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Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 09-19-2006 <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/events/s...rminationpanel/ <b>SELF DETERMINATION IN SOUTH ASIA: South Asia's Struggle against US-led Imperialism</b> a panel discussion with <b>Vijay Prashad, Angana Chatterji, Abdul Nayyar, and Snehal Shingavi </b> Saturday Sept 10, 5.30 pm 522 Valencia St., 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA (In San Francisco's Mission District) Panelists will discuss:   * The people's struggle against <b>pro-imperialist Indian elites</b> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->   * the implications of the latest <b>nuclear arms trade </b> <!--emo&:liar liar--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/liar.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='liar.gif' /><!--endemo--> agreement between India and the US on the people of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the rest of South Asia, <b>especially women</b> <!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo-->   * the role of South Asia in US imperialist ambitions   * <b>the other opportunities this presents to build Indian communism and fight the agenda of the global ruling class </b> <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 04-16-2007 X-post Speaking of "parallel narratives" here is a bunch of our old friends spreading sweetness and light: <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Note: With the launch of the report, CSFH announces its six-month "Truth Out on HSCs" information campaign aimed at informing every desi American student of the two-faced methods of the HSC and the Sangh Parivar. Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 5:02:29 PM   Subject: YSS-FOSA Conference press release   http://www.stopfundinghate.org/   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   <b>Campus Hindu Organization Conclusively Linked to the Sangh Parivar in North America and India   "Desi-American Students Deceived by the Hindu Student Council" says New Report </b>   For More Info: hsctruthout@gmail.com   New York , Friday, April 13, 2007: The Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH) will release a new report, Lying Religiously: The Hindu Students Council and the Politics of Deception, on Sunday, April 15, 2007. The report brings together evidence from multiple sources to demonstrate a web of connections between the Hindu Students Council (HSC) and the violent, hindu ultra-right Sangh Parivar, and exposes the deliberate efforts of the HSC leadership to conceal its links with the Sangh Parivar in order to deceive Hindu-American college students. The report provides the first comprehensive documentation of the origins, methods and practices of the HSC.   Similar to "The Foreign Exchange of Hate," the 2003 report documenting the flow of money from the United States into the coffers of the Sangh Parivar in India, almost all of the documentation used to construct the current report comes from the archives of the HSC itself and from the publications of the Sangh Parivar in North America and elsewhere. Starting with the origin of the HSC in 1991, when Ajay Shah, the first president of the HSC, proudly declared that the HSC was part of the VHP of America, the report documents the rise of early HSC leaders into the ranks of Sangh Parivar leadership in North America, the detailed family connections between a significant section of the HSC leadership and the Sangh Parivar, and the central role played by the HSC in the creation and maintenance of the Sangh Parivar's internet infrastructure, including the web infrastructure of the Sangh Parivar's parent organization, the RSS.   "Most of the young desi Americans who join the HSC have no clue as to the connections between the HSC and the militant and violent Hindu right wing in India" says Samip Mallick, one of the campaign coordinators for CSFH. "We fully support the creation and existence of Hindu student organizations on college campuses, but we are unable to condone the Hindu Student Council's continued misleading of college students regarding its ties to the Sangh Parivar," he continued. With the launch of the report, CSFH announces its six-month "Truth Out on HSCs" information campaign aimed at informing every desi American student of the two-faced methods of the HSC and the Sangh Parivar.   The report will be released on Sunday, April 15 at 3:30 PM at a press conference hosted by the Youth Solidarity Summer at 451 West Street (@ Bank), New York, NY 10014. For more information on the press conference write to: hsctruthout@gmail.com or call 917 232 8437. Summary and full versions of the report will be available at the press conference. The report will also be available on this website after 3 PM on Sunday April 15. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:tv--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tv_feliz.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tv_feliz.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:grenade--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/grenade.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='grenade.gif' /><!--endemo--> Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 04-16-2007 âBrahmins oppressing all communities in Indiaâ Staff Report <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->LAHORE: All communities in India including Dalits (untouchables), Muslims and Christians face oppression by Brahmins, <b>Indian journalist VT Rajshekar said while delivering a lecture at the Punjab University (PU) on Sunday.</b> The PU Teachersâ Front (TF) had organised the lecture. Senator SM Zafar was the chief guest. Rajshekar said that the people of India were still suffering from the caste system and Brahmins had monopoly on the economy and the media in India. He said that Brahmans constituted only three percent of the population. He said that the social conditions in Pakistan were better than in India. âMost of the Indian cities are big slums. The India government has issued false statistics about its progress,â he added. Rajshekar said that Bombay had the worldâs largest red light area. 80 percent of the prostitutes are untouchable and 10 percent Muslims. âIndia has fought wars with all neighbouring countries including Nepal is 100 percent Hindu,â he added. He said that the people of India loved Dr Ambedkar, who had struggled for the rights of the untouchable, more than Gandhi. âThere are more statues of Ambedkar in India than Gandhi,â he added. He said that Muhammad Ali Jinnah had left the All India Congress after realising that Brahmins dominated its policies. Rajshekar said that People-to-people contact between Pakistan and India can bring about peace in South Asia. Speaking on the occasion, SM Zafar said that governments of Pakistan and India spent large sums of money on armies instead of improving the education and health sectors. PU teachers, Prof Dr Miskeen Hijazi, Prof Shafiq Jalhandari, Prof Mujahid Mansoori, Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran were present on the occasion.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 04-16-2007 <b>About V. T. Rajshekar</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Under Rajshekhar's leadership the Dalit Voice organisation formulated an Indian variant of Afrocentric pseudohistory, similar to that of the Nation of Islam in the USA.[5] Dalit Voice has published articles about "Zionist conspiracies" regarding Hitler and the Third Reich[6][7]. <b>They have also supported the Iranian regime and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the holocaust[8]. </b>He was also the first to claim that the Jews and the Brahmins of India have the same ethnic origin. He alleges that Jews are "oppressing the Muslims" today and the "Brahmins are persecuting the original inhabitants of India".His allegations are perceived as anti-Semitic, as well as anti-Hindu, and anti-Brahman[9], including his claims that the famous hoax book Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a real Jewish conspiracy [10] and has made allegations that Indian Jews were "join(ing) hands (with Hindus) to crush Muslims, Blacks and India's Dalits"[11]. In 1986 Rajshekarâs passport was confiscated because of ââanti-Hinduism writings outside of India.â The same year, he was arrested in Bangalore under Indiaâs Terrorism and Anti-Disruptive Activities Act. Rajshekar told Human Rights Watch that this arrest was for an editorial he had written in Dalit Voice, that another writer who republished the editorial was also arrested, and that he was eventually released with an apology. [2]. .................... V.T Rajshekhar is not a Dalit himself, he comes from the prosperous upper caste Bunt [13] community. Though Rajshekar calls the Bunts a "backward" community this view is probably not shared by most members of his caste[14]. Given his upper caste origins, many of his detractors have questioned his commitment to the Dalit cause[15]. His views have support among fringe elements such as Islamist and radical Ambedkarite Neo-Buddhists, but are widely rejected by mainstream authors and scholars <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 04-24-2007 via email <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://communists.wordpress.com/ Youth Solidarity Summer / FOIL 10th Year Conference - A Report 23Apr07 Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS) organized its 10th anniversary conference at Brecht Forum in Manhtattan, NY from April 13th - 15th. Comrade Biju Mathew was the brain of this conference. He was assisted by 3-4 alumni of YSS. (COMMENT: This "worthy" was the "TOAST" of the Prannoy Roy's/Barkha Datts et al in the post GUJARAT-20O2- 'SECULAR T.V. SHOWS'!!! ) <b>Total of 60 people registered for the conference online and 40 showed up </b>on Friday (13th) and all showed up on 14 & 15. <b>Through this conference, Biju Mathew (FOIL) tried to revitalize the "progressive" and "radical" youth moment in US. For past 2 - 3 years, they have been stagnant due to the exodus of previous members from college age group to working professionals.