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June17, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Response from Sanil (1-5) >> |
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[1] From: "CHROkeralam" <chro1@rediffmail.com> Date: Mon Jun 13, 2005 9:15pm Subject: Arundhati Roy Fights US Again In New Book MSN News/IANS, June 13, 2005, Monday Arundhati Roy fights US again in new book New Delhi, June 13: On the cover of Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy's new book, a woman clad in a black cloak scampers across a hostile looking dreary brown landscape clasping the hand of a tiny child. That could almost be a metaphor for the role the celebrated author has chosen for herself - defender of the defenceless, pen of the powerless. "An Ordinary Person's Guide To Empire", supremely filled with the sort of pincer irony that Arundhati Roy revels in, has been published by Penguin. It is a collection of 14 of the author 's essays written between June 2002 and November 2004. It could have well been termed "An Ordinary Person 's Guide To (The American) Empire ", because the book is filled with cutting-edge part-journalism, part-activism, intensive research into, essentially, that much-abused work called "freedom ". The writer had earlier hit out at America 's foreign policy in Afghanistan in her famous essay "The Algebra of Infinite Justice ", where she famously hit out at the US administration for fighting wars "against people it doesn 't know, because they don 't appear much on TV ". Using her formidable insight and snappy analysis, Roy again demolishes myths of good governance, of the benevolence of nations and the Boy Scout-ness of the international community. It is also a fierce indictment of Big Brother nationalism in India, where human beings are scattered and crushed in the name of 'greater good ' and non-violent protest is met with deafening silence. "When governments and the media lavish all their time, attention, funds, research, space, sophistication and seriousness on war talk and terrorism, then the message that goes out is disturbing and dangerous: if you seek to air and redress a public grievance, violence is more effective thannon-violence, " argues Roy in the first chapter called "Ahimsa ". "Unfortunately, if peaceful change is not given a chance, then violent change becomes inevitable. That violence will be (and already is) random, ugly, and unpredictable. " Most of the book is a bitter indictment of American policies - in Afghanistan, in Iraq and elsewhere. "President George W. Bush, commander-in-chief of the US army, navy and marines, has issued clear instructions 'Iraq. Will. Be. Liberated. ' (Perhaps he means that even if Iraqi people 's bodies are killed, their souls will be liberated.), " questions Roy. "Operation Iraqi Freedom? I don 't think so. It's more like Operation Let 's Run a Race, but First Let Me Break Your Knees. " With fierce erudition and brilliant reasoning, Roy dwells on Western hypocrisy and propaganda, vehemently questioning the basis of biased international politics. "Iraq has shown spectacular courage and has even managed to put up what actually amounts to a defence: a defence which the Bush/Blair pair hasimmediately denounced as deceitful and cowardly. (But then deceit is an old tradition with us natives. When we 're invaded/colonised/occupied and stripped of all dignity, we turn to guile and opportunism), " writes Roy. "Clearly for the 'Allies ', the only morally acceptable strategy the Iraqi army can pursue is to march out into the desert and be bombed by B-52s or be mowed down by machine-gun fire. "Anything short of that is cheating. " As she sees propaganda being passed as the truth and press handouts passedfor stories, Roy determinedly continues her three cheers for celebratedcritics of the US government like Noam Chomsky and writes: "...if the Bush regime falls, there would be dancing on the streets the world over. " http://autofeed.msn.co.in/pandorav3/output/News/9b702ed5-af6e-416a-9ec5-7fad6b8df37e.aspx ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] Subject: KERALA: Perumatty Panchayat Rejects Coke Plea Rediff.com/PTI, June 13, 2004, Monday Kerala: Coke plea rejected The Perumatty panchayat in Palakkad district in Kerala, which had last week issued a licence to multinational beverage company Coca Cola to operate its Plachimada plant for three months, on Monday rejected the cola company's request to operate for two years. In its meeting, the panchayat council stuck to its June 6 decision -- of granting the cola company "conditional permission" to operate the plant for only three months. The company on June 9 had given a notice to the panchayat, disputing its decision