I cannot say for certain when she came into my life. I cannot even say whether I mean anything to her more than a dear friend. But her presence in my life has enriched me and made me a positive and committed human being. As I look back on the women in my life somehow my entire life seems to arranged such that our meeting was inevitable. The rough patches in my life, and there were several, all seemed stepping stones leading me to her. Like a breath of fresh mountain air, she cleansed my soul of many many horrible thoughts and she taught me the absolute virtue of leaving to God the judgement of our deeds and those who have tresspassed against me. By teaching me the simple but profound lesson of bhakthi she opened my mind to the endless vistas of spiritual awareness and I am richer for it. She taught me to take lefe as it came along and not demand of it what it cannot and will not offer. She taught me to accept the reality of my life with utter equanimity. And, yes, I am a better human being for that.
She taught me the virtue of simplicity. To lead a life without rancour and self hatred. She taught me to forgive and move on because her presence in my life makes this life so beautiful. She brought healing when the wounds were raw and putrid. She taught me to hold on to the values that make life worthliving and she brought God back into my life. For this I remain eternally grateful to her. She keeps me in her life with grace and dignity and this very act make my life secure and keeps me from falling off the deep end. My heart is heavy when I think of her. But life goes on. Memory has built a shrine for her in my heart and there she resides in all her glory. She is mine in memory and will always be. I have not been a light presence in her life and yet not once has shown her impatience to me. She treated me with grace and I worship this goddess of truth, beauty and love. Sometimes I am angry at what has happened. But then I look back and grasp in my minds' eye the enormity of her presence in my life. And I think to myself that it was destiny that brought me to her and her to me and I cannot escape destiny. This is a wonderful world and on Woman's Day I thank the Almight for having made the paths of our life cross.
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
2012 Assembly Elections and their Implications for UPA II
he results of the 2012 Assembly Elections are finally out and just as I predicted the Congress was soundly routed in all states except Manipur. The defeat of the Congress in the politically significant states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh will have a bearing on the survival of the U PA regime in New Delhi. The dual headed hydra--Sonia and ManMohan--never the best of constitutional arrangement has been decisively rejected by the people. Even in Uttarkahnad the difference between the Congress and the BJP is only one seat and so the Congress cannot crow about its victory. Pretty Face, Rahul Gandhi, has been shown to be an electoral non-starter and with an encore performance as in Bihar, the significance of the "dynasty" in the politics of Northern India stands considerably diminished. I cannot say that the electorate has dealt a death blow to dynastic fascim as Akilesh Yadava, the son of Mulayam Singh Yadava has been given a mandate to rule and his only claim to fame is that he is the son of Mulayam Singh Yadava. Until the people of India learn to disregard birth and lineage and start voting on the basis of the merits of the candidates on offer, India cannot be regarded as a mature democracy.
Rahul Gandhi behaved as if he has the right of birth to high office. The result has been a know-out blow to the pretensions of the Congress "yuvaraja". The coutriers that his young yuvaraja had gathered, the likes of Salman Kurshid, Digvijaya Singh, Beni Prasad Verma and others, all stand exposed. The Congress played the worst kind of identityu politics when they raised the bogey of "reservations " for Muslims knowing well that it will polorise the voters. The voters of UP have right;ly rejected identity politics based on religion. The defeat of Mayawati shows that even identiry politics based on caste was rejected by the UP voter. Rahuls behavior on the campaign trail was erratic to say the least. Throwing garlands back to the crowd something his grandmother used to do, did not go down well with the voters. He is just too young for this kind of patronizing conduct. Tearing up paper in public and other such gestures was not liked by the people. Above all his comment that people of UP are beggars who work in Mumbai has cost the Congress dear. I belong to Gorakhpur and do not like my people to be so characterized.
The victory of the Samajwadi Party will unleash the forces of caste goondaism in UP. The 5 years of Dalit rule has made people of UP politically aware and conscious and they will not take kindly to Yadava hegemony. I think there will be an increase in the social temperature in UP because of the victory of the Yadava dominated SP. The Muslims have returned to the SP this time round and so we can expect a great deal of communal violence in UP as a consequence of SP victory. I think the victory of the SP will soon be regretted by the people of UP. And the prospects for the survival of UPA II have sharply decreased as a result. The performance of the Congress is so bad that in the next Lok Sabha elections if we are to extrapolate from these results, Congress will win less than n6 seats.
The BJP fared very poorly though there has been a slight increase in the voting percentage. I think the choice of candidates was faulty because of factionalism Uma Baharathi tried her best and failed. I think the Party must craft a social coalition based on a unity between upper castes, backward Rajputs and dalits. Only such an orientation will help the BJP in the next General Election. In Punjab as I predicted the Akalis and the BJP have won. The Congress stands humiliated. I do not know how the Congress could even hope to get Sikh votes after its criminal massacre of Sikhs in 1984. I hold the Congress Party responsible for this massacre and I think its leaders need to be punished. Anyway Punjab has redeemed itself by rejecting the Congress.
Political instability will now increase and I think India is headed for a poll in 2013.
Rahul Gandhi behaved as if he has the right of birth to high office. The result has been a know-out blow to the pretensions of the Congress "yuvaraja". The coutriers that his young yuvaraja had gathered, the likes of Salman Kurshid, Digvijaya Singh, Beni Prasad Verma and others, all stand exposed. The Congress played the worst kind of identityu politics when they raised the bogey of "reservations " for Muslims knowing well that it will polorise the voters. The voters of UP have right;ly rejected identity politics based on religion. The defeat of Mayawati shows that even identiry politics based on caste was rejected by the UP voter. Rahuls behavior on the campaign trail was erratic to say the least. Throwing garlands back to the crowd something his grandmother used to do, did not go down well with the voters. He is just too young for this kind of patronizing conduct. Tearing up paper in public and other such gestures was not liked by the people. Above all his comment that people of UP are beggars who work in Mumbai has cost the Congress dear. I belong to Gorakhpur and do not like my people to be so characterized.
The victory of the Samajwadi Party will unleash the forces of caste goondaism in UP. The 5 years of Dalit rule has made people of UP politically aware and conscious and they will not take kindly to Yadava hegemony. I think there will be an increase in the social temperature in UP because of the victory of the Yadava dominated SP. The Muslims have returned to the SP this time round and so we can expect a great deal of communal violence in UP as a consequence of SP victory. I think the victory of the SP will soon be regretted by the people of UP. And the prospects for the survival of UPA II have sharply decreased as a result. The performance of the Congress is so bad that in the next Lok Sabha elections if we are to extrapolate from these results, Congress will win less than n6 seats.
The BJP fared very poorly though there has been a slight increase in the voting percentage. I think the choice of candidates was faulty because of factionalism Uma Baharathi tried her best and failed. I think the Party must craft a social coalition based on a unity between upper castes, backward Rajputs and dalits. Only such an orientation will help the BJP in the next General Election. In Punjab as I predicted the Akalis and the BJP have won. The Congress stands humiliated. I do not know how the Congress could even hope to get Sikh votes after its criminal massacre of Sikhs in 1984. I hold the Congress Party responsible for this massacre and I think its leaders need to be punished. Anyway Punjab has redeemed itself by rejecting the Congress.
Political instability will now increase and I think India is headed for a poll in 2013.
Saturday, March 03, 2012
The secrets of the Vatican Archives
The recent decision of the Vatican to reveal the secret documents that that lain hidden in its extensive secret achives is a welcome step. For centuries the Vatican has hoarded its documents and this tendency has of course fueled speculation that often results in conspiracy theories doing the rounds. If the Vatican had embraced the principle of openess and transparency, the sordid sage of the Da Vinci Code could have been avaided. Speculation enters where there is an opaque blanket of fog and the only way to dispel it is by exposure to the searching light of historical scrutiny and thia is exactly what the Pope has done.The Secret Archives of the Vatican extend over 85 miles of shelves and the alcoves are stuffed with records going back to the fall of the Raman Empire. It is sometimes said that the very altar of the cathedral on Capitol Hill is located on the tomb of Saint Peter. The velum documents and richly illustrated Bibles are really a treasure that belongs to the whole world and Vatican is doing us a favor by putting them on public displayThe secret documents contain records of the Trial of the Knights Templars when the entire order was proscribed and the Knights hunted and burnt at the stake. The record of the Inquisition form another interesting category of documents. The excommunication of the great reformer, Martin Luther, which unleashed the Protestant movement or the Lutheran movement is another interesting historical record. The signed retreaction of Galileo who was forced to withdraw his famous book in which he put forth his heliocentric theory of the universe in opposition to the theory favored by the Catholic Church is another interesting document. During the Second World War when the Germans were busy exterminating the Jews,the Holocaust, the Roman Catholic Church remained a silent spectator. There are also historians like David Goldhagen who argue that the Church was an active accomplce in the Holocaust. The secret archives may shed light on this rather sordid chapter in the history of the church.Openess and transparecy have never been the guiding principles of any totalitarian religious movement and the Catholic Church is not an exception. However the decision to display the secret archives and to upload part of the Archives on to the WEb site are certainly welcome.
Among the more tragic documents is the letter written by Jean'darc as she awaited her fate at the hands of the English.
The Murder of Gigapedia: The world stands impoverished
A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books
Elizebeth Eisenstein in her study entitled The Printing Press as an Agent of Change argued that it was the availability of knowledge across class lines that paved the way for the great changes that we now associate with the Industrial Revolution and the Scientific Revolution. The printed book was empowering because it broke the monopoly of the clerical and the warrior groups to literacy and in the eighteenth century we see the sons and grandsons of artisans and peasants emerge as scientists and inventors. Just think of James Watt and George Stephenson. Unfortunately in the poorer parts of the world which became the site aggressive colonisation, the advent of the Internet in the first decade of the 20th century was in many ways the beginning of the print or knowledge revolution which Europe witnessed in the eighteenth century. It is this historic change that is being undermined and subverted by the hopelessly criminal act of the US Congress in forcing knowledge sharing sites like Gigapedia to shut down. Non White researchers and students who do not have access to world class libraries like New York Public Library, Harvard University Library or the Library of Congress were avid and dedicated users of Gigapedia and up to date knowledge was available at the click of a mouse. The forced shut down of sites like Gigapedia is a direct assault on the right of every human being to education and cultural improvement, rights enshrined in the UNESCO charter and several international conventions and treaties.
The Gigapedia was not a piracy site. It was only a file sharing site that was not doing business when it allowed students and teachers from the non white parts of the world to read and store books and journals. It did not make its vast collection of books into a monopoly. On the contrary, it allowed access in a truly democratic manner to all without any restriction. Even Microsoft which funded the Gutenberg Collection is slowly making access more and more difficult and everyday the number of books available for free download is actually decreasing. Gigapedia, like Wikipedia has supporters all over the world and we must educate,organise and agitate over the efforts to curtail our right to knowledge. The corporate interests of USA and Europe are making efforts to curtail our freedoms and the assault on Julian Assange and the Wikileaks is just one of the more egregious of such attempts. Gigapedia was not in the business of exposing corporate secrets or scandals. It only provided a platform for interested scholars and researchers to interact. The Book Reviews on the site were more impressive than those found in NYRB or the Times Literary Supplement. We were getting access to the best minds this globe had to offer and we all stand impoverished as a few smug white men in burlap suits sitting in the US Congress decide that our quest from knowledge can be equated to the corporate greed for profits. Like the battle against Slavery, this battle too has to be won and I know that our side will win. Welcome to the fight as Lazlo says in Casablanca.
I teach in an Indian University and my area of teaching includes Global History and Historiography. Every semester I used to burn CDs with all the important books downloaded in the pdf format and gave the cds to the students. In our University nearly 60% of the stdent population owns a Laptop or desk top computer and there are nearly 800 to 1000n systems on Campus including an all night reading room with Computers which run on the Linux Operating System. Gigapedia was heaven to us as we could now make are students globally competitive. That dream lies cruelly shattered due to the mistaken priorities of the US political class. And both the Democrats and Republicans are united on this one issue.
I appeal to all those engaged in Teaching, Research and connected with the industry of education to take up the cause of saving knowledge sharing sites like Gigapedia or library.nu.
Elizebeth Eisenstein in her study entitled The Printing Press as an Agent of Change argued that it was the availability of knowledge across class lines that paved the way for the great changes that we now associate with the Industrial Revolution and the Scientific Revolution. The printed book was empowering because it broke the monopoly of the clerical and the warrior groups to literacy and in the eighteenth century we see the sons and grandsons of artisans and peasants emerge as scientists and inventors. Just think of James Watt and George Stephenson. Unfortunately in the poorer parts of the world which became the site aggressive colonisation, the advent of the Internet in the first decade of the 20th century was in many ways the beginning of the print or knowledge revolution which Europe witnessed in the eighteenth century. It is this historic change that is being undermined and subverted by the hopelessly criminal act of the US Congress in forcing knowledge sharing sites like Gigapedia to shut down. Non White researchers and students who do not have access to world class libraries like New York Public Library, Harvard University Library or the Library of Congress were avid and dedicated users of Gigapedia and up to date knowledge was available at the click of a mouse. The forced shut down of sites like Gigapedia is a direct assault on the right of every human being to education and cultural improvement, rights enshrined in the UNESCO charter and several international conventions and treaties.
The Gigapedia was not a piracy site. It was only a file sharing site that was not doing business when it allowed students and teachers from the non white parts of the world to read and store books and journals. It did not make its vast collection of books into a monopoly. On the contrary, it allowed access in a truly democratic manner to all without any restriction. Even Microsoft which funded the Gutenberg Collection is slowly making access more and more difficult and everyday the number of books available for free download is actually decreasing. Gigapedia, like Wikipedia has supporters all over the world and we must educate,organise and agitate over the efforts to curtail our right to knowledge. The corporate interests of USA and Europe are making efforts to curtail our freedoms and the assault on Julian Assange and the Wikileaks is just one of the more egregious of such attempts. Gigapedia was not in the business of exposing corporate secrets or scandals. It only provided a platform for interested scholars and researchers to interact. The Book Reviews on the site were more impressive than those found in NYRB or the Times Literary Supplement. We were getting access to the best minds this globe had to offer and we all stand impoverished as a few smug white men in burlap suits sitting in the US Congress decide that our quest from knowledge can be equated to the corporate greed for profits. Like the battle against Slavery, this battle too has to be won and I know that our side will win. Welcome to the fight as Lazlo says in Casablanca.
