Since several of our “main” bloggers are off enjoying the fruits of summer (Ciao! you know who you are…), we thought we would keep things moving here in the Bunker with another guest blogger, Nilanjana Bhattacharjya. Nilanjana is an ethnomusicologist who teaches at Colorado College. She is also an avid Twitterer, for those of you for whom that means anything. And for the academics in the house, Nilanjana has an essay in a recent collection called Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance, which she co-wrote with another friend of mine, on the inner workings of the commercial Indian film music industry as it operates within India, as well as how it is repackaged as it “travels” in the diaspora. Despite the focus on film and music, Nilanjana has lots of interests, including an interest in subcontinental politics — so expect a diverse array of posts. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: May 2009
Another War Within: Swat and Buner
Sometimes you do get what you want. The U.S. government had been strongly pressuring Pakistan to take direct military action against the Taliban, which had come to dominate in some non-border areas, including areas not far in miles from Peshawar and Islamabad.
As a result, the Pakistan Army has mobilized formidable power against the militants in the Buner and Swat districts. Both are in the NWFP province, but neither are border areas. In the fighting thus far, estimates are that about 1000 militants have already been killed. No one has an estimate of the number of civilians killed because, as usual, the press are banned from the area.
In the meanwhile, there are now 1.5 million civilians who have fled those areas now living in relief camps, according to estimates from the UNHCR:
The announcement of further aid came as the Office of Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), announced that the number of registered refugees since May 2 had reached 1,454,377.
A statement from UNHCR said that “humanitarian workers were struggling to keep up with the size and speed of the displacementâ€.
Guterres told reporters on Sunday, “It’s like trying to catch something that’s moving ahead of us because the number of people on the move every day is so big and the response is never enough.†“Leaving this population without the support they need – with such massive numbers – could constitute an enormous destabilizing factorâ€, he said.
UNHCR’s chief spokesperson, Ron Redmond, said on Tuesday, “We haven’t seen anything so big and so fast in years.†(link)
And when they say, “We haven’t seen anything so big and so fast in years,” they mean 15 years, to be exact. As I understand it, the last time a displacement of this magnitude happened was 1994, in Rwanda. Continue reading
Ram Represents
Last week Burlington Rep. Kesha Ram (D) completed her first session in Vermont’s legislature. At 22 she’s the youngest member of the House and a recent graduate of the University of Vermont where she was student body president. When the state legislature is in recess she teaches preschool. A Los Angeles native with a father from India and a Jewish mother, Ram is the only person of color in the House.
You may have seen MTV’s Kesha Ram Rocks The House when she ran for office last year. Her campaign sought to energize young voters, who in the 18-25 age range make up 50 percent of her district’s voters. Progressive opponents attacked her choice to run as a Democrat, arguing that it would hamper her ability to speak for her constituents.
Update: I just noticed this interview with Kesha Ram over at Wiretap Magazine, Young and Elected: Kesha Ram. Continue reading
Yo Das Racist
My friend T.H. sent me an article today from The Root (a spin-off of Slate.com) that describes the advent of the “blipster.” The blipster for all you non-hipsters is the new official term used to describe an “alternative” African-American male or female:
…a “blipster”–a black hipster or “alt-black”? Like many recent cultural trends, this one straddles race, politics, fashion and art. For the purposes of discussion, we’ll stick with men–though I have seen some Flock of Seagulls-looking female blipsters out and about as of late. As Lauren Cooper, a Howard University graduate who admits to an indie lifestyle, puts it, “It’s probably easier to pick out a black male ‘blipster’ than a female.” [Link]
The blipster is a new thing? Ummm…hasn’t like Mos Def been around for ever? Anyways, what really got my attention in the article was a quote by one Himanshu Kumar:
Part of the blipster look is born of utility. “You can’t really wear sagging jeans without being embarrassed on your skateboard,” says Himanshu Kumar of the band Das Racist. So pin-thin pants have joined the “Spitfire shirts and SB Dunks” named by Fiasco in his now-classic skateboarding rap as markers of the new style. [Link]
The band Das Racist is a Brooklyn duo featuring Himanshu Kumar and Victor Vazquez. I’m diggin’ their video for Chicken And Meat. They just have a sound I haven’t heard before. Me likes:
‘It doesn’t solve anything’
The Tamil-Canadian community in Winnipeg is minuscule compared to the one in Toronto, but they’re also making their voices heard. More than 100 of them gathered Sunday evening on the steps of the Manitoba Legislative Building for a somber candlelight vigil that centered on prayers and songs. “We can only pray to God now,” said Dr. Mathu Singarajah, a dentist. “Nobody else can listen to us.”
