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India, Pakistan :: The Way Forward

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 09:34:19 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

“No, I didn’t love my country, if pointing out what is unjust in what we love amounts to not loving, if insisting that what we love should measure up to the finest image we have of her amounts to not loving.” - Albert Camus

In professing love for their respective countries, politicians from both India and Pakistan have established a woeful yardstick. Their barometer of…

Hindu Terrorism :: Scriptures & Roots

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:31:56 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

In officially denying institutionalized racism, Republic of India has been glorifying its source: Hinduism. Heralding the philosophy as a peaceful way of life and a non-violent religion, the Hindus have largely repudiated charges of casteism, misogyny, and terrorism. Each instance of terror and injustice perpetrated by the Hindus upon oppressed minorities are eagerly dismissed…

India vs Indians: Peoples' History of Orissa's Dispossessed

Wed, 26 May 2010 00:15:08 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Tribal uprisings in Orissa were the first of organized assaults on the British, against the Hindu Kings, as well as on the Brahmin supremacists. The indigenous were united against oppression way before the Sepoy Mutiny took shape. They had no loyalty towards the kings and unlike the Paikas and Sepoys, they had no interest in releasing the royal families from British domains.…

India vs Indians: Revolution Never Ends in Orissa

Tue, 25 May 2010 00:08:36 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Freedom will not come

Today, this year

Nor ever

Through compromise and fear….

I do not need freedom when I’m dead

I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread

– Langston Hughes

Using brute police force to silence indigenous peoples’ mass uprising in Orissa is not just an act of sheer cowardice and criminality; it is a decision founded upon gross ignorance of the unique stream of struggles…

India vs Indians :: Orissa's Freedom Struggle

Sun, 16 May 2010 21:26:10 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Originally Written for Radical Notes

If laws are meant to protect the people, then the only thing illegal in India must be the Government.

Only a morally bankrupt, democratically inept and humanistically regressive group of parasites can sustain corruptible power through twisted legal clauses organically designed to crush collective aspirations.

It is only logical that a…

Lucy Parsons :: Revolutionary Feminist

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:42:55 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

No legal case in American history has been more cited than The Scottsboro Trial. Nine young African American men, aged 13 and up, were jailed in Scottsboro, Alabama to await trial over an accusation that they had raped two white women on a train in the Spring of 1931.

The nature of racism in this instance was not the novelty - indeed, American society was witness to…

Remembering Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:32:26 -0500

(For publication in Radical Notes)

By Saswat Pattanayak

"To be neutral is to collaborate with whatever is going on, and I as a teacher do not want to be a collaborator with whatever is happening in the world today.” (Howard Zinn)

In the grossly unequal world that we inhabit, it is always tempting to remain apolitical, especially if one is an academician materially benefiting from the status quo…

First Year Costs of Obama's Illusions

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:16:28 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Despite his constant denial of race dynamics necessary to dissect American political roadmap, Barack Obama is going to be the first American President to be judged, also by his color. During his first year, several cartoons, news articles, political mentions - both innocent and deliberate - have brought up the issue of race, associating with him. Senator Majority leader…

Have We Been Silencing Dr King?

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:18:42 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Whenever a progressive leader of the masses, a politically fundamental agent of change, a spirited revolutionary demands replacement of existing social order, the oppressive ruling class never dares confront the person; instead it iconizes him/her after stripping off the necessary radical components. Through an utopian mythification of the leader, the courage to challenge…

War Capitalism continued to dominate 2009

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:48:10 -0500

Compiled and Edited by Saswat Pattanayak for Women's Rights NY & Kindle

January 1-20: War Capitalism Intensifies: After a week of intense airstrikes, Israel declares more conventional warfare against Palestinians. In clearly what can constitute mammoth war crimes, Israel attacks end the lives of several children. It conducts 50 air strikes per night and kills 1200 Palestinians within less than…

2010

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:20:45 -0500

No change in sight for women’s rights

No expropriation of privileged mights

Militarists prescribe global peace lies

Working class interests fail to unionize

Organic farming for corporate profits

Healthcare granted for the insured elites

Homeless poor in the glitzy American nights

Hundred twenty-two die in daily medical plights

Twenty-five hundred families each day bankrupt

Subjects of…

Emancipatory Journalism Must Be Protected From Sedition Charges

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:40:34 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Laxman Chaudhury’s arrest in Orissa is the latest in the series of assaults on press freedom. In the guise of fighting the Maoists, various state governments in India are now harassing journalists in an unprecedented manner. But what is more peculiar in this specific oppression of the people is the manner in which grassroot scribes associated with vernacular media are being…

The Liberhan Commission report: Are we debating the right issues?

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:43:22 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Contrary to popular beliefs, Report of the Liberhan Commission of Inquiry is not an indictment of senior BJP leaders; it is an indictment of the entire Indian society - guilty of harboring and perpetuating criminal intents, owing to carefully preserved religious and caste divisions.

Even a cursory reading of the text positions before us the essences:

“During enquiry, it has…

Whose India?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:37:46 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The more there are celebrations surrounding India’s economic growth, the more I grow desperate to oppose them. In a way, the more jubilant the headlines appear, the sadder I become as a reader. India is on the rise to emerge as the next superpower, and the more they try to convince me of that, the more agitated I become.

Fortunately, I am not alone in this state of…

Militarist Obama and Corporate Nobel: Peaceful Partnership

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:04:10 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

(Written for publication in Radical Notes and VoxUnion)

There simply need not be any elements of surprise or shock at Barack Obama receiving Nobel Peace Prize. Almost every year, this award has been granted to neoliberal policy brokers otherwise known as liberals, social democrats, or simply the firm believers in Eurocentric democratic ethos that can be ruthlessly applied on…

David Letterman: Privileges produce Consensus

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:59:46 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

(Written for publication in Women's Rights NY)

Contrary to mainstream media depictions, David Letterman did not have any affairs with his staff members. And contrary to liberal media apprehensions, the world does not need to be bothered about whether the incidents took place before or after his marriage. Letterman’s apologies to his wife on air are ridiculously unnecessary,…

Roman Polanski and Euro-American Privileges

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:06:15 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

It's a deceitful media circulation which suggests that the American judiciary is going after Roman Polanski. The truth is it never has. Polanski is a filthy criminal who had raped a child and yet was allowed to let go by the American justice system for over three decades. And this time, he is merely a bone which Switzerland threw at the United States over its UBS catastrophe.…

Capitalism: A Democrat's Love Story

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:40:49 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Written for publication in VoxUnion

Capitalism: A Love Story, is just that.

As occurs in most love stories, there are depictions of mismatched expectations, conflicting situations, remorse and grief, cherished moments, rejoiced nostalgia, idealistic aspirations, and eventually a unilateral resolve to call it quits. Michael Moore’s disillusionment with capitalism is…

On Obama's Refusal to Acknowledge Michael Jackson

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:49:07 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Obama’s constant denial to acknowledge racial tensions in the United States has refused him an ability to officially respect Michael Jackson’s demise. Michael- the most famous black man and the most popular black entertainer in the world history passed away. And only the fans must do all the mourning. The fans must keep Michael’s memories alive. The United States system has…

Whose Fourth of July?

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:54:52 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Even as President Obama leads the nation into the biggest fireworks show in American history to celebrate the day, the Fourth of July is a stark reminder of American inequalities, not independence.

The independence movement of American republic was not aimed at securing liberty to the inhabitants. American independence from the British Empire was not attained for the…

Ahmadinejad is the Leader the World Needs Now!

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:09:26 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Obama administration has two vital interests in Iran: continuation of war and imperialistic expansion. And neither of these remotely relate to establishment of a democratic society or any other fanciful distractions that most Americans are being spoon fed to believe in through their reactionary media propaganda.

In fact, a democratic society already exists in Iran. It is more…

Michael Jackson Will Forever Live On!

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:06:23 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

They finally killed Michael Jackson.

The music industry giants of America with their racist press collaborators took away the life of the greatest entertainer, the world has witnessed in recording history.

Michael Jackson was on a slow death since several years now. Most notably ever since he raised his voice against Sony Corporation and the exploitative music industries.…

Communists Must Win, Now That the Election is Lost

Fri, 22 May 2009 23:17:41 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Elections are social, not political events. Whereas social functions entail an understanding of, and adherence to established norms, effective political actions require empowered state of conscientious being. Democratic elections - from ancient noble Greece to enslaved corporate America - take place independent of mass empowerment, most often, by keeping the participants…

Revolutionary May Day Greetings!

Fri, 01 May 2009 18:05:06 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

(Written for publication in Radical Notes)

Relevance of this day never was greater than it is today - as a celebration of collective human progress, as a reminder of historic labour struggles, as an occasion to reaffirm class allegiance with the working poor, and the majority strugglers.

Not an allegiance to exploitative ruling class demarcations of geographical boundaries…

New American Magic Realism

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:44:56 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Now that some time has passed since the United States stopped rejoicing a routine election fanfare necessitating short term relief from the economic war the capitalist government has unleashed upon the media consumers, one needs to critically attend to the repercussion of the events that passed by.

Not only Bush-McCain administration was unacceptable to the American people,…

An Open Letter to President Obama: Against the Rhetoric of Hope

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:26:19 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

(Written for publication in Radical Notes)

Dear President Obama,

I hope you truly emerge as the hope you have claimed yourself to be.

A hope for the ordinary people, who have believed in your promises of change and cried tears of joy upon your election.

