Thank you for the report below on the media . The same planted news were used
to demonize the minorities who were referred to deliberately as " Jehadis" and
agent provocateur acts of the financial and political underworld attributed
exclusively to this section as a diversion from policy ; now it is the turn of
the Indigenous people whose lands and forest resources are being seized ,
earlier in Orissa the Christian communities were attacked and the Christian
missions blamed for the violence another case of a desire to seize local
forestry resources . Who is next ??? This is all camouflaged under some
religious garb or the other .
Assets of Intelligence Agencies are frequently found participating even in
debates on TV apart from the media and newspapers planting stories which are
not true and I can spot them having been shadowed by people who were wasting
their time observing me or receiving fake reports on me . We must never forget
this aspect of the rise of fascism recorded and left for us to learn from if we
are to renew our democratic traditions .
"When they came for the Jews I said I was not a Jew ,
When they came for the Communists I said that I was not a Communist
..................................................................
When they came for me no one as left to protest ...."
Time to reassert India's democratic traditions and call upon honest people
everywhere in every Institution of the State to stand up which they have been
doing as witnessed from several reports on the economic and social condition of
people , however their voices need to be heard more clearly AND IF SINNERS
SINCERELY REPENT AND SEEK THE FORGIVENESS OF PEOPLE AND CHANGE THEIR WAYS THEY
ARE WELCOME AFTER VISIBLE PENANCE , THE ONLY PENALTY WE WILL IMPOSE IS
SERVICE TO HUMANITY AND ABDICATION OF SPECIAL PRIVILEGES .
It is time to dedicate ourselves to build an outstandingly humane and a truly
great society , India has the potential to do so but we must not be afraid any
more to address the real issues fearlessly even as increasingly more and more
people are being condemned to death from indiscriminate violence being imposed
including the violence of hunger, displacement and unemployment . The priority
issue is to address ourselves to the backlog of development of those below the
poverty line and support all measures for this purpose while encouraging
organizations of those affected to assert their democratic political rights to
demand access to development and a say in policy making in affected regions .
The priority task is to bring all social and economic weaker sections into the
mainstream . All reports presently project that there has been complete neglect
of these sections . Whereas we have to improve the public conscience of all
those above the poverty line and highlight the need for them to participate in
the task of renewal of our society . To those alienated because of their
privileges and wealth , there is a question , would you not rather win the
esteem of people by a sacrifice or deed which will earn the good will and
esteem of your society ?????Or would you rather that disaster overcomes your
future generations who will face certain degeneration of a life without
sacrifice or struggle , without the sensitivity of good deeds , without a moral
or social conscience ??????
We must continue the dialogue on democratization of economic policy making and
of the political space which has been taken over by special financial
interests which the Constitution of India does not permit , in every forum all
over the country . More and more people must be involved in discussing and
dialoguing what kind of a society do we really want .
It would be cheaper for us to maintain special financial interests on some
island permanently supplied with free food and liquor , golf courses , IPL
Cricket matches, their own stock exchange /gambling casino in which they can
gamble , mounds of designer wear and whatever else they need including a Yacht
for cruising from a special fund called the " FUND FOR SOCIAL PARASITES"
rather than permit them to take over all institutions painstakingly built by
our society going to rack and ruin , working citizens of India have to take
back the political space and democratise it step by step , there are no short
cuts to this exercise . The present situation all over the world has
established that the present financial systems in the world's erstwhile
wealthiest countries are crumbling .WHAT IS NOT GOOD FOR THE US AND UK AMONG
OTHER COUNTRIES IS NOT GOOD FOR US .
This system alternatively bankrupts one country after another to put it very
simply and devastates millions in their own turn .We have to seek alternatives .
Apologies for these frequent communications . I promise to be silent for a
long while .
Niloufer Bhagwat
----- Original Message -----
From: Ranjana
To: ranjana
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 9:05 PM
Subject: [humanrights-movement:2508] Govt ad masquerades as truth by Meena
Gopal
http://www.thehoot.org/web/freetracker/story.php?storyid=54§ionId=3
Govt ad masquerades as truth
When a government adopts propaganda as a mechanism to reach out to the
people, it is a tacit admission of a people's divided thinking on the role of
the Maoists. writes MEENA GOPAL
Posted Sunday, Apr 25, 2010
These days, all major new dailies are flooded with news and analyses on
naxal” violence and the police “action” against Maoists for the past several
months in the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh which have suffered the intensity of violent
occurrences the most.
