Sunday, March 31, 2013

SACRED LAND, ECOLOGY AND TEMPLES OF THE POOR LIKE THOSE OF HINDUS ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE NOT TO BE PRESERVED LIKE THE VATICAN, CHURCHES AND MOSQUES OF ORGANIZED RELIGIONS AND CAN BE DESTROYED WITH IMPUNITY !!!!


The Brazilian tribe that played by our rules, and lost

The Kayapó people's battle to save their land from flooding as the Bel Monte dam is built follows a pattern across the Americas
Chief Raoni of the Caiapo tribe
Chief Raoni smokes a pipe while demonstrating against the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Photograph: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
The man pictured above is Raoni Txucarramãe, chief of the Kayapópeople, who hail from Brazil's northern Pará province. The homeland of the Kayapó is the tropical rainforest surrounding the tributaries of the giant Xingu river, itself a nearly 2,000km long tributary of the Amazon. But the livelihood of the Kayapó people is under grave threat. Brazil's president, Dilma Vana Rousseff, has authorised the construction of a dam that will flood their homeland.
The Belo Monte dam will be the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam (after China's Three Gorges dam, itself with numerous problems, and the Brazilian-Paraguayan Itaipu dam). It will flood 400,000 hectares of the world's largest rainforest, displacing 20,000 to 40,000 people – including the Kayapó. The ecological impact of the project is massive: the Xingu River basin has four times more biodiversity than all of Europe. Flooding of the rainforest will liberate massive amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas far more damaging than carbon dioxide. But the impact on Chief Raoni's people, on an entire society, is unimaginable.
The Kayapó traditionally practised slash-and-burn agriculture on small farms cut into the jungle. The rich resources of their lands (minerals, timber, and potential hydroelectrical power) have brought pressures from outside. Although the Brazilian constitution explicitly prohibits the displacement of "Indians" from their traditional lands, it provides for one convenient exception: where the National Congress deems removal of the people to be "in the interest of the sovereignty of the country". Proponents of the dam argue that its construction is in the nation's interest.
The Kayapó people's leadership has learned how to participate in the world economy. They were one of the first indigenous peoples to participate in international commerce, with the Body Shop, and they learned how to fight back against projects they did not support. A five-day media conference they organised to fight the Bel Monte dam in 1989 generated enough international attention that the World Bank refused the loan necessary for the project to proceed.
Now, as the project raises its head again, the Kayapó have forged alliances with non-profits worldwide to continue their battle. In February, Chief Raoni delivered a petition with 600,000 signatures to the Brazilian government, and construction of the dam was temporarily blocked. But this week, the Brazilian government gave the project the green light.
Chief Raoni and his people have, essentially, played by our rules. They learned the ways of a foreign society, and they waged their battle according to those foreign rules and with those foreign weapons, launching petitions and protests, and engaging media and lawyers. I am reminded of another photo that recently appeared on these pages: that of an "uncontacted" Amazonian tribe, their bows raised, their arrows aimed at the Brazilian Indian Affairs Department aircraft flying overhead. For all his efforts, Chief Raoni, too, might as well have been shooting arrows at the Brazilian National Congress building.
This losing battle is not unique. Rather, it is the common story to the Americas. I recall my visits with Cristina Calderón, known in Chile as "the last Yaghan", the last survivor of her race and last speaker of her native tongue. Across the Beagle Channel from her home lies the large island of Tierra del Fuego, traditional homeland of the Selk'nam, but now devoid of any indigenous people. The demise of the Yaghan was due largely to diseases introduced and spread by displacement from their expansive territories to crowded mission schools. The Selk'nam, however, were actively hunted by European settlers. The new industry here was sheep-ranching. With their traditional hunting territories turned to grazing lands, and with no concept of animals as private property, the Selk'nam turned to hunting sheep. The settlers, in turn, issued a bounty for each pair of Selk'nam ears.
The Kayapó and their partners have launched a last-ditch effort, including another petition, to have the Brazilian government listen to their concerns, and respect traditional land rights. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has urged the Brazilian government to consult "in good faith … and with the aim of arriving at an agreement with each of the affected indigenous communities".
But I know, from experience here, where I live – also a land of pristine rainforest that is still populated by vibrant communities of original inhabitants – what industry's requirement to "consult" with indigenous people means: the parties will, at some point, show up in a room together and voice their opinions. The indigenous people will have every right to say no to the project. But no one is required to heed that.


DISCOVERED ON FACEBOOK

On a page supporting Chief Rayoni of the Kayapo Tribe)


 "98% of the native forests are gone, 99% of the native grasslands are gone, 90% of the large fish in the ocean are gone.

"Imagine going into Mecca, walk up to the black stone and spit on it. See how far you get...You’re going to be torn to pieces.

"Walk into Jerusalem, walk up to that wailing wall with a pickaxe, start whacking away. See how far you’re going to get, somebody is going to put a bullet in your back. And everybody will say you deserved it.

"Walk into the Vatican with a hammer, start smashing a few statues. See how far you’re going to get. Not very far.

"But each and every day, you know, people go into the most beautiful, most profoundly sacred cathedrals of this planet, the rain forests of Amazonia, the redwood forests of California, the rain forests of Indonesia, and totally desecrate and destroy these cathedrals with bulldozers, chainsaws and how do we respond to that? Oh, we write a few letters and protest; we dress up in animal costumes with picket signs and jump up and down; but if the rain forests of Amazonia and redwoods of California ... had as much value to us as a chunk of old meteorite in Mecca, a decrepit old wall in Jerusalem or a piece of old marble in the Vatican, we would literally rip those people limb from limb for the act of blasphemy that they're committing ...

" ... but we won’t do that because nature is an abstraction, wilderness is an abstraction. It has no value in our anthropocentric world where the only thing we value is that which is created by humans."

