South Asia Citizens Wire - 22 February 2015 - No. 2847 [since 1996] --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents: 1.Sri Lanka: B. Vibooshika’s Appeal to Free Jeya kumary 2. India must support post war democratic Sri Lanka | Ahilan Kadirgamar 3. Bangladesh: Our wall of shame | Abak Hussain 4. Bangladesh: Let the Press Do Its Job - The Government is over-extending its hand 5. Bangladesh: International crimes tribunal turning the screws on all who expressed concern for David Bergman - see text of court order 6. Bangladesh: Report on International Crimes Tribunal That was Commissioned by Jamaat-e-Islami | Commentary by David Bergman 7. In Pakistan’s ideological war over textbooks, Helen Keller doesn’t make cut (Tim Craig and Haq Nawaz Khan in WaPo) 8. Pakistan: Dhinak Dhinak the Banned Music Video by Beygairat Brigade mocks Pakistan's powerful army elite 9. Trailers for Zunn - a documentary on women performers in of Pakistani Circuses and low-brow theater 10. Videos: Historical accuracy of ancient texts, Colonial Historiography, Communalism - Romila Thapar interviewed by Teesta Setalvad 11. India Study Group briefing on Corruption and Cronyism 12. India: Nehru's Foreign Policy - Full audio recording of the talk by Nirupam Sen 13. Hate Crimes Against Christians in India: A Report on 2014 14. India: Comrade Govind Pansare's Assassination - a threat to all progressives - statement by NAPM (in Hindi) + some media photos and links 15. India: In Govind Pansare shooting, liberal writers see an attack on their values | Sudhir Suryawanshi 16. India: Attacks on activists speak of pathological intolerance | Praful Bidwai 17. India: PUDR report on Security camps and villages in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh 18. FORUM-ASIA Message on the Final Judgement of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand by the Supreme Court of India on 19 Feb 2015 19. Statement by Sri Lankan civil society in solidarity with Indian activists Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand facing persecution by the Gujarat Police 20. India: Stop Persecution, by False Prosecution, of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand! - statement by PUCL 21. India: Video Interviews with Teesta Setalvad on Denial of Anticipatory Bail by the Gujarat High Court 22. India: Modi government cracks down on green NGOs | Praful Bidwai 23. The "Breakthrough" (or "Breakthrough Understanding"?) on Nuclear Agreement between Modi and Obama: A Reality Check | Sukla Sen 24. Barry Finger: Charlie Hebdo and the politics of anti-imperialism 25. Recent On Communalism Watch: - Editorial, The Hindu - Secularism is not a policy option - Modi minus RSS: Time for BJP to ditch social as well as economic agenda of Hindu right (Times of India, Editorial) - The Gujarat Police’s pursuit of Teesta Setalvad smacks of political vendetta - India: 19 Feb 2015 SC reserves judgement on Teesta Setalvad bail, continues interim relief grant - Prashant Bhushan explains - India: Modi Govt Comes Under Scathing Criticism From RSS-Affiliated Union - India: CSDS Prof Madhu Kishwar and her friends want a ban on foreign funding of NGOs - UK: Radical preacher at Islamic charity event promotes extremism - India: RSS headed for revamp - Does Aravindan Neelakandan the science writer lean towards Hindutva ? See his -> This Is Neither Secular Nor Scientific, Mr PM - India Prominent BJP leader Prodyut Bora from Assam quits due to 'subversion of the democratic tradition by the Modi-Shah duo' (See his explosive letter) - Goa: BJP govt under fire for trying to censor century-old Konkani theatre - India: Riot-Accused BJP Lawmaker Gets Big Security Upgrade - and More ... available at: http://communalism.blogspot.in/ ::: FULL TEXT ::: 26. India: Hounding Of Teesta Setalvad: Attempts to arrest her and subject her to “custodial interrogation” are uncalled for | Prashant Bhushan 27. Bangladesh is burning, but does anyone care? | Tarek Fatah 28. Bangladesh: Press must be free to report the news - Dhaka Tribune Editorial 29. Bangladesh: Some hope amidst despair and desperation | Editorial, New Age 30. Pakistan: Attacks on health workers continues - Polio workers team that went missing found dead 31. Pakistan: Literary festival breathes life into Lahore | Ahmed Rashid 32. Magna Carta: 800 years on, we need a new people’s charter | Guy Standing 33. Slaughter Behind Closed Doors: Algerian Journalists In the 90’s | Hassane Zerrouky 34. How razing the rainforest has created a devastating drought in Brazil | Geoffrey Lean 35. The Great SIM Heist: How Spies Stole the Keys to the Encryption Castle | Jeremy Scahill and Josh Begley 36. Strange Bedfellows: The Modernists and the Nazis - Jan Breslauer on Artists Under Hitler: Collaboration and Survival in Nazi Germany ========================================= 1. SRI LANKA: B. VIBOOSHIKA’S APPEAL TO FREE JEYA KUMARY ========================================= Dear President Maithripala Sirisena, please think of me as your child and release my innocent, very innocent mother. She has not committed any crime. I also humbly request that you release my 3rd brother as well. http://www.sacw.net/article10679.html ========================================= 2. INDIA MUST SUPPORT POST WAR DEMOCRATIC SRI LANKA | Ahilan Kadirgamar ========================================= With the military defeat of the LTTE and the recent electoral defeat of the Rajapaksa regime, there is now a post-war moment with considerable potential for democratisation, demilitarisation and a political settlement for the minorities. http://www.sacw.net/article10635.html ========================================= 3. BANGLADESH: OUR WALL OF SHAME | Abak Hussain ========================================= If you stop people from talking to each other, tensions in the CHT area will only go up, not down http://www.sacw.net/article10614.html ========================================= 4. BANGLADESH: LET THE PRESS DO ITS JOB - THE GOVERNMENT IS OVER-EXTENDING ITS HAND ========================================= The recent case filed against the editor of The Daily Star together with two staff for publishing a photograph of a poster circulated by the banned group is http://www.sacw.net/article10661.html ========================================= 5. BANGLADESH: INTERNATIONAL CRIMES TRIBUNAL TURNING THE SCREWS ON ALL WHO EXPRESSED CONCERN FOR DAVID BERGMAN - SEE TEXT OF COURT ORDER ========================================= International Crimes Tribunal-2, Misc. Case No.04 of 2014, Order No.08, Dated 11.02.2015 http://www.sacw.net/article10613.html ========================================= 6. BANGLADESH: REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMES TRIBUNAL THAT WAS COMMISSIONED BY JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI | Commentary by David Bergman ========================================= The International Forum for Democracy and Human Rights has published a report written by Geoffrey Robertson QC on the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh. http://www.sacw.net/article10684.html ========================================= 7. IN PAKISTAN’S IDEOLOGICAL WAR OVER TEXTBOOKS, HELEN KELLER DOESN’T MAKE CUT (Tim Craig and Haq Nawaz Khan in WaPo) ========================================= two years after more-secular textbooks arrived here in northwestern Pakistan, politicians and religious scholars are rolling back some of the revisions by limiting students’ exposure to Western theories, academics, scientists and authors — including Helen Keller. http://www.sacw.net/article10615.html ========================================= 8. PAKISTAN: DHINAK DHINAK THE BANNED MUSIC VIDEO BY BEYGAIRAT BRIGADE MOCKS PAKISTAN'S POWERFUL ARMY ELITE ========================================= http://www.sacw.net/article10648.html ========================================= 9. TRAILERS FOR ZUNN - A DOCUMENTARY ON WOMEN PERFORMERS IN OF PAKISTANI CIRCUSES AND LOW-BROW THEATER ========================================= An intimate look at the off-stage lives of "show-girls" in Pakistani Circuses and low-brow theater, reveals a world of both sex-trafficking and rebellious women who are navigating their place in the periphery of Pakistan's puritanical society. http://www.sacw.net/article10650.html ========================================= 10. VIDEOS: HISTORICAL ACCURACY OF ANCIENT TEXTS, COLONIAL HISTORIOGRAPHY, COMMUNALISM - ROMILA THAPAR INTERVIEWED BY TEESTA SETALVAD ========================================= This is an eleven part video interview with the eminent historian Prof.Romila Thapar done by Teesta Setalvad the editor of Communalism Combat. The wide ranging interview spans the role of public intellectuals, Historical accuracy of texts from ancient times, Colonial Historiography and communalism, Desecration of Religious Monuments in World History, History and the Aryans, on Greeks, Chinese, Megasthenes, Brahmans, Shramans, Patanjali & Albereni, on Ashoka, on Somnath Temple on Nationalism, on on Archaeology etc. http://www.sacw.net/article10606.html ========================================= 11. INDIA STUDY GROUP BRIEFING ON CORRUPTION AND CRONYISM ========================================= Corruption is one of the defining issues of Indian politics today. The Aam Aadmi Party, which was founded on an anti-corruption platform, has just won the Delhi elections with a landslide. Mega-scams are widely held to have led to the Congress party's defeat in the 2014 national elections. http://www.sacw.net/article10686.html ========================================= 12. INDIA: NEHRU'S FOREIGN POLICY - FULL AUDIO RECORDING OF THE TALK BY NIRUPAM SEN ========================================= Organised by Safdar Hashmir Memorial Trust & India Habitat Centre, this talk by India's former rep at the UN General Assembly Mr Nirupam Sen on the 20th February 2015 covered a wide canvas of the history and context of Nehru's foreign policy making, its achievements and its eventual dismantling. [The