SACW | 20-21 Sep 2004
sacw
aiindex at mnet.fr
Mon Sep 20 18:39:08 CDT 2004
South Asia Citizens Wire | 20-21 September, 2004
via: www.sacw.net
=======
[1] India - Pakistan: How to become good
neighbours - Nukes are a major hurdle (M. B.
Naqvi)
[2] Bangladesh: The blasts' their fall-outs (A.H. Jaffor Ullah)
[3] India: Hey Ram! - an open letter to the RSS (RK Anand)
[4] India: RSS, Godse and Savarkar
(i) "Only Dr. Hedgewar is your equal" (Jyotirmaya Sharma)
(ii) Savarkar and Sangh : a muddled equation (Subhash Gatade)
[5] India: 'Alternative Nobel' for Agnivesh, Engineer
[6] India: IIC and Anhad seminar 'Towards An
Agenda For Secular Education' (N Delhi - Sept.29,
2004)
[7] insaf Bulletin [29], September, 2004
[8] IHEU's 16th World Congress "Separation of
Religion and State" (Paris, 5 July - 7 July 2005)
[9] Call For Papers Conference on : Migration,
religion and secularism (Paris, June 17 - 18,
2005)
--------------
[1]
The Tribune
September 20, 2004
HOW TO BECOME GOOD NEIGHBOURS
Remove roadblocks and move ahead
M. B. Naqvi writes from Karachi
The Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan met
on September 5 and 6 after many years. Their
agenda virtually dated back to 1997 when eight
subjects were identified by the two countries'
Foreign Secretaries for negotiations. There was
little progress between 1997 and January 6 this
year. After January, when fresh negotiations
began, the dialogue has gone on as planned. The
Foreign Minister-level talks did not make any
breakthrough. However, the two countries agreed
on 14 confidence-building measures and sending
back the rest of the items on the agenda to the
committees that had first debated them. There is
advice to be patient.
This is fair enough. But some questions arise.
Granted that it is a long, arduous journey, one
is entitled to ask whether there is any agreement
on the destination. Is there a common goal? The
stated purpose is normal, good neighbourly
relations. But this can encompass a wide range of
possibilities. Take Germany and Poland. They had
almost normal relations until last year, but now
they have a much closer relationship as European
Union members. An inspiring goal is needed for
faster progress. The Foreign Ministers' Delhi
encounter has disappointed many in Pakistan
because of the slow pace of the dialogue.
A common vision of where the two countries want
to go is necessary: the nature of domestic policy
change and the desired dispensation in the
external sphere should be spelled out. This is
crucial as merely "normal" relations carry no
urgency for a change in one's priorities and
purposes. The question is: Where does Mr Natwar
Singh want to take Pakistan, or what does he
require from it? The same is true for Mr Khurshid
Mahmood Kasuri. What would he want India to do or
be, besides agreeing to act in Kashmir the way
his government wants? There is complete silence
on these questions.
The accepted goal of most Indians is to see their
country emerging on the international stage as a
great power. India's military capabilities,
including its nuclear weapons - the currency of
power and influence - are calculated to achieve
national grandeur. The goal should now be more
specific after the decision to lock India to a
strategic relationship with the US.
There is no certainty regarding Pakistan's goal.
Every ruler - mostly military dictators over long
stretches of time - used Islamic rhetoric but
acted as America's henchman, making the country a
US satellite. It still is. The national cause
used to be the "liberation of Kashmir from Indian
occupation". Today another military strongman is
impatient for a negotiated solution of Kashmir -
one that India can live with. He has given India
the choice from a notional menu of possible
solutions. He has given up Pakistan's old stance
of a UN-supervised plebiscite. He is anxious for
a solution acceptable to India, but it should
come about quickly.
Pakistan realistically lives in the present,
taking one tactical move vis-à-vis India after
another. But it has no independent vision for the
country and the people - not even an Islamic
vision. Factually, Pakistan has always tried to
cut India down to size and acquire protection and
aid from Uncle Sam. But India kicked at
Pakistan's crutches by making New Delhi a
"strategic" ally of Washington. The US has now
apparently ordained peace in South Asia. That may
be an explanation for President Musharraf's
eagerness for any kind of settlement on Kashmir.
