[sacw] SACW | 14 Sept. 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | 14 September 2002

__________________________

#1. Pakistan: Okara tenants being forced to sign lease deeds: Pervez Hoodbh=
oy
#2. Transgressing Boundaries of Gender and Identity (Flavia Agnes )
#3. Appeal to India's President by Non-Resident Indians For A Secular=20
& Harmonious India

__________________________

#1.

DAWN
13 September 2002

Okara tenants being forced to sign lease deeds: Hoodbhoy
By Rafaqat Ali

ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: Prominent educationist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy has=20
said tenants of the Okara Military farms, are being coerced to sign=20
the lease agreement, according to which anybody can be asked to leave=20
the land for their "anti-state" activities.
Speaking at a seminar organized by the Sustainable Development Policy=20
Institute (SDPI), Mr Hoodbhoy, a known iconoclast, asked the people=20
to visit the place to ascertain the ground realities, what he said=20
misery could be seen in the eyes of the tenants.
In a sad tone, he said no political party had shown any interest in=20
the plight of the tenants, who were struggling for their survival.
Mr Hoodbhoy narrated what he observed during his visit to the Okara=20
Military farms, where the peasants were struggling to get ownership=20
rights of the land which they had been tilling since 1913.
Giving his observations, he said a few days ago, when he reached Chak=20
No 45, he found police and Rangers deployed there at various=20
checkposts, which had been established to halt the resistance. The=20
policemen, he said, were on the forefront and the Rangers were=20
slightly behind, armed to teeth. Every checkpost, he said, was manned=20
by about 20 persons.
"He was stopped at the checkposts but was allowed to proceed to=20
another Chak 45, where the Rangers had gone to obtain signatures of=20
the peasants on the new contract, ending their tenancy and turning it=20
into lease agreement."
He said he was taken to an Army Major who claimed that the tenants=20
were voluntarily signing the lease agreements. "The Major told me=20
that the Batai system was being replaced only after the refusal of=20
the tenants to pay the rent they were required to pay," he said. He=20
added that the Major told him that the tenants had approached the=20
Lahore High Court but failed to get any relief.
Mr Hoodbhoy said the Major claimed that the government had offered=20
the tenants a seven-year lease agreement, which was very favourable=20
to them.
He said about 100 people had gathered there and when he asked the=20
people if they were signing the lease agreements voluntarily, they=20
said no.
He said the Major claimed that no body was being tortured for signing=20
the agreement. "But, the claim was instantly refuted by an elderly=20
woman by removing her Dupatta (scarf) to show that the wound she had=20
sustained due to Rangers' torture was still bleeding.
He said the official responded that it was a two-year old wound,=20
which the old woman was showing.
"Later, the Major said there are some mischievous elements, who=20
create problems and the present situation is the outcome of their=20
activities."
Mr Hoodbhoy said when he came back to Chak No: 10 from where he had=20
started the journey, he was told that the Rangers had arrested two=20
persons. The villagers, he said, implored him to help them, as they=20
had nobody to ask for help.
He said when he approached the policemen to inquire why they had=20
arrested two persons, they showed their inability and asked him to=20
talk to the Rangers.
When he approached a Rangers official, he could not offer any cogent=20
reply. He said he saw the people in custody shivering. Then, he said,=20
he made up his mind to see the high-ups of Rangers and travelled to=20
Lahore to meet Maj-Gen Hussain Mehdi, the head of the Rangers.
He said the General repeated the same what he had heard from Major=20
Tahir in Chak 45. The General was of the view that some anti-Pakistan=20
NGOs were responsible for the whole mess. "The NGOs were dubbed as=20
RAW agents."
Mr Hoodbhoy said he asked the general to take sympathetic view of the=20
situation and told him that what he had seen, reminded him of the=20
atrocities being perpetrated by the Indian army against the people of=20
Kashmir.
"The general, after giving background of his method of tackling such=20
situations, said the farmers were there only because of his=20
sympathetic view otherwise he could have evicted them in hours," he=20
added.
"General Mehdi repeated what he had done when he was assigned to=20
conduct the Sohrab Goth operation."
He said when he asked the general to handle the case legally, his=20
response was interesting. "The general said the country was under the=20
direct control of the army, as the President and the Chief of Army=20
Staff was the same person and there was no question of any illegality=20
as the army itself was the law."
Admiral Fasih Bukhari (retired) said he too visited Okara but was not=20
allowed to meet the tenants.
He said he spent about two hours in the military headquarter at the=20
farms. He said that he was told by the Rangers that it was not safe=20
to go around as Al-Qaeda elements were also there.
The Admiral said he was informed by the Rangers that the tenants were=20
being supported from outside. He said the contract which was being=20
offered to the farmers was "certainly" better from what was being=20
offered to the tillers by the private land owners.
He said he had not made up his mind yet and wanted to study more on=20
the subject including the judgment of the High Court. He said he had=20
talked to a number of army officials and was scheduled to see the=20
vice-chief of army staff within a day or so to discuss the issue.
He wanted to seek suggestions from the participants of the seminar=20
which he would carry to the military high-ups. He was told by the=20
participants that the relevant law was Punjab Tenancy Act 1950, under=20
which the tenant had the first right to the land.
The participants said the land was of the Punjab government that had=20
refused to hand it over to the defence ministry. "The tenant had more=20
right than the military to own the land, as the tenants had been=20
tilling the land since 1913 and the Army's lease lasted for 15 years.
The admiral was also asked to study how Sir Chotoo Ram handled almost=20
an identical issue when people of the Punjab, mostly the farmers,=20
were being robbed by the Hindu Banias .

