The Naked Female Warriors

 After Aliaa , now another 19 year old Muslim girl Amina from Tunisia has posted a topless photo of herself bearing the slogan “my body belongs to me, and is not the source of anyone’s honour” . She has been threatened with death by fundamentalist clerics.

Here I want to quote few passages of one of my articles, I wrote with respect to clarify my ideas on Aliaa Magda Elmahdy.

< An Excerpt from my essay ‘The Aliaa Effect’>

“Besides the question of women’s rights over their own body and the freedom of self-expression, Aliaa raises two major points in her posts and interviews. One is about the use of the veil and another on the virginity test. On the veil, she comments many women wear it just to escape the harassment and be able to walk the streets in peace.

Sexual harassment is a serious problem in Egypt. According to a 2008 survey conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, 83 percent of Egyptian women have been sexually harassed (Source: Johnston, “Two-thirds of Egyptian men harass women?”; see also Magdi Abdelhadi, “Egypt’s sexual harassment ‘cancer,’” BBC News, July 18, 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7514567.stm.) However, it cannot be assumed that all women in Egypt are wearing the veil for this one reason. By connecting sexual harassment and the veil, Aliaa gives the impression that the veil is strongly associated with oppression.

Maybe not, though. In some countries, veils are used as a protest. In Europe, where wearing the Islamic veil (hijab/niqab) is banned, women protest wearing it. In Libya, under former ruler Muammar Qaddafi, the Niqab was banned. According to a report from The Economist, women across Libya are now celebrating over the restoration of their right to wear it. In contrast to Aliaa undressing herself in search of freedom of expression, some Libyan women want to dress and wear such clothing to feel themselves in real freedom and real expression in what they believe. What would Aliaa and her boyfriend say? What could they say? Is this not freedom of expression too?

And about virginity test in Egypt, the Human Rights Commission is still probing the cases continuously performing the Military-style brutal test to insert two fingers into vaginas of women to test their virginity in and after Mubarak’s reign. During an interview with CNN, in May, a SCAF general, talking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the army had conducted "virginity tests." "We didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place," he said. "The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine. These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and [drugs].” ( Source: http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/246877/20111110/egypt-virginity-tests-used-military-humiliate-women.htm). It is true to believe that the military authority who believes in virginity test has no right to raise a question on the grounds of morality?

Aliaa’s Actions: a Help or Hindrance

But do Aliaa’s actions support or hinder a healthy debate on the sexual rights of women?

Sexual rights are often misunderstood and wrongly defined either by feminists or by activists. What do you want to mean by woman’s right on own body? Is ‘body’ an alternate term for ‘sex’ or ‘sexual object?’

Is a ‘woman’s body’ inherently sexual, and can it be used to define any object subjected for passionate feelings only? Is there no need of correlating hunger, sufferings, pain, and shame with that object? Women's bodies are always the issue - too unclean for Hindus, dangerous enough to be covered up for Muslims, and obscured for Christians. We should be more cautious about differentiating these terms carefully. Otherwise there may be every possibility for women to become and remain tools of oppression.

Patriarchal practices shape and perpetuate gender inequality and strip women of any form of control over their sexuality. It is double standard of patriarchy that when it needs to, it allows a woman to disrobe and we can see how the grammar of fine arts are created with the patriarchy accepted social standards of aesthetics and modesty/morality. We see how mythologies played a significant role in focusing a philosophical attitude toward sex. Even the patriarchal effect has been prominent when we find Shakti, the female god is painted with her nudity. When Aliaa disrobes herself, it is patriarchy which shouts with a hefty voice raising the question of morality. But what about other events like fashion shows, beauty contests, or bar girl dances in restaurants and clubs? Morality, in the case of female sexuality, has often been misused or used intentionally to oppress feminine rights and always used by patriarchy as a tool to oppress women.

British feminist and goddess activist Asphodel P. Long (1921-2005) often considered the grandmother of the Goddess Movement in Great Britain once wrote something which can apply to Aliaa’s recent activities. She wrote, “Freud is said to have asked: "What do women want?" Women know what they want. Their difficulty, which is mine, is to find words to describe, and to produce ideas acceptably. Not because we are "silly" but because words and ideas have grown over the last 5,000 years in a patriarchal setting, and describe what men want. Every word, sentence and set of ideas is painful to write, is open to misinterpretation, certainly by men.” (source: http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/politics_of_sexuality.html).

It is explainable why Aliaa did what she did. What she couldn’t do with words, she did with her actions. She boldly spoke volumes using the power of an image -- something to which everyone can relate and understand no matter where they live or what they do or in what they believe.”

Readers  can read the full article from http://feminine-fragrance.blogspot.in/2011/11/aliaa-effect-try-models-who-posed-naked.html

In continuation with my last status update posting on Amina’s nude protest, I drag the attention of my readers to few less discussed news of India.

<Nude protest is not new news for India.>

A dozen “women” went “naked” on the streets of Imphal on July 15, 2004 intending to protest against the brutal killing of Manorama at the gate of 17 Assam Rifles (Kangla Gate) in the capital town - Manorama was killed by the personnel of 17 AR personnel of Indian Army.

Stung by the continuing abduction of children by separatists in Manipur, a group of school students stripped and marched on the streets in Imphal on July 28, 2008, Monday to protest the rebels’ drive to forcibly induct child soldiers.

