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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

[ALOCHONA] What's the gain of Bangladesh?



Public Reaction: What's the gain of Bangladesh?


The general public are confused and sceptical about Bangladesh's gain from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit.However, to many of the 50 Dhaka residents interviewed by The Daily Star yesterday, the visit holds forth a lot of hope and expectation."The visit is of course very significant for Bangladesh," said Ahsanul Islam Chanchal, a garment factory staff.

But the "hiccups" such as the Teesta water-sharing deal not being signed and Paschimbanga Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's last-minute refusal to accompany Manmohan was "shocking", he said.

Among those interviewed were professionals, businessmen, labourers, students, teachers and housewives."Frankly, I don't see anything good happening for Bangladesh from this visit," said Mahfuz Islam, an accountant. "India has been exploiting Bangladesh for years, and this visit is an effort to continue that exploitation."

Abul Kalam, a shop owner at Green Road, believes India's motive behind the visit is to "push" Bangladesh for transit."Yes, Bangladesh does have much to gain, but it all depends on India," said the 37-year-old, who was seen reading a newspaper in his store.Pointing to a news article on Mamata's refusal to join Manmohan, he said, "They don't seem to be very enthusiastic about the treaties."

Some of those interviewed appeared indifferent or ignorant about the visit.

Shahjahan Mia, a tea vendor at Green Road, said he heard that "some Indian ministers were coming," but does not know why."Brother, these are the matters of the prime ministers. Will it give me a day's meal for free? No, it won't," says Bachchu Mia, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver. "So I have no interest in this."

Firoz, another auto-rickshaw driver, however, believes that both the countries will try to protect their interests.But some think there is a lack of clarity on what Bangladesh stands to gain from the visit."It is clear what India will get from Bangladesh. But what Bangladesh will get remains uncertain," says Faisal Imtiaz from Tejgaon.

Postponing the Teesta agreement at the very last minute was "shocking", and it created more confusion, he said."If they can cancel the Teesta agreement because of the unwillingness of a chief minister, then Bangladesh should cancel the transit agreements considering the interest of the people," said Farid Uddin Ahmed, a businessman.

Mamata's last-minute refusal to come to Bangladesh was nothing but a "political drama," according to Mridul Chowdhury, a Dhaka University student."They [the Indian delegation] are here only to secure their interest, not ours."

Akkas Ali, an army person, believes that the Teesta agreement was very important for Bangladesh."This deal was essential," he said, adding that the canals and rivers of Bangladesh are drying."We should be careful about what we are going to give India and what we are getting in return," he added.

However, expectations are high too."Many longstanding issues between India and Bangladesh, which are harmful for both the peoples, could be resolved during the visit," said Shahrier Jewel, a student.

According to Pankaj Roy, a businessman, Bangladesh has much to gain from the visit."The water in all the rivers in Bangladesh comes flowing through India from the Himalayas. India has some 500 dams on its rivers to restrict the water flow into Bangladesh," said Pankaj."If India opens even a few of those, it will be a big help for Bangladesh," he adds.

But there are many sceptics.Rakib Hasan, a security guard, says, "In the light of what is happening, I don't think much will happen in this visit."Rakib spends much of his days reading newspapers. http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=201421


More:
http://amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2011/09/07/103766
http://amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2011/09/07/103694
http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2011-09-07/news/183637
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/32332.html
http://www.dailykalerkantho.com/?view=details&type=gold&data=News&pub_no=634&cat_id=1&menu_id=13&news_type_id=1&index=0


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[ALOCHONA] Indian BSF kills 193 Bangladeshis since Jan 2009



Indian BSF kills 193 Bangladeshis since Jan 2009


India's Border Security Force has killed 193 and inured 200 Bangladesh citizens in the frontiers since January 6, 2009, when the Awami League-led alliance assumed office.

According to figures available with rights organisation Odhikar, 998 Bangladeshis were killed, 996 injured, 226 arrested, 957 abducted and 14 raped by BSF personnel or Indian hooligans and 107 went missing after being attacked allegedly by them between January 1, 2000 and August 31, 2011.

Of the victims, 75 were killed and 335 injured by the Indian civilians, while the BSF soldiers were the perpetrators for the rest of the victims.

Between January 6, 2009 and August 31, 2011, a total of 200 Bangladeshis were killed, 215 injured, 74 abducted and a woman was raped in the frontiers.Of the victims, 7 were killed and 15 injured by the Indian civilians while others were made victim by the BSF, the Odhikar report says.

The killing and other human rights violations by the BSF in the borders still go unabated despite repeated pledges made by the Indian authorities and calls by by different international organisations on the Indian government to stop such human rights violations.

New York-based Human Rights Watch in a statement on July 25 urged India to take a speedy, fair and transparent criminal investigation into fresh allegations of killings, torture and other abuses by the BSF in the border with Bangladesh.

The government of India should undertake a speedy, fair, and transparent criminal investigation into fresh allegations of killings, torture, and other abuses by the BSF in the border with Bangladesh, the statement said.

The call had coincided with India's ruling alliance leader Sonia Gandhi's brief tour of Dhaka to attend an international conference on autism.

In December 2010, the Human Rights Watch released a report, 'Trigger Happy,' documenting extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment by the Indian border guards.

After the release of the report, Indian authorities assured Bangladeshi officials that such border killings would be stopped. The government announced that it would order restraint and encourage the use of rubber bullets instead of more lethal ammunition, the Human Rights Watch said in Monday's statement.

While the number of deaths by shooting has substantially decreased in 2011, the Bangladeshi rights watchdog Odhikar documented at least 17 killings of Bangladeshis by the BSF and other instances of severe abuse since January, the statement said.Local groups have documented several cases of deaths as a result of severe beatings by the BSF, the HRW said.

The Odhikar secretary, Adilur Rahman Khan, on Tuesday told New Age that the Bangladesh government must raise the issue during its formal talks with the visiting Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and formulate an effective device to stop killing and other forms of human rights violations on the frontiers by Indians, especially the BSF.

http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/frontpage/32321.html

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[ALOCHONA] Re: Returning to power





On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 6:15 AM, Zoglul Husain <zoglul@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:


Former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, said, 'A week is a long time in politics'. Opinion polls also are sometimes proven to be wrong. Again, very often, in developing countries, elections are rigged. With these in view, I am generally not in the business of predicting election victories or losses.
 
Hasina was elected in 1996. Considering the general problems of elections in developing countries, this election was acceptable. But in 2008, she usurped power by rigging election under military deployment, as arranged by Manmohan-Bush through their 1/11 2007 conspiracy. Had the scheduled 22 January 2007 election been held without the 1/11 conspiracy, then BNP-JI alliance would probably win, according to many. But!! 
 