I teach in an Indian University and my area of teaching includes Global History and Historiography. Every semester I used to burn CDs with all the important books downloaded in the pdf format and gave the cds to the students. In our University nearly 60% of the stdent population owns a Laptop or desk top computer and there are nearly 800 to 1000n systems on Campus including an all night reading room with Computers which run on the Linux Operating System. Gigapedia was heaven to us as we could now make are students globally competitive. That dream lies cruelly shattered due to the mistaken priorities of the US political class. And both the Democrats and Republicans are united on this one issue.
I appeal to all those engaged in Teaching, Research and connected with the industry of education to take up the cause of saving knowledge sharing sites like Gigapedia or library.nu.
Friday, March 02, 2012
WHY ARRANGED MARRIAGES ARE BETTER
After spending a great deal of time pondering over the question of marriage, I have come to the firm conclusion that arranged marriages are far superion than the so called love marriages. First, in an arranges marriage, the families of both the girl and the boy are involved in the decision and since the marriage is based on the social and cutural compatiablity of both the boy and the girl the chances of the marriage working out are much better. In the haze induced by the harmons running wild, the chances of the girl and the boy taking the wromg decision is very high. At first blush all seems well, but gradually reality starts assderting itself. Arranged marriages always have a strong safety net and if there are problems bewtween the wifew and husband, the safety net provides security. In the case of the so-called "love marriges", the only solution seems to be divorce as both are either unable or unwilling to compromise. I have cases where the wife willingly sacrifices her time, her carreer for the sake of her husband. In love marriges the burden of expectation is so high that the relationship collapes under the weight of unfulfilled rxpectations.
The main reason why "love marriages" are considered to be better, is that there is the element of choice for both the boy and the girl. These days when girls too are getting educated and are aware of their rights, it is just impossible to tie them with a man they just do not approve. So even in arranged marriage the girl is consulted. In the love marriage scenario, the economic and social distance between the couples may appear romantic in the beginning, gradually leads to frustration and in no time the happy couple is anything but happy. Worse they have noone to blame but themselves. In the case of the so called "love marriages", even if the parents accept the choice of thir children, there is always an undercurrent of suspicion and mutual distrust. Even after the birth of a child, the hostility persists and the chils grows up feeling weary and lonely within the family.
In the old days when arranged marriges were the norm, ther bread winner was usually the husband. Women accepted the fact that the husband's carreer was of primary concern and imortance. Now with both the wife and the husband working, particularly in the "soft ware sector" women have started asserting the right to their carreer and in many instances the marriage does not withstand the tensions created by the dual pressure of carreer and home. I do not know the solution to this problem, but I have seem far too many cases of double income families collapsing under the strain.
I think it is best to bring up children with the idea that the parents will take the right decision and we must not allow children to fall victim to the illusionary charms of love marriage.
The main reason why "love marriages" are considered to be better, is that there is the element of choice for both the boy and the girl. These days when girls too are getting educated and are aware of their rights, it is just impossible to tie them with a man they just do not approve. So even in arranged marriage the girl is consulted. In the love marriage scenario, the economic and social distance between the couples may appear romantic in the beginning, gradually leads to frustration and in no time the happy couple is anything but happy. Worse they have noone to blame but themselves. In the case of the so called "love marriages", even if the parents accept the choice of thir children, there is always an undercurrent of suspicion and mutual distrust. Even after the birth of a child, the hostility persists and the chils grows up feeling weary and lonely within the family.
In the old days when arranged marriges were the norm, ther bread winner was usually the husband. Women accepted the fact that the husband's carreer was of primary concern and imortance. Now with both the wife and the husband working, particularly in the "soft ware sector" women have started asserting the right to their carreer and in many instances the marriage does not withstand the tensions created by the dual pressure of carreer and home. I do not know the solution to this problem, but I have seem far too many cases of double income families collapsing under the strain.
I think it is best to bring up children with the idea that the parents will take the right decision and we must not allow children to fall victim to the illusionary charms of love marriage.
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Encounter Killings in Chennai
A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books
Chennai, the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was rocked by a spate of daring daylight heists. At least 2 banks were looted in broad daylight and nearly 50 lakhs was carted away. The Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa, unlike here predecessor is extremely strong on the issue of Law and Order and her regime is usually marked by strong police law enforecement. Her quich intervention is many instances of "land grabbing" by DMK political goondas has created a good impression in the minds of the ordinary people. Obviously the bank robberies had dented this carefully crafted image and Tamil Nadu was being projected as a state without security in the vernacular media. This negative perception prompted the Chief Minister to instruct the police to act swiftly and decisively. And that the Police under J K Tripathi, IPS did. Was the police action justified?
At midnight, 23rd Feb 2012, a posse of policemen surrounded a house in Velachery, a subburb of Chennai and killed 5 young men in the building. The Chennai Police claim that they acted in self defence a claim strengthened by the fact that 9 sophisticated revolvers were recovered from the site. The fact that the men were armed and hence dangerous brings up the question of "propotionate force". Even in UK and USA when the police deal with armed criminals, the use of force including "shoot to kill" is conceded. The real problem is to assess the "real and present" danger confronted by the Police in the actual situation of encounter. Post facto one can make all kinds of speculation, but the fact remains that the 5 men were armed with sophisticated weapons.
The Newspapers, The Hindu and The Deccan Chronicle, have pointed out that there were no bullet marks onthe walls of the room in which the encounter took place. The washing machine and the television were both in tact. This fact makes the human rights activists suspicious. I too wonder how many rounds were fired. I would like to know whether the firing was from inside the room to which the police party responded or whether the firing was only after the police gained entry into the room, The latter fact does not necessariy mean that the encounter was "fake" because weapon swere found on the site that clearly belonged to the criminals.
It has beome customary to raise doubts about the police version of events because the credibility of the police force is low and the courts grant the benefit of doubt even when circumstantial evidence is strong.
Chennai, the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was rocked by a spate of daring daylight heists. At least 2 banks were looted in broad daylight and nearly 50 lakhs was carted away. The Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa, unlike here predecessor is extremely strong on the issue of Law and Order and her regime is usually marked by strong police law enforecement. Her quich intervention is many instances of "land grabbing" by DMK political goondas has created a good impression in the minds of the ordinary people. Obviously the bank robberies had dented this carefully crafted image and Tamil Nadu was being projected as a state without security in the vernacular media. This negative perception prompted the Chief Minister to instruct the police to act swiftly and decisively. And that the Police under J K Tripathi, IPS did. Was the police action justified?
At midnight, 23rd Feb 2012, a posse of policemen surrounded a house in Velachery, a subburb of Chennai and killed 5 young men in the building. The Chennai Police claim that they acted in self defence a claim strengthened by the fact that 9 sophisticated revolvers were recovered from the site. The fact that the men were armed and hence dangerous brings up the question of "propotionate force". Even in UK and USA when the police deal with armed criminals, the use of force including "shoot to kill" is conceded. The real problem is to assess the "real and present" danger confronted by the Police in the actual situation of encounter. Post facto one can make all kinds of speculation, but the fact remains that the 5 men were armed with sophisticated weapons.
The Newspapers, The Hindu and The Deccan Chronicle, have pointed out that there were no bullet marks onthe walls of the room in which the encounter took place. The washing machine and the television were both in tact. This fact makes the human rights activists suspicious. I too wonder how many rounds were fired. I would like to know whether the firing was from inside the room to which the police party responded or whether the firing was only after the police gained entry into the room, The latter fact does not necessariy mean that the encounter was "fake" because weapon swere found on the site that clearly belonged to the criminals.
It has beome customary to raise doubts about the police version of events because the credibility of the police force is low and the courts grant the benefit of doubt even when circumstantial evidence is strong.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Beyond Kilvenmani: The Dialectics of anti-dalit violence in Dravidian Tamil Nadu
BEYOND KILVENMANI: SUBALTERN IDENTITY, CASTE VIOLENCE AND THE STATE: AN ANALYSIS OF ANTI-DALIT VIOLENCE IN TAMIL NADU
Caste violence has become an important element in the political life of contemporary Tamil Nadu. We may define caste violence as systematic, organized and sustained acts of physical and cultural violence directed against the less powerful, marginal, and in a hierarchical sense lower social groups by members of the dominant landed groups. Though the latter are classified as Backward Castes and Most Backward castes in the case of northern Tamil Nadu, the BCs and MBCs are by far the most powerful social groups in the political and agrarian structures of rural Tamil Nadu. Both NGOs and the academic interpreters of the endemic caste violence in the countryside, conceptualize the growing social distance between Dalit castes and the BCs and MBCs as instances of “caste” conflict implying thereby that caste identities and loyalties are at the root of this problem. Such an interpretation while not inaccurate, skirts the more potent question pertaining to the structural linkages between the politically organized sections of the Backward landed communities and the violence directed against the Dalits in different parts of the Tamil region.
Rural violence is not a new and novel feature. Medieval inscriptions record numerous instances of burning down of entire villages in the fifteenth century during clashes between the idankai and valankai groups. Caste hierarchy was reinforced through a range of measures that included dress codes, restrictions on the use of certain musical instruments, habitat ional exclusion by creating tindacheris in which particular social groups were sequestered, limited access to common areas such as the sacred space of the temple, educational institutions and the like. Indeed the social history of the Tamil region can be plotted along the axes of caste, community and sect, though the boundaries between the three conceptual categories were always fluid and permeable. In the nineteenth century we find identity formation crystallizing itself around the twin poles of caste and race with the ethno linguistic category of Dravidian glossing over the different castes and sub castes of the society. Uniting in the divided population in the name of language, the concept of Dravidian defined the Tamil identity in terms of the cultural practices of the dominant non Brahmin castes thereby excluding the dalits and other communities.
Dalit intellectuals have in recent years mounted a serious challenge to the hegemonic claims relating to the libratory potential of the Aryan/Dravidian dichotomy in which the discourse on Dalit liberation and political praxis takes place. The literaey critic Raj Gauthaman in his excellent work entitled Dalit Parveyil Tamil Panpattu has shown that even in the earliest corpus of Tamil bardic poetry there is a stratum of communal and caste consciousness which effectively marginalized tribal groups which came to form the basis of dalit caste of the historical times. This interpretation alters the framework in which the emergence of caste consciousness is placed by conventional historians in that it situates caste in the context of autochthonous social trends. The importance of Raj Gouthamn’s work lies in his effort to reclaim the historical memory of the Dalits in order to assert an identity that is distinct from the one existing in the dominant Dravidian discourse. In his counter reading of Tamil literary and social history, Raj Gauthman is infact re interpreting the claims of Iyothee Das that Tamil cultural practices as depicted in the early bardic works are just as oppressive as that of the Aryan/Sanskrit other. He goes on to add that the ethic of valor and conquest enshrined in the puram genre of poems are mere ideological shibboleths to validate and legitimize the appropriation of agricultural surplus from the tribal sections of Tamil society, who he says were the ancestors of the present day dalit population. While this interpretation may not have all the sophistication of a well thought out historical thesis, it certainly points to a rupture in the dominant paradigm.
In this paper we attempt an analysis of the violence in the Tamil region in which the caste conflict between the BCs and the Dalits are contextualized in terms of (a) the groups inv9lved and (b) the reaction of the state. We examine the frequent outbreak of social conflict in terms of the denial of the dominant discourse of the very basis of this conflict. We examine the issue of the Kilvenmani Massacre in terms of the response of the state as well as the social groups which took part in the massacre. I also examiner the response of Dalit intellectuals and political leaders such as Comrade Tirumavalavan to the growing instances of anti Dalit violence.
On Christmas Day 1968, when C N Annadurai was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, an incident took place that is regarded today as emblematic of caste relation in this part of India. A few days prior to this incident, a group of farm workers began agitating for more wages. 1967 had been a particularly bad year for the region because of the sustained drought. The workers of the CPI felt that it was an opportune moment to organize the peasants, particularly the landless pallan and other castes in view of the collapse of the communist led insurrection in the Tanjavur district led by Jeevanandham and other leaders. A day prior to the Kilvenmani Incident one of the petty land owners was assaulted and killed, allegedly by the organized group of landless workers. An armed gang was sent to the cheri where the landless laborers resided. However they had by that time taken refuge in a barn along with their wives and children. In a gruesome act of retaliation the building was burnt down killing 44 men, women and 8 children. The DMK government which was in power in the state was reluctant to register the case and even the news of the horrific massacre reached the public only through the questions raised in the Assembly by the CPI MLA of the neighboring Nagapattinam constituency. Left and Secular liberal hagiography sees the Kilvemanni Massacre as a mere class oppressor versus worker issue. In fact the CPM has even appropriated for itself the memorial for the 44 victims of the December 25 Incident and is reluctant to admit the caste identity of the victims. In short, the incident itself has become a bone of contention between those who prefer to see it as the Dravidian Movements ambiguity with regard to the question of Dalit identity and human rights and those who view it in ideological terms.Social conflict is also predicated upon the very morphology and distribution of social groups across the territorial limits of the region. The great historian, Burton Stein has argued that the territorial segmentation, a structural feature of South Indian Tamil society, reinforces the dominance of certain groups in specific regions and sub-regions. The introduction of Panchayati Raj in this kind of a socio-political configuration through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment introduced yet another volatile arena of conflict and violence.