Anyway, India and Pakistan have to live together.
Most Pakistani moves in Kashmir, including the
armed insurgency called jihad, have failed.
Pakistan has nothing much to fall back upon;
Islamic rhetoric was useful to dictators, and the
western world did not mind it. But after 9/11
General Musharraf had to make a U-turn on the
Taliban and militant Islam. He is forced to
propagate "enlightened and moderate" Islam. But
he has also given a slogan: "Pakistan first".
This can be stretched into a philosophy of making
humane economic development the first priority
and purpose. General Musharraf appears to be
going down this lane. For, it will involve
demilitarisation of Pakistani society and
economy. Anyway, Pakistan is in difficulties.
India has rendered the relationship with the US
non-exclusive, and India's value to the US is
much greater. Its Kashmir policy having ended in
a blind alley, Pakistan has to find a role as a
second-class power sans cold crutches. Playing an
independent world role is beyond it; not even
Britain or France can sustain it. The change in
Sino-Indian relations has deprived Pakistan of
the exclusiveness of its relationship with China.
Hence a profound confusion over a role.
The Pakistanis have so far displayed two
contradictory traits. Basically they feel
insecure vis-à-vis India. And yet, they are proud
to be the inheritors of the Indo-Persian
civilisation - that is shared with India. All
these 57 years of being a US satellite and a
failed democracy have profoundly shaken the
Pakistani intelligentsia. The rise of militant
Islam as also terrorism are the symptoms of
falling back on whatever they can lay their hands
on. They need a new role or paradigm for domestic
and external policies.
A people-to-people reconciliation with India, in
accordance with the Franco-German model,
involving close political and economic
cooperation, should revive their spirits. A
wide-ranging India-Pakistan relationship,
preferably within the SAARC framework, can be a
potent factor. It will be going back to one's
civilisational roots. It can release their
energies for all-round economic and cultural
enrichment.
In short, what India will have done is to help
Pakistan - and one dares to say the same about
Bangladesh - acquire a new paradigm, poise and
purpose.
This may sound utopian. Perhaps, it is. One
wishes to make it even more utopian by
recommending a European Union-like India-Pakistan
partnership. Nuclear weapons are a major hurdle.
They are a big destabilising factor; for they
create a profound mistrust among the rivals.
While the purpose of Indian nukes remains
theoretically vague, Pakistan's are aimed at only
India. So long as these nukes are there, it is
impossible for India and Pakistan to trust each
other. This problem has to be tackled head on and
made a part of the reconciliation and partnership
programme. When this is done, the door to a
relaxed and self-confident friendship and
cooperation will open. It will also last.
______
[2]
The New Nation - Aug 25, 2004, 13:15
[Bangladesh] THE BLASTS' THEIR FALL-OUTS
By Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah
On August 21, 2004, hand grenades were lobbed in
an opposition rally in Dhaka in which at least 18
attendees were killed and an estimated 300 or
more party workers and bystanders were badly
injured.
This vicious incident was widely reported in the
Internet news sites by various news agencies such
as BBC, Reuters, AP, etc. The present government
of Bangladesh, which includes two sworn
Islamists, is so finicky about the 'good'
outwardly image of the nation that it always cry
out saying some elements of the Bangladesh
society are bent on marring the 'good' image of
our peace-loving tranquil nation.
But the Prime Minister and her trusted
lieutenants give a blind eye to the fact that the
incidences of grenade blasting like the one that
just happened on Saturday (August 21, 2004) give
the credence to the fact that Bangladesh has
become one of the most dangerous places on earth
to live. Thanks to the growing trend of religious
fanaticism and the rise in obscurantism for
transforming an otherwise peaceful agrarian
society into an outright violent one.
The spate of throwing homemade bombs and hand
grenades among the gatherings of opposition
politicians, cultural soirees, Bangla New Year's
party, Christian Church, Sufi Shrines, etc., had
risen dramatically in the last 5-6 years. From a
cursory look, it follows that Islamists do these
blasts following their carefully wrought plan. I
am yet to hear any incidence of grenade attack or
bomb blast in a meeting or a rally organized by
Jamaat, Islamic Oikyo Jote, or even by BNP. These
days, Khaleda Zia's party, BNP, is in cahoots
with the Islamic parties in managing the
day-to-day affair of the impoverished nation. The
grenade throwers know who are their enemy. It has
not escaped the rapt attention of many Bangladesh
citizens that only secularists and diplomats of
the countries that aided George Bush to wage war
against Iraq are at the receiving end of the
grenade blasts.
