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Sunday, June 21, 2009

[ALOCHONA] Re: My views of life.

Mr. Akbar wrote: [[[While choosing the word fear grammar was not in my mind. I took the meaning and its implications on a persons mind.]]]

My rebuttal: Let me put aside the grammatical confession and let's us focus on the issue of fear. How could you take the meaning of a word and its implications out of a persons mind? Buddha had asked his followers to test what he preaches and to feel them as experience, and not to accept simply on superficial grounds and I ask him, what is mind?

[[[Fear is a state of mind when a person seeks shelter from a situation which overcomes his power.]]]

My rebuttal: If fear is a state of Mr. Akbar's mind then when he would or under what circumstances he would take refuge or seek shelter from a situation(what kind of situation?) which would overcome Akbar's power?

[[[His rational thinking does not work, he uses his mind not brain to over come the issue in front him.]]]

My rebuttal: A person without knowledge, maleducation or without education would not have rational thinking at first place whether s/he uses his/her mind or brain to overcome whatever the issue awaiting in front of him, be you Buddhist or Muslim or Hindu or christian or Jew. It is avidya or ignorance to suggest that people become rational or irrational out of fear or lack thereof. People become irrational when greed or excessive desires of materialistic goods take precedence.

People become irrational when people like Akbar tries to use information(for instance, fear) which is technically true, but is being presented out of context in order to create a false implication and this deception of irrationality is being achieved by leaving out information or by associating valid information in such a way as to create false correlations. The manipulation and fabrication of information is greater fear and concern of mine than being a hit by a lightening stroke.

Have I acted irrationally or used my mind in place of brain when I'm being confronted with the fear of manipulation or fabrication that are being employed by Akbar? I think not.

[[[Fear created by religion nips reason and dogma takes precedence over reason.]]]

My rebuttal: As he vaguely purports to express by an undefined word religion which has no hands or brain to create fear upon mankind or his proposition "fear created by religion" part is not literally meaningful because proposition is not empirically verifiable. It is avidya or ignorance to formulate a sentence without providing whose religion or what specific verse that creates fear that nips reason and then define what is dogma that takes precedence over reason.

I think it is a fabrication on Akbar's part for the purpose of disinformation strategy and tactics to formulate and presented out of context in order to create false implication.

[[[This is the most violent side of religious fanaticism. Examples are abundant around us.]]]]

My rebuttal: For out of material greed and desire or manipulation of knowledge and power, people of all kinds including religious and non-religious alike are being engaged in fanaticism and that's the violent side of reality we can't deny. No nirvana or moksha can overcome these violent side of manufactured realities.

For wanting of a theory to remove desires to overcome the most violent side of religious or non-religious fanaticism, even if all people go and sat beneath a giant Bodh tree or in a mountain's cave to attain salvation or nirvana by being enlightened is unattainable.

Does Akbar kinds think by traveling from city-to-city bare-footed, clean-headed, with nothing more on his self than his saffron robe, walking stick and begging bowl and preach about suffering and misery which can be removed by removing self-delusional desire and thereby all forms of fanaticism will disappear?

Then may I ask, why does he require a begging bowl for alms or charity as form of food or clothes for his survival instincts? and who would be there for him to provide his food, clothes and shelter if every man in the world follows his kind of nirvana? would he only sit idle by the bodh tree without food? where is his responsibilities? is it attainable? How?

[[[Emancipation is the child of freedom.]]]

My rebuttal: Ideas matter and the idea of freedom had borned out of slavery in American vocabulary and now the word freedom is being used as propaganda purposes by many people for many different reasons and many different causes but the meaning of "freedom is emancipation" or "emancipation is child of freedom" in relation to "moksha" or "nirvana" is a grand deception, fabrication, manipulation and disinformation propaganda.

Nirvana literally means "blowing out" or "extinction" or cessation of all from of sorrow which can be achieved by removing desire. The fallacies of removing misery and suffering by removing desires are unattainable. If it was then he would not have come to Canada to remove his desire to attain nirvana. Moksha is attained by liberation from all karma and those who have attained moksha are called siddha(liberated souls). Does moksha mean the anti-thesis of cause and effect? if not then how moksha is attained by liberation of all form of karma? Can you provide the path for attaining moksha(liberation) from samsara(reincarnation)? I don't understand reincarnation.

[[[Indian spiritualism talked about muki, moksha or nirvana.]]]

My rebuttal: Is "Indian spiritualism" euphemism of religion? In Buddha's teachings there are no concepts of soul or no creator. Since Buddha does not recognize the concept of soul then what does "Indian spiritualism" mean? What is atma or what is spirit that the ideology of spiritualism is derived from in Buddha's? is there a specific word for spirit in Buddha's teachings?

or Is Mr. Akbar synthesizing atma and spirit interchangeably? For your information, in case he is not aware of that in Prophet Muhammad's teachings there are concepts of soul(nafs) and spirit(ruh) that I came to know from Quranic revelations.

[[[Are these conditions can be attained in the mountain caves or in the woods only?]]]

My rebuttal: Are you asking me? If karma is not required then be you sit underneath the fig tree or bodh tree or in caves or in jungle is up to you. I have not preached to any "true religious" person like Akbar that liberation from karma(moksha) is the first goal in order to achieve nirvana.

[[[These are easy ways. The real moksha is here among the multitudes. Among the sounds and bites.]]]

