tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64305753015186928732024-03-13T03:12:24.614+00:00ReflectionsAfter a decade as a journalist I'm back here full circle writing on what I truly love - people's mobilization to create revolutions!Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-73801671834736371402016-11-23T23:06:00.000+00:002016-11-23T23:06:26.916+00:00India's demonetisation strikes the poor <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">India is a confused nation. Suspended precariously between the
developed west and the “under-developed” global south, the country swings
drastically and sometimes with great peril to itself.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">It wants to be modern, after all modernity is the development
paradigm that all the ‘other’ countries must have. The west, India’s
aspirational model, has over the years through colonisation and
post-colonisation drilled into the psyche of the global south that modernity is
the way to go. Modernity ignores the traditional society after all being
traditional is the antithesis of modernity. No doubt, the biggest casualty of
modernity is the demise of the traditional society - a society that is not necessarily
bad but just different.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">Narendra Modi secured the mandate to be the Prime Minister of
India two years ago holding tightly on to the banner of development. During his
election campaign he promised to bring back black money parked in offshore
accounts, boasting that it would add fifteen lakhs rupees to every household. A
promise he could not keep, a promise that the Congress led opposition and his
critics used often to mock him. So Modi came up with a Plan B to crackdown on
black money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">On November 8, 2016, at 20:45, Modi announced on national
television that the 500 (£6) and 1000 rupee (£12) denominated banknotes would no
longer be valid from midnight and new 2000 and 500 rupee banknote will shortly
be introduced in circulation, to the 1 billion population of the largest
democracy in the world. The reaction was nothing but shocking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">The literate, technological savvy and socially connected elite
and upper middle class took to their opinion platforms and most hailed it as a
‘masterstroke’, ‘surgical strike against black money’ and applauded Modi for
being a “great statesman”. The lower middle class and the poor that account for
over 50% of the population (World Banks report 2016) remained in shock not
really understanding what it meant. Some still are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">Try explaining to the labourer why the 500 rupees she got for
her week’s work at the site will no longer get her any rice and dal (lentils) at
the local kirana (provision) shop; or to the farmer whose 1000 rupee banknotes
will no longer be able to buy him any seeds; or to the maid who every month,
puts aside a 500 rupee banknote in the seams of her old saree so that her
abusive husband cannot grab all her earnings for his alcohol addiction, that
her banknotes will no longer fund her daughter’s college next year. Or explain
to the retired old man why withdrawing his savings from the bank for his
daughter’s wedding would be an impossible task and a cause of his death; or the
helpless mother who could no longer feed her children with the money she had
and so hangs herself unable to bear to see their hungry faces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">Finance minister Arun Jaitley finds it hard to believe that the
poor in India would even have a 1000 rupee banknote. They do and its call their
life’s earning. For many it takes months and perhaps years to save that. I
remember how my maid would every six-eight months bring in a few hundred bucks
she had saved and take a bigger denomination – a 500 or a 1000. This she
believed would go into her saving box for a life’s mission. Life’s missions for
the poor and the lower income groups in India are simple – a child’s education
or marriage, a brick & mortar home, a hospital treatment long due or just
enough for essentials on a rainy day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">In March 2016, the Reserve Bank of India report estimated that
the 500 & 1000 rupee banknotes amounted to 86% of the total currency in
circulation. Withdrawing them and introducing a higher denomination banknote would
no doubt be a herculean task with catastrophic consequences. But the government
announced demonitisation with little consideration to either the cash based
economy or the infrastructure. India’s banking infrastructure failed miserably
when ATMs were unable to dispense new notes and then not having enough currency
for withdrawals. Banks required documentation and set an upper limit of
withdrawals to 4000 rupees (£54) a day then reduced to 2000 rupees (£24)
indicating that huge disparity in the demand and supply. This threw the economy
in complete chaos and it will last for weeks to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">Also many don’t hold bank accounts forget plastic money. They
save through community saving programmes that are primarily cash based or bury
the money in a hole in their homes (in some cases quite literally). But
development of the poor is indicated by having a bank account, once again
feeding into the psyche of capitalism. Perhaps many of them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chose</i> not to have a bank account but
just because we want them to be modern on our terms we will now arm twist them
into opening one? It’s not a question of evaluating the merits of bank accounts
but rather the question of choice. Just like the long queues at banks or ATMs, the
twitterati compares to standing for tickets to concert or cricket matches. It’s
not the same, simply because in the latter you have a choice not to do it.
However, in this demonetisation drive, this very choice is taken away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">This is the India we often forget exists in our desire for
modernity. India is largely a traditional society, a large population that earns
an honest bread after a hard day’s labour. And it is this section of society
that has not just being “inconvenienced” but victimised unjustifiably in this
quest to score a political brownie point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">Small businesses are suffering and the death toll is rising by
the day. Look at just some of those who lost their lives in this meaningless
desire by the government to improve its political image. These are not some
global businessmen that siphon off their profits to offshore accounts or child
traffickers that made their fortune by trading in vulnerable kids. These are
not even politicians who have amassed their fortune through questionable means
or the underworld who made a bounty through illegal operations. These are
honest, hard-working individuals who could not bear the shock of realising
their life’s saving were now worthless tender or who could not get access to
their white hard earned money in time to pay for crucial events.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">It’s not that the political elite do not realise how badly their
plans backfired, they do. Modi changed his tune from the hard taskmaster on
black money to this brave soldier who has risked his life and limb to take on
the bad guys singlehandedly for the greater good of the country. Are we to feel
sympathy for the man who now never has to stand in a bank queue to exchange his
currency to put food on his table yet largely ignore the plight of the millions
that do? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;">It’s time the politicians acknowledge who the
real martyrs (though involuntary and unsuspecting) have been in this currency
war. It’s time to admit the mistake and show those who lost their lives some
respect. And perhaps give their families some quick monetary compensation, in
new currency notes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt;"><i>(First published in The Beaver, LSE)</i></span></div>
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Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-74529951880856050322015-03-05T11:44:00.002+00:002015-03-05T14:21:17.722+00:00India's Daughter: A Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The documentary India’s
daughter looks straight in the eye and then slaps right across the face!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c3ZLWBVXbh4/VPhbQ-zaZrI/AAAAAAAAFyc/G-HWUPHWmxM/s640/blogger-image-132702677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c3ZLWBVXbh4/VPhbQ-zaZrI/AAAAAAAAFyc/G-HWUPHWmxM/s320/blogger-image-132702677.jpg" width="320"></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While India’s daughter is
banned in India, it aired on BBC 4 on Wednesday evening to UK audiences four
days before it was originally scheduled. It's also available on YouTube now. I didn’t know what I was expecting
from the documentary that has divided the nation once again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over the past few
days there were too many opinions, too many objections on the way the
documentary was conducted and the content it teased to air. I have not read a
single article or watched a single piece of news item on this and stayed miles
away from interviews and panel debates. Of course it’s impossible to stay in a
vacuum with news and social media flooded by it. But I wanted the documentary
to speak for itself and I sat before my TV set with absolutely no opinion on
the issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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It ran for 60 minutes without
a break. Yet at the end of the hour, I was left even more baffled. The
documentary is neither a beacon of freedom of expression nor is it a conspiracy
to tarnish India’s image in the world. And frankly it’s not worth the fuss. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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India’s daughter is a story
of the December 2012 Delhi gang rape victim Jyoti Singh who everyone knows
better as Nirbhaya – the fearless one. Yet the ones that spoke without any fear,
dominating the entire documentary, were firstly the accused Mukesh Singh who
was convicted of rape, unnatural sex and murder of Nirbhaya and secondly the
defence lawyers who justified it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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‘You can’t clap with one
hand, it takes two hands to clap,’ was the very first thing you hear Mukesh say
and then he goes on to slander the girl putting the blame of the rape squarely
on her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Sitting calmly in an empty
white room, Mukesh also had the opportunity for a dress change and the other
accused were also seen in footage shot on the jail premises highlighting the unprecedented
access the documentary makers had in Tihar jail. Mukesh introduced his partners
in crime and gave the gory details of the rape in a calm and composed voice.
Details that you already knew but hearing them like this would again rip your
soul apart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The documentary also spoke
extensively to Jyoti’s parents and a friend cum tutor who spoke the victim’s
life and her aspirations in great detail. I must admit, they come off as quite
progressive and open minded and your heart would cringe ever so often to hear
them speak of the tragedy and their beloved daughter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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There are other voices -
police, judiciary, historian and varied experts but there is nothing in this
documentary we didn’t know before. Sure it’s the first time the accused has
spoken on camera. But do we want to hear him? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br>Banning the film is wrong. It has just catapulted a mediocre documentary in to unnecessary limelight giving it a sort of martyrdom. But for the proponents of freedom
of expression, I ask you, whose freedom of expression are you defending. The makers or the viewers are inconsequential here, its the accused and his camp who have the complete liberty to express their contrived views. </span><br>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br>
Did you expect the accused or his dim witted,
chauvinistic lawyers to look you in the eye and say they were sorry? No, right.
So did you really want to hear them give their worthless opinions
on the place of women in society or why the protests and conviction have
ensured that the women will be the only ones suffering further? </span></div>
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‘Earlier they would rape and
let their victims go because the victims and families did not say anything for
fear of societal pressure but with this sentencing, why will the rapists let
victims live to testify against them. They will have to kill them,’ says Mukesh
in a matter-of- fact way with perhaps a hint of a smile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Then you have M.L Sharma,
defense lawyer justifying the brutality of sexual assault like it’s as natural
for a man as shaving his beard. His animated voice and hand gestures adding the
dramatic effect to his highly offensive opinions. I will not quote him because
it doesn’t merit to be reproduced. Neither thus A K Singh his buddy on the bench
who openly said that if his daughter went out with a guy late evening, he would
throw petrol on her and burn her alive!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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These men are not
representative of India’s male mentality. Of course there are more men who share
similar opinion in a patriarchal country as vast and diverse as India and they
would find many sympathisers across the world but there are plenty more who
think otherwise and they had no voice in this documentary. This is quite typical with foreign filmmaker who look at India through tinted lenses and come with their own stereotypes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br>
For a paper presented at an
academic conference in London in 2013, I had researched rape cases in India over a
40 year period to understand why most rape cases slip through the cracks in the
media while a rare few turn into national campaigns. While the focus was on media
framing, it required reading through many gruelling details of the rape cases
including the attitudes of the accused and society at large. The motivation and
mentality of almost every rape is eerily similar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Rapist are not victims of
circumstances. Rapes cannot be justified. There is no other motivation for a
rape than pure evil and sadistic pleasure. I don’t understand what Leslee Udwin,
who made this documentary, wanted us to see and hear through the interview
with the accused. Mukesh spoke the language of every other rapist across the
world where they show no remorse, where rape is used by them to assert their
power often with the intention to put the victim in ‘her place’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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But by letting the accused and
his crony lawyers air their vile views to a global audience, the documentary
makers have not tarnished India’s image, as the government claims, but have
insulted India’s daughter herself and the millions that stand with her shoulder
to shoulder. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They have let the rapist look at India's daughter straight in the eye and slap her right across the face! </span></div>
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Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-60262564560460557042013-04-07T10:54:00.000+01:002013-04-24T13:15:39.526+01:00POLIS: Can TRUST in journalism be restored? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘Trust’ the most important keyword in journalism
was discussed in all its manifestations at the POLIS conferences at the London
School of Journalism on Friday April 5, 2013. Organised by POLIS director Charlie Beckett, it had an impressive array of speakers and panels.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The choice of the theme is not surprising as today
journalism is probably going through its darkest phase in recent times in
gaining public trust. The hacking scandal and the shout out loud tabloid
journalism has led to a low public confidence in journalists and post Leveson
journalists are struggling to gain trust of not just the public but also
sources. My top 3 panel discussions:</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>1.</b><b><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span>Nick Davies Panel</b></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cOUf7PbOfSM/UXetkq59BlI/AAAAAAAACjM/7ioVDLa2ViA/s1600/nick.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cOUf7PbOfSM/UXetkq59BlI/AAAAAAAACjM/7ioVDLa2ViA/s320/nick.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is accused of single handedly exposing the
hacking scandal; shutting down Murdoch’s News of the World last year; of sending
many journalists into prison and for bringing about a ‘draconian’ Leveson
enquiry that threatens to curb press freedom; yet this man in jeans and a cool
leather jacket bats away every accusation thrown his way with humour and
honesty.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nick Davies, perhaps the journalist of 2012, spend
over an hour in an intellectual combat with Ben Fenton, of the Financial Times.
Fenton boldly asks Davies, whose investigations into the hacking scandal put
several journalists in the dock, why he hates journalists? “I don’t hate
journalists, I love journalism,” came the crisp reply. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Nick spoke about who young reporters enter the
profession high on ethics and with stars in their eyes only to get
disillusioned by the profession once they settle in. He particularly didn’t
seem fond of the tabloid culture. Tabloid journalism using unethical practises
to create news that sells their papers and then justifying it, “is like a
rapist sayings its free love,” added Davies.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">He refused to accept the responsibility of “closing
down” NoTW saying, that some involved with the paper were pushing for its
closer “months before his story was published” and “to aid the company’s bid
for BSkyB.” </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On the “false hope” claim made by the guardian,
which later the paper had to refute, Nick said he was “absolutely certain at
the time of publication that it was true.” He however added, that they did get
a “good kicking” by Fleet Street for it later.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">However while Davies did not sympathise with
journalists using unethical practises; he also had no love for the police using
the hacking scandal to their benefit. “It is sickening to see how an
authoritative and bullying police office has used the hacking scandal to gag
officers. It is both distressing and wrong,” said Davies. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>2.</b><b><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span>Media Policy</b></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The LSE Media policy project panel discussed this
deteriorating relationship of trust between a journalist and source.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In fact Barry Fitzpatrick, of the National Union of
Journalists called this a “worrying development for just media but society and
democracy.” Fitzpatrick believes that News of the World arrests
have sent alarm bells ringing among journalists especially in tabloid press and
damaged relationship of trust between source and journalists. “Unless common
sense is applied it will have far reaching consequences,” warned Fitzpatrick.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Andrew Bousfield , an investigative reporter with
Private Eye who broke several stories through his investigations in the health
sector highlighted how difficult the non-disclosure agreements made it for
doctors to be whistle blowers. “These no-disclose agreements are scary,”
says Bousfield.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">According to him such non-disclosure agreements
existed mainly in hospitals that were fearful. “During our investigations we
found that people (health care professionals) were being silenced where care
was going wrong.”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">European law protects journalists not whistle
blowers, said Gavin Miller QC, who suggested the establishment of a commission
to bring proceedings to protect whistle blowers. “Law protects whistle blowers
if they move towards government, MPs, court but NOT the press,” he said.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3.<span style="line-height: 150%;">
</span><b>Public Service Broadcasting: Trust in Journalism </b></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
UK, BBC probably hit its lowest in public trust when the Newsnight cover-up of
the Jimmy Savile scandal broke out. As one skeleton after another came out of
the closet exposing the crimes on the BBC premises, BBC used the fact that Panorama
programme belonged to its “family” to hail its ethics in investigating itself.
