SACW | 28-29 June, 2003
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex@mnet.fr
Sun, 29 Jun 2003 02:16:29 +0100
South Asia Citizens Wire | 28-29 June, 2003
#1.On the Indian parliamentarians visit to Pakistan:
- Harbingers of peace (Zaman Khan)
-See you at Wagha, Nayar Sahib! (Imam Shamil)
#2. Chowkidar to the Empire? Should India send troops to Iraq? (P. Sainath)
#3. Press Release - Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and
Democracy (PIPFPD) Secretariat [India Chapter]
#4. India : ANHAD is observing July 1, 2003 as the day for Communal
Harmony in Gujarat
#5. India: Interview with the convenor of Committee for Coordination
on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP)
#6. The refugee in India (Rajeev Dhavan)
#7. India: Anti Emergency Day Observed in Gujarat (Movement for
Secular Democracy / PUCL)
#8. Indian Activists Encouraged by U.S. Sodomy-Law Ruling
+ Gay walk for rights in Calcutta
#9. India: 'Secular' Congress Govt of Rajasthan launches temple
website (Rajan Mahan)
#10. India: We, The Guilty - If the first verdict involving Gujarat's
carnage is any indication, there is no hope for any justice in the
other cases under trial. And we are responsible (Sundeep Dougal)
#11. Bookreview: Between Nationalism and Patriarchy (Srimati Basu)
--------------
#1.
The News on Sunday | The News International [Pakistan]
29 June 2003
Harbingers of peace
By Zaman Khan
Recently, a delegation of nine Indian parliamentarians visited
Pakistan from 17-25 June to create an atmosphere of friendliness and
urge the two hostile countries to resolve their conflicts through
dialogues. The parliamentarians were greeted with love and enthusiasm
by Pakistanis as they attended many functions in different cities,
met human rights' activists, intellectuals, writers, journalists,
politicians and people from different walks of life. The
parliamentarians also met Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Prime Minister
of Pakistan.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2003-weekly/nos-29-06-2003/pol1.htm#9
o o o
See you at Wagha, Nayar Sahib!
The recent visit of seven Indian parliamentarians came as a whiff of
fresh air in the suffocating atmosphere of regional politics
By Imam Shamil
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jun2003-weekly/nos-29-06-2003/pol1.htm#10
____
#2.
Magazine Section | The Hindu [India]
June 29, 2003
Chowkidar to the Empire?
Should India send troops to Iraq? Support for such a move fills the
media. Terms like "rent-an-army" and "lucrative contracts" pop up
time and again. But sacrificing our troops to serve American
interests and the greed of Indian elite will not be just morally
reprehensible. It will be the most dangerous and provocative act of
folly, writes P. SAINATH.
AT least 55 U.S. soldiers have so far died in "peacekeeping" in Iraq
since May 1. And the United States says "Iraq is not ready for
democracy." If the Iraqis don't like it, they can lump it.
As it stands, the Americans can't lump it. Their rising death toll
alarms them. (Well, each time one U.S. soldier dies, so do many
Iraqis. But that's another story.) And more and more people in that
country are confronting the occupying power.
Listen to the New York Times: "American forces are carrying out their
largest single military operation in Iraq since the end of major
fighting..." The Associated Press puts it this way: "an amalgam of
shadowy resistance forces, including unknown numbers of non-Iraqi
fighters, are carrying out almost daily hit-and-run attacks against
the American occupation forces."
The Guardian, U.K., says: "Attacks occur daily - more than a dozen
every day in the past week, according to some accounts." The paper
had this to say of the British Minister in charge of "reconstruction"
in Iraq. "Baroness Amos had to admit... that she is unable to visit
that country." Why? Because "of the risk of guerrilla attack."
It's in this mess that India is being called up to act as chowkidar
to the empire. The lives of Indian soldiers are more expendable - in
American eyes. But should the eyes of an Indian government see it the
same way? That's frightening. We are being hired to patrol the
empire's latest outpost. To be the fall guys for its folly.
We're being asked to do this just when Bush might for the first time
face questions in the U.S. Congress on the Iraq war. On the fake
"intelligence" that helped him deceive his own people. When Labour
MPs are calling Tony Blair a liar in Britain. This is when we're
being asked to carry the can in Iraq. To legitimise a war always
viewed as unlawful across the world. And now increasingly seen that
way in the U.S. and Britain - the main warriors - themselves.
We'd be magnets for popular anger in one of the world's most volatile
spots -- at a time when the Americans are contemplating a war on
neighbouring Iran. What happens if Indian troops are stuck in Iraq
when the U.S. moves for "regime change" in Iran? The possible
consequences are mind-blowing. Indian jawans would then be at extreme
risk. As always, we'll re-learn that it is far easier to get into
such holes than out of them. Until next time.
And, as always, the decisions will be taken by those whose children
will never fight on any front. That too, on a war Indians hated in
the first place. One that our parliament, alone in the world,
condemned in a resolution. Suddenly it's, "hey guys, let's be real!