My rebuttal: Yes there are easy ways and it can be achieved by residing in Canada or Sweden where sound bites of monkish true religious persons don't have to do karma nor does he require a begging bowl cause handouts is by default.

[[[Live in the samsar but don't allow samsar to live in you.]]]

My rebuttal: Is samsara means cycle of rebirth or reincarnation? Sound very much like a paradoxical sentence. If samsar means rebirth then who lives in the samsar and who doesn't allow samsar(rebirth) to live in you[whose body or soul] where concept of soul is non-existence in Buddha's teaching?

My rebuttal: What true/right knowledge provides the path for attaining liberation(moksha) from samsara(i.e.,cycle of rebirth or reincarnation)?

[[[Freedom from all attachments but not from responsibilities.]]]

My rebuttal: What do you mean by the word freedom or imply - "moksha" or "nirvana? moksha from all attachments(karma)? if karma means duty then what is responsibility?

[[[There we prove our real strength.]]]

My rebuttal: Yes indeed, it is real strength by evading responsibilities and looking for handouts not charity which has religious connotation! And a "real religious" person who has no religion does not accept charity but handouts and it is OK because it does not sound religious. By revealing and proving his real strength, he is really proud of his "true religious" identity. What a strength! I m proud of you.

[[[These are not fallacies, these are achievable goals.]]]

My rebuttal: If things are achievable by moksha which means liberation from all form of karma then why did he come to Canada? or how do you achieve your goals without performing karma? Oops Canada and Sweden have achieved his goals and one does not require a begging bowl and those monks are using their Internet connection to preach and synthesize all anti-thesis for rest of the monks. Oh no, there are no fallacies at all, just previllege perhaps rights of recieving handouts.

[[[We need to find out the synthesis from all anti theses.]]]

My rebuttal: If he is in need of a solution to find out the synthesis of all thesis and anti-thesis then moksha will jump out from the soul/spirit which is by the way non-existence in Buddha's teachings to begin with? Can he synthesize the concept of liberation of all form of karma which is moksha without handout/begging bowl? if Buddha would have had lived in Canada or Sweden, then i think, he would not have invented the word moksha because those countries provide handout for those monks since karma is not the part and parcel of moksha.

[[[A truly religious person does not embrace any religion.]]]

My rebuttal: I think that's where his wisdom is knocking on the tavern doors.


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[ALOCHONA] Shocking!



Just read this on BBC. I guess the government doesn't have anything better to do at this time than run a propaganda campaign. Whether Bongobondhu or Zia was the first to proclaim independence are matters of historical accuracy, personal belief, and political indoctrination. Why on earth the court is involved in this?
 
Whatever happened to the trial of the war criminals? When is the court going to chime in on that pesky little matter?
 
C
 
 
Bangladesh court rules on dispute
By Mark Dummett
BBC News, Dhaka

Bangladesh's high court has issued a ruling designed to end a decades-long dispute over who should be seen as the true father of the nation.

The court ruled that Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan in 1971 was first proclaimed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president.

Mr Rahman was the father of the current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.

The opposition BNP has always said that independence was declared by the late husband of its leader, Khaleda Zia.

There has been no reaction to the court's ruling yet from the opposition party.

The two main parties - Awami League and BNP- have differed for decades over who should be seen as the true father of the nation.

Bangladesh is a bitterly divided country, dominated by two political clans with their own versions of history, and convinced that only they have the right to govern.

The two main parties both claim that their former leader should be seen as the true father of the Bangladeshi nation.

As power has alternated between the two, so the history books have each time been re-written.

Now, six months after a decisive election victory for Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, the High Court in Dhaka has ruled that her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, did in fact proclaim independence in a speech he gave as the war began.

It said that all claims to the contrary were lies.

The government will no doubt hope that this ruling settles the matter, but if the past is anything to go on, neither side will ever be ready to admit that it is wrong.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman become the first president of independent Bangladesh in January 1972. He was assassinated in 1975.

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[mukto-mona] [Father's day] Tini Briddho holen...



 
 
Regards
Avijit



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RE: [ALOCHONA] Re: My views of life.



These are indeed YOUR views of life.



To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
From: akbar_50@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:20:11 +0000
Subject: RE: [ALOCHONA] Re: My views of life.




While choosing the word fear grammar was not in my mind. I took the meaning and its implications on a persons mind. Fear is a state of mind when a person seeks shelter from a situation which overcomes his power. His rational thinking does not work, he uses his mind not brain to over come the issue in front him. Fear created by religion nips reason and dogma takes precedence over reason. This is the most violent side of religious fanaticism. Examples are abundant around us.

Emancipation is the child of freedom. Indian spiritualism talked about muki, moksha or nirvana. Are these conditions can be attained in the mountain caves or in the woods only? These are easy ways. The real moksha is here among the multitudes. Among the sounds and bites. Live in the samsar but don't allow samsar to live in you. Freedom from all attachments but not from responsibilities. There we prove our real strength. These are not fallacies, these are achievable goals. We need to find out the synthesis from all anti theses. A truly religious person does not embrace any religion.

 

Thanks

 

Akbar Hussain





To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
From: paranggari@yahoo.in
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:38:55 +0000
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Re: My views of life.



Akbar wrote:[Fear is a cult and freedom is emancipation or nirvana.]

What is a cult? Fear itself? I never knew fear can be a noun to be a cult. Very interesting cult name is given by Mr. Akbar da.

Freedom is always used in an argument as a propaganda term calling for a need to fight but never heard of freedom is being as nirvana. "You have to fight for freedom" is the way the word is usually used, though not in those words. For example, the oppressors won't grant freedom voluntarily.

