Via: "taraprakash"
How the men of honour rose to the occasion
Hamid Hussain
During the dark days of Partition the soldiers of both India and Pakistan did a splendid job of protecting the people, upholding the highest traditions
of the British Indian Army.
India and Pakistan are known to the outside world for their 60 years of dispute, and their complicated, brutal internal struggles. While a new wave of horrific
violence perpetrated by religious extremists is shaking the very foundation of the Pakistani state, in India ugly communal forces are gaining in strength
by the day. The armed forces of both countries are engaged in countering the violence emanating from the internal threats.
Perhaps the darkest chapter in the troubled history of both countries was Partition, which accompanied their independence. Countless number of innocent
people were massacred on both sides. What is little known is that in those times of hatred and bigotry, soldiers of all religions and ethnic groups behaved
splendidly. It was amazing to see the way the men of honour conducted themselves while their religious compatriots were killing one another on the streets.
In 1947, the British Indian Army was divided and officers and men were moved from one country to the other to join their new units. Major Nisar Ahmad Qureshi
was designated Assistant Military Secretary of the Pakistan army. His family moved from Simla to Ambala, where it stayed with Nisar's classmate Squadron
Leader Mehra. From Ambala, the family members went to Delhi, where Major J.A.L. Kama was their host until they were safely flown to Pakistan. In December
1947, Captain Sri Ram's family was in Muzaffarabad. He sent a message to his friend and wartime comrade Captain Anwar Qureshi, who moved his family to
Rawalpindi. Anwar made arrangements for the family to stay at Major Abdul Rahman's house. He got hold of an army truck and drove it himself to Lahore,
where he handed over the family to the Indian High Commissioner for safe repatriation. Such men on both sides deserve our respect for, they lost neither
their discipline nor humanity in the days when many around them were blinded by hate.
A majority of soldiers and officers of all religious and ethnic communities upheld the tradition of a fine institution. In one instance, a number of soldiers
were on a train taking Hindu refugees from Pakistan to India. The guard van had a Hindu and a Punjabi Muslim soldier protecting their charge. A Sikh subedar,
a Hindu sepoy and a Punjabi Muslim havaldar were travelling together on this train. The Sikh subedar was kept out of sight and protected by the Muslim
havaldar when the train passed through Pakistan as mobs were roaming the railway stations. Once it entered India, the subedar took the Muslim havaldar
to his first-class compartment where a retired Sikh captain was also present. The two Sikh soldiers threatened large mobs with their weapons to prevent
them from entering their cabin. Risking their lives, they protected the Muslim havaldar and dropped him safely at Meerut.
The First Mahar is a battalion of the Indian army. In 1947, it consisted of an equal number of Marhattas and Sikhs. Captain Syed Ahmad Mansur was the commander
of a Marhatta Company of the battalion. In August 1947, he was on internal security duty in Delhi but was in charge of Hindu soldiers who did not belong
to his battalion. He was asked if he would escort Muslim refugee trains. He agreed on condition that he would be given a platoon from his own company of
Marhattas of the First Mahar. When Mansur and his indomitable Marhatta soldiers were escorting some Muslim passengers near Jalandhar, the engine was derailed
by rioters. A large mob converged on the train and Mansur's Marhattas opened fire to protect Muslim refugees. The train reached Pakistan safely. On their
way back to India, Mansur and his men escorted a train of non-Muslim refugees. They performed their task without favour or prejudice, protecting every
life under their charge, Muslim or non-Muslim.
Several Gurkha and Garhwal Rifles battalions, which performed internal security duties, never hesitated to open fire on bloodthirsty mobs. A patrol of the
First Kumaon fired on a Hindu mob, killing more than 50 people. Many of the killed rioters were Ahirs belonging to the same villages from where the regiment
recruited its men. At the Regimental Centre in Agra, some soldiers complained about the incident. However, when it was made clear that only a thoroughly
professional and first-class regiment can act without favour and prejudice, all was well. These were truly shining moments in the history of the proud
Kumaon regiment.
In Pakistan, too, battalions consisting of Muslims performed their duty with the utmost devotion. When the 7th Battalion of 10 Baluch Regiment commanded
by Lieutenant Colonel Gulzar Ahmad was stationed in Karachi, a Muslim mob attacked a group of Sikhs near a gurdwara. A patrol was rushed to the scene and
soldiers shot at the rioters without hesitation. Muhammad Ali Jinnah complimented the battalion on performing its duty without fear or favour. 11 Cavalry
escorted non-Muslim refugees from Abbotabad and the Gujar Khan area and a Squadron of 11 Cavalry commanded by Captain Akhtar Aslam protected the lives
and property of non-Muslims in Mianwali.
Major Muhammad Aslam of the 7th Field Battery was in charge of law and order in Mandi Bahauddin. Some local hooligans gathered around his party and told
him they planned to loot the homes of non-Muslims. Aslam warned them to disperse but they rushed at the military detachment. Soldiers opened fire, killing
six rioters and the rest ran away. The Chief of the Pakistan Army General Frank Messervy sent a letter of commendation to Aslam, in which he said: "It
is essential for the future of Pakistan that the present disturbances are stopped as soon as possible. The police in these disturbances have become so
communal minded as to be unreliable and under such circumstances, if the Army becomes communal minded the whole future of Pakistan is at stake." The same
could have been said about the Indian Army.
Many non-Muslim families lived among frontier tribesmen at the time of Independence. The local Pushtun code of conduct assured them some protection. When
it was decided to repatriate the families to India, their protection was entrusted to the army and scouts. The 2nd Battalion of 15 Punjab stationed in
Kohat was given the task of escorting them from Parachinar. The second-in-command, Major Sardar, brought the families safely to Kohat where they were placed
in a safe camp. The camp was protected by soldiers of the Pakistan Army.
The Kurram militia set up a camp for non-Muslims in Parachinar and protected it from the depredations of fellow Muslims. In Peshawar city, two platoons
of the militia rescued several Sikh families. South Waziristan Scouts were assigned the task of escorting a Gurkha battalion and a Sikh mountain battery
from Wana. The proud Pushtuns were responsible for the safety of their erstwhile and equally brave comrades who happened to be Sikhs and Gurkhas.
An Afridi platoon led by Jemadar Shera Baz was escorting non-Muslim soldiers from Sarwakai to Jandola when their convoy was ambushed. Shera Baz and several
scouts laid down their lives protecting the soldiers. It was a matter of honour for them to protect their charge. They performed their duty against enormous
odds and pressure from their own kith and kin. Such actions are part of the collective heritage of the Pakistan Army.
