Category Archives: Government Oppression

The reclamation of physical space is a fundamental requirement in resisting colonisation, and is a necessary precondition in the campaign for Aboriginal sovereignty. Last year marked some of the first protests to occur on the Domain parkland or Djarrbarrgalli in traditional Gadigal language. Gathering in Djarrbarrgalli was momentous for the Indigenous justice movement as it represented the reclamation of traditional land for its original purpose as a meeting place. These protests in mid-2020, which drew comparisons between the treatment of Black people in the United States and here, took place away from the colonial monuments that litter most of Sydneys urban landscape including Hyde Park.

The call to return to this space was instigated by traditional descendents of the area, who asserted their sovereignty and reclaimed the place as their own land after rediscovering its traditional name. These Gadigal descendents articulated that Djarrbarrgalli was a deeply important site of gathering and community in pre-colonial times, and to them it was the perfect place to come together today and continue fighting for justice and sovereignty.

I sat down with Nadeena Dixon one of the Gadigal descendents who was part of this process to discuss how the reclamation of Djarrbarrgalli came about during the 2020 protests. We discussed the Indigenous experience within Sydneys urban fabric, and the historical importance of reclaiming physical space to counter hegemonic cultural ideas within the colonial system.

***

Seth Dias: Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your family?

Nadeena Dixon: Im Nadeena Dixon, Im an artist, an academic and a child of freedom fighters who have lived in the Sydney basin for 80,000 years. Im also an educator, so I think its important to talk and transcend the bullshit weve been fed through very limited [colonial] narratives.

My mum is Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor; a Gadigal Elder. She was born in a time when Aboriginal people werent actually recognised as human beings in Australia, so for the first 14 to 15 years of her life she was treated as Flora and Fauna. At that time, Aboriginal peoples lives were completely controlled by government legislation and we were monitored by the Aborigines Protection Board a very oppressive and dehumanising regime that was placed on Aboriginal people. Thats had a huge impact on us to this day.

My grandfather was Dr. Charles Chicka Dixon; he was heavily involved in the freedom fighter movement that brought about the 67 referendum that gave Aboriginal People the right to vote on their own sovereign land. He, being of the older generation, suffered extreme degradation, starvation, abuse and complete government control over his and all Aboriginal Peoples lives; adult people that had no rights, who werent even considered to be human. With the [child] removals policy we had lots of people, even in my own family, that were removed. They werent even able to form normal relationships because they had been institutionalised from such a young age, meaning they had no family structure or family environment to develop in. The impact [child removals] had on the psyche is far reaching through the generations, so we have inherited the legacies of intergenerational trauma, which is yet another reason to fight for justice.

SD: 2020 was a landmark year for the Black Lives Matter movement both here and overseas. How do you think this has shaped or influenced the Indigenous sovereignty movement in Australia?

ND: Weve always resisted as sovereign peoples who never ceded their sovereignty. We resisted from the very beginning. I suppose it hit this point where the world had to awaken to these realities. We realised that unless all of us are free, then none of us are free. This applies to all movements, such as marriage equality which came so late as well. Its like, why are we even talking about these things so late in the day? It feels like there is a great need for connection and meaning as a global community; we want to connect to something bigger than us. The same goes for climate action today as well its all interconnected. The planet doesnt care if were black, white or whatever. We have to come together and move above these illusions that separate us. The 2020 protests went a very long way in showing just how connected these things are and how united we need to be.

SD: Last year saw a change in venue for many Indigenous justice rallies, with Djarrbarrgalli (the Domain) becoming a key meeting point. Can you explain why this shift occurred?

ND: It was documented in the earliest colonial contact and mappings of the Sydney basin that all the prominent locations along the coastline had Aboriginal names. Growing up being a traditional descendent of the ancestors from this area, I always felt like our existence had been erased; and it literally had you know? Its been under attack from the very beginning of colonisation and weve been pushed out of the city over time. There were rulings made that enforced curfews for Aboriginal people they couldnt be within the city limits after dark. People were rounded up and put into missions mainly out at La Perouse, Western Sydney and other Aboriginal missions where they were basically monitored and surveilled. So all of our history and our beautiful legacy had just been erased from the landscape in such a short time less than 200 years out of 80,000 years of peaceful existence. We lived in another Black reality where we had such an awareness of these things existing, but the outer world didnt present or mirror any of that.

The site of Djarrbarrgalli is significant because it was a ceremony site; it was documented and known to be a ceremony site and a very significant area for Aboriginal people to gather and talk about important business. Then later on during the 1930s, there were significant Aboriginal people that would go there and speak about Aboriginal rights. There is an area within the site where people would stand on speaker boxes; people like Donny Dodd, Pearl Gibbs, Jack Patten and other community people. These were leaders who came out of Salt Pan Creek, which was a significant camp community of Aboriginal people that refused to live on the missions and be under the control of the government. There was an autonomous community that was quite large and lots of the early resistance of the 1930s came out of Salt Pan Creek.

***

As Nadeena articulates, there is a significant historical precedent of physical space being used as a base for counter-cultural development and political education against hegemonic ideas. One of the best examples of this is Salt Pan Creek.

Emerging in 1926, Salt Pan Creek was an autonomous camp of Aboriginal families and refugees. The new community had withdrawn from the Australian colonial project, rejecting the oppressive powers of the Aborigines Protection Board which required constant surveillance, containment and management of all Aboriginal people by settlers. Instead, they sought to establish a community where they could self-determine their future and launch a broader campaign for their sovereign land. The establishment of community and sovereign control in this historically rich place is seen by many as the beginning of the modern struggle for Indigenous Justice. Legendary Gumbaynggirr activist Gary Foley explains that the self-declared autonomy of Salt Pan Creek allowed the political growth and education of some of the foundational leaders in the movement. Historically influential Aboriginal leaders and some of those activists who spoke at Speakers Corner spent time there in the late 1930s learning and defining the modern Australian anti-colonial movement in Sydney. The political planning and education that came out of the Salt Pan Creek community culminated in the 1938 Day of Mourning protest. This was one of the first major protests held in Australia on the 26th of January, or Invasion Day, and is considered the first public rally in the modern fight for Indigenous justice. With a cultural landscape that is dominated by colonial ideology, the reclamation of any physical space to then practice and teach counter-cultural ideas of anti-colonial resistance, must be realised to achieve true justice for Indigenous People.

***

When asked about some of the major historical anti-colonial protests in Sydney and the importance of place to them, Nadeena immediately asserted the importance of land to community and gathering.

SD: These major historical protests relied on important geographical bases of resistance, such as Salt Pan Creek, The Block in Redfern or La Perouse. Do you think Djarrbarrgalli could be the next site of resistance?

ND: I think it is, because it holds that energy of memory and it holds that energy of business [and] of coming together to benefit the broader community. Its a place where we can hold space to seriously discuss these issues, so even within a contemporary context we can go there for business and for ceremony I believe its the peoples court. So were holding court there to say this is what we want to happen, the power is with the people there and the people alone. In so many ways, the government has become a dictatorship and were being forced to live in their constructed realities which we dont align to, and its a system that doesnt value or include us at all, and chooses to value settlers instead. I think its this idea of gathering where my people could come together from all different clans and groups and give reverence to mark time, space and ceremony. The place [Djarrbarrgalli] becomes a magnetised space where you can assert intention for your cause, in this case resistance, in physical reality. It can become a portal or space holder for these energies and causes to gather power; this is the importance of a place to us and our struggle.