Isn't it nirvana a peaceful mental state due to being self-awakening or being enlightened? I heard and read that Buddha had devoted his life almost 40 years which was characterized as nirvana but what freedom has to do with nirvana?

Don't you think, charity-giving can be characterize as one form of nirvana as well? I think, Charity is better form of nirvana than bhramachari and/or lecturing others about nirvana! because words are cheap form of nirvana.

--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Akbar Hussain <akbar_50@...> wrote:
>
>
> An unknown friend of mine has underscored the importance of humanity than nationality in response to my post where I described an incident in Rawalpindi in 1970 regarding my identity. The reference was an emotional necessity at that time which nobody can deny. One thing I would make clear that I do not give preference to any religion in my life. But if I am pressed to make a declaration in this regard I would say that my identity or identity of any person is based on his/her ethnicity. This narrow description widens when we know someone closely by his/her views on life, philosophical basis of thinking and overall generosity towards the diversities of life. These are independent qualifications based on the degree of freedom by a soul not influenced by narrow jurisdictions of religion which always lead us to a quagmire of conflicts. This is not the first time that I am lectured by people who are too afraid to free themselves from the shackles of religious fear to venture into the wide open horizon of life. Fear is a cult and freedom is emancipation or nirvana.
>
> Akbar Hussain
>
>
> __________________________________________________________
> Attention all humans. We are your photos. Free us.
> http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9666046
>




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Re: [ALOCHONA] scholarship in norway, denmark, italy, netherland.....

Does this men on query u will give the rrequired info?
THanks
mkm


Quoting Sultana Sultana <sultanasust@yahoo.com>:

> Norway: PhD scholarship in Information Technology, University of Stavanger 
>  
> Denmark: Ph.D. fellows in Synthetic Bioorganic Chemistry and Nanobioscience,
> University of Copenhegen
>  
> Italy : PhD Scholarships in Economics, The University of Siena
>  
> Netherland: PhD student for Analytical Chemistry Chemometrics
>  
> thanks to all
>
>
>
> --
> This message has been scanned for viruses and
> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
> believed to be clean.
>
>


----------------------------------------------------------------
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[ALOCHONA] What Really Is Going On In Lalgarh : A Fact Finding Report



What Really Is Going On In Lalgarh : A Fact Finding Report

 

By a fact finding team of students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

 

June 17, 2009: A fact finding team of nine students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) recently visited Lalgarh, to probe into the reality of the ongoing movement of the people in the area. Here we are enclosing the preliminary details of what we saw. We would like to appeal to your daily/ news channel to also highlight on certain issues of the movement, which we feel are not coming to the forefront, as much as it should have.

 

We heard through various media and other sources that there had been massive state repression in Lalgrah and other adjacent areas in November 2008, after the attempted mine blast on the convoy of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. We heard of incidents of rampant police atrocity especially on women and school children in Chhotopelia and Katapahari. We also heard that post that rampage the people there have formed the Pulishi Santrash Birodhi Janasadharoner Committee (PSBJC) and have blockaded Lalgarh and other areas out of police and other administration..

With these preliminary facts we had been inside to Lalgarh. We stayed there from 7th of June to the 10th of June, 2009. We visited the Chhotapelia, Katapahari, Bohardanga, Sijua, Dain Tikri, Sindurpur, Madhupur, Babui Basha, Shaluka, Moltola Kadoshol, Basban, Papuria, Komladanga, pukhria, Korengapara, gopalnagar, Khash jongol, Shaalboni, Shaal danga, Andharmari, Darigera, Bhuladanga, Chitaram Dahi, Teshabandh, Bhuladanga villages and talked extensively to people. We attended one big meeting in Lodhashuli called by the Committee and witnessed other small meetings which were held inside the villages. The current firing and frontal battle between the people and the state and CPI(Marxist) (henceforth CPM - ed.) in Dharampura and Madhupur/Shijua had started while we were there. So we believe we have observed many facets of this movement pretty closely.

The visit to Lalgrah and talking closely to people broke many of the myths which we still held before going there. After listening to the chronological narrative of the history of police atrocities in the area, we realized that the November incident was not unique. It was just the continuation of extreme state terror and police atrocities that the people of the regions have tolerated since 2000.

What is unique this time is the resistance.

The people in all the villages virtually demonstrated how police had tortured them, entered houses at the wee hours of night to break everything and beat up people in the name of 'raids', how any movement of the people at night even to look for their cattles were banned, how almost in every family there is some one or the other who had been booked for being a 'Maoist', how 90 year old Maiku Murmu of Teshabandh was beaten to death by the police way back in 2006. Young school girls were regularly molested by the police in the pretext of 'body check', women were forced to show their genitals at night during 'raids' to confirm their gender. Before every election 30-40 people from every village were picked up as 'Maoists' in order to debilitate the opposition. The incident of Chhotopelia, where a number of women were ruthlessly beaten up and one of them Chhitamoni lost her eye, virtually broke the limit of patience of the people. They have now risen up against this long drawn police atrocity.

Coupled with Police terror they talked of CPM terror too. CPM cadres and leaders have only acted as informers to police they said. Today when we saw the jubilation among people after demolishing Anuj Pandey's house, we can understand the emotions of the people. Because what we saw among the people was utter hatred for CPM. They showed us around in Madhupur how the local panchayat office was turned into a camp of the harmad vahini. They told us how the 'motor cycle army' of the harmads zoomed around the villages, terrorizing people, breaking their houses brutally, firing in the air, and beating people up. We talked to one villager whose house was being demolished by the harmad , he helplessly kept calling the police to no vein. It was only after an armed resistance was put up, that the harmads were forced to retreat to Memul and further to Shijua.

