Being ‘black’ in North Africa and the Middle East

February 13, 2018

Former slaves and their descendants in North Africa and the Middle East might be formally free, but the racial legacies of slavery continue to affect intimate, social and political forms of life.

Gorée Island is known as the location of the House of Slaves, and was used for the slave trade. John Karwoski/flickr. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Growing attention to the racial and colour-based discrimination that sub-Saharan Africans and African slave descendants face in the Maghreb and in the Middle East has opened up new spaces to debate the relationship between ‘racism’ and legacies of slavery in the two regions. While these debates are far from new in a context like Mauritania, where former slaves and slave descendants have struggled for decades against descent-based discrimination, in many other North African and Middle Eastern countries they have emerged only relatively recently. This is perhaps because, as the Moroccan historian Chouki El Hamel notes, a “culture of silence” has long prevented these countries from engaging with, and discussing overtly, questions of race, slavery and colour.

With this week’s special series, we seek to unpack the ‘racial issue’ in different post-slavery contexts in West Africa, North Africa and the Middle East by interrogating its connections with local histories of slavery and their contemporary legacies. Drawing on fresh case studies from Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Emirates and Yemen, the contributors reflect on the complex intersections of historical and contemporary dynamics that shape present imaginations of ‘blackness’, black identities, and belonging. They also look at new forms of racial discrimination and activism based on specific constructions of race.

A “culture of silence” has long prevented these countries from engaging with, and discussing overtly, questions of race, slavery and colour.

Very few authors have looked at the racial legacies of slavery in these contexts to date, in contrast to the relatively large amounts of scholarly attention shown to the memory of the transatlantic slave trade and race in the post-slavery Americas. That is thankfully starting to change. A growing body of historical works (think Paul Lovejoy, Martin Klein, Alice Bellagamba, Ann McDougal, Ehud Toledano, John Hunwick, Eve Troutt Powell, Terence Walz, Kenneth Cuno, Bruce Hall, Chouki El Hamel, Ismael Montana and Behnaz Mirzai) have significantly enriched our knowledge of the history of slavery and race in West Africa and the Mediterranean Muslim world. A number of anthropological studies have furthermore explored the shadows of slavery in the lives of slave descendants and haratin (a term generally translated as ‘freed blacks’ or ‘free blacks’), especially in Mauritania and in the Maghreb area.

However, we need to explore if and how current developments are reshaping racialised dynamics in social, political and intimate lives. Tracing the local meanings of race, with its complex relations to ideas of colour, origin, blood and descent, the contributors seek to interrogate how current expressions of racism connect with historical experiences of slavery.

Breaking the silence

Since the early 2000s, the francophone magazine Jeune Afrique has published personal testimonies of both Black Maghrebians and sub-Saharan Africans. The questions posed regarding identity and discrimination in these narratives became more urgent following the protests and revolutions that took place in many North African and Middle Eastern countries in 2011. In post-revolution Tunisia, for example, we’ve seen unprecedented forms of black rights activism that question the very idea that black emancipation can exist without a continued struggle against racism.

In 2014, in Morocco, the national campaign “my name is not a negro” (ma smitish ‘azzi) gave public visibility to the issue of racism in Moroccan society. In March 2016, a network of associations launched the international anti-racist campaign “neither serfs nor negro: stop that’s enough” (ma oussif, ma ‘azzi: baraka wa yezzi) in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania. From Mauritania to Yemen, local anti-racist movements and societal debates have enabled novel political practices, languages and subjectivities to emerge. To what extent, we ask, are current anti-racist movements and debates on race able to capture the complexity and multiplicity of the experience of ‘blackness’? What histories and vocabularies are mobilised to raise public awareness and attain political goals?

Engaging with these questions, some pieces reflect on the emergence of race in their interlocutors’ political imaginations and public actions. In Mauritania, where slavery was abolished in 1981, the anti-slavery organisation El Hor (established in 1978) has denounced the persistence of slavery and its consequences on the lives of the haratin in terms of the socio-political stigmatisation and chromatic demonisation. However, as Giuseppe Maimone shows, with IRA Mauritanie, a local organisation founded by Biram Dah Abeid in 2008, ideas of colour and racial discrimination have started to replace the classic focus on slavery and descent-based forms of discrimination of previous antislavery movements.

