Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire

  • Who needs moral policing, how much and why?

    by Anjali Monteiro, K P Jayasankar, 12 February 2009

    Deccan Herald
    Love in the time of moral policing
    The moral police are everywhere. Crawling out of the woodwork into our public spaces. In our legislative assemblies, in our board rooms, in court rooms, on the streets, in colleges, in cinemas and cyber cafes, gardens and pubs, even in police stations. Alas, and perhaps in our heads too. The rabid Sri Ram Sena or the Shiv Sena or the Bajrang Dal foot soldiers who demonstrate their love for ‘Indian culture’ by molesting girls wearing jeans (…)

  • Understanding and Responding To The Mangalore Assaults

    by Sumi Krishna, 11 February 2009

    sacw.net
    (Bangalore: 11 Feb. 2009) How should we in the women’s movement understand and respond to the cluster of assaults by the Rama Sene, Bajrang Dal and other fundamentalists; the targeting of minorities and their places of worship; the harassment and molestation of women of all classes in the name of nation, culture and religion; the fear and anger spreading through villages and towns in southern-coastal Karnataka?
    As Sandhya Gokhale of the Forum Against Oppression of Women, (…)

  • On the Road to Attractive Authoritarianism

    by Pankaj Mishra, 11 February 2009

    The Guardian, 11 February 2009
    Behind the violence in Gujarat, Gaza and Iraq is the banality of democracy
    The moral deviancy of our elite no longer shocks. What is dispiriting is its tacit endorsement by electoral majorities
    In his memoir, Secrets, Daniel Ellsberg describes how he decided to risk years in prison by leaking the Pentagon Papers, the top-secret record of American decision-making on Vietnam, to the New York Times. Hoping that his wife, Patricia, would help him make up his (…)

  • Report of 2008 Mission to India by Asma Jahangir, UN Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief

    by sacw.net, 11 February 2009

    United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
    – Palais des Nations
    – CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

  • Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum hold protest rally to demand release of fishermen detained by India and Pakistan

    by Saeed Baloch, 10 February 2009

    Posted below are news reports on the Karachi protest held on tuesday 10 February 2009
    http://www.dawn.com/2009/02/11/local10.htm
    Karachi: Pakistan, India urged to release fishermen
    KARACHI, Feb 10: Members of the fishermen’s community including women and children took out a rally on Tuesday to protest against the arrest of their fishermen by the Indian authorities.
    Participants of the rally, organised by Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, gathered outside the Sindh Assembly in the afternoon (…)

elsewhere on the web