See how the CORRUPT Govt. of India Collaborates with Corporate LOOTERS to destroy the PEOPLE's ECONOMY?
Walmart Invades India
See how CORRUPT Govts. collaborate with Corporate LOOTERS to destroy what has the potential to become a PEOPLE's Economy in the world's largest democracy?
The Indian Government has never helped its farmers or its small retailers, the two largest sectors of the Indian economy.
Now India's govt. bends over backwards to give favorable terms to the world's largest corporation.
Walmart withdrew its operations from Germany because, the German govt.'s antitrust lawyers would not allow Walmart to undercut prices charged by local retailers. Or to remain open long hours, because of Germany's worker protection laws.
While Walmart operates in 27 countries besides the U.S. it does not have stores in ANY of the following countries that have a high UN Human Development Index (HDI) -- Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, France
In contrast Walmart has made headway in Africa.
In the U.S. Walmart has not (yet) succeeded in bringing its operations into New York City! A recent study showed that New York city would lose jobs and hurt small retailers.
If Walmart cannot enter the NYC business arena why does it receive landing rights in India?
The India of Gandhi's highly pragmatic ideal of local self-reliant sustainability deserves a more ethical government and more ethical business practices.
Neither India's govt nor Walmart meets the Gandhian standard
Showing posts with label Gandhi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gandhi. Show all posts
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
May Day Mubarak!
May I has especial meaning this year for workers in Wisconsin.
On their behalf and in support of our own right, held individually and collectively, to human dignity through work, we celebrate May 1, locally and globally.
The Arab Spring is driven by working people. Call them protesters but they are workers.
That Gandhian ethos of activism for social justice through collective conscience and self-renewal has just begun to touch yet again (they had their chance in the 40's -60's), the post-colonial-imperial peoples of societies in West Asia and North Africa.
This culture area is referred to by dominant former colonizing states and current neo-imperial states as the Middle East -- Middle of what? East of where?
A colonial-imperial construct to dislocate the peoples of those lands on yet another May Day Remembrance.
Now off to spend some hours reflecting in historic Union Square, New York City. Gandhi's statue stands in a little corner of the park there.
May Day Mubarak!
On their behalf and in support of our own right, held individually and collectively, to human dignity through work, we celebrate May 1, locally and globally.
The Arab Spring is driven by working people. Call them protesters but they are workers.
That Gandhian ethos of activism for social justice through collective conscience and self-renewal has just begun to touch yet again (they had their chance in the 40's -60's), the post-colonial-imperial peoples of societies in West Asia and North Africa.
This culture area is referred to by dominant former colonizing states and current neo-imperial states as the Middle East -- Middle of what? East of where?
A colonial-imperial construct to dislocate the peoples of those lands on yet another May Day Remembrance.
Now off to spend some hours reflecting in historic Union Square, New York City. Gandhi's statue stands in a little corner of the park there.
May Day Mubarak!
Monday, February 14, 2011
From the Spinning Wheel -- to Facebook
From the Spinning Wheel -- to Facebook
Ahimsa -- the Gandhian Politics of street protest through NonViolence
Take it back all the way to the source -- to Gandhi -- Ahimsa -- the Politics of Non Violence.
Not mere Passive Resistance.
Not mere Civil Disobedience.
But DYNAMIC REFLECTIVE ETHICAL NONVIOLENT ENGAGEMENT by We the People, against the Repressive state.
Gandhi developed the philosophy-in-action of Ahimsa, non-violence.
The Rev. Martin Luther King practiced what he learned from Gandhi's example.
Gandhi used the spinning wheel to spin the Brits right out of India.
Gandhi marched to the sea with We the People to make salt, to defeat a Brit repressive tax on salt that hit the poor most.
Now that historic march by Gandhi has gone all the way to Tahrir Square -- via Facebook!
The spinning wheel was the earlier Technology of Defiance against the repressive state.
Now Facebook is the borderless Technology of Defiance against the repressive state.
First the spinning wheel, now Facebook.
Way to go.
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
City University of New York [CUNY]
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
www.disqus.com/EthicalDemocracy
---------------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html
A Tunisian-Egyptian Link That Shook Arab History
Holly Pickett for The New York Times
Tunis, Jan. 14 Demonstrators climbed the walls of the Interior Ministry as thousands gathered outside to demand the resignation of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The protests that brought down Mr. Ben Ali that day began on Facebook.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: February 13, 2011
Egyptian Military Dissolves Parliament (February 14, 2011)
*
Tunisians Turn to Everyday Matters (February 14, 2011)
*
Yemeni Youth Square Off With Forces (February 14, 2011)
*
Iranian Leaders Vow to Crush March (February 14, 2011)
*
Egypt Erupts in Jubilation as Mubarak Steps Down (February 12, 2011)
*
Tunisia Leader Flees and Prime Minister Claims Power (January 15, 2011)
Video: Tahrir Square, a Forum for All (Feb. 14, 2011)
Cairo, Feb. 3 After more than a week of unrest, anti-Mubarak protesters clashed with supporters of the president for control of Tahrir Square. When confronting the police, the protesters wore armor made of cardboard and Pepsi bottles.