***

Since 1938, we have seen many militant protests and celebrations of Aboriginal survival on days such as Invasion Day. Without a reclaimed place like Salt Pan Creek to organise and educate from, some of the foundational figures in the movement may never have had the space to learn to lead this campaign and instigate the movement were still fighting for today. Power is expressed and sustained in the reproduction of culture, which manifests itself in physical space; the act of establishing a new self-determined community in Salt Pan Creek allowed for the reproduction of counter-cultural anti-colonial ideas in a physical space. This could not have been done under the constant surveillance imposed on Indigenous People by the Aborigines Protection Board. Much like then, today we also need a place to connect and build community. While we may not live there, the connection to Djarrbarrgalli enables many of the same counter-cultural ideas forged at Salt Pan Creek to be expressed and refined. Without Djarrbarrgalli, those leading this movement are forced to educate and communicate in physical space that exudes dominant cultural ideas and could therefore invoke traumatic memories.

The way physical space plays a fundamental role in perpetuating dominant cultural ideas can be seen across Sydney in two overarching ways. Firstly, the grid system and central planning arrangement here is an imposition of Eurocentric geometric ideals which can be observed across the colonial world. Settlers and early planners of the city believed that the grid system was a superior system which would allow them to position themselves in the centre of power and override the undulations of the natural landscape. Settlers then began a rapid process of containment of Indigenous People, pushing families and communities out into missions located on the outskirts of the grid system, where many still reside today. Early planners believed that the grid represented the European power of intellect and organisation. It is a clear tribute to Euclidean geometry as an urban form, a system seen in Greek, Roman and Victorian cities; imposing this system on the colonial world laid the physical foundations of Eurocentric cultural dominance.

Secondly, we also see the perpetuation of dominant culture across this city in the form of cultural memorials. Sydney is rife with these, with statues depicting Captain Cook, Governor Macquarie and Queen Elizabeth scattered across the Central Business District. Memorials or monuments may seem like a background concept in our day to day lives, but for those not within the dominant cultural group for example, Indigenous People living on their stolen land they serve as a constant reminder of the trauma of the revered figures and the political ideas from which they are excluded. Geographer Philip Hubbard argues that Both literally and figuratively monuments and memorials set dominant socio-spatial relations in stone. Reclaiming space enables marginalised groups to express their culture away from physical reminders of their oppression.

***

Nadeena explains that there are abstract and physical forms of land reclamation. To her, both are equally important and need to be fully realised in order for true sovereignty to be achieved.

SD: There has been a broader international movement to decolonise places by renaming them, would you support something like this for the Domain, and could the reclamation assist in the broader fight for Indigenous Justice?

ND: I think naming is extremely powerful it connects the energy of the language back to the Country that its come from, that its always existed within. So even us speaking the name is giving it power, and were putting a whole different shift in consciousness back into the place, into Country as a living entity. Its not the case that we build the city over the country and then it becomes a nameless and story-less space with no history. But what happens [after 1788], and what has happened historically is the erasing of the human connection to it all. Were hoping that by renaming, reclaiming and speaking the name back into awareness that were bringing back the energy of the countless generations that existed there.

SD: So in conclusion, what does reclaiming space mean to the Aboriginal community broadly?

ND: Im part of this emergent school of thought known as design sovereignty. There are so many ways that we can unpack space from Indigenous perspectives and methodologies In contemporary society, were told that were nothing; just a number among many. The idea of space for community dialogue, ceremony, sharing the difficulties and celebrating the wins, and where we people can feel a part of something bigger than ourselves will bring nourishment, joy and resistance. [It] is a fundamental requirement of achieving justice for our people. [Colonial] society has taken so much from us that can only be brought back from the grassroots, and from community, but it all starts from reclaiming space and restoring true sovereignty over this Country.

Read the original here:

Reclaiming Djarrbarrgalli: the spaces of anti-colonial resistance - Honi Soit

The recent order of the Supreme Court disposing of an application seeking the release of Rohingya refugees detained illegally in a sub-jail in Jammu and threatened with deportation to Myanmar, a country currently in the grip of a violent military coup, is bereft of any cogent legal reasoning and lacks an understanding of international law obligations and constitutional protections for refugees and devoid of humanity. The United Nations has termed the Rohingya as the worlds most persecuted ethnic minority. In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched a clearance campaign in the Rakhine state (home to the ethnic Rohingya), forcing over 7,50,000 of them to flee to neighbouring states, escaping a military operation that killed, burnt and wiped out entire villages. Thousands of women were raped and tortured and thousands of children orphaned. Fleeing genocide at the hands of the Burmese military and ultra-religious Buddhist mobs in their home state, about 40,000 Rohingya entered India in waves, and settled in refugee camps across the country. They live in deplorable conditions, with scant access to drinking water, electricity or sanitation. Recently, the home ministry has issued circulars to states sharing borders with Myanmar to push back refugees fleeing the military bloodbath. Pursuant to this, some states issued orders, later withdrawn, not to provide food, shelter or even essential medical care to the refugees. The governments directive has been to identify, detain and deport these refugees.

Around March, over 170 Rohingya refugees were detained in Jammu after a biometric verification drive. This despite the detained refugees having UNHCR refugee cards, granted after a process of ascertaining their protection needs and determining that they are indeed refugees who have fled persecution. The police entered the camps, rounded up and detained men, women, elderly and left children behind. Panic gripped this community as families were separated overnight, family members were reported missing and reports of starving and wailing children began flooding the media. It was clear that these detentions were part of the larger crackdown against the Rohingya, who are a largely Muslim community and hence treated with hostility by our government that refers to them as illegal economic migrants and a national security threat.

The Indian government has in the past differentiated between illegal immigrants and refugees in the absence of domestic legislation, such as, in its treatment of Afghan, Sri Lankan or Tibetan refugees. They have been granted the right to apply for long-term visas for refugees in accordance with the governments 2011 protocol, thereby reaffirming its respect for the institution of asylum. The sudden volte face with respect to the Rohingya is clearly on account of them being Muslim. They are also excluded from the purview of the Citizenship Amendment Act, despite their fleeing what has been described as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, while hearing the application seeking a restraint on the deportation of those detained in Jammu jail, and their immediate release, asked how refugees could invoke Article 32 rights. He had to be reminded that Article 14 and 21 constitutional protections were equally available to every person, including refugees. This set the tone for the order that followed. The court first decided to distance itself from the genocide in Myanmar, with which four Indian states share borders stating that it cannot comment upon something happening in another country.