- Miklós Szekeres

DEAD BODY AND BEREAVED FAMILY CHASER CHRISTIAN EVANGELISTS PROSELYTIZERS IN USA NOT UNLIKE THOSE WHO INVADE THE POOR COUNTRIES SHOW A VERY BAD TASTE BESIDES BEING CALLOUS TOWARDS THE GRIEVING BEREAVED WHOM THEY WANT TO BRAINWASH WITH CONCEPTS OF SIN, GUILT AND PROMISE OF HEAVEN IN AFTERLIFE FOR THEM AND THEIR DEAD WHILE THE BODY OF THE DECEASED IS STILL WARM, IS THIS CALLED FREEDOM OF RELIGION? CONTRAST THAT WITH THE STORY OF ADOPTION OF HINDUISM THAT FOLLOWS


Hindu Press International
A daily news summary for news media, educators, researchers, writers and religious leaders worldwide, courtesy of Hinduism Today magazine's editorial staff
Hindu Obituaries And Christian Proselytization
Source

UNITED STATES, March 24, 2013 (Huffington Post, by Anantanand Rambachan): We recently lost a beloved family elder. He lived out his life within the structures of meaning and ritual provided by the Hindu tradition. These guided his commitment to work, dead his devotion to family, and his sense of justice. The beginning and the end of his life were marked by traditional Hindu ceremonies. He was a paragon of fidelity and a repository of rich life experiences that he shared passionately in stories with receptive grandchildren. The Hindu tradition is still domestic centered. Since funeral ceremonies are performed at home, it is customary, in Hindu obituaries, to mention the address, identify the funeral ritual as Hindu and specify the place of cremation.

We received many cards, notes and letters of sympathy in the days following the funeral ceremony. There were several, however, from persons whose names and addresses we did not recognize. Each one was structured in a similar way. The writer opened with words of sympathy, making mention of many personal details from the obituary. This was followed by Biblical texts about the way to eternal life and reunion with loved ones. The letters spoke of punishment for unbelievers but also of the promise of salvation from effects of sin "through the ransom sacrifice of ...Jesus Christ." The letters included published Christian literature. We quickly realized that these Christian letter-writers searched newspaper obituaries with the aim of identifying families belonging to other religious traditions with the aim of proselytization. We learned also that this was not unusual and that Hindus experiencing death in their families regularly received such invitations to convert.

Some Christians, like these letter writers, assume a religious need in the other for Christianity and make no effort to understand the religious life of the other. They conclude wrongly that traditions other than Christianity have no good resources and insights for helping their practitioners understand and cope with the loss of a loved one and they appeal to fear of punishment as a basis for religious commitment. They are driven by their need to convert the other and not by the need of the other for conversion. Christians will understand better our discomfort by taking our places and imagining themselves as recipients of invitations, from Hindus, to convert in the midst of grief for a loved one.

What troubled me also about this effort to proselytize is the undisguised attempt to exploit what they saw as an occasion of emotional vulnerability resulting from our grief. Such exploitation is not dissimilar to proselytization in circumstances of poverty or in situations of natural disaster that we witnessed, for example, on the occasion of the Asian tsunami. Grief-evangelism, as I choose to describe what we experienced, is similar to aid-evangelism and both need to be vigorously repudiated by people of all religions. There are many good reasons for reading obituaries. Trolling for opportunities to proselytize is not among the good ones.

More at source.


Adopting Hinduism--Youtube Video
Source     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KkZfM3aiGs

UNITED STATES, September 4, 2012 (YouTube): Raised Catholic, and considering herself spiritual for many years, Danielle decided to convert to Hinduism at age 16. The name Gauri Maheshwari was given to Danielle by one of the priests at the temple upon her decision to be a Hindu.

Hinduism is a way of life for Danielle. In fact, it is the very essence of life and gives her purpose in all she does. It makes her a kinder, gentler person because she realizes that God is in everyone and so she must treat people the way she would treat God. Danielle worships in her puja room at home and at the Hindu Temple in St. Louis.

In this 30 minute interesting and well-made video, Gauri articulately explains her views on Hinduism, religion, beliefs, adopting Hinduism and more. At the time of the interview she is 18 years old.



Daily Inspiration

The joy of the vengeful lasts only for a day, but the glory of the forbearing lasts until the end of time.
-- Tirukkural

Saturday, March 30, 2013

HOW EASTER WAS USED TO CONVERT PAGAN GERMANS TO CHRISTIANITY -FORGOTTEN HISTORY


Pagan Origins of Easter

Extracts

'When Christians attempted to convert pagans from their traditional
beliefs, the native people of Europe were initially resistant to
discarding the beliefs and values that had guided them successfully
for thousands of years. Realizing that it was difficult to get people
to give up their relation to nature and the recollection of their
past, the Christian conversion effort adopted and modified the pagan
traditions, while replacing cyclical nature with an invisible, inert
god and a personal, linear human idol to worship as its
representation.'

'The name Easter comes from an ancient European goddess of the dawn
called Eostre by the Anglo-Saxons and Ostara by the Germanic peoples.
She is also known as Eostra, Eostrae, Eostar, Eastre, Easter, Estre,
Eástre, and Austra by various European peoples. Her name means
“movement towards the rising sun” and is related to the Indo-European
root word Aus which means “to shine”. The English words estrus and
estrogen are also derived from her name. She was considered the
goddess of the growing light and spring, associated with fertility and
celebrated with a festival of rebirth.'

Who was Eostre?

'When Christian monks worked mendaciously to gain followers by
destroying pagan history and defaming the elder gods as demons, they
had no weapons to deface the innocence of Eostre. Instead, they
adopted her holiday and attempted to graft their values onto it.
The blessings of spring were personified in the goddess Ostara, whose
festival of Easter, is dear to the Germans after the long cold winters
in the forest, is still called after her name, though the God of the
Christians claims the worship once accorded to the spring. Ostara’s
favorite animal was the hare, which to this day still brings the
Easter eggs to the little children.
    – Thomas Bulfinch, “The Golden Age of Myth & Legend”

'As Christianity rose and the ways of the “Old Religion” were shunned,
people took to hiding the eggs and having children make a game out of
finding them. This would take place with all the children of the
village looking at the same time in everyone’s gardens and beneath
fences and other spots.