On March 7, 2013, a few women staged a semi-nude protest against land acquisition for Posco’s proposed steel plant in Odisha, and were arrested, after which the land acquisition was halted.

It’s an amazing fact to mark that patriarchy appreciates the women as celebrities who are appearing nude on the covers of the magazines and disapproves those who are using this nudity as an action to show their anguish to irritate the system. A woman’s naked body has always been the instrument of the patriarchy.

And also this is a magnum point to be considered: Are the protestors’ breasts not obscuring the message they intend to convey as their such shows are meant for press and online media only and most of the users of U Tube visit those sites to access porno videos?

DHARMA & RELIGION

‘Dharma’ in Hinduism is different from the Western concept of religion. It is a code related to moral nature. There is a very negligible difference between this ‘dharma’ and ‘spiritualism’ whereas in the Western concept, ‘religion’ and ‘spiritualism’ are two different concepts. So society or religion always plays a role to suppress the sexuality and as the patriarchal dominance is more on these fields, questions about the morality and the politics of sex are usually considered in isolation from issues about gender and erotic sex.

But in spiritualism, it is related to an individual’s understanding for salvation and freedom. For Hindu spiritualism sexuality is represented as ‘kama’. It is one of the four necessities, four aims of life: Dharma, Artha (material goods), Kama and Moksha (liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth)

Kama is defined as the enjoyment of appropriate objects by the five senses of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, assisted by the mind together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a peculiar contact between the organ of sense and its object, and the consciousness of pleasure which arises from that contact. This is called Kama.

In Hindu spiritualism, Kama is not at all a ‘prohibited’ subject or we don’t find any ‘male dominance’ there. Taking the lovers’ longing for reunion as a metaphor for the soul's longing for union with the divine makes sexuality more acceptable in ‘Sufism.’ And in a later period, ‘Hindu Bhaktism’ by Sri Chaitanya also adopted this idea easily.

But in Western philosophy, the natural and the universal are sharply divided -- like heaven and earth. The division of tasks between heaven and earth, suffering on earth and happiness beyond, is part and parcel of Western culture and its philosophy, religion and mythology. Westerners tend to see the sensuous world around us as false or illusory and the world 'beyond' as real. But in Hindu spiritualism, when you are in your sexual desire, you might sense complete presence in your sensuous world, a perfect moment which is spiritual, natural and carnal all at once.

(Excerpted from my essay ‘CREATIVITY & SEXUALITY’,anthologized in my book ‘SENSIBLE SENSUALITY’)

Sensible Sensuality

Language: English

Genre: Essays

Author: Dr. Sarojini Sahoo

ISBN: 81-7273-541-8

ISBN-13: 978-81-7273-541-8

Binding: Hard Cover

Publishing Date: 2010

Publisher: Authors Press, E-35/103, Jawahar Park, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi- 110 092, email; authorspress@hotmail.com

Number of Pages: 184

Price: 475 INR or 10 US $

All About 'Sensible Sensuality'

Sangeeta Singh: How does your feminism differ from feminism in the West? Since you also talk about writing the body isn’t it the same as ecriture feminism of the French feminists?

Sarojini Sahoo: For me, feminism is not a gender problem or any confrontational attack on male hegemony so it is quite different from that of Virginia Woolf or Judith Butler. I accept feminism as a total entity of female-hood, which is completely separate from the man’s world.

To me, femininity (rather than feminism) has a wonderful power. In our de-gendered times, a really feminine woman is a joy to behold and you can love and unleash your own unique yet universal femininity. We are here for gender sensitivity to proclaim the differences between men and woman with a kind of pretence that we are all the same. Too many women have been de-feminized by society. To be feminine is to know how to pay attention to detail and people; to have people skills; and to know how to connect to and work well with others. There will be particular times and situations within which you'll want to be more in touch and in tune with your femininity than others. Being able to choose is a great privilege and skill.

I think ‘femininity’ is the proper word to replace ‘feminism,’ because the latter has lost its significance and identity due to its extensive involvement with radical politics. Femininity comes from the original Latin word ‘femina’ which means ‘female’ or ‘women’ and certainly the word creates debatable identical characteristics. It separates the female mass from a masculine world with reference to gentleness, empathy, sensitivity, nurturance, deference, self-abasement, and succorance. And patriarchy also sets the group alien from them in their traditional milieu.

There are many more differences in theories among scientists, anthropologists, and psychologist regarding the nature and behavior of the female mass. Biologists believe the role of our hormones, particularly sex hormones, and the structure of our chromosomes are responsible for such a dichotomy in gender, though some queer theorists and other postmodernists, however, have rejected the sex (biology) / gender (culture) dichotomy as a “dangerous simplification.” Psychology, often influenced by patriarchy, categorizes women as different from the masculine world in certain behavioral, emotional and logical areas. Social anthropologists deny the concept of biology or psychology which keeps women aside from the masculine world. Simone De Beauvoir’s saying “one is not born a woman, but becomes one” impressed social anthropologists so much that they create a different theory of feminine socialization.

In my essays, I have constantly tried to analyze the ‘truth,’ as related by biologists and anthropologists. What I think true to my sense and sensibility, I have expressed without any hesitation.

Sangeeta : Don’t you think ecriture feminism limits the writing style of women writers? Doesn’t’ it become prescriptive?

Sarojini.: I don’t consider myself as a conformist because I consider myself more a writer and as a writer, I think I am always a genderless entity. In my opinion, a writer should not have any gender. But still, patriarchal society has prevailed; is there any possibility to have a genderless society?