recording was made as part of the sacw.net audio archive in public interest and for non commercial use] http://www.sacw.net/article10680.html ========================================= 13. HATE CRIMES AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN INDIA: A REPORT ON 2014 ========================================= The report titled 'Hate and Targeted Violence against Christians in India - Report 2014' shows Chhattisgarh topping the list with 28 incidents of crime, followed closely by neighbouring Madhya Pradesh with 26, Uttar Pradesh with 18 and Telengana, newly carved out of Andhra Pradesh, with 15 incidents. http://www.sacw.net/article10638.html ========================================= 14. INDIA: COMRADE GOVIND PANSARE'S ASSASSINATION - A THREAT TO ALL PROGRESSIVES - STATEMENT BY NAPM (in Hindi) + some media photos and links ========================================= http://www.sacw.net/article10687.html ========================================= 15. INDIA: IN GOVIND PANSARE SHOOTING, LIBERAL WRITERS SEE AN ATTACK ON THEIR VALUES | Sudhir Suryawanshi ========================================= The shooting of Govind Pansare has sent fear rippling through the hearts of prominent writers in Marathi. They fear that the attack on progressive-minded Pansare was a message to rationalist people, writers and their supporters that if they continue to propagate their rationalist thinkings, then they, too, will be attacked like Pansare was. http://www.sacw.net/article10659.html ========================================= 16. INDIA: ATTACKS ON ACTIVISTS SPEAK OF PATHOLOGICAL INTOLERANCE | Praful Bidwai ========================================= It's not easy being a public-spirited activist in India these days. http://www.sacw.net/article10664.html ========================================= 17. INDIA: PUDR REPORT ON SECURITY CAMPS AND VILLAGES IN BIJAPUR, CHHATTISGARH ========================================= PUDR has just released a fact finding report on villages in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh. It confirms insecurities and hardships of daily life in the war-zone—the low key, but ever present forms of repression routinized by the state through its forces and security camps. http://www.sacw.net/article10660.html ========================================= 18. FORUM-ASIA MESSAGE ON THE FINAL JUDGEMENT OF TEESTA SETALVAD AND JAVED ANAND BY THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA ON 19 FEB 2015 ========================================= “We welcome the approach of the Supreme Court in hearing this case as it rightly pointed out that liberties cannot be compromised for expressing dissent and had questioned the authorities on the need for custodial interrogation given that no major offences were committed,” said Evelyn Balais-Serrano http://www.sacw.net/article10671.html ========================================= 19. STATEMENT BY SRI LANKAN CIVIL SOCIETY IN SOLIDARITY WITH INDIAN ACTIVISTS TEESTA SETALVAD AND JAVED ANAND FACING PERSECUTION BY THE GUJARAT POLICE ========================================= We, the undersigned, strongly criticize the concerted attempts by police in the Indian state of Gujarat to falsely implicate and arrest Indian social activists Ms. Teesta Setalvad and her husband, Mr. Javed Anand, who have been engaged in a 12-year struggle to secure justice and accountability for victims and survivors of the pogrom against Muslim in Gujarat in 2002. Ms. Setalvad and Ms. Anand, activists with the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the Sabrang Trust, are being persecuted over alleged charges of misuse of funds associated with attempts to convert Gulbarg Housing Society in Ahmedabad, where 69 people were killed in the 2002 violence, into a museum. The case is based on a complaint by 12 members of the Gulbarg Society but the Secretary and Chairman of the Society have said the case was false and noted that the complainants had misused office stationery. http://www.sacw.net/article10658.html ========================================= 20. INDIA: STOP PERSECUTION, BY FALSE PROSECUTION, OF TEESTA SETALVAD AND JAVED ANAND! - STATEMENT BY PUCL ========================================= This is not the first time that Teesta Setalvad is being targetted through false FIRs. Earlier too in the Best Bakery case of Vadodara and the Exhumation case of Panchmahals, there were efforts to malign the name and credibility of journalists Teesta and Javed Anand; however, both were stayed by the Supreme Court. It also cannot be ignored that it was through the efforts of Teesta, Javed and other activists of Gujarat and outside, that 117 people have been given life imprisonment for perpetrating the 2002 Gujarat mass killings, including Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi and former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani. Incidentally Gujarat state is the only one where so many victims of communal violence have got justice, thanks to the untiring efforts of human rights defenders like Teesta Setalvad, Javed Anand, CJP and others. http://www.sacw.net/article10649.html ========================================= 21. INDIA: VIDEO INTERVIEWS WITH TEESTA SETALVAD ON DENIAL OF ANTICIPATORY BAIL BY THE GUJARAT HIGH COURT ========================================= Two video recorded interviews with Teesta Setalvad, the co-editor of Communalism Combat and India's prominent crusader for justice for victims of Gujarat pogrom of 2002. She responds to questions regarding her work and what are the facts and reasons for her being targeted . . . http://www.sacw.net/article10646.html ========================================= 22. INDIA: MODI GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON GREEN NGOS | Praful Bidwai ========================================= India is no stranger to cracking down on foreign funding to civil society. Now, the new government has trained its guns on environmental activists. http://www.sacw.net/article10657.html ========================================= 23. THE "BREAKTHROUGH" (OR "BREAKTHROUGH UNDERSTANDING"?) ON NUCLEAR AGREEMENT BETWEEN MODI AND OBAMA: A REALITY CHECK by Sukla Sen ========================================= http://www.sacw.net/article10629.html ========================================= 24. BARRY FINGER: CHARLIE HEBDO AND THE POLITICS OF ANTI-IMPERIALISM ========================================= The poisonous traditional political brew of right-wing xenophobia and nationalist populism is now accepted as the new recipe for socialist solidarity. Where once socialists predictably rejected nationalism as the basis of oppositional politics, we are now admonished merely to upend the right’s reactionary conclusions. http://www.sacw.net/article10685.html ========================================= 25. RECENT ON COMMUNALISM WATCH: ========================================= available at: http://communalism.blogspot.in/ - Editorial, The Hindu - Secularism is not a policy option - Modi minus RSS: Time for BJP to ditch social as well as economic agenda of Hindu right (Times of India, Editorial) - The Gujarat Police’s pursuit of Teesta Setalvad smacks of political vendetta - India: 19 Feb 2015 SC reserves judgement on Teesta Setalvad bail, continues interim relief grant - Prashant Bhushan explains - India: Modi Govt Comes Under Scathing Criticism From RSS-Affiliated Union - India: CSDS Prof Madhu Kishwar and her friends want a ban on foreign funding of NGOs - India: Stay on Teesta Setalvad's arrest continues - UK: Radical preacher at Islamic charity event promotes extremism - India: RSS headed for revamp - Does Aravindan Neelakandan the science writer lean towards Hindutva ? See his -> This Is Neither Secular Nor Scientific, Mr PM - India Prominent BJP leader Prodyut Bora from Assam quits due to 'subversion of the democratic tradition by the Modi-Shah duo' (See his explosive letter) - Goa: BJP govt under fire for trying to censor century-old Konkani theatre - India: Riot-Accused BJP Lawmaker Gets Big Security Upgrade - Hounding Of Teesta Setalvad: Attempts to arrest her and subject her to “custodial interrogation” are uncalled for (Prashant Bhushan) - Stop Persecution, by False Prosecution, of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand! - statement by PUCL - India: Modi speech on religious tolerance timed to save Budget session - India: Another tainted cop walks free from Gujarat's prison - D G Vanzara, accused in the fake encounter cases of Ishrat Jahan and Soharabuddin Sheikh has gotten away with murder - India - acquittals of 70 accused in the Sesan Nava attack: Justice denied, she recalls - they cut off my hands - India: Four Trade Unions issue statement against attack on Com Govind Pansare in Maharashtra - India: Modi Govt Orders Survey on minorities - 2014 Report on Hate Crimes Against Christians in India - Does India belong to the Hindus alone? (Ram Puniyani) - India: Amid Dharavi’s Pongal pots, RSS reaps Hindutva harvest - India: RSS Chief Bhagwat’s pointless shadow-boxing - India Pakistan Shared History - report of a discussion of at the world Book Fair Delhi, Feb 2015 and More ... available at: http://communalism.blogspot.in/ ::: FULL TEXT ::: ========================================= 26. INDIA: HOUNDING OF TEESTA SETALVAD: ATTEMPTS TO ARREST HER AND SUBJECT HER TO “CUSTODIAL INTERROGATION” ARE UNCALLED FOR by Prashant Bhushan ========================================= (The Times of India - February 18, 2015) The case of Teesta Setalvad is a chilling example of what can still happen to even highly acclaimed and well connected persons in this country if they take on those in authority, and especially if the person you have taken on becomes the most powerful person in the country. It is also a sad commentary on how a supposedly independent judiciary does sometimes appear to get influenced by executive authority. For the last 13 years Teesta has fought a valiant and sometimes lonely battle to bring the perpetrators of