It is said, however, that those people who sought to seek out Pagans
and witches, witches would bribe children with coins or candy , and
once those children uncovered eggs on someone’s property, that person
was then accused of practicing the old ways. Punishment back then was
Death or Jail which usually ended in Torture or being Tortured to
death to force Pagans to convert to Christianity In other Words Easter
Eggs hunts were used to hunt Pagans and Witches by using Children to
search for Eggs .'

read the full article at
http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/pagan-origins-of-easter/

Friday, March 29, 2013

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS A PAKISTANI ISI SPY-NETWORK INVADED DEMOCRACY UNBEKNOWNST TO WHARTON, ONE OF THE SMARTEST AND THE BEST BUSINESS SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND ITS EMPLOYED INDIAN SEPOYS

RESPECTED COLLEAGUES:

(VIDEO)  ANTI-HINDU FORCES UNCOVERED BEHIND THE NARENDRA MODI AND WHARTON SCHOOL FIASCO

DANGEROUS NEXUS BETWEEN THE FAR LEFT PROFESSORS OF INDIAN ORIGIN (WHO HAVE BROUGHT IGNOMINY AND DISREPUTE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND RUINED ITS DIGNITY) AND KASHMIRI SEPARATIST GULAM NABI FAI, WHO WAS WORKING FOR PAKISTANI SPY AGENCY ISI, EXPOSED!

HERE IS THE LINK:



Regards,

Narain Kataria
(718) 478-5735

Thursday, March 28, 2013

PUTIN PLACES SHARIA PUSHING "MINORITIES" IN THEIR PLACE WHICH IS OUTSIDE RUSSIA NOT IN RUSSIA - DO NOT SCREAM DISCRIMINATION, WE DO NOT NEED YOU, IF YOU NEED US YOU MUST FOLLOW OUR LAWS


Russian President Vladimir Putin Says No to Sharia-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor:  This is a forwarded email that alleged that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in a February 4, 2013 address to the Russian Parliament said that immigrant Muslims who desire Sharia and do not like the Russian legal system are welcome go to a country where that is the state law.
 


Shari'a Law: Vladimir Putin's Speech on 4th Feb '2013 -
After Australia we now have Russia.  Hope this trend will spread
to most of the countries.


On February 4th, 2013, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president,
addressed the Duma, (Russian Parliament), and gave a speech about the
tensions with minorities in Russia:
"In Russia live Russians. Any minority, from anywhere, if it wants to
live in Russia, to work and eat in Russia, should speak Russian, and
should respect the Russian laws.
If they prefer Shari ‘a Law, then we advise them to go to those places
where that's the state law.
Russia does not need minorities.
Minorities need Russia, and we will not grant them special privileges,
or try to change our laws to
fit their desires, no matter how loud they yell 'discrimination'
We better learn from the suicides of America, England, Holland and
France, if we are to survive
as a nation.
The Russian customs and traditions are not compatible with the lack of
culture or the
primitive ways of most minorities. When this honorable legislative
body thinks of creating
new laws, it should have in mind the national interest first,
observing that the minorities
are not Russians”

The politicians in the Duma gave Putin
a standing ovation for five minutes !

PLEASE FORWARD IT TO YOUR FRIENDS


Russian President Vladimir Putin Says No to Sharia-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor:  This is a forwarded email that alleged that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in a February 4, 2013 address to the Russian Parliament said that immigrant Muslims who desire Sharia and do not like the Russian legal system are welcome go to a country where that is the state law.
 




WE SHOULD LEARN FROM RUSSIA AND AUSTRALIA .

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

ERRORIST SANJAY DUTT IS NOT A NARROWLY DEFINED TERRORIST BUT IS MORE THAN HOARDER OF ILLEGAL CONCEALED WEAPONS AS HELD BY THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA AND MUST SERVE HIS TIME IN THE PENITENTIARY LIKE ALL OTHER TRAITOR CRIMINALS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MUMBAI BOMB BLAST OF 1993 REGARDLESS OF KATJU'S EFFORTS TO CUT A SPECIAL DEAL FOR HIM. IS KATJU LOSING HIS MARBLES IN HIS OLD AGE?? DOES HE NOT KNOW WHAT AIDING AND ABETTING IS AND WHAT CONSTITUTES ANTI-NATIONAL CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR?? MOCKERY OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE TO ENJOY LIBERTY AFTER ONE IS SENTENCED FOR IMPRISONMENT !!!

'Sanjay Dutt should do prayaschitt'26/03/2013 00:38:59  

BY

Dr. Vijaya Rajiva

http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=17091
The controversy continues. Should film star Sanjay Dutt carry out the 5 year jail sentence handed down to him by the Supreme Court for his serious offences in connection with the Mumbai blasts of 1993 ?

The general public sentiment seems to be yes, he should, since the offences were grave enough, even though he was not convicted of the actual blasts. The reports are that he was in possession of AK- 56 rifles and other ammunition, was in contact with criminal underworld dons etc. Further, others who were also in his similar situation, are going to be incarcerated for 5 years. Why not him ? Is it because he is a film star and a small coterie of people are rooting for him ? Is this not sending out the wrong message to the Indian public and so on . What about the aam admi, what about the 71 year old woman Zaibuniza Kwazi, who could arguably have been misled by one of the conspirators into carrying bags with rounds to Sanjay Dutt's residence.  Her daughter claims that an unknown young man befriended the lady, often dropping in for chai and conversation. In hindsight we know what he was upto, but it is entirely possible that this elderly woman was fooled into thinking that she was merely transporting harmless goods to the film star's residence.

On the other hand you have frivolous arguments put forward by no less a person than Digvijay Singh. Sanjay is not a terrorist says our politician and he acted like a child ! Then there is former Chief Justice Katju pleading for humanitarian reasons. Sanjay has suffered enough, he has already served 18 months and so on. Understandably, the film world has closed ranks around the film star. There was an interesting note, however, with Mahesh Bhatt speaking about the gene in Sanjay which gravitated towards powerful and criminal characters, if one is to understand Bhatt's convuluted arguments. The Indian reader, ofcourse, knows that Bhatt is sympathetic to the film star.

Well, well, Mr. Digvijay Singh, since when can a man in his early 30s be called a child ? He must surely have known the gravity of his seeming collaboration with underworld characters (with whom he had telephone conversations and from whom he purchased the ammo). The 1993 blasts killed 278 people and injured 700 and many victims have not yet been traced.

And in the 18 months that Sanjay Dutt served in prison he must surely have received VIP treatment. In the last twenty years he made films which brought him a fabulous income. And if he played the role of a fellow who became a Gandhian, he also played criminals. He was an actor and to argue that he spread Gandhigiri around and therefore should be exonerated  is ridiculous.