_____

#2.

EPW
September 07, 2002
Commentary

Transgressing Boundaries of Gender and Identity

Just as the stories of black women in the US, caught up in the=20
whirlwind of lynchings and gendered genealogy of racist violence have=20
been hidden from history, will also the narratives of women, caught=20
in the midst of communal violence get erased? To avoid this=20
eventuality feminism would have to be recast within the complex=20
intersectionality of gender and identity.
Flavia Agnes

If black people had accepted a status of economic and political=20
inferiority, the mob murders would probably have subsided. But=20
because vast numbers of ex-slaves refused to discard their dreams of=20
progress, more than ten thousand lynchings occurred=8AWhoever=20
challenged the racial hierarchy was marked a potential victim of the=20
mob. The endless roster of the dead came to include every sort of=20
insurgent =AD from the owners of successful Black business=8Ato those who=20
refused to be called =8Cboy=B9 and the defiant women who resisted white=20
men=B9s sexual abuses. Yet public opinion had been captured and it was=20
taken for granted that lynching was a just response to the barbarous=20
sexual crimes against white womanhood. And an important question=20
remained unasked: What about the numerous women who were lynched =AD=20
and sometimes raped, before they were killed by the mob.

=AD Angela Davis (1983)

My heart is sickened, my soul wearied, my shoulders aching with the=20
burdens of guilt and shame=8AI force myself to write a small fraction=20
of all that I heard and saw, because it is important that we all=20
know=8AWhat can you say about a woman, eight months pregnant who begged=20
to be spared. Her assailants instead slit open her stomach, pulled=20
out her foetus and slaughtered it before her eyes?=8AWhat can you=20
say?=8AI have never known a riot which has used the sexual subjugation=20
of women so widely as an instrument of violence as in the recent mass=20
barbarity in Gujarat. There are reports everywhere of gang rape, of=20
young girls and women,=8Afollowed by their murder by burning alive, or=20
by bludgeoning with a hammer and in one case with a screw driver.

=AD Harsh Mander (2002)

This essay explores the inter sectionality of gender and identity.The=20
conjunctures and parities in the manner in which two different=20
cultural divides, one of race, the other of religion, situated within=20
two great democracies of our times, intersect upon gender is the=20
focus.

The vocal, visible and highly articulate women=B9s movements in both=20
countries, the US and India, have contextualised gender concerns and=20
examined the overarching influence of patriarchy upon the lives of=20
women. State interventions have been invoked through sustained=20
campaigns to release women from its clutches. But how has this=20
articulation addressed concerns of women who are at the margins of=20
social boundaries, whose reality is marked not only by patriarchal=20
dominations, but also by racial, religious and caste prejudices?

Within a hierarchy of social relationships, gender concerns are=20
articulated from the context of the mainstream =AD for India, it is the=20
Hindu woman and for the west, the white woman. A slogan coined by=20
women of colour in the US succinctly captures this reality: =8CAll=20
women are White, All Blacks are men=8Abut some of us are brave=B9.

What is worse, even when gender concerns of the marginalised women=20
hit the headlines, they do so primarily to strengthen the prevailing=20
stereotypical biases against the community at large. Rather than the=20
overt pro-women concern, what gets foregrounded is the anti-community=20
undertone. No other example can better serve to explain this, than=20
the Shahbano controversy. The controversy arose out of a Supreme=20
Court ruling in 1985 (Mohd Ahmed Khan vs Shahbano Begam, AIR 1985 SC=20
945) which upheld the right of a divorced Muslim woman for=20
maintenance. The adverse comments in the ruling against the Prophet=20
and Islam led to a backlash and a demand for a separate statute based=20
on Islamic jurisprudence. The then Congress government gave in to the=20
pressure exerted by the Muslim fundamentalist lobby and enacted the=20
Muslim Women=B9s Act in 1986. But over time, this statute, advertently=20
or inadvertently, bestowed upon Muslim women, a superior economic=20
right, than the one enshrined in S 125 CrPC. But despite this, for=20
well over a decade, the statute enacted amidst protest from human=20
rights and women=B9s groups, was viewed as a marker of Muslim=20
appeasement and a defeat of secular principles within the Indian=20
polity.

The denial of rights of a meagre maintenance dole was lamented by all=20
and sundry, not withstanding the fact that the maintenance awarded to=20
the wife of an advocate with a flourishing practice was just Rs 25 in=20
the first instance and Rs 179 in appeal. So long as the debate could=20
be used as a stick to beat the community with, these minor details=20
did not seem to matter. What did matter is the fact that a communal=20
campaign could be mounted upon a patriarchal paradigm and thereby=20
legitimised. The irony lay in the fact that the groundwork for=20
mounting this campaign was laid by the women=B9s movement, with genuine=20
gender concerns, but firmly located within the cultural ethos of=20
the=A0mainstream. Within this framework, a similar appeasement of=20
Hindus, by strengthening coparcenaries1 by various legislative=20
measures, could be deliberately ignored.