This may have restored some confidence in the public broadcaster but left
several question on trust unanswered nevertheless. Earlier in the day
Mary Hockaday, Head of BBC News Room said that “public trust in BBC was back to
where it was pre-Savile crisis.”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hence
a panel discussed on trust esp in public service broadcasting was perhaps the
need of the hour. But it wasn’t about giving audience “ethical news” but also
about how audiences can be engaged in finding the “truth” and contributing
their opinions to what makes news.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7G_FuemX-QU/UXetqOZNqtI/AAAAAAAACjU/UJLyJCpf41Y/s1600/trushar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7G_FuemX-QU/UXetqOZNqtI/AAAAAAAACjU/UJLyJCpf41Y/s1600/trushar.jpg" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On
other news verification, Trushar Barot, assistant editor of the BBC News UGC
and social media hub believes that in the end journalist’s instincts are a
better judge in helping separating the grain from the chaff. He gave an example
of an extremely popular video on the internet which showed a Syrian activist “buried
alive” by Assad’s men and the BBC dilemma to broadcast it or not. Barot spoke
about how he used twitter to express his doubts on the video and soon citizen
journalists investigated the video themselves and came up with more loopholes
that collectively helped discredit the video. According to him the factors that
build trust in journalism are the diversity of sources, speed of editorial
judgements and ability to reach your content out. “Trust is a growth industry
in journalism... great value in the ocean of chatter is journalistic judgement,”
adds Barot.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One
of the most interesting concepts came from Cilla Benko, Director General of
Swedish Radio. She spoke about Journalism 3.0 - a two way street that uses both
the traditional reporting (Journalism 1.0) and the social media journalism
(Journalism 2.0). “In my news room everyone has to be on twitter, it is not an
option,” she said highlighting how twitter helps find news and develop sources.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Her
four important ways to connect with the audience and in turn find fodder for
news stories include: creating a sort of public network where you invite
contributions from people. This PublicNetwork now has 300 members signed up to contribute
news and ideas expanding in multitude its reportage from just 4 reporters on the
team. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">They
also launched a blog called ‘The Earth’ where in people discuss issues that
they find pertinent and the reporter then goes on to make a radio programme
about it. Using twitter to see what what “news” is. </span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">She
emphasised that twitter does not have to be marketing tool to promote your
stories, it could also be a good source to get stories. Lastly she insisted
that the public debate could also be a good source of generating stories. A
debate on appropriate language to prevent racist overtones was one of the important
issues that the public were debating. The radio team decided to approach the
public for opinions. They put up a video on the website and created a hashtag
of the issue. Over 600 potential stories were generated through public
feedback. This provided a huge impetus to Swedish Radio as “many people didn’t
know Swedish Radio existed before the project," adds Benko.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Also on the panel was Ruurd Bierman, former
director Dutch public service broadcaster NOS now associated with Vision 2020 which
looks at Trust in 2020 and gives a roadmap for PSB to be indispensable. He gave
an example of Altijd Wat Monitor in Holland which has opened its newsroom to
the public. Here people can monitor progress of research live, leak documents,
comment on content and provide opinions.</span></span></div>
</div>
Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0LSE, London, UK51.51216124955517 -0.1016235351562551.35422824955517 -0.42434703515625 51.67009424955517 0.22109996484375tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-31112037878852639722013-03-13T08:00:00.000+00:002013-03-14T09:46:01.517+00:00Journalism in the dock: Will investigative reporting evolve or dissolve?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When the <i>News of the
World</i> Fake Sheikh asked me to record every conversation I had with the
subjects of my stories for an investigation the paper did in India, I thought
it was an unnecessary, additional work. But this very policy of the <i>News of the World</i> saved
their journalist Bethany Usher when she was arrested for the hacking scandal under
Operation Weeting.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m16rQVpt2_A/UUCyYmGpxcI/AAAAAAAACiE/mTjdmJYnMCE/s1600/index1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m16rQVpt2_A/UUCyYmGpxcI/AAAAAAAACiE/mTjdmJYnMCE/s200/index1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Usher was arrested for ‘transcribing a voicemail message in
an email’. "What saved me was the <i>News of
the World </i>polic<i>y </i>about taping everything," says Usher who </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">had taped her
interactions with the source who had had given her permission to use the
voicemail for a story, which led to charges being dropped against her within
eight days. “Tape everything” she advices journalism students at the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘<i>Journalism In The Dock’</i>
panel discussion at City University yesterday. </span></div>
<blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">“Tape everything” </span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><i>- Bethany Usher, </i></span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">former News of the World journalist turned journalism lecturer (arrested under Operation Weeting and later cleared)</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">While Usher has taken this experience in her stride and
moved on to teaching journalism now, her colleague Neil Wallis, the former
executive editor of the <i>News of the World, </i>also arrested for his alleged involvment in hacking scandal and only cleared recently seemed
still agitated by the whole experience. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8VUWe5j15H0/UUCy_9VJRrI/AAAAAAAACiQ/05BrtsjyegU/s1600/neil+wallis+journalism+dock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8VUWe5j15H0/UUCy_9VJRrI/AAAAAAAACiQ/05BrtsjyegU/s1600/neil+wallis+journalism+dock.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wallis warned journalism students that Leveson is
‘destroying your future’. Speaking on press freedom, Neil added that ‘once it
is taken away; you will never get it back.” The bitterness in Neil’s arguments reflected
his experience as a suspect in Operation Weeting. Neil was on police bail for
21 months which he describes as ‘isolating’ and his arrest as ‘politically
motivated’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Neil described his friend’s experience who was taken to the
police station in the wee hours of the morning while the police searched his
house, while his “teenage daughters watched them </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">rifle through their underwear
drawers looking for alleged evidence.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-irqKvEOd_Mw/UUCzFILhN4I/AAAAAAAACiY/VTEHzjFfAeQ/s1600/brian+cathcart+journalism+dock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-irqKvEOd_Mw/UUCzFILhN4I/AAAAAAAACiY/VTEHzjFfAeQ/s200/brian+cathcart+journalism+dock.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">His angst against Leveson inquiry and police investigations
sparked off a heated debate with Brian Cathcart, the editor of the Hacked Off
blog, journalist and writer. Cathcart’s support to Leveson, smirked Wallis and
a row continued on the fine print in the Leveson recommendation. Wallis
believed that the politicians and police are using the low journalist
credibility in public now for “payback” against Murdoch’s papers. He is currently pursuing Masters in Criminology.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">All though the panel discussion Cathcart and Wallis were
found taking pot-shots at each other. Did the hacking scandal create a “with us
or against us” mentality in the journalist fraternity, I wondered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2rvddOZdgrY/UUCzJZJpk9I/AAAAAAAACig/7UgbJfKTgVc/s1600/peter+preston+journalism+dock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2rvddOZdgrY/UUCzJZJpk9I/AAAAAAAACig/7UgbJfKTgVc/s1600/peter+preston+journalism+dock.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A sombre argument came from Peter
Preston, the former <i>Guardian</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">
editor who warned that Britain was setting
a dangerous example for the rest of the world. Preston who has travelled
extensively around the world described media freedom (or lack of it) in
other countries. “It’s become a norm to arrest journalists in UK”, said
Preston, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> and
added that now some countries justify the atrocities on journalists by citing
UK as an example.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> He mentioned that at the International Press Institute, the
Turkish Prime Minister defended locking up journalists or terrorism charges
because “it happens all the time in Britain.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Losing
sources:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The most insightful comments on the
state of investigative journalism today came from Brian Flynn, investigative
editor of the <i>Sun. </i>“It feels we are
being frogmarched into a police state,” he said which generated an agitated
response from a professor in the audience that such a comment was “ludicrous”
and a by product of tabloid mentality.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6I_Npl7ehds/UUCy5s6IG5I/AAAAAAAACiI/7YeFc-70RJg/s1600/brian+flynn+journalism+dock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6I_Npl7ehds/UUCy5s6IG5I/AAAAAAAACiI/7YeFc-70RJg/s1600/brian+flynn+journalism+dock.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote>
<blockquote style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #660000;">" It feels we are
being frogmarched into a police state" </span> </span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">-<i> Brian Flynn, Investigations Editor, The Sun</i></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Flynn argues that the fear of
arrests and no public interest defence in the bribery law has led to
journalists turning away stories that could be great investigations. “Sources
are motivated by a number of reasons, for some its money,” he said adding an
example of a worker in a care home asking for money to expose abuse which in
the atmosphere of fear today “would not be published even though it was clearly
in the public interest”. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Flynn said there was a “crackdown”
on journalists as now “journalists make unsympathetic victims”. Journalists are
also losing important sources that are paramount for good investigative
reporting as "officials are being arrested for speaking to journalists even
where no money is involved." Police have stopped speaking to local papers
after Leveson except on very official matters, he added. As an investigative
reporter, I can understand the importance of police sources and gag orders like
these do more harm than good to investigative reporting and are detrimental to
public interests. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Investigative journalism operates through grey areas, said Flynn adding, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">"After all remember the expense scandal was broken through stolen documents."<br />
</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hotline
for whistleblowers</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Another Leveson suggestion of a
whistleblower hotline found no takers with Cathcart stating that “it was not a
good idea” and Usher declaring that she would never use a hotline. “You have to
trust your colleagues”, she stated. Preston said that the idea of a hotline was
discussed 20 years ago when he was involved in setting up the Press Complaints
Commission but “for real change of ethical standards, there has to be a
consensus (among journalists) to make it work,” he said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The panel represented two distinct
views – one that believed that Leveson would bring ethics back to journalism
and another that thought Leveson would kill investigative reporting. Even among
the five journalists present on the panel there was no consensus. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Walking down the halls of City University, almost a decade
after I did my Masters in International Journalism, brought back good old
memories but it was also a little melancholic now because journalism has changed
so much. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BIcO6TDnfFE/UUCzYeOvtnI/AAAAAAAACio/-XLiHLVuIZE/s1600/Colin-Bickler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BIcO6TDnfFE/UUCzYeOvtnI/AAAAAAAACio/-XLiHLVuIZE/s320/Colin-Bickler.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Back then we mostly used tapes to record a lengthy interview
if we didn’t want to scribble notes. Journalism was also respected. We were
excited about entering a profession that strived to ‘make the world a better
place’. On this, my old professor Colin Bickler who passed away in January this year
would look at us in our conflict reporting class and remark that we were just
romanticising journalism. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Journalism is a dangerous profession. There are many forces
trying to stop journalists from doing their true job,” he said. In
the ten years of my journalism career, I slowly understood what he actually meant- not all forces are external; sometimes
these forces are just within journalism.</span></div>
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Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-55011833539485583622012-05-11T19:30:00.000+01:002012-05-14T16:57:25.935+01:00Can a TV show save unborn daughters?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>When society depends on a television show to probe into their lives to find the dirt, speak out loud what was spoken in hushed tones, find a remedy and bring a revolution, isn't it really expecting too much?! Or is it?</b><br />
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<i>Sunday, 7 May 2012: 11 am</i><br />
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A young mother was forced to abort her baby 6 times in succession within 8 years when it was discovered that she bore a girl. A husband bit his wife’s face (yes, vigorously with his sharp teeth till the flesh tore off and until it completely disfigured) for giving birth to a girl. Finally top it off with a rich, highly educated mother-in-law kicking the baby’s cot down the stairs hoping that it would kill her infant granddaughter.</div>
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After every story, I felt my heart bleed. I am a Mum of a gorgeous two year angel. The day we (my husband and I) were told it was a girl, our hearts leaped with joy and so did everyone’s in our family. She has been the apple of everyone’s eye. She is among the lucky ones. </div>
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Female foeticide and infanticide is not a new issue in India or for that matter in many parts of the world that give preference to sons over daughters. But suddenly almost a billion people are discussing it with vigour and passion. </div>
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All this thanks to a Bollywood actor Aamir Khan whose new show Satyamev Jayate’s (Truth alone prevails) debut episode <i><a href="http://www.satyamevjayate.in/videos/?id=NG3WygJmiVs" target="_blank">Daughters are Precious</a></i> on Sunday on both national and satellite television in India and abroad featured horrific tales of atrocities against both pregnant mothers and their baby girls. </div>
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The show generated great shock and awe and got everyone talking, tweeting, writing, signing petitions etc. Like an epidemic it spread through the length and breadth of the country and beyond and got everyone talking. </div>
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The official figures released in 2011 show that the child sex ratio in India has dropped to 914 females for every 1000 males – the lowest ever since 1947 when India gained independence. Sex determination of the baby in a mother’s womb is officially banned in India. However ultrasound machines are widely procured by doctors of private clinics and portable one are often taken to villages where they have been used clandestinely to find the sex of the baby. </div>
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Interestingly, it wasn’t just the villages and those less educated that indulged in these practises. The affluent and the professionally qualified too resorted to crime against girls.My first realisation of this was a few years ago when my husband, a journalist reporting for a Mumbai daily exposed how the child sex ratio favours the males in the more affluent parts of Mumbai. The story was talked about only for a day or two. Not surprising, a television sting operation that exposed over a hundred doctors indulging in the illegal sex selective abortions have seen little consequences of their action as they have neither been suspended nor booked for any crime since its telecast seven years ago. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #666666;">Dr Prabha Sivaraman from the Pall Mall medical centre in Manchester was caught on tape in a Telegraph UK sting operation offering a sex selective abortion</span></td></tr>
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In February 2012, an Indian doctor from Manchester was caught offering sex selective abortions.Scientific advances have also given parents an easy access to determining the sex of their unborn child from seven weeks,
due to an easy buy online kit that can test foetal DNA in the mother’s blood with 98% accurate results. Also some doctors and medical practitioners in the western world are promoting 'designer & customised' babies. Perhaps it’s time they look at India and refrained from opening this Pandora’s box.</div>
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But what is not being probed by either country is how hundreds of Asian families from UK are flying to India and other ‘home’ countries to quietly abort their foetus after determining it sex. The pressures of producing a male heir are felt even by the seemingly wealthy and ‘progressive’ of Asians. UK based journalist-writer, Kiswar Desai’s book <i>‘Witness the nigh</i>t’, that won the prestigious Costa Books award, gives you some glaring examples of this trend and plenty of food for thought. </div>
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Time and again this gruesome atrocity has been exposed in many forms – though newspaper articles, television stings, books and policies. But nothing generated as much uproar as this celebrity hosted talk show. Within a week of the telecast, Indian government promised Khan, who approached them with a petition, that they would set up a fast track court and probe allegations against the doctors indulging in this illegal act and bring them to book. </div>
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I just hope that in the end truth does prevail. Because if this cannot bring about change, then I shudder to think what will. But I just hope its not a publicity stunt and the show follows up on the government's promises. Aamir's show has garnered a mass following, so perhaps its time for it to lead this new wave of social change.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>P.S. Message for SJ: </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Hated the promos, loved the show! (I used to switch channels everytime the SJ promo came on air)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>The concept and cases definitely overpower the seemingly well rehersed tears and scripted shock of the host. Being less of an actor will make Aamir a better connected host. </i></span> </div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-88824756807236550362012-03-19T20:14:00.004+00:002012-03-22T17:15:04.761+00:00Kony 2012: a success even if it fails<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eDpGvoN1Fl0/T2dLxOPCQqI/AAAAAAAABsc/ADYUgbuBPyE/s1600/kony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eDpGvoN1Fl0/T2dLxOPCQqI/AAAAAAAABsc/ADYUgbuBPyE/s400/kony.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Seven out of ten people I spoke to today told me they did not know who Kony was until two weeks ago. The one who knew is an African and two still don’t have a clue. So who is Kony and why has he suddenly gained so much popularity?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Joseph Kony is the leader of a guerrilla outfit called Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda who is accused of ordering abduction of children to be sex slaves and child soldiers. In over two decades tens of thousands of children have been victimised. Although Kony was indicted by the International Criminal Court in Hague for war crimes, he evades capture. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">International media attention was drawn to Kony several times, from the LRS’s formation in the 80s, to his bizarre interview in 2006 to the Christmas massacre in 2008 in DR Congo and South Sudan or occasionally when an escapee gave account of his torture. But ‘outsiders’ perhaps don’t pay much attention to such news. Not surprising since most of African news is treated as a step child on International television unless there is a political motive to play it up. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So Kony, a monster for many decades, suddenly sprung to limelight now. The reason: a video called <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc">Kony 2012</a> by an NGO Invisible Children. Now most people who didn’t know anything about Kony or even Africa have some idea of the issue. Many have participated in its propagation by liking it on facebook, tweeting about it or watching it on you tube/vimeo. Small deeds like this have got governments in Africa and the West promising to renew a vigorous search for Kony. Amnesty too has started a <a href="http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=14150&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=mass_email&utm_campaign=Int_justice&utm_content=Kony_link2">petition</a> to bring to justice Kony along with Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashar and Libya’s Saif al- Islam Gaddafi. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m not convinced that the Kony 2012 campaign will achieve anything apart from creating awareness about the issue momentarily. Kudos to them for doing what every advocacy groups only dreams of doing. They have no doubt accomplished what no journalist or NGO ever has – 83 million+ views for a 30 minute documentary on Africa!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But the video has also misrepresented some facts in order to gain support. Surely Kony is a war criminal and should be prosecuted, but my journalist colleagues in the region also confirm that Kony is a spent man on a run (outside Uganda) with the LRA diminishing in number. 100 American adviser are working in the region to find Kony & his forces and have attained some success. But Uganda has more inherent problems and any military intervention by US, would throw the region into more chaos. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Solving the problems in Africa is not as easy as Invisible Children's call to action: Do three things: 1) sign its pledge, 2) get the Kony 2012 bracelet and action kit (only $30!), and 3) sign up to donate. It’s a complex region with even more complex issues. Simplifying the problem does not mean the solution will be simple too. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dqO1kgUwxaw/T2dObvNoqNI/AAAAAAAABsk/rBffYse7RN0/s1600/Kony+2012+Russell.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dqO1kgUwxaw/T2dObvNoqNI/AAAAAAAABsk/rBffYse7RN0/s320/Kony+2012+Russell.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t believe Kony 2012 will solve Africa’s problems and I’m afraid it will fail to achieve what the film director Jason Russell says, “I am going to help end the longest running war in Africa, get Joseph Kony arrested & redefine international justice…’ Unfortunately, I don’t believe Kony 2012 even intended to achieve this. And with Russell’s mental state in question, the campaign is already losing its credibility.<br />
