SACW | 29 Sep 2004

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire  |  29 September,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net


[1] India's Security Council Bid: There's no shortcut to glory (Praful Bidwai)
[2] Long distance nationalism (Mike Marqusee)
[3] India - Gujarat:  My Godhra Visit  (VK Tripathi)
[4] India: Say 'no' to thought control : Censorship - a civil 
disobedience campaign - Azaad Aawaaz Abhiyaan
[5] USA: In Ink: A Celebration of South Asian Writing (Philadelphia, 
October 23, 2004)
[6] India: Book Review - Exploding Myths on Conversions (Anshu Malhotra)
[7] India: 'Words of Women' conversation with Bulbul Sharma (New 
Delhi, Sept 29)
[8] USA: A Conversation with Dr. Mallika Sarabhai--(Stanford Univ, Oct 10)
[9] Online petition to all for International Day of Non-Violence, on 
January 30th

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

[1]


The Praful Bidwai Column *
September 27

INDIA'S SECURITY COUNCIL BID: THERE'S NO SHORTCUT TO GLORY

By Praful Bidwai

India has thrown its hat in the ring for a permanent seat on the 
United Nations Security Council following years of canvassing support 
among scores of nations. The Indian effort is coordinated in concert 
with three other aspirants to the same status--Brazil, Germany and 
Japan. This new group of states, the G-4, are hopeful that a 
committee for reform of the UN system, appointed by Secretary General 
Kofi Annan, which is due to submit its report in December, will give 
them a special opportunity to enter the portals of the Council. The 
present situation might appear favourable to G-4 leaders because the 
recent crises in the former Yugoslavia and Western Africa, and above 
all, in Iraq, have exposed the inadequacy of the UN system, and 
underscored the need for change.

However, it is by no means certain that the G-4's bid will succeed. 
While the claims of Germany and Japan to Council seat are widely 
supported, Brazil's bid is likely to be opposed by Argentina and may 
not find favour with all the Council's five permanent members (P-5), 
each of whom wields the veto. India is backed by Russia, France and 
Britain, but not yet by the United States and China. Pakistan has 
already said it will oppose India tooth and nail. The fact that the 
G-4 are making a joint claim opens up new possibilities other than 
straightforward inclusion or exclusion: for instance, their 
collective entry as a distinct tier in the Council, with a permanent 
presence, but without veto power.

Whatever happens, we must ask: How valuable is a permanent seat on 
the Security Council? Will global security and democratisation of the 
world be promoted if the Council is expanded without being reformed? 
Is Mr Tony Blair right in saying as he did: "for India not to be 
represented on the Security Council is, I think, something that is 
not in tune with the modern times in which we live"? Will India gain 
in stature and influence by acquiring a permanent seat? Can India 
contribute something to the world by being on the Council?

Some sobering thoughts are in order. The first is inspired by an 
interesting contrast between India's new ambitious self-assertion and 
its just-announced reversal of its 2003 decision to refuse bilateral 
aid from any but a handful of countries. New Delhi now says it will 
accept bilateral assistance from all G-8 countries, as well as the 
European Union, including its non-G-8 members "provided they give a 
minimum bilateral aid package of $25 million per annum". (Not a large 
sum this!) India's earlier hubris, enhanced by its peevish response 
to demarches issued by the EU over the Gujarat pogrom, has now given 
way to the acknowledgement that it is in need of external assistance.

This is wholly understandable. Despite a recent step-up in GDP 
growth, India belongs to the bottom third of the world's nations, 
with a rank of 127 out of 177 in the United Nations Human Development 
Index (HDI). India's per capita income is a mere $487, or less than 
one-tenth the global average. Even in purchasing-power parity, the 
Indian earns only one-third as much as the global average. India's 
ambition to get a seat at the world's high table is not matched by 
its poverty and general backwardness, nor by its aggregate economic 
size, which in absolute terms barely equals the Netherlands' (pop 16 
million). A Security Council seat won't redress this mismatch.

Nor is a Security Council seat the best index of international 
standing. Britain, France and Russia are declining 
powers--economically and politically--despite being in the P-5. There 
is nearly as much disproportion between, say, Pakistan's and India's 
nuclear-weapons status and their global political weight, as between 
Council membership and true leadership in politics, economy or 
culture.

In today's world, "soft power" is probably more important than "hard" 
or military power. Nations are often respected more for their moral 
leadership and for what they have done for their citizens than for 
their military-political might. For instance, Sweden, South Africa 
and Ireland enjoy respect disproportionate to their size or might 
because they have endorsed good causes like peace and development. 
Norway (pop 4.5 million) commands prestige because of its steady 
Number One HDI rank, the quality of its public services, its record 
of women's empowerment, and not least, for promoting conflict 
resolution in Palestine-Israel and Sri Lanka.

Contrariwise, brute power is no guarantee that a nation will enjoy 
political authority at a critical juncture. The United States' 
military superiority is unmatched not just in this century, but in 
history. America alone can patrol the seven seas with its awesome 
armadas centred on aircraft-carrier groups. It alone can fight two 
simultaneous wars in different parts of the globe. It alone has the 
ability to rapidly transport hundreds of thousands of troops over 
continental distances at day or night.