However, the real solution , in the opinion of the present writer, should be that Sanjay Dutt must willingly do prayaschitt. Instead of the sorry spectacle of his going on his knees and asking for pardon from the governor or exploring other legal options such as petitions to the President for commuting his sentence, Sanjay Dutt must show that he understands the gravity of his offence. Let him show some real change.

1. He was involved, however indirectly, with criminal characters who carried out the blasts. The Supreme Court has, in its wisdom, affirmed that he was guilty of a serious offence, not in actually carrying out the blasts but in his possession of ammo.

2. Could a man in his thirties have not known that the ammo in his possession was part of a wider consignment of ammo which was being distributed and stored locally and could be used at the proper time ?

Sanjay must willingly do his prayaschitt and during that period he can reflect on helping out such undertrial prisoners, such as Sadhvi Pragya, who has not been convicted, has been tortured both physically and mentally and who was even refused bail to attend her father's funeral, and who is suffering from cancer.

Dr. Subramania Swamy was quite right in asking former Chief Justice Katju to take up the case of the Sadhvi. And why not ?

Sanjay Dutt should consider his 5 year term as prayaschitt. While on the topic, to date, the present writer has not seen any of the English television channels such as NDTV and CNNIBN devote any time to the Sadhvi while spending hours on Sanjay Dutt.


(The writer is a Political Philosopher who taught at a Canadian university)


India actor Dutt wants time before prison term
Associated Press – 7 hrs ago (04 15 2013)
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FILE- In this March 28, 2013 file …
NEW DELHI (AP) — Popular Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt has appealed to India's Supreme Court to give him some more time before he begins a prison sentence for a 1993 weapons conviction linked to a deadly terror attack.
Dutt filed his appeal Monday, saying he needed time to complete his film commitments.
Last month the court sentenced Dutt to five years in prison for illegal possession of weapons supplied by Muslim mafia bosses linked to the terror attack that killed 257 people in Mumbai.
The actor has maintained that he knew nothing about the bombing plot and that he asked for the guns to protect his family during sectarian riots in Mumbai.
The court will hear his appeal on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear how much time Dutt is seeking from the court. (Editor: What does it matter how much time "he the criminal wants," he is to serve sentence as soon as the Judge hands down the verdict of guilty like all criminals are expected to do)



Monday, March 25, 2013

IS PRESENT POPE NAMED AFTER EVIL FRANCIS XAVIER ? TIMELY LETTER TO THE EDITOR, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BY DHIRUBHAI SHAH

FROM:

                                                                         Dhiru Shah
                                           

3/21/13

Editor,
The Wall Street Journal

Dear Sir,                       Re.: “Francis, Man of the World” in Opinion Page of WSJ
                                              Edition dt. 3/21/13 by Daniel Land

Expressing his happiness for the new Pope for adopting the name of ‘Francis’ after Francis of Assisi in the above article, Daniel Land qualifies it in the second sentence: “Still, let no one doubt that the first pope from the Society of Jesus is acutely aware of how Jesus superstar Francis Xavier in the 16th century carried Catholicism to India, Japan and China.” One wishes that the author would have shown the courage of conviction to tell his readers how Christianity was carried by Francis Xavier and his clan of Jesuits to Asia. Let us look briefly at the role played by Francis Xavier in conversion of Hindus to Christianity in Goa, India (a former Portuguese colony).

Francis Xavier landed in Goa in 1542 with a firm resolution to convert Hindus and other infidels to Christianity. But soon he realized that Hindus could not be converted easily. In frustration, he wrote to John III of Portugal requesting for an Inquisition to be installed in Goa. His hatred for Hindus was so much that he wrote to the King: “The Hindus are an unholy race. They are liars and cheats to the very backbone. Their idols are black-as black as black can be- ugly and horrible to look at, smeared with oil and smell in a evil manner.” His another saintly quote: "When I have finished baptizing the people, I order them to destroy the huts in which they keep their idols; and I have them break the statues of their idols into tiny pieces, since they are now Christians. I could never come to an end describing to you the great consolation which fills my soul when I see idols being destroyed by the hands of those who had been idolaters.”

Though the actual Goan inquisition happened eight years after his death, it does not clear his connection with the most violent, cruel and merciless Christian inquisition in the word. Historian Alfredo DeMelo describes the performers of Goan inquisition as “nefarious, fiendish, lustful, corrupt religious orders which pounced on Goa for the purpose of destroying paganism and introducing the true religion of Christ.” Dr. T. R. de Souza wrote in an article “Details of the Goa Inquisition” on 3/18/2004: “So harsh and notorious was the inquisition in Goa, the word of its brutality reached Lisbon but nothing was done to stop this notoriety and escalating barbarity and it continued for two hundred more years. No body knows the exact number of Goans subjected to these diabolic tortures, but perhaps it runs into hundreds of thousands, may be even more.” (http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=articles&id=1111142225)

Francis Xavier’s cruel and sinful career in India left ancient cultured communities destroyed and killed thousands of innocent Hindus. We are told that in the Christian doctrine, to attack a man’s faith is a sin against the Holy Spirit. It is the sin Francis is guilty of. But it seems that since he was a Christian missionary and his victims were ‘heathens’ not human beings, the Church canonized him and made him a saint instead of condemning him for his sins.

One wonders why the new Pope would adopt Francis Xavier’s name if he was aware of Xavier’s diabolic and gruesome methods of Christian conversion. Let us hope that the world will not be subjected to the same ‘holy’ path followed by Francis Xavier.

Sincerely,  

Dhiru Shah

Also see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Inquisition

Sunday, March 24, 2013

PAKISTAN'S REAL IMAGE


PAKISTAN'S REAL IMAGE

By Saroop Ijaz

Published: March 16, 2013

The writer is a lawyer and partner at Ijaz and Ijaz Co in Lahore saroop.ijaz@tribune.com.pk
The local police told the inhabitants of Joseph Colony, Badami Bagh, to evacuate their houses as they were going to be attacked the next day. This is shocking incompetence or perhaps complicity, even by our standards. However, if one absorbs the full implication of this warning, it seems to point to the major crisis we face. There is no “State” in Pakistan. It has withered away, and not in the Marxist sense but in the Weberian one. The monopoly over violence has been lost; violence has been privatised and has been sold cheap. The failure to honour Salmaan Taseer, the forgetting of Shaheed Shahbaz Bhatti, the intent to surrender to the TTP, the failure to crackdown on sectarian murderous outfits and now this. To be told officially that you are on your own.