</b> Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS)'s, youth wing of FOIL, main and sole objective is to organize 1 week summer camp in NYC in order to indoctrinate outcast Indian youths into communist ideology, misnomerly labeled Leftist. Last camp was organized in the summer of 2005. The conference participants were mostly new students who considered themselves "progressive" or "radical". Majority of them had Hindu names but they despise Hinduism. As the main aim of the conference is to re-organize Desi Left in US, this new fodder of students would be upcoming foot soldiers of the communist "collective". This conference had representation from about 10-15 various communist organizations. <b>Most of these organizations have members in single digit and they work unregistered to remain unnoticed from US Government</b>. Their official reason for working unregistered is that they don't want the hassle of maintaining paperwork required for a registered organization. I talked to one guy, who told me that they send money to Calcutta through Hawala Channels ⦠not through Official channels like Banks etc. According to him, they do it save overhead. My guess is that they do it to avoid detection by India Gov't for cases such as Nandigram. In my opinion, they have done very little actual work. Rather, they keep repeating their infinitismal success story, like organizing a camp of 10 high school students in Austin by Radical Desi (RadDesi), to give it larger than life image. Most of attendees (> 90%) were college students. Majority of them are pursuing masters degree, while couple were still working on Bachelors. Majority of them are poor and the conference organizers do provide stipend for some of them. <b>Many of these attendees, didn't have jobs, probably because they do majors like "Kali Temples in Bengal" or because they go to colleges (Sarah Lawrence in Yonkers, NY) where don't even have majors!</b> Many of them are stupid. They couldn't even find the conference event venue, for some it took a hour or they had to ask 20 people for directions! Most of these students are second generation. They are excellent communicators. They are using internet to discuss their issues, get more understanding through blogs like Sepia Mutiny ( http://www.sepiamutiny.com ). According to them, one of their challenges has been involve "low income" people in their fold. All they are able to find are "privileged classes". Many of them are artists and musicians or performers. They do use the word Comrade to refer to others in their group. Most of these youths seems to have been attracted by a single cause then sucked into the ideology. Most of the Left organizations are issue focused e.g, Gay/Lesbian, Women Rights, Protesting against anything, <b>Fighting for poor or undocumented immigrants</b>, fighting the system etc. Then these issues are supported by Communist ideology. So, the issue attracts people and then people learn about ideology. These guys handed out the printed list of 60 people with their e-mail and phone #s. I will publish it online soon.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 05-19-2007 http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=t...8b82dpsct9f9003 Fears for Democracy in India By MARTHA C. NUSSBAUM On February 27, 2002, the Sabarmati express train arrived in the station of Godhra, in the state of Gujarat, bearing a large group of Hindu pilgrims who were returning from a trip to the purported birthplace of the god Rama at Ayodhya (where, some years earlier, angry Hindu mobs had destroyed the Babri mosque, which they claimed was on top of the remains of Rama's birthplace). The pilgrimage, like many others in recent times, aimed at forcibly constructing a temple over the disputed site, and the mood of the returning passengers, frustrated in their aims by the government and the courts, was angrily emotional. When the train stopped at the station, the Hindu passengers got into arguments with Muslim passengers and vendors. At least one Muslim vendor was beaten up when he refused to say Jai Sri Ram ("Hail Rama"). As the train left the station, stones were thrown at it, apparently by Muslims. Fifteen minutes later, one car of the train erupted in flames. Fifty-eight men, women, and children died in the fire. Most of the dead were Hindus. Because the area adjacent to the tracks was made up of Muslim dwellings, and because a Muslim mob had gathered in the region to protest the treatment of Muslims on the train platform, blame was immediately put on Muslims. Many people were arrested, and some of those are still in detention without charge â despite the fact that two independent inquiries have established through careful sifting of the forensic evidence that the fire was most probably a tragic accident, caused by combustion from cookstoves carried on by the passengers and stored under the seats of the train. In the days that followed the incident, wave upon wave of violence swept through the state. The attackers were Hindus, many of them highly politicized, shouting slogans of the Hindu right, along with "Kill! Destroy!" and "Slaughter!" There is copious evidence that the violent retaliation was planned before the precipitating event by Hindu extremist organizations that had been waiting for an occasion. No one was spared: Young children were thrown into fires along with their families, fetuses ripped from the bellies of pregnant women. Particularly striking was the number of women who were raped, mutilated, in some cases tortured with large metal objects, and then set on fire. Over the course of several weeks, about 2,000 Muslims were killed. Most alarming was the total breakdown in the rule of law â not only at the local level but also at that of the state and national governments. Police were ordered not to stop the violence. Some egged it on. Gujarat's chief minister, Narendra Modi, rationalized and even encouraged the murders. He was later re-elected on a platform that focused on religious hatred. Meanwhile the national government showed a culpable indifference. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee suggested that religious riots were inevitable wherever Muslims lived alongside Hindus, and that troublemaking Muslims were to blame. While Americans have focused on President Bush's "war on terror," Iraq, and the Middle East, democracy has been under siege in another part of the world. India â the most populous of all democracies, and a country whose Constitution protects human rights even more comprehensively than our own â has been in crisis. Until the spring of 2004, its parliamentary government was increasingly controlled by right-wing Hindu extremists who condoned and in some cases actively supported violence against minority groups, especially Muslims. What has been happening in India is a serious threat to the future of democracy in the world. The fact that it has yet to make it onto the radar screen of most Americans is evidence of the way in which terrorism and the war on Iraq have distracted us from events and issues of fundamental significance. If we really want to understand the impact of religious nationalism on democratic values, India currently provides a deeply troubling example, and one without which any understanding of the more general phenomenon is dangerously incomplete. It also provides an example of how democracy can survive the assault of religious extremism. In May 2004, the voters of India went to the polls in large numbers. Contrary to all predictions, they gave the Hindu right a resounding defeat. Many right-wing political groups and the social organizations allied with them remain extremely powerful, however. The rule of law and democracy has shown impressive strength and resilience, but the future is unclear. The case of Gujarat is a lens through which to conduct a critical examination of the influential thesis of the "clash of civilizations," made famous by the political scientist Samuel P. Huntington. His picture of the world as riven between democratic Western values and an aggressive Muslim monolith does nothing to help us understand today's India, where, I shall argue, the violent values of the Hindu right are imports from European fascism of the 1930s, and where the third-largest Muslim population in the world lives as peaceful democratic citizens, despite severe poverty and other inequalities. The real "clash of civilizations" is not between "Islam" and "the West," but instead within virtually all modern nations â between people who are prepared to live on terms of equal respect with others who are different, and those who seek the protection of homogeneity and the domination of a single "pure" religious and ethnic tradition. At a deeper level, as Gandhi claimed, it is a clash within the individual self, between the urge to dominate and defile the other and a willingness to live respectfully on terms of compassion and equality, with all the vulnerability that such a life entails. This argument about India suggests a way to see America, which is also torn between two different pictures of itself. One shows the country as good and pure, its enemies as an external "axis of evil." The other picture, the fruit of internal self-criticism, shows America as complex and flawed, torn between forces bent on control and hierarchy and forces that promote democratic equality. At what I've called the Gandhian level, the argument about India shows Americans to themselves as individuals, each of whom is capable of both respect and aggression, both democratic mutuality and anxious domination. Americans have a great deal to gain by learning more about India and pondering the ideas of some of her most significant political thinkers, such as Sir Rabindranath Tagore and Mohandas Gandhi, whose ruminations about nationalism and the roots of violence are intensely pertinent to today's conflicts. A ccording to the Huntington thesis, each "civilization" has its own distinctive view of life, and Hinduism counts as a distinct "civilization." If we investigate the history of the Hindu right, however, we will see a very different