This abdication of responsibility is shocking in light of the fact that the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians by the military junta since the coup on February 1 this year, along with the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas, has raised an international outcry. Earlier on January 23, 2020, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave a landmark judgment of grave significance in the context of the ethnic atrocities faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar. The court found that the Rohingya had suffered genocide and ordered the government of Myanmar to restrain their military forces from continuing with the oppression. This order was unanimously issued by a 15-member bench of the ICJ on a petition brought before it by the state of Gambia against the state of Myanmar, alleging that the crimes against the Rohingya violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. India ratified the convention in 1959; in fact, India, along with Panama and Canada was the force behind the adoption of the Genocide Convention on December 9, 1948. Despite Indias binding obligations, the Supreme Court chose to turn a blind eye to this factual reality of genocide and ethnic cleansing facing the Rohingya. The court ignored Indias binding commitment to non-refoulement and obligations in prohibiting genocide, both non-derogable norms of international law, on which the petitioner had based the application.

The petitioner had pointed out how, as a matter of legal principle, refoulement or sending refugees back to a place where they face persecution, has been held to be a breach of Article 21. In Ktaer Abbas Habib Al Qutaifi v Union of India, the Gujarat High Court held, This principle [of non-refoulement] prevents expulsion of a refugee where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Its application protects the life and liberty of a human being irrespective of his nationality. It is encompassed in Article 21 of the Constitution. The same was held by the Delhi High Court in Dongh Lian Kham v Union of India (2016).

The court then went on to state that the petitioners claim to a right against deportation is concomitant with the right to reside in any part of the country (an Article 19 right available only to citizens). This is a misconceived compartmentalisation of these rights by the court when the guarantee of these rights flow from each other and form what is called the golden triangle of the Constitution. The Rohingya refugees have never claimed the right to reside or settle in any part of India but they have prayed for the right to life to reside in a camp without being threatened to be deported into a country where they face genocide, and the right to liberty by being afforded protection from arbitrary arrests, harassment and intimidation. By displaying such ignorance and insensitivity, the courts human rights jurisprudence has plummeted to an unpardonable new low.

Most striking, however, is the court echoing the governments submissions on the Rohingya posing an internal security threat, which the government raises as a bogey without any evidence. By reiterating the governments allegations in the operative part of its judgment and ordering the Rohingya be deported only in accordance with the procedure prescribed for such deportation, the Supreme Court has betrayed its lack of judicial consciousness with regard to the human rights violations of persecuted refugees and has displayed its capitulation to the governments divisive agenda.

This column first appeared in the print edition on April 17, 2021 under the title Persecuting the persecuted. The writers are counsel for the Rohingya refugees in the case before the Supreme Court.

See original here:

SC ruling on Rohingya is against Indias commitments to international law - The Indian Express

The fundamental difference in the organisational structure of the CPM and the TMC is another factor because of which the turncoats could not adjust to the new order and jumped to BJP as soon as they got the chance, notwithstanding the ideological differences between the parties

Editor's Note: The history of political violence and bloodshed in West Bengal is an election tradition since the 1940s, peaking during the 1960s and 1970s, and enduring till date. This is part three of amulti-part seriesexploring the origins, process and consequences of politically- motivated violence in the state. Read the first and the second part.

Sandeshkhali: Abhik Sardar (name changed), a former CPM member from Joygopalpur village in the Sandeshkhali II block in Basirhat district, is in a bind these days. A staunch Left Front member for most of his life, Sardar joined the Trinamool in 2016.

But in 2021, he is in hiding. Members of the Trinamool Congress, according to Sardar, are after his life because he joined the BJP in Bengal recently.

I did not have a choice. After the 2016 Assembly elections, the Trinamool forced me to join them," he alleges. Sardar is not alone.

Political parties estimate that at least 60-70 percent of Bengals CPM cadre was forced to join the ruling Trinamool Congress after the 2016 state Assembly elections, but they soon migrated to the BJP, allegedly because of rampant corruption and torture by local TMC leaders. Across most of Bengal -- especially in the districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Basirhat, Birbhum, Bardhaman, Murshidabad, Malda among others -- violence and intimidation was carried out to poach Left party workers into Trinamool - locally labelled the Lal TMC, indicating their move from the Left. The move ensured the TMCs complete domination of the panchayats, leaving no room for doubt about which party controls the state and its coffers.

Lal Trinamool

According to Sardar, he was one of the few that resisted jumping ship. "They charged me with several false cases including theft, loot, kidnapping and murder and under the arms act. These crimes were committed by Trinamool members, but they told the police it was my handiwork. I was not the only one targeted by them -- every CPM and BJP worker who did not agree to join the TMC was charged with false cases. The charges were serious. We would have been behind bars for years. We surrendered because we did not have any choice, said Sardar.

The ruling party, according to Sardar, inducted them soon after they surrendered, and promised them that the charges will be dropped. A few months later, Sardar was nominated for the Panchayat elections under the Trinamool banner and was elected to an important role, managing land affairs in the Sandeshkhali II block region. Sardar says that this was just the beginning of the horror. He and his associates were forced to terrorise the locals into voting for the Trinamool. The ruling party also indulged in rampant corruption and money laundering, he says. Unable to put up with this torture, Sardar left the Trinamool and joined the BJP. Looking around suspiciously in the deserted lane of the village where he talked to this correspondent, Sardar confesses that he is currently on the run because the police (under orders from the local TMC leaders) are again hunting for him.

But as the popular saying goes, truth is rarely pure and never simple. Dig a little deeper, and the story becomes clearer. The TMC was not looking to recruit Sardar or the other former CPM members to merely bolster their cadre base. Sardar, like several other members who were poached by the TMC, joined the party because they had no choice but to join the ruling party, because, after 2011, the CPM had lost all sway in the state that it commanded for decades.

"When the TMC came to power, the so-called CPM loyalists across Bengal realised that they will have no footing unless they attach themselves to the reigning power of the time. Party work in Bengal has very little to do with ideology. It is all about power and domination in this part of the country, saidAbesh Das, a local teacher who is also a social activist in the region.

If you are with the ruling government, you have certain clout, you command a certain level of respect and fear. And those who have tasted that kind of power and the perks that come with it, have a hard time letting it go. It is a vicious cycle, Das said.

***

Ashalata Sardar (name changed) is busy cleaning the floor of what seems like a house under construction. A former Left member from Monipur village -- about 75km from Kolkata and close to the Bangladesh border in Basirhat district -- Ashalata and her husband Arup Sardar (name changed) were coerced into joining the Trinamool like several of their peers. The family traditionally backed the Left front government till Mamatas Trinamool came to power in 2011. According to political observers in the state, a partisan cleansing followed in Bengal. Soon after the 2011 state assembly elections, the TMC targeted CPM workers/loyalists and supporters and forced them to join the party.

They did not attack us directly. But everyone around and near us was being threatened and beaten into submission. There was widespread unrest in a way that homes were being ransacked, people went missing overnight. We did not want that to happen to us or our family. Fearing for our lives, we joined the Trinamool in 2014, Ashalata said.

She fought the next local elections under the TMC banner and was elected village pradhan. The appointment was a mere formality. My opinions as a councillor did not matter. Decisions were made by someone else and I was there merely to sign on the orders - no questions asked, Ashalata said. When I asked, I was told to go on a sick leave for a year. Sheikh Shahjahan, local Trinamool block president, is the one who handles all the matters in the area. I didnt have a voice.