Sangeeta : What would you like to say about doubly marginalized women like the tribal women, widows in ashrams, or women from lower castes and poor women who have to deal with the daily grind of survival and humiliation? They are deprived of the basic human rights. Do they have time to think about sexual liberation when other issues of survival are more important to them?

Sarojini: A Dalit or tribal woman not only struggles for her lower economic status, but she has to live with a high risk of gender-based violence. At the household level, incest, rape and domestic violence continue to hinder women’s development across India. Forty percent of all sexual abuse cases in India are incest, and 94% of the incest cases had a known member of the household as the perpetrator. Dowry related deaths, domestic violence, gang rape of lower caste women by upper caste men, and physical violence by the police towards tribal women all contribute to women’s insecurity in India. The class and caste structure inadvertently put poor women from lower class and tribal communities at the most risk of violence. Class and caste divisions also create grave challenges to poor, lower caste, and tribal women in accessing justice and retribution as victims and survivors of violence. So, sexual factors have a significant role in women’s life as their economic condition and so I argue for two types of liberation for women. One is economical and other is sexual.

Sangeeta : How does a woman’s sexuality play a major role in the understanding of feminism in India?

Sarojini: In marital life in India and many other countries around the world, a woman has no sexual rights. She cannot express her desires and even she is not supposed to enjoy sex as it is told in the Hindu code that a wife is needed only for giving birth to a ‘male child.’ Expressing her own desire for sex or talking freely about orgasm to even one’s own husband may also be termed as a chasteless and debasing activity for a woman.

Though the Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD) and the National Commission for Women (NCW) have advised the government to amend the 1973 Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the 1872 Indian Evidence Act to recognize new categories of sexual assault by redefining rape to include sexual assault (including domestic sexual assault) of any form in its definition, still, most married woman are facing such marital rapes in their daily lives.

But talk about these ‘dicey’ topics by a woman is considered vulgar. Also, nobody thinks it proper to ask a woman before subjecting her to the killing of her fetus yet now, in some parts of India, ‘honor killings’ are granted if a woman steps out of bounds — by choosing her own husband, by flirting in public, or by seeking divorce from an abusive partner — she has brought dishonor to her family. Yet all these matters are related to a woman’s body and still, that woman has no right to make any of her own decisions.

In total, we can see the term ‘sex’ and ‘female sexuality’ has been totally misinterpreted in the discourse of Western feminism. Sexuality is not only a bodily matter and it does not limit itself to only sexual behavior and sexual activities, though they are a major factor. And most of the real meaning of female sexuality relatively termed with her body as well mind.

- See more at: http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=14055#sthash.UwgC5bkz.dpuf

All About ‘The Dark Abode’

Sangeeta Singh: You have used the Uma Shakti Myth in your novel The Dark Abode. Some scholars might blame you for promoting the Hindu religion and marginalizing women who don't follow Hinduism.

Sarojini Sahoo: Religion and mythology are two different fixations. Religion is the broader term: besides mythological aspects, it includes aspects of ritual, morality, theology, and mystical experience. A given mythology is almost always associated with certain symbolic representation of ideas or philosophy of a ‘group’. It is very interesting to note that though Mesopotamian, Greek and Hindu civilizations, religions and cultures existed in different parts of the world and were separated by great distances and time, but there are some amazing similarities between their fables and myths. The concept of goddess always lies with sexuality and we find great similarities in all the myths of goddesses in worldwide. In Sumer, the goddess was known as Inanna, and in Babylon and Assyria, was known as Ishtar. She was Aphrodite for the Greeks. The Egyptians called her Hathor, Quaddesha and Aset. To the Phoenicians, she was Astarte. To the Hebrews, she was Ashtoreth and Ashera. And to the Philistines, she was Atergatis. So, the concept of Uma is universal idea/ philosophy of sexuality in all other cultures.

Sangeeta: The foreword of the novel opens with metta, mudita, upekks” Pali words that mean love, joy, to see within; Are these words symbolic of the theme underlying your narrative?

Sarojini: In Chapter 2 of TDA, Kuki told Safiq, “What is the point of living like a caterpillar, or leading a life of unbridled enjoyment of female flesh without any emotions or attachments? Do you think I have been attracted towards you in anticipation of physical pleasure? I wish I was aware of all this from the beginning.”

Here ‘Caterpillar ‘is a symbol of ‘sex hunger’ and Kuki wants to raise her from mire of sex to celestial expansion. You could mark that the total novel is the description of slow process how a perverted person who enjoyed 52 fair sexes could raise himself to a perfect self in love.

Sangeeta: Why have you brought the “historical background” to the foreground towards the end of the novel , since the novel deals with “personal story” of Kuki and Safiq, History remains in the background throughout, then why a sudden reversal towards the end?

Sarojini:The ‘historical background’ has not been brought at the end only. You could mark the starting of novel is from a ‘historical back ground’ where the partition, the Kashmir problem and Indo-Pak relations ship or Hindu-Muslim hatred scenarios in Kuki’s nostalgia occupy a major portion.

The novel also delves into the relationship between the ‘state’ and the ‘individual’ and comes to the conclusion that ‘the state’ represents the moods and wishes of a ruler and hence, ‘the state’ actually becomes a form of ‘an individual’. So, the ‘personal story’ of Kuki and Safiq actually represents the story of a subcontinent.

