Beirut -The International Executive Committee of the Global March to Jerusalem announces the completion of the preparations for the Second International Conference where the representatives of the International Committees involved in the organization of the Global March to Jerusalem will meet. The conference will be held in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday 17th-18th January 2012.

This meeting will be held to implement the decisions of the previous meeting, held in Amman last month, in which there was a consensus to form an International Central Committee representing all regions of the world and an International Advisory Board of eminent international figures for the march. The date for the onset of the March was agreed to be on the 30th of March, 2012, which marks the 36th anniversary of Palestinian Land Day, when peaceful protest against massive expropriation of Palestinian land was brutally met with deadly force by Zionist troops. About 40 delegates representing the International Committees throughout the seven continents of the world will be attending the meeting in Beirut.

The conference will adopt a structural process for the March, and its committee structure will be filled with appointees. The general policies for the international actions will be mandated in Beirut to ensure their success. The conference will also discuss the national events and actions that will be launched in all countries starting from mid January, 2012 and until the date of the march towards Jerusalem or the nearest possible point to it, from inside Palestine and the neighbouring Arab countries, as well as the convoys from Asia, Africa and Europe that will converge on the march date. In addition to that it will coordinate international activities that will coincide with the March in different countries.

The committee would like to confirm that the Global March to Jerusalem and all the accompanying local events and actions aim to shed light on the issue of Jerusalem (the City of Peace) as the key to peace and war in the region and the world. The racist Judaisation policies of the occupation and its ethnic cleansing practices against Jerusalem, its people and holy sites threaten this peace. Such practices are internationally recognized not only as crimes against Palestinians but as crimes against the whole of humanity.

The International Executive Committee also emphasized that through this peaceful march they envisage to mobilize Arab and Muslim nations alongside all freedom loving peoples of the world to put an end to Israeli violations of international law through its continuous occupation of Jerusalem and the rest of Palestinian Land. Israel’s persistence in continuing its racist and ethnic cleansing practices through the construction of the Apartheid wall, the expansion of settlements and the escalation of killing, destruction, displacement and Judaisation reveals the extent of its crime. This kind of behaviour demands an international rally to support the right of Palestinians to freedom, independence, self-determination and the right of return. This peaceful march is inspired by our belief and the belief of those who support our cause throughout the world that the massive participation of the people of the world is a practical, nonviolent way to achieve justice and preserve peace by ending the Israeli occupation in Palestine and its capital Jerusalem.

The International Executive Committee of the Global March to Jerusalem GMJ-ICC 
Jan. 10th 2012

For more information, please contact:
Zaher Birawi: +44 7850 896 057 OR Dr. Paul Larudee +1 510 224 3518.

will be held on the anniversary of Gandhi’s death

The 2009 Multifaith Celebration

Monday 30th January 2012

at 6.30pm

St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation
78 Bishopgate, London EC2N 4AG

(nearest tube: Liverpool St, Bank or Aldgate )

There will be contributions from representatives of several faith communities on the theme of Faith and the Environment

Refreshments provided

by Diana Schumacher

E F Schumacher, the economist-philosopher, was born 100 years ago this year. The following article is edited from a longer paper written for the Schumacher Society in 2008.

Ernst Friedrich (Fritz) Schumacher was an unlikely pioneer of the Green Movement. He was born in Bonn in 1911, studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and returned to England before the Second World War to avoid living under Nazism. He died prematurely on a visit to Caux, Switzerland, in September 1977.

Although from a distinguished intellectual background, and having himself experienced a short but meteoric academic career in Germany, England and America, Schumacher always believed that “an ounce of practice is worth a tonne of theory”. Like Gandhi in both his outer and inner life he was a searcher of truth and dedicated to peace. Unlike so many of his contemporary academics, however, he needed to see these ideals translated into practical actions.

Fritz observed that throughout his own school and university careers he had given “maps of life and knowledge” on which “there was hardly a trace of many of the things I most cared about and that seemed to me of the greatest possible importance to the conduct of my life”. He saw the need to provide his colleagues and audiences with philosophical ‘maps’ and guidelines which related to actual reality. In the process, his life was one of constant questioning, including challenging most of the basic assumptions on which Western economic and academic theory have been based. What are the ‘laws’ that govern the ‘science’ of economics? What is the true value of money? What is the relationship between time and money? What is the real worth of work? And of development? These were the everyday questions which interested him as an economist.

In 1937, owing to Hitler’s frenzied ascendancy and his own feeling of the intellectual and political betrayal of Germany and its heritage by his nationalistic compatriots, he decided to abandon all social, family and business ties and to bring his young wife and son to London.

During the war, the family faced the hostility of being regarded as German aliens. They had to give up their home, and after being briefly interned, Fritz was hidden away with his family in Northamptonshire working as a farm labourer and was referred to by the very English name of James. At the same time (with the support of J M Keynes) he was seconded to do government research at the Oxford Institute of Statistics whilst at the same time working on his own ‘world improvement scheme’. Sometimes his ideas were appropriated by others, such as his contribution to the Beveridge Report in the early 1940s and to the Marshall Plan of 1947. Although he never received official recognition for his input to such prestigious schemes because of his German background, this did not disquiet him.

Although the expanding family was again domiciled in England from 1950 onwards, his quest for patterns of sustainability took him all over the world. He had experienced poverty, social injustice and alienation first hand, and felt that with his uniquely varied and practical background, he had something useful to contribute. As an economist he was derided by his peers for pointing out the fallacy of continuous growth in a finite world dependent on limited fossil fuel resources, but at the same time he became a champion of the poor, the marginalised and those who felt misgivings over the shallowness of contemporary values.

Philosophy and Religion

From his youth Fritz had always read prolifically. At one stage or another during his life, Fritz questioned all the main traditions, whether intellectual, national, economic or religious. As a young man he claimed to be a dedicated atheist, lecturing that religion and morality were mere products of history; they did not stand up to scientific examination and could be modified if regarded as inappropriate. Politically he was a person-loving socialist, the antithesis to Hitler’s fascism and an idealist with a restless mind. His values were very modern, based on the speed, measurement, efficiency and logic of the industrialised Western world which he inhabited. It was only later that he understood that such criteria were too inflexible, and totally incompatible with the more subtle ‘unconscious’ rhythms of the natural world. As a commuter from suburban Caterham (where he finally lived), to the National Coal Board headquarters in London’s Victoria (where he worked from 1950 to 1970), he used the train travelling time to study comparative religions and was greatly influenced by the French philosopher Fritjof Schuon’s The Transcendent Unity of Religions.