Similarly, they narrated the incident of Khash Jongol, where because of the lack of armed preparedness from the committee, the harmads abruptly entered with the help of the police and open fired and killed three people, injuring three others and fled.

Police and CPM are not just in alliance, they are the same thing. They told us how the police stood as mute spectator whenever the harmads went on a rampage. The harmads have even used police jeeps to move around. The local CPM cadres provide information about the people within the villages to the police.

From our team, therefore when we see the current violence, which many media houses are branding as 'anarchy', we have a different opinion. We have seen the genuine anger of the people, their tolerance, their suffering. And we have no hesitation at all in holding the police, administration and CPM responsible for the current precipitation of the situation.

The committee was formed against police atrocity. But what impressed us most was the alternative developmental work that the Committee and the people have been doing inside Lalgarh in the past seven months. These areas are marked by extreme poverty and backwardness. Rainfall is scanty and the people are dependent only on rainfall for agriculture. We saw the dysfunctional government canal, which is lying dry. They described the faulty nature of governmental dams which ultimately dry up the natural falls. The showed us the pathetic condition of roads which becomes completely inaccessible during the monsoons. The Committee on its own has made 20 km of roads with red stone chips ('morrum'). The people have volunteered labour to make these roads. The total cost to make this 20 km of road, they showed were Rs. 47,000, while the panchayat always shows atleast Rs. 15,000 for 1 km of road. They have repaired quite a few tube wells, and have installed new ones at half the price than the panchayat. They have started to make a check dam in Bohardanga to fight the water crisis. The two best things that have been done by the Committee is to start land distribution and run a health center in Katapahari. The vested forest lands are supposed to be distributed to the landless tribals according to a bill passed by the West Bengal government. But it never happened. Now the committee is taking initiative in Banshberi and other villages to distribute the vested empty lands adjacent to the forests to the people who have no land. We saw the distribution of the patta in one village. The condition of health facilities was also in a pathetic state in the villages, as there was not a single functional health center. The nearest ones are in Lalgarh and Ramgarh town. Patients often died the way to the hospital, often there had been cases of snake bite of the people who were carrying the patients to the hospital in the monsoon. There was a dysfunctional building in Katapahari which was supposed to be a health center. The administration decided to turn it into a police camp. After police boycott, the committee turned it into a health center. Doctors from Kolkata and other regions visit there thrice a week. It is flocked by more than 150 patients every day.

We had also attended a huge meeting called by the Committee in Lodhashuli against a sponge iron factory located in the region. We visited the factory site and saw the adverse effect of pollution on the trees and regions. The people informed that even the paddy grown in the region have turned black, so much so that even the panchayat has refused to accept the paddy. There are hospitals and schools in the vicinity of such polluting factory. The meeting despite a bus strike called by CPM was attended by huge masses of people (around 12000), coming from different parts of the district. It was a vibrant meeting, where the committee resolves among other things to boycott the factory and build a resistance to stop the factory for good.

The presence of the Maoists within Lalgarh is one of the most contended issues right now. We saw the open presence of Maoists and their mass acceptance. They paste posters and have also held meetings where about ten thousand people have participated.. And unlike the popular myth that Maoists are outsiders from Jharkhand etc.. we saw the Maoist brigade to be flocked by locals. The people are pretty clear about the need for an armed resistance in the face of the regular joint attacks by the CPM and the state. The restriction of carrying traditional arms by them is a clear signal by the state to debilitate this movement.

By the time we left Lalgarh, the struggle has intensified. By now the people have been successful in making their immediate enemy CPM to escape along with the police. The enthusiasm we saw in the people was exuberant. For the first time they are being part of not some vote minting political party but a committee which is their own organization. They are living a life free of state terror and building their own developmental projects. In different villages many residents held one opinion in common, 'we have got independence for the first time'. Their fight is against age old exploitation, deprivation, torture and terror. In this way this is a historic fight. And we strongly feel that what is deemed 'anarchy' by many is real struggle for independence.

We urge the media houses to revisit Lalgarh. The movement has its roots in the extreme impoverished socio economic conditions of the people because of the inaction of the state. The state is bound to strike back to this fight of the people. The CRPF will soon come back with the orders to open fire on the resilient masses. The state government is also shamelessly asking the notorious and infamous Grey hounds and Cobra to come and crush the people's movement. And that will be the most unfortunate and condemnable thing. The anger of the masses against massive state terror, underdevelopment and corruption is valid. And so is the long awaited fight against it.

We are going to publish a detailed report back in Delhi about this movement of the people. We remember that the media especially the regional media in Bengal had played a pretty progressive role during the Nandigram movement and would appeal to you to also stand by the people of Lalgrah and their genuine fight before the state carries out yet another genocide.

The fact finding team compriesed of: Priya Ranjan, Banojyotsna, Anirban, Gogol, Kusum, Reyaz, Yadvinder, Veer Singh, Sumati.
 




