Wednesday, March 31, 2010
IN DEFENSE OF THE BITCH ......
By Trevor Selvam 28 March, 2010 Countercurrents.org
For the past few years, I have seen the hate that has been spewed out at Arundhuti Roy. There are various categories of Indian men and women who do not like her. Let us deal with the men first, as their hatred (camouflaged or obvious) for an intelligent female writer is nearly reflexive. Women on the other hand do not seem to have their hate mongering so mordant and merciless and generally do not spew out sexist hatred.
So, by all accounts she is a bitch, a cunt, a Muslim arse-licker and so much more. Who are these people who have such wonderful things to say about her? In the beginning I would not bother to read the responses and letters to various articles on the web. Now, I do scan through them, unpalatable as most of them are. Because they reflect on the psyche of the nation. They mirror the incredible mental descent and cultural depravity of a post-Bollywood, web-savvy class, cut off from historical precedent, unaware of
So, first there are the flag waivers and false-pride upholders of the Bharat Shining Bajrang Brigade. No matter what, for these people, there are certain aspects about their notion of
Then there are the other men and some women, who say they have a problem with her politics! They write the blogs. They are guest columnists. They say she is “sleepwalking”, “moonwalking”, that she is romanticizing tribals, that she is exploiting her Booker fame and going where she does not have acumen and others do! She is pushing the boundaries of journalism, rushing to immature conclusions, raising issues that should not be discussed or have been thrashed out in the annals of deconstructionist academic journals or need to be understood in the terminology of Eurocentric terminology from a hundred years gone by. They talk about the “rumours of Maoism,” the discourse of counter-terrorism, warning about not being influenced by the discourse of insurgency and substitutionalist rhetoric, because it has become sophisticated and unlike the times of Birsa Munda and Sidhu Kanu. In those times when the Brits called anyone “badmash” they were really meaning peasant militants and “dacoit village” meant a community that was in a mood of resistance. Today, they warn, there is a Maoist discourse that overshadows the tribal voice. So, whatever you hear, even if you have been there and talked to ground level tribal activists and villagers, it is still coloured by Maoist rhetoric. Who is whitewashing whom? The Adivasis have become automatons in the hands of the Maoists! Like the blue skinned avatars with long tails, they need urban-skinned, wheel chair bound (many skirmishes in many journals!) what-nuts to show the way! Because, there is no unfiltered tribal discourse anymore. It is all elite discourse. And all this is expertly analyzed and blogged-out from
And for these folks, suddenly, unconditional non-violence has become gospel. It is somewhat pedestrian, is it not, to suggest that violence must be a last resort? Do these folks really believe that the Maoist organizers have a pathological need to initiate violence? Do they really think that the last few years of active and physical dispossession instituted by the state and police forces, have been carried out with benign persuasion? Do these folks really comprehend the nature of the sadness and deprivation that Adivasis have had to contend with for decades, before there was some sort of organized resistance which led to some minimum gains, which they now want to defend? Sometimes, if it were not for the complicated academic language they use, their logic is no different from that in the mainstream media, whose definitions of violence, “caught in-between”, democracy, upholding the recourse to legal institutions seem paranormally identical. It is like there is no difference between the rant of the Times of India and the refined sardonic comments of those who want to cut down Arundhuti Roy in their fussy, chintzy blogs. They want to call her a bitch too. But they won’t. So they say she moonwalks and sleepwalks; like an imbecile, like a whiny errant spoilt girl, like a non-academic truant who has not studied their gospels on Permanent Revolution.
