it is often the target of=20
discrimination. All of these things are absolutely central to what I=20
am about to say, but I will approach the subject a little more=20
obliquely: by seeing the Muslim minority in India as the site of a=20
certain mentality.

And here is a curious thing. Even casual reflection on the subject=20
suggests a mildly paradoxical conclusion: that it is precisely this=20
minority mentality which is to be found among the Muslim majority=20
populations all over the world. We owe this paradox to the abiding=20
power of colonial history, even after formal decolonization, a=20
subject to which I'll return, at the end.

Though it is a banality by now to say in a general way that there are=20
many Islams, it is worth saying that it is perhaps more true of the=20
Indian sub-continent than of anywhere else in the world. Apart from=20
the sectarian distinctions between the Sunnis and Shias (who comprise=20
about ten percent of Muslims in India), and the regional dispersal of=20
Punjabi, Bengali, Hindusthani, Mapillah, Gujarati, and Oriya Muslims,=20
there has been much diversity in the spiritual and scholarly=20
leadership as well, shaping an extremely differentiated religious=20
culture in the country over the last three centuries.

In the eighteenth century there were figures of influence such as=20
Shah Wali Allah of the Nashqbandi tradition situated in the more=20
courtly ethos of princes, to the more populist Chishti Sufi tradition=20
of Shah Abdullah Bhitai, Bullhe Shah, and the poets Mir and Dard;=20
then there was the later reformist strain owing to Sir Syed Ahmad=20
Khan, Chiragh Ali, the Shia thinker Ameer Ali, the novelist Nazir=20
Ahmad and the Shibli Numani of the Nadvatul Ulema, there was the=20
famous Deoband school and its network for providing traditional=20
learning of the Ulema, the even more orthodox Ahl-i-Hadith school=20
which favoured the strict letter of Hanafi law, as well as the much=20
more relaxed Barelvi tradition stressing very local customary=20
practices, and the remarkable Ahmadiyyas who emerged under the=20
leadership of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who claimed that he was at once the=20
Muslim Mahdi, the Christian Messiah, and the avatar of Krishna.

The twentieth century saw figures ranging from the poet Muhammad=20
Iqbal, to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the refined and learned exemplar=20
of the Congress slogan of 'composite' Hindu-Muslim culture, to the=20
wholly different Maulana Maududi (and his following in the=20
Jamaat-i-Islami, now in Pakistan), who may rightly be described as=20
fundamentalist because of his insistence on the return to the Quran=20
and the Hadith, and who was of much influence on Syed Qutb, the=20
Egyptian fundamentalist thinker said to be the inspiration of=20
self-styled jihadi groups today which are linked to Osama bin Laden.

It is noticeable that coursing through this diversity, Muslim=20
religious life in India has been characterized by two broadly opposed=20
tendencies. On the one hand, at the level of ritual, ceremony, and a=20
broad range of other quotidian practice, there is a great deal of=20
pragmatic and syncretic ("sufistic") retention of local features that=20
are quite continuous with many aspects of Hindu life and cultural=20
practice. On the other, there is the scriptural and transcendental,=20
and normative element tied to the ulema and characterized by a=20
deferential gaze that goes beyond the local toward the Arab lands=20
from where the classical doctrine originated.

This is hardly surprising since the Islamic faith itself arrived in=20
India via travels through Persia and Turkey and Central Asia=20
acquiring local accretions from there, so the ultimate and formal,=20
bookish elements had always to be recalled in self-conscious ways at=20
all points in the midst of often livelier homegrown and alien=20
elements.

That double movement - of form and root - has persisted in India=20
through the centuries to this day, and though there is much=20
integration of the two elements there is often rivalry between them,=20
not just in the rural and poorer sections of society, but even in=20
such highly metropolitan cultural productions of Hindusthani music or=20
the Hindi cinema of Bombay, which might quite properly be regarded as=20
the last, urban outposts of sufism, still to some extent resisting=20
the narrowing doctrinal visions of Muslim (as well as Brahmanical=20
Hindu) religious orthodoxy.

