South Asia Citizens Wire - 01 June 2013 - No. 2784 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents: 1. India: Conservative streak beneath Bombay’s cosmopolitan surface 2. India: Tribute to Vina Mazumdar 3. Pakistan: The Stigma of Reporting a Rape 4. Pakistan: Why they killed Arif Shahid (Pervez Hoodbhoy) 5. Sri Lanka’s BBS - an old spectre in new garb? (Chaminda Weerawardhana) 6. India: The continuing tragedy of the adivasis (Ramachandra Guha) 7. India: Hindutva in Karnataka - Experiments in Terror (Subhash Gatade) 8. India: Deadly Ambush by Maoists in Chhattisgarh - Statements in response from social movements and human rights fora and by concerned citizens 9. On Buddhist Fundamentalism in Sri Lanka (Tariq Ali) 10: Selected posts on Communalism Watch: - Bangladesh: Hefazat mad at UN Special Rapporteur for commenting on its 13 point charter of demands - Are Buddhist Monks Involved In Myanmar's Violence? (NPR) - Fresh religious bloodshed rocks Myanmar - UK: That dreadful word called community - India: Nationalist movement in a time of separate electorates (Mukul Kesavan) - India: Debate on History Undergrad Course Delhi University: Academic council member wants to delete of topic on communalism - India: Ishrat case: CBI zeroes in on Narendra Modi, Amit Shah - India: RSS saffron offensive on in ‘red’ Bastar - India: For survivors of the 1984 violence, hope of legal justice is dying - India: Will police officers be brought to book for misconduct in Malegaon probe? - India: Panel of experts has watered down a proposal by the UPA government to set up five minority - India: Court tells Delhi to draw time bound plan to remove unauthorised places of worship 11. Editorial on the sad state of Pakistan Railways 12. Pakistan - India should join hands to allow movement of goods and people (op-ed by Ashok Desai) 13. USA: Creationism and revisionist history threaten to invade our classrooms (Zack Kopplin) 14. Turkey: Ruling party member calls for the ‘annihilation of atheists’ on Twitter, sparking controversy 15. The Quiverfull - The evangelical Christians opposed to contraception ========================================= 1. INDIA: CONSERVATIVE STREAK BENEATH BOMBAY’S COSMOPOLITAN SURFACE ========================================= With so many problems troubling the sprawling metropolis of Mumbai — garbage collection, infectious diseases and of course potholes — anyone would think that the city’s municipal corporators would be working overtime to find some solutions. Instead, their time and attention is being spent on trying to clean up the moral turpitude of the citizens. They have declared war on mannequins — yes, those expressionless plastic dolls — on display inside and outside shops that sell women’s lingerie. http://sacw.net/article4635.html ========================================= 2. INDIA: TRIBUTE TO VINA MAZUMDAR ========================================= Vina Mazumdar speaking in the film ’Unlimited Girls’ and a long excerpt from Urvashi Butalia’s tribute to Vina Mazumdar. http://sacw.net/article4634.html ========================================= 3. PAKISTAN: THE STIGMA OF REPORTING A RAPE ========================================= In a country like ours, freedom can be bought with money, and usually in rape cases the offenders are in some position of influence or power. It is very hard for survivors belonging to lower-income groups to even get the police to believe that they have been raped. Especially if she’s levying charges against somebody who is more well-off than she is. Whether it’s actually in terms of money, or it’s in terms of social position in society. http://sacw.net/article4633.html ========================================= 4. PAKISTAN: WHY THEY KILLED ARIF SHAHID by Pervez Hoodbhoy ========================================= On the evening of May 13, an assassin stepped out of a car that had just driven to the doorstep of Sardar Arif Shahid’s residence in Rawalpindi. He waited for the 62-year-old Kashmiri leader to arrive. After pumping four bullets into him, the killer calmly got back into the car and was whisked away. http://sacw.net/article4632.html ========================================= 5. CHAMINDA WEERAWARDHANA : SRI LANKA’S BBS - AN OLD SPECTRE IN NEW GARB? ========================================= Though interreligious violence in Sri Lanka is not new, the emergence of the well-organized, well-connected Buddhist radical group reflects a broader problem today. The latest, and perhaps most disturbing development in post-war Sri Lanka’s ethnic relations is the recent rise of a Buddhist activist group, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS-Buddhist power force), driven against Sri Lankan Muslims, the island’s third ethnic minority. BBS explains its mission as strengthening the Buddhist faith in the island, providing spiritual leadership and saving Sinhala Buddhism from external threats. http://sacw.net/article4627.html ========================================= 6. INDIA: THE CONTINUING TRAGEDY OF THE ADIVASIS by Ramachandra Guha ========================================= The killings of Mahendra Karma and his colleagues call not for retributive violence but for a deeper reflection on the discontent among the tribals of central India and their dispossession http://sacw.net/article4622.html ========================================= 7. INDIA: HINDUTVA IN KARNATAKA - EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR by Subhash Gatade ========================================= as things stand today Huballi (Hubli’s new name, the name Hubballi literally means "Hu" - flower and "Balli" - creeper in Kannada.) seems to have metamorphosed into ’birthplace’ of Hindutva terror in Karnataka and a strong link in the emerging pan Indian network of Hindutva terror. http://sacw.net/article4603.html ========================================= 8. INDIA: DEADLY AMBUSH BY MAOISTS IN CHHATTISGARH - STATEMENTS IN RESPONSE FROM SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS FORA AND BY CONCERNED CITIZENS ========================================= We fear that this latest ambush will now be used by the state to justify further militarisation in the region and make lives of Adivasis more difficult. There is an urgent need for political intervention and dialogue. The guns of State or Maoists, will not solve the problem. Politics of violence and counter violence will only make lives of adivasis and others in the region more difficult, which will ultimately have an impact on the democratic norms and freedom of citizens elsewhere in the country, as seen in shrinking spaces for non-violent, democratic movements and arrest of activists. http://sacw.net/article4599.html ========================================= 9. ON BUDDHIST FUNDAMENTALISM IN SRI LANKA by Tariq Ali ========================================= Four years after the brutal assault on the Tamil population and the killing of between 8—10,000 Tamils by the Sri Lankan army, there is trouble again. The saffron-robed fanatics, led by the BBS—Bodu Bala Sena: the most active and pernicious of Buddhist fundamentalist groups that have sprouted in Sinhala strongholds throughout the island— are on the rampage again. This time the target is the relatively small Muslim minority. Muslim abattoirs have been raided, butchers shops attacked, homes targeted. Terrified kids and adults in Muslim areas are living in fear. The police stand by watching passively while the Sri Lankan TV crews film the scenes as if it were a school picnic. http://sacw.net/article4597.html ========================================= 10. SELECTED POSTS FROM COMMUNALISM WATCH ========================================= - Bangladesh: Hefazat mad at UN Special Rapporteur for commenting on its 13 point charter of demands http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/bangladesh-hefazat-mad-at-un-special.html - Are Buddhist Monks Involved In Myanmar's Violence? (NPR) http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/are-buddhist-monks-involved-in-myanmars.html - Fresh religious bloodshed rocks Myanmar http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/fresh-religious-bloodshed-rocks-myanmar.html - UK: That dreadful word called community http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/uk-that-dreadful-word-called-community.html - India: Nationalist movement in a time of separate electorates (Mukul Kesavan) http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/india-nationalist-movement-in-time-of.html - India: Debate on History Undergrad Course Delhi University: Academic council member wants to delete of topic on communalism http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/debate-on-history-undergrad-course.html - India: Ishrat case: CBI zeroes in on Narendra Modi, Amit Shah http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/india-ishrat-case-cbi-zeroes-in-on.html - India: RSS saffron offensive on in ‘red’ Bastar http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/rss-saffron-offensive-on-in-red-bastar.html - India: For survivors of the 1984 violence, hope of legal justice is dying http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/india-for-survivors-of-1984-violence.html - India: Will police officers be brought to book for misconduct in Malegaon probe? http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/india-will-police-officers-be-brought.html - India: Panel of experts has watered down a proposal by the UPA government to set up five minority universities http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/panel-of-experts-has-watered-down.html - India: Court tells Delhi to draw time bound plan to remove unauthorised places of worship http://communalism.blogspot.in/2013/05/court-tells-delhi-to-draw-time-bound.html FULL TEXT: ========================================= 11. EDITORIAL ON THE SAD STATE OF PAKISTAN RAILWAYS ========================================= (The News, Pakistan, May 29, 2013) Editorial: Off the tracks There seems to be no part of the fabric of this country that escaped the mass-poisoning inflicted upon it by the last government. As the electricity shortfall edges closer to mass public disorder, so the Pakistan Railways crawls on its hands and knees in the direction of the oasis. Unfortunately the oasis is dry and to refill it the Railways is going to have to inflict yet more pain on the travelling public. At Partition Pakistan inherited a fully functional and well-maintained mass transit system, state-of-the-art of the day. It has systematically destroyed it in the years since, creating a monster that eats money and has lost the ability to generate an income for itself. In desperation the managers of the Pakistan Railways have sent a summary to the federal government demanding a 100 percent increase in fares on long routes/journeys. They want to increase