the 2002 Gujarat carnage to justice. In this battle, she produced considerable evidence to demonstrate the role of Narendra Modi in abetting the carnage, and kept raising her courageous voice against him. In retaliation, the Gujarat police registered several cases against her and repeatedly tried to arrest her. But in earlier cases the courts came to her rescue and stayed her arrest and investigations against her. But now, in a complaint of misappropriation of trust funds filed by a purported resident of Gulbarga society (not by any member or donor of the trust), a single judge of the Gujarat high court has not only dismissed her application for anticipatory bail, but has also urged the police to arrest her and subject her to “custodial interrogation”. The court has also made sweeping and prejudicial allegations against her by relying only on allegations of the Gujarat police and completely ignoring explanations provided by Teesta. Personal expenses incurred from her personal account are taken to amount to misappropriation of trust funds, merely because some reimbursements of trust expenses incurred from her personal account for the trust were made to her. The judge says that she must not be granted anticipatory bail because she must undergo “custodial interrogation”, which everyone knows is a euphemism for torture. In India, as in most civilised countries, the right to silence is a constitutional right of everyone accused of a crime. Though Teesta had answered every question put to her by the police, they cannot compel any accused person to answer questions. They can draw an adverse inference, but cannot compel answers by “custodial interrogation”. Unfortunately, however, courts in India have not understood this simple constitutional principle and still continue with the antiquated practice of rendering accused persons to police custody and thus to police torture. Another unconstitutional and illegal practice of the police, which unfortunately is also being sanctioned by courts, is allowing the arrest of accused persons merely because there is an allegation against them. The police think that merely an FIR against a person gives them the licence to arrest him. This has become an easy weapon in the hands of the police to terrorise and torture innocent persons, who might be falsely accused of offences. Unfortunately the lower courts have been sanctioning this practice too, despite clear judgments of the Supreme Court to the effect that the mere fact that the police have the power to arrest does not mean that they can exercise that power just because there is a charge. The apex court has said, “No arrest can be made merely because it is lawful for the police officer to do so. The existence of the power to arrest is one thing. The justification for the exercise of it is quite another.” Arrest during investigation is justified only if the accused if not arrested may flee from justice, or he might tamper with evidence, or he has committed a heinous offence and arresting him is essential for instilling a sense of security among the community, or he is a habitual and violent offender and is likely to repeat such offences unless arrested. None of these factors are normally present in most cases, especially not in the one against Teesta. Yet the police habitually resort to arresting anyone accused, particularly if they have a motive to do so or if the powers-that-be want it. Despite the Constitution makers having gone to great lengths to protect independence of the judiciary, and the judiciary having withdrawn even the power to appoint judges to itself, we are witnessing the continuing influence of the executive over the judiciary. This influence is exercised in multiple ways, which include post-retirement jobs, sanctioning of foreign trips, medical treatment in foreign countries and so on. More distressingly, however, we are also seeing increasing social consanguinity between politicians and judges. Gone are the days when judges kept aloof from politicians. We now have the common spectacle of ministers and sundry politicians attending weddings of judges’ children and vice versa. If the judiciary also allows itself to get influenced by a powerful and fascist executive, our rights and liberties are truly in dire straits. The writer is a Supreme Court advocate and member of AAP's National Executive. ========================================= 27. BANGLADESH IS BURNING, BUT DOES ANYONE CARE? by Tarek Fatah ========================================= (Toronto Sun, February 17, 2015) A Muslim-majority country is in danger of falling into the hands of Jihadi Islamists. No, I am not referring to Libya, Yemen, Iraq or Syria as we have become accustomed to reading about almost every day. I am talking about Bangladesh, a tiny democracy of 150 million people, mostly Muslim, where the constitution itself bars any religious party from contesting elections. For over a month the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and its Islamist ally the Jamaat-e-Islami have launched a countrywide strike and blockade of roads and railways, with the express aim of overthrowing the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The violence and arson attacks by Islamist activists in the opposition alliance have severely disrupted public life. So far, 82 people have died while hundreds have been injured. Over 1,000 buses, trucks and vans have been firebombed, costing the economy nearly $10 billion, according to business leaders. On Sunday the violence reached a new phase with opposition protestors derailing a train. Earlier, two gasoline bomb attacks on buses killed 16 people forcing the government to ban all “night buses” — long-distance buses that operate at night. However, other than a New York Times editorial, “Bangladesh on the Brink”, there has been little or no coverage in the world media of the jihadi onslaught in Bangladesh. Not even in next-door India. The Times editorial admonished both the government and the opposition, but also raised the issue of Islamists, noting: “The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) must rein in its violent base and sever ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami party and its street-power tactics.” Jamaat-e-Islami has well-established links with international militant jihadist groups and has been accused of harbouring and training fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has also called for arming and training Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The chaos in Bangladesh is rooted in last year’s general elections that were boycotted by BNP, which is the major opposition party, and the Jamaat–e-Islami (an affiliate of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood) on the grounds they were not being held under a caretaker government, as required by an amendment to Bangladesh’s constitution. This amendment called for the sitting government to resign and hand over power to a caretaker government, which was then given the responsibility of holding the general elections. However in mid-2011, the country’s supreme court declared this amendment illegal. As a result, the January, 2014 elections were held without the government of Prime Minister Hasina stepping aside. Though she tried to persuade the opposition to participate in the elections, the BNP refused and the jihadi element within the opposition not only boycotted the polls, but also committed acts of violence in which many voters were killed. A year later, the violence is still going on. Should the current opposition movement succeed in destabilizing the government and the balance of power shifts in favour of the BNP-Jamaat alliance, one can expect a Syria-like situation with militants from different parts of the world exploiting the power vacuum in Bangladesh. While the immediate impact of the Islamization of the country will be felt in Bangladesh, before long it will spread to Myanmar, Thailand, India, and the rest of the region. Perhaps then, too late, the rest of the world will notice. ========================================= 28. BANGLADESH: PRESS MUST BE FREE TO REPORT THE NEWS Dhaka Tribune Editorial ========================================= (Dhaka Tribune, 18 February 2015) The recent case filed against the editor of The Daily Star is regrettable.Such cases serve only to chill the freedom of the press The recent case filed against the editor of The Daily Star together with two staff for publishing a photograph of a poster circulated by the banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which calls upon the armed forces to topple the government, is regrettable. It would have been better had the case not been accepted, as it is manifestly clear that the newspaper’s intent was merely to inform the public and to highlight the irresponsible and unlawful nature of the poster, not to endorse its content or to create unrest. The relevant section of the penal code makes clear that, to be actionable, publication must be done with the intent or likelihood of causing public mischief, and the context of the photograph’s publication, including the accompanying text, demonstrates that such intent was absent. Now that the court has taken cognisance of the matter, we would hope that the issue will be dealt with swiftly and that the unfairly impugned newsmen are exonerated as a matter of course, following the inquiry that has been ordered. Such cases serve only to chill the freedom of the press and stand in the way of the media’s duty and responsibility to inform the public. While journalistic irresponsibility must be avoided at all costs, this was not such a case, and to suggest that it was does the newspaper in question a grave disservice. The authorities must be able to distinguish between news published with the best of intentions and that published to try to stir up trouble, because, if they begin to confuse the two, then media will not be able to report on important news that the public