II VIOLENCE AND THE STATE
The Kilvenmani Incident is just one of a whole litany of violent encounters between socially dominant landed groups and lower status landless and marginal social sodalities such as dalits. After Independence the Tamil region has seen episodes of violent upsurge against dalit societies in alarming propotions. Given below are a few of the more prominent incidents:
Mudalukathur Massacre of 1957
Melvalavu Massacre of July25,1997
Gundupatti Incident of 1998
Tambraparini River Massacre of July 23, 1999
Kodiyankulam Incident of 31 August, 1995
Thinniyan Incident of October 25, 2002
In all these and other incidents the local dominant group was clearly involved in and complicit in acts of unspeakable cruelty and violation of human dignity, and in all these case there was hardly any action/reaction from the state. In one case however, the Tambraparini River Massacre, the then DMK regime was seen as the main instigator of the violence in which 17 people were killed.. The State appointed the Justice Mohan Commission of Inquiry and it camr to the magnificent conclusion that the “police were not at fault”and that the victime drowned because they “did not know how to swim”. The irony of the situation is that the very parties that soundly condemned the violence against the workers of the Majoli Tea Estate are today local allies of the very regime that perpetrated the massacre. Once again this reinforces the point I am arguing that there is considerable ambivalence with regard to the issue of state violence directed against the dalits. The Kudiyankulam Incident fared no better at the hands of the rival ADMK regime. The Gomathinayakam Inquiry declared the police innocent of any act of violence and thereby the state machinery that was deployed so ruthlessly against the dalits was absolved of all blame. It may be pointed out that even in the case of the Kilvenmani Massacre the state was at pains to absolve the perpetrators of any guilt. And the naidu landlord was declared innocent by the Madras high court after a lackadaisical trail. Shri Tirumavalavan,a noted dalit politician of the region has observed. “Only the explanation given by the court for releasing Gopalakrishana Naidu who committed such horrid murders is amusing and strange. It was: It is not possible to accept that a mirasdar who was very highly respected in the society could have involved directly in the murders”. He goes on to say that without a shred of evidence, and based on this conjecture, the court pronounced its judgement that day.From this we can say with some conviction that a general consensus with regard to violence against dalits had also infected the judiciary which by 1968 had come under the stress of Dravidian politics. The sad fact that the SC&ST Atrocities Suppression Act in Tamil Nadu has secured so far a single conviction shows that the administrative and political will to enforce compliance is lacking.
The introduction of Panchayatiraj government at the local level through the 73rd Amendment has resulted in the opening of yet another level of inter societal violence and there is no let up in the intensity of the attacks. The position of the president of the village governing council inappropriately called the panchayat, after the gandhian metaphor for the Indian version of village democracy,is increasingly becoming a contested one between sections of the dominat castes groups and the dalit groups in the case of reserved seats. It is obvious that a great deal of government contracts are routed through the Panchayats and hence the competition for the post. The murder of Leelavathi, a councilor of Madurai by DMK workers was direct fallout of the war over government funds and local development that ruffled the feathers of vested interests. In this case too the response of the then DMK government was luke warm and no one was either arrested or prosecuted for the murder.
Certain features of Dravidian political culture are deeply implicated in the rise of anti-dalit violence in parts of the state. Competitive electoral politics between the DMK and AIDMK has resulted in a situation wherein the two major formations account for nearly 56% of the votes polled, with an average electoral strength ranging from24% to 26% for each of the two parties. This polarized electorate has made it possible for weak political actors like the Congress and the BJP to forge alliances with the two giants of Dravidian politics. Further, the social morphology of the Tamil region, already alluded to with dominant castes and communities concentrated in specific regions of Tamil Nadu such as the vanniyars in the north, the mukkulathors in the south and specific zones in which the kallars and maravars are numerically dominant in areas of Madurai, Puddukkotttai and Ramanathapuram, has provided a fertile soil for the proliferation of caste and clan based political parties. We may add here while the political rhetoric of such parties in couched in the language of egalitarianism with regard to the elites in the areas where they operate, the practice of social and personal discrimination is prevalent in the context of dalit groups. Social domination and the resultant caste violence is predicated upon the situational strategy of asserting equality towards the upper castes and enforcing the ‘inferior” status of the lower castes, particularly that of dalits. Dravidian political ideology has not been able to bridge the yawning chasm between the imagined ideal of social justice and equality and the appalling reality of caste division and hierarchy that operates at the local panchayat levels.
The social scene of village Tamil Nadu is riven with the visible symbols of identity and oppression. The flourishing industry of human rights activism has already documented the existence of the “two tumbler” system in most parts of rural Tamil Nadu. The enforcement of the two tumbler system in parts of Madurai and Ramanathapuram and in the vanniyar dominated regions of South Arcot and Dharmapuri districts is a constant source of tension and violence. Along with this there are other visible markers of status that are enforced. In the habitation areas of the dominant castes the dalits are forbidden to wear footwear and the men folk are made to tie their upper cloth round their waists. Such conventions become the cause of violence, when educated youth resist such display of deference to the higher castes they invite serious retribution. The temple festival is yet another arena that generates conflict. In fact the southern districts see a spate of violence particularly during the annual festivals of the amman shrines or clan temples. Status assertions vis-Ã -vis the higher castes and its negation is another reason for the outbreak of conflict and in such conflicts the local police and the administration side with the dominant groups. Given the highly politicized nature of the society with caste factionalism and party based rivalries any local issue can become the starting point of a caste conflict.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Annual Report for the year 1996-97 has reported 282 violent castes conflicts in Tamil Nadu, and out of this figure 238 or 84% involved conflict between dalit groups and powerful landed groups such as the Maravars, the Kallars (often clubbed together as Thevars), Nadars, Vanniyars and Pallans and other SC communities. The table given below from the Justice Mohan Inquiry Report provides an index of caste violence in contemporary Tamil Nadu:
District
Number of violent anti-dalit incidents
Number killed in clashes
Madurai
18
9 3
Theni
41
NA NA
Dindigul
NA
NA NA
Virudhanagar
382
12 24
Ramanathapuram
18
2 NA
Sivagangai
NA
NA NA
Tirunelveli
60
14 NA
Tudikudi
1
1 Nil
III PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS AND VIOLENCE
The violence unleashed against Dalit aspirants to the post of President of the Panchayat is symptomatic of the larger issue of dalit empowerment under the Dravidian political dispensation. A problem that considerably complicate the issue is that the Tamil communities referred to as Adi-dravidas are themselves divided along lines of hierarchy and there is ethnographic and anecdotal information to show that the practice of social exclusion permeates even to the door step of communities that bear the brunt of anti-dalit violence. Thus arundhitiyars are generally regarded with a degree of socil distance by other members of the dalit communities. In the case of panchayats that are revered for the SC communities the dominant landed groups are quite willing to support an arunditiyar candidate and make him virtually a rubber stamp of the local vested interests. Thus the differences within the dalit communities are exploited by the dominant landed backward caste groups, supported by the political parties across the Dravidian spectrum. Shri P Jaggaiyyan, an arunditttiyar who was elected to the Presidentship of Nakkalamuthanpatti in Tirunelveli was killed by the dominant Maravar group when he refused to let his Vice President, a Maravar himself, to preside over the Panchayat meetings. This case has not been solved and the DMK regime is currently trying to arrange a compromise. Similarly, Shri M Servanan, President of Maruthankinaru village Panchayat was killed when he refused to allow the husband of the Panchyat vice president, a kallar, to act as [president in all but name. In this case also no arrest has been made. In Tirulelveli 10 Panchyat presidents have complained to the Government about threat to their lives, and all of them are arundittiyars. The State Government is yet to act. In the case of Shri Chinnan, President of Vakarai village in Dindigul district, even as President he could not occupy his chair and made to sit on a stool when the meetings were conducted. The compromise worked out by the state government when the dalit presidents complain of being threatened or humiliated involved getting the president accept his own subordination to the Vice President from the dominant castes. This unfortunate aspect of Panchayat Raj in Tamil Nadu needs to be investigated further. In the report of Vishwanathan in Frontline of May 5, 2007 is the following observation and it is certainly woth quoting: “The ill treatment meted out to elected dalit panchayat presidents indicates that untouchability is still practiced in Tamil Nadu villages, 60 years after the constitution abolished it.”. We may add that 40 of those 60 years were under the rule of parties representing the forces of landed castes classified in the argot of Tamil Nadu as BCs and MBCs. Therefore we may be right in being cynical about the claims that these parties represent the forces of equality and social justice. It is well worth exploring whether the competitive electoral politics in India, with its first-past-the-winning-post system servers to increase rather than decrease caste tension and its consequent violence.
The most horrific case of anti dalit violence engendered by the Panchayat election is the Melavalavu massacre of the dalit president and 6 of his associates on June 29, 1997.Melavalavu was a maravar dominated village that was reserved for the SC caste. Dalits who had earlier filed their nomination for the post of the President of the Panchyat had withdrawn their nomination when intimidated by the locally dominant groups who were also patronized by the ADMK. In spite of booth capturing and other acts of electoral malpractice, Shri K Murugesan was elected President. As has become routine in Tamil Nadu he was prevented from taking charge of his office and offered a representation to the government. A small police picket was posted at the village. Shri M Karunanidhi the Chief Minister of the state was informed of the threat to the lives of dalit presidents but no action was taken. On a bus on the way to Madurai Shri K Murugesan and 6 of his followers were killed in a brutal manner.
In the violence that followed several buses of the state transport corporation were burnt. The real cause for tension in the region was the decision of the Government to name a road transport corporation after Shri Veeran Sundranarlingam, a noted dalit leader. In the mayhem that followed caste violence was unleashed all across the southern districts.These instances show quite clearly that caste tension is simmering under the surface and that the political parties exploit cast in order to create disturbances that can be used to generate cast blocs and thereby consolidate the political base.
IV Conclusion
In this paper we have argued that contrary to popular perception, the political mobilization in the Tamil region takes place along caste lines and the Backward caste that form the backbone of the political support base for the 2 dravidian parties are not above using violence in order to generate electoral gains. We have also documented that the social morphology of the state with its layered and concentrated distribution of dominant castes allows for the exploitation of caste as a political resource. It may be said that the shift to proportional representation will considerably reduce the dependence of political parties on organized violence as a strategy for capturing political power.
We have examined the several instances of caste violence starting from the Kilvanmani Incident of December 25, 1968 to the more recent instances of such violence and have shown that there is little possibility of anti dalit violence declining as it is predicated upon the very logic of the political parties that compete for power. In a larger theoretical sense we can even argue that the post colonial nation state is in reality an engine of destruction in which innocent lives are lost.
Caste violence has become an important element in the political life of contemporary Tamil Nadu. We may define caste violence as systematic, organized and sustained acts of physical and cultural violence directed against the less powerful, marginal, and in a hierarchical sense lower social groups by members of the dominant landed groups. Though the latter are classified as Backward Castes and Most Backward castes in the case of northern Tamil Nadu, the BCs and MBCs are by far the most powerful social groups in the political and agrarian structures of rural Tamil Nadu. Both NGOs and the academic interpreters of the endemic caste violence in the countryside, conceptualize the growing social distance between Dalit castes and the BCs and MBCs as instances of “caste” conflict implying thereby that caste identities and loyalties are at the root of this problem. Such an interpretation while not inaccurate, skirts the more potent question pertaining to the structural linkages between the politically organized sections of the Backward landed communities and the violence directed against the Dalits in different parts of the Tamil region.
Rural violence is not a new and novel feature. Medieval inscriptions record numerous instances of burning down of entire villages in the fifteenth century during clashes between the idankai and valankai groups. Caste hierarchy was reinforced through a range of measures that included dress codes, restrictions on the use of certain musical instruments, habitat ional exclusion by creating tindacheris in which particular social groups were sequestered, limited access to common areas such as the sacred space of the temple, educational institutions and the like. Indeed the social history of the Tamil region can be plotted along the axes of caste, community and sect, though the boundaries between the three conceptual categories were always fluid and permeable. In the nineteenth century we find identity formation crystallizing itself around the twin poles of caste and race with the ethno linguistic category of Dravidian glossing over the different castes and sub castes of the society. Uniting in the divided population in the name of language, the concept of Dravidian defined the Tamil identity in terms of the cultural practices of the dominant non Brahmin castes thereby excluding the dalits and other communities.
Dalit intellectuals have in recent years mounted a serious challenge to the hegemonic claims relating to the libratory potential of the Aryan/Dravidian dichotomy in which the discourse on Dalit liberation and political praxis takes place. The literaey critic Raj Gauthaman in his excellent work entitled Dalit Parveyil Tamil Panpattu has shown that even in the earliest corpus of Tamil bardic poetry there is a stratum of communal and caste consciousness which effectively marginalized tribal groups which came to form the basis of dalit caste of the historical times. This interpretation alters the framework in which the emergence of caste consciousness is placed by conventional historians in that it situates caste in the context of autochthonous social trends. The importance of Raj Gouthamn’s work lies in his effort to reclaim the historical memory of the Dalits in order to assert an identity that is distinct from the one existing in the dominant Dravidian discourse. In his counter reading of Tamil literary and social history, Raj Gauthman is infact re interpreting the claims of Iyothee Das that Tamil cultural practices as depicted in the early bardic works are just as oppressive as that of the Aryan/Sanskrit other. He goes on to add that the ethic of valor and conquest enshrined in the puram genre of poems are mere ideological shibboleths to validate and legitimize the appropriation of agricultural surplus from the tribal sections of Tamil society, who he says were the ancestors of the present day dalit population. While this interpretation may not have all the sophistication of a well thought out historical thesis, it certainly points to a rupture in the dominant paradigm.
In this paper we attempt an analysis of the violence in the Tamil region in which the caste conflict between the BCs and the Dalits are contextualized in terms of (a) the groups inv9lved and (b) the reaction of the state. We examine the frequent outbreak of social conflict in terms of the denial of the dominant discourse of the very basis of this conflict. We examine the issue of the Kilvenmani Massacre in terms of the response of the state as well as the social groups which took part in the massacre. I also examiner the response of Dalit intellectuals and political leaders such as Comrade Tirumavalavan to the growing instances of anti Dalit violence.