In the beginning they said, that Naxalites have not given up the tactics of annihilation, although if they bothered to read carefully through the documents of the Maoists, the old annihilation politics had long ago been dispensed with. In those days, small groups of individuals, invariably with college cadre forming a sizable section would swoop down on a local jotedar or landlord without initiating any mass movement or mass activity in the region. The idea was that “action” would create mass initiative and interest. Today, the Maoists reportedly use execution only after there has been a verdict passed in the Local government (Janathan Sarkar). Of course, one could be totally cynical about such exercises, but would that not be a flagrant case of urban elitism? Sometimes, the tribal community has been far more insistent on instituting violent retribution than the guerrilla units themselves. Whenever an informer is executed, especially those who have been responsible for killing Maoists and tribal sympathizers by bringing in the police and the COBRA/EFR/CRPF, the media and their “left” wing democratic proselytizers have ridiculed the process of arriving at such “peoples’ court” decisions, without investigating on the ground. The incident becomes the politics, and the perfunctory analysis of the incident becomes the planted discourse. No effort is made to find out what was behind the incident. That cadres and leaders of the CPI(M) operate as police informers and “dalals” is not a major mystery for the people in these areas. But, for these “left” wing bloggers, who until yesterday denied the existence of aboriginal people ,(only 8% of the population thanks to centuries of genocide against them), “now tribals are killing tribals.” Then they started writing articles that said “It will be hard to find a single Bhattacharya, Banerjee, Mukherjee, Basu or such like among the dead.” Well, that has also started happening. As of yesterday a top Maoist squad leader Bikram alias Abhisek Mukherjee — a former Jadavpur University student—was killed along with three other rebels in an encounter with COBRA commandos in Hathilot forest of Jangalmahal’s Lakhanpur on Thursday night. Either way you are damned. Whether it is Adivasis or non-Adivasis. Even crocodiles, if they could, would sue for the usage of their non-existent tears by such charlatans.
In the beginning they said, that these Maoists do not seem to build any mass movements. It is all secretive and militarist. Then articles started appearing about twenty years of sustained land distribution, cooperative farming, tax collection and distribution, medical clinics, irrigation programs, alternative energy and environmental programs, literacy campaigns, mobile health clinics and the participation of ten of thousands of people. Pictures started appearing of mass gatherings (never mind Arundhuti Roy’s pictures of the Bhumkal celebrations). Do mass movements have to be urban trade union organizations, petition campaigns and “Maidan Chullo” processions only?
In the beginning they said Maoists do not have any urban presence, they do not have any support amongst city intellectuals. They even ruefully said, it’s not like the old Naxalite days! Belatedly they have started a campaign to attack those intellectuals who have stated their clear cut opposition to the policies of the Indian government and in support of the Maoists. They are discovering that more and more city intellectuals and academics find that it is more important to oppose the government’s proto-fascist tactics than to criticize the Maoists for their failings. So they have started attacking these progressive intellectuals through their blogs, writings and attempted caricatures of the Maoists.
In the beginning they also said the Maoists had no tribal and women leaders and when the State started killing Maoist commanders who were women and tribals, and there were more and more spokespersons of tribal origins speaking through mass organizations, they started saying that they do not have any women in their Politburo!
What Arundhuti Roy has been saying for the past several years is nothing new to the Maoists. For years they have been trying to bring to the forefront (their media consciousness and ability to engage the interest of mainstream journalists, domestic and international, is relatively new) ---is the collapse of the possibilities of bringing about social change in
One can dispute many of the tactics of the Maoists and one can critique many of their actions, but it is time for
Monday, March 22, 2010
Remembring Bhagat Singh
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Time: 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: Shadman Market Chowk Lahore Pakistan
Description
Bhagat Singh was an Indian freedom fighter, considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. He is often referred to as Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
Bhagat Singh was known for his appreciation of martyrdom. His mentor as a young boy was Kartar Singh Sarabha. Singh is himself considered a martyr for acting to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, also considered a martyr. In the leaflet he threw in the Central Assembly on 9 April 1929, he stated that It is easy to kill individuals but you cannot kill the ideas. Great empires crumbled while the ideas survived.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Attempts to terrorize budding farmers' movement
Defeat Evil designs of anti people fascist forces.
