[Reader-list] Pink campaign and issue of Gender equality

Radhakrishnan krishnanrr at rediffmail.com
Sun Mar 15 00:35:32 IST 2009 

  The recent campaigns and undue publicity give to the pink campaign clearly highlights the inherent upper class prejudices very logically as well as religiously projected by channels like CNN IBN - a channel with an inherent upper class prejudices, which masquerades as conscience keeper for some folks who feel that a miniscule section like them, who have all the benefits and economic clout, can have meals three times a day, can blow their money on Beer and Vodka, when a majority of us have to struggle to a get a daily share of drinking water . 

While there shouldn't be any doubt about prosecuting the criminals and lumpens who launched attacks on harmless and unarmed people (both men and women) going to pub – going to pub is absolutely well within one’s right to recreation based on their own monetary strength. One can’t let anybody stop them in the name of defending religion or culture. After all where do these culural defenders disappear when women are raped, humiliated or killed to defend so called honour?

But at the same time to say that march towards Pub and guzzling beer is a sign of empowerment or is a mechanism for women’s liberation is not based on a mistaken notion of modernity but trivializing the very oppression majority of women in India who undergo untold atrocities based on religion and culture. Ironically the so called leaders coming form urban areas are not only mute spectators but mostly love to be indifferent when a Roop Kanwar was burnt alive to glorify sati or Bhawari devi was raped to be taught a lesson for challenging the existing patriarchy which condoned child marriages or Gudiya was paraded in public as a sex slave in the name of defending so called personal laws of religion. 

Hence to seek justice for the wanton attack is justified but to claim moral superiority and project as some warrior who seeks to claim public space is nothing but an attempt to fool oneself along with another upper caste moron called Renuka Chaudhary who would prefer to guzzle cans of beer for women empowerment but would hate to intervene when a women in Punjab gets killed for having married outside her caste and when her husband is chased in the market and butchered in broad daylight. So would be the case when a poor girl is raped by the zamindar’s son in West Bengal (Telegraph). She ends up delivering a baby and also shunted out of the village when all the attempts to silence her through money and muscle power fails.ironically many of such English speaking, urban centric warriors were impervious when a Stephanian turned out to be a cold blooded monster in Nithari.

So isn’t it wonderful to be impervious to the truth of the majority as they aren’t probably as sophisticated as the pub goers or can’t speak a Sagarika ghosh’s or Rajdeep Sardesai’s English.

A development journalist had mentioned some years ago that the number of journalists who covered the suicide by farmers in the countryside could be counted on ones finger tip  but if one attempts to count the number of journalists who covered the Lakme Fashion week, it would go around 300 plus.

So to cut the story short – one may justifiably ask as to what are the goals and objectives of such movement which is based on a lopsided understanding of freedom and social justice and doesn’t address the issue of gender equality by any means.