the fare by one rupee per kilometre, and with the distance between Karachi and Rawalpindi being 1,4000kms it takes only a second or two to comprehend the amount of the increase in cost of the journey. The Pakistan Railways, like the power sector, is crippled by a shortage of fuel. There are only 12 passenger trains running in the entire country; for three years not a single freight train has run. Freight is a good earner, and the loss is substantial. Despite there being few trains and little income, there is a vast workforce that still has to be paid and innumerable pensioners that produce nothing and are still a drain on resources. The government is currently financing the salaries and pensions, but this is unsustainable. The Railways has never had much difficulty in attracting passengers. There are millions of the poor and the under-privileged, in particular, who used them and would use them again. The proposal for massive fare increases may have the reverse effect and if approved, far from generating income will drive the passenger-base on to the buses. The middle class abandoned the Pakistan Railways long ago in favour of fast, comfortable and regular bus services and now the poor are being driven away too. As proposed the increases will only affect those on the longer routes, but if the increase is this large passengers are going to find other means of transport of comparable cost and greater reliability and one wonders if any market research underpins the proposals. It will be for the new government to accept or reject the proposals. But as with the power sector, the rot is so far advanced that radical surgery is needed if the patient is not to breathe his last. Is the political will there? We will soon discover the answer. ========================================= 12. PAKISTAN - INDIA SHOULD JOIN HANDS TO ALLOW MOVEMENT OF GOODS AND PEOPLE ========================================= (The Telegraph, 28 May 2013, India) TIME FOR ENTERPRISE - India should join Pakistan in making money Writing on the wall - ASHOK V. DESAI The general election in Pakistan has brought to power a government with zero investment in hostility towards India. Governments tend to be slow and conservative in their international relations; this is particularly true of the government under our present prime minister. But even he would see that the triumph of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz creates a favourable environment, and should ask himself how he can use the opportunity. A change in government does not change the people. Pakistan will continue to harbour people intent on spreading terror, murder and disorder in India. As long as they exist, the Indian government will continue to be cautious on movement of people. A more trivial step is difficult to imagine than visa-free movement of the very young and very old that was introduced some time ago; I doubt if a single person has crossed the borders under this concession. But this is the kind of action that government types come up with. One cannot expect any better of them. They may perhaps be prepared to make it easier for sick Pakistanis to come to India for treatment; it would have been very good, for example, if Malala had been able to come. Starting from there, they may be prepared to allow flows of professionals — doctors, engineers, scientists, economists etc — on medium-term visas. If they feel very brave, they may even allow some students. But that is the limit of what can be expected on movement of people. Goods, however, cannot hurt once they have been checked by bomb experts and customs men; services do not even have to be checked, though officials will want to police messages. Hence bolder action may be possible on trade. Here, the Indian government has a well-defined policy. It has made a negative list of a few hundred goods whose import it allows only with a licence; and it imposes absurdly high import duties on some agricultural goods, principally foodgrains. Both lists are irrelevant when it comes to South Asian countries. Except for Bangladeshi jute and Pakistani cotton, none of them produces anything in significant volumes that can compete with India; and Indian producers can live with South Asian competition even in these two commodities if the government would allow it. The time has come for introduction of what I call unilateral free trade: everything from South Asian countries should enter India duty-free. The government will still want to quibble about rules of origin: it would not allow other countries’ goods to jump our import restrictions by entering through a South Asian country. There are few goods that are entirely South Asian or entirely foreign. That means that the government would want to define what proportion of the value of a product must have been added in a South Asian country or, what comes to the same thing, what should be the maximum import content of a product if it is to enter India duty-free. It favours a low import content like 20 per cent; it should learn to be more liberal and allow, say, up to 50 per cent. Import content can be difficult to estimate since inputs into a product themselves may contain imports. But our customs men have centuries of experience in calculating import content. We have too many of them because import liberalization has reduced their work. A few hundred should be stationed in each of the neighbouring countries; and they