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[ALOCHONA] Tipaimukh project: all trust and no verification



 
 
This committee, largely devoid of opposition members of the parliament, seems all set to enjoy official Indian hospitality, do a bit of sightseeing and perhaps some shopping and come back and grant legitimacy to this project so that India can commence and proceed with the construction
work, writes Omar Khasru


'TRUST, but verify', a translation of the Russian proverb 'doveryai, no proveryai', was a signature phrase of Ronald Reagan, the two-term (1981-88) popular and admired American president, credited with the demolition of the mighty and once invincible Soviet socialist empire to effectively end the cold war with a thumping US triumph.
   Reagan was fond of repeating the Russian adage during the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty negotiations with his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev, the last general secretary of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (1985-1991), and also the last head of state of the USSR (from 1988 until its collapse in 1991). Gorbachev proved to be a pliant and accommodating negotiating partner. The current absolute supremacy of the United States as the single dominant superpower is a testimony to that.


   The overbearing and Orwellian big brother control freak neighbour, India, cannot be termed as an accommodating, amenable, gracious or even pleasant and responsive negotiating partner by any stretch of fertile and fancy imagination. But the persistent stance and approach of the current Sheikh Hasina government in bilateral dealings, and in resolving bitter and acrimonious disputes, oddly and inexplicably, have been obedient and acquiescent, with the implicit 'your wish is my command' submissive and deferential posture. What should be the primary and, perhaps, the sole steadfast and indisputable consideration, the best interest of the country, seems to have taken an insignificant backseat and put in the backburner.


   There appears to be an unsavoury competition among assorted ministers and Awami League bigwigs to appease, support and go gaga over the attitude and utterances of Indian government representatives and mouthpieces regarding bilateral conflicts and impending significant and crucial strife, India's unilateral and arbitrary decision to build a dam on the river Barak at Tipaimukh in Assam, 200 kilometres upstream of the Bangladesh border. There seems no concern or care for the adverse effect on this country, its ecology and environment, survival of animals and plants, water flow in the lean seasons and various other harmful impacts.


   The appalling competition to please and praise India at the expense of vital national interests seems to be especially keen among the commerce minister, water resources minister, and shipping and inland transport minister. The alarming and puzzling one-upmanship contest seems to be heading for a photo finish, with other ministers and big shots chiming in. The latest to join the fray has been Abdur Razzak, the current chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the water resources ministry, and former water resources minister during the earlier 1996-2001 Awami League regime.


   This genuflecting deferential policy and posture towards India had started during the last interminable, illegal and unconstitutional caretaker regime. The then foreign affairs adviser claimed that he was launching an irreversible 'friendship forever' policy towards India, come what may. A landmark of the policy was the visit of the then army chief Moeen U Ahmed, the virtual and de facto chief of the military-dominated regime with a civilian façade, consisting of a group of subservient and inept advisers. His India trip and the Indian gift of white horses seemed to have provoked an extreme adoration for the neighbouring country with an implicit pledge to preserve and uphold India's interests on a priority basis. The ostensible Indian backing of the caretaker regime and the apparent support for the army chief might have played a pivotal role in the policy formulation. This government seems to have inherited and carried on with this appeasement mindset.


   It was during the tenure of Razzak as the water resources minister in the previous Awami administration that the latest Farakka Barrage Ganges water sharing agreement was signed with plenty of fanfare and hoopla. The rest is history. Bangladesh has never received its legitimate share of water because the water sharing accord was fatally flawed. It lacked a viable, acceptable and unbiased method of resolving India's unwillingness to release sufficient water during the lean season or put into practice significant portion of the deal.


   Razzak was asked back then how, in the absence of any provision for impartial third party arbitration, the two countries would solve the inevitable disagreements and difference of opinion regarding the quantity of water that would flow past the deadly and detrimental Farakka barrage. His glib answer was that he would pick up his VIP telephone and call the Water Resources Minister of India and the row would automatically and magically be solved through mutual conciliation with symbiotic benefits. That unfortunately proved to be cheap talk and pointless blather. Razzak might have called his Indian counterpart on many other things but there is no record that he ever called regarding the chronic shortfall in the agreed amount of water for Bangladesh during the dry season. Even if he did, there is no evidence that India took any compensating measure to alleviate the situation.


   Sheikh Hasina, the usually garrulous and strongly opinionated prime minister, has decided largely to keep her mouth shut regarding Tipaimukh. Her only significant comment has been that her regime will decide after the tour of the project site by a parliamentary committee and the resultant recommendations. Some of her ministers and henchmen are matching and even surpassing callous and insensitive comments of Indian High Commissioner, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, in denouncing the detractors of the project. Others in the top echelon of the ruling alliance are mostly acting like Gandhi's three monkeys with the 'say no evil, hear no evil and see no evil' viewpoint. This is weird, shocking and puzzling because vital national interests are at stake here.


   Now Razzak, as the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on water resources ministry, is about to lead a fact finding delegation of parliamentarians and experts to Tipaimukh to inspect the controversial project and assess the possible effects on Bangladesh. But his mind seems all made up already and we will be waiting for the last nail on the coffin. He has joined in the chorus with the commerce minister and the others in denouncing the critics of the Tipaimukh project. This committee, largely devoid of opposition members of the parliament, seems all set to enjoy official Indian hospitality, do a bit of sightseeing and perhaps some shopping and come back and grant legitimacy to this project so that India can commence and proceed with the construction work. Razzak had failed the country back then in the Farakka water sharing treaty and he seems all set to fail the country again.


