[GreenYouth] Fwd: Venkatesh speech
A worth listening speech by economist Venkatesh.. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4343898391323537541hl=en --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[GreenYouth] (fwded message) CONVENTION AGAINST COMMUNALISM AND ASSAUL ON DEMOCRACY- at 3-30 pm Oct18, Mavlankar Auditoium,Rafi Marg, New Delhi- 110001
CONVENTION AGAINST COMMUNALISM AND ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY OCTOBER 18, 2008 3.30 PM TO 7PM MAVLANKAR AUDITORIUM RAFI MARG, NEW DELHI-110001 It is clear today that our secular and democratic republic faces a challenge regarding its very character. The Bajrang Dal and the VHP, with the open support of the BJP -- and in the states it is ruling with the help of the state machinery -- have mounted a savage attack on the Christians and Muslims. Tens of thousands are in refugee camps in Orissa and Assam. Churches are being attacked in Karnataka. Communal violence, clashes and hatred between communities are now a preparation for the elections. The secular forces and the civil society need to intervene if we are to resist these attacks. Towards building a broad initiative on this issue, we are calling for a convention. Convention against Communalism and Assault On Democracy on Date and Time: October 18, 2008, 3.30 PM To 7PM, Venue: Mavlankar Auditorium, Rafi Marg, Delhi Speakers Shri Prakash Karat, General Secretary, CPI(M) Shri A.B. Bardhan, General Secretary, CPI Shri Tahir Mehmood, Former Chairman, Minority Commission Archbishop Vincent Concecao Shri Mushirul Hasan, Vice Chancellor Jamia Millia Islamia University Shri H.D. Deve Gowda, President Janata Dal(S) Shri Yerran Naidu, Telegu Desam Shri Kuldip Nayyar, Eminent Journalist Shri S.P. Shukla, Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance And others. Shrimati Mayavati, Leader of the BSP and Chief Minister of UP is also being requested to speak and we are awaiting her confirmation. Organisers Seema Mustafa, Anu Chenoy, Kamal Chenoy, SP Shukla, Zafrul Islam Khan, Shahid Siddiqui, John Dayal, Zafar Agha, P.M.S. Grewal, Amarjit Kaur, Valson Thampu, Zakia Jowher, Kamala Bhasin, Asghar Wajahat, Vivan Sundaram, Danish Ali ,Vijender Sharma, Bijulal MV, Benny K, Vimalbhai, Dinesh Varsheny, Sagari Chabra, Vincent Manoharan, Sudhir Kumar, SQ Ilyas, MJ Vijayan Sehba Farooqui, Albeena Shakil, Sidheshwar Shukla, Ravindranathan, Rohit, Ginu Zacharia, Shaswati Mazumdar, Kewal Goswami, Rachpal Kaur, Dheerendra Sharma, Arjumand Ara, Ramanand, S.S. Sisodia, Mahesh Rathi, Jaishree, Prabir Purkayastha and others. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[GreenYouth] Fwd: Asia Journalism Fellowship
Asia Journalism Fellowship The Fellowship brings up to 15 journalists from Asia to Singapore's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University for three months. As a Fellow, you will have the opportunity to pursue your intellectual interests together with other accomplished journalists from the region, away from the deadline pressures of your job. The semi-structured programme is designed to sharpen your professional skills and deepen your understanding of trends in media and communication at a time of rapid and sweeping change. It will also provide access to key newsmakers in Singapore's public sector, business community and civil society, giving you insights into the challenges faced by one of Asia's most cosmopolitan hub cities. Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, NTU The Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information is one of the leading schools of its kind in Asia. It has an enrollment of around 1,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in fields such as journalism, public relations and knowledge management. Its more than 40 full-time faculty are engaged in diverse research, ranging from media law and censorship, public opinion and health communication, to video game culture and Asian film. The Wee Kim Wee School is also the home of the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), an NGO that spearheads the development of media and communication expertise in Asia within the broad framework of economic, social and cultural development. For more than 30 years, its programmes and publications have crossed the boundaries between academia, media professions and policy makers, allowing those with an interest in communication in Asia to share perspectives, challenges, and best practices. Temasek Foundation The Fellowship is made possible by Temasek Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organisation anchored in Singapore that seeks to contribute to sustainable growth and a bright future of hope and opportunities for people in Asia. The foundation works with partners to support programmes that develop people through health care, education and research, programmes that build bridges between peoples, programmes that build institutions of excellence through good governance and ethics, and programmes that rebuild lives and livelihoods affected by natural disasters. For more details see: http://www.ajf.sg/index.php --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[GreenYouth] Re: SHIVER… DOWN THE SPINE.
