Paara

New Delhi: A group of concerned citizens yesterday expressed deep concern over rapid communalization of the mainstream Malayalam media in the recent time, citing news reports on Soofiya Madani, “Love Jihad,” Beemapally police firing and “Dalit terrorism.” They urged them to fulfill their role to check excesses by the state, and not to work as agent of communal forces.
Addressing a press conference at Indian Women’s Press Corps in New Delhi the intellectuals expressed concern over the mainstream Malayalam media reportage of the anticipatory bail hearing of Soofiya Madani in the Kerala High Court in connection with her alleged involvement in a conspiracy that led to the burning of a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus at Kalamassery, Kochi in September 2005. “Many of these reports bordered on pronouncing her guilt with complete disregard for judicial processes and the rule of the law.”
This kind of reportage can be understood only in the backdrop of a disturbing new trend in the Kerala media and civil society vis-à-vis representation of issues and concerns affecting religious and caste minorities, they said.
Dr John Dayal, Christian leader and Member, National Integration Council, noted Malayalam poet K Sachidanand, Professor Ramakrishnan of Jawahalal Nehru University and human rights activist Bobby Kunhu were addressing the press.
“Apart from vitiating the communal harmony of the state, this trend also encroaches upon the fundamental rights of people to fair trial, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of association, freedom to practice and preach a religion and right to equality regardless of caste and religion
along with other fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India,” they said in a statement.
They also expressed concern on media report on “Love Jihad,” Beemapally police firing and “Dalit terrorism.”
On “Love Jihad” they said: It was two cases of inter-religious love affairs that the media took up and blew out of proportion to create the bogey of “Love Jihad.” In both these cases, what was involved was love and attraction between Hindu women and Muslim men, which led to marriage and the
conversion of the Hindu women into Islam. Following this the mainstream media in Kerala went on a rampage, claiming that thousands of women were being lured into converting to Islam by Muslim boys who were doing this as part of “Love Jihad.” This led to Justice K T Sankaran’s remarks on “Love Jihad” and directions to the police to conduct investigations on it.
“This campaign not only vilifies women as being incapable of decision-making, but also portrays young men of the Muslim community as members of “Love Jihad” without any proper investigation or proof for doing the same. This regressive campaign was not stopped even after the Kerala
> police clarified that such a phenomenon does not exist. It has come to a temporary end only after another judge of the Kerala High Court put a stop to all investigations on the issue, saying that one could not target any particular community and that “inter-religious marriages are common in
our society and cannot be seen as a crime.”
The local media had earlier showed its biased attitude in Beemapally police firing case.
On May 17, 2009 six Muslim men from a fishing community were killed and 47 others injured (27 of them had bullet injuries) in a police firing in Beemapally. “But most of the Malayalam media observed silence on the incident while rights groups brought out the fact that it was extremely unjust and criminalized violence by the police and government suspended some police officers.”
Likewise the Kerala media created a bogey of “Dalit terrorism” after a murder in Varkala.
The Malayalam media coined the term of “Dalit terrorism” following the murder of a middle-aged man in Varkala regardless of the identities of the victim and the offender. They said the offenders were activists of a dalit organization then they published unsubstantiated reports about the existence of a dalit terror network. “This legitimized large scale prosecution of the organization’s activists and violent attacks on them by members of Shiv Sena.”
“All this shows the impunity with which the Malayalam media is treating issues related to caste and religious minorities. It easily communalizes every issue related to the Muslim community and works to spread hate and suspicion about them. Similarly, it also misrepresents caste issues and works to reiterate existing prejudices,” the intellectuals said.
Interacting with pressmen, Dr John Dayal said: Malayalam media resisted the might of Emergency in 1970s but today it has slipped into communalization. Minority communities are getting negative coverage in Malayalam media. He condemned media propaganda on “Love Jihad.” “Allegation that youth of a particular community are luring girls of another community defies known logic,” Dr Dayal said.
K Sachidanand, famour Malayalam poet and writer, termed communalization of the local media as crisis of faith. “Malayalam media is facing crisis of faith in secular ethics and principles. The Malayalam community is traditionally secular and believes in communal harmony but the media today is vitiating
that atmosphere,” he said. He expressed concern on sudden rise in sensationalization and communal reporting in Malayalam media.
“Bearing Muslim name has become a problem in the country. By branding an individual or community a terrorist, authorities are taking away all their human rights,” he said warning that “deliberate attempts to distort facts in communal news reports will destroy communal harmony.”
Prof. Ramakrishnan of JNU said: By such reporting they are creating a situation wherein Muslim youth can’t talk to Hindu/Christian girls. This will destroy communal harmony.