The exchange on Facebook was part of a remarkable two-year collaboration that has given birth to a new force in the Arab world — a pan-Arab youth movement dedicated to spreading democracy in a region without it. Young Egyptian and Tunisian activists brainstormed on the use of technology to evade surveillance, commiserated about torture and traded practical tips on how to stand up to rubber bullets and organize barricades.
They fused their secular expertise in social networks with a discipline culled from religious movements and combined the energy of soccer fans with the sophistication of surgeons. Breaking free from older veterans of the Arab political opposition, they relied on tactics of nonviolent resistance channeled from an American scholar through a Serbian youth brigade — but also on marketing tactics borrowed from Silicon Valley.
As their swelling protests shook the Egyptian state, they were locked in a virtual tug of war with a leader with a very different vision — Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak, a wealthy investment banker and ruling-party power broker. Considered the heir apparent to his father until the youth revolt eliminated any thought of dynastic succession, the younger Mubarak pushed his father to hold on to power even after his top generals and the prime minister were urging an exit, according to American officials who tracked Hosni Mubarak’s final days.
The defiant tone of the president’s speech on Thursday, the officials said, was largely his son’s work.
“He was probably more strident than his father was,” said one American official, who characterized Gamal’s role as “sugarcoating what was for Mubarak a disastrous situation.” But the speech backfired, prompting Egypt’s military to force the president out and assert control of what they promise will be a transition to civilian government.
Now the young leaders are looking beyond Egypt. “Tunis is the force that pushed Egypt, but what Egypt did will be the force that will push the world,” said Walid Rachid, one of the members of the April 6 Youth Movement, which helped organize the Jan. 25 protests that set off the uprising. He spoke at a meeting on Sunday night where the members discussed sharing their experiences with similar youth movements in Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Iran.
“If a small group of people in every Arab country went out and persevered as we did, then that would be the end of all the regimes,” he said, joking that the next Arab summit might be “a coming-out party” for all the ascendant youth leaders.
Bloggers Lead the Way
The Egyptian revolt was years in the making. Ahmed Maher, a 30-year-old civil engineer and a leading organizer of the April 6 Youth Movement, first became engaged in a political movement known as Kefaya, or Enough, in about 2005. Mr. Maher and others organized their own brigade, Youth for Change. But they could not muster enough followers; arrests decimated their leadership ranks, and many of those left became mired in the timid, legally recognized opposition parties. “What destroyed the movement was the old parties,” said Mr. Maher, who has since been arrested four times.
By 2008, many of the young organizers had retreated to their computer keyboards and turned into bloggers, attempting to raise support for a wave of isolated labor strikes set off by government privatizations and runaway inflation.
After a strike that March in the city of Malhalla, Egypt, Mr. Maher and his friends called for a nationwide general strike for April 6. To promote it, they set up a Facebook group that became the nexus of their movement, which they were determined to keep independent from any of the established political groups. Bad weather turned the strike into a nonevent in most places, but in Malhalla a demonstration by the workers’ families led to a violent police crackdown — the first major labor confrontation in years.
Just a few months later, after a strike in the Tunisian city of Hawd el-Mongamy, a group of young online organizers followed the same model, setting up what became the Progressive Youth of Tunisia. The organizers in both countries began exchanging their experiences over Facebook. The Tunisians faced a more pervasive police state than the Egyptians, with less latitude for blogging or press freedom, but their trade unions were stronger and more independent. “We shared our experience with strikes and blogging,” Mr. Maher recalled.
For their part, Mr. Maher and his colleagues began reading about nonviolent struggles. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp’s work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubark’s Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police states that might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.
The April 6 Youth Movement modeled its logo — a vaguely Soviet looking red and white clenched fist—after Otpor’s, and some of its members traveled to Serbia to meet with Otpor activists.
Another influence, several said, was a group of Egyptian expatriates in their 30s who set up an organization in Qatar called the Academy of Change, which promotes ideas drawn in part on Mr. Sharp’s work. One of the group’s organizers, Hisham Morsy, was arrested during the Cairo protests and remained in detention.
David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Cairo, and David E. Sanger from Washington. Kareem Fahim and Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo, and Mark Mazzetti from Washington.
