Month: July 2010

by SYED SALEEM SHAHZAD

The crackdown is likely to provide a justification for the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi to carry out more attacks inside Pakistan on Sunni and Shi’ite targets, which can only spark more sectarian unrest, as well as possible create a new wave of militants heading for the jihadi epicenter in the North Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan.

This is precisely what happened after the 2004-2005 crackdown and it proved a decisive factor in the Afghan Taliban’s comeback in 2006.

Asia Times Online for more

B. R. GOWANI

“An Iranian woman at a protest in Brussels highlights the barbarity of death by stoning, in which women are buried up to their necks in front of a crowd of volunteers and killed in a hail of rocks.” PHOTO/Thierry Roge/Reuters/Guardian

Unmarried Eve and Adam fornicated
They parented many children,
Sisters and brothers,
Siblings,
They married amongst themselves …

(this is what Allah willed
or else He would have created
a second pair of human beings)

Out of the incestuous relationships
Of siblings, that is,
The earth was peopled*,
Including, the Iranian judges
Who have sentenced many people
To death by stoning or hanging
For adultery!

Now it is Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
(a widow and a mother of two children)
Who is awaiting her death
For committing that act.

These beasts could better concentrate
On critical productive issues, instead of
Who’s going out with whom?
Who’s sleeping with whom?
Who’s kissing whom?
Who’s holding whose hand?
Who’s not wearing a chador?
Who’s with uncovered head?
…

B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com

*This is according to Abrahamic religions:Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and the various tribes of the Americas, and others have their own stories.

SURVIVAL

“Four Ayoreo-Totobiegosode men make first contact with the outside world in 2004.” PHOTO/GAT/Survival

Yaguarete was recently fined $16,000/£10,500 by the Paraguayan authorities for concealing the existence of the Totobiegosode in the area where it was given a licence to work. Earlier this year, the company won Survival’s ‘Greenwashing Award’ 2010 for ‘dressing up the wholesale destruction of a huge area of the Indians’ forest as a noble gesture for conservation.’

Survival for more

by NADEEM F. PARACHA

Whenever there are rumours of a military coup, pray they are true. Explain that democracy and secularism are deeply flawed and have destroyed the world. Totalitarian monarchies with entrenched security and bureaucracies are much better and in line with our Arab origins. Please do not compare us to Indians. We have nothing in common with them (except our DNA, culture, cuisine, language, music and geography).

Here’s a brief knee-jerk guide to fend off ‘lies’ about Pakistani society becoming intolerant, delusional and paranoid. It was prepared and inspired by hours of TV-watching and passionate middle-class drawing-room navel gazing.

* In case of a suicide attack in a mosque or a shrine (in Punjab), just utter the following two words: “Blackwater and America.” In case of a similar suicide attack in Karachi, just say: “MQM!”

* When fanatics of a majority Muslim sect attack a minority Muslim sect, exhibit concern and anger. Then go out and burn an Israeli flag.

* When fanatics attack people of other minorities (Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, etc.), don’t say anything. Start discussing the weather instead. “I say, fellow Muslim brother, very hot these days. Yes, fellow Muslim sister, very hot indeed. Care for some halal nimbu-paani?”

* Bellow ‘Alhamdulillah’ if a fellow Muslim echoes your own point of view on faith. But yell ‘blasphemy’ if a fellow Muslim dares to exhibit a different point of view. Shout him down and out, calling him ‘misguided,’ or worse, an ‘infidel.’ Then call this discourse ‘a healthy debate on religion.’

Dawn for more

by SUZANNE LEONARD

[1] Feminist fiction emerged in both the United States and Great Britain during the height of the second wave feminist movement, marking its entrance with demands for female autonomy, sexual and reproductive freedom, and a cautionary perspective on institutionalized heterosexuality. While feminist activists were at the same time encouraging a radical overhaul of the sex/gender system, feminist fiction often made similar arguments in a more subdued fashion, focusing on larger systemic issues through personal or confessional narratives that depicted the material circumstances of individual women’s lives. Perhaps best exemplified by novels such as Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook (1962), Alix Kates Shulman’s Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen (1969), Marge Piercy’s Small Changes (1972), Rita Mae Brown’s Rubyfruit Jungle (1973), Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying (1973), and Marilyn French’s The Woman’s Room (1977) feminist fiction chronicled the psychological and sometimes literal journeys taken by women who come to a gradual understanding of the ways that gender prescribes their lives. Such realizations are frequently accompanied by a variety of plot devices that pertain to the female protagonist, including: her first sexual experience, struggles with men and marriage, forays into higher education, extramarital dalliances, visits to a psychotherapist, difficult reproductive decisions, and parenting challenges.

Genders Online Journal for more

by PRITAM K. ROHILA, Ph. D

There was a time in human history, when no one conceived of the possibility of living in man-made dwelling, outside a natural cave. Creating a flame at a place and time of one’s own choosing was unthinkable. Going places at a faster than walking or running speed, and flying in the air, were improbable. Cessation of hostility between England and France seemed impossible. Many things that appeared impossible at one time have become possible!

Peace also is possible!

Peace within one’s mind can be achieved. Peace within one’s family, neighborhood and country can be made to happen. Peace in South Asia, and even between India and Pakistan also are possible, if and when we decide that we are willing to commit everything at our disposable to make it so.

As Peace Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association proposes, peace is Possible! Think it! Plan it! Do it!

How serious are you and I to make peace possible?

Dr. Rohila is the Executive Director of the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (www.asiapeace.org). He can be reached at asiapeace@comcast.net

by MELISSA CROUCH

Places of worship are an extremely sensitive subject in contemporary Indonesia. Recent years have seen radical Islamic groups take the law into their own hands as they damage the places of worship of religious minorities, or force others to close by threats of violence. Local government leaders are also becoming more proactive against religious minorities, sometimes cancelling permits for places of worship that have already been granted. One of the first victims was the Christian Batak Protestant Congregation of Cinere, a town in the province of West Java. In May 2009, the mayor of Depok cancelled their permit to build a place of worship, despite the fact that construction of the building had already commenced. In response, the church asserted their democratic rights by filing a legal case in the Administrative Court of Bandung.

Inside Indonesia for more

by EMBER SWIFT

The heterosexual community neither embraces nor rejects her. It’s indifferent. She feels invisible. No one really sees her. Some of her friends know about her queer identity, but she notices their discomfort when she references it. She recognizes the glance of homophobia when it turns her way.

Yet she still identifies as queer and always will. It’s about a personal identity and not about her partner. Yes, she’s in love with her partner, but she knows that she’s capable of love and attraction for women and always will be. She won’t dishonour her experiences or that truth in herself. No way.

Herizons for more

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via Monthly Review Zine