Hatred begins against the 'other' who belongs to a different linguistic, ethnic or religious group. Unfortunately, it gets internalised quickly. Long after
the 'other' ceases to be relevant, bigotry and hatred continue to take their toll. Pakistan supported non-state actors, inflaming them with the most retrogressive
ideology to keep India busy. It is now reaping the harvest with the same forces devouring the country. This should serve as a lesson for those who sub-contract
national security to non-state actors. In India, fear and suspicion of Pakistan reared a whole generation on the gospel of hate. These demons are now eating
away the foundation of India.
There is a lesson for everyone in the way the soldiers of the British Indian Army conducted themselves in 1947. Men belonging to different ethnic groups
and religions stood firm while performing a difficult and painful task. They fired at co-religionists who were bent on killing and looting. The people
of India and Pakistan owe a lot to the brave men who provided a ray of light in the dark days of wanton murder, looting and destruction.
(Dr. Hamid Hussain is an independent analyst based in New York.)
Via: "Citizens' Initiative"
OUR EXPERIENCES IN SINGUR
(FEBRUARY – SEPTEMBER 2008)
BY
THE CITIZENS' INITIATIVE, KOLKATA.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. Citizens'
Initiative
3
2. Political background of Singur since
2006
5
3. Profile of some
villages
7
4. Special Economic Zone
(SEZ)
8
EXTRACTS FROM OUR SINGUR
NOTEBOOKS
9
TESTIMONIES OF THE PEOPLE OF
SINGUR
15
ENDEMIC PROBLEMS
1.
Health
27
2.
Education
28
3.
Employment
2
8
ANALYSIS
1. The TMC's
role
29
2. The Tata Motors
plant
31
RECOMMENDATIONS
32
CONCLUSION
34
APPENDIX
Singur
timeline
39
OUR EXPERIENCES IN SINGUR (FEBRUARY – SEPTEMBER 2008) BY THE
CITIZENS' INITIATIVE, KOLKATA.
The Citizens' Initiative
About Us:
We at the Citizens' Initiative are trying to organise a continuing
open discussion on the paradigms of development and the relationship,
in this context, between politics and ethics. These issues, we feel,
are extremely important given the kind of state-sponsored violence
that people are facing all over India and particularly in West Bengal.
The group of students, researchers, and teachers that comprise the CI
started out in February 2007 to debate and question the cost of
development and the growing schism between ethics and contemporary
political culture. Questions have also begun to arise on the naive
equation of the 'partisan' with the 'political', and the brushing
aside of any non-partisan civil political action as not just
irrelevant, but, as in some circles it is fashionable to say, 'anti-
political.' The role of civil society in a democracy is a subject of
critical re-examination now, and it is this disregard for non-
partisan opinion and the consequences of it that have led us to
discuss and take more concrete actions.
We launched this initiative with a one-day seminar on 16th February
2008 on 'Development and Ethics', where the speakers were Dr. Dilip
Simeon and Dr. Aseem Shrivastava. Dr Simeon spoke on 'Ethics and
Contemporary Political Culture', and Dr Shrivastava's talk was titled
'SEZ and the Cost of Development'.
Our next event was a workshop on 5th April 2008 on the legal
possibilities available to a common citizen for redress of wrongs. Mr
Sabir Ahamed of the Calcutta Samaritans spoke on the Right to
Information Act and Mr Sujato Bhadra of Association for Protection of
Democratic Rights spoke on Public Interest Litigations.
We visited Singur nine times between February 2008 and September
2008. In this period, we have carried relief – in the form of
clothes, rice and pulses – to Dobandi in Singur (in March 2008), and
organised a medical camp there (on 18th May 2008 and 27th July 2008)
with the help of the Centre for Care of Torture Victims. But neither
of these efforts reflects our primary objectives. Our most ardent
wish is to induce long-term reflection on models – and ethics – of
development, and to contribute to reconstructive thought and efforts
in the areas already adversely affected by the present political take
on development. To this end, we have photographed, extensively, life
in Singur and how it has been affected by the fencing-off of the land
for the Tata Motors factory. Very few people in Kolkata have any idea
of what Singur looks like, and press photographs can perhaps tell
only a minuscule portion of the story. Our photographs are aimed at
covering this invisible distance between the affected village and the
urban centre – to put it simply, to show what development looks like
in reality. We organised the event Under Development: Singur at
Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre from 27th June to 2nd July
2008. The event comprised a photo exhibition of our photos from
Singur, a film festival on development and a panel discussion 'on
representation of development and displacement' where the speakers
were Samik Bandyopadhyay, Kavita Punjabi and Rajarshi Dasgupta. The
discussion was moderated by Paromita Chakravarti.
In July, we succeeded in taking a slideshow of our photographs to
Singur. Our aim, well-fulfilled, was to enable the people of Singur
to see how they were being represented by us.
In accordance with out current plans, we wish to visit schools in and
around Kolkata and sensitize students about development in West
Bengal and India and about the fall-out of such modes of development
in places like Singur. Importantly, we intend to take the Photo
Exhibition (even as it grows over time, or changes over our further
visits to Singur) to other places in India, and to initiate dialogue
there about Singur, development, land, political violence, etc.
However, we should stress that we have not been to Singur as
unaffected photographers who are there to snatch images and leave. We
plan to introduce alternative means of livelihood for people who have
for generations been based in agriculture. Unhappily, the
government's promises that alternative training and employment shall
be the norm rather than the exception among all peoples displaced
from land and/or livelihood have been resoundingly empty. Even in our
limited ways, we hope that we shall, in a few months, be able to
organise training workshops in Singur on certain alternative means of
livelihood.
We have two blogs: http://development-dialogues.blogspot.com and
http://citizensinitiativecal.blogspot.com.
We can be contacted at citizensinitiativecal@gmail.com
Via: Iram Ghufran
*School of Arts and Aesthetics*
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Presents
Raqs Media Collective
(Jeebesh Bagchi, Shuddhabrata Sengupta and Monica Narula)
With
An audiovisual presentation of their curation for the
7th Edition of
MANIFESTA
The European Biennial of Contemporary Art
At the SAA Auditorium
Friday, 7th November, 2008
at 5.00 p.m
A Discussion with the Collective will follow the Presentation
All our Welcome
Via: "Kavita Joshi"
From: Chandita Mukherjee
Date: 2008/10/30
Subject: Our Family on NDTV
Dear friends,
We are pleased to inform you that our film "Our Family" will be shown
on NDTV 24x7, in the 1 pm-2 pm documentary slot on Sunday 2nd
November.
Please do watch and pass the word on! We'd be delighted to receive
feedback from you. Apologies for cross-posting.