Recently, the union government launched Operation Green Hunt to flush
out and eliminate Maoists in these states on the grounds that they were threats
to internal security. And, one heard and saw Union Home Minister P Chidambaram
and the Chief Ministers of these states constantly airing their views on the
need to wipe out the Maoist menace.
News reports indicated that even as the state paramilitary forces take
strong action against the Maoists, efforts to promote development would
simultaneously be undertaken in these backward districts in these states.
Clearly, the message being conveyed to the public was that the Maoists were
thwarting the state's desperate efforts to take development to the backward
districts of the country and were posing obstructions to this effort.
Of course, there is no mention, let alone a discussion, about why there
was no development in these parts, even after more than 60 years of
Independence. Similarly, there is no mention or understanding of how the state
would identify the Maoists and weed them out from the masses in these states in
order to eliminate them.
Even as these reports continued pouring in, an advertisement issued in
“public interest” by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, in
several national dailies (see The Hindu, March 20, 2010, p.14) for nearly a
week added an element of intrigue to the goings-on.
It showed a frail woman looking down despondently with the following
lines attributed to her: “First, the Maoists came promising prosperity; then,
they took away my husband; then, they blew up the village school; now, they
want to take away my 14-year old daughter. Stop, please stop this mindless
violence; (and then in bold capital letters) I want to live!”
A line pops up alongside: “Abjure violence, support development”. The
background depicts a broken hut with pots, pans and other belongings, lying
scattered, of a family squatting in front of their home, and another image of
couple of school boys standing in front of a demolished building, which is
obviously a school.
This advertisement from the Ministry of Home Affairs appeared on page
14 of the newspaper which curiously had a contradictory story on page 12 of the
same edition. The news item on page 12 read: ‘Witnesses allege biggest
anti-naxal operation of 2009 was fake.'
According to the story, some witnesses from a village in Chhattisgarh's
Dantewada district said that 12 of the 30 people killed by CoBRA (Commando
Battalion for Resolute Action), a special force of Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) raised for Operation Greenhunt, had no links with Maoists and that six
of them who were picked up were killed in cold blood.
The witnesses described in detail the manner in which these men went
about their daily chores such as herding cattle before the forces picked them
up and shot them. They also mentioned the manner in which the forces destroyed
parts of a school which was already demolished.
The publication of the report and the advertisement in the same issue
of the newspaper created a peculiar situation in which an advertisement in one
part of the newspaper emphasized an issue considered untrue by the news report
in another part of the newspaper. The advertisement was issued by the Ministry
of Home Affairs which, incidentally, is also responsible for Operation
Greenhunt.
The advertisement smacks of propaganda. We are used to seeing such
propagandistic advertisements by political parties during their election
campaigns in a bid to influence public opinion, or by corporates slamming one
another's products in brand wars. They project their supposed accomplishments
while deriding those of their opponents.
But, why should the government indulge in propaganda? When a government
adopts propaganda as a mechanism to reach out to the people, it is a tacit
admission of a people's divided thinking on the role of the Maoists.
An uncanny parallel ran through the actions referred to in the ad: took
away my husband, blew up the village school, and the actions attributed to the
paramilitary forces in the news report: picked up, destroyed parts of a school.
It was as though the government was seeking desperately to airbrush its
deeds and project them on those they consider their opponents. And what is the
line about the taking away of the 14 year old daughter insinuating?
Such propaganda reeks of the government's desperation to legitimise
its violent actions against its own citizens by vilifying Maoists who seem to
have gained not just the support of the people in the tribal districts but also
the sympathy of the middle class readers of these national dailies.
The government stands exposed in the claim, 'Issued in public
interest.' How can an authority whose legitimacy is shaken by the inconsistency
portrayed in the advertisement and the news report speak of the interest of the
public? Also, how can it shamelessly utilise tax-payer money/ public funds to
disparage a section of the public while seeking to influence another section?
Anyone with common sense and sensitivity can see through the dubiousness of the
state role.
Finally, a couple of questions on the need for public vigilance on
media ethics: How can newspapers accept advertisements from anybody claiming
public interest when they themselves are the conscience-keepers of the public
domain? Is all advertising and such space offered by the media for revenue
sieved through some policy parameters based on morality and ethics of
journalism?
Even as we contemplate the role of the state, the role of the media,
which brings to us our knowledge of the world, should also be looked at
critically.
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