Newsclick brings you a glimpse of the vibrant parade organised by the LGBTQ community. It was a feast of colors with over two thousand people celebrating their sexuality.
Courtesy: Newsclick.in
Email: sabrangind@gmail.com
UOH Suspends Ten Students, Modi Regime’s Assaults on Students Continues: Widespread Protests
Strong and widespread protests against the recent suspension of 10 students have spiralled at the University of Hyderabad (UOH), again=. Suspension, it is alleged has not followed due process. The administration, it is alleged addressed a press meet on November 11, allegedly uttering a string of falsehoods. Yesterday a students protest was organsied in response.
The press release issued by the official and duly elected Students’ Union of University of Hyderabad expresses distressed that the University of Hyderabad administration is witch hunting students by slapping ‘fabricated charges.’ The administration has recently suspended 10 students’ alllegedly without proper inquiry. One of the suspended student is an elected GSCASH representative who was discharging her duties. This blatant move by the administration to protect one of the hostel warden accused of sexual harassment is unheard of in the university history.
Facts put the record straight. The press release is intended to counter the university administration’s ‘false propaganda’ regarding the incidents occurred on the night of 3rd November 2017:
In the statement, the UoH Students’ Union states that:
Incident
- On November 3, around 23:00 hrs, few hostel wardens along with about 10 security guards went on a raid in the mens-hostel J. There was a woman student Athira Unni (MA Sociology) and her classmate Pratyush Nirjher (MA Sociology) in one of the rooms. They were preparing for the UGC NET exam. The wardens started shouting at the students asking the women to get out immediately. While the students asked the wardens to speak politely, they turned more furious. One of the wardens was allegedly drunk and asked Athira “If all the men in the university are allowed inside your ladies hostel room, will you at least be satisfied then”. This led to further, more intense arguments. The security guards started filming the girl and other students using their personal phone cameras. Students objected to this, saying only official cameras should be used, as these men can misuse the footage. Then, the students’ union president, general secretary, GSCASH student representatives and some of the now suspended students arrived at the scene and tried to diffuse the situation. Meanwhile the Telangana police had also arrived at the hostel J.
- The allegations of Manhandling by the students is a complete fabrication, say the students. There was about ten security guards present throughout the scene and also the Telangana police reached the hostel in no time. Plus there was no complaint made to the police at the spot about any manhandling. Neither were the wardens taken to any Hospital or health centre. The manhandling complaint is allegedly entirely fabricated to target the students. There were verbal arguments but no foul language was used.
- The narration of switching off the light to assault wardens is also false as it was not intentional. The switch got pressed due to the commotion and within fraction of a second the light were on again. The fact that the light came within a fraction of a second itself shows that it (switching off the light) was not intentional.
Punishment
- Three students were suspended from academic programme and hostels for two years. And 7 students were suspended from academic programme and hostels for 6 months. In addition, it is stated that they won’t be given hostels when they rejoin. It means effectively they were suspended from hostel throughout the duration of the course.
- One of the suspended students Tinanjali Dam is an elected GSCASH representative. She went to the scene as she got repeated calls from Athira that she is being sexually harassed. As a GSCASH member it is her duty to guide students on how to file compliant of sexual harassment complaints. She advised Athira on filing the complaint to GSCASH. It is particularly atrocious that GSCASH member was suspended for assisting a student to file a complaint against the Warden.
Procedural Lapses
- The University administration in its official press release has mentioned that about 150-200 students were present in the Hostel –J. Why then were only 12 students’ served notices to depose before the Mohanty committee?
- The university did not provide the individual specific charges against these students and hence the chance to effectively defend themselves was not possible. If there are no specific charges and they are being punished for being a part of the ‘mob’, then why have all those who were part of the ‘mob’ not called for deposition? It is clear that these students were particularly targeted without any basis.
- The formation of Mohanty committee itself is highly questionable because it was formed, bypassing the Proctorial Board which is actually supposed to take up all cases of allegedly disciplinary breaches.
- The incident occurred on the midnight of November 3, 2017. Mohanty committee was formed on November 4, and depositions were held on November 5 and 6. The punishment order was issued on November 8. Such a hurry has never been shown in any of the previous cases. The enthusiasm with which the enquiry was held so quickly in this case clearly shows that the Committee was predisposed to punish the students.
- The way Mohanty committee functioned and punished 10 students within 3 days itself establishes the fact that administration is using the suspension to scare the students so that they stop questioning the inefficiency of the administration in addressing many basic and pertinent issues. Incidentally, there is an anti-discrimination cell on the campus but that does not function properly and administration has never tried to make the committee active. Recently a committee has been formed by UoH administration to resolve the Students’ Union Vice President issue but the committee report has not been made public yet because administration wants to save one Dean.
- Incidentally, in the first notice served to twelve students one name was “Povari Sai Kumar” but next day it was changed to “Sai Kumar Yamrathi” which indicates the fact that the Mohanty Committee had functioned in a predisposed manner.
Rebuttal of UoH Administration’s Lies
- The Administration is least bothered about the life and career of the students and it is evident when they nonchalantly said “University is dragged into needless controversy” after handing over academic as well as hostel suspension to 10 students (ranging from 2 years to 6 months).