A hope that will let the likes of Bernard Madoffs to face trial and be sent to jail, not left to enjoy house arrest at his…

Satyam Scandal :: Ramalinga Raju is not the Problem

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:49:58 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

When Enron conveniently declared its bankruptcy in 2001, it not only resulted in rendering more than 5000 employees jobless, and relegating more than $1billion in employee retirement funds to vacuum, but the corporation also succeeded in eventually evading recovery of more than $40 billion of its assets. Enron's corruption was neither pathbreaking nor unique. Financial…

Workers' Rhapsody

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:13:58 -0500

All the while, all the while

Freedom mile, all the while

Been oppressed, all the while

Exploited, all the while

Set me free, set me free

Incarcerate me, set me free

Always in debt, set me free

Bank dues late, set me free

Never before, never before

Mayhem forever, never before

Darkness ahead, never before

Hopeless dejected, never before

Cannot rest, cannot rest

Hallucinate, cannot rest

Abused…

What Have We Planned For 2009?

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:03:00 -0500

Have we planned enough for the year ahead?

The terrorizing wars, conflicts, military bloodshed

Zionist lobbies, hawkish Hindus, Islamic fanatics

Have we planned enough to defeat Christian clerics?

Have we planned at all for the impending poverty?

Or a few billionaires controlling all earthly property

Forty million refugees, can't call a region their own

Have we planned at all for the homeless…

Prelude to Mumbai Blasts: Hindu Terrorism

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:29:19 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Like Mumbai, also in Maharashtra, Malegaon was the site to bomb blasts on September 5, 2008 – less than three months prior to Mumbai blasts. Three bomb attacks killed more than 31 people – mostly Muslims – while they were returning from offering Friday prayers at a mosque.

Immediately thereafter, the “India” woke up to terror alerts. Politicians and administration were quick…

Fellow Decent Human Beings...

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:38:11 -0500

Following is a translation of a poem by Sahir Ludhianvi: "Ae Sharif Insaanoen"

I find the poem to be deeply relevant to our times. Just when the majority of us are blaming the minority among us for criminal acts of terror caused by the militarists and suddenly believing in the words of "our" national politicians to caste doubts upon innocent people of another country, at a time when we Indians…

Beijing Olympics: A Humanist Success Despite Tibetan Terrorism and Western Imperialism

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:33:27 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics can easily be counted among the greatest of collective acts in human history.

Despite years of reactionary movements led by religious and sectarian groups to sabotage the Games, the Chinese peoples stood firmly with each other in solidarity and thwarted every such attempt.

For every step of success that the nation exhibited in…

Hiroshima!

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:36:57 -0400

Apologist for collective indifference

Bereft of long term amnesic stance

Capitulated dissidence

Decades of glaring carcasses

Emphasize countless tragedies

Frantically reassess the losses

Grim prospects for peaceniks

Hectored loftily by regimes

Invidious despair from mavericks

Joyous wait for impending peace

Kingdom of utopian bliss

Ludicrous beliefs never cease

Misread pages of war histories…

Political Economy Of American Colacracy

Sun, 18 May 2008 06:17:28 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

(Originally written for Kindle Magazine)

The high moral ground for American democracy rests on the presumptions of healthy, competitive and fair elections. And holding these traits to be self-evident, the elections are held with utmost pomp and show. The grandeurs associated with US polls are unparalleled and are generally considered as reaffirming symbols of multiparty…

Remembering Michael Gurevitch

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 06:15:08 -0400

My teacher is no more. Professor Michael Gurevitch passed away this morning.

As I fight my tears in disbelief, I am also smiling at my various imaginings. In my little world of unbridled imaginations, Prof Gurevitch was Woody Allen’s Side Effects and head of McLuhan’s Global Village. He was the moderator of the noise in my world of blogs. He was the caricaturist of the planet myspace. Prof…

Iran: The US Myths Perpetuate

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 06:09:18 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The recent news that the American government reports regarding Iran’s nuclear activities were motivated and based on systematic lies is no news.

Back in September 2006, the UN had condemned the US reports as false, erroneous and misleading. Vilmos Cserveny, a director of International Atomic Energy Agency had written a letter addressed to Chairman, US House of Representatives…

Ahmadinejad, Bollinger, Holocaust: the Great American Hypocrisy

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 06:03:52 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia University was arguably the most important step taken by a world leader to initiate the global peace that is so much needed in the clearly terrorized world we live in.

Ahmadinejad is a leader of significant importance—chief of a major country and representative of a major world religion-- who was humble enough to…

POSCO in Orissa - A Case of Global Masters against Local Preys

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 05:59:32 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Originally Written for Radical Notes

Pohang Steel Company (POSCO) operates two of the world's leading steel projects--the Pohang and Gwangyang works, and conducts business in over 60 countries around the globe.

Since last couple of years, POSCO has been setting goals for the economically backward and minerals-rich Orissa. If Vedanta promises the biggest university in the…

Chavez and RCTV: Whose Media is the Question

Thu, 31 May 2007 05:51:04 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

At the crux of the divided opinion regarding Chavez’s decision to take control over a private TV channel is the ever-elusive concept of human ‘freedom’.

Freedom, although is being defined purely from a consumerist-capitalist lens than from a socialist perspective. And hence what we see is demise of individual liberty, the status of savior in form of Youtube and an…

Beyond the Judiciary - Reservation as Reparation

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 05:47:47 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Written for Radical Notes

"The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expressions of the dominant material relations, the dominant material relations grasped as ideas; hence of the relations which make the one class the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of its dominance" (Marx and Engels).

The recent Supreme Court of India decision imposing a stay on the implementation…

Gun Control is the Key Question

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 05:43:36 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Virginia Tech massacre is probably the biggest such incident in the US history. But if media reports continue to term it as only thus, it will turn out as even a bigger tragedy.

School shootings are neither new nor infrequent in the US. In fact, hardly a year passes us by when we do not encounter the grim realities of gun trotting on campus areas. And yet, each time there…

Tax Deduction Day: Together We Sink

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:41:17 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Today will be remarkable for its deep venality and outright disgust. To add to the tragedy, not that many will mind it a wee bit. But as people will rush to finish filing taxes to meet tomorrow’s deadlines, it is perhaps a time to candidly examine the system of taxation that defines capitalism to a great extent.

For whom the taxes toll?

Instead of a banal question that…

A Review of "The Darker Nations"

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 22:52:00 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

[Originally published in

Radical Notes, 18 March 2007]

Vijay Prashad, The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World, The New Press, New York, 2007. Hardcover, 384 pp. Amazon/NP

The Darker Nations is a critical historiography of the Third World. Vijay Prashad's deeply instructive as well as occasionally mordant looks at events and processes that made up the…

International Women’s Day!

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 22:47:46 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

"Violence against women has yet to receive the priority attention and resources needed at all levels to tackle it with the seriousness and visibility necessary."

UN Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence against women (2006)

Before we reach another consensus on violence against women, let us examine the existing differences. For, whereas it is far easier (because it…

Capitalist Tsar of a Lost Superpower

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:44:57 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Ironies in the post Soviet days surpass those that characterized it. Despite longueurs of economic progress that “Tsar Putin” has made an exhibition out of, it must appear to be ironical that every publication worth its name declares there is more poverty and less equality in Russia these days than they ever were during Soviet days.

But what’s even more satirical are the…

Corporate Perceptions of Telecom Monopolists

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:43:26 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

In what could be the most visibly grotesque appraisal of monopolistic trends of capitalism, Jeffrey Nelson for Verizon Wireless says, the telecom industry of America is highly competitive. Washington Post quotes him as saying that consumers can choose among numerous handset models and four major providers of cellular services: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile. “If…

Suddenly Convenient Liberal Press of a Nuclear State

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 22:40:30 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

New York Times is as liberal as one can get. Dutifully criticizing the intelligence of Bush administration, it venerates the need of White House warnings. Elitism be dead. Long live the elites!

Regarding the much touted North Korean nuclear programs, the most trusted Daily editorializes:

“The North Koreans had and have an illicit nuclear arms program..... If that’s not bad…

The Fallen: Secret Prisons of Capitalism

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 22:34:47 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

“On his last day in CIA custody, Marwan Jabour, an accused al-Qaeda paymaster, was stripped naked, seated in a chair and videotaped by agency officers. Afterward, he was shackled and blindfolded, headphones were put over his ears, and he was given an injection that made him groggy. Jabour, 30, was laid down in the back of a van, driven to an airstrip and put on a plane with…

'Crash' Course from Kenneth Eng: Racism defines America

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:30:15 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

AsianWeek controversy has been quite an upset. For one, it claims to be the voice of the Asian Americans, and then goes on to publish an article written by a racist bigot who has absolutely no knowledge of his own history, and then the paper goes on to apologize while refusing to single out editors.

If only Kenneth Eng would have been the problem of it, the problem would…

New York Death Penalty: Nothing Surprising

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:23:46 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Death penalty for Ronell Wilson is unfortunate. In fact, death penalty itself is an unfortunate decree. Majority of the world population do not want such a punishment. A huge majority of capital punishment cases have been proved to be unsuccessful after being taken up. And again in the majority of capital punishment cases, entirely innocent people have been framed, and…

Orissa: Throttled Dissent, Overstepped Laws, Displaced Peoples

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 22:17:33 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Originally Written for Radical Notes

Here is a classic case of manufactured consent.