And yet, the US is politically failing in Iraq, just as it failed in 
Vietnam. During the critical February 2003 debate over the "Second 
Resolution" on Iraq, all the US's powers of persuasion, coercion and 
bribery could not help it recruit it the support it needed from the 
Security Council's non-permanent members. Not just Pakistan, Brazil 
and Chile, but even Guinea, Cameroon and Angola (all extremely weak 
and poor) defied Washington!

This does not argue that the Security Council is irrelevant--on the 
contrary, it proved relevant precisely when the US threatened to 
consign it to the dustbin of history, like the League of Nations--, 
but only that there are limits to its authority and to the power of 
even its most privileged members. Wisdom lies in understanding those 
limits and working within them--not in equating Council membership 
with unbridled authority or legitimacy.

The Security Council, it bears recalling, was often gridlocked during 
the Cold War. It failed to stop the French and US interventions in 
Vietnam, prevent the Korean war, the Soviet intervention of 
Afghanistan, and any number of "proxy" wars in Africa and Latin 
America. After the Cold War too, it failed in Bosnia and Rwanda. It 
is now disastrously failing in Sudan. It has proved shamefully 
ineffectual in bringing a modicum of justice to the Palestinian 
people. These failures are largely attributable to lack of will on 
the part of the major powers to enforce peace and their pursuit of 
narrow, parochial, short-term self-interest. Especially blameworthy 
here is the US, which has vilified, abused and exploited the UN 
according to its whims. As US Under-Secretary of State John Bolton 
declared 10 years ago: "There is no United Nations. There is an 
international community that occasionally can be led by the only real 
power left in the world, and that is the United States, when it suits 
our interest. When the US leads, the United Nations will follow. When 
it suits our interest to do so, we will do so. When it does not suit 
our interests we will not".

Such revoltingly arrogant attitudes cannot be changed unless the 
Council is thoroughly reformed--not just to reflect contemporary 
reality, as distinct from the world in 1945, but to promote genuine 
democratisation. Some elements of reform are obvious. The Council 
must be enlarged through greater representation for the Global South. 
Vetoes must be eventually abolished. The Council's decision-making 
must be restructured, so that greater authority is vested in the 
General Assembly. It won't do just to have a couple of new permanent 
members like Germany and Japan (which won't enhance the Council's 
credibility), nor even large Southern countries like India, Brazil, 
Nigeria and Indonesia. It would be far better to have permanent seats 
for different regions, which are rotated among their members.

Some interesting proposals have come from a Ford Foundation-Yale 
University working group (whose members were almost evenly divided 
between North and South). One calls for enlarging the number of 
permanent (though non-veto) members, while restricting the use of the 
veto by the P-5 "only to peacekeeping and enforcement measures. A 
change in the use of the veto could be arranged by agreement among 
the P-5 and without Charter amendment". One major merit of this 
transitional idea is that it reduces the danger that the North will 
altogether derail any reform.


There is an equally urgent need to expand the role of the General 
Assembly in security-related decision-making and empower the Economic 
and Social Council to oversee the working of the World Bank, IMF and 
World Trade Organisation. Other proposals too have been made for 
creating a "Second Chamber" of civil society organisations, in 
addition to the General Assembly.


India could play a valuable role in promoting a dialogue for UN 
reform along these lines. That would be a far greater contribution to 
democratisation of global governance than joining an unreformed 
Security Council, which will remains a plaything of the Great Powers. 
But that means that Indian leaders must return to a Nehruvian vision 
and seize moral leadership, while abandoning their search for glory 
through military-political-economic power. It also means giving up 
false notions of prestige and stature, and addressing the real issues 
before the country and the world. Are our leaders ready for this?


______


[2]

The Hindu, 17 September

LONG DISTANCE NATIONALISM
by Mike Marqusee

There are said to be 50,000 US passport holders permanently resident 
in London, but not more than a score of them turned up for the USA's 
Champions Trophy match against New Zealand at the Oval last week. The 
team didn't give them much to cheer about and the spasmodic chants of 
"U-S-A! U-S-A!" sounded forlorn as they echoed round the near empty 
ground. But then, Americans abroad rely on means other than cricket 
to assert their national identity (such as invading other countries 
and imposing their will overseas by force of arms).

For the India and Pakistan fans who will fill Edgbaston to the brim 
on Sunday, it's a different story. So far, this is the only Champions 
Trophy match to have sold out and the only one to boast any sense of 
occasion. And that is because Birmingham is home to one of Britain's 
largest south Asian communities, a community welded together by a 
devotion to cricket largely unshared by the majority of the 
population.

But it is also a community divided by that devotion, and on Sunday 
we'll see precisely how the volatile dialectic of unity and division 
will play itself out.