story. Traditional Hinduism was decentralized, plural, and highly tolerant, so much so that the vision of a unitary, "pure" Hinduism that could provide the new nation, following independence from Britain in 1947, with an aggressive ideology of homogeneity could not be found in India: The founders of the Hindu right had to import it from Europe. The Hindu right's view of history is a simple one. Like all simple tales, it is largely a fabrication, but its importance to the movement may be seen by the intensity with which its members go after scholars who present a more nuanced and accurate view: not only by strident public critiques, but by organized campaigns of threat and intimidation, culminating in some cases in physical violence. Here's how the story goes: Once there lived in the Indus Valley a pure and peaceful people. They spoke Vedic Sanskrit, the language of the gods. They had a rich material culture and a peaceful temper, although they were prepared for war. Their realm was vast, stretching from Kashmir in the north to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in the south. And yet they saw unity and solidarity in their shared ways of life, calling themselves Hindus and their land Hindustan. No class divisions troubled them, nor was caste a painful source of division. The condition of women was excellent. That peaceful condition went on for centuries. Although from time to time marauders made their appearance (for example, the Huns), they were quickly dispatched. Suddenly, rudely, unprovoked, invading Muslims put an end to all that. Early in the 16th century, Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty, swept through the north of Hindustan, vandalizing Hindu temples, stealing sacred objects, building mosques over temple ruins. For 200 years, Hindus lived at the mercy of the marauders, until the Maharashtrian hero Shivaji rose up and restored the Hindu kingdom. His success was all too brief. Soon the British took up where Babur and his progeny had left off, imposing tyranny upon Hindustan and her people. They can recover their pride only by concerted aggression against alien elements in their midst. What is wrong with that picture? Well, for a start, the people who spoke Sanskrit almost certainly migrated into the subcontinent from outside, finding indigenous people there, probably the ancestors of the Dravidian peoples of South India. Hindus are no more indigenous than Muslims. Second, it leaves out problems in Hindu society: the problem of caste, which both Gandhi and Tagore took to be the central social issue facing India, and obvious problems of class and gender inequality. (When historians point to evidence of these things, the Hindu right calls them Marxists, as if that, by itself, invalidated their arguments.) Third, it leaves out the tremendous regional differences within Hinduism, and hostilities and aggressions sometimes associated with those. Fourth, it omits the evidence of peaceful coexistence and syncretism between Hindus and Muslims for a good deal of the Mughal Empire, including the well-known policies of religious pluralism of Akbar (1542-1605). In the Hindu-right version of history, a persistent theme is that of humiliated masculinity: Hindus have been subordinate for centuries, and their masculinity insulted, in part because they have not been aggressive and violent enough. The two leading ideologues of the Hindu right responded to the call for a warlike Hindu masculinity in different ways. V.D. Savarkar (1883-1966) was a freedom fighter who spent years in a British prison in the Andaman Islands, and who may have been a co-conspirator in the assassination of Gandhi. M.S. Golwalkar (1906-73), a gurulike figure who was not involved in the independence struggle, quietly helped build up the organization known as RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or National Volunteers Association), now the leading social organization of the Hindu right. Savarkar's "Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?," first published in 1923, undertook to define the essence of Hinduness for the new nation; his definition was exclusionary, emphasizing cultural homogeneity and the need to use force to ensure the supremacy of Hindus. Golwalkar's We, or Our Nationhood Defined was published in 1939. Writing during the independence struggle, Golwalkar saw his task as describing the unity of the new nation. To do that, he looked to Western political theory, and particularly to Germany, where what he called "race pride" helped bring "under one sway the whole of the territory" that was originally held by the Germani. By purging itself of Jews, he wrote, "Germany has also shown how well nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by." In the end, Golwalkar's vision of national unity was not exactly that of Nazi Germany. He was not very concerned with purity of blood, but rather with whether Muslim and Christian groups were willing to "abandon their differences, and completely merge themselves in the National Race." He was firmly against the civic equality of any people who retained their religious and ethnic distinctiveness. At the time of independence, such ideas of Hindu supremacy did not prevail. Nehru and Gandhi insisted not only on equal rights for all citizens, but also on stringent protections for religious freedom of expression in the new Constitution. Gandhi always pointedly included Muslims at the very heart of his movement. He felt that respect for human equality lay at the heart of all genuine religions, and provided Hindus with strong reasons both for repudiating the caste hierarchy and for seeking relationships of respect and harmony with Christians and Muslims. A devout Muslim, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, was one of his and Nehru's most trusted advisers, and it was to him that Gandhi turned to accept food when he broke his fast unto death, a very pointed assault on sectarian ideas of purity and pollution. Gandhi's pluralistic ideas, however, were always contested. On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was shot at point-blank range by Nathuram Godse, a member of the Hindu political party Mahasabha and former member of the RSS, who had long had a close, reverential relationship with Savarkar. At his sentencing on November 8, 1949, Godse read a book-length statement of self-explanation. Although it was not permitted publication at the time, it gradually leaked out. Today it is widely available on the Internet, where Godse is revered as a hero on Hindu-right Web sites. Godse's self-justification, like the historical accounts of both Savarkar and Golwalkar, saw contemporary events against the backdrop of centuries of "Muslim tyranny" in India, punctuated by the heroic resistance of Shivaji in the 18th century. Like Savarkar, Godse described his goal as that of creating a strong, proud India that could throw off the centuries of domination. He was appalled by Gandhi's rejection of the warlike heroes of classical Hindu epics and his inclusion of Muslims as full equals in the new nation, and argued that Gandhi exposed Indians to subordination and humiliation. Nehru believed that the murder of Gandhi was part of a "fairly widespread conspiracy" on the part of the Hindu right to seize power; he saw the situation as analogous to that in Europe on the eve of the fascist takeovers. And he believed that the RSS was the power behind this conspiracy. Fast-forward now to recent years. Although illegal for a time, the RSS eventually re-emerged and quietly went to work building a vast social network, consisting largely of groups for young boyscalled shakha, or "branches"which, through clever use of games and songs, indoctrinate the young into the confrontational and Hindu-supremacist ideology of the organization. The idea of total obedience and the abnegation of critical faculties is at the core of the solidaristic movement. Each day, as members raise the saffron flag of the warlike hero Shivaji, which the movement prefers to the tricolor flag of the Indian nation (with its Buddhist wheel of law reminding citizens of the emperor Ashoka's devotion to religious toleration), they recite a pledge that begins: "I take the oath that I will always protect the purity of Hindu religion, and the purity of Hindu culture, for the supreme progress of the Hindu nation." The organization also makes clever use of modern media: A nationally televised serial version of the classic epic Ramayana in the late 1980s fascinated viewers all over India with its concocted tale of a unitary Hinduism dedicated to the single-minded worship of the god Rama. In 1992 Hindu mobs, with the evident connivance of the modern political wing of the RSS, the party known as the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party, or National People's Party), destroyed a mosque in the city of Ayodhya that they say covers the remains of a Hindu temple marking Rama's birthplace. Politically, the BJP began to gather strength in the late 1980s, drawing on widespread public dissatisfaction with the economic policies of the post-Nehru Congress Party (although it was actually Congress, under Rajiv Gandhi, that began economic reforms), and playing, always, the cards of hatred and fear. It was during its ascendancy, in a coalition government that prevented it from carrying out all its goals, that the destruction of the Ayodyha mosque took place. The violence in Gujarat was the culmination of a series of increasingly angry pilgrimages to the Ayodyha site, where the Hindu right has attempted to construct a Hindu temple over the ruins, but has been frustrated by the courts. Although the elections of 2004 gave a negative verdict on the BJP government, it remains the major opposition party and controls governments in some key states, including Gujarat. For several years, I have studied the Gujarat violence, its basis and its aftermath, looking for implications for how we should view religious violence around the world. One obvious conclusion is that each case must be studied on its own merits, with close attention to specific historical and regional factors. The idea that all