- The University has informed students that they are even exploring the possibilities of constructing a co-ed hostel. It is really strange that a university, which is thinking about constructing co-ed hostel, can punish 10 students with academic as well as hostel suspension over an issue that started with a girl being present in mens’ hostel. This exposes the administrations insincerity in exploring such possibilities and their conservative thinking.
- In the recent press release, the university authorities have stated that wardens do consume food at hostel messes to keep a check over the quality of the food. That is a blatant lie as the quality of the mess food is allegedly very bad and no attempt has been made from wardens or administration’s side despite many representation from the Students’ Union. In fact, it should be noted that such a careless attitude of the administration in addressing basic issues like mess food, water cooler, sanitation etc. only enraged the students on that night and when the wardens failed to defend their inactiveness in addressing basic issues and pro-activeness in raiding hostels and misbehaving with students, they manipulated the entire story and made it into a serious issue like manhandling and hurling abuse.
- The UoH administration, in its last press release, has claimed to be one of the most gender conscious campus but the language ( “ The warden discovered a girl) they used in the press release itself exposes how much gender insensitive the administration really is.
- It is true that our university is one of the first universities to set up a committee against sexual harassment but it was not due to the effort of the administration but due to the struggle taken up by student bodies and student community. It should also be noted that UoH is also the first university that has punished an elected GSCASH representative just for performing her official duties.
These facts speak about administration’s deplorable stand when it comes to the commitment for gender justice.
- Lastly we appeal to the UoH administration to restore normalcy in the campus by revoking the suspension orders of all the 10 students completely and by showing pro-activeness in solving the basic issues that are affecting the students badly. Administration should keep in mind that the semester end exam is around the corner and the first thing they should do is, revoke the suspensions unconditionally at the earliest to let the students to focus on their studies. We also appeal to all the stake holders to be vigilant and question the atrocities perpetuated by the administration to uphold the stature of the university as a place that pursues academic excellence with a strict adherence to principles of equality for all, and not witch hunt students/students activist based on gender, class, caste, region, and nationality.
Background
Protest against UoH Administration for running in nexus with ABVP
Demand for declaration of Lunavath Naresh as Vice-President Candidate
The election t the Vice Presidential post of the Students Union in Hyderabad has run into a controversy. Students have alleged that the administration of the University of Hyderabad(UOH) is Administration in nexus with the RSS youth organisation the ABVP. The allegation comes n the context of the declaration of the result of Vice-President Post to the Student’s Union. The declaration of results have been halted despite the fact, reportedly, that a Tribal candidate Lunavath Naresh has secured more votes than the ABVP’s Vice-Presidential Candidate Apoorv Jain.
Lunavath Naresh, the Tribal Candidate under the banner of Alliance for Social Justice secured a total votes of 1884 as against 1624 votes secured by the ABVP’s Vice-Presidential candidate in the pretext of an alleged non-compliance of attendance requirement.
Stalling the results for the post of Vice-President in the Students’ Union elections 2017-18, on the pretext of alleged non-compliance of attendance requirement of 75% is both illegal and arbitrary, students have alleged. A huge protest has followed.
Upon the perusal of the complaint and oral description given by the grievance cell on the contradictory versions on his attendance, Mr.Naresh (the victorious candidate) submitted a detailed explanation to the cell with a few of his own questions. The Grievance Cell had not given any material on record which suggested that his attendance was below 75%, on the contrary he had material evidence from School of Medical Sciences which showed that he fulfilled the 75% attendance requirement as per the office records as on September 13, 2017. These records have been duly signed by Prof. Geeta.K.Vemungati, Dean, School of Medical Sciences, report the students. Accordingly, his candidature was declared in the valid list of nominations after going through a scrutiny process the by election commission, and ballots on his name for the post of Vice-President were prepared. The entire University went for the polls on September 21, 2017. Ironically an allegedly false complaint was submitted against the candidature of Lunavath Naresh by the President of the ABVP on the day of the polling.
According Recommendation 6.8.5 (iii) of the Lyngdoh Committee, the Grievance Cell may dismiss a complaint if: “the complainant has not and / or likely will not suffer injury or damage.”
The Complainant who is none other than President of ABVP is not a contestant for the post of Vice-President, and thus bears no injury or damage on the grievance levelled, and thus this complaint was liable to be set aside. Instead the grievance cell chaired by Prof. Debashis Acharya, Dean, Students’ Welfare (DSW) decided to go ahead with an inquiry into the complaint. During the proceedings set in motion to hear the complaint, the DSW has been accused of being hurried and the Grievance Committee of violating several provisions of the Grievance Redressal Mechanism(s) enshrined within the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations in order to favour ABVP. Students have argued that, since it is the Department of Medical Science that has all the records pertaining to student’s attendance, the sole responsibility of investigation lies with the concerned Department to issue an attendance certificate. Students are not in any way responsible for the issuance of attendance certificate nor on the content of the same. Given the facts of the case and material evidence pertaining to the attendance by the Dean, School of Medical Science it shows that there is no reason to believe that he ((Lunavath Naresh) has given false affidavit about his attendance. As per clause 6.8.12 of Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations, it was amply stated that “the complaining party shall bear the burden of proof.” The complaining party, i.e., President of ABVP had not submitted any material evidence, and had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. However, the administration decided to go ahead with the complaint and unduly delivered the verdict against the candidature of Lunavath Naresh in a nexus with ABVP, it is alleged. As an after-thought, in order to affect the candidature of Lunavath Naresh the attendance records were tampered, manipulated and wrongly presented leading to invalidation of his candidature.