On Christmas Day 1968, when C N Annadurai was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, an incident took place that is regarded today as emblematic of caste relation in this part of India. A few days prior to this incident, a group of farm workers began agitating for more wages. 1967 had been a particularly bad year for the region because of the sustained drought. The workers of the CPI felt that it was an opportune moment to organize the peasants, particularly the landless pallan and other castes in view of the collapse of the communist led insurrection in the Tanjavur district led by Jeevanandham and other leaders. A day prior to the Kilvenmani Incident one of the petty land owners was assaulted and killed, allegedly by the organized group of landless workers. An armed gang was sent to the cheri where the landless laborers resided. However they had by that time taken refuge in a barn along with their wives and children. In a gruesome act of retaliation the building was burnt down killing 44 men, women and 8 children. The DMK government which was in power in the state was reluctant to register the case and even the news of the horrific massacre reached the public only through the questions raised in the Assembly by the CPI MLA of the neighboring Nagapattinam constituency. Left and Secular liberal hagiography sees the Kilvemanni Massacre as a mere class oppressor versus worker issue. In fact the CPM has even appropriated for itself the memorial for the 44 victims of the December 25 Incident and is reluctant to admit the caste identity of the victims. In short, the incident itself has become a bone of contention between those who prefer to see it as the Dravidian Movements ambiguity with regard to the question of Dalit identity and human rights and those who view it in ideological terms.Social conflict is also predicated upon the very morphology and distribution of social groups across the territorial limits of the region. The great historian, Burton Stein has argued that the territorial segmentation, a structural feature of South Indian Tamil society, reinforces the dominance of certain groups in specific regions and sub-regions. The introduction of Panchayati Raj in this kind of a socio-political configuration through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment introduced yet another volatile arena of conflict and violence.
II VIOLENCE AND THE STATE
The Kilvenmani Incident is just one of a whole litany of violent encounters between socially dominant landed groups and lower status landless and marginal social sodalities such as dalits. After Independence the Tamil region has seen episodes of violent upsurge against dalit societies in alarming propotions. Given below are a few of the more prominent incidents:
Mudalukathur Massacre of 1957
Melvalavu Massacre of July25,1997
Gundupatti Incident of 1998
Tambraparini River Massacre of July 23, 1999
Kodiyankulam Incident of 31 August, 1995
Thinniyan Incident of October 25, 2002
In all these and other incidents the local dominant group was clearly involved in and complicit in acts of unspeakable cruelty and violation of human dignity, and in all these case there was hardly any action/reaction from the state. In one case however, the Tambraparini River Massacre, the then DMK regime was seen as the main instigator of the violence in which 17 people were killed.. The State appointed the Justice Mohan Commission of Inquiry and it camr to the magnificent conclusion that the “police were not at fault”and that the victime drowned because they “did not know how to swim”. The irony of the situation is that the very parties that soundly condemned the violence against the workers of the Majoli Tea Estate are today local allies of the very regime that perpetrated the massacre. Once again this reinforces the point I am arguing that there is considerable ambivalence with regard to the issue of state violence directed against the dalits. The Kudiyankulam Incident fared no better at the hands of the rival ADMK regime. The Gomathinayakam Inquiry declared the police innocent of any act of violence and thereby the state machinery that was deployed so ruthlessly against the dalits was absolved of all blame. It may be pointed out that even in the case of the Kilvenmani Massacre the state was at pains to absolve the perpetrators of any guilt. And the naidu landlord was declared innocent by the Madras high court after a lackadaisical trail. Shri Tirumavalavan,a noted dalit politician of the region has observed. “Only the explanation given by the court for releasing Gopalakrishana Naidu who committed such horrid murders is amusing and strange. It was: It is not possible to accept that a mirasdar who was very highly respected in the society could have involved directly in the murders”. He goes on to say that without a shred of evidence, and based on this conjecture, the court pronounced its judgement that day.From this we can say with some conviction that a general consensus with regard to violence against dalits had also infected the judiciary which by 1968 had come under the stress of Dravidian politics. The sad fact that the SC&ST Atrocities Suppression Act in Tamil Nadu has secured so far a single conviction shows that the administrative and political will to enforce compliance is lacking.
The introduction of Panchayatiraj government at the local level through the 73rd Amendment has resulted in the opening of yet another level of inter societal violence and there is no let up in the intensity of the attacks. The position of the president of the village governing council inappropriately called the panchayat, after the gandhian metaphor for the Indian version of village democracy,is increasingly becoming a contested one between sections of the dominat castes groups and the dalit groups in the case of reserved seats. It is obvious that a great deal of government contracts are routed through the Panchayats and hence the competition for the post. The murder of Leelavathi, a councilor of Madurai by DMK workers was direct fallout of the war over government funds and local development that ruffled the feathers of vested interests. In this case too the response of the then DMK government was luke warm and no one was either arrested or prosecuted for the murder.
Certain features of Dravidian political culture are deeply implicated in the rise of anti-dalit violence in parts of the state. Competitive electoral politics between the DMK and AIDMK has resulted in a situation wherein the two major formations account for nearly 56% of the votes polled, with an average electoral strength ranging from24% to 26% for each of the two parties. This polarized electorate has made it possible for weak political actors like the Congress and the BJP to forge alliances with the two giants of Dravidian politics. Further, the social morphology of the Tamil region, already alluded to with dominant castes and communities concentrated in specific regions of Tamil Nadu such as the vanniyars in the north, the mukkulathors in the south and specific zones in which the kallars and maravars are numerically dominant in areas of Madurai, Puddukkotttai and Ramanathapuram, has provided a fertile soil for the proliferation of caste and clan based political parties. We may add here while the political rhetoric of such parties in couched in the language of egalitarianism with regard to the elites in the areas where they operate, the practice of social and personal discrimination is prevalent in the context of dalit groups. Social domination and the resultant caste violence is predicated upon the situational strategy of asserting equality towards the upper castes and enforcing the ‘inferior” status of the lower castes, particularly that of dalits. Dravidian political ideology has not been able to bridge the yawning chasm between the imagined ideal of social justice and equality and the appalling reality of caste division and hierarchy that operates at the local panchayat levels.
The social scene of village Tamil Nadu is riven with the visible symbols of identity and oppression. The flourishing industry of human rights activism has already documented the existence of the “two tumbler” system in most parts of rural Tamil Nadu. The enforcement of the two tumbler system in parts of Madurai and Ramanathapuram and in the vanniyar dominated regions of South Arcot and Dharmapuri districts is a constant source of tension and violence. Along with this there are other visible markers of status that are enforced. In the habitation areas of the dominant castes the dalits are forbidden to wear footwear and the men folk are made to tie their upper cloth round their waists. Such conventions become the cause of violence, when educated youth resist such display of deference to the higher castes they invite serious retribution. The temple festival is yet another arena that generates conflict. In fact the southern districts see a spate of violence particularly during the annual festivals of the amman shrines or clan temples. Status assertions vis-Ã -vis the higher castes and its negation is another reason for the outbreak of conflict and in such conflicts the local police and the administration side with the dominant groups. Given the highly politicized nature of the society with caste factionalism and party based rivalries any local issue can become the starting point of a caste conflict.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Annual Report for the year 1996-97 has reported 282 violent castes conflicts in Tamil Nadu, and out of this figure 238 or 84% involved conflict between dalit groups and powerful landed groups such as the Maravars, the Kallars (often clubbed together as Thevars), Nadars, Vanniyars and Pallans and other SC communities. The table given below from the Justice Mohan Inquiry Report provides an index of caste violence in contemporary Tamil Nadu:
District
Number of violent anti-dalit incidents
Number killed in clashes
Madurai
18
9 3
Theni
41
NA NA
Dindigul
NA
NA NA
Virudhanagar
382
12 24
Ramanathapuram
18
2 NA
Sivagangai
NA
NA NA
Tirunelveli
60
14 NA
Tudikudi
1
1 Nil
III PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS AND VIOLENCE
The violence unleashed against Dalit aspirants to the post of President of the Panchayat is symptomatic of the larger issue of dalit empowerment under the Dravidian political dispensation. A problem that considerably complicate the issue is that the Tamil communities referred to as Adi-dravidas are themselves divided along lines of hierarchy and there is ethnographic and anecdotal information to show that the practice of social exclusion permeates even to the door step of communities that bear the brunt of anti-dalit violence. Thus arundhitiyars are generally regarded with a degree of socil distance by other members of the dalit communities. In the case of panchayats that are revered for the SC communities the dominant landed groups are quite willing to support an arunditiyar candidate and make him virtually a rubber stamp of the local vested interests. Thus the differences within the dalit communities are exploited by the dominant landed backward caste groups, supported by the political parties across the Dravidian spectrum. Shri P Jaggaiyyan, an arunditttiyar who was elected to the Presidentship of Nakkalamuthanpatti in Tirunelveli was killed by the dominant Maravar group when he refused to let his Vice President, a Maravar himself, to preside over the Panchayat meetings. This case has not been solved and the DMK regime is currently trying to arrange a compromise. Similarly, Shri M Servanan, President of Maruthankinaru village Panchayat was killed when he refused to allow the husband of the Panchyat vice president, a kallar, to act as [president in all but name. In this case also no arrest has been made. In Tirulelveli 10 Panchyat presidents have complained to the Government about threat to their lives, and all of them are arundittiyars. The State Government is yet to act. In the case of Shri Chinnan, President of Vakarai village in Dindigul district, even as President he could not occupy his chair and made to sit on a stool when the meetings were conducted. The compromise worked out by the state government when the dalit presidents complain of being threatened or humiliated involved getting the president accept his own subordination to the Vice President from the dominant castes. This unfortunate aspect of Panchayat Raj in Tamil Nadu needs to be investigated further. In the report of Vishwanathan in Frontline of May 5, 2007 is the following observation and it is certainly woth quoting: “The ill treatment meted out to elected dalit panchayat presidents indicates that untouchability is still practiced in Tamil Nadu villages, 60 years after the constitution abolished it.”. We may add that 40 of those 60 years were under the rule of parties representing the forces of landed castes classified in the argot of Tamil Nadu as BCs and MBCs. Therefore we may be right in being cynical about the claims that these parties represent the forces of equality and social justice. It is well worth exploring whether the competitive electoral politics in India, with its first-past-the-winning-post system servers to increase rather than decrease caste tension and its consequent violence.
The most horrific case of anti dalit violence engendered by the Panchayat election is the Melavalavu massacre of the dalit president and 6 of his associates on June 29, 1997.Melavalavu was a maravar dominated village that was reserved for the SC caste. Dalits who had earlier filed their nomination for the post of the President of the Panchyat had withdrawn their nomination when intimidated by the locally dominant groups who were also patronized by the ADMK. In spite of booth capturing and other acts of electoral malpractice, Shri K Murugesan was elected President. As has become routine in Tamil Nadu he was prevented from taking charge of his office and offered a representation to the government. A small police picket was posted at the village. Shri M Karunanidhi the Chief Minister of the state was informed of the threat to the lives of dalit presidents but no action was taken. On a bus on the way to Madurai Shri K Murugesan and 6 of his followers were killed in a brutal manner.
In the violence that followed several buses of the state transport corporation were burnt. The real cause for tension in the region was the decision of the Government to name a road transport corporation after Shri Veeran Sundranarlingam, a noted dalit leader. In the mayhem that followed caste violence was unleashed all across the southern districts.These instances show quite clearly that caste tension is simmering under the surface and that the political parties exploit cast in order to create disturbances that can be used to generate cast blocs and thereby consolidate the political base.
IV Conclusion
In this paper we have argued that contrary to popular perception, the political mobilization in the Tamil region takes place along caste lines and the Backward caste that form the backbone of the political support base for the 2 dravidian parties are not above using violence in order to generate electoral gains. We have also documented that the social morphology of the state with its layered and concentrated distribution of dominant castes allows for the exploitation of caste as a political resource. It may be said that the shift to proportional representation will considerably reduce the dependence of political parties on organized violence as a strategy for capturing political power.
We have examined the several instances of caste violence starting from the Kilvanmani Incident of December 25, 1968 to the more recent instances of such violence and have shown that there is little possibility of anti dalit violence declining as it is predicated upon the very logic of the political parties that compete for power. In a larger theoretical sense we can even argue that the post colonial nation state is in reality an engine of destruction in which innocent lives are lost.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
The "Cyber State":Threat to Civil Liberty and Personal Autonomy
The most disturbing aspect of Orwell's dystopia in 1984 was the image of "big brother" watching everyone with his system of spying and invasion of privacy. The atomization of civil society into a million individual pieces so well brought out by Orwell has already become a reality in most parts of the world, especially those with a high degree of computer and cybernetic integration. In fact, many years ago, Robert Jnuk, the survivor of one holocaust, spent the rest of his life pointing out the dangers of wnhat he called the Atom Staat or Atomic State, a concept he used to gloss the national security-militatary-industrial complex. Where is the individulal in all this. As can be seen from quite a few studies, the work place in the US and parts of the developed world has become a "zone of engagement" in which the management is able to pry into the lives of ttheir employees, violating the bill of right and the fifth ammendment which protects individuals from self incrimination. I argue that privacy includes the right to protect e-mails and othetr personal documents that include weblogs, blogs and web sites from the prying eyes of the employer.Thirty years ago mangements had to rely on informal channels in order to get information about their employees, in less polite terms, tattlers from the shop floor. Now the scene has changed to the disadvantage of employees and it is time for the civil society organisations to think of legislation to protect the privacy of individuals in the AGE OF THE COMPUTER.
The fact that in Korea at least managements have installed software in all computers in the workplace which enables the management to track the entire usage of the computer and even provide access to the websites visited and documents sent and downloaded. In Japan and Korea and also increasingly, in South Asia as well, employers are engaged in spying on their employees and there by violating their personal space.I do agree that the employer has to protect trade secrets and data bases and I also agree that some employers have negotiated positions for themselves by trading the secrts of the organisation they work for. However, prying and spying are not solutions to the problem. In one country defence secrets were copied on to a pendrive and sold to interested parties and the Ministry of Defence responded by banning pen/flash drives. A poor solution to a difficult problem. Managers routinely use sophisticated soft ware to dredge the e-mails of their employees in order to get incriminating evidence. Just imagine how we would react if letters and correspondence were subjected to such search and seizure. My soulution to this problem is to ensure that the personal e-mail IDs are not handed over to the employees, and employers must assign mail IDs from their servers which alone the employees must use for carrying out their official work.The rise of a cashless economy and the use of plastic money has changed the pattern of consumer behavior. Now it is possible to track the spending habits of select targetted individuals by following the trail of plastic money. This technique is ofcourse used to track drug money, criminal enterprises, anti terrorist operations and the like. However when used against individuals for gatering evidence in divorce cases and other civil disputes, I think is not al all justified. One empyoyee in the US was sacked from her job for logging on to her blog site when in the workplace. A minor distractin like that should not call for drastic action.Companies are using software to monitor all transactions passing through their servers. The justification for such monitoring is to prevent unfair and illegal industrial/business spying. But cannot a better way be found.All in all, the rise of the computer and the increasing use of e enables transaction is posing a grave and present danger to civil liberty and it is time to fight back.