Radhakrishnan
-------------------------------------------------


On Sat, 14 Mar 2009 reader-list-request at sarai.net wrote :
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>Today's Topics:
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>    1. [Announcements] Floating Points 6: Games of Culture |	Art of
>       Games (Turbulence)
>    2. Another cause, not pink but blood red... (Pawan Durani)
>    3. Re: Another cause, not pink but blood red... (Rakesh Iyer)
>    4. Re: Another cause, not pink but blood red... (swathi shivanand)
>    5. Re: "Pakistan in the frame over Bangladesh uprising"
>       (Naeem Mohaiemen)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:24:54 -0400
> From: "Turbulence" <turbulence at turbulence.org>
>Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] Floating Points 6: Games of
> 	Culture |	Art of Games
>To: "Jo-Anne Green" <jo at turbulence.org>
>Message-ID: <00f401c9a33f$d97684a0$8c638de0$@org>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
>Floating Points 6: Games of Culture | Art of Games
>http://institute.emerson.edu/floatingpoints/2009/
>
>A Film Screening, Symposium and Workshops with Asi Burak, Anita Fontaine,
>Jesper Juul, Friedrich Kirschner, Marcin Ramocki, Jason Rohrer, Adriana de
>Souza Silva, Mushon Zer-Aviv
>
>DATE: March 20-21, 2009
>VENUE: Emerson College, Boston + streamed live on the web and in Second Life
>FREE and OPEN to the public. Registration details on the website
>
>Video games extend beyond the gaming console into nearly every aspect of
>contemporary life. They are fun. They drive innovation, consumer engagement
>and employee productivity. Is our culture turning everything into a game?
>
>Video Games have had a greater impact on narrative form than any medium
>since film. They are altering our experience of both virtual and physical
>space. Gamespace is everywhere and nowhere (McKenzie Wark, "Gamer Theory").
>In "Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds", Michael
>Nitsche introduces five analytical layers - rule-based space, mediated
>space, fictional space, play space, and social space. How do artists and
>game designers use these spaces in their creative practice? How does
>structured play impact our engagement with other people, both online and in
>urban space? What are the political and cultural implications of gaming
>practices?
>
>Please join us for a lively discussion.
>
>Co-Organized and Co-Presented by Emerson College and Turbulence.org
>
>Jo-Anne Green, Co-Director
>New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org
>New York: 917.548.7780 . Boston: 617.522.3856
>Turbulence: http://turbulence.org
>Networked_Performance Blog: http://turbulence.org/blog
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>------------------------------
>
>Message: 2
>Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:14:46 +0530
> From: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
>Subject: [Reader-list] Another cause, not pink but blood red...
>To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
>Message-ID:
> 	<6b79f1a70903132344x60161cd3kdb3fc3dccb703c75 at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
>http://mohan-sinha.blogspot.com/
>
>Here are two issues, both equally relevant when it comes to our fundamental
>rights - but see how we perceive them. The first is the ‘pink chaddi’
>campaign against Muthalik and the Ram Sene. The second is a campaign to end
>ragging, by the family of Aman Kachroo, the student who was beaten to death
>by his seniors at a medical school in Himachal Pradesh.
>
>The ‘Pink Chaddi’ group was started on Facebook and had 50,000+ members in
>less than a week. The second, ‘Justice for Aman
>Kachroo<http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56564914348#/group.php?gid=57342453306>’
>has just 1607 and quite a few Facebook members, including your truly have
>been asking members to join the campaign but with little response. So, why
>is there empathy for pink chaddi and apathy for Aman Kachroo? Was the ‘pink
>chaddi’ campaign more up-market than the reason for which a 19-year-old had
>to give up his life? Is human life worth so little to us.
>
>Children don’t deserve such a death – hell, no one deserves such a death.
>But time and again, children die or attempt suicide unable to bear the
>ragging at their institutions, and the authorities first attempt a cover-up;
>then try to taint the victim’s character, and accept the crime only when the
>shit hits the fan.
>
>A cousin, who studied at one of the premier technology institutes in the
>country in the 1980s, told me how juniors were put through the grind when
>they joined. When seniors were playing cards in one of the rooms, and wanted
>to smoke, the juniors were ordered to become ‘ashtrays’ – they were supposed
>to sit on their haunches next to the seniors, with their MOUTHS OPEN so that
>ash could be tipped in their mouth. Ouch! To those with a morbid sense of
>fun and fair play, this may be much better than being beaten to death, but
>that’s no consolation.
>
>Now of course, premier institutions like the one referred to above have
>clamped down on ragging and students who indulge in it are told to drop a
>year and come back next year to continue the curriculum. Freshers are now
>given right of way and seniors usually keep a safe distance from them for