Lal TMC becomes Lal BJP

According to Sardar and Ashalata, they closely witnessed the domination of the Trinamool and the high-handedness of a few local leaders during the 2018 panchayat elections. We saw how they kept people from exercising their fundamental right to vote in 2018. We were expected to do the same. I resisted and openly told the local villagers that the TMC is not here to serve, but to rob democracy, said Sardar.

In the 2018 elections, the BJP witnessed a huge gain in their vote share in Bengal. The Trinamools panchayat capture in 2018 acted as an inflection point, decimating the Left and propelling the BJP to the status of the main Opposition party. The ruling party wasable to prevent opposition candidates from filing nominations. As a result, the Trinamool won walkovers in 34 percent of gram panchayat seats, 33 percent of the panchayat samiti seats and 25 percent of the zilla parishad seats. Unabated violence claimed over 25 lives, and re-polling was ordered in 573 booths across the state. In contrast, in the 2013 panchayat elections, re-polling was ordered in just 21 booths - the number of booths going for a repoll in 2018 was 27 times more than 2013.

Following the incidents of the 2018 local body elections and the unprecedented violence, the TMC -- according to Ashalata -- targeted those former CPM members who spoke out against these atrocities of TMC. But local activists tell a different story.

According to a SUCI (Socialist Unity Centre of India) leader from Bodo Tushkhali village in North 24 Parganas, who wished to remain anonymous, it was no coincidence that CPM turncoats like Ashalata and Sardar started speaking out against'' TMC just around the time when the BJP started gaining ground in the state.

The fundamental difference in the organisational structure of the CPM and the TMC was another factor because of which the turncoats could not adjust to the new order, and jumped to BJP as soon as they got the chance. But the move came with its own set of new, violent incidents in the districts.

The TMCs insecurity was clear when they were terrorising their own supporters against voting. Ballot boxes were snatched and ballot papers were signed or dumped in the water. The BJP got a boost as the TMC disallowed any electoral opposition, in order to consolidate their power. The TMCs regime has become worse than CPMs violent rule, said the SUCI leader.

According to Sardar, when he started speaking out against the TMCs corrupt practices and violent methods, they targeted him. My business was targeted, they tore down a part of my house, explosives were hurled at my house and my family was threatened. To save myself and my family, I joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2021.

When asked how a staunch CPM follower joined the ideologically opposite BJP, Sardar, Ashalata and Arup Sardar had similar responses. CPMs ways were violent too, but it was not mindless. They had strong ethics. The TMC is morally corrupt. They are robbing people of their basic right to vote. We dont have the freedom to speak uninhibitedly. We will be targeted if someone sees us speaking to a reporter," said Arup. When asked why he didn't return to the CPM after leaving the TMC, Arup said, The Left will not return to power this year, it cant win the elections. We joined the BJP to defeat the tyrannical rule of Mamata and her party. Even though ideological rivals, we have to survive now. Wait and watch, a majority of Left supporters in the state will vote for the BJP this time."

Bhagyadhar Mandal, a long-time BJP member and a former pradhan from Monipur panchayat, said that BJP workers in the region and other parts of the state have only been defending themselves against the brute force of the TMC. The ruling party targets villagers and locals who support the BJP. They hurl bombs at women and children, they destroy homes, there is a complete collapse of democracy. We cant freely voice our opinions. How can you expect no opposition? Corruption is rampant but we cant speak up against it. If we do, we are targeted. How can you expect democracy when the opposition cant question the government?

Political observers, however, noted that this cyclical violence on the ground is part of the larger culture of violence that Bengal has witnessed over decades and now it has the new entrant BJP in the mix as well.

A former Anandabazar Patrika journalist who is currently the BJP candidate from Suri in Birbhum district -- Jagannath Chattopadhyay -- said that political and electoral violence in Bengal is the unfortunate gift of the Left regime. CPM terrorised voters, especially the poor in rural Bengal because they believed thats the only way to have power over the electors. Thats how the Left remained in power for 34 years. The TMC followed in their footsteps, but the control that CPM had over their cadre is missing within the TMC, said Chattopadhyay. Under the CPM, he elaborates, the lumpen crowd that unleashed most of the violence was used sparingly and only for specific assignments. Under the Trinamool, this lumpen crowd has become the grassroots leadership. But now that the lumpen CPM and TMC cadre form a majority part of the state BJPs cadre, will the culture of violence continue?

Our cadre in BJP strongholds is livid, because many of our workers and party members have been killed. And they want payback after 2 May. But the BJP leadership does not believe in tit for tat, especially when it comes to violence. We have already lost many. But at the same time, people have been wronged. The TMC has charged countless people in false cases just because they are in power, and they can. In the last three-four years, almost 30,000 fake cases have been registered against BJP supporters and workers. People have not forgotten this State-sponsored police oppression over the last decade, says Chattopadhyay

Basirhat assembly constituency in the North 24 Parganas of Bengal voted on 17 April. Abhik Sardar, still in hiding, spoke to this correspondent over the phone. Police have charged me with two murders in the last three weeks. I had nothing to do with those cases. But they are still hunting for me. I could not even cast my vote today.

Excerpt from:

CPM to TMC to BJP: Political violence used to consol..e power in Bengal has driven cadre to switch loyalties - Firstpost

The Chicano Movement:

The mid to late sixties were a time for radical organization by minority groups. Following the Civil Right Movement (which peaked from 1955-1965) many separate movements began to emerge. There was the Young Lords Party formed by the Puerto Ricans in Chicago and New York, the Black Panthers formed in the California bay area, and the Chicano Movement started to emerge in many different forms.

The first part of the Chicano Movement began with Cesar Chavez and the creation of National Farm Workers Association. This organization later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). He and co-founder Dolores Huerta organized grape strikes, non-violent protests, hunger strikes, and marches against the farmers. Some of the major accomplishments of the UFW include improved working environments (the outlaw of DDT), unemployment benefits, and the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. 19

The Alianza Federal de Mercedes, founded by Reies Lopez Tijerina, was a group that focused on Chicano history within the United States. It wanted to "restore" ownership to those who lived on the land prior to the Mexican- American war. The motto of this movement was "The Land Is Our Inheritance, Justice Is Our Creed." Alianza, as well as the UFW, focused most of its attention on rural and land-related issues. They had failed to address issues of the barrio.

The Crusade for Justice, founded in 1965 by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales, did address urban Chicano communities. The goals of this organization were to establish communities controlled by Chicanos and to embrace their cultural nationalism. It focused on Chicano youth and was mainly comprised of students. They rejected assimilation and embraced their culture. They fought to have their culture become part of the curriculumin their schools. It was an organization for "Chicano Power."

La Raza Unida party was formed a in Crystal City, TX, in 1970 by Jose Angel Gutierrez. It attempted to "institutionalize Chicano students in national political terms and on a nation wide basis." Crystal City was 80% Mexican-American but they had no representation in the city counsel or on the school board. They organized a boycott against the school through walkouts. Through student walkouts at school, the adults in the Chicano Communities were reached. On April 4th, 1970 four Chicanos from the La Raza Unida party were elected to the school board. Because of the success of La Raza Unida party in Crystal City, many other cities and states in the southwest United States organized their own branches of the party.