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Its success however lies in generating a huge debate on several issues ranging from African politics to 'white' activism in a black region. The fact that it has as many supporters as those sceptical about its claims has catapulted it to one of the most talked about stories. But the most interesting aspect of this video is that it fits in with is what an LSE researcher describes as 'post humanitarian communication' (where the campaign stresses more on the role of the supporter than the cause). </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Social media played a huge part in the Arab Spring no doubt, but let’s not forget the vast resources that media organisations deployed to cover the conflict and the space it got in the media and political debates. And most importantly the native people wanted change and fought hard to get it. This is what made it a huge success. Kony 2012 unfortunately has only garnered support on social media and will sadly fail to bring much change in the region. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But if Kony 2012 has taught us anything it’s the power of the social media to create awareness about deeply buried issues. No country is isolated anymore and no issues are considered too distant to the online community. It showed us people do care and are raring to do something- anything to make this world a better place. It’s this energy and enthusiasm that will be a goldmine for anyone able to mobilise it correctly and channelize it to support a credible cause. </div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-38006847527782392152012-01-04T18:48:00.009+00:002012-01-06T10:34:52.141+00:00Stephen Lawrence, Anuj Bidve and Britain's racial hues<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MUyjHCIf1yY/TwXYNysIfiI/AAAAAAAABGU/HGORai2sHF4/s1600/psycho_stapleton_anuj+bidve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MUyjHCIf1yY/TwXYNysIfiI/AAAAAAAABGU/HGORai2sHF4/s1600/psycho_stapleton_anuj+bidve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UcqMQ3COK1Q/TwXX1iiXpbI/AAAAAAAABGI/DvrEoI5ZbT4/s1600/stephen+lawrence+murderers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R6hguQ-KPuA/TwSJ8ipRfrI/AAAAAAAABEY/ZfRYeeMSf58/s1600/Stephen+Lawrence+%252B+Anuj+Bidve+racism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R6hguQ-KPuA/TwSJ8ipRfrI/AAAAAAAABEY/ZfRYeeMSf58/s400/Stephen+Lawrence+%252B+Anuj+Bidve+racism.jpg" width="400" /></a></span><span style="font-size: small;">Stephen Lawrence trial was a monumental case of justice denied to a young Black British boy who was brutally attacked and murdered by racist thugs in April 1993. But yesterday it turned to a case of justice delayed with the convictions of two of the five accused. It came eighteen years late. But it finally did. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">This case has tremendous significance on primarily three factors: race relations, policing and campaigning journalism.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Brian Cartcart, author of the ‘Case of Stephen Lawrence’ says: </span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <i>‘The case is a landmark in British life because of what it taught us about race. In small ways and in big ways, it exposed reflexes of denial and defensiveness in our society that most white people didn't even know we had.’ </i></span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">British society is notorious for turning a blind eye towards race discrimination and hesitant to label incidents like these as racists. Yet Stephen Lawrence case became one of the most important cases to expose that violent racism exists in the public sphere in Britain. And victims are often subject to insults and assaults because of the colour of their skin. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">At an earlier inquest, Stephen’s mother Doreen made a statement: ‘Our crime was living in a country where the justice system supports racist murderers against innocent people.’ </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stephen’s case was also instrumental in changing the face of British policing. Macpherson report pointed out the lapses in policing and brought to focus the institutional racism in the police force. It showed that the police were racially biased and did not collect evidence on the case with sincerity and integrity. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BTdLy-wlQ9U/TwXYOLSGziI/AAAAAAAABGY/ewqkyy0PZfg/s1600/macpherson%252Binstitutional+racism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BTdLy-wlQ9U/TwXYOLSGziI/AAAAAAAABGY/ewqkyy0PZfg/s200/macpherson%252Binstitutional+racism.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UPL1N2l2VJY/TwR-tciwnTI/AAAAAAAABDg/BDnwuPwEIrI/s1600/macpherson_institutional+racism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">On institutional racism, Jack Straw the then Home Secretary who initiated the Macpherson inquiry said, "Any long-established, white-dominated organisation is liable to have procedures, practices and a culture which disadvantage non-white people." He also added: </span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"The very process of the inquiry has opened all our eyes to what it is to be black or Asian in Britain today... and the inquiry process has revealed some fundamental truths about the nature of our society, about our relationships, one with the other. Some truths are uncomfortable, but we have to confront them." </i></span></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">One may argue that this incident took place almost two decades ago and the British society has evolved since then. Yet, last week a young Asian student was shot to death in Salford. Anuj Bidve, a university student from India, was walking with his friends when they encountered some boys- one of them shot him dead. A white 20 years old man who calls himself ‘Psycho' Stapleton, has been arrested for murder. The police are still hesitant to call it a racially motivated crime but use a milder terminology of ‘hate crime’. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UcqMQ3COK1Q/TwXX1iiXpbI/AAAAAAAABGI/DvrEoI5ZbT4/s1600/stephen+lawrence+murderers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UcqMQ3COK1Q/TwXX1iiXpbI/AAAAAAAABGI/DvrEoI5ZbT4/s1600/stephen+lawrence+murderers.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="width: 304px;">Gary Dobson and David Norris convicted of Stephen Lawrence's murder</span></i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MUyjHCIf1yY/TwXYNysIfiI/AAAAAAAABGU/HGORai2sHF4/s1600/psycho_stapleton_anuj+bidve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MUyjHCIf1yY/TwXYNysIfiI/AAAAAAAABGU/HGORai2sHF4/s1600/psycho_stapleton_anuj+bidve.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Kieran "Psycho" Stapleton accused of Anuj Bidve's murder</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">Both the cases have eerie similarities. Both victims were coloured and the accused white men. The violence does not seem to be premeditated but rather sporadic. Both victims lost their lives with their families struggling to get answers. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">There is fear prevalent among young coloured men of being targetted by stray racist elements on the street. A PhD student at a central London University described the fear of finding a " white skinhead" walk towards him on the street after dark. </span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"The man was walking right towards me and I knew he wanted to say something. I was terrified but I could not cross over to the other side of the road. So I lowered my head and walked right past him. I heard him mutter something but it did not register in my mind then. I was too afraid and did not want to react to anything in case it provoked him. When I was far away from him, I tried to comprehend what he said. And it registered to me that he said: 'Do you have a match, mate?'"</i></span></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">So is fear of racist attacks is still existent. So has the British society actually evolved in matters of race? After the cold attitude of the British public to Stephen murder, over the years many white British men and women too stood in solidarity with the Lawrences. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The police first found the Lawrence family to be a 'nagging problem', yet after the Macpherson report the cops began to dig deeper to collect scientific evidence to absolve themselves of their initial neglect and to prove they were not “institutionally racist”. In Anuj's case, his family found out about his murder through facebook and not the police. To make amends the police went to India to meet the family. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">But it was the Lawrence family’s persistence that changed the fate of the case and made it a landmark one for race relations in British history.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">One very important factor that lead to the victory in Stephen Lawrence case was the unlikely ally found in the Daily Mail. At a time when the media found little interest in the murder of a black kid, the Daily Mail supported the cause rather courageously. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3mxUi26Fsc8/TwXXyFo7mBI/AAAAAAAABF4/ziMH282dISw/s1600/The-Daily-Mails-1997-fron-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3mxUi26Fsc8/TwXXyFo7mBI/AAAAAAAABF4/ziMH282dISw/s400/The-Daily-Mails-1997-fron-001.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">On 14 February 1997, the front page of Daily Mail carried the pictures of the five accused with the headline ‘Murderers’, challenging them to sue the paper if they were wrong. This bold and daring editorial decision by the Daily Mail then, created a huge uproar and attracted the public interest in the case. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Straw says that this helped him to convince the police to initiate an enquiry into the investigations in the case. In a 21 page story today, the Daily Mail rightly basks in the glory of the success of its <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080159/Stephen-Lawrence-case-How-killers-finally-brought-justice.html">campaign</a>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it took eighteen years and two failed prosecutions for Stephen to get justice; will it be quicker for Anuj? Or will Anuj’s case turn into one of those that are lost in the pile? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anuj was a foreign student here at Lancaster University with his family based in India. Unlike the Lawrences, Anuj’s family does not have the means to make frequent visits to UK and mobilise resources to push for justice here. Unless the police does its job right the first time and secures conviction, Anuj's case is unlikely to get more chances for justice. Police inquiry into Stephen’s case cost over £4 million pounds. In times of austerity will the state devote any additional resources on the murder of a foreigner without any diplomatic pressure? Will any British newspapers campaign for Anuj’s cause? Will the Indian media pursue his cause till the end? Out of sight is out of mind and in all probability the case will soon lose media attention and disappear from collective memory. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">But one hopes that there are </span><span style="font-size: small;">no more Anujs and Stephens waiting to bear the brunt of racist fervour</span><span style="font-size: small;"> and the verdict in Stephen Lawrence case serves as a warning to racist thugs that they will find no sympathisers in the police, media or public and that they will be found, convicted and harshly punished for their crime.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">If this verdict works as a deterrent to racist attacks, it will be the biggest victory for race relations in Britain. </span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-80919946488103563302011-10-21T18:49:00.001+01:002011-10-24T13:02:05.699+01:00The End of Muammar Gaddafi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">“Your armed forces have overthrown the reactionary regime, which was corrupt and backward... Libya is henceforth free and sovereign… There will be no more oppression, abuse or justice, no more masters and slaves; rather there shall be free brotherhood and equality… Then we shall build our glory, revive our heritage and reclaim our dignity…Its time to begin our work, let us go forward!”</div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">This sounds like a statement issued by the National Transitional Council following Gaddafi’s capture and death yesterday. But it isn’t! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ExpgV_MhXHU/TqFm16EkqnI/AAAAAAAAAzA/9HtQhMskhIk/s1600/young+gaddafi+in+1961.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ExpgV_MhXHU/TqFm16EkqnI/AAAAAAAAAzA/9HtQhMskhIk/s320/young+gaddafi+in+1961.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muammar Gaddafi in 1969</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">This is actually a broadcast by Radio Benghazi in the early hours of 1 September 1969, when a 27 year old Colonel Muammar Gaddafi having just overthrown the regime of King Idris took the leadership of the new Arab Republic of Libya.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the four decade long Gaddafi rule, all these ideals disappeared and what emerged was a monster government that fed on it own people. <a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/02/rise-fall-of-col-gaddafi.html">The rise and fall of Col. Muammar Gaddafi</a> shows how a young soldier with hopes of creating a better Libya turned into a tyrant and led to the destruction of his country. </div><br />
But when the Arab Spring hit Libya, unlike his counter parts in Egypt and Tunisia, Gaddafi refused to step down. He fought and fought hard even though each passing day brought his end nearer, he did not give up.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UV0_R9m7RNE/TqFoZkL_s1I/AAAAAAAAAzQ/QG214poSPT8/s1600/Muammar+Gaddafi++in+2011.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UV0_R9m7RNE/TqFoZkL_s1I/AAAAAAAAAzQ/QG214poSPT8/s400/Muammar+Gaddafi++in+2011.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muammar Gaddafi in 2011</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SyHHPHcMlzI/TqFnAANNlxI/AAAAAAAAAzI/aQ-5OZWJRR0/s1600/gaddafi+dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>I distinctly remember Gaddafi’s last speech on state television in February which I called <a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/02/twitter-gaddafis-end-is-near.html">Ramblings of a Frightened Man</a> where Gaddafi vowed to fight on and die a "martyr" in a highly dramatic way shouting and pounding his fist calling on his supporters to take back the streets from protesters who wanted his ouster.<br />
<br />
Today the photographs of Gaddafi drenched in his blood and lying limp with the rebels around rejoicing his capture flashed on the front pages of every newspaper. Many call the gruesome images poetic justice.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-otXNR9a4CKM/TqFjPVyKdOI/AAAAAAAAAyw/NXQVi_qAlTg/s1600/Gaddafi+in+UK+Media.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-otXNR9a4CKM/TqFjPVyKdOI/AAAAAAAAAyw/NXQVi_qAlTg/s400/Gaddafi+in+UK+Media.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Yesterday in Libya the NTC’s Abdel Hafez Ghoga said:<br />
<blockquote>“We announce to the world that Gaddafi has died in the custody of the revolution. It is an historic moment. It is the end of tyranny and dictatorship. Gaddafi has met his fate."</blockquote>The NTC will soon come up with a statement on the visions of the new Libya post Gaddafi in Benghazi on Sunday. I fear it may perhaps sound similar to Radio Benghazi’s broadcast of 1961.<br />
<br />
But I just hope for the sake of the millions of Libyans this time a good intention is followed by good action.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nzVpUgXp4i4/TqFrTwD5PyI/AAAAAAAAAzY/FfpX_6clh1c/s1600/gaddafi+dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-28455409006485919342011-09-22T20:42:00.009+01:002011-09-22T16:26:19.440+01:00Execution of Troy Davis killed justice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DVDKzMtnd3w/Tns4ygucqII/AAAAAAAAAyY/DKTZNjrPgk8/s1600/Troy+Davis+innocent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DVDKzMtnd3w/Tns4ygucqII/AAAAAAAAAyY/DKTZNjrPgk8/s320/Troy+Davis+innocent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Troy Davis, an African American man, on death row for two decades, was executed last night in Georgia by a lethal injection. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He is the 33<sup>rd</sup> prisoner to be executed in the United States this year. Georgia is one of the 34 states that has death penalty for crimes that may otherwise get only life sentences in other states. But what makes capital punishment even more brutal and barbaric is a case like Troy Davis. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fXNgdgYbN0E/TntPgYBtXSI/AAAAAAAAAyg/VYk7Ccw4MZM/s1600/i+am+troy+davis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fXNgdgYbN0E/TntPgYBtXSI/AAAAAAAAAyg/VYk7Ccw4MZM/s320/i+am+troy+davis.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal">Troy Davis’ case is no ordinary one and rightly created a huge uproar with people all over the world appealing for his clemency. I did too through Amnesty International and then again yesterday when his clemency was rejected I appealed to the parole board like thousands of others to reconsider the decision. He was supposed to be executed at mid night (GMT) and I remembered him then and said a little prayer before going to sleep. I prayed he would be spared.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Alas I woke up to the news that he was executed. RIP Troy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It seemed minutes before they injected him with the lethal dose, he asked to speak to the family of the murdered off-duty police officer and told them ‘I did not have a gun. I was not the one who took the life of your father, son, brother. I am innocent.’ Yet when Troy died, it was reported that some family members walked away with a smile.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zrtr8Xp56_I/Tns2LGxDucI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/1wXpJTo8a_8/s1600/Troy+Davis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zrtr8Xp56_I/Tns2LGxDucI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/1wXpJTo8a_8/s200/Troy+Davis.jpg" width="200" /></a>This is the sad nature of a grotesque society that believes in capital punishment. Death penalty enjoys broad public support especially in states like Georgia. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">To rejoice on the death of a fellow human being is inhuman. Yet what is more inhuman is to kill those whose guilt is shrouded in controversy. Troy Davis was declared guilty until proved innocent and that’s the mockery of the judicial system.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">His crime: Troy Davis has been alleged to beat<span lang="EN"> up a homeless man in a dispute over a bottle of beer and then shoot to death an off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail, who apparently jumped in to help.</span>I believe Troy deserved clemency simply because there are too many unanswered questions about his guilt.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-seSjqN9emPM/Tns2zh9k1TI/AAAAAAAAAyU/fLEEWljapzU/s1600/TroyDavis_too+much+doubt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-seSjqN9emPM/Tns2zh9k1TI/AAAAAAAAAyU/fLEEWljapzU/s320/TroyDavis_too+much+doubt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>1. Hostile witnesses: After his conviction, seven of the nine eye witnesses who appeared at his trial in 1991 recanted their evidence. Some said they were pressured by the police, others said they were illiterate and didn’t understand what they were signing. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">2. ‘Murderer’ turns witness? Only two have stuck by their testimonies. One is Sylvester Coles who has been himself accused of the murder and as such his testimony holds little value. In fact n<b><span style="font-weight: normal;">ine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">3. Even some jurors have gone on record to say they wouldn't vote to convict him if they knew then what they know now. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">4. There is no forensic evidence to prove that Troy committed the murder.He was even refused a lie detector test. Why?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">5. Where is the murder weapon? Troy said he had no gun and none was found. Coles however later admitted to owning a similar weapon but claimed he lend it to a friend that night.</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s not proved without a doubt that Troy Davis murdered McPhail. In fact, it gives good evidence to the contrary. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Is this the new apartheid or the return of the Southern lynching behaviour we now see in the form of ‘legal lynching’ as Davis’s lawyer describes his execution? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YmcmKVIFHVA/Tns5dcKJ6mI/AAAAAAAAAyc/iilV8RM63kU/s1600/southern+lynching+news.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YmcmKVIFHVA/Tns5dcKJ6mI/AAAAAAAAAyc/iilV8RM63kU/s400/southern+lynching+news.jpeg" width="353" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Even in the United States, Justice John Paul Stevens calls the death penalty <a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2033881,00.html">"unconstitutional."</a> He believes that African-Americans who are charged with murder are dramatically more likely than whites to be executed.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/moratorium/assessmentproject/georgia/finalreport.authcheckdam.doc">study</a> conducted by American Bar Association in 2006 to evaluate fairness and accuracy in death penalty system in Georgia found that ‘the race of the defendant and the race of the victim predict who is sentenced to death, with white suspects and those who kill white victims being more likely to be sentenced to death than black suspect and those who kill black victims'.<br />
<br />
Why in such a progressive society like the United States do we still have such barbaric laws - laws that cannot deliver justice without prejudice; laws that promise to not hang the culprit unless there is no doubt of his crime, yet do the very opposite?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the name of justice, Troy Davis was executed yesterday. Yet today it is justice that is hanging from the gallows. </div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-37868315499153373452011-09-05T19:09:00.014+01:002011-09-06T16:45:04.240+01:00Iraq lessons: Ten mistakes Libya must avoid<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-39ZdvB2Z1to/TmY7AxjUXPI/AAAAAAAAAtk/qC-hdfrUbNI/s1600/gaddafi+saddam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-39ZdvB2Z1to/TmY7AxjUXPI/AAAAAAAAAtk/qC-hdfrUbNI/s1600/gaddafi+saddam.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">As Libya enters the crucial phase of rebuilding and creating a new entity for itself, it is important to ensure that mistakes made by Iraq in an eerily similar circumstances are not repeated. Here is my list of the top ten:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<b><i>Lesson 1: Don’t topple the entire government </i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Forcing all the bureaucrats, academics, and technical experts whose knowledge is important to keep the country running would be a grave mistake although Gaddafi’s cronies will have to go. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0p2bp8gz6-s/TmTrqoEtuiI/AAAAAAAAAtE/S6c9amEm40w/s1600/saddam+statue+toppled+off.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0p2bp8gz6-s/TmTrqoEtuiI/AAAAAAAAAtE/S6c9amEm40w/s320/saddam+statue+toppled+off.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Iraq did that with de-bathification when the removed all Baath party members out of government posts but little did they acknowledge that many had been required to join the Baath Party to hold their jobs. This would create a huge vacuum in Libyan government that would be open to exploitation.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Keeping some of the old members has two important benefits. One: It would ensure a smooth transition into a new government as they have the insight into the running of the government and two it decreases the pool of rebels trying to topple the new government. Libya is a heterogeneous state with hundreds of tribes that would look for some participation in the new elections. Creating a perfect balance with the old and new leaders would be one of Libya's biggest challenges.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 2: Don’t disarm the entire army and military </i></b><br />
<br />
The dismantling of the Iraqi Army in the aftermath of the American invasion is now widely regarded as a mistake that stoked rebellion among hundreds of thousands of former Iraqi soldiers and made it more difficult to reduce sectarian bloodshed and attacks by insurgents.he huge Iraqi army of more than 400000 men simply vanished. These men were well-trained in the arts of combat, now abandoned, bitter and jobless. They knew where the weapons were kept and did not take much time in looting them and aiming them at the foreign military that they believed was destroying their country.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kUnMPG-7Pis/TmTsjjNS76I/AAAAAAAAAtI/_AbXFqYpDyo/s1600/saddam%2527s+army.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kUnMPG-7Pis/TmTsjjNS76I/AAAAAAAAAtI/_AbXFqYpDyo/s320/saddam%2527s+army.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Every country needs a security apparatus and it’s important to retain a part of the army (of course Gaddafi loyalist have to go) to hold fort and train the new cadres. Iraq disbanded the entire army of Saddam Hussein and this led to chaos on the streets where troublemakers and terrorist groups flourished.However it is important to ensure that <a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/02/gaddafis-people-of-mass-destruction.html">Gaddafi's people of mass destruction</a> are captured and brought to book or else they could create trouble with the help of the loyal fringes in an attempt to regain power.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 3: Don’t rush elections</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">In Iraq and Afghanistan, the west led elections backfired tremendously. It made great news but was of little consequence. The issue of timing of elections was a crucial factor in Iraq where we learnt that ill-timed and ill-prepared elections do not produce democracy, or even political stability, after conflict. A country’s constitution should be decided by the country’s people and not any outside nation. It should not be rushed and should take in to account the country’s ethnic and demographic nature; only then will it succeed.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U8qrqGGZQaA/TmTtUDygB8I/AAAAAAAAAtM/5oInAeruEhk/s1600/iraqi+elections+2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U8qrqGGZQaA/TmTtUDygB8I/AAAAAAAAAtM/5oInAeruEhk/s320/iraqi+elections+2004.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