should be given liberal travel allowances so that they would go to exporters’ factories and farms and do their calculations on the spot. Similarly, India should give visas to hundreds of customs men of neighbouring countries to come and police the value added in Indian exports. It would be stupid to give liberal visas to customs men and be stern with importers and exporters; the visa regime should be liberalized for them too, and for all producers. The goods that move between South Asian countries will have to be transported; if trade is to become significant, transport capacity will have to be increased. Air India has too many planes and people and too little business; it should be made to fly to all major Pakistani cities. And there is no harm if it undertakes hopping flights in Pakistan. Pakistan International Airlines has virtually collapsed, and Pakistanis will not mind travelling across Pakistan even in Air India. If that offends them, Air India can set up a subsidiary called Dosti Airline. But a far bigger opportunity awaits Indian Railways: railways are much cheaper, and can move goods and people on a much bigger scale. Hitherto, the government has allowed insignificant, symbolic services like the occasional train to Lahore. It should rebuild and renovate old rail connections to Karachi and Lahore from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab. It is always short of resources, and may not want to run services into Pakistan. But Pakistan’s railways have an enormous stock of nonfunctional engines and carriages because it does not have the capacity or money to repair them. Indian railways should offer to put them back on rail provided they are used on services from and to India. If the Indian government can go this far, it should think of the most ambitious step: revive the Grand Trunk Road, take it from Rangoon to Kabul and Samarkand, and build a modern, fast railway along it. It will make enormous profits, if the costs it would save are any indication. Instead of going by boat all the way around India, Bangladeshi and Pakistani goods will be able to zip across via Delhi. Instead of going all the way to Iran and then carried by road, Indian goods will be transported across (Pakistani) Punjab and Sind to the Khyber Pass and beyond. That brings me to my final idea — that is, before I run out of space. It is an Indian Rupee Area. India gives considerable aid to Afghanistan, and some to Bangladesh; if Pakistan cooperates, India may give it aid too. All this aid should be given in Indian Rupees, to be spent in India; but any South Asian country may pay any other in Indian Rupees. Thus, Afghanistan can use Indian Rupees to pay for anything it buys from Pakistan; Pakistan may give those Rupees to its own importers to get anything they want from India. That way, trade with South Asia will not contribute to India’s balance of payments deficit, and India can allow its growth without worry. Pakistan would collect much Indian currency and use it for direct imports from India, instead of importing indirectly through the United Arab Emirates and paying much more; it would also find India a much cheaper source for many goods it imports from elsewhere. Pakistanis would find the business — in goods as well as in currency — so profitable that they would do everything to expand it. They would become major traders in Indian wares, buying them in Trichy and Ujjain and selling them in Samarkand and Bokhara. Babar would have liked that: if you cannot beat them in battle, join them in making money. At this point I must stop before I start being fanciful. There is a window of opportunity; the prime minister must open it. ========================================= 13. USA: CREATIONISM AND REVISIONIST HISTORY THREATEN TO INVADE OUR CLASSROOMS by Zack Kopplin ========================================= (The Guardian, 20 May 2013) We have to stop state legislators from sneaking creationist and revisionist textbooks into public schools A Louisiana state bill seeks to reassign authority to approve public school textbooks. Louisiana's legislators are continuing their legislative jihad to keep the theory of evolution out of the state's public school science classrooms. On 1 May, legislators killed a bill to repeal Louisiana's creationism law, the misnamed Louisiana Science Education Act (LSEA). The law allows non-science to be snuck into science classrooms by teachers who use supplemental materials to "critique" politically controversial (but not scientifically controversial) theories, including evolution and climate science. Despite this loophole for creationism created by the LSEA, educators are still required to teach "material presented in the standard textbook", which includes the theory of evolution. These biology textbooks are a major problem for creationists, whose next goal is to throw them out, and they have allies in the Louisiana legislature who are willing to help. House Bill 116, sponsored by Frank Hoffmann, a state representative, would throw out Louisiana's biology books – it passed the Louisiana State House by a 73-22 vote. This is the third bill Hoffmann has sponsored to remove biology textbooks since they were adopted by the state board of education, in 2010. When our board of education adopted life science textbooks, creationists fought hard to block their approval. At that time, Wired pointed out that these textbooks are "well-respected, and