i have been following this RAW paid journalist for sometime, it is interesting to see that he was a senior fellow at United States Institute of Peace, US congress funded institute for conducting studies on jihad in one of his article appeared in hindu (2or 3 months back), he was describing how the SIMI activist are inspired by the book Tuhfatul Mujahideen written by Zainudeen Makdoom. it is the only available material on the struggle against Portugeese in Malabar written in Arabic; unfortunately carried the most hated word Mujahideen in its tittle Shinaj 2008/10/10 Bobby Kunhu [EMAIL PROTECTED] Praveen Swami shoots off his mouth again. The latest opinion piece by this self-styled expert on terrorism is available on today's Hindu. The way he goes on about the Jamia encounter is as if its an eye-witness encounter. He sounds more like a spokesperson for the Police than a journalist. While talking about terrorists, he drops the usual and basic journalistic courtesies like alleged, accused etc and has already passed judgement. Its interesting how he has turned the tables on criticisms against the media for their coverage of the episode, in one stroke negating and rubbishing a range of acftors from the Delhi Union of Journalists to the Jamia Teachers Union to the three senior congress leaders who met the PM alarmed at the way the encounter was staged and have been urging for an inquiry. He starts with a Lewis Caroll quote that best fits his own article. I am sufferring from a bad flu and cold or I would have attempted a more systematic rebuttal of his piece for a wider audience (which is not difficul givent the shoddiness that has gone into this piece). I hope someone does it soon I hope friends from the Hindu in this forum need to tell this bloke to go do a refresher course in Journalism or on the other hand join the VHP as their spokesperson 2008/10/9 Bobby Kunhu [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear Gouri Thats precisely why Praveen Swami is dangerous, because he comes across polished and rounded. The fellow needs to be exposed. Dear Venu He is one of my personal blacklists as well. I usually ignore the kinds of him wherever they may appear, but this was in a context that one was forced to read this miscreant!!! Warmly 2008/10/9 venukm [EMAIL PROTECTED] Parveen Swamy has been around for quite some time with such theories on the intellectual communities' irresponsible sympathy with terror suspects and too much of demands for legal methods of combating terrorism on the part of State. I have learned to save time by not reading such stuff, whether it appears in the Hindu , EPW or wherever. Hope the same will be good for others too,if you please. On 9 Oct, 14:02, damodar prasad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Reading praveen swamy, I think he is/has been specially corresponding for IB. A classic case of embeddedness!! How and why should a journalist treat IB as a definite source without any cross-checking or double checking!! On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 2:05 PM, ranju radha [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: praveen swamy has been constantly engaged in demonising muslims via his propaganda stories. he seems to be the man in The Hindu to plant stories against muslim Other. so pathetic !! On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 1:43 PM, Gouri Patwardhan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: what do you say about the article Bobby? Its such a smooth story.perfectly detailed,rounded. Only in the end it makes a plea that the Indian state does something to change minds of these mis guided youth and bring them on the path of democracy :) On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Bobby Kunhu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: thehoot.org carried a piece today on Praveen Swami's article, I thought it might be useful to post it in this thread http://thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=3364pg=1mod=1section... Was he there? Posted Wednesday, Oct 08 23:52:28, 2008 The Hindu (Oct 4) carries an edit page article by Praveen Swami, titled 'Mapping the Indian Mujahideen'. It presents every minute detail on Indian Mujahideen, its 'top operative' Atif Amin and how the whole thing works. (The first sentence reads, Eight days before he was shot dead, top Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Atif Amin helped to draft the manifesto that the terror group was to issue…) According to whom? There is no attribution of any kind. 2008/10/8 ranju radha [EMAIL PROTECTED] dear all, i think there is a need to go beyond this. this may not be the first and last case. there s a need to form a group or cell to assist, guide and provide professional legal aid to all such people who are being harassed in the name of caste, gender or religion. and what not. professional legal help seems to be the need of the hour. As we dont know how to deal with such a situation legally. A Citizen Legal