News is agog that India will have its Harvard University in next two years. Even Forbes Magazine testifies to that. The corporate media hails a proposed university in India to be the greatest hope of reified vision where huge mass of people will be educated for betterment of India’s…

People's Movements in Orissa Face Political Repression

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 08:47:18 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Originally Written for Radical Notes

One year ago, on January 2, 2006, I was in Orissa covering the most barbaric and shameful epoch in the aftermath of Kalinga Nagar incidents. 12 tribals were murdered by the Orissa state police, because they were protesting against the illegal, and inhuman encroachment of their sweet little homes by a profit-mongering private industry…

The UN has to Go. Ban Ki-moon or Not.

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 22:15:03 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Today marks the beginning of a new era. The demise of United Nations as we ever knew it. With Kofi Annan, the last conscience keeper of the largest global association formally retiring yesterday, the hopes that the UN has some utilities any longer are tarnished.

Far from being skeptical, this is perhaps a desired opinion. After all, do we really need a United Nations that…

Saddam, Ford: One Killed, One Pardoned

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 22:04:56 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Call me superstitious, but somehow I always tend to hope for the maxim that speaks: All’s well that ends well. And hence, certainly in the last week of this month, I had not imagined the year 2006 would leave such bitter memories behind.

It all started with one death: Gerald Ford’s. And ended with one execution: Saddam Hussein’s.

What has Ford got to do with Hussein? I…

Sean Bell lives on in unFree America

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 22:00:18 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The legend of Sean Bell will forever ring a bell.

And it is in the interest of the larger humanity to remember this. His brutal murder by the “50 Shots” of state power is a grim reminder of the times we live in: of the democratic forces being reduced to serve the plutocratic interests.

Police force is not separable from state machinery. Indeed, the state power is as big…

Of our racist tolerance of the Kramers..

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:59:31 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Click on the video above to watch Michael “Kramer” Richards speak on last Friday, as the audience enjoys a hearty laugh. In fact they were so enjoying that Richards was not stoned or kicked out. He went on to get exclusive interviews on television channels, entirely unharmed. No, the interviews were not conducted in some dingy prison cells, but atop celebrity couches for…

Bring the War Home - II

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 20:51:54 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

So the CNN poll says that most Americans feel no one is winning the war in Iraq. Apart from the statistical tables drawn from little more than a 1000 people who were telephoned, the CNN forgets to mention one more word in its headline: Ignorant.

Only when people are deliberately kept ignorant about the state of affairs, can they make any such claim. CNN, after perfecting…

Bring the War Home - I

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:48:43 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Amidst the impending war on people of Iran, and the ongoing oppression of peoples everywhere through military and financial means, we have limited choices.

One, we could claim refined patriotism that needs validation through the bumper stickers proclaiming, “I support my troops”. This will make some of us look politically correct, since the attacks are apparently not on…

Hindus, Muslims and Secular Traditions: Vande Mataram - II

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 20:41:49 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Vande Mataram debate has almost engulfed India these days. I would not claim it to be entirely of no consequence. And those who say that people should be left to sing what they want to, in the tradition of liberal democracy, in my view again, are continuing to enjoy a Hindu privilege. If for a moment, they would imagine how it feels to be member of a minority group being…

Lage Raho Munna Bhai: The Mahatma Strikes Back!

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 20:35:13 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Well, some news is actually good!

Like the news that Munna Bhai is back with his friend Circuit to the silver screen! In an unflinching tribute to his beloved late father Sunil Dutt, who is much missed in this brilliant sequel, Sanjay Dutt has made more than acting come alive. Writer-Director Raju Hirani has once again excelled in popularizing the conventionally absurd,…

Vande Mataram as a Hindu Hymn - I

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 20:26:44 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

There is no reason why Vande Mataram, the Indian national song, should be in controversy any longer. This song should be now scrapped and deleted from its current status.

Ever since India’s ‘independence’, this song has created controversies, and for obvious reasons. However, just as the ‘secular’ leadership of India had tried to suppress the skeletons in its cupboard, the…

Vidarbha Farmers: Genocide, not Suicide.

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 20:22:29 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

I am unsure if Shakespeare had such premonitions engulfing his worst tragedies, but the Hindu superpower India with its proud “economic growth rates” has been forcing me to wonder if we are missing the coming signs of the times. The tell-tales are here, the hints of misfortune are looming large, the sustained oppression by the Indian state on its peoples with “foreign aids”…

Happy Victory Day!

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 20:14:43 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

My father calls this, not the Independence day, but the Victory Day.

For, on August 14-15, 1947, peoples of the brave revolutionary land of India finally won the long war against British Imperialism. The war, spanning more than 200 years was fought with occasional non-violent demonstrations of millions of people, and more importantly, was fought with organized revolutionary…

Powerless in America: Blackout in New York

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 20:01:26 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Did you know that there is no power in parts of the famed New York City for last 10 days?

Highly probable, you heard it here first. Some friends wrote to me saying it was unbelievable as well. How come no one seems to be discussing it? How come no media well worth its name appears to be highlighting this crisis (one of the biggest blackouts in NY history)? Is it because most…

Who's Afraid of Gay Marriage?

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 19:57:46 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

As reproduced from the Women's Rights Blog (Tuckner, Sipser, Weinstock & Sipser, LLP)

With due apologies to Bryan Adams, the Summer of ’69 was the summer of Stonewall. New York City became a beacon for social justice in the otherwise hostile world when for the first time, the gays—ever oppressed as non-masculine—organized their confrontation against the American police and…

End Global Terrorism. Save Mumbai from Hindu Fanatics.

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 19:51:24 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Giving into pressure from his promoters, the so-called opposition parties in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has, as usual, condemned Pakistan for Mumbai blasts, and threatened disruptions to any peace talk with Pakistan. The right-wingers of India are jubilant at this prospect of forthcoming war with Pakistan, in which they hope to wipe out Islam from the world.

The…

Mumbai Blasts, Hindu Assumptions and What Needs to be Done?

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 19:45:26 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

In a large-scale human tragedy today, a series of bomb blasts in Mumbai has taken lives of more than 150 people. However, these blasts are no aberrations for the financial capital of India. Mumbai—a city governed by Hindu right-wing fanatics of India—has faced such calamities several times in the recent past.

What’s unique about the blasts in the western India –Gujarat and…

France helps Italy save Match-fixers

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 19:43:34 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Finally, the fraud is over. The conmen have been caught on camera. Two teams sans any genuine emotions of either tears or laughter came together to celebrate the end of month-long television opera that promised them millions of dollars for putting up several Acts and Scenes that would have put Shakespearian drama to shame.

If there ever was a match-fixing ever caught on…

Racist Football and Farcical Finalists!

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 19:34:20 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

4th of July was celebrated as Italian Victory day here with red, white and green all around in big honking cars, loaded with obscene shouting fans. NYPD police watched in silence by the road sides as long chain of cars went on breaking all possible traffic rules one after the other. Some people on the sidewalks might have cursed them for forgetting the 4th of July as an…

Capitalism's Standards of Success

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 19:24:14 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat.

--Jean-Paul Sartre

I apologize for the delay in posting this entry, but I guess I had to wait till the mainstream media no more confused readers with the “hot topic” any longer. I had to wait until after they would have well done away with the headlines and sensations and the matter were…

Medical Strike: Misplaced Sympathies and Denial of Privilege

Wed, 24 May 2006 19:21:27 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

I will call this the Princess Diana Syndrome. Remember that poor adorable princess who met an untimely death? The whole world just seemed to have lost this great soul who was so beautiful and could have changed everyone’s lives by posing alongside the orphans. Media everywhere from global to national to regional to local got hooked onto the image of Diana as the savior who…

Medical Strikes: Revisiting few Elite Myths

Fri, 19 May 2006 19:19:01 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Fellow reader Open to Discussion asks me some valid questions following my earlier post on the topic. I have decided to publish my answers here as well for more general readership.

OD asks:

1. why so much of poison my dear friend?

2. no where in india were the rulers were brahmins

entire UP and bihar had been ruled by Yadavs(OBC), rajasthan by jats (OBC), in tamil nadu all…

Medicos Strike: Sick! Yuck! Rotten stench!

Fri, 19 May 2006 19:14:31 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

It should not be surprising to notice that just as the Indian economy is getting liberalized day after day, Indian society is growing regressive quite at the same pace.

As an instance, we allowed private broadcasters to dominate television primetime. Once what used to be an instructional medium for a nascent republic, Doordarshan soon gave way to a television culture that…

Madhusudan Das, Mahatma Gandhi and Manual Working Class

Tue, 02 May 2006 19:05:35 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Gandhism and Leninism surely intersect at interesting crossroads. And they could be more pivotal than merely interesting. At the macro level they intersect at their common abhorrence towards militarism. At the micro level, they are one with the advocacy for community cooperatives. At both stages though, interests are similar: promote peace, for it is at this situation alone…

Why May Day?

Mon, 01 May 2006 19:02:10 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

"Yes, the celebration of May Day has truly been made official. It has been celebrated by the state. The might of the state was evident in many ways. But is it not intoxicating to think that the state, until recently our worst enemy, now belongs to us and has celebrated 1 May as its greatest festival?

And yet, take my word, if this festival had only been official, it would have…

May 1 Passing By!

Mon, 01 May 2006 18:58:44 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

May 1 has always been special to me. I am sure it is the same for many of my friends. More than 18 years ago on this day, we organized efforts to create an association of neighborhood children of Jayadev Vihar, Bhubaneswar. We must have been young and innocent then. Rakesh (Sabir Mohammad), Mituna (Mitrabhanu Mohanty), Jaji (Jayajit Dash), Munlu (Spandan Biswal) were few of…

Nepal : Whose Side Are You On?