The grenade throwers have waged their jihad
against the saner element of Bangladesh society
because they know that these folks (read
secularists) would resist any move by the
obscurantists to take the nation to the path of
religious extremism. On January 1, 2001, I read
news in Dhaka's English newspaper that
Bangladesh's High Court gave their verdict to ban
all kinds of fatwas. No sooner had the two High
Court Judges offer their verdict, a handful of
Islamists belonging to Islamic Oikyo Jote, the
member of Khaleda Zia's political alliance, had
offered fatwa declaring the two judges a murtaad
or apostate.
In Islam, apostates are easy prey to religious
killers. Things for sure are out of kilter in
Bangladesh. Or else, how dare a bunch of obscure
mullahs offer their fatwa against three very
bright professors of Dhaka University? It is an
insult to every sensible citizens of this
impoverished nation of 140 million. The good
sense has taken the back seat, undoubtedly. Now,
we hear that several powerful hand grenades were
lobbed from tall buildings near the venue where
Sheikh Hasina was holding a protest meeting with
her party members.
According to several news reports, as Sheikh
Hasina finished her speech and were descending
from the truck, which served as the podium,
several hand grenades were lobbed aimed at her.
Lucky for Sheikh Hasina that she came out alive
from the grenade attack but at the cost of 18 of
her party followers who took the brunt of the
blast. Her followers formed a body shield to
protect her and in the process, several Awami
League activists had succumbed to death.
This is not the first time that Sheikh Hasina was
targeted for assassination. The way things are
shaping up, I am afraid it is only a matter of
time when Hasina will sustain a mortal grenade
attack. And when that happens, we will know who
is behind all this. I am yet to hear any kind
words of wisdom from Mrs. Zia, the sitting Prime
Minister. She knows darn well, who are the
grenade throwers at Awami League rally, or in
Sufi Shrine in Sylhet. But her reticence to save
the Islamic extremists is very noticeable.
For a long time, Bangladesh's people thought
homemade bombs were blasted at political rally or
at cultural soirees. But ever since the Scotland
Yard made an investigation at Sylhet's Sufi
Shrine in the aftermath of May 21 blast in
Shahjalal shrine in 2004 in which the newly
appointed British High Commissioner Anwar
Chowdhury was injured, the investigative teamed
had opined that military grade hand grenades were
lobbed at the diplomat. The questions that
naturally arise are 1. Who knows the technique of
throwing military grade grenade with precision?
2. Where are these grenades coming from?
In early 1980s, when the Soviet army was invading
Afghanistan, a deluge of Mujaheedin (jihadists)
flocked to Afghanistan to fight a holy war
against godless communists. It is now widely
believed that many Islamists from Bangladesh had
joined the Mujaheedin brigade. There, they
learned the art of throwing grenades. The
proverbial chickens have finally come home to
roost. These Afghan War veterans have trained
many jihadi madrassah students the art of grenade
lobbing to maim and kill people who they deemed
are theirs enemy. That is precisely why we now
hear the incidences of grenade blasts in
political rally or in Sufi shrine. One does not
have to be a rocket scientists to figure out that
these episodes of grenade blasts are the works of
bigots whose numbers are increasing by the day in
Bangladesh albeit by leaps and bounds.
Will there be any reprieve from grenade lobbing
incidents? The answer is a simple one. No, there
won't be any break in the activity as long as any
ideology that promotes hatred amongst people are
on the rise. The i Islamists are now bent on
capturing the mosque or jamaatkhana of minority
sect Ahmadiyya. That is not all. The
fundamentalists are urging the government to
declare the Ahmadiyyas as non-Muslims. These are
telltale signs of religious sectarianism and
obscurantism peaking in Bangladesh. The nation of
140 million impoverish people is now in the
slippery slope of religious extremism and there
is no reprieve from it. Where will all these end?