[GreenYouth] CHENGARA LAND STRUGGLE
*are these points described in this article valid? esp about the leaders involved in the struggle? * * * * * * * *CHENGARA LAND STRUGGLE* *A Conspiracy That Apparently Precedes Another Nandigram* *Jiju Alex* A GRAND conspiracy is being contemplated by certain elements owing allegiance to religious forces along with Naxal-Maoist groups in Kerala to thwart the historic efforts of the ruling LDF government to provide the downtrodden sections with land and houses, on a massive scale. That it is a conspiracy has become clearer of late with several reports on the real endowments of the so-called *landless* activists of the *Chengara* strike coming out. There are telling evidences to substantiate that these unlawful act of encroachment is aided and abetted by imperialist forces in collusion with the anti left forces mentioned above. However, in elite media and among the liberal intellectual circles, it is being deliberately portrayed as a landmark struggle for land reforms, redistribution of excess land and ever so many other radical transformations in Kerala. This section of the media leaves no opportunity to celebrate this incident as an indication of some grave crises in the agrarian sector in Kerala and that it is going to be a harbinger of greater changes in agrarian relations, something that a CPI (M) refuses to implement. They try to accuse the CPI (M) of anti peasant and anti working class attitudes by citing *Chengara* strike as a symbol of its subjugation to the rich and influential sections of the society. This is evidently a distorted version of the affair that deserves to be refuted. It is nothing but a premeditated attempt to tarnish the face of the LDF government and the CPI(M). The *Chengara* agitation was started on August 3, 2007, by two organisations that claim to be of dalits and adivasis under the common banner of *Chengara bhoosamara aikyavedi samathi*, for grabbing and distributing the land of Harrison plantation, Chengara, Pathanamthitta district. Now, almost about a year since then, the agitators have literally seized the area rendering hundreds of plantation workers jobless. The agitation was initiated under the guise of an innocent demand for land for the landless dalits. The occasion of launching the struggle is particularly significant since it was the time when the LDF government had emphasised its resolve to grab all the unlawful possessions of the land mafia across the state. It is widely known that the LDF government is seriously pursuing this with a view to create a land bank, which could be duly distributed to dalits, adivasis and other landless people. As we understand it clearly now, the agitation has other intentions, much greater and far-reaching than what they say. They intend to divert the attention of the public from the visionary steps taken by the government and attract a section of apolitical intellectuals towards a non-issue to create chaos and unrest in the state. The initial steps of the struggle somehow or the other resemble the covert sprout of a Nandigram model debacle. One of the startling observations regarding this struggle is that these organizations receive substantial monetary assistance from several domestic and foreign agencies such as the Ford foundation, USA. This struggle would have been justifiable if the LDF government had shown an iota of aversion to the cause of landless dalits and adivasis in the state. In fact, the LDF government has already announced its commitment to the concerns of the poor and initiated many a landmark decision to safeguard the interests of the landless. One major step towards this direction has been the unprecedented resolve to find out all illegal possessions of the land mafia as stated earlier. This has been widely acclaimed as the most daring step a government could ever take. No UDF government has attempted it before. The LDF government has been largely successful in cracking down the land mafia and grabbing unlawful possessions, without letting these steps go into irresolvable legal complexities. When a government, which is unambiguously committed to such serious concerns rules the state, why should someone come out with a struggle on such a non-issue? It is in this context, we doubt the intentions of the *Chengara *struggle, which is sponsored by forces of dubious backgrounds with the support of Naxals and Maoists. Though there had been constant attempts to provoke the police and create untoward incidents, which could flare up, the government has maintained exemplary restraint and foiled the efforts of the *samara samithi*. The agitating groups now show signs of disintegration as evinced by the several voices of dissent from within the group. Initially, followers were enticed by assuring that each one would get five acres of land if they contributed Rs 1500-3000 to the organisers of the struggle. Many people, even from neighbouring districts had ventured to participate in the struggle in