A version of this article appeared in print on February 14, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition.
* Tunisia
* Egypt
* Demonstrations, Protests, and Riots
* Mubarak, Hosni
Ahimsa -- the Gandhian Politics of street protest through NonViolence
Take it back all the way to the source -- to Gandhi -- Ahimsa -- the Politics of Non Violence.
Not mere Passive Resistance.
Not mere Civil Disobedience.
But DYNAMIC REFLECTIVE ETHICAL NONVIOLENT ENGAGEMENT by We the People, against the Repressive state.
Gandhi developed the philosophy-in-action of Ahimsa, non-violence.
The Rev. Martin Luther King practiced what he learned from Gandhi's example.
Gandhi used the spinning wheel to spin the Brits right out of India.
Gandhi marched to the sea with We the People to make salt, to defeat a Brit repressive tax on salt that hit the poor most.
Now that historic march by Gandhi has gone all the way to Tahrir Square -- via Facebook!
The spinning wheel was the earlier Technology of Defiance against the repressive state.
Now Facebook is the borderless Technology of Defiance against the repressive state.
First the spinning wheel, now Facebook.
Way to go.
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
City University of New York [CUNY]
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
www.disqus.com/EthicalDemocracy
---------------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html
A Tunisian-Egyptian Link That Shook Arab History
Holly Pickett for The New York Times
Tunis, Jan. 14 Demonstrators climbed the walls of the Interior Ministry as thousands gathered outside to demand the resignation of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The protests that brought down Mr. Ben Ali that day began on Facebook.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: February 13, 2011
Egyptian Military Dissolves Parliament (February 14, 2011)
*
Tunisians Turn to Everyday Matters (February 14, 2011)
*
Yemeni Youth Square Off With Forces (February 14, 2011)
*
Iranian Leaders Vow to Crush March (February 14, 2011)
*
Egypt Erupts in Jubilation as Mubarak Steps Down (February 12, 2011)
*
Tunisia Leader Flees and Prime Minister Claims Power (January 15, 2011)
Video: Tahrir Square, a Forum for All (Feb. 14, 2011)
Cairo, Feb. 3 After more than a week of unrest, anti-Mubarak protesters clashed with supporters of the president for control of Tahrir Square. When confronting the police, the protesters wore armor made of cardboard and Pepsi bottles.
The exchange on Facebook was part of a remarkable two-year collaboration that has given birth to a new force in the Arab world — a pan-Arab youth movement dedicated to spreading democracy in a region without it. Young Egyptian and Tunisian activists brainstormed on the use of technology to evade surveillance, commiserated about torture and traded practical tips on how to stand up to rubber bullets and organize barricades.
They fused their secular expertise in social networks with a discipline culled from religious movements and combined the energy of soccer fans with the sophistication of surgeons. Breaking free from older veterans of the Arab political opposition, they relied on tactics of nonviolent resistance channeled from an American scholar through a Serbian youth brigade — but also on marketing tactics borrowed from Silicon Valley.
As their swelling protests shook the Egyptian state, they were locked in a virtual tug of war with a leader with a very different vision — Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak, a wealthy investment banker and ruling-party power broker. Considered the heir apparent to his father until the youth revolt eliminated any thought of dynastic succession, the younger Mubarak pushed his father to hold on to power even after his top generals and the prime minister were urging an exit, according to American officials who tracked Hosni Mubarak’s final days.
The defiant tone of the president’s speech on Thursday, the officials said, was largely his son’s work.
“He was probably more strident than his father was,” said one American official, who characterized Gamal’s role as “sugarcoating what was for Mubarak a disastrous situation.” But the speech backfired, prompting Egypt’s military to force the president out and assert control of what they promise will be a transition to civilian government.
Now the young leaders are looking beyond Egypt. “Tunis is the force that pushed Egypt, but what Egypt did will be the force that will push the world,” said Walid Rachid, one of the members of the April 6 Youth Movement, which helped organize the Jan. 25 protests that set off the uprising. He spoke at a meeting on Sunday night where the members discussed sharing their experiences with similar youth movements in Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Iran.
“If a small group of people in every Arab country went out and persevered as we did, then that would be the end of all the regimes,” he said, joking that the next Arab summit might be “a coming-out party” for all the ascendant youth leaders.
Bloggers Lead the Way
The Egyptian revolt was years in the making. Ahmed Maher, a 30-year-old civil engineer and a leading organizer of the April 6 Youth Movement, first became engaged in a political movement known as Kefaya, or Enough, in about 2005. Mr. Maher and others organized their own brigade, Youth for Change. But they could not muster enough followers; arrests decimated their leadership ranks, and many of those left became mired in the timid, legally recognized opposition parties. “What destroyed the movement was the old parties,” said Mr. Maher, who has since been arrested four times.