This ‘commuting’ period proved a most fruitful turning point in his inner life. He first studied notably those religions from the East, attending meetings and lectures on the spirituality of other faiths and began to practice meditation. Gradually he came to relinquish the atheism of his youth and to admit to the possibility of a ‘higher order of Being’. His changing economic and metaphysical views (which sometimes seemed contradictory) chronologically mirrored his own spiritual struggles and development.

There was, after all, a transcendent ‘vertical perspective’ to life: a hierarchy of orders from inanimate matter, through different levels of consciousness to a supreme consciousness or Being. After years of searching and inner struggles he had realised a way of bringing his lifelong paths of study and social concerns to a point of convergence and had reached his own spiritual homecoming. Finally, to the astonishment of Schumacher’s Marxist and Buddhist friends alike, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1971, six years before he died. It was a formal renouncement of his previously cherished views of the supremacy of the intellect and reason over the Christian virtues of compassion, forgiveness, unconditional love, the acknowledgment of a Divine Creator, and the integrity of all creation.

Buddhist Economics

In 1955, whilst working at the National Coal Board, Schumacher accepted a three-month assignment as Economic Development adviser to the Government of the Union of Burma, where he immediately attached himself to a Buddhist monastery. He soon concluded that the last thing the Burmese people needed was economic development along Western lines. They needed an economics suited to their own culture and lifestyle – a ‘middle way’ between the Western model which sought to increase material wants and consumption to be satisfied through mechanised production and the Buddhist model which was to satisfy basic human needs through dignified work which also purified one’s character and was a spiritual offering. The tools of economics therefore had to be adapted to people’s needs and values and not vice versa. Unsurprisingly, his report was not well received in official quarters, but the experience proved yet another turning in Fritz’s spiritual and intellectual development. He was later to coin the term ‘Buddhist Economics’ which, like Marxism, implies a complete rejection of the greed and materialism on which so much of modern economics is based and a respect for the value and dignity of meaningful work.

Sustainable Development

In tandem with his job at the Coal Board, Schumacher also undertook an intensive programme of international travel, initially to give substance to his proposals to save the collapsing British coal industry, and to encourage independence from the Western world’s industrial reliance on cheap oil imports from the Middle East. Alas – and to our cost today – he was successful in neither.

His aim was also to promote sustainable development strategies in the First and Third World alike. Food and fuel he saw as the two basic necessities for survival and sustainability. All communities and regions should strive to be self-sufficient in these as far as possible – otherwise they become economically and politically vulnerable. In this respect he was an early proponent of harnessing renewable energy in all its different forms and upgrading the existing traditional technologies.

Unfortunately Fritz was many years ahead of his time, and few took much notice. Putting his own self-sufficiency theories into practice, his was one of the first UK houses to have solar panels installed on its roof. He also personally became involved in sustainable agriculture; an enthusiasm which he claimed had its seeds in his work as a farm labourer. He spent much time on his organic garden, was President of the UK Soil Association, ardently supporting Richard St Barbe Baker and his Men of the Trees, and was an unflagging advocate of tree planting and forest farming schemes wherever he went.

India and Intermediate Technology

It was during an official visit to India in 1970 to advise the Indian Government on a Five Year Development Plan, that Fritz became deeply moved by the hopeless poverty and deprivation of countless thousands of people. He encountered a despair such as he had not met in other poor countries and realised that all the official government and other Western aid schemes proposed so far were completely inadequate. As a heartfelt response, in 1966 with a small group of committed colleagues including George McRobie from the National Coal Board, he founded the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), a London-based charity concerned with technology transfer. The aim was to give practical ‘tool aid’, skills and education to poor rural communities in developing countries rather than expensive highly mechanised equipment which was not appropriate to the understanding and needs of the illiterate majority and which put them out of work. What was needed was ‘production by the masses and not mass production’ using ‘technologies with a human face’. With Indian colleagues, he helped to set up in Lucknow the Appropriate Technology Development Association (ATDA), working very much along the same lines and supported financially by the UK India Development Group of which Fritz was Chair.

Schumacher also understood that Western aid to poor communities frequently simply served to increase their cultural and economic dependence, and to increase the gulf between rich and poor, educated and illiterate, young and old, even within their own societies. This still holds true. On the other hand, by respecting communities’ own indigenous and cultural traditions, providing them with skills and upgraded tools and recognising that each individual could play their part the communities would be enabled to achieve long term sustainability and security. This ‘middle way’ has gained increasing acceptance over the past forty years, particularly among the poor countries themselves. The ‘development’ charities which Fritz founded continue to flourish today, although ATDA has become the Schumacher Centre Delhi. The India Development Group became the Jeevika Trust; and the ITDG has been renamed Practical Action.

In 1950 Schumacher accepted the post of Economic Adviser to the National Coal Board, partly because of his socialist conviction that true economic sustainability would most readily come about through proper organisation and use of energy resources. He was also an early advocate of the principle of subsidiarity and realised that the workers themselves needed to operate within ‘human scale’ structures even within large organisations. The National Coal Board he hoped would be an excellent springboard for testing his ideas in practice.

Small is Beautiful

Despite growing recognition of Schumacher’s numerous projects, broadcasts, writings, and public lectures, the real breakthrough only came with the publication in 1973 of his first book Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. This was written in layman’s terms, since it was mainly based on previous lectures and articles, but somehow caught the spirit of the times. Small is Beautiful was not just about appropriate size. It articulated what millions of ‘little people’ worldwide subconsciously believed: that unlike any previous culture or civilisation, twentieth century Western society, whether agricultural or industrial, was living artificially off the Earth’s capital rather than off its income. Its lifeblood was the ever-increasing use of non-renewable resources primarily by the rich countries at the expense of the poor. The world could not continue sustainably on the increasing curve of production and consumption without material or moral restraint.