These days, ethnic minorities comprise just under 10% of the British 
population. Of those about half - some 2.5 million people - are of 
south Asian descent, including one million "Indians" and 750,000 
"Pakistanis" - most born in the UK and nearly all UK passport 
holders. Among the "Indians", 45% are Hindus, 13% Muslims, and 29% 
Sikhs.

Birmingham itself boasts a 30% ethnic minority population. Across the 
larger West Midlands region (Edgbaston's catchment area) there are 
180,000 Indians and 160,00 Pakistanis. Among the Indians there are 
56,000 Hindus, 103,000 Sikhs and 21,000 Muslims.

It's because of these figures that English cricket authorities made 
sure this tie was played in Edgbaston. However, the neat ethnic 
labels disguise a complex process of mingling and interchange as well 
as one of differentiation, often arbitrary and increasingly venomous.

Back in 1990, Norman Tebbitt - one of Margaret Thatcher's senior 
ministers and in those days the country's chief nationalist ideologue 
- launched a notorious attack on British Asians who supported India 
or Pakistan at cricket despite years of residence (or even birth) in 
Britain. "Which side do they cheer for?" he demanded. The "Tebbit 
test" became an index of racism - and defying it an index of 
resistance to racism, and one that united all those of south Asian 
descent.

But much has happened since then: Ayodhya, 9/11, the pogrom in 
Gujerat. In the 80s, people referred to themselves as South Asians or 
British Asians or (among the more politically conscious) as "black". 
But in recent years, other definitions have come to be preferred: 
"British Indian" and "British Pakistani", which are ominously 
morphing into "British Hindu", "British Muslim" and "British Sikh".

In the streets of Birmingham,. it's not hard to find young men who've 
never actually been to south Asia, who speak in broad Brummie 
accents, who share the hybrid culture of the inner cities but 
nonetheless support either India or Pakistan with ardent ferocity and 
view each other as sworn enemies. Among these communities the recent 
India-Pakistan rapprochement and the spirit of the cricket series 
played earlier this year have hardly registered.

Cricket is a magnet for long-distance nationalism, the double-edged 
sword of diaspora romanticism. In a fluid society where 
self-definition is open-ended and subject to multiple, shifting 
pressures, the cricketing entities we call India or Pakistan, 
uniformed in pale blue or dark green, seem reassuringly clear-cut, 
something you can be 'for' or 'against'. Tragically, they have also 
become, increasingly, bearers of communal identity. Both young 
Pakistani and young Indian fans - sharing a common ignorance of south 
Asian realities - find it hard to assimilate the presence of Kaif or 
Pathan in the Indian team.

Norman Tebbit's cricket test was mirrored in India by Bal Thackeray, 
who asked of Indian Muslims: "Are there tears in their eyes when 
India loses to Pakistan?" Both Tebbit and Thackeray premised their 
view of cricketing loyalty on a static, monolithic notion of national 
identity - not to mention a grotesque over-estimation of the 
importance of cricket, whose manifold delights spring from its 
essentially trivial and inconsequential nature.

Will the crowd at Edgbaston on Sunday be able to revel in the game's 
pointlessness, or will it turn into a proxy for battling identities? 
The last time India and Pakistan met in England was during the World 
Cup of 1999, played in the midst of the Kargil crisis. Despite 
foreboding in the British press - for whom all non-western people are 
inherently and irremediably "tribal" - the match passed without 
significant incident.

The same is likely to happen on Sunday. The recent polarisation among 
British Asian youth is worrying, and in various ways it has already 
spilt over into the cricket arena. But it's important to remember 
that there are other factors at work here, including a 
log-established diaspora culture in which the love of cricket is a 
binding element.


______



[3]


Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 04:02:34 +0530 (IST)
From: Prof VK Tripathi
To: Undisclosed recipients: ;
Subject: Godhra Visit


Friends
I have returned from Godhra (Panchmahals), after spending three days in
the district. My report is given below. We would be doing a number of
activities over there in coming months. Your suggestions and cooperation
would be very valuable.

Today is also a very sad day. Legendary socialist thinker and grassroots
activist Kishan Patnaik has passed away in Bhubneshwar. He whole heartedly
supported every activity of Sadbhav Mission and motivated many people to
resist communalism. It is a major loss for us as well as the nation.

Best regards
Vipin Tripathi

My Godhra Visit

In mid September I planned to visit Godhra for 3 days starting September
23. As I informed Dr. Sujaat Vali of my plans, I learnt that there was
considerable apprehension in the city due to the route of forthcoming
Ganesh Visarjan Yatra. Last year when the yatra passed through the
exclusively Muslim area of Polan Bazar, rioting erupted and several shops
were burnt. Most people of both the communities, in a survey conducted
later, wanted that the route of the yatra in future to be
diverted. However, VHP was insistent and prevailed upon administration
for the same route. The repeat of 2003 was apprehended. I informed PM
office, President office, a few MPs, political leaders and media about
it. I also talked DM Godhra who told me that nothing untoward would be
allowed to happen. Fortunately it went off peacefully on September 23.