[GreenYouth] Re: CHENGARA LAND STRUGGLE
please refer the earlier discussions in this group and then choose what is right and wrong On Oct 10, 1:37 pm, haynes davis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: *are these points described in this article valid? esp about the leaders involved in the struggle? * * * * * * * *CHENGARA LAND STRUGGLE* *A Conspiracy That Apparently Precedes Another Nandigram* *Jiju Alex* A GRAND conspiracy is being contemplated by certain elements owing allegiance to religious forces along with Naxal-Maoist groups in Kerala to thwart the historic efforts of the ruling LDF government to provide the downtrodden sections with land and houses, on a massive scale. That it is a conspiracy has become clearer of late with several reports on the real endowments of the so-called *landless* activists of the *Chengara* strike coming out. There are telling evidences to substantiate that these unlawful act of encroachment is aided and abetted by imperialist forces in collusion with the anti left forces mentioned above. However, in elite media and among the liberal intellectual circles, it is being deliberately portrayed as a landmark struggle for land reforms, redistribution of excess land and ever so many other radical transformations in Kerala. This section of the media leaves no opportunity to celebrate this incident as an indication of some grave crises in the agrarian sector in Kerala and that it is going to be a harbinger of greater changes in agrarian relations, something that a CPI (M) refuses to implement. They try to accuse the CPI (M) of anti peasant and anti working class attitudes by citing *Chengara* strike as a symbol of its subjugation to the rich and influential sections of the society. This is evidently a distorted version of the affair that deserves to be refuted. It is nothing but a premeditated attempt to tarnish the face of the LDF government and the CPI(M). The *Chengara* agitation was started on August 3, 2007, by two organisations that claim to be of dalits and adivasis under the common banner of *Chengara bhoosamara aikyavedi samathi*, for grabbing and distributing the land of Harrison plantation, Chengara, Pathanamthitta district. Now, almost about a year since then, the agitators have literally seized the area rendering hundreds of plantation workers jobless. The agitation was initiated under the guise of an innocent demand for land for the landless dalits. The occasion of launching the struggle is particularly significant since it was the time when the LDF government had emphasised its resolve to grab all the unlawful possessions of the land mafia across the state. It is widely known that the LDF government is seriously pursuing this with a view to create a land bank, which could be duly distributed to dalits, adivasis and other landless people. As we understand it clearly now, the agitation has other intentions, much greater and far-reaching than what they say. They intend to divert the attention of the public from the visionary steps taken by the government and attract a section of apolitical intellectuals towards a non-issue to create chaos and unrest in the state. The initial steps of the struggle somehow or the other resemble the covert sprout of a Nandigram model debacle. One of the startling observations regarding this struggle is that these organizations receive substantial monetary assistance from several domestic and foreign agencies such as the Ford foundation, USA. This struggle would have been justifiable if the LDF government had shown an iota of aversion to the cause of landless dalits and adivasis in the state. In fact, the LDF government has already announced its commitment to the concerns of the poor and initiated many a landmark decision to safeguard the interests of the landless. One major step towards this direction has been the unprecedented resolve to find out all illegal possessions of the land mafia as stated earlier. This has been widely acclaimed as the most daring step a government could ever take. No UDF government has attempted it before. The LDF government has been largely successful in cracking down the land mafia and grabbing unlawful possessions, without letting these steps go into irresolvable legal complexities. When a government, which is unambiguously committed to such serious concerns rules the state, why should someone come out with a struggle on such a non-issue? It is in this context, we doubt the intentions of the *Chengara *struggle, which is sponsored by forces of dubious backgrounds with the support of Naxals and Maoists. Though there had been constant attempts to provoke the police and create untoward incidents, which could flare up, the government has maintained exemplary restraint and foiled the efforts of the *samara samithi*. The agitating groups now show signs of disintegration as evinced by the several voices of dissent from within the group. Initially, followers were
[GreenYouth] FWDED:What kind of mother is Bharat Mata?