They held candles, signs, black flags and pictures of children whom they see as victims of the Sri Lankan government’s assault on civilians. While people in Colombo and elsewhere celebrated the apparent end of the 25-year civil war, those at the vigil mourned the deaths of innocent people and wondered what, if anything, had been solved. “It doesn’t solve anything,” Singarajah said. “People’s grievances aren’t going to be over. This government is so ruthless. They don’t want to give us our rights. As long as that is the case, the problems will go on.”
Anita Subramaniam, a young woman who helped organize the vigil, served as spokeswoman for the group. “I think this is far from over,” she said. “The diaspora all over the world are watching their relatives die and aren’t going to let this go.”
The Tamil community organized the vigil after hearing that 25,000 civilians had just been killed. Because independent journalists aren’t allowed to travel freely in Sri Lanka — some have even been barred from entering the country — casualty numbers can’t be verified and tend to vary considerably, depending on the source. “They need to let the UN go in and investigate,” Subramaniam said.
Terminator or Resistance fighter?
I find more personal joy in seeing desi characters in science fiction movies than in any other genre of film. I get a completely irrational “see, we made it into the future” type of feeling. I also like the fact that in the future one’s race is usually treated as an incidental rather than defining feature. Terminator Salvation opens next week and features at least one desi character named Rahul (played by actor Anjul Nigam). No pictures or background on his character are available yet (he explains on his Twitter account that he was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement), but I suppose it is too much to wish that he is one of the cyborg terminators. If anyone has the scoop on his character “Rahul” let’s hear it.
If Nigam looks familiar it might be because you have seen him recently on TV’s “Lie to Me” or (*barf*) “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Indian Election Results: Bring on the links [Updated]
The Indian election results have been pouring in, with the Congress/UPA government set to return to power for another five years. Here is the New York Times’ story; apparently, this is the first time since Nehru that an Indian political party has served out the full five years, and then been reelected to power.
I wanted to give readers a chance to share information and suggest sites that are gathering results in various parts of the country. I am especially curious to see what happens with Shashi Tharoor in Trivandrum (I blogged about him a few weeks ago), and of course the political landscape as a whole. As of 1:00 am EDT, the UPA is up over the NDA/BJP around 220-150 [update: the final number for the UPA will be something more like 259]. The UPA is going to stay in, and even consolidate its power — which means, greater independence from the Left. Manmohan Singh is likely to remain Prime Minister for awhile, and perhaps it’s going to be curtains for L.K. Advani’s Prime Ministerial aspirations.
I was watching IBN live here.
The NDTV VoteMap is pretty nice, though it would be better if there were a way to see who held a given state or a given district earlier.
On Twitter, the tag seems to be #indiavotes09. The stream is moving very quickly. There is something called Tweetgrid, which lets you see feeds for six Twitter keywords at once.
Shashi Tharoor has his own Twitter feed: ShashiTharoor. As of now, he is up by 30,000 votes, with more than half of the votes counted.