There is no telling. In the meantime, the bloody
episodes of grenade lobbing directed towards the
main opposition party, other secularists,
moviegoers, cultural soiree attendees, etc., will
be on the rise. Nothing what we say or write
publicly could efface the dark side of
Bangladesh's growing fundamentalism. The
government party is aiding and abating the
fundamentalist force, which eventually will come
home to roost.
-SAN-Feature Service
______
[3]
Communalism Combat
11th Anniversary
August 2004
Cover Story
HEY RAM!
In an open letter to the RSS, parliamentarian RK
Anand asks them to refute his conclusions based
on hard facts that the RSS was implicated in
Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, that the RSS is a
political, not a cultural, body which along with
the Hindu Mahasabha staunchly opposed the Quit
India movement and whose activists have been
indicted by several commissions of inquiry for
their role in major communal riots
Shri KS Sudershan
RSS Sarsanghchalak
Sanskriti Bhavan,
DB Gupta Road, New Delhi
Shri Ram Madhav
RSS Spokesperson
Sanskriti Bhavan,
DB Gupta Road, New Delhi
Alot of hue and cry is being raised and threat of
legal action is being extended by the RSS for
various allegations made against them that their
members were involved in the assassination of
Mahatma Gandhi.
As a citizen of the country, after reading
various periodicals, books and documents, I wish
to form the following opinion:
(1) That the RSS and its workers/activists were
involved in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi;
(2) The RSS is no longer a cultural organisation,
its activities are political in nature;
(3) The RSS and its activists have been involved
in various riots committed in various parts of
the country;
(4) The RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha opposed the
Quit India Movement which was launched by Mahatma
Gandhi in August 1942.
My point-wise viewpoint and conclusions on the
above are based on the following facts:
[ Full Text at: http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2004/aug04/cover.html ]
______
[4] [ India: RSS, Godse and Savarkar]
(i)
The Hindu - September 21, 2004
"ONLY DR. HEDGEWAR IS YOUR EQUAL"
By Jyotirmaya Sharma
PUNE, SEPT. 20. In his deposition before the
Court in the Gandhi murder trial, Nathuram Godse
made attempts to distance himself from the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as well as from
Savarkar. Subsequent statements by the assassin's
brother and co-conspirator, Gopal Godse, told a
quite different story (Frontline, January 28,
1994).
Five hitherto inaccessible letters obtained by
The Hindu cast new light on the tireless efforts
of Nathuram to bring the RSS and the Hindu
Mahasabha on a common platform, with a common
programme, working towards the goal of creating a
Hindu Rashtra.
As early as February 1938, Godse pleads with
Savarkar to assume the leadership of the Hindus
by aligning with the RSS and drawing on its
strengths. In a letter dated February 28, 1938
(the letter was cited in a recent issue of
Outlook, although not this particular excerpt),
he says: "Sir, your goal is the achievement of
the Hindu Rashtra. There are 50,000 disciplined
RSS cadres who carry the same aspiration in their
hearts. These swayamsevaks are spread from Punjab
to Karnataka. What they lack is your leadership
and guidance and are waiting for it."
He writes to Savarkar again on July 10, 1938. The
tone of the letter is less reverential, even
impatient and insistent. "I need to discuss here
many matters of great importance," it begins and
moves on to delineating an agenda for the Hindu
Mahasabha. "The current leadership of the Hindu
Mahasabha is not conscious enough of the strength
of the organisation," complains Godse. He tells
Savarkar that the organisation ought to take
concrete steps to increase its numbers and have a
"parinaamkaarak karyakram" ("result-oriented
programme"). In the absence of this, he says,
people will not be able to gauge the
"upayuktataa" ("usefulness, worth") of the Hindu
Mahasabha.
In his deposition during the Gandhi murder trial,
Godse refers to his growing impatience with the
Hindu Mahasabha and its indifference to a more
militant stance advocated by younger members of
the organisation (Godse, Why I Assassinated
Gandhi, p. 54). There is ample evidence in the
1938 letter to suggest the future killer's barely
concealed impatience with the lack of greater
aggression on the part of the Mahasabha - "jor
laagnaar" or push more is how he implores
Savarkar in this letter.