It's only the lives of our poorer classes. There's many more where
those came from. Think of the gains to be made from carrying the
White Man's Burden." Might give us crumbs from the White Man's
Contracts.
It's odd that Vajpayee and Advani should seek a "national consensus"
on sending troops to Iraq. The rest of us thought we had one. The
Indian parliament's resolution in April, condemning America's war
against that country, is the clearest consensus that exists in this
nation on that issue.
But now we're being invited to make our jawans the targets of
explosive resentment. The anger directed at American troops will then
come our way. That, in a nation, which has had nothing but goodwill
for our own.
Sending Indian troops there is an idea that could - and most likely
will - go awfully wrong. For one thing, the people of Iraq have
suffered enough, without our adding to it. For another, in the
growing challenge to the occupation, those seen as front men of the
empire will attract deadly fire. As innocents inevitably die, things
will get much worse.
Meanwhile the U.S. has bullied the Security Council (June 12) into
giving its troops a year's exemption from the new International War
Crimes Tribunal. Only the American "peace keeping forces" have got
that. The U.S. sees trouble ahead and will not have its military
brought before the tribunal. So much better to have Indians face that
music. As they will, when hell breaks loose. Note that Indian troops
are not even being spoken of as peacekeepers. They will be a
"stabilisation force". Words that imply an active, and if need be,
aggressive role.
The journey to Iraq will have little in common with the over 30 UN
peacekeeping missions that Indian troops have been part of in the
past. This time our soldiers will be seen as front men for the
occupiers. And will face an increasingly hostile Iraqi public.
Indian security personnel haven't had the best of times right here at
home. In the past decade or so, we've had 15, 000 of them killed or
wounded in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and the North East. More than
3,500 killed in Kashmir alone since 1991. (Not to mention 11,000 dead
civilians.) Here's the new step. Troop exports. Now the government
might pledge even more of these lives to the U.S.
In Iraq, we will be on clearly defined foreign territory. Once again,
we're looking at the readiness of India's ruling classes to risk the
lives of poor Indians - which is what our jawans are. This time to
align and ingratiate ourselves with U.S. power. And take our place in
America's New World Odour. (The permission given this week to two
U.S. warships to dock in Kochi is one more step in that direction.
Both ships are involved in the war in Iraq.)
Plus, by sending our troops, we get to earn a quick buck on the side.
So Indian companies will gain what lusting newspapers call "lucrative
contracts". And we can sacrifice a few hundred jawans, maybe many
more, so that our CEOs can do even better in the next Forbes and
=46ortune lists. Never mind that these lucrative contracts could place
us morally in the ranks of contract killers. No wonder the Americans
are seeking our help. They are body shopping in a literal sense. This
is one outsourcing of jobs their unions won't protest. The job of
dying for U.S. imperialism.
There is, of course, another reason why some in government are so
keen to get into this chowkidari. Election year draws near. And the
cynical "Back us. Our boys are dying", which we heard in Kargil could
make the rounds again.
Kargil saw the most incompetent Defence Minister in our history cover
up a colossal failure. And succeed because the media wouldn't call
his bluff. Our soldiers died in hundreds. The minister, many scandals
later - including one about over-priced coffins for dead soldiers -
is still there. A Government with its back to the wall on every issue
was able to make that cynical "Stand united behind the NDA" appeal.
Stoking Iraqi hatred in a new and unwarranted direction doesn't
count. Elections do. And a diversion from the serious political and
economic issues of the day is crucial. If you have an Indian force in
Iraq, daily losing lives to snipers and other local attacks, that's
the sort of mess an Advani revels in. Maybe he'll take out a rath
yatra to rally support for the troops. Men whose lives could in the
first place be jeopardised by his colleagues and himself.
Arguably, India should have done well as peacekeeper in Sri Lanka.
Didn't both sides accept us, at least to begin with? Instead, our
stint there provided Colombo with a diversion. It gave the LTTE a
focus for their hatred. Over 1100 men of the Indian Peace Keeping
=46orce (IPKF) laid down their lives in Sri Lanka. That's more than
double the number who died at Kargil.
There will be no one happy to see us in Baghdad. There will, of
course, be the usual bunch of regime PROs (some still call themselves
journalists) filing those first few stories of a euphoric welcome.
Pictures of someone garlanding an Indian soldier. Maybe one of our
guys kissing a baby. Then reality sets in.
With all the experience of Sri Lanka behind them. With all the
evidence of Iraq before them. Still, quite a few experts, analysts
and editors argue it's a good idea. Take a look at the editorials in
some of our leading newspapers.
One says it "makes sense to send a stabilisation force to that
country". Indeed the situation "demand(s)" that we do so. Another
says that Russia, Germany and France have now dropped their
"principled" stand against the war for "a real time share in the
lucrative Iraqi reconstruction pie. The moral: New Delhi cannot stand
on principle in thinking out its foreign policy options in post-war
Iraq." It's time to start planning, boys, for the "Baghdad Bandobast".
