<b>Karl Marx's smoking gun </b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It discloses that one of the world's most famous social thinkers invested £4 as one of the original shareholders on a working class British newspaper, the Industrial, which dissolved in 1883. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Although Marx did not live to see his ideas carried out, his work had a great influence in the formation of communist regimes at the start of the 20th Century. Communism became one of the leading world ideologies before its decline in the 1980s and 1990s.
Bearing in mind such huge influence, the shareholders' certificate of an obscure London newspaper may seem an unlikely place to find his signature in 1865. On it Marx described himself as a doctor of philosophy, on a list which included a tailor, joiner, painter and shoemaker.
Curator Sue Laurence says: "All the other shareholders have occupations listed and he's the only one without. Here are all these guys investing their money in this newspaper and all have gainful employment apart from him.
"The only gainful employment he looked for was as a railway clerk and that was rejected because his handwriting was so lousy."
It wasn't a surprise to find Marx involved in this kind of enterprise, she says, given his life - financed by his friend Friedrich Engels and beyond his own means - as a bourgeois gentleman.
"Marx played the markets in the UK and the US and this was a bit like a cooperative because the other men were upper middle class and this was a small-scale enterprise." <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>China 'gray lists' its intellectuals</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->BEIJING â In a move intended to muffle the voices of some of China's most prominent and independent scholars and activists, hard-line elements in the new Hu Jintao government are seeking to eradicate the concept of "public intellectuals" in China.
A new "gray list" has been created, sources say, of historians, economists, writers, environmentalists, and other Chinese who have offered a critical voice or been influential in recent years in Chinese society outside official circles, and who have started to be referred to as <b>"public intellectuals." The term until now has connoted dignity and worth</b>.
Public intellectuals in China are known for opposing brutal police practices; for promoting greater citizen participation, AIDS awareness, freer speech; and for advocating environmentally friendly policies.
Propaganda ministry officials are now seeking to eliminate the concept of public intellectuals, and to stop Chinese media from creating lists of such persons as a commercial enticement to buy their publications. In recent weeks, official warnings have gone out to state-run newspapers, magazines, and TV urging limits on the use of those who have been heard under the "public intellectual" moniker, and who often voice thought differing from China's party line.
"The attack is on the idea of independent thinking," says a Western scholar of China based in Beijing, who said the language of attack is "pretty hard."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
S Aravinda Neelakandan - had never heard this name before. But the guy has made absolute mincemeat of Nanda's blabber.. <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
In The Name Of Freethinking
I think this sentence sums up the 2 bit ARoy wannabe (In terms of book contracts) well..
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->That the left and anti-Hindu intelligentsia, have to parade such a <b>cerebral tragedy</b> like Ms. Nanda as a freethinker is in itself a sign of the intellectual levels of these anti-Hindu forces.<!--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-->
Its a must read !! <!--emo&:rock--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rock.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rock.gif' /><!--endemo-->
If you know his email can you invite him to IF.
In India, the so-called 'progressive' scientists used the institutions meant for creating scientific awareness among people, to spread their favourite Marxist ideology. For example, during the early 1980s, an exhibition was organized in the name of spreading scientific awareness to the masses, with assistance from a Central government ministry. The panels describing the method of science, showing landmarks in the history of the method of science show Karl Marx and Lenin among other events along with Descartes, Copernicus and Einstein while making Karl Popper conspicuous by his absence.[16] The text under the panels written by Dr. P.M. Bhargava, one of the world's foremost cellular biologists, unhesitatingly glorifies the ideologues and leaders of a regime that ran an inquisition on biologists. Ms. Nanda's call to such 'progressive scientists' who can sacrifice their scientific temper in the altar of their own ideological vested interests can only slow down India becoming a knowledge power.
This perhaps is the most straightforward condemnation and premonition of the Nazi idea of Aryan race that was made 15 years before Hitler took over in Germany. In India, it was a <b>pro-British leader</b> E.V.Ramasamy, who made ideological claims based on racial character -- with Aryans as villains. To him Aryans as a race were evil and cunning. His position on Brahmins was so clearly borrowed from the racist caricature of Jews made by Christendom.