The politicians, you referred to, will find it difficult to win the next election. But their opposition are not strong either. Coming back to Bangladesh, the situation is unpredictable, rather fluid. Many important people have been forecasting an impending disaster that may happen, but they haven't elaborated on their apprehensions. We will keep on campaigning to unite the patriots against Indian hegemony. In a free, fair and credible election, if held now, the BAL would most likely be routed, but who is guaranteeing a free, fair and credible election? And who is guaranteeing an election at all?   
 

Date: Tue, 6 Sep 2011 13:51:51 +0600
Subject: Returning to power
From: bdmailer@gmail.com
To:


Returning to power....


There is a strong feeling in a section of people that these men and women will not be able to return to power again: Barack Husein Obama, Hasina Wajed, Manmohon Singh, David Cameron and Benjamin Netanyahu.


What do you think?




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Re: [mukto-mona] Re: [KHABOR] The curious case of 'Sunita Paul' - Daily Star(Shame on Yellow Journalism)



Syed Aslam may not be real, but I am.  I not only bear a hindu name, I support pantheism and believe that monotheism is unculture.  Truth is so unbearable to some people that they exaggerate on everything.  The vietnam war with all its fierceness had three million casualties and Bangladesh war too had the same!  The number of BD Army officers dead was fifty nine, two more than that in the BDR revolt.  American officials got entry in Vietnam during the Clinton era.  Bhutto was invited right away.  Who are the real rajakars then?

On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 8:47 AM, Captain Chowdhury <captchowdhury@yahoo.ca> wrote:
 

Bearing Hindu names, recently there are many other Jamaat Lobbist with ISI back ground joined with radical BNPs,spreading rumors like Sunita, namely Sadhon, Kamal Das etc etc within various yahoo groups.
Don't have courage to put their real identity.Trying to attract Indian media too.
Time has arrived to track down those fake names at any cost.
Shame on Yellow journalism !!!!

From: Syed_Aslam3 <SyedAslam3@gmail.com>
To: Khobor <khabor@yahoogroups.com>; chottala@yahoogroups.com; notun Bangladesh <notun_bangladesh@yahoogroups.com>; Sonar Bangladesh <SonarBangladesh@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 5, 2011 6:48:42 PM
Subject: [KHABOR] The curious case of 'Sunita Paul' - Dai;y Star .........

 


Thursday, April 30, 2009

The curious case of 'Sunita Paul'

Will the real "Sunita Paul" please stand up? Photo: American Chronicle Muhammad A. Arafat
I stand greatly impressed: "Sunita Paul" of Kochin (India), born deaf and dumb, has apparently taken up the mighty pen to express herself. She has purportedly obtained her masters in political science and journalism, worked in various research institutions and authored countless articles at home and abroad.
The outstanding array of newspapers and periodicals that have published her articles include the Herald Tribune, New Yorker, Washington Times, Outlook, Frontline, and Telegraph. She has also established herself as a tireless Bangladesh analyst, writing one article after another on our beloved country.
"Sunita Paul" has clearly built a reputation for herself that deserves an international award. However, there is only one problem: she is a fake.
There is no evidence of any educational institution awarding her degrees or research institution employing her. There is no mention of "Sunita Paul" on the web-site of any research institutions, think-tank or university (very surprising given her claim of having "worked with a number of research institutions"). No journalist in India has ever heard of her name or met her (surely it wouldn't be hard to forget her so easily).
Her publication history is yet another lie because there are no articles by her name in the archives of the prestigious newspapers and magazines she names, beyond the unknown but pompously titled website American Chronicle (a website with freelance contributors). The only places where "Sunita Paul" is mentioned include open source online websites or electronic groups. Not only that, there is no city by the name of "Kochin" in India. The bottom line is "Sunita Paul" does not exist.
It is often common for writers to use pseudonyms. However, "Sunita Paul" should not be magnanimously mistaken as a harmless pseudonym for another writer. Writers who use pseudonyms do not go to such lengths to create a fake persona and identity.
"Sunita Paul" has even uploaded a photograph to her online profile to prove her so-called existence. This is outright deception, fraud, and dishonesty for ulterior motives. It is therefore important at this juncture to distinguish between harmless pseudonyms and deceptive masks like "Sunita Paul."
The fraud of "Sunita Paul" is made evident by her own photographs online. She has, astonishingly, uploaded two photographs with stark differences. It is hard to find any resemblance between the two photos, which is not surprising because these are photographs of two different people. "Sunita Paul" has apparently resorted to using anonymous photographs to prove her non-existence as existence. The photographs leave no doubt as to her fake profile.
The critical question is why would someone (or most likely a group of people) go to such lengths to create a false persona to propagate their views? Why are they hiding behind a deceptive mask if they are so confident about the veracity of their reports? Why are they not willing to expose themselves in the public eye if they hold the courage of their convictions?
The "Sunita Paul" mask allows vested groups to spread malicious rumours and fabricated lies without any accountability. The ill-motive of the conspirators is evident from the extent of lies used to create the fictional character "Sunita Paul."
The next question is: who is "Sunita Paul"? There is no reason to believe the "Sunita Paul" mask is a harmless and playful exercise. It is obvious that the "Sunita Paul" fraud is part of a well-planned, organised, and systematic campaign to misinform the people and international community.
This is evident from the identical and synchronised misinformation coming from disparate but like-minded camp of newspapers and magazines in the country, including conservative newspapers openly supporting radical groups in Bangladesh. What is the missing link between "Sunita Paul" and them?
Moreover, it is regrettable that leader of the opposition quoted questions in parliament that appeared to be lifted directly from one of Paul's malicious articles. One would expect a leader of the opposition (who is also a former prime minister) to exercise greater discretion, maturity, and prudence to not spread unfounded rumours circulated by a fictional character.
It may be mentioned here that "Sunita Paul" has already been exposed as a plagiarist by bloggers. She has quoted verbatim from other blogs on more than one occasion. A supposedly trained journalist and researcher should know better. It is not surprising that "Sunita Paul" has shameless plagiarised, because it is already clear to us that her very existence is a fraud.
Who are the courageous individuals hiding behind the mask of "Sunita Paul" and what are their motives? What is their agenda? Let us look at their list of targets. Their targets have included Mahfuz Anam, Matiur Rahman, Tania Amir, and Shahriar Kabir. They have written against The Daily Star and Prothom Alo. They have also written against Prof. Yunus and Grameen Bank.
It is clear from the above list of victims what are "Sunita Paul"'s motives and agenda. Since late December, she has written 25 articles, including 12 on the BDR tragedy. There is no doubt that "Sunita Paul" is trying to misinform people about the BDR tragedy as part of a larger conspiracy against our country.
We should be weary of "Sunita Paul" as she is part of the nexus that is trying to divide the country. We urge the conspirators behind the "Sunita Paul" mask to stop the fraud. "Sunita Paul" does not exist.
To prove this, Shuchinta Foundation is happy to welcome and host "Sunita Paul" to visit Bangladesh and meet us. I am sure she will not be taking up the offer because she does not exist in actuality.
Given the fraud that "Sunita Paul" is, I would like to also urge policymakers, readers and the international community to disregard her articles and write-ups based on ill-motivated rumour and hearsay.
"Sunita Paul" represents a strong anti-Bangladesh agenda that must not succeed. Let us remain vigilant against such fictional journalists and their misinformation that may hamper the proper trial of the BDR tragedy.
The writer is CEO of Analytika, Lecturer of Independent University Bangladesh, and Convener of Shuchinta Bangladesh.