The communal fervour could be sustained only by denying the fact that=20
the act provided for an alternate remedy, far superior to the one=20
that had been denied to Muslim women; by negating the fact that since=20
1988, the act was being positively interpreted by various high courts=20
in the country by awarding substantial amounts as =8Csettlements=B9; by=20
glossing over an important development in the realm of family law,=20
that of determination of economic entitlements upon divorce, rather=20
than the prevailing right of recurring maintenance.

So even while homes of poor Muslim women were looted, gutted and=20
razed to the ground in various communal riots which broke out in the=20
country in the post-Shahbano phase, while teenage sons of Muslim=20
women were killed at point blank ranges in police firings, while=20
Muslim women were raped under flood lights in post-Babri masjid=20
riots, the mainstream continued to lament over Muslim appeasement and=20
denial of maintenance to =B3poor Muslim women/the Shahbanos=B2.

One could overlook even this. Perhaps there was a justification.=20
Denial of maintenance by husbands was as loathsome as rape of women=20
in communal riots. In the ultimate analysis, it was the Muslim women=20
who suffered. So far so good. But how can one logically explain the=20
recurring motif of =8CMuslim appeasement=B9 even after the Supreme Court=20
decision in Danial Latifi (II (2001) DMC 714 (SC)) case, when the=20
controversy was finally laid to rest by upholding the constitutional=20
validity of the act and simultaneously securing the rights of Muslim=20
women?

And yet, the rhetoric continues. And is used yet again, in defence of=20
the Gujarat carnage. =B3They had it coming=8Athey have been =8Cappeased=B9=
=20
beyond tolerance. Why should they demand a separate law in a secular=20
country? Why should they be allowed to marry four times? Why are=20
Hindus alone bound by an obligation of maintenance?=B2 What is=20
startling is that the grievances are mouthed not only by Hindu=20
extremists, but also by centrists, the liberals, the people who=20
inhabit my social space, the urban, cosmopolitan, middle class.=20
Within the cultural ethos of the mainstream, an injustice to a Muslim=20
wife gets magically transformed into a Hindu injury which could be=20
invoked to justify communal carnage. Without this tacit approval by=20
the middle class, the Gujarat carnage could never have spread so wide=20
nor so deep.

The rhetoric conveniently overlooks the fact that abandonment and=20
destitution of wives is as rampant among Hindus; that the matrimonial=20
faults of adultery and bigamy are evenly distributed across=20
communities and that Hindus, Christians and Parsees, with equal zeal,=20
guard the patriarchal prerogatives within their respective personal=20
laws. Further, that around 80 per=A0cent of all women burnt in their=20
matrimonial homes are urban middle class Hindus!

The symbolism becomes even more stark, when one is confronted with=20
the gruesome sexual violations of women during the recent massacres.=20
While exploring possible legal portals to place these blood curdling=20
barbarities, one hits a dead end at each turn. As one hears the=20
narratives of young women, running helter-skelter, slipping, falling=20
and becoming preys to the marauding mobs, their violated and=20
mutilated bodies being thrown into open fires, the question keeps=20
haunting: where and how does one pin the culpability?

When violence of this scale supersedes the confines of criminal=20
jurisprudence which is bound by conventions of proof and evidence,=20
medical examinations and forensic reports, when criminal prosecution=20
itself is a closed-end process in the hands of the state machinery,=20
what legal measures can be invoked to bring justice to the dead and=20
the surviving? It is then that the covenants of equality and equal=20
protection mock you in the face. But the danger at the other end, if=20
these violations do not form part of =8Cofficial records=B9 they can be=20
conveniently negated as baseless allegations or normalised as routine=20
occurrences as the defence minister, George Fernandes did, on the=20
floor of the House, during the marathon debate on Gujarat.

The official discourse is geared towards denial. Uma Bharati, the=20
woman minister of the BJP (who had cheered and goaded the crowd while=20
Babri masjid was being demolished) asked in feigned disbelief, =B3Who=20
is she whose stomach was slit and foetus taken out? No one has heard=20
of this woman. She is a fiction created by the media=B2.

A further report by another statutory body, instituted presumably for=20
the protection of women, the National Commission for Women, continued=20
with this denial mode. In a cursory report, brought out after the=20
Commission=B9s whirlwind tour of the riot-torn state, 40 days after=20
violence broke out, gave no details of sexual violence on the pretext=20
that there is already an influx of graphic details by the media and=20
fact finding teams. A member of the team, ironically, a stakeholder=20
in the contemporary women=B9s movement, further trivialised this=20
through a newspaper report, by stating that only three women admitted=20
to being raped. A cultural argument was advanced that Indian,=20
subcontinental and even Asian women are reluctant to admit rape as it=20
may result in abandonment. Within this cultural reality, should women=20
be forced to share their experiences, she pondered.