It is precisely this double movement which is increasingly made=20
precarious by developments over the last few decades, and by some=20
striking recent events of which the aftermath of September 11 is the=20
most spectacular. There is, to begin with, the relative poverty of=20
Muslims in India ever since the more landed and educated Muslims,=20
fearing loss of estate and discrimination in career opportunities in=20
India, left for Pakistan during the partition. For those who stayed,=20
those fears have largely been realized.

There was also another major loss, the loss of their language, Urdu=20
(indeed the language of many Hindus in north India as well), which=20
was given away as an exclusive gift to Pakistan because the Indian=20
leaders, for all their avowed pluralism and secularism, were unable=20
to withstand the nationalistic pique of Hindu ideologues in their own=20
Congress party who put great pressure to drop Urdu altogether as a=20
medium of instruction in the national and regional school curricula.

And, in general, ever since the passing of Nehru, there had been a=20
tendency in the Congress party, the party which led the national=20
freedom movement and which has dominated government until very=20
recently, to adopt the most debased and cynical strategy that=20
democracy allows, the strategy of trying to win elections by=20
appealing to majoritarian sentiment against minorities such as=20
Muslims and Sikhs.

This strategy which culminated in two hideous events - the pogrom=20
against the Sikhs after Indira Gandhi's assassination and the=20
destruction of the mosque at Ayodhya by a mob of Hindu political=20
activists - has ironically led to repeated defeat of the Congress=20
party at the hands of the BJP, a party of Hindu nationalist ideology=20
which can play the majoritarian game much more openly and brazenly=20
than the Congress which, with its hypocritical avowals of secularism,=20
could not.

The Muslim 'minority' in India therefore has had the ideological=20
potential to vex in at least two ways. First, it is open to=20
perception as a minority which is descended from the Muslim=20
conquerors who ruled for centuries over a predominantly Hindu people,=20
and thus a good target for 'historical' revenge. Second, it is open=20
to the perception of being a residual population, one that had its=20
choice of leaving for the newly created Muslim nation of Pakistan in=20
1947, but which chose to stay, so it must now adapt in accord with=20
the culture of the Hindu nation it opted for.

These ideological perceptions, once merely the vision of a fringe,=20
thought of as the "Hindu Right" and opposed to the secular tendencies=20
of the central leadership of the freedom movement and of=20
post-Independent India - most particularly of Gandhi and Nehru - is=20
now very much the vision of the majoritarian Hindu ideology that=20
underlies the national government at the Centre, as well as in some=20
(but by no means all) of the states and regions in the country.=20
(Indeed regionalism in politics may at present be the only check on=20
rampant Hindutva self-assertion at the Centre).

Even putting aside the dubious conceptual elements in these=20
perceptions (i.e., the very idea of 'historical" revenge, and the=20
restriction of choice to the options "Either go to a Muslim nation or=20
stay in a Hindu one") there are plain historical facts which expose=20
their falsity. With regard to the first perception, there is the fact=20
that most Muslims today are not descendants of a conquering people,=20
but Hindu converts; and there is the fact that a number of Muslim=20
rulers in India showed a remarkable amount of religious tolerance,=20
comparable at least to Muslim rule in mediaeval Spain.

With regard to the second, there is the fact of the essentially and=20
helplessly sedentary nature of the poor and labouring classes which=20
made immigration over thousands of miles no serious option at all,=20
and there is the fact of the idealism of both this class and the much=20
smaller but admittedly more mobile educated middle class of Muslims=20
who thought a secular India was a better option than a nation created=20
on the basis of religion. But these are mere contemptible facts, and=20
ideological perceptions, as we know, are the products of a free=20
social imagination manipulated and nourished as distorted=20
abstractions away from plain facts such as these.