conflicts are explained by a simple hypothesis of the "clash of civilizations" proves utterly inadequate in Gujarat, where European ideas were borrowed to address a perceived humiliation and to create an ideology that has led to a great deal of violence against peaceful Muslims. Indeed, the "clash of civilizations" thesis is the best friend of the perpetrators because it shields them and their ideology from scrutiny. Repeatedly in interviews with leading members of the Hindu right, I was informed that no doubt, as an American, I was already on their side, knowing that Muslims cause trouble wherever they are. What we see in Gujarat is not a simplistic, comforting thesis, but something more disturbing: the fact that in a thriving democracy, many individuals are unable to live with others who are different, on terms of mutual respect and amity. They seek total domination as the only road to security and pride. That is a phenomenon well known in democracies around the world, and it has nothing to do with an alleged Muslim monolith, and, really, very little to do with religion as such. This case, then, informs us that we must look within, asking whether in our own society similar forces are at work, and, if so, how we may counteract them. Beyond that general insight, my study of the riots has suggested four very specific lessons. The rule of law: One of the most appalling aspects of the events in Gujarat was the complicity of officers of the law. The police sat on their hands, the highest officials of state government egged on the killing, and the national government gave aid and comfort to the state government. However, the institutional and legal structure of the Indian democracy ultimately proved robust, playing a key role in securing justice for the victims. The Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India played constructive roles in postponing new elections while Muslims were encouraged to return home, and in ordering changes of venue in key trials arising out of the violence. Above all, free national elections were held in 2004, and those elections, in which the participation of poor rural voters was decisive, delivered a strongly negative verdict on the policies of fear and hate, as well as on the BJP's economic policies. The current government, headed by Manmohan Singha Sikh and India's first minority prime ministerhas announced a firm commitment to end sectarian violence and has done a great deal to focus attention on the unequal economic and political situation of Muslims in the nation, as well as appointing Muslims to key offices. On balance, then, the pluralistic democracy envisaged by Gandhi and Nehru seems to be winning, in part because the framers of the Indian state bequeathed to India a wise institutional and constitutional structure, and traditions of commitment to the key political values that structure embodies. It should be mentioned that one of the key aspects of the founders' commitments, which so far has survived the Hindu-right challenge, is the general conception of the nation as a uni-ty around political ideals and values, particularly the value of equal entitlement, rather than around ethnic or religious or linguistic identity. India, like the United States, but unlike most of the nations of Europe, has rejected such exclusionary ways of characterizing the nation, adopting in its Constitution, in public ceremonies, and in key public symbols the political conception of its unity. Political structure is not ev-erything, but it can supply a great deal in times of stress. The news media and the role of intellectuals: One of the heartening aspects of the Gujarat events was the performance of the national news media and of the community of intellectuals. Both print media and television kept up unceasing pressure to document and investigate events. At the same time, many scholars, lawyers, and leaders of nongovernnmental organizations converged on Gujarat to take down the testimony of witnesses, help them file complaints, and prepare a public record that would stand up in court. The only reason I felt the need to write about these events further is that their analyses have, by and large, not reached the American audience. We can see here documentation of something long ago observed by the Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen in the context of famines: the crucial role of a free press in supporting democratic institutions. (Sen pointed out that there has not been a famine in recent times in a nation where a free press brings essential information to the public; in China, by contrast, in the late 1950s and early 60s, famine was allowed to continue unabated, because news of what was happening in rural areas did not leak out.) And we can study here what a free press really means: I would argue that it requires a certain absence of top-down corporate control and an easy access to the major news media for intellectual voices from a wide range of backgrounds. Education and the importance of critical thinking and imagination: So far I have mentioned factors that have helped the Indian democracy survive the threat of quasi-fascist takeover. But there are warning signs for the future. The public schools in Gujarat are famous for their complete lack of critical thinking, their exclusive emphasis on rote learning and the uncritical learning of marketable skills, and the elements of fascist propaganda that easily creep in when critical thinking is not cultivated. It is well known that Hitler is presented as a hero in history textbooks in the state, and nationwide public protest has not yet led to any change. To some extent, the rest of the nation is better off: National-level textbooks have been rewritten to take out the Hindu right's false ideological view of history and to substitute a more nuanced view. Nonetheless, the emphasis on rote learning and on regurgitation of facts for national examinations is distressing everywhere, and things are only becoming worse with the immense pressure to produce economically productive graduates. The educational culture of India used to contain progressive voices, such as that of the great Tagore, who emphasized that all the skills in the world were useless, even baneful, if not wielded by a cultivated imagination and refined critical faculties. Such voices have now been silenced by the sheer demand for profitability in the global market. Parents want their children to learn marketable skills, and their great pride is the admission of a child to the Indian Institutes of Technology or the India Institutes of Management. They have contempt for the humanities and the arts. I fear for democracy down the road, when it is run, as it increasingly will be, by docile engineers in the Gujarat mold, unable to criticize the propaganda of politicians and unable to imagine the pain of another human being. In the United States, by some estimates fully 40 percent of Indian-Americans hail from Gujarat, where a large proportion belong to the Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism, distinctive for its emphasis on uncritical obedience to the utterances of the current leader of the sect, whose title is Pramukh Swami Maharaj. On a visit to the elaborate multimillion-dollar Swaminarayan temple in Bartlett, Ill., I was given a tour by a young man recently arrived from Gujarat, who delighted in telling me the simplistic Hindu-right story of India's history, and who emphatically told me that whenever Pramukh Swami speaks, one is to regard it as the direct voice of God and obey without question. At that point, with a beatific smile, the young man pointed up to the elaborate marble ceiling and asked, "Do you know why this ceiling glows the way it does?" I said I didn't, and I confidently expected an explanation invoking the spiritual powers of Pramukh Swami. My guide smiled even more broadly. "Fiber-optic cables," he told me. "We are the first ones to put this technology into a temple." There you see what can easily wreck democracy: a combination of technological sophistication with utter docility. I fear that many democracies around the world, including our own, are going down that road, through a lack of emphasis on the humanities and arts and an unbalanced emphasis on profitable skills. The creation of a liberal public culture: How did fascism take such hold in India? Hindu traditions emphasize tolerance and pluralism, and daily life tends to emphasize the ferment and vigor of difference, as people from so many ethnic, linguistic, and regional backgrounds encounter one another. But as I've noted, the traditions contain a wound, a locus of vulnerability, in the area of humiliated masculinity. For centuries, some Hindu males think, they were subordinated by a sequence of conquerors, and Hindus have come to identify the sexual playfulness and sensuousness of their traditions, scorned by the masters of the Raj, with their own weakness and subjection. So a repudiation of the sensuous and the cultivation of the masculine came to seem the best way out of subjection. One reason why the RSS attracts such a following is the widespread sense of masculine failure. At the same time, the RSS filled a void, organizing at the grass-roots level with great discipline and selflessness. The RSS is not just about fascist ideology; it also provides needed social services, and it provides fun, luring boys in with the promise of a group life that has both more solidarity and more imagination than the tedious world of government schools. S o what is needed is some counterforce, which would supply a public culture of pluralism with equally efficient grass-roots organization, and a public culture of masculinity that would contend against the appeal of the warlike and rapacious masculinity purveyed by the Hindu right. The "clash within" is not so much a clash between two groups in a nation that are different from birth; it is, at bottom, a clash within each person, in which the ability to live with others on terms of mutual respect and equality contends anxiously against the sense of being humiliated. Gandhi understood that. He taught his followers that life's real