In Angola in 1992, in Bosnia in 1996, and in Liberia in 1997, rushed elections set back the prospects for democracy and, in Angola and Liberia, paved the way for renewed civil war. Expecting Libya to suddenly turn into a democracy overnight is wrong and unrealistic. It’s better to let Libyans decide on their pace of reform.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 4: Not just an empty head to lead Libya</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">It’s important that Libya has a strong and powerful leader with a vision to not just pull Libya out of the mess it is in but also build it to greater heights while maintaining peace and meeting public expectations. Post war Iraqi President was too weak to lead and a complicated system of caucuses to form a parliament that could not do much. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qn1B3B4hWvs/TmTqTGb6CXI/AAAAAAAAAtA/90dvHSil6Wk/s1600/bramer+with+iraqi+interim+president+Ghazi+al+Yawar.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qn1B3B4hWvs/TmTqTGb6CXI/AAAAAAAAAtA/90dvHSil6Wk/s320/bramer+with+iraqi+interim+president+Ghazi+al+Yawar.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Bremer, shakes hands with the country's interim president, Ghazi al-Yawar</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The 25-member Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which was appointed in July 2003 was not really a “governing” council, as the American diplomat Paul Bremer III made it clear that he would continue to exercise supreme power, including the power to veto any IGC decisions. Libya does not need a figurehead president or a west puppet master but someone who has a vision and the capability to lead Libya to greater good. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 5: No foreign army to march on Libyan soil</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">Outside military in any country gives its enemies within the reason to harp on patriotism and turn rebellious. Allied forces in Iraq are still engaging with insurgents in preventing total chaos but the mere presence of these forces is also a constant stimulus to insurgency. Until foreign forces are fully withdrawn from its soil, Iraq will never truly be at peace. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5LMzRoVSCyU/TmTuEf8eSAI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/gyA5bA8GAsE/s1600/us+soldiers+on+Iraqi+soil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5LMzRoVSCyU/TmTuEf8eSAI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/gyA5bA8GAsE/s320/us+soldiers+on+Iraqi+soil.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Iraqi woman and her children walk by a US Soldiers from the First Battalion, 17th Infantry, as he guards other soldiers from possible sniper fire as they conduct a vehicle search at a checkpoint in Mosul, north of Baghdad (AFP Photo / Cris Bouroncle)</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">A foreign military presence in Libya risks stoking rebellion within and also brings back horrible memories of the Italian occupation of Libya in the 1920s and 1930s – a time when Libya faced a fate worse than Gaddafi’s regime as tens of thousands of Libyans were killed in concentration camps. NATO air support was crucial in bringing about Gaddafi’s downfall but bringing the foreign army into Libya can turn the NATO supporters into opponents.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 6: Put trade above aid & defence</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">While in Iraq and Afghanistan, the allied forced extended help for defence making huge mistakes. In Iraq it was particularly important to create jobs, this could have been done rapidly if the repair and reconstruction contracts had been channeled more extensively through a wide range of local Iraqi contractors, but instead it had to pass through cumbersome process of the big U.S. corporations. This combined with widespread terrorism and violence, meant that most of the $18.4 billion reconstruction money of November 2003 was not spent within the first year, adding to Iraqi frustrations.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In Libya the NATO should extend aid by unfreezing assets and promoting trade between the Europe and Libya. This would help the economy gain strength from within and making it capable to support itself in some years without much foreign aid giving it a respectable position in the global political and economical circles.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 7: Let there be light</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Iraq public life has deteriorated after the war. 24% of children suffer from various diseases. They are undernourished. Thousands have become handicapped, 25% Iraqis are illiterate and the unemployment rate is over 15% and electricity is only available for a few hours every day.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uTvDtl5LrZA/TmTwOGbG5qI/AAAAAAAAAtc/2Eua03Ucgjw/s1600/looting+in+iraq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uTvDtl5LrZA/TmTwOGbG5qI/AAAAAAAAAtc/2Eua03Ucgjw/s1600/looting+in+iraq.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looting in Iraqi Cities continued for months after Saddam was toppled</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">Cities cannot survive chaos in the dark and this would lead to rioting and looting as we saw in Baghdad post invasion. The first weeks of America’s post-war engagement in Iraq were chaotic and ineffectual, as most of the infrastructure of the country was systematically looted, sabotaged, and destroyed while American troops stood by. As a priority the Libyan council must restore electricity, ensure there is adequate food and water for its citizens, reopen schools, universities, businesses and ensure there are jobs and salaries are paid. If employment hits high, it will lead to discontent which will further looting and rebellion.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 8: Don’t slip on the oil</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It’s very important to ensure that the Libyan oil is safe from the mafia, the militia and the foreign opportunist so that it does not end up becoming a source of corruption as in Iraq but its benefits and revenue are invested in rebuilding Libya and improving the lives of its people.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BFvx1ZELTHM/TmTuweOuSXI/AAAAAAAAAtU/hKwtDaVFi_Y/s1600/iraqi+oil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BFvx1ZELTHM/TmTuweOuSXI/AAAAAAAAAtU/hKwtDaVFi_Y/s320/iraqi+oil.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">First Gaddafi’s clan pilferaged the oil revenues and it would be treachery if the west used the rebellion to seek unscrupulous benefits through oil trade or see billions disappear from the rebuilding funds.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Corruption of oil revenues was a huge factor that led to the discontent among the Libyans. A factor cited for Iraqi discontent. But corruption did not leave Iraq after the war. According to Transparency International Iraq comes 175<sup>th</sup> (the last one) in terms of struggle with corruption. More recently a corruption scandal discovered that the Development Fun lost $40 billion.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Pre war Iraq never exported oil. Now Iraqi oil is available over the counter in the USA. Three British American firms have secured a 20 year contract for oilfield development. Crude oil export revenues are used by the Iraqi government to purchase US arms and fighter jets amounting to $13billion by 2013 over foodstuff for its public.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 9: Don’t shoot your foot</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In recent months, a great many people in Libya have found themselves armed with all sorts of weapons – some handed down by the NATO, some taken from the Gaddafi army and others just found in the many hiding places of the Gaddafi regime. There are too many weapons unaccounted for in too many hands. After the battle against Gaddafi is won, they weapons could be used for wrongful ‘rebellions’ – be it political or tribal. There should be a system incorporated to dispose off such weapons from the public sphere. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w7oS6vp9rEo/TmTvLP-OXyI/AAAAAAAAAtY/E2yLQoIV_mQ/s1600/iraqi+rebels+with+weapons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w7oS6vp9rEo/TmTvLP-OXyI/AAAAAAAAAtY/E2yLQoIV_mQ/s320/iraqi+rebels+with+weapons.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iraqi rebels with weapons</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In Iraq the security forces are weak and civilians still own several weapons. This leads to chaos on the streets everyday. Murders, kidnappings and looting happen daily. This has forced the local authorities to depend on the foreign military to control the situation.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>Lesson 10: Don’t forget Iraq</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
The New York Times in 2008 published an unpublished federal report called <a href="http://documents.nytimes.com/hard-lessons-the-iraq-reconstruction-experience">Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience</a> highlighting what I believe is an example of what not to do but of how not to do it. The west believed that military power should not just topple the government but also bring about economic reform and sustain growth. However Iraq proved them wrong.<br />
<br />
A military power can work to conquer foreign lands but miserably fails if used to run them. It’s important for the west to realise the limits of its power in rebuilding a country. Mistakes made in Iraq should not be repeated in Libya or we have just taken the country from the devil and thrown it in the deep blue sea. </div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-16984435015261708752011-08-22T19:00:00.002+01:002011-09-16T10:44:50.210+01:00Anna's 'monster' Jan Lokpal scares me<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4efGhsnWH8/TlJzHt7oxDI/AAAAAAAAArc/kLXeSIjyPV0/s1600/anna-hazare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l4efGhsnWH8/TlJzHt7oxDI/AAAAAAAAArc/kLXeSIjyPV0/s400/anna-hazare.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Anna Hazare has good intentions but his Jan Lokpal Bill scares me.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I can understand the anger in India today. I can understand why hundreds and thousands have taken to the streets. I can understand why corruption needs to be tackled on an urgent basis. But what I don’t understand is why we need to create a monster to fight a monster. I don’t trust monsters. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">When India got democracy 64 years ago, we set out to create a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Started off with good intentions and decades later we are sure that the government is of the people (a separate corrupt class) by the people (who need them for corrupt means) and for the people (who are ready to offer bribes and kickbacks).</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Team Anna wants to create another draconian structure because they say that the draconian structures we already have in our society are no longer any good. The premise of Jan Lokpal bill is based on a system of 'respectable non-corrupt' officials with the powers to prosecute anybody in the country, who are demanding life sentences for corruption and the right to dismiss and penalize anybody they deem corrupt. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">While this may seem the perfect solution to eradicate corruption from our society, think carefully if it would work in reality? Who are these non-corrupt officials who will run the Lokpal and Lokayukta, who will in a sense hold almost unlimited power in the country? I know the Jan Lokpal Bill has clearly defined how the process will be done using terms like ‘transparency’ and through various ‘respectable’ committees, but I don’t see it work. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">One of my many worries with this bill is that it will end up seeing many of the people on Anna’s stage today running the Lokpal from the centre and the Lokayuktas in their states tomorrow. So who are they really campaigning for- the people or themselves? And my worry is why are we giving so much power to a fraction of people? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ct7IxDKeUA/TlJ0B2aGjSI/AAAAAAAAArg/-a3c_5le6Eo/s1600/Anna+Hazare+anti-corruption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ct7IxDKeUA/TlJ0B2aGjSI/AAAAAAAAArg/-a3c_5le6Eo/s320/Anna+Hazare+anti-corruption.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Team Anna argues that corruption in India is systemic and I agree but I’m not sure that the Lokpal will escape this systemic corruption. Power corrupts and there is no guarantee that this system will eventually not succumb to corruption. Then who will police them? Team Anna reply to this in their bill does not convince me. I only see it as a vicious circle which will eventually succumb to a mutual parasitic relationship and infest society further.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">If these so called non-corrupt people have managed to garner such a huge fan following among the masses with the Team Anna tag attached to them, then why don’t they stand for elections and see changes happen within the system. Team Anna can form a political party and these non-corrupt supporters, then as elected members, be a part of various governing bodies and monitor the corruption within the system.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It may not seem like a quick fix solution to rid India of corruption overnight but it’s in my opinion a far better solution to eradicate corruption and sustain non corrupt practices in the government departments. Why create a parallel system? And how many parallel systems will we create? Tomorrow we may not like something else in this country (and I’m sure there are many more issues we despise) are we going to hold the government to ransom and create more parallel structures?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We all hate corruption and we want an end to corruption. So why not force the government to become more transparent by holding them accountable. Why not use the same model that Jan Lokpal bill uses for transparency – form a single body to hold inquiries in corruption related cases; publish status reports of corruption cases, keep the cases in public domain, issues penalties for delayed cases etc. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I also agree it would be a good idea to get politicians, bureaucrats to disclose their assets periodically; and to liquidate their assets if they have swindled taxpayers’ money in scams. But why not lobby to include these provisions in our current judiciary system? Give power to the judges and monitor them through a strong Judicial Standards & Accountability Bill which I believe is a step in the right direction.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">An independent body can monitor such cases and since the documents will be in public domain, study them and lobby for a speedy trial. The media will only be too happy to campaign for it as we have seen their constant 24x7 coverage to Team Anna. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1cDBlaEnb4Y/TlJ0KFlrXfI/AAAAAAAAAro/zcTjWsowYN8/s1600/anna+gandhi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1cDBlaEnb4Y/TlJ0KFlrXfI/AAAAAAAAAro/zcTjWsowYN8/s320/anna+gandhi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I respect Anna Hazare, at 74, to believe in a cause and campaign for it. But Anna is no Gandhi and his coterie is not fighting for our freedom against an alien oppression or occupation. Bringing the Gandhi cap back in vogue, celebrity endorsements, crowds chanting freedom slogans, Anna fasting-unto-death, shooting dramatic videos messages inside the jail to reach the masses waiting outside are just gimmicks to liken the movement to the freedom struggle. Tackling corruption is important but the theatrics is ludicrous. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Team Anna has picked up an issue that has mass appeal and timed it perfectly with the many scams we saw early this year to rake up emotions. While I’m happy to see India unite against corruption, I doubt many even understand the finer print of what they are campaigning for.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">It’s easy to get swept by the Arab Spring but India is not the Middle East. While the Jan Lokpal model would work beautifully in some Middle East countries who have just began to form democratic structures, India is a mature democracy and already has structures in place. We just need to make them more transparent and productive and the Jan Lokpal bill has some suggestions that are worth implementing and some which will require further analysis, but creating a separate entity like Anna’s Lokpal is not my solution to corruption.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1If4o740TJA/TlJ1nwt0hbI/AAAAAAAAArw/UhmHSPntT-8/s1600/anna+hazare+protests.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1If4o740TJA/TlJ1nwt0hbI/AAAAAAAAArw/UhmHSPntT-8/s320/anna+hazare+protests.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">One positive thing from this campaign is that people have found a voice. And I really hope this voice can also be channelized to create awareness on other important and urgent issues. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">While Show Anna is on at the Ramlila grounds, there are simultaneously many other issues across the length and breadth of India that require a strong united voice and the media spotlight to lobby for them: Keywords: <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/NE-students-flay-Centres-double-standards/articleshow/9705986.cms">Irom Sharmila against AFSPA</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2378911.ece">POSCO protests</a>, <a href="http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2007/villages_and_communities_again_1.html">Koodankulam nuclear plant protests</a> (and many more). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Many livelihoods are getting lost; many innocent people are getting shot, villages are getting destroyed and families are burying a loved one every day. They are however going unheard.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Simply because they are not as glamorous as this.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETzG0KZl8Yg/TlJ4pB7955I/AAAAAAAAAr0/5PPHJ5pPl2Q/s1600/celebrity+annaz+lokpal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETzG0KZl8Yg/TlJ4pB7955I/AAAAAAAAAr0/5PPHJ5pPl2Q/s320/celebrity+annaz+lokpal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-19249926203403520142011-08-21T12:18:00.003+01:002011-11-14T12:14:18.130+00:00God, Syria and no Bashar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" closure_uid_lqucwv="251" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4iyTSCUygM/TlDfLVYJtXI/AAAAAAAAArA/FpMWTplVR4E/s1600/no+bashar+syria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" qaa="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4iyTSCUygM/TlDfLVYJtXI/AAAAAAAAArA/FpMWTplVR4E/s400/no+bashar+syria.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> <i>If you say ‘God, Syria and Bashar’, I say ‘God, Syria and My people’, I Bashar Al-Assad will remain dutiful and faithful to my people and will walk with them to build Syria…</i></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Powerful words from Syria’s President yet drowned by chants of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘God, Syria and Freedom’</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘Syria is protected by God’</i> as millions of Syrians take to the streets of Damascus and other cities standing united and strong against the oppressive regime. And as the global leaders unite to put sanctions against Assad, will this succeed in ending Assad's brutality? </div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_lqucwv="283" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div closure_uid_uxelse="213"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IIihLmfhEu4/TlDki4w4QgI/AAAAAAAAArM/U5qly0GLJmU/s1600/hafez+basel+bashar+assad.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" qaa="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IIihLmfhEu4/TlDki4w4QgI/AAAAAAAAArM/U5qly0GLJmU/s1600/hafez+basel+bashar+assad.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hafez al-Assad with his sons Basel & Bashar</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div closure_uid_lqucwv="376">Bashar al-Assad became Syria’s president by accident. Though not originally the first choice to succeed the iron fisted Hafez al-Assad, as the President of Syria, Bashar was thrown into the spot light after his elder brother Basel was killed in an accident in 1994. </div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">An eye doctor trained in Britain, Bashar’s sudden change to a military career and his super progression from June 2000 when his father died to mid July when he took over his father’s place, was the aftermath of Hafez’s efforts to ensure his son was his successor.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vJAgntEojJU/TlDmEtDRM1I/AAAAAAAAArY/DsCbF_xm8RA/s1600/rifaat+al-assad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" qaa="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vJAgntEojJU/TlDmEtDRM1I/AAAAAAAAArY/DsCbF_xm8RA/s1600/rifaat+al-assad.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rifaat al-Assad with Hafez al-Assad</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div closure_uid_lqucwv="433">Hafez was afraid his disgruntle brother Rifaat would be staging a coup to take over Syria’s presidency after him. Rifaat, a hardened politician himself, who commanded a ruthless army of 55,000 men with arms & ammunition fell out with his brother in 1984 and since lived abroad in exile. Rifaat had showed his displeasure at the inexperienced Bashar contending for the Presidency. </div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">But Hafez’s faithful coterie of Alwaties ensured that Hafez’s last wish came true. In the next month and half; the constitution was amended to lower the age of Presidency from 40 to 34 (Bashar’s age then), Bashar was made the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, then promoted to the military rank of lieutenant general, made the head of the Ba’th party. He was then endorsed by the leadership for presidency, nominated and then duly elected for president with 97 per cent of the Parliament voting for him. </div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><div closure_uid_lqucwv="378"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div closure_uid_lqucwv="478" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A novice in politics then, Bashar tried to bring in some reform- he released 600 political prisoners, relaxed few controls on the economy and the press. Syria saw emergence of private banks and universities and the private sector got some room to grow. The Damascus spring which saw the slight opening of the economy and the political system did not last long. But never a believer in democracy, Bashar still kept the country in the four decade old martial law.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Kq_RpKZng8/TlDlPA-hMAI/AAAAAAAAArQ/rmoHrGg7Tmg/s1600/bashar+assad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" qaa="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Kq_RpKZng8/TlDlPA-hMAI/AAAAAAAAArQ/rmoHrGg7Tmg/s320/bashar+assad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Syria’s foreign policy too saw turbulent times. Bashar’s influence in Lebanon cannot be underestimated. He forced the Syrian constitution to pass an amendment in 2004 to extend Emile Lahoud, the then Lebanese president term for three years. Lahoud has been a Syrian puppet and Bashar had vested interest in doing so which also led to allegations of Syria orchestrating the murder of Rafik Hariri, a leading politician who opposed it. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">United States imposed sanctions under the Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act (SALSA) in May 2004. SALSA bans all U.S. exports to Syria (except food and medicine). This has hit Syrian aviation particularly the State-owned Syrian Air, Syrian oil and gas production and other projects that depended on US technology and US parts for their operations. Also companies specializing in major high-tech projects shunned operations in Syria for fear of angering the US. </div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_lqucwv="399" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">A UN Resolution in 2004 forced Syria to remove its troops from Lebanon which were posted there since 1970s. But after the Israeli & Hezbollah war in Lebanon in 2006, Syria’s influence in Lebanon once again grew as they were the main suppliers of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah. This forced United States to acknowledge that Syria was an important player in the Middle East peace process.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In 2007 Bashar was re-elected the President with 97.62% vote, not surprising since there was no other candidate which reinforced that any political reform was just lip service. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VmGUQII2ekw/TlDhh2qgENI/AAAAAAAAArE/-3k3_AyFFzk/s1600/syria+power+trio+bashar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="184" qaa="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VmGUQII2ekw/TlDhh2qgENI/AAAAAAAAArE/-3k3_AyFFzk/s320/syria+power+trio+bashar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" closure_uid_lqucwv="277" style="text-align: center;"><div closure_uid_lqucwv="279"><i>In this picture taken on June 13, 2000, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, right, his brother Maher, centre, and brother-in-law Major General Assef Shawkat, left, stand during the funeral of late president Hafez al-Assad in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo, File)</i></div><div closure_uid_lqucwv="280"><br />