In Yemen, a political discourse based on colour has been mobilised by the akhdam, a dark-skinned marginalised group, to gain a public voice and denounce their socioeconomic and political discrimination. As Luca Nevola shows, in a society in which individuals and groups are ranked according to their genealogical origin, an emphasis on colour entails a crucial shift in the common sense representations of this group. Crucially, Nu’man al-Hudheyfi, the political leader of the akhdam, reference prominent figures like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela to give international visibility to his political struggle.

In Morocco, it has been the growing public attention to violence and discrimination against sub-Saharan Africans that has recently opened a debate on the issue of anti-black racism and its connections to the history of slavery. Against the backdrop of these debates, Laura Menin shows how Senegalese students and young professionals experience, interpret, and reckon with racism in their everyday lives. Their stories suggest that while the legacies of slavery affect local constructions of ‘blackness’, current racism against black Africans also speaks to contemporary dynamics in Morocco, in which media stigmatisation, unemployment, widespread poverty and social insecurity work together to nourish social tensions and resentment vis-à-vis the “new” comers.

From different perspectives, these pieces show the complex ways in which ‘blackness’ is embodied, experienced, represented and contested by different social actors – be they slave descendants of African origins, haratin, or Sub-Saharan African students and professionals.

Lived legacies and present pasts

The processes of abolition and emancipation followed different paths and took place at different times in North Africa and the Middle East. The consequences have also varied greatly depending on the context. Yet while not all black-skinned people are descendants of slavery, nor are all slave descendants black, one important legacy that this history has left behind across the board is the close connection between blackness and slavery in the popular imagination. This had led socially ‘white’ people to position socially ‘black’ people in lower or subordinate positions.

An important legacy that the region’s slave history has left behind across the board is the close connection between blackness and slavery in the popular imagination.

In many contexts, colour attribution reveals more about local dynamics of power, status and origin than colour itself. This emerges clearly in Marta Scaglioni’s piece on the meanings and practices associated to ‘blackness’ among the ‘Abid Ghbonton, a community of slave descendants in southern Tunisia. She shows how visions of ‘blackness’ rooted in the history of slavery in Tunisia re-emerge, in different guises, in her interlocutors’ everyday lives and aesthetics. This makes both ‘blackness’ and colour central concerns, for women especially, in relation to marriage, beauty, and social prestige.

Not all countries have, like post-revolution Tunisia, begun to centre questions of race and colour in public debates. In other contexts, like the Emirates, these remain taboo topics. Former slaves became Emirati citizens in 1971, several years after abolition in 1963, and since then the process of modern state-building has since sought to include them within a single ‘Arab’ national identity. As a consequence, the roots of many Emiratis in the Indian Ocean and East Africa have become lost. They have not been forgotten, however, and even though the slave past is officially silenced, Idil Akinci shows how the daily dynamics of colour, origin, and race expose the limits of Emirati citizenship in absorbing difference.

It is often when marriage is at stake that questions of colour and origin matter, making a slavery past vividly present in people’s lives. Alice Bellagamba’s contribution focuses precisely on marriage, a crucial question in the Kolda region of Senegal, as one important site where the shadows of slavery become palpable. In this context, a marriage between a slave descendant and a person of free or noble ancestry isnot only met with social opprobrium on the side of the latter, but also considered unideal by the person ‘marrying up’. Even though an increasing number of young people aspire to a marriage based on love rather than on local norms, questions of origin and race continue to have an impact in a context where marriage remains a key factor of social reproduction.

Taken together, the pieces found in this special feature draw attention to the multiple and complex ways the shadows of slaveryare experienced, reckoned with, and even politically mobilised by different social actors in West Africa, North Africa and the Middle East. These present pasts, as Alice Bellagamba reminds us, overlap with and influence current socio-political dynamics.

Laura Menin is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Milano Bicocca. She has conducted research in Morocco since 2008, working on migration, love and intimacy, political violence during ‘the years of lead’, and ‘race’ and racism.

Courtesy: https://www.opendemocracy.net

Maldives crisis: a bitter religious divide comes to the fore

February 13, 2018

he Maldives is a tourist paradise. The island chain of 26 atolls attracts more than 1.5m visitors every year. But alongside the clear blue waters and perfect beaches, this is a country riven with deep political and religious conflicts. And now those conflicts are reaching boiling point.After the country’s supreme court ordered the release of nine jailed opposition politicians at the start of February, the Maldivian president, Abdulla Yameen, declared a 15-day state of emergency. Yameen stated that the state of emergency was necessary since he wanted to investigate if a coup was being plotted against him. The Maldivian police duly arrested former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and the army stormed the Supreme Court building.