The fact that in Korea at least managements have installed software in all computers in the workplace which enables the management to track the entire usage of the computer and even provide access to the websites visited and documents sent and downloaded. In Japan and Korea and also increasingly, in South Asia as well, employers are engaged in spying on their employees and there by violating their personal space.I do agree that the employer has to protect trade secrets and data bases and I also agree that some employers have negotiated positions for themselves by trading the secrts of the organisation they work for. However, prying and spying are not solutions to the problem. In one country defence secrets were copied on to a pendrive and sold to interested parties and the Ministry of Defence responded by banning pen/flash drives. A poor solution to a difficult problem. Managers routinely use sophisticated soft ware to dredge the e-mails of their employees in order to get incriminating evidence. Just imagine how we would react if letters and correspondence were subjected to such search and seizure. My soulution to this problem is to ensure that the personal e-mail IDs are not handed over to the employees, and employers must assign mail IDs from their servers which alone the employees must use for carrying out their official work.The rise of a cashless economy and the use of plastic money has changed the pattern of consumer behavior. Now it is possible to track the spending habits of select targetted individuals by following the trail of plastic money. This technique is ofcourse used to track drug money, criminal enterprises, anti terrorist operations and the like. However when used against individuals for gatering evidence in divorce cases and other civil disputes, I think is not al all justified. One empyoyee in the US was sacked from her job for logging on to her blog site when in the workplace. A minor distractin like that should not call for drastic action.Companies are using software to monitor all transactions passing through their servers. The justification for such monitoring is to prevent unfair and illegal industrial/business spying. But cannot a better way be found.All in all, the rise of the computer and the increasing use of e enables transaction is posing a grave and present danger to civil liberty and it is time to fight back.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Where are the US primaries headed to
One may say that November is still far away, and so there is no need to hurry over the nominations. However, this is the first time in recent memory that so late into the primaries, and yet no clear front runner is in sight. For the Republicans it appears that John McCain will, falling short of a major catastrophe, be the Republican nominee. The Democrats are doing, as always, what they do best, destroy each other with a vehemence that even the Republicans cannot match. The exit of John Edwards, not unsurprising, takes place at a time when the electorate was beiginning to see that he was indeed a candidate with a message and a new direction. I think he will endorse Barack Obama and will be assured of a major role in a Obama administration. He was above the petty bickering that marked the Clinton campaign and at least I felt that he emerged as a credible voice after the Mrytle Beach debates. I still feel that since the Florida primary did not really matter, John Edwards could have gone on to Super Tuesday. But it is the end of the road and he did fight fair and square and unlike Clinton did not mount a negative campaign.The exit of Rudy was long overdue. He really did not jell with the Republicans and though he was a front runner at the start of the campaign. see how fortunes change in politics. The Mitt Rooney- John McCain exchanges were very rough and Mccain did throw a few low blows at Mitt. But at the end of the day, John Maccain will be annointed the Republican candidate and if the democrats make the mistake of nominating Hillary Clinton, then I am certain that Mccain will win the Presidency.Unfortunately, John Maccain is trying in bring in National Security as an issue in the elections while everyone knowns that it is the economy stu....The cutting of the Fed rate and the Bush tax plans will stimulate the US economy on the short run but the recession will take at least 6 months to abate. The credit crunch and the foreclosures that threaten the American dream of homeownership has not really been addressed by any candidate and Hillary Clinton's solution of a 90 day morotorium will not help at all. Obama does have a point when he says that the Federal Government will have to step in to prevent foreclosures but how is he to accomlish that.In November it will a tight to the wire finish
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Barkha Dutt wins the Padma Shri from the UPA Regime
And so the prima dona of NDTV, Ms Barkha Dutt, has been"honored" with the padma award. In an interview soon after the announcement, Ms Dutt grandly remarked: One feels great to be honored bu the Indian State. Young lady it in not an honor form the Indian State but from the minority UPA regime whose ideological interests are being served by NDTV and the like. And let me explain. In all major issues, the channel NDTV has taken the UPA side of the controversy, whether it be the nuclear deal with the USA or the Gujarat Elections or for that matter any other major problem that the country debated. Further, just last week NDTV annouced a series of awards and all of them went to Cngress or Congress friendly individuals. Who has forgotten the fact that last year the Indian of the Year award went to the resident non Indian, Soniaji and now it is pay back time and UPA gives the award to the likes of Barkha Dutt. If Burkha Dutt can be so honored, let me give my nominees for the highest awards of the UPA regime, the Jungle Ratna, sorry the Bharat Ratna, hereafter shortened to BR.
BRfor promoting Dynastic fascism: Soniaji and Karunanidhiji
Br for animal welfare: Lalloo Prasad Yadavji
BR for exemplary serice to the Indian Police Service: Shri R K Sharma, BR for Youth Leadership; Manu Sharmaji, Rahul Gandhi ji and Vikas Yadavji
BRfor the Best Parliamentarian; Hon'ble D P Yadavji, Md Ansariji and Raju Bhaiyya
BR for Children Welfare: Shri Mohinder Singh Pandher
BR for Public Service of the Highest Order: Sundry Secular Terrorists like Afzal Guru
BR for Preservation of Indian Heritage Hon'ble T R Baalu
This list can be expanded. But I think my nominees are all as worthy of the Padma Awards of the UPA as Burkha Dutt. I have nothing against INFOSYS Narayana Murthy, but giving the Padma Vibuhahn to a man who refused to sign the National Anthem because that would embarass his white guests is an insult to the nation, and that is precisely the point I am making: anyone who damns India day in and day out will be honored by the UPA because it is pro US and Pro White in its basic attitude.I think the time has come for introspection on the issue of public honors. Organisations with an incestuous relationship with the regime in power are being honored and those like Atal Behari Vajpayee with decades of dedicated service to the Indian State ignored.
BRfor promoting Dynastic fascism: Soniaji and Karunanidhiji
Br for animal welfare: Lalloo Prasad Yadavji
BR for exemplary serice to the Indian Police Service: Shri R K Sharma, BR for Youth Leadership; Manu Sharmaji, Rahul Gandhi ji and Vikas Yadavji
BRfor the Best Parliamentarian; Hon'ble D P Yadavji, Md Ansariji and Raju Bhaiyya
BR for Children Welfare: Shri Mohinder Singh Pandher
BR for Public Service of the Highest Order: Sundry Secular Terrorists like Afzal Guru
BR for Preservation of Indian Heritage Hon'ble T R Baalu
This list can be expanded. But I think my nominees are all as worthy of the Padma Awards of the UPA as Burkha Dutt. I have nothing against INFOSYS Narayana Murthy, but giving the Padma Vibuhahn to a man who refused to sign the National Anthem because that would embarass his white guests is an insult to the nation, and that is precisely the point I am making: anyone who damns India day in and day out will be honored by the UPA because it is pro US and Pro White in its basic attitude.I think the time has come for introspection on the issue of public honors. Organisations with an incestuous relationship with the regime in power are being honored and those like Atal Behari Vajpayee with decades of dedicated service to the Indian State ignored.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
The Sepoy Mutiny and Modern Memory
In 1857, exactly 150 years ago, soldiers of the then Bengal Army rose in rebellion against the English rukers of India. Historians have been debating the outbreak of 1857 ever since. However on the occasion of the 150 anniversary of the Mutiny several tourists from England, particularly the great great grand son of General Havelock and other members of the familires of the descendents of the Engish officers who faught against the Indian troops, wanted to pay homage to their ancesors at their graves strewn all over the Northern part of the country, especilly near Lucknow, Azamhgar, Kanpur and Delhi. We can expect that after 150 years the embers from the past would not create a blinding flame of resentmernt.However the British tourists have been prevented from paying homage at the Mutiny graves on the ground that any floral tibute to the fallen British soldiers will be an insult to the Sepoys who faught and died in the Movement. I find this line of reasoning extremely disconcerting. The descendents of the fallen English soldiers have the right to connect with their past. And by honoring the memory of those who died in the 1857 War in not an insult to the Sepoys wh were killed.The reason why this divergence in perception is because India has not ever bothered to memoralise the Sepoys who were killed in 1857. What was done on the ocassion of the Centenary celebration in 1957 was merely the appropriation of memorials already constructed by the English by the placement of a plaque stating that Indians were also killed inm the event. By denying an appropriate "site of memory" for the Indians who faught and died in the Uprising of 1857,the country has not got a closure of the terrible events of 1857.For example, the march of General James Neill from Allahabad to Lucknow in June of 1857 was accompanied by the deliberate large scale killing of civillian on a scale that is still remembered with horror till this day. Contemporary observers stated that the British soldiers like Neill amd Havelock were early pioneers in the dubious art of "shock and awe". Entire villages were wiped out with grape shot and lunch mobs of English Indigo planteers ans Irish soldiers relentlessly killed innocent civillians in the name of counter insurgency. Such horrors need to be remembered and because India has neglected to memoralise such terrible deeds there is resort to the crude device of blocking access to the Mutiny era graves.One hopes that on the ocassion of the 150 anniversary the victims of 1857 will also be remembered.
Monday, January 01, 2007
The Illegality of Saddam Hussein's Execution
Few images are likely to be more compelling than the picture of a shackled, manacled Saddam Hussein dressed in a dark overcoat calmly walking to the gallows. He was always the defiant one as his name translates in Arabic and he lived up to his name. Not a sign of weakness, not even a nervous twitch as the hangman's noose was fixed round his neck. His lips moving in silent prayer and the dignified manner in which Saddam Hussein faced his death will live in the minds of the Iraqi people. Even his many many enemies have said privately that the grainy images of Saddam's last moments will be his most enduring legacy.Sadfdam Hussein was captured by the US miltary near Tikrit and was held as a "prisoner of war" by the Americans and as a POW was entitled to all the protection of the Geneva convention and also the recent Hamdan Judgement of the US Supreme Court though restricted in scope to the G"Bay detainees, clearly maintained that enemy combatants were entitled to the protection of both US domestic and International law. Just hours before his excecution Saddam was handed over by the Americans to the al Maliki regime. This act demonstrates the complicity of the US in the judicial murder of Saddam Hussein though for the purpose of public record the US maintains the the "independent" judiciary of the "sovereign" governemnt of Iraq carried out the sentence. It does not behove of an occupying power to send its prisoner to his death when the whole world knows that by any standard of jurisprudence Saddam did not get a free anfd fair trial. Had he been tried by an objective International Tribunal, Saddam Hussein may still have faced a death sentence but the stench of a victor's justice will not vitiate the whole process.The death sentence was carried out in haste moments before the dawn of ID. Moslems both Shiaa and Sunni find it haighly insulting that the holy month of Id was chosen to carry out the death sentence. Why were both the USA and the Quisling regime in the Green Zone so eager to get rid of Saddam Hussein. Afterall even the Supreme Court did not mandate the excecution till the 27th of January 2007. The two other co accused and awaiting excecution along with Saddam, the Chief Juctice Bander and Hussein's half brother have not been excecuted. Why then the indecent haste to push Saddam Hussein into his grave.The Prime Minister, al Maliki had declared weeks earlier that Saddam Hussein would be killed before the end of the year. By making such a declaration did not al Maliki usurp the functions and powers of the so called independent judiciary that operated in Iraq. In fact the PM did something terrible:He signed the death warrant of Saddam Hussein before the glare of the international media. In fact when the people of Iraq regain thir dignity they will not forget the act of al-Maliki.The violence in Iraq will now escalate beyond all sustainable levels. The Baathists so far have remained preipheral to the strife presently unfolding in Iraq. With their cross sectarian links, political training and military skills the regime of the US backed al Maliki will have more than a handful. What is appaling is that al Maliki wants the Baathists to join hands with him and his Dawaa Gang which planned the assasination of Saddam at Dujail in 1982 for which Saddam has now been killed.In a way George Bush is right: Iraq has crossed a "milestone". From mnow on the struggle will get more vicious and more bloody. The final statement of Saddam Hussein will not bring about an immediate reconciliation but the bais of a national reconciliation are there in that short statement."
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Saturday, December 16, 2006
The Death of Dr Papiya Ghosh
December 3, 2006 was aday like any other. When I switched on NDTV to catch the evening news I heard the shocking news that Papiys Ghosh and her maid were brutally killed in Patna. I knew Dr Papiya Ghosh very well when we studied our MA in history at the University of Delhi. I went on to do a Ph D in medieval history and she specialised in modern Indian history. Every weekend I used to walk up to PG Womens' Hostel on the Campus and meet Papiya and discuss things of mutual interest. She was an extremely generous and charming person and a great scholar who believed in meticulous research. I cannot for the life of me imagine why anyone should so brutally assault and snuff her so promising life out in such a cruel manner. I heard the NDTV interview with Dr Tuk-Tuk Kumar and learnt of the horrendous nature of the injuries inflicted on her.
I remember seeing Papiya for the first time in the red faced building of the Arts Faculty of the University of Delhi. She was waiting for the MA admission list to be put up. I walked up to her and asked her whether she was the same Papiya of the Junior Statesman fame. She smiled and said "yes". From that beginning we remained friends throughout our stay in Dehi University. She decided to return home to Bihar, I suspect, because she had to take care of her mother. How different things would have turned out had she continued in Delhi.
In 1975 September there were serious floods in Patna. I saw Papiya sitting all by herself in the classroom and I went up and asked her why she looked so worried. She told me that flood waters had entered their house in Patliputra colony and she was extremely worried after her mother. She had a deep sense of duty and the way she encouraged her younger sister to take the plunge toward the IAS is testimony to he fact that she was really a devoted sister. Her younger sister Tuk-Tuk Ghosh too took her Ph D in history and has written a standard work on the hisory of Rice in ancient India.
This morning I received my copy of the Book Review. As tragic irony would have it, a book on the partition of India authored by Papiya Ghosh was advertised in the front inside cover.
Papiya Ghosh was a remarkable human being and personally speaking my life was enriched through my association with her. I deeply mourn her slaying and pray that her soul rests in peace.
