Category Archives: Freedom

The revolutionary leader Bhagat Singh was born to a Sikh family on September 27, 1907 in Lyallpur district, now in Pakistan. He belonged to a family who were involved in the freedom struggle, which is the reason he was drawn towards Indias movement for Independence at an early age.

He supported Mahatma Gandhi in the Non-Cooperation Movement and was affected by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919) and the violence against unarmed Akali protestors at Nankana Sahib (1921). He was an atheist and was strongly against capitalism.

Bhagat Singh founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha in the year 1926 to encourage the peasants and workers to fight against British rule. He was the secretary of that organisation.

In 1928, the Hindustan Socialist Association (HSRA) was also established by him, along with Sukhdev, Chandrasekhar Azad and others.

Bhagat Singh also took revenge for the death of his friend Lala Lajpat Rai, which turned out to be an incident and became a part of the Lahore Conspiracy Case. After this conspiracy, he fled to Lahore.

"They may kill me, but they cannot kill my ideas. They can crush my body, but they will not be able to crush my spirit."

"Revolution is an inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is an imperishable birthright of all"

"I am such a lunatic that I am free even in jail"

"I am full of ambition and hope and charm in life. But I can renounce everything in time of need'

"If the deaf have to hear, the sound has to be very loud"

"Bombs and pistols do not make a revolution. The sword of revolution is sharpened on the whetting stone of ideas."

"May the sun in his course visit no land freer, happier, more lovely, than this our own country."

"Revolution is an inalienable right of mankind. Freedom is an imperishable birthright of all. Labour is the real sustainer of society."

"Merciless criticism and independent thinking are two traits of revolutionary thinking. Lovers, lunatics and poets are made of the same stuff."

"One should not interpret the word 'revolution' in its literal sense. Various meanings and significance are attributed to this word, according to the interests of those who use or misuse it. For the established agencies of exploitation, it conjures up a feeling of blood-stained horror. To the revolutionaries, it is a sacred phrase."

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Bhagat Singh's birth anniversary: Famous quotes and his contribution to Indias freedom struggle - India Today

This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

Fan fiction isnt big in India, so it was surprising to see the collective imagination of the country go into overdrive in November 2015. The subject of the frenzy was Sam Mendes James Bond film Spectre, thanks to reports that the Central Board of Film Certification, Indias censor board, had shortened a kissing scene between actors Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci by half. In no time, there were memes about sanskari Bond. Sanskari could be loosely translated to being traditionally cultured, especially according to Hindu sensibilities. Twitter went to town about how sanskari Bond would prefer milk over a martini. Most of these jokes were aimed at thenCBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani, a modest Bollywood producer from the 1990s whose appointment came only a few months after he produced multiple music video tributes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The debate between what is appropriate for Indian societyand with that, a tendency to rein in filmmakers rights to free speechhas existed as long as the independent Indian state. However, things have taken a turn for the worse since the right-wing, nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Modi, came to power in 2014.

While the censorship in Spectre was mocked, it was soon followed by two instances that proved to be flashpoints for the discourse about free speech in India. In 2017, the title of filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharans Sexy Durga was denounced for denigrating the name of a Hindu goddess and became the topic of prime-time debate for a few months. Any film exhibited in a public space in India needs to be certified by the CBFC, and Sexy Durgas release was held up for a few months. During that period, Sasidharan appeared at a leading news channels annual conclave, where an anchor claiming to play the devils advocate asked him, Why not make a film called Sexy Fatima or Sexy Mary? He went on to add, Theres a sense that because Hindus are more liberal, you can take liberties with Hindu sensibilities. But nobody would dare mess with Muslim and Christian sensibilities.

Sexy Durga was finally given a U/A certificate (equivalent of a PG-13) on the condition that Sasidharan agree to call the film S Durga. The director bowed. However, that didnt stop the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting from dropping it from that years International Film Festival of India lineup.

Around the same time, director Sanjay Leela Bhansalis (erstwhile named) Padmavati was in the crosshairs of a fringe group called Karni Sena. Founded with the purpose to protect the pride of the Rajputs, a community belonging to the state of Rajasthan, the Karni Sena assaulted Bhansali for a rumored dream romantic sequence between Rani Padmini (a goddess for the Rajput community) and the films Muslim antagonist, Alauddin Khalji, an emperor from the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Leaders of Karni Sena issued death threats to the films actors, which were amplified by state-level BJP ministers using sensationalist bounties. The film was eventually cleared for release after filmmakers agreed to the censor boards five suggested changes, including changing the title from Padmavati to Padmaavat, the original title of the 16th-century poem the film was based on.

The censorship was no longer about nudity, gore, or promiscuity. It had firmly set its sights on whether the films narrative matched the right-wing Hindu nationalists narrative. Was it boosting the popular Hindu pride sentiment based on which the BJP was elected? Or was it critiquing it?