The entire logic and rationality of the anti-rape movement gets=20
turned on its head here. The catalyst for that inspired campaign of=20
the 1980s was an isolated incident of rape by two police constables.=20
The author of the article herself, was one of the signatories to the=20
open letter to the chief justice to re-examine the case. It was this=20
open letter, which turned Mathura into an icon of the movement. One=20
wonders whether permission of this poor, orphan, rural, tribal,=20
teenaged girl was ever sought before writing off the open letter.=20
Mathura, Maya Tyagi, Rameezabi, Suman Rani, Banwari Devi, Kuntaben =AD=20
all individual cases. Here the numbers did not matter. Each isolated=20
incident was sufficient to trigger off a national campaign. Each=20
reported judgment, carried graphic details of the rape, which the=20
movement relied upon, to launch its campaigns.

But when it comes to state collusion in communal carnage, when=20
sadistic sexual mutilations and barbaric sexual violations are buried=20
under a more grievous and yet, more acceptable crime of murder, one=20
tends to resort to a game of numbers. How many more young girls=B9=20
vaginas need to be slit open, how many more rods need to be inserted=20
into as yet unformed uteruses, how many more foetus have to be gorged=20
out of the bellies of pregnant women, for the state administration to=20
take serious note of the scale of sexual violence on minority women?

The genocide in Gujarat, as well as the earlier communal riots, have=20
taught a painful lesson to Muslim women, that when threatened with a=20
life and death situation, in the face of bloodthirsty and sexually=20
debased mobs, mosques, dargahs and madrasas are transformed into an=20
oasis of security and solace. Communal and patriarchal identities get=20
forged. The secular and women=B9s rights voices are too distant from=20
their harrowing realities.

Women in relief camps narrated incidents of camp organisers helping=20
out, not only with arrangements of food and first aid, but also with=20
cleansing bleeding wounds and extracting wooden splinters buried into=20
the deepest crevices. While women gave birth in the open in those=20
traumatic days, the men had no choice but to help in the birthing=20
process. Before the meagre aid declared by the government could be=20
accessed, the hungry children were fed only through hurriedly put=20
together community resources. Women partook in the festivity of=20
marriage celebrations of young orphaned girls, arranged by camp=20
leaders, which brought a semblance of normalcy to their shattered=20
lives. They cried out, when the men were picked up in combing=20
operations and bore the brunt of police brutalities. The bonding=20
between people under siege, is cemented through the adhesive of=20
shared grief and suffering. In the struggle for day to day survival,=20
gender concerns and patriarchal oppressions seem remote.

Difficult Questions

How should concerned groups within civil society respond to this=20
social and political reality? When the moral basis for the rights=20
itself shifts, where can one start the process of renegotiating and=20
reframing the covenants of equality and equal protection.? What are=20
the myriad ways in which the seemingly innocuous laws get unfolded=20
within the complex terrain of social hierarchies? These are difficult=20
questions.

Angela Davis is, perhaps, one of the first scholars to address some=20
of these difficult questions. She explains how the hard won abortion=20
right of the white women=B9s movement became a draconian measure of=20
state-sponsored genocide for women of colour. Within a racially=20
tinted population policy of the US government, involuntary=20
sterilisations were used for mass birth control of black, coloured=20
and native American women. In her own words:

It was not until the media decided that the casual sterilisation of=20
two black girls=8Awas a scandal worth reporting that the Pandora=B9s box=20
of sterilisation abuse was finally flung open. But by the time the=20
case of the Relf sisters broke, it was practically too late=8AIt was=20
the summer of 1973 and the Supreme Court decision legalising=20
abortions had already been announced in January. Nevertheless, the=20
urgent need for mass=A0opposition to sterilisation abuse became=20
tragically=A0clear. The facts surrounding the Relf sisters=B9 story were=20
horrifyingly simple. (The sisters) aged twelve and fourteen had been=20
unsuspectingly carted into an operating room, where surgeons=20
irrevocably robbed them of their capacity to bear children [Davis=20
1983:216].

By 1976, 24 per cent of all native American women of child-bearing=20
age had been sterilised. A Choctaw physician told the Senate: =B3Our=20
blood lines are being stopped =8AOur unborn will not be born=8AThis is=20
genocidal to our people [Davis 1983:218].

Picking up cudgels with the anti-rape movement, she holds that the=20
myth of the black rapist is located within insidious racist ideology=20
and black women, for their own survival, had to stick with their men=20
to explode the myth. The historical knot, binding black women =AD=20
systematically abused and violated by white men =AD to black men =AD=20
maimed and murdered because of racial manipulation of the rape=20
charge, has not been adequately analysed by feminist theorists during=20
the anti-rape movement in the US, she laments. Susan Brownmiller=B9s=20
(1975) discussion on rape and race evinces an unthinking partisanship=20
which borders on racism:

Given the central role played by the fictional black rapist in the=20
shaping of post-slavery racism, it is, at best, irresponsible=20
theorising to represent black men as the most frequent authors of=20
sexual violence =8A(I)t is an aggression against black people as a=20
whole, for the mythical rapist implies the mythical whore. Perceiving=20
the rape charge as an attack against the entire black community,=20
black women were quick to assume the leadership of the anti-lynching=20
movement [Brownmiller 1975:191].