I remember seeing Papiya for the first time in the red faced building of the Arts Faculty of the University of Delhi. She was waiting for the MA admission list to be put up. I walked up to her and asked her whether she was the same Papiya of the Junior Statesman fame. She smiled and said "yes". From that beginning we remained friends throughout our stay in Dehi University. She decided to return home to Bihar, I suspect, because she had to take care of her mother. How different things would have turned out had she continued in Delhi.
In 1975 September there were serious floods in Patna. I saw Papiya sitting all by herself in the classroom and I went up and asked her why she looked so worried. She told me that flood waters had entered their house in Patliputra colony and she was extremely worried after her mother. She had a deep sense of duty and the way she encouraged her younger sister to take the plunge toward the IAS is testimony to he fact that she was really a devoted sister. Her younger sister Tuk-Tuk Ghosh too took her Ph D in history and has written a standard work on the hisory of Rice in ancient India.
This morning I received my copy of the Book Review. As tragic irony would have it, a book on the partition of India authored by Papiya Ghosh was advertised in the front inside cover.
Papiya Ghosh was a remarkable human being and personally speaking my life was enriched through my association with her. I deeply mourn her slaying and pray that her soul rests in peace.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Orhan Pamuk and his evocative novels
Turkey is located geographically right in the middle of two great continents, Europe that lies west of the Straits of Bosphorus and the vast Asian lands to the east. Such a location is not without its obvious difficulties, a cultural confusion noted right from the days of Herodotus is only one obvious problem. Turkey aspires to join the European Union and as such has to meet certain exacting standards of human rights, judicial due process, political and intellectual freedom etc. This bill of political freedoms in an Islamic country itself is an anomaly. And yet Turkey in spite of rising time of Islamic fundamentalism and even al Qaeda inspired terrorism has proved to be a stable and vibrant society. The Nobel Prize for literature has gone to a Turkisn novelist Orhan Pamuk who seems to represent both the grand historical past of the Ottomans and the contemporary angst in his writings. Most critics would argue that Orhan Pamuk is a post modernist in that he experiments with different structures of time and narrative in his novels. We can even speculate about Pamuk's questining of the Turkish identity of present day Turkey. He has won my admiration for the courage he dispalyed in pubically cslling upon the Turkish state to acknowledge the Armenian Massacre that took palce in the first decade of the 20th century.
Pamuk unlike western liberals who blame Islam for all the ills of present day society. He denounces quite vehemently all those woh preach islamophobia in the name of spreading democracy. I will quote a passage from his writings to illustrate the point;
It is neither Islam nor even poverty itself that engenders support for terrorists whose ferocity and
ingenuity are unprecedented in human history; it is, rather, the crushing humiliation that has infected
Third World countries. And for this the west has to be held responsible because it has failed to comprehend
the shame and the humiliation that has fallen on the poorer nations. Hot-headed military operations and wars
will only take us away from the order of peace.
This sentence sums up all that is wrong with the policy of trhe powerful nations against Islamic countries. Pamuk has spoken strongly in favor of intellectual and cultural freedom in Turkey and was even procecuted for the crime of insulting "Turkish Identity". He regards the writers primary objective as being the unpacking of all that a culture refuses to talk about. A clinical examination of the sites of silence in any given society. Politics of civil liberty and unrelenting questiong of the staus quo are the credo of Pamuk's writing.His writing is aimed at the so called public sphere constituting civil society and he does believe strongly in the tranformative nature of good writing.
The book that I enjoyed the most was one of Pamuk's earliest novels, My Name is Red.It is set in the dark days of the Ottoman Empire when Istambul was the cultural capital of ASIA.The novel attempts an exploration of the subjective world through the experiences of a range of characters,Stork, Butterfly, Olive and Esther.The miniaturist and his world are etched out in a manner that suggetrs that Pamuk is quite familiar with the mentalites approach of the French Annalistes.
Pamuk unlike western liberals who blame Islam for all the ills of present day society. He denounces quite vehemently all those woh preach islamophobia in the name of spreading democracy. I will quote a passage from his writings to illustrate the point;
It is neither Islam nor even poverty itself that engenders support for terrorists whose ferocity and
ingenuity are unprecedented in human history; it is, rather, the crushing humiliation that has infected
Third World countries. And for this the west has to be held responsible because it has failed to comprehend
the shame and the humiliation that has fallen on the poorer nations. Hot-headed military operations and wars
will only take us away from the order of peace.
This sentence sums up all that is wrong with the policy of trhe powerful nations against Islamic countries. Pamuk has spoken strongly in favor of intellectual and cultural freedom in Turkey and was even procecuted for the crime of insulting "Turkish Identity". He regards the writers primary objective as being the unpacking of all that a culture refuses to talk about. A clinical examination of the sites of silence in any given society. Politics of civil liberty and unrelenting questiong of the staus quo are the credo of Pamuk's writing.His writing is aimed at the so called public sphere constituting civil society and he does believe strongly in the tranformative nature of good writing.
The book that I enjoyed the most was one of Pamuk's earliest novels, My Name is Red.It is set in the dark days of the Ottoman Empire when Istambul was the cultural capital of ASIA.The novel attempts an exploration of the subjective world through the experiences of a range of characters,Stork, Butterfly, Olive and Esther.The miniaturist and his world are etched out in a manner that suggetrs that Pamuk is quite familiar with the mentalites approach of the French Annalistes.
Orhan Pamuk and his evocative novels
Turkey is located geographically right in the middle of two great continents, Europe that lies west of the Straits of Bosphorus and the vast Asian lands to the east. Such a location is not without its obvious difficulties, a cultural confusion noted right from the days of Herodotus is only one obvious problem. Turkey aspires to join the European Union and as such has to meet certain exacting standards of human rights, judicial due process, political and intellectual freedom etc. This bill of political freedoms in an Islamic country itself is an anomaly. And yet Turkey in spite of rising time of Islamic fundamentalism and even al Qaeda inspired terrorism has proved to be a stable and vibrant society. The Nobel Prize for literature has gone to a Turkisn novelist Orhan Pamuk who seems to represent both the grand historical past of the Ottomans and the contemporary angst in his writings. Most critics would argue that Orhan Pamuk is a post modernist in that he experiments with different structures of time and narrative in his novels. We can even speculate about Pamuk's questining of the Turkish identity of present day Turkey. He has won my admiration for the courage he dispalyed in pubically cslling upon the Turkish state to acknowledge the Armenian Massacre that took palce in the first decade of the 20th century.
Pamuk unlike western liberals who blame Islam for all the ills of present day society. He denounces quite vehemently all those woh preach islamophobia in the name of spreading democracy. I will quote a passage from his writings to illustrate the point;
It is neither Islam nor even poverty itself that engenders support for terrorists whose ferocity and
ingenuity are unprecedented in human history; it is, rather, the crushing humiliation that has infected
Third World countries. And for this the west has to be held responsible because it has failed to comprehend
the shame and the humiliation that has fallen on the poorer nations. Hot-headed military operations and wars
will only take us away from the order of peace.
This sentence sums up all that is wrong with the policy of trhe powerful nations against Islamic countries. Pamuk has spoken strongly in favor of intellectual and cultural freedom in Turkey and was even procecuted for the crime of insulting "Turkish Identity". He regards the writers primary objective as being the unpacking of all that a culture refuses to talk about. A clinical examination of the sites of silence in any given society. Politics of civil liberty and unrelenting questiong of the staus quo are the credo of Pamuk's writing.His writing is aimed at the so called public sphere constituting civil society and he does believe strongly in the tranformative nature of good writing.
The book that I enjoyed the most was one of Pamuk's earliest novels, My Name is Red.It is set in the dark days of the Ottoman Empire when Istambul was the cultural capital of ASIA.The novel attempts an exploration of the subjective world through the experiences of a range of characters,Stork, Butterfly, Olive and Esther.The miniaturist and his world are etched out in a manner that suggetrs that Pamuk is quite familiar with the mentalites approach of the French Annalistes.
Pamuk unlike western liberals who blame Islam for all the ills of present day society. He denounces quite vehemently all those woh preach islamophobia in the name of spreading democracy. I will quote a passage from his writings to illustrate the point;
It is neither Islam nor even poverty itself that engenders support for terrorists whose ferocity and
ingenuity are unprecedented in human history; it is, rather, the crushing humiliation that has infected
Third World countries. And for this the west has to be held responsible because it has failed to comprehend
the shame and the humiliation that has fallen on the poorer nations. Hot-headed military operations and wars
will only take us away from the order of peace.
This sentence sums up all that is wrong with the policy of trhe powerful nations against Islamic countries. Pamuk has spoken strongly in favor of intellectual and cultural freedom in Turkey and was even procecuted for the crime of insulting "Turkish Identity". He regards the writers primary objective as being the unpacking of all that a culture refuses to talk about. A clinical examination of the sites of silence in any given society. Politics of civil liberty and unrelenting questiong of the staus quo are the credo of Pamuk's writing.His writing is aimed at the so called public sphere constituting civil society and he does believe strongly in the tranformative nature of good writing.
The book that I enjoyed the most was one of Pamuk's earliest novels, My Name is Red.It is set in the dark days of the Ottoman Empire when Istambul was the cultural capital of ASIA.The novel attempts an exploration of the subjective world through the experiences of a range of characters,Stork, Butterfly, Olive and Esther.The miniaturist and his world are etched out in a manner that suggetrs that Pamuk is quite familiar with the mentalites approach of the French Annalistes.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Israel's WarCrime at Qana
Early this morning around 12:30 Israeli F-16 jets dropped bombs on the southern Lebonese city of Qana. In this attack a building housing refugees who had fled from earlier Israeli bombardment were targetted and the men, women and children sleeping in the basement of the building were killed when the Israeli bombs demolished the building. The dispropotionate use of firepower by the Israelis is causing universal concern and while the world waits for the US to rein in the Israelis the pace of relentless killing continues without respite. Throughout the past 18 days Israeli jets have pounded hospitals,schools, appartment buildings, shopping centres, churches and civil infrastructure. They have replicated the pattern of destruction initiated in the GazaStrip--kill, attack civilians, destroy civic infrastructure and hospitals. In Lebanon the Israelis have gone one step beyond what they were doing in Gaza: they are follwing refugee convoys and killing them as they attempt to flee. This pattern of repraisals shows that the claim that Hizbollah is using civilians as cover for their rockets is false. Surely it is impossible to fire Katusha Rockets from refugee convoys.
The destruction rained upon Beirut city is so severe that parts of the city have been reduced to a moonscape with just rocks, glass and the stench of rotting flesh hanging like a hat overhead. The Isralis are not even allowing the Lebonese time to bury their dead. The pace of bombing is continuous and systematic. Using GPS and digital imaging the Israeli Air Force has been targetting the civilian areas killing in Southern Lebanon, Beirut ,Tyre and Qana over 600 civilians, the majority of whom are children and women. Helpless victims of a war state that has gone out of control. I wonder why the political leadership of Israel does not understand that for each of such crimes they commit, the chances of a lasting peace recedes. It is likely that Israel is not interested in peace and along with their big power supporter is taking the world for a ride when publically they endorse a two state solution and take every opportunity to kill, maim, and bomb innocent civilians who are not their enemy. The Internationall Commmunity has already began to feel that the UN ,like the League of Nations which could do little to control the Germans in the years before World War II,has become an embarrasment. Standing by watching helplessly as children and women are incenerated in the shelling and bombing unleashed by the State of Israel.
The International Community is aware that cluster munitions are being used by Israel against civilians. Howtizer fired cluster munitions are the most horrible and infernal engines of death from the death factories that supply such weapons. The USA has rushed an urgent supplyn of such weapons to Israel and they are being deployed against civilians. In Beirut Hospital the emergency services are running on generators and there is no supply of oxygen or medicines. Diabetic patients have run out of insulin and several have died in the last few weeks. The civic infrastructure has been completely and thoroughly destroyed.
The Israeli claim that they target civilian areas because they protect the Hizbollah and are launching ground for Katusha Rockets is to say the least an alibi. This is only a justification for large scale boming and causing civilian deaths as reparisals. Israel has not produced a shred of evidence to back this claim. The "embedded" American journalists who are keen to toe the line of their governemnt have visited the sites bombed by the Israelis and have clearly shown that they were only residential areas. No weapon, let alone rocket launchers have been found in the ruins of the bombed out buildings. It is an Orwellian tactic first pioneered by Dr Goebels: Repeat a lie a hundred times and people will start believing it. The cityscape of Souther Beirut, is packed with narrow lanes and by lanes with many high rise building, buit after the 74 civil war. It is impossible to fire rockets from such packed residential areas and Israel is using this to cover the warcimes it is commiting in Lebanon.
The capture of the 2 Israli soldiers by Hizbollah is generally trotted out as the cause for the outbreak of this round of hostilities. Even here the Israelis are being highly economical with truth. On July 29,1989 Israli commandos invaded the Lebonese toen of Jibchit and took Shiekh Abdul Karim captive in order to use him as a bargaining chip for excahning with some prisoners held by Hizbollah. UN Resolution 638 was of course ignored. In May 1994 Mustafe al-Dirani was kidnapped and brought to Israel, an act of what the Bushmen will call "Extraordinary rendition". He was held as an hostage inorder to be exchanged for the Israeli aviator Ron Arad who was shot down over Sidon in 1986. I can give more ibnstances but will stop at two just to prove that Israelis have gone in for prisoner exchanges in the past and while Hizbollah's actions were wrong, they were hardly the ones who begann this practice of taking prisoners for hostage and holding them on cAMPM 1391.
Even if we admit that Hizbollah did a morally reprehensible and politically irresponsible act, the reparisals launched by Israel have far far outweighed the intial act. Killing civilains on an industrial scale usinmg air power shows that Israel is now a state waging war against humanity and the International Community must act in adecicive manner to protect the lives of innocent men, women and children of Lebanon. Lebanon des not even have anti aircraft guns and to that extent the country has been demilitarise. In fact by its brutal, barbaric and savage actions against civilians Israel has forfeited whatever respect and synpathy it had.