Sensing a reluctance on Savarkar's part to talk
to other Hindu leaders and bring them under a
single organisational umbrella, Godse asks him to
unite all Hindu leaders and give them direction.
This would be especially useful in attracting the
young and creating a stir in Maharashtra. "The
only organisation in Maharashtra as well as in
all Hindustan that is capable of uniting the
Hindus," Godse observes in his letter, "is the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh." Its leaders, he
adds, are capable, it is efficient, and it has
the following of the youth. Godse wants Savarkar
to make common cause with the RSS.
In dramatic fashion, Godse tells Savarkar: "There
is only one leader who is your equal and peer,
and that is Dr. Hedgewar." He suggests that if
only Savarkar can speak to Dr. Keshavram Baliram
Hedgewar, the RSS founder, a lot can be achieved
in realising the goal of Hindu unity. Once this
is done, there will be a social and political
upheaval in Maharashtra.
In a daring gesture - hardly the act of an
ordinary worker with a nodding acquaintance with
Savarkar, as is suggested by Nathuram in his
testimony - Godse goes on to suggest names for a
revamp of the Hindu Mahasabha leadership. These
names, he asserts, will enhance the
organisation's strength ("bal vaadhnaar");
without these names the revival of the Mahasabha
will not be possible.
The Hyderabad question and the agitation against
the rule of the Nizam were for Godse the
opportunity to revive the Mahasabha. He asks
Savarkar to take the lead in this and head a
satyagraha there. He even suggests an early date
for starting the agitation. "I hope and expect
that you will lead the agitation from Maharashtra
on August 1 and give it direction," is how Godse
signs off the letter.
Letters written on February 9 and February 25,
1941 amply demonstrate Godse's ongoing
involvement with Savarkar and the Hindu
Mahasabha. The letter of February 9 mentions
Godse's plans to hold a public meeting for
Savarkar in Pune after March. In the letter of
February 25, Godse complains that Dr. Varadaraju
Naidu, who had only the previous year organised
in Madras a public meeting at which Savarkar
spoke on the politics of Shivaji, is now singing
praises of Gandhi ("Gandhichi khupachh stuti
tyani keli ahey"). Godse further cautions
Savarkar against giving too much importance to
Vishvasrao Dabre of the Varnashram Samaj. Dabre,
Nathuram alleges, is misusing the letters written
to him by Savarkar.
There is direct evidence in Nathuram's 1938-1946
letters of the warmth of his feelings, and his
ideological closeness, towards both Savarkar and
the RSS.
o o o o
(ii)
Open Page | The Hindu - September 21, 2004
SAVARKAR AND SANGH : A MUDDLED EQUATION
THE SANGH Parivar which never enjoyed a smooth
relationship with Vinayak Damodar Savarkar when
alive now wants us to believe that it is the true
and the only heir to his legacy.
The flurry of activities taken by its leaders at
the national level in the aftermath of the
`plaque removal incident' or the recent decision
by the leader of the BJP in Maharashtra Mr.
Gopinath Munde to take out a `Savarkar Yatra' to
avenge the alleged insult to the freedom fighter
has proved beyond doubt its determination about
the same.
Different priorities
Incidentally the callousness with which the
`Parivar' itself views this claim of legacy was
not lost on the common people when they noticed
that when on the one hand, the BJP-Shiv Sena
members were making a noise about the plaque
removal incident inside the parliament, the
spokesperson of the RSS Mr. Ram Madhav was
releasing a letter to the press purportedly
written by Sardar Patel, which, while `absolving
the RSS from the charges of assassination of
Gandhi' had clearly stated that Savarkar was
involved in the conspiracy to kill Gandhi.
Even a cursory glance at the trajectory of the
Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Savarkar
or the way in which the RSS unfolded itself
during those days makes it quite clear that the
differences in priorities between the two
organisations were already visible from the day
Savarkar was elected president of the Hindu
Mahasabha after his release from jail in1937.
In a sympathetic study of the RSS "The
Brotherhood in Saffron, The RSS and The Hindu
Revivalism," the authors Andersen and Damle
clearly explain (pg 40, Vistaar, 1986, Delhi)
that in fact Savarkar's emphasis was on turning
the Mahasabha into a political party in
opposition to the Congress when Hedgewar had
already decided to insulate the RSS from any
active politics and concentrate on `cultural
work'.