In fact, 'Dravidian' racist parties like DMK, are followers of E.V. Ramasamy's doctrine that North Indians and Brahmins are racially different from Dravidians and that Hinduism is a Brahminical conspiracy to enslave the Dravidian race*. Thus, in these circles Sanskrit is often abused with all sorts of epithets â most of which are unprintable and obscene.
As against this, one does find mirrored versions of Nazi hate ideology in many of the vociferous anti-Hindutva 'secularists'. Thus, V.T. Rajasekhar, a Dalit activist, who similar to Ms. Nanda, combines Dr. Ambedkar's name and E.V. Ramasamy's racist theory to propagate anti-Brahminism as a liberation theology, is also strongly anti-Semitic. His motto has been very similar to Ms. Meera Nanda: 'What Hindu loves we must hate'. In a telling passage he says:
âSince the Brahminical Social Order is much more ancient it is quite likely that the Zionist founding fathers got their inspiration from the BSO (â¦) Dalit Voice has thus proved right in predicting that the Jews and the 'Jews of India' will join hands to crush Muslims, Blacks and India's Dalits.â [32]
12-01-2004, 03:58 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-01-2004, 03:59 AM by acharya.)
.E.V.Ramasamy's anti-Hindu crank racism received support from the Church. The Archbishop of Madurai Diocese talked of Dravidian movement headed by E.V.Ramasamy as a <span style='color:red'>time bomb planted by the Church to destroy Hinduism. The occasion was the release of a book titled 'Church and Dravidian Movement'.</span>
âThe CPI-M is in a Catch-22 situationâ
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->âThe CPI-M is in a Catch-22 situationâ
UDAY BASU in conversation with Guy Sorman, noted French political commentator and India observer
<b>India needs Mahatma Gandhi and not Karl Marx, though the current cohabitation of the Congress and the Marxists at the Centre may prove beneficial for globalising the countryâs economy. </b>
This is how Guy Sorman, French political observer and member of the French National Commission for Human Rights, would like to interpret the implications of the latest political developments in the country.
<b>Sorman has been avidly following the developments in India for the past few decades and extending his mite in helping the French establishment improve its understanding of the problems and possibilities of India.</b>
That Indiaâs French connections are yielding better results in terms of investment and technology transfer can be gauged from the change in the general perception of the country among the French public.
âItâs not long ago that the image ordinary French people had about India was that of a country of elephants and peacocks. Popular magazines used to churn out a few typical pictures of Indiaâs fauna and flora. Itâs not so now,â Sorman said.
Sorman modestly admits his contribution in this change of perception is only un peau (a little). But he has been a steady apologist for India.
Sorman became a teacher of economics at the University of Paris when he was only 25 and was a supporter of Manmohanomics when the Prime Minister was Union finance minister.
<b>âThe recent Lok Sabha poll has been a triumph of sorts for democracy. The change of power has been effected silently and smoothly by a knowledgeable and tolerant electorate. This is the hallmark of democracy and this puts India ahead of China where state power and not plurality of views is supreme,â he said.
How does France accept Indian Marxistsâ back seat driving at the Centre?
âYou call them Marxists?â asked Sorman with a twinkle in his eyes. âWell, they are home-grown Marxist-Leninists and they have nothing to do with the Russian experience of Marxism. They donât believe in armed revolution and are rather like the members of the British Labour Party. In fact, when I interviewed Jyoti Basu some 20 years ago, he did refer to the contributions of the Labour Party to the development of the Indian Marxists,â Sorman said.
The CPI-M today, he is convinced, is in a Catch-22 situation. âI have followed the progress of the Marxists both in West Bengal and Kerala and appreciate their land reforms movement. But, now they are in a dilemma. They know globalisation and reforms alone can usher in growth and development in the country, yet their ideological rhetoric prevents them from giving the globalisation devil its due,â he said.
On the whole, however, Sorman believes the Marxistsâ presence in the corridors of power in Delhi is not wholly unwelcome. âGlobalisation has also brought in its train distress for a sizable section of the people. While pursuing the irreversible reforms process, measures have also to be taken to alleviate the sufferings of these people. The noise the Marxists are making in this regard is not wholly bad for the success of globalisation,â he said.