Prof. Geeta.K.Vemuganti, Dean, School of Medical Science who earlier certified that Mr.Naresh has 75% as per office records, has sent three contradictory statements to the Grievance Committee, at one point stating that Mr.Naresh has 75%, later stating that he has 64% and in the communication before finalising of the decision, stating that Mr. Naresh has 71% attendance. These contradictions in themselves need an explanation coming as they do from a person in a responsible position. The fact that they also favour the ABVP is a moot point.
A Perusal of these attendance records shows clear violations, manipulation and tampering undertaken to affect the candidature of Mr.Naresh:
1. In Epidemiology (a subject), the alleged tampering of attendance on August 17, 2017 was made to affect his candidature, only in the aftermath of the complaint made by ABVP. The Attendance register clearly shows that his attendance on August 17, 2017 was tampered with: there was an initial marking of ‘Present’ that has been subsequently changed to ‘absent’. On the same day, he had another class on “Medical Anthropology” for which he was present. Thus there is no reason to believe that he would be absent for one class on the same day while he would be present for another class. Moreover the tampering of the attendance itself testifies the to the political interference it is alleged and the intention to disqualify his candidature in a nexus with ABVP.
2. In the course of PHPM-1, till August 8, 2017, a total of 6 classes took place since the beginning of the semester, but the attendance record furnished to the Grievance Redressal Committee, shows attendance only from August 8, 2017, instead of showing the record from the start, that is from July 18, 2017.
3. In the course of PHPM-2, the dates of attendance have not been mentioned. The notification, as well as Certificate of Attendance had specifically mentioned that it was required to certify the attendance as on September 13, 2017. In the absence of dates, the authenticity of the attendance register will itself be in question. This, the students union has alleged, is a grave negligence on the part of the concerned faculty. The concerned faculty had at the same time, has also adopted a procedure of taking attendance on paper sheets, and yet, these same sheets were also not submitted to the Election Grievance Committee. Moreover, the number of classes marked in the attendance register, itself raises doubts on the authenticity of the attendance itself.
There are deeper even more serious allegations. Prof. Geeta.K.Vemuganti is also one of the accomplices in the alleged Social Boycott and the reported illegalities committed on five Dalit Research Scholars belonging to Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) including Rohith Vemula along with Prof Podile Apparao at the head. A further playout of this conspiracy that had tragic components witht he ‘institutional murder’ of Rohith Vemula in January 2016 has been this current, has been the tampering and permitted manipulation in attendance procedures (by the administration still headed by Podile with the ABVP) to affect the candidature of a tribal student leader, Mr. Lunavath Naresh. Such manipulations are serious crimes, because any manipulation in attendance procedures would eventually lead to the serious impact on the career of the students, since the same is linked with examinations.
Mr. Lunavath Naresh, says the Students Union, has, unlike the administration of UOH, duly followed the procedures. On receiving a decision from the Grievance committee on the invalidation of his candidature, he immediately filed an appeal to the institutional head within 24 hours, i.e., on September 26, 2017. However despite due procedures being followed the institutional head, i.e., Prof. Podile Apparao is reluctant to take a decision against the school for manipulation of records, and for the declaration of Mr.Lunavath Naresh’s candidature to the post of Vice-President.
In the said context we appeal all students and organizations to join the protest against UoH administration at Administrative Block on October 23, 2017 (Monday) at 02:00 PM.
Tribal Students Forum (TSF)
Activists file complaint against ominous markings on Muslim homes in Gujarat
Civil Society groups are alarmed at the appearance of a sinister deep vermilion cross, an ‘X’ shaped mark that has been spotted in different spots all over Ahmedabad. The mark was spotted on doors of flats/apartments in Aman colony (corner flats), Tagore flats, Al Aman flats and the Faize e Mohammadi society, all located in Ahmedabad. Marks were also spotted in Paldi area.
It begs the question that when all else is not working, are the extreme right wing majority and their allied communal forces determined to polarise the Gujarati electorate? Now, former DGP Gujarat, RB Shreekumar and journalist and social activist Teesta Setalvad have filed a complaint with the central and state election commissions urging them to take cognizance of and investigate the matter thoroughly.
In an email to the Central and State Election Commissions, the activists say, “As citizens we are extremely perturbed by the ominous and sinister looking VERMILION CROSS MARKINGS that have come up in many parts of Ahmedabad. It is telling that these markings have come up exclusively and only on Muslim societies that is where the Muslim minority is in residence. This is ominous as this suggests that for some reason or another these are being marked. This has caused great fear and insecurity in the minds of the minority community”.
The activists fear the marking makes it easy to identify Muslim homes in different neighbourhoods and in turn makes it easy to target Muslim residents. They also draw attention to the upcoming elections in Gujarat in their email complaint saying, “Sirs, sections 123A and 123B of the Representation of People’s Act specifically state that religion and religious symbols should not be used and mis used in the electoral arena during elections. Since now the Election Code is in operation we urge that the ECI takes immediate steps.”
