South Asia Citizens Wire - 17 November 2013 - No. 2798 [year 15] --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents: 1. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot’s prison letters to Slavoj Žižek 2. Can Nuclear Power Be an Answer to India’s Electricity Needs? (M. V. Ramana) 3. India: Illegal Surveillance In Gujarat - Press statement by Communist Party of India (Marxist) 4. Statement from Prague Spring 2 network against right wing extremism and populism 5. SAHR expresses great concern over the threat to the life of Dr. Nimalka Fernando in Sri Lanka - Press Statement 6. Audio Recording | Girish Karnad: Indian Cinema and Creation of a Nation - Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial IFFCO lecture 7. Bangladesh: Barrister Barua - Reading the truth (of communal violence) (irfanchowdhury) 8. India: Does RSS want women to become baby making machines? (Pratik Sinha) 9. India: Illegal Surveillance In Gujarat Exposed In An Investigation (Cobrapost & Gulail) 10. India: Myths about the “rise” of regional parties overstate the on-the-ground realities (Milan Vaishnav) 11. Pakistan: Swat Valley hardened (Christophe Jaffrelot) 12. Video: CTBTO Interview with Zia Mian | May 2012 13. India: Modi on Rampage - Reckless Abuse of History (Ram Puniyani) 14. Kenan Malik on Multiculturalism | Milton K Wong Lecture 2012 lecture in Canada 15. UK: Artist ‘censored' at Bangladeshi exhibition by Tower Hamlets Council 16. Bangladesh: Not a mindless atrocity but an atrocity of ‘war' (Shafiqur Rahman for AlaloDulal) 17. India: By trivialising the word 'rape', we endanger all women. Ranjit Sinha should know that 18. Google Search: Reunion and India's Partition of 1947 19. Sri Lanka: UK foreign secretary urges international probe into alleged war crimes 20. India: The Excercise to Doctor and 'Revise' Gandhi's Collected Works 21. S M Mehdi: The Story Behind the 'Moscow - Tashkent' Conspiracy Case 22. A Brief Review of Gandhiji's View on Partition 23. Pakistan: Sympathy for the Devil - Editorial, Daily Times 24. Naeem Mohaiemen's Book Review: Boundaries Undermined - The Ruins of Progress on the India-Bangladesh Border by Delwar Hussain 25. Camus and Algeria: The Moral Question (Claire Messud in NYRB) 26. Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa's Rule (Sadakat Kadri) 27. Democracy — a ghost story (Jawed Naqvi) 28. Sri Lanka: Threats against Nimalka Fernando's life and other human rights defenders through state media 29. India: SUM Net Press Release on the National Urban Transport Policy 30. India: Tribute to Prof G S Bhalla (Pritam Singh) 31 India: Selected Recent Content from Communalism Watch: ========================================= 1. NADEZHDA TOLOKONNIKOVA OF PUSSY RIOT’S PRISON LETTERS TO SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK via The Guardian ========================================= Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is currently in a prison hospital in Siberia; here she and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek meet in an extraordinary exchange of letters http://www.sacw.net/article6261.html ========================================= 2. CAN NUCLEAR POWER BE AN ANSWER TO INDIA’S ELECTRICITY NEEDS? by M. V. Ramana ========================================= The Indian government is engaged in discussions with the Japanese government aimed at concluding a bilateral nuclear cooperation pact; this would allow India to import nuclear reactor parts from Japan. The primary argument given for India’s plans to expand nuclear power is that the country already suffers electricity shortages and its electricity demand is fast growing. http://www.sacw.net/article6260.html ========================================= 3. INDIA: ILLEGAL SURVEILLANCE IN GUJARAT - PRESS STATEMENT BY COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST) ========================================= The release of tape recorded conversations between top Narendra Modi aide and BJP leader Amit Shah and a senior police officer who was then Superintendent of the Gujarat anti-terrorist squad regarding the illegal surveillance mounted against a young woman on the orders of “saheb” raises serious questions once again about the state of civil liberties in Gujarat. http://www.sacw.net/article6259.html ========================================= 4. STATEMENT FROM PRAGUE SPRING 2 NETWORK AGAINST RIGHT WING EXTREMISM AND POPULISM ========================================= On the day of the inauguration of the United Nations climate conference in Warsaw 11th of November 2013 Neo Nazis organized a violent attack on those defending social rights to housing in the city. Simultaneously the Polish state more aggressively than anywhere else in Europe supports turning both housing and nature into the hands of corporations and privatization helping speculators to make more short term profit. http://www.sacw.net/article6256.html ========================================= 5. SAHR EXPRESSES GREAT CONCERN OVER THE THREAT TO THE LIFE OF DR. NIMALKA FERNANDO IN SRI LANKA - PRESS STATEMENT ========================================= South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) expresses great concern over the threat made to Dr. Nimalka Fernando’s life. This threat