The BBC’s live results are pretty good. As of this writing, Varun Gandhi (the communal one, from Sanjay’s wing of the family) is leading, and Mayawati’s BSP is losing. In Kerala, the left is likely to decline dramatically from 2004. The Communists are in decline in West Bengal too, presumably in payback for their handling of Nandigram. Lalu Prasad Yadav, who had earlier decided to pull support from Congress, is now admitting it was a mistake, as his RJD party ended up losing seats.
Via Ultrabrown, Bloomberg has a story, with Congress leaders using “Jai Ho” as a victory chant. Also via Ultrabrown, Mayawati is going to lock up victorious BSP candidates, to prevent them from being picked off by other parties. It’s a typical Mayawati thing to do, and presumably illegal — though that’s never stopped her before.
Please suggest any sites with data and analysis that you would recommend. Continue reading
Sri Lanka: An Alternate Tamil Point of View
Via a friend on Facebook, I came across the following interview with Tamil Canadian journalist Ignatius Sellah, on CBC. It’s interesting to hear his perspective, and also to see pictures from the recent protests in Toronto:
While the Sri Lankan government is hardly innocent of committing human rights violations, at the current moment the overwhelming evidence from refugees who have escaped the war zone suggests that the LTTE has been holding them hostage. If so, they are more at fault than the Government of Sri Lanka for what is happening to the civilians.
The protesters in Toronto and London may be voicing legitimate concerns about the condition of civilians in the war zone and in the internment centers outside of the war zone. But when they wave LTTE flags, use children as a buffer against the police (in a strange echo of how the real LTTE operate), and talk about genocide, I think they are acting irresponsibly. (Not that her opinion matters all that much — she’s a musician — but I think M.I.A., who has been throwing around the word “genocide” as well lately in her public statements, has also been irresponsible in using that word.)
It’s natural that the people shouting loudest are getting the most attention, but it would be ideal if the media covering these diasporic protests would also represent alternate (i.e., moderate, non-LTTE) points of view. There are plenty of people out there who have real and legitimate grievances regarding the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka over the years, who stop well short of supporting this senseless war. Are there other non-LTTE Tamil SL voices you would recommend? Continue reading
Anjulie: “Boom”
Readers might like Guyanese-Canadian singer Anjulie (full name, Anjulie Persaud, which might be a variation on… “Anjali Prasad”):
Anjulie | Boom from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.
What do you think? I hear shades of Morcheeba and Esthero in both the vocals and the production, though this song is clearly a bit more commercial than either of those downtempo/indie favorites. I also can’t help but think of Apache Indian’s song, “Boom Shack-a-Lak” (1993), though Anjulie flips it around slightly: “Boom Shalaka Laka,” which makes the phrase more mellow. I take it this is coming from a real slang expression in the Caribbean, but now I wonder about its origins.
More on Anjulie: her album (titled “Boom”) is set to drop on Starbucks’ house label, Hear Music, this summer — which means you may well be hearing this song the next time you’re sipping a Caramel Macchiato. Also, she is on Twitter. [Thanks, Bookworm, for the tip] Continue reading
Aziz is Funny
Aziz Ansari’s show, Parks and Recreation (earlier SM post), may or may not end up surviving very long (who knows?), but with appearances like the following eight minutes on Jimmy Kimmel last week, it may not matter. Ansari is clearly paving the way for a nice career in Hollywood:
In the clip above, I love the way Ansari handles the “where are you from?” question. His audience is completely in on the joke; he doesn’t ever have to break his deadpan assertion that he’s clearly a “good ol’ boy” from South Carolina. He’s not shying away from his “difference” from other comedians and actors, but he’s not making it the center of his shtick either. Notice that, despite his obviously Muslim name, he doesn’t feel a need to bring any of that stuff up, and as a result, for the most part nobody else brings it up either (except perhaps, when he’s accused of starting a “Jihad” against IMAX…).
And it seems to me that he basically connects on every little anecdote or bit he comes up with in this eight minutes. If he’s always this good, he will soon be a fixture on the late night shows. Continue reading