Warm regards,
Anjali and Jayasankar
Our Family
http://ourfamily2007.wordpress.com/
Tamil with English subtitles, 2007
Directed by K.P. Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro
Produced by the Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute
of Social Sciences
What does it mean to cross that line which sharply divides us on the
basis of gender? To free oneself of the socially constructed onus of
being male? Is there life beyond a hetero-normative family?
Set in Tamilnadu, India, 'Our Family' brings together excerpts from
Nirvanam, a one person performance, by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and a
family of three generations of trans-gendered female subjects. Aasha,
Seetha and Dhana, who are bound together by ties of adoption, belong
to the community called Aravanis (aka Hijras, in some parts of India).
Aasha Bharathi, the grandmother, is the president of the Tamilnadu
Aravanigal Association, Chennai. Seetha, the daughter lives with her
male partner Selvam, in Coimbatore. Dhana, Seetha's adopted daughter
also lives with her and shuttles between her adopted and her natal
families.
The film juxtaposes the 'normality' of their existence with the dark
and powerful narrative by Pritham- 'Nirvanam'; Nirvanam (Liberation)
refers to the act of liberating oneself from the male body and
transforming oneself to a female. This narrative bears witness to the
tumultuous journey towards a reinvented selfhood, a journey fraught
with violence, exploitation, affection and courage. The pains,
pleasures and dilemmas of becoming the 'other' is the motif of the
film. Weaving together performance, life histories and everyday life,
it problematises the divides between 'us' and 'them'.
Awards
§ Special Mention of the Jury, Signs 2007
§ Certificate of Merit and Special Mention of the Jury, MIFF 2008
§ Indian Documentary Producers Association (IDPA) Gold for Best Sound Design
§ IDPA Gold for Best Script
§ IDPA Silver for Editing
§ IDPA Certificate of Merit for the Best Documentary
Via: "Kavita Joshi"
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: aanchal kapur
Date: 2008/10/31
Subject: KRITI FILM CLUB invites you for a festival 'Breaking
Stereotypes' , 1-2 November, IHC
Programme Schedule
November 1st 2008, 7.00pm onwards
The Double / Surjo Deb, 7:10 pm, A Kafkaesque rendition of grappling
with one's multifaceted identity.
Fair Weather / Keku Writer, 7:25 pm, To gaze at people on the streets
through your car window is often done, but how much would it take to
connect with them?
Sharing The Virus / Gaurav, 7:35 pm, In an urban 'progressive' world
riddled with
Kodesia, Pattie Gonsalves prejudices and stigmas, a glimpse into the
socio-cultural, political and economic realities of being HIV+.
Peacock / Vishesh Mankal, 7:55 pm, 7 students are interviewed about
their classmate, Mayur. What is an identity? Who owns it? Do we see
ourselves through our eyes or through how others define us?
Crimson / Rohit K Dasgupta, Monidipa Mondal, 8:25 pm, A poet's
interpretation of an adolescent girl's mind in the abstract and
alternative, tracing conflicted emotions of love that transcend gender
norms.
My "Funky" Date/ Irengbam Debashish Singh , 8:35 pm, My 'Funky' Date
is a satire on the labels linked with being a North East Indian.
Vishwaas Ki Goonj/ Basant P. Tolani, 8:50 pm, Do people have the
ability to uphold the principles Faith of all religions? We question
our stereotypes about religion.
Fable / Nitin Das, 9:00 pm, Near Tibet, there is a young boy who finds
the solution to Global Warming from a monk in the mountains. "The seed
is planted in our minds".
A Body That Will Speak/ Pawas Bisht, Sukanya Sen , 9:10 pm, A film
about not being perfect, about the never ending attempts to make the
body "speak for the self in a meaningful and powerful way".
November 2nd 2008, 7.00pm onwards
No Bed-Space for long lines/ Sreedeep, 7:05 min, Through a series of
several hundred still photographs, the film explores a woman's
indulgence in a monologue revealing glimpses of relationships through
time.
Through the Looking Glass/ Sheetal Gokhale, B.Prasad, 7:25 pm, A boy's
experimentation with his sister's attire. Questioning gender
identities that society enforces upon people and the protagonists'
subsequent reaction.
Advia / Rashmi Ravindran, 7:35 pm, A diplomat and his wife posted in
Afghanistan have an encounter with a stranger while driving to a party
one night. How do our prejudices affect us?
PANEL DISCUSSION, 7:45 pm, Featuring Environmentalists, Filmmakers,
Artists and You; a discussion on gender, identity, sexuality,
ethnicity, social taboos, stigmas and typecasting the arts.
"Fake" / Abhishek Chandra, Neha Bhatnagar, Ayushi Sinha, Aakriti
Sakhuja, Aparajita Tomar, 8:50 pm, Drugs provide insatiable happiness,
an ecstatic life condition, flies one away from the melancholia
around. Or do they?
30 Minutes / Shiladitya Moulik, 9:00 pm, Two tortured young people,
different in religious beliefs but victimized by the same 'process-led
society', explore the similarities of being soldiers that belong to
different Gods.
Rejoice/ Rohit Dhuliya, 9:20 pm, The justifications, musings, dictates
and interpretations that people assume, when they hear the words, 'in
the name of Allah'. This film comprehends perspectives by presenting
the month of Ramadan.
Supported By: India Habitat Centre
Supported By: PSBT
Supported By: Kriti Film Club
Print Partner: Tehelka
Online Partner: Delhi Events.com
Via: "[netEX]"
netEX: calls & deadlines -->November 2008
Via: "Naeem Mohaiemen"
An old New York friend Lee Hirsch (he directed AMANDLA, about south
african resistance music) is involved in this, one among many
pro-Obama efforts that even jaded New Yorkers are involved in. Please
get involved.
Final 24 hours to support - 13 ground breaking new ads are making a
difference in critical swing states
watch them-donate and pass it on:
http://truthandhope.org/localvoices/
With 6 days left, we know from past elections that we cannot sit back
for a minute - The only feeling I can equate this moment too is the
run-up to Nelson Mandela being elected the president of a newly free
South Africa . This email is to share and ask your support for the
pro-Obama commercials I have been making that are designed to reach
undecided's in critical cities in three key swing states. This entire
campaign, produced through an all volunteer effort from over 100
people, through, authenticity integrity and location based messaging
is now making waves nationwide – If you do nothing else, please watch
them – so you know what I have been up to….