By 2008, many of the young organizers had retreated to their computer keyboards and turned into bloggers, attempting to raise support for a wave of isolated labor strikes set off by government privatizations and runaway inflation.
After a strike that March in the city of Malhalla, Egypt, Mr. Maher and his friends called for a nationwide general strike for April 6. To promote it, they set up a Facebook group that became the nexus of their movement, which they were determined to keep independent from any of the established political groups. Bad weather turned the strike into a nonevent in most places, but in Malhalla a demonstration by the workers’ families led to a violent police crackdown — the first major labor confrontation in years.
Just a few months later, after a strike in the Tunisian city of Hawd el-Mongamy, a group of young online organizers followed the same model, setting up what became the Progressive Youth of Tunisia. The organizers in both countries began exchanging their experiences over Facebook. The Tunisians faced a more pervasive police state than the Egyptians, with less latitude for blogging or press freedom, but their trade unions were stronger and more independent. “We shared our experience with strikes and blogging,” Mr. Maher recalled.
For their part, Mr. Maher and his colleagues began reading about nonviolent struggles. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp’s work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubark’s Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police states that might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.
The April 6 Youth Movement modeled its logo — a vaguely Soviet looking red and white clenched fist—after Otpor’s, and some of its members traveled to Serbia to meet with Otpor activists.
Another influence, several said, was a group of Egyptian expatriates in their 30s who set up an organization in Qatar called the Academy of Change, which promotes ideas drawn in part on Mr. Sharp’s work. One of the group’s organizers, Hisham Morsy, was arrested during the Cairo protests and remained in detention.
David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Cairo, and David E. Sanger from Washington. Kareem Fahim and Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo, and Mark Mazzetti from Washington.
A version of this article appeared in print on February 14, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition.
* Tunisia
* Egypt
* Demonstrations, Protests, and Riots
* Mubarak, Hosni
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Ethical Reassurances vs. Obama's "Strategic Reassurances"
My NYT Comment #531.
EthicalDemocracy
New York City
October 18th, 2009
2:52 pm
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/opinion/18dowd.html?sort=newest&offset=2
EthicalDemocracy
New York City
October 18th, 2009
10:43 am
Ethical Reassurance vs. "Strategic Reassurance"
I am going to posit my term "Ethical Reassurances" against Obama's "Strategic Reassurances."
Obama has declined to meet the Dalai Lama duirng his recent visit to Washington, because Obama has an upcoming visit to China -- and you know, Obama wouldn't want to offend the freedom loving Chinese authorities by playing host to the Dalai Lama, an authentic winner of a Nobel Peace Prize.
In stark contrast, India's strategy of "Ethical Reassurance" is the exact opposite of Obama's "strategic reassurance."
India's safe haven policy towards Tibetans is an example of Gandhian ethics in practice, in politics. How shrewdly ethical, reminiscent of Gandhi's game-changing nonviolent dismantling of the mighty Brit Empire.
Recently, the Indian Government allowed the Dalai Lama
to visit Arunachal Pradesh, a border state within the Republic of India,
now increasingly stridently disputed by China.
The Indian Govt did not hold the Dalai Lama back,
even at the risk of further sabre-rattling
by the expansionist Chinese.
Tibetans live in Arunachal Pradesh, as they do in every part of India.
The Dalai Lama has every ethical justification,
indeed an ethical obligation to visit with Tibetan communities
in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Chinese government finds intolerable, India's policy of offering Safe Haven to the Dalai Lama and hundreds of thousands of his fellow Tibetans, a policy that India has steadfastly followed since the late '50s, when the Dalai Lama and his followers fled Chinese oppression in their ancestral homeland.
India's Safe Haven policy towards the Dalai Lama incurred Chinese aggression on Indian territory in the Northeast in 1962, in which tens of thousands of ill-prepared Indian soldiers lost their lives.
Of course there are many un-noted geopolitical complexities in my narrative but India's strategy of "Ethical Reassurances" is the exact opposite of Obama's "strategic reassurances."
India's safe haven policy towards Tibetans is an example of Gandhian ethics in practice, in politics. How shrewdly ethical, reminiscent of Gandhi's game-changing nonviolent dismantling of the mighty Brit Empire.
Of course no one seriously expects a policy of "Ethical Reassurance" from the Chinese -- or from the US for that matter.
Obama is no different in substance (only in style and hype) from his other white male forbears in the Whites' House, with the exception of Lincoln.