Astonishingly similar sexual stereotypes are woven into the Gujarat=20
carnage. Exploring the ideological base for the sadism directed=20
against the female and infantile bodies during the days of Hindutva=20
terror, the noted historian, Tanika Sarkar states: =B3There is a dark=20
sexual obsession about allegedly ultra-virile Muslim male bodies and=20
overfertile Muslim female ones, that inspire and sustain the figures=20
of paranoia and revenge. For generations, anxieties had been whipped=20
up about Muslim fertility rates, of their uncontrolled breeding and=20
imminent outnumbering of the Hindu majority=B2 [Sarkar 2002:2872]. The=20
motif of the vigorously self-multiplying Muslim had been effectively=20
used to whip up Hindu sentiments in support of the Uniform Civil=20
Code, in the post-Shahbano phase, by the saffron brigade. It was=20
invoked again during the Gujarat violence. The woman=B9s body was a=20
site of almost inexhaustible violence, with infinitely plural and=20
innovative forms of torture, their sexual and reproductive organs=20
were attacked with a special savagery, their children born and=20
unborn, shared the attacks and were killed before their eyes, Sarkar=20
comments.

The rationale behind the forced sterilisation of the coloured woman,=20
the ideological underpinnings of the lynching of the mythical black=20
rapist and the images of the voluptuous, fertile and sexually debased=20
black woman are held together across time and cultural divide. The=20
narratives are chillingly similar.

They bound her ankles together and, by them, hanged her to a tree.=20
Gasoline and motor oil were thrown upon her dangling clothes, a match=20
wrapped her in sudden flames. Mocking a ribald laughter from her=20
tormentors answered the helpless woman=B9s screams of pain and terror.=20
The clothes burned from her crisply toasted body, in which=20
unfortunately, life still lingered; a man stepped toward the woman=20
and, with his knife, ripped open the abdomen in a crude caesarian=20
operation. Out tumbled the prematurely born child. Two feeble, cries=20
it gave =AD and received for answer the heel of a stalwart man, as life=20
was ground out of the tiny form [White 1969:27-29].

Almost sequence by sequence, the horror story is retold, in an=20
affidavit filed before the Commission of Enquiry (Shah and Nanavati=20
Commission) in Ahmedabad:

On February 28, 2002, at about 10.30 AM, a mob of about 3,000 men=20
surrounded our Chali. They were shouting slogans=8A=8CJai Shri Ram=B9. They=
=20
were carrying swords,=A0lathis, chains, pipes and some were carrying=20
cans of what looked like petrol. They were wearing shorts and had=20
=8Cpattis=B9 on their head. They had come running from the direction of=20
Noorani masjid. People started running for their lives. My wife was=20
pregnant. She could not run so I carried her in my arms and was=20
running through a lane going towards the Teesra Kuwa. Behind me the=20
mob was setting the houses on fire, killing people, setting them=20
ablaze. Near=A0the Teesra Kuwa, I put my wife down and we were both=20
running when about 20 to 25 persons caught up with us. They pulled my=20
wife out of my arms=8AThen they slit her stomach with a sword, pulled=20
out our child from her stomach and paraded the baby on the tip of a=20
sword. I think I heard my child cry. Then they poured petrol on both=20
of them and lit them. I hid behind a five feet wall, which is the=20
boundary wall of a maidan and witnessed what happened to=A0my wife and=20
child. Then I ran for fear of my=A0life.

Covenants of equality and equal protection may unfold diagonally=20
opposite trajectories for the mainstream and the marginalised.=20
Several African American feminist legal scholars, have challenged the=20
theories advocated by a predominantly white women=B9s movement and have=20
attempted to rewrite these covenants, within the alchemy of race and=20
rights. The essays on the widely publicised, Clarence Thomas=A0=AD Anita=20
Hill case, almost a century after the lynching episodes, are a=20
classic example of this nuancing.

On the surface, it was a simple case of a woman, testifying against a=20
judge nominated to the US Supreme Court and despite the allegations,=20
the judge being confirmed. Both had transcended the limitations of=20
race and class and had graduated from the prestigious Yale Law=20
School. Both were conservative Republicans, as against the=20
traditional support of the black community to the Democratic Party.=20
The judge was a nominee of the Republican government, a defender of=20
racist policies, which the nominee had endorsed

The widely televised public hearings at Capitol Hill, by an all white=20
Senate Judicial Committee, in October 1991, unfolded a complex=20
interplay of race and gender in the American public life. According=20
to Toni Morrison (1992:vii-xxx), the serious issues of male=20
prerogative and sexual assault, the issues of racial justice and=20
racial redress, the problematics of governing and controlling women=B9s=20
bodies, the alterations of work space into (sexually) domesticated=20
space =AD were subsumed into=A0the debate and worked out on, and=20
inscribed upon the canvas/flesh of black people

=8A(T)he site of the exorcism of critical national issues was situated=20
in the miasma of black life and inscribed on the bodies of black=20
people=8A

Black people signify the polar opposites of love and repulsion.=20
Benevolence, harmless and servile guardianship and endless love on=20
the one hand and insanity, illicit sexuality, and chaos at the other.=20
In the confirmation hearings the two fictions were at war and on=20
display. They are interchangeable fictions=A0from a utilitarian menu=20
and can be mixed and matched to suit any racial palette. They do not=20
need logical transition from one set of associations to another=8A