Reviewing TDA, Bangladeshi eminent writer Selina Hossain writes,” The course of life of two different citizens of two States does not give any other solution than waiting. How the State obstructs and suppresses the individual freedom has been shown in the version of Safiq, the painter. When he writes letter to Kuki in pseudonym, she understands that ‘It is a ploy to hide his identity from the Military Junta.’

Sangeeta: Macro level of politics has been mentioned only fleetingly in the last chapters, you have tried to include all forces that regulate the destiny of a personal relation be it tradition, macro level politics, economic forces, political and geographical wars, religious and ethnical non tolerance and even terrorism. Was your intention to highlight the forces against which all human beings are pitted?

Sarojini: Your observations are very correct. That is why Kuki could realize Virginia Woolf’s sayings: “As a woman, I have no country. As a woman, my country is the whole world.”

Sangeeta: The character of Safiq has been left in shrouds of mystery in the end. Is it deliberate? How do you account for it?

Sarojini: I am sometimes doubtful if all the imaginary situations I have used in my fictions are mine. Sometimes the imaginary is "running by itself" and the content is not typically what I would imagine out of my own desires. I suspect something mystic with writings can be real. To suppress such communication is something I am unsure of, because the characters of my fictions want to live their lives by their own will, because they want to heal their wounds, and how can I deny such a positive force? Perhaps it is the ‘Safiq’s will’ which would make him imperceptible at the end.

Sangeeta: What is the relevance of the collage presentation of the rather erotic sketches by Ed Baker in the novel? Do they convey something you could not write as explicitly as a woman writer? How do you connect the sketches with the narrative?

Sarojini: I think mine is the expression of female sexuality in fiction or text form and Baker tries to represent the same idea through art form. In my original Odia (Oriya) novel there are also similar sketches drawn by Dr. Dinanath Pathi, the Secretary General of Lalit Kala Akademi.

- See more at:http://www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=14055#sthash.qkZlhfN

At Indira Gandhi Tribal University, Amarkantak, on February 27 & 28, 2013

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ focus on the conceptualizing and world shaping power of language and texts in order to show in how far the environmental crisis related with modernism must be regarded as a cultural crisis and in how far literally/textual analysis can contribute to an understanding of its emergence and to the development of remedial measures. Later this idea encourages other anthropologists and eco-feminists to prove how modern civilization stands against gender equality.

I read a resource paper titled ‘Gender Free Subaltern Society: Myths and Reality’ at a National seminar on Post-colonial Subaltern Studies and Tribal Literature, arranged by Indira Gandhi Tribal University, Amarkantak; where I forwarded my observations that how the idea fails to substantiate the reality. There is no way any relationship of gender free attitude within the social custom of any tribal community including Bonda tribes, the most primitive subaltern tribes of India.

Sarojini Sahoo's New Novel 'GODDESS IN EXILE' | Sarojini Sahoo | Press Release/Interview/Press Coverage | Red Room

Sarojini Sahoo's New Novel 'GODDESS IN EXILE' | Sarojini Sahoo | Press Release/Interview/Press Coverage | Red Room

Cry My Country, Cry!!!!

Here are some own wall postings from my Facebook page after Delhi gang rape case. The chronological posting may show my discrete and consistent responses to internal or external events of the movement, which have a particular significance for the making of one’s consciousness.

December 22, 2012

In yet another shocking incident after the brutal Delhi rape case, two separate incidents of gang-rape reported in Bubaneswar and in Keonjhar district of Odisha. While five persons allegedly gang-raped a 19-year-old girl in Bhubaneswar, another woman was reportedly gang raped by three youths in Keonjhar district.

Another report of misbehaving a girl has been reported in Orissa Post, a daily from Bhubaneswar. Report says, two bike borne youth approached a girl standing beside the park, picked up a conversation and soon a scuffle was witnessed between them and the girl with torn dress was seen running towards Market Building. Police, however, denied the case as usual saying no complaint has been lodged against this incident.

Earlier in another case police had arrested four youths for teasing a minor girl and attacking her brother near Sainik School at Acharya Vihar. Police did it as an auto driver Sheikh Akhtar filed a complaint at near by police station.

On December 18, a complaint was lodged with Mahila Police alleging rape of a minor girl and the girl was rescued . On the same day , police arrested three youth, including an engineering student, on the charge of molesting a girl near Shriya Square in Bhubaneswar.

I got stunned to read such news. I have no word to express my anguish. Only I can say: Cry, my country, Cry!!!! You are going to lose your dignity.

December 23, 2012

I request all my friends to use FB as medium of 'protest against rape’. At least for one day make a black dot in place of your profile picture. Our friends are fighting for justice at Delhi. Water cannon, tear gas, laathi charge-- nothing is going to stop them. Let’s be a part of the call for justice.

December 27, 2012

In an interview to ABP Ananda, a Bengali news channel, President Pranab Mukherjee’s son and M P Abhijeet Mukherjee said, “This is almost like the Pink Revolution. These pretty women, dented and painted, who come for protests are not students. These women who are protesting have no contact with ground reality.”

Sharmishtha. President’s daughter backtracked on behalf of her brother on Thursday and apologized for the remark while Abhijit Mukherjee himself is not apologetic, saying that he stood by his remarks.

It seems the honourable politician is a strong headed supporter of patriarchal society and hence how would we consider him as a real representative of people and it also seems to me that he has completely lost his mind. ... Shame on such personage.