   The problem with the upcoming trip is that India so far is yet to handover vital information and documents, feasibility study, pros and cons and other relevant information regarding Tipaimukh project to Bangladesh. There is no clear indication that it will provide the important documents or facts any time soon or ever. So the delegation will be acting and making recommendations based mainly on Indian assurances, promises and rose coloured glasses added to the predetermined ideas and programmed opinions, most of which already seem favourably disposed towards the project.


   This is a clear case of proverbial 'fox guarding the chicken coop.' It is no wonder that the New Age editorially commented on June 18, 2009 that Tipaimukh team had lost its credibility before inspection. As the editorial points out, there seems to be complete trust in Indian assurance that it would not divert water from the dam, the dam would not harm Bangladesh and that Bangladesh stands to be benefited. This country really should be wary and suspicious of such Indian pledges, especially in the light of past bitter experiences in Farakka and elsewhere. The government big shots seem all trust and, unlike Ronald Reagan, no urge to verify.


   The first Awami League regime after independence had granted the permission to India to start the Farakka Barrage on an 'experimental basis.' The current Awami League regime seems all set and primed to grant the go-ahead to Tipaimukh project with potential to cause extreme and lasting harm to the Northeastern third of the country just as Farakka did to the Northwestern third. Once fertile Ganges delta now is unable to produce a third of the grains each year. The untold ecological damage and economic harm to the people are evident for all to see. Most experts feel that Tipaimukh project, if completed, will offer a parallel set of impacts and experiences, despite hollow and vacuous 'assurances' from India, and brazen cronyism and toadyism by government ministers and party functionaries to the contrary.


   Let me end with a quote from the dearly departed Ronald Reagan, 'Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.'

 

http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jun/21/oped.html




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[ALOCHONA] Iranian Elections: The ‘Stolen Elections’ Hoax



Iranian Elections: The 'Stolen Elections' Hoax

 

By James Petras

 

"Change for the poor means food and jobs, not a relaxed dress code or mixed recreation…Politics in Iran is a lot more about class war than religion."

Financial Times Editorial, June 15 2009

There is hardly any election, in which the White House has a significant stake, where the electoral defeat of the pro-US candidate is not denounced as illegitimate by the entire political and mass media elite. In the most recent period, the White House and its camp followers cried foul following the free (and monitored) elections in Venezuela and Gaza, while joyously fabricating an 'electoral success' in Lebanon despite the fact that the Hezbollah-led coalition received over 53% of the vote.

 

The recently concluded, June 12, 2009 elections in Iran are a classic case: The incumbent nationalist-populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (MA) received 63.3% of the vote (or 24.5 million votes), while the leading Western-backed liberal opposition candidate Hossein Mousavi (HM) received 34.2% or (3.2 million votes). Iran's presidential election drew a record turnout of more than 80% of the electorate, including an unprecedented overseas vote of 234,812, in which HM won 111,792 to MA's 78,300. The opposition led by HM did not accept their defeat and organized a series of mass demonstrations that turned violent, resulting in the burning and destruction of automobiles, banks, public building and armed confrontations with the police and other authorities.

 

Almost the entire spectrum of Western opinion makers, including all the major electronic and print media, the major liberal, radical, libertarian and conservative web-sites, echoed the opposition's claim of rampant election fraud. Neo-conservatives, libertarian conservatives and Trotskyites joined the Zionists in hailing the opposition protestors as the advance guard of a democratic revolution. Democrats and Republicans condemned the incumbent regime, refused to recognize the result of the vote and praised the demonstrators' efforts to overturn the electoral outcome. The New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, the Israeli Foreign Office and the entire leadership of the Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations called for harsher sanctions against Iran and announced Obama's proposed dialogue with Iran as 'dead in the water'.

 

The Electoral Fraud Hoax

Western leaders rejected the results because they 'knew' that their reformist candidate could not lose…For months they published daily interviews, editorials and reports from the field 'detailing' the failures of Ahmadinejad's administration; they cited the support from clerics, former officials, merchants in the bazaar and above all women and young urbanites fluent in English, to prove that Mousavi was headed for a landslide victory. A victory for Mousavi was described as a victory for the 'voices of moderation', at least the White House's version of that vacuous cliché. Prominent liberal academics deduced the vote count was fraudulent because the opposition candidate, Mousavi, lost in his own ethnic enclave among the Azeris. Other academics claimed that the 'youth vote' – based on their interviews with upper and middle-class university students from the neighborhoods of Northern Tehran were overwhelmingly for the 'reformist' candidate.

 

What is astonishing about the West's universal condemnation of the electoral outcome as fraudulent is that not a single shred of evidence in either written or observational form has been presented either before or a week after the vote count.. During the entire electoral campaign, no credible (or even dubious) charge of voter tampering was raised. As long as the Western media believed their own propaganda of an immanent victory for their candidate, the electoral process was described as highly competitive, with heated public debates and unprecedented levels of public activity and unhindered by public proselytizing. The belief in a free and open election was so strong that the Western leaders and mass media believed that their favored candidate would win.

 

The Western media relied on its reporters covering the mass demonstrations of opposition supporters, ignoring and downplaying the huge turnout for Ahmadinejad. Worse still, the Western media ignored the class composition of the competing demonstrations – the fact that the incumbent candidate was drawing his support from the far more numerous poor working class, peasant, artisan and public employee sectors while the bulk of the opposition demonstrators was drawn from the upper and middle class students, business and professional class.