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:55:59 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Fellow blogger Mahesh Poudyal sent me a link indicating a hope that Nepal’s big brother might at last, have decided to take peoples’ side now! I went carefully through the Indian foreign secretary Shyam Sharan’s statements that he was alluding to. And although I certainly stand by Mahesh’ sentiments and support his enthusiasm, I may have to disagree with some of his…

Rightist Rants of Vikram Buddhi

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 18:53:41 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Vikram Buddhi could be anyone. He could be the mindful mathematician, eloquently solving world riddles. He could be the calculative genius on behalf of pacifist Einstein. He could have been framed as his family is pleading . He could have himself posted the messages as he is admitting.

I see two dimensions to it: one, the action itself (online participation) and two, the…

Jack Anderson and Press Fiefdom

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 18:50:41 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

“This is our function. Our Founding Fathers understood that government by its nature tends to oppress those it has power over. Our Founding Fathers decided that there must be, there had to be, there should be and there is, an institution that keeps an eye on government. That is what we do. There is nothing in the Constitution about the freedom to practice law. There is…

Liberal Bias for War in Iran

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:48:52 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The “liberal-bias” of the media has again come to light. In the recent Los Angeles Times report “Doubts About Taking On Tehran”, the bias is evident. Clearly it’s a headline that works for the liberals. The headline exhumes that “About half those polled support military action if Iran continues its nuclear activity but don't trust President Bush to make the call.”

Throughout…

In God We Trust

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 18:38:57 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Atheists are identified as America’s most distrusted minority.

Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.”

Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

Even though atheists are few in number, not formally organized…

Oprah Winfrey, Tommy Hilfiger and Subtle Racism

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 18:29:55 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Feel the power even of the anarchic online media? Let’s remind ourselves of the Pepsi-Kanye West chain mail. It claimed that the relationship had gone sour following his political rant and Pepsi had fired him. After a few weeks of online activisms, Pepsi declared that it was not the case at all. That Kanye West and the people of color should continue the support to Pepsi.

…

No Worker is Illegal!

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 18:24:18 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Where would one read all this at one point?

1. Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, JF Kennedy, Mother Teresa, Freedom & Unity, You!, and Me!

2. Chicano Power!

3. We did not cross your borders—The border crossed US!

4. Dignidad!

5. Bush is the real criminal. Not us!

6. Bush & Fox Build a North America with Open Borders! Reform USA, Mexico, Canada.

7. …

A Specter is Haunting Europe

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 12:38:19 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside

And it is ragin'.

It'll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize

What you can't understand

Your sons and your…

Recalling Bhagat Singh

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 12:34:16 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

As an initial conversation with the Unrepentant Marxist Louis Proyect regarding the Indian revolutionaries, I produce in full a letter written by Bhagat Singh to his father Sardar Kishan Singh, who in the eve of judgment submitted a petition to the trial judges for permission to produce a defense witness to save his son.

I have typed it out from a chapter written by Bhagat…

Overheard Development of India

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 12:33:28 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

“So what do they have to say?”

“Didn’t you read the paper? The American president visited us.”

“What does that mean?”

“Of course, it means we are finally making progress. In your days, only heads of the third world countries used to come to India.”

“But we are a third world country, my child. Don’t you..”

(Interrupting..) “Yeah that’s what you think. Come to Bangalore…

Rang De Basanti: The Neo-Colonial Success Story

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:24:02 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Rang De Basanti, the biggest movie to come out of Bollywood in years is a landmark in Indian cinema history. It created records on its revenue collections in the opening week at least in 10 cities. On the opening weekend it made a phenomenal $4.79 million. In the UK alone, after its fourth weekend it raked in GBP 700,000. In India, some theatres had to start a 6am show just…

Poverty in America: Demythifying a Class Society

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 12:18:10 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

“The Czar of all the Russias is not more absolute upon his own soil than the New York landlord in his dealings with colored tenants. Where he permits them to live, they go; where he shuts the door, they stay out. By his grace they exist at all in certain localities; his ukase banishes them from others. He accepts the responsibility, when laid at his door, with unruffled…

Alive n Kicking Ideologies of Corporate China

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 12:16:05 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The lesson that China provides is simple, yet very revealing. True that the old guards of the left haven’t had a say in decades, during which periods, puppets of free markets, like Jiang Zemin have only created a “privatized” communist party by allowing business houses to have a say in the country’s governance. It’s also true that the current president Hu Jintao has proved no…

Now that Crash won, and We lost

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 12:12:52 -0500

Please click here for an abridged version of this article, published by New American Media.

By Saswat Pattanayak

(This was written long before Crash won the Oscars. I am so happy I was right. It was important for Crash to win, because the system looked from the privileged views needed to prevail over the experiences of the unheard immigrants, because thats the only way the system needs to justify…

Du Bois and American Amnesia

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 12:09:49 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

With February being declared and celebrated as the African-American Month in this country, it is only apt that we need to reflect upon the history a bit and evaluate for ourselves where we are up until now, and if this actually tantamount to celebration.

A couple of years ago, on my journey to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, I did a small survey of the…

Malcolm Vindicated, Yet Again

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:06:00 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

It was a perfect tribute to Malcolm X. The country almost forgot to recollect or celebrate him on the day he was assassinated 41 years ago. It was perfect because he would have loved it this way.

He would not have loved to be idolized, by the system of exploitation he gave up his life struggling against. Neither would he have liked to be converted into a heritage site or a…

Why Schaefer must be Schaefer?

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 12:02:11 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Once again, let’s stop making the individual an issue. Let’s not become patrons of decency by crying foul at one old politician.

Maryland Comptroller 84-year old William Donald Schaefer did ogle at a 24-yr old female aide to Governor Ehrlich. He even called her back at Wednesday’s Board of Public Works Meeting and asked her to walk again in front of everyone so that he could…

Goal-setting for Indian Economy

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 11:58:54 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

India’s economy is now fully liberalized. With the retail market open to international competition, the economy that was once predominantly agrarian is now fully capitalistic.

I spoke to few fellow Indian bloggers over the past week and found out that the scene is so euphoric that there seems to be no need to challenge even the mainstream coverage of this issue. After all,…

Netaji Subhas and Why He Is No More!

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:53:57 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

If Gandhi was the “Father” of the Indian mass-scale freedom movement , Subhas was the “Leader”.

Born and brought up in Cuttack, Orissa on January 23, 1897, Netaji Subhas became the international symbol of national liberation, of anti-imperialism, of global socialism. His was a legacy that spoke to generations of freedom fighters of the world how Che Guevera had elsewhere…

Individualistic Bestsellers and Collective Irresponsibilities

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 11:50:34 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The most read books today are the best examples of books we do not need to read.

The state of the world today is dismal, impoverished and regressive. At least, this is how the majority of the world feels. For once if we consider that state as a valid reflection, then we do not have a single major work today of any relevance that gets into the bestseller’s list anywhere in…

In India

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 11:48:16 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Hyderabad is always as good as one could get. Hustle bustle of a rural life felt across the atomized civic livelihoods, Hyderabad is the classic paradox in many senses. The celluloid dreams of the star-struck ones come into virtual slides through the millions of auto-rickshaws; the amazement of the erected few buildings get diluted via the hundreds of human scavengers amidst…

Tookie Williams Must Live On

Sat, 03 Dec 2005 11:40:04 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

All we keep hearing is the Tiananmen Square.

Only yesterday, a North Carolina man has become the 1,000th person to be executed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court upheld states' rights to order the death penalty in 1976.

1000 people killed by the States through hurling capital punishment alone in less than 30 years! What a shame...!

What’s always underscored is a system’s…

Who gets to study at the University "System" of Maryland?

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 11:34:35 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The history of my campus is replete with racism. Most of the presidents of the university were decisively racists. Segregation of students based on whiteness/color had been a constant. In a timeline I helped prepare for my office, we discovered even more startling facts, some too gory to carry online.

Well, what’s new, one would say, when ‘everyone was doing it basically…

Kudos, Khushboo! Shine, Sania!!

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 11:21:45 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Take heart.

Opinions of two Indian Muslim Women have actually rocked the mainland India. First, it was Tamil actress Khushboo who told the Tamil edition of India Today that pre-marital sex is okay “provided safety measures are followed to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases”. And now, it is the Tennis star Sania Mirza who said the size of the dress she wants…

Radical is Ideal: The forgotten contexts of Rosa Parks

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:14:18 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

It was only natural that Rosa Parks received the unprecedented recognition, as the first woman in American history to lie in state at the Capitol, an honor usually reserved for Presidents of the United States.

After all, as the conservatives would have liked to put it: She was the perfect American woman. Securely married, well settled, employed and was a quiet, patient,…

Sarkozy must go. Chirac must apologize. Mainland France must evolve.

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 11:11:01 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Now that the Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has toned down his rhetoric after a crisis meeting

Paris riots are the most significant popular revolution taken place in recent times. It is noteworthy because they are violent, yet they are not taking lives of innocent people. In this manner they are indicative that this is symbolic of the oppressed. As for the oppressors we…

Burn! Paris! Burn! The racist French must amend ways

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 11:03:50 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The French with the burden of ‘civilizing the savages’ have displayed their mammoth colonialist, racist and classist traits once again, yet again.