needs to know. The ultimate loser will not be just the press, but the entire citizenry, who will remain unaware of information they have a right and a need to know. ========================================= 29. BANGLADESH: SOME HOPE AMIDST DESPAIR AND DESPERATION Editorial, New Age ========================================= (New Age, 18 February 2015) THE initiative, led by Pankaj Bhattacharya, president of the left-leaning United National Awami Party aka Oikya NAP, towards a resolution of the ongoing political crisis through dialogue, looks promising for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the initiative, as indicated in a New Age report on Monday, seems to have been set in motion following a meeting in the past week between the prime minister and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, and Bhattacharya. In view of the traditionally positive relations that politicians of Bhattacharya’s ilk have had with the Awami League, it would be safe to assume that the Oikya NAP president set the ball rolling with the consent, tacit or explicit, of the AL president. It could only mean that the ruling party may have started to budge from its ‘no talks with the opposition’ intransigence, which is indeed good news. Also promising is the involvement in the initiative of the left-leaning politicians in view of their success stories about bringing the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party together during the democratic movement against the military regime of HM Ershad in the 1980s. While the conflicting political camps need to engage in talks with an open mind, the talks themselves cannot be open-ended in any way. The agenda for the talks need to be determined beforehand and certain preconditions set. As an expression of their seriousness and sincerity about the dialogues, while the incumbents need to put an end to the apparently endless repression of opposition leaders and activists, including extrajudicial murders in the hand of law enforcers, and allow them unfettered access to the political space for democratic dissent, the BNP-led opposition alliance, in its turn, need to withdraw its indefinite blockade interspersed with general strikes of varying duration and coverage, which has thus far contributed to widespread violence and concomitant death and disability, mostly of ordinary people. Whoever sets the agenda for the talks needs to recognise that the political impasse requires systemic overhauls, and not cosmetic tinkering, for an enduring resolution, and the agreement between the conflicting camps must cover a wide range of reforms, including in the constitution. First and foremost, the planned talks must hammer out a formula that is acceptable to all and ensures contested and inclusive, free and fair polling, not just for the next parliament but for all future elections. To this end, it is imperative that the Election Commission should be made a well and truly constitutional entity, immune to any partisan tinkering. At the same time, the conflicting camps need to agree on certain constitutional reforms towards making parliament effective. Repeal of Article 70, which renders partisan parliamentarians irrevocably bound to the whims and wishes of their party chief by denying them the right to vote against the party’s position, could be a good start to this end. Equally important is required changes in the constitution that rationalises the essentially absolute executive authority of the prime minister by striking a balance of power between the prime minister, the president and the parliament. Importantly still, the provision of referendum, which was repealed by the 15th amendment, needs to be restored so that the people can actively participate in policymaking decisions of crucial national importance and the constitution become well and truly reflection of the solemn will of the people. That being said, it is important to note that materialisation of the hope that the initiative in question holds ultimately depends on how the conflicting camps read the reality on the ground. People can only hope that the endless cycle of death and destruction has prompted in them the realisation that consultation, not confrontation, holds the key. Meanwhile, the initiators of the move need to distance themselves from any partisan influence or impulse, and recognise that the good wishes of the ordinary people are with them. ========================================= 30. PAKISTAN: ATTACKS ON HEALTH WORKERS CONTINUES - POLIO WORKERS TEAM THAT WENT MISSING FOUND DEAD ========================================= (Khaleej Times (IANS) / 14 February 2015 POLIO WORKER SHOT, VACCINATION TEAM GOES MISSING IN PAKISTAN A senior health official of the district, Dr Muhammad Qasim also confirmed the incident. Islamabad - Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a polio team on Saturday in Pakistan’s Khyber, killing one person, even as there was no word on a two member team with two police escorts that went missing a day before. In Saturday’s incident, a team of polio workers was being driven to Landi Kotal tehsil in Khyber Agency for a camp when gunmen fired at them. The driver of the vehicle was killed, a media report said. The mising team was headed for a remote area of Balochistan province. “Two polio workers, escorted by two constables of the Balochistan Levies, left the district headquarters at 11 pm on Friday to vaccinate children in the Murgha Gibzai area of Zohab district but they have not reached their destination,” Pakistan Today quoted Zhob Deputy Commissioner Nazir Ahmed Khetran as saying. “It is a remote area, there is no proper communication system, which is why we are facing difficulty in tracing them,” he said. Vaccinators often go to the remote areas and return the next day, an officer of the Levies, a paramilitary force, said. The polio team was supposed to conduct a vaccination campaign in Murgha Gibzai, Toda Ghibzai and Barkwal union councils. Zhob is one of the “high-risk” areas when it comes to polio vaccination. Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. Efforts to eradicate the disease have been seriously hampered by the targeting of vaccination teams in recent years. o o o BBC News - 17 February 2015 FOUR KIDNAPPED POLIO WORKERS ARE FOUND DEAD IN PAKISTAN Four members of a polio vaccination team have been found shot dead in south-west Pakistan, four days after being abducted. Police said that the bodies of a health worker, his driver and two security guards were found in the region of Balochistan. The team were seized on Friday by Taliban militants, security officials said. Militants say polio teams are spies or that the vaccine causes infertility. The shootings are the latest in a series of attacks on Pakistani polio teams. The violence has claimed the lives of at least 70 polio workers over the last four years. Tense situation Local media report that the polio team went missing in the Zhob district of Balochistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Their bodies were found early on Tuesday morning. The relatives of the victims have taken to the streets in the city of Zhob to protest against their deaths, according to local reports. A member of the Pakistani security services escorts health workers as they administer Polio vaccines to children in Karachi, Pakistan, 27 January 2015. Pakistani polio workers are heavily guarded after a series of deadly attacks against them A health worker administers the Polio vaccine to a child in Karachi, Pakistan, 27 January 2015 Officials say the violence is preventing the country from tackling the spread of the disease "The situation is very tense and people are angry at security forces who are unable to trace the culprits," a senior official in the city told Pakistan's Express Tribune. Another official told Dawn newspaper that the Balochistan authorities had postponed an anti-polio campaign in the Quetta, Zhob, Sherani and Sibi districts because of the security threat. The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani says the attacks are undermining Pakistan's efforts to bring the spread of polio under control. The country now has the biggest number of polio cases worldwide and is one of only three countries where the disease is still endemic - the others being Nigeria and Afghanistan. line Islamist militants in Pakistan oppose polio vaccination, saying it is a western conspiracy to sterilise Pakistani children. Officials cite this, and the killings of health workers, as the major reasons for the increase of polio cases last year. The country recorded its highest number of polio cases for 15 years in October 2014. ========================================= 31. PAKISTAN: LITERARY FESTIVAL BREATHES LIFE INTO LAHORE By Ahmed Rashid ========================================= (BBC News - 15 February 2015) Lahore's Alhambra centre hosts the annual event Lahore's Alhambra centre hosts the annual event Despite Pakistan's many political and social problems, Lahore hosts one of South Asia's leading literary festivals. How do you put on such an event in a country dogged by power cuts and militant violence? When it comes to celebrating life and literature in Pakistan nobody does it better than the citizens of Lahore. Next week an array of fiction and non-fiction writers, musicians and artists will arrive for the fourth Lahore Literary Festival (LLF), which runs for three days from 20 February. South Asia is awash with literary festivals. This year's events in Kolkata (Calcutta) and Karachi have ended, but Lahore's is described by its competitors and rivals as the new star on the block, second only to Jaipur. The Indian city has just hosted the largest free literary festival in South Asia, with 250,000 people visiting. Pakistani tourists visit the Lahore Fort in Lahore on February 13, 2010. Lahore is one of South Asia's most important cultural centres Lahore was the cultural, intellectual and political heart of Mughul and