was made on the radio programme titled “Rata Yana Atha” broadcasted on a Commercial Channel of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, a State owned media channel. http://www.sacw.net/article6255.html ========================================= 6. AUDIO RECORDING | GIRISH KARNAD: INDIAN CINEMA AND CREATION OF A NATION - JAWAHARLAL NEHRU MEMORIAL IFFCO LECTURE ========================================= “Mentioning connection between cinema and cooperative may generate mirth but my first lesson in cooperative was learnt during the making of the film Manthan. We calculated that the film would cost Rs 10 lakh and we took Rs 2 from each farmer to make the film. The film was based on the story of famous Vergese Kurien and won many national awards” http://www.sacw.net/article6254.html ========================================= 7. BANGLADESH: BARRISTER BARUA - READING THE TRUTH (OF COMMUNAL VIOLENCE) by irfanchowdhury ========================================= “We would have seen reconstruction work to build these Hindu temples and houses, if ‘They’ exerted any pressure. But it did not happen. I dearly wish that that Sathiya would prove me wrong. It would stop the corrosion of our bones. I want to finish by asking an explanation for a frequently used word – the section 28 of our constitution states that the state will not discriminate against anyone based on their religion, race, colour, sex or the birthplace – then how officials designated at various positions of the state do use the word ‘Minority’? Is this solely a misunderstanding, malpractice or a deliberate violation of the constitution?” http://www.sacw.net/article6238.html ========================================= 8. INDIA: DOES RSS WANT WOMEN TO BECOME BABY MAKING MACHINES? by Pratik Sinha ========================================= In recent days, the mentors of the saffron brigade have suddenly become conscious of the demography of India. They have been arguing that the rate of increase of Hindu population is going down as compared to the rate of growth of the Muslim population. Terrified by the prospect of the Muslims outnumbering the Hindus, the RSS leadership are now openly giving fatwa to the Hindu community to make more children. This is what RSS joint secretary Dattatreya has said in Kochi http://www.sacw.net/article6235.html ========================================= 9. INDIA: ILLEGAL SURVEILLANCE IN GUJARAT EXPOSED IN AN INVESTIGATION by Cobrapost & Gulail ========================================= The Stalkers, a video investigation on the incredible security state that Gujarat has become http://www.sacw.net/article6236.html ========================================= 10. INDIA: MYTHS ABOUT THE “RISE” OF REGIONAL PARTIES OVERSTATE THE ON-THE-GROUND REALITIES by Milan Vaishnav ========================================= The emergence of regional parties as major centers of power in India's politics, economics, and society is one of the most important developments in the country's postindependence history. And come the general election in 2014, regional parties will play a pivotal role in helping to influence the formation of the next union government. It is even possible that India's next general elections will produce a “third front” government headed by the leader of a regional party. Yet, the regional revolution in contemporary Indian politics should not be overstated. India's regional parties have indeed already risen; whether they can rise further is unclear. http://www.sacw.net/article6234.html ========================================= 11. PAKISTAN: SWAT VALLEY HARDENED by Christophe Jaffrelot ========================================= Mullah Fazlullah, the recently appointed chief of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is not new to the scene. But his background differs from that of his predecessors, who were Mehsuds from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Fazlullah comes from the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM — Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law), which has its roots in the Malakand Agency. The movement's initial programme is evident from its name, but its methods have changed over time. http://sacw.net/article6233.html ========================================= 12. VIDEO: CTBTO INTERVIEW WITH ZIA MIAN | MAY 2012 ========================================= http://sacw.net/article6232.html ========================================= 13. INDIA: MODI ON RAMPAGE - RECKLESS ABUSE OF HISTORY by Ram Puniyani ========================================= the way History, even the modern Indian history, is being bulldozed for the political convenience, and the eagerness to grab power come what may, sacrificing the truth, is not a big deal for the communal politicians. http://sacw.net/article6230.html ========================================= 14. KENAN MALIK ON MULTICULTURALISM | MILTON K WONG LECTURE 2012 LECTURE IN CANADA ========================================= It is somewhat alarming to be asked to present the European perspective on multiculturalism. There is no such beast. Especially when compared to the Canadian discussion, opinion in Europe is highly polarised. And mine certainly is not the European perspective. My view is that both