[Reader-list] Fwd: FACT Exhibition at IHC

Sat Jul 12 18:31:04 IST 2008

Dear Shuddha,

One is as usual grateful to you for illuminating what was deliberately
hidden. Naxalism is the sort of far Left political mobilisation that
evokes interesting responses from left, left-liberals,
liberals-but-not-leftists, Marxists, post-Marxists - and similar
gradients of the right. So it is indeed important to know where an
anti-Naxal response is coming from, and so one is grateful for your
frisking in this case.

Just one thing: the civilian casualties you point to, no doubt include
innocents killed by security forces, but they also include those who
represent the Indian state but are not security personnel. This
includes all those who are involved in mainstream, electoral politics
and who are killed for just that.

(To digress, this reminds of an important point made by Prashant Jha
in this travel essay on Naxalism -
http://www.himalmag.com/2007/december/cover_feature_india_naxatile.html
 - one that few make: Naxalism thrives where democratic politics was
already weak, of left or right, and once Naxalism begins to take root,
it prevents democratic politics from spreading.)

In the case of Chhattisgarh, no doubt the civilian casualties are
largely coming from Salwa Judum atrocities, but perhaps equally from
Naxalites killing those who join Salwa Judum, or seek to, or refuse to
join either. While Chattisgarh's average stats have an over-bearing of
the Salwa Judum-caused figures, I think it is important to remember
while talking of Naxalism that Salwa Judum is present only in one of
the 160 (or whatever the claim is by whoever) districts that are
"Naxalite affected". This is not to downplay the mayhem that a
state-run militia is causing in the Dantewada district of the Basatar
plateau, but Dantewada is not India.

