[Reader-list] Farewell to our Humid Weimar

inder salim indersalim at gmail.com
Sat Jul 12 22:23:38 IST 2008 

Dear prakash


I wish there is a way to speak about the darker side of the moon while
its shining part is seen as inspirational.  If I speak truly about
myself I see myself liberated in the least, but I try to open up the
knots of my past and recent past. Not surprising that in the process i
get sucked into the labyrinth of 'complexities'. Profoundly I don't
see politics far from what is called Art even. I am trying.

Left was part of my life in eighties in kashmir. But I was always
disillusioned on many accounts.  Not surprising that most of the so
called kashmiri leftists joined BJP after migration in 1990.

 To begin with, Sheikh mohd Abudullah who invited these leftists to
support and join his government after 1975 accord with Indira Gandhi
but they refused.  Similary I failed to  understand why left opposed
Rushdie on Satanic Verses issue, and similarly we don't understand why
they isolated Taslima Nasreen. See, how they were clandestinely
managing  the land deal in  Nandigram.  I have never seen Left
criticizing Dynasty politics in India except when there is election
time. Their love for MF Hussain is actual but when I engaged a left
cultural activist that do you explain Hussain sahib's present day (
shauq ) tendency to acquire red expensive cars when Tehalka was
showing it all unambiguously. They really don't know how to speak
openly about what is bourgeoisie now, they dont want to sit with a
proletariat now. See the situation in Trade unions. Once there was
comrade Parwana who sacrificed his life and career for a cause, but
now it is about what car a Bank union Secretary gets on his
retirement.  The list is long. The hidden bourgeoisie is finally out
in then open.  That is why they don't think twice before pulling out
the support, as Shuddha pointed out that what if this action leads to
the return of BJP in the centre and Narender Modi as our new Home
Minister. And how to explain their  so called love for Muslims.  UPA
in the first place took shape to keep Hindutva out of power.  But now…


The congress always hated Left more than Jana Sanga, and we really
know it now, after a congresswalla called Narsimha Rao Govt help the
demolition of Babri mosque,  but they had no choice to come close they
will do it again without working  out the irritants.

   But if left was so serious about  muslims they should explain their
position in Afganistan when great USSR raped that nation. government
of India supported  that bloody game too

 In short, left is like a religion, which is struggling for its
international image while grappling with the popular. It has never
done a re-reading of its own text which is akin to religion. And left
intellectuals  who cared to think different from the straight jacketed
text were quickly ousted out. It is hardly democratic.  We need Left
but it has to learn to take more criticism than it is used to.

 Having said all this, the basic question still remains- what is the
way out if we continue to march  along with our present day styles of
living without the sufficient stocks of energy to fill our rapidly
emptying barrels.

 If we forget about the nuclear what is alternative, where is the
solar energy, if we want to live as happily as people live in the
West.

  I guess there is an common understanding of what we call a standard
living in the West and if that is the  measuring rod for a developing
nation what we need to do?