Comments

  • DR
    Thursday, April 30, 2009 09:17 AM GMT+06:00 (1 days ago)
    I am sure the blog is run by a bunch of individuals, who know Bangladeshi politics very well. It is probably easy to shoot from Kochin or some where else than from a Dhaka IP address. The phenomenon is not Bangladesh specific. These people are pain but they are putting many governments' feet on fire!
  • D1
    Thursday, April 30, 2009 05:37 PM GMT+06:00 (1 days ago)
    Dear Author,
    thanks for your great unmask of a true fraud!!
  • Harun Hyder
    Thursday, April 30, 2009 08:55 PM GMT+06:00 (22 hours ago)
    Akash, nobody lost job at Amader shomoy. Please do not spread lies. Naeemul Islam apologized because that article needed some editing. It was published before that. But the content of the article has no problem. The issues here is the fraud called Sunita Paul. Why don't you guys prove that she really exists? That's all we want.
  • Fahmida S. Dehlvi
    Thursday, April 30, 2009 09:03 PM GMT+06:00 (22 hours ago)
    I have read one of Sunita Paul's articles about the BDR Tragedy.
    It was distracting, misleading and deceptive about the fact.
    Arafat, thank you a lot for unsealing their acts.
    You did a great job!
Comment  by Dr. Habib Siddiqui
 
Here is an interesting piece on Sunita Paul from Suchinta's convenor:
 

Have not we suspected all along that she is really fake? I personally did not know of the existence of her second 'white' picture. Like criminals she is leaving her trails of crime everywhere.

Habib Siddiqui


 






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Re: [mukto-mona] FW: Anna Hazare's Campaign: Two Dissenting Notes




One line in the forwarded articles drew my attention, which says it all, and that is - "People are attacking politicians…" Wow! How did it get there? It did not happen overnight. Is it? Where were all those politicians, journalists and pundits when Indian treasury was being looted year after year by the corrupt politicians? I guess - they were busy in their mansions and libraries, playing crossword puzzles. Now that - people have taken up the issue, they are all crying foul - fascism is coming. Guess what – people are not waiting for meaningless promises from politicians, and they are definitely not heeding to the advices from journalists. They can rest assured now. While journalists call it fascism, I call it peoples' movement. That's all I need to understand, for now.

 

People demand corruption free government; they want transparency in the government dealings. Are these too complicated to understand? How could you go against it? One of the journalists, Aruna Roy (I hope it is her real name), said – people don't understand the bill. People don't need to, Ms. Roy. People only have to demand.

 

Bill has been written and re-written by the Parliamentarians. The first version has been modified to reflect peoples' demands. Indian Supreme Court and Attorney General are behind this bill. Do you think – none of those people understand the bill, and only journalists such as Aruna and Arunthati understand it?

 

Not many people knew 74-year old Anna Hazare before this incident. It's a revolution, just like those in the middle-east. It will be totally wrong to compare this self-organized peoples' movement with Hitler's Nazi movement. You will only do so to mislead people.

 

I understand that there is unpredictability factor, which is causing fear among people. Such unpredictability is always there in any revolution; we cannot stop supporting a good cause because of unpredictability.

 

I still think - The Wall Street Journal got it just right, which is - you have to clean the swamp before you distribute quinine to control Malaria. The Lokpal Bill is the quinine for controlling corruption, which may not be a complete cure, but it is a start. Before you implement it, you have to root out corrupt politicians, and people are doing just that. As I said before, mosquitoes don't like it when you start cleaning the swamp.

 

Jiten Roy
--- On Tue, 9/6/11, Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com> wrote:


From: Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com>
Subject: [mukto-mona] FW: Anna Hazare's Campaign: Two Dissenting Notes
To: "mukto-mona Yahoogroups" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 6:51 AM

 
                  I wish Jiten Roy knew that he does not fully understand all the inner workings of a piece of news and its development. Here is an exchange that should provide some information both on the apparent happenings and what they portend.
                
                    Farida Majid
 


Subject: RE: Anna Hazare's Campaign: Two Dissenting Notes
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:19:04 -0400

          I enjoyed reading both these pieces just as I was about to pen my objection to the article posted by Sugrutha (whose shallow arguments pleased Bhaskar D. very much).
 
           It is mighty difficult to refute or argue that such a wonderful gathering of masses at Ramlila maidan is for a 'misunserstood' mission.  Consider the tough job Aruna Roy (whom I had the pleasure of meeting in New York) is having in order to instil some sense that CORRUPTION isn't a tiny subject that can be dealt with by a hunger strike!
 
This is indeed a graphic illustration of what Umberto Eco identifies as Ur-fascism. [Read the #2 article from rediff.com].  Think of the huge gatherings of people Hitler managed in the 1930s in Germany and Austria! I've seen some awesome film-footage of those Nazi public meetings!
 
<<Accusing the civil society group, headed by anti-corruption activistAnna Hazare, of not following democratic method to seek a strong Lokpal BillAruna Roy -- a member of National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) -- on Tuesday claimed that the public support to the ongoing movement was because most of the people did not understand what it really meant.
 
Talking to Headlines Today Executive Editor Rahul Kanwal, Roy said, "Jan Lokpal Bill, I challenge you, is not understood by most people. The idea of a magic wand is understood by people. There I think is something wrong... making promises to the people that by passing a law you deal with the whole gamut of corruption.">>
 

 

Subject: [india-unity] Anna Hazare's Campaign: Two Dissenting Notes

 
I/II.

Jan Lokpal Bill not understood by most people: Aruna Roy

ITGD Bureau  | New Delhi, August 23, 2011 | Updated 15:59 IST

Accusing the civil society group, headed by anti-corruption activistAnna Hazare, of not following democratic method to seek a strong Lokpal BillAruna Roy -- a member of National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) -- on Tuesday claimed that the public support to the ongoing movement was because most of the people did not understand what it really meant.
 
Talking to Headlines Today Executive Editor Rahul Kanwal, Roy said, "Jan Lokpal Bill, I challenge you, is not understood by most people. The idea of a magic wand is understood by people. There I think is something wrong... making promises to the people that by passing a law you deal with the whole gamut of corruption."
 
"The Jan Lokpal will take care of an aspect of corruption in governance. It will not take care of complete corruption. It will not really take care of public corruption in different areas," added the activist, who also happens to be a member of National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
 
Justifying her opposition to the Team Anna version of Lokpal Bill, Roy said, "We feel that the solution to corruption is not in that one Lokpal Bill, not in the form that it is. While we think that the expression against corruption is a great thing, but the solutions to that is not... I think it's too simplistic... in its present formation there are many problems."
 