 

Moreover, most Western opinion leaders and reporters based in Tehran extrapolated their projections from their observations in the capital – few venture into the provinces, small and medium size cities and villages where Ahmadinejad has his mass base of support. Moreover the opposition's supporters were an activist minority of students easily mobilized for street activities, while Ahmadinejad's support drew on the majority of working youth and household women workers who would express their views at the ballot box and had little time or inclination to engage in street politics.

 

A number of newspaper pundits, including Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times, claim as evidence of electoral fraud the fact that Ahmadinejad won 63% of the vote in an Azeri-speaking province against his opponent, Mousavi, an ethnic Azeri. The simplistic assumption is that ethnic identity or belonging to a linguistic group is the only possible explanation of voting behavior rather than other social or class interests. A closer look at the voting pattern in the East-Azerbaijan region of Iran reveals that Mousavi won only in the city of Shabestar among the upper and the middle classes (and only by a small margin), whereas he was soundly defeated in the larger rural areas, where the re-distributive policies of the Ahmadinejad government had helped the ethnic Azeris write off debt, obtain cheap credits and easy loans for the farmers. Mousavi did win in the West-Azerbaijan region, using his ethnic ties to win over the urban voters. In the highly populated Tehran province, Mousavi beat Ahmadinejad in the urban centers of Tehran and Shemiranat by gaining the vote of the middle and upper class districts, whereas he lost badly in the adjoining working class suburbs, small towns and rural areas.

 

The careless and distorted emphasis on 'ethnic voting' cited by writers from the Financial Times and New York Times to justify calling Ahmadinejad 's victory a 'stolen vote' is matched by the media's willful and deliberate refusal to acknowledge a rigorous nationwide public opinion poll conducted by two US experts just three weeks before the vote, which showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin – even larger than his electoral victory on June 12. This poll revealed that among ethnic Azeris, Ahmadinejad was favored by a 2 to 1 margin over Mousavi, demonstrating how class interests represented by one candidate can overcome the ethnic identity of the other candidate (Washington Post June 15, 2009). The poll also demonstrated how class issues, within age groups, were more influential in shaping political preferences than 'generational life style'.

 

According to this poll, over two-thirds of Iranian youth were too poor to have access to a computer and the 18-24 year olds "comprised the strongest voting bloc for Ahmadinejad of all groups" (Washington Porst June 15, 2009). The only group, which consistently favored Mousavi, was the university students and graduates, business owners and the upper middle class. The 'youth vote', which the Western media praised as 'pro-reformist', was a clear minority of less than 30% but came from a highly privileged, vocal and largely English speaking group with a monopoly on the Western media. Their overwhelming presence in the Western news reports created what has been referred to as the 'North Tehran Syndrome', for the comfortable upper class enclave from which many of these students come. While they may be articulate, well dressed and fluent in English, they were soundly out-voted in the secrecy of the ballot box.

 

In general, Ahmadinejad did very well in the oil and chemical producing provinces. This may have be a reflection of the oil workers' opposition to the 'reformist' program, which included proposals to 'privatize' public enterprises. Likewise, the incumbent did very well along the border provinces because of his emphasis on strengthening national security from US and Israeli threats in light of an escalation of US-sponsored cross-border terrorist attacks from Pakistan and Israeli-backed incursions from Iraqi Kurdistan, which have killed scores of Iranian citizens. Sponsorship and massive funding of the groups behind these attacks is an official policy of the US from the Bush Administration, which has not been repudiated by President Obama; in fact it has escalated in the lead-up to the elections.

 

What Western commentators and their Iranian protégés have ignored is the powerful impact which the devastating US wars and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan had on Iranian public opinion: Ahmadinejad's strong position on defense matters contrasted with the pro-Western and weak defense posture of many of the campaign propagandists of the opposition.

 

The great majority of voters for the incumbent probably felt that national security interests, the integrity of the country and the social welfare system, with all of its faults and excesses, could be better defended and improved with Ahmadinejad than with upper-class technocrats supported by Western-oriented privileged youth who prize individual life styles over community values and solidarity.

 

The demography of voting reveals a real class polarization pitting high income, free market oriented, capitalist individualists against working class, low income, community based supporters of a 'moral economy' in which usury and profiteering are limited by religious precepts. The open attacks by opposition economists of the government welfare spending, easy credit and heavy subsidies of basic food staples did little to ingratiate them with the majority of Iranians benefiting from those programs. The state was seen as the protector and benefactor of the poor workers against the 'market', which represented wealth, power, privilege and corruption. The Opposition's attack on the regime's 'intransigent' foreign policy and positions 'alienating' the West only resonated with the liberal university students and import-export business groups. To many Iranians, the regime's military buildup was seen as having prevented a US or Israeli attack.

 

The scale of the opposition's electoral deficit should tell us is how out of touch it is with its own people's vital concerns. It should remind them that by moving closer to Western opinion, they removed themselves from the everyday interests of security, housing, jobs and subsidized food prices that make life tolerable for those living below the middle class and outside the privileged gates of Tehran University.

 

Amhadinejad's electoral success, seen in historical comparative perspective should not be a surprise. In similar electoral contests between nationalist-populists against pro-Western liberals, the populists have won. Past examples include Peron in Argentina and, most recently, Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia and even Lula da Silva in Brazil, all of whom have demonstrated an ability to secure close to or even greater than 60% of the vote in free elections. The voting majorities in these countries prefer social welfare over unrestrained markets, national security over alignments with military empires..