The sheer number of cases might hint at a coordinated campaign to intimidate streaming platforms into treading cautiously.

In the past six years India has fallen from 27th to 53rd on the Democracy Index, published by the Economic Intelligence Unit. During this period India also slid from 133 (in 2016) to 142 (in 2021) in press freedom rankings, and was labelled a partly free state by Freedom House. This downslide might be an indicator for how artistic expression has been stifled in the last few years.

And the worst could be yet to come. On June 18, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021, which could prove to be the knockout punch for artistic freedom in India. One of the proposed amendments grants revisionary powers to the central government even for films already certified, based on complaints relating to the sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency, morality, or anything involving defamation or contempt of court or is likely to incite commission of any offence.

This proposed amendment is only the latest in a series of steps taken by the establishment to control free speech. One of the first signs of the new era of censorship in Indian cinema came with the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan (best known for appearing in the 1988 TV show Mahabharat) to run the countrys premier film institute, Film and Television Institute of India, which is government-funded. Outraged that his connections to the BJP seemed to be his biggest qualification for the job, FTII students went on strike for 139 days, but it didnt change anything. Chauhan held the position till March 2017, and during his tenure the campus witnessed some alarming shifts. Filmmaker Prateek Vats, a student during Chauhans era, told me there were strict rules about what movies could be screened for students, and sometimes police were deployed to make sure the content was appropriate. According to Vats, some workshops were canceled because the adjunct faculty running them were deemed problematic. Chauhan later resigned, but his successor, Anupam Kher, also has ties to the BJP government. His wife, Kirron Kher, is a BJP member of Parliament, and he has repeatedly endorsed Modi on his Twitter handle. Kher served as the FTII chairperson till October 2018.

Meanwhile, former Central Board of Film Certification chief Leela Samson tendered her resignation in January 2015, after a tenure of nearly four years, as protest against political interference in the censor boards inner workings. Samson was replaced by Pahlaj Nihalani, who was responsible for the cutting of the Spectre kissing scene. Soon after, the board proposed 89 cuts for filmmaker Abhishek Chaubeys Udta Punjab (2016). The case was argued in front of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, a body set up to hear filmmakers aggrieved by the rulings of the CBFC, and the film was finally passed with just one cut.

Nihalanis tenure peaked with Alankrita Shrivastavas Lipstick Under My Burkha, which was initially denied a certificate for, in the words of a letter from the CBFC to the films producer, being too lady-oriented and for its contentious sexual scenes. Following overwhelming support on social media, Shrivastavas film was presented before the FCAT, which cleared it for release with an A (or 18-plus) certificate.

Nihalani was replaced in August 2017 by famous lyricist and ad filmmaker Prasoon Joshi. Only a few months after his appointment as CBFC chief, Joshi went on to interview Modi at a widely televised town hall event in London, where his poetry on the prime ministers fakiri (an ascetic whos given up material pleasures) became the stuff of legends. And memes.

Vats tells me that the FTII machinerys (under Chauhan) intent to curb free speech always hid under jargon like disciplining or streamlining of resources. Internationally renowned filmmaker Anand Patwardhan reaffirms Vats theory about how bureaucracy helps sidestep the need to actively censor films by placing its own people in key administrative positions. Patwardhan told me how the Mumbai International Film Festival introduced the requirement of a censor certificate in 2003, a year after deadly riots in the state of Gujarat, where Modi was then chief minister. Modi was the subject of intense criticism, including in many films (such as Rakesh Sharmas Final Solution) that would normally have appeared at the festival. When Patwardhan and his colleagues protested and organized a successful rival festival, the government had to withdraw its rule.

Technically the MIFF doesnt have a censor clause anymore, but Patwardhan explains how by cherry-picking the people in the selection panel for the festival, the government keeps out films even remotely critical of the establishment. They no longer have to give a reason as to why a certain film cant play at the festival. They did that to my film Reason, which won Best Film at IDFA [in Amsterdam], says Patwardhan.

In recent years, filmmakers realized that they could be less restrained with their critique of political or religious ideologies on streaming platforms. Shows like Sacred Games, on Netflix, didnt come under the ambit of Cinematograph Act, and thus the censor board couldnt dictate terms. But the critics soon realized it, too. After Sacred Games was rebuked for an unflattering reference to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the streaming services took it as a warning and agreed to self-censor. In the coming months, BJP affiliates on Twitter criticized shows like Leila (on Netflix) and Pataal Lok (on Amazon Prime) for depicting Hindus and Sikhs in poor light. An Hindu nationalistaffiliated magazine filed a case against The Family Man (on Amazon Prime) for creating sympathy for terrorists. There was outrage over filmmaker Mira Nairs BBC adaptation of A Suitable Boy (on Netflix), which showed a Hindu woman kissing a Muslim man with a temple in the backdrop.