The recent Paris urban riots just indicate the systematic exploitative regimes called Western Democracies. The illusions that go with such democracies overwhelm the vast reality of gross injustices to the extent that folks talk…

Asma Jehangir and Larry Robinson Discuss Pakistani Freedom

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 11:00:57 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

(Also published by Anaavoice.)

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted an event “Human Rights in Pakistan--The Way Forward” with Asma Jehangir, chairperson, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Larry Robinson, former political counselor, U.S. Embassy, Islamabad this afternoon.

Clearly there was no sign that anything was moving forward apart from the…

Mitrokhin Myth and KGB Money

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 10:54:41 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Exactly 21 years ago, Indira Gandhi was assassinated.

And as the war mongers have triumphed ever since, her character sketches are being redrawn.

Latest one is related to the Mitrokhin papers. Vasili Mitrokhin is no more, but the defected ghost continues to hunt the lesser politicians of India and even prompting some right wing nick pickers to demand that they want to see…

Attack on Delhi :: Stop Blaming Pakistan

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 09:56:25 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that he expected Pakistan to honor its promise to end cross-border terrorism.

And this comes at a time when both countries are decidedly allowing not just the line of control to be deregulated, but also the manufactured cultural division across borders be illegitimated. Any impediments to that will only…

Lesser Gifts of the Western Gods

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:53:03 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The other side to child labor. Does it provide for a hope?

This postcolonial report won the “One World Broadcasting Trust / Unicef 1998 Advancement of Children’s Rights award”. And now available for direct viewing online. Click here to watch.

Also important to remember that Titu makes a living, nurtures a dream and does not give up. The reality is indeed more interesting…

Ignorance 007 - III (Lessons from Hiroshima)

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 09:49:29 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

I was afraid of the hypodermic bullet effects of the Time magazine’s story on Hiroshima. In an earlier post I was apprehensive that people may not have reasons not to believe the myth that bombings on “Japan led to end of war”, since the magazine had orchestrated the story so well (with a Japanese victim-model actually heralding the bomb on the cover and “eyewitnesses”…

Welfare Economy and Growth Rates

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 09:47:40 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

While introducing a historic bill that will guarantee 100 days of employment each year to every rural household in India, where more than 70% live in villages, Sonia Gandhi has given the most laudable quote of the year: <blockquote>“I believe an economy which is growing at 7% per year, can and should find the resources for such a crucial intervention.” </blockquote> <br />

…

Tales of the leaders and issues they lead us to notice

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 09:46:12 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Maureen Dowd comments on the father-son saga.

Not that the monarchy works any differently. But what is unforeseen are the kind of media coverage and the generated public attachment.

Mugs, t-shirts, books, dvds, calendar, greeting cards, cartoons, slogans, billboards, and op-ed columns. Bush family is the singularly most desisted in the history. Despite the junior’s thumping…

Wealth Gap and Internet Sites

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 09:44:28 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

So, Internet is the cause behind the widening wealth gap?

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) says it is. In a study published by BBC, it is concerned about websites providing househunters with data on neighborhood income levels and ethnicity.

Similar process has already surfaced in the US, the report says, where segregation is more and social cohesion is less. In effect,…

Recalling this Independence Day

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:43:27 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

I celebrated the independence day fine.

Well that’s the India’s freedom from the British Raj, I am referring to. August 15th midnight hours were the times of the “trysts with destiny” as Nehru proclaimed. And I am just going to reflect on the layers of destinies in store now.

Switched on the television set to find if there was any anti-colonial flavor, any celebration of a…

Awakening Aryan Man

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 21:10:44 -0400

Looks all cute! 13-year old twins. Some popular music band too.

…fast forward:

“When the man who plows the fields is driven from his lands.

When the carpenter must give away what he's built with his own hands.

When a mother's only children belong to her no more.

And black masked men with guns come bashing down the doors.

Where freedom exists for only those with darker skin.

Where lies and…

Ignorance 007 - II

Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:40:09 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Welcome to the world of History-telling. American ishtyle.

Time on its cover story (anniversary special) educates the readers about Hiroshima, with a Japanese witness on its cover holding a picture postcard.

The essay by Michael Elliott says:

The atom bombs dropped over Japan ended a terrible war and persuaded the world never to use nuclear weapons again. Time quotes Van…

Ignorance 007 - I

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 09:39:19 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Histories can be telling. Especially when they are told by the mainstream American media.

The country of concentrated wealth also has the knowledge distribution centralized and no wonder from John Stewart to Michael Moore, the public humorists often cite how many Americans think Canada is another Hawaii (but now since they are required to carry passports to Niagara Falls,…

Individualistic Nationalism for the NeoCons

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 09:38:21 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

What is the equation between individualism and nationalism in the neocolonial period?

With most nations breaking free from foreign dominations (although quite many still remain occupied, viz., Sikkim in India or Hawaii in US—and their status are not likely to be challenged anytime soon), have preached individual progress, what effectively has taken place is an enforced…

Pretty Faces of the Free Market

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 09:35:36 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Women are the face of the business today. If that’s some claim the West is making to advance capitalism ethos, folks better watch out. The internal contradiction is here to stay: women stay as the face, whereas the men rule as the rest (muscle and the money).

One of the popular and reformatory feminist arguments made against the Third World nations and the former socialist…

Necessary Illusions of the Indian Prime Minister

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:32:27 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

I don’t have any problem with Manmohan Singh per se. What hurts is the expectation of people to expect any better from him.

Apparently only after the Indian PM shamelessly praised the “good governance” model of the British colonial rule, both the rightist and leftist parties have vehemently stood up against him.

True, Singh insulted the sentiments of all patriotic Indians…

Heart of the Beholder

Wed, 27 Jul 2005 09:26:28 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Often times we are led to believe that the extreme religious fanatics oppose the prevailing administrations. The ruling governments condemn the extreme rightists and call for restrain. And the population is led to believe that the fanatical barbaric causes are espoused by a small minority of believers who have nothing to do with the political parties they are in support of,…

New York City-- Liberty of Statues and Oppression of peoples

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 09:25:35 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

My New York tour this weekend was a well deserved one. The complexities and contradictions that map the country are so defined in this city of countercultures that it’s amazing to notice them visibly, despite the manufactured calmness.

The hungry and homeless in Manhattan scrounging for leftovers in trash, the piles of human defecation and unattended garbage in New York…

As the Hunger Strike Continues...

Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:24:24 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

It’s only fair that the ironies played out once again.

The Guantanamo Bay is just one of the contradictions. The “land of the free” after 200 years of systematic discriminations and unjust warfare that continues even to this day, has shined at the Bay.

Over 9,500 US troops are stationed in this sole U.S. base on a Communist soil. And the detainees are not told whether they…

Economic Growth in the Phony Democracies

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 09:23:04 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Robert A Dahl cites the table of Arend Lijphart’s “Pattern of Democracy” in his book “How democratic is the American Constitution” (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003).

Dahl says there are 22 countries in the world that have steadily remained political democracies since at least 1950: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,…

Gandhi as the Marketplace of Ideas - II (The Bhagat Singh Factor)

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 09:16:14 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Raj Kumar Santoshi’s film on Bhagat Singh was powerful, to say the least. It most appropriately showcased the hero and his missions. Among five films on Bhagat Singh released that year (2002), Santoshi’s movie topped. It was the only worthwhile cinematic experience one can have about the freedom fighter. And so far, the only film ever made on him that’s notable, anyway.

…

Gandhi as the Marketplace of Ideas - I

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:14:48 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Gandhi was never out of the limelight. But since a couple of years now, he has been in it for all the wrong reasons.

The pan-African movement recognizes him as a crude Indian nationalist by citing that he never stood up for the then South African Black people as much he did for the Indian population. The Indian rightists ruling class abhor Gandhi for his alleged…

One theory in the life of Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

Sun, 17 Jul 2005 08:12:51 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Let’s revisit Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, the man who did the Capitalism proud. The only person whose accounts in form of two books, are the sacred texts so far to have been used by the West to attack the Soviet history.

He was a Cossack intellectual, meaning a Cossack elite.

Who is a Cossack? In the 15th century, the Cossack society was a loose federation of…

Why Salman, Why Now?

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 08:08:39 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

There is no news in the items being circulated by the media about Bollywood actor Salman Khan's connection with the Underworld. Instead the news that should be worth a credential follow-up now is: Why is Salman in the news now?

First, the conversations that are making news now were published by Hindustan Times way back in August 2001. Salman has since denied that the alleged…

Sarcastic Justice in Battlefield of Religions

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:05:51 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

In 1992-1993, more than 2000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed following the demolition of the Ayodhya mosque in India. Not only was destruction of this monument illegally conducted by Hindu fanatics, but they also went ahead to cause communal violence all over India. Not only the Hindu fanatics were the factors behind the violence, but the majority loss of human lives and…

Of the Stoic Citizens and Reactionary Governments

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 08:02:24 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Part of fighting terrorism, the British realize, is refusing to change a way of life, writes Andrew Sullivan, and he calls it the "Quiet Power of the Stoic” in the Time Magazine this week.

Well, one will wonder why I stoop to quote Sullivan on the same page where I quote Neruda. Not quite unreasonable considering that today’s media provide the sort of inspirations like…

Air Supply in Cuba: Who is Surprised?

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 07:59:50 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Air Supply performed in Cuba for two days!

Nothing surprising to Havana. Cubans were enthralled, floored and they very warmly welcomed Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell.