One newspaper is thrilled by the team from Washington that came to
Delhi seeking a rent-an-army deal. Our soldiers may be handed a
United Nations fig leaf. Their expenses could be borne nominally by
that body. But the Americans will pay us a few dollars more. That
didn't excite the paper. What did was that the team "...highlighted
New Delhi's impeccable record in peacekeeping abroad."
Well, we withdrew battered from Sri Lanka. And scrambled out of
Somalia in chaos. That's an impeccable record?
Think, too, of the fallout at home of our troops getting bogged down
in Iraq. When every militant Islamic group there (and perhaps from
Iran and elsewhere) targets the jawans as an occupation force. How
will that tell on communal tensions here? What a tonic it would be
for Togadia and Thackeray, amongst so many others. But that shouldn't
upset a bunch whose careers were built on ideologies of hatred. Maybe
as the Americans withdraw, we'll send Modi in as Governor of occupied
Iraq. He'd be impartial in hating all the Muslims there, Shia and
Sunni alike. Christians, too.
At the base, are crude motives of electoral and financial gain for a
few. Pointing to post-facto UN resolutions okaying U.S. actions just
makes it worse. Do the people of the nations voting for these
resolutions see it that way? The Spanish government supported a war
85 per cent of its public opposed. Far more importantly, will the
people of Iraq view it that way? Do our own people see it that way?
Historically, the British used Indian troops as cannon fodder for
their conquests across the globe. Close to 90, 000 Indian troops died
for the Raj in just World War I. That's more soldiers than India has
lost in all our wars and insurgencies since independence.
In 1915-16 alone, thousands of Indian soldiers died in Iraq, the then
Mesopotamia. Then too, a western power was attempting a "regime
change". Our men were sacrificed by the British in their war against
Turkey. The year had been disastrous for the Brits. The debacle at
Gallipoli meant the war ministry in London needed a propaganda
success.
So they threw away the lives of over 22,000 soldiers - thousands of
them Indians. That, in a bid to take Baghdad, as the Guardian, U.K.
pointed out last year. Even today in the region, wrote Ross Davies in
that paper, "...there are 22,400 graves (more than two-thirds of the
troops who fought in Mesopotamia were Indians whose faith required
cremation rather than burial)."
Then they died for the British empire. Now, they're being asked to
die for the American empire. Then, it could be argued, we were a
colony - and had no choice. Today, in the era of globalised markets,
we'll be doing it for "lucrative contracts". An independent nation
driven by the greed and delusions of a few to seek what might well be
a quisling's reward.
P. Sainath is one of the two recipients of the A.H. Boerma Award,
2001, granted for his contribution in changing the nature of the
development debate on food, hunger and rural development in the
Indian media.
_____
#3.
=46rom: Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD)
Secretariat [India Chapter]
Subject: Press Release!
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 15:06:48 +0530
RESOLUTION 1.
Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD)
deplores that the Government of India is considering sending Indian
soldiers to Iraq to assist USA to consolidate it's occupation of that
country. USA's occupation of Iraq does not have a legal mandate. It
does not enjoy popular backing of Iraqi people. It is immoral, as
both the USA and the UK deliberately misrepresented evidence about
Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction for waging the war. This illegal
action was "deplored" unanimously by the Indian Parliament.
Supporting such an illegal and immoral act can hardly be in India's
national interest. It bears repeating that the majority of people in
the world are against the presence of Americans in Iraq. India's own
experience of sending its troops (IPKF) to Sri Lanka which suffered
more than a thousand casualties must not be forgotten. Sending our
soldiers to Iraq will project a very negative image of our people in
the minds of all democratic peoples of the world. In addition, this
move has the possibility of increasing societal tensions both within
and outside India. The members of the Forum therefore demand that the
Government of India desist from this disastrous course.
Tapan K. Bose
On Behalf of the National Committee
RESOLUTION 2.
The Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD)
welcomes the efforts at resumption of dialogue between the
Governments of Pakistan and India.
The PIPFPD however is concerned that the hostile verbal exchanges
between the leaders of the two Governments might derail this
initiative for the resumption of a dialogue. The PIPFPD demands
immediate restoration of rail, road and air communications and a
liberal visa regime so as to increase people-to-people contacts. The
dialogue can move forward only if interaction between the two peoples
is allowed to develop without constraint.
Tapan K. Bose
On Behalf of the National Committee
RESOLUTION 3.
The PIPFPD acknowledges the invaluable interventions of the
Government of India and Pakistan relating to the release and exchange
of fishermen from Pakistan/India, including the latest batch of 65
fishermen after the resumption of talks in May 2003. This has become
a statement of a possible friendship and peace between our two
countries.
The Forum reiterates its support of ongoing efforts in this process.
We will further work at a policy and framework between the two
governments relating to boundaries in International waters so that
this can be successfully resolved.
Sd/-
Tapan K. Bose
On Behalf of the National Committee
_____
#4.
JOIN US IN AHMEDABAD ON JULY 1, 2003
Dear Friends,
Anhad (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) was formed in the first
week of March 2003. Anhad means without limits. We envisage it as an
inclusive institution in which every one who stands for democracy,
secularism, justice and peace can participate.