Umar Lynching: Alwar Police eat crow, blame “anti-social elements”
Rajasthan is fast emerging as the hotbed of Gautankwad or Cow Vigilantism in India. Recently, yet another dairy farmer, Umar Mohammed, was shot dead and then thrown on the railway tracks allegedly by members of cow protection groups associated with right wing extremist organizations. It is alleged that this happened in the presence of the police and in fact, Umar was killed by a bullet fired by the police who were trying to control the situation. But now, the police say that it was in fact “anti-social elements” who killed Umar.
“The attackers were basically anti-social elements who attacked Umar and two other passengers of the pickup as they were smuggling cows. They later asked somebody else to dump Umar’s body on the railway track,” said Alwar SP Rahul Prakash. Prakash said an FIR for murder had been lodged on the basis of a statement by Ilyas Khan, Umar’s uncle. A minor boy, who the police say is an accused, has been taken into custody, and he has allegedly named five other attackers. Umar’s body has been sent to Jaipur for autopsy.
Umar was returning home with his two companions Javed and Tahir after purchasing two cows late on the night of Nov 10. “They purchased the cows at a village about 30 kilometers away as cattle are more expensive in nearby villages,” explains Zila Parishad member Sharif Khan. “The cow protection groups have an excellent network and keep updating their men using cell phones. They were waiting for Umar and his friends when they arrived and immediately started shooting,” says Khan. The incident took place Pahadi Village in Alwar District. Interestingly, it was Alwar that Pehlu Khan was also lynched under similar circumstances.
Kavita Shrivastav, President Peoples Union of Civil Liberty, agrees that the attack on Umar was planned and executed with precision, “They used a belt with iron nails to puncture the tyres of the vehicle in which Umar and his companions were travelling with the cows. This not only shows that they had prior knowledge, but also that they were unconcerned about the consequences of their actions. They enjoy protection from higher powers!” Shrivastav says that this is the fifth incident of lynching in the region. “Abdul Jaffar Qureshi, Pehlu Khan, Zafar Khan and even a non-Muslim man Bhakt Ram have been killed so far,” she says.
Interestingly, first the police filed an FIR against Umar under the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act. It is only after pressure from the villagers and civil society groups that a second FIR was filed against “unknown persons”. Even now, the police are shying away from naming any of the right wing groups allegedly involved in the case.
Also Read
Mauled Body of Umar Thrown on Rail Tracks, PUCL Rajasthan Accuses Police of Complicity
Nazi Germany Like Red Cross Markings Emerge on Muslim Societies in Ahmedabad
UPDATE: As news of the Sabrangindia story got around, locals tried to rubbish away the story by saying that the Vermillion Crosses were for garbage collection! Sabrangindia renewed its inquiries with residents of Paldi who shot back, saying ‘How come then only Muslim homes had these crosses?’ The investigations are being carried forward by Gujarat Today newspaper too.
The communal demon is at it again. Desperate to polarise an electorate ahead of the upcoming state elections, a sinister deep vermillion ‘CROSS’ ‘X’ has been spotted in different spots all over Ahmedabad. Will the State and Central Election Commissions Act?
The flats/apartments following colonies with the sinister vermillion CROSS are : Aman colony (corner flats), Tagore flats, Al Aman flats and the Faize e Mohammadi society, all located in Ahmedabad. It is clear that when all else is not working, the extreme right wing majority communal forces are bent on polarising the Gujarati electorate. Besides in the Paldi area too, the Muslim societies have been marked with the mysterious cross.
In addition, other posters warning against ‘Paldi becoming another Juhapura’ have emerged in the city. An example of this was visible in Paldi, a Hindu majority area located in Southwestern Ahmedabad. A banner called upon voters to prevent the area from turning into another Juhapura – a Muslim dominated neighbourhood in New West Zone of the city.
On a saffrom background, the banner said ‘Bachawo, Bachawo(Save, Save), followed by this dire call: “Paldi Ne JuhapuraThatuAtkavo” (Prevent Paldi from turning into Juhapura).” It was spotted at PaldiMahalakshmi circle. The banner did not have any symbol of a political party nor did it carry the name of who was issuing this scary call.After being on display for some hours, it was removed by unknown people after some local residents objected to it.
Juhapura is the mammoth Muslim ghetto situated seven kilometres away from the city centre of Ahmedabad, the economic capital of Gujarat. With a population of about 1,00,000 before the 2002 Gujarat genocidal pogrom, the population has grown to close to 6,00,000 after the pogrom.
Paldi is a mixed locality with both Hindu and Muslim pockets. Corporate offices and city centres of many national and multinational companies such as Gujarat Gas, WaghBakri Tea Group, Claris, Religare, Royal Bank of Scotland and ICICI Bankare located here. It comes under Ellisbridge Assembly constituency.
ISIS: From Physical Caliphate to Virtual Jihad
The Islamic State is increasingly going on-line to ensure its survival.