Protesting for political freedom outside the Supreme Court in Malé. Dying Regime via Flickr, CC BY

The Maldivian police have reportedly entered tourist resorts in their hunt for political opponents. In response to these authoritarian actions, protests erupted in the streets of the capital, Malé.

Even within the country, it’s not clear what exactly is happening. With contradictory and confused reports emerging minute-by-minute, other countries are now advising their citizens either to refrain from travelling to the Maldives, or to exercise caution if they do so.

This situation has also soured the diplomatic relationship between India and China after another former Maldivian president, Mohamed Nasheed, expressed his desire to see India send troops to help keep the piece. China, which has recently invested in the Maldives, responded that India “has no justification for intervening in the Maldives crisis”.

On the face of it, this might look like a political power struggle with causes both domestic and international. But there’s something else at work too: the Maldives’ very particular religious politics.

Hardline turn

Maldivian authorities claim that 100% of its population are Muslims, and you need to be Muslim to be a citizen. Conservative Islamic groups in the country have been vocal in their support of the current leadership.

In the 2013 election, when Yameen replaced Nasheed, the rhetoric used against Nasheed portrayed him as anti-Islamic. One pamphlet widely circulated on social media read: “President Nasheed’s devious plot to destroy the Islamic faith of Maldivians.” The current ruling party also organised a rally with the slogan “my religion, my nation” during this time of crisis.

A protest against president Abdulla Yameen.

Conservative religious elements are very visible in the Maldives. One Maldivian friend told me that someone yelled at him because his small shorts were an affront to Islamic values – and in today’s Malé, the niqab (the full veil) is more visible than ever before.

I myself recently visited the Maldives to talk to different universities about setting up exchange programs between my own university and Maldivian ones. As a scholar of religion, I was surprised to hear from these institutions that they had conducted research on Muslim extremists in the country. Among the countries that produce recruits to the so-called Islamic State (IS), the Maldives makes one of the highest per capita contributions: there are estimated to be more than 200 Maldivians fighting for IS in Iraq and Syria.

The Saudi factor

One international player in this crisis is Saudi Arabia. Like the Chinese, the Saudis have invested plenty of money in the Maldives – it recently granted the Maldives a US$150m loan to pay off its foreign debt. The political opposition in the Maldives blames Saudi Arabia for spreading the conservative and violent form of Islam that the current regime espouses.

According to the opposition, the Saudis finance conservative Maldavian imams who spread Wahhabist doctrines across the country. International relations scholar Azra Naseem also sees a pattern between the radicalisation of Maldivians and the influence of Saudi Arabia. As Naseem puts it:

The increasing hegemony of Salafist/Wahhabist ideologies over Maldivian religious and social cultures and thought, and its control of religious discourse, forbid Maldives from speaking of not just another religion but also to pick up on any other strand of thought in Islam other than their own. Sufism, which is so much a part of South Asian Islam … is discouraged in the Maldives if not outright outlawed.

These conservative trends are at work across South Asia. Sri Lanka, for example, is feeling the growing influence of so-called da’wa (missionary) movements such as Jamaat-e-Islami and Tablighi Jamaat. These movements started their missionary activities in the 1970s, but they have since become part of a violent and deadly conflict between so-called reformists (conservatives) and Sufis. The same dynamics are at work elsewhere too. But so far, only in the Maldives has a full-blown political crisis broken out – and the outcome of that crisis might yet turn out to be a preview of things to come elsewhere.

Andreas Johansson, Director of Swedish South Asian Studies Network (SASNET), Lund University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Examine plea seeking independent body for Haj pilgrims: HC

February 13, 2018

New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS): The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Centre to take a “considerate view” and examine grievances raised in a plea seeking an independent Muslim body to look into arrangements for Haj pilgrims.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar directed the Centre and the concerned ministries to examine and take an expeditious view on the petition filed by Delhi-based advocate Shahid Ali.

Ali, in his plea, referred to the end of subsidy on flights for the pilgrimage and said since this had happened, there was no need for a government-controlled panel to manage its affairs.

He also wanted an end to the Haj Committee Act and to formulate an independent agency to deal with the issues.