During the last one month Anhad has organized 7 five day residential
workshops in Gujarat and Delhi to sensitise activists to issues
related to communalism and a ten day street theatre workshop in
Rajasthan. Anhad is planning to organize similar workshops in Madhya
Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh in near future.
It was decided during the workshops held by Anhad in Gujarat a month
ago to observe at least one day in Gujarat as the Day for Communal
Harmony.
Anhad is observing July 1, 2003 as the day for Communal Harmony in Gujarat.
July 1, 2003
Day for Communal Harmony
Dedicated to the memory of Vasant Rav and Rajab Ali
( who were killed while trying to stop a riot in Ahmedabad on July 1, 1946)
and to the memory of the victims of the Gujarat Genocide
5pm till midnight
at Tagore Hall, Paldi, Ahmedabad
Exhibitions/ street theatre/ music /dance/ poetry
Shubha Mudgal, Mrigya rock band, Aditi Mangaldas, Aditi Desai, Kadamb
Dance Centre, Darpana Academy, Saumya Joshi, Rajesh Solanki, Gauhar
Raza
We invite you to join us. The programme is open for all.
Anhad would release on the occasion specially designed posters /
T-shirts and other material.
Anhad would provide space for displaying books/ posters/ audio/ video
material related to the theme of communalism to the secular groups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------=
------------------------------------
Ahmedabad- July 2-3, 2003: Anhad and darpana Academy organize a
script writing workshop for developing new street plays especially in
the context of Gujarat.
If you have been associated in Street theatre at the level of writing
scripts or directing plays do join us for the brain-storming sessions
on 2-3 July.
Bhopal- July 5, 2003- 10am at Gandhi Bhawan- Anhad=92s action plan in
MP, the schedule for the political training workshops to be decided.
Delhi- July 6 , 2003 =96 5pm meeting to discuss the formation of Anhad
Youth group-anhadbuzz-join us if you are a student, or below 25 if
you want to be a part of the anti-communal movement, you can
generate crazy ideas.
Andhra Pradesh- July 8-11-meetings in Hyderabad and different
districts , consultation process with local organizations and
chalking out Anhad=92s the future plan of action in AP.
PS- Anhad is only a few months old and we do not have enough people
right now to manage the volume of work. I am very sorry if I have not
been able to reply to mails. We receive innumerable mails and are
working out a system to reply to them regularly, please bear with us.
=46or any queries you may contact Anhad office at Delhi- 23327366/
23327367 or <mailto:anhadinfo@yahoo.com/>anhadinfo@yahoo.com/
<mailto:brecht@vsnl.net/>brecht@vsnl.net/
<mailto:shabhashmi@hotmail.com>shabhashmi@hotmail.com . Please write
urgent in the subject line if you need the reply the same day.
Sincerely
Shabnam Hashmi
June 27, 2003
Ahmedabad
_____
#5.
The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com:80/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=
=3D39255
Human Wrongs
[ TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2003 12:01:57 AM ]
The Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP)
released a report, titled Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human
Rights in Punjab. The report analyses alleged cases of torture and
extra-judicial killings in Punjab in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Authored by Ram Narayan Kumar with Amrik Singh, Ashok Agrwaal and
Jaskaran Kaur, it contains more than 500 testimonies by the families
of the victims, describing 672 cases of alleged extra-judicial
executions by the police in the district of Amritsar alone. A former
Reuters Foundation fellow at Oxford and the convenor of CCDP, Ram
Narayan Kumar, spoke to Tanu Thomas K:
Critics argue that human rights activists are essentially
anti-national in that they don't highlight abuses committed by
militants...
The basis of Indian nationalism lies in a Constitution that upholds
fundamental=C2 human rights to be sacrosanct and non- derogable even
in situations of internal=C2 conflict. That has been the core
principle=C2 of Indian nationalism ever since Gandhi launched his
first satyagraha. Those who term human right struggles anti- national
are completely divorced from this nationalist tradition.
Also, the accusation that we do not highlight crimes committed by
militants appears to be deliberately misleading. The state and its
agencies cannot use the argument of militant violence to themselves
become lawless. Also, the state institutions, which permitted or
tolerated abuse of power by its functionaries, can regain legitimacy
in the eyes of the people only through acknowledgement of truth,
contrition and restitution of wrongs. That is necessary also to
safeguard our future against cycles of violence.
But after K P S Gill's time, there has been peace in Punjab.
I disagree. According to the CBI's report to the Supreme Court, 2,097
persons were illegally cremated in three cremation grounds of
Amritsar district alone and there are 17 districts in Punjab. There
is no peace for victims of atrocities and their families, only
anguish and pain. There can be no peace unless we can convince these
people about the possibility of justice through constitutional means.
How are you confident that there will be justice for hundreds of
ordinary people when high-profile cases have failed?