http://www.youtube.com/user/LocalVoices
Just over three weeks ago I began this project– I blasted everyone
about it and many of you have helped to make this happen! – I am
writing no so that you can see the outcome and appeal to you to help
us make our goal of being able to air all these on network TV – where
it counts! - We have 60 thousand left to raise and 3 days to do it in
– We are now receiving over 8 thousand per day thanks to everyone's
efforts and Arianna Huffington mentioning it in her blog this weekend
– Notably - we got an unexpected donation of five thousand ( the max
we can receive) from Michael Stipe and REM today – But truth be told
it is small contributions that have brought us to where we are – One
ad costs 44 dollars to run – And I am asking each of you to please
give at least that – You can even specify which ad and which state!–
with your help we will be over the top! So here's what local voices
has done -
The Impact
In one week of running Local Voices ads in Joplin, a city of 50,000 in
southwest Missouri, a coalition came together within the city: they
call themselves The Secret Society of Joplin Democrats. They have
pledged that for every negative call or email response to a Local
Voices ad, they'll match it with dollars to run the ad again, meeting
intimidation with action. This has brought major media attention,
thousands of local dollars and on Sunday – the front page of the
Joplin Globe (the daily that circulates in more than 90 communities in
14 counties) ran a 4 page cover story on Local Voices - and this is
just the beginning! There is a dark side to this and Dana Snodgrass
who is featured in the first ad – has received threats – hate mail,
late night phone calls, calls for boycotts of his small business and
so on - 3 nights ago three shots were fired in Joplin, at the Obama
campaign headquarters while volunteer's were present ( Let me know if
you want more info on this as it's quite hectic ) Yet the community is
rallying around Dana, red and blue and as I type this, the story is
going national!
See Dana's ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2uIB2Xyysw
Read more on our blog: http://www.localvoicesforobama.com/impact.html
The Hope
We now need to take this grassroots ad campaign to the next level.
Currently the ads are running at night on cable. With your help, they
can be prime time, and reach more undecided viewers. Can you help?
1) make a donation up to $5000 here:
http://truthandhope.org/donate.htm (Select Local Voices)
2) let as many people know about this as possible, especially people
in the press and people who still have any money.
3) contact me at lee.hirsch@verizon.net if you have any big ideas.
Here's what we can do with what if we meet our goal:
$111,000 will enable us to show the Local Voices message to 63.8% of
likely voters in key regions of MO, NV and OH, and they'll see the ad
an average of 3.5 times. Our message will be aired through 11 cable
networks and 6 broadcast networks. It will be broadcasted to 8
million people.
It's extraordinary to think of the $150 million Obama raised last
month was made through donations that AVERAGED $85 dollars. We are
involved in something truly grassroots, a turn of events that will
inspire generations to come. 2 weeks to go! All hands on deck!
MY best to all and may we celebrate next Tuesday night!
Lee
_________________________________________
Via: "inder salim"
A Dinner for List-Readers ( an imaginary meet )
Dear All,
This is sheer fantasy, an imaginary meet organized by Saria List
organizers. The invitation goes to all the members of the Sarai Reader
List.
A DINNER FOR SARAI LIST-READERS
Jallad se darte hain na, vaiz se jhagarte; ham samjhe hue hain usssay
, jis bhes mein jo aya,
( neither afraid of the hangman, nor do I argue with the preacher, we
have understood them well, whosoever comes, in whatever disguise.
Well, for the sake for Fantasy, in this meet, I see meaning in the
disguise, keeping in view the exceptional need to meet in person,
participants are motivated to come in whatever guise they deem fit for
their physical presence. It is all open for any kind of dresses for
any kind of interpretation.
Such as Burka/Hijjab/Purdah ( veil), Sherwani with Gandhi topi, red
kurta with johola ( bag ), Saffron with rudkash malla, flowery
designs, Yasin Malik's black, all shewatambari white, all indersalim
nude, ( a nude with some tail like thing for myself ), dresses with
Azadi on T-shirts, Tri colours, and paki-crescent on each side of the
T-shirts. Root-in-kashmir who can actually come with some real
uprooted tree to the party, Durga chalisa printed on saree, Mustard
nizamudin caps, and kashmiri sufi triangular caps. Blue tie with
elephants, pipal tree leaves pasted on the body. A tattoo: mix of
Danish cartoon and Hussain's paintings, Taslima's anti-mullah text,
circus clown, etc…
In short participants are simply free to express their personality
through their respective dresses. There will be no lecturing. Mr.
Shuddha will read his short welcome note to the guests and request the
participants to avoid entering into arguments, since this special ' A
Dinner for List-Readers' is arranged to let the garments meet the
garments. He will speak a little about the metaphysical and
discursive nature of the 'Performance ' as a mime show, inherent
within which is the conceptual frame of vast subjectivity; fraction of
which has come to the fore on the List for last couple of years,
through opinions opposite to each other.
There will be no CCTV cameras, to monitor, to record a clever 'elbow'
nudge or so. So participants are expected to behave as best as a
human beings are expected to behave during such exceptional meets.
There is an element of theatre in all this, which is because the
inherent nature of all that is happening around us, within list and
beyond. For example, not only all religions inspire a lot of theatre
which we play for or emancipation and entertainment , but the religion
itself, if seen from that unique angle, looks fantasy and theatre
itself.
The contradiction are numerous, but we wont go into the detail of
that, since some of participants are serious believers and would not
like to see their dear religion as a part of some theatre or fantasy,
and as this meet is happening on this earth's earth, which is neither
their hell like nor their heaven like, so unique.
The date is not still fixed, but I propose 3ist December, and that
will give enough time for the participants to think, dream their
creative dresses. All the expenses will be borne by the participants,
except the dinner which will be organized by List organizers.
Suggestions are awaited to improve this exceptional dinner.
Yes, the Menu will be quite secular with respectable distance to all
the counters with different dishes.
love and regards
inder salim
………………………………………………………………………………………
Durga Chalisa : a fragment of verse is like this : Rakha kar prahlad
bachayo, Hiranya kayap ko Surg patayo ( You protected Prahlad from his
cruel father Hirnaya kashyap, and you sent this Hiranya kashyap to
Heaven, after death )
goddess Durga, caused Hiranya kashyp to behave so. God-like ( Nimrodh
) that he caused the birth of Narshimsha Avatar ( one of the
reincarnations of Lord Vishnu ), half animal-half lion ( sphinx like )
who killed him for his sins. Remember, this Hirnya kashyp tortured
his son Prahlad as one can imagine how police does to their guests in
their custody, besides declaring himself God.
So, hell is the other people ? Even Daryodhana of Mahabharata too got
a room in heaven. So, Hell is a place for ordinary people, like us,
and the Heaven for all those who are elite actors of the epic. See
image at http://indersalim.livejournal.com
………………………………………………………………….
Sab Raqubon se hun na kush, par zanan-e- misr se, hai zulaikha kush,
kih mav-e-mah-e-kanan ho gain ( Mirza Ghalib )
The story is like this: Zulikha, was very unhappy with her rival
women , and particularly the women of Egypt who would tease her for
falling in love with a slave, but when these women saw the slave-
Yousuf, they became stunned in disbelief and stopped teasing Zulikha-
the wife of chief of Egypt .