An accusation of such weight as sexual misconduct would probably have=20
disqualified a white candidate. Rather than any need for proof, the=20
slightest possibility that it was publicly verifiable would have=20
nullified the candidacy. But in a racialised and race-conscious=20
society, the standards are changed. It seemed blazingly clear that=20
with this unprecedented opportunity to hover over and to cluck at, to=20
meditate and ponder the limits and excesses of black bodies, no other=20
strategies were going to be entertained. Under the pressure of=20
voyeuristic desire, fuelled by mythologies that render blacks=20
publicly serviceable instruments of private dread and longing,=20
extraordinary behaviour on the part of the state could take place=8A

The contempt emanating from the White House was palpable =AD it was not=20
necessary for the candidate to be a first rate legal scholar. Nor was=20
it necessary for him to demonstrate particular sensitivity to the=20
issues and concerns of a race he belonged to but which =8Chad no=20
bearing=B9 on his selection. (The nominee was chosen, the president=20
said, without regard to race.) But the =8Crace=B9 that =8Chad no bearing=B9=
=20
on the president=B9s choice could be counted on to support the nominee,=20
since =8Cskin voting=B9 would overwhelm every other consideration.

Thomas attempted to transcend his blackness and condemned those who=20
argued that his race necessarily imposed an obligation to conform to=20
certain progressive political attitudes or policies. His racelessness=20
was emphasised by the white spouse at his side. And it was the envy=20
of this racially, ideal union that was one of the reasons for Anita=20
Hill=B9s charges, he alleged. Hill, he seemed to suggest, harboured=20
reactionary, race-bound opinions about interracial love, which, as=20
everybody knows, can drive a black woman insane and cause her to say=20
wild incredible things.

The African American legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw (1992:402-40)=20
explores yet another dynamics of the hearings: =B3Situated within two=20
fundamental hierarchies, the experience of black women in the=20
dominant cultural ideology of American society can be conceptualised=20
as intersectional. Intersectionality reflects the unique and=20
unassimilable social positioning of black women into the discursive=20
paradigms of gender and race. The Thomas =AD Hill controversy presents=20
a stark illustration of the problem as evidenced by the opposition=20
between narratives of rape and lynching=8A

Content to rest their case on a raceless tale of gender=20
subordinatioin, white feminist missed an opportunity to span the=20
chasm between feminism and antiracism. Indeed feminists actually=20
helped maintain the chasm by endorsing the naming of the event as a=20
race versus gender issue. In the absence of narratives linking race=20
and gender, the prevailing narrative structures continued to organise=20
the Hill-Thomas controversy as either a story about the harassment of=20
a white woman or a story of the harassment of a black man.=20
Identification by race or gender seemed to be an either/or=20
proposition and when it is experienced in that manner, black people=20
both men and women have traditionally chosen race solidarity. Indeed=20
white feminist acquiescence to the either/or frame, worked directly=20
to Thomas=B9s advantage, with Hill thus cast as simply a de-raced =AD=20
that is white =AD woman. Thomas was in a position to claim that he was=20
the victim of racial discrimination with Hill as the perpetrator=8A

One of the most stunning moments in the history of American cultural=20
drama occurred when Clarence Thomas denounced the hearings as a high=20
tech lynching. Thomas=B9s move to drape himself in a history of black=20
male repression was particularly effective in the all white male=20
Senate, whose members could not muster the moral authority to=20
challenge the sensationlist characaterisation. Not only was Thomas=20
suddenly transformed into a victim of racial discrimination, but=20
Anita Hill was further erased as a black woman. Her racial identity=20
became irrelevant in explaining or understanding her position, while=20
Thomas=B9s play on the lynching metaphor racially empowered him=8A

(T)here are several competing narratives that could conceivably have=20
countered Thomas=B9s move. Chief among them was the possibility of=20
pointing out that allegations relating to the sexual abuse of black=20
women had nothing to do with the history of lynching, a tradition=20
based upon white hysteria regarding black male access to white women.=20
Black women=B9s relationship to the lynch mob was not as perpetrator=20
but as one of its victims either through their own lynching or the=20
lynching of their loved ones. Yet the race play was amazingly=20
successful. His ratings in the black community skyrocketed and=20
probably it was this support that clinched the seat on the court.

For Kimberle Crenshaw, among the most painful of the lessons to be=20
drawn from the Thomas-Hill affair is that feminism must be recast in=20
order to reach women who do not see gender as relevant to an=20
understanding of their own disempowerment. In the same vien, a=20
painful question that needs to be framed within our social reality,=20
what is the feminist reading of Shahbano today, in the context of=20
heightened communal identities and hatred against minority=20
communities. Borrowing a phrase from the Anita Hill episode, one=20
wonders whether the overwhelming media and feminist support to=20
Shahbano, a conservative Muslim woman, serve to =8Cde-race=B9 her? And=20
was it this fear that ultimately resulted in her publicly denouncing=20
her maintenance claim, to reclaim her community identity? Was it the=20
sharp polarisation between the binaries of gender and community that=20
left no space for the intersectionality of a Muslim woman?

