[Reader-list] Report on South Asia seminar curtain raiser - 21 February, 2006]

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Friends,

This is a report on the 'curtain raiser' to the South Asia Seminar on 
Censorship : Free Speech and Fearless Listening - The Encounter with 
Censorship in South Asia -  that has already been announced on this 
list. This report, which I am forwarding on to the reader list 
(apologies for cross posting to those already on the CAC list) is a 
narrative of the discussion at Sarai-CSDS earlier today, compiled by 
Saba Dewan (Delhi Film Archive, Campaign Against Censorship) and posted 
on the CACDelhi list.

Looking forward to intense discussion and new ideas in the next few 
days,as the seminar moves to Max Muller Bhavan in Delhi

regards

Shuddha

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [CACDelhi] Report on South Asia seminar curtain raiser - 21 
February, 2006
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:40:19 +0530
From: Saba Dewan <sabadewan at gmail.com>
Reply-To: CACDelhi at yahoogroups.co.in
To: cacDelhi at yahoogroups.co.in, vikalp at yahoogroups.com

Report on the curtain raiser at Sarai, 21 February, 2006

The curtain raiser at Sarai to the South Asia seminar on censorship - Free
Speech & Fearless Listening: The encounter with censorship in South Asia -
organised by the Delhi Film Archive and the Films For Freedom, Delhi, in
collaboration with Sarai and the Max Mueller Bhavan began with a brief
introduction to the event by Shuddhabhrata Sen Gupta, who chaired the
session. The panelists were Sudheer Pattnaik, Jitman Basnet, Hasan Zaidi,
Vinod Jose, Malathi Maithri and Andres Viel.

Welcoming the participants to the curtain raiser Shuddha suggested that the
seminar be seen as a celebration of freedom of expression, not just a lament
against censorship. Outlining the contours of the discussions planned for
the next few days of the seminar he spoke of  issues related to creativity,
reportage and  law and the censorship exercised by the state as well as non
state actors.  Shuddha also emphasized the need for a complex analyses and
understanding of the issues related to censorship  given the diversity of
positions around free speech. He ended his introductory remarks by listing
out some of the 54 books that have been banned in India through the past
hundred years. These include  Mother India by Catherine Mayo that was banned
by the colonial government, Behind the iron curtain in Kashmir, a pamphalet,
The Ramayana by Aubrey Menon and Nine Hours to Rama by Stanley Wolpert.
Recently two books by David Laine on Shivaji have faced a similar fate.

Shuddha then invited Sudheer Pattnaik, a media activist and journalist from
Orissa to share his thoughts. Sudheer contextualised his presentation within
the contemperory situation in Orissa and spoke pf the culture of questioning
that has been emerging from amongst the tribals, the peasantry and the
fishing communities who for decades have been promised development and well
being through the setting up of by big projects such as NALCO and the
Rourkela steel plant. Over the years people have realized the hallowness of
these attempts to gain popular legitimacy. Interestingly and pointedly it is
not only the state that is trying to repress this questioning through
measures that are completely violative of human rights like mass arrests but
various arms of the civil  society too are not far behind in suppressing the
voice of the people. The mainstream media, corporate sector as well as the
NGO's have joined in the chorus of a "conspiracy theory'' and finger
pointing at possible "culprits" who have ``instigated" the "innocent"
tribals. This  theory rests on the belief that the poor are not capable of
thinking for themselves. It also makes it a crime  to share  the truth with
people.

Sudheer shared that his group the Independent Media consisting of
filmmakers, writers and journalists have been trying to share this process
of questioning by different groups of people with others in similar position
in Orissa. They have been producing Samadristi an Oriya fortnightly news
magazine and also creating videos, screening films and producing diverse
literature that challanges the censorship being faced by the people.

Jitman Basnet, a journalist and lawyer from Nepal now living in exile in
Delhi shared his personal experience of censorship both by the Maoists and
the monarchy. He was abducted by the Maoists for publishing in the monthly
magazine edited by him, Sagarmatha Times , reports of the destruction caused
by the political group. Subsequently he was arrested by the Royal Nepal Army
and kept in detention for over 9 months for writing against the human rights
abuse by the army and about the private assets of the king.  Giving a broad
outline of the climate of censorship that prevails in Nepal today, Jitman,
said that over 20 journalists and 1500 political and human rights activists
are still in custody of the Royal Nepal Army. More than 500 Nepali people
are missing for the past 4-5 years .Press censorship is being forced on the
media and no adverse reports on the monarchy are allowed. Several places in
the Kathmandu valley have been declared restricted areas where no
demonstrations or protests are allowed. Civilian areas have been bombed by
the army and these have resulted in the death of so far  uncounted
civilians.

Hasan Zaidi, filmmaker, journalist from Pakistan and also director of the
Kara Film Festival talked of the anomolous situation in Pakistan today where
under the present military regime media has seen a huge boom. Karachi alone
has 9 FM radio channels and all over Pakistan atleast 25 new private
television channels have come up. Hasan also shared that with the increase
in TV channels there has been a reduction in the diversity of programming.
Fierce competition for audiences has resulted in the complete phasing out of
more "serious" programming like documentaries.

The media boom in Pakistan has to operate within given restrictions. For
example officially FM channels are not allowed to broadcast anything on
politics. Some channels have flouted this restriction and one of them has
been regularly re broadcasting the BBC's Urdu news. Similarly although
Indian film music is banned it is broadcast regularly by the FM radios.
Certain issues are tabboo for all media. Any issue categorised as "in the
national interest"  and that could include anything,  is precluded from
media scrutiny. Thus for example, issues related to development if examined
from a critical or "hardline" perspective  can be a cause of official  ire.
Similarly the role of the military, though open to being questioned, can
only be done at one's peril. After 9/11 there has been a debate and
requestioning of what constitutes freedom of expression and this has led to
self censorship within the media. Hasan also talked about the role of the
multinationals as censor bodies, apart from the state, since they provide
funds for media outfits.