Joseph Colony was not in Pakistan to begin with. A “Christian” housing society, separate housing communities, fenced and isolated, like Hazara town in Quetta, ghettos, perhaps in some way also like DHA on the other side of town. The Christians in Joseph Colony still love Pakistan. Why they do beats me, because this country surely does not love them back. It is not enough that they live in abject poverty in separate settlements. The faithful citizens of Pakistan proper have also the liberty to set fire to their houses and lives when fragile sentiments are hurt. The sentiments in front of which no other or no one else’s sentiments have any value — churches, crosses and Bibles will be burnt. How arrogant a person or a group has to be to believe that their sentiments triumph everyone else’s, also law and common decency. The minorities in Pakistan are guilty unless proven innocent, and then guilty still.

There will be multiple inquiries and findings, just like Shantinagar, like Gojra and then we will wait for the next incident and then another round of inquiries. It will happen again, because the Blasphemy Law provisions will remain on the books and we will keep on talking gibberish about correct interpretations and applications, silent peace-loving majority, etc. Does no one realise that all religions stand naturally and unequivocally in blasphemy to all other religions? There can hardly be sacrilege to a thing that you, in the first place, do not believe exists or is true. When the Ahmadi places of worship were attacked in Lahore, condemnation was hard to find; everyone in power wanted to change the topic. If the Muslims were required to sign a statement similar to the Ahmadi declaration on the passport in any part of the world, what do you think the reaction would be? Thermonuclear war, perhaps. Similar to this is the case of the members of the Tableeghi Jamaat. They attempt to save the infidels by inviting them to the truth but at the same time believe that once in if you want out, you are to be killed. They just do not notice the minor contradiction in their sales pitch.

How would it feel to lose everything and then hear that the real tragedy is that the image of this country has been tarnished? Your suffering and loss do not matter; you are just a marketing prop. You should, perhaps, be ashamed for having your houses burnt and bringing embarrassment to the Fatherland. Pakistan does not have an “image” problem. The gap in the conveyed image and reality is there, but it is the other way around. Pakistan should be thankful that most of the world does not read or hear the Urdu press, the local Friday Khutba, banners on Hall Road, Lahore, or pamphlets in the Civil Courts. Pakistan has an image that is softer than it deserves.

Most of this happening in Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s tenure should not come as a surprise. It was, after all, his political mentor Ziaul Haq who brought us most of these gifts. The elder Mian tried to become the “Amir-ul-Momineen”. The younger Mian is just keeping the torch blazing, in Shantinagar, Gojra and Joseph Colony. Zia made the “Objective Resolution” an operative part of the Constitution as Article 2A. Hence, very early in the Constitution all non-Muslims are told this country thinks that their beliefs are false and will be treated with little regard. Mr. Bhutto had already extended the non-Muslim category in his attempt to appease the religious element; the appeasement did not work, and nevertheless, we were left with discriminatory laws. The non-Muslim category has for all practical purposes seen another increment; this time, the Shias are moving from the green to the white. Despite new entrants, the white portion seems to be diminishing in size and will soon disappear at the present rate. It will be painted red in the meantime.

Pakistan is hostile to all non-Muslims. That is a simple, cold truth. The laws are discriminatory and the pious population does not like the non-believers either. The size of the processions in favour of the killer Qadri as compared to the vigils for Salmaan Taseer was enough evidence of the violent majority. It is not only madrassa-trained jihadis either. Mumtaz Qadri was garlanded by lawyers and is represented by a former chief justice; the mastermind of the attack on Ahmadis in Lahore apparently is a doctor.

There has never been much of an argument for blasphemy laws. Yet, a lazy one was that it was there so that people do not take the “law” into their own hands when religious sensibilities are hurt. The suspect, Savan Masih, was already under custody when Joseph Colony was assaulted. That is all there is to this argument.

The scenes of Joseph Colony are the real “image” of Pakistan. That image is Pakistan going to hell on a metro bus. The rest, the cultural and literary festivals, the song and dance it seems are diversions, marketing ploys. The Blasphemy Law and Objectives Resolutions will have to be repealed, not amended or implementation ensured, etc; Repealed. Religion will have to be taken out of all public life and statutes books before we can legitimately complain about our “image”. That day will not be tomorrow, or the day after, or next year or perhaps decade. Till that day, if it ever comes, the least we can do is to be honest as we remain bystanders to slaughter and await our turn. Honestly, Pakistan does not welcome the non-Muslims or the “wrong” Muslims and encourages their murder and pillage.

Courtesy: The Express Tribune
Published in The Express Tribune, March 17th, 2013.

Read more: JosephColony

OPEN LETTER TO JUSTICE KATJU ; JUSTICE KATJU'S HABITUAL FOOT IN THE MOUTH NARCISSISM EXERCISING CONSTITUTIONAL PRIVILEGE ONLY GRANTED TO THE PRESIDENT IN A DEMOCRACY; IS UPA CHAMCHA KATJU COMING UP WITH ALZHEIMER'S LIKE AMARTYA SEN PLAYING ADVOCATES FOR JIHADIS??


Please define "humanitarian grounds" Justice Katju
and Show Details


Justice Katju, namaskar.

Your intervention on behalf of Sanjay Dutt and against the five-year sentence awarded to him by the Apex Court has drawn two exact opposite reactions - the UPA government has indicated that it will respond positively as and when Dutt files for a review. This was expected from Sonia Gandhi's UPA.

Comments on your own blog site however reveal that the ordinary Indian is not amused at your intervention.

But me, Justice Katju, I am on another point. Reacting to Mahesh Jethmalani's criticism, you said, you have intervened on the issue and sought a review for Dutt on "humanitarian grounds".

Justice Katju, at the outset please let me point out my website www.vigilonline.com is the first website in the country which started to monitor NGOs immediately after the US refused to grant visa to Narendra Modi. The book NGOs, Activists and Foreign Funds: Anti-National Industry which I authored with a team and which I jointly edited with Dr. Krishen Kak was the first of its kind.