This ideological situation has made Indian Muslims deeply resentful=20
and defensive in their mentality. And this mentality is adversely=20
affecting the double movement I mentioned, of rooted quotidian=20
syncretic diversity on the one hand and invocation of scriptural form=20
and fundamentals on the other, by threatening to tilt the balance in=20
favour of the latter over the former. In a situation where material=20
life as well as self-respect is increasingly threatened by alarming=20
majoritarian tendencies in the polity, the absolutist doctrinal side=20
of the double movement is holding out promise of dignity and autonomy=20
in the name of Islam, specially among the young.

The attractions are utterly illusory of course - they are manifestly=20
undemocratic, they are deeply reactionary on issues of gender=20
equality, and they are phobic in the extreme of modernity, even a=20
homegrown and non-western path to modernity. They are 'reactionary'=20
in every sense of the term, and one point I am stressing is that they=20
are reactionary also in the sense of being a reaction to the feelings=20
of helplessness and defeat, and the seeming lack of viable=20
alternatives to cope with these feelings.

To give just one example of reaction-formation, one response to the=20
combination of poverty, lack of career opportunity and the loss of=20
Urdu has been the rise of the phenomenon of the madrassa, which are=20
religious schools peppered all over the country but specially in=20
north India, very often financed by Saudi Arabian largesse, and which=20
offer free education in Urdu, and a place for boys from=20
poverty-stricken families to live without cost while they train into=20
strict scriptural doctrine, providing a recruitment ground for future=20
careers in fundamentalist movements.

This is just one example, as I said, and all of it predictably leads=20
to more backlash from Hindu ideologues, and in turn more=20
defensiveness, surfacing in more aggressive reactions among the=20
Muslims.

These reactions have surfaced in the pro-Taliban statements of=20
religious leaders such as Imam Bukhari in Delhi, and the student=20
group SIMI, which the government in a predictable display of double=20
standards has banned, even as it actually encourages the inflammatory=20
activities of Hindu activist groups. Recently, the police in Jaipur=20
have attacked Muslim meetings and in Bombay they have even disrupted=20
sermons in mosques to arrest religious leaders for making politically=20
dangerous statements, while routine acts of terror by the Shiv Sena=20
and Hindu RSS-sponsored groups are tolerated, partly at least because=20
they have infiltrated the police.

I want to say something about this defensive and reactive Muslim mentality.

What is most striking is that it is precisely this mentality which is=20
found all over the Muslim world, even where Muslims are an=20
overwhelming majority, the only difference being that the reaction=20
there is of course not to Hindus but to American (and Israeli)=20
presence and dominance. I will not catalogue the whole familiar (and=20
what would be dreary if it were not so palpable) catalogue of the=20
wrongs of American foreign policy in the Middle-East, not to mention=20
Vietnam, East Timor, Chile and various other parts of Latin America.

To be highly selective, from the assassination of a decent and humane=20
leader like Mossadegh right down to the detailed support over the=20
years of corrupt, elitist and tyrannical leaders in Saudi Arabia,=20
Iraq, Iran, and so on, to the cynical arming and training of Muslim=20
extremists in Afghanistan, as well as the longstanding support for=20
occupation by expansionist settlement in Palestinian territories,=20
America, driven as always by corporate interests, has, as is=20
well-known, bred a resentful reaction among non-elite sections of the=20
population all over Muslim lands.

That all this follows a long history of colonial subjugation and=20
condescension by European powers, even after decolonization, involves=20
all of the West as the target of such reaction. For some years now,=20
this resentment has taken on an explicitly religious, Islamist=20
rhetoric, again because Islam seems to provide an ideological peg of=20
dignity and resistance to hang these resentments on. All this is=20
familiar, though what perhaps is less so, is that initially=20
anti-American Islamism was much more prevalent in Iran than in=20
client- states such as Saudi Arabia. But as a result of Al-Jazeera=20
and other forms of communication made possible by new technologies,=20
ordinary Muslims even in client-states like Saudi Arabia have been=20
exposed to some of the political and economic realities around them=20
and have been able to detach themselves from the cognitive clutch of=20
the royal family and elites, to join with anti-American groups in=20
neighbouring and even far-flung lands, from the caves of Afghanistan=20
to cells in Hamburg and New Jersey.