These are a few of the major organizations that took place in the Chicana/o movement in earlier and later part of the sixties. Other groups include: the Brown Berets, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), and many other student organizations. 21

The Anglo Feminist Movement:

The Anglo Feminist Movement came to life in two different ways. The first was with the formation of the National Organization for Women (NOW) which was started in 1966. Adult women and men were those represented in this part of the movement. They wanted equality for women in government, employment and labor unions. The other movement consisted of young women; most of them were currently in just out of college. It was unofficially named the Women's Liberation Movement. The majority of them had been active earlier in the civil rights and antiwar movements. This group was considered more radical than NOW. They focused on issues such as reproductive rights, violence to women, and sexuality. They wanted to change the patriarchal society. Both groups were comprised primarily of women whom were white and middle class to upper class. Some of the main victories of Women's Liberation Movement was the legalization of abortion in 1973, laws dealing with rape and abuse to women, laws pertaining to sterilization, affirmative action programs, and Title IX passed in 1972. 11

The Chicana Feminist Movement:

In March 1969 the Denver Youth Conference took place. At this conference a workshop was held discussing the role of women in the movement. The women of this workshop stated, "It was the consensus of the group that the Chicana woman does not want to be liberated." This was one of the principle actions that sparked the Chicana Feminist Movement. Soon after this, woman began to organize. In May 1971 over 600 Chicanas met in Houston, TX for the Mujeres Por La Raza Conference. The two largest workshops held at this conference were "Sex and the Chicana" and "Marriage- Chicana Style." A survey was taken at this conference showed that 84% of the women there felt as though they were not encouraged to seek professional careers and education was not considered important for Chicanas, 84% thought that there was not equal pay for equal work, and 72% felt as though there was discrimination towards them in La Raza. 4 Along with organizing women's caucuses and holding conferences Chicanas also know that getting their words out there was important as well. In 1973 Encuentro Femenil, the first Chicana Feminist journal, was published. This journal explores the sexism and racism facing Chicanas at the time. It also made distinctions between its movement and the Anglo Feminist Movement. There were other important publications emerging at this time such as the newspaperHijas de Cuauhtemoc and a book of articles called La Mujer En Pie de La Lucha. 5 Chicana feminism, which paralleled to the Chicano movement, helped the Chicana become recognized as a valuable asset in her community. A few prominent names in Chicana Feminism are Mirta Vidal, Anna NietoGomez, Martha Cotera, and Gloria Anzaldua. There aremany more that emerged from the feminist and Chicano movement in the seventies and eighties. The struggles for these women were not always easy ones.

The Chicana could not rely on the men in the Chicano Movement or the women in the Women's Liberation Movement. Each of the movements wanted the Chicana to sacrifice her needs for the larger movement. Women who fought for their rights were often told by both groups that they had to choose between being women and being Chicana.

Chicanos and Chicano loyalists often accused Chicanas of being venditas or traitors to the movement and compared to Anglos of the Women's Liberation movement. They are viewed as being anti-family, anti-cultural, and anti-man. They accused them of trying to split the movement and not supporting the cause. The Chicano movement often ignored the request of Chicanas to incorporate issues such as abortion and reproductive choice (along with other issues important to Chicanas) into their platform. This backlash from the community forced Chicanas to discuss how Chicana Feminism should relate its movement to the rest of the Chicano Movement. 20 Loyalists to the Chicano movement felt that racism needed to be addressed before sexism. They used arguments against Chicanas were disrupting the roles or males and females with in the Chicano community. The more independent she became, the more she was labeled by the movement as Mujer Mala (or Bad Women) and the more they were accused of taking up the Anglo woman's fight.

Chicana had two main arguments to counter these accusations. They pointed out historical independent women in Chicano and Mexican history. They used examples of women who fought in the Mexican Revolution. They used examples of indigenous women prior to colonization by Spain and how they were strong, independent equals in the society. They also used nun and writer Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, and more modern references of UFW co-founder and activist Dolores Huerta. The other argument used by Chicanas was "the need to remake the family in struggle against Anglo domination." This was different from the Anglo movement because there was not much importance placed on the family structure in the Anglo movement. Through restructuring the family Chicanas thought the movement would progress further. They wanted to change the traditional gender roles imposed on them while recognizing the importance of the family structure in the Chicana/o community.

There were other differences between the Women's Liberation movement and the Chicana Feminist movement was the inclusion of race and class. The Anglo women focused on gender and felt that Chicanas should choose gender over culture. Chicanas had faced oppression concerning all three of these and did not think that one was more important than the other. Also, Chicanas lack of participation in the Anglo Feminist movement helped to reassure Chicano loyalists that they were not traitors to their culture and community. 22 The Women's Liberation movement viewed the Chicana women, and other minorities as well, as all similar. The classism of the movement failed to recognize the diverse background that these women came from. Anglo feminists felt superior not only in race but in class and often undermined and disregarded the ideology of different minority feminist movements. 26

See more here:

Chicana Feminism - History

I should not have to care whether my religious beliefs conflict with the majority of those in any branch of our government. The Constitution as enumerated in Article VI Section 3 and the First Amendment is supposed to guarantee that government should not care that for the first time ever the number of Americans who belong to a church has fallen below a majority. Unfortunately, a lot of people do care. In fact, some are downright terrified at the decline in religion. And it just so happens, many people who are terrified are also in government.

According to the most recent Attorney General, William Barr, this country was founded on the premise (expressed by John Adams that one time) that our government was only suitable and sustainable for a religious people. An attorney general saying this country is only intended and suitable for religious people is deeply disturbing for a couple of reasons. First, one John Adams quote notwithstanding, the Constitutions plain language that no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States directly contradicts it. It takes a massive, unsubstantiated leap to say our government was intended only to be suitable and sustainable for religious people when religious oaths were banned from the beginning and the only other mention is that government must stay out of religious affairs. Second, and more troubling, is believing government is only suitable and sustainable for religious people means those citizens who does not believe by very definition become unsuitable. Which is exactly what William Barr thinks.

To Barr, nonbelievers are everything thats wrong with this country. Barr views nonbelievers, as a collective, as directly responsible for the wreckage of the family, and record levels of depression and mental illness, dispirited young people, soaring suicide rates, increasing number of angry and alienated young males, an increase of senseless violence, and a deadly drug epidemic. Such views are not only facially bigoted (imagine saying Christianity and Christians were responsible for such things) but provably untrue.

Violent crime has not increased but drastically decreased during the period of religious decline. Families are not being wrecked. In fact, divorce rates have not only fallen significantly in the past year, but have also dropped appreciably over the past decade. The decline of religion is driving an irrational demonization and hatred of nonbelievers, and we are seeing this play out not just rhetorically, but in the courts.

