Monthly Archives: November 2007

SF Film Festival / Loins of Punjab / Meetup!

Posted on by

1 week & counting to the ever-popular, always-satisfying, 3rd I-sponsored, SF International South Asian Film Festival –

Like Amardeep, one of my most eagerly anticipated flicks is Loins of Punjab from freshman writer / director Manish Acharya –

2:00 pm, Saturday, November 17th, Castro Theater, San Francisco
Admission: $10
Director: Manish Acharya
Country: India (2007)
Running Time: 88 mins, 35mm, Color

Synopsis & Tickets

I’ve already purchased my tickets online. To keep the good times rolling after the flick, we’ll do a mini-meetup around the corner from the theater at Samovar Tea Lounge in the Castro.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

Non-Aligned Nehru (Guha Chapter 8)

Posted on by

[Part of an ongoing series on Ramachandra Guha’s India After Gandhi. Last week’s entry can be found here. Next week we will look at Chapter 9, “Redrawing the Boundaries,” on the Language Movements of the 1950s]

With 20-20 hindsight, many people criticize Nehru today for pursuing a foreign policy oriented to “nonalignment” — that is, independence from both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Here is one of Nehru’s most famous statements articulating that policy, from a speech given at Columbia University:

“The main objectives of that policy are: the pursuit of peace, not through alignment with any major power or group of powers but through an independent approach to each controversial or disputed issue, the liberation of subject peoples, the maintenance of freedom, both national and individual, the elimination of racial discrimination and the elimination of want, disease and ignorance, which afflict the greater part of the world’s population.”

The idealism in that statement is admirable, and still worth thinking about, even if the world order has changed dramatically since Nehru first uttered these words. The idea of taking an “independent approach to each controversial or disputed issue” is one I personally strive for as a writer, and could serve as a helpful corrective to many partisan ideologues — on both the left and the right — who tend to only see the world through one particular ideological filter or the other.

Ideals aside, Nehru’s government did make some serious mistakes in foreign policy in the first few years. One of the significant failures Guha mentions in this chapter involved an inconsistency in the response to two international crises: 1) Anglo-French military action in response to Egypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 (the Suez Crisis), and 2) the Soviet invasion of Hungary following an anti-Communist uprising, also in 1956 (the Hungarian Revolution). India publicly condemned the first act of aggression by western powers, but not the second, which today seems like a clear indication that India was leaning towards the Soviets more than it let on.

Guha suggests there were some internal differences between Nehru and the famous leftist Krishna Menon, who represented India at the U.N., over the Hungary question. Nehru publicly defended Menon’s abstention at the U.N. on the resolution condemning the Soviet invasion of Hungary, but privately he was deeply upset about the invasion. Part of the problem here might have been Nehru’s lack of clarity over the correct course to take, but certainly Krishna Menon’s independent streak must have been a factor as well.

A similar kind of diplomatic confusion was present in India’s relationship with China starting in 1950. Here, the Indian ambassador to China, K.N. Panikkar (who is also very well-known as a historian), seems to have fatally misread Mao Zedong and the personality of Chinese communism: Continue reading →

Anti-kara…to Ensure Equality

Posted on by

Well, color me furious after perusing ye olde News tab. Well, the new News tab, but still. Via the Beeb (Thanks, chicagodesidiva): Oh, HELL no, it won't go.jpg

A 14-year-old girl has been excluded from a school in south Wales for wearing a Sikh bangle, or Kara.
Sarika Singh refused to take off the religious symbol because it is “a constant reminder to do good”.

As you can see from the photograph, Sarika’s kara is hardly ostentatious or luxe– I mention that because that was the rational which my private school had for outlawing jewelry…so girls couldn’t flaunt wealth by dripping in gold, diamonds, filthy lucre.

Aberdare Girls School said it has a clear code of conduct and it had temporarily excluded a pupil for refusing to accept a governors’ ruling.

The school also stated that a “code of conduct” had been distributed to every student before they commenced attending Aberdare AND that it was reissued before every semester. Said code only allows a watch and “plain metal stud earrings”. I guess that means crosses, pentagrams, and super-cute star-of-David pendants aren’t permitted. Then again, none of those necklaces are part of anything like the 5 Ks:

The Sikh Federation UK said that the bangle was an “article of faith” and Sikhs had no choice but to wear it.

Sarika’s parent, Sinita Singh, is not being unreasonable:

She said the teenager would remove the bangle for gym classes, or wood and metalwork, for safety reasons.
Mrs Singh said: “It’s not jewellery, it’s part of our faith and symbol of our belief.”
She said they had a meeting with the school and argued the case with the board of governors, but they refused to allow her to wear it.
“We feel very strongly that Sarika has a right to manifest her religion – she’s not asking for anything big and flashy, she’s not making a big fuss, she just wants a reminder of her religion.”