pillai01@hotmail.com
To: rajanry123@gmail.com
Sent: Sun, December 13, 2009 9:17:45 AM
Subject: SAD NEWS ABOUT FOKANA
Dear Malayalee friends,
It is with profound sadness and very serious concern that I am sharing the following information with all the member associations of FOKANA and the public at large. Did you know that there are more than 10 organizations named FOKANA that were registered by people associated with the ‘Fokana’ in different states? People used slight variations in the name so that each of these ‘fake Fokana’ can claim to be the real one.
We all know the one ‘Federation of Malayali Association of North America (FOKANA)’ which was incorporated about 25 years ago in Maryland with Mr. Parthasarathi Pillai serving as registered agent. This is the Fokana that most people are familiar with. This is the Fokana that the associations took membership in. This is the Fokana that we were told, had ‘tax exempt charitable organization’ status from the IRS. This is the Fokana that conducts the conventions. At least that is what everyone believed. However, recently made available information from the government suggests that all those who believed the above were victims of a massive scam..a fraud. If you want to know the details and protect yourself from possible tax, legal, and financial consequences, please read on… The ‘original Fokana’ was registered in Maryland about 25 years ago. Now, according to information released by the State of MD, status of this Fokana is ‘forfeited’. (Please review the attached information released by the State of MD.) And according to IRS, they have no record of this organization having tax exempt charitable organization status. (Please check the web site of IRS or call them for information)..

And the deception continues! Another FOKANA was incorporated in Maryland under the name of ‘Fokana Inc.’ on Sept 3, 2008 with the same address and Mr. Pillai acting as the registered agent. At this time the status of that organization according to the State of MD is ‘not in good standing’.
The deceptions don’t end with this. A 3rd Fokana was incorporated on Sept 29, 2009 in the state of MD. They named it ‘Federation of Kerala Association in America’. The registered agent is one Donald Nixon. no non profit 501 c status.

There is a 4th, 5th, 6th and more. ……………………………………will continue this process.

Individuals and Organizations presently associated with Fokana or considering associating with Fokana in the future, may want to ask some questions to protect themselves and the organizations. Considering their history, you may also want to do some investigating yourselves before taking any decisions.

Suggested Questions to ask the present leaders of Fokana:

Which Fokana is this?
How long has this Fokana been in existence?
Where is it registered?
When was it registered?
Who is the registered agent?
Are there any members in this organization at this time? If so, is it with the approval of the members that this organization was registered?
Are the articles of incorporation filed with the state? Will the Fokana officials provide you with a copy?
Does this organization have ‘Tax exempt Charitable Organization’ status from the IRS? If so when was it obtained?
Is Fokana in compliance with all applicable state and federal regulations?
Answers to the above will help you determine the legitimacy of the organization that you are a member of or considering to join. It may also help you avoid problems with IRS in the future.
If you have associated with Fokana in the past, and have made contributions which you deducted in your taxes as charitable contributions, you may be in for a nasty surprise from IRS!! All courtesy of the leaders of Fokana!!!
I have been a firm supporter of Fokana for over 20 years. I believed in the leadership of Fokana. However, information from the government about ‘Fokana’ leads me to believe that the leadership has been perpetrating a massive fraud on the Malayali community of North America. The attached documents, and verifications from IRS and other government agencies will convince you of this. There are more than 10 FOKANA-like associations that are existing in different states in different names and the status is either alive or fortfeited. The reason behind this email is for nobody to be cheated in our community. Any officials of any organisations supposed to work under the constitution and by laws
Will the enlightened Malayalees of North America forgive these fraudsters that masquerade as leaders of Fokana.

Sincerely,
Purushothaman Nair

Should prostitution be legalised or decriminalised?
By Sanu George
Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 14 (IANS) Will legalising prostitution, an issue raised by the Supreme Court, end the exploitation of thousands of women pushed into the flesh trade and help curb the spread of HIV or would it be better to decriminalise it?
On Wednesday, Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A.K. Patnaik of the apex court told Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam on the matter of prstitution that “when you say it is the world’s oldest profession and when you are not able to curb it by laws, why don’t you legalize it? You can then monitor the trade, rehabilitate and provide medical aid to those involved.”