( Excerpts from a post in IHRO) What kind of mother is Bharat Mata? . When a young Catholic nun was being raped in Orissa's Kandhmal district and paraded naked by men shouting Bharat Mata ki jai, one only wondered what kind of a mother can allow this to happen to her children? The violence led by Hindutva agents in Jammu for the shrine board land also featured Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogans while setting fire to Muslims' homes. The great Bharat Mata army — going by the name of Bajrang Dal and similar fundamentalist groups — is bragging before cameras about the fear it has unleashed. At times like these, a Zen master asks the Indian state to try listening to its children. The ones who are being killed, made to disappear, raped or being forced to retreat into jungles, not the ones demanding that laws be made more draconian, someone be hanged rather quickly and rights activists be jailed. This edition is dedicated to the cause of human rights, one of the biggest lessons from our guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, a lesson that all Sikhs must live and die for. Rest may chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai. It now denotes something different than motherhood. Monsters can't have motherly instincts. Human Rights activists tear apart India's shameful record WSN Bureau CHANDIGARH: One of the oft-repeated grouses of historians is that Sikhs have made far more history than they have written, and that was because of the peculiar circumstances through which the community passed. But in twentieth century and in the 21st, the luxury of weak documentation does not exist. Human Rights activists from across the globe who gathered in Chandigarh this month stress this aspect and the significance of scientific documentation of victims of state repression. The two-day symposium organized by the Hong Kong-based South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) in collaboration with the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) titled 'Understanding Impunity: Failures Possibilities of Rights to Truth, Justice and Reparation' said if such documentation had been better, many top Punjab Police officials today would have been in jail. Recalling the dark days of militancy in the state, Jasmine Marwaha, a Law Graduate from Harvard Law School and a researcher, said in incidents like enforced disappearances and mass cremations in Punjab, scientific and methodical documentation was extremely necessary to nail the state actors responsible for repression and rights violations. Though the deceased human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra had put in a lot of hard work to assess that there were nearly 6,000 people in Punjab who went missing and were later cremated illegally by the Punjab Police during the days of terrorism, the Committee for Information and Initiative on Punjab (CIIP) could trace only 2,059 such cases. Of which, with the help of proper documentation, we have been able to identify only 1,402 victims, said Marwaha. Many rued the fact that the entire nation knows fully the guilt of KPS Gill but he is free because of the activists' inability to nail him. Sukhman Singh Dhami, Post-graduate in International Human Rights Law from Washington, said the state was always ready to deny the human rights violations and would not accept so unless the cases were supported by authenticated documentation. Shafat N. Ahmed, Centre for Law and Development and Regional Research Associate, SAHFR, spoke about how the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) had failed to take note of rights violations due to inadequate staff, infrastructure and finances. Johanna Lokhande evaluated the criminal justice system and counter terrorism measures and the issues of sexual violence in post–2002 Gujarat. She said that minority communities were still being targeted systematically. Babloo Loingtongbam, Executive Director, Human Rights Alert, Imphal, and Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, Associate Fellow from Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi spoke on the non-state actors and the issue of accountability and how the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was draconian in nature and despite many agitations and report submitted by the Reddy Commission, it has still not been repealed. What kind of mother is Bharat Mata? When a young Catholic nun was being raped in Orissa's Kandhmal district and paraded naked by men shouting Bharat Mata ki jai, one only wondered what kind of a mother can allow this to happen to her children? The violence led by Hindutva agents in Jammu for the shrine board land also featured Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogans while setting fire to Muslims' homes. The great Bharat Mata army — going by the name of Bajrang Dal and similar fundamentalist groups — is bragging before cameras about the fear it has unleashed. At times like these, a Zen master asks the Indian state to try listening to its children. The ones who are being killed, made to disappear, raped or being forced to retreat into jungles, not the ones demanding that laws be
[GreenYouth] Re: SHIVER… DOWN THE SPINE.