Accusing key Anna aide Arvind Kejriwal of hijacking the issue from NCPRI, Roy said, "The Jan Lokpal debate actually came out of a National Campaign for People's Right to Information special meeting convened at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library last year in which NCPRI made Arvind the convener of a group that was to look at the whistleblower's bill and other accountability provisions necessary to stop the killing of RTI activists. This happened sometime in September 2010."
 
"Arvind then broke off and formed the India Against Corruption without consultation of the NCPRI or the MKSS, which are my parent bodies. After forming India Against Corruption he wanted us to join India Against Corruption at which point the MKSS made it very clear that we would not join a campaign in which other secular and organisations which have been working for corruption were not members, but it was only a couple of members from us but very prominently there were people from religious organisations. We didn't use the word saffron, we said religious organisations," she added.
 
Roy named Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living as the religious persons and organisations involved in Jan Lokpal Bill draft process and Hazare's movement.
 
"... but the debate on the bill we had with Mr Kejriwal and Mr Prashant Bhushan many times. In fact, on the 3rd of April at Nehru Memorial Library, the records can be got from the library... There was a detailed discussion on the bill and there were differences of opinion. And, there were differences of opinion even before that, expressed opinions. We tried to come to a consensus," Roy said.
 
"On the 4th (of April), there was a meeting in the National Advisory Council. The National Advisory Council took up the bill and Mr Kejriwal was given the job of putting together the amended principles that emerged after differences were stated by a number of people. Thereafter Mr Kejriwal never came back to us with the modified and amended principles he was supposed to draft. After that there was no formal discussion except with Prashant Bhushan," she said.
 
Blaming the joint draft panel of not listening to the NCPRI while redrafting the Lokpal Bill, Roy said, "We asked the joint committee for time to depose in front of them. We wrote to Mr Pranab Mukherjee as well as to Mr Shanti Bhushan. Both have replied. Records are available for you to see. They said there would be consultation but they did not call us and they disbanded."
 
"It's only subsequent to that the National Campaign for People's Right to Information made its opinion public only in the interest that there should be a public debate. Even today we do not say that our bill is perfect or our draft is perfect. It's another set of formulations to enrich the debate and make people take an informed choice. We do not agree with the government bill, but we also don't agree with the formulation of the Jan Lokpal Bill," she added.
 
Denying being government props to divide the ongoing movement Roy said, "The government says, because there is large mobilisation, they are funded by American and foreign agencies. Because we have a disagreement, they say we are a government prop or a government aide."
 
"I have issued statements against Posco, which is government sponsored. I am against the UID. We have opposed the CBI being kept under wrap by the government. We say things that the government doesn't like. We hold that freedom very dear," Roy said.
 
Asked if Hazare's movement infringed on Parliament's privileges, Roy said, "All these protests are important and then they work. But to say finally now that only my version should go in and that no other version should be debated and that should be passed is, looking at parliamentary privileges, already the opposition parties have disagreed the government bill... There are other opinions. We pay them salary just to do this job."

II.

View: The fascist streak of Team Anna

Last updated on: August 23, 2011 15:34 IST

Mobs are being unleashed on politicians. The element of spontaneity is being used by organised groups as an excuse to defend and rationalise these acts. It would really be sad day for Indian democracy if the parliamentarians fail to resist this onslaught, says Apoorvanand.

When people are marching at the barricades, I went back to my library. I know that streets across India are now re-educating many of us and we are keen to get enrolled in this university of action. Yet I want first to understand this moment of action we are being advised to be part of.

Two chief leaders of the current 'movement against corruption' were on a television talk show hosted by Karan Thapar three days back. When asked why are they forcing Parliament to pass their version of the Lokpal bill without giving the members sufficient time to discuss and debate it, forget people who have been asked to make their representations to the standing committee, their reply was that the MPs can pass it in five minutes or two days at the most.

That it was robbing parliamentarians of their right to deliberate was not their concern. They kept on insisting that the bill has been lying with Parliament for more than four decades and therefore it has lost the right to ask for time to debate it anymore.

That this is a new Parliament and it cannot be held responsible for the action or inaction of the previous ones and here are new members who have a right to exercise and express their own minds did not sound convincing to them.

The question of views of the people has already been settled as it is the movement which represents the people and has it not already held a referendum on its version and improved it 13 times! What is the need then for seeking opinion from the people? When asked about the methodology they adopted for the referendum and whether it was sound enough, they contemptuously ignored the question.

They claim that it is through them that the people are speaking and it is the duty of persons like (National Advisory Council member and activist) Aruna Roy to convince them that there is some other way of looking at things. It was scary, very scary to see how cool and confident they were of the truth that they possess and how disdainfully they dismissed doubts about their approach!

They said that it was for those who hold a different view to come to them because the people are not with the likes of Aruna Roy but with them. And the people cannot wait more, they are frustrated and tired of being ruled and robbed by the corrupt for decades and now they want to get rid of them. A new grammar of impatience and frustration and a new moment for the 'victims' to take revenge! I saw a ghost of Hitler lurking behind these two suave, normal persons, darlings of activists across India and now the heartthrobs of millions! Was I hallucinating?

I pulled out a small book from my bookshelf, titled Five Moral Piecesby Umberto Eco and look for his essay Ur-Fascism. Eco says that 'it is possible to draw up a list of characteristics typical of what I should like to call 'Ur-Fascism' or 'eternal fascism'.

These characteristics cannot be regimented into a system; many are mutually exclusive... But all you need is one of them to be present, and fascist nebula will begin to coagulate.' It would be educative to read further and try to see whether some crucial features listed by Eco are present in this movement against corruption or not.

Eco says that the first characteristics of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition. Traditionalism is older than fascism. Tradition has been employed very deftly by the leaders of this movement to touch, move and sway the masses to their tune. Friends are impressed by their wisdom to replace Bharat Mata with a Gandhi.

What they do not see perhaps is that this Gandhi is a wronged and martyred son of Bharat Mata and is in fact a caricature of what Gandhi actually was. Gandhi has already been integrated with its being by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Gandhians are happy singing his bhajans with them on January 30. The giant Gandhi backdrop which gives a cover to Anna is antithesis to everything that Gandhi stood for. But that is how traditions are deployed to their use by different forms of Ur-Fascism.

Vande Mataram with a tiranga is again a very creative mix of Hindu and nationalist emotions. What is wrong with a Vande Mataram in its new Rahman avatar is what many of us ask. Therefore, if you feel alienated with the chants ofVande Mataram, you better revise yourself. This movement has been trying combinations and permutations of diverse elements of tradition to create a new national moment.

Anna Hazare can invoke the warrior figure of Shivaji and yet remain a Gandhian. Militant memories of Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh or Chandrashekhar Azad can be used as a resource to galvanise the youth. What is also very interesting is that in popular memory all of them have been portrayed as the victims of the machinations of a 'worldly' Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress who deprived them of their due space in the national narrative.