Glossary : 1. Zulikha=InderSalim, wife of King of Egypt.. 2. Yousuf,
the Slave = Kashmir and Kashmir . 3 .women of Egypt= on the list who
tease Indersalim
……………………………………………………………………………
Internal-Internal Displacement ( in Kashmir)
Sufi poet, Wahab khar's popular Kashmiri poem, sung by Gh. Hassan sofi
( Che kamiv karinay taveez paan…yarrow-vaan, bal-e-yaaro vaan )
O, you, my dearest one, who tied you in talismanic threads,
Tell me, my love ?
( you were the only one, but … )
Angles are clueless about my existence, and (He) who created me from
nothingness, (paradoxically), remained hidden inside my own body.
( I wanted to talk about that, but ,,, )
I was a tall Eucalyptus from deep forest, now voiceless, because the
merciless axe-man felled me.
( If only you were next to me, but… )
Kicked out from the deep forest, I was rolled down into the sleepy
world. Now, all I hear is this sharp saw machine's cruel sound.
( Once I used to listen your songs… )
With His tools, he created wonderful artefacts from my body, and
(like an artist/carpenter ) he speaks about His genius. ( Now this
makes me laugh, but, you my dearest one, who tied you in talismanic
threads, tell me, my love ? )
………………………………………………………………….
If only you could have been mine, what could
not have been possible in this world
( Momin-Khan-Momin ,transcreated by Aga Shahid Ali )
…………………………………………………………
love and regards
is
Via: "atreyee majumder"
Dear Shuddhabrata,
Thank you for an exceptional post, and for leading us to the website.
I just wanted to throw in a random thought on creation of various kinds of
victimhoods- it probably tells us something about a state edifice - that has
bestowed the kind of compensatory benefits on the Kashmiri Pandits that you
describe, and the figures that you mention for the ones that get located in
their victim cloaks in relief camps. How odd that property rights of
environmental refugees (many of whose earlier homes are on mineral-rich
land, that is of key improtance to industrial expansion) should not be
termed in registers of state as ''property''? How odd that some lives are
easily monetarily compensated and relocated, and some lives and concomitant
claims on justice,dignity, liberty,memory, nostalgia are more perecious than
others?
Also, it might be useful to think about dislocated peoples that did not get
mapped onto relief camps? That will, in future, variously be called migrant,
illegal occupant, economic parasite- on the rural urban continuum. Their
losses will probably never find voice in narratives of injustice.
And another random thought- do the relief camp facts and figures lead us
into some conjectures about who gets tied to victimhood (the camp being a
powerful metaphor for fortresses that house the bare lives, so they can
easily be seen, headcounted, incorporated into statistics, shown off to the
UN/HRW) and who lives the language of injustice? The Kashmiri Pandit
narrative of loss, or in other spheres, the narratives of Partition losses
on both sides form folklore and nostalgia and sheer desperation for others.
Not to belittle anybody's loss of anything, but perhaps, a question that we
neglect often is- who lost?
Regards,
Atreyee
On 10/29/08, reader-list-request@sarai.net
wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Thinking Through Figures on Internal Displacement from
> Kashmir (Shuddhabrata Sengupta)
> 2. Dj Spooky Sponsors a screening of Iraqi Films, 10/30/08
> (Paul Miller)
> 3. Fwd: Invitation for Adivasi Sangama 2008 (Anivar Aravind)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:45:34 +0530
> From: Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> Subject: [Reader-list] Thinking Through Figures on Internal
> Displacement from Kashmir
> To: sarai list
> Message-ID:
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="WINDOWS-1252"; delsp=yes;
> format=flowed
>
> Dear All,
>
> Apologies for what will be a lengthy posting. And those driven to
> exasperation (like me) by the repeated monopolization of this list by
> matters 'Kashmiri' may not want to read this. But, those who are
> interested in more general matters to do with the politics and
> rhetoric of the representation of victimhood, might.
>
> I have read with interest the ongoing discussion on the plight of the
> displaced Kashmiri Pandit community in India. I totally agree with
> Kirdar Singh's recent declaration of sympathy for the displaced
> Kashmiri Pandit community, and hope that an improvement in conditions
> on the ground in Kashmir and India will enable displaced Kashmir
> Pandits to return to their homes in safety and dignity. I support the
> implementation of whatever practical and fair measures that can be
> taken to ensure that this can happen.
>
> It needs to be recognized that there are significant voices in
> Kashmir that insist today (both within and outside the movement for
> liberation from occupation) that a future for Kashmir without
> Kashmiri Pandits is not worth fighting for. Those who refuse to
> listen to, or acknowledge these voices, live in a denial of their own
> making.
>
> Having said that, I need to point out that a large number of those
> who speak for Kashmiri Pandits on this list and on other public fora,
> and the organizations that they represent, such as Panun Kashmir and
> Roots in Kashmir, are in my opinion, part of the problem, not of the
> solution. Their aggressive efforts to monopolize the public space for
> discussion of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit question is obstructive
> and loaded with a deeply divisive and communal agenda that
> perpetuates a cycle of hate and prejudice.They are committed to a
> politics of confrontation and antagonism that makes it more, not less
> difficult for Kashmiri Pandits to return to the Kashmir valley. They
> are also more than willing to be used by right wing forces such as
> the BJP and other mainstream parties (including sections of so called
> secular parties such as the Congress) that want to keep the so called
> 'Kashmir question' alive as a means to blackmail Indians and
> Kashmiris into submission for the sake of their agenda of an
> extractive and authoritarian state.
>
> In fact, it could well be said that they have a vested interest in
> the perpetuation of the pitiable state in which the majority of
> displaced Kashmir Pandits find themselves in today. As long as
> Kashmiri Pandits can be projected to the world as in a permanent
> status of victimhood and abjection, organizations like Panun Kashmir
> (all factions) and Roots in Kashmir, and their political mentors will
> continue to be in business. The repeated and monotonous attempts by
> these individuals and the organizations and networks they represent
> need to be seen in this light.
>
> While expressing our full sympathy with the plight of displaced
> Kashmiri Pandits, it is important at the same time not to lose sight
> of the fact that the displaced Kashmiri Pandits are one, and only one
> of the many displaced communities in India.