Islamic State information on a hand-held device (via LobeLog)
Cyberspace is the ideal platform for terrorists because, unlike conventional warfare, barriers to entry into cyberspace are much lower. The price of entry is an Internet connection. The surreptitious use of the Internet to advance terrorist group objectives has created a new brand of Holy War—“virtual jihad”—that gains thousands of new adherents each day. Long after the current terrorist groups have ceased to be a major threat from a physical perspective, they will remain omnipresent in cyberspace, promoting a virtual caliphate from their safe haven behind computer keyboards around the world. Islamic extremists are natural candidates to transition to a virtual world that offers them automatic citizenship beyond the nation-state.
Since the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) was founded, its leaders have deftly and continually rewritten the narrative to claim that the group’s desired caliphate exists, has a specific location, and maintains a defined group of adherents. Unconstrained by the absence of a definitive Quranic guideline for what constitutes a caliphate, IS created its own self-promoting doctrine. The group expanded its caliphate narrative to include a wide range of options for participation: membership included everyone from the passive observer reading a blog or curiously following a Twitter feed to the keyboard jihadist editing Rumiyah or hacking a website to the real-world operators attacking a nightclub or running down holiday celebrants with a delivery truck.
IS has successfully exploited the sociopolitical environment and young adults’ obsession with technology to establish a growing community of devotees in the ungoverned territory of cyberspace, ensuring its ability to continue to coordinate and inspire violence well into the future. IS has found its own salvation via the Internet, particularly since it has already passed the peak of its real-world power.
IS has also capitalized on the world’s evolving propensity to integrate online activities with real-world activities. Social media has had an incredible multiplying effect on radical messaging, and IS has had great success publishing online, which has resonated particularly well with disenfranchised Muslims and youths, inspiring some to act on inspiration and guidance received online. IS has exploited their search for meaningful identity by promising to restore their dignity so that they may find personal fulfillment and purpose.
The virtual world is in some ways more compelling than the real world, because storylines can be artfully crafted for maximum appeal, while omitting anything that may be perceived as negative. A promise is much easier to make online, as is the vision of fulfilling aspirations. The IS has created virtual messaging that is wildly at odds with the reality of life as an IS fighter on the ground. Cyberspace has enabled IS to turn tactical defeats on the battlefield into glorious martyrdom operations that highlight the bravery and commitment of its fighters. The loss of territory and the deaths of key leaders have served to feed propaganda efforts that are used to prove the resiliency of the caliphate.
Since all that is required to be a virtual planner is an Internet connection and good encryption, they can operate from anywhere, although being geographically dispersed carries heightened risk of detection in some nations. The virtual planner model has revolutionized jihadist external operations. IS has taken advantage of recent advances in online communications and encryption so that the group’s top operatives can directly guide lone attackers, playing a central role in the conceptualization, target selection, timing, and execution of future attacks. Virtual planners offer operatives the same services once provided by strictly physical networks. They seamlessly execute the group’s guiding strategy and maximize the impact and propaganda value of attacks waged in its name, while avoiding many of the risks typically associated with physically training operatives, such as being tailed or getting caught returning to a home country.
Integrated into the group’s geographical command structure, virtual planners function much like theater commanders but in the cyber realm. IS virtual planners are also assigned areas of responsibility according to their nationality and linguistic skills, and are tasked with actively recruiting and handling attackers from these areas.
The advancement of Internet-based communication and the explosion of social media have enabled the planner to reach a larger audience than ever before. By building an “intimate” relationship with a potential attacker, the virtual planner provides encouragement and validation, addressing the individual’s doubts and hesitations while generating confidence and a strong desire to carry out an attack. Virtual planners can replicate the same social pressures that exist with in-person cells. Individuals can simply wander into searchable online networks rather than identify with and be socialized by covert in-person networks. Unlike with physical networks, the virtual planner model does not risk the capture or punishment of the network’s key operatives.
Individuals inspired by IS can directly reach out to virtual planners for guidance and assistance in carrying out attacks. In addition to recruitment and operational guidance, virtual planners can bring disparate individuals and cells together to form larger attack networks. IS virtual planners allow the group to effectively seize ownership over what would previously have been considered lone-wolf attacks. Virtual planners transform these individuals into ambassadors for the IS global brand at relatively low cost. Virtual planners help maximize the psychological and reputational impact of violence committed in the IS name, further enticing other potential devotees to join its cause.
The success of the virtual-planner model underscores the ongoing process of organizational learning by jihadist groups. But the model also has disadvantages, such as the inability to provide in-person training or be optimally nimble during an attack to modify plans as circumstances change. Cells directed by virtual planners are also at greater risk of being detected by Signals Intelligence, despite advances in end-to-end encryption. Nonetheless, the virtual planner approach is a low-cost, high-reward strategy with enormous destructive potential, especially as IS and other terrorist groups continue to refine the model.
Adaptations to jihadists’ modes of operation have continually outpaced states’ ability to effectively counter them, and will likely continue to do so. Virtual jihad has not only gained prominence and credibility as an alternative to traditional conceptions of jihad but has also progressively outpaced physical jihad. Although physical jihad continues to appeal to a great many actors, virtual jihad has supplanted traditional notions of jihad for a new generation of adherents who are either unwilling or unable to engage in physical violence themselves. The rise of the virtual jihadist has assumed an important (perhaps irreplaceable) role in rejuvenating the concept of jihad and facilitating the dissemination of its “counterculture” narrative to new audiences for many years to come.