Hazare is a good candidate to lead the movement. He is a celibate, who for the sake of the nation did not raise a family. His past as a member of Indian Army also helps. He is a simpleton and speaks a language which the masses understand easily. He can ask for death to the corrupt and yet remain non-violent because he can fast umpteen number of times. He is a doer. Many ministers in Maharashtra have resigned, forced by his power of non-violent fasts. So, he is also an achiever.

Hazare gives us solace because he sacrifices for us and the least we can do is to stand by him in his tapasya (penance). This would also fetch us punya(blessings). In our families a senior member, usually a woman, fasts and the whole family benefits. The act of fast itself is culturally appealing. All religions have their own versions of the act of fast. How can you call it coercive when it was employed by Gandhi? Invocation of Gandhi makes arguments about the nuanced nature of Gandhi-fasts redundant. 

Eco says that traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism. It disguises as condemnation of the capitalist way of life, but mainly concerned a rejection of the spirit of 1789. In academic circles modernism already lies bloodied. The enlightenment and the age of reason, Eco says, were seen as the beginning of modern depravity.

Gandhi, the central traditional figure around which the yarn of this 'movement' is being spun, has been seen as a critic of modernity and interpreted as a potent source of post modern ways of thinking. He is also a votary of self sufficient gram-swaraj and was betrayed by his disciple who threw this dream aside.

Anna is again someone who has realised the Gandhi dream in his village. That his ideas about life, freedom and justice are pre-modern or irrational has been shown by studies done by scholars like Mukul Sharma.

The third characteristic of Ur-Fascism, according to Eco, is the cult of action for action's sake. Action is beautiful in itself, and therefore must be implemented before any form of reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Critical attitudes are abhorred. We see that the appeal of parliamentarians or individuals seeking time and space to think is being spurned. Now is the time to act. And action would be perpetual.

The promise of permanent action and suspicion of intellectual life have always been the symptoms of Ur-Fascism. Thinking is done while acting. The parliamentarians are idlers.

Moreover, in our context, the idea of action itself has been made so elastic that watching repeated shows of the 'protest' on television becomes an action, sitting on your computer working on your Facebook, visiting Ramlila Maidan on a holiday with your family munching chips or gulping colas is also action. Television has extended the field of action to our bedrooms. So, all of us are actors while in actuality we are consumers of the grand spectacle of action.

The whole nation is feasting on a fast and relishing it. It is one of the safest, state protected protests we are witnessing after the anti- reservation stir led by the IITians and medical students. This is the second nationally televised movement after the anti- reservation movement. And please do not forget. Those young men and women did not a have an Anna hazare but they had also fasted.

It was their 'non-violent' fast which had forced the government to make reservation more 'equitable.' When we participate in action in this manner 24X7 we suspend thinking and brush aside ambiguities.

Eco says and we all know it that Ur-Fascism springs from individual or social frustration. He says that one of the characteristics typical of historic Fascist movements was the appeal to the frustrated middle classes, disquieted by some economic crisis or political humiliation and frightened by the social pressure from below. He also tells us that in our times the old proletariats are becomingpetit bourgeois, and therefore fascism would have appeal for this new formation.Recently Vinay Sitapathi in his articles in the EPW and the Indian Express talks about the changed character of the middle-class which is now largely employed with the non-state, -or private sector. He calls it the Shining India. This newly emerging class feels frustrated by the moves of the state like reservation and however cosmetically done, schemes for the minorities. It feels that they are impediments in its path and the State and Parliament is to be blamed for it since no political party has the guts to oppose it. 


We now have a clearer picture of the way mobilisation for this 'movement' is being done, of the social composition of the youth which is loud in its support for Anna. The affinity that the anti-reservation agitationists feel with this anti-corruption movement cannot be explained away by saying that in a mass-movement like this there would be contradictory social voices co-existing.

This class is impatiently demanding, holding in disdain everything that has some connection with the State. Parliament, for this class is a waste in a time when we need to take fast decisions.

Echoing Marx we can say that the ideology of the ruling classes is the ideology of the masses and in our times the ruling mindset is that of this ambitious, ever consuming shining India with little patience for legal or parliamentary processes. The movement against corruption promises quick and final solution to the disease of corruption and is therefore appealing to the Shining India mindset.

A heightened sense of deprivation and an identifiable group as the source of it is another feature of Ur-Fascism. There has to be an enemy with vaunted wealth and power. Eco says that Hitler managed to persuade his people and other part of Europe that Jews were wealthy and helped one-another through a secret network of mutual assistance.

In India, Muslims have long been portrayed as illegitimately making claims to what should naturally belong to Hindus. So killing them on mass scale occasionally does not perturb Hindus. Now the taxpaying shining India has been persuaded that its money is being looted by politicians who seek shelter in and are secured by an institution called the Parliament.

This is the educated class which firmly believes every minute of Parliament is being paid by it and therefore Parliament has either to listen to it or disappear. Parliament has also been seen as an unholy network of politicians cutting across ideologies and parties which are actually helping each other in looting the people's money. The new source of loot is this political class and the war has to be against it.

Critics of the movement against corruption say that Parliament is a forum which does not speak in one voice. There are diverse voices, diverse sets of opinion and they should be allowed their space. But, as Eco says and I quote him, 'Ur-Fascism is based on 'qualitative populism'.

In a democracy the citizens enjoy individual rights, but as a whole citizens have a political impact only from a quantitative point of view. For Ur-Fascists... the people are conceived as a monolithic entity that expresses the 'common will'. Since no quantity of human beings can possess a common will, the leader claims to be their interpreter... the citizens are called upon... to play their role as the people. The people are thus merely a theatrical pretence."

The following lines of Eco sound very prophetic, "In our future there looms qualitative television or internet populism, in which a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the 'voice of the people."

The future Eco is talking about is our present. What Eco says further is to be read carefully, "As a result of its qualitative populism, Ur-Fascism has to oppose 'rotten' parliamentary governments. One of the first things Benito Mussolini said in the Italian Parliament was, "I could have transformed this gray and sordid chamber into a bivouac for my soldiers."...every time a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a Parliament because it no longer represents the 'voices of the people', there is a suspicion of Ur-fascism."

The residences of ministers and MPs are being raided and Parliament is under an unprecedented seige. Mobs are being unleashed on politicians. The element of spontaneity is being used by organised groups as an excuse to defend and rationalise these acts. It would really be sad day for Indian democracy if the parliamentarians fail to resist this onslaught.

An atmosphere has been created where it is impossible to think. Thinking involves complex use of language. But, Eco says, "Ur-fascism uses newspeak... based on poor vocabulary and elementary syntax," the aim is "to limit the instruments available to complex and critical reasoning. But we must be prepared to identify other types of newspeak, even when they take the innocent form a popular talk show."