Obama performs Whiteness which is a US dominance ideology, racialized of course,
in which ETHICS is consistently trumped by PROFIT -- slavery, genocide, nuclear annihilation of civilians, invasion, occupation -- you get my drift.
I guess a major difference between the Dalai Lama and Obama is that Tibet's leader earned his Nobel. So did Vaclav even though he didn't get one. Hey, neither did Gandhi.
Satyameva Jayate -- to Truth goes the Victory.
Not to you or to me, but to Truth itself.
Chithra Karunakaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------
NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/opinion/18dowd.html
Fie, Fatal Flaw!
By MAUREEN DOWD
President Obama’s legislative career offers cautionary tales about the toll of constant consensus building.
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/opinion/18dowd.html#bozoanchor
----------------------
Prague Post Copyright
http://praguepost.com/news/comments/2-dignitary-details-tibetan-objectives.html#com4304
-----------------
Reuters Copyright
http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-42388820090911?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0
By Krittivas Mukherjee
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama plans to visit soon Arunachal Pradesh, part of which China claims as its territory, an aide said on Friday in a trip that could again rile Beijing after it denounced his visit to Taiwan this month.
Chhime Chhoekyapa, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's aide, told Reuters the Dalai Lama would be in Arunachal Pradesh in the second week of November.
"He is going there for teaching. This has nothing to do with politics, there is nothing political about it," Chhoekyapa said.
The intended visit has already sparked consternation in China, which claims about 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh along their border as part of its territory, and could become another irritant in ties already dogged by a border dispute.
"China expresses strong concern about this information. The visit further reveals the Dalai clique's anti-China and separatist essence," Jiang Yu, the spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry, said in a statement faxed to Reuters.
"China's stance on the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh' is consistent. We firmly oppose Dalai visiting the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh'," Jiang said.
The Dalai Lama's travel plan was announced a week after the completion of his visit to Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. China denounced the trip.
A visit to Arunachal Pradesh could now draw further attention to China's treatment of Tibetan activists and the Dalai Lama's calls for cultural and religious freedoms and autonomy.
China considers the Dalai Lama a "splittist" who seeks to separate nearly a quarter of the land mass of the People's Republic of China.
"TIMING SIGNIFICANT"
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, denies the charge and says he seeks greater rights for Tibetans.
"The timing of his trip (to Arunachal Pradesh) is significant. It comes while the debate over his visit to Taiwan is still hot," said Bhaskar Roy, a New Delhi-based China expert.
"Tibetans are as good at playing these games as the Chinese. They know such a visit will keep up the pressure on China."
The trip has ramifications for India-China relations as well.
India and China fought a short war in 1962 and, despite burgeoning trade in recent years, mistrust remains. Both sides jostle for resources and influence as they seek a global role.
This year, the two countries have faced off at multi-lateral forums, including Chinese objections to a $60 million Asian Development Bank loan for a project in Arunachal Pradesh.
Indian media have repeatedly reported "incursions" by Chinese soldiers patrolling the 3,500-km (2,200-mile) border, disputed at various stretches.
In response, India has begun modernising its border roads and moved a squadron of strike aircraft close to the China border. Arunachal Governor J.J. Singh said in June up to 30,000 new troops would be deployed in the area.
"From India's point of view the Dala Lama's visit will restate Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory," said Roy.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet through Arunachal Pradesh, which has a substantial Buddhist population.
(Additional reporting by Yu Le in BEIJING)
==================================================================================
EthicalDemocracy
New York City
October 18th, 2009
2:52 pm
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/opinion/18dowd.html?sort=newest&offset=2
EthicalDemocracy
New York City
October 18th, 2009
10:43 am
Ethical Reassurance vs. "Strategic Reassurance"
I am going to posit my term "Ethical Reassurances" against Obama's "Strategic Reassurances."
Obama has declined to meet the Dalai Lama duirng his recent visit to Washington, because Obama has an upcoming visit to China -- and you know, Obama wouldn't want to offend the freedom loving Chinese authorities by playing host to the Dalai Lama, an authentic winner of a Nobel Peace Prize.
In stark contrast, India's strategy of "Ethical Reassurance" is the exact opposite of Obama's "strategic reassurance."
India's safe haven policy towards Tibetans is an example of Gandhian ethics in practice, in politics. How shrewdly ethical, reminiscent of Gandhi's game-changing nonviolent dismantling of the mighty Brit Empire.
Recently, the Indian Government allowed the Dalai Lama
to visit Arunachal Pradesh, a border state within the Republic of India,
now increasingly stridently disputed by China.
The Indian Govt did not hold the Dalai Lama back,
even at the risk of further sabre-rattling
by the expansionist Chinese.