The manner in which the CBI has been handling the prosecution of
those responsible for Jaswant Singh Khalra's abduction and
disappearance is unfortunate. It reflects very badly on the
possibilities of justice and the rule of law in our country.
What about the NHRC?
The hope is that we can put behind the legal wranglings of the past
and that the NHRC will recognise the importance of the work we have
been trying to do and use the information we are offering to bring
justice to those families in Punjab who are beginning to lose all
hope.
What mechanism do you have in mind for reconciliation?
There can be no reconciliation without a common commitment to truth.
=46irst, we have to help those who have suffered wrongly, overcome
their victimhood. We have also to make it clear that those who
destroyed human rights outside the framework of law have not advanced
the national interest. Let our institutions take these=C2 preliminary
steps. We can then discuss the ways and mechanisms for reconciliation.
Some Khalistanis have recently returned to Punjab and entered the
mainstream. Would you support them at this juncture?
Khalistanis were never popular with the people of Punjab. They were
used by the state at various points to divert attention from the real
issues facing the people: Democracy, constitutional safeguard for
minorities, people's rights over their resources. We are critical of
the Indian state because it has failed the ideals on which our
nationalism was supposed to have been founded and we oppose Khalistan
because=C2 it failed to provide a vision that is more genuinely
democratic than what the=C2 Indian state offers.
How did you take up the issue?
My involvement with the issue started in 1988 when I=C2 began to
travel in the state to understand the reasons behind the unrest. From
the very beginning, I could not avoid confronting examples of state
atrocities, including enforced dis- appearances and summary
executions explained away as "encounters".
The Supreme Court instructed the CBI to examine the allegations after
Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human rights worker from Amritsar who first
produced evidence of secret cremations, was allegedly abducted by
Punjab police officials in September 1995. The lists submitted by the
CBI to the court in December 1996 disclosed 2,097 illegal cremations.
After receiving the report, the court referred the matter to the NHRC
for investigation because it concluded that flagrant and large-scale
human rights violations had indeed taken place.
The apex court asked the CBI to continue its investigations into the
matter of culpa-bility and to submit quarterly progress reports.
Six-and-a-half years on, no meaningful progress has been made. The
governments, both at the Centre and in the state, have done little
beyond obstructing the process. The NHRC can neither adjudicate the
issues nor determine the liability of the state in the absence of
necessary factual information.
____
#6.
The Hindu (India) June 28, 2003
The refugee in India
By Rajeev Dhavan
There is no category called `refugee' in Indian law. Refugees have no
special due process rights... India's law must match its humanitarian
goals.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2003062800811000.htm
____
#7.
27 June 2003
MOVEMENT FOR SECULAR DEMOCRACY(MSD)
C/o, Narmad-Meghani Library, Opp. Natraj Railway Crossing,
Mithakhali, Ellis Bridge, AHMEDABAD-380006.Ph/Fax-6404418 dnrad1@sancharnet.=
in.
ANTI EMERGENCY DAY OBSERVED IN GUJARAT
Mr. Girishbhai Patel, the noted human rights lawyer was spoke
emergency in today's context and the lessons we have learned from the
emergency.
The meeting was organized jointly by the Movement for Secular
Democracy (MSD)and People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on 26th
June, at Narmad Meghani Library, Mithakhali, Ahmedabad on the Anti
Emergency Day.
Speaking on the occasion, Girishbhai highlighted the contradictions
existing in Indian society, in spite of the noble values of democracy
and social justice enshrined in out Constitution, which is one of the
best in the world. The freedom movement also did not make any radical
changes in the social structure. As a democratic society, we expected
the country to move towards deepening the values of democracy. But
what really has happened over the years is that the social structure
has used the provisions of the Constitution to consolidate its own
power base in society.
Nehru's policy of ushering in gradual change in society also did not
work out as he had hoped. As a result people did not succeed in
making the Constitution to make people's participation strong. Now
the reverse process is happening. Indira Gandhi used the slogan of
'garibi hatao' to get power since poverty was the real problem of
people. When she felt threatened politically she imposed emergency
under the pretext of safeguarding the stability of the country.
Indira Gandhi's emergency was imposed from the top.. The resistance
of Jaya Prakash Narayan to the emergency was used by the Jan Sangh by
supporting him to gain legitimacy in Indian politics. Later in the
1980s, V.P. Singh's move to enforce the Mandal Commission Report
resulted in the politicization of the caste structure. The experience
of emergency made us realize that ultimately democratic rights are
necessary for the poor also. Emergency was not the product of one
individual but it was a system failure.
Describing the present situation in the country, Girishbhai said that
today it is worse that the emergency situation. Structures in civil
society have experienced tremendous cracks today. Instead of
ushering in social transformation through the Constitution, now
Hindutva forces are trying to force uniformity in the country and on
the people. They are using constitutional machinery to come to power
and they are trying to hold on to power through unconstitutional
means by using religious system.