best
shivam

On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 2:33 PM, Shuddhabrata Sengupta
<shuddha at sarai.net> wrote:
> Dear Aditya, dear Pankhuree, dear all,
>
> Thank you, Aditya, for forwarding information about the FACT
> (Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism) sponsored exhibition
> titled: 'Naxalism: A Threat to the Unified Nation of India'
>
> While I am no sympathizer of Maoism, or those who are either called
> 'Maoists' or 'Naxalites' in India, I do have a few bones to pick with
> the contents of the exhibition at the India Habitat Centre that you
> have recommended to us.
>
> While looking at what pretends to be information of this nature it is
> always useful to do a little thinking about numbers. The statistics
> of casualties in the FACT exhibition are taken from the monthly
> statistics and reports published in the South Asia Intelligence
> Review by the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a think tank headed by the
> notorious former Punjab police chief who masterminded disappearances
> and the utilization of 'renegade' militants as an instrument of
> policy in Punjab and the North East,  architect of the Indian hockey
> team's disasters and well known pincher of women's bottoms, Mr. KPS
> GIll. I am a regular recipient of the SAIR and I happen to follow the
> figures that are mentioned in its reports quite diligently.
>
> I have no quarrel with the reports, as such, as I have no way of
> assessing their accuracy, or inaccuracy. However, I do have a quarrel
> with the way in which this information is presented in the FACT
> exhibition. In each instance, there is a heading called 'civilian
> casualties' . Let us take the Table that says 'Naxal Violence in
> Chattisgarh' and analyse the information given for the year 2007
>
> " Security Forces Casualties 181
> Civilian Casualties 166
> Naxalites Killed 66 "
>
> What I find interesting is the figure for 'Civilian Casualties'.
> Given in this way, it appears as if the 'Civilians' killed are due to
> 'Naxal' violence. The sources of these figures, the SAIR bulletins,
> simply title their tables as  "Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in
> South Asia" , which in my opinion, is a far more precise way of
> talking about the casualty figures, because it does not actually
> attribute specific authorship to the violence. This is significant,
> because the 'civilans' while they may be targetted on occasion by the
> Maoists, are also, generally, in a far larger measure, targetted by
> the security forces, and the 'Anti-Maoist' militia called the Salwa
> Judum. So, when we see 'civilian casualties' we are looking at a
> number of people who may have been killed, by 'Naxals', by security
> forces, by militia like the 'Salwa Judum'. Since, 'Naxals' depend on
> their survival on the sympathies (and to a certain extent, fear) of
> the tribal poor, it is extremely unrealistic to deduce that they
> would in fact be the primary authors of the violence that is
> described as 'civilian casualties'. Numerous investigations report
> that the actual primary authors of this violence are the security
> forces, and the Salwa Judum, both of which act with impunity in
> Chattisgarh. In this instance, the FACT exhibition is indulging in a
> serious case of disinformation. It could be argued that it is doing
> so at the behest of the primary authors of this violence, that is,
> the security forces and those who have floated outfits such as the
> 'Salwa Judum'.
>
> In the FACT exhibition text, the Salwa Judum is introduced as 'Hope
> Floats'. It is by now well documented that the Salwa Judum is in fact
> one of the deadliest and most lethal armed outfits operating in
> India, which coerces tribals who are forced into detention camps to
> join it as footsoldiers, which uses child soldiers and uses rape,
> torture and arson. It has become an instrument of state terror, and
> is supported by the corporate interests which have a stake in the
> mining operations in the area to clear tribals off the land that the
> mining companies lust after.
>
> Even the South Asia Terrorism Portal (which the FACT exhibition
> relies on extensively, otherwise) has this to say about the Salwa Judum
>
> "However, local reports from the areas witnessing the campaign have
> been disturbing, with analysts questioning the policy of state
> support to a vigilante movement that exposes large numbers of
> civilians to unacceptable risk. According to a former Director
> General of Police, Dr. K S Subramanian, "While official sources
> maintain that the campaign, led by a local legislator, is hugely
> successful with the tribal people joining it in large numbers, local
> enquiries revealed a different picture. In the name of Salwa Judum,
> the tribal people are being forced to join a far from spontaneous
> mobilisation… Hundreds have been killed on both sides. A large area
> of land remains uncultivated; tribal people who are meant to work on
> the land have deserted the villages and are living under open skies
> and are starving. A vast amount of corruption has crept in as a
> result of this misconceived campaign with the ruling party spending
> huge amounts on it."
>
> http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/archives/4_33.htm
>
> For a more detailed investigation of the Salwa Judum's 'spontaneous'
> activities, please see - the PUCL  (Peoples Union for Civil
> Liberties) report on the Salwa Judum at
>
> http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Human-rights/2006/slawajudum.htm
>
> There are other howlers in the exhibition, such as the fact that. the
> Ranvir Sena is mentioned as a Naxalite organization. Now, the Ranvir
> Sena, as is very well known, is a militia of upper caste landowners
> in Bihar and parts of Jharkhand that has actually been at war (like
> the Salwa Judum) with the Naxals for several decades now. Calling the
> Ranvir Sena a 'Naxalite' organization is a bit like calling Panun
> Kashmir, or Roots in Kashmir a front organization of the JKLF or the
> Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir.
>
> Finally, a word about FACT, the outfit that has organized this
> exhibition. The moving force behind FACT is the rather flamboyant
> French expatriate journalist based in Delhi, Francois Gautier, whose
> sympathies for hard line Hindu Fundamentalism has never been a secret.
>
> He founded FACT with money he got from the'Nachiketa' Journalism
> prize awarded to him by the then Prime Minister of India Mr Atal
> Bihari Vajpayee on behalf of the Government of India. The Nachiketa
> prize has been instituted by the Panchajanya group of publications,
> which just happens to be the inhouse publishing arm of the Rashtriya
> Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
>
> Gautier's services as the South Asia Correspondent of the French
> newspaper, Le Figaro were terminated in 2000 on the grounds of his
> obviously biased (and often factually compromised) reportage. He has
> since then, spent time acting as the chief public relations point man
> for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and getting even closer to sections of the
> political far right in India.
>
> Apologies for this lengthy response, but I think it is necessary to
> have a few facts straight about FACT. Our patriots, while they have a
> great deal of enthusiasm, are not generally well known for precision,
> and the boring matter of attempting to maintain a consistency with,
> em, the facts.
>
> regards,
>
> Shuddha
>
>
>
>
> On 12-Jul-08, at 11:09 AM, Aditya Raj Kaul wrote:
>
>> Hi Pankhuree,
>>
>> You can check the online exhibition here:
>>
>> Here it is.
>>
>> http://www.scribd.com/doc/2469417/Naxal-Low-Res-
>>
>> http://www.scribd.com/doc/3907033/5-new-panels
>> For More details Mr. Veeru might be contacted here - Mob: +91 93912
>> 45303
>> +91 98719 49094
>>
>> Thanks indeed,
>> Aditya Raj Kaul
>> Campaign Blog - www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
>>
>>
>> On 7/12/08, pankhuree dube <pankhuree at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi Mr. Kaul,
>>> Thank you for forwarding a description of this exhibit. It sounds
>>> fascinating. Do you know if there are any plans to make it
>>> available online
>>> so that individuals who are not able to view it in India can have
>>> a chance
>>> to read further about it?
>>> I would very much like to be able to see it firsthand, but even a
>>> brief
>>> description of the findings and perhaps a list of resources for
>>> further
>>> reading would be of great interest to me.Many thanks,
>>> Pankhuree
>>>> Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:31:40 +0530> From:
>>>> kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
>>> To: reader-list at sarai.net> Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: FACT
>>> Exhibition at
>>> IHC> > *FACT INDIA: Exhibition on Naxalism opens in India Habitat
>>> Centre*> >
>>> *The Naxalism: A threat to Unified nation of India* The Exhibition
>>> is a>
>>> reflection of the Maoist insurgency in India, a blend of photographs>
>>> statistics and ofcourse an analysis and a presentation of FACTS. The>
>>> exhibition will be open for visitors at the INDIA HAbitat centre from
>>> *8-14th> july 2008*. The exhibition has already travelled to Oslo
>>> and was
>>> screened on> the sidelines of "The Conference on Peace and
>>> Reconciliation in
>>> South Asia -> Challenges and Opportunities."> > *The Exhibition*
>>> travels
>>> through the lives of the victims in the Naxal> infested states and
>>> present
>>> their lives as well as the lives of those> vallant fighters both
>>> civilian
>>> and from the government. Its the Fight> against terrorism the idea of
>>> killing because one doesnt believe or just> disagree with the others,
>>> Intolerence and disharmony.> > > > Timings: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
>>> - Monday,
>>> July 14, 2008> > Venue: India Habitat Center, <
>>> http://upcoming.yahoo.com/venue/131044/>Lodhi> Road, New Delhi> > > >
>>> Contact number:- Mr Veer 099871949094> > > -- > Thanks & regards>
>>> Rinku
>>> thusoo> Delhi> > http://kashmir-in-exile.blogspot.com>
>>> http://jokingbudha.blogspot.com> __._,_.___ Messages in this topic> <
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>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
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