Sikh India, then the British Raj and it still plays a major role in setting agendas in modern Pakistan. The city reflects the architecture, culture and food of all these empires. The rites of spring were traditionally celebrated by the Basant kite flying festival, but that was banned because of the deaths of several kite flyers. Now it is the literary festival that allows Lahoris and countless visitors to celebrate spring. Hosting such a festival is not easy in a country better known for its wide-ranging political problems, terrorism, the chronic shortages of electricity and gas and most recently even petrol but these are challenges to be overcome. Some writers are under threat at home; others choose to live abroad although their subject matter remains Pakistan. Last year Lahore's festival hosted more than 50,000 visitors - a clear sign that Lahoris are not deterred by such problems. Festival events go on over three days Festival events go on over three days Foreign writers have had to be reassured that despite Pakistan's violence, Lahore is not the epicentre of terrorism nor is it a city facing collapse. Rather, it is still thriving and safer than other cities in the country even though threats of attack are constantly being made. For that there is close co-operation with the city authorities and the police at all venues. Nevertheless, some writers from abroad have heeded country alerts issued by their governments and stayed away - but others have filled the gap. This year only a couple of writers have pulled out so far. The show, say the organisers, will go on! The festival - held in the Alhambra centre - will pack in 75 sessions, with four to five events running at any one time. Evenings are set aside for Pakistani music - classical, folk, rock and pop. Leading Indian historian Romila Tharpar will give the opening talk, introduced by Pakistan's celebrated historian Ayesha Jalal. In its early decades Pakistan depended on foreigners to tell its political history. Now every year produces new and deeply researched histories by Pakistani scholars, who are showcased at Lahore. Likewise, in the past two decades Pakistan has produced world class novelists writing in English such as Mohammed Hanif, Kamila Shamsie, Daniyal Muenuddin, Nadeem Aslam and others. When one of them has a new book out - this year it is Mohsin Hamid - it is a cause for multiple appearances and interviews at the festival. Already there is a second generation of even younger Pakistani novelists emerging, whose novels and short stories are very different from the first generation. Nearly 30 writers and artists from a dozen different countries will also be present, along with a large Indian contingent. The festival will run simultaneous fiction and poetry sessions in Urdu, while Urdu newspaper columnists - who have millions of readers - will dominate several debates. There will also be sessions in Punjabi and Seraiki, ensuring that regional languages are not left out. Pakistanis tend to have abysmal reading habits and one result of the festival is improving those statistics by bringing writers on stage before their readers and encouraging the young to buy books. The enthusiastic support from Lahore's elders down to its students who volunteer in huge numbers to help out at the festival showcases how the festival brings people in the city of 12 million together. Lahore is now not just about architectural marvels, but also about sharing the wisdom of books. Ahmed Rashid is on the advisory and organising committees of the LLF. ========================================= 32. MAGNA CARTA: 800 YEARS ON, WE NEED A NEW PEOPLE’S CHARTER by Guy Standing ========================================= (The Guardian - 23 January 2015) There’s fanfare over the anniversary but the rights enshrined in the Great Charter are, for society’s most vulnerable, being trodden on daily A good TV quiz question this year would be: “2015 is the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta. True or false?” Contrary to what all children are taught, the answer is false. First, King John signed nothing; he merely put his seal to it. Second, what was agreed on 15 June 1215 in the field at Runnymede by the Thames was a peace treaty between the king and rebellious barons. Within weeks, both sides had repudiated this Charter of Liberties. The treaty was not agreed until 1216, by which time John was dead and nine-year-old King Henry III accepted it, probably not understanding what he was doing. Magna Carta only came into being in 1217, when the wording had been changed and parts of the original were extended in the Charter of the Forests. This complementary charter covered liberties granted to the common man, including rights to the commons, grazing, fishing, water and firewood, and was perhaps the first ecological charter in history. Only then did the original become the Great Charter. To complicate matters, a new version came out in 1225. However, let us celebrate the breakthrough that Runnymede represented. This was the first class-based set of demands made against the state. It is regarded as the foundation document of the unwritten British constitution. Of the original 63 clauses only four are still operational. But the principles have filtered through the ages. The anniversary will be marked this year with much fanfare and chest-thumping. Already David Cameron, although admitting on a US TV show that he did not know the English for Magna Carta, has tried to take ownership of its heritage with jingoistic talk of British values. He should be careful. There is much in the Charter of Liberties and Charter of the Forests that the left can and should use, particularly those of a green disposition. Last year Owen Jones claimed in the Guardian that Magna Carta “means diddly-squat to average English subjects”. To coin a phrase, that is diddly-squat. It set a precedent to be followed by the Bill of Rights in 1689, the Chartists of the 1830s and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, in the process inspiring the French Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789 and even the US constitution. Each agitation was class-based, containing a manifesto for the rising class of the time. That is why we need a new charter, demanding rights and liberties for the growing class who lead increasingly insecure lives: the “precariat”. That must include a campaign to revive the commons, public space and amenities, rolling back the privatisation schemes that successive governments have introduced, often surreptitiously and with minimal opposition. It must also include a campaign to restore due process. Advertisement Magna Carta enshrined a principle of British justice that recent Labour and Conservative governments have treated with disdain and abused with impunity. Consider article 20, replacing the ancient word “amerce” with the modern “sanction”: “A free man shall not be [sanctioned] for a trivial offence except in accordance with the degree of the offence … but not so heavily as to deprive him of his livelihood … and none of the aforesaid [sanctions] shall be imposed save by the oath of reputable men”. For anyone facing a sanction, articles 38-40 are a firm commitment to due process, asserting the right to legal representation, to know charges in advance, to be able to contest them before equals, and then only to be sanctioned if found guilty by independent procedures by independent equals. Yet today we have numerous sanctions without due process, and the principle of proportionality has been lost. Successive governments have multiplied the number of acts that can be deemed criminal or misdemeanours, constructing a regime of unaccountable discretionary decisions that blight people’s lives. Rights to legal aid have been cut, and the social, cultural and economic rights of migrants and asylum seekers have been whittled away. We should use the anniversary to campaign to overthrow the tactics used by Iain Duncan Smith, and accepted by his Labour shadows, to cut the number receiving benefits. Politicians are building an edifice of sanctions against the most vulnerable members of society without any respect for due process. Every day, cases of abuse by authority come to light, and there are new reports of government agencies denying claimants benefits that would just about enable them to hold their lives together. How dare a government cover itself with the cloak of Magna Carta when it is doing such things? This government has constructed a vicious, arbitrary regime of benefit sanctions against the precariat and underclass. Hundreds of thousands have lost the minimum benefits needed for dignity and bare survival without due process. Similarly, steered by populist prejudice, migrants and asylum seekers have been hounded and penalised without any semblance of due process. Many have been driven to a suicidal despair that only those devoid of human empathy can fail to understand. Since my books on the precariat were published, I have received numerous emails, most in confidence, from people who have been sanctioned without understanding what they have done wrong or without being able to contest charges made by bureaucrats. Some have incorrectly answered awkward questions put to them by what should be called the claimant police. Is there any reader who has never answered questions incorrectly? No doubt some supplicants feel so humiliated or intimidated that they “lose it”, only to be sanctioned for their outburst. Another source of disquiet is disdain for Magna Carta’s article 14, which enshrines the principle of no taxation without representation. The wording is class-based, citing earls, barons and bishops. But now that most of us are taxpayers, except plutocrats and plutocratic corporations, we should demand “no representation without taxation”. Nobody should be allowed to fund political parties unless they pay at least 30% tax on all income above the median wage. If that rule applied, the