Sunday, November 22, 2009

[ZESTCaste] Losing the propaganda war (Sevanti Ninan)

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/11/22/stories/2009112250130300.htm


MEDIA MATTERS

Losing the propaganda war


SEVANTI NINAN


Information and its flow and control play a major role in combating
terrorism and militancy. And the government doesn't seem to have a
well-defined policy in place…


Yesterday it was a handful of men holding different groups of people
in a large city to ransom, today it is several bands of men in
contiguous jungles holding the State to ransom. In both circumstances
the media is both pawn and spoiler, a force to be handled if the
battle is to go your way. What is interesting is how a year later the
government and security forces are as clueless about handling them as
they were last November.

The channel 4 film on 26/11 shown on HBO last week ("Terror in Mumbai:
Dispatches") has established, if indeed proof was needed, that
television coverage helped the terrorist handlers during the unfolding
of the operations at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident to direct their
men on the ground. It showed excerpts from the intercepts, of the
handler watching TV and deducing how the impact of the attack was
shaping up:

Handler: Start the fire now, nothing is going to happen until you
start the fire. When people see the flames they will begin to be
afraid.

And later he exults,

This is the most important target. The media is covering the target
Taj Mahal more than any other.


Tackling conflict situations


So did the government use the year between then and now to figure out
how to deal with live television in a terror situation? We do not know
if some sharp minds are actually tackling the question of an
information policy that adapts itself to different conflict situations
as they emerge. But if you contrast the three days in November last
year with the confrontation with the Naxals that has been unfolding on
TV since October this year, it is obvious that between an untrained
media eager for a story and the police official in Chattisgarh who is
reported to have told reporters that if they go into the jungle to
cover how the conflict is affecting people, they could become dead
meat, another propaganda war is being lost by the government.

Do TV channels now have rules in place on what they will show and not
show? Judging from the manner TV covered one police officer's beheaded
torso and another's release from captivity by the Naxalites, it does
not seem so. The State's enemy currently makes a better story than the
State's counter insurgency efforts do, so reporters let the Naxal
bosses dictate the terms in gaining access to them.

When TV panel debates posit the Naxals as champions of those who are
losing their land to industrialists and their compensation money to
middlemen, and of people who are victims of non-development, the State
has no counter to this psychological theme.

Does a country fighting fires on many fronts need a cogent information
policy? The answer can hardly be no. What should its elements be?
Prescriptions abound. A both pithy and comprehensive list of what an
information policy should cover comes from former Lt. General Arjun
Ray, the man who handled the media a decade ago as the Kargil war
unfolded, the government's point man for India's first TV war. He says
the main objective is, what are the government's strategies for
information dominance and how are we going to achieve them? So what
you need is a clear policy covering the following: accessibility of
media to combat zones, whether in Chattisgarh or in a city under
terror attack, or in a border war. A policy on media briefing. Media
structures required at different levels — state level, battalion
level, district level. Background briefings — what is the policy on
rank and file? Is a solider allowed to talk to the media or is he not?
How do you protect your own people from hostile propaganda?

A beginning


On the first three points the central government says it has done some
work: as compared to last year there is a standard operating procedure
that has now been drawn up, that includes who will do the authorised
briefing at what level, and a control room at the press information
bureau that will go into 24 hour mode when necessary. Some structures
are still being put in place, some ends tied up. But not much beyond
that, as far as this column could gather.

Says Ray, all terrorist organisations have a powerful media unit.
Their job is to conduct propaganda, you are here to counter it. We
need a policy on the use of the Internet. What is your policy on
Facebook? Today a large number of military personnel are on it,
writing about their experiences and they should not be. What is your
policy on censorship? What news should be censored or should not be?
What are the key components of psychological themes to be developed in
a given situation, in countering Naxals, for instance. Who will
develop conflict specific psychological themes? The army does psy-ops,
but does the effort need to go beyond the army when you contemplate
something like Operation Green Hunt? How will you handle the regional
media, how will you handle blogs? Who will create your websites and
what should they contain? A psychological war, says Ray, demands the
establishment's best brains. An average General can handle the troops,
but you can't have an average guy handling the media.

Media offensives


The amendments to the Information Technology Act of 2001 have taken
care of banning websites as soon as a relevant ministry gives an
order. But what about influencing opinion on the Web? That is a taller
order.

So between the government, army and security forces, is there, post
26/11, any urgency on putting together a bunch of people with
competence and flair to handle information in a variety of situations
ranging from terror attacks to ongoing militancy to counter
insurgency? Given the way the government functions, the answer is
probably no.


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[ZESTCaste] Dalits taken into Rama temple

http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/22/stories/2009112256340400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Kadapa

Dalits taken into Rama temple

KADAPA: Upper caste persons took Dalits of Kothanellore village into
Sri Rama temple on Saturday, following counselling by Mala Mahanadu
and Ambedkar Mission leaders. Earlier, the Dalits complained to Mala
Mahanadu district president J.V. Ramana and Ambedkar Mission secretary
Sampath Kumar that they were not being allowed into the temple and
expressed their desire to build a Rama temple for themselves.

— Special Correspondent


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[ZESTCaste] Ambedkar in Hungary

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/11/22/stories/2009112250120300.htm

IN THE NEWS

Ambedkar in Hungary


PARDEEP ATTRI


The Romas, a discriminated minority in Hungary, turn to Ambedkar and
Buddhism in their quest for dignity and equality.


Romas constitute one of the biggest minority blocks in Europe and have
a history of being constantly… discriminated against, persecuted and
stigmatised by white Europeans.

A fight against injustice: Romas protesting at Heroes Square in Budapest.