Soon after, considering the phenomenal privilege and frightening power enjoyed by judges of the high courts and supreme court in the country where even huppeny-tuppeny judges in the subordinate judiciary think they are demi-gods, I decided to keep a hawk's eye on the country's higher judiciary. My website has this excellent webpage called Judiciary Watch with two sub-sections - Watching the Judges and Watching the Judgments.

Your intervention for clemency for Sanjay Dutt has merited media attention only because you are a retired judge of the Apex Court who is now Chairman, PCI. So  please educate me sir, what constitutes "humanitarian grounds".

Sonia Gandhi subverted the judicial system when she intervened on behalf of a convicted LTTE terrorist and sought (and got it done) to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment because the terrorist was a woman and a mother (how absolutely touching) of a little girl. Excuse me while I wipe my eyes and blow my nose Sir.

Sonia Gandhi's puppet regime allowed her the unpardonable luxury of reducing the bomb blast at Sriperumbudur as something which killed only her "husband." That it was an attack against the former "Prime Minister" of the country and that there were several others who were killed leaving behind aged parents, children and spouses was of no concern to Sonia Gandhi.

The lady proved my point of LTTE-Church connection when she issued a "forgive-her-father" pardon to Nalini, the Sri Lankan Tamil LTTE terrorist. India is not an Italian colony. This country is governed by a Constituion, no matter how anti-Hindu and flawed, is still the book of reference for rule-of-law. Pardon, in the Indian constitution is a right accorded only to the President of India. So by what authority did Sonia Gandhi overrule the judgment of the Apex Court?

It came to my ears sir that, following faithfully in the footsteps of Sonia gandhi you wrote to the then Home Minister Shivraj Patil asking for the pakistani murderer serving a prison sentence in this country Mohammed Khalil Chisty to be pardoned too!!! If this is not true, I hope you will deny it Sir. And, now clemency for Sanjay Dutt ??

Let me reveal the anomalies (if not something more heinous) in the postions that you Justice Katju and Sonia Gandhi have taken.

I am sure you and Sonia Gandhi have both heard of Sadhvi Pragya and Swami Aseemanand languishing in jail, without an iota of proof over their culpability for the Malegoan blasts. Incidentally I watch terrorism too like I watch NGOs and the judiciary and there were two Malegaon blasts. Now for which one are they being held is the question. The CBI and the Maharashtra ATS (two disgraceful organizations) have not provided the courts with even an iota of proof that they are terorrists and yet, multiple truth serum and narco-tests were performed on the Sadhvi (even one is terrible and there is no credible proof that these tests are reliable), she now has cancer and the courts are still dragging their feet on the issue.

Like the LTTE terrorist pardoned by Sonia Gandhi,  sadhvi Pragya is a woman too and while you have still not explained the humanitarian grounds for Sanjay Dutt, Sadhvi Pragya is suffering from cancer now. So why is there no forgive-her-father pardon from Sonia Gandhi and why have you not seen fit to plead with home ministers, chief ministers and prime ministers on behalf of Hindu sanyasis and sanyasins?

Justice Katju, on Hindu bhumi when the state and the state apparatus fail to stop terrorism and foolishly declares that there is no religon in terorrism even when that terrorism is called "jihad," and fails to protect Hindus and the Hindu bhumi, then Hindus have to find their own way to protect themselves; and that is why Sir, on Hindu bhumi there are no Hindu terrorists; there are only kshatriyas.
(Editor's Note: DEFENDERS OF HINDU BHUMI ON HINDU BHUMI ARE NO TERRORISTS)

Now please Sir, for the benefit of all of us, describe "the humanitarian grounds" on which you seek review of Sanjay Dutt's prison sentence.

Let me assure you I bear no personal animosity towards Dutt. Like all jihadi and other terrorists I think Dutt too is misguided and actually a son, father, boy-friend, husband Amartya Sen's multiple identity guy who if I get to know him I will love him.

But it will be interesting to know the nature of your understanding of humanitarian grounds for Sanjay Dutt.

Yours truly Sir,

Radha Rajan.  

Saturday, March 23, 2013

TWISTED TEESTA SETALVAD DUST STILL NOT SETTLED SAYS SANDHYA WHO IS READY TO STRIP THE SUPREME COURT ON THE BASIS OF THIS ONE WOMAN'S SHENANIGANS ALONE FUELED AND FOSTERED BY THE SUPREME COURT JUDICIARIES SUPPORTING JIHADI MENDACITY USING AND EXPLOITING INNOCENT MUSLIM VICTIMS OF POST GODHRA RIOTS TO BUILD PERSONAL FORTUNES MISUSING GULLIBLE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ACTIVISTS (NHRC) AND BLEEDING HEART FOREIGN FUNDING AGENCIES !!

http://www.niticentral.com/2013/03/01/teesta-setalvad-unmasked-51265.html

Teesta Setalvad Unmasked

Sandhya Jain

1 March 2013

Teesta Setalvad, a Mumbai-based journalist, who, like former IAS officer Harsh Mander, shot to national and international fame due to high profile activism over the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in March 2002, has been unmasked in a most unseemly manner. Over the past decade, Setalvad survived controversies with former protégé Zahira Sheikh and employee Rais Khan Pathan, besides a Gujarat government investigation into illegal exhumation of graves, thanks to unstinted backing from the media, the Supreme Court, the Congress party and the UPA government.

But now she has fallen foul of the residents of Gulbarg Society whose cause she vociferously espoused. Setalvad has been publicly accused of the same crime that Best Bakery survivor Zahira Sheikh once accused her of – collecting money in the name of the riot victims and failing (or refusing) to distribute (or even share) it. She overcame the dispute with Zahira by demonising the young girl, but now the residents of Gulbarg Society have sent her a notice demanding that she distribute the funds she collected among the riot victims. Relations have soured to the point that Setalvad failed to attend the memorial service for victims this year.

The residents (all Muslims) are demanding that the money “collected over the dead bodies of those who died in this society” must be divided among the riot victims as it “has been taken in our name”. Claiming that the residents were unaware that a trust had been formed for making the collections, they said that what the human rights activist had done “amounts to cheating”.

The dispute goes back to 2006 when Setalvad proposed to purchase the 5,200 square metre Gulbarg Society land from the residents to set up a museum. The deal failed to materialise, but Setalvad's trust collected donations, which the residents say must be distributed among the riot victims.