Courtesy: Two Circles

The Business of the Hindutva Militias

February 13, 2018

The growth of the criminal groups that are part of the Sangh Parivar is related to the economy that the Sangh has managed to develop around them.

The RSS chief has made claims about his organisation being “battle-ready”. Earlier, news about the film Padmavati, and gau rakshaks had become hot topics of discussion. The militia of the Sangh Parivar continues to make news.

In this context, probably it is apt to talk about the billion-dollar business that is Hindutva, and how riots and violence helps it to grow. We are often engaged in debates on Hindutva as an idea, but it is often felt that attempts to study it as a mass movement are limited. An idea, after all, does not spread without reason. For that to happen, it needs to turn into a material force. To understand this better, we need to understand how this material force operates. Here the material force is the RSS itself, and the Sangh Parivar which includes hundreds of organisations which are linked to it, whether they are formally affiliated to the RSS or not.

Let us look at a simple example of how the ‘economy’ of Hindutva works. South Karnataka, which includes the Mangalore belt, is a region where the Bajrang Dal, the criminal gang of the Sangh Parivar, is active and strong. The Bajrang Dal grew in this region by unleashing violence against the minority communities, especially the Muslims. The Muslim merchants of Mangalore city are among the biggest victims of the Bajrang Dal’s violence. To escape from this continuous street violence, the Muslim merchants are these days forced to hire the services of a major security agency in Mangalore city.

The owner of this security agency – Eshwari Manpower Solutions – is Sharan Pampwell. The amazing irony is, this very Sharan Pampwell is the South Karnataka convenor of the Bajrang Dal! In other words, the communal violence of the Bajrang Dal becomes the fodder for their own business. The situation is such that whoever is targeted by the intimidation and violence by Sharan and his followers have to pay for the services of their own enemy. Sharan himself says that the Muslim commercial establishments of Mangalore are his clients. (For details, see Shadow Armies: Fringe Organisations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva by Dhirandra K Jha.)

Something thing that underworld dons and gangsters used to do illegally is being done here legally. It is their politics which is enabling the Sangh to do this. And they are doing it using an ideology which they use to justify their acts and a narrative they have developed in support of these acts.
The Sangh rallies people into their networks not just by injecting ideology, but also by making those people the beneficiaries of such networks at a material level.

For example, the workers of Eshwari Manpower Solutions are mostly activists of the Bajrang Dal. The common activists of the Bajrang Dal are often people who face caste discrimination and economic backwardness. Being a Sangh Parivar “worker” not only gives them some “social legitimacy”, but also a means of livelihood. People need both of these to survive. This is a major factor behind the growth of the Sangh Parivar, which is ideologically non-inclusive, and which justifies caste relations on the basis of an antiquated worldview, as a movement with major support among the Dalit-Adivasi-OBC sections. It has been able to do so by corrupting people ideologically as well as materially. Its entire machinery tries to bring both these elements together. It is not easy to destroy the support base it gains in this manner.

The anti-Padmavati riots have this dimension. There is speculation that groups like Karni Sena have been used for the movie’s publicity. But the relevant thing to note is the legitimacy that several fringe groups like Karni Sena has received. This is what the Sanghi government helped them gain by blindly encouraging the violence they unleashed. Thus an opportunity arose for them to engage in perfectly legal business. This is also a shortcut to build an economy, to rally people and to retain them in the fold. By letting such groups to control the law and order of a region, they are being given a free hand to bring the region in their grip. That is something that should concern us the most in the entire episode.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

Death of Judge Loya: Medical Documents Rule Out Heart Attack, Says Leading Forensic Expert

February 12, 2018

Caravan magazine spoke to Dr RK Sharma—the former head of the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, and the president of the Indian Association of Medico-Legal Experts

After examining medical documents pertaining to the death of the judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, one of India’s foremost forensic experts, Dr RK Sharma—the former head of the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, and the president of the Indian Association of Medico-Legal Experts for 22 years—has dismissed the official claim that Loya died of a heart attack. According to Sharma, the documents show signs of possible trauma to the brain, and even possible poisoning.

Sharma spoke to The Caravan after studying Loya’s post-mortem report and related histopathology report, a report that accompanied samples of Loya’s viscera that were sent for chemical analysis, and the results of the chemical analysis. Some of these documents have been procured through Right to Information applications, and others have been submitted to the Supreme Court by the government of Maharashtra in support of a report by Maharashtra’s State Intelligence Department that concludes there is no cause for suspicion regarding Loya’s death. Sharma’s expert opinion contradicts this conclusion.