Things reached a boiling point with Amazon Primes Tandav in 2020. The show, created by director Ali Abbas Zafar, was flayed on social media for its insensitive depiction of Hindu gods, who are seen satirizing social media in one scene. Multiple police complaints were filed against makers, Amazon Prime, and even individual actors across several states. Amazon Prime and Zafar issued an immediate apology, along with the assurance that the offensive scenes had been removed. The head of Amazon Prime (India Originals), Aparna Purohit, was denied anticipatory bail (a preventive version of bail for someone anticipating arrest following a police complaint) from the Allahabad High Court citing how filmmakers ridicule Hindu Gods and Goddesses. A week later, Purohit was granted anticipatory bail by the Supreme Court. Ultimately, no one was arrested and most of the noise around the complaints died down a few weeks later. The sheer number of cases might hint at a coordinated campaign to intimidate streaming platforms into treading cautiously.

Only a few days after the Tandav controversy, the MIB unveiled the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (which I will call the Intermediary Guidelines). In addition to social media platforms, the Intermediary Guidelines extend to digital news publications as well as streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime, among others. DigiPub News India Foundation, a body of digital media organizations that works to ensure a robust news ecosystem, called the rules a strike on democracy. According to the guidelines, any complaint against a streaming show could result in the platform being warned/censured/admonished/reprimanded, required to apologize, or asked to modify content if it was found violating the code of ethics. As we saw in the case of Tandav, the code of ethics could have broad implications.

Lawyer Devdutta Mukhopadhyay, who has worked on digital rights issues in India, called the guidelines deeply worrying, particularly because the legislative branch was not consulted at all.

Barely a month after enacting the Intermediary Guidelines, it was reported that the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal and several tribunals had been abolished. Established in 1983 as a last resort for filmmakers to appeal against any grievances they might have against CBFC, the FCAT will have its now instead directed to a high court or the Supreme Court.

Vats says the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2021, might be the death knell for artistic freedom in India: How do businesses work? When one isnt sure about anything, theyd rather not do it, right? So, the self-censorship will begin, and youll see a spurt of patriotic films, mindless comedies. Any random body could raise an objection tomorrow. Any local bureaucrat could have an issue with a filmthe traffic police could say our profession hasnt been depicted properly. When you open it up like this, when does a film get finished?

Patwardhan fears he might be one of the governments primary targets if the bill gets enacted. The most frightening and preposterous thing is that theyre giving themselves the power to withdraw certificates issued under previous governments. All my films have run into censor trouble. Previously, he said, CBFC certificates had been my shield of armor in many cases, because right-wing mobs have attacked screenings of my films on multiple occasions. But because the film had a censor certificate they couldnt do it legally. For instance, at Ambedkar University in 2019, a screening of Ram Ke Naam (1992) was disrupted by members of ABVP, the student wing of the RSS. But after the enactment of the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2021, the government might put all of Patwardhans (heavily anti-establishment) films through the censor process again and officially cancel all his censor certificates if he refuses to comply with the suggested changes.

The good news is that this hasnt happened yet. According to a circular dated July 26, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has stated that the proposal to amend the Cinematograph Act is still in a consultation stage. Vats and Patwardhan are optimistic that the legislation wont stand in court, given there are many precedents that have upheld an artists right to freedom of expression.

Advocate Ashim Sood called the proposed amendments a serious concern. Sood notes, Weve seen how the police file sedition cases based on Facebook posts. Similarly a complaint could possibly reverse a censor certificate. He thinks it will be particularly damaging to independent filmmakers. Like a good fascist power, [the government] want[s] to stifle dissident voices. My hope is that people will stand up against it. The moment they try to pass this bill in the parliament, well have to challenge it in court and Im sure well win, Patwardhan says.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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The Slow Death of Artistic Freedom in India - Slate

The step back from vaccination passports in England (Tory MPs fear return of Covid vaccine passports plan in England, 12 September) may be welcomed by those who see them as limiting our freedom or who complain that they would be discriminatory. I suggest, however, that any problem lies with how such a system is applied rather than being fundamental to passports.

If I wish to exclude from my home, say, unvaccinated people then that seems to me a legitimate exercise of my freedom. Similarly for any premises, according to the wishes of the proprietor. A nightclub owner is surely entitled to exclude the unvaccinated no less than those wearing trainers. This freedom is essential to maintaining a range of different environments.

There will be some locations where the decision on access properly lies with local government and others where this role belongs to central government. It is when the government mandates the use of passports where it is in no sense to the proprietor that we may need to look to the defence of our liberties.

I would have hoped that some of those protesting against passports would instead stand up for our freedom to discriminate.John Riseley Harrogate, North Yorkshire

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Freedom cuts both ways on vaccines - The Guardian

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Patten Properties Continues to Accelerate Sales as Buyers Find their Freedom in Republic Grand Ranch - inForney.com

In the roadmap to freedom, I hear nothing about people like me, other than as a qualifying postscript to the Covid deaths: But they had an underlying health condition, says Racquel Sherry.