A Guide for the Perplexed followed in 1977; other publications such as Good Work and This I Believe were produced posthumously and were based on his earlier writings in different publications. Over thirty years after Schumacher’s death, the wisdom, warnings and predictions contained in these controversial writings, are seen to be more relevant than ever. Many organisations worldwide have since developed one or other aspect of his work. Nevertheless the trend towards gigantism, the vast growth of mega cities, mass unemployment, unsustainable patterns of energy use, rampaging environmental degradation and social violence demonstrate that none of Schumacher’s simple, human-scale solutions have been interpreted correctly by those in a position to change policies. There is now an even more urgent need to revisit some of these fundamental prerequisites for sustainability. These include, above all, the transcendence of moral values; the equality and dignity of all people; the integrity of human work as the resource base of any economy; the value of local communities; and the need for decentralised decision-making and regional self-sufficiency wherever practicable, particularly with respect to food and fuel.

There is always a great danger to freeze a human icon such as Schumacher in the situation of their time, and not to allow for the fact that their own ideas would be constantly changing and moving on with changed circumstances. The revolutions in information technology, virtual reality and genetic engineering would have occupied Schumacher’s attention insofar as they affect our overall human condition. It is now up to a new generation to arm itself with the necessary knowledge and moral courage to find its own solutions to the contemporary interrelated crises and to build peace with all levels of Creation.
As Fritz Schumacher said in Good Work:

“I certainly never feel discouraged. I can’t myself raise the winds which might blow us, or this ship, into a better world. But I can at least put up the sail, so that when the wind comes I can catch it.”

Diana Schumacher is a Patron of The Gandhi Foundation and active in the environmental field. She was a founder of the Schumacher Society and founded its Annual Schumacher Award. She also co-founded the Environmental Law Foundation.

Timeless Inspirator: Reliving Gandhi
Edited by Raghunath Mashelkar

Sakal Publications 2010 HB pp369 ISBN 978 93 80571 48 5

A recent book by Joseph Lelyveld Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India was seen by some tabloid newspapers as suggesting Gandhi had latent sexual feelings towards his close friend Hermann Kallenbach. The controversy was used by the BJP Gujarat chief minster, Narendra Modi, to try to ban the book nationally. The article, in The Nation, explores the motives behind Modi’s attempts and also critiques the book itself. Read the full article by Martha C. Nussbaum:

Gandhi and South Africa by Martha C. Nussbaum, published in The Nation

Joseph Lelyveld book caused a stir even in the popular press in the UK when it was published and was banned in the state of Gujarat in India. Among the reviews, one by well-known historian Professor Andrew Roberts expressed a very negative view of Gandhi. Antony Copley of the Gandhi Foundation, and a historian himself, responded:

Antony Copley’s response to Professor Andrew Robert’s review

Asked By Lord Parekh

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of economic, political and cultural relations between the United Kingdom and India.

Lord Parekh: It is a great privilege to initiate this debate. Since it is a common practice to declare an interest, I begin by saying that I have close ties with India, I actively participate in the public life of India, I have been a recipient of two of its highest honours and I am a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s global advisory committee.

Suniya, his wife and Mangri Honhaga (right)

30 year-old Mangri Honhanga along with her 4 month-old son Dula Honhanga and other family-members had desperately come toRanchi the capital city of Jharkhand after travelling for more than 6 hours right from Saranda forest in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand last week with the hope of getting justice. Both the mother and child have been suffering from illness – Dula is grade-3 malnourished patient and Mangri has been suffering from anaemia but they have no choice rather than facing all kinds of sufferings. The life was little better for them before 2 bullets of COBRA Jawans end the life of 38 year-old Mangal Honhanga the father of Dula and Mangri’s husband. Therefore, they had come to share their pains, sufferings and agony with the Chief Minister, the Top cops and of course, with the Media. Mangri Honhanga only knows that her husband was picked-up by the police from her house, taken to the forest and finally dead body was handed over to her.

Suniya Honhanga (27) and Ronde Honhaga (25) both the younger brothers of Lt. Mangal Honhanga are eyewitnesses of the brutal killing of their elder brother Mangal Honhanga narrated and exposed that what had happened with them in the forests at the end of June. Though the monsoon was on its pick-hour but the sky was clear and the morning was sunny on June 28, 2011. It was 10 O’clock in the morning when Suniya Honhanga and Mangal Honhanga were having mangoes in the courtyard of their house, they had just returned after ploughing the paddy field. Suddenly, they noticed the arrival of more than 300 security personals in their village called ‘Baliba’, situated at Chhotanagra police station in Saranda forest, which is indeed the heaven of the corporate sharks and also the abode of the Maoists.

The Superintendent of Police (West Singhbhum) Arun Kumar and CRPF commandant Lalchand Yadav were leading the operation. The forces caught Suniya Honhanga and Mangal Honhanga and took them to “Chabutra” (public sitting place in the middle of village) and asked all the villagers to reach to the spot. Once the villagers gathered, the forces tied all of them (men, women and children) with ropes collected from the village itself. The SP, CRPF Commandant and Jawans abused and threatened the villagers to face dire consequences if they don’t stop feeding, sheltering and supporting the Maoists. The villagers were kept whole the night in tied position. On the next day, 6 villagers were put in a chopper of Indian Air Force and transported to undisclosed location and another 16 villagers including Mangal Honhanga and Ronde Honhanga were asked to go with the paramilitary forces to the forest. But luckily, Suniya Honhanga was escaped.

Ronde Honhanga narrates the further developments in the forests. All the 16 villagers were asked to carry the luggage of the paramilitary forces whole day without food and water. In the night they were asked to sleep in the forest itself. On 30, June, the security forces asked them to move towards Chhotanagra police station. Hence, they started travelling at 3 O’clock in the morning. Meanwhile, Mangal Honhanga and another villager Tasu Sidu stop for a while and Mangal Honhanga took side for toilet. The COBRA Jawans assumed that Mangal Honhanga is running away. Therefore, they fired three times – one bullet in sky and two bullets on Mangal Honhanga. Consequently, he fell on the ground and died there. Tasu Sidu witnessed it. Immediately, the Jawans wrapped the dead body and didn’t show the villagers unless they reached to Chhotanagra police station. The dead body was transported to Chaibasa for post-mortem and finally, the police handed over the dead body and sent all the 15 villagers to Baliba village.