I reached Godhra on the morning of 24 th. As I came out of the station,
Mohammad Hasan, an auto driver, recognized me and greeted me with
affection. He took me to Lara hospital where I met Dr. Sharmila Vali
and Mukund Bhai Sindhav. We discussed the situation in the city and plans
to hold teaching workshop and education conference. I also visited Iqbal
High School and Nav-Rachna High School to assess friends' views.

At 9:30 AM I left for Lunawada. I visited friends in the degree college
and SK High School. At noon I left for Panderwada, the village where 27
people were killed and 127 houses burnt in 2002. After spending
some time with the shopkeepers at the bus stand, specially with people at
a shoe keeper shop, I went to the High School and met Principal Trivedi. I
was astonished to learn that out of 500 students from class IX to XII,
there were only 2 were Muslims. In the primary section there were 3 Muslim
students out of 800. There is another primary school (related relatively
inferior in quality) where Muslim students are significant yet far below
the percentage of population. When I met Faiz Mohammad and other victims
of violence, they told me that many students were denied admission in High
School. Last year I had met Principal Pandya (who has now retired) and
requested him to admit these children who could not appear in the
exam due to riots and he had promised cooperation. However, admission was
to be finally approved by the Distt. inspector of schools. I was already
in touch with the latter and asked people to go and meet him but poor
villagers could not afford to go to him. It is a major lapse on our
part. Now I have requested friends in Godhra to help admissions
in future and arrange books for needy children (Rs. 350 per child for
dress and books).

93 riot-hit families have settled in new homes. Seven new homes are
coming up. 27 families, however, have not yet returned to the village, nor
any homes for them have been constructed. People are in dire need of
work. Continuous rain for 41 days has destroyed 80 % crop of corn. Faiz
Mohammad told me that a few families were still in need of hand thela or
other means of livelihood. I went to discuss the situation with the
Sarpanch but he was not home. I noted that the Parliament election
results have eboldened Himdu-Muslim masses to meet each other more
normally.

In the evening I returned to Lunawada, visited Sadiq Vohra's home and held
fruitful discussions with him and Mr. Salauddin. At 9 PM Salauddin dropped
me at Prof. Manoj Shah's home. We discussed how to bring out short books
in Gujarati on i) contributions of various communities and regions in
freedom struggle (in Hindi and English we already we have it), ii) Living
conditions of Hindu and Muslim Masses (by adding sections on conditions of
Dalits, Tribals, Farmers, Artisans etc in our book "Living conditions of
Muslim Masses"). He offered to translate these and get them printed in
Lunawada. Next morning he arranged my lecture among 120 B.A. students. I
spoke on Science and Democracy, and concluded by underlining that
communalism is a weapon of imperialism and each one of us must resist it
in our neighborhood. The response was overwhelming.

At 9 AM I left for Kalol and walked 4 km to reach Boroo (where 150
houses were burnt in 2002) at 12:30 PM. All the families have settled in
their new homes, however, employment is a major problem. The wades are
very low, Rs. 20 per day for light work in the village and Rs. 50 for
hard work in Kalol/ Halol, yet the work is not available daily. I visited
several families and received their deep affection.

Then I walked back to Kalol and visited Kasimabad where victims from Delol
(that had 62 Muslim families and 32 people from whom were killed on their
way while fleeing in 2002) have been located in new homes as none of them
could return back to Delol. These one room homes (with a partition inside)
have been built by voluntary organizations (at a cost of Rs. 52000 each,
including the cost of land). Many children of these families have been
moved to an English medium school in Hyderabad with the help of
ANHAD. Qasim Bhai played a hey role in it. In the evening I went to
Vadodara.

Next morning I reached Godhra. I met the DM and congratulated him for
peaceful passage of the yatra. I also made requests to i) initiate Jawahar
Rojgaar Yojna or other similar Yojna, and tree plantation to provide work
for the people in Panderwada and Boroo. ii) plant trees through the forest
department, ii) to provide assistance for self employment, iii) to help
improve Muslim students representation in schools. He noted down these and
said that he would look into them. At 11:30 I went t Aman Samuday meeting
where 40 volunteers from villages were present. Aman Samuday has created
bases in 350 villages/ towns, each base having five Aman Sewaks from the
village. This network provides, food packs, interest free loans for self
employment and creates awareness about communal harmony. The three hour
meeting was very heartening.

I visited the family of Mr. SJ Thakar, Principal Technical High School who
passed away two months ago. He was instrumental in organizing the
Mathematics workshop last year and a big support in other efforts. His
death is a severe blow to our efforts. I held elaborate discussions with
Dr. Vali regarding our various programs for the district. He was
supportive of each of them. Prof. Bhanot, Dr. Yashwant Sharma and
Dr. Waghela put forth several suggestions to strengthen the network and
offered their full support. I felt enrgized and left for Delhi at 7:15
PM with optimism.