Kerala Education and Culture Minister M.A. Baby said there are countries that have legalized the world’s oldest profession “but in a place like ours which has a rich cultural ethos, this certainly cannot happen”.

“In order to tackle HIV, basic education has to be provided to all with special emphasis on adult education at the Plus 2 levels. The present employment guarantee scheme should also be spread across the length and breadth of the country. Child marriages should not take place and land reforms should be undertaken,” Baby told IANS.

S.K. Harikumar, behavior physician and a leading consultant in HIV/AIDS, said that legalizing and decriminialisation are two different issues.

“As far as I see this, decriminalization of multi-partner sex among both males and females should take place. This should no longer be a criminal act. The right to privacy in sexual acts, urges and desires should be vested with the individual. Legalising this will in no way guarantee anything,” Harikumar said.

According to the latest figures, Harikumar said there are more than 55,000 prostitutes in Kerala and the pattern over the years is that it has been showing consistent growth.

Fr Paul Thelakat, spokesperson of the Syro Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala, said there is no guarantee that HIV can be eradicated by legalizing prostitution but would instead aggravate it.

“We are living in a world where man and woman are equal with full dignity of a son and daughter of god. A nation must engage in greater efforts to help free women from the abuses against human dignity that result from prostitution. The state must not make prostitution a form of employment but provide other dignified employment opportunities,” Thelakat told IANS.

Nalini Jameela, 56, who has been a sex worker since 1978, is in the news because of her Malayalam book, translated into English as “Autobiography of a Sex Worker”, which sold 13,000 copies within 100 days of its release in 2004 and went through six editions.

Attending a conclave of sex workers in Bangalore, Jameela said she has to literally fight every day against the stigma attached to her profession. “We have done our best to be part of various other mainstream groups, but we are still stigmatised,” lamented the author and sex workers’ rights activist.

Nalini feels the biggest battle for her community is to make the profession legal. “Once our profession is legalised, nobody can harass us,” Nalini told IANS.

“On one hand, police use force and violence against us. Society also discriminates against us because of our profession. All this violence and discrimination will end once our profession is legalised,” she said.

(Sanu George can be contacted at sanu.g@ians.in)

By J Devika
10 December, 2009
Kafila.com

It looked as if the controversy over `Love Jihad’ ( `jihad defined as `war by other means’) had blown over with state authorities in Kerala and Karnatake denying that such a threat ever existed.The Central Government informed the Kerala High Court early this month that there was no such thing and that the term `love jihad’ was being used by the media.However, today, the Kerala High Court openly voiced its scepticism of police reports, claiming that the reports were inconsistent and citing various technical flaws.The Court claims that it is abiding by the secular spirit of the Indian Constitution: it agrees that the freedoms to choose one’s faith and one’s partner in marriage are fundamental rights. However, it feels that the present instances of marriage and conversions that have been brought to its attention are not the exercise of freedom by individuals — specifically, by young women, though the Court does not say it that way. It is difficult to imagine a more anti-Muslim and anti-woman position; and it is a serious matter that the muddle-headed reasoning of the judge has been uncritically circulated in the dominant media.

In a strong sense, the issue was blown up in the media precisely because the judiciary granted it a degree of seriousness. The snowballing started when courts in Kerala and Karnataka asked authorities to probe charges that Muslim men were “luring” “gullible” and “young” women from other religions into their religion through the promise of marriage and “forcibly” converting them into Islam. Early in October, Justice K T Sankaran rejected the anticipatory bail plea of two Muslim men and ordered the DGP, Jacob Punnose, to conduct a probe into `love jihad’.The police report was wishy-washy: on the one hand it denied the existence of such an organization; on the other hand, it hinted that some conversions may have happened in this manner.In the same month, a court in Bangalore ordered a similar probe during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition.The woman is question was an adult, but the court ordered her to stay with her parents until it was clear that she had indeed married for love.