Thats a good one that the *Tuhfatul Mujahideen *is the bible for SIMI Well, so much for expertise 2008/10/10 shinaj ps [EMAIL PROTECTED] i have been following this RAW paid journalist for sometime, it is interesting to see that he was a senior fellow at United States Institute of Peace, US congress funded institute for conducting studies on jihad in one of his article appeared in hindu (2or 3 months back), he was describing how the SIMI activist are inspired by the book Tuhfatul Mujahideen written by Zainudeen Makdoom. it is the only available material on the struggle against Portugeese in Malabar written in Arabic; unfortunately carried the most hated word Mujahideen in its tittle Shinaj 2008/10/10 Bobby Kunhu [EMAIL PROTECTED] Praveen Swami shoots off his mouth again. The latest opinion piece by this self-styled expert on terrorism is available on today's Hindu. The way he goes on about the Jamia encounter is as if its an eye-witness encounter. He sounds more like a spokesperson for the Police than a journalist. While talking about terrorists, he drops the usual and basic journalistic courtesies like alleged, accused etc and has already passed judgement. Its interesting how he has turned the tables on criticisms against the media for their coverage of the episode, in one stroke negating and rubbishing a range of acftors from the Delhi Union of Journalists to the Jamia Teachers Union to the three senior congress leaders who met the PM alarmed at the way the encounter was staged and have been urging for an inquiry. He starts with a Lewis Caroll quote that best fits his own article. I am sufferring from a bad flu and cold or I would have attempted a more systematic rebuttal of his piece for a wider audience (which is not difficul givent the shoddiness that has gone into this piece). I hope someone does it soon I hope friends from the Hindu in this forum need to tell this bloke to go do a refresher course in Journalism or on the other hand join the VHP as their spokesperson 2008/10/9 Bobby Kunhu [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear Gouri Thats precisely why Praveen Swami is dangerous, because he comes across polished and rounded. The fellow needs to be exposed. Dear Venu He is one of my personal blacklists as well. I usually ignore the kinds of him wherever they may appear, but this was in a context that one was forced to read this miscreant!!! Warmly 2008/10/9 venukm [EMAIL PROTECTED] Parveen Swamy has been around for quite some time with such theories on the intellectual communities' irresponsible sympathy with terror suspects and too much of demands for legal methods of combating terrorism on the part of State. I have learned to save time by not reading such stuff, whether it appears in the Hindu , EPW or wherever. Hope the same will be good for others too,if you please. On 9 Oct, 14:02, damodar prasad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Reading praveen swamy, I think he is/has been specially corresponding for IB. A classic case of embeddedness!! How and why should a journalist treat IB as a definite source without any cross-checking or double checking!! On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 2:05 PM, ranju radha [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: praveen swamy has been constantly engaged in demonising muslims via his propaganda stories. he seems to be the man in The Hindu to plant stories against muslim Other. so pathetic !! On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 1:43 PM, Gouri Patwardhan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: what do you say about the article Bobby? Its such a smooth story.perfectly detailed,rounded. Only in the end it makes a plea that the Indian state does something to change minds of these mis guided youth and bring them on the path of democracy :) On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Bobby Kunhu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: thehoot.org carried a piece today on Praveen Swami's article, I thought it might be useful to post it in this thread http://thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=3364pg=1mod=1section. .. Was he there? Posted Wednesday, Oct 08 23:52:28, 2008 The Hindu (Oct 4) carries an edit page article by Praveen Swami, titled 'Mapping the Indian Mujahideen'. It presents every minute detail on Indian Mujahideen, its 'top operative' Atif Amin and how the whole thing works. (The first sentence reads, Eight days before he was shot dead, top Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Atif Amin helped to draft the manifesto that the terror group was to issue…) According to whom? There is no attribution of any kind. 2008/10/8 ranju radha [EMAIL PROTECTED] dear all, i think there is a need to go beyond this. this may not be the first and last case. there s a need to form a group or cell to assist, guide and provide professional legal aid to all such people who are being harassed in the name of caste, gender or religion. and
[GreenYouth] Christians as the New Muslims..
Christians as the New Muslims by Dipankar Gupta Why the Christians? Have we run out of Muslims and Sikhs that a small and insignificant minority should be slaughtered, pillaged and raped at will by right wing Hindu forces? This may sound strange, but in a real sense the saffron mob has indeed –if not in words-run out of options. This is why they have now turned against Christians. They are the last soft target! The Sikhs set the retaliation game in motion. They hit out, often randomly, making it known to Hindu sectarians that taking on a Sikh will not be a picnic any longer. This stopped further attacks against them. The Muslims picked up this lead and set their own pace by orchestrating the Mumbai blasts of 1993, and several after that in quick succession. So the Muslims can no longer be hunted down either for casual Hindu amusement. This only leaves the Christians. It must be borne in mind that Hindu activists are at their predacious best when the kill is easy and their own safety assured in advance. This is why where Christians are in sizable numbers, such as in Nagaland, Kerala or even Goa, Hindu sectarians dare not touch them. Instead they turn to areas like the Dangs in Gujarat or Kandmahal in Orissa where Christians are scattered and isolated. In these places it is easy to kill without the fear of