This is not the Teflon Teesta’s first brush with controversy. Former aide Rais Khan Pathan accused her of tampering with witness affidavits when at least six women of Naroda Gam denied before the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team in 2008 that they were raped during the riots. The witnesses said they did not know this was being said in the affidavits as the documents were in English, a language they were not familiar with.

More recently, in January 2013, Rais Khan accused Setalvad’s NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace, of violating the provisions of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act regarding receipts of funds from abroad. He demanded cancellation of CJP’s FCRA registration and initiation of criminal proceedings against its trustees.

Pathan averred that CJP’s FCRA permission was under the economic and education categories, but the NGO had no such activities. Infact, CJP as per its constitution is a non-political registered social organisation established to promote communal harmony, make legal interventions, prosecute those guilty of killing innocent citizens and assist others petitioning before the courts for redressal of grievances.

Setalvad’s worst victim by far is young Zahira Sheikh who, like Rehmatnagar tailor Qutbuddin Ansari, was projected as the female face of the Gujarat riots, and exploited to the hilt to demonize Chief Minister Narendra Modi, while building the profiles and careers to his tormentors.

Now, as voices against Setalvad’s functioning get louder, it may be in order to mention some facts. Zahira Sheikh lost several family members in the attack on the Best Bakery, owned by them. Zahira’s testimony in the Vadodara fast track court in June 2003 led to the acquittal of 21 accused persons. But in July 2003, she was airlifted to Mumbai where she was warmly received by Javed Akhtar; here she claimed she had testified out of fear.

Setalvad then whipped up great frenzy, drawing the National Human Rights Commission into the fray. The NHRC asked the Supreme Court to transfer the riot cases out of Gujarat. The Supreme Court duly obliged by sending the Zahira Sheikh and Bilkis Bano cases to Mumbai, and directing the Gujarat government to re-examine all other cases.

Then, in 2005, Zahira Sheikh accused Teesta Setalvad of physically controlling her from July 6, 2003 to November 3, 2004 and tutoring her to give a certain type of testimony in court. She said the affidavit submitted to the NHRC in the name of Zahira Sheikh by Setalvad (600-odd pages of documentation) was unsigned! They were, Zahira sneered, mere pamphlets.

In other words, the NHRC and the Supreme Court had acted without scrutinizing the documents – that is, without legal basis. Unfortunately, Zahira was denied the right to cross-examine the then NHRC chairperson AS Anand when she said that an oral testimony given to the chairman and two members of the Commission differed from the record NHRC presented to the Supreme Court. This was a serious allegation, but it was brushed aside by the apex court which continued to give a free run to Setalvad.

Zahira Sheikh was the first to demand a probe into Teesta Setalvad's post-Gujarat assets. Instead, the apex court appointed a probe committee headed by Registrar General BM Gupta and punished the feisty victim for perjury, startling even senior jurists. The Court also ignored reports beginning to emerge in the media about witnesses claiming to have received money for giving testimony in the post-Godhra trial cases.

As if this were not enough, in December 2005 Teesta Setalvad illegally exhumed bodies of Gujarat riot victims from graves near Pandarwada. When the State Government initiated action against her on grounds of fabricating false evidence, tampering with evidence, criminal conspiracy and outraging religious feelings, the apex court stayed criminal proceedings against her and called it a mala fide case and a “spurious” case to victimise Setalvad.

Teesta Setalvad has been richly rewarded for her activism with a plethora of national and international awards, including the Nuremberg Human Rights Award 2003; Parliamentarians for Global Action ‘Defender of Democracy’ Award, jointly with Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand 2004; M.A. Thomas National Human Rights Award from the Vigil India Movement 2004; Nani A Palkhivala Award 2006; and Padma Shri 2007.

But now her aura of greatness is beginning to falter. With her, the National Human Rights Commission and the Supreme Court cannot evade public scrutiny of their actions and attitudes in the Gujarat riots cases. The young orphan, Zahira Sheikh, was made to suffer terrible victimization, and has since vanished into oblivion; she deserves a public apology and decent compensation.

It is also imperative that the accounts of Setalvad, and indeed all NGOs associated with the Gujarat riots, are audited to see how much money they collected and what relief was actually distributed to the victims.

NitiCentral.com, 1 March 2013
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/03/01/teesta-setalvad-unmasked-51265.html


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Thursday, March 21, 2013

DHIMMIES OF WHARTON AND UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA HAVE MUDDLED PERCEPTIONS, LACK OF INTEGRITY, AND HAVE WRONGHEADEDLY INTERFERED WITH FREEDOM OF SPEECH BY MAKING DISTORTED FALSE ACCUSATIONS & BY THROWING ASPERSIONS AT A RESPECTABLE CHIEF MINISTER IN INDIA, UPHELD BY HIS STATE, PRIMARILY RELYING ON "SAME OLD SAME OLD" DHIMMI BBC AND BRITISH PROTECTIONISM OF JIHADI MUSLIMS WHICH IS DESTROYING BRITAIN.




Guest Column | The Penn Hindus are right: This is about freedom of speech (they are also right on the facts)