struggle was a struggle within the self, against one's own need to dominate and one's fear of being vulnerable. He deliberately focused attention on sexuality as an arena in which domination plays itself out with pernicious effect, and he deliberately cultivated an androgynous maternal persona. More significantly still, he showed his followers that being a "real man" is not a matter of being aggressive and bashing others; it is a matter of controlling one's own instincts to aggression and standing up to provocation with only one's human dignity to defend oneself. I think that in some respects, he went off the tracks, in his suggestion that sexual relations are inherently scenes of domination and in his recommendation of asceticism as the only route to nondomination. Nonetheless, he saw the problem at its root, and he proposed a public culture that, while he lived, was sufficient to address it. In a quite different way, Tagore also created a counterimage of the Indian self, an image that was more sensuous, more joyful than that of Gandhi, but equally bent on renouncing the domination that Tagore saw as inherent in European traditions. In works such as Nationalism and The Religion of Man, Tagore described a type of joyful cosmopolitanism, underwritten by poetry and the arts, that he also made real in his pioneering progressive school in Santiniketan. After Gandhi, however, that part of the pluralist program has languished. Though he much loved and admired both Gandhi and Tagore, Nehru had contempt for religion, and out of his contempt he neglected the cultivation of what the radical religions of both men had supplied: images of who we are as citizens, symbolic connections to the roots of human vulnerability and openness, and the creation of a grass-roots public culture around those symbols. Nehru was a great institution builder, but in thinking about the public culture of the new nation, his focus was always on economic, not cultural, issues. Because he firmly expected that raising the economic level of the poor would cause them to lose the need for religion and, in general, for emotional nourishment, he saw no need to provide a counterforce to the powerful emotional propaganda of the Hindu right. Today's young people in India, therefore, tend to think of religion, and the creation of symbolic culture in general, as forces that are in their very nature fascist and reactionary because that is what they have seen in their experience. When one tells them the story of the American civil-rights movement, and the role of both liberal religion and powerful pluralist rhetoric in forging an anti-racist civic culture, they are quite surprised. Meanwhile, the RSS goes to work unopposed in every state and region, skillfully plucking the strings of hate and fear. By now pluralists generally realize that a mistake was made in leaving grass-roots organization to the right, but it is very difficult to jump-start a pluralist movement. The salient exception has been the women's movement, which has built at the grass roots very skillfully. It is comforting for Americans to talk about a clash of civilizations. That thesis tells us that evil is outside, distant, other, and that we are perfectly all right as we are. All we need do is to remain ourselves and fight the good fight. But the case of Gujarat shows us that the world is very different. The forces that assail democracy are internal to many, if not most, democratic nations, and they are not foreign: They are our own ideas and voices, meaning the voices of aggressive European nationalism, refracted back against the original aggressor with the extra bile of resentment born of a long experience of domination and humiliation. The implication is that all nations, Western and non-Western, need to examine themselves with the most fearless exercise of critical capacities, looking for the roots of domination within and devising effective institutional and educational countermeasures. At a deeper level, the case of Gujarat shows us what Gandhi and Tagore, in their different ways, knew: that the real root of domination lies deep in the human personality. It would be so convenient if Americans were pure and free from flaw, but that fantasy is yet another form that the resourceful narcissism of the human personality takes on the way to bad behavior. Martha C. Nussbaum is a professor in the philosophy department, law school, divinity school, and the college at the University of Chicago. Her book The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future will be published this week by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 05-25-2007 <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Nikunj Trivedi (732) 599-1561, Rishi Bhutada (832) 797-5147 <b>HSC exposes those involved in CSFH attack: Urges students and community members to be careful of these controversial individuals </b> New Jersey, USA, May 23, 2007 - The Hindu Students Council (HSC) has investigated the antecedents of those behind the recent attacks on it, and has come up with detailed information about those who are involved with the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH) as well as the report. Among those are Biju Mathew, Ra Ravishankar, Raja Swamy, Samip Mallick, Murli Natrajan (also known as Balmurli Natrajan) and Ashwini Rao. Except Mallick, all of the above are either members of or active contributors in the Forum of Inquilabi Leftists (FOIL). FOIL describes itself as "â¦a clearinghouse for radical Indian activists in the United States, Canada and England⦠[organized to]â¦help build projects that make [its] radical politics more materialâ¦". Inquilabi means "revolution" in Urdu and messages posted on FOIL lists routinely praise the violent Maoists in Nepal and India. One message posted on FOIL's mailing list on 3 Feb 2005 was a call by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN (M)) for a violent "confrontation with US imperialism." The CPN (M) has been listed as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" organization in the Terrorist Exclusion List of the US Department of State. Messages on FOIL's mailing list routinely cheer violent groups like CPN (M). Furthermore, FOIL and its youth group, Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS, in whose conference the report was released), have avowed political agendas that are on the very fringe, especially in their stances toward Hinduism and Judaism. Its members have published articles and given talks laced with anti-Semitism, even going so far to call the Anti-Defamation League a protector of "Zionist interests in the U.S.", and calls any Hindu attempt to fight defamation in the same manner as being tied into "the Zionist leash." Biju Mathew, one of the founders and a member of FOIL and CSFH, is also a longtime Hindu baiter in USA. While Mathew's Christian background puts his constant baiting of Hindus in poor taste, it must be noted that Stanford University canceled an event at which Mathew was supposed to be the speaker, after its campus newspaper, led by its editor Camille Ricketts (now with the Wall Street Journal) and reporter Patrick Leahy, reported that Mathew had a link to the Unabomber's Manifesto on his website. Such support for propaganda advocating violence is a matter of concern for all of us and questions the ideology of such individuals. Mathew has also been a contributor in the weekly organ of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) called People's Democracy. The CPI-M is under scrutiny for the massacre of innocent villagers in Nandigram on March 14th 2007. Ra Ravishankar, another member of FOIL posting emails about HSC on various lists, has made a bizarre claim that "marrying is tantamount to supporting the heterosexist agenda of the U.S. state." In addition, in one of his other articles in FOIL's mouthpiece Ghadar (meaning "rebellion" in Urdu), Ravishankar takes a rather cynical stance, describing HSC's Holi's celebrations as "seemingly innocuous", implying a treacherous purpose behind such festivities when none exists. Turning to Samip Mallick, Mallick has been an active member of Association for India's Development (AID). AID, posing itself as a "developmental organization", worked on various projects with the DYFI (Democratic Youth Federation of India) and SFI (Student Federation of India). Both SFI and DYFI are associated with the Communist Party of India-Marxist and their members have been convicted of violence and murder. It is unclear how people such as those mentioned above hope to be the leaders of youth in America. Indeed, the group called Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS) itself is not controlled by youth, but by much older people like Biju Mathew, Ashwini Rao and others. This deception calls their integrity into question, and it is not clear why the authors of the report chose to suppress the identity of FOIL, but instead hid behind a name suggesting that an organization run by youth was behind the attack on HSC. We urge students and the general community to be aware of the credentials of FOIL, YSS and its members and keep away from dangerous ideologies of violence and hatred that they associate with and propagate. HSC is a non-profit 501©(3) youth organization with chapters at over 81 universities around the world. Established in 1990, HSC is an international forum providing opportunities on college campuses to learn about Hindu heritage and culture; foster awareness of issues affecting Hindus; and provide Seva (service) to the community. HSC presents many opportunities for spiritual, professional, and personal development via campus study groups, seminars, lectures, workshops, conferences, and camps. For more information on HSC, write to hsc@hscnet.org or visit the HSC website at http://www.hscnet.org. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 06-12-2007 <!