being killed. Ever since the Mumbai blasts the Muslims in that metropolis feel much safer. In many sensitive areas they have had no difficult in increasing the plinth area of their mosques or the height of these structures. In fact, word has gone around among Muslims in the city that they can count on Shiv Sena support for these activities. If truth be told, the day after the Mumbai blast in 1993, the Shiv Sena newspaper Samna editorialized in a most conciliatory fashion asking for greater understanding between communities. Till then Bal Thackery, through this daily, was spewing hell fire and brimstone. What led him to alter his tone? What had changed? The answer is ridiculously simple. One of the bombs in the Mumbai blasts went off outside the Shiv Sena office. This scared the Shiv Sena heroes into changing their tone and going immediately on the defensive. Something quite similar happened in Gujarat. After Godhra, bombs went off in different parts of India, including Ahmedabad, but this time there was no Hindu retaliation. If Modi could not control the Hindus after Godhra, how did he manage it in the face of a clear and direct challenge from Muslims in his own state? Clearly, fear of Muslim retaliation filled the bullying hearts of Hindu partisans. They now realized that hate shrapnels could also be directed towards them. This took the shine off from anti-Muslim carnages. This gave them more than enough reason to pause. And while they paused they pondered. If not the Sikhs and the Muslims, who then? Then the paisa dropped- of course the Christians! This is why it is important to distinguish between those who are willing to die for a cause from those who are only willing to kill for one. Hindu parties and organizations, all the way to the BJP, can encourage, condone and organize mobs to kill for Hindutva, but none of them is willing to die for it. This trait also separates fundamentalist from pure ethnic baiters. A fundamentalist like Khomeini, and even Bhindanwala, would encourage the faithful to go back to the foundational principles of their religion and draw strength from there. Khomeini said that America may be the house of the Shaitan, but Muslims must pay attention first and foremost to the five pillars of Islam. No such catechism for the Hindu mobs. Bal Thackeray said that to be a good Hindu one must be ready, willing and able to attack Muslims. He believed that this was the surest way of avenging centuries of hurt. It is, therefore, not necessary for Shiv Sainiks, or for most Hindu sectarians, to be well versed in Hinduism. This is why Shiv Sainiks believe that good Hindus can be in blue jeans, as long as there is hate in their hearts and saffron in their flags. It should be clear by now that there is no social science behind the killings of Muslims, Sikhs, or Christians. Even so, academics, intellectuals, commentators and secular do-gooders are always searching for social and economic reasons behind these ethnic slaughters. What they do not realize is that the moment one gives into this kind of weak secular urges, Hindu mobs find easy justification. Muslim terrorism today has nothing to do with Al Qaeeda, Taliban, Palestine, or even Iraq. These terrorists are home bred and are direct outcomes of Babri Masjid and Godhra. So when Christians are being killed let us not search for its causes in the rising graph of conversions. Such an exercise is not only fraught with difficulties, but it may also direct our attention to poverty based explanations. Which in turn would be the
[GreenYouth] Re: A new work on Gandhi in the current issue of EPW
this is a more or less the same position of vinay lal.I don't like to subscribe the gandhian criticism of prof.Randhir singh (such kind of simple criticism).that is gandhism is a pettibourgeoise idealogy for the service of a big bourgeoise. --- On Wed, 8/10/08, James Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: James Michael [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [GreenYouth] A new work on Gandhi in the current issue of EPW To: greenyouth@googlegroups.com Date: Wednesday, 8 October, 2008, 3:35 PM Hello All, A new work on Gandhi by Vinay Lal. Attached. James. 2008/10/8 C.K. Vishwanath [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- On Tue, 7/10/08, Shiva Shankar [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Shiva Shankar [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear CKV, I am writing to you again on behalf of my good friend Benjamin Kaila and the Ambedkar Scholarships programme that he runs. I have had the good fortune to be associated with Benjamin since the beginning. Since the last two years the scholarship programme has been enlarged to include a special category to help children whose parents have to scavenge for a living. I would be grateful if you can consider supporting this programme, and also if you will forward this appeal to others who are concerned. Many thanks. Yours sincerely, Shiva Shankar. --- A special category in Ambedkar Scholarships Encouraged by the response to the Ambedkar Scholarships Programme that we launched just 5 years ago, we have initiated a special category to help our most deprived and discriminated children - those whose parents have to scavenge for a living. There are over 14 lakh Dalit people who are forced to earn a pitiful living by cleaning dry latrines. Though outlawed in 1993, this hateful practice still continues. Andhra Pradesh is one of the states which has a very large number of people working at this. Andhra Pradesh is also one of the states that is at the forefront of the war to end this shameful blot on humanity. Under the leadership of the legendary Bezwada Wilson, the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA) is making great progress in this war - please read Gita Ramaswamy's India Stinking (published by Navayana) for details. Ambedkar Scholarship is proud to associate itself with SKA in starting a special category to help children of people who have to scavenge go to school and college. SKA will select the recipients of these scholarships. The other conditions for these scholarships will remain as before. To support a child please contribute Rs.5,500/ or US$150/. This scholarship will support the recipient for one year. Please send your cheque to Mr.Devdas Adidela, #302,Chandra Ganga Enclave, Brindavan Colony, Dr. A.S.Rao Nagar, E.C.I.L. Post, Hyderabad - 500062, India. or Mr.Benjamin Kaila, 4133 La Crescenta Ave., Apartment 9, La Crescenta, CA - 91214, USA. IMPORTANT - Please mention whether your contribution is to be included in the open category (meant for any Dalit child) or the special category (meant for children whose parents have to scavenge). Please visit www.ambedkarscholarship.org for more information about these programmes. Educate, Agitate, Organise Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/ --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[GreenYouth] Fwd: NATIONAL CONVENTION AGAINST FASCISM-DELHI-OCTOBER 25,26,2008
Please excuse cross-posting, but this is important. Begin forwarded message: *From: *anhad bihar [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Date: * October 9 2008 12:25:50 PM GMT+05:30 *To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Subject: **NATIONAL CONVENTION AGAINST FASCISM-DELHI-OCTOBER 25,26,2008* *NATIONAL CONVENTION AGAINST FASCISM* *OCTOBER 25-26, 2008* *NEW DELHI * Dear Friends, The urgency to intervene in defense of democracy, secularism and justice has never been more pressing than in the conditions prevailing in the country today. There is a recognizable change in the general tenor of public discourse; unlike in the past, it is informed more by the communal than by secular ethos. Concerted attacks have been mounted across India by communal fascist organizations by invoking religious symbols and sentiments. There is total apathy and indecisiveness towards confronting this challenge by those in power. RSS and organizations under its umbrella have mounted a vicious campaign against the Christian community across India. Over 10 states have seen violent attacks on the Christian community , their institutions, religious places, property and businesses during the past one month. The culprits behind the communal violence against Christians in Orissa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and other states are being allowed to go scot-free. The recent attacks on Christian religious institutions are in fact openly claimed by Hindutva terrorist groups, like the Bajrang Dal, in front of television news cameras and yet no action is taken against them. Throughout the country Muslim youth are being targeted, without any or little evidence, as responsible for terrorist attacks. There is a concerted attempt by the Indian police, sections of the media and certain political parties to portray all members of the Muslim community as 'terrorists and extremists' - to be arbitrarily arrested, tortured and killed in fake encounters. On the other hand hard evidence available against Bajrang Dal and other Sangh outfits about their direct involvement in terror attacks is not only being ignored but actively being pushed under the carpet by the state. The spaces uncolonized by the RSS network are decreasing by the day. The threat from the fascist forces is not only to the survival and dignity of India but to the very idea of India. We feel that there is urgent need to call for a national convention to challenge the forces of fascism. We had sent out sms messages to about 40 organisations to get a response from them about the possibility of organizing a national convention on 25 and 26 October, 2008 in New Delhi. All those who responded felt the need for this convention. *Please respond urgently to this mail:* 1. By endorsing the convention- send the name of your organization/ individual 2. By supporting your own travel and if your organization can support the travel of 5-10 people from your state who are working on these issues. 3. Wherever possible arrange for your own stay in Delhi. Those who can't inform us in advance. 4. Groups in Delhi- Help in sponsoring the breakfast/ lunch and dinner for the convention and stay for the outstation participants. 5. Please inform us how many people from your group will participate and whether any/ all of them will require stay arrangements in Delhi. The program for the two days is being finalized . Please send suggestions . We will also inform the venue and the final schedule for the convention as soon as it is finalised after hearing from more groups/ individuals. Shabnam Hashmi ANHAD Tel- 23070740/ 23070722 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Those groups who responded the sms message and have already endorsed Anhad's call for the convention are: All India Christian Council All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch All India Quami Mahaz Aman Biradari Aman Samudaya ANHAD Antarik Visthapit Hak Rakshak Samiti ASHA Pariwar Awaz e- Niswana Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan Campaign for Judicial Accountability and reforms CSSS Darpana Academy EKTA NCHRO Insaf ISD Janvikas Mahatma Gandhi Foundation National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights Peace People's Research Society PRASHANT Roshan Vikas Sahrwaru Sajhi Duniya Samarpan Sanchetana Sandarbh Urja Ghar Yuv Shakti -- Bobby Kunhu http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/ --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Green Youth Movement group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