and stating that it ran against the Kerala High Court decision, which specified restoration of licence for two years. After a detailed discussion of the company's letter, the local body's administrative council decided to turn down the demand, panchayat president A Krishnan said. Besides allowing operation for only three months, the panchayat had laid down 13 conditions, which required the company to get clearances from the health and pollution control agencies before resuming operation. The Kerala High Court on June 1 directed the panchayat to renew the licence for the Cola plant within a week and said that if the local body refused to comply with the order, it would be deemed that the company's licence had been renewed. The Coca Cola plant was shut down in March 2004 after the panchayat declined to renew the licence citing indiscriminate use of ground water by the company, resulting in water shortage in the region. http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/jun/13cola.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] BEWARE OF THE ANGRY KERALA BRAHMINS' CURSE (BRAHMINICAL CURSE ON SECULARISM AND RESERVATION) New Indian Express, June 13, 2005, Monday Brahmins most neglected lot, says KBS TRIPUNITHURA: Though the Brahmins have been engaged in performing holy rituals for the well being of the entire mankind they still remain as the most neglected lot in their own land, Dr M Sambasivan, Chairman of the Kerala Brahmana Federation and state president of the Kerala Brahmana Sabha, said. He was inaugurating the district meeting of the Sabha at Seethalakshmi Rama Iyer Nagar (Layam Ground) at Statue Junction on Sunday. ???Even after 58 years of Independence we remain in slavery just because of the misinterpretation of the Constitution. While moulding the Constitution, Ambedkar had underscored the importance of withdrawing the privilege of reservation after 15 years of Independence. Instead of following these words of Ambedkar our political leaders tried to please the ???so called??™ minorities by providing them with the privilege of reservation just for the sake of votes,??? he said. ???Nobody could justify the government stand that the situation of the ???minorities??™ is still backward even after enjoying the reservation for 58 years. In the name of reservation the government machinery has already sidelined the Brahmin and other upper class communities from the main stream,??? Sambasivan said. Sambasivan ridiculed the secular concept of the government. The Hindu religion itself is based on secular concept and respects all other religions with equal importance. ???We should come forward to conceive the bitter facts. In the wake of the repeating attacks and one-sided approach towards the upper class Hindu community, unity of the organisations such as Nair Service Society, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam and Malayala Brahmana Samajam is the need of the hour,??? Sambasivan said. He welcomed the move of SNDP general secretary Vellappally Natesan and NSS secretary P K Narayana Panicker to bring all Hindu communities under one roof. He urged the Brahmin society to unite with these forces. Moorthy welcomed the gathering and Kerala Brahmana Sabha district president P S Raman presided over the function. NSS Kanayannoor taluk union president Govindan Kutty, SNDP representative Somarajan, Kerala Malayala Brahmana Samajam representative Anilkumar and others spoke. Mridangam artiste Kuzhalmannam Ramakrishnan and noted Carnatic musician N P Ramaswami were honoured on the occasion. Kolam display and fancy dress competition were also held as part of the meet. When the Brahmins arrayed in their traditional dress for the colourful rally held as part of the district meeting it turns out to be a unique experience for the viewers. The words selected for the slogans have a similarity with Sanskrit words. The slogans highlighted the hapless situation of the inmates of Agraharams and the rich tradition of their ancestors. They also warned that they could go to any level to achieve social justice. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20050613013540&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0& ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (CHRO) 3, Rams' Cottage Ambalathumukku Pettah Thiruvananthapuram-695024 Kerala South India Ph.: 0471-2476262 www.humanrightsindia.com www.humanrightskerala.com |
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| << June13, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Sanjeev,Sukla,Hari & Parvez posts (nos:6) |
June17, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] Response from Sanil (1-5) >> |
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