multiculturalists and their critics are wrong. And only by understanding why both sides are wrong will we be able to work our way through the mire in which we find ourselves. http://sacw.net/article6226.html ========================================= 15. UK: ARTIST ‘CENSORED' AT BANGLADESHI EXHIBITION BY TOWER HAMLETS COUNCIL ========================================= Akhtar Hussain, of art group Avid Art Agency, said: “It is an absolute disgrace that this level of censoring is taking place in the name of political correctness at an event which was supposed to celebrated British and Bangladeshi arts, but instead curtails the content of the art on display.” http://sacw.net/article6219.html ========================================= 16. BANGLADESH: NOT A MINDLESS ATROCITY BUT AN ATROCITY OF ‘WAR' by Shafiqur Rahman for AlaloDulal ========================================= The boy Monir died at last after three days of indescribable pain from burning of 95% of his body. The whole country silently prayed that Monir die sooner than later, prayed so that the merciful god takes Monir in his peaceful […] http://sacw.net/article6189.html ========================================= 17. INDIA: BY TRIVIALISING THE WORD 'RAPE', WE ENDANGER ALL WOMEN. RANJIT SINHA SHOULD KNOW THAT by Priya Shetty ========================================= The use of the word 'rape' for anything unpleasant threatens the hard-won progress India has recently made tackling the problem http://www.sacw.net/article6218.html ========================================= 18. GOOGLE SEARCH: REUNION AND INDIA'S PARTITION OF 1947 ========================================= A short video on two long separated friends separated due India's partition of 1947 meeting again. http://sacw.net/article6217.html ========================================= 19. SRI LANKA: UK FOREIGN SECRETARY URGES INTERNATIONAL PROBE INTO ALLEGED WAR CRIMES ========================================= http://sacw.net/article6216.html ========================================= 20. INDIA: THE EXCERCISE TO DOCTOR AND 'REVISE' GANDHI'S COLLECTED WORKS ========================================= Here is the report of the first NDA government's (1998) brazen attempt to 'revise' Gandhi's Collected Works. Hundreds of whimsical deletions and changes were noticed by well-known scholars and Gandhians in India and around the world, who viewed them as an insult to scholarship, and demanded an end to such attempts to play with historical documents. Tridip Suhrud, now director of Sabarmati Ashram, wrote a detailed analysis of this shameless behaviour in EPW in November 2004. It was only after the defeat of the NDA government that the fraudulently 'revised' edition of the CWMG was withdrawn, in 2005. http://sacw.net//article6215.html? ========================================= 21. S M MEHDI: THE STORY BEHIND THE 'MOSCOW - TASHKENT' CONSPIRACY CASE ========================================= 1967 pamphlet by a prominent India communist SM Mehdi that recounts an episode from the early history of the communist movement in India http://sacw.net/article6214.html ========================================= 22. A BRIEF REVIEW OF GANDHIJI'S VIEW ON PARTITION ========================================= One of our readers Aflatoon Afloo, had posted the following comment on our article History Sheeters (1) – Narendra Damodardas Modi – Was Congress Responsible for India's Partition?. http://sacw.net/article6211.html ========================================= 23. PAKISTAN: SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL - EDITORIAL, DAILY TIMES ========================================= Pakistan's two main rightwing religious parties Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) have come under fire after their leaders issued controversial statements in praise of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) leader Hakeemullah Mehsud who was killed by a US drone strike. http://sacw.net/article6209.html ========================================= 24. NAEEM MOHAIEMEN'S BOOK REVIEW: BOUNDARIES UNDERMINED - THE RUINS OF PROGRESS ON THE INDIA-BANGLADESH BORDER BY DELWAR HUSSAIN ========================================= It is a work animated by the mapping out of institutions, networks, and lives that are built up, then hollowed out, and finally replaced over a half century of postcolonial development, industrialisation, deindustrialisation, and neo-liberalisation. Within the India-heavy focus of South Asian Studies, this book is part of a welcome new generation of scholarship about Bangladesh. http://sacw.net/article6208.html ========================================= 25. CAMUS AND ALGERIA: THE MORAL QUESTION | CLAIRE MESSUD IN NYRB ========================================= Last year, on July 5, 2012, Algeria celebrated fifty years of independence from France. When Albert Camus perished in a car accident near Sens on January 4, 1960, at the age of forty-six, two and a half years before the Évian Accords that ended the war, he had become a figure of contempt and scorn for both the left and the right, seen as simultaneously naive and dogmatic in his persistent hope for a moderate Algerian solution. As late as 1958, Camus wrote that his aim was to “achieve the only acceptable future: a