Tibetans live in Arunachal Pradesh, as they do in every part of India.
The Dalai Lama has every ethical justification,
indeed an ethical obligation to visit with Tibetan communities
in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Chinese government finds intolerable, India's policy of offering Safe Haven to the Dalai Lama and hundreds of thousands of his fellow Tibetans, a policy that India has steadfastly followed since the late '50s, when the Dalai Lama and his followers fled Chinese oppression in their ancestral homeland.
India's Safe Haven policy towards the Dalai Lama incurred Chinese aggression on Indian territory in the Northeast in 1962, in which tens of thousands of ill-prepared Indian soldiers lost their lives.
Of course there are many un-noted geopolitical complexities in my narrative but India's strategy of "Ethical Reassurances" is the exact opposite of Obama's "strategic reassurances."
India's safe haven policy towards Tibetans is an example of Gandhian ethics in practice, in politics. How shrewdly ethical, reminiscent of Gandhi's game-changing nonviolent dismantling of the mighty Brit Empire.
Of course no one seriously expects a policy of "Ethical Reassurance" from the Chinese -- or from the US for that matter.
Obama is no different in substance (only in style and hype) from his other white male forbears in the Whites' House, with the exception of Lincoln.
Obama performs Whiteness which is a US dominance ideology, racialized of course,
in which ETHICS is consistently trumped by PROFIT -- slavery, genocide, nuclear annihilation of civilians, invasion, occupation -- you get my drift.
I guess a major difference between the Dalai Lama and Obama is that Tibet's leader earned his Nobel. So did Vaclav even though he didn't get one. Hey, neither did Gandhi.
Satyameva Jayate -- to Truth goes the Victory.
Not to you or to me, but to Truth itself.
Chithra Karunakaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------
NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/opinion/18dowd.html
Fie, Fatal Flaw!
By MAUREEN DOWD
President Obama’s legislative career offers cautionary tales about the toll of constant consensus building.
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/opinion/18dowd.html#bozoanchor
----------------------
Prague Post Copyright
http://praguepost.com/news/comments/2-dignitary-details-tibetan-objectives.html#com4304
-----------------
Reuters Copyright
http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-42388820090911?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0
By Krittivas Mukherjee
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama plans to visit soon Arunachal Pradesh, part of which China claims as its territory, an aide said on Friday in a trip that could again rile Beijing after it denounced his visit to Taiwan this month.
Chhime Chhoekyapa, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's aide, told Reuters the Dalai Lama would be in Arunachal Pradesh in the second week of November.
"He is going there for teaching. This has nothing to do with politics, there is nothing political about it," Chhoekyapa said.
The intended visit has already sparked consternation in China, which claims about 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh along their border as part of its territory, and could become another irritant in ties already dogged by a border dispute.
"China expresses strong concern about this information. The visit further reveals the Dalai clique's anti-China and separatist essence," Jiang Yu, the spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry, said in a statement faxed to Reuters.
"China's stance on the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh' is consistent. We firmly oppose Dalai visiting the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh'," Jiang said.
The Dalai Lama's travel plan was announced a week after the completion of his visit to Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. China denounced the trip.
A visit to Arunachal Pradesh could now draw further attention to China's treatment of Tibetan activists and the Dalai Lama's calls for cultural and religious freedoms and autonomy.
China considers the Dalai Lama a "splittist" who seeks to separate nearly a quarter of the land mass of the People's Republic of China.
"TIMING SIGNIFICANT"
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, denies the charge and says he seeks greater rights for Tibetans.
"The timing of his trip (to Arunachal Pradesh) is significant. It comes while the debate over his visit to Taiwan is still hot," said Bhaskar Roy, a New Delhi-based China expert.
"Tibetans are as good at playing these games as the Chinese. They know such a visit will keep up the pressure on China."
The trip has ramifications for India-China relations as well.
India and China fought a short war in 1962 and, despite burgeoning trade in recent years, mistrust remains. Both sides jostle for resources and influence as they seek a global role.
This year, the two countries have faced off at multi-lateral forums, including Chinese objections to a $60 million Asian Development Bank loan for a project in Arunachal Pradesh.
Indian media have repeatedly reported "incursions" by Chinese soldiers patrolling the 3,500-km (2,200-mile) border, disputed at various stretches.
In response, India has begun modernising its border roads and moved a squadron of strike aircraft close to the China border. Arunachal Governor J.J. Singh said in June up to 30,000 new troops would be deployed in the area.
"From India's point of view the Dala Lama's visit will restate Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory," said Roy.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet through Arunachal Pradesh, which has a substantial Buddhist population.
