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| << May07, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Human rights news CHRO 6th May |
May11, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Riot,rape and fascism news by |
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[1] From: dnrad1 <dnrad1@sancharnet.in> Date: Mon May 9, 2005 11:19am Subject: Journey to liberty Journey to liberty Tribune 9-5-05 Stories of police excesses are strewn all over the country. Every day newspaper and TV networks report excesses committed by the police. The force has come to represent, not the protector of law but the violator. One journalist, Iftikhar Gillani, living in Delhi has recorded how the police picked him up on suspicion, detained him for seven months and then released him without a single word of apology. His book "My Days in Prison", tells us all. The essence of his account is: "If an individual gets caught in the labyrinthine world of secret security services, law enforcement and justice, he will find it extremely difficult to get out of it unless he finds a happy coincidence of support, solidarity and a stroke of luck. My journey to liberty was just such a difficult expedition, fraught with twists and turns, never easy, never predictable, with hope giving way to despair and despair sprouting fresh hope." Gilani's a story is that of his wrong confinement at the hands of the police. He and his family suffered, apart from the stigma of being a traitor they carried. That the case against him was wrong or that the government realised its mistake does not bring back the wasted seven months of his life. Nor does the release make up for the loss in reputation and the ignominy shared by him and his family. Was anyone held accountable? Was anyone punished for the violation of Gilani's liberty and his family's human rights? I have checked with Gilani. No action has been taken against any of the police officers who detained him wrongly. I believe there is a law to give the wrong-doers immunity if they have done something as the government's representatives. Still the legality given to a bad measure does not make it morally correct. Gilani and persons like him will continue to get the wrong stick of the law so long as there is no punishment for the perpetrators of force in the name of the state. Yet no democratic polity is worth any credibility where people are wrongly confined, critics silenced and even eliminated through custodial deaths or fake encounters. When the infiltration from Pakistan was taking place, the plea of outside interference had some weight to explain human rights violations in Kashmir. Why should there be excesses now when the government itself says that cross-border terrorism has come to an end. Unless human rights are made the focal point by the state, good governance would remain an unfulfilled dream. Dr Justice A.S. Anand, Chairman of the NHRC, has said correctly in a lecture: "Human rights and democracy are mutually supportive --------------------------------------- [2] ----- Original Message ----- From: AIAIF All India Anti imperialist Forum observes The 60th Anniversary Day Of Victory Of Socialism Over Fascist Military Machine Kolkata, 8 May 2005 : The return of May 8 this year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the victory of The Red Army in the Great Patriotic War under the leadership of Stalin over Hitler's military machine. It puts into our remembrance the immeasurable losses suffered by humanity in the hands of the fascist powers and at once the glory of the unputdownable human spirit. It reminds us at the same time that the fascist military might had been defeated, but fascism thrives in capitalism's inevitable drive to it in all the capitalist countries, plunged as they are in irresolvable economic-political-social-cultural crises. The danger lurks here. The All India Anti-imperialist Forum, West Bengal State Committee, held a public meeting on the occasion, on Sunday, at 5-30 p.m. in front of the Esplanade Metro Railway Station. The gathering listened to some leading intellectuals of the city explain the significance of the day and the need to resist the imperialist machinations today led by the USA all over the world. The speakers included Prof. Jyoti Prakash Chattopadhyay, Biplab Chakraborty, Sri Gitesh Sharma, Prof. Dhrubajyoti Mukhopadhyay, Prof. Tarun Naskar and others. An exhibition based on a collection of photographs depicting the heroic resistance and victory of the Soviet people along with historic moments of May 8, was put up at the meeting place. --------------------------------------- [3] Published inThe Hindu 0n 9-5-05 Our common victory and its lessons Vyacheslav I. Trubnikov The 60th anniversary of the victory in World War II should serve as a reminder of the need for unity in facing the challenges in the 21st century. IN RUSSIA's calendar of memorable dates May 9, 1945, occupies a special place. The mere mention of Victory Day causes the heart of every Russian to be wrung. It is unlikely that even now - 60 years later - there is a family that was not scorched by the flames of war. The ordeals of the people of the Soviet Union revealed the greatness of the human spirit and manifested numerous examples of heroism and true patriotism. That is why this war (1941-1945) has gone down in the history of our country as the Great Patriotic War. The celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Victory has a symbolic significance both for the state as a whole and for its citizens. And there also remain the lessons the world community drew. It is no coincidence that ahead of the 60th Anniversary a hot debate has unfolded in many countries. Often, it is not merely an argument about how to interpret this or that event of the war period, but entirely opposite moral assessments of its outcome that have a direct relationship to the present-day European and world politics. That is why, in discussing this theme, we also bear considerable moral responsibility to those who paid with their lives for the defeat of Nazism and to new generations learning about the war from textbooks and films. It is our responsibility to not only uphold the historical truth about the war, but also to fix firmly in public consciousness a correct understanding of its lessons. World War II was indeed an epochal event. It was not only a global battle that exceeded in scale all the previous armed conflicts in world history. There collided in it not merely the different interests of states, and even not so much the different ideologies, but the diametrically opposed, irreconcilable approaches to the very basis of mankind's existence. For the first time in history, the stake was the preservation of the life of whole peoples. The gas chambers of Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Buchenwald, Salaspils and other death camps have demonstrated what fascism carried with it, what future its so-called new order had in store for the world. Those who, in some countries, today question both the significance of the Victory and the role of our country in it are forgetting that without it these countries might not have been on the map. The essence of the attempts to distort the war history lies in a bid to assign the winners' laurels to the Western democracies and to belittle the role of the Soviet Union, while at the same time putting the blame on it for Hitler's unleashing of the Second World War. As to the history