Federal courts have banned nonbelievers from speaking to their own legislatures, banned nonbelievers from holding private jobs such as wedding celebrants for nonbeliever couples. Another federal panel (that included the liberal-minded Diane Wood and now-Justice Amy Barrett Coney) held last fall that states can favor religious gatherings over nonreligious expressive gatherings, including political gatherings. Never mind that political speech has been universally recognized as being at the heart of the First Amendment guarantee. Never mind there are many cases in which the Supreme Court has held, again, and again, and again, that religious expression must be treated equally with nonreligious expression. Because it is painfully obvious the law has nothing to do with such decisions.

Favoring religion in the law and disfavoring nonbelievers can only be explained by bigotry. Only a bigot would claim religious citizens and religious expression is worth more to this country than nonreligious citizens and nonreligious expression. Only a bigot would claim this country is only suitable and sustainable for a religious people.

But what can a nonbeliever do against such bigotry?

The absolute worst response to bigotry is more bigotry. Dr. Martin Luther King led a successful movement of American citizens (who had suffered far worse oppression than nonbelievers currently are), because he and these Americans rejected responding to bigotry in kind. Fear, hatred, and anger does not make lasting peace. Nonbelievers must respond by being better and fighting for universal freedom of conscience and denouncing any attempt by government to favor or disfavor citizens or their expression based on religious belief. Standing up for universal free conscience rights also means acknowledging where religious fears are legitimate.

If this now decades-long trend continues, nonbelievers will become the majority. In the short term, with a religious conservative ideological takeover of the courts, the continued rise in nonbelief is going to result in more restructuring of the First Amendment to favor the religious at the expense of nonbeliever free conscience. Last Friday, the Supreme Court reinvented religious liberty using an entirely new interpretation where the oldest precedent cited was from 2020. If or when a nonbeliever majority is achieved, nonbelievers must work to rebalance the courts to reverse the bigotry and restructuring of the law to serve partisan ends.

Tyler Brokers work has been published in the Gonzaga Law Review, the Albany Law Review, and the University of Memphis Law Review. Feel free to email himor follow him onTwitterto discuss his column.

View post:

The Legal Oppression Of Nonbelievers Will Escalate The More Religion Declines - Above the Law

MY NAME is Lily Tang Williams and I grew up in Communist China under the reign of Mao Zedong during a painful era called the Cultural Revolution. The origins of the Cultural Revolution preceded my birth, when a Western ideology, Marxism, was injected into China by Mao.

Marxism would later evolve into Maoism. Like all forms of Marxism, Maoism epitomized the worst in humanity: division, hatred, envy, and vengeance. Unlike most revolutions, the Cultural Revolution was not a war against a regime, but a regime-inspired holy war against its own people, society, and culture. Maos Cultural Revolution sought to destroy the Four Olds: traditional ideas, culture, habits, and customs. Through it, he led a campaign to silence dissident opinions, purge his political enemies, and, in the process, destroy age-old social institutions and gain absolute power.

Identity politics was a hallmark of Maoism, dividing people into five red classes and five black classes. The red classes were identified as poor and lower-middle-class peasants, workers, revolutionary soldiers, cadres, and revolutionary martyrs. The black classes were landlords, rich farmers, counter-revolutionaries, bad-influencers, and rightists. Mao shut down the schools and universities, urged the Red Guard (urban youth) to hate and hold Struggle Sessions to shame the black classes publicly by forcing them to self-criticize, confess their crimes and denounce themselves. The consequences for defiance were assault, torture, or imprisonment at a re-education camp. Some children were so brainwashed they would even change their surnames, cut ties with their families, and publicly denounce and betray their families.

Maos Cultural Revolution was a top to bottom orchestrated social justice movement like no other. An estimated 20 million Chinese died during the Cultural Revolution due to Maos toxic ideas and murderous policies. Today in China, no memorials or museums to those of this forgotten holocaust exist; even the phrase Cultural Revolution is banned on the Internet by the Chinese government.

In todays populist, racially-charged social justice movement in America, I see the shadows of the Cultural Revolution in Critical Race Theory (CRT), and in the ideology that inspired this movement. For those unfamiliar with CRT, it is the idea that American law, society, and institutions are inherently racist. Whites are born racist because of the cultural domination by White people in furthering their own economic and political power at the expense of people of color.

After I left China for America at the age of 23, arriving in Austin with nothing more than a suitcase, I discovered Texas to be filled with the kindest and most generous people I have ever encountered. There I was, a stranger in a strange land, being invited into American homes and offered help. Now, 33 years later, I am living the American Dream. This is not something one would expect to happen to a non-White, non-English speaking foreigner in a country that is systemically racist. My experience is certainly not unique. Many people of color agree with me that America has made huge progress since the Civil Rights Movement.

While CRT and Maoism are not identical ideologies, they share five features in common. The first is the development of a quasi-religious following of zealous youth devoted to unrestrained destruction of what is old to advance that which is new. Whereas Mao called for traditional Chinese culture to be destroyed, CRT calls for dismantling systems of oppression, which, like Maos definition of the old, is subjectively dependent on what they define as oppressive. The second feature is that both ideologies reduce complex problems to the classical Marxist dichotomy: society is constituted of those who oppress and those who are oppressed. CRT divides society into oppressor class (White) and oppressed class (people of color). Third, the processes in CRT training are similar to those in Struggle Sessions: writing self-criticizing letters, apologizing for being born White, public shaming, instilling guilt and hatred. Fourth, both ideologies are taught to school-age children without parental consent. The students are made to feel ashamed and guilty about their family history going back generations. Children are taught and trained to be social justice warriors by advocating for racial equity, which is about wealth redistribution. Fifth, the chaos, violence, identity politics and social division conjured up by both ideologies open the way for political factions to systematically divide and conquer until usurpation of the existing political system is one check-mate away.

I genuinely believed that the spirit of American individualism would resist the Sirens song of Marxism that I left behind. I was nave. It once again returns under a different name as it always does and now threatens to poison America, my refuge. This time, however, I have nowhere to run. I plead with you, learn from this immigrants story and the lessons of history fight back.

Lily Tang Williams is co-chair of New Hampshire Asian American Coalition. She lives in Weare.

Read the rest here:

Lily Tang: A Chinese immigrant's warning on Critical Race Theory - The Union Leader

The government has been warned by its own equalities watchdog that covid-status certificate schemes or vaccine passports could be discriminatory, it has been reported.

Ministers are considering whether the documents could be required as a condition for entry for public spaces such as sports events or despite significant opposition from Tory MPs as well as Labour and the Lib Dems.

The certificates are expected to allow users to display whether they have received a vaccine, undertaken a recent test or have antibodies.

However, the Equality and Human Rights Commission is reported to have told the Cabinet Office that such a measure would create a two-tier society in the UK.

Boris Johnson himself has said that the risk of discrimination is one of the sticking points in developing a scheme for protecting public spaces.

Sun rises over Aintree ahead of Grand NationalWhy Labours Commons defeat over Greensill wasnt really a defeat Second inquiry into Greensill lobbying scandal announced

The EHRC advice, reported in The Guardian, also warns employers should hold back on no jab, no job policies until all young people have been offered immunisations, that plans to make jabs mandatory for care workers may be unlawful, and that there is a risk of unlawful discrimination if decisions taken in this process disadvantage people with protected characteristics who have not received, or are not able to receive, the vaccine, unless they can be shown to be justified.