used widely in US high schools." The Baton Rouge Advocate reported that in 2010, the state board of education received a large number of complaints that intelligent design wasn't included in textbooks. One vocal opponent, Winston White, complained: "It is like Charles Darwin and his theory is a saint. You can't touch it." Winston White's father, Judge Darrell White, is one of the founders of the Louisiana Family Forum, a powerful creationist lobbying group. Judge White echoed his son's sentiments at a board of education hearing. He called evolution "mindless nihilism" and claimed that teaching it in public schools would cause another Columbine shooting. The New Orleans Lens described the scene: "[White] said one of the Columbine killers wore a shirt that read 'natural selection,' and held up a similar shirt for emphasis, and implied that Baton Rouge might be in danger of a similar massacre." Yes. You read that right. I was at that hearing and sat in shock as Judge White implied that teaching evolution caused Dylan Klebold to shoot up his school. Creationists in Louisiana suggest that state-approved biology textbooks will lead to mass murder. When the state board ultimately approved the textbooks – a huge victory for science education – Fox News pointed out that Louisiana "rejected calls by conservatives to include references to the debate over evolution and the religious-based concepts of intelligent design or creationism in state-approved biology textbooks." It's clear that the opposition to these biology textbooks comes from creationists who are trying to sneak religion into public school classrooms. Representative Hoffmann, the legislator sponsoring the bill to throw out science textbooks, was one of the sponsors of the state creationism law. He also meddled in the initial adoption process of the science textbooks. At that time, creationist complaints swamped the state board, which had initially punted the textbooks' approval to a little-known committee that included Representative Hoffmann and his partner-in-creationism, Senator Ben Nevers – another sponsor of the LSEA. (Nevers recently made news by stating that he wanted the United States Supreme Court to reverse its decision to overturn Louisiana's 1981 law that mandated the teaching of creationism.) The pair managed to get themselves appointed leaders of this committee. The Baton Rouge Advocate noted that Hoffmann argued "the books under review were not consistent with the spirit of the (Louisiana Science Education Act)." Of course, the spirit of the act is to teach creationism to students. What Representative Hoffmann meant is that these textbooks taught evolution and didn't have a trace of intelligent design or creationism, and thus he considers them a problem. Hoffmann and Nevers voted against these biology textbooks, and they lost. The board of education adopted the textbooks and required evolution be taught in public school science classes, despite their complaints. That's where Hoffmann's new bill comes in. After losing the fight in 2010, he realized had an uphill battle, because the state board listens to scientists. His bill would take control of textbooks away from the state and give it to friendlier audience – local school boards, who would be able to choose whatever books they want. Representative Hoffmann claims the current bill isn't his latest salvo in a war against evolution, but given his record and his constituents' complaints, he's reminding me of Shakespeare. The legislator doth protest too much. It's also worth noting that this bill could harm history education too, by allowing revisionist history textbooks to be used, which has become a problem in our neighboring state of Texas. I asked the Texas Freedom Network, an organization which defends civil and religious liberties, about revisionist history standards there. Dan Quinn, their communications director reminded me that the people who are attacking evolution nationally are "the same people who took a wrecking ball to the social studies standards." Quinn said: "[We have] social studies standards in Texas today that question the separation of church and state, challenge the fact that slavery was the main cause of the Civil War and claim that the red baiting tactics of Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s were somehow justified." The Texas Observer said that Texan conservative factions even "recommended removing references to African-American and Latino figures like Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall from some social-studies standards" because "the curriculum contained an 'overrepresentation of minorities'." Luckily, that specific push documented failed, but because this bill takes away state oversight from textbook selection, this type of revisionist history could be brought into Louisiana's classrooms with ease. Representative Hoffmann's bill is bad legislation and a message must be sent to the Louisiana legislature. We have to ask them to reject this bill, and not to allow revisionist history or even more creationism into public schools. • Editor's note: a previous version of this article misspelled Representative Frank Hoffmann's name and has been corrected accordingly ========================================= 14. TURKEY: RULING PARTY MEMBER CALLS FOR THE ‘ANNIHILATION OF ATHEISTS’ ON TWITTER, SPARKING CONTROVERSY Hurriyet Daily News - 23 May 2013 ========================================= ISTANBUL 'My blood boils when spineless psychopaths pretending to be atheists swear at my religion. These people, who have been raped, should be annihilated,' Macit wrote in one tweet. 