The murderers let lose by the Akali-rulers have struck again. They have enacted another bloody episode. Today, in the late afternoon, a team of BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) workers, was brutally attacked in village Lodhi Gujjar by Sarabjit Singh & his goons. The team was pasting posters of the 3 day long Dharna at Amritsar by 22 organizations of farmers and agri-labours to be held from 25th to 27th March. Sarabjit Lodhi Gujjar is one of the main accused in the murder of Sh. Sadhu Singh Takhtupura, Organizing Secretary of the BKU. Four BKU members namely- Gurcharan Singh Lakhuwal, Sardool Singh Ramdas, Dalip Singh Thoba, & Balwinder Singh Kuralian, were severely injured in this attack and have ben admitted in Guru Nanak Hospital, Amritsar.
Now with the connivance and patronage of his political masters, Sarabjit Lodhi Gujjar is making efforts to falsely implicate BKU leadership in a false criminal case. After the above incident, when the BKU activists had taken the injured persons to the Hospital, he took their vehicles to his house to claim that he was attacked in his house by BKU leaders.
Lok Morcha Punjab has earlier noted that the murder of Sadhu Singh Takhtupura was part of a well-planned attack by a combination of anti-people forces on the blossoming farmers movement in Majha region. These black forces have been uprooting the poor farmers from their lands; repressing them on the strength of goonda-gangs; maintaining a strangle-hold on their lives through butcher police officers, corrupt revenue officials, Panchayti Raj institutions etc. As the people have no effective mass-organization of theirs, to assert their will, they were rendered helpless. BKU filled this void. It provided the people, especially the farmers, a platform to raise their voice against injustice and repression. When SI Rashpal Singh, the most notorious police officer, murdered a poor farmer in police custody and threw his body in front of his house the villagers accepted his challenge. They came out in the streets, caused traffic jam and forced the authorities to register a murder case against him. At village Saurian the people openly fought against the land grabbers and made them eat a humble pie on the strength of their organization. The black forces then retaliated by murdering Sh. Sadhu Singh Takhtupura. Their aim was to put fear amongst the rising farmers movement. But they failed. The present attack at village Lodhi Gujjar is a continuation of their evil designs against the militant farmers movement.
In a report prepared jointly by the Lok Morcha and Inqlabi Kender Punjab, in the aftermath of the murder of Sh. Sadhu Singh Takhtupura, it was specifically pointed out that the murderers were being openly protected by the Akali rulers of Punjab. None was left in any doubt in this regard, when Veer Singh Lopoke EX-Akali MLA was seated alongside the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a public function attended by Union Home Minister P. Chidambram, despite an FIR having been registered against him on murder charges. The police officials investigating the case refused to record any evidence incriminating Veer Singh Lopoke, Sarabjit, SI Rashpal Singh & Kulwinder Singh Sarpanch Saurian. The game plan was to arrest small fries and save their political masters. The 3-day long Dharna was to force the Govt to act against the real culprits. The attack at Lodhi Gujjar village is a crude attempt to terrorise the BKU activists, which is doomed to fail.
Lodhi Gujjar incident deserves strongest condemnation. Evil designs of anti-people black forces should be defeated through more sweeping and broad based mobilization.
समाचार
पोस्टर लगा रहे किसानों पर बरसाई गोलियां
घटना के चश्मदीद गवाह भारतीय किसान यूनियन एकता के गुरदासपुर जिला के अध्यक्ष लखविंदर सिंह मंज्जियां वाला, सुखबीर सिंह मोहले और हरजिंदर सिंह ने दैनिक जागरण को बताया कि किसान नेता तख्तुपुरा की हत्या में आरोपी अकाली दल के कार्यकर्ताओं और नेताओं की गिरफ्तारी व मामले की न्यायिक जांच की मांग को लेकर 25 मार्च से डीआईजी बार्डर जोन कार्यालय के बाहर शुरू किये जाने वाले धरने के संबंध में इलाके में पोस्टर लगा रहे थे। वह कुल दस किसान तीन मोटरसाइकल व दो स्कूटरों पर थे। जैसे ही वह गांव लोधी गुज्जर पहुंचे तो वहां एक अकाली नेता सर्बजीत सिंह लोधी गुज्जर और उसके भतीजे ने उन्हें पोस्टर लगाने से रोका और गोलियां चलानी शुरू कर दीं। इस दौरान करीब 40-50 और व्यक्ति भी तेजधार हथियारों के साथ आ गए और उन पर हमला कर दिया।
Friday, March 12, 2010
- Arrest of Veer Singh Lopoke, Sarabjit Lodhi Gujjar, Kulwinder Singh Saurian, SI Rashpal Singh and all members of their gang, who have committed murder of Martyr Sadhu Singh Takhtupura.
