Dear friends, Sorry if I sound cynical. Through evolution or degradation the so called 'watch dogs' became mere street dogs who are fed by the ruling government(no matter left or right). The questios always came from this quarters "NGO, CIVIL society, democracy whats this? Oh this is Kerala! ) And what is the media image of kerala which is talked about?
To whom is the media accountable? To whom do they report? One can question the accountability of the civil society, if they are part of that. Bu the media game in Kerala has gone far beyond that. For long time, only the official versions are coming out in the media. Munnar has some sensational value, to satisfy the middleclass need. But when it comes to smart city or any other neo liberal projects, the tail is down and there are no barks. It doesnt just appear in the media. It get silenced, and the public, we, the people, who buy news papers, who pay for cable television doesnt get a chance to see what 'people' feel and express. We have seen the politics of CPI(M) in plachimada and Muthanga struggle. We have seen the brutal killings in Nandigram to take away land to sell it for TATAs. We have seen people like Neelakandan nampoothiri, who at one hand write in Madhyamam as 'Neelakandan' and support(or pretends) NBA and anti SEZ campaign out side Kerala and plays a state agent role in Kerala. Are we not ashamed to keep this hidden? Ofcourse civil society needs accountability, but what about the bourgeoise media? Dont they need accountability? What is this game? I heard some comrades saying that this is a crisis of left. Friends, the crisis is not with left, the problem lies in the fact that nothing is 'left' with the left in Kerala. They became spokes persons of capitalists as Neelakandan became, and the media is singing praises to the state and lullabie to us, to make us sleep. I cant see anything radical in Munnar landgrab. As the state is going on with anti people projects like the Athirappilly HEP, smart city and not doing anything on Plachimada(which they capitalised a lot)how can we believe that they are doing good for us. I doubt that this is another deal with some MNCs to sell it to them, and I am waiting for that moment 'when we will bark? Rafeek On 4 Jun, 12:01, "Dileep Raj" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > are these so called civil society movements and 'ngo'isation offering > democracy to our polity? > how democratic and transparent are these organisations and their operations? > > PrasanthKumar identifies movement with organisation and proceeds to complain > about the > lack of democracy. There will be several organisations and individuals > participating in a movement. > More importantly, a movement happens very raely and exists for short > spans.So, > while speaking about movements, one has to be specific . As there will be > several > constituents, the democratic procedures adopted in coalescing different > forces has to be understood/ criticised. NGOisation is another phenomena > which call for discussion.Transparency and democracy of a specific NGO is > yet another issue , but not the same.[ There have been, and still are active > and animated discussions going on these among activists/ theoreticians world > over.] > So, let us not conflate these different issues. > > What my intervention desperately tried to foreground was the fact that there > is no > attempt whatsoever in the mainstrean malayalam media to critically assess > the Left governement or Chief Minister from the point of view of the > struggling sections. I am juxtaposing people's struggles > with the chiefminister, not NGOs with CPI M. > > To make my standpoint on democracy [ both within the movements and outside] > clear, > let me define it. > It is the principle by which we could recognize and negotiate differences. > > Dileep > > On 6/2/07, prasanth kumar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > are these so called civil society movements and 'ngo'isation offering > > democracy to our polity? > > how democratic and transparent are these organisations and their > > operations? > > -- > Dileep Raj > Tel: 09447316701 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