Freedom day doesnt include me.

Sherry, 49 and based in Sydney, is immunocompromised and afraid.

Millions of people who have been living for weeks under harsh lockdowns on Australias east coast are counting down the days to restrictions easing when 70% of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated and further lifting at 80%.

But Sherry is one of a number of people for whom the prospect of reopening is more nerve-racking than exhilarating, either due to underlying health conditions, age, work or living circumstances, or simply because the prospect of more Covid in the community is scary.

Sherry was diagnosed with kidney cancer at 18 months of age, leading to chemotherapy and radiation. After kidney failure at 24, she underwent dialysis and needed an urgent transplant. Then, 15 years ago, she survived cervical cancer without chemotherapy, which wouldve killed her. She was told at the time she had 12 months to live.

Referring to herself as the girl who refused to die, Sherry says: My Grandpa used to say, if you were a racehorse, I wouldnt bet on you.

Survival against the odds felt particularly poignant in a pandemic. I did not come this far to die of Covid, she says.

But today she feels less levity.

Ive lived with lifelong chronic illness. There are few times Ive felt discriminated against, but this is one. Immunosuppressed people work, contribute to society, yet the roadmap to freedom excludes us, she says.

How do you open the state when theres a whole cohort of people we dont know how to protect?

Under advice from her health specialist, Sherry will continue to isolate, especially as the city reopens.

She has had two Pfizer vaccines despite specialists saying they probably wont work well on her.

For my body to not reject a foreign organ, they gave me tablets to suppress my bodys immune response. Covid vaccines rely on your immune system, she says.

I got vaccinated anyway. Ive got someone elses kidney inside me, Im unafraid of putting things inside my body. That tiny bit of protection is better than not having it, but Im eagerly awaiting research findings on a third vaccine shot for people like me.

The risk to Sherry now comes from others leaving lockdown.

Immunocompromised people like me can be hospitalised from head colds and gastro, so when people were at supermarkets in masks and with sanitiser etcetera, I ironically felt safer than ever. Suddenly everyone was in my world, she says.

At first, with our low Covid numbers, I thought, thank God I live in Australia. When the second wave hit I got anxious, thinking, thisll blow up.

That anxiety is now intensifying as reopening inches closer.

Previously, if someone coughed on a train, Id move seats. Catching it could give me pneumonia. Now, my sickness radar no longer helps me. Vaccinated people might have Covid with mild or no symptoms I wont know whos sick and who isnt.

Sherry isnt the only one whos concerned. Even though she is doubled vaccinated, 92-year-old Val Fell from Wollongong has no intention of going out into the world any time soon.

I worry the already stretched hospital system will buckle if we open too soon, she says.

She is also worried that the slow vaccine rollout means she will inevitably come into contact with people who havent yet been immunised.

Once we reopen, Id come across a whole bunch of unvaccinated people especially younger people still waiting for their jabs who could pass on the virus, she says.

Even those in states not currently locked down are fearful.

Mo Ors* is 75 and lives on the Gold Coast with a home aged care package. She now never leaves the house, not even to shop for food.

The pandemic made me a recluse, she says.

Since the start Ive been very apprehensive about catching this bloody thing. For people like me, its a killer.

Ors lives with autoimmune problems and anxiety. Shes also acutely aware of her advancing age.

Age gives you hindsight. I now realise lifes too precious and fragile to play around with. This thing is lethal. Its serious, she says.

Although desperate to see her grandchildren again, Ors doesnt plan on leaving her house until 90% of the eligible population is vaccinated.

In addition to being worried, Im angry, she says. We were in a terrific position in Australia. Its been a complete botch up because Scott Morrisons government didnt procure enough Pfizer.

Dr Nienke Zomerdijk says immunocompromised people will need to continue staying home and minimising contact with family and friends due to the life-threatening possibility of contracting Covid.

And thats hard for them theres a concerning impact on their mental health, Zomerdijk, a psychosocial oncology researcher from the University of Melbourne, says.

Their bodies produce lower antibodies so they dont respond as well to two vaccine doses.

Zomerdijk is watching the UK closely. Cases increased there after restrictions were eased.

Theyre about to administer booster doses and will prioritise immunocompromised people. Even though theres continued uncertainty in the efficacy for these people, we should adopt that here. Its a matter of time until that new wave of concern reaches Australia.

Forty-three-year-old James Cullen, from Kallangur in Queensland, says hes extremely apprehensive about the nation reopening due to his hereditary type 2 diabetes and his living arrangement in a shared house.

My housemates are as concerned as me, but one works in a high school and theyre usually great sources of whatever cold or flu is going around. So that particular housemate has a higher chance of actually getting it, he says.

Commuting also causes him stress.

I travel by train, and while most people wear masks, theres still plenty who keep them on their chin unless they see someone of authority, he says. Idiots talking about their rights not to wear one clearly shows how much they care about people like me who are terrified of this virus and most at risk.