Read the full report here.

We will miss you Asma Jahangir

February 12, 2018

1952-2018

When common people specially women, minorities, marginalized communities and working class in our sub-continent are being subjected to unparalleled violence inflicted by the state, religious bigots, feudal elites and crony capitalists one of the greatest fighters for the rights of the common people, Asma Jahangir, a dear friend is no more. Pakistan’s well-known human rights activist and senior lawyer Asma Jahangir passed away in Lahore on February 11 (2018). Asma died of cardiac arrest when she was only 66.

She was born in 1952 in a political family which had long tradition of opposing military rulers and religion based politics in Pakistan. Her father was a great supporter of the political rights of people of the East Pakistan.She and her sister Hina Jilani became the most prominent faces of resistance to Islamist politics in Pakistan, faced immense reparation in Zia’s regime but never compromised. Asma Jahangir till her last breath kept on fighting indefatigably for the rights of minorities and women in Pakistan.

She co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 1987 and became its Secretary General until 1993 when she was elevated as commission’s chairperson. Later, she also became president of Supreme Court Bar Association. She also co-chaired South Asians for Human Rights. Due to her unwavering commitment against police state and religious persecution of minorities she was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or summary executions and later as the United Nations Rapporteur of Freedom of religion or belief.

She with her sister, Hina founded an institution which worked 24×7 to help victims of rape, Hudood Law, religious violence and police repression. She took the issue of ‘disappearances’ of political activists in Baluchistan by the Pakistan army to UN. She was imprisoned many times and was top on hit list of Islam-o-fascists of Pakistan and army intelligence agencies.

She was not only a severe critique of Islamist bigots and state terrorism in Pakistan but she was equally hard hitting against India for human rights excesses, especially in Kashmir. She was never welcome in India, denied visa many times. Even when she was allowed to visit India in2009 her room was raided by the Delhi police suspecting for indulging in anti-national activities. Of course, later the then PM of India, Manmohan Singh apologized. Asma in her typical feisty reaction told the media that it did not trouble her much as she “had gotten used to [this kind of treatment] in Pakistan”.

I interviewed her in August 1995 when there was an attempt on her life within the compound of Lahore High Court. The views she expressed 23 years back are relevant even today. If were warnings were heeded both Pakistan and India would not have been at the mercy of criminals who under the garb of religion are dismantling whatever was civilized and humane in the region. An article based on this interview which appeared in an English daily is reproduced here.

“ACT NOW AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISM”—ASMA JAHANGIR
February 16, 1995, Asma Jahangir is attacked and her car set on fire within the premises of the Lahore High Court. Her “crime”: she is pleading the case of 14-year-old Salamat Masih, one of the many blasphemy accused she has been defending. The incident and the case make headlines. But Asma is unmoved. “These are the essential risks of the cause I have chosen to uphold,” she once said. A cause she upholds as the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. A cause she furthers by running a 24-hour legal aid cell, exclusively for women and members of the minorities victimized by feudal elements and Shariat laws.

It is not surprising, since she belongs to a family which has a tradition of opposing dictatorial regimes. Her father headed the West Pakistan chapter of Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League and spent many years in Ayub Khan’s jails for supporting the Bengali Muslim struggle. Asma and her sister Hina were students when their participation in anti-Ayub agitations landed them in jail, time and again. The dictators are gone but dictatorial laws continue to hold sway in Pakistan. Laws such as 295-C under which the only punishment is death. All you need to do is go to a police post and lodge a complaint that a person has insulted the Prophet. This would become a case of Gustakhi-e-Rasool (blasphemy). A law that can be used to settle personal scores, including land disputes, get rid of lawful wives and browbeat Muslims and minorities alike, according to Asma. In one case, that she has been defending, a Muslim social worker was implicated in a blasphemy case by someone who wanted his job.

Then there are the Shariat laws on rape, the brainchild of General Zia. The rape victim must produce four witnesses—all Muslim males—to prove the crime. If the witnesses happen to be non-Muslims or women, the required number goes up to eight. The result is that the victims often end up in jail themselves after being convicted of adultery, a crime that carries a sentence of seven years. Today, 70 percent of the women languishing in Pakistan’s jails are victims of such laws, according to Asma. All in the name of Islamization, Asma firmly believes that this is a political issue linked essentially to the sense of insecurity among Pakistan’s rulers, most of whom have been military dictators.