Apparently, Sarika has been suspended (hey, UK types…is that what “excluded” means?) for wanting to wear her kara.

Sarika said of wearing the bangle: “It’s very important to me, it constantly reminds me to do good and not to do bad, especially with my hands.”
Her mother said the Sikh Federation had supported them and she would do “whatever it takes”.

Maybe the law is on Sarika’s side?

Jagtar Singh, secretary of Sikh Federation UK claimed the school was breaching the 1976 Race Relations Act in its treatment of Sarika.

Continue reading →

Two Things I Think We Can All Agree On

Posted on by

1) Padma Lakshmi may not be the sharpest tool in the shed:

“Padma Lakshmi,” she hoped, might one day be on as many food labels as “Paul Newman”—“a big hero.” Soon there would be Padma jewelry and fashion, “like Jennifer Lopez,” she said, and television and cookware, “like Martha Stewart.” In September, she sealed a major deal with IMG, the sports-and-entertainment marketing giant. “She has a global image and no end of ideas,” said John Steele, a senior V.P., “so we have multiple agreements.” “Like,” Padma said, “Tiger Woods.” How amazing was it that she, the daughter of a single mother who fled India to escape the stigma of divorce, was poised to become the first Indian woman with an American brand—perhaps the first to self-brand. “I’m as American as anyone else,” she has said. (link)

Ah yes, comparing yourself to Martha Stewart, Jennifer Lopez, and Tiger Woods in a single paragraph. Why not also go for P Diddy, to round out your own private Macy’s commercial of utter delusion? (Read on for more wince-worthy quotes…)

2) But she knows how to work the hair:

padma-lakshmi-vanity-fair.jpg

(Thanks for the tip, KXB. I know you read Vanity Fair for the articles, too.) Continue reading →

Pakistan as Illiberal Democracy?

Posted on by

<

p align=left>I often see myself as sort of the David Brooks of Sepia Mutiny – a soft contrarian vs. the general political clime here. So, I was surprised to see Abhi’s take on Pakistan. There aren’t too many issues out there where Abhi & I tend to agree rather than disagree and it appears that Pakistan is one such situation. (On the other hand, I don’t think the ACLU does enough for the NRA )

In our politically-correct, post-modern world, criticism of government flows easily, criticism of the “governed”, not enough

My underlying reason for taking a “looks bad, but I’ll wait and see” attitude towards Mushie rather than condeming him outright was perhaps best spelled out in a seminal Foreign Affairs article by desi-pundit Fareed Zakaria. Well before he broke onto the public consciousness with a famous Newsweek cover piece, and before he was for the Iraq war, then against its execution, then for it again, Zakaria coined the phrase “Illiberal Democracy” to describe situations where serving the “will of the people” is’nt exactly a Good Thing –

THE AMERICAN diplomat Richard Holbrooke pondered a problem on the eve of the September 1996 elections in Bosnia, which were meant to restore civic life to that ravaged country. “Suppose the election was declared free and fair,” he said, and those elected are “racists, fascists, separatists, who are publicly opposed to [peace and reintegration]. That is the dilemma.” Indeed it is, not just in the former Yugoslavia, but increasingly around the world. Democratically elected regimes, often ones that have been reelected or reaffirmed through referenda, are routinely ignoring constitutional limits on their power and depriving their citizens of basic rights and freedoms. From Peru to the Palestinian Authority, from Sierra Leone to Slovakia, from Pakistan to the Philippines, we see the rise of a disturbing phenomenon in international life — illiberal democracy.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

More on CW’s “Aliens in America”

Posted on by

I know SM is rightly consumed with a different Musharraf, but all this talk about Mushie reminded me of CW’s Aliens in America, which, for those of you who don’t recall, is a new television sitcom featuring a protagonist named Raja Musharaff. I loved the pilot but many of you, my bunker-mate Amardeep included, were all “eh”.