It was yet another surprising event for the Western mainstream media to digest. Of course, no one covered it live or even secondarily. Mostly, they got the news off the Associated Press brief. And even…

They Could not Out Gavaskar At All!

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 07:57:46 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Sunil Gavaskar turns 56 today. Happy Birthday, Sunny!

For the uninitiated and the ungrateful, Gavaskar brought Cricket alive.

The game of Cricket was not always a gentleman’s game. Nor it was always the greatest team game ever devised. It certainly was not such a delightfully artful game either.

Not very long ago, even at the turn of the 20th century, Cricket used to be…

Amitabh Bachchan still is the Sarkar

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 07:53:57 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Amitabh Bachchan is the most popular star on the planet today. BBC Poll did not need to have confirmed it. If it took passion towards art, commitment towards people and talent for performance to be an admired star, AB has demonstrated them in plenty on the screen.

Two recent movies he has starred in, Khakhee and Sarkar are exemplary in theme and outstanding in…

Judith Miller: Reproduction of Journalistic Myth

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 07:51:26 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

So who is a journalist? One who is ideal or who is pragmatic?

I guess there is the dilemma which has caused the storm in the teacup. At least that’s what has distinguished the actions of NYT and Time.

Two major mainstream media publishing houses acted contradictorily when it came to their reporters. And brought up the core structures and functions of journalism to question.…

London Blasts: First They Killed the Africans...

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 07:50:08 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

First they killed the African peoples. Injected hunger and deprivation. Malnutrited them. Abject poverty led to baseless violence. They provided the poor with the rich man’s guns. So that the poor stay as domesticated security guards of the conquerors and merciless killers of their own peoples.

Then they killed the Asian peoples. Colonized them and plundered away to merry.…

War and Peace

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 07:49:14 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The questions on war need to be repositioned. I do not think the ethics of peace can ever invalidate the reasons for war.

The conflictual and often contradictory separatism existing between the war mongers and the peaceniks is one of no useful consequence. Extremisms that characterize both the cases make them ineffective. “War at any cost” or “Peace at any cost” lend…

Will Advani Serve?

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 07:48:08 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

It takes 13 years to imagine justice!

The most tragically inhuman day crafted in the post-British India was felt on the December 6th 1992. The most dastardly acts of religious dogmatism felt victorious on this day. Babri Masjid was demolished officially, with the help of the rightist Hindu fanatics at the State and the Center.

Far from being ashamed, the involved…

Political Economy of Indo-Pak Wars - II

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 07:47:09 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

In March 2000, US President Bill Clinton made a noteworthy visit to India (that loathed nuclear power..), the first by a sitting U.S. president in 22 years! It was followed up by Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee who visited the US in September that year, addressed a joint session of Congress, and became the chief guest at the largest-ever state dinner hosted by the America. So…

Political Economy of Indo-Pak Wars - I

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 07:45:50 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The recent India-US defense pact was not as “unprecedented” as being hyped. Indeed the collaboration (read US surveillance) has been going around for quite some time now.

With the fallout of a state stable economy and emergence of irresponsible globalization, defense deals became one of the fallouts. It was only natural that India’s declaration of itself as a Nuclear State…

Wealth is Health

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 07:29:49 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Let’s talk about healthcare today. Logically, the most neglected sector in an individualistic society.

Needless to say, healthcare is not a state responsibility anywhere in the world. Even as the unwell are left to fend for themselves, they always have been needed to take care of financial needs of the medical professionals. As is with the doctors, representing a class of…

We Suspect, Therefore We Are - II

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 07:28:04 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Well, do minorities in the US think they have a shared history?

Logically no, if they intend to continue remaining minorities. Else they would be the majority of people (just by the sheer volume of their class structure and solidarity with their White working class counterparts). But the amazing thing is there is a dearth of education regarding a subconscious that there…

We Suspect, Therefore We Are - I

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 05:05:22 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The long history of conflicts between the marginal groups to vie for each others’ blood is a well known one.

One of the major reasons behind the conquerors’ successes in sustained oppression has been not just to divide and rule, but also to create a sense of suspicion among the ruled groups.

Let’s go one step at a time. When Amrita and I came to live by the Kreeger Drive…

Cultural Essentialism : Whose History?

Sat, 25 Jun 2005 04:59:40 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Whose purpose does it serve to reduce individuals to essential cultures? As cultural essentialism plays well into the hands of the economists and political strategists while creating the future of the underdeveloped and developing countries, the question holds promise and helps clarify few doubts.

Any quintessential viewer of Indian Diaspora movies will vouch, the films are…

Apology from the Unapologetic

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:54:17 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Upon request from a few friends, I took off the post about the “Jersey Guys”. Since they had already apologized, what use was the post anyway, any more, the winning argument went.

To refresh memory, these were the same radio personalities who called the “Orientals and Indians” un-Americans. In fact in a "ching chong" mocking Asian dialect, Carton and Rossi had declared that…

Democratic War on Freedom

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 20:58:02 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Is not the war on terror actually a war on freedom?

As more and more countries join the camp, and try to outdo each other to bring American attention to their solidarity against this so-called war on terror, the obvious question is one of agenda. What, and who is served in the pursuit?

Primarily, the anti-people lobbies. With the dawn of the end of territorial imperialism,…

Education-Military-Industrial Complex

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 20:56:36 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

A cursory look at the higher educational institutes (more prestigious, the more trenchant in their case) shows the future. And even the past.

A university is usually always isolated from the community. In physical space, it is beyond the areas where people live. The excuse: people in academic scene need more tranquility than traffic. So always in the outskirts of the hustle…

Why is Sex such a Threat?

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 20:50:38 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Lets talk about porn. The thing everyone loves to watch, but not talk. The publicly condemned thing that Russell’s Good Men don’t do.

Yet the Internet revolution’s most visible byproduct. The business which alone prevents www boom from going bust.

However starting June 23, there will be a lot of rethinking around the issue. As the recordkeeping and labeling law, 18 U.S.C.…

Divided States of Europe

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 20:49:16 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The European Union will stay a wishful nightmare. After the French, the Dutch have now stomped down the proposed bill to create the second elite world of “United States of Europe,” throwing the Britain on the spot.

This clearly is a major victory against the capitalist propagandists who intended to use the Union as a commercial and defense weapon. Three cheers to the…

Smart Mobs?

Sat, 18 Jun 2005 20:47:37 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Smart Mobs, is how Howard Rheingold calls the present and future users of hi-tech world. Whereas I totally agree with his theory that, “real impact of mobile communications will come not from the technology itself, but from how people use it”, for me, the question is not so much of how people use the technology as it is about how much autonomy are they seeking and in control…

Orissa Deaths a Tragedy and More

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:44:58 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

“Why does the weather have to be like this?”, my friend Naveen asks me. Always full of high spirits and enthusiasm, he is unusually depressed over the state of nature over which he can exert no control. Far from critical thinking and anger, its despair and sadness that loom large on him.

In Orissa, India, the heat strokes are claiming lives every day. On top of it, power…

The Hollow Men (and Women)

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 20:27:36 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Here is a list of the Senators who have refused to oppose lynching!

The list is certainly not the final one. But at least it has raised eyebrows. The latest updates can be found here.

After visiting their official websites, I have used the photos and compiled the addresses and phone numbers, in case you would want to remember them! I know, Mark surely wanted the names, at…

Answer Culture

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 20:23:05 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

In an answers-driven society, what good is a question? Well, good enough so long as its answer can be found. The go-getter, well-networked, capitalistic monopolists must find the answer, else they must freak out. Lack of answer is lack of control. Lack of control is end of the world.

But the world must continue. For it to continue, the systems must exist. And be respected.

…

What Studies Intergroup Relations?

Sat, 11 Jun 2005 20:21:02 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Of course the committee cannot come to any decisive conclusions. In a vibrant marketplace of ideas, its difficult to reach any.

Maybe we are looking for a larger consensus. But as I see it, in a democracy, any consensus is usually not reflective of the genius, rather indicative of a timely compromise.

On the brighter sides, with Ratnesh, Craig, and Gloria, the evenings are…

What You Can Do For Your Country?

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 20:19:56 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

JF Kennedy must be the hero of the Bush administration. In all the ways possible that Kennedy had thought of the American people to think of what they could do for their country instead of assuming that the country could do anything for them, GW Bush has implemented the dream.

In JFK era, it was a call for the people to sacrifice their lives to destroy a form of economy…

Same Old Cold War Vibes

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 20:18:44 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Well what does one learn from the defection of a senior operative Rabinder Singh from Indian’s covert overseas intelligence-gathering agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), to the US with the help of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)?

Nothing new that one did not know of. The so-called Cold War phase which left millions dead or stranded in haplessness, was replete…

Who Signs the Times?

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 20:17:03 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The signs of the times are often determined by the signs of the ruling classes. This houses an intrinsically flawed assumption too. Which is, that the ruling classes then are endorsed by the ruled subjects.

This first leads to a diversion I wish to address. The political correctedness of our times demand that we not call subjects thus, because they are in fact participants…

Who is a Hero?

Tue, 31 May 2005 19:05:22 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

As a continuation of an earlier debate yesterday, I still have the question fresh. Who is a hero? Do we have one? What are the criteria for choosing a hero? How does one distinguish between a leader, a hero, an icon, a legend? Is it possible to make the divisions? Is it desirable?

Are heroes needed in the society? If so, why, at all? Do they fill in the same void for folks…

Who's Afraid of a Human Rights Watcher?