December 27, 2012

In a seminar, arranged by police on ‘Sensitivity towards women' in Kharagpur, one Dr. Anita Shukla, a Secretary of Lions Club and an agricultural scientist by profession has opined that victim herself was responsible for her pathetic condition as it surrendering herself to the rapists was the best option to survive the pathos. She also raised the point that why was the victim out of her house after 10 pm and added that if a girl will wander late at night with her boyfriend; such situations are bound to happen. However, when the statement was delivered most of the senior police officials remained mute spectators. This saga continued with Shukla asserting further in defence of the police that it was not possible to give extreme protection to every citizen at all times.

Such blithering idiotic women are the ones who unknowingly accept patriarchal subjugation as a part of their ‘subjectivity’ for two minutes of fame. S H A M E.

December 28, 2012

I couldn't resist from sharing this write up or poem what you may define, with all my FB friends, which I read online from a page of readers' comment in 'The Economic Times':

A Girl(victim) to her Mom:

By: Dev Jha

Maa mujhe dar lagta hai..bohot dar

lagta hai...

suraj ki Roshni Aag si lagti hai..

Paani ki Boondain bhi Tejaab si lagti

hain....

Maa Hawa main bhi zahar sa ghula

lagta hai...

Maa mujhe chhupa le bohot dar

lagta hai...........

Maa yaad hai wo kaanch ki Gudiya

jo Bachpan main tuti thi...

Maa kuch aise hi aaj main toot gayi

hu...

meri galti kuch bhi na thi maa fir

bhi khud se ruth gai hu............

Maa bachpan main school teacher ki

gandi Nazaro se dar lagta tha...

padsos k chacha k Napaak iraadon

se dar lagta tha...

maa wo nukkat k ladko ki bekhouf

baaton se dar lagta hai..

or ab Boss k wahshi isharon se dar

lagta hai...

Maa mujhe chupa le..bohot dar

lagta hai :,(....

Maa tujhe yaad hai tere angan main

chidiya si fudak rahi thi..

thokar kha k main zameen par gir

padi thi..

do boond khoon ki dekh k maa tu

bhi ro padi thi...

maa tune toh mujhe phoolon ki

tarah pala tha..

un darindo ka aakhir maine kya

bigada tha...

kyu wo mujhe is tarah masal k chale

gaye...

bedard meri rooh ko kuchal k chale

gaye.....

Maa tu toh kahti thi apni gudiya ko

dulhan banayegi...

mere is jeewan ko khushiyo se

sajayehi....

maa kya wo din zindgi kabhi na

layegi...

maa kya ab tere gher barat na

aayegi??......

maa khoya hai jo maine kya fir se

kabhi na paungi?? Maa saans toh le

rahi hu..kya zindgi jee paungi??

Maa goorte hain sab alag hi nazaron

se...

Maa mujhe un nazaron se chupa

le....maa bohot dar lagta hai mujhe

Aanchal main Chhupa le..

The write up is written by Mr. Dev Jha (http://mytimes.indiatimes.com/profile/1064480)

December 29, 2012

SHOCKED TO HEAR SHE IS NO MORE. BUT SHE HAD LEFT A GREAT WORK STILL TO MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL. MAY HER SOUL REMAIN IN PEACE.

December 29, 2012

"I am so sorry that I am a part of this society and culture", and "I am so sorry that I am a man", Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan said Saturday following the death of a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist who was brutally gang-raped and tortured in the national capital.

You needn’t have to sorry, Sha Rukh Khan, for your masculine gender. Don’t forget that the rape victim of Delhi had a boy friend who tried to rescue her. Don’t forget that who reported police first about the injured girl was a man. Don’t have you seen that there are many males among the protestors?

Actually this is not a war against masculine gender. This is a war against patriarchy. You might have marked patriarchy never consists of masculine community only. It constitutes of a huge female mass also

Actually this is not a war between patriarchy or matriarchy. No body here wants to replace matriarchy with patriarchy. What we want is a gender bias free society. What we want is a society with gender equality.

January 01, 2013

Because this movement is based on a humanistic attitude and world view, it then must be understood in terms of humanistic ideals. From feminism’s primary concerns of equal rights, authority, and the sexual roles of men and women flow a significant number of social, political, moral, ethical, religious, and economic issues of importance to individuals, families, communities, and nations as a whole. Instead of the idea that man makes himself God, which is a core attribute of organizational humanism, we should continue our attempts to establish that ‘human’ (not man or woman only) makes ‘themselves’ God.

January 02, 201

< Should gang-rape victim's name be revealed?>

Shashi Tharoor, the Minister of State for Human Resources Development wondered in his tweet, what interest is served by continuing anonymity of #DelhGangRape victim. He proposed to name the ensuing anti rape bill after the victim. Former IPS officer, Kiran Bedi has also come out without delay in support of this and tweeted out that the victim’s name should be made public.

Now, I think, naming the law after victim is not so important for us rather to see a strict law will be enforcing to protect girls and women so that no NIRBHAYA or DAMINI could suffer in future. I think this is more a political issue to lessen people’s anger on our Penal Code.

January 02, 2013

Sube Singh Samain, the spokesperson of the Sarv Khap Mahapanchayat of Haryana opposed death penalty to rape convicts saying , such incidents have occurred in rural areas in Haryana and UP but the people never came up with such reactions, In one of his TV bytes I heard he has used the word ‘simple rape’. Did Khap Panchayat think a rape, which always obliterates the rest life of a victim, can be called as ‘simple crime’?