Tory party would be bankrupted overnight. Is an 800th anniversary not a moment for wishful thinking? A chance to write a new Great Charter for the 21st century, one that limits the liberties of tax dodgers and puts the precariat at its heart by reasserting their right to protection from state-authorised insecurity? Let us also have some subversive fun. Every time a government minister or spokesman lauds Magna Carta let us boo or hiss. Shame them. And let us celebrate what it really means to our history: the ability of an emerging class to make demands against the state for new liberties and rights. Those will not come about without struggle. Collective action remains the best way of renewing the march towards the great trinity of liberty, equality and solidarity. Magna Carta set a wonderful precedent. o o o A new Great Charter for workers’ rights 'To mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta we need to … address corporate irresponsibility by demanding genuine accountability at work,' writes Michael Gold. The Guardian - 25 January 2015 We should all welcome Guy Standing’s call for a Great Charter for the 21st century to “limit the liberties of tax dodgers and put the precariat at its heart” (The case for a new people’s charter, 23 January). Indeed, to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta we need to deal with the unfinished business at the core of our democracy – that is, to address corporate irresponsibility by demanding genuine accountability at work too. Corporate power and greed, demonstrated by tax evasion and soaring executive remuneration, are a major source of social inequality and anxiety as senior managers come to lead lives ever more remote from those of countless workers and their families facing austerity and pay cuts. Now is the moment for national debate on ways to extend our rights to cover our working lives, with rights to information, consultation and co-determination for all workers, whatever our hours, background or status. In particular, we need the right to elect employee representatives on to the boards of companies so that they can argue the case for workers’ interests at the earliest stages of formulating business strategy. The argument is simple: yes, shareholders invest their capital in companies for profit, but workers invest their lives in companies for income, and without their working lives there would be no profit, so they have equal entitlement to board representation. The Trades Union Congress has made an excellent start by calling not only for employee board-level representation but also for amendments to company law to redress shareholder primacy and requiring ownership of shares for two years before they entitle shareholders to voting rights. The best way to commemorate Magna Carta will be to update it to our needs in 2015. Michael Gold Professor of comparative employment relations, Royal Holloway University of London ========================================= 33. SLAUGHTER BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: ALGERIAN JOURNALISTS IN THE 90’S by Hassane Zerrouky ========================================= Translated into English by Isabelle Métral ORIGINAL FRENCH ARTICLE: Retour sur le massacre à huis clos des journalistes algériens by Hassane Zerrouky (L'Humanite, 28 Janvier, 2015) For Algerian journalists, the Charlie Hebdo killings have revived painful memories of the 123 journalists and press employees assassinated between 1993 and 1997 –a gloomy time for a people that paid with their blood for the onset of Islamist terror. It all started in early January, 1993. Minbar al-Djoumou’â, the Islamic Salvation Front’s paper gave journalists forty days to “repent”. The injunction was followed by the publication of a first list of journalists under a death sentence. Mohamed Benchicou, Ghania Hamadou, Said Mekbel, Hassane Zerrouky, Ali Dilem, who worked for le Matin. Omar Belhouchet, Tayeb Belghiche, Omar Berbiche, M. Messaoudi, who worked for El Watan. Abdelhamid Benzine, Halim Mokdad, Mortada Zabouri, who worked for Alger républicain. Ruptures’ Tahar Djaout.La Liberté’s Ghania Khelifi. The threat was relayed by Wafa, the FIS’ clandestine radio channel. On January 14th, the FIS extended its injuction to all journalists. Threats came over the phone to editorial offices, preceded by a Kuran verse, or in writing. To be sure, already in 1990-1991 the FIS-owned El Mounquid and El Forkane had promised to hang "Judeo-Zionist” journalists when the FIS got into office. Its leader, Abassi Madani, accused them of being the puppets of “communists” and “intelligence” agents. Yet for all this nobody then thought that the Islamists would deliver on their promises, so incredible did they seem, especially as the freedom of the press had been snatched only two years before following a popular uprising. “Journalists who wage war on Islam with their pens will perish by our swords.” On April 18th, 1993 Tahar Djaout, a thirty-year-old reporter and writer, who denounced the collusion between Islamism and the FLN’s and the régime’s conservative clans, was shot twice in the head, the first of a long list of planned murders. A week earlier, Omar Belhouchet (also thirty-nine years old), miraculously escaped death. Nine reporters, among whom Abderrahmane Chergou (a former communist guerilla fighter during the Algerian independence war, were murdered between June and December 1993. The murders were legitimized by the Algerian Islamist Group (GIA), Mourad Si Ahmed, alias Djamel Al Afghani, the author of this terrible sentence: “Journalists who wage war on Islam with their pens will perish by our swords.” Despite the deep shock and real fear. Algerian journalists put up a brave front. Theirs was a clandestine life, or almost. They continued to challenge the official censors and official attempts against the freedom of the press, and to do their job … all the while wondering “who would be next.” In the course of 1994, no fewer than 23 journalists and two press assistants were killed, among whom le Matin’s chronicler Said Mekbel.On the 23rd of March of that year, three armed Islamists broke into the l’Hebdo libéré’s offices, in Algiers’ city centre, and coldly executed two reporters and an employee. The following year, in 1995, 22 other journalists were murdered, three of whom worked for le Matin, Ameur Ouagueni (aged 34),Naima Hamouda (aged 28), and Said Tazrout (aged 35). On September 13th and October 30th booby-trapped cars that were defused just in time targeted le Matin’s offices. Following these attempts, the paper moved to the city centre, into Tahar Djaout’s house, where most papers have their headquarters. But on February 11th, 1996, the building was in its turn the target of a similar attempt: several dozen people were killed, among whom three Soir d’Algérie reporters. All in all, between June 1993 and December 1997, 123 journalist and press employees were either shot to death or beheaded. A slaughter behind closed doors. For outside l’Humanité, Marianne, and the CGT’s Reporters National Union, there was no mark of solidarity on the part of our fellow journalists in France. Or hardly any, as Omar Belhouchet observed in the December 23rd issue of Jeune Afrique. Reporters sans frontières, his leader at the time was the notorious Robert Ménard, and a few papers too, insidiously put the blame for the murders on the Algerian intelligence service, which they accused of manipulating the Islamist groups! Worse still, by way of exonerating themselves, they spoke of “the dirty war” and suggested that behind every Algerian journalist stood a “cop”, and so justified beforehand the murders to come. And yet these murders had been claimed by the Islamists on their press organs (Minbar al-Djoumou’â, Feth el Moubine, al-Ansar, Etbeira), but also by their leaders like Anouar Haddam, Omar Chikhi (whom has since been granted an amnesty by the régime), and by FIDA (Islamist Front for Armed Jihad), a group controlled by the GIA, whose specialty it was to murder journalists, liberal activists, and intellectuals. Despite the heavy tribute paid by the profession, the Algerian government has not given up its ambition to make the press toe the line. And as was obvious last December with the case of the journalist and writer Kamel Daoud, Islamists are still issuing death threats. ========================================= 34. HOW RAZING THE RAINFOREST HAS CREATED A DEVASTATING DROUGHT IN BRAZIL by Geoffrey Lean ========================================= (The Telegraph- UK, 16 Feb 2015) Twenty million people in Sao Paolo now face severe rationing due to the disruption of the far-away Amazon's rain-making machine It used to be known as “drizzle city”, but now Sao Paolo – South America's biggest conurbation – is now being compared with a desert. In what should be the middle of a rainy season, it is so dry that its 20 million inhabitants face having their water cut off for five days a week. The giant Cantareira reservoir system, which supplies nine million people, is now only 5 per cent full, and predicted to run dry in April. The smaller Alto Trietê system, which serves three million people in the city, is a little better off, but still only 15 per cent full. With the dry season due, it is calculated that only severe rationing can stop the city's water from running out altogether before the rains start again in November. Some economies have so far been made.The daily amount extracted from reservoirs has been cut by 22 per cent, and some residents are already having their water cut off for 16 hours a day. But far more is needed, and there have been warnings that, before long, the taps will only run on two days each week. The vast forest generates its own rain, which then falls across the country. PIC: Alamy Already, better-off citizens are buying large tanks in the hope of being able to hoard water. Many apartment blocks are trucking the stuff in at great cost; others are trying to drill