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</tbody></table>But what was perhaps Bashar’s biggest political mistake was to remove many of the old and seasoned politicians – Bahjat Suleiman, head of intelligence, Hasan Khalil, head of military intelligence, Adnan Badr Hassan, head of political security and Vice President Abdel-Halim Kaddam. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What followed was the emergence of the triad of power: Bashar, his brother Maher who heads the Republican guard and his brother-in-law Asef Shawkat who heads military security. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What Bashar perhaps did not foresee was that the narrower the coalition became the greater the opposition grew. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Syria’s opposition was organized by a group of activists online inspired by events in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt. The group, called the National Initiative for Change, said that its members in Syria represented a broad spectrum of groups opposing the leadership. From the initial sparks of unrest online, the opposition grew in numbers and determination over the months. <a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/04/syrian-revolution-moves-from-above-to.html">Syrian revolution has moved from above to below</a>. A revolution from the grassroots has a far disastrous impact on the elitist regime that that from its own clan. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div closure_uid_lqucwv="400">In a country where any political meeting of more than five people required a permit from the government at a two week notice with the names of speakers and attendees duly given, thousands take to the streets everywhere defying the state. Battles continue as the army fires on innocent civilians but that has not deterred the proponents of democracy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vh2gZOdBKKA/TlDlkrxRGpI/AAAAAAAAArU/TpWsNAe1_NI/s1600/un+help+syria.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qaa="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vh2gZOdBKKA/TlDlkrxRGpI/AAAAAAAAArU/TpWsNAe1_NI/s1600/un+help+syria.jpg" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_lqucwv="401" style="text-align: justify;">Assad is spraying bullets at his people to stay in power, inspiration gained from his friend Muammar Gaddafi who is turning Libya red with protesters blood. It’s important for the international community to mobilize support against Assad’s regime. However their experience in Libya had put them on a back foot.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
The new sanctions imposed on Assad and his faithful coterie by the US and the EU came too late. Assad's regime can still survive on its reserves of $18bn dollars held in its central bank and Iran too has pledged financial support of almost $6bn. However it cannot survive forever and soon when the money runs out and the isolation sets in, Assad will have to decide on a plan B. There is no doubt Syria will eventually get its freedom, at what price to its people is the worrying bit.What is also worrying is that exiled politicians like Rifaat Assad might use this opportunity to support the revolutionaries in a bid to get back the throne he was never given but thought was always his. Syria needs to watch out as Rifaat would be as bad as the rest of the Assad clan.<br />
<br />
US turning against Syria is a good sign as in the recent years they were hoping to garner a partnership with Assad to isolate Iran and broker peace in the Middle East. Recently the Obama administration condemned the attacks on Syrians in these strong words; ‘Syria would be a better place without President Assad’. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div closure_uid_lqucwv="515">And for once billions worldwide agree. </div></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-32884556020250919542011-08-20T19:12:00.003+01:002012-01-11T12:57:16.356+00:00London’s dark underbelly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kXUW-atz5mU/TwXYOi8fbQI/AAAAAAAABGg/Swo_srGAyBw/s1600/gangs-of-london.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kXUW-atz5mU/TwXYOi8fbQI/AAAAAAAABGg/Swo_srGAyBw/s400/gangs-of-london.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iH_8QAJvSWs/TwXAJruXNSI/AAAAAAAABEw/b5JoDhuC-Rw/s1600/gangs-of-london.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘It’s a shame, it’s a shame’, muttered Jeremiah, a 30 something Jamaican man from Tottenham. Jerry walked with a swagger and carried a crooked smile as he sat comfortably in a chair opposite me. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘It’s a shame,’ he repeated. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘You mean the rioting?’ I asked. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘No, no, rioting was the good thing. It’s a shame they- police, government, media- still don’t get it,’ he explained. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jerry told me then of how he saw the family of Mark Duggan, the young man, shot by the police during an anti-gun operation last Thursday in Tottenham, wait for hours outside the police station on Saturday and be ignored. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘That’s what they do to blacks,’ he said angrily. They (police) pretend we (blacks) don’t exist unless they are out to make arrests. Then they can only see the blacks.’ </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">But there were people from all colours, all backgrounds joining the </span><span class="il" style="font-size: small;">riots</span><span style="font-size: small;">, I intervened.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘Yes, because many poor people today feel they are the new blacks. The young who have no decent living feel they are the new blacks; and the youth who cannot go to college no more and have no job no more feel they are the new blacks,’ Jerry spoke in a matter-of-fact way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then Jerry, who did time for theft, looked me in the eye and asked me, ‘You be honest, Miss, will I ever get a job?’ </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘If I do get a job in a supermarket, everyone will be looking at me with suspicion all the time and if someone nicks a can of beer, they would first think it was me,’ Jerry voiced his concerns.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">He told me it is easier to join a gang than look for a job. I asked Jerry, who is expecting a child in November, if that’s what he wanted to do. ‘Hell no, Miss, that is why I am trying to find a respectable job’.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The new blacks</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I thought about Jerry’s comment on the new blacks and put a question to another young boy from Enfield – a white European, call Troy. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Troy laughed when I asked him if he was the ‘new black’. You mean because I joined the </span><span class="il" style="font-size: small;">riots</span><span style="font-size: small;">?, he asked. ‘Loads of white boys and girls were there in Enfield Town. Everyone hates the police and the politicians - they lot screwed up the world. I know people born here who hate them.’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Troy came to this country four years ago. Too old then to be put in school, he slipped through the system until the job centre sent him to an English school a year ago. Now he can speak far better than he can read or write. He wants to work in a shop but has so far been unsuccessful. He spends his days ‘hanging out’ with friends. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘I like to be white,’ he confessed. ‘I think life here is better if I am white but sometimes I pretend to be like the black – talk like them, walk like them you know because a lot of my neighbours are black and I feel we have a lot in common. We all live in bad houses; we have no education and no jobs. They are like my brothers here, you know…’ he explained.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">It’s true that people who share similar circumstances bond together in brotherhood. The blacks for centuries were considered the ‘underclass’, the oppressed, the destitute- a feeling that is now increasingly gaining prominence among a section of the youth (of every colour) in this country. With broken homes, parents unemployed, school education deteriorating, university education out of reach for many, cost of living rising and no prospects of jobs, many young boys and girls today only see darkness ahead. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Raj, is a 50 something Asian man from Kenya, who worked in the City in a respectable job for over two decades but was made redundant a year ago. He thinks that some progress was made to improve racial relations but believes that the recent cuts have once again pushed his community back and widened the gap between the rich and the poor. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘Only the poor are suffering and cuts have made them poorer. Bankers are still rich and can send their children to private schools, universities and get them great jobs in the bank or even in politics; what about people like us?’ said Raj. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Raj paid taxes for 26 years; but is now jobless and has no money to put his youngest son to university. ‘I’m also too old now to get a good job. Is it fair? My neighbour a English man has the same problem. His girl can’t go to university because the old man has no job anymore. Maybe now we all are the new blacks.’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The term- ‘new blacks’- worries me. Firstly it signifies that the negative stereotypes associated with the black community are still very much existent. Secondly, government policies instead of moving the have-nots upward in society have managed to push a significant number of more people to the bottom. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Youth gangs</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I spoke to a group of young boys on the streets of Edmonton. They are a part of one of the 200 odd youth gangs that exist in </span><span class="il" style="font-size: small;">London</span><span style="font-size: small;">. I promised to keep their identity a secret but they said they didn’t mind their names being used. Then on second thoughts suggested I use pseudo names. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I wasn’t surprised they didn’t want to hide their identity. Gangs thrive on popularity and there is a lot of competition among gangs to be more famous than the other. But I also understand their hesitation as the police is now on a lookout for gang members in their areas. None of them deny they support the </span><span class="il" style="font-size: small;">riots</span><span style="font-size: small;">. All of them hate the police.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The ‘uniform’ of most gangs is similar- track pants and trainers, hoodies, a lot of bling around their neck and wrists and of course a blackberry. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Jonathan, 16, told me that they have seen their fathers been subjected to the searches by the police so often that it built a resentment towards the police even when they were as little as five. Now they go through the same. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Young boys like these bond together and thrive in a gang culture. Schools in the UK lack discipline and with many coming from broken homes, gangs are where they find the much needed ground rules and objectives. ‘It’s not just cool to be a part of the gang but it gives you a sense of belonging, brotherhood and shared culture and wisdom’, says David, 17. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘My brothers (gang members) watch my back if I’m being bullied at school or on the street. They tip me off when there is trouble and teach me some tricks of the trade. It’s useful to be in a gang, ‘cos if you are alone, you are in trouble,’ he adds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gangs give a sense of cohesiveness, create fear and demand respect among their peer. It’s also a shot at fame. ‘Every kid knows the gangs in their areas. People don’t mess with me, they know I’m in a gang so they know what I am capable of,’ says David while quickly sending off messages on his blackberry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘I’m just telling my mates the plans for the evening,’ he replied seeing me eye his Blackberry. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘It’s the best way to connect with everyone. This is how we all knew what was happening during the </span><span class="il" style="font-size: small;">riots</span><span style="font-size: small;">,’ adds Jonathan. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">There are gangs of all hue and colours. Inter gang rivalry has seen a lot of bloodshed on the streets of </span><span class="il" style="font-size: small;">London</span><span style="font-size: small;">. Some gang members have guns while most carry knifes and in times of trouble even machetes. ‘It’s more to scare people off. Like self protection,’ says David.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">But not many of these young ones want to be a part of a gang forever. Some have aspirations to go to university, find jobs and settle down in life peacefully. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">‘No one will stop you if you decide to leave. Maybe if I can go to university then I will quit the gang because anyways I won’t have any time to hang out here,’ said the 18 year old. ‘But I don’t think I can go to university as I have no money. Maybe I’ll work on cars. I’m good at the kind of stuff.’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Phil, 17, who sat quietly until now asked me, ‘what do you think about the </span><span class="il" style="font-size: small;">riots</span><span style="font-size: small;">?’ It was their turn to question me. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Seemingly satisfied that I wasn’t in cahoots with the police, they decided to give me some advice, ‘the police are scumbags, don’t ever trust them!’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>*Names have been changed to protect identities.</i></span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-29457073429391109482011-08-16T20:50:00.008+01:002011-08-17T14:45:40.526+01:00David Cameron's bungled speech on riots<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z0Cc0SOsVfA/Tku6xCchEoI/AAAAAAAAApM/pQAmplqJm9A/s1600/David-Cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="367" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z0Cc0SOsVfA/Tku6xCchEoI/AAAAAAAAApM/pQAmplqJm9A/s400/David-Cameron.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">The London riots were not about race, government cuts or poverty, declared David Cameron in a speech at Oxfordshire on Monday. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Mr Prime Minister, I beg to differ. I believe the riots were about all these three and more. And here is why.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><b><i>Cameron: ‘These riots were not about race: the perpetrators and the victims were white, black and Asian’.</i></b><br />
<b> </b><br />
Yes they were. Let’s go back to what started these riots- black anger at the police. A black man called Mark Duggan was shot dead in suspicious circumstances, his family and friends protested outside the police station and were ignored. This is the single most trigger to the riots. The riots started off as clashes with the local police and were later joined in by the other members of the black community and then when the looting began, everyone got in. <br />
<br />
Dismissing race as a reason is just shirking away from answering the difficult questions on why racism still exists in the police and why a certain community is still feeling victimized. By Cameron’s own admission, ‘in Tottenham some of the anger was directed at the police’. Perhaps if he asked why, he would know the answer had to do with ‘racism’.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Cameron: These riots were not about government cuts: they were directed at high street stores, not Parliament.</i></b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Economics research scholars</span><i> <span> </span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Hans-Joachim Voth and Jacopo Ponticelli</span></strong><em><span style="font-style: normal;"></span><b><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></b></em><em><span style="font-style: normal;">say that the more the governments cut back, the greater the chances of social unrest. This is their unambiguous <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2011/08/16/austerity-and-social-unrest/" target="_blank">conclusion</a> after analyzing </span></em><em><span style="font-style: normal;">90 years worth of data for 26 European countries. <span></span></span></em><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YY4CMQlB45A/Tku7IFhVbtI/AAAAAAAAApQ/nrVpVjKlqTc/s1600/newspaper+riots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DnPUaK5jzpw/TkvAyutCH1I/AAAAAAAAApY/B8OclhxjLTg/s1600/newspaper+riots.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DnPUaK5jzpw/TkvAyutCH1I/AAAAAAAAApY/B8OclhxjLTg/s320/newspaper+riots.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>They say, <br />
<blockquote><i>“Of course, not every rioter or looter in the streets is merely trying to make a public statement against coalition cuts., but the chances of things going wrong in a spectacular way increase as the fiscal conditions change. Once cuts go above 2 percent of GDP, a major surge in the frequency of destabilizing incidents can be expected.”</i><em><span style="font-style: normal;"></span></em><br />
</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o8BrxleSLBU/TkvBAMfLlDI/AAAAAAAAApc/6M_CkpPuQ_8/s1600/newspaper+riots1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m1YhgNBAly4/TkvCF4SB0GI/AAAAAAAAApg/OuJyBlIjJyg/s1600/looting+in+london+riots.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m1YhgNBAly4/TkvCF4SB0GI/AAAAAAAAApg/OuJyBlIjJyg/s200/looting+in+london+riots.png" width="175" /></a> The rioters were able to successfully carry out the mayhem for four days because they did not strike the parliament which is well protected and has little public interest value (remember the students protest) compared to the high street stores in several parts of the city and country – a tactic that worked in the favour of the rioters to create enough destruction before the police could mobilize themselves.<br />
<br />
And yes, it was also a lucrative proposition because the looters thought they could benefit too – from the treasures in the high street store that due to government cuts and job losses many find beyond their meagre means.<br />
<b><i> </i></b><br />
<b><i>Cameron: And these riots were not about poverty: that insults the millions of people who, whatever the hardship, would never dream of making others suffer like this.</i></b><br />
<b> </b><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I agree that not all poor people would resort to such activities and that gives hope to society that all is not lost. Cameron’s blames a ‘broken society’. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Somehow every problem seems to linger on a 'broken society' and every solution on a 'big society'. This Observer cartoon by Chris Riddell in 2008 (below) seems very appropriate every today. Not much has changed- just replace 'global financial crisis' with 'UK youth riots' and you have Cameron saying the 'burning issues of the day IS this broken society.' </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HNuBayAFRnY/Tku_TVB09CI/AAAAAAAAApU/liVO5g2FwE0/s1600/broken+society.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HNuBayAFRnY/Tku_TVB09CI/AAAAAAAAApU/liVO5g2FwE0/s400/broken+society.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div>Yet, Cameron does not think the riots had anything to do with poverty. Dismissing poverty is just an excuse to not address the growing income gap in this country (the bankers are still getting bonuses) and the ever growing number at the bottom (job are lost everyday). <span> </span> <div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Perhaps he should glance through this <a href="http://maptube.org/map.aspx?m=ol&s=bBHFGlAlRcsKCSaXwRjAplwcCnYMCkid&k=http%3A%2F%2Forca.casa.ucl.ac.uk%2F%7Eollie%2Fmisc%2Flondonriots_verified_20110809_1514.kml" target="_blank">map</a> that shows that the riots took place in some of the most deprived areas of London.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Or he could look at some preliminary research on the demography of the riots in Manchester. Liverpool University urban planning lecturer Alex Singleton, who studied the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/aug/11/uk-riots-magistrates-court-list" target="_blank">data</a> that Guardian has been collecting for people accused of riots going through the magistrates courts around Manchester, <a href="http://www.alex-singleton.com/?p=507" target="_blank">found</a> that:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">• The majority of areas where suspect live are deprived - and 66% of them got poorer between 2007 and 2010, when the last survey was published<br />
• 41% of suspects live in the 10% most deprived places in England</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Singleton says,</div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"> ‘<i>Those people who have been appearing on riot-related charges (typically young males) live in some of the most deprived areas of our largest cities, and in neighbourhoods where the conditions are getting worse rather than better. Rioting is deplorable, however, if events such as this are to be mitigated in the future, the prevailing conditions and constraints effecting people living in areas must form part of the discussion. A “broken society” happens somewhere, and geography matters!’</i></div></blockquote><div class="MsoNormal">As the leader of a country that has seen one of the worst youth riots, its time, Mr. Prime Minister, you addressed the difficult questions. </div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-76037018581338365322011-08-15T18:52:00.001+01:002012-01-05T17:12:09.338+00:00Looting & arson must not define London riots<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="ii gt" id=":129"><div id=":128"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DxHlwhQnzRQ/TkP6calYusI/AAAAAAAAAo8/GRP3emb3vtU/s1600/swing+letter.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v25ihpXoj24/TkP-2JnzLtI/AAAAAAAAApI/jEP0Lql6Bh0/s1600/riots+burning+building.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v25ihpXoj24/TkP-2JnzLtI/AAAAAAAAApI/jEP0Lql6Bh0/s400/riots+burning+building.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Now that we have all overcome the shock and horror at the images we see on television or in our neighbourhood of the looting and the burning, we should ask ourselves- was it really so shocking?<br />
<br />
Looting and property destruction have always been a part of rioting. Looting is a mass recruiter and maintains the momentum of the riots. Looters are often called the foot soldiers of a riot. Without looting, it would just be police confrontation and it could be easily diffused by the police either not reacting at all and waiting for the mob to get bored and disperse or violently reacting chasing them away or arresting them. In either case it wouldn’t generate much interest in the issue in the media, political circles or among the general public.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n9PUP1eXN8M/TkP6SkHSC6I/AAAAAAAAAo4/gl9l0TmvIbE/s1600/Swing+riots+Arson+attacks.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n9PUP1eXN8M/TkP6SkHSC6I/AAAAAAAAAo4/gl9l0TmvIbE/s320/Swing+riots+Arson+attacks.jpeg" width="224" /></a></div><br />
Arson too has often been a part of riots. The Swing riots of 1830 saw English farm workers facing layoffs and wage cuts burn farmhouses and barns to make their point (see map). There was widespread attacks and violent clashes. The hatred towards the affluent class by the poor farm workers was apparent (as in this letter).<br />
<img border="0" height="236" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DxHlwhQnzRQ/TkP6calYusI/AAAAAAAAAo8/GRP3emb3vtU/s400/swing+letter.jpeg" width="400" /> <br />
<br />
Several riots since have too seen arson. Looting and arson are the catalysts in riots. In almost all riots, it begins with bottle and stone throwing, followed by looting and then burning. This is how riots happen everywhere across the globe for centuries. So why was there so much shock and horror?<br />