Well, ahem. Salon’s Heather Havrilesky likes AiA, too. Take that, pooh-pooers. 😉

From yesterday’s Salon’s guide to what to watch:

God is allergic to Jell-O. Most cats show a preference for the color orange. There’s a very funny comedy that you’re not watching, and it’s on the CW. Which one of these statements is true? Amazingly enough, the CW’s “Aliens in America” (8:30 p.m. EST Mondays) is not only consistently funny, it’s also charming and absurd and addictive, setting it miles apart from the CW’s typical herd of superpowered teenage hotties. The story of a Pakistani exchange student named Raja who goes to live with an average family in a small town in Wisconsin could have landed in unreasonably dorky territory. Instead, the show’s writers have churned out a steady stream of seriously clever scripts, dense with absurd jokes and memorable moments, making “Aliens in America” feel more like a modern, snappy update on a John Hughes film. The dorky Midwestern Tolchuck family is pitch perfect, but the big star here is Adhir Kalyan, whose spot-on performance as the hopelessly earnest and morally upright Raja is responsible for the show’s most hilarious moments. (You can watch one of the best recent episodes, “Rocket Club,” here.) [kumquat]

I think Adhir Kalyan is kinda funny:

One writer asked Kalyan if he experienced culture shock, coming to the U.S. from South Africa. His reply: “In truth, the only thing I found difficult to deal with coming to the States is the size of the portions of food. Really — I mean, really, do we need portions that are that big? I mean, Africa doesn’t need Bono. Africa doesn’t need Geldof. Africa needs a Denny’s grand-slam breakfast.” [mangosteen]

From the same link:

You’ll get a bit of a “Freaks and Geeks”/”Wonder Years” vibe from “Aliens,” though it has a way to go to imitate the pure heart of those classics.

See, I totally think it has heart. While I haven’t gone out of my way to catch every episode (I’m usually getting home bang in the middle of the program, and I hate cutting in…and yes, I know, I am the only mutineer sans TiVo), I was able to see last night’s Aliens and I was reminded of how cute it was. I was smiling for thirty minutes. The show is totes sweet.

I stand by my initial positivity towards one of CW’s finest, especially after last night’s special guest star– the hoochie-rific Homecoming dress– almost stole the show. If popular little sister Claire knew what her Mom did while trying it on, I doubt that she would have pitched that tantrum about returning it. 😉 Also, it takes a non-trivial amount of talent to keep those multiple, “mandatory” tags crease-free while being so…um…active; every girl here who has purchased a prom dress/formal/bridesmaid outfit knows exactly what I mean.

Have any of you kept up with it or caught something beyond the pilot? Has Raja won you over or are you still not sold? Continue reading →

In Defense of Substantive Democracy

Posted on by

This post is a response of sorts to Abhi’s thought-provoking comments on Musharraf’s State of Emergency, and what he sees as the possible benefits of dictatorship in certain limited conditions. Abhi’s post, as I read it, was a thought experiment, not necessarily a political program — and this is a somewhat speculative thought experiment as well (these ideas are not set in stone). There is some value in the general idea that democracy before stability is not always the best thing for a country, and in the particular claim that Pakistan’s democratic institutions have been severely weakened by years and years of misrule (going back to the Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif days; Musharraf did not start this with his 1999 coup).

That said, I’m not ready to give up faith in liberal democracy, and I think it could still happen in Pakistan. As for how to get there, there are probably only two or three paths at this point, none of them easy. One is a popular uprising that would probably turn pretty ugly in the short run — think of the bloody riots in Karachi this past summer, only magnified. If successful (big “if”), mass protests/riots could be followed by a military coup and a provisional dictatorship, and then by open elections — again, if the coup was carried out by the right person. (There could also be more violence during the elections, and possibly more trouble/instability even after they occur.) The other is something accidental, which could be anything. Perhaps a new leadership emerges (Imran Khan, by the way, has managed to escape from house arrest — I wish him luck), or perhaps something unforeseen happens to/with Musharraf that leaves a power vacuum? Perhaps both? Who knows. Either way, in my view there is no question that if democracy is to have a chance in Pakistan, Musharraf has to go.

Another possibility to speculate on is what might happen if either the Bush administration or (more likely) its successor were to withold military and economic aid to pressure Musharraf to cancel this State of Emergency. Here I’m really not sure what the ramifications would be for Musharraf. It might be symbolically bad on the international stage, but would it really hurt him all that much domestically? Here I’m really not sure.