Daniel Wagner is author of the new book Virtual Terror, founder of Country Risk Solutions, and managing director of Risk Cooperative. Giuseppe Del Vecchio is a research analyst with CRS.
Originally published in Lobelog.
Is Christianity finished as a source of inspiration for progressive social change?
Whatever the emerging world becomes, it will need a new consciousness to guide it, especially if we want that world to be a good one.
Credit: Pixabay/Stocksnap. CC0 Creative Commons.
“Were Christians to be in a position to exert enduring cultural influence, the results would likely be disastrous or perhaps mostly so.” This is the judgment of University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter, who coined the term “culture wars” in the 1980s, but it’s a sentiment that’s shared by many on the left.
Given their flawed thinking about public life, says Hunter—“based on both specious social science and problematic theology”—there seems to be little future for the Christian faith as a motivating force in progressive politics in the USA and beyond. But is this judgment correct?
To put this question in context, the American Century is over. The institutions that sustained the modern industrial world (including many of the mainstream Christian churches) are rusting out, their legitimacy crisis dragging on like a festering wound since the Sixties.
Whether we like it or not, we are emerging into a different world. It feels strange to us. We can’t see it clearly at this point, or even know what to call it. But whatever the emerging world will become it will need a new consciousness to guide it, especially if we want that world to be a good one.
Finding and articulating that new consciousness in order to re-imagine our societies is one of the central challenges of our times—supporting the growth of a wider, public sensibility and a progressive way of life in which peace, justice, love, hope and human flourishing can grow. To meet this challenge, I think we’ll need to draw on imaginative resources wherever we can find them.
So it’s at least worth taking another look at Christianity’s faith and practice, history and global diversity, theological ideas and spiritual traditions in order to see whether any of these things might offer us these kinds of resources. Can Christianity be critical enough of itself and of society to be a productive source of change? By this I don’t mean that Christians should simply criticize. We’ve had enough cranky, reactionary rhetoric from the uniquely American religious right in recent years to last a lifetime.
But keep in mind that as recently as the Sixties, Christian public identity in the US was claimed by the moderate-to-progressive Protestant ‘mainline’ denominations—the religious center-left. Progressive theologians including Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich and Harvey Cox, and activist clergy like Martin Luther King Jr and William Sloane Coffin, were all well-known, consequential public figures.
Their intellectual and moral tradition was rooted long ago in the eighteenth-century in what historian Amy Kittelstrom calls the “American Reformation” in her recent book, The Religion of Democracy. Kittelstrom describes this period as one of fascinating intellectual ferment during which New England pastors and theologians started to mix Reformation Protestantism with the values of the Enlightenment.
This experiment produced a new liberal faith; a new liberal intellectual culture fostering democratic values such as liberty of conscience, equality and social progress; and the first stirrings of protest against slavery and in favor of women’s rights. These church leaders, says Kittlestrom, “were the first people in the world to call themselves liberals.” Their ideas were crucial to the development of social consciousness in the USA well into the twentieth century.
Kittelstrom connects distinctly American traditions like Transcendentalism—white America’s first truly new spirituality; Pragmatism—its first unique philosophy; and Progressivism, fueled by the Social Gospel, to the spirit of the American Reformation and its fusion with democratic society. The American Reformation’s intellectual influence, writes historian David Hollinger, “was—and continues to be—a world-historical event, or at least one of the defining experiences of the North Atlantic West . . . from the eighteenth century to the present.”
This diverse, open and inclusive mainstream version of Christian faith has faded out in the last 50 years, to be replaced by an inexperienced reactionary rump with neither the historical memory nor the cultural skills to articulate a coherent public faith, or even to grasp how society is changing. The now long-forgotten ‘death’ of the Protestant mainline churches, as Catholic sociologist Joseph Bottum reminds us, is more consequential than we might think. Bottum laments losing a venerable, crucial, moderating voice in civil society as “the central historical fact of our time”—and a significant source of our present political and cultural confusion.
But can Christian faith today offer a critique of our current way of life, in the same way that, say, feminism or critical race theory can? Is it able to provide a progressive resource for creating a new public consciousness and form of life as societies sail into uncharted waters?
Nearly everyone outside the white, Euro-American dominant society feels written out of history, but where do we turn for an alternative point of view to correct this situation? We turn to post-colonial writers certainly, including Christian theologians from Latin America, Africa and Asia. We look to the East for new varieties of religious consciousness, and to pre-colonial indigenous cultures for alternative modes of life. And we look to pre-Western pagan values that underpin eco-spiritualities and new religious movements.
But all these resources only go so far in helping us with our own critical self-understanding. How can we in the West understand ourselves—on our own terms—from the perspective of our own history? One way to do this is by re-telling our own story from our own beginnings, without prejudice to the ancient and Medieval Christian roots that predated the modern period.
This is already being done by some of the most influential philosophers of our generation. For example, Charles Taylor, an early leader in multicultural theory, has helpfully traced the rise of modern consciousness from theological as well as philosophical roots in his magisterial Sources of the Self.
Italian political philosopher Giorgio Agamben (a radical leftist, and an atheist as far as I know) is another. He argues that to understand Western thinking we need to pick apart modern thought to uncover its theological underpinnings, and he publishes copious theological writing. “I think” he says, “that it is only through metaphysical, religious, and theological paradigms that one can truly approach the contemporary—and political—situation.”