 

The consequences of the electoral victory of Ahmadinejad are open to debate. The US may conclude that continuing to back a vocal, but badly defeated, minority has few prospects for securing concessions on nuclear enrichment and an abandonment of Iran's support for Hezbollah and Hamas. A realistic approach would be to open a wide-ranging discussion with Iran, and acknowledging, as Senator Kerry recently pointed out, that enriching uranium is not an existential threat to anyone. This approach would sharply differ from the approach of American Zionists, embedded in the Obama regime, who follow Israel's lead of pushing for a preemptive war with Iran and use the specious argument that no negotiations are possible with an 'illegitimate' government in Tehran which 'stole an election'.

 

Recent events suggest that political leaders in Europe, and even some in Washington, do not accept the Zionist-mass media line of 'stolen elections'. The White House has not suspended its offer of negotiations with the newly re-elected government but has focused rather on the repression of the opposition protesters (and not the vote count). Likewise, the 27 nation European Union expressed 'serious concern about violence' and called for the "aspirations of the Iranian people to be achieved through peaceful means and that freedom of expression be respected" (Financial Times June 16, 2009 p.4). Except for Sarkozy of France, no EU leader has questioned the outcome of the voting.

 

The wild card in the aftermath of the elections is the Israeli response: Netanyahu has signaled to his American Zionist followers that they should use the hoax of 'electoral fraud' to exert maximum pressure on the Obama regime to end all plans to meet with the newly re-elected Ahmadinejad regime.

Paradoxically, US commentators (left, right and center) who bought into the electoral fraud hoax are inadvertently providing Netanyahu and his American followers with the arguments and fabrications: Where they see religious wars, we see class wars; where they see electoral fraud, we see imperial destabilization.

 



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Re: [ALOCHONA] Re: My views of life.



Thanks for sharing your views. It sounds really good. I feel true freedom comes from openly practice what you feel right (For you). As long it does not hurt anyone (Or their rights), it is fine.

Religious or anti-religious is not the issue. As long we live and let (Others) live with their choices.

My personal observation is when people become extreamist ( Religious or anti-religious) that can start a lot of preblem.

Buddha attained "Nirvana" under the bodhi tree. People all over the world accepted that. Why can't one find "enlightenment/peace/freedom" in a cave?

A spiritual person is always close to the "Higher power" and all major scriptures teaches us just that. Most of the time people who fight over religion did not read his/her own scriptures.

I like your last thought. I look at it slightly differently. I feel a religious person can embrace people from all faith background and be a peacemaker.

Take it easy. :-)

--QAR


-----Original Message-----
From: Akbar Hussain <akbar_50@hotmail.com>
To: alochona group <alochona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jun 19, 2009 8:20 am
Subject: RE: [ALOCHONA] Re: My views of life.



While choosing the word fear grammar was not in my mind. I took the meaning and its implications on a persons mind. Fear is a state of mind when a person seeks shelter from a situation which overcomes his power. His rational thinking does not work, he uses his mind not brain to over come the issue in front him. Fear created by religion nips reason and dogma takes precedence over reason. This is the most violent side of religious fanaticism. Examples are abundant around us.
Emancipation is the child of freedom. Indian spiritualism talked about muki, moksha or nirvana. Are these conditions can be attained in the mountain caves or in the woods only? These are easy ways. The real moksha is here among the multitudes. Among the sounds and bites. Live in the samsar but don't allow samsar to live in you. Freedom from all attachments but not from responsibilities. There we prove our real strength. These are not fallacies, these are achievable goals. We need to find out the synthesis from all anti theses. A truly religious=2 0person does not embrace any religion.
 
Thanks
 
Akbar Hussain




To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
From: paranggari@yahoo.in
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:38:55 +0000
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Re: My views of life.



Akbar wrote:[Fear is a cult and freedom is emancipation or nirvana.]

What is a cult? Fear itself? I never knew fear can be a noun to be a cult. Very interesting cult name is given by Mr. Akbar da.

Freedom is always used in an argument as a propaganda term calling for a need to fight but never heard of freedom is being as nirvana. "You have to fight for freedom" is the way the word is usually used, though not in those words. For example, the oppressors won't grant freedom voluntarily.

Isn't it nirvana a peaceful mental state due to being self-awakening or being enlightened? I heard and read that Buddha had devoted his life almost 40 years which was characterized as nirvana but what freedom has to do with nirvana?

Don't you think, charity-giving can be characterize as one form of nirvana as well? I think, Charity is better form of nirvana than bhramachari and/or lecturing others about nirvana! because words are cheap form of nirvana.

--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, Akbar Hussain <akbar_50@...> wrote:
>
>
> An unknown friend of mine has underscored the importance of humanity than nationality in response to my post where I described an incident in Rawalpindi in 1970 regarding my identity. The reference was an emotional necessity at that time which nobody can deny. One thing I would make clear that I do not give preference to any religion in my life. But if I am pressed to make a declaration in this regard I would say that my identity or identity of any person is based on his/her ethnicity. This narrow description widens when we know someone closely by his/her views on life, philosophical basis of thinking and overall generosity towards the diversities of life. These are independent qualifications based on the degree of freedom by a soul not influenced by narrow jurisdictions of religion which always lead us to a quagmire of conflicts. This is not the first time that I am lectured by people who are too afraid to free themselves from the shackles of religious fear to venture into the wide open horizon of life. Fear is a cult and freedom is emancipation or nirvana.
>
> Akbar Hussain
>
>
> __________________________________________________________
> Attention all humans. We are your photos. Free us.
> http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9666046
>


< /div>


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