The impact of the controversy has been devastating, especially on young Muslim men, who are now forced to carry yet another burden of suspicion.The major gainer, no doubt, has been rightwing civil society. The controversy frightens because it reveals not just Islamophobia becoming banal but also the growing capacity of rightwing civil society to silence mainstream politics, and the weakening of leftwing civil society.In Kerala, the rightwing orientation of organised Hindu and Christian faith bared its fangs, claiming that there was a well-organized, well-funded, clandestine Muslim organisation behind alleged ’seductions’ : they were referring to a few instances in which Hindu and Christian women chose to marry Muslim men — their classmates. The Christian Church issued `guidelines’ to families to `protect’ their young women from being ’seduced’. Christian and Hindu rightwing tendencies held hands : not surprising, given the fact that the former has indeed been seeking opportunities to renew closeness with the latter. In Kerala, rightwing coalitions between Hindu upper caste-community organisations and the Christian Church have historically been successful in reining in the `atheists’in a variety of issues from the mid-twentieth century onwards, the latest being sex education. This was briefly disrupted in the 1980s when the Hindu rightwing began to gain an independent presence in the Malayalee public and entered into adversarial combat with the Christian Church over several controversies. Recently, however, the alliance has been renewed, and despite the horrors suffered by the Christians of Orissa (a prominent Bishop declared that the attack on the faith was more dangerous than attack on life and property in the Church!). In fact the most recent occasion for their unity was during the `textbok controversy’ — which, interestingly, was about a textbook lesson which spoke of inter-religious marriage in which the male partner was portrayed as Muslim. Since no community leadership likes inter-community marriages, the coalition remains unaffected by incidents in which coalition partners may appear to be acting against each other: at the height of the controversy, the BJP-mouthpiece Janmabhoomi sacked a woman journalist who converted after marrying a Christian.

Historically, inter-caste and inter-religious marriage was never high on the social agenda of political movements in Kerala though the upper echelons of the communist movement did marry across caste and religion.It was always viewed as not a political, but social issue, and was promoted by a small but influential group of intellectuals led by Sahodaran K Ayappan, aligned with the rationalist movement in the mid-twentieth century.This initiative did not thrive in post-independence Kerala. The transformation of marriage in twentieth century Kerala which included the institutionalisatio n of conjugal marriage, patriliny, and dowry, the specific implications of Kerala’s demographic transition for community politics, and the inflow of remittances from the Gulf after the 1970s have endured that community boundaries, and the institution of arranged marriage which sustains them remain hale and hearty.

Arranged marriage, in other words, remains central to the maintenance of community boundaries and middle-class power in Kerala and criticism of this practice has worn thin towards the end of twentieth century — feminists and others who have directly criticised it have borne the label of ’sexual anarchists’. In fact, even in marriages across caste and religion (the `love marriages’) the widespread expectation is that the woman should migrate to her husband’s community identity — or at least to his community-shaped domestic culture. In the wake of the controversy, some commentators argued that Hindu males do not often ask their non-Hindu partners to convert formally – this is a facile observation, for the woman’s integration into her husband’s social world happens irrespective of whether she is formally converted to his faith or not.

No greater evidence for the judiciary’s biased reasoning needs to be marshalled: how come that the above practice has become a crime just now? Given the fact that communities (and many families) in Kerala tend to reject their members, especially women, who marry others, it is only rational, in Kerala’s context, for a woman to move on to her husband’s community after marriage. How come the judge does not see this? Why is he so confident that her family and community which wants to annul her decision and obviously disregards her agency will treat her with respect?How is he so sure women who enter the Muslim community through marriage will not exercise the same degrees of informal power that married women of other communities do? Is he also sure that non-Muslim women who have married within their community (and most of all the caste-ridden Hindu!)are being treated with respect and receive greater justice? If the judge in question is so divorced from everyday social reality in Kerala, so blinded by the half-baked rants about Muslim family life circulated by Hindu and Christian rightwingers, and indeed so ignorant of informed debate on women’s rights, marriage and family in India, he probably does not deserve to stay in the esteemed chair that he occupies. The judge’s comments are not only anti-Muslim; it distrusts young woman’s capacity for decision-making, blindly entrusts her to the family, and protects the interests of powerful communities. Nothing could be further away from the Indian Constitution.

Islamophobia has been growing in the State and has been visible in various ways; but more than reaffirming this fact, this controversy, for me, provides incontrovertible evidence for the social disempowerment of women in Kerala, which has been hard to prove, given the pervasiveness of the Kerala Model discourse (in which many powerful academics have made heavy career-investments! ).Just the other day, a young researcher from the US, a first-time visitor to Kerala, expressed dismay at how the Court could have made such statements in a State so well-known for its `empowered’ women. For me, tying female agency to social development, as she did, is equally worrying — for it was precisely the `wisdom’ evoked by the rightwing coalition to justify their assault on women’s independent choices of partners.For, historically, the `empowered woman’ of twentieth century Kerala has been she who, with all her social-development attributes, would remain subservient to the community she was born in.Historically, the much-celebrated history of community formation in Kerala, found by some to be the `communal road to a secular Kerala’,has also been the history of women’s reduction to minor status within these modernising communities, and female education was conceived as not so much a deterrent to this, but actually its instrument.