<br />
And why are we so surprised that among the looters we find 'teaching assistants and grammar school girls'. Why are politicians and commentators using this to show that the riots have no legitimate reasons as 'these people seem not so poor'.<br />
<br />
Several interviews conducted after riots everywhere show that many who take part in looting are otherwise respectable people who have joined the riots because there is a great emotional attraction and social magnetism for a collective response- to lend their voice to the cause. There are some opportunist too but that doesn't mean you label everyone that. Instead of using this to say the riots were nothing but 'greed', the diversity of people involved should be seen as a real cause for worry.<br />
<br />
Experts have been saying that resentment towards the police has been simmering for decades. The poor economic conditions, large scale cuts and bleak prospects for the future have just added fuel to the fire. Were the politicians and society leaders so out of touch with their community that they did not see this happening? Or does it serve better to just call the young boys and girls who took to the streets as ‘criminals’ and ignore the underlying causes?<br />
<br />
It seemed no lessons were learned from the experiences of the riots in 1980s. The underlying factors seem eerily similar.<br />
<br />
One such factor - also the trigger to these recent riots was the death of Mark Duggan, a young black, father of four who was shot dead during Operation Trident (against gun crime). Interestingly another police operation in 1981 called Swamp (against robbery) was an important factor for the discontent in the Brixton riots (in pic below).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3j0KUjeO-sk/TkP8TJqMT5I/AAAAAAAAApE/QZXX8lOqPBY/s1600/brixton+riots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3j0KUjeO-sk/TkP8TJqMT5I/AAAAAAAAApE/QZXX8lOqPBY/s400/brixton+riots.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Between April 6-11, 1981, the police rampantly stopped and searched 943 people in the Lambeth area mostly from the black community. Lord Scarman, who the UK government appointed to hold an inquiry into the Brixton riots of 1981 reported that ‘Swamp 81 was a factor that contributed to a great increase in tension’ in Brixton and in short, ‘was a serious mistake’. <br />
<br />
Two decades later, the police’s stop and search policy seems to target the same community and most of the areas where the recent riots unfolded find the youth there often stopped and searched by the police. It also seemed to be the reason for the clashes in Hackney on Monday. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=718J9oIUTWo">Darcus Howe</a>, a West Indian Writer and Broadcaster spoke on national television recently about how his 15 year old grand son is often stopped and searched by the police and the effect it has on the young minds. He believes this is due to the colour of their skin and builds resentment towards the police- something that he says the white politicians would never understand.<br />
<br />
As my work involves constant interaction with the disadvantaged youth in Tottenham, Edmonton & Enfield, I am aware of such incidences. I have written more about their hatred for the police on <a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/08/london-riots-generation-lost.html">London Riots: A Generation Lost.</a><a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/08/london-riots-generation-lost.html" target="_blank"></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XJdxfHe4obw/TkP3JSiv8mI/AAAAAAAAAo0/nQSOgxgAxEY/s1600/London+Riots.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XJdxfHe4obw/TkP3JSiv8mI/AAAAAAAAAo0/nQSOgxgAxEY/s400/London+Riots.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
If you still need a good reason to delve deep into the youth’s grievances – then remember that you can prevent the mayhem today by putting 16000 officers on the roads but what happens tomorrow when we go back to one fifth of that number? Unless you nip the reasons for the riots in the bud, what stops the youth from doing it again?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>A shorter version of this article is on Liberal Conspiracy: <a href="http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/08/13/looting-and-arson-you-shouldnt-be-surprised/">Looting? Arson? You shouldn't be surprised </a></i></span><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XJdxfHe4obw/TkP3JSiv8mI/AAAAAAAAAo0/nQSOgxgAxEY/s1600/London+Riots.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div></div></div></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-80043101907464697972011-08-09T18:12:00.001+01:002011-08-11T13:34:08.627+01:00London Riots: A Generation Lost<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JG2nZ4Iyxdo/TkEiHMAfwyI/AAAAAAAAAoc/vuHJk7mseyA/s1600/london+riots+youth+attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JG2nZ4Iyxdo/TkEiHMAfwyI/AAAAAAAAAoc/vuHJk7mseyA/s400/london+riots+youth+attack.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">If I hear once again the politicians call the events of the past few days 'mindless criminality' I will scream!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Who are the rioters? The rioters on the street are school going kids or drop outs taking to hooliganism because the government has destroyed discipline in the school through various silly policies, raised tuition fees making it almost impossible for kids to go to college and has shut down youth centres where they could learn a skill or two. Inflation is on a rise and there are no jobs. It’s not a justification but the blame needs to be shared by those who are just pointing fingers! The country whose youth instead of aspiring to be progressive citizens have turned to hooliganism should bow its head in shame.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The youth in this country don’t trust the police for a number of reasons. Since my work involves interaction with the youth in Tottenham, Edmonton and Enfield, I have heard several stories of police mistrust. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">A Turkish man living in Tottenham, lost his brother when a police car ran over him walking on the pavement at the Phillip Lane junction in Tottenham where the riots broke out on Saturday evening. He took the case to court; his lawyer ran some investigations and found that the police driver was involved in a similar accident previously but somehow survived as he was on ‘duty’ that day. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">It seemed the police were rushing to mediate a fight between an angry couple- hardly an emergency for which his brother, a young father of two, lost his life- I was told by the man who was investing a great deal of time, effort, money and emotions in trying to get justice, but in vain. He called the police expletives that I cannot write here but reflects the hatred he felt for the men in uniform.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WcEdvavwXN0/TkEltmSE3pI/AAAAAAAAAog/BJFjWuqv8PQ/s1600/youth+attack+police.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WcEdvavwXN0/TkEltmSE3pI/AAAAAAAAAog/BJFjWuqv8PQ/s400/youth+attack+police.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another young man of twenty three from Edmonton told me of the number of times he was stopped and searched. He said he never saw his ‘white friends being subjected to the same humiliation’. He strongly believed the police are racists. ‘Why aren’t there any black police officers on the streets?’ he asked. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have often seen young boys ask the police ‘why me?’ when they are stopped and asked questions about their whereabouts. There is an undercurrent in the minority community in London especially among the black youth that they are targeted, they are victimized and they will always be looked upon with suspicion. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it’s not just a Black community issue. There is definitely an undercurrent of hostility towards the police and denying it is living in fool’s paradise. Look at the profile of rioters - they are in all colours and come from everywhere. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Decades of building police-community relations have been a success, claim politicians, although the recent riots bear witness that they have terribly failed. But I think these riots are more than just a showcase of the hatred towards the police or a reaction to Mark Duggan’s killing although it was a definite trigger point.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zxAvg8a-94Y/TkEueZwF2dI/AAAAAAAAAow/01S5T4qt870/s1600/white+youth+attacks+police+car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zxAvg8a-94Y/TkEueZwF2dI/AAAAAAAAAow/01S5T4qt870/s320/white+youth+attacks+police+car.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">They have evolved from decades of degradation of family values and a deteriorating education system. A majority of these rioters are from dysfunctional homes with little education and/or no expectations. Are parents so blind they don’t know where they kids are? What do parents do when the child comes home with a 40 inch LED TV, Gucci sunglasses or a funky pair of trainers? Do they learn at home that looting is ok because the parents who have lost jobs or never worked are encouraging them to get the stuff they can otherwise not. If parents can’t get their children to see reason, know what right and wrong; then the society has terribly failed. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The dismal education system is another reason. Schools treat students like kings and the teacher is almost powerless to punish their indiscipline as every punishment- big or small require layers of red tapism and in the end favours the student. Most of these kids don’t go to study; they just ‘hang out’ at school. Most of them will never go to college (the increase in tuition fees has made it beyond their reach now); most of them will not get jobs – unemployment is high and with degree holders battling for jobs alongside, the drop outs stand a slim chance. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The benefit system that their parents saw as a safety net is now filled with holes through which they can easily slip. Cuts, cuts everywhere especially in poorer boroughs have massive implications. There is growing uncertainty and increasing frustration among the youth and its erupting. But who will rein them in- their parents; the school; the politicians, the police or the army? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZbaU9-WHA1g/TkEmAzPsA7I/AAAAAAAAAoo/t89Zv8Wx1eg/s1600/blackberry+riots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZbaU9-WHA1g/TkEmAzPsA7I/AAAAAAAAAoo/t89Zv8Wx1eg/s320/blackberry+riots.jpg" width="238" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">An idle mind makes these young boys and girls join gangs where at least they feel they are doing something - where there are rules and objectives. Here a blackberry is the uniform and sticking together the anthem. There are almost two hundred such youth gangs in London. They were perhaps easier to monitor and curtail as long as they fight against each other. But when they all come together and stand strong against one common enemy, this is what happens – the police, the government, almost everyone seems powerless against them. It’s a frightening situation. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Contrast this to the kids sitting at home. These are the youth who have strong values and principles, who give importance to family and education, who are studying/working hard to build a better future. Chances are some of them can afford it, others are encouraged enough to want it. These kids will bear the brunt of the stigma that will now be associated with the youth of this city. They are not hooligans but they too will be looked upon with suspicion.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">This country has been held hostage by thousands of disgruntle youth who have resorted to violence and crime initially to perhaps raise a voice against oppression but now it seems to be overtaken by blind mob behaviour, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8690402/London-riots-thugs-filmed-robbing-injured-bleeding-boy.html">greed and cruelty</a>. If we don’t stop the mass carnage on our streets; we are just sending the wrong signal. The violence has to stop. The guilty have to be punished. But the innocent should not be made collateral damage either by the rioters or the police.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Also calling it ‘mindless criminality’ is not the answer. The government needs to acknowledge and understand the factors that have pushed thousands of young people into criminal behaviour. If we don’t listen to the grievances of our youth; if we don’t do something to improve their future, then tragically we have lost an entire generation. </span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com1London, UK51.5001524 -0.1262361999999939151.322796399999994 -0.39052969999999393 51.6775084 0.1380573000000061tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-81699276571684186052011-07-08T20:39:00.003+01:002011-07-25T15:13:25.520+01:00Murder on Fleet Street<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dmBdS-hNwTo/ThcwPtYLXKI/AAAAAAAAAak/zXnrWWoEKsY/s400/SNN0802BN-682_1341364a.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Last month I was surprised to find money credited by News International into my bank account. I had not written for the News of the World (NoW) for two years and did not understand why I received any payments now. I thought it was a mistake. I wrote to NoW and was told that the auditors must have just discovered they underpaid me then and are making it up now. Little did I know then, that in less than a month the paper will be no more. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I told my husband who joked, ‘Perhaps they tapped my phone back then and were paying me compensation’. We laughed. NoW and the phone hacking scandal were synonymous. But as long as they tapped phones of celebrities and people in power, not many cared (apart from the celebs and the suits of course, who had the money and the means to take the paper to court and get large compensation!). </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">My association with NoW was very brief. The interviews I did for NoW were all recorded with the subject's consent and left no room for any sleeze or scandal. Yes, I am justifying myself simply because any association with NoW now puts your credibility as a journalist under the scanner. In fact I was asked why I want to even mention that I ever did anything for the paper. I was a freelancer, so I wasn't even within the vast periphery of the paper's gambit, imagine what the NoW staff would be feeling. Reporters who had absolutely no inkling about any hacking will also now be looked upon with suspicion.</span><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Guardian’s recent expose of how the NoW’s hired detective used subterfuge to hack onto phones of unsuspecting civilians including a murdered teenager Milly Dowler shocked everyone. It created a huge public outrage and not without reason.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Revelations that murdered teenagers’ or families of victims of terror attacks were also targeted in the paper’s quest to dig up sleaze is incorrigible. More than 4000 such victims, the cops said. What were they hoping to get? A distraught aging father cursing the transport secretary for not investing in bomb proof trains? Or a wife telling her lover that with the husband dead now, they were free to elope? It’s pathetic! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And where is the public interest in whose name newspapers often indulge in subterfuge? Although not a strong advocate of subterfuge myself as a journalist, I understand that sometimes it is important to resort to it to dig up information and facts not easily available in public domain which are important for the public to know. There is a thin line and editorial ethics play an important role in where you draw the line. But there is no doubt that NoW crossed that line. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Peter Burden asked a very good question in his book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">News of the World: Fake Sheikhs and Royal Trapping, “</i>Are the tabloids' pious protestations of public interest really just a self-serving attempt to halt declining circulation?”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">NoW boasts of the highest circulation of any newspaper on Sundays. Unfortunately this tarnished tabloid will print its final edition this Sunday, July 10, 2011. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So a newspaper known for ground breaking stories, though not often devoid of controversy, has decided to pull down the shutters. Was it necessary? Will it only re emerge as the Sun on Sunday and print it's old grit again? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And its unfair to the 250 odd staff facing the threat of redundancy who could have not been privy to NoW phone hacking scandal that operated on a much higher level. Yet Rebekah Brooks stays and James Murdoch still wears an innocent face.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The paper has been brutally murdered by its bosses. And it's blood will leave a huge blot on Fleet Street. Although almost all newspaper offices have over the years moved to different locations, Fleet Street will always be synonymous with the press in London. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I don't think ceasing to publish NoW is a solution. What is required was a revamp of editorial standards, to repent and learn from its mistakes. NoW didn’t have to die. It could re-invent itself on principles of good journalism, change its editorial board to include people with character and ethics and more importantly scrutinize the sources and contents of its news reports. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It’s not difficult to hack into people’s phones. Mumbai Mirror, a tabloid I also worked for in India, used a small time detective to hack into a prominent lawyer’s phone in less than 60 seconds. They could eavesdrop on every conversation the lawyer had and also read his text messages. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TPQQ4KFgGUs/Thcuhc1Ow3I/AAAAAAAAAag/GTu1_URTcYc/s400/c023.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="305" /></span></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/15/20101224201012240253201574679af9f/How-we-tapped-YP-singh%E2%80%99s-phone-in-just-60-secs.html"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">Mumbai Mirror's expose on phone hacking</span></a></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So how are they different? They first took the lawyer’s permission before they got the detective to hack into his phone without the detective’s knowledge of course. Then they published an expose on how easy it was to tap someone’s phone on their front page giving details of the entire operation. They exposed the hacker.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Instead of publishing an expose on phone tapping, Mirror could have used it themselves to eavesdrop on conversations of celebrities, politicians, police or even the victims of brutal murders or terror attacks - we have them all in Mumbai. It could have given some great sleaze and gossip for any tabloid. It could boost circulation many folds.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But the paper didn’t resort to such unethical sleaze. It did what any good journalist/editor would do. It exposed the wrong doings and alerted the public on how easy it was for some to tap into their phones, forcing the police to find the culprits and find ways of preventing such crime. No wonder, Mirror is the best tabloid in Mumbai for investigative reporting and has a high circulation. </span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Good ethical journalism is all about the choices we as journalists and editors make. </span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-75920657217997850012011-06-26T11:33:00.004+01:002011-06-26T11:37:46.593+01:00CPJ: Journalist J Dey killed in Mumbai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="asset-body" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div class="asset-body" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div class="asset-body" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div class="asset-body" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="asset-header"><h2 class="asset-name entry-title"><a href="http://www.cpj.org/blog/2011/06/recalling-j-dey-mumbais-heralded-crime-reporter.php" name="17488">Recalling J Dey, Mumbai's heralded crime reporter </a></h2></div><form class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" id="2583" style="display: inline;"><h2 class="asset-name entry-title"><span style="font-size: x-small;">By <a href="http://www.cpj.org/blog/author/ruhi-khan">Ruhi Khan/CPJ Guest Blogger</a></span></h2></form></div><div class="asset-body" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><form class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" id="2583" style="display: inline;"></form></div><div class="asset-body" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><form class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" id="2583" style="display: inline;"></form></div><div class="asset-body" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><form class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" id="2583" style="display: inline;"><div class="imgblock" style="margin: 0pt auto 20px; width: 400px;"><img alt="Mumbai journalists pay tribute to J Dey. (AP/Rajanish Kakade)" class="mt-image-center" height="225" src="http://www.cpj.org/blog/jdey.ap.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin: 0pt; text-align: center;" width="400" /><br />
<div class="caption" style="margin-left: 0pt; width: 400px;"><div class="caption-text"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mumbai journalists pay tribute to J Dey. (AP/Rajanish Kakade)</span></div></div></div></form>In the comfort of my London home, far from the dangers of crime reporting in Mumbai, the news flash on television seemed unreal. Senior journalist <a href="http://www.cpj.org/2011/06/mumbai-crime-reporter-killed-no-serious-investigat.php">Jyotirmoy Dey</a> had been killed, pumped full of five bullets in broad daylight. I thought things like this only happened in Bollywood flicks, and that crime reporters in Mumbai never had any reason to jump at shadows. Alas, I was wrong.<br />
<br />
<div class="asset-more" id="more">It didn't sink in until later, when my husband Danish and I sat up reminiscing on the days when we reported on Mumbai's underbelly. J Dey (that's what we always called him) was an editor at one of Mumbai's leading newspapers, <i>Midday</i>. Danish remembers him as a guy who guarded his word, as any intelligent reporter covering the underworld and rogue police would do. He spoke little, kept his distance from the crowd, and protected his sources. He was a journalist par excellence.<br />
<br />
A senior cop in Mumbai--one of the two I respect--once told me that J Dey probably knew more than the police about underworld operations, so I admired him before I even met him. When I did, I liked him instantly: He was a man of intelligence and maturity, always composed and dignified. Sachin Kalbag, <i>Midday's</i> executive editor, remembers how J Dey was a "rock" when his colleague Akela was arrested under the draconian Official Secrets Act. Kalbag says J Dey never wavered for a minute and would often tell him, "We will get Akela out. You don't worry. Remember, we are in the right; they (the police) are the bad guys here."<br />
<br />
J Dey's death deserves our greatest condemnation.<br />
<br />
Whatever the motive for J Dey's murder, his profession played a huge part. Everyone is contemplating which of his stories angered someone enough to want to kill him. He was called the encyclopedia of the Mumbai underworld. His second book, <i>Dial Zero,</i> released a few months ago, explored the highly secretive issue of underworld informers. His contemporary Husain Zaidi, who also authored books on the Mumbai underworld, believes J Dey was writing a third book on the rags-to-riches stories of some underworld dons.<br />
<br />
The brutality of J Dey's murder has shocked everyone in the journalist fraternity in Mumbai and beyond. Hundreds of journalists are digging deep every day in the public interest to uncover crime. Will the killing set a precedent for anyone unhappy with the press to shoot journalists? Will fear lead to self-censorship? <br />
<br />
As for the police, as crime reporters we know what happens behind closed doors in police stations. Many cops have been put behind bars thanks to investigative journalism. Abhishek Sharan, who worked with J Dey for several years, believes that nothing fascinated Dey more than the direct confrontation between the mafia and the police. His exposes and investigative stories have often upset the men in uniform. So far, no one has been arrested for his murder. The police have failed us yet again.<br />
<br />