What can the UN do. The UN was ineffective in Iraq and USA went ahead with its illegal war against Iraq and the world is seeing the consequences. UN resolutions 242, 338 and 638 have been ignored with US complicity while UN resolution 1559 is given the status of a biblical prophet. Moreover the negotiations within Lebanon for the implementatioinof this resolution had reached a criticasl stage when Istrael launched it barbaric campaign. The incantation form Israeli ministers that the Katusha Rockets are the cause of this action of reparisal. The fact is that more than 2000 Katusha Rockets have been fired and all of them have been firs from sites located away from the civilian areas. Israel is only using this to justify its callous disregard for the lives of Arab men women and children. It may not be out of place to note that the undercurrent of racism has always poisoned Arab-Israeli relations and by turning Lebanon into a 21st century killing field Israel has ceratinly lost whatever little respect it enjoyed in that part of theworld
The destruction rained upon Beirut city is so severe that parts of the city have been reduced to a moonscape with just rocks, glass and the stench of rotting flesh hanging like a hat overhead. The Isralis are not even allowing the Lebonese time to bury their dead. The pace of bombing is continuous and systematic. Using GPS and digital imaging the Israeli Air Force has been targetting the civilian areas killing in Southern Lebanon, Beirut ,Tyre and Qana over 600 civilians, the majority of whom are children and women. Helpless victims of a war state that has gone out of control. I wonder why the political leadership of Israel does not understand that for each of such crimes they commit, the chances of a lasting peace recedes. It is likely that Israel is not interested in peace and along with their big power supporter is taking the world for a ride when publically they endorse a two state solution and take every opportunity to kill, maim, and bomb innocent civilians who are not their enemy. The Internationall Commmunity has already began to feel that the UN ,like the League of Nations which could do little to control the Germans in the years before World War II,has become an embarrasment. Standing by watching helplessly as children and women are incenerated in the shelling and bombing unleashed by the State of Israel.
The International Community is aware that cluster munitions are being used by Israel against civilians. Howtizer fired cluster munitions are the most horrible and infernal engines of death from the death factories that supply such weapons. The USA has rushed an urgent supplyn of such weapons to Israel and they are being deployed against civilians. In Beirut Hospital the emergency services are running on generators and there is no supply of oxygen or medicines. Diabetic patients have run out of insulin and several have died in the last few weeks. The civic infrastructure has been completely and thoroughly destroyed.
The Israeli claim that they target civilian areas because they protect the Hizbollah and are launching ground for Katusha Rockets is to say the least an alibi. This is only a justification for large scale boming and causing civilian deaths as reparisals. Israel has not produced a shred of evidence to back this claim. The "embedded" American journalists who are keen to toe the line of their governemnt have visited the sites bombed by the Israelis and have clearly shown that they were only residential areas. No weapon, let alone rocket launchers have been found in the ruins of the bombed out buildings. It is an Orwellian tactic first pioneered by Dr Goebels: Repeat a lie a hundred times and people will start believing it. The cityscape of Souther Beirut, is packed with narrow lanes and by lanes with many high rise building, buit after the 74 civil war. It is impossible to fire rockets from such packed residential areas and Israel is using this to cover the warcimes it is commiting in Lebanon.
The capture of the 2 Israli soldiers by Hizbollah is generally trotted out as the cause for the outbreak of this round of hostilities. Even here the Israelis are being highly economical with truth. On July 29,1989 Israli commandos invaded the Lebonese toen of Jibchit and took Shiekh Abdul Karim captive in order to use him as a bargaining chip for excahning with some prisoners held by Hizbollah. UN Resolution 638 was of course ignored. In May 1994 Mustafe al-Dirani was kidnapped and brought to Israel, an act of what the Bushmen will call "Extraordinary rendition". He was held as an hostage inorder to be exchanged for the Israeli aviator Ron Arad who was shot down over Sidon in 1986. I can give more ibnstances but will stop at two just to prove that Israelis have gone in for prisoner exchanges in the past and while Hizbollah's actions were wrong, they were hardly the ones who begann this practice of taking prisoners for hostage and holding them on cAMPM 1391.
Even if we admit that Hizbollah did a morally reprehensible and politically irresponsible act, the reparisals launched by Israel have far far outweighed the intial act. Killing civilains on an industrial scale usinmg air power shows that Israel is now a state waging war against humanity and the International Community must act in adecicive manner to protect the lives of innocent men, women and children of Lebanon. Lebanon des not even have anti aircraft guns and to that extent the country has been demilitarise. In fact by its brutal, barbaric and savage actions against civilians Israel has forfeited whatever respect and synpathy it had.
What can the UN do. The UN was ineffective in Iraq and USA went ahead with its illegal war against Iraq and the world is seeing the consequences. UN resolutions 242, 338 and 638 have been ignored with US complicity while UN resolution 1559 is given the status of a biblical prophet. Moreover the negotiations within Lebanon for the implementatioinof this resolution had reached a criticasl stage when Istrael launched it barbaric campaign. The incantation form Israeli ministers that the Katusha Rockets are the cause of this action of reparisal. The fact is that more than 2000 Katusha Rockets have been fired and all of them have been firs from sites located away from the civilian areas. Israel is only using this to justify its callous disregard for the lives of Arab men women and children. It may not be out of place to note that the undercurrent of racism has always poisoned Arab-Israeli relations and by turning Lebanon into a 21st century killing field Israel has ceratinly lost whatever little respect it enjoyed in that part of theworld
Israel's WarCrime at Qana
Early this morning around 12:30 Israeli F-16 jets dropped bombs on the southern Lebonese city of Qana. In this attack a building housing refugees who had fled from earlier Israeli bombardment were targetted and the men, women and children sleeping in the basement of the building were killed when the Israeli bombs demolished the building. The dispropotionate use of firepower by the Israelis is causing universal concern and while the world waits for the US to rein in the Israelis the pace of relentless killing continues without respite. Throughout the past 18 days Israeli jets have pounded hospitals,schools, appartment buildings, shopping centres, churches and civil infrastructure. They have replicated the pattern of destruction initiated in the GazaStrip--kill, attack civilians, destroy civic infrastructure and hospitals. In Lebanon the Israelis have gone one step beyond what they were doing in Gaza: they are follwing refugee convoys and killing them as they attempt to flee. This pattern of repraisals shows that the claim that Hizbollah is using civilians as cover for their rockets is false. Surely it is impossible to fire Katusha Rockets from refugee convoys.
The destruction rained upon Beirut city is so severe that parts of the city have been reduced to a moonscape with just rocks, glass and the stench of rotting flesh hanging like a hat overhead. The Isralis are not even allowing the Lebonese time to bury their dead. The pace of bombing is continuous and systematic. Using GPS and digital imaging the Israeli Air Force has been targetting the civilian areas killing in Southern Lebanon, Beirut ,Tyre and Qana over 600 civilians, the majority of whom are children and women. Helpless victims of a war state that has gone out of control. I wonder why the political leadership of Israel does not understand that for each of such crimes they commit, the chances of a lasting peace recedes. It is likely that Israel is not interested in peace and along with their big power supporter is taking the world for a ride when publically they endorse a two state solution and take every opportunity to kill, maim, and bomb innocent civilians who are not their enemy. The Internationall Commmunity has already began to feel that the UN ,like the League of Nations which could do little to control the Germans in the years before World War II,has become an embarrasment. Standing by watching helplessly as children and women are incenerated in the shelling and bombing unleashed by the State of Israel.
The International Community is aware that cluster munitions are being used by Israel against civilians. Howtizer fired cluster munitions are the most horrible and infernal engines of death from the death factories that supply such weapons. The USA has rushed an urgent supplyn of such weapons to Israel and they are being deployed against civilians. In Beirut Hospital the emergency services are running on generators and there is no supply of oxygen or medicines. Diabetic patients have run out of insulin and several have died in the last few weeks. The civic infrastructure has been completely and thoroughly destroyed.
The Israeli claim that they target civilian areas because they protect the Hizbollah and are launching ground for Katusha Rockets is to say the least an alibi. This is only a justification for large scale boming and causing civilian deaths as reparisals. Israel has not produced a shred of evidence to back this claim. The "embedded" American journalists who are keen to toe the line of their governemnt have visited the sites bombed by the Israelis and have clearly shown that they were only residential areas. No weapon, let alone rocket launchers have been found in the ruins of the bombed out buildings. It is an Orwellian tactic first pioneered by Dr Goebels: Repeat a lie a hundred times and people will start believing it. The cityscape of Souther Beirut, is packed with narrow lanes and by lanes with many high rise building, buit after the 74 civil war. It is impossible to fire rockets from such packed residential areas and Israel is using this to cover the warcimes it is commiting in Lebanon.
The capture of the 2 Israli soldiers by Hizbollah is generally trotted out as the cause for the outbreak of this round of hostilities. Even here the Israelis are being highly economical with truth. On July 29,1989 Israli commandos invaded the Lebonese toen of Jibchit and took Shiekh Abdul Karim captive in order to use him as a bargaining chip for excahning with some prisoners held by Hizbollah. UN Resolution 638 was of course ignored. In May 1994 Mustafe al-Dirani was kidnapped and brought to Israel, an act of what the Bushmen will call "Extraordinary rendition". He was held as an hostage inorder to be exchanged for the Israeli aviator Ron Arad who was shot down over Sidon in 1986. I can give more ibnstances but will stop at two just to prove that Israelis have gone in for prisoner exchanges in the past and while Hizbollah's actions were wrong, they were hardly the ones who begann this practice of taking prisoners for hostage and holding them on cAMPM 1391.
Even if we admit that Hizbollah did a morally reprehensible and politically irresponsible act, the reparisals launched by Israel have far far outweighed the intial act. Killing civilains on an industrial scale usinmg air power shows that Israel is now a state waging war against humanity and the International Community must act in adecicive manner to protect the lives of innocent men, women and children of Lebanon. Lebanon des not even have anti aircraft guns and to that extent the country has been demilitarise. In fact by its brutal, barbaric and savage actions against civilians Israel has forfeited whatever respect and synpathy it had.
What can the UN do. The UN was ineffective in Iraq and USA went ahead with its illegal war against Iraq and the world is seeing the consequences. UN resolutions 242, 338 and 638 have been ignored with US complicity while UN resolution 1559 is given the status of a biblical prophet. Moreover the negotiations within Lebanon for the implementatioinof this resolution had reached a criticasl stage when Istrael launched it barbaric campaign. The incantation form Israeli ministers that the Katusha Rockets are the cause of this action of reparisal. The fact is that more than 2000 Katusha Rockets have been fired and all of them have been firs from sites located away from the civilian areas. Israel is only using this to justify its callous disregard for the lives of Arab men women and children. It may not be out of place to note that the undercurrent of racism has always poisoned Arab-Israeli relations and by turning Lebanon into a 21st century killing field Israel has ceratinly lost whatever little respect it enjoyed in that part of theworld
The destruction rained upon Beirut city is so severe that parts of the city have been reduced to a moonscape with just rocks, glass and the stench of rotting flesh hanging like a hat overhead. The Isralis are not even allowing the Lebonese time to bury their dead. The pace of bombing is continuous and systematic. Using GPS and digital imaging the Israeli Air Force has been targetting the civilian areas killing in Southern Lebanon, Beirut ,Tyre and Qana over 600 civilians, the majority of whom are children and women. Helpless victims of a war state that has gone out of control. I wonder why the political leadership of Israel does not understand that for each of such crimes they commit, the chances of a lasting peace recedes. It is likely that Israel is not interested in peace and along with their big power supporter is taking the world for a ride when publically they endorse a two state solution and take every opportunity to kill, maim, and bomb innocent civilians who are not their enemy. The Internationall Commmunity has already began to feel that the UN ,like the League of Nations which could do little to control the Germans in the years before World War II,has become an embarrasment. Standing by watching helplessly as children and women are incenerated in the shelling and bombing unleashed by the State of Israel.
The International Community is aware that cluster munitions are being used by Israel against civilians. Howtizer fired cluster munitions are the most horrible and infernal engines of death from the death factories that supply such weapons. The USA has rushed an urgent supplyn of such weapons to Israel and they are being deployed against civilians. In Beirut Hospital the emergency services are running on generators and there is no supply of oxygen or medicines. Diabetic patients have run out of insulin and several have died in the last few weeks. The civic infrastructure has been completely and thoroughly destroyed.
The Israeli claim that they target civilian areas because they protect the Hizbollah and are launching ground for Katusha Rockets is to say the least an alibi. This is only a justification for large scale boming and causing civilian deaths as reparisals. Israel has not produced a shred of evidence to back this claim. The "embedded" American journalists who are keen to toe the line of their governemnt have visited the sites bombed by the Israelis and have clearly shown that they were only residential areas. No weapon, let alone rocket launchers have been found in the ruins of the bombed out buildings. It is an Orwellian tactic first pioneered by Dr Goebels: Repeat a lie a hundred times and people will start believing it. The cityscape of Souther Beirut, is packed with narrow lanes and by lanes with many high rise building, buit after the 74 civil war. It is impossible to fire rockets from such packed residential areas and Israel is using this to cover the warcimes it is commiting in Lebanon.
The capture of the 2 Israli soldiers by Hizbollah is generally trotted out as the cause for the outbreak of this round of hostilities. Even here the Israelis are being highly economical with truth. On July 29,1989 Israli commandos invaded the Lebonese toen of Jibchit and took Shiekh Abdul Karim captive in order to use him as a bargaining chip for excahning with some prisoners held by Hizbollah. UN Resolution 638 was of course ignored. In May 1994 Mustafe al-Dirani was kidnapped and brought to Israel, an act of what the Bushmen will call "Extraordinary rendition". He was held as an hostage inorder to be exchanged for the Israeli aviator Ron Arad who was shot down over Sidon in 1986. I can give more ibnstances but will stop at two just to prove that Israelis have gone in for prisoner exchanges in the past and while Hizbollah's actions were wrong, they were hardly the ones who begann this practice of taking prisoners for hostage and holding them on cAMPM 1391.
Even if we admit that Hizbollah did a morally reprehensible and politically irresponsible act, the reparisals launched by Israel have far far outweighed the intial act. Killing civilains on an industrial scale usinmg air power shows that Israel is now a state waging war against humanity and the International Community must act in adecicive manner to protect the lives of innocent men, women and children of Lebanon. Lebanon des not even have anti aircraft guns and to that extent the country has been demilitarise. In fact by its brutal, barbaric and savage actions against civilians Israel has forfeited whatever respect and synpathy it had.