The SP Arun Kumar organized a press conference in Chaibasa and told the media persons about their grand success in anti-naxal operations. However, he accepted that Mangal Honhanga was innocent villager and a bullet of the security forces hit him while there was crossfire between the security forces and the Maoists. However, the villagers unearthed the truth, according to them there was no exchange of any fire; it was a clear case of brutal killing by the security forces. Since, the villagers knew the truth therefore, the top cops asked the officer-in-charge of Chhotanagra police station to offer compensation package to the family members of the deceased. Rs. 3 lakh and a job were offered to the family members. Ironically, the death certificate does not state the cause of death. This is one of the classic examples of killing, denial and manipulation by the police and security forces while carrying on the so-called anti-naxal joint operations.

In another similar case, the police killed a villager and coined it as the result of crossfire. On 18 August, 2011 the security forces arrive to Baliba village again. They caught 6 villagers including Ladura Barjo, Mangal Barjo, Sanika Barjo, Dubiya Barjo, Mangra Guria and Soma Guria. These people were taken to “Chabutra” of the village and, kicked and severely beaten with stick, tiles and butt of the guns. Consequently, Soma Guria fell down and became unconscious. On the next day, the security forces took them to the forest. Soma Guria was not able to walk but he was dragged towards the forest. According to the eyewitness, when he died due to injuries in the forest, the security forces fired two bullets in his chest. On 20 August, the villagers were handed over the dead body of Soma Guria and told that he was killed in crossfire.

In fact, the security forces land to any village, rob the houses, catch the innocent villagers, torture them, exploit women and shoot the man, and finally, they hand over the dead bodies to the family members after couple of day and tell that their man was killed in the crossfire. Thus, the endless inhuman acts of the security forces continue in the Saranda forest. The villagers are tired of sharing their pains, sufferings and agony. But do they have any choice? The security forces captured the house containing a ration shop of Patur Gagrai of Tiril Polshi village on August 3. He is also the president of village education committee. The police blame that he supplies ration to the Maoists. In another case, the security forces raped 3 women in Karampada village on August 1 and 15 people were picked up from Hatnaburu village on August 24 alleging them as members of the CPI-Maoists without any proof. The fact is, whenever, the security forces go for the anti-naxal operation, and they victimize the innocent villagers. The billion dollar question is, can the security forces rape women and kill the men in cold-blooded murder even if they are member of the CPI-Maoists?

The story does not end here. When the Jharkhand Human Rights Movement (JHRM) intervened and exposed the killings of Mangal Honhanga and Somu Guria by the security forces, the top cops started branding the JHRM as Maoist’s organization. The Kolhan DIG Naveen Kumar said, “The allegations by the family are Maoist sponsored. It is just to harass and disrupt police operations.” He also said that Mangal Honhanga was a rebel. Similarly, the IG and spokesperson of Jharkhand Police R.K. Mullick said that Mangal Honhanga had some explosive with him. What a brilliant idea of the top cops of Jharkhand for coining an innocent Adivasi as Maoist to bury their inhuman acts. However, when there was ample pressure, the Inspector General of Police did inquiry and found that both Mangal Honhanga and Soma Guria were innocent Adivasi and the security forces shot them when they declined to follow their instructions. The irony is still, the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police are tirelessly attempting to coin both the killings as results of the crossfire.

The most important point is, speaking about rights has become crime in the largest democratic country on the earth especially, when the rights are for the under privilege communities.  However, if you speak for the middle class or upper middle class, you’ll become the hero. Perhaps, second Gandhi, second Nehru or Second Patel. For instance, when the teachers of thousand of public and private schools asked their children (students) to take part in Anna Hazare’s movement after deserting their studies, it was glamorized by the 24×7 news channel instead of questioning and taking action against the teachers. In another similar case, when the poor children took part in a movement against POSCO project in the state of Odisha, the state government threatened the organizers for taking action against them in the name of violating the child rights. What kind of democracy is this?

Indeed, it’s very clear that if you stand against the police atrocities and reluctant to be alienated from the natural resources (land, forest and mineral), you’ll be coined as the extremists. Precisely, because both – questioning against police atrocities and displacement ultimately expose the corporate nexus with the government’s anti naxal-operations for mineral interest. Obviously, the Indian state bothers about the ‘threat to the investment climate’ rather than protecting its citizen’s rights and the constitution. Though the Jharkhand police have accepted the killing of Mangal Honhanga and Soma Guria but my assumption is, the family members would be shut up with the compensation packages and the cops will enjoy impunity as usual.

When I completed this piece, a report appeared in the news paper, which states that the Adivasis of Tholkabad village in Saranda Forest have vacated their village and went to elsewhere in fear of the police torture. Since, right from the beginning, when I started writing on so-called anti-Naxal operations, I have been mentioning that the ‘Operation Green Hunt’ was launched with the clear intention to create fear, insecurity and livelihood crisis in the villages so that the villages would leave the vicinity. Consequently, the government can hand over the Adivasis land to the corporate shark comfortable. The Jharkhand government has allotted iron-ore to 19 steel companies including Mittal, Jindal, Tata, Atro-Steel and Torian in Saranda Forest. Therefore, of course, they want to clear the land.

Published in the Jharkhand Mirror.

Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist and Writer. He can be reached at:

gladsonhractivist@gmail.com

jharkhandmirror.org

Arundhati Roy- photograph © Jean-Baptiste Labrune

I’d rather not be Anna

by Arundhati Roy

Click on the link below to read the original article from The Hindu 21st August 2011
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2379704.ece?homepage=true

“While his means may be Gandhian, his demands are certainly not.”

A Response by Dr Felix Padel

I’ve been up since 4am, woken by hearing Arundhati Roy interviewed on the BBC world service – they seemed to cut her critique of Anna’s failure to critique corporate roots of corruption – & connivance of the media in promoting him – rather short!

Opinions differ wildly about Anna’s integrity. Like her, I see him as authoritarian & narrow-minded. While he’s bringing into much-needed focus the enormity of corruption, he’s focusing on the main bribe-takers – i.e. the politicians – rather than the main bribe-givers – the corporations and banks, and is as rigidly insisting on rapid implementation of his own deeply flawed & authoritarian version of the Lokpal bill as the govt’s pushing its own ludicrously flawed version. Rapid implementation can be extremely dangerous if it sets up a flawed structure that will “take over the government” with even less accountability.