future in which France, wholeheartedly embracing its tradition of liberty, does justice to all the communities of Algeria without discrimination in favor of one or another.” http://sacw.net/article6195.html ========================================= 26. SRI LANKA: RAJAPAKSA'S RULE | SADAKAT KADRI ========================================= Sri Lanka's authorities are in buoyant mood. As Prince Charles prepares to open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, the Defence Ministry is helping to organise celebrations. But it isn't the queen they are honouring. The CHOGM is gathering to acknowledge the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as chairman of the Commonwealth, a position he will occupy for the next two years. His allies at home are delighted. http://sacw.net/article6194.html ========================================= 27. INDIA: DEMOCRACY — A GHOST STORY by Jawed Naqvi ========================================= I HAVE always seen a similarity in their modus operandi, the wily deception with which Narendra Modi sends his secular detractors on desperate leather hunts and the confident ease with which the gang of bicycle thieves of ‘Bailey Gaarad' indulged their bizarre vocation in the 1960s. http://sacw.net/article6190.html ========================================= 28. SRI LANKA: THREATS AGAINST NIMALKA FERNANDO'S LIFE AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS THROUGH STATE MEDIA ========================================= On 4th November morning I received several telephone calls from friends and relatives stating that a statement made by me to HIRU TV is being used in a radio programme of the SLBC in an improper manner including causing threat to my life. According to them what was said in this programme was going to cause a real danger to my life. http://sacw.net/article6188.html ========================================= 29. INDIA: SUM NET PRESS RELEASE ON THE NATIONAL URBAN TRANSPORT POLICY ========================================= Sanskriti Menon, SUM Net Secretariat head at Pune, says that while the magnitude of problems may be more severe in larger cities, the issues in the smaller cities are likely to get progressively worse and could be avoided through timely policy intervention and would benefit from broad directions that emanate from the NUTP. SUM Net has also written a letter to the Ministry of Urban Development suggesting that it should undertake a country-wide process of policy dialogue on urban transportation. http://sacw.net/article6186.html ========================================= 30. INDIA: TRIBUTE TO PROF G S BHALLA by Pritam Singh ========================================= As a former student of his at Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, I want to mention a few of his contributions to radical political culture in Punjab. http://www.sacw.net/article6262.html ========================================= 31. SELECTED RECENT CONTENT FROM COMMUNALISM WATCH: ========================================= -India: The Hindutva brigade’s Internet campaign has taken propaganda to new heights of incredulity http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/india-hindutva-brigades-internet.html -Combating Hindutva challenge - Editorial, Kashmir Times http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/combating-hindutva-challenge-editorial.html -RSS to Hindus: shun family planning, have more kids http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/rss-to-hindus-shun-family-planning-have.html -KKSV's Protest Rally, Meeting and Burning the Effigy of the Mass Murderer Narendra Modi (17 Nov2013) http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/kksvs-protest-rally-meeting-and-burning.html -India: Rehabilitate UP riot victims for meaningful normalcy, says AB Bardhan http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/india-rehabilitate-up-riot-victims-for.html -India: Mumbai property broker posts online ad, says no to Muslims | IBN http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/india-mumbai-property-broker-posts.html -CAUGHT ON PHONE: 'Uncle' stopped PAC from reaching riot-struck villages in time during Muzaffarnagar violence? | Daily Bhaskar http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/caught-on-phone-uncle-stopped-pac-from.html -Several Hindu youths arrested for Patna serial bomb blasts before NaMo rally | NVO News http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/several-hindu-youths-arrested-for-patna.html -Chinki Sinha: Nonlinear Narratives - notes from Muzaffarnagar http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/chinki-sinha-nonlinear-narratives-notes.html -Peace Talks Videos: Preventing Communal Violence (8 segments) http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/videos-preventing-communal-violence-8.html -Invitation for book release: 'Minority rights in India' by Prakash Louis http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/invitation-for-book-release-minority.html -The Idea of India | Renuka Rajaratnam http://communalism.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-idea-of-india-renuka-rajaratnam.html _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ 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