India ranks 13th on CPJ's Impunity Index, highlighting the don't-care-a-damn attitude of Indian authorities when it comes to investigating cases of slain journalists. But if I know the press in Mumbai; it will not let the cops sleep in peace until J Dey's killers are brought to book. That's the best tribute we can pay him.</div></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-74117897646941569762011-06-16T18:10:00.005+01:002011-06-16T18:10:00.500+01:00Plowing through Sri Lanka's Killing Fields<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Icn95WELI_Y/Tfotg4i64KI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/bfRcdv2tCps/s1600/C4+Sri+Lanka%2527s+Killing+Fields+Poster+%255Bmidres%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Icn95WELI_Y/Tfotg4i64KI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/bfRcdv2tCps/s400/C4+Sri+Lanka%2527s+Killing+Fields+Poster+%255Bmidres%255D.jpg" width="281" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My Sri Lankan friends are angry that UK’s Channel 4 has dug up old graves in a time when Sri Lanka is moving towards normalcy. But just because things in Sri Lanka have improved on paper doesn’t mean those who have committed atrocities should be allowed to escape. Where is justice if we all turn a blind eye to such war crimes?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Channel 4 ran a documentary on June 14 called Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields and that’s what it was all about: capturing Tamil prisoners, stripping them down, blindfolding them with their hands tied behind their back and shooting them at point blank range and then enjoying the game like it was a target practice on a dart board.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For the women it was much worse as most of them were raped and then killed. The image of a Tamil news presenter first at work on TV and then her naked corpse in the field keeps resurfacing in my head all day long. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Although Channel 4’s Jon Snow warned us that the scenes would be gruesome, it was horrendous. The mobile phone footage showed a series of live executions of Tamil prisoners, and the soldiers even kicked and abused the raped and mutilated bodies, filmed as trophy footage by the killers. They also gave advice to each other on where to aim and how to shoot. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have seen some real vile footage of war crimes during my years at City University – footage that was too violent to ever make it on television. Yet, I couldn’t see the entire documentary without squirming in my seat.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amnesty International puts the civilian casualty figure around 40,000 in the last violent phase of Sri Lankan civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sri Lankan government did not allow any reporters near the war zone to camouflage the death and destruction from the rest of the world. But even the LTTE used civilians as shields to protect themselves from the army in turn causing their deaths. Atrocities were committed by both the parties in their quest to win and innocent civilians lost their lives.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sri Lankan forced shelled hospitals and civilian camps in areas they marked as “no-fire zones”. The UN’s report published earlier this year agrees that there are “credible reports” of war crimes perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government’s army against the country’s Tamil civilians.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sri Lanka's Killing Fields was premiered at the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday June 3. Its audience: ambassadors and delegations from the UK, US, India, France, Switzerland, Austria, Indonesia, Mexico and Finland.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Many asked why air this footage in the UK, to an audience so detached from the Asian sub-continent. But again UK has political clout. A day later, the Prime Minister, David Cameron told the parliament that “Sri Lankan government needs to be investigated”. </span><span style="font-size: small;"> Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said "if the Sri Lankan government does not respond we will support the international community in revisiting all options available to press the Sri Lankan Government to fulfil its obligations."</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It remains to be seen with the protests and civil war going on in the Middle East now, how much the international community responds to the plea for a probe into Sri Lanka’s war crimes of 2-3 years ago. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But if we don’t raise a voice now, when will we? </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The film will be available to global audience for seven days from15 June at:</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields" title="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields">http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields</a>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Warning: Not for the weak hearted!</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-42908829340255004132011-04-19T18:43:00.005+01:002011-08-26T17:14:47.560+01:00Syrian Revolution moves from Above to Below<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sb-su8H6tzg/Ta1_6AzBiYI/AAAAAAAAAVg/CJ3RU6Joj04/s1600/Syria-revolution1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sb-su8H6tzg/Ta1_6AzBiYI/AAAAAAAAAVg/CJ3RU6Joj04/s400/Syria-revolution1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">Over four decades ago, Syria saw a revolution that brought the Ba’th party to power. The Ba’th party calls it the ‘Eight of March Revolution’ but it can be best described as what Trimberger called it - ‘revolution from above’. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">It was a revolution orchestrated and carried out by the rich and powerful. So for decades Syria’s Populist Authoritarian regime embodied a post decolonization strategy adopted by the nationalist elites. This brought a major transformation in the elite class, political institutions and social structure.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">A fragile post independence Syria then was unable to contain the nationalist struggle and class conflicts. But unlike a typical great revolution that often sees mass violence and insurrection from below, this one was initiated from above by a ‘reform coup’. Thus opened the way for a four decade long military-Ba'ath party rule which saw the masses feel increasingly isolated under the Assads’ rule. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">The then President Hafez al-Assad was at the forefront of the leadership that led this revolution from above which brought land reforms, expansion of education and state sponsored industrialisation that benefited the elite strata of society. In the quest to attain more power in the Arab World and maintain his independence from the West, Hafez al-Assad went to war with Israel and always showed his discontent for the US policy.</span></span><br />
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</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3zdHZPQCLM/Ta2ApA_2hSI/AAAAAAAAAVs/-ncLT9soyYU/s1600/hafez+assad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H3zdHZPQCLM/Ta2ApA_2hSI/AAAAAAAAAVs/-ncLT9soyYU/s320/hafez+assad.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">No doubt there was growing discontent first under Hafez al-Assad’s reign which now turned explosive with his son Bashar al-Assad at the realm of things as he failed to meet the growing demands of the younger generation of integrating the economy into the modern world.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">So what we see in Syria today was long outstanding – a grassroots’ revolution that now refuses to take command from the elite and President Assad’s clan and wants a land of equality and democracy. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b6Ng8pD3aDA/Ta2A2oipTuI/AAAAAAAAAVw/ePZIH9m0sbQ/s1600/assad+wake+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b6Ng8pD3aDA/Ta2A2oipTuI/AAAAAAAAAVw/ePZIH9m0sbQ/s400/assad+wake+up.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">Assad has gained enough unpopularity in Syria and the neighbouring revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia have left Syria susceptible to demand change in regime. Today’s revolution, unlike the previous one, has found its origin from below. The tens of thousands who take to the streets everyday in Syria demanding the ouster of Assad bear testimony to the growing impatience of the masses in Syria. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">But according to the Washington Post, leaked cables by Wikileaks show that the US has allegedly fanned the uprising by providing support to the rebels in exile for Assad has been a supporter of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Islamist group and Lebanese Shia group and has been vocal in his opposition to the US. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1LtX34ZxtYM/Ta2AAGWehPI/AAAAAAAAAVk/P_bksUJ8lHs/s1600/Assad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1LtX34ZxtYM/Ta2AAGWehPI/AAAAAAAAAVk/P_bksUJ8lHs/s320/Assad.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">While Assad can continue to point fingers at the US and Israel for the growing tensions in Syria and may find some element of truth in his accusations; he cannot turn a blind eye to the millions of his people who want him to lift the emergency and open the economy to foster economic and financial reforms. It was only reasonable that Assad and his new cabinet promised to lift the 48 year old emergency laws; but his men yet continue to open fire on protesters. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">Assad senior ruthlessly killed hundreds of protesters to bring the downfall of Muslim Brotherhood in 1982 (Hama Massacre); but the more people Bashar al-Assad kills today; the more difficult it will be for him to hold onto his seat; both the Syrians and the international community will press for his ouster and perhaps like Egypt’s fallen President Hosni Mubarak hold him accountable for his crimes.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">But I think Assad may be able to wriggle his way out of the situation. I don’t necessary see an end to Assad’s rule yet but for that he cannot portray to be a tyrant and a ruthless dictator and must stop the violence on the streets. Next and most importantly if he wants to survive he will have to change his foreign policy for unlike Gaddafi, I doubt Assad will openly take on the world and ruthlessly battle it out on the streets of Syria for long.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">So if Assad goes the other way; I’m afraid he will have to ‘sell his soul to the devil'- the US and give up most of what Ba'ath party stood for all these years. For starters the US will want Assad to lead Syria only if he agrees to shake their hand. </span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4-RDltisIJM/Ta2AGyh0u-I/AAAAAAAAAVo/n-ZR0pSX3jA/s1600/Assad+with+Ahmedinijad.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4-RDltisIJM/Ta2AGyh0u-I/AAAAAAAAAVo/n-ZR0pSX3jA/s200/Assad+with+Ahmedinijad.jpeg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">Assad’s strong ties with Iran have been a threat to US-Israel interests in the region. But if Assad severs his ties even partially with Iran and withdraws his support to the Hamas and Hezbollah, the US would support the 45 year old Syria leader to stay in position for perhaps even another couple of decades. He may even be lucky to get back Golan Heights (lost to Israel in the 1967 war) if the US can successfully broker a peace deal between Syria and Israel. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">If history has taught anything; it is that revolutions from below have a far disastrous impact on the elitist rulers and their administration than those led from above. Assad and his men know that it would be impossible to curtail the growing discontent in the country unless they yield in to most of the demands of the people. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">The elitist will have to lose some power if they want to stay in power and pass it on to the masses to give rise to a fairer society. They will have to compromise and at times bend backwards to make new allies, give up the old ones and yield to the demands of the day if they hope to survive.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">Assad knows the cards that lie on the table and it won’t be a surprise if he chooses to play them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">Also read: <a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/08/god-syria-and-no-bashar.html"><i><b>God, Syria and No Bashar </b></i></a></span></span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-17785426811021306242011-03-23T19:16:00.006+00:002011-10-20T13:27:24.525+01:00RIP Muammar Gaddafi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Y_XB7p5u48w/TYowdbeZjAI/AAAAAAAAAVI/7PryxWMmRBc/s1600/Muammar+Gaddafi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Y_XB7p5u48w/TYowdbeZjAI/AAAAAAAAAVI/7PryxWMmRBc/s400/Muammar+Gaddafi.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While I write this Muammar Gaddafi is alive is kicking (hopefully himself after hearing his Air Force exists no more!) Yet I think his end is near and it's time to pen down his obituary. And its only fair to start with the positives.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U-EARk0b_H4/TYzNWFpIGhI/AAAAAAAAAVY/ANt1Yi64OX8/s1600/GADDAFI+WITH+GAMAL+NASSER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-U-EARk0b_H4/TYzNWFpIGhI/AAAAAAAAAVY/ANt1Yi64OX8/s320/GADDAFI+WITH+GAMAL+NASSER.jpg" width="256" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">Gaddafi was born in a Bedouin tent in a Libyan desert during World War II. He grew up listening to Egyptian President Gamal Nasser's speeches on the radio and became one of the most prominent supporters and propagators of Nasserism. <i>(In pic: Gaddafi & Nasser)</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gaddafi began his political journey with strong ideals; he wanted to change Libya from a conservative and repressed state to something more modern and progressive. His Green Book was the blueprint to change attitudes and behaviour in the political and societal system of Libya. He did transform Libya in his early days. He campaigned to get rid of corruption and western imperialism. He helped Libya create its identity by forcing the Americans, British and the Italians to leave.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">He nationalized oil companies and used the revenue from the oil sales to invest in infrastructure; built schools, hospitals and roads. He brought electricity into far flung deserts and built irrigation mechanism in the driest deserts. He could have been called an architect of Libya then.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yet, somewhere down the line he became the destroyer of Libya. His four decade long rule saw him take Libya back into the primitive period. Perhaps it was the change in the country he could not keep pace with. After all he was getting old.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0B6nezqG9pQ/TYpZbo0pmDI/AAAAAAAAAVU/VtB_2LB9fKQ/s1600/Gaddafi%2527s+House+in+London.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0B6nezqG9pQ/TYpZbo0pmDI/AAAAAAAAAVU/VtB_2LB9fKQ/s320/Gaddafi%2527s+House+in+London.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">His ideology which was revolutionary in its time; today is outdated and damaging to the country's growth. Libya's oil revenues have now financed his many palatial houses across the world and filled his unnumbered account in offshore locations; not to mention the lavish and exorbitant lifestyle of his family. I visited one of his homes in London's Hampstead area, a city pad for his son Saif while he pursued his PhD from London School of Economics. The eight bedroom mansion </span><span style="font-size: small;">worth £10 million is symbolic of Libyan money in Gaddafi empire.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Although in 1979 Gaddafi renounced all official titles and position; he is till today the undisputed leader of the Libyan government. His security apparatus is built up of many layers often overlapping and in shadows which is confusing to his enemies. He is the shrewdest dictator of his time who believes in fighting off his opponents (and likely successors) among themselves to weaken their power. No wonder he has survived many assassination attempts and is still the 'King'. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Its an open secret that Gaddafi has supported innumerable terrorist organisation, sponsored covert operations in many countries, has used chemical weapons and jailed, prosecuted and killed thousands of innocent people who raised a voice against him. His most brazen acts until the revolution were the Pan AM and the UTA bombings for which he never showed any remorse. The massacre on the streets of Libya by Gaddafi's men have only added to his resolve to crush protests. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yet, I'm confident he will find it very difficult if not impossible to wriggle out of the pickle he is in today, because it's not just the NATO airstrikes but the millions of people of Libya and around the world who want to see an end to Gaddafi's regime. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8icRSHM9Kok/TYowwQgkSvI/AAAAAAAAAVM/1dRBsezXknQ/s1600/khamis+gaddafi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8icRSHM9Kok/TYowwQgkSvI/AAAAAAAAAVM/1dRBsezXknQ/s200/khamis+gaddafi.jpg" width="198" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If reports are to be believed, Gaddafi has lost yet another child (Khamis Gaddafi) in NATO airstrikes and which many would feel this would weaken his resolve; but the aggravated clashes in East Libya tell another story.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it's hard to only imagine Gaddafi as the monster he is. To me he will always be the <a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/02/twitter-gaddafis-end-is-near.html">mad man who rambles incoherently</a> and lives in a world he has created in his head. For years now, Gaddafi's decision making process has been a fancy, devoid of reality and often hilarious. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Take for example the calendar in Libya that Gaddafi changed to begin with the death of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) instead of his migration (like the Islamic lunar calendar). The Gregorian one has also been changed to begin with the Prophet's migration with names of the months invented by Gaddafi himself. So Libyan Calendar is unique and confusing as it neither follows the Islamic calendar not the Gregorian one. Why would someone do that unless he was obsessed with himself.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The more hilarious one is when in 1977, Gaddafi asked everyone in Libya to become self-sufficient by raising chickens in their homes. He also forced Libyans to pay $150 to buy the birds and cages from the government. For those who lived in apartments in the city; the chicken soon found its way on the dinner table.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">All his talks about Al-Qaeda giving pills to youngsters in Libya to raise a voice against him makes you wonder which Libya he is living in. If he loves Libya so much (as he claims) why doesn't his heart bleed when he rips the country apart with tanks and snipers.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But Gaddafi is like a chameleon who changes his philosophies to suit his environment. None of his ideologies have been cast in stone as he reserves the right to change his mind whenever he wants. One minute he wants to crush the revolution, next minute he wants to call ceasefire; then when the white flag is waving, he orders his men on an offensive somewhere. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gaddafi is not the one to fight to his death for his beliefs; he would rather change his philosophies to suit the situation. But this time he went too far, killed too many and has been tolerated for far too long. The people have spoken and he will not be forgiven. Its time Muammar Gaddafi bid adieu forever. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">To Col. Muammar Gaddafi, the man who created war and destruction all his life, all we can say is... Rest In Peace!</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-57173843435700707092011-03-09T15:45:00.013+00:002012-04-30T17:15:42.884+01:00Women in parliament: are quotas the only solution?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;">They all stood together men and women in <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Tahrir Square</st1:address></st1:street> and brought down a powerful dictator and put <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> on the pedestal of people’s liberation. They prayed together at Tahrir square and gave Egypt a hope for a new beginning. Yet, what happened yesterday in the very same place was nothing but shameful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">A few hundred women and their even fewer male supporters gathered at <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Tahrir Square</st1:address></st1:street> on International Women’s Day to ask for an extended if not equal rights for women in post revolutionary <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>. A demand only fair, in a new <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> that promised to break through old traditions and emerge as a truly ‘liberalized’ identity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Yet, what did they get in return? Men, at least three times their number, broke through the human chain protecting these women and verbally abused and sexually assaulted them. Chants like ‘a<span lang="EN-GB"> man is a man and the woman is a woman, you are the children of Suzan Mubarak, a woman can never be a President, Go home women!’ were ringing through <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Tahrir Square</st1:address></st1:street>. There was a fierce objection to women’s demands of having a role in the new constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">Many women were groped; some were beaten and sexually assaulted. Apparently, this is a commonplace in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place> with men often intimidating and harassing women on the streets in a similar fashion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I was shocked to find that even today the conservative Egyptian are so hostile to women wanting more rights. Women in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> have always held prominent positions in media, literature and even civil society. However the constitution is still based on patriarchal laws and the economic migration to Gulf countries like <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Saudi Arabia,</st1:country-region></st1:place> where women cannot even drive cars, has definitely played into the mindset of some.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tahany Al Gebaly, Egypt’s first female judge</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="texto1">Egypt elected the first Arab woman to parliament in 1957. But even half a century later, i</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">n the 2005 elections, only four women were elected to the Parliament, rest were appointed by the President. </span><span class="texto1">So women secured just nine of 454 seats. </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">If Hosni Mubarak did anything right; it </span><span class="texto1">was the appointment of Egypt's first female judge, a female university president, and some female cabinet ministers in an effort to kickstart women’s political participation. </span><span class="texto1"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">But the dismal number of women in parliament is not just an Egyptian issue but something that faces most countries in the world. It is important to have an increased representation of women in parliament to give them a greater say in the constitution and policies of the country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">While democracy is new to Egypt and other countries in the Middle East who are still struggling to achieve, understand and implement it; this is the right time for women to be welcomed into decision making processes and given due recognition. One way to introduce women into parliament is through the quota system. </span><span class="texto1">Egypt had introduced a 30-seat quota for female MPs in 1979, following which it had the maximum number of women in parliament, but repealed it in1988 after its constitutionality was challenged.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday, on twitter, <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/experts/hamids.aspx">Shadi Hamid</a>, a prominent Middle East researcher, wrote: ‘Quota systems don't solve the gender problem. Quotas are a top-down imposition - and don't change attitudes on the ground’. My argument to him was: ‘I agree to an extent. But attitude rarely change unless they are force fed. Quotas are just the catalyst to introduce the numbers.’ Hamid replied ‘if quotas are the solution then how come they haven't worked in, say, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Jordan</st1:country-region></st1:place>?’ </span></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TM1rqYDtIO8/TXec1jh5AZI/AAAAAAAAAU8/D-BqvT8xF1w/s1600/rwanda+WRP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TM1rqYDtIO8/TXec1jh5AZI/AAAAAAAAAU8/D-BqvT8xF1w/s200/rwanda+WRP.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">But they have worked very successfully in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Rwanda</st1:country-region></st1:place>, a country embroiled in conflict and deprivation, yet 56.3% women made it into Parliament making it the only country in the world with more women than men in Parliament!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Hamid has a far better understanding of the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place> than I do and I understand when he says that ‘legally, there are equal rights for women in many Arab countries. But public attitudes are whole different problem.’ </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Public attitude is definitely a problem everywhere. But I think to change that is to introduce quotas and get more women in parliament. When you see women in parliament making important decisions, fighting for your rights and safeguarding your interests, it helps inculcate trust and respect. I don’t think public attitude will change overnight; it would take decades perhaps even a generation, but I think it’s important to put women in powerful positions to bring that change. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Feminists argue that women don’t need patronizing and can stand up on their own merit. I’m sure they can but in today’s circumstances they just need that that bit of influx into politics and then their future is defined on their merit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Even for countries like the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>, that prides itself on ‘equal’ rights for men and women; in reality the gap still exists! The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/08/international-womens-day-pay-gap">income disparity</a> is obvious and the number of women in parliament is still a measly 21%. Before last year’s elections I had written that <a href="http://londonnaamah.blogspot.com/2010/04/womens-representation-bill-for-uk.html">women’s representation bill </a>was important to get more women representatives in parliament (WRP). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VXtc7HobViE/TXeeJaf_Q0I/AAAAAAAAAVA/8LwAtu7Fidg/s1600/more+women+in+parliament.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VXtc7HobViE/TXeeJaf_Q0I/AAAAAAAAAVA/8LwAtu7Fidg/s320/more+women+in+parliament.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">The May 2010 elections, which boasted of Herculean efforts to increase the number of WRP (but without any quotas), did achieve a record number of women in parliament (144 compared to 128 in 2005) but failed to narrow the gap much; its just 144 women out of a total 650 members of parliament.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Centre for Women and Democracy predicts it will take at least another 15 years for UK to achieve 30% WRP and maybe it will get a 50% by 2065. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">This just reinforces my point that perhaps quotas are the only solution.</span></div>