Having said this, Sorman has no illusion about the efficacy of Marxism. âIndia needs Gandhi and not Marx,â he said emphatically.
The Marxists, however, would not like to enter into any debate on this issue. For example, Anil Biswas, CPI-M state secretary, said Sorman has the liberty to have his opinion, âbut we believe Gandhi is for the uplift of the rich and Marx is for the poor and the toiling masses.â
The CPI-M, Sorman contended, has to accept globalisation as the world is dependent on it and India is not outside the world. </b>
âWe do believe globalisation is the apotheosis of the Capitalists and it has its own contradictions and crises. We want to take advantage of the good components of globalisation, as we canât wish away this process, but we are opposed to for its inherent weaknesses,â Biswas said.
As for Sormanâs view of the Indian Marxists, Biswas said there is no basic difference between the British Labour Party and the Conservative Party, as both âprotect the interests of the rich.â
âNeither Marx and Lenin nor Marxian scholars have suggested that armed revolution is the only way to end the sufferings of the poor and the downtrodden. We believe in democracy for the majority and are working towards that end,â Biswas explained.
However, away from polemics, Sorman is aware of the ruffled feelings of the Sikhs and Muslims in India in the wake of the ban on the use of turbans by the Sikh and veils by Muslim students in French schools.
âAs a member of the French National Commission for Human Rights, I am not happy with the ban. Secularism is our religion, though we know interested groups take advantage of this position for ulterior motives. Again, Islamic fundamentalists try to use the veil for their terrorist acts. Both tendencies have to be fought. But that doesnât mean there should be any arbitrary use of the law. My information is efforts are being made towards evolving a formula that would respect the sentiments of the Sikhs and the Muslims and at the same time prevent subversive acts,â Sorman said.
(The interviewer is Special Representative of The Statesman, Kolkata.)
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This probably belongs to multiple threads and needs to be x-posted in other threads..
Academic Researchers Versus Hindu Civilisation - Gautam Sen
We got another Bengali Samurai.. <!--emo&:rocker--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The collaborationist Indian left and the West</b>
Allied to the designs of US Cold War politics and its academics an overwhelming majority of India's English speaking scholars has been mobilised in a veritable campaign against the alleged dangers of a Hindu awakening in India. These native scholars and their assorted domestic allies wield influence disproportionate to their numbers, a counterpart of the Anglicised consumer, who, despite numerical paucity, generates vast advertising revenues for India's English newspapers, though this too is changing as the pockets of the 'untutored' bulge with cash. What are their motives? The uncharitable view is that the current political dispensation is a source of deep anxiety for the English-speaking cosmopolitans because the untutored (and unwashed?) traditional denizens of India's provincial towns have wrested political control of mainstream politics from them. All sorts of political alliances are therefore afoot, not least with sectarian Islam, the only reliable bloc vote in India unequivocally against the growing voice of the Hindu majority in Indian politics as well. The disadvantaged marginal Hindu groups are proving unreliable because they are insufficiently exercised by the equity of religious stake holders in Indian politics to wish to disrupt India Inc itself; their leaders merely want to supplant others to usurp a larger share of the spoils for themselves.
A more charitable interpretation is that if you believe in the class struggle and seek revolutionary change to liberate the masses, horizontal societal, as opposed to vertical class, divisions among toiling Indians of different religious communities have to be opposed, by whatever means necessary. The Chinese Communists have been undermining this already improbable reverie of late by unleashing the full force of the coercive apparatus of their State on unpaid workers who dare to strike and even commit suicide, in public displays of despair. That apparently embarrasses the workers' government, which begins to look increasingly familiar as a classic example of fascism, ruthlessly directing a corporate society and all the apparatuses of State power through a political party, without any apology or hint of public accountability.