What can the UN do. The UN was ineffective in Iraq and USA went ahead with its illegal war against Iraq and the world is seeing the consequences. UN resolutions 242, 338 and 638 have been ignored with US complicity while UN resolution 1559 is given the status of a biblical prophet. Moreover the negotiations within Lebanon for the implementatioinof this resolution had reached a criticasl stage when Istrael launched it barbaric campaign. The incantation form Israeli ministers that the Katusha Rockets are the cause of this action of reparisal. The fact is that more than 2000 Katusha Rockets have been fired and all of them have been firs from sites located away from the civilian areas. Israel is only using this to justify its callous disregard for the lives of Arab men women and children. It may not be out of place to note that the undercurrent of racism has always poisoned Arab-Israeli relations and by turning Lebanon into a 21st century killing field Israel has ceratinly lost whatever little respect it enjoyed in that part of theworld
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Why ceasefire in the interest of Israel
Isaac Deutcher, the Jewish historian whose entire family perished in the Holocaust made the following observation after the end of the 1967 six day war with the Arab states: "To justify or condone Israel's wars against the Arabs is to render Israel a very bad service and harm its own long term interests". This statement is relevant today as Israel in a blaze of military tiumphalim is close to achieving abbolute mastery over Lebanon. The unrestrained use of firepower, and the highly self righteous rhetoric from Israeli leaders and the undercurrent of racist antagonism against the Arab population and the callous disregatrd for Arab lives--women and children-- not excluded.. all suggest that Israel is using the opportunity provided by the war on terror and the disturbed conditions prevaileing in the region to redraw the boundries to its advantage.
The offensive againt Hamas in Palestine has already cost hundreds of lives and now the war against Lebanon. Hamas, a Sunni outfit and Hizbollah a Shiaa outfit have now joined hands.. It is possible that Israeli military offensive could completely jeopardise the stability of the present regime and the large scale violence and bloodshed unleashed by Israel makes the Lebones population yearn for the days of Syrian occupation. The Maronite Christian and the Druze population were at the forefront of the struggle against Syria aznd having rid Lebanon of Syria, the people find themselves under seige by land, air and sea from a far more ruthless adversary. The Western powers used the pretext provided by the killing of Rafik Hariri to exple the Syrians from Lebanon and the Bekaab Valley. Now the world can see for itself the real gameplan behind the killing of Rafik Hiriri and the expulsion of the Syrians.
The military operations against the Hizbollah will only serve to intensify the problem in the middle east. A parallel with Iraq is obvious. Just as US occupation of Iraq fuelled an isurgency that has now gone out of control, the Israeli presence in SDouthern Lebanon will only intensify the resistance. Isral has gone in for prisoner swaps earlier, why not now. Obviously it wants to use this opportunity to consolodate itself in souther Lebanon and create what it calls a "buffer zone" there. USA has shown lack of political understanding when on the one hand it admits that Israel has used dispropotionate force against the civilian population and on the other uses the threat of veto on the question of a UN sponsored ceasefire
Is rthere any evidence that Iran has instigated the Hizbollah in order to divert attention from the nuclear tangle? In fact the dispropotionate use of air power against the civilian population by Israel itself will be a major talking point that Israel and the USA understand only the language of military might making the solution of the issue more difficult. So far Israel has provided no information about a possible Iranian link except the inuendo that since Hizbollah is a Shiaa organisation it must be a surrogate of the Iran. The logic of such statements is similar to Joseph Macarthy's famous aphorism" It walks like a duck, squacks like a duck so it must be a duck. Unfortunately the Iranian angle to this crisis has not been established. Syria is belamed for everything that happens in Lebanon. In fact it was Syria that brought peace to the war torn country and inspite of the UN intervention it has not been establishe that Syria was involved in the Rafik Hiriri assasination. The Katuysha rockets are of Soviet vintage and there are no signs of direct military support to Hizbollah by Syria. It is obvious that Israel is making thse accusations in order to widen the amit of conflict and draw the US directly into armed confrontation with Iran.
The response of the Arab nations to this unfolding catastrophe has been timid, tepid and spineless. Of course there is no love lost between the Arab powers and the Hizbollah but when Arabs are being killed in such numbers it is a shameless act of perfidy on the part of Arab Governments to remain silent spectators. However on the ground there is overwhelming suppot for the victims of Israeli aggression and that is a dangerous factor in the violent social and political undercurrents of the Middle East.
USA must suppot a ceasefire as desired by the government of Lebanon in the interes of peace and to stem a spiralling humanitarian cris in the region."
The offensive againt Hamas in Palestine has already cost hundreds of lives and now the war against Lebanon. Hamas, a Sunni outfit and Hizbollah a Shiaa outfit have now joined hands.. It is possible that Israeli military offensive could completely jeopardise the stability of the present regime and the large scale violence and bloodshed unleashed by Israel makes the Lebones population yearn for the days of Syrian occupation. The Maronite Christian and the Druze population were at the forefront of the struggle against Syria aznd having rid Lebanon of Syria, the people find themselves under seige by land, air and sea from a far more ruthless adversary. The Western powers used the pretext provided by the killing of Rafik Hariri to exple the Syrians from Lebanon and the Bekaab Valley. Now the world can see for itself the real gameplan behind the killing of Rafik Hiriri and the expulsion of the Syrians.
The military operations against the Hizbollah will only serve to intensify the problem in the middle east. A parallel with Iraq is obvious. Just as US occupation of Iraq fuelled an isurgency that has now gone out of control, the Israeli presence in SDouthern Lebanon will only intensify the resistance. Isral has gone in for prisoner swaps earlier, why not now. Obviously it wants to use this opportunity to consolodate itself in souther Lebanon and create what it calls a "buffer zone" there. USA has shown lack of political understanding when on the one hand it admits that Israel has used dispropotionate force against the civilian population and on the other uses the threat of veto on the question of a UN sponsored ceasefire
Is rthere any evidence that Iran has instigated the Hizbollah in order to divert attention from the nuclear tangle? In fact the dispropotionate use of air power against the civilian population by Israel itself will be a major talking point that Israel and the USA understand only the language of military might making the solution of the issue more difficult. So far Israel has provided no information about a possible Iranian link except the inuendo that since Hizbollah is a Shiaa organisation it must be a surrogate of the Iran. The logic of such statements is similar to Joseph Macarthy's famous aphorism" It walks like a duck, squacks like a duck so it must be a duck. Unfortunately the Iranian angle to this crisis has not been established. Syria is belamed for everything that happens in Lebanon. In fact it was Syria that brought peace to the war torn country and inspite of the UN intervention it has not been establishe that Syria was involved in the Rafik Hiriri assasination. The Katuysha rockets are of Soviet vintage and there are no signs of direct military support to Hizbollah by Syria. It is obvious that Israel is making thse accusations in order to widen the amit of conflict and draw the US directly into armed confrontation with Iran.
The response of the Arab nations to this unfolding catastrophe has been timid, tepid and spineless. Of course there is no love lost between the Arab powers and the Hizbollah but when Arabs are being killed in such numbers it is a shameless act of perfidy on the part of Arab Governments to remain silent spectators. However on the ground there is overwhelming suppot for the victims of Israeli aggression and that is a dangerous factor in the violent social and political undercurrents of the Middle East.
USA must suppot a ceasefire as desired by the government of Lebanon in the interes of peace and to stem a spiralling humanitarian cris in the region."
Monday, July 03, 2006
The Supreme Court Judgement on Hamdan vs Rumsfeldt is a victory for civil liberty
It is one of the surprising features of the US constitutional history that the power of "judicial review" is not explicity granted to the Supreme Court. In fact it is through a long process of delicate and careful interpretation of the statutes and laws of the US that a doctrine of judicial review came to fashioned.One looks in vain in the writings of Washington, Jefferson and Madison for any suggestion of the principle of judicial review. In fact it was Alexander Hamilton in Fereralist # 78 spoke of the "judiciary having neither force nor will only judgement". arecognition of the idea that legislative intent not action can be adjudicated upon by the US Supreme Court. This notion was further expanded by Justice John Marshall who in his enthusiasm propounded a theory of judicial supremacy, i.e. the Supreme Court is the guardian of the Constitution. We must say that in the Dred Scott Judgement the US Supreme Court came close to embracing this expanded view of the powers and functions of the Courts, a road that is now seldom taken.
There are a few principles laid down by the US Suprecourt that govern the process of judicial review. In the pre civil war days and well into the last century the Supreme Court deferred to "excecutive interpretation", a principle that was invoked even in the famous Chevron vs EPA judgement. By the principle of negative exclusion those provisions that were not explicitly provided by statute could be derived unless Congress has precluded them. The traditional tools of statutory interpretation has been (a) legislative history and (b) policy consequences. Second, there is the famous latin adage:Ratio est legis anima;mutata legis ratione mutatur legis.The reason for the law is the soul; when the reason for the law changes the law changes as well. Since the Dred Scott ruling the Supreme court hasn ususally preferred modest and narrow ruling and the present judgement is a good example of such a ruling.
Thre were three basic issues before the Supreme Court as far as the Hamdan vs Rumsfeltd case is concerned. First, can the President of the USA acting as C in C invoke the Councilman verdict in order to detain and try Hamdan as an enemy combattant through the Uniform Code of Military Justice.Here the court held that the Councilman judement is not applicable for the simple reason that Hamdan is not a US serviceman. The grounds for denying the 4 articles of tge Geneva convention were set aside by the SC on the ground that since Cingress authorised the War against the Taliban all provisions of the articles opf the Convention must apply.
The second issue concerned the procedures adopted by the Commissions to try the detainees at the Git Bay. The Court held that the appelate procedures laid down by US law must prevail and hence the defendants have a right to have the charges brought before them to be examined and evidence presented in their presence. Here there is an ambiguity in the judgement: Had Congree enacted a special Act establishing the hybrid Commissions then tyhis major part of the Bush policy may not have been struck down.
Third, therwe cannot be any curtailment of the right of due process even in times of war. The fact is that this judgement will make it easier for civil libertarians to challenge the illegal and I dare say treasonable actions of the government. It is only a matter of time when Bush and the Bush men will be tried for the "extraordinary rendition". This judement has a direct bearing on that case as well.
All in all this is a splendid judgement and will be a landmark in the judicial history of the USA.
There are a few principles laid down by the US Suprecourt that govern the process of judicial review. In the pre civil war days and well into the last century the Supreme Court deferred to "excecutive interpretation", a principle that was invoked even in the famous Chevron vs EPA judgement. By the principle of negative exclusion those provisions that were not explicitly provided by statute could be derived unless Congress has precluded them. The traditional tools of statutory interpretation has been (a) legislative history and (b) policy consequences. Second, there is the famous latin adage:Ratio est legis anima;mutata legis ratione mutatur legis.The reason for the law is the soul; when the reason for the law changes the law changes as well. Since the Dred Scott ruling the Supreme court hasn ususally preferred modest and narrow ruling and the present judgement is a good example of such a ruling.
Thre were three basic issues before the Supreme Court as far as the Hamdan vs Rumsfeltd case is concerned. First, can the President of the USA acting as C in C invoke the Councilman verdict in order to detain and try Hamdan as an enemy combattant through the Uniform Code of Military Justice.Here the court held that the Councilman judement is not applicable for the simple reason that Hamdan is not a US serviceman. The grounds for denying the 4 articles of tge Geneva convention were set aside by the SC on the ground that since Cingress authorised the War against the Taliban all provisions of the articles opf the Convention must apply.
The second issue concerned the procedures adopted by the Commissions to try the detainees at the Git Bay. The Court held that the appelate procedures laid down by US law must prevail and hence the defendants have a right to have the charges brought before them to be examined and evidence presented in their presence. Here there is an ambiguity in the judgement: Had Congree enacted a special Act establishing the hybrid Commissions then tyhis major part of the Bush policy may not have been struck down.
Third, therwe cannot be any curtailment of the right of due process even in times of war. The fact is that this judgement will make it easier for civil libertarians to challenge the illegal and I dare say treasonable actions of the government. It is only a matter of time when Bush and the Bush men will be tried for the "extraordinary rendition". This judement has a direct bearing on that case as well.
All in all this is a splendid judgement and will be a landmark in the judicial history of the USA.
Friday, June 09, 2006
ZARQAWI AND IRAQI POLITICS
Today the US notched up a major success in its "war against terror". The Jordanian terrorist Al Zarqawi was killed in an air strike near Bagdad. With the exit of Al Zarqawi, it now is certain that a major threat to the existing Iraqi regime has been removed. It appears from initial reports that the entire leadership of the Al Qaeda in Iraqi has been removed in one fell blow. What are the implications of this development.
First, in the short run at least the Iraqi regime and its American backers can breathe easy. Zarqawi was the strategist behingd the Sunni Insurgency and with his death a major hurdle has certainly been claered.
Second, the fact that the Coalition had precise information about the meeting in which Zarqawim was to participate shows that the present Iraqi regime has penetrated the thick veil of secrecy and probably there are spies of th e regime olready in place. This development will certainly leadd to a lot of shake up in the ranks of the Insurgents and hence their capacity to strike will in the short run be reduced.
Third, there is every possibility that Zarqawi will be repalced by another equallly charismatic leader, but it is unlikely that he would be able to strike with such ease as the now dead Zarqawi.
The Insurgecy will be crippled by this event and there is no doubt that at long last the coalition has killed aknown terrorist and not inocent civilians as it did in Haditha
First, in the short run at least the Iraqi regime and its American backers can breathe easy. Zarqawi was the strategist behingd the Sunni Insurgency and with his death a major hurdle has certainly been claered.
Second, the fact that the Coalition had precise information about the meeting in which Zarqawim was to participate shows that the present Iraqi regime has penetrated the thick veil of secrecy and probably there are spies of th e regime olready in place. This development will certainly leadd to a lot of shake up in the ranks of the Insurgents and hence their capacity to strike will in the short run be reduced.
Third, there is every possibility that Zarqawi will be repalced by another equallly charismatic leader, but it is unlikely that he would be able to strike with such ease as the now dead Zarqawi.
The Insurgecy will be crippled by this event and there is no doubt that at long last the coalition has killed aknown terrorist and not inocent civilians as it did in Haditha
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