Newspeak is glorified as it helps simplify things. It is much harder and requires much time and energy when you invite people to participate in critical reasoning. It is easier to think of a tough, patriarchal institutional frame as suggested by the leaders of the movement against corruption. Newspeak thrives on the habit of sloganeering. It is also loud and clear and more often than not, eloquent and powerful. It makes a direct appeal to the emotions of the people.

That is what Anna Hazare does and his other educated leaders do when they make simple appeals, adopt tough postures. But communicability and eloquence can be deceptive, as noted lawyer and former Union minister Ram Jethmalani said recently in the Rajya Sabha participating in the debate on the impeachment motion against Justice Soumitra Sen, "Eloquence has nothing to do with morals. It is often the property of the biggest thieves and charlatans. Today glib-talkers are on top of the world and people who cannot talk are nowhere."

Another feature of Ur-fascism, one may add, is its ability to send different signals to different sets of people and rattle them by the sheer speed and force of its popular appeal. Political parties are forced to declare their stands, intellectuals are shamed into action or are called armchair thinkers and enemies of the people. Universities are called upon to move to the street where democratic education is happening.

Poets are asked to frame slogans. Leftists are tempted to join the chorus as the movement gives an illusion of open endedness which holds some promise for them as well. They fight pathetically to gain a space on the dais. Thus the movement gathers strength and respectability. But one has to watch out as Eco warns, 'Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in civilian clothes.'

With Narendra Modi in 2002 it was easier to identify it. And life in 2011 has becomes much more complex. You would be mocked if you called Modi a fascist now. And it is even more difficult now to tear the khadi mask that some ordinary shirt and trousers clad persons like us are wearing and leading a movement against corruption.

What can be fascist about this movement and its leaders? But that is our job, in Eco's words, "to unmask Ur-fascism and to point the finger at each of its new forms -- every day, in every part of the world." It is unpopular to do so. So be it.
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Re: [mukto-mona] FW: Anna Hazare's Campaign: Two Dissenting Notes



perhaps aruna roy is unhappy at her NCPRI being bypassed or sidelined by IAC.  she is welcome to her opinions.  but the comprehensive action she is propogating to tackle corruption has NOT come through at all in the past half a century.  i submit that the IAC's lokpal bill will atleast start addressing the problem NOW.

From: Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com>
To: mukto-mona Yahoogroups <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 6, 2011 6:51:51 AM
Subject: [mukto-mona] FW: Anna Hazare's Campaign: Two Dissenting Notes

 
                  I wish Jiten Roy knew that he does not fully understand all the inner workings of a piece of news and its development. Here is an exchange that should provide some information both on the apparent happenings and what they portend.
                
                    Farida Majid
 
Subject: RE: Anna Hazare's Campaign: Two Dissenting Notes
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:19:04 -0400

          I enjoyed reading both these pieces just as I was about to pen my objection to the article posted by Sugrutha (whose shallow arguments pleased Bhaskar D. very much).
 
           It is mighty difficult to refute or argue that such a wonderful gathering of masses at Ramlila maidan is for a 'misunserstood' mission.  Consider the tough job Aruna Roy (whom I had the pleasure of meeting in New York) is having in order to instil some sense that CORRUPTION isn't a tiny subject that can be dealt with by a hunger strike!
 
This is indeed a graphic illustration of what Umberto Eco identifies as Ur-fascism. [Read the #2 article from rediff.com].  Think of the huge gatherings of people Hitler managed in the 1930s in Germany and Austria! I've seen some awesome film-footage of those Nazi public meetings!
 
<<Accusing the civil society group, headed by anti-corruption activistAnna Hazare, of not following democratic method to seek a strong Lokpal BillAruna Roy -- a member of National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) -- on Tuesday claimed that the public support to the ongoing movement was because most of the people did not understand what it really meant.
 
Talking to Headlines Today Executive Editor Rahul Kanwal, Roy said, "Jan Lokpal Bill, I challenge you, is not understood by most people. The idea of a magic wand is understood by people. There I think is something wrong... making promises to the people that by passing a law you deal with the whole gamut of corruption.">>
 

 
Subject: [india-unity] Anna Hazare's Campaign: Two Dissenting Notes

 
I/II.

Jan Lokpal Bill not understood by most people: Aruna Roy

ITGD Bureau  | New Delhi, August 23, 2011 | Updated 15:59 IST

Accusing the civil society group, headed by anti-corruption activistAnna Hazare, of not following democratic method to seek a strong Lokpal BillAruna Roy -- a member of National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) -- on Tuesday claimed that the public support to the ongoing movement was because most of the people did not understand what it really meant.
 
Talking to Headlines Today Executive Editor Rahul Kanwal, Roy said, "Jan Lokpal Bill, I challenge you, is not understood by most people. The idea of a magic wand is understood by people. There I think is something wrong... making promises to the people that by passing a law you deal with the whole gamut of corruption."
 
"The Jan Lokpal will take care of an aspect of corruption in governance. It will not take care of complete corruption. It will not really take care of public corruption in different areas," added the activist, who also happens to be a member of National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
 
Justifying her opposition to the Team Anna version of Lokpal Bill, Roy said, "We feel that the solution to corruption is not in that one Lokpal Bill, not in the form that it is. While we think that the expression against corruption is a great thing, but the solutions to that is not... I think it's too simplistic... in its present formation there are many problems."
 
Accusing key Anna aide Arvind Kejriwal of hijacking the issue from NCPRI, Roy said, "The Jan Lokpal debate actually came out of a National Campaign for People's Right to Information special meeting convened at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library last year in which NCPRI made Arvind the convener of a group that was to look at the whistleblower's bill and other accountability provisions necessary to stop the killing of RTI activists. This happened sometime in September 2010."
 
"Arvind then broke off and formed the India Against Corruption without consultation of the NCPRI or the MKSS, which are my parent bodies. After forming India Against Corruption he wanted us to join India Against Corruption at which point the MKSS made it very clear that we would not join a campaign in which other secular and organisations which have been working for corruption were not members, but it was only a couple of members from us but very prominently there were people from religious organisations. We didn't use the word saffron, we said religious organisations," she added.
 
Roy named Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living as the religious persons and organisations involved in Jan Lokpal Bill draft process and Hazare's movement.
 
"... but the debate on the bill we had with Mr Kejriwal and Mr Prashant Bhushan many times. In fact, on the 3rd of April at Nehru Memorial Library, the records can be got from the library... There was a detailed discussion on the bill and there were differences of opinion. And, there were differences of opinion even before that, expressed opinions. We tried to come to a consensus," Roy said.
 
"On the 4th (of April), there was a meeting in the National Advisory Council. The National Advisory Council took up the bill and Mr Kejriwal was given the job of putting together the amended principles that emerged after differences were stated by a number of people. Thereafter Mr Kejriwal never came back to us with the modified and amended principles he was supposed to draft. After that there was no formal discussion except with Prashant Bhushan," she said.
 