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Dec 12 2005, 10:35 PM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Dec 12 2005, 10:35 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Univ. of Chicago's Martha Nassbaum's blog claims Hindu Terror will cause democracy to collapse... India: A Democracyâs Near Collapse into Religious Terror http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/dem...ndia/index.html [right][snapback]43017[/snapback][/right] <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> Lila Rajiva's blog: Lucifer vs Martha Nassbaum Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 06-24-2007 <b>IMC-USA commends the City of Hollywood, Florida for officially dissociating from Sadhvi Ritambhara Event </b> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 23, 2007 Indian Muslim Council-USA, an advocacy group working towards protecting and promoting the pluralist and tolerant values of the Indian society along with a broad-based alliance representing Hindu, Christian and Muslim communities as well as organizations of secular persuasion commend the City of Hollywood, Florida for distancing itself from an event honoring Sadhvi Ritambhara. This announcement comes in the wake of a concerted campaign by Indian Americans of various background protesting the City of Hollywood's 'sponsorship' of the event on Saturday June 23rd. Ms. Ritambhara is a leading member of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a militant organization that has been implicated in promoting hatred and violence against Muslims, Christians and other cultural and religious minorities in India. Ms. Ritambhara is currently under-trial for her role in the Babri Mosque demolition case. On December 6, 1992, she incited an armed Hindu mob to tear down the 16th century Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India, in violation of the order of the Indian Supreme Court. She further incited Hindu mobs to attack Muslims leading to over 3000 deaths in December 1992 and January 1993. Shrikumar Poddar, the Hindu spiritual leader of Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment, Lansing, MI said, "Sadhvi Ritambhara is the anti-thesis of Hinduism, always speaking ill of other faiths, I wonder how the State Department issues visa to such promoters of hatred". The officials at the City of Hollywood were educated by the callers about the deplorable record of Ms. Ritambhara and were surprised to learn that the organizers had quoted City of Hollywood, Florida as one of the sponsors of the event. The City immediately demanded and received a written apology from the organizers of the event. Shekhar Reddy, writing on behalf of South Florida Hindu Association, apologized for the embarrassment caused to the City of Hollywood. <b>The organizations that participated in this campaign include:</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM) Dharma Megha Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA) Friends of South Asia (FOSA) Hindu Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment Indian Muslim Council-USA (IMC-USA) Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC) India Foundation Indian American Coalition for Pluralism (IACP) Indian Christian Forum (ICF) International Service Society Muslim Youth Awareness Alliance (MYAA) NRI Coalition for Social Justice NRI's For Secular and Harmonious India (NRI-SAHI) Seva International Supporters of Human Rights in India (SHRI) Vedanata Society of East Lansing Washington Watch.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> Links: <;<<Read the protest letter against Sadhvi Ritambhara>>> <;<<Read the Profile of Sadhvi Ritambhara>>> <;<<Read the letter from City of Hollywood distancing itself from the event>>> CONTACT: Syed Rahman President â South Florida Chapter Indian Muslim Council - USA Phone: 1.800.839.7270 / 954.801.3912 Email: info@imc-usa.org Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 06-25-2007 <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM) Dharma Megha Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA) Friends of South Asia (FOSA) Hindu Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment Indian Muslim Council-USA (IMC-USA) Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC) India Foundation Indian American Coalition for Pluralism (IACP) Indian Christian Forum (ICF) International Service Society Muslim Youth Awareness Alliance (MYAA) NRI Coalition for Social Justice NRI's For Secular and Harmonious India (NRI-SAHI) Seva International Supporters of Human Rights in India (SHRI) Vedanata Society of East Lansing Washington Watch</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> These Fascist groups never miss Hindu bashing, These dumb heads even use Hindu names to represent themselves or collective funds from gullible Hindus. Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 08-02-2007 <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Kashmir Conference concludes with 'Montevideo Declaration'</b> 01-08-2007 Montevideo, Uruguay, (Kashmir Watch News Service): The first ever Kashmir Conference in Latin America was held in Montevideo historic capital of Uruguay. Eminent scholars, experts on conflict management and researchers from various parts of world participated in the Conference to debate and discuss ways and means for the resolution of the sixty year old dispute. The highlight of the conference was presence of seventeen Uruguan Senior Army Officers out of which eleven were in uniform who had served in Jammu and Kashmir. The presence of the former UNMOGIP personnel in the conference kindles the hope that the international community is desirous of the final settlement of Kashmir dispute. In his inaugural address, Dr. Ghuam Nabi Fai Executive Director of Kashmiri American Council/Kashmir Centre said that the United Nations Security Council Resolutions have given the right to the people of all zones of state of Jammu and Kashmir and no one else to decide the future status of the disputed land. He said, International community must impress upon both India and Pakistan to include the genuine and accredited leadership of the state in all future negotiations to settle the issue of Kashmir to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. Prof. Mag. Diego Escuder University of Oriental Republic of Uruguay and Catholic University welcomed the participants on behalf of Department of International Relations of the University. The tradition with the people of Uruguay has been to support human rights, international freedoms, democratic, international law and inalienable right to self-determination and Kashmiri fits in these principles that is why we have supported it at all international fora and we must continue our support to this just cause of Kashmir. General Ricardo Galarza of Uruguay, former Chief of United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) said that instrument of accession was accepted by Lord Mountbatten subject to the reference of the people. I know it he said, while visiting the beautiful land of Kashmir and meeting the people that Kashmiris want to remind India, Pakistan and International Community not only the promise given by Lord Mountbatten but also by both and Pakistan at the United Nations. Uruguay Government had supported all the resolution of the security council pertaining to the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir. Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan appreciated the initiatives undertaken by both General Pervez Musharraf President of Pakistan and Dr. Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister of India but so far there has not any substantial impact of this process on Kashmir situation. He hailed the role played by the Government of Uruguay at the United Nations as early as 1948 during the debate over the issue of Kashmir. Mr. Ved Bhasin Editor in Chief Kashmir Times stated the right to decide about future vested with people of Jammu and Kashmir State. Giving a grim picture of human rights situation he stated the despite peace process the ground situation in Kashmir had not changed and the relation of the disappeared persons continued to clueless till date. Mr. Jatinder Bakshi of Committee of the return of Kashmiri pundits stated that violence was no solution to the problem and a lasting solution to the problem could emerge through peaceful dialogue between India, Pakistan and People of Jammu and Kashmir. About the return of Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmir he said that all leaders including Syed Ali Geelani, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Shabir Ahmed Shah had assured that they would facilitate the return of Pandit brethren as soon as possible. Zahid G. Muhammad columnist that Kashmir issue at no point of time was a communal issue but wedded to cardinal principle of right to self-determination. He stated that there was need for ending the 2policy of procrastination and committing to meaningful and purposeful dialogue to settle the issue of Kashmir to satisfaction of all people of the state. Prof. Angana Chatterji of Calfornia University stated demilitarization of the region had become impetrative for improving human rights situation in Kashmir. The terms of demilitarization must include full allocation of civil liberties, economic stabilization and dignity and respect for the wishes and pluralism of the people of Kashmir, She urged that to envision peace will require justice and the democratic inclusion and participation of Kashmiris in the peace process. Prof. Msc. Maria Viera University of Rio Grander do Sul of Brazil stated that Kashmir dispute was not clash of civilizations, it was not question of Islam or it was not battle between good and evil but a struggle for Right to Self-determination. Dwelling in detail upon history of Kashmir problem the Brazilian scholar state the presence of Kashmiris in the peace process was mandatory to find a just solution of the problem. Ambassador of Pakistan Neemullah Khan Yusufzia that Pakistan has always supported the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir. He said that we are concerned with the grave human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. Among others who spoke included Prof. Msc. Maria Emilia Cortes, Salvador University, Bs. Aires, Argentina. Dr. Richard Shapiro from California, Dr. Ekatherna Lensou, European Humanties University, Minsk, Belarus, Dr. Susana Mangana, Autonomous University of Madrid Spain. The Conference conclusion with adoption of Montevideo Decleration. <b>MONTEVIDEO DECLERATION </b> The First Latin American International Kashmir Conference was organized by the Department of International Relations and Kashmir American Council/Kashmir Center in Montevideo on July 31, 2007. <b>The Conference Resolved that:</b> 1. The inalienable right to self-determination of people of Jammu and Kashmir must be recognized and respected. 