Earlier this month, figures including Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and Tory 1922 committee chair Graham Brady said the certificates should not be used to deny individuals access to general services, businesses or jobs.

Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekday

Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekday

The politicians joined by Labours Dawn Butler, Rebecca Long Bailey and Jeremy Corbyn; Lib Dems Layla Moran, Tim Farron, and Alistair Carmichael; and Tories Iain Duncan Smith, Peter Bone, and Steve Baker signed a joint letter with the support of more than 70 MPs opposing the measure.

Baroness Chakrabarti, a Labour peer, added: International travel is a luxury but participating in your own community is a fundamental right.

So internal Covid passports are an authoritarian step too far. We dont defeat the virus with discrimination and oppression but with education, vaccination and mutual support.

It comes after a leaked letter from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Foundation showed the NHS trust was planning to make vaccinations against coronavirus a contractual requirement for all they employ.

Meanwhile, the the Department of Health and Social Care has announced it will launch a consultation on proposals to make vaccination among care home staff a requirement of their employment.

The department warned the current staff vaccination level was below 80 per cent in 89 separate local authority areas and across all 32 London boroughs.

Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: Boosting the number of vaccinations in the social care sector is essential for everyones safety. But mandatory jabs are the wrong approach and a massive distraction.

Too heavy-handed an approach could backfire badly. Some staff may simply up and go, leaving a poorly paid sector already struggling with thousands and thousands of vacancies in a terrible state. That could damage the quality of care for the elderly and vulnerable, and no one wants that.

Read the original here:

Covid: Government told vaccine passports could be unlawful by rights watchdog - The Independent

The Australian government has sought to reassure more than 3,300 Myanmar nationals in Australia that it wont force them to return when their visas expire.

But despite mounting calls to provide greater reassurance to Myanmar nationals in Australia, Canberra has stopped short of across-the-board visa extensions or offers of asylum, insisting the issues will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Australias immediate past ambassador to Myanmar, Nicholas Coppel, told Guardian Australia the government needed to provide more security to visa holders, saying they were in in limbo and should be offered a pathway to permanent residency as this crisis shows no signs of ending.

With hundreds of civilians killed by security forces in Myanmar since the 1 February military coup, the Australian government has been urged to grant visa extensions similar to those given to Hong Kong nationals last year.

There were 3,366 visa holders from Myanmar in Australia at the end of February, government figures show, about half of them students.

Senior Labor frontbenchers have written to government ministers to say: No one should be involuntarily deported to Myanmar if they dont want to go back.

In response to questions from Guardian Australia, a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said Myanmar citizens who wished to remain in Australia should contact the department to ensure they are aware of the range of options available to extend their stay and remain lawful.

Australia is not considering removals given the current situation in Myanmar and the restricted travel options caused by Covid, the spokesperson said.

Australia provided protection to individuals consistent with international human rights obligations, the spokesperson added, and does not return individuals to situations where they face persecution or a real risk of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary deprivation of life or the application of the death penalty.

The spokesperson said individuals who wished to seek Australias protection may be granted permanent protection provided they are also able to fulfil the relevant visa criteria, which includes the health, character and security requirements that apply to all Australian visas.

However, each case is assessed on its individual merits and protection visa decisions are not based on broad assumptions about the safety in particular countries, the spokesperson said.

April Khaing, a representative of the Global Movement for Myanmar Democracy, said the government needed to offer Hawke-government style amnesties and asylum to visa holders.

This will ensure those currently residing in Australia are not required to return to Myanmar where they will face the violence and oppression of the military junta, she told a parliamentary hearing in Canberra on Tuesday.

We urgently request these amnesties to be extended to the immediate families of those already here to join them.

Coppel, who served as Australias ambassador to Myanmar from 2015 to 2018, said Australia should move quickly to give the small number of Myanmar nationals in Australia security over their futures.

The former envoy said an immediate announcement on the extension of all temporary visas held by Myanmar nationals should be followed by the establishment of a pathway to permanent residency, and said other countries had moved far more swiftly to reassure Myanmar nationals.

There is a clear humanitarian argument: we cannot push these people to return to Myanmar, Coppel said.

But this crisis shows no sign of ending, we dont know how or when it might end, and in the meantime, Myanmar nationals here are left in limbo. They cant establish lives here, their employment prospects are limited, they need certainty, and I think it makes sense to establish a pathway to permanent residency for those who want it.

Australia, too, Coppel said, needed to be more forceful in its advocacy for the release of Australian economist Sean Turnell.

He said Turnell was not a victim of hostage diplomacy: Myanmar was not looking to leverage Turnell in a dispute with Australia, but that the Myanmar military totally wrongly suspected Turnell of wrongdoing because of his close association with Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Australian government should not be shy about being stronger in its calls for his release, Coppel said.

This is a brutal regime, they are bullies, the idea that quiet diplomacy, that softly, softly is going to be effective is laughable, the only thing they understand is brute force and very strong statements.

Australian government officials have argued their response to the coup has involved active, engaged and sustained diplomacy.

Ridwaan Jadwat, who is in charge of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades southeast Asia division, brushed off criticism that a phone call between an Australian defence force leader and Myanmars deputy commander in chief had been used by the regime as a propaganda tool.

Jadwat said the call was made to express concern about Turnell and there were elements of that call that resulted in some additional contact with the detained Australian.

But in no way are we seeking to legitimise [the military regime] and we will not ever do that. We will try to use our lines of communication with the regime where needed in a limited fashion to prosecute our national interests, Jadwat said.

Go here to see the original:

Australian government tells Myanmar nationals they wont be forced to return - The Guardian

Toronto, April 12 (CNA) The Canadian government said Monday there was no truth to a news report that it was planning to withhold funding from a United States-based non-profit organization, which reportedly has proposed giving an award to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen ().

The Halifax International Security Forum (HFX), which holds its signature forum in the Canadian city of Halifax each year, is planning to present its "2020 John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service" to Tsai, according to the American publication Politico.

Upon learning of the decision, however, the Canadian government threatened to withdraw its financial support of the HFX if it went through with the plan to give the award to Tsai, Politico reported, saying that Canada feared such a decision would provoke China.

At a meeting Monday of the Canadian Parliament's Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan strongly denied the Politico report, according to Canadian media.

"That is absolutely false," Sajjan was reported as saying. "The Halifax International Security Forum is an independent organization and they make their own choices with regards to the awards."

He said that when the funding request comes to him, as it does every year, he will "take a look at it," according to the media reports.

Sajit spokesman Todd Lane told CNA that the Canadian government had provided funding for the forum in 2020 under a contribution agreement but had no part in the forum's decisions.

"While financial support has been provided, the (Canadian) Department of National Defense and the Canadian Armed Forces are not involved in the planning of the Forum," Lane said in an email response to CNA on the issue. "The organizers reach out to us, as well as many other organizations, for panelists on various topics and we try to support when appropriate."