wells. But most of the people can resort to none of these measures. Water riots could be on the cards. Years of maladministration and neglect play some role in this. The gathering crisis was ignored in the run-up to last year's World Cup, and in the elections that followed it. So does lack of maintenance: it is estimated that 40 per cent of the Brazil's water supplies are lost through leaking pipes and outdated infrastructure. But population growth and other environmental factors are also to blame. Climate change is believed to have had an effect. So is the way that cities burn so much energy they become 'heat islands', sucking up moisture. But perhaps the biggest and most alarming factor behind the drought is deforestation in the Amazon basin to the north. Study after study has now shown that the vast Amazonian forest generates its own rain, with the trees continuously recycling moisture blown in on easterly winds from the Atlantic. The rain-laden winds go on travelling west until they hit the high barrier of the Andes, and then turn south and east, dumping rain over the agricultural lands that form Brazil's breadbasket and Sao Paolo itself. This giant rainmaking machine is now breaking down as its constituent parts disappear. The one silver lining of this lack of clouds is that Brazilians finally seem to be waking up to the problem. Social movements and unions are joining environmentalists in calling for the deforestation to stop, as they see that ecological destruction brings poverty in its wake. Whether they succeed is another matter. ========================================= 35. THE GREAT SIM HEIST: HOW SPIES STOLE THE KEYS TO THE ENCRYPTION CASTLE By Jeremy Scahill and Josh Begley ========================================= https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/02/19/great-sim-heist/ EXCERPT AMERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives from the NSA and its British counterpart Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document, gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice and data. The company targeted by the intelligence agencies, Gemalto, is a multinational firm incorporated in the Netherlands that makes the chips used in mobile phones and next-generation credit cards. Among its clients are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and some 450 wireless network providers around the world. The company operates in 85 countries and has more than 40 manufacturing facilities. One of its three global headquarters is in Austin, Texas and it has a large factory in Pennsylvania. In all, Gemalto produces some 2 billion SIM cards a year. Its motto is “Security to be Free.” With these stolen encryption keys, intelligence agencies can monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments. Possessing the keys also sidesteps the need to get a warrant or a wiretap, while leaving no trace on the wireless provider’s network that the communications were intercepted. Bulk key theft additionally enables the intelligence agencies to unlock any previously encrypted communications they had already intercepted, but did not yet have the ability to decrypt. ========================================= 36. STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: THE MODERNISTS AND THE NAZIS Jan Breslauer on Artists Under Hitler: Collaboration and Survival in Nazi Germany ========================================= (Los Angeles Review of Books, February 8th, 2015) Artists Under Hitler: Collaboration and Survival in Nazi Germany author: Jonathan Petropoulos publisher: Yale University Press pub date: 11.25.2014 pp: 424 SHORTLY AFTER HITLER was appointed chancellor in 1933, he ordered a competition to design the new Reichsbank in Berlin. A committee identified 30 architects to submit designs. Two of the architects were Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius and Bauhaus director Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The Bauhaus was the most highly regarded art school in Europe at the time. It was also firmly identified with the Weimar Republic, which made it anathema to the Nazis. “Yet here were two of its leaders asked to undertake a design for Hitler’s first public building,” writes Jonathan Petropoulos in his important new book, Artists Under Hitler. Gropius and Mies complied, and although neither won the commission for the building that was built the following year, their attempts appear to have been sincere. Indeed, Gropius provided a great deal more material than was called for, including blueprints, cost estimates, a philosophical statement, and photographs of a mock-up. The image of Walter Gropius working feverishly on the new Reichsbank headquarters in early 1933 and hoping that he would become an official architect in the Third Reich needs to be integrated into the cultural history of Nazi Germany. Petropoulos relates this anecdote early on, underscoring both the irony and the uncomfortable compromise that will resonate in more such stories throughout his book. He is able to do this in part because new information has come to light, accurate historical details about some aspects of the Nazi era that have come to us only in recent decades, after years of lies perpetuated by collaborator-artists concerning their activities, and because German data protection laws required files to remain closed until 30 years after a person’s death. Petropoulos has employed this newly available knowledge, along with other research, to paint a portrait of artists during the Third Reich. For that reason alone, this book is an important addition to the cultural history of Nazi Germany. Yet Artists Under Hitler has importance beyond bringing new historical detail to light. It is also a study of the sometimes unhealthy alliance between artists and power. Although more dire under the Nazis, the moral questions raised by complicity with a repressive regime are not unique to the Third Reich. Artists Under Hitler examines in detail the experiences of 10 modernist artists who chose to stay in Nazi Germany and seek “accommodation” with the regime. “Accommodation” is used here as a term of art. It may strike some as a euphemism, and while it should, the choice of the term and its implications are integral to Petropoulos’s enterprise, which is to present an ostensibly evenhanded documentary of what these artists did, and to a lesser extent, why they did it. He gives us details such as how each artist got appointed to which post, who did what favors for whom, and who looked the other way when. Petropoulos cites a number of factors for why they did what they did: first, a misunderstanding of the Nazi leaders and their goals; second, an unchecked ego and sense of self-importance […]; third, a highly developed survival instinct […] combined with a more garden-variety opportunism; fourth, the mixed signals from the Nazi leaders themselves […]; and finally, a belief that the intellectual goals of modernism and fascism were compatible. Petropoulos suggests that each case is complicated, but that it mostly comes down to self-interest and ego. It would take a study more concerned with psychology and sociology to provide anything more, and Petropoulos rightly spends little time trying to speculate. He simply posits this much and leaves it to the reader to judge. Artists Under Hitler groups its 10 case studies into two groups of five: the ones who had limited success in pursuing “accommodation” (Walter Gropius, Paul Hindemith, Gottfried Benn, Ernst Barlach, Emil Nolde) and the ones who succeeded in “accommodation” (Richard Strauss, Gustaf Gründgens, Leni Riefenstahl, Arno Breker, Albert Speer). After reading all 10, it’s evident that the distinction is largely one of degree, that the artists in question have more in common with one another than they do with, say, the artists who chose to flee or resist. Petropoulos’s first group attempted accommodation during the earlier years of Nazi rule, which were not as dark as the later years. After that, most of the artists discussed gave up trying to get along; indeed, by the mid-1930s, most read the writing on the wall and left. In the second group, the artists were either adept collaborators or fully complicit, enjoying the spoils of being favored by the Nazis. A common thread throughout these case studies involves the plight of modernism. A common misunderstanding, or oversimplification, has been that the Nazis were at odds with modernism, but Petropoulos demonstrates that the relationship was much more complex than that. Some figures within the Nazi power structure, up to and including Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, liked and supported the work of certain non-Jewish modernists. Goebbels favored the work of Ernst Barlach, for instance, and had some of the sculptor’s work in his personal collection. (That wasn’t enough to stop Barlach from being included in the 1937 “Degenerate Art” exhibition, which vilified many of the most prominent modernist visual artists.) Certainly there are reasons why the modernists could have thought — at least in purely aesthetic terms — that there was common ground to be found with the Nazis. There are aspects of modernism that could be read as compatible with Nazi arts policy (Kunstpolitik) — the celebration of the mechanical, for example, or the abstract composition found in Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will. Modernists could also look to Fascist Italy’s embrace of Futurism as an example of a dictatorial regime allowing the avant-garde to continue. Indeed, the case studies are replete with examples of modernists who seemed to think they could have their work accepted, if they either weren’t too strident or were willing to self-censor their art. For others, it was a matter of straight-up selling out: tailoring their work to fit the fashion required by the ones handing out the perks and privileges. Call it compromise, call it accommodation, or call it what you