(Additional reporting by Yu Le in BEIJING)
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Sunday, October 7, 2007
Ethical Democracy in Action
Subject: Consul-General in New York City Violates Spirit of Gandhiji's Birth Anniversary October 2, 2007
Responsible/ethical free speech was my objective at this event.
Best,
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
What could the Consul and her press colleague have said and done? Let me provide a possible script for the Consul:
"My Dear Participants. Today is the Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It is a celebration of his life and a remembrance of his work. It is not a partisan or political event. I will not address this meeting unless and until we are assembled here as a group to pay homage and respect to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi. Thank you for lowering your political party placards and putting them away. I will now proceed."
Best,
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
City University of New York (CUNY)
Date: Oct 3, 2007 6:10 AMThe following is a complaint against the Consul General of India in New York city, Ms. Neelam Deo and her press colleague Dr. Neena Malhotra.
The central point of my complaint is that the Consul General of India participated in an event *which they appropriately sponsored * but was politicized as an electioneering gimmick by the BJP/RSS. The consul general demonstrated her ineptness in handling the public demands of her office. Dr. Malhotra was even worse. She sided with the BJP/RSS demonstrators. She appears to be a BJP/RSS sympathizer instead of remaining politically neutral and demanding that the BJP/RSS put away their politically motivated electioneering placards at an event commemorating Gandhiji's birth.
What could the Consul and her press colleague have said and done? Let me provide a possible script for the Consul:
"My Dear Participants. Today is the Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It is a celebration of his life and a remembrance of his work. It is not a partisan or political event. I will not address this meeting unless and until we are assembled here as a group to pay homage and respect to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi. Thank you for lowering your political party placards and putting them away. I will now proceed."
I was a witness to the event which took place in New York City on October 2, 2007 Gandhiji's birthday. On that day the consul general gave a speech at the Gandhi's statue in Union Square Park. I was present throughout the event.
IT WAS GANDHI'S BIRTH ANNIVERSARY, not a partisan political campaign event. The electioneering of the BJP/RSS and the fumbling ineptness of the consul general and her colleague dishonored this event in Gandhiji's inspiring memory.
THE BJP/RSS members attended and demonstrated at the function with party placards and politicized the event. They carried and held up placards which called for Sonia Gandhi to "Quit India."
Members of the group sported and distributed cotton tees with Gandhi's image on the front and the electioneering message with Sonia's name on the back, demanding that she "Quit India." (!)
The Indian consulate appropriately sponsored the event. But Ms. Deo and Dr. Malhotra made no attempt to request the BJP to remove their party placards at Gandhiji's birth anniversary event. In fact, Dr. Malhotra sided with the BJP/RSS. The media took pictures of the event showing the BJP/RSS holding up their party placards naming Sonia and demanding she "Quit India" on Gandhiji's birth anniversary, while the consulate general spoke at the event.
It was a debasement of the historic call to the British to Quit India
I gave a TV interview to TV Asia at their invitation, condemning both the BJP/RSS and the consul- general and her press colleague for their actions at the event. I informed the onlookers and spectators that the BJP/RSS were like the KKK -- ethnofascists,racists, and murderers of vulnerable minoritites. Let us never forget that Nathuram Godse was an RSS man.
The consul general and her colleague and the BJP/RSS degraded and devalued Gandhiji's birth anniversary remembrance celebration by introducing and colluding (even if unwittingly or ineptly) in party politics at the event.
Gandhiji's birth anniversary is not an occasion for partisan electioneering. It was clearly not intended for the general public as a political event.
Onlookers were surprised and confused about the event.
Ms Deo demonstrated her ineptness at handling the public demands of her office which is service to the whole people and duly elected government of India.
Both Deo and Malhotra should be recalled and dismissed from the important NYC consulate-general's office.I expect to receive a reply apprising me of what steps you have taken on this matter.These deplorable actions should not be repeated on October 2, 2008Dr. Chithra Karunakaran
City University of New York CUNY)
Ethical Democracy as Lived Practice
What is Ethical Democracy as Lived Practice?
As the name of my Blog-as-Book-in-Progress indicates, I am interested in unpacking, discovering, inviting ideas about what it means to live ethically every day in democratic spaces and how we may all contribute to creating and increasing democratic spaces.
Now let me narrate an event that took place in New York City as the beginning point in my Blog-as-book-in-progress.
How auspicious! My first entry begins on the birth anniversary of Gandhiji, my inspiration, my mentor. I did not plan it this way. It just happened this way. I feel my effort is blessed. I accept the work before me with humility and strength.