Zomerdijk stresses the need to raise awareness that freedom day isnt fully inclusive. Its another reason vaccination is so important: to accelerate normality resuming for everybody.

Studies the University of Melbourne conducted this year show blood cancer patients are the most at risk of Covid mortality, at 34%.

But they showed they are also most at risk of psychological damage.

The difficult question is, does the risk of getting the virus outweigh the benefits of seeing loved ones or going to work for those who cant work from home? Zomerdijk says.

Racquel Sherry is philosophical. Whilst I am frustrated, Im vicariously happy about restrictions lifting for people I know it needs to happen for: small businesses, those whose livelihoods are reliant on reopening, she says.

Im very aware of the sacrifices theyve made.

* Name changed for privacy reasons

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Freedom day doesnt include me: for some, the end of lockdown will be a time of fear - The Guardian

Whats happening?

Andreas Gassen, the head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), said Germany should take inspiration from England and lift Covid restrictions at the end of October.

The UK government removed almost all Covid-19 legal restrictions such as mandatory mask wearing in England on July 19th.

Since then, England has seen a fairly high number of infections though its gone up and down. After cases fell at the end of July, the average number of daily confirmed cases climbed again in August and early September but have started to ease off again.

(article continues below)

After the experience of Britain, we should also have the courage to do what worked on the island, Gassen told the Neue Osnabrcker Zeitung at the weekend.

So whats needed now is a clear announcement from politicians: in six weeks, its Freedom Day here too! On October 30th, all restrictions will be lifted!

READ ALSO:

The Our World in Data map shows the number of Covid cases per million people in the UK compared to Germany.

Gassen said the October 30th deadline would give everyone the chance to go and get vaccinated if they havent already.

He said that in the UK the healthcare system did not collapse after Freedom Day.

Thats encouraging, especially since the German healthcare system is significantly more efficient than the British one and could treat significantly more seriously ill patients, which we hope we wont have either, the KBV boss explained.

Without the announcement of a Freedom Day, the pandemic would drag on in Germany, he said.

Whats the reaction?

Theres been a lot of pushback.

Chancellor Angela Merkels chief of staff Helge Braun said he didnt believe it was a good idea because there could be another Covid wave without adequate vaccination protection.

We should not promise to lift the restrictions until the percentage of those vaccinated has increased significantly, especially in the older age groups in other words, we achieve community immunity, Braun said.

READ ALSO:

SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach, slammed the approach, saying it was simply testing what our health care system can withstand, how many patients can also be treated.

He also said it was unrealistic to hope to motivate people to get vaccinated by announcing a Freedom Day. He suggested issuing a goal of an 85 percent vaccination rate among the adult population and announcing that substantial relaxations could come when that mark is reached.

As things stand, around 81 percent of over-16s are fully vaccinated in the UK while about 65 percent of the population is fully-jabbed.

In Germany, vaccines against Covid have been licensed for those aged 12 and above so far. This age group includes 73.9 million people. At least one vaccine dose has been given to 55.9 million people so far. Of these, 52.5 million people have already been fully vaccinated.

Around 67.2 percent of the total population has received at least one jab in Germany, and 63.1 percent are fully vaccinated.

Andrew Ullmann, of the pro-business FDP, said he thought the discussion about lifting Covid rules was the right way forward. However, he said it was too early to give a specific date. In the coming weeks, he said, Covid developments have to be closely monitored.

Lower Saxonys Health Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) opposed the move. She said it is still too reckless.

Whats the Covid situation in Germany?

On Monday around 3,736 Covid infections were reported within the last 24 hours and 13 deaths. The 7-day incidence stood at 71 cases per 100,000 people. The incidence has remained stable and has even decreased in the last weeks. But hospital admissions have gone up.

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Should Germany have its own Covid 'Freedom Day' in six weeks? - The Local Germany

Afghan women protested outside the offices of the Taliban morality police in Kabul on Sunday after the militant group shut down the ministry of women's affairs, local news reported.

The protesters demonstrated against the closure of the women's ministry and called for their rights to employment and education.

The women held signs with messages including, "elimination of women = elimination of human beings."

On Thursday, women who worked at the women's ministry were locked out, Reuters reported.

The next day, the signage was changed to the "propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice."

Although there is little information about the new ministry, it is expected to enforce strict religious doctrines.

The chief of the morality police in Kandahar told The Observer that new rules include women only being allowed to leave home if accompanied by a male guardian, compulsory prayer, and stipulations on beard length for men.

Women in Afghanistan have been fearful of the future after the militant group took control of the country last month.

During the Taliban's previous rule in the 1990s, severe restrictions were placed on women's lives. Although the group has promised to be less severe, they have already begun limiting women's freedom.

This week the Taliban banned girls from attending secondary school. The group permitted women to attend universities as long as they wore Islamic dress and segregated classrooms by gender.

However, if girls are not permitted to attend secondary school, their ability to attend university will be meaningless.