will, but what it often came down to was that those who managed to stay in favor, to hold positions of authority within the Nazi power structure, or who were in fact card-carrying Nazis, were the ones who got the appointments, the commissions, and the big paydays. After the war, they sought to deny or disguise their associations — Riefenstahl is the most notorious example — but there is enough documentation available now that those lies have been discredited. Many modernists were vehemently against Hitler and chose to emigrate. Others stayed and opposed the Nazis. “Painter Max Pechstein went fishing in order to feed himself, and former Bauhaus Master Oskar Schlemmer painted camouflage for the Luftwaffe and then worked in a lacquer factory in Wuppertal,” writes Petropoulos. “At a different level of hardship, Bauhaus-trained artist Franz Ehrlich, who had studied with Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Lázló Moholy-Nagy, designed the gates of the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he had been a prisoner since 1935.” Still many others stood up to the Nazis and were killed. But Petropoulos is telling the tale of the ones who stayed behind and, for whatever reasons, chose to go along in order to get along. Or, in the case of the latter group of artists, who chose to join the Nazi enterprise and thus thrived. Hitler made it clear from the outset that he intended to control culture and the arts for his own purposes, and Petropoulos describes the Nazi courting of cultural figures. Hermann Göring, the high-ranking Nazi who amassed a great deal of stolen art in the later war years, once remarked that it was “easier over time to make a decent National Socialist out of an artist than to make a great artist out of a minor Party member.” Goebbels was especially eager to enlist famous artists. The Reich Chamber of Culture was the chief structure for appointments for such celebrity-artists, and it housed seven chambers: literature, journalism, radio, theater, music, film, and visual arts. Each chamber had a president and a vice president, along with a Reich Cultural Senate, to which Goebbels made direct appointments. Goebbels tried to get Fritz Lang to come back from Hollywood to head the Reich Chamber of Film; Lang, an iconic modernist hero in Weimar, did not take the post. Goebbels also considered making a bid for Marlene Dietrich. He tried and failed to convince Weimar stalwart Thomas Mann to head up the Literature chambers. These turndowns notwithstanding, sometimes the Reich Minister of Propaganda did indeed get his man. Richard Strauss became the first president of the Reich Chamber of Music, with conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler as his vice president. By serving in such appointed capacities, these artists not only secured their own positions but were also called upon to help determine the fate of their colleagues. These were positions of power and influence, and highly consequential in determining the course of many careers. In the initial chapters of Artists Under Hitler, Petropoulos takes pains to present the artists’ actions with equanimity. There are moments where the book veers too close to an apologia, but only moments. By the time it comes to the conclusion, Petropoulos’s voice is more cohesive and less equivocal. It is only near the end that the author allows himself to articulate a point of view about his subjects, and point a few fingers. A central theme of this book concerns the elusiveness of clear categories — or, at least, the broad width of a gray zone — with regard to the cultural life of the Third Reich. […] The Nazi leaders who made cultural policy adapted existing styles and idioms across the various arts and utilized them to their own ends. While many modernists tried but ultimately failed to find accommodation with the Nazi regime, countless others altered the style of their work — and engaged in other forms of accommodation — in the interest of finding a modus vivendi with the Nazis. With regard to the latter, the rich array of figures tempts one to compile a cultural “hall of shame” of complicity. Indeed, along the lines of the Reich Chambers of Culture, one could have multiple discipline-specific categories. Only at this point, past page 300, does Petropoulos give us a fuller list of the worst offenders, which includes, in addition to those already mentioned, composer Carl Orff, soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, film director Veit Harlan, actors Werner Krauss and Emil Jannings, sculptor Fritz Klimsch (and a number of other visual artists), architect Wilhelm Kreis, and many others. Petropoulos discusses in passing how they and others lied about their pasts in the postwar world. In addressing how the myths about these artists evolved, Petropoulos notes they took hold in part because of the toothless denazification trials, and the “equivalent measures for collaborators in the occupied countries, such as the French épuration légale,” which treated such figures with leniency, handing down judgments that had little lasting effect. America handed over jurisdiction for these trials to Germany in 1946, and that’s one reason why they became little more than show trials. The tribunals were mired in bureaucracy, which contributed to the token penalties — such as the DM 100 ($24) fine handed down to Arno Breker, even after he’d been paid millions by the Nazis. Of course, it would also have been hard for these courts to come down hard on the collaborating artists, when so many of the Nazis who actually did the killing evaded prosecution entirely. The public, for its part, was largely apathetic about the leniency. So these collaborators took their slaps on the wrist and laid low for a while before resurfacing. Petropoulos’s discussion of such postwar legal and social mechanisms comes only in the last few pages of Artists Under Hitler. A discussion of the equivalent mechanisms during the Nazi years themselves would have been welcome. And yet, a book need only accomplish that which it sets as its task. In so far as Petropoulos endeavors to portray the interplay of modernism and political culture during the Third Reich, he succeeds. His case studies give us an informative picture of the plight and problematic choices of a variety of noted artists under Hitler. There’s little doubt that this book adds to the cultural history of the period. But as I say, that is not the only reason why this book matters. Even though Petropoulos likely began working on the research for this book more than a few years ago, it would do his tome a disservice to ignore that it was published when it was, in late 2014. Readers should see similarities between the questions raised about the Nazi collaborators and accusations made recently regarding certain artists in Putin’s Russia. I do not for a minute mean to suggest that Putin is comparable to Hitler. Yet there are recurring questions facing artists who are in complicity with dictators — whether it’s Hitler, Stalin, or Putin. In the past few years, Russia has taken a hard turn back toward its repressive past and freedom of expression has suffered. Anyone critical of Kremlin policy risks being charged with sedition or worse, and this has been used to devastating effect with writers and artists. There are new laws forbidding obscenity on stage or in films, and the anti-gay propaganda law has been used to suppress the LGBT community under threat of incarceration in prison, gulag or asylum, or worse. Valery Gergiev, artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theatre, has been criticized for supporting Putin. In 2013, Putin cut a check for $700 million to renovate the Mariinsky. Since then, Gergiev has had to contend with protesters in Europe and America, who show up at his concerts to demonstrate against the conductor’s cozy relationship with Putin and his tacit support of Putin’s anti-gay law. And yet, he continues to try to walk a PR tightrope, to maintain his public persona in the West while supporting Putin at home. When Gergiev performed at the Met with soprano Anna Netrebko, protests targeted both of them. And these international musical stars are not alone in refusing to bite the hand of the bear that feeds them. Most of Russia’s performing arts theaters rely on the government for funding, which they stand to lose if they don’t toe the party line. Those who support Putin are allowed to continue and often receive substantial backing. Oppose the party and these theaters cease to exist, their leaders punished. Some Russian artists under Putin may believe they do not have the luxury of speaking their mind, but clearly not all of them feel this way. Ask Pussy Riot. Or the Stanislavski Drama Theater’s Boris Yukhananov, who reportedly turned down government money to overhaul his theater. Or the many artists and writers who have found themselves on lists of traitors or enemies of the state, simply because they have spoken out against Putin’s war in Ukraine. A key portent of things to come in Nazi Germany was the 1933 enactment of the Law for the Protection of a Professional Civil Service, which was used to fire Jews and others. Putin’s anti-gay law has been similarly utilized, and sounds a note of warning that there is more and worse to follow. Perhaps the Russian artists who don’t see the problem with sidling up to a dictator should read Petropoulos’s book, for the cautionary tale it presents of artists who went along with an ugly government in the interest of short-term gains or careerism. Such fated alliances may work for a time, but they prove to be untenable Faustian bargains in the long run. Jan Breslauer is an arts and entertainment attorney in Southern California. _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ South Asia Citizens Wire Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on matters of peace and democratisation in South Asia. 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