Today without formally declaring emergency, they are destroying the
Constitution.There is latent emergency. So there is the illusion of
political participation without empowerment. They do not tolerate
opposition and so there is no much opposition is left. This
authoritarianism cannot be controlled by the Constitution but only
through powerful social movements for social justice. Mr.Patel
reffered the incoming danger from so called globalisation
IMF,WB.and seized by the market forces.
Girishbhai concluded by saying that the present government is formed
by the combined forces of anti-poor, anti-democratic and anti-social
justice. But for maintaining society, equality and integrity are
necessary. So we should not loose hope in the future but should have
unlimited faith in the people and we can help people to choose. We
have to promote humanization as a trend in the growth and progress of
civilization and believe people to build-up peoples power. To stand
for social justice.
Anti Emergency Day was also observed by PUCL at Baroda on 26th. June
_____
#8.
http://news.ncmonline.com/
Indian Activists Encouraged by U.S. Sodomy-Law Ruling
Pacific News Service, Ahmar Mustikhan,
News Feature, Jun 27, 2003
Editor's Note: Ripples from the U.S. Supreme Court's historic ruling
in a Texas sodomy law case have made it all the way to India, where
activists are fighting a colonial-era ban on homosexual sex that
authorities use to intimidate gays.
As the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the sodomy law in Texas on
grounds of an unconstitutional violation of privacy, half a world
away in India, activists are challenging their own anti-sodomy law in
the Delhi High Court.
While one case may not directly affect the other, to Vikram, a
journalist in India's commercial capital Mumbai, who asked that his
first name only be used, the indirect effect is invaluable. "Judges
read papers, lawyers read papers, people read papers," Vikram says.
"The steady drip-drip of tolerance on gay issues will end up making a
difference."
Anand Grover, director of the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS unit in New
Delhi, who is spearheading the drive against the Indian anti-sodomy
law for Naz India, a non-governmental organization working on
HIV/AIDS, is arguing the case on grounds of both privacy and equality
for India's sexual minorities.
The controversial law, Section 377 of the penal code, makes sodomy or
any kind of "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any
man, woman or animal" punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Grover says that by criminalizing predominantly homosexual behavior,
Section 377 drives same-sex relations underground, and creates
societal conditions that significantly impede HIV/AIDS prevention
efforts.
The lawsuit contends that Section 377 is a major impediment to
carrying out HIV/AIDS intervention work with the "men who have sex
with men" (MSM) community. The officer in charge of a prison in Delhi
once prevented condom distribution on the grounds that it tacitly
condoned sodomy.
"HIV/AIDS, in a horrible way, has helped the gay community by forcing
the government to accept that men are having sex with each other if
it is to prevent HIV from spreading," Vikram says.
Section 377 "didn't make it a crime to be gay, just to be caught in
certain sexual acts," Vikram says. But that distinction is often lost
on authorities, who abuse their power over gays through extortion,
blackmail and even physical and sexual abuse. As long as the law is
in place, say rights groups, police will continue the abuse in an
atmosphere of impunity.
Some gay men in India worry that the controversy over Section 377
will focus unwelcome attention on the growing but discreet gay scene
in India. But Vikram says, "We tend to forget the subtle negative
effects of 377. The fact that homosexuality is seen as illegal comes
in the way of us being able to do so many things." This could be as
simple as having an official gay night at a Bombay nightclub.
Aditya Bondyopadhyay, Asia Director of the International Lesbian and
Gay Law Association, says Anand Grover's petition on behalf of the
Naz India is only seeking an amendment of 377, which would still
cover male rapes.
"Getting rid of 377 lock, stock, and barrel seemed unwise, since all
studies and data showed a law is needed in the books to protect males
against rape and sexual assault," Bondyopadhyay said by phone from
Lucknow, India.
Interestingly, activists in India, as in the United States, are using
the courts to push for change instead of the legislature. However,
despite three notices by the Delhi High Court, the state has not
filed any written response. Bondyopadhyay says the strategy of not
filing a reply is a time-tested method of the state, which had
successfully stalled in 1994 when a similar petition was filed.
Bondyopadhyay is optimistic because the international "political
reality around sexual minority rights" is changing. Canada's decision
to allow same-sex marriages was highlighted above the masthead of the
influential daily The Times of India.
London-based international gay rights activist Peter Tatchell says
Section 377, a relic of British colonial rule, is the unfinished
business of India's emancipation struggle.
Tatchell adds, "India's current anti-gay laws were imposed by the
British colonial administration. The real Western import is
homophobia, not homosexuality." Though Britain struck its own
anti-sodomy law off the books in 1967, it still exists in at least
half a dozen of its former colonies, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore.
Activists in all these places will be watching events in Delhi.
Whether the reverberations of the Texas sodomy case will help them in
their mission remains to be seen. "But every change everywhere helps
build up the momentum," said Paula Ettelbrick, the executive director
of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in San
=46rancisco. Recalling how activists in America use gay rights in South
Africa and gay marriage in Canada to push for change domestically,
Ettelbrick hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court decision, which set out
a text and rationale for gay equality, "can only help activists in
places like India who are also using the court process to overturn
the law."