>fear of being reprimanded. Now it’s the freshers who are rude with the
>seniors! And this was conveyed to me by a student at IIT Powai. Sadly, in
>all this what is lost is the spirit of camaraderie and friendship. But I
>guess, to avoid incidents like the one that happened with Aman Kachroo and,
>just yesterday, with the girl in Andhra Pradesh who tried to commit suicide
>because she couldn’t take the ragging, these steps are necessary.
>
>So maybe it's time to see beyond pink chaddis and pub going loose women, and
>take up the fight for Aman Kachroo’s family and also ensure that no kids,
>whether yours or mine, lose their lives?
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 3
>Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:41:15 +0530
> From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Another cause, not pink but blood red...
>To: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
>Cc: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
>Message-ID:
> 	<fd97a98d0903140411k3a0a76f0o16edfa058666929a at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
>Dear all
>
>I think the point raised by Pawan is certainly a valid one, in that certain
>issues have always hogged the limelight, while others are not even mentioned
>or discussed among the public. This has certainly been the case between
>incidents like Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case, Nitish Katara murder case,
>Jessica Lall murder case and also the Mangalore pub attacks on one hand,
>which have become popular, and on the other hand, incidents like Khairlanji
>massacre of Dalits, Jhajjar massacre of Dalits, and also the Kachroo ragging
>case, which have not been as popular.
>
>One aspect certainly on this issue, is the strong association between
>popular TV and newsprint media on one hand, and the class connection of the
>people working here. Most of the people working at such places belong to the
>upper middle class, and connect better to issues and problems they
>experience. The result is that they are not able to connect with issues like
>SHG's (Self Help Groups), massacre of lower-caste people, electoral politics
>(the actual way it works) among others.
>
>However, the larger framework in which this can be mentioned is what we call
>as 'democracy'. As I see it, the upper middle class of India don't want
>democracy; instead, democracy only seems to be a problem for them. Being a
>student of one of the premier technological institutes of India
>(IIT-Madras), my experiences can vouch for the fact that most of the
>students in my college belong to this upper middle class, and this class
>does not really want democracy. Instead, what most of this class wants (and
>at one time, even I wanted), is efficiency. Hence, the support for a party
>like BJP (which supports privatization as it improves efficiency, or even
>anti-terror laws as they are supposed to improve efficiency in giving
>justice and punishment to terrorists).
>
>The upper middle class can get all their works done through bribes and other
>means. For example, look at the way most of us get our licences, ration
>cards, and even passports.Most of this class members would have to or would
>have already paid some bribe at some point of time to get their work done (I
>dont' mean to say that people who pay bribes like to do so; it just means
>that they don't have any choice left). When these don't work, they can also
>use media pressure to get what they want. Look at issues of reservation,
>Mangalore pub attacks, and even murder cases as examples.
>
>However, when issues don't concern them, they hardly bother. So, massacre of
>Dalits can be forgotten. The fact that reservation as a move to protect
>unity of India has worked, can also be forgotten. Moreover, even Ambedkar
>and his followers can be forgotten. Even the fact, that people who are
>uneducated, poor, illiterate actually go out in each and every election and
>vote, (while the upper middle class generally dont' vote in that large
>numbers), is forgotten. Infact, it's these people who realize that they
>don't have the money or the resources to pay bribes to get their work done,
>and hence, go out and vote, in the hope that they would be able to get their
>necessities of daily life, in an easier and simpler manner, so also the hope
>that things would improve for them.
>
>Hence, it's not just an apathy of one incident, and sympathy for something
>else.
>
>It's a class-based system, where something is sympathised with, and
>something is totally forgotten. (And one reason as I see it, is the fact
>that India doesn't have one unified common education system, where children
>of rich were to study side-by-side with the children of poor. This would
>have changed India totally for the better, for when communication starts
>between members cutting across classes, you can understand others better,
>social trust improves, and issues can be understood much better. )
>
>It would be better that we all try to now bring about this communication in
>our little ways we can, otherwise we are in trouble for now, and heading
>towards an impending disaster.
>
>Only then will sympathy be there for all classes. And nobody would have to
>ask others to sympathize with Aman Kachroo or any such cases.
>
>Regards
>
>Rakesh