>
> Also, it is important to keep in mind that no other displaced
> community in India has had as much attention bestowed upon it as have
> displaced Kashmiri Pandits. This does not mean that there should be
> less attention given to the genuine and legitimate problems and
> concerns of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, it only means the
> monopolization of the discussion on internal displacement in India by
> the monotonous repetition of the woes of displaced Kashmiri Pandits
> does a great deal of violence to other communities that have been
> displaced. It also prevents an effective solidarity from within
> internally displaced communities on the question of displacement. In
> the long term, this can only be a disaster for the displaced Kashmiri
> Pandit community. It is a disaster for which organizations such as
> Panun Kashmir and Roots in Kashmir are responsible, and many sensible
> displaced and other Kashmiri Pandits are beginning to see through
> this game today. Hopefully, it is only a matter of time before these
> organizations are exposed and isolated from within the displaced
> Kashmiri Pandit communities that they currently hold in their
> stranglehold.
>
> The current leadership of organizations such as Panun Kashmir and
> Roots in Kashmir, and their representatives on this list and other
> fora have displayed a degree of 'Kashmiri Pandit exceptionalism' that
> needs to be seen as deeply insensitive to the plight of all
> internally displaced communities in India, and ultimately damaging to
> the constituency that they claim to represent. One would have thought
> that the experience of speaking for and on behalf of one displaced
> community (the Kashmiri Pandits) would have sensitized them to the
> predicaments of other communities that share their fate.
> Unfortunately that is not the case, neither organizations such as
> Panun Kashmir and Roots in Kashmir, nor their sympathizers in
> political parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Part and the Shiv
> Sena, nor their partisans in Hindutva outfits such as the Rashtriya
> Svayamsevak Sangh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal, nor
> indeed the many prominent writers and intellectuals such as Arun
> Shourie, Swapan Dasgupta, Sandhya Jain and others who have commented
> on the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits have ever thought it
> necessary to make common cause with other displaced communities.
>
> This means that as far as most of the above are concerned, the plight
> of displaced communities other than Kashmiri Pandits is of no
> consequence. My concern with the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits
> stems from the predicament of their displacement, not because they
> are Kashmiri Pandits. This is what makes it necessary to view their
> displacement and abjectness in a way that is connected to the
> displacement and abjection of the many other communities.
>
> We might consider also, that of all the internally displaced
> communities in India, it is the displaced Kashmiri Pandits who have
> had the maximum political leverage extracted for them and on their
> behalf. This 'leverage' ranges from -
>
> a) special legislation to protect their rights to property left
> behind by them (J&K Migrants Immovable Property: Preservation,
> Protection and Restraint of Distress Sales Act, 1997) to a stay on
> court cases and civil judicial processes involving displaced Kashmiri
> Pandits (J&K Migrants: Stay on Proceedings Act, 1997)
>
> to a series of
>
> b) administrative measures concerning health, housing, education, ex-
> gratia payments, stipends and employment enacted by central as well
> as state governments specifically with regard to displaced people
> from Jammu and Kashmir, the overwhelming majority of whom, happen to
> be displaced Kashmiri Pandits.
>
> In fact, the state government of Jammu and Kashmir had in 1997
> constituted an Apex Level Comittee under the chairmanship of the
> Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister to look into all aspects
> of the problems of displaced Kashmiri Pandits and suggest solutions.
> A sub committee headed by the financial commissioner (planning and
> development) was constituted to prepare a plan for the return of
> migrants. This sub committee finalized an Action Plan for the
> returnand rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants involving a total
> amount of Rs. 2589.3 crores.
>
> In the interim, many special relief packages have been announced from
> time to time from the discretionary funds of the Prime Minister for
> the upgradation of assistance to displaced Kashmiri Pandits living in
> camps in Jammu and Delhi Even the defence ministry has on occasion
> released funds from its 'Security Related Expenses' (SRE) fund for
> the improvement of camp infrastructure.
>
> [for details of all of the above, see 'Government Relief to Kashmiri
> Pandits and their Rehabilitation' - Annexure 1, pgs 91 - 101, in
> 'Kashmiri Pandits: Problems and Perspectives - A Dialogue for Dignity
> - Report of the Conference on Kashmiri Pandits held at the Observer
> Research Foundation, New Delhi, 2003, published by Rupa & Co. in
> association with the Observer Research Foundation, Delhi, 2005]
>
> I am not for a moment suggesting that these measures are adequate to
> the needs of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community. What I am
> however acutely mindful of is the fact that no other internally
> displaced community in India has had as much resources spent on it,
> as many special measures (legislative and executive) taken on its
> behalf and attracted as much media attention as displaced Kashmiri
> Pandits have had. Compared to the conditions in which other
> internally displaced communities in India live, displaced Kashmiri
> Pandits are in a far more advantageous position. This ought to have
> made the most vocal amongst those who claim to be their spokepersons
> less aggressive, less narcissistic and more compassionate.
> Unfortunately, that is not the case.
>
> Let us now turn to seeing exactly what the conditions of other
> internally displaced communities in India are like.
>
> I am going to quote extensively here from reports and facts available
> at the website of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, an
> international rights group that concerns itself with the situation of
> internally displaced communities the world over. Specifically, I am
> looking at the webpage within this site that concerns internal
> displacement in India.
>
> see -
>
> This is an excellent site, and is totally non-partisan. It highlights
> the plight of all internally-displaced communities, without biases
> and is a good place to get to know a balanced overall picture of
> internal displacement in India (as well as elsewhere)
>
> ON DISPLACEMENT FIGURES
>
> "The most common figure for the total number of internally displaced
> in India is 600,000. This figure comprises:
>
> · at least 250,000 people displaced from Kashmir (government figure)
> · 45,000 people who are still displaced along the Indian side of the
> Line of Control between India and Pakistan and cannot return despite
> the ceasefire
> · 230,000 displaced in Assam due to the conflict between Santhals and
> Bodos during the 1990s
> · 31,000 Reang displaced from Mizoram to Tripura
> · 45,000 displaced in the state of Chhattisgarh due to insurgency"
>
> (these figures at the moment do not include the large numbers of
> people displaced in the Kandhamal district of Orissa due to the anti-
> Christian violence there, of which the site has good reports and
> updates.)
>
> The site goes on to say -
>
> "These groups reside in camps and are therefore relatively easy to
> identify, but they constitute only part of the picture. The number of
> 600,000 does not include thousands of displaced in the Karbi-Anglong
> area of Assam and in Manipur where fighting between ethnic groups and
> counter-insurgency operations have displaced whole villages during
> the past few years. Many are displaced temporarily and are able to
> return after some weeks or months in displacement while an
> undetermined number are still displaced and receive no assistance. In
> Tripura, as many as 100,000-300,000 people of Bengali origin are
> estimated to have been displaced for the same reasons during the past
> decade, but no information exists about the return or continued
> displacement of this group (AHRC, January 2007, "Tripura"). In the
> state of Chhattisgarh, it is assumed that thousands have escaped the
> conflict between the authorities and Maoist groups by crossing over
> to neighbouring states, and they too are not part of the statistics.