Thu, 26 May 2005 18:14:11 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Check this one out.

Peter Bouckaert was in hell recently. At least that’s what he said. He was in Nepal.

The violence continues between the Maoists and the ruling class military pets, and most people who have better things to do by dying than to take a side in this case, have fallen prey. This is a sure case for Human Rights Watch. And no wonder they have someone now who is…

What Price Tag Does Silence Carry?

Tue, 24 May 2005 18:12:23 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience…therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."

Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950

Time for folks to organize and act according to the call of conscience, not out of fear or fervor.

As we emerge…

Institutes of Higher Religions

Mon, 23 May 2005 18:11:09 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

I am taken aback by the growing number of religious organizations functioning smoothly in various campuses across the United States.

Working at an office for diversity, I should be the first one to applaud such an environment where different and often competing religions are represented in such democratic fashion. After all, student organizations can be composed from…

Who's Afraid of the Cell Phones?

Mon, 16 May 2005 18:09:41 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

I have been wondering for some time now, about the sudden loss of interest in general discussion about mobile phones and their harmful effects. Around the time I was in my college and grew fascination for mobile phones, well meaning family and friends cautioned me against using them much. It appeared from research then as they appeared in the press that cellular radiations…

Contentification of the Weekend Tragedies

Fri, 13 May 2005 18:07:18 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

The contentification (well that’s due to my lack of vocabulary), of dissident communities is nothing new. It takes place by sheer force, or implicit persuasion. The sheer force is very visible, very unacceptable, for our double standards to consume. How can after all, we civilized human beings accept the ‘undemocratic’ practices?

Hence folks fought against the British in…

Does Power Corrupt?

Sun, 08 May 2005 18:05:41 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Does power corrupt?

I think the answer is No. The idea that "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" (according to Acton and the rest of 'em), is to me, a statement not only farthest from truth, but also serves a three-pronged purpose.

a) It normalizes the status quo, which might be indulged in corrupt practices. Many democracies have got away with this idea…

Castro Trivialized

Thu, 05 May 2005 18:02:34 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

What an irony that Adriana Bosch, producer of PBS documentary on Reagan and author of American Experience: Reagan had to write, direct and produce the latest Castro documentary.

I watched it tonight with disbelief as the documentary went on to describe four-decades of Cuba as a one-man show, thereby undermining a huge people’s participation. Moreover, flawed perceptions and…

Viva May Day!

Sun, 01 May 2005 18:00:08 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

And yet, take my word, if this festival had only been official, it would have…

When Confessional and Subjectivity Intersect

Wed, 27 Apr 2005 17:56:39 -0400

Words are political.

By Saswat Pattanayak

Apart from the essay by Hunter Thompson, I have chosen to dwell on Malcolm X’s Autobiography (which was co-authored by Alex Haley) and W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk (the chapter on Meaning of Progress).

_______________________________

Words are political: not just by degree of how effectively they can be manipulated, but also by the kind of…

Who fights the Battlefield of Television Ideas?

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 17:54:02 -0400

Dramatized Television just should finish its quota.

By Saswat Pattanayak

The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon

blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John

Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat

hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.

The revolution will not be televised….

Gil Scott Heron was thinking of the powerful visuals of television and their impacts on audience…

Where do I feature in my Personal Blogs?

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 17:52:02 -0400

My Blog is Mine. Therefore, Yours!

By Saswat Pattanayak

“Have you come to pick up something?”

Finally someone asked me a question. After standing for twenty minutes at the reception area of the National Press Club in the country’s capital on a Friday morning of April 2005, I felt relieved that I was being attended to, at long last.

Within these 20 minutes, two couples and two individual men had…

So Much for Freedom of Press

Fri, 15 Apr 2005 17:49:44 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

December 1791:

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, drafted by James Madison:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

March 2005:

The…

How much Freedom is Enough?

Wed, 13 Apr 2005 17:47:50 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Does freedom mean different things to different people. I would say yes. And which is why, blog freedom is still not worth a dekko for most people at this point.

But if we look before we leap to this conclusion, it will be indeed foolish.

There are at least two resulting conclusions:

One, freedom is necessary

Two, It is not.

I think both ends of the freedom spectrum have…

Why the Top Stories need to be Perverts?

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 17:46:28 -0400

Between the stories, why does it have to be the big fish?

By Saswat Pattanayak

A powerful underwater earthquake which struck off the west coast of Indonesia may well have been the main news of the 29th March edition of New York Times, but it compares poorly with the Michael Jackson trial story which received almost twice the space in the paper (688 words as compared to 1200 words). Interestingly,…

Who's Afraid of this thing called Blog?

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 17:43:38 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

If there is just one way to define a blog, I would do it thus: a series of chronologically arranged journal entries available online alongwith several sourced hyperlinks. In terms of type, this one definition does it well. In terms of degree though, if there are to be more definitions than one, which I am sure is the compelling case: there are plenty. And it is amidst this…

Do you deserve the Opinions you get?

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 17:42:04 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

In an editorial on April 4, The Weekly Standard came down heavily on the federal judges for citing “evolving standards of decency” to save the life of Christopher Simmons who was earlier sentenced to death by the laws of Missouri, and contrasted the logic with Terri Schiavo’s case, arguing that the standards of decency were not enough to save the latter’s life.

The attempt…

How Personal are my Blogs?

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 17:39:46 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

With the world of things around me, I would not have opted for a life to begin with. What rightful a life is if my happiness is conditional upon some others’ discomforts? Not only was I brought to this world without my expressed permission, but each act of mine subsequently were determined by existing norms of an (in)human society which has resulted in mutual hatred among…

How International are the Global Mags?

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:38:02 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The three global magazines Time, Newsweek and US News and World Report, magazines are available in the developing world as widely as any of the more “local” periodicals. Indeed, despite the costs (each of these issues costs more than eight times the price of lets say, India Today or Outlook magazines in India), I have, like many of my friends, grabbed the copies to have…

What's New About My Blogs?

Fri, 04 Mar 2005 17:35:37 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Amidst hope, there is despair. Nothing astounding. But surely, not a matter of one exercising free will to carve out the hope and purge the despair.

Where I do exercise my free will, is where I blog.

I do not feel vulnerable as I blog. Indeed, I get empowered. There is no feeling as powerful as knowing that one is able to express the voice within. The medium well could be…

Why Do I Blog?

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:28:27 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

I blog, therefore I am. Without blogging, I would surely have an essence, but no existence. Not only does existence precede the essence, but I am of the view that, to exist one carves a different path than to live off the essence.

To exist, I need to know that I do. To discover my essence I need only to see the outcomes of my participation in the social production process.…

The Economist: Are these journeys through the Hollow Tunnel?

Fri, 18 Feb 2005 17:24:27 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

I see a clear bias of The Economist: a colonial bias. Even as Tony Blair report on Africa suggests that foreigners who pay bribes should be punished, and foreign firms that extract minerals from African soil should be more transparent in their dealings with local governments, The Economist is quick to point out that foreigners do not cause corruption. Indeed it justifies the…

Case of Bajaj and his friends at the Times of India

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 17:22:10 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The arrest of Avnish Bajaj, CEO of US-based auction portal eBay’s Indian subsidiary has caused concerns among high level government officials on India and the US including from US state department spokesman Richard Boucher. I am sure he should be sure of how to treat offenders who could be accused of child pornography in the US. But what I hear is that quite the contrary, he…

Who are the People of Color?

Fri, 17 Dec 2004 17:21:01 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

One undergraduate student writes to me that the term <em>”people of color</em> is very offensive and I am surprised that it was used in the survey," referring to the post-test survey conducted after the dialogue program. Incidentally, she was a participant in a video I had created to record dialogue reactions.

I do not disagree with her statement, and in a way completely at…

Time's New Science of Sleep (and what's wrong with it)

Thu, 16 Dec 2004 17:19:25 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Bob Dylan in the Spring 1965 documentary “Don’t Look Back” (made by D.A. Pennebaker) is seen to be refusing to give an interview to the Time magazine reporter. After the reporter persists, Dylan finally says that he would not talk to that magazine because its read by the elites, who else?

Exactly 40 years have passed since. On its December 20, 2004 issue, which by no means…

Merit Debate I

Thu, 16 Dec 2004 17:13:40 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

In the last fortnight, at least two eminent professors and two international administrators ran into arguments with me on a specific subject: Merit.

Does the issue of ‘merit’ merit a discussion?

I guess so. At least when we consider the range of issues it brings forth.

Lets start with Merit-iocracy

Like bureaucracy, Merit-iocracy deserves to be loathed, hence less talked…

Threat Perception and Indifference

Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:16:22 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

"...We only wish we had more cameras to show the world their true defeat...."

The Iraqi Resistance speech videotaped on December 13 2004 has been released, titled Title: Communiqué Number 6. I do not know how many of you saw the video or read the transcript, but I am certain that the knowledge of it will help.

The dangers of not acknowledging that things as terrible as…

Social Justice 101

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 17:09:47 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Today was the day for Social Justice from Classroom to Community. At least in my campus. Organized by the office I work with.

Click here for Complete Story

The event was meant to be the last of the sessions where a couple of hundred students went through what we call Intergroup Dialogue Programs. This was of course meant to demonstrate how to implement the learning in the…

Election, huh?

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 17:08:17 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

The party’s over. The cola war went well. All of them were proved wrong, especially those who thought I wont show interest in the polls since I dont have a stake!

Look who won the bet. In the god’s country, the devil is still fighting.