Hedgewar and later Golwalkar also neither wanted
to be associated with a formation whose
confrontational activities would place the RSS in
direct opposition to the Congress. There were
apprehensions regarding each other's role in the
Hindu Unification Movement. The souring of
relations between the two organisations is
visible in an angry letter issued by Savarkar's
office in 1940 advising that "when there is such
a serious conflict at a particular locality
between any of the branches of the Sangh, the RSS
and the Hindu Sabhaites that actual preaching is
carried out against the Hindu Mahasabha, then the
Hindu Sabhaites should better leave the Sangh
...and start their own Hindu Sabha volunteer
corps (letter from V.D.Savarkar to S.L.Mishra, 3
March 1943)."
In fact the earlier Hindu Mahasabha leaders prior
to Savarkar were expecting that the RSS would
work as a `youth organisation' of the `parent
body'. But that plan did not materialise and then
the Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar's leadership
was forced to form the Ram Sena in its place.
The chequered course
It is now history how in 1942 when the Britishers
were engaged in World War II and the Congress's
call for `Quit India' reverberated throughout
India, thousands of people engaged in government
jobs including police and military left their
jobs to protest against the continuation of the
British regime. It is interesting that the mass
upsurge of the Indian people once again could not
compel both these organisations to chart a
unified path. Of course there was one commonality
and it was their refusal to join the anti
colonial mass upsurge. And thus while the RSS
preferred to keep itself aloof from the `Quit
India Movement' and concentrate on its `cultural'
agenda, Savarkar went one step further. At that
time he preferred to tour India asking Hindu
youth to join the military with a call
`Militarise the Hindus, Hinduise the nation'.
The advent of independence also could not bring
about any qualitative improvement in the
relationships between Savarkar and the rest of
the RSS led by Golwalkar. In fact the killing of
the Mahatma as part of a deep conspiracy hatched
by the forces of Hindutva and the consequent
government crackdown on the RSS as well as the
Hindu Mahasabha and the long winding court
proceedings further soured the relations between
the two.
The RSS's vainglorious attempts to save itself
from the aftermath, Golwalkar's petitions to
Sardar Patel for lifting the ban on the RSS
coupled with its inaction as far as the court
case against Savarkar and his other comrades was
concerned proved to be the last straw.
The Fifties saw the RSS's attempts to build a
mass political party of its own in the form of
the Jan Sangh with a senior ex-Hindu Mahasabha
leader Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in its leading
position. It was a time when both the Jan Sangh
and the Hindu Mahasabha contested for the same
political space in an ambience that was not
conducive for either of them. It was clear to
even a layperson that the RSS as well as the Jan
Sangh were maintaining a distance from Savarkar.
In fact Savarkar died a lonely man abhorred by
the very people who once called him the pioneer
theoretician of the project of the Hindu Rashtra.
It seems really ironic that these are the very
people who are today engaged in an exercise to
show that they are the real heirs to his legacy.
Vikram Savarkar, a nephew of Savarkar and a
leader of the Hindu Mahasabha, in a recent
interview to the press clearly exposed the
hypocrisy involved in these attempts. According
to him he very well knows that the BJP and the
RSS did not appreciate his (Savarkar's)
philosophy. In fact for him the BJP's sudden love
for the legend is an eyewash. It is an effort to
woo voters for the Assembly elections in
Maharashtra.
SUBHASH GATADE
______
[5]
Mid Day - September 21, 2004
'ALTERNATIVE NOBEL' FOR AGNIVESH, ENGINEER
By: PTI
September 20, 2004
Hyderabad: Renowned social worker Swami Agnivesh
and Muslim scholar Asghar Ali Engineer have been
chosen for the honorary 'Right Livelihood Award'
-- considered as the 'alternative Nobel prizes'
-- for their 'strong commitment to promote values
of co-existence and tolerance'.
The Right Livelihood Awards 2004 were announced
by the Right Livelihood Award Foundation's
founder and chairman Jakob Von Uexkull on Monday.