The questions become even more haunting, as we examine the rape and=20
sexual abuse of Muslim women in the recent carnage. Will their=20
narratives be a =8Craceless tale of gender subordination=B9 for feminists=20
and a gender-less narrative of minority victimisation for the Muslim=20
community? Just as the stories of black women, caught up in the=20
whirlwind of lynchings and the gendered genealogy of racist violence=20
has been hidden from history, will also the women, caught in the=20
whirlwind of communal violence and paid the price with their blood=20
and that of their children, born and unborn, get erased? To avoid=20
this eventuality, feminism would have to be recast within the complex=20
intersectionality of gender and identity. Only then, would a Shahbano=20
not be compelled to retract.

Note

[A shorter version of this essay, by the title, =8CGender and Identity=20
=AD Notions of Equality and Equal Protection=B9 is scheduled to appear in=20
Communalism Combat, Anniversary Issue, September 2002.
The article draws upon the insights gained by a team of lawyers and=20
volunteers who were part of the legal initiative programme=20
coordinated by Majlis, in relief camps in Ahmedabad. The team=20
prepared affidavits on sexual violations which were filed before the=20
Commission of Enquiry.]

1 Coparcenaries is the term used for Hindu Undivided Family (HUF)=20
Properties within which inheritance rights are confined to male heirs.

References

Brownmiller, Susan (1975): Against Our Will, Men, Women and Rape,=20
Penguin Books, New York.
Crenshaw, Kimberle (1992): =8CWhose Story Is It, Anyway? Feminist and=20
Antiracist Appropriations of Anita Hill=B9 in Toni Morrison (ed),=20
Racing Justice, Engendering Power Pantheon Books, New York, pp 402-40.
Davis, Angela (1983): Women Race and Class, Vintage Books, New York,=20
pp 190-91 Mander, Harsh (2002): =8CCry My Beloved Country=B9, The Times=20
of India, March 20.
Morrison, Toni (ed) (1992): Racing Justice, Engendering Power,=20
Pantheon Books, New York.
Sarkar, Tanika (2002): =8CSemiotics of Terror=B9, Economic and Political=20
Weekly, July 13.
White, Walter (1969): Rape and Faggot, Arno Press, New York, pp 27-29=20
as quoted by Kendall Thomas, =8CStrange Fruit=B9 in Toni Morrison (ed)=20
(1992), Racing Justice, Engendering Power Panthe on Books, New York,=20
p 371.

______

#3.

Non-Resident Indians For A Secular & Harmonious India (NRI-SAHI),
U.S.A.

-- A Sadbhavna Mission for Healing the Wounds of the People of Gujarat

AN APPEAL TO THE HONOURABLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA

September 12, 2002

The Honourable President of India
Mr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
New Delhi, India

Subject: The Continuing Tragedy in Gujarat

Respected Sir:

Like all the people of India, we NRIs were also shocked at the sheer
inhumanity of the Godhra killings on February 27, 2002. But, before
we could even comprehend and respond to that deplorable event, we
were horrified at the ensuing carnage directed against the Muslims of
Gujarat, with the tacit complicity of state machinery at all levels.
As the weeks slipped by, our eternal optimism in the people of India
and our system of democracy had us believing that wisdom and common
sense would soon prevail, and the state would reestablish law and
order and communal harmony, if for no other reason than the selfish
economic interests of Gujarat. Instead, Gujarat's elected government
seems to have completely abdicated its constitutional role, and has
cynically sought to worsen the situation for the victims at every
level, and is continuing to exacerbate communal feelings, with
electoral gains in mind. And, we have seen no signs of the Central
Government or the party in power intervening to reverse this politics
of hate.

Given this unprecedented situation in our nation, and the danger
which it represents to the future of our secular and democratic
fabric, this group of NRIs, representing many diverse organizations
in the United States, decided several weeks ago to embark upon a
Sadbhavna Mission to observe the situation first hand. Prior to
embarking on the trip, we studied numerous reports from India
prepared by various human rights organizations (including NHRC) and
several other NGOs and citizen's groups, outlining the details of the
violence and the plight of the victims. We have spent the last
several days in Gujarat, during which we have had an intensive series
of visits and meetings, including a visit to Godhra and the ill-fated
train. We have visited with:

Victims of the violence, many of whom are still in 'unofficial'
camps, for they have nowhere to go.
Villages, where many Muslim families are being prevented from
returning to their homes, under threats and intimidation. In urban
areas, we also visited areas where Muslims had returned to their
homes, or what was left of it.
Islamic as well as secular NGOs, who have borne the brunt of tending
to the victims, with little or no government help, and often
encountering governmental interference and harassment.
Women's groups who are providing psychological counseling to the
enormous number of women victims, and are still striving to bring to
the nation's conscience the scale of brutality against women and
children.
Religious leaders of all faiths
Human Rights groups, which have never before felt so helpless.
Legal cells working long hours to strive to bring a measure of
justice for the victims, even when they know in their hearts that no
convictions are likely under the current legal system.
The Gujarati press, including those who are seen as biased against
the minorities.
Politicians in the Opposition. (We were unable to meet ruling party
officials.)
Ex-law enforcement officials, who are themselves aghast at the
breakdown of law and order.
Many, many brave individuals who have suspended all their normal
activities to help the victims.