The group also said that women were not permitted to work alongside men, virtually prohibiting them from most workplaces.

Although the militant group has continually promised to allow women to work in accordance with sharia law, it is unclear what that will mean.

Afghan women have been leading the opposition movement against the Taliban, staging several protests in the last few weeks.

The new virtue and vice ministry is an indication of the kind of strict Islamic society the Taliban wants to shape.

Although the group includes a call to respect women in the department's guidelines, they also stipulate that women should not have contact with any men outside of immediate family and should not leave the house without a guardian or a hijab.

The Kandahar morality police chief told The Observer that Afghans would be encouraged to call in and report on their neighbors if they break the rules.

Leaders of the new department are likely aware of how it is perceived internationally, The Observer said. When they handed out an English language list of new cabinet appointments earlier this month, the vice and virtue ministry was the only one not translated.

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Afghan women protest their freedom outside virtue and vice ministry - Business Insider

To the police called tothe reported home invasion in Lancaster, a few things felt off from the start.

One of the officers who responded that winter day in 2000 noted in a report "the lack of fresh footprints in the snow,"odd for a violent crime that reportedly involved more than one suspect.

Inside the house, that officer's questions continued. Some rare comic books and $10,000 had been reported taken from a safe, along with some select pieces of jewelry.

"The house was gone through far too selectively for my taste," the officer wrote.

A detective who interviewed the two adult victims reported that one "seemed to be relaying a story rather than recalling from memory."

And the neighbors, well, none of them recalled seeing anything unusual when the crime was to have occurred.

Some of these details might havehelped Ralph Blaine Smith at trial, if heand his attorneys had known about them.

But the evidence was never provided by the Fairfield County prosecutor at the time, Gregg Marx. And Smith, basedon the identification of the adult victims who said both their assailants were masked but that the mask of one kept falling down, was sent to prison for 67 years.

Now he is free, after a 21-year slog marked by failed appeals, legal dead-ends and dogged determination.

The Smith case exhibits how easily our criminal justice system, which we like to believe rests immoveable upon a strongfoundation, can be tipped on its side by the actions of just one of its key players.

So compromised, it is a monster to get right-side-up again.

Smith, 46, shared his story throughout this summer with Dispatch court reporter John Futty. Last week, Smith received the news he'd been hoping for, that current Fairfield County Prosecutor Kyle Witt had decided to dismiss all charges against him rather than pursue another trial.

Smith maintained from the start that he was innocent, but it took years to shake loose the information that ultimately set him free.

Early on, his maternal grandmother provided the moneyto push his legal fight, but she died in 2006. He researched the law and filedmotions himself. A cousin lent a hand. Eventually, attorney Joe Landusky joined his quest. Martin Yant, a Columbus private investigator with a long track record of ferreting out compromised criminal cases, dug up much of the evidence that cast doubt on whether the home invasion had occurred at all.

It was evidence that Marx had known about at the time of trial, but decided not to turn over to the defense.

Under law, prosecutors have to turn over exculpatory evidence, which is any information that could create reasonable doubt about a defendant's guilt.

Marx testified at a hearing before Fairfield County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard E. Berens nearly a year ago that he did not provide the evidence to the defense because hedid not view it as "exculpatory."

I covered police and crime for yearsand have spent a good amount of time in court. I know what I think, butI did not go to law school.

Berens did, though, and here's his take on Marx's decision to sit on the information, particularly that one officer's supplemental report:

"Given what little was presented at trial, Smith could have used these suppressed materials to put on a much stronger defense by cultivating an entirely new angle of doubt: that perhaps no crime occurred at all," Berens wrote. "Suggestions that a crime did not actually occur would fit most definitions of 'exculpatory,' in this court's view."

Berens ruled on June 9 that Smith deserved a new trial, saying the withheld evidence "undermined confidence in the verdict...and violated Smith's right to due process."

Upon dismissing all charges, Witt noted that he was not declaring Smith innocent. Because Smith had already served 21 years, the prosecutor simply said he had decided to forego another trial.

He also did not want to label those long-ago decisions by Marxprosecutorial misconduct.

He did say, "I think I would have provided information that this office didn't provide 20 years ago."

Maybe Marx made an honest judgment call. But given Smith's conviction, and his 21-year struggle to undo it, one is left to wonder what other judgment calls Witt's predecessormadeduring his 34 years with the Fairfield County prosecutor's office.

tdecker@dispatch.com

@Theodore_Decker

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Theodore Decker: Man released after 21 years in prison looks back on slog toward freedom - The Columbus Dispatch

The Underground Railroad was more than a route to freedom; it was a movement that transcended the lines of race and gender not just nationally, but here in Oneida County. The countys efforts along the freedom trail highlighted the cooperation of free and enslaved groups black, white, men, women who pushed New York State and the nation one step closer to universal freedom.