Be that as it may, a few lies, subterfuges and resort to the help of international sympathisers for such a noble cause, which is permitted by revolutionary theory anyway, is hardly criminal. The idea that some of these international academic sympathisers might enjoy cordial ties with governmental agencies hostile to Indian national interests, as many clearly do, is deemed an invention of the despicable Indian State, which represents the oppressor classes. Never mind who the infinitely more powerful US State and its imperial collaborators represent. Once these certainties are established, the burden of accepting financial rewards and prestigious appointments from abroad is a cross that has to be borne courageously, for the sake of the eventual liberation of the masses from fascist oppression. The struggle stretches way back, beyond the Sangh Parivar to Indira Gandhi, nay her father. Indeed, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru faced a more hostile international press than his daughter or the redoubtable Atal Behari Vajpayee. India's English speaking 'leftist' elites had a more ambiguous relationship vis-Ã -vis the Indian State under Jawaharlal Nehru, since the Indian social order was more consonant with their own conception of their place within it and dissent was choreographed accordingly. Atal Behari Vajpayee's really serious infraction in the eyes of the 'world community', the highest court of appeal in the admiring perception of the Indian left, was the nuclear tests of May 1998 that ensured India a position of virtual impregnability in a potential conventional military engagement on two fronts.
<b>Conclusion</b>
The social and political churning that has been unfolding in contemporary India is, first and foremost, a nationalist phenomenon. It has occurred in the backdrop of a profound awakening in the nineteenth century that was primarily religious in character. The former exhibits many of the defects of intolerance and exclusivism intrinsic to nationalism, but such shortcomings are neither unique nor necessarily fatal. Indeed nationalism remains an unfortunate necessity in a jealous world of predatory nation states, ever ready to extinguish the weak. The progressive sapping of the earlier religious renaissance, in the last remaining repository of a uniquely open-ended spiritual and philosophical quest, must nevertheless be a source of regret, although that need not be permanent. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Second South Asian Workshop on Racism,
Xenophobia, and Discrimination against Ethnic
Minorities and Indigenous People
March 22-31, 2005, Lahore, Pakistan
Applications are invited from South Asian
countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Burma, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri
Lanka) for a 10-day residential training course
in Lahore, Pakistan (22-31 March 2005) on racism,
xenophobia, and issues of minorities and
autonomy. The short-term training course is
supported by the European Commission. It is being
organised by the <b>South Asia Forum for Human
Rights (SAFHR) in partnership with Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan, The Other Media (India),
INSEC (Nepal) and EURAC (Italy)</b>. <b>The course will
focus on representatives of minorities and
indigenous people, self-determination movements,
people from autonomous regions, relevant
scholars, jurists and NGOs from South Asian
region including Afghanistan, Burma and Tibet.</b>
The curriculum of the course will deal with
themes of modern state formation, nation and
nation state, nationalism, ethnicity, partition,
national and international regimes of protection,
political issues relating to regional trends in
minority protection in South Asia, politics of
control of natural and man made resources, media
and <b>European mechanisms for protection of
minorities</b>. <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->
This is an advance level course. Applicants must
have (a) Proficiency in English language is a
pre-requisite for participation. Besides giving
all necessary particulars, application must be
accompanied by two recommendation letters and a
1000 word essay on how the training course is
relevant to the applicant's work and may benefit
the applicant. SAFHR will bear accommodation and
other course expenses for all participants and
will offer limited number of travel grants.
Applications, addressed to the course
coordinator, can be sent by e-mail or post, and
must reach the following address by 31 December
2004 ââ¬â Human Rights Commission of Pakistan,
Aiwan-Jamhoor, 107-Tipu Block, New Garden Town,
Lahore - 54600 Pakistan. Email:
safhr-pk@c...
For further information, application form and
brochure of the course please visit our website
www.safhr.org
INDIA COMMITTEE OF THE NETHERLANDS
See the kashmir map among other things..
Please forward to as many people as possible.
It has come as a shocking revelation that Association for India's Development (AID) is connected to Communist Party of India (Marxist).
From http://www.aidindia.org/CMS/
Dear Friends,
Reporting from Chennai about the Relief efforts on the Tsunami hit
areas.
After the initial shock and chaos, we are now quite well organized to handle the relief efforts. A number of organizations have started working together to handle the relief work - AID, TNSF, Pondicherry Science Forum, DYFI, Vidyarambam, Pratham and the PHM Organizations. We have formed a quick informal coalition to coordinate this work. As of now the state level coordination is being done from the AID-India office in Gopalapuram Chennai.