He further added "Even women indulging in 'immoral' acts later allege rape on being nabbed."

False reports sometimes happen. According to IACP (The International Association Of Chiefs of Police) guidelines:” The determination that a report of sexual assault is false can be made only if the evidence establishes that no crime was committed or attempted. This determination can be made only after a thorough investigation. This should not be confused with an investigation that fails to prove a sexual assault occurred. In that case the investigation would be labeled unsubstantiated. The determination that a report is false must be supported by evidence that the assault did not happen.”

False reports are a single-digit percentage of the total reports, which is already a massive undercount of all sexual assaults because the majority of rape survivors decline to report. The incidence of false reporting is simply not high enough to justify the propaganda put forth by the pro-rape lobby.

David Lisak, a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts who specializes in interpersonal violence. He is one of the few psychologists to study rapes committed by assailants who are not institutionalized. My FB friends can read the summary of his study from the link provided below: http://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/meet-the-predators/

January 03, 2013

Many commentators shared with a cynical tone that this leaderless, spontaneous over reactive mass movement may become a part of fading memory and, after some years, many find it hard to recollect what exactly happened! Yes, it is true that this might happen. But the positive aspect of this movement is that it can create a mind set in general people that gender equality furthers the cause of child survival and development for all of society, so the importance of women’s rights and gender equality should not be underestimated. This is the proper time for these rights to be institutionalised or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour The rights which are bypassed by saying these gender equality is not a choice of Humanism ( see my last article ‘Feminism is Humanism. So Why the Debate?’) must be treated as a inseparable wing of Mankind.

Please read my new blogging ‘The End is the Beginning’ from my blog ‘Feminine-Fragrance’ on recent Delhi gang rape case.

http://feminine-fragrance.blogspot.in/2013/01/the-end-is-beginning_3.html

January 04, 2013

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat: Rape is prevalent mainly in cities where Indians are deeply influenced by western values and not in rural India

BJP Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kailash Vijayvargiya: Women crossing the ‘Laksman Rekhas’ will be punished like Sita.

My Question to RSS Chief: Does he know that most of rape victims in his India are the dalits and poor? Does his ‘Bharat’ consist of dalits and downtrodden any way?

And to BJP minister: Are the ‘Laxman Rekhas’ meant for only women and not meant for men? Did he make a genuine effort to understand sexual crimes?

Why don’t we see those responsible for women’s welfare, empowerment and safety, actually conduct surveys and analyze results to find out why India is the fourth amongst the worst countries for being a woman?

...........................................

I never astonished with the remarks of such fundamentalists. They will remark so. Actually the fundamentalists are always patriarch and so create a pro rape lobby. Their view of sexuality causes rape and sexual abuse.

My Poems in Chinese

I can't read a line but delighted to see my poems have been translated in to Chinese. Translator is Hsu Chicheng (1939)，a distinguished contemporary Chinese poet, writer and translator Mr. Hsu now specializes in reading and writing. Most of his poems are published in Chinese, English, Greek, Japanese or Mongolian both at home and abroad. He is at present the part-time adviser of Large Ocean Quarterly, special editor-in-chief of The World Poets Quarterly, president of the br

anch in Taiwan of Cai Hong Ying Pen Society, Australia. He is member of International Writers And Artists Association, honorary member of Literature Club “Xasteron”, Greece.

From his childhood, Mr. Hsu is fond of literature and writing. Since 1960 he started to publish his works, and most of his works are poems and prose, mainly depicting native land, idyllic life and nature, singing the praise of the brilliant side of human experience, based on humanity to encourage people to brace themselves up and be bent on doing good deeds. He has published 10 collections of poems including the one titled Half Sky Birds and the other four collections printed –three of them in Chinese-English, two in Chinese-Greek, one in Chinese-Mongolian and one in Chinese-English-Japanese. He has published seven collections of prose including the one titled Excellent Seedling as well as two translations. Many of his poems have been translated into English, Japanese, Greek, Mongolian, Hebrew, Russian, French, Portuguese and recorded in dozens of selections of poems. His prose works and plays have won prizes for times. His profile has been recorded in quite a few records of art and literature such as the List of Celebrities of The Republic of China, Who’s Who and 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century both published by International Biography Centre, Cambridge, England. He was conferred an honorary doctorate of literature and one of the international best poets 2004 by The International Poetry Translation And Research Centre, was conferred also an honorary doctorate of literature by The U.S. World Academy of Arts and Culture, was conferred also a doctor honoris causa in humanities by The International Writers and Artists Association and was presented the commemorative prize by Literary Club “Xasteron”, Greece, was presented also the honour prize by Naji Naaman’s Literary prizes,Lebanon.

Native of Pingtung County, Taiwan; LLB of Soochow University; He later finished his studies at the Educational Institute of Kaohsiung Normal University. He was once an editor, a journalist, a military judge, a teacher as well as part-time director, leading member or guiding teacher to some mass organizations of art and literature. He served as a teacher for 33 years, at No. 5 Vocational School, Higher Vocational College and The state-Run Middle School in succession. He has now retired.