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 4
>Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:47:33 +0530
> From: swathi shivanand <swathi.shivanand at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Another cause, not pink but blood red...
>To: sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
>Message-ID:
> 	<c9f6c3630903140517w606006afg1305cb653755964f at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
>while agreeing with a large number of issues raised in the two emails,
>namely that of the class nature of the media, the horrific incidents of
>ragging demeaning human dignity, the under-reportage of atrocities against
>dalits.....
>
>but to priviliege one kind of oppression over the other, to say that one is
>more important than the other is doing a disservice to understanding the
>nature and operation of powerful, oppressive forces. it is also to say that
>one's oppression is worse than the other's... and one definitely cannot
>hierarchise oppression, can we?
>
>so while calling for support, perhaps we ask for support based on the
>historicity and nature of the incident involved, rather than demeaning other
>forms of protest?
>
>swathi
>
>On Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 12:14 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > http://mohan-sinha.blogspot.com/
> >
> > Here are two issues, both equally relevant when it comes to our fundamental
> > rights - but see how we perceive them. The first is the ‘pink chaddi’
> > campaign against Muthalik and the Ram Sene. The second is a campaign to end
> > ragging, by the family of Aman Kachroo, the student who was beaten to death
> > by his seniors at a medical school in Himachal Pradesh.
> >
> > The ‘Pink Chaddi’ group was started on Facebook and had 50,000+ members in
> > less than a week. The second, ‘Justice for Aman
> > Kachroo<
> > http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56564914348#/group.php?gid=57342453306
> > >’
> > has just 1607 and quite a few Facebook members, including your truly have
> > been asking members to join the campaign but with little response. So, why
> > is there empathy for pink chaddi and apathy for Aman Kachroo? Was the ‘pink
> > chaddi’ campaign more up-market than the reason for which a 19-year-old had
> > to give up his life? Is human life worth so little to us.
> >
> > Children don’t deserve such a death – hell, no one deserves such a death.
> > But time and again, children die or attempt suicide unable to bear the
> > ragging at their institutions, and the authorities first attempt a
> > cover-up;
> > then try to taint the victim’s character, and accept the crime only when
> > the
> > shit hits the fan.
> >
> > A cousin, who studied at one of the premier technology institutes in the
> > country in the 1980s, told me how juniors were put through the grind when
> > they joined. When seniors were playing cards in one of the rooms, and
> > wanted
> > to smoke, the juniors were ordered to become ‘ashtrays’ – they were
> > supposed
> > to sit on their haunches next to the seniors, with their MOUTHS OPEN so
> > that
> > ash could be tipped in their mouth. Ouch! To those with a morbid sense of
> > fun and fair play, this may be much better than being beaten to death, but
> > that’s no consolation.
> >
> > Now of course, premier institutions like the one referred to above have
> > clamped down on ragging and students who indulge in it are told to drop a
> > year and come back next year to continue the curriculum. Freshers are now
> > given right of way and seniors usually keep a safe distance from them for
> > fear of being reprimanded. Now it’s the freshers who are rude with the
> > seniors! And this was conveyed to me by a student at IIT Powai. Sadly, in
> > all this what is lost is the spirit of camaraderie and friendship. But I
> > guess, to avoid incidents like the one that happened with Aman Kachroo and,
> > just yesterday, with the girl in Andhra Pradesh who tried to commit suicide
> > because she couldn’t take the ragging, these steps are necessary.
> >
> > So maybe it's time to see beyond pink chaddis and pub going loose women,
> > and
> > take up the fight for Aman Kachroo’s family and also ensure that no kids,
> > whether yours or mine, lose their lives?
> > _________________________________________
> > reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> > Critiques & Collaborations
> > To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> > subscribe in the subject header.
> > To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> > List archive: <https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 5
>Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:48:46 +0600
> From: Naeem Mohaiemen <naeem.mohaiemen at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [Reader-list] "Pakistan in the frame over Bangladesh
> 	uprising"
>To: kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com, sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
>Message-ID:
> 	<e9cfea7c0903140648i4528e329h75230482051c10d8 at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
>The latest theories
>
>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/world/asia/14bangla.html
>
>On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > It could be just yet another 'conspiracy theory' although certainity of