Of course I stayed awake the whole WHOLE night. Despite the fact that I had three classes to attend the next morning! My Professor pardoned…

Business of Blogs

Fri, 29 Oct 2004 16:50:51 -0400

Famously described as the free forum for virtual communities, blogs have been of late developing the vibrant industry traits of attracting revenues. Despite being acclaimed as an outcry against big media monopoly and providing for scopes of a participatory democracy where the aim is ideally to live life online with fellow members of the community without having to worry about the rents and the…

An Unusually Delightful Class

Mon, 21 Jun 2004 16:47:32 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Following was my screening of a movie and contextualization of it in the class of Prof. Nirupama Prakash. Dr Kathy McAdams too came by to attend the class.

Tracing the utility values of films in understanding society and predicting social characters to inspire movies have been the preoccupation of post-colonial discourses. In addition, there is a need of subjective…

Chinese Cultural Sphere

Tue, 27 Apr 2004 16:45:33 -0400

(This paper was produced for JOUR 776 under guidance of Prof Carol Rogers)

The Internet and the rise of a transnational Chinese cultural sphere

By Goubin Yang (2003): A critique

By Saswat Pattanayak

The Net is the world's only functioning anarchy but it could soon become a major tool for democracy. By allowing anyone, everywhere access to the information and opinions of anyone else, anywhere else,…

Media Research Through the Western Lens

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 12:26:57 -0400

(This paper was produced for JOUR 776 under guidance of Prof Carol Rogers)

"Globalization, media audiences and television news: A comparative study of American, British, Israeli, German and French audiences" - By Anandam Philip Kavoori (1994) :: A critique

By Saswat Pattanayak

Kavoori’s work is unique from three standpoints: firstly, this is a comparative media study across five, instead of…

A Canon During Information Age: Manuel Castells' "Media as the Space of Politics"

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 12:18:44 -0400

(This paper was produced for JOUR 801 under guidance of Prof Michael Gurevitch)

By Saswat Pattanayak

When Will Durant attempts at making Shakespearean literature a canon in Philosophy, he uses two well known quotes: Of Touchstone asking Corin “Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd?” and Hamlet’s “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Durant…

Bob Dylan Continues to Amaze

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 12:17:08 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Watching Bob Dylan at Warren Theatre (with Gloria) today was a unique opportunity: one could almost come to terms with how resigned life can be at times. The voice that once commanded, spoke with confidence; the words that were written with optimism and sung with amazing vigor; the celebrity that refused interview to Time magazine because it was elitist and the worker who…

Radical Alternative Media

Wed, 17 Mar 2004 12:14:57 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

My proposed syllabus for a class on Radical Alternative Media:

Media have often been depicted as part of the fourth estate in a democracy, the other three wings being the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Role of the media, their representations of “social reality”, as well as biases in their reflections have often held center stage of public concern.

But, on…

Hip Hop Origins

Thu, 11 Mar 2004 12:14:35 -0500

Compiled by Saswat Pattanayak

Time 1983:

This subculture, nicknamed hip hop, is about assertiveness, display, pride, status and competition, particularly among males. Clothes are not only a part of this offhand cultural statement; they are a kind of uniform for cultural challenge.

People Weekly 1983:

Born in the Bronx and Harlem in the mid-'70s as a reaction against disco, rap lays a hip-hopping…

Women Journalists in Hindi Films: Stereotyping the stereotypes

Tue, 09 Mar 2004 12:10:56 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Literature Review:

Not just the films themselves, the writings on the portrayal of women in popular Hindi films have too, long been dictated by assigning extremes—the woman’s prerogatives to belong to a side, of the evil or the virtuous, the vamp or the Madonna.

Most authorship have evolved with historical representation of women in Bollywood to lead a discourse on the…

Who Creates Jayson Blairs?

Sun, 29 Feb 2004 08:13:51 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

Jayson Blair is the latest disgrace. But the unparalleled publicity he is getting is beyond reason. And the breeding ground for such a claim to defame is incidentally my college.

What should not come as surprising is that we breed journalists to be truthful, and credible, instead of socially relevant and useful.

Hence with much stress on these unattainable traits as…

Australia faces aboriginal wrath

Wed, 11 Feb 2004 12:09:41 -0500

Australian aboriginal activist Michael Anderson has stirred some feathers for sure!

Shouting at top of his voice that Australia does not deserve to be on the UN human rights body, he has a question: How can a racist country like Australia have a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission, much less chair it?

Well, I must say I am listening to Anderson, who is a facilitator of the…

Happiness is not a State of Mind

Sat, 20 Dec 2003 09:25:27 -0500

By Saswat Pattanayak

What price is happiness? Does it cost? Can one buy happiness? No matter what the sacred texts or the greeting cards have said, I know happiness costs. And only a section of people can afford to buy it. Its either happiness for all, or happiness for none. But till then, its advantage, some.

Whoever said I was happy and content? The question is not about whether I am, rather,…

Peoples' Poet

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 09:24:11 -0500

I call myself a Peoples Poet. Representing the peoples. Our aspirations and despairs. Which are mine, too. Our anguish and anger. Again shared. Our loves and sorrows. It’s all here in my poems. The words are mine. But the feelings are shared. I owe it to all of us and all those who cant understand this language. Because the feelings are shared, anyway.

I write because I have to write. I give…

Why Paul Robeson Matters?

Sun, 23 Nov 2003 09:22:25 -0500

Why Paul Robeson matters? Because he loved humanity. Because he said he loved humanity. Because he made efforts to show that the world can be loved, no matter what color or race, ethnicity or religious orientations. Because he added another component to the discourse of diversity: political conscience.

Robeson matters because politics matters. Because political diversity is the mainstay of…

We are the World

Thu, 20 Nov 2003 09:19:45 -0500

What happens in the least ‘developed’ state of India? Does it hurt to see? Is it time to change the posters on the wall? To remind self of the fact that people actually died of starvation every year I have lived. Even this year in a “democracy” (sorry, welfare economists/Nobel laureates). And is the world very different in Orissa? Or is it just us? Is corruption alien to the American democracy?…

Sur - A Review

Wed, 22 Oct 2003 09:16:44 -0400

Review by Saswat Pattanayak

Fish Eye Network Productions

Starring: Lucky Ali, Gauri Karnik, Simone Singh, Achint Kaur, Ehsan Khan, Harsh Vasishth, Yashoodhan Bal and Divya Dutta

Music: M.M.Kreem

Lyrics: Nida Fazli

Editing-Hemanti Sarkar

Cinematography: Nirmal Jani

Producer: Rangita Pritish Nandy

Writer and Director: Tanuja Chandra

Sur is an unusual movie. It’s a wise juxtaposition of both art and…

Institutionalizing Legends

Thu, 16 Oct 2003 08:02:41 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

How justifiable is it to institutionalize the people who have throughout fought the institutions in their lives?

The counter-argument of course which runs says that these people have laid down their lives so that the new institutions come to force.

But then the pertinent question should address the issue of the new institutions to verify if they are the reflections of what…

Idi Amin and his Friends of the World

Sat, 16 Aug 2003 08:21:55 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Good riddance to bad rubbish…

Well almost. I don’t think we had a good riddance of this character at all. The notorious former Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, has died in exile in Saudi Arabia today.

And who saved him from being killed or lapidated (stoning one to death)? For someone who wiped out 400,000 people like a fascists, the media portrayed him as a buffoon and a…

Soviet Scholars Being Assassinated!

Sun, 10 Aug 2003 14:18:22 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Russian Orientalist, Prof. Grigory Bondarevsky has been murdered in Moscow. Of course, he used to take special interest in the subversive role of Western intelligence agencies in the history of India, Iran and Arab countries.

And of course, after dissolution of the USSR, the systematic obliteration of the original researches have been started full force. Indeed, Bondarevsky…

Hindu seer pioneers innovative methods of mass disturbances

Fri, 18 Jul 2003 09:13:36 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

Kanchi Sankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati, the Hindu seer has of course gone ahead and come down on the rejection of his formula on the Ayodhya issue by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB).

He would not agree for a court to settle Ayodhya issue (the most shameful mass behavior in India since the times when we tolerated the British on Indian land).

Jayendra…

India joins the fight against Struggling Peoples

Sun, 13 Jul 2003 09:11:26 -0400

Thanks to 9/11 and the global fight against repressed people.

The Ministry of Defense in India has planned to setup an elaborate network of electronic warfare (EW) systems in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast to help the security forces fight the terrorist threat.

The government say the idea is to equip the security forces with improved and upgraded communications infrastructure to counter the…

Flagging off irrelevance

Thu, 10 Jul 2003 09:15:31 -0400

By Saswat Pattanayak

So much ado about nothing.

As if flagging off buses across the border meant any thing. Between India and Pakistan, the drama continues. The rightist power claims that solves the problems which persisted throughout the five decades of the existence of the countries as political democracies (or whatever).

The drama has reached a stage when its painfully funny. People are…

The Group of Rogue Nations

Mon, 16 Jun 2003 08:30:21 -0400

G-8 Summit finally concluded in Evian, France. As we know, a group of rogue nations met at the summit to encourage cooperative (read: competitive) action on key global priorities (read: globe is defined by them) : spurring economic growth (read: of their own markets); combating terrorism (read: to curb popular resentments in their countries); preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass…

On my Birthday!

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 08:27:49 -0400

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation are people who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. That struggle might be a moral one; it might be a physical one; it might be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did…