Another voice in the mix is Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian philosophical rock star of the Marxist left who publishes frequently with theologians, even claiming that “to become a true dialectical materialist, one should go through the Christian experience.”
These are not endorsements of actually-existing Christianity by any means, but they represent a rich intellectual search for philosophical alternatives that are rooted in the ground of Christian theology and practice.
In addition, the Western perception of Christianity is more than a little myopic. It’s easy to forget that 33 per cent of the world’s people—2.4 billion individuals—identify as Christians. Jesus still has more followers than Facebook, and most of them live lives far different from those in the West. Pentecostal Christians alone now outnumber Buddhists worldwide. As Philip Jenkins pointed out some years ago in his seminal book The Next Christendom, to overlook the rise of Christianity in the global South—which now constitutes 60 per cent of world Christianity—is to miss the most profound social revolution of the twentieth century.
Why don’t we see this clearly? In part it’s because many of us live in an ‘already-been-Christian’ context. Christian tradition has been in our background for so long that it’s almost second nature to be critical of it, and many of us assume that it’s on its way out anyway.
But that ignores the fact that in ‘never-before-been-Christian’ societies, Christianity might provide progressive resources, social as well as spiritual. Some choose Christian faith as a means of assimilating liberal Western values, some to connect with a global religious consciousness. Many others see in the faith solutions to personal problems as well as intellectual tools to understand their own cultural traditions. We do the same thing in the West when we borrow non-Western spiritual practices like meditation or yoga.
For whatever reasons, individuals around the world who are concerned about their spirituality are asserting their free agency to choose these resources in order to address their own developing consciousness. They do this in large numbers even now in a post-colonial period of extensive criticism of the West and its religion.
What can be made of this enormous, global community of different and often clashing Christian identities? It’s certainly a testing ground for just about every social problem and potential solution. To take an example from Africa: the Anglican Communion ranges from homophobic bishops to progressive civil rights heroes like South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Ugandan Bishop David Zac Niringiye. How tensions between conservatives and progressives play out will have an enormous influence on African society—as well as demonstrate whether or not Christian faith can mobilize its resources to support human flourishing for everyone.
Whatever you decide to make of it, the Christian movement will be with us for a very long time, warts and all. In spite of its many problems—and they are manifold—it is important to take another look to see how rich it might be in terms of the resources we need to guide the world into a new way of being, and a new form of consciousness, where peace, justice, love, and hope may prevail.
Gregory Leffel, Ph.D., is a missiologist working on collective action, social movements and theo-politics, and is director of One Horizon Institute in Lexington, Kentucky. He is author of Faith Seeking Action: Mission, Social Movements, and the Church in Motion; and is past president of the American Society of Missiology.
Courtesy: Open Democracy
Demonetisation, A Year On: In Delhi Textile Hub, Businesses Unravel, Jobs Scarce
Noida, Uttar Pradesh: For the last eight months, Babita Singh has been searching every lane and bylane of the 2-sq-km spread of the Noida Hosiery Complex, here on the grimy edge of India’s capital, for a tailor’s job. She leaves home at 7 am and walks around till 11 am when, with the first shift in place, there is no longer any hope of being called into a factory.
Babita (second from right) has been looking for a job as a tailor for eight months now since the last unit she was employed at shut down post-demonetisation. Every morning, thousands of migrant workers land up at the Noida Hosiery Complex in search of casual jobs.
“Look, my chappals have worn thin,” said Singh, 30, pointing to her feet. Giving up is not an option. There is nothing left for her or her family of four in Bulandshahr, their hometown in western UP that they left seven years ago in search of a better life.
In March this year, the small garment unit where Singh worked for six years shut down in the wake of demonetisation, the scrapping of 86% of India’s currency, by value, on November 8, 2016. There were thousands like her, pleading for jobs at the gates of around 300 factories in the complex or sitting around in groups, hoping for a job tip from passers-by.
The ‘Wanted’ boards outside factories listing vacancies have been increasingly sparse since demonetisation
Aimed at making the economy less cash-reliant, demonetisation came as a body blow to the readymade garments sector, 80% of which made up of informal units that operated with cash and casual labour, as IndiaSpend reported in December 2016.
About 1.5 million jobs were lost during January-April 2017 in the immediate aftermath of demonetisation, according to this analysis by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a business information company. There have been 35% to 55% job losses in manufacturing and trade since November 2016, according to data collected by the All India Manufacturers’ Organisation (AIMO) as the Indian Express reported on November 8, 2017.
There are no clear figures on how many workers have lost their jobs due to the crisis in the unorganised apparel sector. But informal jobs, with little or no social security or benefits, constitute around 92% of all employment in India, as per government data. And the textile industry is the second largest non-farm employer in India.
Singh–and thousands of other semi-literate, mostly unskilled workers employed as tailors, packers, helpers and cutters–have been hit hardest by demonetisation. They usually earn around Rs 350 for a day’s work.
“I was offered a job with an eight-hour schedule this morning for Rs 6,000 a month,” said Yadesh Kumar, a migrant worker from Etawah in western UP. “I have a family of five, how will I cope?”