love

is







On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 9:16 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्
<mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:
>
> > elitist ides of knowledge
>
> I meant ideas
>
> On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 9:13 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्
> <mail at shivamvij.com> wrote:
> > And what I meant to say is that I have a problem with not only getting
> > personal in arguments, but more than that, this club mentality, this
> > holier-than-thou approach that if you are a journalist you would know
> > this, and you are a researcher you would know more of this, and if you
> > are a housewife you must be an ignoramus because you don't have access
> > to channels of information. In the age of the internet I don't
> > subscribe to such elitist ides of knowledge.
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 9:10 PM, prakash ray <pkray11 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Dear Shivam,
> >>
> >> What I meant to say that since you are a reporter, you could have collectted
> >> more on that since as reporter you have certain avenues and previledges, and
> >> through your contacts and fellow-reporters. No. I am not anything, just a
> >> member on this list. I had joined DD in 2003, later same year UNI. also
> >> worked with India TV for sometime when Tarun Tejpal, Editor-in-Chief, was
> >> associated with the chhanel alongwith Ms Menaka Gandhi, a BJP MP. You are
> >> right that a non-reporter can do research. I also left media to be a
> >> researcher.
> >>
> >> Prakash
> >>
> >> On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 8:57 PM, Shivam Vij शिवम् विज् <mail at shivamvij.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> > Shivam could have researched on the matter since he is a reporter
> >>> > himself.
> >>>
> >>> I wonder why a non-reporter can't do research. And if you know these
> >>> things, are you a supra-editor or something????
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 8:52 PM, prakash ray <pkray11 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> >
> >>> > Dear all,
> >>> >
> >>> > It is not surprising to hear some of the 'liberated' ones (read Shuddha,
> >>> > Shivam and Salim) mouthing anti-Left arguments over the current debate
> >>> over
> >>> > the nuclear deal. People like them, as far as I remember, have 'always'
> >>> > attacked the Left without any gap or break. I do not want to blame them
> >>> for
> >>> > their political positions, but I would accuse them for their
> >>> > shortsightedness for not seeing or observing any positive contribution or
> >>> > position of the Left. Some of us consider ourselves 'liberated' since we
> >>> > write, read and lecture, and we only do that. We forget that our 'false
> >>> > sense of liberation' is a mere reflection of our handsome salaries and
> >>> > convenient middle class location. And I do not consider that a sin.
> >>> However,
> >>> > I request them to reconsider their 'holier than all' approach.
> >>> >
> >>> > Coming to the issue of the Deal, I am wondering they do not articulate
> >>> their
> >>> > position except mouthing anti- everything nuclear sacredness. Their
> >>> belief
> >>> > of the Left and BJP coming together is speculative and based on a report
> >>> > appeared in Times Now website. Let me ask them that they believe what the
> >>> > TOI and its associates say on the Deal or the Nano car or economic
> >>> policies
> >>> > etc. Shivam could have researched on the matter since he is a reporter
> >>> > himself. I would like to hear from Shuddha on the support extended by the
> >>> > Left to the UPA for the last four years. Mr Advani getting interviewed in
> >>> > the Hindu must be looked at a mere media exercise. Every
> >>> > newspaper/magazine/channel including Tehlka publishes interviews of the
> >>> > politicians of all colours including Mr Mahendra Karma of the Salwa Judum
> >>> > infamy. The Hindu 'also' publishes Ms Arundhati Roy at regular
> >>> intervention
> >>> > and it was Mr N Ram who interviewed the former President K R Narayanan on
> >>> > the eve of the Republic Day which was telecast on DD in place of the
> >>> > customary prez speeches. And here on the Sarai reder list, the
> >>> right-wingers
> >>> > get more space. Should one read it as 'something' about the moderator or
> >>> > Shuddha himself?
> >>> >
> >>> > I see the Deal as a profound sign of the Govt's closeness to the US
> >>> > administration that is waging war against mankind everywhere and
> >>> > continuously demonizing the opposing sections worldwide. I do not find
> >>> any
> >>> > fault if someone sees the Deal as anti-Muslim given the fact that the US
> >>> and
> >>> > Indian Govts are continuously targeting the community. I do not think the
> >>> > readers need fact related to this. I do not find any fault if someone
> >>> sees
> >>> > the deal as an attack on the national sovereignty since I consider the
> >>> > nation as a weapon against the growing imperialist attack on the poor and
> >>> > less-powerful nations. I support the alliance of such nation against the
> >>> > policies and politics of the US.
> >>> >
> >>> > Opposing the Deal is to oppose every evil of the Imperialism.
> >>> >
> >>> > Let me ask some simple questions:
> >>> >
> >>> > Was the Left wrong when they supported the UPA led by the Congress?
> >>> > Should the Left continue the support so that Dr Singh could go ahead with
> >>> > the Deal?
> >>> > Should the Deal be supported since the BJP might get benefit in elections
> >>> if
> >>> > the Govt falls?
> >>> > Since BJP has members in the Loksabha, should the Left oppose or support
> >>> > everything only on the basis of the position taken by the BJP?
> >>> > Are the policies of Mr Bush not guided by the ideology of the 'clash of
> >>> > civilizations'?
> >>> >
> >>> > Regards,
> >>> > Prakash
> >>> > _________________________________________
> >>> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> >>> > Critiques & Collaborations
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> >>> subscribe in the subject header.
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> /National Highway/ http://shivamvij.com/
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Prakash K Ray
> >> 225, Sutlej, JNU, New Delhi-110067.
> >> cinemela.blogspot.com
> >> (0) 9873313315
> >> _________________________________________
> >> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> >> Critiques & Collaborations
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > /National Highway/ http://shivamvij.com/
> >
>
>
>
> --
> /National Highway/ http://shivamvij.com/
> _________________________________________
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