______


[4]

SAY 'NO' TO THOUGHT CONTROL : CENSORSHIP - A CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
CAMPAIGN
AZAAD AAWAAZ ABHIYAAN
please circulate / hold a screening in your home on Oct 2, 2004

We, the undersigned, are deeply perturbed about the rise and growth of
politics of intolerance in recent times. We believe that a harmonious
existence of diverse views, robust debates and consensus-building are
the cornerstones of any civil society. We are gravely concerned about
recent attempts to muzzle the freedom of expression, a basic right
guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. We are especially pained by
the deployment of legal and extra-legal means by political parties to
suppress any voices critical of their politics. Whether it is a physical
attack on journalists or crude attempts to ban books and films or the
use of lung power to disrupt film festivals, art exhibitions and
theatrical performances etc, there is only one victim - Democracy!

We feel it is time to launch an active campaign to reclaim our
fundamental Right to Information as well as Freedom of Expression. On
Oct 2, 2004, on the 135th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, we will
organise our first protest action, which we hope will develop in a long
series of events to celebrate Democracy. We propose to raise the issue
of censorship by defying the recent ban on Rakesh Sharma's
internationally - acclaimed documentary - Final Solution. On Oct 2,
Final Solution will be screened at least 100 homes in various parts of
Mumbai. Friends, family and select invitees will form the audience for
these private screenings. We urge you to join this action by organising
a screening in your home for a group of 20-40 people ( your friends,
neighbours and family). We suggest a discussion at the end of the
screening followed by collection of signatures on a petition asking the
Central Government to revoke the ban on Final Solution. We will provide
screening copies of the film ( Video CDs, which you get to keep for
free!), copies of the petition and a synopsis of the film. All you need
to have is a large screen TV ( 25 or 29 inches), a DVD/VCD player and of
course, a strong commitment to uphold Freedom of Expression. Please note
that the law does not prohibit 'private' screenings, though it is
illegal to hold public screenings in an auditorium, hall or open spaces.
Years ago, Mahatma Gandhi taught us the power of civil disobedience -
the present campaign is a step inspired by his vision and is in the
nature of a tribute to him on his birth anniversary.

Final Solution is a study of the politics of hate. Set in Gujarat during
the period Feb/March 2002 - July 2003, the film graphically documents
the changing face of right-wing politics in India through a study of
genocidal violence against Moslems in Gujarat. The film documents the
Assembly elections held in Gujarat in late 2002 and records in detail
the exploitation of the Godhra incident (in which 59 Hindus were burnt
alive) by the right-wing propaganda machinery for electoral gains. It
studies the situation after the storm and its impact on Hindus and
Moslems - ghettoisation in cities and villages, segregation in schools,
the call for economic boycott of Moslems and continuing acts of violence
more than a year after the carnage.
Final Solution is anti-hate/ violence as "those who forget history are
condemned to relive it".

Final Solution, a 148-minute documentary, has won several awards,
including the Humanitarian Award for Outstanding Documentary at the
HongKong International film festival and the Silver Dhow at the Zanzibar
International film festival as well as two major awards at the Berlin
International film festival. The Wolgang Staudte Award Jury headed by
the noted French director Catherine Breillat noted in its citation: "An
epic documentary focussing on a culture of hatred and indifference. The
directness, clarity and accuracy of the film enables the viewer to both
reflect on the universality of the subject matter and relate this to his
or her own human attitudes. The film-maker has chosen a documentary form
that completely shuns the use of melodramatic effects..." The Netpac
Jury at the Berlinale said: the award goes to Final Solution "for its
clarification of issues that spawned hate and violence between Hindus
and Moslems in Gujarat, its analysis of propoganda mechanisms for
political purposes, and its measured voice to seek a final solution to
the conflict."

We are shocked to note that the Indian Censors have offered the
following reasons for the ban: "The film promotes communal disharmony
among Hindu and Muslim groups and presents the picture of Gujarat riots
in a way that it may arouse the communal feelings and clashes among
Hindu Muslim groups. It attacks on the basic concept of our Republic
i.e. National Integrity and Unity. Certain dialogues involve defamation
of individuals or body of individuals. Entire picturisation is highly
provocative and may trigger off unrest and communal violence. State
security is jeopardized and public order is endangered if this film is
shown. It violates guidelines 2(xiii), 2(xiv), 2(xvii) and 3(i). When it
is judged in its entirety from the point of view of its overall impact,
it is not advisable to be exhibited. Hence refused under Section 5(b) 1
of the Cinematograph Act, 1952."

[Section 5B(1): A film shall not be certified for public exhibition if,
in the opinion of the authority competent to grant the certificate, the
film or any part of it is against the interests of [the sovereignty and
integrity of India] the security of the State, friendly relations with
foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or involves
defamation or contempt of court or is likely to incite the commission of
any offence. 2 (xiii) -Visible words which promote communal,
obscurantist, anti-scientific and anti national attitudes. 2(xiv)-The
sovereignty and integrity of India is called in question. 2(xvii)
-Public order is endangered].

We find the observations made by the Indian Censor Board to be deeply
disturbing. Final Solution is itself a strong plea against the politics
of intolerance and hate and we are perturbed to find it become a victim
of political intolerance. We hope our protest action acts as a catalyst
for a debate on Censorship and Freedom of Expression.