Burma-born and Pakistan-raised journalist Ahmar Mustikhan
(ahmar_reporter@yahoo.com) recently moved to the San Francisco Bay
Area.
o o o
The Telegraph [India]
June 29, 2003
Gay walk for rights
A STAFF REPORTER
Supporters of the right to alternative sexuality have reason to
cheer. A "pride march" will hit the streets on Sunday morning from
Park Circus Maidan to Rabindra Sarobar.
Organised by Integration Society, an NGO specialising in human rights
and sexual health communication, the silent walk will commemorate the
Stonewall Riots, the landmark event of June 26, 1969, that changed
the progress of the gay rights movement.
The march is part of a month-long series of events called 'Walk on
the rainbow', including the launch of a music video Jaoa Asha, a
panel discussion and the release of a community newsletter. It will
climax on July 24 at Gyan Manch with an audio play, Kinaaraa, about a
same-sex relationship in the urban milieu. Sapphire Creations will
present a ballet on the same theme.
"The situation may slowly be changing among a limited urban
population, but in rural areas it remains unchanged," says Rafiquel
Haque Dowjah of Integration Society.
____
#9.
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=3DGehlot+govt+launches+t=
emple+website&id=3D39561
Gehlot govt launches temple website
Rajan Mahan
____
#10.
Outlookindia.com | June 27, 2003
We, The Guilty
If the first verdict involving Gujarat's post-Godhra carnage is any
indication, there is no hope for any justice in the other cases under
trial. And we are responsible.
SUNDEEP DOUGAL
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=3D20030627&fname=3Dshame&sid=3D=
1
____
#11.
H-NET BOOK REVIEW (June, 2003)
Bharati Ray. "Early Feminists of Colonial India: Sarala Devi
Chaudhurani and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain". New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2002. ii + 173 pp. $23.00
Reviewed for H-Asia by Srimati Basu Department of Anthropology/
Women's Studies, DePauw University, (sbasu@DEPAUW.EDU)
Between Nationalism and Patriarchy: Choosing Feminist Foremothers
Who can be claimed as a South Asian feminist foremother, and how
might feminism need to be defined to this end? In profiling the work
and times of "early feminists of colonial India," Bharati Ray chooses
two pioneers of women's education and organization-building who are
very different in their agendas and orientations. Sarala Devi
Chaudhurani focused primarily on nationalist politics and on
strengthening Bengali masculinity, and sought to empower women within
the domestic realm so that they might contribute to this process. In
contrast, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain squarely focused on patriarchal
oppressions as the central political concern.
Sarala Devi Chaudhurani grew up in an environment where questions of
social and religious reform were enthusiastically and creatively
embraced, whether among her parents who were ardent nationalists or
her Brahmo maternal kin, the Tagores, who included some of the most
educated and 'modern' women of the time. Sarala made some significant
literary and musical contributions of her own, but was best known for
inspiring Bengali Hindu men, " the encouragement of a martial, heroic
culture in Bengal" (9) through the creation of historical role models
such as Pratapaditya, the encouragement of sports and martial arts,
and the building of revolutionary clubs. She wrote extensively on the
need to educate women, but insisted that this was primarily a
strategy to strengthen the nation, so that women could play a
critical role in shaping husbands' and children's interests: "It was
the ignorance and illiteracy of women that was responsible for the
debasement of the husband-wife relationship" (65). Her ideal of the
Grihalakshmi, in the genre of the Superwoman, was someone who would
"treasure[] the traditional Hindu routines of the home" (66). As Ray
points out, this attitude was in line with the nationalist discourse
assigning women the responsibility of spiritual sustenance through
the domestic realm, and enforced, rather than challenging, the
patriarchal order: "Giving them full responsibility for the home
would hold them there for much of their time, while a comparable
responsibility for the neighborhood [and by extension, nation] would
demand similar commitment outside the home" (67). And yet, Sarala
Devi Chaudhurani is interpellated as feminist in two primary ways:
first, because she founded several institutions encouraging and
showcasing women's work in the public realm the first ever all Indian
women's organization the Bharat Stree Mahamandal (1910), a girls'
school called Siksha Sadan, a store called Lakshmir Bhandar that
popularized women's handicrafts; second, because she persistently
foregrounded the importance of including women as a part of
nationalist political work, in contrast to other women political
leaders at the height of nationalism who explicitly prioritized
anti-colonialism over concerns with women. Ray interprets Sarala's
work as having substantial subversive potential in the final
analysis: " let there be no doubt that Sarala was advocating concepts
that must tear asunder the basis of patriarchy. When men averred that
women were goddesses and the preservers of the spiritual qualities of
the real India, and women echoed their words, it was one thing. It
was quite another when a woman proclaimed to other women that they
were the real power in the family and society, and that they must be
first convinced of their power to be able to exercise it" (99).