It is for the first time that the meeting of the
international jury of the Foundation was held
outside Swedish capital Stockholm.
The three recepients of the Right Livelihood cash
award, totalling two million Swedish Kronor
(220,000 US Dollar), are: the Russian human
rights organisation 'Memorial', Nicaraguan human
rights activist and environmentalist Bianca
Jagger and Argentanian scientist and
environmentalist Raul Montenegro.
The annual Right Livelihood Awards, to be
presented on December nine in the Swedish
Parliament, are given in recognition of dedicated
work at community level in Development, Human
Rights, Ecology, Renewable Energy and Gender
Empowerment.
Established 25 years ago by Uexkull, a
Swedish-German philatelic expert, who sold his
valuable collection of postage stamps to provide
the original endowment, the Right Livelihood
Award honours people who dare to throw off the
straitjacket of conventional ideas and work for
empowering local communities.
"The selection of the two distinguished Indian
religious figures for the honorary award shows
that we have much more to learn from India. They
have worked unceasingly for social justice and
communal harmony for more than two decades,"
Uexkull told a press conference where the list of
awardees was announced.
Swami Agnivesh and Asghar Ali Engineer have been
chosen for their strong commitment and
cooperation for many years to promote the values
of co-existence, tolerance and understanding in
India and between the countries in South Asia,
Uexkull said.
"Together, these two distinguished religious
leaders represent a holy work and a true
spiritual essence of their religions," he said.
The administrative director of the Foundation
Kerstin Bennet and Indian member of the internal
jury Dr Vithal Rajan were also present at the
press conference.
The jury held its eight-day meeting here to
select the winners from among 102 nominations.
Asked about Hyderabad being chosen as the venue
for the Foundation's first meeting outside
Sweden, Uexkull said, "Hyderabad is a fascinating
city encompassing the whole world".
Agnivesh, an Arya Samaj leader known for his long
struggle against bonded labour, founded the
Bandhua Mukti Morcha (BMM) in 1981 and also took
up several social issues including campaign
against the practice of `Sati' and female
infanticide.
He was thrice elected as the chairman of United
Nations Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of
Slavery.
Asghar Ali Engineer, an Islamic scholar who has
published 47 books mainly focussing on Islam and
communal violence in India, has founded the
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS)
aimed at promoting communal harmony and
organising inter-faith dialogues.
______
[6]
Date: September 29, 2004
India International Centre and Anhad invite you to a seminar
TOWARDS AN AGENDA FOR SECULAR EDUCATION
9.30: Welcome by Harsh Mander on behalf of Anhad
Moderator : Prof. Mridula Mukherjee
10.00-10.20: Key Note Address Prof. Satish Chandra
10.20-10.40- Secular Values and Curriculum: Prof Arjun Dev
10.40-11.00-The Assault on Institutions of
Learning and Tasks Ahead: Prof. Mushirul Hasan
11.00-11.40- Erosion of Democratic Expression in Institutions
of Higher Learning – Prof Rizwan Qaiser, Aditya Nigam, Apoorvanand
11.40-12.00- TEA BREAK
12.00-12.20 Text Books and Pedagogy- Prof. Krishan Kumar
12.20-12.50- Assault on Science Education and the
Tasks Ahead-Prof. T Jayaraman
12.50- Vote of Thanks: Gauhar Raza on behalf of Anhad
Venue: Main Auditorium, IIC, Max Mueller Road, New Delhi-110001
Time: 9.30am- 1.30pm
Date: September 29, 2004
Anhad, 4, windsor place, new delhi-110001, tel- 23327366/ 67
______
[7]
insaf Bulletin [29], September, 2004
International South Asia Forum
Postal address: Box 272, Westmount Stn., QC, Canada H3Z 2T2 (Tel. 514 346-9477)
(e-mail: insaf at insaf.net or visit our website http://www.insaf.net)
Editors, Daya Varma (Montreal) and Vinod Mubayi
(New York). Editorial Board: Yumna Siddiqi
(Middlebury), Anwar Pasha (Montreal);
circulation/website: Ramya Chellappa (New York).