Those who would like to organise screenings should write immediately to
Azad Awaz Abhiyan at AAAbombay at yahoo.com or gujaratfilm at yahoo.com

Organised by : Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal, Keshav Gore Smarak Trust, Vrihat
Gujarati Vichar Manch, Ram Manohar Lohia Smriti Kendra, Yusuf Meherally
Centre, Gujarati Sahitya Sanskritik Mandal, SM Joshi Socialist
Foundation, Dr P V Mandlik Trust, Ekta, IPTA (Mumbai), Vikalp (Mumbai),
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism


______


[5]

Project IMPACT, Philadelphia, is proud to present its first South
Asian literary event,

In Ink: A Celebration of South Asian Writing

Saturday, October 23, 2004

The School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania
Meyerson Hall
210 South 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA

Keynote Speaker: Shashi Tharoor at 9:00 a.m.

In Ink promises to create a dynamic forum in which participants can
engage in discussions with a diverse group of extraordinary South
Asian writers. Participants will interact through panel discussions
and book readings highlighting literature of the South Asian
Diaspora.  

This all day event begins at 9:00 a.m.

The registration fee is $25.00 for adults and $15.00 for students
(show student ID at the door).  This includes access to the keynote
address, all panels and readings, and a full lunch.

Meet your favorite authors, network, and attend interesting readings
and panel events!

Participating Authors:
                                                 
Meena Alexander
Samina Ali
Anjana Appachana
Carmit Delman
Zia Jaffrey
S. Mitra Kalita
Maryann Mohanraj
Tahira Naqvi
Asra Nomani
Vijay Prashad
Shona Ramaya
Bapsi Sidhwa
Rajini Srikanth
Pireeni Sundaralingam
Indu Sundaresen
Shashi Tharoor

Sponsors of In INK: A Celebration of South Asian Writing:
South Asia Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania;
PECO; Monsoon Magazine; Southwest Airlines; Comcast; Catamaran

Trade Partners of Project IMPACT:  Asian Arts Initiative;
Desijournal.com; Network of Indian Professionals, Philadelphia; South
Asian Journalists Association (SAJA); South Asian Women's Creative
Collective (SAWCC)

For more information, please contact co-chairs Anita Thakkar at
lotus11777 at yahoo.com and Julie Rajan at julie_rajan71 at yahoo.com

Project IMPACT is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing
and fostering the development of civic awareness, engagement, and
social responsibility of South Asian Americans. Visit www.Project-
Impact.org for details about the event or to learn about other
Project Impact activities.  

http://www.project-impact.org/literarycelebration.html and click RSVP

______


[6]


EPW Book Review
September 18, 2004
Exploding Myths on Conversions

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Identity, Hegemony and Resistance: Towards the Social History of 
Conversions in Orissa, 1800-2000
by Biswamoy Pati;
Three Essays Collective,
New Delhi, 2003;
pp 57+i-xvii, Rs 180.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anshu Malhotra

The Three Essays Collective is a new and welcome entrant in the 
publishing world, adding an academic dimension to debates on 
contemporary issues through short, sharp essays presented in the 
pamphlet mould, without losing the rigour of scholarly work. The book 
under review is a handsomely produced tract on what has become a 
highly polemical issue, namely, the question of ?conversions?. In 
recent years, there has been a range of sophisticated writing 
exploring issues like the different dimensions of varied missionary 
activity in India at least from the time of the Portuguese, the 
relationship of the missions with the colonial state and with 
indigenous society at various levels, and a need to understand the 
dynamics of ?conversions?, whether high caste individual or low caste 
mass. The raucous and sustained anti-Christian rhetoric of the likes 
of the VHP, often culminating in grisly acts of violence such as the 
murder of Graham Staines and his sons in Orissa in 1999, and at the 
same time the gains made by the Sangh parivar in apparently 
?reconverting? tribals/adivasis to Hinduism, has pushed some to delve 
into and elucidate on the angst of the Hindu Right against 
Christianity, and to understand their number-crunching politics in 
the predominantly tribal areas of states like Gujarat, Jharkhand, 
Chhattisgarh and Orissa. Biswamoy Pati brings another dimension to 
this debate by challenging the very idea of ?reconversions? of 
tribals and outcastes of Orissa, firstly by asserting that they were 
not ?Hindu? to begin with and therefore the question of 
?re?conversion does not arise, and secondly and concomitantly 
explicating a long and gradual historical process of ?conversion? of 
tribals to Hinduism through their incorporation into the caste 
system, thereby putting a question mark on the assumed 
non-proselytising nature of Hinduism.