I should also say that I disagree with the calculus, which is widely prevalent amongst American TV pundits right now (and also implied in Abhi’s post), that Musharraf needs to stay because America needs him for its “War on Terror.” There may or may not be any truth in this (as has been pointed out, Musharraf’s net contribution to fighting terrorism is highly debatable), but what I keep thinking is that at this moment it’s not America’s interests that I’m concerned about, it’s the Pakistani people, who deserve good, transparent governance. It’s the Pakistani people who deserve a free press (not blackouts of private news channels), the right to peacefully dissent, and the right to organize politically — who deserve, in short, substantive democracy. Continue reading →

In defense of a dictator

Posted on by

I love the ACLU. I believe that a person shouldn’t be allowed to run for President of the United States unless they are a card-carrying member (as opposed to our current system where you have to be a member of the NRA). Likewise, I think that Human Rights Watch rocks and that any government that questions their findings or calls them inaccurate are doing so mostly because they are annoyed at being caught doing something pretty heinous. However, unlike some of my co-bloggers, I also think I support Musharraf’s intention to stay in power and am willing to forgive his autocratic moves for the time being. Why? Because countries like Iraq (and a few others I can think of) have taught the world a very important lesson in recent years. Insisting that they quickly transition to a democracy because its what we (sitting in our stable homes) are fortunate enough to enjoy, doesn’t always result in the best outcome for them or us. History has repeatedly shown that a weak central government is sometimes much worse for everyone than a dictator who, despite curtailing personal freedoms, provides stability for the vast majority. The key is that a path to an eventual transition or succession be clearly defined. The fact that Musharraf has not developed and cultivated a method for succession while he has been busy helping the U.S. fight its war in Afghanistan and Iraq is what has gotten him into trouble.

What was it that went wrong in Iraq? We foolishly believed (and by we I really mean those Neocons) that a community of exiled intellectuals could pick up where a brutal strongman (Hussein) left off. We learned the hard way that exiled intellectuals (like Bhutto and Sharif in the case of Pakistan) are out of touch with the needs of the masses and will end up fighting amongst themselves while emptying the state coffers. Hussein, just like Hitler and Kim Jong Il, was a very bad man responsible for the death of thousands of his own people. That isn’t why we invaded Iraq or decided that they needed to be democratized though. We invaded Iraq in the expectation that we’d bring about greater long-term stability for us (and for them as a secondary benefit). Nobody would suggest that Musharraf is anywhere near as bad as Hussein and the stability he has been providing is not bad, all things considered. And let’s not forget the reason he seized power in the first place and has been popular in Pakistan for most of his tenure:

Nawaz Sharif was also involved in corruption at the highest level during his tenure which brought further mistrust of the people towards his government. The Nawaz government launched a scheme called “Karz utaro, Mulk savaro” whose intent was to pay off debt of the nation through the Pakistani people’s pockets. Pakistanis took part aggressively and emotionally to help Pakistan pay off the debt. Many Pakistanis living abroad took part in this scheme extensively and sent millions (maybe billions) to help pay off the debt. Even the poor living in the country helped, to the extent that women sold their jewellery to help the cause, but to no avail. As of this date, it is not known what happened to the funds and the national debt never decreased. It is widely believed that the scheme was to benefit Nawaz Sharif & family, and not to pay off the country’s debt. [Link]

Continue reading →

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers

Posted on by

Today in Pakistan, lawyers protested their country’s state of Emergency and were punished for it. Via Bloomberg:

Pakistani police charged with clubs and arrested more than 150 lawyers challenging President Pervez Musharraf’s emergency rule as the U.S. said it was reviewing military aid to the country in response to the decree.

Rioting Lawyers.jpg

Police beat lawyers and used tear gas to disperse protesters in cities across Pakistan. Stocks slumped amid speculation that Musharraf was arrested in a coup today, which the military denied, saying it was a rumor.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in Beijing for talks with the Chinese government, called on Musharraf to restore democratic rule. Musharraf suspended the constitution on Nov. 3 for the second time since he took power in a 1999 military coup, saying judicial interference in government affairs had sparked terrorism and extremism throughout the country.

I’m sure Mushie is just petrified after hearing this from Condi:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in the West bank city of Ramallah today that Musharraf should restore Pakistan’s democratic institutions “quickly and urgently.” She has said the Bush administration will review its financial aid of more than $1 billion a year to Pakistan.

And props to the UN, for reminding us of the obvious:

“A state of emergency should only be used to deal with a dire security threat to the nation, not to undermine the integrity and independence of the judiciary,” the United Nations High Commissioner Louise Arbour said today in an e-mailed statement.

According to the remainder of the article, the number of detainees is in four digits, court is off-limits to lawyers, Imran Khan has gone underground, judges are under house arrest and Pakistanis who are brave enough to lift their voices in protest are being gassed and beaten for doing so.

Citizens and journalists staged a protest outside the Karachi Press Club today, where they wore black armbands and shouted slogans against the government. Heavy contingents of police beat protesters.

::

If you want to read The Emergency Times, i.e. what was/is on pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com, go here. I’m mirroring the often unavailable blog posts which one of you thoughtfully passed on to me via email, out of solidarity.

Let people know. We Are Resisting. Please Join us.

Unity is mutinous. Continue reading →