What we see in the Anna phenomenon is a reduction of Gandhi’s fasting technique to a ridiculous extreme, superbly manipulated by the media. I can’t agree that the essence of Gandhi was in this fasting trick though, or that a public threat to fast to death is necessarily “violent violence”. It can be sometimes I’d say “non-violent violence”. E.g. when he used it in West Bengal, when he did actually succeed in stopping massive-scale Hindu-Muslim violence through a fast-to-death that came extremely near completion, I’d say this was in a sense a homeopathic use of violence against one’s body to stop massive outer violence. Yes there was a manipulation of public opinion, but in the sense of exercising a “correct control”, bringing a mood of extreme public violence under control.

Understanding the difference between what Gandhi did & what Anna’s doing is important & instructive. Arundhati’s recent article is the first time she has used “Gandhian” in a positive sense, to make clear the difference between the two.
But the idea that Gandhi was manipulative, and did become an adept user of media-power, is also part of why Arundhati dislikes Gandhi.

On the use of public fasting, do see the Lepchas. Their fast, which has gone on in relay for 4 years, has made very little impact, probably because they are so remote, in northern Sikkim, and as Buddhists, seen as very marginal in India – unlike Anna, who taps into the mainstream Hindu aesthetic. Also marginalised because the vested interests in big dams by construction, energy & mining companies are so extreme – at the centre of the whole issue of “ecocide” that Anna’s not addressing at all.

This video [& article], better than any other I’ve seen, reveals the full horrendousness of what is actually happening to all the rivers coming down from the Himalayas.

www.hindu.com/fline/fl2512/stories/20080620251209500.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqKTIhs4E_Y

In West India, the Ganga & Yamuna descending from the glaciers have become or are becoming rivers no more, but a series of tubes chiselled through rock, leaving devastating waste and decaying ecosystems. In northeast India, 300 new big dams are being constructed on Brahmaputra tributaries in Arunachal alone – mostly already under construction to sabotage widespread protests. The Teesta is the major river in Sikkim, running north-south. This video shows the one big dam already completed with appalling impacts – 27 more are planned/under construction. It shows the Lepchas fast, and I’d say it’s an appropriate use of fasting, and deserves far more publicity.

When I tuned into the BBC world service just now at 3.45am just as Arundhati was being interviewed on Anna. What she said opened my eyes more to the heinous nature of the Anna charade. My brother had questioned “what does she mean comparing Anna with the Maoists as trying to overthrow the government?” I’d replied that partly, it’s because he’s being used by the BJP to overthrow the Congress leadership of the present government. This answer’s inadequate, partly because he’s made a public display of humiliating BJP politicians whenever they come to support him (though this doesn’t stop them coming).

She spelt out this aspect more precisely – he’s attacking the government full-on – but not the corporations or banks at all! Attacking the bribe-takers – among whom politicians are pre-eminent! But not the bribe-givers: every “AAM ADMI” [ordinary man] in India is a bribe-giver by definition – just to get routine bureaucratic work done, one has to give a bribe, so his solution is to focus on penalising the bribe-takers rather than the bribe-givers.

However the main bribe-givers are in effect, structurally, the corporations and banks – sometimes (with the latter) doing this illegally in massive bribes, but also doing this in “legal” ways, through revolving doors, corporate “largesse” and use of banking power. By not saying a word about the corruption stemming from the big companies, the World Bank & other banks (who also largely control the media) – it becomes clear who his real backers are, & why the media are highlighting him so assiduously.

In this sense, he’s truly attacking the role of government, even more than the Maoists do, but in the same way that Naomi Klein outlines in “Shock Doctrine”. In other words, what he’s really promoting seems to be the corporate state & a privatizing of government.

I’m examining these aspects more closely from now on. Attaching a document I’ve just made, highlighting statements by the 2 Anna-supporters I personally respect most, but also the confusion over details that Anna is promoting (highlighted by Arundhati on the BBC) at the same time as demanding an immediate implementation of the Lokpal bill. It’s interesting in this light that videos I’m looking at of Anna don’t seem to translate him…….. The Tehelka articles by Shoma are very revealing*, but I don’t agree with her final comments that Anna himself has complete integrity or that his intransigence on changing his own version is only a slight fault….

* latest one is http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ne270811COVERSTORY.asp

Dr Felix Padel is an anthropologist who has lived in India for 30 years.

A Septuagenarian from Maharastra…

By Liz Crisp

I travel regularly to India. Prior to my current trip, I was asked to write something for ‘The Gandhi Way.’ I thought to myself – what on earth can I write about? Then one day, a 74 year old man from a village in Maharashtra decided to go on hunger strike. The press were hailing him as the new Gandhi-ji. The world was watching.

Here is my diarised account of Anna Hazare’s fast, based on reports in the Indian press.*
*(The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu plus second hand reports from Hindi language papers Punjab Kesari and Hindustan).

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Day seven of Anna Hazare’s hunger strike: just like Anna, India’s support for him is still going strong. From Bollywood stars to aam aadmi (common man), from famous Swamis to street Babas; the papers are full of people sporting Gandhi topis, Anna banners and the Indian tricolour.

At Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the streets are flooded with rivers of people. Thousands of supporters throng Mumbai to hold a midnight vigil. All over India, people are carrying out direct action to show their solidarity to Team Anna’s campaign. Students are refusing to accept their degrees. Others are only willing to graduate in Topi hats in place of the traditional cap and gown. Rickshaw drivers are striking. Villagers from Anna’s hometown decline to wash for a day. Everywhere, people are mobilised into fighting corruption in their own localities. So far, it’s all been peaceful. Team Anna contrasts its campaign against the recent London riots.