of the pre-war period, there should be no forgetting the policy of appeasement of fascist Germany pursued by Britain and the U.S., that aimed at warding off aggression from themselves, directing it to the East, against the USSR. The crown of this policy was the Munich agreement of 1938. Not an exaggeration The assertions about an "exaggeration of the Soviet contribution to the cause of Victory" do not stand up to criticism. In 1944 the length of the Soviet-German front was four times greater than that of all the fronts where the USSR's allies, put together, fought. At the same period up to 201 enemy divisions fought on the eastern front, whereas only two to 21 divisions faced the American-British troops in the very same months. Even after the opening by the West of the second front the allies had 1.5 million men in Western Europe, while the Germans had 560,000. At the same time there were amassed 4.5 million German troops on the Soviet-German front, against whom 6.5 million Soviet soldiers fought. The Hitlerite forces sustained their major losses in the battles against the Red Army: 70 per cent of their manpower and 75 per cent of all their military equipment - tanks, guns, aircraft. As Winston Churchill wrote: "It was the Russian army who tore the guts out of the German war machine." Now in our days the U.S. President George Bush echoes him, noting at the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the allies' landing on Normandy: "If not [for] Russia, none of this would have happened." We did not divide the Victory into percentages in 1945, nor do we divide it now. Together with our allies we marked the 60th Anniversary of the opening of the second front, together we shall celebrate the Jubilee of Victory in Moscow. All the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition won the Second World War. It was our common victory with the Indian people's great contribution. We cannot but remember that the Indian Army numbered 2.5 million - the largest volunteer army in history at that time. India became a direct victim in this war, when Japanese troops invaded it through Burma. The Indian Army stopped the Japanese advance in the battle of Kohima (April-June, 1944), which was also a turning point in the land war against Japan. Moreover, the Indian military played a significant role in the South East Asian and Middle Eastern theatres. Today we pay a tribute to India's casualties numbered over 24,000 dead and 64,000 wounded. But no one has the right to detract from the price our country and our people paid in the course of the war, to play down the enormity of the Nazis' crimes and make heroes of them. The main outcome of the war is not just the victory of one coalition of states against the other. In essence, it is the victory of the forces of construction and civilisation over the forces of destruction and barbarity, the victory of life over death. The war turned into the greatest tragedy for the peoples of Europe and the world, regardless of whose side their states fought on. Not a single family, not a single life story, was untouched by its consequences. It is the duty of historians to tell the truth about this tragedy, but it should not serve as an object of political speculation. In the assessments of the war's outcome, no shift in moral guidelines should be allowed. Speaking in Oswiecim on January 27, 2005, President Vladimir Putin called deeply immoral the attempts to rewrite the history of the war, to equate the rights of the victims and the hangmen, of the liberators and the occupiers. Together with the entire people, our diplomacy travelled its road to victory. The creation of the anti-Hitler coalition may rightfully be called the biggest diplomatic breakthrough of its time. The coalition became an example of the rallying of states of different ideologies and political systems in the face of a common mortal danger. Today, 60 years on, there is no need to simplify or embellish history. Each of the anti-Hitler coalition states pursued its aims, had its own national interests. The achievement of mutual trust did not come easy. But still, the participants of the coalition succeeded in rising above their differences. The opponents of fascism were united by a common understanding of the fact that evil had to be resisted together, sparing no effort for that, allowing no compromises, no concessions or separate deals. This lesson in full measure retains its relevance in our days as well. The experience of the international brotherhood in arms during the war years is assuming particular significance in the conditions when a global challenge has again been thrown down to humanity. This time by international terrorism, which is no less dangerous and cunning than fascism. And no less merciless: thousands of innocent people have already become its victims. The foundations of civilisation have again turned out to be in jeopardy. Like fascism, terrorism has nothing to offer the world, but violence and scorn for human life, its preparedness to trample upon any, the most elementary norms of human morality for the achievement of its maniacal aims. Coping with this kind of threat, just as 60 years ago, is only possible on the basis of solidarity and mutual trust. "Double standards" with regard to terrorists are as inadmissible as attempts to rehabilitate the fascists' accomplices. Giving terrorists a public platform for stating their man-hating views is as immoral and unnatural for contemporary Europe as the parades of former SS men in the countries claiming adherence to democratic values. Our duty to those who paid with their blood for the sake of saving humanity from fascism consists primarily of putting a reliable barrier in the way of disseminating the ideas of intolerance and racial, national or religious superiority. The unity of the anti-terrorist coalition nations, harmonious development of relations between various nationalities and confessions, tolerance and mutual respect, the preservation of cultural diversity, an open, constructive dialogue of civilisations - these are the main conditions for victory over the forces of hatred and extremism. Neither do the lessons of World War II appear less relevant. The outcome of the war exerted a profound influence on the development of international relations. Even now, 60 years later, when the world has changed beyond recognition, the elements of the post-war arrangement of Europe and the world retain an enormous significance for the cause of safeguarding peace and security on our planet. The striving to deliver humanity from the scourge of war for good inspired the nations of the anti-Hitler coalition to establish a global mechanism for safeguarding peace and security - the United Nations Organisation. Its Charter became a generally recognised basis of contemporary international law, and a fundamental code of conduct for states and international organisations. There is no alternative to the U.N. Charter, which stood the test of the Cold War, as the basis for shaping a new, secure and equitable world order in the era of globalisation. The 60th Anniversary of Victory must not be a cause for confrontation or serve to settle old scores and reciprocal grievances. It must contribute to uniting all countries and peoples and serve to reinforce our solidarity in the face of the global challenges of the 21st century. (The writer is Russia's Ambassador to India |
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