Many workers, like Yadesh Kumar (in yellow), had opened bank accounts to facilitate cheque payments but now find that there are no jobs to give these accounts any meaning.
Many workers opened bank accounts after demonetisation to allow employers to make cashless payments. But with no jobs for the few thousand workers–100,000, the local reckoned–wandering the hosiery complex, there is no money to put in these accounts.
Just when it seemed that cashless systems were falling into place by the middle of 2017, the complex Goods and Services Tax (GST) arrived as a second big blow. The tax system demands that companies in a supply chain are linked to one another, but it is too complex for this largely unorganised sector.
“Dhandha uth hi nahin paya (the business couldn’t get back on its feet),” said a manager at a export house in Noida. The distress visible on the streets of the factory complex was evident in the wake of demonetisation, when 40% of workers reportedly lost their jobs, but now hopes of recovery are receding.
“Business is down by 40% in the Noida-Greater Noida region. My calculation is that about 50-70 units have shut down here in recent months,” said Lalit Thukral, executive member of the Apparel Export Promotion Council and head of the Noida Apparel Export Cluster. “Around 8,000 small garment businesses of the total of 10,000 in the country are gasping for breath now.”
This is happening not just in Noida. In Tirupur, the hosiery hub in western Tamil Nadu, too businesses are down by over 40%, the Business Standard reported on November 3, 2017. Surat, the textile centre in Gujarat, is in turmoil. And in Gurugram, at the eastern end of the National Capital Region from Noida, former garment units on prime real estate are being let out.
Triple whammy: Competition from Asian rivals, demonetisation and GST
Last year when demonetisation hit the apparel sector, it was already stressed by competition from other Asian nations, such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The contribution of apparels to exports of especially Bangladesh and Vietnam rose 6.1% and 9.6% respectively in 2015, the Economist Intelligence Unit, a think tank, reported on February 3, 2016. Bangladesh, now only second to China among apparel exporters, is giving Indian businesses a particularly rough time.
Nearly 80% of businesses in the apparel sector consist of small scale units that employ casual labour.
“We are simply not productive or organised enough to deal with this competition. And then we bring in something like demonetisation and Canadian model of GST into the industry,” said a mid-scale vendor for top western brands. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said he shut down one of his two factories with 100 machines and 150 workers last year and is now downsizing further.
In the long term, he pointed out, cashless payments and GST could bring good things to the industry–formalisation of a largely unorganised sector, more transparency, less inspector raj and the corruption that goes with it. “But in the immediate future it is going to wipe out an entire generation of businesses,” he said.
‘No jobs for men or women, illiterate or educated’
The apparel sector, as we said, provides work for men and women with low of no skills from primarily rural areas in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where their last occupation was either agricultural labour and small-scale farming.
Some said they had not held down jobs for a year now.
Workers like Enashi Devi are being turned away at gates by factory managers who cite GST as the reason for the downturn.
“Woh bole rahein hain DST (sic) hai, naukri nahin milegi (they say there are no jobs because of DST–meaning GST). Look at the mobs of people searching for jobs, it makes me dizzy. Whether you are a man or a woman, educated or illiterate like me, there is no hope for any of us. Bura haal hai (things are bad),” said Enashi Devi, who had been doing the rounds of Noida the first day of every week in the hope of landing a job as a helper.
Feeder businesses struggle to cope
Equally impacted are the jobbers who run the micro businesses feeding the industry. These are complex chains of small but critical enterprises such as dyeing, embroidery, printing and zip-making, all finding it hard to comply with the GST. With earnings between Rs 30,000 and Rs 50,000 a month, they are struggling to make sense of it all.
Nayagaon, a shanty that is part village and part city, off the Hosiery Complex, houses Durga Dyers. This two-man operation runs out of a room next to a buffalo stable. Its owner, Anil Bansal, is a “local” dyer–someone who can dye small bits of fabric or yarn, the kind of assignment no big business in dyeing will take on.
Small feeder businesses like this dyeing unit running out a one room tenement in Nayagaon, off Noida Hosiery Complex, are finding it hard to deal with the complexities of GST.
He earns around Rs 50,000 in the peak season and has just acquired a GST account. But he cannot handle its complexities since he is not computer literate, so he now hires the services of an accountant. “It is tough but we are managing somehow,” he said.
Not many can afford an accountant’s fees–anywhere between Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 on average–on such profit margins as small as Rs 15,000-20,000. They opt instead for cash payments to work around GST. “Capital is getting blocked like this because it is hard to claim returns when the entire supply chain is not GST compliant,” said Thukral.
To add to the crisis, the sector is furious with the government decision to slash the duty drawback on exportable garments from 7.5% to 2% from October 1, 2017. This drawback is a relief given to businesses by way of refund of custom and excise duties on inputs used in manufacture of exported goods and it allowed the garment industry to stay competitive.
Thukral predicted the closure of another 20% units in Noida if the industry does not rally around to take orders for the next season.
“Iske baad toh bas ek hi kaam rah gaya hai–haath mein katori leke bheek mangna (there is only one alternative left after this, to beg),” said Singh, the job seeker we met at the start of this story, as she gave up her search for the day.
(Nair is a consulting editor with IndiaSpend.)