Many are cashing in on the opportunity. The Times of India (which I seem to remember publishing an article a few weeks ago about the hunger striker being childish) is boasting of orchestrating the biggest ever online election. The mobile phone networks and bulk SMS vendors are raking in fortunes by the day. Delhi street beggars are calling this a fifteen day mela (festival) as they make a booming trade from topis, flags, and Anna paraphernalia. Whilst Anna starves, food vendors are more than trebling their daily profit feeding the hungry crowds. Delhi’s poor are making the most of free food distribution. The Hindustan Times reports one man saying, ‘I don’t know what the Lokpal Bill is. I’m just here for the good food’

Even Baba Ram Dev is back in a happier limelight after his own anti-corruption campaign disaster. Apparently the yoga guru’s strategy involved the use of guns and capital punishment. After he staged his hunger strike, as with Anna, the police turned up to arrest him. A violent scuffle broke out and Baba Ram Dev escaped in woman’s clothing – much to the disgust of his supporters. His hunger strike  lasted but 3 days before he gave it up. Doctors advised him it was bad for his health (isn’t that the point of a hunger strike??). Afterwards, he kept a low profile, particularly as his own integrity was called into question when his closest aide, Bal Krishna, was suspected of obtaining a passport with false documents. However, a couple of days ago a jubilant Baba Ram Dev was pictured riding on the back of Anna’s fame, atop of a car, waving the Indian flag to a sea of people.

After a spate of embarrassing scam exposures against the Government (e.g. A Raja case, 2G Spectrum licences, the Commonwealth  Games and cash for votes), it seems the anti-corruption crusade in itself has become a platform for opportunists. The Indian people are sick of being cheated but who can be trusted when corruption seems to be everywhere? A while ago, the opposition BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) announced its primary strategy was to be fighting corruption. But it is likely that most political parties will have skeletons in their cupboards, so who could take this seriously?

However, if the media is to be believed, the public appear to have put their faith in Hazare. The Gandhian has a long track record of social activism. He has proved genuine concern for his causes without benefitting personally. And he is also a very experienced hunger striker. From 1983 to date, he has completed 12 hunger strikes, from which his demands have either been all or partially met. The Maharashtra Government are so used to his protests that they have a special policy for dealing with Anna.

Previously Anna was little known outside of Maharashtra (opinion polls showing Baba Ram Dev being much more famous). With this latest national campaign, Anna has been propelled into the public limelight. On 4 August, the Government sent their Lokpal Bill to Parliament’s Standing Committee for consideration by 3 months. Hazare considered it a toothless piece of legislation and unfairly weighted against complainants. He submitted an alternative Jan Lokpal Bill which includes everyone under its ambit, from the local village Panchayat to the Prime Minister. His Bill also requires officers to publish a charter that accounts their public duties and demands a lokpal to be set up in every state. He wants his Jan Lokpal Bill accepted by 30 August 2011 or he will fast until his death.

The snowballing success of this campaign has been aided by a group of powerful allies, now forming ‘Team Anna’. This includes the formidable ex-commissioner Kiran Bedi, who was once re-named ‘Crane Bedi’ for daring to tow away Indira Gandhi’s car for being illegally parked. Bedi may have got a bit carried away herself today, as she’s just been slated for trumping the slogan ‘Anna is India! India is Anna!’ This smacks bad memories of Indira’s Emergency slogan (‘Indira is India! India is Indira’!).

Anna’s critics say he is forcing his view in a way that could be described as fascist. They disagree that one person should assert their view as being correct and therefore it must be enforced. Anna’s deadline does not allow due process to be followed according to democratic principles. The Parliamentary Standing Committee needs sufficient time to conduct wider consultation and include all views. Some say that his Bill will not address corruption as the Lokpal itself could also be corrupt. It’s also been suggested that corruption is endemic throughout Indian society and not confined to politicians. Change needs to occur at all levels.

To date, the Government has remained quiet. On the seventh day of Anna’s strike, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finally speaks. He says his door is always open for discussion.

Day 8, 23/08/11

Doctors report that Anna’s body is beginning to show signs of starvation. They say they are not overly concerned as the human body can go without food for at least 30days.

Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has finally begun direct communications. He sent a letter stating that he is willing to send Team Anna’s Jan Lokpal Bill to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for “holistic consideration along with everything else.” Singh appealed to Anna to end his fast so that he could “regain full health and vitality.”

Parliament carries out no business that day. They are too busy arguing over how to handle Anna and the Lokpal bill. Other state parliaments are disrupted by similar debates. It’s not business as usual for Indian politics today!

According to the press, Anna’s critics are beginning to become more vocal. Muslims have expressed disappointment that his strategy does not represent them. Team Anna members have arranged to meet with Muslim leaders to smooth things over. Dalit leaders are reported as being riled. It was a Dalit, BR Ambedkar, who architected the Constitution. They say Anna is making a mockery of the democratic system – the political process is not ‘2 minute noodles’. Anna’s demands, print The Hindustan Times, are becoming associated with urban, upper-caste Indians and exclude lowercastes and Muslims. The Hindu prints an article where the writer describes Team Anna’s tactics as ‘messianic politics’, questioning if the masses at Ramlila Maidan represent all the people.

Day 9, 24/08/11

Manmohan Singh meets Anna. No agreement is reached. Parliament is split over the inclusion of the Prime Minister in the Lokpal and therefore Manmohan won’t make guarantees before the consultation process is completed. Anna is demanding that the Government’s Bill be withdrawn and replaced by his own one. Singh declines.

Government negotiators are reported to have said that Anna’s health is his own problem. The Government later deny that this statement was ever made.

Anna’s health is deteriorating. Doctors have given him two choices over the next 24 hours – either finish the strike or go to hospital. Anna is adamant he is staying put. If he dies, he calls for his supporters to fill the jails.

Day 10, 25/08/11

Manmohan Singh say “he [Anna] has made his point… I respect his idealism. I respect him… His life is much too precious and I urge him to end his strike.”

Singh says that Hazare’s Lok Pal Bill will be considered in Parliament, along with the Government’s own Lokpal Bill and A. Roy’s  alternative version. Government, the Lok Sabha, the opposition and Maharashtra Chief Minister all appeal to Hazare to end his strike.

Anna is still fasting. He wants the Government’s Bill withdrawn. Anna frenzy is still going strong amongst the people. Large scale protests are reported across India. So far, they are still peaceful.

Chief of IBN 18 (TV station) writes a letter to Anna in the Hindustan Times (26/08/11). He applauds his action to date but pleads with him to stop now. He fears that, in the event of Anna’s death, violence will erupt on the streets. Comparison is drawn to Gandhi-ji, who never fasted until death. Gandhi-ji understood the beauty of compromise and said that fasting should never be undertaken “out of anger. Anger is a short-term madness.”