印度沙羅吉妮．沙和詩四首 許其正譯

夫妻小畫像

我們靜坐著，我們兩個，
白天過去了，黑暗已到，
眾鳥回巢
夜開始了。
我們無所謂地等待著
這是否是個黑暗
或月明之夜。

我們靜坐著
好些小動物
像樹葉，圍繞在我們四周；
但我們沒去搭理。
天更黑了
以致我們不能看見對方。

我們靜坐著
雖沒交談一句話，
但能感覺到對方的呼吸。
我們繼續靜坐著
露水落下來了
迷霧籠罩在我們四周。
然後我覺得雙腳冰冷了。
但在我凍僵以前，
有人把手放到我的手上。

烏鴉

「你為什麼喊我？
你不知道我已離棄
我小小的內在世界了嗎？
我手上穿有我的短襪；
冬天早上
我不需沐浴，
或塗卡札和新大（譯註1）。
也不需托著缽。
我願成為他的唯一
誰人尋找或希求之物。」

看不到烏鴉；
牠們都隨兀鷹飛走了。
說不定什麼時候會飛回來，
在娑納．瑪尼的路旁小吃店吃東西。
我問他：
你住在哪個村子？
你要去哪裡？
你的親戚呢？
你什麼時候和他們失去連絡的？

瑪尼．沙湖的兒子芮巴替．納丹哭泣著要看烏鴉
我在人行道遍尋不著
最後只得以童書裡的烏鴉圖
安撫他。
他一下爆笑開來。
精靈的動物！
竟有如此口渴？
在炙熱的太陽下演出如此戲劇？（譯註2）

我的房子裡以前有一個籠子
假如那烏鴉不是一個流浪者
我當時會請牠住在裡頭。

跑離吃剩的食物
他現在蹲坐在
瑪尼亞．巴巴的灰爐前圓凳上
似乎陷入沉思！

你不應想跑走。
你需要一個托缽嗎？
它只是一個小港灣的形狀。
你可知道，
在我父親的葬禮上
我兄弟如何掛意你
即使靈魂翱翔
在柴堆燒成的骨灰上？
譯註1:卡札（Kajual）為印度當地婦女用以畫眼線的化妝品。新大（Sindur）為印度當地已女性置放額頭上以隔開頭髮的傳統紅色或橘紅色化妝品。
譯註2：有那麼個民間傳說童話故事：烏鴉口渴至極，到處無水可喝，只有一個水瓶，所盛之水極少，烏鴉無法取飲，乃銜卵石投入瓶中，卵石越投越多，水終於向上浮起，烏鴉乃得償喝水之欲望。作者鄰居小孩芮巴替．納丹亟欲看烏鴉而不可得，以致哭泣不止，作者乃以童書上的烏鴉圖充當，「安撫他。他一下爆笑開來。」那是芮巴替．納丹滿意的爆笑。作者用的是這個典故。

父親

你隨處在，我卻找不到你。
為什麼？
到處漂泊，你定於一處了。
為什麼？

樹葉生長；樹葉成蔭；樹葉凋零
風強，寒冷的十一月冰凍了萬物
你仍頑抗，像寺廟的尖頂。
為什麼？

及時吃食；吃食後口渴；口渴後疲乏
但你的敲門聲仍然響在疲乏、口渴和吃食的門口，
好像你是一個戰士要奮戰到最後。

我受蔭於眾鳥群集的樹下
至今似乎未變，你雖距我很近，卻離我很遠。

你伸展你的枝葉，不管有否呼叫牠們，牠們確定會來
從蚱蜢到蝴蝶，牠們都感到受保護
從你的頭到腳爬遍你的肢體
但你平靜，無動於衷。

啄木鳥求取你的枝葉庇護
其他的鳥歌唱，下完蛋飛走
但你坐在那裡等牠們回來。

血脈乾了，視矚模糊了
身上樹皮掉了。
雖然你還在
死卻悄悄讓你不見。

我受蔭於眾鳥群集的樹下
至今似乎未變，你雖距我很近，卻離我很遠。

扎耙

你敲擊土地
它回你
以金屬聲。
你再次敲擊
它吐出滿腹悲傷
報答以水滴。

扎耙等待著
以吸墨紙般的
渴欲。
它讓眼睛
望著小帆船似的粉紅車輛：
拜託，可否給我
一滴雨水？

似乎水歌唱著，
喃喃而語，
滿溢熱情。
水感到慰藉了嗎？
按：這是印度女性主義作家沙羅吉妮．沙和（Sarojini Sahoo）寫就自譯英文的四首詩，曾由伊朗女詩人Maryam Ala Amjadi譯成伊朗文。她是南亞一位傑出的雙語女作家，印度英文雜誌AGE的助理編輯，國際英文日報專欄作家，曾被在Kolkata出版的英文雜誌Kindle列名為25位傑出女性，曾獲1993年Orissa Sahitya獎、1992年Jhankar獎及、Bhubaneswar書展獎和Prajatantra獎等，同時是Kerala地方Newman學院出版Indian Jounal of Post Colonial Literature的顧問。文本係由作者電郵給譯者。

Is Euthanasia Killing or Giving Freedom to an Exiled Soul?

‘Active euthanasia’ (mercy killing) is still illegal in India while 'passive euthanasia' may be permissible in exceptional circumstances, according to a recent decision by the Supreme Court of India. The court recently dismissed a plea for mercy killing brought by writer/journalist Pinky Virani on behalf of a 60-year-old nurse, living in a vegetative state for the past 37 years in a Mumbai hospital after a brutal sexual assault.