Colgate University Intern Ashley Tourtelot developed the newest exhibition at the History Center which focuses on the Underground Railroad in Oneida County. Social, political, and economic factors made the route to freedom possible.

On Saturday, Sept. 25, at 1 p.m. Ashley will discuss how abolitionist sentiments emerged and grew in central New York while also spotlighting a few of Uticas own developments in the freedom struggle, including the Utica Riot, Utica Rescue, and Post Avenue settlements.

Tourtelot grew up in Rome. After graduating from Rome Free Academy in 2018, she attended Colgate University where she is a member of the 2022 graduating class. She is majoring in history with a minor in writing and rhetoric. Ashley is a member of the History Club, Pre-Law Society, and a videographer for Colgates football team

The event is free and will take place in the OCHC gallery. In accordance with local, federal, & CDC guidelines, masks are required for all visitors regardless of vaccination status during public events and programs. This program will be recorded and available on the OCHC Youtube channel.

The Oneida County History Center is a private 501(c) (3) not-for-profit educational institution dedicated to preserving the history, heritage, and culture of the Greater Mohawk Valley for present and future generations. Admission to this program is free for the general public; donations are encouraged. Contact the History Center at 315-735-3642 or visit the OCHC website (www.oneidacountyhistory.org) for more information.

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CNY and the birth of the Oneida County Freedom Trail talk Sept. 25 - Rome Sentinel

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The 2020 census captured a Texas that does not exist in its halls of power: a diverse state that is growing almost exclusively because of people of color and where the Hispanic and white populations are nearly equal in size.

But when the Texas Legislature convenes Monday to do the work of incorporating a decades worth of population growth into new political maps, the Republicans in charge nearly all of whom are white will have a freer hand to cement their power and try to shield themselves from the change that growth represents.

The 2021 redistricting cycle will mark the first time in nearly half a century that a Legislature with a lengthy record of discriminating against voters of color will be able to redraw political districts without federal oversight designed to keep harmful maps from immediately going into effect.

And now, once those maps are enacted, the voters of color and civil rights groups that for decades have fought discrimination in the courts may face a federal judiciary less willing to doubt lawmakers partisan motivations even if they come at the expense of Hispanic and Black Texans.

I hate to be an alarmist. I want to look for the silver lining, but I dont see one, said Jose Garza, a veteran civil rights attorney who has represented the Texas Houses Mexican American Legislative Caucus for a decade. I think that this is a time of great opportunity for the Republicans.

The Legislatures work during this months special legislative session will include the complex and contentious process of redrawing maps for Congress, the Texas House, the Texas Senate and the State Board of Education to evenly distribute the states fast-growing population. On the congressional front, lawmakers must also reconfigure the map to incorporate the two additional districts the state earned because of its growth.

Like most other states, Texas leaves this task to the same lawmakers whose individual electoral survival and collective political dominance depend on how district boundaries are set up.

Former President Donald Trump claimed 52% of the vote in last years election, but Republicans hold 64% of the states seats in Congress, 58% of seats in the Texas Senate and 55% of seats in the Texas House. The GOP, however, is facing demographic changes that fundamentally work against the partys efforts to maintain or even bolster its majorities in the statehouse and in the states congressional delegation.

Republicans disproportionately rely on white voters to elect them, but people of color were behind 95% of the states population growth since 2010. Hispanic Texans alone were responsible for half of that increase. And the 2020 census found that the Hispanic population 39.3% of the total population was nearly equal in size to the non-Hispanic white population, which makes up 39.8%.

Whats more, population growth over the last decade was largely concentrated in areas where Republicans are faltering. The states suburbs, many of which have turned blue in recent years or are trending in that direction, grew the fastest. Meanwhile, the states five most populous counties Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Travis and Tarrant became home to roughly 44% of the states 4 million new residents. Harris, Dallas, Bexar and Travis are decisively blue counties. Tarrant, which is historically red but voted Democratic at the top of the ticket in 2018 and 2020, actually saw its white population decrease by more than 30,000 in the last decade.

Despite the challenging demographic landscape, the U.S. Supreme Court paved an easier road to Republican dominance with two highly consequential rulings in the last decade.

In 2013, the high court scrapped the federal Voting Rights Acts long-standing safeguard, known as preclearance, that prevented states with discriminatory track records like Texas from enacting new voting rules or maps without first getting federal approval to ensure that they didnt pull back on the voting rights of people of color. Years later, the court also ruled that federal judges cannot limit partisan gerrymandering, giving lawmakers even more freedom to justify extreme revisions to their maps by citing political motives.

Theyve got a shield that they can discriminate against [people of color] and say its all about partisanship and theres not going to be any review from Washington, D.C., on what they do, Garza said. They have this great strength because they control all the seats of power and dont have [preclearance], but they also have this sense of desperation because so many of their districts are severely underpopulated. I think thats a formula for disaster for the minority community and for Democrats.

