[Reader-list] Clarification on the matter of allegedlyCancelled Screenings

Wed Aug 29 14:05:10 IST 2007

After a long time Zainab has brought in some fresh air into this space.

I have seen Sanjay Kak's film.i personally think it is not possible to
understand the film 'Jashn-e-Azadi' unless one leaves the notions of
territorial freedom.  The film is an excellent piece of work based on sound
and stable tectonics. I hope the film maker soon finds a way to screen the
film without him having to be present at every venue all the time.

Jashn-e-Azadi to my understanding is a work that for the first time has
tried to look at the discourse on Kashmir, and the issues and questions it
raises, outside the high walled superframe in which what is happening in
Kashmir and India today has been more or less successfully contained.

the film provides some keys to open holes in the gas chamber of irrational
nationalistic thinking about freedoms and political morality. The film is of
extreme intellectual importance .it opens up opportunities to ask the real
questions without pointing to any directions in which any answers may lie.

May more and more people see Jashn-e-Azadi. The canvas has offered absolute
intellectual honesty otherwise missing in the ongoing discourse.

M Yousuf

On 8/28/07, zainab <zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl> wrote:
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> I am not sure what is happening here. I have not seen the movie that
> Sanjay
> has made and hence I don't know what the content of the movie is. On this
> note therefore Sanjay, can I request you to help me organize a screening
> of
> your film in Bangalore? I would certainly like to see the film to
> understand the context of this thread of conversation on the list.
>
> A couple of things that have been on my mind with regards to this thread
> of
> conversation. I have visited Kashmir and have also been to the Kashmiri
> Pandit camps in Jammu. Undoubtedly, both sides are suffering as a result
> of
> the ongoing conflict in Kashmir. But it appears to me that memory and
> history is so strong that constantly, we are hearing the same rhetoric of
> displacement. By putting this so bluntly, I do not mean to belittle the
> trauma of displacement and the violence that the Pandits have suffered
> from
> and the displacement that the Kashmiri Muslims are suffering from both
> symbolically and actually. So, are our memories and histories so strong
> that we will never communicate with each other? Is that possibility of
> moving beyond our histories and memories so absolutely impossible? The
> rhetoric of rape, torture and violence at the hands of Yasin Malik and his
> cronies are not any longer good enough to justify the anger against the
> film that Sanjay has made and the anger against Sanjay himself.
>
> The other thought is about this discussion about freedom of speech and the
> nation. The Indian state is as much guilty, if no less, of the violence
> and
> atrocities in Kashmir. Why use torture and violence to keep a piece of
> territory and group of people together? Why rig elections in J&K to
> install
> some stooge of Delhi's as CM of J&K? Why send in the army in such large
> numbers that it is disconcerting even for an outsider to breathe freely in
> the Valley? What is this fear of disintegration? Can disintegration of
> 'the
> nation' happen with the click of a finger? Is the 'Indian nation' so
> fragile? Disintegration is likely when you force people to be with you
> rather than give them a choice to decide. It is like my parents forcing me
> to live with them at home and emotionally threatening me the possibility
> of
> disintegration of the family. Despite all the tortures that the Modi
> government inflicted on the Muslims in Gujarat, is there a single Muslim
> or
> a single person talking of the possibility of Gujarat separating from
> India? I ask once again, what is this fear of disintegration and who is
> perpetrating this fear?
>
> It is not about Shuddha and Jeebesh rising above the nation that gets them
> to say the things they say. It is the belief that the nation is not the
> primary social and determining force of our lives. It certainly is not the
> primary moving force in my life and I would not want it to be. I do not
> want the nation entering my house tomorrow and telling me to behave in
> certain ways because otherwise, there may be disintegration. Those who
> speak about the nation curtailing freedom of expression when there is
> threat of 'disintegration' must speak for themselves.
>
> Finally, to defend Sanjay's film by saying that he is expressing a point
> of
> view is as much a lament as those who lament the loss of home and believe
> this is good enough reason for a film not to be screened. It seems like we
> are all becoming The State and The Police in one way or another.
>
> Congratulations!
>
> Zainab
> On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:25:26 +0530, "Sanjay Kak" <kaksanjay at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Dear Shuddhabrata
> >
> > Since my name (or at least one very like mine) is at the center of some
> of
> > what has been going on in this space, I *should* be grateful to you for
> > taking the trouble to get the college concerned to give a clarification
> on
> > these two remarkably well discussed *non*-screenings.
> >
> > But I find I'm faintly disappointed with your responses: I mean, I was
> > actually beginning to enjoy reading what new act of villiany My Name
> might
> > be up to next, or where the hidden skeins would lead the intrepid
> > unravellers, or indeed what new threat might be posed to the Nation next
> > by
> > My Name... (But you've already had a sneak preview of that have'nt you,
> > after the thrilling Cancelled Screenings and Secret Funding chapters,
> > we've
> > had a hint of Threatening Phone Calls a few days ago, did we not? Watch
> > this
> > space, there will be more to come...)
> >
> > I know you would like a return to the Sarai Reader List as a place of
> > observation, reflection, whimsy, insight and other worthy ideals. But
> why
> > would you want to spoil our party? I havent had so much fun since I read
> > the
> > odd chapter of the new Harry Potter. And most of your 3000 odd
> subscribers
> > seem quite happy with all this too: why mess with a winning formula?
> >
> > Best
> >
> > Sanjay Kak
> >
> > On 8/27/07, Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Dear All,
> >>
> >> This is just by way of clarification of something that has disturbed
> >> many on this list, because it also involves an attack on the character
> >> and reputation of a person.
> >>
> >> A particular posting, made by Rashneek Kher <Someone "well connected"
> >> got RIK screening Cancelled> made on the 25th of August said that
> >> Ashok Pandita's film was cancelled after being confirmed for screening
> >> at Kamala Nehru College, allegedly at the behest of Sanjay Kak.
> >>
> >> On being requested to provide a clarification regarding this matter the
> >> faculty in charge of Wide Angle Film Society and the Principal of
> Kamala
> >> Nehru College have communicated to me that -
> >>
> >> "The Wide Angle Film Society of Kamala Nehru College was not prevailed
> >> upon by any individual or individuals to schedule or cancel any film.
> >> The college and Wide Angle Society are fully within their rights to
> show
> >>   or cancel any film screening without having to be accountable to any
> >> individual or body."
> >>
> >> This clearly indicates that the charge made on this list against the
> >> person concerned (Sanjay Kak), that he used 'connections' to stop a
> >> screening and arrange one of his own film is unsubstantiated and
> >> baseless. I knew this for a fact as early as Friday, but wanted to wait
> >> until I have a formalcommunication with the relevant people concerned
> in
> >> Kamala Nehru College before making any statements in this regard.
> >>
> >> I think communications of this nature are serious attacks on the
> dignity
> >> of this list and its members, and I hope that everyone will join me in
> >> insisting that list members desist from such all such allegations and
> >> attacks, in the interests of a healthy climate of freedom of expression
> >> that we all enjoy on this list.
> >>
> >> regards,
> >>
> >> Shuddha
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _________________________________________
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