“Shariat laws have been their most favourite game. The more they repress and loot, the more they shout about upholding Islam.” The dictators are gone, but little has changed under the Bhutto government. The party had promised a review of Shariat laws, but has preferred to stay neutral, fearing backlash from the mullahs. “They have been given undue importance by dictators in Pakistan. They have intruded into every aspect of life,” says Asma, who feels that their role in education is questionable. “It is worrying to see that the younger generation is turning to fanaticism under the mullahs‟ influence.” But the doughty lawyer is hopeful of the future. “Women in Pakistan are not going to submit to the whims of anybody. They are gearing up for a prolonged battle to save their honour and existence,” says Asma who views the minorities as a “natural ally” in this struggle.

She also alerts the world, including India, to be on guard against religious fundamentalism which threatens to take over the polity. “Act now,” she cautions.

[This article appeared in The Times of India, Delhi on 20-08-1995]

Shamsul Islam is a retired Professor of University of Delhi.Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com

Fearless flame of liberty,
Asma, you had all things
Loaded against you, yet
How, through bulls and
Bullets, hate and calumny,
You steadied in steel
A path of reason and
Freedom, of universal
Oneness in common humanity.
Not once did you blink in the
Face of failure or menace.
Even when caged, the swaggering
Cowards were afraid of how
You might break the cage, and
With lion eyes, smash the edifice
Of their bigoted assertions.
You left a streak of courage,
Ripened in conviction of the
Finest empathies and in the
Resolve to carry on the fight.
There are many who feel the
Might of your legacy, and will
Stand by the light of liberty.

— Badri Raina

Muslim family adopts Hindu boy, raises him and conducts his wedding as per Hindu customs

February 12, 2018

In yet another example of India’s beautiful syncretic culture that celebrates pluralism, a Muslim family that adopted and raised a Hindu boy, has now also conducted his wedding as per all Hindu rituals.

Muoinuddin and his wife Kausar, who live in Dehradun, adopted Rakesh Rastogi when he was 12 years old. However, instead of expecting him to adopt Islam, they raised him as a Hindu, showcasing how Muslims, far from being the religious fanatics they are portrayed as in popular culture, are actually as capable of religious tolerance as any other Indian community. Rakesh grew up in a loving home with equal respect for both religions.

“No one ever prohibited my way of worshipping,” says Rakesh. “I celebrate Holi, Diwali and all other festivals in the same house,” he added.

When Rakesh came of age and it was time to get him married, the family left no stone unturned in ensuring that all Hindu customs and rituals were followed. Kausar also welcomed her daughter-in-law, Soni with Hindu customs. “My family has loved me and supported me in everything, including my marriage,” says Rakesh who tied the knot with Soni on February 9 with his Muslim family enthusiastically participating in all wedding ceremonies.

Kasganj Violence: Unveiling the Anatomy of a Riot

February 12, 2018

Communal violence has been the bane of our society. There had been a perception that this violence is a spontaneous clash between two communities. Over a period of time, it is becoming clear that it is not a spontaneous phenomenon, nor is it a clash between two communities, it is planned violence. Scholars, basing themselves on analysis of the inquiry commission reports and the pattern of riots, show that violence is generally a planned event to polarize the communities for electoral benefits. Surely apart from communal parties other parties also have to be blamed for various slips of mainly omission and partly occasionally for active commission of the violence. The main source of this curse of our society is communal politics, which aims to rule in the name of religious identity. If there was any doubt about it, that got cleared in the Kasganj violence in UP on the Republic day 2018.

The story so far is that in Kasganj in Shahid Abdul Hamid chowk a program was organized by minority community to celebrate the day, chairs were laid etc. The motorbike rider youths nearly 90 or so belonging to RSS affiliates ABVP came, carrying tricolor and the saffron flags. They also had clubs and other armaments as per some reports, videos. They insisted at the Chowk to remove the chairs as they had to pass from there. The local Muslims asked them to join the program rather than disturb it. The clash ensued. The tricolor-saffron flag wielding youth shouted the slogans, ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ (Death to Pakistan), Hindi Hindu Hindustan, Katve Bhago Pakistan, (Muslims go to Pakistan) ‘Is Desh Mein Rahna hai to Vande Matram kahna Hoga’ (If you want to live in this country, you will have to say Vande Matram). In the clash and bullet firing that followed, two men received bullet injuries of which Chandan Gupta, who was also a participant of the bike rally died and other Muslim labourer Naushad is being treated in hospital, having been severely injured.