Dalit opposition is reported, concerns are expressed that Anna does not support their reservation rights [for public sector jobs] under the current Constitution.

Government is considering a framework for consultation on key pieces of legislation in the same style as the European White Paper  system.

Day 11, 27/08/11

Anna apologises to Manmohan Singh if he hurt him. He says his campaign is against the system and not individuals.

There are reports of a few violent protesters in Delhi – a relatively minor incident, with no police retaliation. Culprits are arrested. Large scale, peaceful protests continue across India.

Parliament plans a discussion tomorrow. Anna will maintain his fast until after this debate.

Day 12, 27/08/11

Day 12. Triumph for Team Anna! Government has agreed to submit Anna’s Lokpal proposals.

Anna breaks his fast.

Disaster! No English newspapers!

The End…

So Anna symbolically ends his fast by the hands of two children, one Dalit and one Muslim, serving him honey and coconut water. The papers report on sympathetic hunger strikers across the country also ending their fasts. Of course, this story is no way complete and a new chapter begins as the Government faces the major task of working out an acceptable implementation plan.

Critics have slated Anna for being rigidly uncompromising. But The Times of India report that Team Anna were planning to throw in the towel had the Government not agreed their proposals (‘How Team Anna pulled a Fast One’). Anna’s health was more critical than his doctors presented and the team feared that the protests could turn ugly if he died. Anna has been careful to encompass marginalised communities in his post-fast speech. Team Anna pay homage to the politicians, BR Ambedkar and the media.

The Jan Lokpal may not be the answer to all evils. However, if it can remain free from corruption, it will at least give some power to local people. In the coming days, Anna is to talk about further goals, including the right to reject and recall elected representatives. Team Anna bid the people to “neither give nor take a bribe.”

What has amazed the world over the last 12 days is that, whilst the Indian people have been justifiably infuriated over the issue of corruption, large scale protests have been carried out with practically no violence. The London rioters should look and learn!

Anna is not a powerful politician or a celebrity yoga master. He is a septuagenarian with a Gandhian philosophy and cast iron resolve. He has managed to capture the hearts of the people, win over the media and move a government into submission.

But will it make a difference? I shall be watching this space…

Liz Crisp is a long-time friend of The Gandhi Foundation

people at the mass meeting

On July 5, 2011, the Adivasis of Munda Khutkatti areas – Khunti, Murhu and Arki blocks of Khunti district gathered in Kachary Maidanof Khunti situated at a distance of 31 kilometres from the state capital of Jharkhand. In fact, the Khunti district administration had given them permission to hold a rally and mass meeting against the police atrocities. However, when the villagers started arriving to Kachary Maidan, Manoj Kaushik the Superintendent of police (Khunti) also reached to the venue and questioned Birsa Munda the leader of “Mundari Khutkati Ewam Bhuihari Parishad,” “Why you have brought so many people to protest against the police?” Birsa responded, “Villagers are facing police atrocities therefore they have come to express their pains and sufferings to the Deputy Commissioner”. The SP went back to his office after hearing Birsa’s response.

Meanwhile, the inspector of Khunti police station P.K. Mishra also started inquiring about the programme and the riot controller vehicle along with paramilitary forces reached to the venue. The police of Khunti, Arki, Murhu, Rania, Torpa and Karra police stations were already present in the venue. It seems that there was supposed to be an encounter between the police and the Maoists. As usual they assume it as a Rally and Mass Meeting of the Maoists. In fact, the police and administration consider all the rallies, mass meetings and protests organized against the police atrocities are as the programmes of the Maoists. Simultaneously, they had started their operations of stopping people in the entry points of Khunti. They stopped 3 buses at Arki and 2 buses and 3 Jeeps at Murhu block. However, 30 vehicles (buses and Jeeps) could able to reach to the venue and many people came by bicycles and by foot as well. There were more than 5000 people in the ground including more than 100 victims of police atrocities.

The Rally and Mass Meeting was organized by the “Mundari Khutkati Ewam Bhuihari Parishad”, which is a traditional organization of the Adivasis and it has legal validity as far the laws of 5^th Scheduled Area are concerned. It was 1 O’clock in the afternoon. The villagers started walking towards Khunti town by raising slogans against the police atrocities. They were shouting, “Police Atyachar Band Karo” (Stop police atrocities), “Nirdosho ko Jail se riha karo” (release the innocent from the prison) and “Maowadiyo ke name per Gramino ko pratarit Karna band karo” (stop torturing the villagers in the name of Maoists). These people had decided to raise their voices when the police and paramilitary forces crossed their limit of perpetrating atrocities against the villagers. Needless to say, that the police torture has become part and parcel of their lives.

I had also gone to participate in the Rally and Mass meeting. After hearing slogans against the police, the Police Inspector of Khunti police station Mr. P.K. Mishra and his guards stopped the villagers saying that they should not shout slogans against the police. “Why don’t you organize Rally against the Maoists, when they kill our police forces,” ‘P. K. Mishra questioned. In response, the villagers said that they have come to raise their voices and they are against of both the parties who perpetrate violence against the villagers. They are made sandwich by both the parties. However, P.K. Mishra didn’t hear the villagers and asked them to stop raising slogans against the police. The villagers continued their rally but the police stopped them three times. The police wanted to block the Rally and asked the villagers to go back to their villages. The villagers were not ready to do so. Since I was part of the Rally therefore I intervened on the matter and told the Inspector P.K. Mishra that he should not seize the democratic rights of the villagers.

Meanwhile, I introduced myself as a Human Rights Activist and also a member of the “Assessment and Monitoring Authority” under the Planning Commission of India and showed him my visiting card. He was looking like a wounded lion. He snatched and threw my card on the ground, humiliated me and threatened me saying, “shut up! If you don’t stop, I’ll tear down you and dry up”. “I don’t bother about losing my job,” he added. Meanwhile, four bodyguards of the Inspect got down from the vehicle and abused and started beating me but when the crowd intervened, they stopped. After sometime, the rally resumed and backed to the Kachahari Maidan and mass meeting was started. The villagers started sharing their plight one after another.