Case Background:

Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, a nurse of KEM Hospital in Mumbai, was raped by a ward boy in1973. Aruna was menstruating on that day and therefore, the rapist did not penetrate her but instead choked her with a dog chain and raped her anally. She bled for days from the anus and the attempted asphyxiation had cut off oxygen supply to her brain resulting in a brain stem contusion injury and cervical cord injury apart from leaving her cortically blind. She went into a coma after that incident and was pronounced brain dead.

Currently, she cannot speak, hear, or see; she is unable to communicate in any manner. And she is force-fed every day. The former nurse has become 'featherweight' and her bones are brittle. Her wrists are twisted inward and her teeth are totally decayed. Also, she is now prone to bed sores as a result of being unable to move by herself and in one position most of the time.

The Legal Issues:

The injustice first done with Aruna after those brutal happenings was that her attacker was punished not for rape or sexual molestation, nor for the "unnatural sexual offense" (which could have got him a ten-year sentence by itself) but rather for assault and robbery for which he received a total effective sentence of seven-years with each offense running concurrently.

A writer cum journalist, Pinky Virani, filed a petition in the Supreme Court for a passive euthanasia for Aruna, to which the honourable judges rejected the plea as there is currently no law in place for euthanasia. The bench, however, did say even though there is no law presently in the country on euthanasia, that mercy killing of a terminally-ill patient ‘under the doctrine of passive euthanasia’ can be resorted to in exceptional cases. But the bench clarified that until Parliament enacts a law regarding euthanasia, its most recent judgment on active and passive euthanasia will be in force.

However, the Supreme Court did make some suggested guidelines with regard to passive euthanasia but they were not immediately available, according to reports.

Conclusion:

So the Supreme Court of India seems not to reject the idea of passive euthanasia. It is the lack of a law which made the honourable judges give the verdict against Aruna’s petition for mercy killing. We hope the Indian Parliament will pass a bill for passive Euthanasia so that Aruna may forever have the peace and freedom she deserves.

I am not a supporter of mercy killing or euthanasia in every step but while making it a law may create many hazards and complications in society, it can be highly essential in some cases like Aruna’s. And we can’t just shut our eyes and force Aruna to live a life, practically which she is not living at all.

I hope the Supreme Court will someday permit passive euthanasia for Aruna (alas they could not, because there is no perfect law regarding this in our country) so she could have the peace and freedom she deserves.

23-March, A Day for Challenging Beliefs and Faith

The day 23 March has great importance in history and today again proved its importance in Indian History. This day is famous because it is the birthday of great Socialist thinker Ram Monahar Lohia. This day is also famous because in the colonial period, Bhagat Singh, a leftist freedom fighter, was hung by British rulers along with his two other comrades. Today, this day becomes significant because Kanu Sanyal, one of the premier left-wing terrorist (they say revolutionary) thinkers committed suicide by hanging himself in his home.

Twenty-three-March is a symbolic day as it is commonly associated with events having connections with socialism and other leftist activities. The day 23 March is associated with two other hangings; one was imposed and the other was a suicide. But moreover, it made me think about the reason that made the socialist like Kanu Sanyal follow the path of suicide. As per their concept and consciousness, the leftists always act as most optimistic in their ideology and also in their activities. The socialists or communists or Marxists are not like the French Existentialist writer Albert Camus in that they will think the reason why people are not committing suicide even though they face a meaningless lifestyle in their day-to-day lives.

In the seventies, Kanu Sanyal and Charu Majumdar were the two names who gave a new turn to Indian politics, though never they had entered into any level of Indian government. In fact, they spent most of their years in prison. But they brought the name of a small village ‘Naxalbari’ into the Indian mainstream, which has still been existing as Naxal activities or has been synonymous with Maoist activities. The Naxal movement of seventies only affected Kolkata and few villages of West Bengal or Andhra Pradesh. It had little effect on either Orissa or in Bihar (now known as Jharkhand). Now, Naxal or Maoist activities have spread from Nepal to Maharashtra, including more than seven states of India.

In the seventies, the Naxals announced that power would generate from the barrel rather than from the ballot box. They adopted the violent methods of Bakunin’s or Mao Tse-tung’s anarchist class struggle. Bakunin was buried into ignorance and Mao Tse-tung’s Redbook was exiled from his beloved country of China. Still it remained in South Asia with the goal of establishing a new form of “State,” which after the end of cold war, became itself an insignificant one.

Naxal is now synonymous with terrorism, what in the seventies neither Charu nor Kanu thought any day. In later times, Kanu Sanyal kept himself away from the leftist government and so-called contemporary Maoist activities. And at last, he was found hung in his room in his village near Naxalbari.

Away from the political observer’s guessing and remarks, what made me to think more about the actual cause of Kanu Sanyal’s committing suicide that it is the fate of any faith or belief that lacks the capability to bind any people permanently for a lifetime, even lacking its control over its creator.

Going back to history, in 543 BC, on a full-moon day of May (the month of Baisakha in the Hindu Calendar), on his deathbed, Buddha uttered his last words, “All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting.”

The realisations of Buddha and Albert Camus (in Myth of Sisyphus) and Kanu Sanyal are the same, even though they represent different ways. Are they nihilistic in their approach? As a social thinker, will anyone be an optimistic one? It is a great question, a great crisis and still for me, it seems like an unsolved puzzle. The suicide of Kanu Sanyal makes us think of this crisis of all beliefs and faiths again and again.