- Grant of land ownership rights to ABADKARS & tennants, curb on the activities of Land-grabbers.
- Arrest of SGPC officials & their collaborators namely, Avtar Singh Makkar, Dalmegh Singh, Kashmir Singh, Amrik Singh Shahpur & their gang members, who are responsible for killings farmers at Khanna Chamara.
- Suspension of SSP Batala and DSP Dera Baba Nanak & prosecuting them.
- Withdraw the decision of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Comittee to evict tennants from its lands.
- Disband the SIT constituted to investigate murder of Martyr Sadhu Singh Takhtupura and hold a judicial inquiry to unearth the complete conspiracy.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
RESOLVE TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCTRATIC REVOLUTIONARY AGRARIAN MOVEMENT
VOW TO GET PUNISHED THE CULPRITS & DEFEAT THEIR EVIL DESIGNS
PREPARE TO DEFEND THEIR MOVEMENT & LEADERS FROM ATTACKS BY ANTI-PEOPLE FORCES
Morcha's Leaflet on Takhtupura Murder incident
ਭਵਿੱਖ 'ਚ ਅਜਿਹੇ ਫਾਸ਼ੀ ਗਰੋਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਧੌਂਸ ਤੇ ਦਬਸ਼ ਨੂੰ ਭੰਨਣ ਅਤੇ ਇਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੇ ਹਿੰਸਕ ਹੱਲਿਆਂ ਦਾ ਟਾਕਰਾ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਸਮੂਹਿਕ ਮਾਨਸਿਕ ਤਿਆਰੀ ਦਾ ਅਮਲ ਵਿੱਢਣਾ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਮੂਹਲੀਆਂ ਸਫ਼ਾਂ 'ਚ ਜੂਝ ਰਹੇ ਉਭਰਵੇਂ ਤੇ ਚੋਣਵੇਂ ਜਨਤਕ ਖਾੜਕੂਆਂ ਦੇ ਗੁਫ਼ਲਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਜਥੇਬੰਦੀ ਤੇ ਆਗੂਆਂ ਦੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਲਈ ਤਾਇਨਾਤੀ ਵਾਸਤੇ ਤਿਆਰ ਕਰਨਾ ਅਤੇ ਸਿੱਖਿਆ ਸਿਖਲਾਈ ਦੇ ਅਮਲ 'ਚ ਪਾਉਣ ਦੇ ਅਹਿਮ ਕਾਰਜ ਨੂੰ ਗੰਭੀਰਤਾ ਨਾਲ ਹੱਥ ਲੈਣਾ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ। ਇਸ ਦਿਸ਼ਾ 'ਤੇ ਦ੍ਰਿੜਤਾ ਨਾਲ ਪਹਿਰਾ ਦਿੰਦਿਆਂ ਅਤੇ ਅੱਗੇ ਵਧਦਿਆਂ ਹੀ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ ਜਨਤਕ ਇਨਕਲਾਬੀ ਲਹਿਰ, ਖਾਸ ਕਰਕੇ ਕਿਸਾਨ ਲਹਿਰ ਨੂੰ ਪਿਛਾਖੜੀ ਰਾਜ ਭਾਗ ਨੂੰ ਬਦਲਕੇ ਲੋਕ ਜਮਹੂਰੀ ਰਾਜ ਭਾਗ ਉਸਾਰਨ ਲਈ ਉੱਠ ਰਹੀ ਇਨਕਲਾਬੀ ਲਹਿਰ ਸੰਭਾਲਣ ਵੱਲ ਵਧਾਇਆ ਜਾ ਸਕਦਾ ਹੈ ।