2. The Conference Welcomes the new beginning and manifested sensible approach to resolve the Kashmir dispute through a peaceful negotiated settlement on the basis of ground realities keeping in view the sensitivities and wishes of the Kashmiri people. 3. The Kashmiris should be integral component of the ongoing peace process as they are the primary stake holders. They should be inclusive in the peace process as it will facilitate permanent, durable and honorable settlement of the Kashmir dispute. 4. The Ceasefire line as an option is totally unacceptable. However pragmatic routes based on fairplay and justice to conflict resolution be identified. 5. The Conference calls for an intensive and comprehensive dialogue between different opinion and regions of the state on both sides of dividing line. This interaction will improve the level of trust and confidence, as it will also help to develop consensus in conflict resolution. The Government of India and Pakistan must facilitate the travel documents to participants. 6. The Conference calls for cessation of all types of human rights violations. It also calls for developing the confidence of common people as they must perceive a change in attitude so vital for having trust in the wisdom of political leadership pursuing the peace process. 7. The Conference urges for the return and settlement of all displace persons all including Kashmiri Pandits. 8. The Conference welcomes all the Kashmiri specific CBMS. A process of demilitarization will give a considerable boost to the process of peace and reconciliation and release of prisoners would strength peace process. http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=13083<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 08-02-2007 Rahul: post moved to appropriate thread linked here Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Hauma Hamiddha - 10-17-2007 Samples of how the Anglosphere writes history for the Hindus (Of course much of the re-modeled Hindu elite): "The task of good government in India was not an easy one. In this great subcontinent with a population amounting to almost one-fifth of the human race were to be found an almost unbelievable diversity of cultures, religions, languages, and attitudes. Even in 1950 modern locomotives linked together great cities with advanced industrial production by passing through jungles inhabited by tigers, elephants, and primitive pagan tribes. The population, which increased from 284 million in 1901 to 389 million in 1941 and reached 530 million in 1961, spoke more than a dozen major languages divided into hundreds of dialects, and were members of dozens of antithetical religious beliefs. There were, in 1941, 255 million Hindus, 92 million Muslims, 6.3 million Christians, 5.7 million Sikhs, 1.5 million Jains, and almost 26 million pagan animists of various kinds. In addition, the Hindus and even some of the non-Hindus were divided into four major hereditary castes subdivided into thousands of sub-castes, plus a lowest group of outcastes ("untouchables"), amounting to at least 30 million persons in 1900 and twice this number in 1950. These thousands of groups were endogamous, practiced hereditary economic activities, frequently had distinctive marks or garb, and were usually forbidden to marry, eat or drink with, or even to associate with, persons of different caste. Untouchables were generally forbidden to come in contact, even indirectly, with members of other groups and were, accordingly, forbidden to enter many temples or public buildings, to draw water from the public wells, even to allow their shadows to fall on any person of a different group, and were subject to other restrictions, all designed to avoid a personal pollution which could be removed only by religious rituals of varying degrees of elaborateness. Most sub-castes were occupational groups covering all kinds of activities, so that there were hereditary groups of carrion collectors, thieves, high-way robbers, or murderers (thugs), as well a farmers, fishermen, storekeepers, drug mixers, or copper smelters. For most peoples of India, cast was the most important fact of life, submerging their individuality into a group from which they could never escape, and regulating all their activities from birth to death. As a result, India, even as late as 1900, was a society in which status was dominant, each individual having a place in a group which, in turn, had a place in society. This place, known to all and accepted by all, operated by established procedures in its relationships with other groups so that there was in spite of diversity, a minimum of intergroup friction and a certain peaceful tolerance so long as intergroup etiquette was known and accepted. The diversity of social groups and beliefs was naturally reflected in an extraordinarily wide range of social behavior from the most degraded and bestial activities based on crude superstitions to even more astounding levels of exalted spiritual self-sacrifice and cooperation. Although the British refrained from interfering with religious practices, in the course of the nineteenth century they abolished or greatly reduced the practice of thuggism (in which a secret caste strangled strangers in honor of the goddess Kali), suttee (in which the widow of a deceased Hindu was expected to destroy herself on his funeral pyre), infanticide, temple prostitution, and child marriages. At the other extreme, most Hindus abstained from all violence; many had such a respect for life that they would eat no meat, not even eggs, while a few carried this belief so far that they would not molest a cobra about to strike, a mosquito about to sting, or even walk about at night, less they unknowingly step on an ant or worm. Hindus, who considered cows so sacred that the worse crime would be to cause the death of one (even by accident), who allowed millions of these beasts to have free run of the country to the great detriment of cleanliness or standards of living, who would not wear shoes of leather, and would rather die than taste beef, ate pork and associated daily with Muslims who ate beef but considered pigs to be polluting. In general, most Indians lived in abject poverty and want; only about one in a hundred could read in 1858, while considerably less could understand the English language. The overwhelming majority at that time were peasants, pressed down by onerous taxes and rents, isolated in small villages unconnected by roads, and decimated at irregular intervals by famine or disease. British rule in the period 1858-1947 tied India together by railroads, roads, and telegraph lines. It brought the country into contact with the Western world, and especially with world markets, by establishing a uniform system of money, steamboat connections with Europe by the Suez Canal, cable connections throughout the world, and the use of English as the language of government and administration. Best of all, Britain established the rule of law, equality before the law, and a tradition of judicial fairness to replace the older practice of inequality and arbitrary, violence. A certain degree of efficiency, and a certain ambitious, if discontented, energy directed toward change replaced the older abject resignation to inevitable fate. Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Hauma Hamiddha - 10-17-2007 The British had little choice but to use English as the language of government and higher education. In India the languages used in these two fields had been foreign ones for centuries. The language of government and of the courts was Persian until 1837. Advanced and middle-level education had always been foreign, in Sanskrit for the Hindus and in Arabic for the Muslims. Sanskrit, a "dead" language, was that of Hindu religious literature, while Arabic was the language of the Koran, the only writing the ordinary Muslim would wish to read. In fact, the allegiance of the Muslims to the Koran and to Arabic was so intense that they refused to participate in the new English-language educational system and, in consequence, had been excluded from government, the professions, and much of the economic life of the country by 1900. No vernacular language could have been used to teach the really valuable contributions of the West, such as science, technology, economics, agricultural science, or political science, because the necessary vocabulary was lacking in the vernaculars. When the university of the native state of Hyderabad tried to translate Western works into Urdu for teaching purposes after 1920, it was necessary to create about 40,000 new words. Moreover, the large number of vernacular languages would have made the choice of any one of them for the purpose of higher education invidious. And, finally, the natives themselves had no desire to learn to read their vernacular languages, at least during the nineteenth century; they wanted to learn English because it provided access to knowledge, to government positions, and to social advancement as no vernacular could. But it must be remembered that it was the exceptional Indian, not the average one, who wanted to learn to read at all. The average native was content to remain illiterate, at least until deep into the twentieth century. Only then did the desire to read spread under the stimulus of growing nationalism, political awareness, and growing concern with political and religious tensions. These fostered the desire to read, in order to read newspapers, but this had adverse effects: each political or religious group had its own press and presented its own biased version of world events so that, by 1940, these different groups had entirely different ideas of reality. Moreover, the new enthusiasm for the vernacular languages, the influence of extreme Hindu nationalists like B. G. Tilak (1859-1920) or anti-Westerners like M. K. Gandhi (1869-1948), led to a wholesale rejection of all that was best in British or in European culture. At the same time, those who sought power, advancement, or knowledge continued to learn English as the key to these ambitions. Unfortunately, these semi-westernized Indians neglected much of the practical side of the European way of life and tended to be intellectualist and doctrinaire and to despise practical learning and physical labor. They lived, as we have said, in a middle world which was neither Indian nor Western, spoiled for the Indian way of life, but often unable to find a position in Indian society which would allow them to live their own version of a Western way of life. At the university they studied literature, law, and political science, all subjects which emphasized verbal accomplishments. Since India did not provide sufficient jobs for such accomplishments, there was a great deal of ''academic unemployment," with resulting discontent and growing radicalism. The career of Gandhi was a result of the efforts of one man to avoid this problem by fusing certain elements of Western teaching with a purified Hinduism to create a nationalist Indian way of life on a basically moral foundation. Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Hauma Hamiddha - 10-17-2007 The British had little choice but to use English as the language of government and higher education. In India the languages used in these two fields had been foreign ones for centuries. The language of government and of the courts was Persian until 1837. Advanced and middle-level education had always been foreign, in Sanskrit for the Hindus and in Arabic for the Muslims. Sanskrit, a "dead" language, was that of Hindu religious literature, while Arabic was the language of the Koran, the only writing the ordinary Muslim would wish to read. In fact, the allegiance of the Muslims to the Koran and to Arabic was so intense that they refused to participate in the new English-language educational system and, in consequence, had been excluded from government, the professions, and much of the economic life of the country by 1900. No vernacular language could have been used to teach the really valuable contributions of the West, such as science, technology, economics, agricultural science, or political science, because the necessary vocabulary was lacking in the vernaculars. When the university of the native state of Hyderabad tried to translate Western works into Urdu for teaching purposes after 1920, it was necessary to create about 40,000 new words. Moreover, the large number of vernacular languages would have made the choice of any one of them for the purpose of higher education invidious. And, finally, the natives themselves had no desire to learn to read their vernacular languages, at least during the nineteenth century; they wanted to learn English because it provided access to knowledge, to government positions, and to social advancement as no vernacular could. But it must be remembered that it was the exceptional Indian, not the average one, who wanted to learn to read at all. The average native was content to remain illiterate, at least until deep into the twentieth century. Only then did the desire to read spread under the stimulus of growing nationalism, political awareness, and growing concern with political and religious tensions. These fostered the desire to read, in order to read newspapers, but this had adverse effects: each political or religious group had its own press and presented its own biased version of world events so that, by 1940, these different groups had entirely different ideas of reality. Moreover, the new enthusiasm for the vernacular languages, the influence of extreme Hindu nationalists like B. G. Tilak (1859-1920) or anti-Westerners like M. K. Gandhi (1869-1948), led to a wholesale rejection of all that was best in British or in European culture. At the same time, those who sought power, advancement, or knowledge continued to learn English as the key to these ambitions. Unfortunately, these semi-westernized Indians neglected much of the practical side of the European way of life and tended to be intellectualist and doctrinaire and to despise practical learning and physical labor. They lived, as we have said, in a middle world which was neither Indian nor Western, spoiled for the Indian way of life, but often unable to find a position in Indian society which would allow them to live their own version of a Western way of life. At the university they studied literature, law, and political science, all subjects which emphasized verbal accomplishments. Since India did not provide sufficient jobs for such accomplishments, there was a great deal of ''academic unemployment," with resulting discontent and growing radicalism. The career of Gandhi was a result of the efforts of one man to avoid this problem by fusing certain elements of Western teaching with a purified Hinduism to create a nationalist Indian way of life on a basically moral foundation. Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Hauma Hamiddha - 10-17-2007 Anglospheric view on Tilak: In time these movements became increasingly nationalistic and anti-Western, tending to defend orthodox Hinduism rather than to purify it and to oppose Westerners rather than to copy them. This tendency culminated in Bal Gangathar Tilak (1859-1920), a Marathi journalist of Poona, who started his career in mathematics and law but slowly developed a passionate love for Hinduism, even in its most degrading details, and insisted that it must be defended against outsiders, even with violence. He was not opposed to reforms which appeared as spontaneous developments of Indian sentiment, but he was violently opposed to any attempt to legislate reform from above or to bring in foreign influences from European or Christian sources. He first became a political figure in 1891 when he vigorously opposed a government bill which would have curtailed child marriage by fixing the age of consent for girls at twelve years. By 1897 he was using his paper to incite to murder and riots against government officials. A British official w ho foresaw this movement toward violent nationalism as early as 1878 sought to divert it into more legal and more constructive channels by establishing the Indian National Congress in 1885. The official in question, Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912), had the secret support of the viceroy, Lord Dufferin. They hoped to assemble each year an unofficial congress of Indian leaders to discuss Indian political matters in the hope that this experience would provide training in the working of representative institutions and parliamentary government. For twenty years the Congress agitated for extension of Indian participation in the administration, and for the extension of representation and eventually of parliamentary government within the British system. It is notable that this movement renounced violent methods, did not seek separation from Britain, and aspired to form a government based on the British pattern. Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Hauma Hamiddha - 10-17-2007 Anglospheric view on the pre-Anglospheric native political system of India: When the British East India Company became the dominant power in India about the middle of the eighteenth century, the Mogul Empire was in the last stages of disintegration. Provincial rulers had only nominal titles, sufficient to bring them immense treasure in taxes and rents, but they generally lacked either the will or the strength to maintain order. The more vigorous tried to expand their domains at the expense of the more feeble, oppressing the peace-loving peasantry in the process, while all legal power was challenged by roaming upstart bands and plundering tribes. Of these willful tribes, the most important were the Marathas. These systematically devastated much of south-central India in the last half of the eighteenth century, forcing each village to buy temporary immunity from destruction, but steadily reducing the capacity of the countryside to meet their demands because of the trail of death and economic disorganization they left in their wake. By 1900 only one-fifth of the land in some areas was cultivated. Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Hauma Hamiddha - 10-17-2007 The above are selections from: Tragedy and Hope A History of the World in Our Time By Carroll Quigley I am fairly confident that this is the average Anglospheric view on India both in Britain which first created this model and US which adopted the information un-critically. It is recycled to the Indian elite and ABCDs over and over till they too start believing the same. Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Shambhu - 01-24-2009 <b>Now carrying Bhagvad Githa a crime in Nepal!</b> 23/01/2009 12:24:06 HK Kathmandu: Two Hindus in Nepal were fined and held captive for carrying Bhagavad Githa in the former Hindu Nation! Ram Krishna Bhattarai and Barad Raj Koirala, members of a Hindu organisation in Birtamod on the India-Nepal border, were stopped on the road while returning from India's Benaras city, where they had gone to buy copies of the Gita and other books, Reports IANS It is reported that members of an ethnic organisation of Limbu Community- which claims to predate Sanathana Dharma itself, is behind this action. http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx...eID=8081&SKIN=W Monitoring Anti-hindu/india Activities Abroad - Guest - 10-24-2010 [url="http://www.dailypioneer.com/291843/May-get-away-once-more.html"]May get away once more[/url] Quote:Despite law providing for severe punishment to any person inciting hatred and disaffection towards Government or one who advocates cession from India, noted author Arundhati Roy could have a way out. Legal experts hold her fiery speech advocating an independent Jammu and Kashmir to be part of ââ¬Åintellectual freedomââ¬Â. |