Chithra Karunakaran
http://www.EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
==================================================================================
Subject: Consul-General in New York City Violates Spirit of Gandhiji's Birth Anniversary October 2, 2007
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://www.EthicalDemocracy.Blogspot.com
===================================================================================
As the name of my Blog-as-Book-in-Progress indicates, I am interested in unpacking, discovering, inviting ideas about what it means to live ethically every day in democratic spaces and how we may all contribute to creating and increasing democratic spaces.
Now let me narrate an event that took place in New York City as the beginning point in my Blog-as-book-in-progress.
How auspicious! My first entry begins on the birth anniversary of Gandhiji, my inspiration, my mentor. I did not plan it this way. It just happened this way. I feel my effort is blessed. I accept the work before me with humility and strength.
Chithra Karunakaran
http://www.EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
==================================================================================
Subject: Consul-General in New York City Violates Spirit of Gandhiji's Birth Anniversary October 2, 2007
Responsible/ethical free speech was my objective at this event.
Best,
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
What could the Consul and her press colleague have said and done? Let me provide a possible script for the Consul:
"My Dear Participants. Today is the Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It is a celebration of his life and a remembrance of his work. It is not a partisan or political event. I will not address this meeting unless and until we are assembled here as a group to pay homage and respect to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi. Thank you for lowering your political party placards and putting them away. I will now proceed."
Best,
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
City University of New York (CUNY)
Date: Oct 3, 2007 6:10 AM
The following is a complaint against the Consul General of India in New York city, Ms. Neelam Deo and her press colleague Dr. Neena Malhotra.
The central point of my complaint is that the Consul General of India participated in an event *which they appropriately sponsored * but was politicized as an electioneering gimmick by the BJP/RSS. The consul general demonstrated her ineptness in handling the public demands of her office. Dr. Malhotra was even worse. She sided with the BJP/RSS demonstrators. She appears to be a BJP/RSS sympathizer instead of remaining politically neutral and demanding that the BJP/RSS put away their politically motivated electioneering placards at an event commemorating Gandhiji's birth.
What could the Consul and her press colleague have said and done? Let me provide a possible script for the Consul:
"My Dear Participants. Today is the Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It is a celebration of his life and a remembrance of his work. It is not a partisan or political event. I will not address this meeting unless and until we are assembled here as a group to pay homage and respect to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi. Thank you for lowering your political party placards and putting them away. I will now proceed."
I was a witness to the event which took place in New York City on October 2, 2007 Gandhiji's birthday. On that day the consul general gave a speech at the Gandhi's statue in Union Square Park. I was present throughout the event.
IT WAS GANDHI'S BIRTH ANNIVERSARY, not a partisan political campaign event. The electioneering of the BJP/RSS and the fumbling ineptness of the consul general and her colleague dishonored this event in Gandhiji's inspiring memory.
THE BJP/RSS members attended and demonstrated at the function with party placards and politicized the event. They carried and held up placards which called for Sonia Gandhi to "Quit India."
Members of the group sported and distributed cotton tees with Gandhi's image on the front and the electioneering message with Sonia's name on the back, demanding that she "Quit India." (!)
The Indian consulate appropriately sponsored the event. But Ms. Deo and Dr. Malhotra made no attempt to request the BJP to remove their party placards at Gandhiji's birth anniversary event. In fact, Dr. Malhotra sided with the BJP/RSS. The media took pictures of the event showing the BJP/RSS holding up their party placards naming Sonia and demanding she "Quit India" on Gandhiji's birth anniversary, while the consulate general spoke at the event.
It was a debasement of the historic call to the British to Quit India
I gave a TV interview to TV Asia at their invitation, condemning both the BJP/RSS and the consul- general and her press colleague for their actions at the event. I informed the onlookers and spectators that the BJP/RSS were like the KKK -- ethnofascists,racists, and murderers of vulnerable minoritites. Let us never forget that Nathuram Godse was an RSS man.
The consul general and her colleague and the BJP/RSS degraded and devalued Gandhiji's birth anniversary remembrance celebration by introducing and colluding (even if unwittingly or ineptly) in party poliitcis at the event.
Gandhiji's birth anniversary is not an occasion for partisan electioneering. It was clearly not intended for the general public as a political event.
Onlookers were surprised and confused about the event.
Ms Deo demonstrated her ineptness at handling the public demands of her office which is service to the whole people and duly elected government of India.
Both Deo and Malhotra should be recalled and dismissed from the important NYC consulate-general's office.I expect to receive a reply apprising me of what steps you have taken on this matter.These deplorable actions should not be repeated on October 2, 2008Dr. Chithra Karunakaran
City University of New York CUNY)
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://www.EthicalDemocracy.Blogspot.com
===================================================================================
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