According to the Politico report, the situation remains at an impasse, as HFX's has "not yet announced the winner" of the prize since the November 2020 forum but it has said Tsai would be "an ideal fit."

The John McCain Prize, named after the late U.S. senator, is awarded annually by the HFX to individuals from any country, who have demonstrated uncommon leadership in the pursuit of human justice. The award in 2018 was made to the people of Lesbos, Greece, for their "valiant actions to rescue refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East," while in 2019 it was given to the people of Hong Kong for their "brave fight for their rights in the face of oppression from the government of China."

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that if Tsai received the award, it would be an affirmation of the Taiwanese people's democratic achievements and efforts against COVID-19, but the ministry also stressed that it would respect whatever decision the HFX reached.

According to Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, 2019-2020 federal budget documents show that the Canadian Department of National Defense's annual contributions to the forum are around CA$3 million (US$2.38 million).

The newspaper also reported that two Taiwan government ministers took part in the 2020 HFX forum, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Foreign Minister Joseph Wu () spoke during an off-the-record session, while Minister without Portfolio Audrey Tang () joined the discussions on intellectual property in one of the sessions, it said.

(By Hu Yu-li, Emerson Lim and Matthew Mazzetta)

Enditem/pc

See the rest here:

Canada denies plan to pull NGO funding over proposed award to Taiwan leader - Focus Taiwan News Channel

Over the years, feminism has been instrumental in highlighting the differential conditioning that women are subjected to in society. Many structures are placed in the public sphere that negate the inclusion and participation of women in society, thereby side-lining one half of the population.

Since its genesis, the feminist movement has undergone many radical changes and the last three decades have given rise to increased visibility of third world feminist struggles.

In the Indian context, Dalit feminism strikes a two-pronged attack on caste and gender. No form of oppression ever occurs in isolation and so, when it comes to the oppression of Dalit women, one has to take into account their caste as well as their gender.

The early decades of the 20th century witnessed protest movements that sought to reform the social, economic and political conditions of Dalit women. These movements highlighted the link between industrialisation, colonialism and the commodification of womens body as the main factor that furthered their oppression.

While reading BR Ambedkar, one cannot skip the profound insights Babasaheb had on social issues relevant to his times. On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, when the world will celebrate his 130th birth anniversary on April 14, it would be profoundly wrong to recognise him only as a Dalit leader. His work also reflects his massive contribution towards the cause of womens rights. The social movement in 1920s and 1930s helped shape Indias modern Dalit feminist theory.

In his journals-- Moon Nayak and Bahiskrit Bharat, Ambedkar wrote extensively on womens oppression and their issues. He advocated for a Hindu Code Bill aimed at reforming Hindu personal law in India by ensuring women have economic security in the form of inheritance after marriage. Ambedkar remained particularly dissatisfied with the then Parliament for stalling the Hindu Code Bill and their lack of enthusiasm for womens cause. He was the first feminist thinker of his time to resign from his position as the Law minister of the country due to the inability of the Nehru government to pass the same.

Uniform Civil Code

Ambedkars advocation for a Uniform Civil Code focused on marriage, divorce, inheritance and guardianship of women and was aimed at eliminating the communal divide by ensuring legal and social justice to all. I personally do not understand why religion should be given this vast, expansive jurisdiction, so as to cover the whole of life and to prevent the legislature from encroaching upon that field.

During the Ambedkarite movement in the 1930s, Dalit womens organisations passed many resolutions against dowry, child marriage and caste system. They also extended their political support to the Independent Labour Party and the Schedule Caste Federation. These instances highlight the significance of the then Dalit feminist movement and the need for Dalit feminists to tun to Ambedkars political thought, today.

Tyrannical Imbalance

Ambedkar understood the necessity to provide women with a space where they can realise their true potential. He advocated for womens rights and their dignity in society. Brahmanical rituals and moral obligations have suppressed women, especially the Dalit women.

The central idea of Ambedkarite thought is to ensure education for women, provide them with economic security and a political voice to raise their own concerns. In these terms Ambedkar was far ahead of his times. His main mission was to reconstruct Hindu society along the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity. Given the complexity of todays world and the ongoing plethora of politics of differences, there is a need to discuss Dalit feminism through the Ambedkarite lens of empowerment.

During the 6th Ambedkar Memorial Lecture held at Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Sharmila Rege said, There is an urgency for feminist discourse to turn to Ambedkar. A category of women undifferentiated by caste does not exist for feminists to mobilise. Now the pressure is not to talk about gender in isolation but to include class, caste and other factors. Therefore, there is a need to reclaim Dr Ambedkars writings as feminist classics.

In order to accentuate a responsive conscience of the community, the attainment of political and economic empowerment is crucial for any group and the Dalit feminists need to work relentlessly to break free from the mainstream shackles that the society has placed on them. Within the political sphere, the current government has worked efficiently to emancipate women from their disadvantageous position and provide them with a life that ensures stability and security and dignity in its truest sense.

Laudable steps

The BJP government has advocated for womens empowerment and this has been reflected in their 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto which covered areas like womens education, security and all-round development. With its Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme the party is committed towards providing accessible and quality education to all women in the country.

By taking concrete legislative measures regarding triple talaq, the government has ensured equal legal rights to Muslim women. The Mission Indradhanush programme ensured full immunisation of 3.39 crore pregnant mothers and its schemes, comprising Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Ujjwala, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, Saubhagya, has been functioning effectively in ensuring a safe and dignified life for women.

The government is aiming to strengthen womens position in society by drawing upon Ambedkarite thought. The Uniform Civil Code that the BJP government is keen on bringing has its roots in the modernisation philosophy of Ambedkar that irrespective of religion, the basic legal rights of marriage, divorce and property inheritance must be enjoyed by all. The Maternity Bill 2016 passed in Parliament ensures women get paid leave. The passing of the Maternity Bill 2016 is a landmark moment as it recognises the caregivers of the society.

While discussing this issue we need to go back to the year 1928 when Babasaheb defended and argued for the Bill for the first time in Bombay Legislative Council where he stated, I believe, therefore, that it is in the interests of the nation that the mother ought to get a certain amount of rest during the pre-natal period and also subsequently, and the principle of the bill is based entirely on that principle.

The discourse of Dalit feminist has long been pushed behind the subaltern critique and has been used time and again by different mainstream narratives but now it is due time for them to secure a presiding narrative for themselves that reserve their social standing as well economic entitlement. The empowering politics that Ambedkar embraced throughout his life is crucial for Dalit feminist to turn to.

Ambedkar used the modern ethical norm to formulate and conceptualise the identity of woman in the society through social emancipation and empowerment and emphasising the individuals autonomy as a political agent. Through this, he emphasised upon how the social and political models have synthesised and resulted into enriching the potential of women in Indian society.

(Aditi Narayani is a Phd Scholar at the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies, School of Social Science, JNU and founder of DAPSA (Dalit Adivasi Professor Scholar Association). Views are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of Outlook Magazine)

More here:

The Need For Dalit Feminists To Base Their Movement On Babasaheb Ambedkars Thought - Outlook India