'My blood boils when spineless psychopaths pretending to be atheists swear at my religion. These people, who have been raped, should be annihilated,' Macit wrote in one tweet. An official from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) sparked controversy after he called for the “annihilation of atheists" on his Twitter account. Mahmut Macit, a senior member of AKP’s Ankara provincial board and keen user of social media, flared up on May 21 about insults against believers via Twitter. “My blood boils when spineless psychopaths pretending to be atheists swear at my religion. These people, who have been raped, should be annihilated,” Macit wrote in one tweet. He also argued that “insulting Islam could not be considered freedom of expression.” His remarks came as renowned Turkish-Armenian linguist and former columnist Sevan Nişanyan was condemned to 13 months in prison for alleged blasphemy in a blog comment. They also added more fuel to Turkey’s culture wars, reignited by a bill currently debated in the Turkish Parliament that foresees new restrictions on the sale and consumption of alcohol. While reactions from twitter users were pouring in, Macit retaliated by writing that those who criticized the AKP government were “either seen as nude or holding a bottle of an alcoholic drink in their bio picture.” This is not the first time that members of the AKP have stirred debate with comments about atheists. AKP Zonguldak deputy Özcan Ulupınar had said last year that “no benefits could come to society from an atheist youth.” Recently a Turkish sociologist had likened atheism with autism, saying that autistic children can't go to heaven as they were “atheists due to a lack of a section for faith in their brains.” May/22/2013 ========================================= 15. THE QUIVERFULL - THE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS OPPOSED TO CONTRACEPTION ========================================= (BBC News, 17 May 2013) A Christian evangelical movement where followers avoid contraception and have as many children as they can is spreading to the UK. They are The Quiverfull, writes Cat McShane. "Get married. Have a quiver full of kids if you can." So said unsuccessful presidential candidate and father-of-five Mitt Romney in a recent speech to graduates. It was a conscious echo of Psalm 127. The psalm - where children are compared to arrows for war - is the inspiration for the Quiverfull movement. "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They shall not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate." Christians in the movement believe in giving up all forms of contraception and accepting as many children as God gives, both as a sign of obedience to God and in a bid to ensure the future of the faith. In the US, Quiverfull families frequently reach up to a dozen children with the numbers of adherents in the tens of thousands. But now the movement is gaining popularity in other countries. “Get married, have a quiver full of kids if you can” Mitt Romney's speech to Southern Virginia University graduates In the UK, where the average family size is 1.7 children, this makes couples who follow its teachings stand out. Vicki and Phil have just had their sixth child. "I feel this is the normal [situation] God created and God initially wanted, and that actually society has gone a little skew-whiff," says Vicki, of south London. Vicki and Phil were both raised as Christians, but came to Quiverfull ideas after they were married. Early on, they used contraception, but after Vicki responded badly to the contraceptive pill, they began merely avoiding sex during Vicki's most fertile time of the month. From there they decided to do without contraception completely. "Over time, we realised that actually if He [God] wants to conceive a baby during that time, and he made her naturally desire her husband more, maybe that's what he'd prefer us to do," she says. In common with other Quiverfull families, Vicki had to wait for her husband to come round to her ideas. "He saw it wasn't such a scary thing to do after all, and that God wouldn't overwhelm us with more than we could handle. One baby at a time arrived, and we were handling it, so we felt our marriage was being blessed by this choice and we continued." The movement is growing in the UK through informal social networks and the Christian homeschooling community. Doug Philips, a leading American Quiverfull figure, is behind the organisation Vision Forum, a major provider of home education materials. Vicki and Phil were encouraged by the teachings of Nancy Campbell, a Tennessee-based preacher influential in the movement. Her ministry, Above Rubies, advocates motherhood as a woman's highest calling. Its magazine is distributed to more than 100 countries worldwide, with a circulation topping 160,000. Cat McShane's documentary, The Womb as a Weapon, will be broadcast on the BBC World Service on 18 May at 19:32 GMT. Pictured are Vyckie Garrison and family, before they left Quiverfull. Vicki found out about the ministry through a blog by a mother and began subscribing to the magazine and attending Campbell's annual retreats. This year's European tour saw Campbell visit six