Manipur: The shame of India
Diaspora launches Petition for repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
Is UPA the same as NDA?
by Daya Varma
The US and Kashmir
by Maharaj Kaul
The state of Child illiteracy and labor in South Asia
and more
for a fully formatted copy in word of the Insaf
bulletin - sept., 2004 write to : insaf at insaf.net
August issues of the bulletin is available at:
http://insaf.net/central/bulletins/200408bull.html
[A non formatted plain text version of the Insaf
Bulletin for September 2004 (52k), is available
via sacw; for copy write to : <aiindex at mnet.fr>
_____
[8]
IHEU'S 16TH WORLD CONGRESS
SEPARATION OF RELIGION AND STATE
Paris, Tuesday 5 July - Thursday 7 July 2005
Inaugural Session at UNESCO Headquarters; Plenary
Sessions, Parallel Sessions and Workshops
Associated events: IHEU General Assembly,
International IHEYO Youth Conference and World
Congress of Freethinkers
Pre-register now for the Congress at
http://www.librepenseefrance.ouvaton.org/iheu/congres_16.htm.
_____
[10]
CALL FOR PAPERS
Conference on : Migration, religion and
secularism - a comparative approach (Europe and
North America)
Paris, June 17 - 18, 2005
University of Paris 1 - Sorbonne and Ecole
Normale Supérieure The University of Paris 1 -
Sorbonne and the Ecole Normale Supérieure are
presently pursuing a comparative study on the
impact of 'new' migration on the 'old' models and
practices of seculari-zation in Europe and North
America.
The project will end with a conference in Paris,
on June 17 - 18, 2005 on the Centennial of the
French Law of 1905 instituting the separation of
the Church and State.
Over the last two centuries, a general process of
secularization marked the West and beyond. This
process produced a certain separation between the
State and religion, pushing the latter into a
private or "social" sphere, distinct from public
affairs. Yet the principle of separation took on
different forms: the "separation of the Church
and State" in France, German "secularization,"
American "civil religion," which are strongly
embedded in nations' identities. Today, these
forms are increasingly challenged, in their daily
practices if not in their theoretical
foundations, by other models of religious
prac-tices and conduct. What are those models and
how do they differ in the way they set up the
relationship between the State, religious groups
and the individual? How do national "models" and
practices interact, when the need arises, with
the religious or cultural claims of new citizens?
These questions are not only rele-vant for the
engagement with the large Muslim communities that
have developed in almost all western countries,
but also for new Catholic populations in the
United States, and Jews and Buddhists in Europe.
In addition to an analysis of the current
situation, the study of past practices seems
important. For example, a re-examination of the
place given to Jewish and Christian immigrants
before the Second World War - in Europe and in
North America - in order to compare their cases
to the contemporary situation of "Latinos" in the
United States and Russian Jews in Germany. How
did 'old' countries of immigration manage to
integrate new religions and identities in the
past? What can be learned from the implementation
of secularization models in former colonies, for
example, Algeria in the case of France? Finally,
an investigation into the different traditions
and practices concerning the relationship of
State and religion in the migrants' home
countries (Morocco, Turkey, Mexico, or Senegal
for example) is relevant.
The conference is organized by Jean-Claude Monod
(CNRS-Ecole Normale Supérieure) and Patrick Weil
(CNRS-University of Paris 1-Sorbonne) with
Nilufer Gole (EHESS), Baptiste Coulmont
(University of Paris 8) and Romain Garbaye
(University of Paris 4). It will be a workshop
format, with papers distributed in advance.
Sessions will begin with brief presentations by
the papers' authors and will focus on discussion.
A selection of papers from each panel will also
be prepared for publication. For the conference,
we invite paper proposals in English or French
from scholars of all disciplines. Proposals
should include a title, 1-2 page description of
the proposed paper, and a curriculum vitae. We
request one printed copy of all materials to be
sent to one of the postal addresses below and an
email attachment containing your materials to the
following email address:
secularization at hotmail.com . The deadline for the
material is December 1, 2004. Julian von Fumetti,
assistant scientifique
e-mail: secularization at hotmail.com
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
Sister initiatives :
South Asia Counter Information Project : snipurl.com/sacip
South Asians Against Nukes: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org
Communalism Watch: communalism.blogspot.com/
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
More information about the Sacw
mailing list