During the last redistricting cycle, Republicans defended their maps by arguing that they were drawn based on partisan advantage, rather than race. But federal judges eventually ruled that lawmakers intentionally discriminated against Hispanic and Black voters by giving them less say in choosing who represents them in the Texas House and in Congress. In districts where lawmakers supposedly used race in the name of complying with the Voting Rights Act, which is allowed, the judges found they instead turned the VRA on its head by unnecessarily crowding Hispanic voters into certain districts.

For decades and in that round of mapmaking, preclearance which was granted by the U.S. Department of Justice or a Washington federal court served as a critical safeguard to political redistricting in a state with a tradition of suppressing Hispanic and Black voters by blocking the Legislatures initial maps from being used.

Under that regime, the Department of Justice lodged objections to Texas maps at least eight times in less than three decades. In total, the department objected to 207 voting changes made in Texas in that time period more than in any other state subject to preclearance.

The last time a Washington federal court refused to clear the Legislatures maps in 2012, it noted the case against the state included more evidence of discriminatory intent than we have space, or need, to address here.

Republicans in charge of the process in the House and Senate, whose offices did not respond to interview requests for this article, have so far said they are taking a transparent and cordial approach to whats often a contentious process.

As you know, the legal issues around redistricting are complex and continually evolving, state Sen. Joan Huffman recently told other senators on the chambers redistricting committee, which she chairs. Please know that I continue to be committed to a fair, transparent and legal process, and I encourage participation and input from each of you as we work together toward this goal.

When he was appointed to chair the Houses committee, state Rep. Todd Hunter acknowledged in a statement that redistricting is never easy but promised he was fully committed to a fair process.

But since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, Texas has not made it through a single decade without a federal court ruling that it violated that federal law or the U.S. Constitution and ordering it to correct its legal mistakes.

Certainly is it the case that the Legislature has demonstrated it has zero institutional memory when it comes to redistricting and that could be a willful ignorance on its part, said Nina Perales, the vice president of litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, who has challenged the states maps in the last two redistricting cycles. If the past can tell us anything about the future, it would be that Texas turns a blind eye to the court rulings of the past that found discrimination.

Though lawmakers this year will be deciphering how the future of representation and political control will shape up, the echoes of legislative work from a decade ago are ringing loudly. Ten years ago, Republicans also controlled the entire process, had a roster of nearly all white lawmakers and were confronting census numbers that showed people of color had accounted for nearly all of the states population gains.

At a committee hearing in 2011, a lawmaker asked Perales what lawmakers should keep in mind in that years redistricting effort given the states previous missteps. The lesson, she told them at the time, is that we should not repeat past mistakes.

Those dynamics are reverberating so profoundly that Perales unintentionally quoted herself in imploring todays lawmakers to not extend the states long-running practice of violating the voting rights of people of color in redistricting.

Redistricting plans should avoid the mistakes of the past, Perales told the Texas Senates committee on redistricting in a public hearing last week.

As in 2011, this years deliberations will be backdropped by months of debates over whether the Legislature is sufficiently acknowledging the different lived realities of Texans based on their race.

A decade ago, lawmakers were fighting over Republican legislation to allow law enforcement to ask about the immigration status of people they detained, as well as a new stringent voter ID law that was later found to have discriminated against Hispanic and Black voters. Democrats repeatedly warned those proposals would disproportionately burden people of color; Republicans dismissed those concerns.

This spring, the regular legislative session was dominated by clashes over legislation to restrict how the legacy of racism can be taught in Texas schools, plus sweeping legislation to create new restrictions on voting that Democrats said would raise new barriers for marginalized voters, especially voters of color.

Debates on the former featured tense exchanges between Democrats of color and white Republicans who appeared to reject the idea that some of the countrys founding principles, including the three-fifths clause of the U.S. Constitution, were racist, instead describing slavery as a deviation from those principles.

At one point, House Speaker Dade Phelan asked lawmakers to avoid even using the word racism during a floor debate on the voting bill.

The level of anti-minority legislation that came out of this session of the Legislature, in my mind, far exceeds anything weve seen in recent memory, said Gary Bledsoe, the longtime president of the Texas chapter of the NAACP, which has previously challenged the states redistricting work. This session is a throwback. It seems like the idea of turning back the hands of time to go back to another era seems to be motivating individuals.

With redistricting up next on the docket, Bledsoe said he anticipated for the states new maps to be built on the suppressed votes he believes will result from the states new voting restrictions.

All of this works together, Bledsoe said. All that fits hand in hand so when you come out with marginal seats or seats that may be more at risk because youre trying to take too many seats, that gives you your chance.

Join us Sept. 20-25 at the 2021 Texas Tribune Festival. Tickets are on sale now for this multi-day celebration of big, bold ideas about politics, public policy and the days news, curated by The Texas Tribunes award-winning journalists. Learn more.

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In a changing Texas, Republicans will begin redistricting with more freedom to draw their maps - The Texas Tribune