> > knowledge about Pakistani involvement has not been claimed.
> >
> > Ironic though that the 'conspiracy theory specialist' Pakistan is the
> > suspect. Pakistan and Pakistanis themselves make a habit of and are very
> > fond of seeing the 'real conspiracy' behind a 9/11 or a 26/11 or Attack on
> > Indian Parliament or Massacre of Sikhs in Kashmir.
> >
> > (To Naeem) : In Bangladesh is there any such (seriously
> > considered) suspicion about Pakistani involvement in the BDR Mutiny?
> >
> > - " ....... harrowing reports of the wives and children of some of the
> > officers being mutilated – serious doubts have surfaced over whether such
> > brutality would have been carried out simply over a pay dispute"
> >
> > - " ........   whether the uprising was linked to the prime minister's plans
> > to establish a war-crimes tribunal to put on trial those who collaborated
> > with the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh's war of independence."
> >
> >
> > Kshmendra
> >
> >
> >
> > "Pakistan in the frame over Bangladesh uprising"
> >
> > (The Pakistani intelligence services are suspected of being involved last
> > week's Dhaka massacre of at least 77 Bangladesh Army officers.)
> >
> > By Dean Nelson
> >   01 Mar 2009
> >
> > Investigators say they have begun a search for the "powerful quarters"
> > behind the revolt amid claims it may have been organised from abroad.
> >
> > Officials yesterday filed murder cases against 1,000 border security guards
> > of the Bangladesh Rifles as reports emerged in India and Bangladesh of a
> > Pakistan-based plot to destabilise the new government of prime minister
> > Sheikh Hasina.
> >
> > The Times of India quoted sources close to the investigation claiming
> > arrested mutineers had named a senior a Bangladeshi businessman and
> > politician believed to have close links with Pakistan's intelligence
> > service. It was also reported that confession statements suggested the
> > mutineers had received around £100,000 to bankroll their revolt.
> >
> > Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency has previously been accused of
> > involvement in the attacks on Mumbai last November in which 173 were killed.
> >
> > As the scale of carnage and the cruelty of the mutineers has emerged –
> > including harrowing reports of the wives and children of some of the
> > officers being mutilated – serious doubts have surfaced over whether such
> > brutality would have been carried out simply over a pay dispute. The death
> > toll is expected to rise further as investigators search for 70 officers who
> > are still missing.
> >
> > Investigators are expected to probe the extent of militant penetration of
> > the Bangladesh Rifles by al-Qaeda linked groups like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen
> > Bangladesh, and also whether the uprising was linked to the prime minister's
> > plans to establish a war-crimes tribunal to put on trial those who
> > collaborated with the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh's war of independence.
> >
> > A leading Bangladeshi newspaper quoted one member of the inquiry committee
> > saying the mutiny could not have happened without the support of "powerful
> > quarters."
> >
> > A seven-member committee to investigate the revolt, led by the country's
> > Home Minister, Sahara Khatun, formally began its investigation yesterday to
> > establish how the massacre happened and who was behind it.
> >
> > It is due to report next weekend, but its inquiry will take place in an
> > increasingly febrile atmosphere as rumours of a plot to destabilise the
> > government and force the army to take power gathered momentum.
> >
> > The mutineers themselves originally told the prime minister they were
> > rebelling over poor pay and promotion prospects and abuses by their
> > officers, who were drawn from the army and not from the Bangladesh Riflemen
> > themselves. They claimed discredited officers were often seconded to the
> > Rifles as a 'punishment posting' and that they used the Riflemen for
> > personal smuggling operations.
> >
> > Members of the Bangladesh Rifles who fled their posts during the mutiny
> > began to return to barracks yesterday (SUN) as detectives said police forces
> > throughout the country were hunting 1,000 border guards wanted for the
> > mutiny murders.
> >
> > Dhaka police chief Nabojit Khisa Khisa said: "Cases have been filed against
> > more than 1,000 BDR troops who were involved with the mutiny in Dhaka last
> > week."
> >
> > Officials said the ringleaders among them, including six who met prime
> > minister Sheikh Hasina to negotiate an amnesty, would be hanged if found
> > guilty.
> >
> > Opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister and leader of
> > the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, pledged her support for the inquiry but
> > criticised Sheikh Hasina's initial amnesty offer to the rebels. "This gave
> > them more time to kill more people and conceal their brutality," she said.
> >
> > http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/4902794/Pakistan-in-the-frame-over-Bangladesh-uprising.html
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>------------------------------
>
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