Since the launching of so-called anti-Naxal Operations known as “Operation Green Hunt’ in the areas, the innocent villagers have been facing police atrocities. On August 5, 2010, the police and paramilitary forces went to Birbanki village of Arki block and started abusing and beating the villagers. They also scattered belongings and caught two innocent villagers – Daud Samad and Lukin Munda alleging them as feeding the Maoists. Both are well known social workers of the region. Similarly, on October 30, 2010 the police and paramilitary forces caught three girl students of Narang village – Jasmani Soy, Magdali Purty and Juliyana Purty (age between 15-16)and put them in Jail for more than 45  days alleging them as members of the CPI- Maoist. They were set free from the prison but no policeman was punished for detaining the innocent girls.

Again on 27 November, 2010, the police and paramilitary forces entered in Basudih village of Arki block and tied up villagers and beaten them severely. The police arrested innocent villager Soma Marsal Purty and put him in the Jail after branding him as a Maoist.  Similarly, on June 4, 2011 the police went to Bankira village of Arki, while coming back the police arrested Johan Hansa and Karma Singh Munda of Kuita village and put them in the Jail. On June 5, 2011, the police went to Ittihasa village and bet Sanika Munda, Laka Munda and Durga Munda severely alleging them as sheltering the Maoists in the village without any proof.

The police and paramilitary forces also torture the villagers during the prayers. On June 5, 2011, the villagers of Sareyad village of Arki block were having Sunday Mass in the village church. The police and paramilitary forces captured the Church and targeted villagers from the windows of the Church and shouted, “Shoot them”. After hearing the police there was a chaos in the Church and few villagers came out of the Church. The police and paramilitary forces bet them severely. Thereafter, they asked the villagers to prepare food for them. They ate and also bet severely to the person who cooked food for them.

Similarly, on June 5, 2011, the villagers of Kudunba of Arki block had gathered for prayer at Bankira at 8 O’clock in the morning. The police rounded them and asked them to sit separately – men one side and women on the other side. Thereafter, they bet the men severely and tied up hands of 25 men behind their back with the ropes, which the villagers use to tie-up their cattle. They also caught four girls – Seteng Nag, Hanna Nag, Mariam Kandir and Jaiwanti Nag. The police took 25 men and 4 girls to the forest in the name of search operations. The villagers were kept in the forest for 2 days without food and water. Finally, 2 persons – Mansid Nag and Masih Nag were put in the Jail alleging them as the Maoists. Mansid Nag works as a tailor and Masih Nag is a para-teacher and also works as a traditional medicine practitioner.

Amidst, a delegation met the Deputy Commissioner of Khunti Mr. Rakesh Kumar and a memorandum was submitted to him. Surprisingly, he said, “I’m hearing about the police atrocities first time”. “I know about the laws of 5^th Scheduled Area and will take action,” he assured. The Dy. Superintendent of Police (Khunti) Mr. Anil Shanker was in a hurry to send the villagers back to their villages, he asked me several times, “Please send the villagers to their villages”. When the villagers were sharing their pain, suffering and sorrow in the mass meeting, a chopper of the Boarder Security Force (BSF) suddenly appeared in the vicinity and flew two rounds over the Kachary Maidan and returned to Ranchi. Perhaps, the top copes of Jharkhand were inside the Chopper, had come to see the Maoists in the mass meeting. Since inception of the state, the police have killed 550 people and arrested 4090 villagers in Jharkhand in allegation of being the Maoists. However, the police failed to prove the allegations.

Of course, there is a tendency in the police and administration that anyone who raises voice against the police atrocity is either a Maoist or their supporter. The most pertinent questions are do the villagers have democratic rights? Do we really live in a democratic country? And do we also have the democratic rights like other people of this country enjoy? Where should people go to plea for protection of their democratic rights? While talking to individuals, many villagers said that they are against of the Maoists however, if the police atrocities didn’t stop, then they can also take up the guns if the power only comes from the barrel of guns. I believe that this is the last warning for the Indian state. Therefore, instead of shutting down the democracy, the Indian state must hear the pains, sufferings and sorrows of the people and deliver justice to them.

Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist and Writer. He can be reached at:

gladsonhractivist@gmail.com

jharkhandmirror.org

21st May 2011 at Kingsley Hall, Powis Road, London

Shaheen Westcombe MBE

Film screening: rare footage of Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to Noakhali during the 1946 riots

Testimonials from Gandhi’s visit; Shaheen Westcombe MBE talks about her father’s archive

Poetry reading and speeches

Tour of Gandhi’s room at Kingsley Hall

Mid-season exhibition: resident artist Saif Osmani examines the spaces inhabited by Gandhi

The Spaces Inhabited by Gandhi

by Saif Osmani, Visual Artist and Spatial Designer

Kingsley Hall is the place Mahatma Gandhi chose to stay in during his visit to London in 1931 for the second Round Table conference.

I began researching the footprint of the Kingsley Hall building from the local archives at Bancrost Library. In media coverage of Gandhi’s visit of 1931, the newspapers attempted to present a romanticised and disaffected view of the East End. Photographs were taken over a broad skyline, away from the factories which lined the major roads and arteries of the locality.

The style of painting I have chosen borrows from far eastern practices, from Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese rural paintings on cloth. I initially started with broad, loose brush strokes, layering the details and features of the buildings in an attempt to re-create a sense of time and place, whilst playing with perspective. Each piece was further abstracted by imbuing meanings extracted from testimonies in Noakhali and London, such as in the piece ‘Top of Gandhi’s head’ and ‘Beyond Landscapes’. Through abstraction I am exploring Gandhi’s influence over physical occurrences as well as tracking his thought process and philosophy.

The Spaces Inhabited by Gandhi by Saif Osmani

The iconography and aesthetic of Gandhi’s public image was difficult to steer away from. I find that traditional canvas often prompts the viewer to search for a reality, as if looking through a portal into an imaginary world. By painting on cloth I am attempting to break away from this and allow the viewer to search for his or her own meaning.

The focus on the spaces Gandhi occupied come from my own practice which often follows narratives in space, by recording the displacement of people and changes in spatial configurations, as a means of understanding socio-political aspects of human behaviour.

These paintings will form part of a larger exhibition, intended to be shown as part of September’s Open House weekend.

To view images from the AGM and Saif Osmani’s exhibition click here