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, on the other hand, needs little maneuvering
to be constructed as a radical feminist. She, too, was raised among
people who were deeply involved with social reform and women's
education: while she had a conservative father who imposed strict
abarodh/ seclusion for the women of the household, she had extremely
supportive siblings. Several family members were part of the newly
emergent Muslim intelligentsia and professional class advocating
Western education for community development while also championing
Bengali against the hegemony of Urdu for the Muslim elite. In
contrast to Sarala, Rokeya's overt involvement with the nationalist
movement was limited to a few pieces of writing and some organizing
around women's suffrage. As part of her commitment to women's
education and particularly Muslim women's empowerment, she started
the Sakhawat Memorial School and also founded the Calcutta branch of
the Anjuman-i-Khawatin-i-Islam (AFI), but her greatest legacy is
arguably literary, satire being her most memorable mode. ("Sultana's
Dream," re-published by Feminist Press, is her best-known piece, and
continues to be a popular Women's Studies text.) If there are
resonances between the issues she and Sarala considered important for
women that "the existing practice of keeping women illiterate was
doing incalculable harm to Muslim society" (69), or that physical
training was important for women she had markedly different goals for
women in mind. Having identified "the selfishness of men and the
mental slavery of women" (106) as the two principal causes of women's
degradation, Rokeya claimed that the onus was on men to support
women's education and an end to purdah/seclusion and to early
marriage. She believed women should be educated for economic
self-sufficiency, and learn not to rely on marriage. The following
call to women illustrates her conviction that the very fabric of
domestic ideology would have to be transformed: "My sisters! Rub your
eyes and wake up march forward. Mothers, please declare that you are
no more animals. Sisters, please deny that you are inanimate objects
like furniture. And daughters, please aver that you are not
decorative pieces to be conserved with jewelry and preserved in a
safe. And together shout: we are human beings" (88). Her trenchant
critique of marriage and opposition to purdah (except as minimally
necessary for strategic reasons) made her the target of ire not only
of mullahs/ Muslim clerics, but also men and women of her own social
groups, even AFI women who favored much stricter purdah. Rokeya
stands out for her relentless sarcasm against patriarchal control,
and for being undeterred by the political fallout of her claims.
In teaching about social movements, and particularly women's
movements, evaluating who should be a "foremother" and what might
constitute "feminism" always poses some tricky questions. When we
talk about the United States, for example, Angela Davis' work in
Women, Race and Class (1983) helps interrogate the race/ class
interests of famous "First Wave" feminists such as Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and whether efforts by working class
women and women of color, focused on issues other than gender but
foregrounding women's problems nonetheless, should be an alternate
trajectory of the women's movement. Some African-American women
scholars have attempted to use "womanist" rather than "feminist" to
delineate different priorities and loyalties from the mainstream
women's movement, echoed in the South Asian context by Madhu
Kishwar's claim that she would not use the word "feminist" because of
its restrictive connotations of gender hierarchies and Western
intellectual baggage (1999). On the other hand, "feminism" may also
be claimed as a more fluid term that interpellates a range of
interests and subjectivities. In this sense, Ray's volume fits in
with the work of historians who have been giving shape to various
incarnations of "early feminism" worldwide, as well as with numerous
Indian historians working on interpreting the anti-patriarchal
resistances of nineteenth century Indian women such as Pandita
Ramabai and Tarabai Shinde.
The book is a little too sketchy overall for such a rich subject Ray
provides no sustained reading of the women's oeuvre, nor very
detailed biographical or political information and analysis, and I
for one am left feeling my appetite has just been whetted. But she
provides glimpses of two vibrant contrasts in modes and legacies of
feminism: Sarala Devi Chaudhurani as a powerful goddesslike
inspiration in anti-colonial struggles who saw women's empowerment as
a component of nationalism, now largely forgotten in South Asian
feminist historiography; and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, reviled in her
time for strident anti-patriarchal critiques, now hailed as a
feminist icon not just in Bangladesh but internationally. In an
analysis of nineteenth century feminist discourses on property,
Rochona Majumdar points out in a recent article in Economic and
Political Weekly that "what often looks like a clash between
tradition and modernity is actually a conflict between two or more
versions of modernity itself," arguing that contradictory modes of
feminist agency exist synchronically, entwined with complex political
positionings. The same argument may be made for the juxtaposition of
Sarala and Rokeya: rather than evaluating these two very different
faces in terms of their relative progressiveness or feminism, it is
perhaps most useful to see them as part of a complex field of
feminist discourses of the time, and to plot their legacies in later
South Asian women's movements.
Bibliography
Davis, Angela Y. 1983. Women, Race and Class. NY: Vintage. Kishwar,
Madhu. 1999. "A horror of 'Isms': Why I do not call myself a
feminist." Off the Beaten Track : Rethinking Gender Justice for
Indian Women New Delhi: Sage. Majumdar, Rochona.2003. "History of
Women's Rights: A Non-Historicist Reading" Economic and Political
Weekly May 31(EPW Online).
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
SACW is an informal, independent & non-profit citizens wire service
run since 1998 by
South Asia Citizens Web (www.mnet.fr/aiindex).
The complete SACW archive is available at: http://sacw.insaf.net
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
--