> Nor does the figure take in the flight of migrant workers, as for
> example in Assam in January 2007 when Biharis were forced to leave in
> a matter of days due to threats and killings by local insurgents. The
> current estimate should therefore be seen as representing the camp
> population only and not those internally displaced who largely live
> unassisted with friends or relatives, or blend with other slum
> residents on the outskirts of the urban areas.
>
> It is therefore fair to assume that the total number of displaced is
> far higher than the figure of 600,000, although it is not possible to
> give a global estimate."
>
> ON RELIEF CAMPS
>
> "The relief camps for internally displaced in the North-East are
> reportedly in a deplorable condition. Camps for the displaced across
> the region are said to lack adequate shelter, food, health care,
> education and protection. This pattern has been confirmed by earlier
> reports which have documented that displaced throughout the North-
> East face severe hardship. Many of them live in public buildings and
> makeshift shelters, with little health care and no access to formal
> education (SAHRDC, March 2001). Both in Assam and in Tripura, acute
> food shortages and lack of health care leave internally displaced in
> acute hardship (MCRG, December 2006; AHRC, January 2007, p.136). The
> state governments say they have no money to provide relief to the
> displaced population and that they depend on support from the central
> government. Furthermore, thousands of those displaced by local
> insurgent groups in the state are reported to have received no relief
> at all, and are camping alongside roads in makeshift houses seven
> years after having been displaced (Deccan Herald, 22 May 2005). In
> Assam, it has been documented that the relief camps in the region are
> a major recruitment ground for trafficking of women to other places
> in India (BBC, 10 April 2007; IRIN, 17 May 2006).
>
> The same situation is reported from other relief camps for internally
> displaced in India. In Chhattisgarh, several reports have documented
> that the relief camps offer neither adequate assistance, nor
> protection to the internally displaced. In Gujarat, there are reports
> of immense trauma among children and women who witnessed atrocities
> or were victims of the 2002 riots (IIJ, December 2003, pp.64, 67;
> HRW, July 2003). Also, the displaced Muslim population faces acute
> poverty as their livelihoods were largely destroyed during the riots.
> Continued discrimination has left most of them unemployed, with
> female-headed households being particularly vulnerable. The relief
> camps have inadequate basic amenities such as potable water, sanitary
> facilities, schools and primary healthcare centres (AHRC, 10 January
> 2007, pp. 19-20; Bisht, 16 January 2007; AI, January 2005, 7.6.c;
> IIJ, December 2003). "
>
> ON INDIAN GOVERNMENTS POLICIES REGARDING IDPs
>
> "The Indian government has repeatedly expressed reservations in
> international fora about the UN Guiding Principles on Internal
> Displacement, which it sees as infringing its national sovereignty.
> India has no national IDP policy targeting conflict-induced IDPs, and
> the responsibility for IDP assistance and protection is frequently
> delegated to the state governments. Furthermore, although it is well
> documented that Indian military, paramilitary and police forces have
> engaged in serious human rights abuses in conflict zones, there have
> been no attempts at transparent investigations or prosecutions of
> those responsible (HRW, 12 September, 2006)."
>
> ON AD HOC AND DISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT REGARDING DIFFERENT IDP
> POPULATIONS
>
> "Although the Indian government provides support to conflict-affected
> populations, such assistance is mostly ad hoc and does not correspond
> to the needs of the displaced. State governments are assigned the
> main responsibility to assist and rehabilitate the displaced, but
> practices vary significantly from state to state (Nath, January 2005,
> p.68).
>
> The Indian government has been accused of discriminatory treatment of
> internally displaced because the displaced Kashmiri Pandit population
> overall receives much more support than displaced communities
> elsewhere in the country (NNHR, 19 February 2007)."
>
> The Indian government has been accused of failing to adhere to the UN
> Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and other international
> human rights standards in its response to displacement in Kashmir and
> Gujarat (AI, January 2005; HRW July 2003, p.38; ORF, September 2003).
> One survey conducted among different displaced communities in India
> reveals that over 55 per cent of the internally displaced do not
> receive any support at all and only 13 per cent receive any
> assistance from the authorities. The report also reveals that more
> than 70 percent of the surveyed population believe that return will
> be impossible, a fact that underlines the need for the government to
> work out sustainable solutions (MCRG, December 2006, p. 16). In
> Gujarat, human rights organisations blame local authorities as well
> as the state government for failing to address the needs of the
> displaced altogether, despite promises made by the government with
> regard to rehabilitation (IIJ, December 2003; HRW, July 2003).
>
> INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT DUE TO DEVELOPMENT
>
> "Available reports indicate that more than 21 million people are
> internally displaced due to development projects in India. Although
> the tribal population only make up eight percent of the total
> population, more than 50 per cent of the development induced
> displaced are tribal peoples – in India also known as Scheduled
> Tribes or Adivasis (HRW, January 2006). Ongoing research indicate
> that between 1945-2000 the number of displaced who did not receive
> rehabilitation could be as high as 50-60 million people."
>
> Clearly, all of the above indicates that the problem of displaced
> Kashmiri Pandits in India needs to be seen within a larger
> perspective. And when we take that perspective into account we
> realize that displaced Kashmiri Pandits constitute what might be
> called the 'creamy layer' (by virtue of the disproportionate amount
> of resources and attention that they obtain) of the overall situation
> of internal displacement in India.
>
> Finally, a brief note on the extinction of cultures and human
> populations, a question that has been raised by Kshmendra Kaul in one
> of his recent postings. I fully agree with Kshmendra, we need to pay
> careful attention to the problem of cultural extinction. But even
> from that point of view, the situation of
>
> According to census figures, Kashmiri Pandits constituted 15 % of the
> Valley's population in 1941. This came down to 5 % by 1981 and 0.1 %
> by around 2003. While a significant proportion of the decrease of 4.9
> % (registered between 1981 and today) can be attributable to the
> political conditions pertaining since 1989-90 (the years that Pandits
> say there were targetted and forced to leave), to what can we
> attribute the 10 % decline (from 15 % to 5 %) in the Kashmiri Pandit
> population in the Kashmir valley between 1941 and 1981?
>
> In those forty years, India's writ ran unchallenged in the part of
> Kashmir held by India, and the Kashmiri Pandit elite was very much
> part of the governing equation, both in the Kashmir valley, as well
> as in India. Clearly, a significant section from within the Kashmiri
> Pandit population (which was highly educated and considerably
> affluent) did not, in those forty years care as much for the
> retention of its cultural ethos in the Kashmir valley as much as it
> did for the betterment of the material prospects of members of the
> Kashmiri Pandit community in metropolitan India and elsewhere.