Lost rights are never regained by appeals to the conscience of the
usurpers, but by relentless struggle.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

O n April 14, 2008, when Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's birthday was being
commemorated across India, I got an email from an unknown person —
Derdák Tibor from Hungary — appreciating my article, "Schools, Toilets
or Temples?" which he had read on an e-group. My article had lamented
that "at every street corner we have built temples, but not toilets or
schools." Tibor said he was a sociologist, and a former member of the
Hungarian Parliament now working for the Roma community (derogatorily
referred to as gypsies across Europe). Over endless emails, I
gradually learnt about the lives of and the problems faced by the Roma
community in Hungary, while I explained to him the conditions of
Dalits in India.

Striking similarities

What intrigued me was Derdák Tibor said that he and another Roma
leader, Orsós János, had been inspired by the philosophy of social
transformation of Dr. Ambedkar and his work among the Dalits, and that
they were now trying to deploy Ambedkarite ideas in their struggle for
equal rights for the Roma community. How and why Ambedkar? Tibor had
chanced upon a book on Babasaheb in Paris and a new world opened up.
He immediately could see the similarities between the discrimination
faced by Dalits in India and Romas in Europe.

Romas/'Gypsies' are normally considered to be "members of nomadic
people of Europe with dark skin" with a worldwide population of about
12 million, originally from North India. With their eight million
population in Europe, they constitute one of the biggest minority
blocks in Europe and have a history of being constantly opposed,
refused, discriminated against, persecuted and stigmatised by white
Europeans. They constitute about seven per cent of Hungary's
population.

After discovering Ambedkar, Tibor and János visited Maharashtra in
2005 and 2007. They felt a deep connection with the Dalits of India
and with Dr. Ambedkar's emancipatory agenda. After returning to
Hungary, in 2007, they founded the Jai Bhim Network, embraced Buddhism
and opened three high schools named after Dr. Ambedkar in Sajókaza,
Ózd and Hegymeg for Roma children. One of the activities of the
Network is to invite young Dalit activists to Hungary and provide them
with opportunities to interact with the Roma community. Recently, I
was part of one such three-member delegation and lived with the Roma
community in the village Sajókaza for almost a month.

Life in Sajókaza

Sajókaza is a beautiful village about 30 km northeast of Miskolc, with
a population of 3,300 people, half of them Romas. The majority of the
Romas live on the outskirts of the village in ghettos. In their
neighbourhood, there is no tap water, no street lighting and no sewage
disposal. A few meters away, in the adjoining non-Roma streets, all
these basic amenities are provided. There was a time when all the
Romas of the village were employed in the nearby mines but now almost
all of them are unemployed and live on a monthly dole from the
government. During our stay, it became evident that the Romas suffer
as much everyday discrimination as Dalits. There are three churches in
Sajókaza, but not even a single Roma visits them. It immediately
reminded me of the Hindu temples in India where our entry, though
guaranteed in law, is prohibited in practice.

The foremost hurdle in the education of Romas in Hungary is the
segregation of Roma children, who are forced to sit in separate
classes. They attend different schools/classes in dilapidated
buildings without basic amenities, whereas Hungarian children attend
regular, fully equipped schools. Tibor says there were separate cups
and plates for Roma students till 10 years ago. Roma children grow up
constantly dehumanised, humiliated, persecuted and rejected. They are
declared 'mentally challenged' and are sent to special schools; so
much that about 90 per cent of special school students in Hungary are
said to be from this community. Segregation is not limited to schools.
In 2003, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) conducted field
research in Hungary and documented 44 cases of so-called "Gypsy rooms"
—segregated maternity wards.

Stereotypes are potent tools of hatred. And the Romas suffer from the
worst kind of stereotyping by the whites. The 'Gypsies', for the
average white European, are necessarily cheaters, beggars, thieves,
pickpockets, nomads, people who live in dirty conditions and don't
like to work. It is believed by non-Romas that the Romas cut their
forefingers so that they could easily pick pockets; and that ' Roma'
children wear long clothes to hide the chickens they steal from white
farmers' homes. These prejudices are thriving today.

Websites that promote tourism in Europe offer gratuitous advice on
'Gypsies'. One site, under the heading 'Personal security in Rome',
says: "Gypsy children could surround you, and shamelessly start
robbing your belongings, taking advantage of your surprise. They would
then pass the belongings to older gypsy women…" The image of 'Romas'
being thieves is so entrenched that they are the first to be rounded
up by the police if there is a crime in the neighborhood.

One of the most horrific stories I heard white Hungarians cook up was
about pregnant 'Gypsy' women. In September, Oszkar Molnar, the Mayor
of Edeleny in Northeast Hungary, accused Roma women in his town of
intentionally harming their unborn babies in order to secure extra
child benefits. The Equal Opportunity Authority issued sanctions
against Oszkar Molnar, a representative of main opposition party
Fidesz, but he has vowed to launch a legal appeal against the
Authority.

On October 11, 2009, about 1,500 Romas gathered at Heroes Square in
Budapest to protest Mayor Molnar's views, and to demonstrate against
segregation in schools and discrimination in everyday life. One slogan
caught my attention: "A child's head is not a pot that has to be
filled, but a torch that needs to be ignited." Says János, president
of Jai Bhim Network, "After our turn to Ambedkarite Buddhism, people
ask, 'How can you teach Buddhism to gypsies?' What we are doing seems
odd since Buddhism in Europe is largely the leisure hobby of the
middle classes. But it is easy to answer them: they don't offer
effective secondary education for Gypsies, and we do! Whatever people
say, we just carry on with our work."

Email: pardeepattri@gmail.com


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