Blaming the joint draft panel of not listening to the NCPRI while redrafting the Lokpal Bill, Roy said, "We asked the joint committee for time to depose in front of them. We wrote to Mr Pranab Mukherjee as well as to Mr Shanti Bhushan. Both have replied. Records are available for you to see. They said there would be consultation but they did not call us and they disbanded."
 
"It's only subsequent to that the National Campaign for People's Right to Information made its opinion public only in the interest that there should be a public debate. Even today we do not say that our bill is perfect or our draft is perfect. It's another set of formulations to enrich the debate and make people take an informed choice. We do not agree with the government bill, but we also don't agree with the formulation of the Jan Lokpal Bill," she added.
 
Denying being government props to divide the ongoing movement Roy said, "The government says, because there is large mobilisation, they are funded by American and foreign agencies. Because we have a disagreement, they say we are a government prop or a government aide."
 
"I have issued statements against Posco, which is government sponsored. I am against the UID. We have opposed the CBI being kept under wrap by the government. We say things that the government doesn't like. We hold that freedom very dear," Roy said.
 
Asked if Hazare's movement infringed on Parliament's privileges, Roy said, "All these protests are important and then they work. But to say finally now that only my version should go in and that no other version should be debated and that should be passed is, looking at parliamentary privileges, already the opposition parties have disagreed the government bill... There are other opinions. We pay them salary just to do this job."

II.

View: The fascist streak of Team Anna

Last updated on: August 23, 2011 15:34 IST

Mobs are being unleashed on politicians. The element of spontaneity is being used by organised groups as an excuse to defend and rationalise these acts. It would really be sad day for Indian democracy if the parliamentarians fail to resist this onslaught, says Apoorvanand.
When people are marching at the barricades, I went back to my library. I know that streets across India are now re-educating many of us and we are keen to get enrolled in this university of action. Yet I want first to understand this moment of action we are being advised to be part of.
Two chief leaders of the current 'movement against corruption' were on a television talk show hosted by Karan Thapar three days back. When asked why are they forcing Parliament to pass their version of the Lokpal bill without giving the members sufficient time to discuss and debate it, forget people who have been asked to make their representations to the standing committee, their reply was that the MPs can pass it in five minutes or two days at the most.
That it was robbing parliamentarians of their right to deliberate was not their concern. They kept on insisting that the bill has been lying with Parliament for more than four decades and therefore it has lost the right to ask for time to debate it anymore.
That this is a new Parliament and it cannot be held responsible for the action or inaction of the previous ones and here are new members who have a right to exercise and express their own minds did not sound convincing to them.
The question of views of the people has already been settled as it is the movement which represents the people and has it not already held a referendum on its version and improved it 13 times! What is the need then for seeking opinion from the people? When asked about the methodology they adopted for the referendum and whether it was sound enough, they contemptuously ignored the question.
They claim that it is through them that the people are speaking and it is the duty of persons like (National Advisory Council member and activist) Aruna Roy to convince them that there is some other way of looking at things. It was scary, very scary to see how cool and confident they were of the truth that they possess and how disdainfully they dismissed doubts about their approach!
They said that it was for those who hold a different view to come to them because the people are not with the likes of Aruna Roy but with them. And the people cannot wait more, they are frustrated and tired of being ruled and robbed by the corrupt for decades and now they want to get rid of them. A new grammar of impatience and frustration and a new moment for the 'victims' to take revenge! I saw a ghost of Hitler lurking behind these two suave, normal persons, darlings of activists across India and now the heartthrobs of millions! Was I hallucinating?
I pulled out a small book from my bookshelf, titled Five Moral Piecesby Umberto Eco and look for his essay Ur-Fascism. Eco says that 'it is possible to draw up a list of characteristics typical of what I should like to call 'Ur-Fascism' or 'eternal fascism'.
These characteristics cannot be regimented into a system; many are mutually exclusive... But all you need is one of them to be present, and fascist nebula will begin to coagulate.' It would be educative to read further and try to see whether some crucial features listed by Eco are present in this movement against corruption or not.
Eco says that the first characteristics of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition. Traditionalism is older than fascism. Tradition has been employed very deftly by the leaders of this movement to touch, move and sway the masses to their tune. Friends are impressed by their wisdom to replace Bharat Mata with a Gandhi.
What they do not see perhaps is that this Gandhi is a wronged and martyred son of Bharat Mata and is in fact a caricature of what Gandhi actually was. Gandhi has already been integrated with its being by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Gandhians are happy singing his bhajans with them on January 30. The giant Gandhi backdrop which gives a cover to Anna is antithesis to everything that Gandhi stood for. But that is how traditions are deployed to their use by different forms of Ur-Fascism.
Vande Mataram with a tiranga is again a very creative mix of Hindu and nationalist emotions. What is wrong with a Vande Mataram in its new Rahman avatar is what many of us ask. Therefore, if you feel alienated with the chants ofVande Mataram, you better revise yourself. This movement has been trying combinations and permutations of diverse elements of tradition to create a new national moment.
Anna Hazare can invoke the warrior figure of Shivaji and yet remain a Gandhian. Militant memories of Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh or Chandrashekhar Azad can be used as a resource to galvanise the youth. What is also very interesting is that in popular memory all of them have been portrayed as the victims of the machinations of a 'worldly' Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress who deprived them of their due space in the national narrative.
Hazare is a good candidate to lead the movement. He is a celibate, who for the sake of the nation did not raise a family. His past as a member of Indian Army also helps. He is a simpleton and speaks a language which the masses understand easily. He can ask for death to the corrupt and yet remain non-violent because he can fast umpteen number of times. He is a doer. Many ministers in Maharashtra have resigned, forced by his power of non-violent fasts. So, he is also an achiever.
Hazare gives us solace because he sacrifices for us and the least we can do is to stand by him in his tapasya (penance). This would also fetch us punya(blessings). In our families a senior member, usually a woman, fasts and the whole family benefits. The act of fast itself is culturally appealing. All religions have their own versions of the act of fast. How can you call it coercive when it was employed by Gandhi? Invocation of Gandhi makes arguments about the nuanced nature of Gandhi-fasts redundant. 
Eco says that traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism. It disguises as condemnation of the capitalist way of life, but mainly concerned a rejection of the spirit of 1789. In academic circles modernism already lies bloodied. The enlightenment and the age of reason, Eco says, were seen as the beginning of modern depravity.
Gandhi, the central traditional figure around which the yarn of this 'movement' is being spun, has been seen as a critic of modernity and interpreted as a potent source of post modern ways of thinking. He is also a votary of self sufficient gram-swaraj and was betrayed by his disciple who threw this dream aside.
Anna is again someone who has realised the Gandhi dream in his village. That his ideas about life, freedom and justice are pre-modern or irrational has been shown by studies done by scholars like Mukul Sharma.
The third characteristic of Ur-Fascism, according to Eco, is the cult of action for action's sake. Action is beautiful in itself, and therefore must be implemented before any form of reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Critical attitudes are abhorred. We see that the appeal of parliamentarians or individuals seeking time and space to think is being spurned. Now is the time to act. And action would be perpetual.
The promise of permanent action and suspicion of intellectual life have always been the symptoms of Ur-Fascism. Thinking is done while acting. The parliamentarians are idlers.
Moreover, in our context, the idea of action itself has been made so elastic that watching repeated shows of the 'protest' on television becomes an action, sitting on your computer working on your Facebook, visiting Ramlila Maidan on a holiday with your family munching chips or gulping colas is also action. Television has extended the field of action to our bedrooms. So, all of us are actors while in actuality we are consumers of the grand spectacle of action.
The whole nation is feasting on a fast and relishing it. It is one of the safest, state protected protests we are witnessing after the anti- reservation stir led by the IITians and medical students. This is the second nationally televised movement after the anti- reservation movement. And please do not forget. Those young men and women did not a have an Anna hazare but they had also fasted.
It was their 'non-violent' fast which had forced the government to make reservation more 'equitable.' When we participate in action in this manner 24X7 we suspend thinking and brush aside ambiguities.
Eco says and we all know it that Ur-Fascism springs from individual or social frustration. He says that one of the characteristics typical of historic Fascist movements was the appeal to the frustrated middle classes, disquieted by some economic crisis or political humiliation and frightened by the social pressure from below. He also tells us that in our times the old proletariats are becomingpetit bourgeois, and therefore fascism would have appeal for this new formation.
Recently Vinay Sitapathi in his articles in the EPW and the Indian Express talks about the changed character of the middle-class which is now largely employed with the non-state, -or private sector. He calls it the Shining India. This newly emerging class feels frustrated by the moves of the state like reservation and however cosmetically done, schemes for the minorities. It feels that they are impediments in its path and the State and Parliament is to be blamed for it since no political party has the guts to oppose it. 