--
As you can see, DYFI is listed as one of the organizations AID works with. DYFI or Democratic Youth Federation of India is the youth wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist).
A quick search on the internet reveals that AID hosted a page on TNSF (mentioned in the above email) and they made it a pre-condition for libraries to be associated with an organization such as DYFI if they had to extend help.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:ufC1v-o...esources/\
Organizational/sundar_50_block_plan.htm
"As a policy encourage libraries only where linked to such an
activity or to an active TNSF/AIDWA/DYFI/PWA group or activist."
This exploitation of poor people in order to recruit them as pawns in political power play is in very poor taste. This is a sad development as AID is a US based organization.
Please think twice before extending any support to AID.
--
<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Dec 30 2004, 09:54 PM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Dec 30 2004, 09:54 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> A number of organizations have started working together to handle the relief work - AID, TNSF, Pondicherry Science Forum, DYFI, Vidyarambam, <b>Pratham</b> and the PHM Organizations. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ram ji, would you happen to know if Pratham is also affiliated with the left wing commies?
Pratham is setting up a chapter in Canada, and I was asked if I could be on the board. I am unsure of it's affiliations, and will support Ekal Vidyalaya anyday.
If anyone can enlighten me on the affiliation and nature of Pratham it would be highly appreciated.
Sunder.
Dear India Forum members,
Could someone please throw some light on "Navya Shastra" group (organization ?) i,e whether if it is a pro hindu group or is it another forum for hindu bashing ?
Thanks in advance
Krishna
12-31-2004, 10:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-31-2004, 10:55 AM by Hauma Hamiddha.)
<!--QuoteBegin-krishna_kss+Dec 30 2004, 11:58 PM-->QUOTE(krishna_kss @ Dec 30 2004, 11:58 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> Could someone please throw some light on "Navya Shastra" group (organization ?) i,e whether if it is a pro hindu group or is it another forum for hindu bashing ?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
While some IF members like Pathamarajah are definitely pro-NS, I would strongly recommend against them. Of course you can reach your own decision after analyzing them. But to me they are a wedge that can be damaging to the Hindu interests. They definitely have potential to be damaging to Brahminical interests. A careful dispassionate analysis of their views shows that they have an incomplete and superficial understanding of society (and socio-biology) and the sanAtana dharma. I am sure you will hear contrary opnions to mine but I will stick by mine and warn every one from going down that garden path. I have battled some loutish and ignorant characters belonging to their samUha on other fora.
<!--QuoteBegin-Sunder+Dec 30 2004, 10:05 PM-->QUOTE(Sunder @ Dec 30 2004, 10:05 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Ram ji, would you happen to know if Pratham is also affiliated with the left wing commies?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sunder ji, I have faintest idea about the redness of Pratham. I will try to find out though.
<!--QuoteBegin-Hauma Hamiddha+Dec 31 2004, 10:54 AM-->QUOTE(Hauma Hamiddha @ Dec 31 2004, 10:54 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->
A careful dispassionate analysis of their views shows that they have an incomplete and superficial understanding of society (and socio-biology) and the sanAtana dharma. I am sure you will hear contrary opnions to mine but I will stick by mine and warn every one from going down that garden path. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Anytime one sees the three R's, one had better watch out! - <b>Reformation, Rewriting, and Rights </b> - while the rhetoric is ineluctably arbitrary it usually bounces around and in (1) General; (2) Narratology, Rhetoric, and Language Systems; (3) Postmodernism and Deconstruction; (4) Psychoanalytic Criticism; (5) Cultural and Historical Criticism, while deliberately avoiding any specific answers to pointed questions. The goal, per se, of all these groups, is to lead the society to a non existent Utopia and eerily resembles the "protestant imagination" and has no bearing in Sanatana Dharma. So, in chiming with HH, 'd request to focus on the end goals of such groups <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->. However, during the process it is a good business for some people in self promotions, media spot lights, and some brownie points from the western intellectuals and social engineers. <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->
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