Vinod Jose from the Free Press a Malayalam magazine that was published from
Delhi by a group of young journalists shared how the periodical was forced
to close done by the state and business interests. Letters from readers to
the magazine were routinely scanned by the IB. Bundles of magazine on their
way to Kerala would be picked up by the intelligence agencies. Increasingly
no press in Delhi was ready to print the magazine  and for some time it was
printed from a press in Meerut. The newsprint suppliers too refused to
supply newsprint under pressure from the state agencies. Distributors of the
magazine as well as the Kerala based reporters were harassed and pressurised
to leave the Free Press. Vinod Jose's family and acquitances too were
questioned by the police.

Sharing with the audience the possible reasons of this continuous harassment
in the 16-17 months of the Free Press's existence Vinod talked of the
investigative stories that the magazine had done about some of the biggest
corporate interests in the country. One of the article had exposed  the role
of Reliance in the black economy and had listed 300 benami companies that
operated from Reliance address and had taken crores  worth of bank loans. He
also talked about another investigative story on Intel Microsoft project in
Kerala to impart computer education that had been riddled with corruption.
Another article had exposed the succesful attempt by a South India based
industrialist to get a river transferred to his name! This had led to a stay
order in the court.

Malathi Maithri a Feminist poet writing in Tamil talked about the need to
speak out when violence
and exploitation of all manner is being unleashed by  the poweful. There is
a need to formulate one's own means of resistence. Sharing her personal
experience of being a women poet writing on female desire and the body she
shared how large sections of a conservative literary mainstream had labeled
her as an "anti cultural element" and she has been reported by the press as
being "immoral". She said that women poets like her were not only writing
about desire but also about the material hardships faced by women. However
the latter aspect has never been highlighted by the literary mainstream who
have been vocal about their outrage at women writing about sexuality.
Feminist today, said Malathi, is one of the most abusive terms in Tamil
literature.

Andres Viel, noted filmmaker from Germany talked of the subtle and hidden
ways in which censorship can be exerted by a coalition of interests that
includes the state as well as economic forces. Direct economic pressure in
the form of threats to stop advertisements are an effective way to silence
investigative reports. Another way is more subtle. Journalists can be
threatened with not being given a future chance to get any more information
about a company if they were to persist in carrying on with their present
story. Andres talked about his personal experience with censorship during
the making of Black Box Germany when his house seemed burgled without any
forced signs of entry or anything missing. It was a subtle threat that worse
could follow. This form of censorship casts a shadow of fear and the longer
this form of subtle intimidation continues the greater the erosion of
confidence in the journalist or filmmaker about the validity of his
investigation. This can eventually lead to self censorship.

There was a vibrant discussion following these presentations. Sanjay Kak and
Lawrence Liang spoke about the censorship regime posed by copright laws in
the west and its advent to India. The discussion  then geered back to
Sudheer Pattnaik who spoke of his group's long term strategy plan  to
organise readers collectives to protect their magazine from being shut down
as Free Press had been forced to do. The need to mobilise people - readers,
audiences - as a vibrant and active force to challenge the censorship
regimes was stressed. Arundhati Roy  however made an insightful observation
that  it is  easier to organise people  to protest  against censorship  of
information around "just" causes such as development but  society itself
can pose a threat to freedom of expression when it is seen to be violative
of existing norms as in the case of Malathi Maithri and other women poets
writing about female desire in Tamil.

Tomorrow, 22 February,  the seminar begins at the Max Mueller Bhavan
at 9.30am sharp. Please find below the schedule for tomorrow -

22 February 2006 Wednesday
Max Mueller Bhawan, Kasturba Gandhi Marg

9:30 - 10:00 am : Opening Remarks:
Rahul Roy / Delhi Film Archive

10:00 - 11:30 am : Reports from the Region
Hassan Zaidi  (Karachi) Jitman Basnet (Kathmandu/ Delhi) Prasanna Vithanage
(Colombo) Tanvir Mokammel (Dhaka) Tenzin Tsundoe (Dharamsala) Video
Intervention: May Nyein (Burma) presented by Nem Davies Chair Amar Kanwar

12:00 - 1:30 pm : Framed by the law
Lawrence Liang (Bangalore) Sara Hossein (Dhaka) Discussants: Jitman Basnet /
Prasanna Vithanage / Hassan Zaidi Intervention: Shahid Amin (Delhi) Chair
Usha Ramanathan

2:30 - 4:00 pm : Court Encounters
PA Sebastian (Mumbai) Sara Hossein (Dhaka)
Discussants: Lawrence Liang / Prasanna Vithanage Chair Prashant Bhushan

4:30 - 6:00 pm : Silences from Srinagar & Shillong
Aijaz Hussain (Srinagar) P G Rasul (Srinagar) Robin S Ngangom (Shillong)
Tarun Bhartiya (Shillong) Intervention: Parvaiz Bukhari (Srinagar) Chair
Sanjay Kak

6:00 pm l Screening
Black Box Germany (102 min)
dir: Andres Veiel (director present)
discussant: Shuddhabrata Sengupta



..






Saba Dewan
A-19, Gulmohar Park
New Delhi 110049
Tel: 00-91-11-26515161
Fax: 00-91-11-26522230
Email: sabadewan at gmail.com
            khel at vsnl.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




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