We now have a clearer picture of the way mobilisation for this 'movement' is being done, of the social composition of the youth which is loud in its support for Anna. The affinity that the anti-reservation agitationists feel with this anti-corruption movement cannot be explained away by saying that in a mass-movement like this there would be contradictory social voices co-existing.
This class is impatiently demanding, holding in disdain everything that has some connection with the State. Parliament, for this class is a waste in a time when we need to take fast decisions.
Echoing Marx we can say that the ideology of the ruling classes is the ideology of the masses and in our times the ruling mindset is that of this ambitious, ever consuming shining India with little patience for legal or parliamentary processes. The movement against corruption promises quick and final solution to the disease of corruption and is therefore appealing to the Shining India mindset.
A heightened sense of deprivation and an identifiable group as the source of it is another feature of Ur-Fascism. There has to be an enemy with vaunted wealth and power. Eco says that Hitler managed to persuade his people and other part of Europe that Jews were wealthy and helped one-another through a secret network of mutual assistance.
In India, Muslims have long been portrayed as illegitimately making claims to what should naturally belong to Hindus. So killing them on mass scale occasionally does not perturb Hindus. Now the taxpaying shining India has been persuaded that its money is being looted by politicians who seek shelter in and are secured by an institution called the Parliament.
This is the educated class which firmly believes every minute of Parliament is being paid by it and therefore Parliament has either to listen to it or disappear. Parliament has also been seen as an unholy network of politicians cutting across ideologies and parties which are actually helping each other in looting the people's money. The new source of loot is this political class and the war has to be against it.
Critics of the movement against corruption say that Parliament is a forum which does not speak in one voice. There are diverse voices, diverse sets of opinion and they should be allowed their space. But, as Eco says and I quote him, 'Ur-Fascism is based on 'qualitative populism'.
In a democracy the citizens enjoy individual rights, but as a whole citizens have a political impact only from a quantitative point of view. For Ur-Fascists... the people are conceived as a monolithic entity that expresses the 'common will'. Since no quantity of human beings can possess a common will, the leader claims to be their interpreter... the citizens are called upon... to play their role as the people. The people are thus merely a theatrical pretence."
The following lines of Eco sound very prophetic, "In our future there looms qualitative television or internet populism, in which a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the 'voice of the people."
The future Eco is talking about is our present. What Eco says further is to be read carefully, "As a result of its qualitative populism, Ur-Fascism has to oppose 'rotten' parliamentary governments. One of the first things Benito Mussolini said in the Italian Parliament was, "I could have transformed this gray and sordid chamber into a bivouac for my soldiers."...every time a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a Parliament because it no longer represents the 'voices of the people', there is a suspicion of Ur-fascism."

The residences of ministers and MPs are being raided and Parliament is under an unprecedented seige. Mobs are being unleashed on politicians. The element of spontaneity is being used by organised groups as an excuse to defend and rationalise these acts. It would really be sad day for Indian democracy if the parliamentarians fail to resist this onslaught.
An atmosphere has been created where it is impossible to think. Thinking involves complex use of language. But, Eco says, "Ur-fascism uses newspeak... based on poor vocabulary and elementary syntax," the aim is "to limit the instruments available to complex and critical reasoning. But we must be prepared to identify other types of newspeak, even when they take the innocent form a popular talk show."
Newspeak is glorified as it helps simplify things. It is much harder and requires much time and energy when you invite people to participate in critical reasoning. It is easier to think of a tough, patriarchal institutional frame as suggested by the leaders of the movement against corruption. Newspeak thrives on the habit of sloganeering. It is also loud and clear and more often than not, eloquent and powerful. It makes a direct appeal to the emotions of the people.
That is what Anna Hazare does and his other educated leaders do when they make simple appeals, adopt tough postures. But communicability and eloquence can be deceptive, as noted lawyer and former Union minister Ram Jethmalani said recently in the Rajya Sabha participating in the debate on the impeachment motion against Justice Soumitra Sen, "Eloquence has nothing to do with morals. It is often the property of the biggest thieves and charlatans. Today glib-talkers are on top of the world and people who cannot talk are nowhere."
Another feature of Ur-fascism, one may add, is its ability to send different signals to different sets of people and rattle them by the sheer speed and force of its popular appeal. Political parties are forced to declare their stands, intellectuals are shamed into action or are called armchair thinkers and enemies of the people. Universities are called upon to move to the street where democratic education is happening.
Poets are asked to frame slogans. Leftists are tempted to join the chorus as the movement gives an illusion of open endedness which holds some promise for them as well. They fight pathetically to gain a space on the dais. Thus the movement gathers strength and respectability. But one has to watch out as Eco warns, 'Ur-Fascism is still around us, sometimes in civilian clothes.'
With Narendra Modi in 2002 it was easier to identify it. And life in 2011 has becomes much more complex. You would be mocked if you called Modi a fascist now. And it is even more difficult now to tear the khadi mask that some ordinary shirt and trousers clad persons like us are wearing and leading a movement against corruption.
What can be fascist about this movement and its leaders? But that is our job, in Eco's words, "to unmask Ur-fascism and to point the finger at each of its new forms -- every day, in every part of the world." It is unpopular to do so. So be it.
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Peace Is Doable





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               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




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