Our overall conclusion from these visits is that there indeed is a
third `carnage' underway in Gujarat, albeit a more subtle and
insidious one, often hidden from public view. While there may be no
overt violence or killings, we believe that there is a systematic
campaign to humiliate the victims and increase their agony in every
way possible. More specifically, our visit not only confirmed the
various reports that we had seen but, in some ways, the situation
seems worse than we had imagined:

The level of communalization in the society seems so complete that
even when there is NO normalcy for most of the Muslims, the majority
community is able to go about with a contrived sense of normalcy.
We also heard of numerous cases where Hindus themselves had been
affected economically and/or emotionally, confirming our view that
everyone in Gujarat is a victim.
This environment is allowing the state machinery and the judiciary to
get away with impunity as they:
Distance themselves from relief and rehabilitation to the victims.
Subvert the legal process on a daily basis, including doctoring of
FIRs; pressuring and/or blackmailing the victims to withdraw FIRs;
loading the system with public prosecutors with known antipathy
towards Muslims and loyalty to the party in power; and bringing false
charges against the victims, especially youth.
This environment has also lead to:
A large number of high school children whose lives have been
traumatized by the circumstances of their exams, with little or no
options in front of them. There is wide-spread apprehension among
Hindus as well as Muslims that many of these frustrated youth could
turn to violence while their elders are struggling to put their own
family life together.
Job discrimination against Muslims seems to have become more severe,
with communalization seeping even into otherwise 'enlightened' NGOs
and CBOs.
With one notable exception, NO significant HINDU religious leader
seems to have spoken out against the inhumanity, making everything
that we have learnt about the Hindu ethos suddenly appear hollow.

We believe that there can be no communal amity without the speedy
rehabilitation of ALL the victims. And there can be no true long-term
rehabilitation without justice. For the sake our nation, and our
future generations, about whom you have written so often and so
eloquently, we earnestly appeal to you to do everything in your power
to intervene immediately to reverse the dangerous course in Gujarat.
We do not believe that any half-hearted measures will suffice at this
late hour. It is our humble opinion that only a period of President's
Rule in the state, with an able and impartial administrator, who is
beyond any party sympathies, can rescue Gujarat from a spiral of
continuing hate and violence. (We do not believe that the current
Governor, with his known political biases can do the job.) During
such a 'cooling off' and healing period, we believe that the
administration should prioritize confidence-building measures,
reestablish true law and order (not just for the majority), and
vigorously promote communal harmony. Specifically, we believe that
such an administration should:

Take immediate measures to completely overhaul the State's
administrative and law enforcement machinery, which has become so
communalized. (Given the complete failure of the Police system during
the violence, a citizens oversight committee might be appropriate to
rebuild the people's confidence in the police--like it has been done
in many U.S. cities).
Vigorously pursue legal action against all the accused and ensure
convictions.
Speed up previously promised rehabilitation aid to the victims and
increase the aid significantly to accelerate the return to normalcy.
(Including state intervention to assist the 1 lakh high school
children whose lives have been put on hold).
Speed up the process of establishing the status of all the missing
persons and ensure that compensation for the missing is treated in
the same way as death compensation, to remove the 'double jeopardy'
that the kith and kin are being subjected to.
Ensure that all the displaced villagers can get back to their homes,
preferably with the cooperation of their neighbors, and where that is
not possible, with the support of the police.
Ensure that elections are delayed until all electoral rolls are
properly verified, all the dislocated persons are back in their
homes, especially in rural areas, and that an environment is
established for free and fair elections.
Support communal harmony groups and send governmental representatives
to work with civil society groups on such initiatives to help heal
the wounds of Gujarat (like the government did after the devastating
earthquake.)
Rebuild all places of worship destroyed and damaged during the
violence, with active participation by civil society (Muslims and
Hindus).

Honourable President, you have said in one of your books that your
favorite character in Mahabaratha is Vidura, "who showed grit against
the wrongdoings of authority and had the courage to differ when
everyone else chose to surrender before the tyranny of adharma." We
have encountered many a 'Vidura' during our trip to Gujarat, many of
whom are being ostracized or punished for their views. All of them,
and all of us, are counting on you to not only exercise your full
constitutional authority, but to speak out publicly against the
continuing horror of the people of Gujarat. Only then can we together
reestablish true peace in Gujarat, without which, as you have rightly
said, "There can be no progress."

Respectfully,

Delegates of the Sadbhavna Mission from the United States.

Mr. George Abraham, Chief IT Operations, UN Pension Fund, New York
Dr. Satinath Choudhary, Prof. Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science, New York
Dr. Aditi Desai, Sociologist and UN Consultant, New York
Mr. Gautham Desai, Founder, Develop in Peace Forum, North Carolina
Ms. Nishrin Hussain, Daughter of late M.P. Ahsan Jafri, Delaware
Mr. P.D. John, Federation of Indian-American Christians, Washington
D.C.
Dr. Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy and Environment Research,
Maryland
Rev. Bernard Malik, Director, Global Center for Indian Christians,
Delaware
Mr. Shrikumar Poddar, Acharya, Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment,
Michigan
Mr. Raju Rajagopal, Social Activist/Worker, EKTA/Coalition Against
Communalism, California
Dr. Najma Sultana, Founding Member of NRI-SAHI, Washington

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