By FRANCISCO GIL-WHITE · March 21, 2013, 12:28 am
Recently, several University of Pennsylvania professors made accusations in The Daily Pennsylvanian against the Indian politician Narendra Modi as part of a campaign of social pressure that managed to stop his presentation at the Wharton India Economic Forum. The facts I will present here should encourage Hindus and others who have reacted against such tactics and who are fighting for freedom of expression at Penn.
Narendra Modi, as chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, has been accused of “allowing” the Gujarat riots of 2002, which involved violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims. A picture has been painted of violent Hindus attacking peaceful Muslims and Modi as an instigator. Let us therefore examine how the media treated the events that sparked the Gujarat riots to better evaluate the climate of media accusations against Modi. Then we shall return to the Penn professors who agitated to keep him from coming to Wharton and their claims.
On the day of the events, Feb. 27, 2002, the BBC reported on the cause of the Gujarat riots: “At least 57 people were killed when a furious mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in north-western India … Police blamed Muslims for the attack and imposed a curfew in the area.” Among those burned to death were men, women and children.
Though numerous eyewitness accounts attested to the Muslim mob attacking Hindus on the train, the BBC wrote “Police blamed Muslims,” as if this were not entirely clear. By July, the BBC was more emphatic: “Hindu pilgrims travelling by train were said to have been attacked by a Muslim mob in the town of Godhra which forced the train to stop and set fire to one of the carriages … But a report by forensic scientists in Gujarat [now] says … [that] the fire was started inside a carriage, not by a mob outside.” The BBCeditorialized: “The new theory … seems at odds with eyewitness accounts given at the time.” But how can the forensic investigation — which concerned a very specific issue: the exact source of the fire — call into question the “eyewitness accounts” of Muslim mobs attacking the train?
The BBC’s peculiar reasoning is easily found on the internet, for the two articles referenced above are of the kind published by the BBC for mass consumption. Less easily found are the news wires that professional journalists rely on before deciding what to share with the public. Here is an example of what the news wires reported on the day of the events:
“At least 55 people were thought to have died when an express train was set on fire in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Wednesday morning … The fire was lit when a clash between radical Hindus and Moslems that began as an exchange of verbal abuse at Godhra station turned violent. Officials are not yet certain who set the train on fire.”
Here we see that there was uncertainty from the beginning about how the fire began and also zero doubt concerning a “clash” with Muslims. Moreover, “Another person was stabbed to death a few hours later when the same train, minus the burned carriages, was attacked by a mob when it pulled in at Vadodara station, in Gujarat.”1
The second attack reported here suggests that the Muslim mobs had not been sated by the first 60 Hindus burned to death, for this second attack happened after the mentioned fire. This makes it obvious that the BBC cannot logically use the forensic investigation into the source of the fire — whatever its conclusions — to question that Muslim mobs attacked the Hindus on the train. And yet, nine years later, the Muslim mobs attacking the train had completely disappeared from BBC accounts of the Gujarat riots: “More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died when riots erupted after a train fire killed 60 Hindu pilgrims in 2002.” A “train fire,” nothing more. Further down, the BBC concedes that there is a “controversy” over how the fire started but never once mentions Muslim mobs attacking the train.
The point of this exercise is to lay bare a media bias. The BBC went out on the thinnest of limbs — hoping it would support fallacies of reasoning — in order to disappear from public consciousness the cause of the Gujarat riots. And this disappearing act of the aggressor Muslim mobs was reproduced in the wider mainstream media representation of those riots. In my view this is symptom of a systematic media disease: an effort to apologize, whitewash or ignore Muslim violence whenever possible and to portray the confrontations that result from Muslim violence as gratuitous attacks against Muslims.
The Penn faculty members who accused Narendra Modi appear to be afflicted by this disease. They have stated that Modi “is responsible — as the chief minister — for the pogroms in 2002 in which 2,000 Gujarati Muslims were massacred and hundreds of thousands displaced.”
Let us examine the problems with this statement.
First, it was the Muslim mobs, the ones attacking Hindus (twice) on the aforementioned train, and the rioters themselves who are responsible for the riot. State and municipal authorities are not responsible for a riot just because a “human rights” organization accuses them. Examination of the Human Rights Watch accusation — to wit, allegedly that “the police were under instructions from the Narendra Modi administration not to act firmly” against the Hindu rioters — was based on a reporter’s assertion that HRWtook at face value and which was itself based on unnamed “insiders” alleged to exist and alleged to have spoken with this reporter. Nothing more. Anybody can fabricate this kind of accusation, which brings us to the next point.
Second, “pogrom” is incorrectly used. This term originates in 19th-century Tsarist Russia where it was first used to label attacks against Jewish civilians that were instigated by the authorities but carried out by civilian mobs who acted with impunity while the police watched idly by. It is now often applied to any kind of mob attack that official authorities unofficially assist. But in Gujarat, the violence resulted from a Muslim attack, not instigation from the authorities. The authorities actually declared a curfew immediately after the attack — and this was spelled out even in the original BBC reports (see above) — in order to lower the probability of riots. And the police tried to stop the rioters and actually fired on both Hindus and Muslims. In the aftermath a good 31 people were sentenced to life in prison for their part in the riots, most of them Hindus, so the rioters did not act with impunity. The rioters included Muslims, who were also prosecuted.
Third, it is false that “2000 Gujarati Muslims were massacred.” According to Webster’s, the term “massacre” refers to the “the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty.” But here, according to the estimates, in addition to the 790 Muslims killed (not 2,000), an additional 254 Hindus were also killed (plus the almost 60 Hindus who died on the train). This was a fight.
These Penn faculty members also state that “During [Modi’s] regime, school textbooks have been re-written to celebrate Nazi Germany’s efficiencies.” This gets it exactly backwards. During Modi’s regime, these textbooks, which were introduced by the Congress party communists back in 1986, were removed.
It is a bit shocking that three Penn faculty members, two of them holding doctorates in English, should take such liberties with the meaning of words in common English usage such as “pogrom” and “massacre.” Of greater concern is how little they value basic research, for it takes minutes to check the facts of this case. More objectionable still is their behavior, seeking to undermine freedom of speech at their own university.
Full disclosure
I am an interested party here. I am interested in preserving the guarantees of freedom of speech and academic freedom at the University of Pennsylvania, where I was once proud to teach as an assistant professor of Psychology. I was hired there on the strength of my work on racism and ethnic prejudice, but when I began investigating the media whitewashing of Islamist terrorists in Yugoslavia and also the media whitewashing of Islamist terrorists who attack Israeli citizens, I was told by my colleagues — in no uncertain terms — to stop. Then, after I explained that I wouldn’t stop, my contract was not renewed. One naturally hopes that this kind of thing is an isolated, freak instance. But recent events at Penn suggest that the problem may be systemic and that Islamist apologetics has somehow become more important in the academic world than the values of the Enlightenment, values that gave rise to our modern universities. To see Penn’s brave Hindu students demanding freedom of thought, freedom of expression and academic freedom is to witness a dramatic demonstration that the values of the Enlightenment are truly universal. Hopefully, academics at the University of Pennsylvania — and Westerners more broadly — can be shamed back into defending academic, political and speech freedoms for all.
[1] Deutsche Presse-Agentur; “2nd Roundup: 55 die as Indian train burns after communal riot”; February 27, 2002, Wednesday, 15:49 Central European Time.
LAST UPDATED MARCH 21, 2013, 12:28 AM
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