The point of importance however is this. That this Islamist rhetoric=20
is a dangerous and brittle source of self-respect is obvious to most=20
Muslims in these countries, but there does not seem even to them to=20
be any viable alternative, and it is this conflicted position of many=20
Muslims which I think should be crucial to any analysis of our=20
present times.

I think it can safely be said that as a matter of ubiquitous=20
empirical fact - whether in Mumbai or Cairo, Karachi or Tehran,=20
Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia, New Jersey or Bradford, most Muslims are=20
not absolutists at all, and are in fact deeply opposed to the=20
absolutists in their midst. This is evident in the fact that whenever=20
there have been elections the 'fundamentalist' parties have failed to=20
gain power, whether in Iran or in Pakistan. Even those who do not=20
oppose the fundamentalists are too busy with their occupations and=20
preoccupations to be seduced by any absolutist fantasies about an=20
Islamic revival worth fighting for.

Yet these ordinary Muslims who form the overwhelming majority in=20
Muslim nations have not had the confidence and courage to come out=20
and openly criticize the absolutists and this is because they too are=20
affected by the defensive mentality that pervades these regions. To=20
be openly critical seems even to them to be a capitulation to Western=20
habits and attitudes of arrogant domination, going back to colonial=20
history and, as I said, palpably present in their lives even today.=20
What would give them the confidence and courage to be critical of the=20
absolutists in their midst? This is a question of the utmost urgency=20
in our time, and it should be a question that is on the mind of every=20
humane and sensitive American today.

What is perfectly obvious is that bombing the hell out of a starving=20
nation is not going to do it, nor is the constant pinning of the=20
problem as being one of Islam versus freedom and modernity. It is not=20
freedom that ordinary non-fundamentalist Muslims are against, it is=20
not modernity which they want to shun, it is the naked=20
corporate-driven wrongs of American and western dominance of their=20
regions which they oppose; and if they confusedly sit silently by as=20
Islam is invoked in grotesque distortions by the most detestable=20
elements in their society to be the ultimate source of resistance=20
against this domination, it behooves those of us who are more=20
privileged in having escaped these resentments and their causes, to=20
try to give them the confidence to see their way out of this=20
confusion.

To do so, we will have to call things as they obviously are, obvious=20
to everyone except some insular American citizens unaware of the=20
effects of their government's actions in the world, and much more=20
culpably, journalists who speak and write in the mainstream media,=20
and mandarin intellectuals in university forums such as this one. We=20
will have to say that what happened on September 11 was an act of=20
atrocious, senseless, and unpardonable cruelty. But we will have to=20
say also that the bombing of a parched and hungry nation with the=20
effect of quite possibly creating genocidal levels of starvation is=20
an act of utter immorality, merely the last and among the worst in a=20
century filled with such immoral interventions.

All that can only be the first step in working towards addressing the=20
deep historical and contemporary sources of this defensive mentality.=20
We should not be so foolish as to expect that there is any chance=20
whatever that it will be addressed by this or any realistically=20
foreseeable American government of the near or even middle future,=20
but that does not absolve us here of our responsibility as=20
intellectuals to write and speak out in these ways.

In doing so, we cannot forget that the confused Islamist rhetorical=20
overlayer by which this defensive mentality presents itself to the=20
world is a reactionary rhetoric of the supposed pieties and glories=20
of an Islamic past, but the hopes and aspirations not of=20
fundamentalists but of ordinary Muslims who have succumbed to their=20
rhetoric, are existential hopes and aspirations for a future in which=20
a radically politicized Islam has no particular place and point at=20
all.

If we see that with clarity, our own efforts need not fall into the=20
confusions that the rhetoric encourages, as some writers (Hitchens,=20
Rushdie, Sontag, Sullivan to name just a handful) clearly have when=20
they write articles in leading magazines and newspapers with titles=20
such as "Who Said It is Not About Religion!" These sleek writers with=20
their fine phrases are buying into the very confusion of those whom=20
they are opposing and in doing so they are letting down the millions=20
of ordinary Muslims all over the world who in the end are the only=20
weapons America has against its terrorist enemies.