countries in a month, preaching at women-only and also family retreats attended by like-minded couples and their burgeoning broods. Campbell believes that many women have forgotten their biological, and for her, God-given function. "He created her with a womb. And in fact that's the most distinguishing characteristic of a woman. In the American Webster's 1928 dictionary, it says that woman is combination of two words: womb and man. She is a womb-man." But there's more to the Quiverfull mindset than a love of big families. It's based on a backlash against the growing acceptance of birth control and feminism within Christianity. Sarah Dawes, 34, from Derbyshire, has six children. She had worked in an office and a shoe shop before embracing the Quiverfull life. "I always wanted a big family, but when I read Above Rubies it was like drinking when you're thirsty," she says. Dawes says that her career didn't offer her any comparable fulfilment. "If you look at the children you're filled with so much love for them that even if it's a rough day there's nothing better. You don't get that from a job." Quiverfull ideology also advocates a return to "traditional" roles in the home, where women are wife and mother first of all. They are their husband's "helpmeet", designed to support him as head of the household and primary breadwinner. Dawes's husband Damian, who is self-employed, admits the pressures of raising a large family on a single income can be stressful. "They're all great kids, but sometimes it's a bit overwhelming and you think, how am I going to pay?" He has doubts about continuing to follow Quiverfull teachings on family planning. "I don't want any more at the moment. I'd like to have a break." Vyckie Garrison and her children after the birth of her youngest child Garrison nearly died after the birth of her last child One woman who tested her faith in Quiverfull to the limit is Vyckie Garrison, a mother of seven. Once a cornerstone of the Quiverfull movement in the US, she left in 2008. Her website No Longer Quivering is described as a "place for women escaping and recovering from spiritual abuse". Garrison suffers from a rare bone condition that made pregnancy dangerous. Her husband had a vasectomy after baby number three. But after reading Campbell and other Quiverfull authors, her ideas and the vasectomy were reversed. Garrison continued to get pregnant against all medical advice, almost dying with the birth of her last - and seventh - child. But for a true believer, dying in childbirth is supposedly a noble act, she says. "I really believed that I wouldn't die unless God willed that I die, and if he did then I would accept that, because obviously he's the smart one, and has the big picture and knows the whole plan." There are plenty of critics of the Quiverfull beliefs. Heather Doney, who grew up in a Quiverfull household in the US, says the emphasis on men leading the house is a problem. Heather Doney as a child - and in 2012 Heather Doney - pictured left as a child - grew up in a Quiverfull household "Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In these situations you're giving the man ultimate power - you're saying the only one that can check his power is God," she says. Continue reading the main story Head of the household Quiverfull families tend to believe in male headship - the principle, also derived from the Bible, that men should lead households. Feminists are perhaps the fiercest critics of the budding Quiverfull movement. They accuse it of trying to undo the equality and freedom won for women over decades of struggle, and claim that the idea of automatic male leadership is anachronistic. But advocates say their approach to family life is both authentically Christian, and the best training for children to take on what he sees as the moral decay afflicting American society. The US families fighting the 'contraceptive mentality' Within the Quiverfull movement, having larger families is part of a broader plan. "Mothers determine the destiny of the nation," Campbell says. "We're in a battle for the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. And our children are all part of that battle." Campbell believes there are specific groups of people with high birth-rates that she is worried will soon outnumber Christians. "We are limiting our children. And then we are allowing other cultures to come into our nation who are having a lot more children than us. "Gradually, down the line, the culture is going to change, without anyone doing anything except having children, or not having children," she says. Back in south London, affecting the destiny of the nation was something Vicki could identify with. "I do think I'm raising my children to be future voters, and possibly to be future politicians, the MPs." The Womb as a Weapon will be broadcast on the BBC World Service on 18 May at 19:32 GMT. Listen back via BBC iPlayer radio or download a podcast. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ South Asia Citizens Wire Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on matters of peace and democratisation in South Asia. Newsletter of South Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/ DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers. ===================================== _______________________________________________ SACW mailing list SACW@insaf.net http://insaf.net/mailman/listinfo/sacw_insaf.net