The questions Pati has raised about the apparent ?innocence? of 
Hinduism with regard to the question of conversions as against 
?culpable? proselytising faiths, or even the gradual processes of 
change and the accumulation of identities, may not be entirely new. A 
few historians have also raised similar issues; for example, Eaton 
(1994) has discussed the gradual Islamisation of the people of East 
Bengal, and Sarkar (2004) has recently asked what may have happened 
to the large Buddhist population of India, or how was the spread of 
Hindu culture in south-east Asia accomplished? Yet Pati?s remains a 
very important argument, both because it challenges the common sense 
understanding of the nature of Hinduism, and at the same time draws 
attention to the multifarious pulls on the socio-economic and 
cultural world of the tribals of Orissa to point to the layers in the 
acculturation of a tribal to a Hindu over a long period in the state.

Drawing on the work of B P Sahu on early medieval Orissa, associated 
with the period of feudalisation and the emergence of castes, Pati 
shows both the transplanting of brahmins from the gangetic plain to 
Orissa and their creation from among the indigenous population, and 
also discusses the manner in which the adivasis were absorbed into 
Hindu society as sudras and their chiefs as kshatriyas. With the 
establishment of the colonial state in Orissa, this move towards 
Hinduisation got a further boost, especially as the agricultural 
interventions of the colonial state ? commercialisation, 
monetisation, and the establishment of irrigation projects ? required 
pushing tribals to settled agriculture. Pati shows the complex ways 
in which the colonial state legitimised itself by encouraging select 
elements of Orissa?s culture, established relations with often 
?invented? princes, and was complicit in the desire of the princes to 
establish their claims to rule by conjuring ancient relation with the 
adivasis. Thus, along with Hinduisation, the 
?kshatriyaisation?/?rajputisation?/?oriyaisation? of certain groups 
was accomplished. On the other hand, colonial rule also unleashed a 
number of conflicts over issues like the erosion of rights over 
forest use by tribals, or the extraction of forced labour from them. 
Importantly, Pati shows how some groups took advantage of this 
economic situation to establish themselves within the caste system, 
for example, the rich peasants, while the marginal groups experienced 
a worsening scenario, like the Paharia tribals. Refreshingly, it is 
always this dialectic within the indigenous society in its 
relationship with Hinduism and the colonial state that informs the 
present work.

In a brief section, Pati also looks at the role of the nationalist 
movement, especially in its Gandhian phase, which may have played a 
role in further Hinduising some tribals and outcastes. The adoption 
of the name harijan by some, or turning to vegetarianism, were modes 
through which this occurred, though the author is quick to assert 
that this was also a legitimate route to achieving self-respect. The 
author points to the adoption by the post-colonial governments of 
some of the modes of the colonial bureaucracy in order to establish 
their legitimacy among the tribals. He also notes the often overt 
attempts made by governments, and not necessarily of the right, to 
exploit the issue of ?reconversions?.

A little disappointingly however, Pati hardly discusses the issue of 
conversion to Christianity, giving a rather bland explanation that 
Christianity was not a ?serious option? as it was too closely 
associated with the exploitative colonial state. The relationship of 
the missionaries with the colonial state ranged from the 
collaborative to the oppositional, a contrariety that has been 
documented in a plethora of writings [Frykenberg 2003]. Indeed, his 
own materials seem to suggest greater complexities than he is willing 
to concede. The example of Gangpur Mundas that he discusses, who 
started a no-rent movement in 1939, which was visible among the 
Lutheran Mundas rather than the Roman Catholics, is a statement that 
is a pointer to the spectrum of relationship of the missionaries and 
the converts to the state and indigenous population, whose 
implications must be explored by the author. Again, when he talks of 
the 1950s conversion of the kandhas to Christianity, it cannot just 
be the absence of the colonial state that is salient here; a serious 
look is required at the continuities/discontinuities in the work of 
the missionaries in this area from an earlier period. Another 
question that requires serious comment is that of taking on a new 
identity, for example, that of a Christian in a public platform and 
performance. While the author has delineated, and rightly so, the 
process of a gradual accumulation of identities, the question of 
sharp breaks and a public taking on of a new persona remain equally 
important, and the politics this represents needs to be addressed. 
Perhaps the present work, more in the nature of a concise essay, did 
not permit the space to investigate these questions, and one looks 
forward to a larger study that will take them on.

These questions are important especially in the scenario painted by 
Pati in the postscript. The attempts at sharp polarisation of the 
people indulged in by the Hindu Right in the wake of the Staines 
murders, and the celebration of the murderer Dara Singh as a hero, 
the fear of disappearance of civil society, is a despairing situation 
that can be countered by historicising the process of identity 
formation, as the author has done, showing the multiple identities 
that continue to be nurtured, and the politics, both empowering and 
otherwise, behind it. Again, it is not enough to say that communalism 
is ?clouding? the ?real? world of poverty, hunger and unemployment, 
problems especially acute in Orissa, but also to understand why 
certain choices are made, and not others, in difficult conditions. 
The book is indubitably an important work both for exploding the 
myths that sustain the propaganda and programmes of the right and for 
underlining the necessity of understanding the historical processes 
that make us complex and multi-layered peoples.