</div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-55572762076136673192011-02-25T14:23:00.007+00:002011-10-20T17:19:52.382+01:00Gaddafi's people of mass destruction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">With every passing day it is clearly evident that Col Muammar Gaddafi’s days are numbered. Yet Gaddafi refuses to step down. While the rulers of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Tunisia</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> bowed down to the pro democracy protests, Gaddafi is still shouting threats at those standing against his regime.<o:p></o:p> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">But this almost lunatic man whose recent <a href="http://ruhi-khan.blogspot.com/2011/02/twitter-gaddafis-end-is-near.html">speeches are more hilarious than fierce </a>is no longer anything the famed dictator of <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> and the Arab world once was. Gaddafi holds no political office, yet he is the de facto head of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. And if Gaddafi goes, with him goes the many powerful men that operate out of the shadows. <o:p></o:p> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-GB">And it is these four main pillars that are propping up the frail Gaddafi to stand tall and be defiant. These are the leaders commanding forces to bring mass destruction in Libya.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cP2Gd6YuQSw/TWaV9o0Q0AI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/B7THH3sY1Nw/s1600/senussi.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cP2Gd6YuQSw/TWaV9o0Q0AI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/B7THH3sY1Nw/s200/senussi.jpeg" width="200" /></a></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 18pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i><span lang="EN-GB">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-GB">Abdullah al Senussi:</span></i></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Gaddafi’s brother in law and his most trusted and loyal aide, Senussi is believed to be the command behind the recent violence against protesters in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>. A hardliner with a thuggish reputation, </span>Senussi is the former head of the Jamahariya Security Organisation, which runs Libyan agents <span lang="EN-GB">and has been suspected in several terrorist acts and human rights violations and even implicated in some </span>including 440 deaths in two air disasters – Pan Am flight 103 and French UTA plane crash over Niger- and also in other terrorist acts. <span lang="EN-GB">He is the head of military intelligence and number 2 on the protesters list to men to bring down.</span></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f87yDc0fN-c/TWe8rkW2O5I/AAAAAAAAAUk/l8aaBJgarEw/s1600/liy_Khamis_Gaddafi_4_faceb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f87yDc0fN-c/TWe8rkW2O5I/AAAAAAAAAUk/l8aaBJgarEw/s200/liy_Khamis_Gaddafi_4_faceb.jpg" width="149" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i><span lang="EN-GB">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i></b><b><i><span lang="EN-GB">Khamis Gaddafi:</span></i></b><span lang="EN-GB"> Gaddafi’s son and </span>a captain in the Libyan army, is the leader of the 32nd brigade, based in the Mediterranean city of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Benghazi</st1:city></st1:place>. Known for his ruthless ways, Khamis has allegedly recruited mercenaries from sub Saharan Africa to shoot live rounds at protestors in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Benghazi</st1:place></st1:city>. Khamis brigade attacked protesters controlling the town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Misrata</st1:place></st1:city>. The violent clashes led to the death of many protesters and Khamis forces seem to be gaining control of Misrata.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iVVZya4l4yM/TWe4DRoEtTI/AAAAAAAAAUg/k8B9jr0vpS0/s1600/mutassim.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iVVZya4l4yM/TWe4DRoEtTI/AAAAAAAAAUg/k8B9jr0vpS0/s200/mutassim.jpeg" width="126" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="articlebody"><b><i><span lang="EN-GB">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i></b></span><b><i>Mutassim Gaddafi:</i></b> Gaddafi's fourth son was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Libyan army. He now serves as <st1:country-region w:st="on">Libya</st1:country-region>'s National Security Advisor and oversees the nation's National Security Council <span class="articlebody">Mutassim is in command of the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tripoli</st1:place></st1:city> crackdown. He used air force planes and helicopter gun ships and fired heavy machinery to scatter protestors. Mutassim ordered a vicious crackdown on protestors by his ‘Libyan Popular Army’ comprising of loyalists from the Saharan tribes raised by Gaddafi senior.</span><span class="articlebody"> <span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tePD32nb6-A/TWaW4kOspgI/AAAAAAAAAUc/66yX6aDc6OU/s1600/saif-el-islan-gaddafi-libay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tePD32nb6-A/TWaW4kOspgI/AAAAAAAAAUc/66yX6aDc6OU/s200/saif-el-islan-gaddafi-libay.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="txtmn"><b><i>4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></i></b></span><span class="articlebody"><b><i><span lang="EN-GB">Saif al- Islam Gaddafi:</span></i></b></span><span class="articlebody"><span lang="EN-GB"> T</span></span>he second son of Gaddafi seemed like a<span class="articlebody"> <span lang="EN-GB">‘grey’ sheep (in the family of all black sheep) until it was discovered recently that he was actually the wolf in a sheep’s clothing. Saif</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span class="txtmn">al-Islam talked about </span>democracy and modernization to win over the youth and the moderates in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Libya</st1:country-region> and the West – an impression only dispelled in the televised interview he gave on behalf of his father, when he warned that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s streets would run with “<i>rivers of blood</i>” if the protests continued. This left no shred of doubt that Saif <span class="txtmn">al-Islam </span>too is another Gaddafi<span class="txtmn"> and was grooming himself to be the political successor to his father.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span class="txtmn"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="articlebody"><b>People of mass destruction<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="articlebody">Although some years ago Gaddafi promised to get rid of all weapons of mass destructions in an attempt at International diplomacy, he has armed himself with people of mass destruction. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="articlebody">These are </span>a number of special brigades in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region> which only answer to Gaddafi's Revolutionary Committees and not the army. The military is <st1:country-region w:st="on">Libya</st1:country-region>, unlike <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place>, is weak, disorganized and not well trained. These paramilitaries also known as the ‘People's Militia’ are extremely loyal to Gaddafi and his Ahl al-Khaimah (People of the Tent) made upof his close comrades.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mercenaries are also recruited by Gaddafi to attack Libyans with no remorse. Since mercenaries hold no ties to the land and are only recruited for a specific purpose, they have no qualms about firing at Libyans and there is no major threat of deflection. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">There are also many tribes in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Libya</st1:place></st1:country-region> and for years Gaddafi has played them against each other to maintain his supremacy. Gaddafi belongs to the Qadhaththa tribe and he has appointed many of its members to key positions in his regime. These tribal loyalists are being brought to other parts of the country and are being armed to attack the protesters. Saif al-Islam prediction of a civil war doesn’t seem very unlikely now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ss7wWuMQeZY/TWaVvacgs6I/AAAAAAAAAUM/Ppagui3gYDE/s1600/amazonian+guards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ss7wWuMQeZY/TWaVvacgs6I/AAAAAAAAAUM/Ppagui3gYDE/s320/amazonian+guards.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gaddafi's Amazonian Guards</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><span style="font-size: small;">What I’m sure would not be much help to prop up Qaddafi's image in these turbulent times are his Amazonian guards- his closest bodyguards comprising of 30-40 women (allegedly virgins) who are trained assassins and guard him 24/7. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Since the protests broke out, there is no evidence to suggest that any member of the Amazonian guards fired at the protesters. It would be interesting to see what role does this brigade plays when Gaddafi begins to lose a large number of his loyalists. Will they be sent to the frontline to combat the protesters or will they all be loaded in the plane that Gaddafi takes to leave Libya?! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="articlebody"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-45224036317656645962011-02-22T17:33:00.010+00:002011-02-24T14:54:11.545+00:00Ramblings of a Frightened Man<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m4-TLiPiTTM/TWPy9tF3z_I/AAAAAAAAATs/i91hyfFWVXE/s1600/Protestors-in-the-Arab-World-375x280.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m4-TLiPiTTM/TWPy9tF3z_I/AAAAAAAAATs/i91hyfFWVXE/s400/Protestors-in-the-Arab-World-375x280.gif" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JMgDVaYuuIM/TWPxn8X74kI/AAAAAAAAATk/_SpGe7-wY0E/s1600/gaddafi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;">Muammar Gaddafi's media appearances are turning into a laughing matter. But little does the Libyan dictator of 42 years realize that the iron fist with which he ruled Libya is not generating fear anymore.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday, a Swiss radio station aired a human right watch spokesperson saying that Gaddafi has left Libya. Soon afterwards Gaddafi made a 6 second apprearance on state TV announcing his presence in Tripoli. Gaddafi is reported to have said: “I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela.”</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IG7zy5Y6kDI/TWP0C8rZhtI/AAAAAAAAATw/tzlU5WGOqhE/s1600/gaddafi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IG7zy5Y6kDI/TWP0C8rZhtI/AAAAAAAAATw/tzlU5WGOqhE/s320/gaddafi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">He blamed the rain for his brief appearance. Last week too he showed up briefly at a staged Gaddafi supporter demonstration in Tripoli, waving to his supporters from the sun roof of his car.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The International pressure on Gaddafi prompts him to make brief appearances on TV in a desperate attempt at putting on a 'power' show. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Gaddafi has appeared on state TV as I'm writing this blog. Through twitter my friends from Libya translate his speech.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Since Tripoli is no longer safe for him with violent clashes on the street and state massacres pro democracy protesters, his speech on state TV seems to be shot in two locations with him a 'safe' place and his supporters crowd chanting his name from another place, says a tweet. The handshakes were allegedly staged too. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In his speech, Gaddafi says he has no intention of stepping down and he will 'die in Libya as a martyr'. He said 'he built Benghazi brick by brick'. He called his supporters to take to the street and shout, 'We sacrifice our blood and soul to you Gaddafi'.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He has called protesters 'rats' and 'cockroaches taking Libya back to the 50s'. He has promised death penalty to protesters and laughed at today's revolution saying that 'he makes revolutions and not these diseased rats!'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He has also called the pro democracy protests as 'armed seperatist rebellion'. His speech is a desperate attempt of power show but is failing miserably. While I read the tweets, I cannot help but feel that Gaddafi's is rambling like a 'mad man' that he is so often called by the protesters. My friends agree.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Here are some of his ramblings. I'm going to reproduce the tweets from Libya that literally translate his words.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"How are you diseased rats who take pills to begin a revolution! I make revolutions!" <a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23gaddafi" rel="nofollow" title="#gaddafi">#gaddafi</a></span> 'He's also being very generous, inviting the protesters to submit themselves and he will treat them from the pills.' </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Gaddafi" rel="nofollow" title="#Gaddafi">#Gaddafi</a> just said a man on a motorbike, who got away, caused all the problems in <a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Benghazi" rel="nofollow" title="#Benghazi">#Benghazi</a>! <a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Libya" rel="nofollow" title="#Libya">#Libya</a>'</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Gaddafi" rel="nofollow" title="#Gaddafi">#Gaddafi</a> is complaining that electricity and all forms of communications have been cut! <a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23libya" rel="nofollow" title="#libya">#libya</a> </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Gaddafi" rel="nofollow" title="#Gaddafi">#Gaddafi</a>: Go ahead and protest peacefully, support Nasser! Support Gaza, support Iraq</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">'<a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Gaddafi" rel="nofollow" title="#Gaddafi">Gaddafi</a> now says Al Qaeda is establishing bases in <a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Libya" rel="nofollow" title="#Libya">#Libya</a> thru Egyptian & Tunisian infiltrators selling drugs?'</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">'<a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Gaddafi" rel="nofollow" title="#Gaddafi">Gaddafi</a>: I have the millions of people and I have God by my side, who helped me win over ALL super power'</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">'<a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Gaddafi" rel="nofollow" title="#Gaddafi">Gaddafi</a>: I will "cleanse <a class="twitter-hashtag" href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Libya" rel="nofollow" title="#Libya">#Libya</a> house by house" if protesters do not surrender'</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gaddafi's speech lasted for an hour and quarter and we have had some hilarious moments. He is today no doubt a shadow of the man he once was. His speech will unfortunately not have the desired effect he hoped for and nothing sums its better than these tweets from two of the proud Libyan pro democracy protestors. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Libyan 1</i>: 'He is trying to divide the country, but thats not going to happen. The unity is scaring him...'</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Libyan 2</i>: 'Ha Ha Ha... he is so scared, the sigh was enough proof. He has totally lost it. His end is near!'</span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430575301518692873.post-84974585055577457902011-02-22T16:56:00.003+00:002011-02-23T09:05:44.744+00:00The rise & fall of Col Muammar Gaddafi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-paBU1nN-510/TWPoZvVhV6I/AAAAAAAAATY/o-IOkpm2oXw/s1600/tumblr_lgztfoNc741qeosweo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-paBU1nN-510/TWPoZvVhV6I/AAAAAAAAATY/o-IOkpm2oXw/s400/tumblr_lgztfoNc741qeosweo1_500.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A friend from Libya wrote on her twitter account today <i> 'Once again people, there will NOT be a civil war! The Libyan people have one enemy and that's Gaddafi. Libya has never been this UNITED!'</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the voice of the country who for decades did not feel a part of the outside world. She was one man's legacy, one man's mistress. But today she refuses to bow down to her 'master', refuses to obey his command and refuses to let him reign over her!</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Libya has awakened from its long slumber and warns the world: 'Beware the wrath of the patient!'</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Libya: A torchbearer</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">An independent Libya in 1951 was the torchbearer of its times. It was the first country in Africa to get independence from a European ruler. It was also the first country to achieve independence through the UN.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 1951 it was proclaimed a constitutional and hereditary monarchy under King Idris, Libya's first and only monarch. It also saw the enactment of the Libyan constitution.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yet, over the years the laurels turned into brickbats. In 1959 vast oil reserves were discovered and this money transformed Libya into one of the richest countries in the world; but also led to growing resentment among the masses as its benefits were reaped by only the wealthy few men of King Idris.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Same reason for Gaddafi's rise and fall</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hbuEdhP9d-o/TWPofwCKMfI/AAAAAAAAATc/G1iEoUYy-Fs/s1600/gaddafi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hbuEdhP9d-o/TWPofwCKMfI/AAAAAAAAATc/G1iEoUYy-Fs/s1600/gaddafi.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gaddafi in 1969</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This discontent led to Col Maummar Gaddafi gaining power in 1969. He was only 27 years old when he launched the Libyan revolution and staged a coup against King Idris on September 1, 1969. Before the end of the day, the monarchy was abolished and Gaddafi earned himself the title of 'Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution'. And since then Libya was ruled by the iron fist dictator Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So its little surprising that the same discontent the masses felt way back in 1969 that led to Gaddafi's rise will once again be the reason for his fall in 2011. Gaddafi of all the people should understand this. But perhaps the 42 year rule has gone into his lead. He was the undisputed leader of Libya but he was not the leader of the people who for decades secretly wished he was gone and Libya was truly liberated.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xv62PPev6eA/TWPokHhnMfI/AAAAAAAAATg/ZySOVzPWMZY/s1600/gaddafi-hopless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xv62PPev6eA/TWPokHhnMfI/AAAAAAAAATg/ZySOVzPWMZY/s400/gaddafi-hopless.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">Today, Libyans are fed up of the growing income disparity between the masses and the elite class comprising of Gaddafi's clan and men. There is a high rate of unemployment, poverty and marginalisation.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Protesters want a society based on equality and justice and Gaddafi represents everything they believe is wrong with Libya and he is definitely the biggest hindrance in Libya moving towards democracy. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Protesters show red to Gaddafi's Green Book</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For over four decades, Libya political system followed Gaddafi's philosophy based on his Green Book, a combination of socialist and Islamic theories which gives Gaddafi supreme power to reign over Libya by controlling major government decisions. There is no parliamentary democracy and no political parties in Libya.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 1977, Gaddafi established the General People's Congress (GPC) and claimed it represented the 'people's power'. He also changed the country's name to People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya yet people got no say in any matters. GPC did not have any 'ordinary people'. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gaddafi holds no official position in the government today. All major positions of the GPC lie with a small group of trusted advisers of Gaddafi and include relatives from his home base in the Sirte region, which lies between the traditional commercial and political power centres in Benghazi and Tripoli. With the fall of Benghazi and the violent clashes in Tripoli, many of Gaddafi's men have deflected and joined the protesters.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But there is no doubt that Gaddfi's grip on Tripoli is weakening even with the bloodbath he has sanctioned on the streets with his men opening fire at protesters. Even military aircrafts are being used to drop small bombs and open fire at protesters. The death toll is fast rising although to confirm any figure is near impossible with the ban on foreign journalists in Libya and disruptions in Internet and telephone communications.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">What will happen to the oil?</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa and the ninth largest in the world, so the political unrest is understandably a source of concern regarding production volumes and prices. The government (read Gaddafi) has complete control of the country's oil resources, which account for approximately 95% of export earnings and 25% of the gross domestic product.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Although oil revenues and a small population give Libya one of the highest per capita GDPs in Africa but the ordinary man on the street can see it have no effect on his life.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The government has squandered the money and mismanaged it to such an extent that Libya faces a high inflation and lies on high priced imports.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So the threat of rising oil prices or firms pulling out of Libya will not silence any protests although they will pull the stock markets down. The protests which have now turned into a civil war have seen international oil companies and sub-contractors shut down oil production and evacuate staff. This could affect Libya crude oil supply for days to come if protests continue. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">An excellent reason for the world to lobby to put a stop to the brutal attacks by the state on protesters and support and 'peaceful transition' to democracy. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div></div>Ruhi Khanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01323681328964668744noreply@blogger.com0