>
> In other words, while I totally agree with Kshmendra that we are all
> diminished when a community as culturally and intellectually vibrant
> as the Kashmiri Pandits find themselves virtually effaced from their
> homeland, I do at the same time think that this condition requires
> Kashmiri Pandits today to do some soul searching as to why they were
> so eager to abandon the Kashmir valley in the years between 1947 and
> 1989. Had they stayed on, or retained an interest in the way in which
> the valley was systematically misgoverned, under the aegis of the
> Indian occupation, then perhaps conditions might indeed have been
> different. '
>
> I still think that there is hope, no sensible person in Kashmir (no
> matter what their politics or affiliation) for a single moment
> refuses to recognize that Kashmiri Pandits are part of the cultural
> mosaic of Kashmir. In countless conversations that I have had my with
> who stay in Kashmir, I have heard people state that they yearn for
> the return of all displaced Kashmiri Pandits because Kashmir feels
> incomplete without them. Perhaps a new generation of displaced and
> other Kashmiri Pandits will reciprocate (over the heads of Panun
> Kashmir and Roots in Kashmir) and re-engage with what is going on in
> Kashmir in a spirit of solidarity. For this to happen, there needs to
> be a recognition of the difficulties that everyone in Kashmir has
> faced in the last sixty odd years, and a reversal of the cultural,
> political and demographic abandonment of Kashmir by a section of the
> Kashmiri Pandit elite that began, not in 1989, but much earlier.
>
> I hope that this helps us clarify the terms on which the discussion
> on internal displacement, and the internally displaced Kashmiri
> Pandits, and the politics of perpetual victimhood can ensure, and I
> hope that the exploitation of a vulgar quantification of pain and
> oppression, which I personally find deeply distasteful, may cease on
> this list. We do not need to prove to each other how much worse off
> we are in our individual capacities in order to develop an argument
> against oppression.
>
> regards,
>
> Shuddha
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:44:05 -0400
> From: Paul Miller
> Subject: [Reader-list] Dj Spooky Sponsors a screening of Iraqi Films,
> 10/30/08
> To: sarai list
> Message-ID: <22123F5C-FE23-4122-9D15-5E5948FC0F88@earthlink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="WINDOWS-1252"; format=flowed;
> delsp=yes
>
> Hello people - there's an interesting event some friends of mine have
> put together to support some short films that have been made in Iraq
> in the last couple of months and years. It's a pre-election screening
> of some on-the-ground reminders about what has gone wrong in the last
> 8 years, not only in the U.S. but in one of the most devastated areas
> of the world to experience the Bush Administration's foreign policy:
> Iraq.
>
> There will be a mini reception after the screening.
>
> Oct 30, 2008 at 7pm
>
> ArteEast, Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) and Bidoun
> Present a Special Pre-Election Screening:
> IRAQI SHORT FILMS
> HOW WE FIGHT: CONSCRIPTS, MERCENARIES, TERRORISTS, AND PEACEKEEPERS
> by Mauro Andrizzi (Argentina, 2008, 94 min DigiBeta)
>
> When: October 30, 2008 7:00 PM
> Where: Cantor Film Center, New York University,
> 36 East 8th St, New York City
>
>
>
> >>>> Iraqi Short Films
> >>>> by Mauro Andrizzi (Argentina, 2008, 94 min DigiBeta)
> >>>>
> >>>> HOW WE FIGHT: CONSCRIPTS, MERCENARIES, TERRORISTS, AND PEACEKEEPERS
> >>>> Curated by Irina Leimbacher, Kino21 (www.kino21.org)
> >>>>
> >>>> When: October 30, 2008 7:00 PM
> >>>> Where: Cantor Film Center, New York University, 36 East 8th St,
> >>>> New York City
> >>>> The first installment in Kino21's series that explores soldiering
> >>>> and war from the point of view of those on the ground,Iraqi Short
> >>>> Films is a compilation of short videos shot in the midst of war
> >>>> by American and British soldiers, Iraqi militia members, and
> >>>> corporate workers. These are not "films" per se. They are a mix
> >>>> of slices of life recorded on video (many shot while firing on
> >>>> the enemy or being fired upon), pithy propaganda pieces, and
> >>>> soldiers' visions of war as just another music video. They are
> >>>> crudely shot fragments, some rife with raw fear, some gloating
> >>>> over momentary victory. Filmed mainly as records, for friends,
> >>>> family, or fellow fighters, and at one point or another put on
> >>>> the web or on local television, the pieces were culled by
> >>>> Andrizzi over several months. Ranging from the banal to the
> >>>> intense, from the shocking to the darkly humorous, Andrizzi's
> >>>> compilation depicts war as experienced, articulated, and vividly
> >>>> imagined by those actually fighting and dying in it.
> >>>>
> >>>> Post-screening discussion with Anjali Kamat, Producer, Democracy
> >>>> Now!
> >>>>
> >>>> Watch Trailer
> >>>> http://www.arteeast.org/pages/cinemaeast/series/Fall-2008/541/
>
> >>>> Click here for more information and to purchase advance tickets
> >>>>
> http://www.arteeast.org/pages/cinemaeast/series/Fall-2008/?section=extra&id=2
> >>>> Mauro Andrizzi is an Argentinean scriptwriter and filmmaker born
> >>>> in Mar del Plata in 1980. He studied scriptwriting and graduated
> >>>> from the ENERC (National Film School), Buenos Aires, in 2001. He
> >>>> wrote his first short films as a student 'Blue Room' (1999),
> >>>> 'Terminal Beach' (2000), 'Three versions of a robbery' (2000),
> >>>> 'Neighbours' (2001) and the film-thesis 'Rain' (2001), and worked
> >>>> in several TV shows in Buenos Aires after his graduation. Since
> >>>> 2001, he has been a programmer for the Mar del Plata
> >>>> International Film Festival (Argentina). His works have been
> >>>> screened at major international film festivals. They include
> >>>> 'Color and Pixel' (2006), a documentary short film shot at the
> >>>> Museum of Art History in Vienna, 'Mono' (2007, documentary/
> >>>> feature film) and 'Iraqi Short Films' (2008), a compilation of
> >>>> video snippets shot by a cross section of amateur documentarians.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:24:02 +0530
> From: "Anivar Aravind"
> Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: Invitation for Adivasi Sangama 2008
> To: "Reader List" , Greenyouth
> ,
> "fourth-estate-critique@googlegroups.com"
>
> Message-ID:
> <35f96d470810292054x698311e5rd4f8b7cf5ce61742@mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> End of reader-list Digest, Vol 63, Issue 167
> ********************************************
>