References

Eaton, Richard M (1994): The Rise of Islam and Bengal Frontier, 
1204-1760, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Frykenberg, Robert E (2003): ?Introduction: Dealing with Contested 
Definitions and Controversial Perspectives,? in the book edited by 
him, Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross-Cultural 
Communication since 1500, Routledge, Curzon, London, pp 1-23.
Sarkar, Sumit (2004): ?Christianity, Hindutva and the Question of 
Conversions? in his Beyond Nationalist Frames: Relocating 
Postmodernism, Hindutva, History, Permanent Black, Delhi, (first 
published 2002), pp 215-43.


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[7]

Date: 	Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:51:05 +0530

Dear Friend,

Zubaan and the India Habitat Centre will be continuing its programme 
of conversations with women writers, 'Words of Women". This month we 
have Bulbul Sharma (Anger of Aubergines, My Sainted Aunts, etc.) who 
will be in conversation with V. Karthika on Wednesday the 29th of 
September.

Started last year, this programme, entitled Words of Women, has so 
far featured Mahashweta Devi, Indira Goswami, Githa Hariharan, 
Mridula Garg, Manjula Padmanabhan, Mrinal Pande, Mitra Phukan, Kamila 
Shamsie, Kunzang Choden and we hope to include many more other women 
writers in the months to come.

We'd be delighted to welcome you to this discussion. The venue is 
Casurina at the Habitat Centre at 7 pm.

The programme usually lasts just over an hour.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Jaya Bhattacharji
Zubaan,
K-92, First Floor,
Hauz Khas Enclave,
New Delhi - 110016
INDIA
Tel: +91-11-26521008, 26864497 and 26514772
Email: zubaanwbooks at vsnl.net


______


[8]

From: 	Promise of India <info at promiseofindia.org>
To: 	<news at promiseofindia.org>
Subject: 	A Conversation with Dr. Mallika Sarabhai--Talk at 
Stanford Univ Oct 10th, 10 a.m.
Date: 	Mon, 27 Sep 2004 22:36:03 -0600 (MDT)
View as text
September 27, 2004

Dear Promise of India Supporter:

We are pleased to announce that Promise of India and Stanford 
University Asian Religions and Cultures Initiative have come together 
to organize a talk by Dr. Mallika Sarabhai, renowned danseuse, 
actress, TV anchor, editor/publisher, social activist--and winner of 
numerous awards for her artistic work and her advocacy on behalf of 
the poor. Mallika was one of the earliest supporters of Promise of 
India last year, before she herself became the target of retribution 
for her outspoken support for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat 
violence. In a conversation with Prof. Linda Hess of Stanford 
University, Mallika will be talking about her passion for the 
performing arts, the role of civil society in reestablishing peace 
and harmony among communities, and her interventions on behalf of the 
victims of violence--and the personal consequences of taking a 
principled stand. If you live in the Bay Area, please do not miss 
this important event, a unique opportunity to demonstrate our support 
for this courageous artist and social activist. Also, please pass the 
word along to friends.

Communal Harmony and the Role of Civil Society:
A Personal Story
Date: October 10, 2004 - 10 a.m. to Noon (A FREE EVENT)
Location: Stanford University Campus-Room 105, Braun Hall (Bldg 320) Main Quad
--------------------------------------------------------------------
DRIVING TO CAMPUS--From Highway 101 North & South:
Take the University Avenue Exit and head west towards the Stanford 
University campus. At El Camino Real, University Avenue becomes Palm 
Dr. as you enter the campus. Keep going straight on Palm Drive until 
you reach The Oval. Once you enter The Oval, park there and walk to 
the Main Quad. Braun is on the far right hand corner of the Main Quad 
as you face it (see map at: 
http://www.sulekha.com/event/eventdisplay.asp?nma=SFO&cid=54389
-------------------------------------------------------------
Co-Sponsored by:
Asha for Education-Bay Area Chapters; Association for India?s 
Development-Bay Area Chapter (AID); Coalition Against Communalism 
(CAC); India Community Center (ICC); India Literacy Project (ILP); 
Indian Muslim Council (IMC-USA); and Indians for Collective Action 
(ICA) .For Further Information, Please contact: Raju Rajagopal 
510-559-1049/510-734-5338
--------------------------------------------------------------For 
more on Mallika Sarabhai's work, please log on to:
http://www.countercurrents.org/guj-mallika251003.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/13/stories/2003111301541200.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Also 
on October 10th at 5 pm:
A Multi-Media Dance performance by Mallika Sarabhai and her troupe: 
'An idea named Meera'
Foothill College, Smithwick Theater, 2345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills.
For more information, please contact Bhupen Mehta of Indians for 
Collective Action (ICA) at 408-446-3982 or log onto:
http://www.sulekha.com/event/eventdisplay.asp?nma=SFO&cid=53442
--------------------------------------------------------------

 From the Promise of India Team
Please e-mail communal_harmony at yahoo.com for comments or queries

______


[9]

Call for "Ahimsa Day", International Day of Non-Violence, on January 30th
http://sacw.insaf.net/idnv/

On Line Petition in support of the idea of a World Ahimsa Day every 
January 30th
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/idnv0123/

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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