(The writrer is Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy in the Department=20
of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York)

_____

#6.

Frontline
Volume 18 - Issue 24, Nov. 24 - Dec. 07, 2001

Riots and politics
The communal violence that has erupted in the wake of the Malegaon=20
riots is seen as having been engineered by politicians in view of the=20
coming local body elections.

ANUPAMA KATAKAM
in Dhule and Jalgaon

COMMUNAL incidents have disturbed peace in more than 16 villages in=20
the Nashik-Dhule-Jalgaon belt in northern Maharashtra ever since=20
riots claimed 13 lives in Malegaon, a powerloom town in Nashik=20
district, on October 26. While the incidents in Malegaon are seen as=20
the immediate cause of the latest round of disturbances, it appears=20
that political rivalry, as was the case in Malegaon, is at the root=20
of the problem. The timing of the riots is important, for municipal=20
and zilla parishad elections are approaching.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1824/18240450.htm

_____

#7.

>From Indian Express-Nov. 28, 2001

Shed the Ideological baggage
Ram Puniyani

CBSE in one of its latest circular has ordered the deletion certain
portions from the History books, with the instructions that these should
neither be taught nor discussed in the class. The P.M. has gone on to
defend this retrogressive move.

Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, the MHRD minister has been acting in a hurry to
implement the communal agenda of RSS-BJP in the field of Education. During
last three years the structure and functioning of NCERT, ICHR and other
apex bodies dealing with education have been changed to pack them with
those who do not have any substantial academic standing and the only
qualification of theirs' seems to be their loyalty to communal ideology.
The present circular also defies all the ethics and rationality.

While the 'new' History books have been commissioned with authors whose
names are not being disclosed, it is clear that they are being written to
promote a particular communal ideology. This ideology cannot tolerate the
objective learning of History. In contrast, the methods of Modern
Historiography try to look at the past in all its aspects, society as
multifaceted being. The communal ideology looks at History through the
prism of religion and all the events are interpreted through the Religion
of Kings. In this view all the uncomfortable events are deleted with ease.
Interestingly for those indulging in this type of Historiography Kings
belonging to 'their' religion were the virtuous one's, the great one's. If
they invade other's territory it is bravery and if the Kings belonging to
'other' religion do the same it is barbarism of the worst kind. In this
view of History there is no place at all for looking at the Human
relationships, gender relationships and the like.

Currently the other equally dangerous path being pursued in the field of
education is to introduce courses, which promote blind faith e.g., courses
in Karmakand, Paurohitya and Astrology etc. Introduction of Astrology in
the face of great advances in astronomy give us the insight about the
contrasting methods of Faith and Reason. Faith based Astrology has
Non-existent planets like Rahu and Ketu as the key players, it regards
Saturn, which in reality comprises of rings of frozen gases, as a demon.
As per Astrology one can get the 'much sought after' male child by doing
Putreshti Yagna, while even the knowledge of elementary biology will tell
us that the sex of child is determined not by pleasing the planets but by
X or Y chromosome, which meets the ovum. These moves are aimed at stifling
and rooting out the very basic aim of education, to cultivate critical and
independent thinking amongst the children. The current move is the prelude
to the long-term goal of controlling the mindset of the society in the
communal direction and to create a conformist society.

Similar education policy in Pakistan has played havoc with the education
system there. The thinking of large chunk of society has become stunted
and the newer generations are not able to throw up good professionals
rooted in science and other modern disciplines. The present moves of the
Govt. are aimed to neutralize whatever little progress the country has
been making in the field of education and modern historiography, more in
tune with rationality and modern outlook. The present circular is the
first step in a direction, which will result in the fragmentation of the
cultural bonding of different communities. This will also deliver a
crushing blow to the scientific temper, promotion of which is one of the
basic goals of our constitution.

(The writer teaches at IIT Mumbai)

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