A section of TV and other media presented it as if Muslims were resisting the tricolor hoisting so they opposed the bikers and forced them to shout pro Pakistan slogans, something which is far from truth. The role of a section of media is very negative in communal violence. Police as usual did not stop or control the inciting mob. On the following day Rajveer Singh, BJP MP, at the cremation of Chandan Gupta further added to the fury after which the mobs resorted to selectively burning vehicles and shops in the Muslim locality. Yogi Adityanath Government has by now announced a compensation of 20 Lakhs for Chandan Gupta, hopefully compensation for other injuries and damages will be forthcoming.

An interesting sidelight took place this time around. Raghvendra Vikram Singh the DM of Bareilly in his Hindi Facebook post criticized the event saying that “by now it has become a trend to take out procession in Muslim localities and shout anti Pakistan slogans. Are these people Pakistanis?” The post was taken down after intimidating trolling and the state administration expressing displeasure over the post, he wrote, “I apologize if some sentiments were hurt by what I said, but there is no denying that our secular ethos is at stake; there are things which need to be protected at all cost.” Another officer, Rashmi Varun (Deputy Director, Statistics, Saharanpur) in another post said that Chandan has been killed by saffron politics. (Hindustan.com)

The tragic violence has led to loss of one innocent life; injuries to few and loss of social property. The compensation so far has been selective. The whole incident and the Facebook post of DM reveals the deeper dynamics of how the violence gets orchestrated. The mechanisms of these do keep changing over a period of time, but what is constant is an evil innovation of techniques to target the vulnerable minorities. Earlier it had been taking the procession with loud music in front of the mosque and putting beef in temple. With time one saw that in Mumbai violence of 92-93 Maha Artis (Invocation Prayer) were devised to mobilize Hindus, the dispersing mass after the prayer would indulge in anti-minority violence. One has also seen the issue of love jihad being used in Muzaffarnagar violence. The girl who is supposed has been victim denied being harassed by the Muslim boy, but the mobilization of Jats-Hindus continued nevertheless. One can see the changing pattern of issues which are used to incite the violence.

What strikes one in Kasganj is that anatomy of violence is very clear. Seems this may be a preparation for the elections which are in the offing a year later. The tiranga (tricolor) issue is quite paradoxical for Muslims. They hurl it or abstain from it, both ways they are damned. What is more interesting is that tricolor, which was opposed by RSS at the time of independence on the ground that number three is evil as per Hindu ethos and that the real flag of Hindus is saffron alone, today stands to use the same tricolor to browbeat and to make it a vehicle for polarization, through its affiliates like ABVP and VHP. It seems as a follow-up to what happened in Kasganj, RSS is now organizing rallies in different cities and towns across the state. The rallies at this juncture look to be a “show of strength” in which uniformed cadres of the RSS and its affiliates in the Sangh Parivar will be marching with sticks.

To cover the whole thing BJP leadership wants to project that minorities opposed the tricolor and shouted pro Pakistan slogans! One knows that all through BJP electoral strength has been going up courtesy violence and consequent polarization. The society needs to protect itself against such aggressive abuse of tricolor for inciting violence, and be careful not to fall in the traps of provocation on any ground whatsoever.

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Being ‘black’ in North Africa and the Middle East

Former slaves and their descendants in North Africa and the Middle East might be formally free, but the racial legacies of slavery continue to affect intimate, social and political forms of life.

Breaking the silence

Lived legacies and present pasts

Maldives crisis: a bitter religious divide comes to the fore

Hardline turn

The Saudi factor

Examine plea seeking independent body for Haj pilgrims: HC

The Business of the Hindutva Militias

The growth of the criminal groups that are part of the Sangh Parivar is related to the economy that the Sangh has managed to develop around them.

Death of Judge Loya: Medical Documents Rule Out Heart Attack, Says Leading Forensic Expert

Caravan magazine spoke to Dr RK Sharma—the former head of the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, and the president of the Indian Association of Medico-Legal Experts

We will miss you Asma Jahangir

Muslim family adopts Hindu boy, raises him and conducts his wedding as per Hindu customs

Kasganj Violence: Unveiling the Anatomy of a Riot

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