The ’socially developed’ woman, in this reckoning, is not someone who will not smudge community boundaries; rather, she contributes `gender-capital’ , performs `community status-production’ , in and for the community.The present controversy and the statements made by the VHP and the Christian Church are entirely consistent with dominant aspects of ’social development’ in Kerala, and reveals its conservative underbelly. We need to remember that even major figures of Kerala’s much-discussed social `renaissance’ , like V T Bhattatiripad, did swing towards a position close to the VHP’s current line when it was a case of a brahmin woman marrying a Muslim, and by her own decision.

As far as I know from research, inter- and intra- community marriage in Kerala carries more or less similar risks for women given the utterly gender-unequal contexts in which it happens. If the former carries greater risks, that should be attributed to the exclusivist practices of community life, and not to `wrong-decision making’ on the woman’s part.But the judge seems to be on `jihad’ for the protection of community-interests and against young women’ s agency — and there is very little in Kerala’s `progressive legacy’ — and in most `progressive’ academic wisdom on Kerala — that can stop it from doing so.
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ devika101209. htm

By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
Panaji, Dec 11 (IANS) Portraying Israeli tourists as a bunch of promiscuous, stingy, drug addicts and peddlers, a new book published by a church-affiliated organisation in Goa is likely to ruffle many feathers.
The 96-page work, “Claiming the right to say no: a study of Israeli tourist behaviour and patterns in Goa”, has been authored by 11 seminarians or priests-in-grooming. It has been published by the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP), an arm of the Roman Catholic church in the state.

Based largely on an undercover survey carried out by priests-in-grooming, it likens tracking down Israelis in the state to a cat and mouse game.

In the opening chapter, brother Myron Jeson Barretto says: “On third evening we went to Anjuna. We got the news that the Israelis have moved to Arambol. And we had to follow them as the cat follows the rat.”

Officially released by the Goa archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao Sunday, the book critiques the behaviour of Israeli tourists. Its copies are available for sale at several church-supported outlets.

“The night here never ends. They (Israelis) just party with trance music and get intoxicated with drugs and alcohol. They kiss and touch each other openly. They also appear to switch partners,” brother Manuel D’Souza says.

One of the book’s stated objectives is to “understand how the conflict in Israel/Palestine creates the exodus of people in form of tourists” to places like Goa and also tries to “understand patterns of tourist behaviour in Goa, because of their recent military experiences”.

Brother D’Souza states in his chapter “The Sababa experience”: “Can you imagine young boys killing people. They (Israelis) go mad while in the services. The government sends these people to relaxation hubs. One of them is Goa.”

“They (Israelis) are a nuisance to everybody in and around Palolem (a popular beach in south Goa). Their dominating nature and other monkey business drives away other tourists. So why do we need them?” brother Onasis D’Cruz says in one of the chapters, accusing Israelis of creating tourist ghettos in the state.

“In Vagator, there is a beach which is called as ‘Israeli beach’ just below the 9 Bar. Non-Israelis are frightened to come over to this place,” Brother Mario Fernandes says.

Tourists from Israel, along with those from Britain, Russia and Germany, top the number of tourists arriving in Goa every tourist season. Out of the two million tourists coming to the state each year, nearly 450,000 are foreigners.

Justice KT Sankaran of Kerala High Court asked the government to enact anti-conversion law in Kerala, just like in other states.
He was disposing cases of conversion to Islam after marriage, dubbed as Love Jihad.
The Kerala police and the central government told the court that there is no such thing as love jihad. Most people believe that it was a ploy created by Hindutva groups to create problems in Kerala.
Now the judge says there is love jihad and people convert in Kasakod, Malappuram and Kannore districts in large numbers.
What is the big deal here? Girls who marry men from other religions, usually move to the religion of their husband. It is a standard practice. It is not forced or against the will of the girl. Actress Anney and Jomol became Hindus after they married Hindus. Both were Christians.
Mercy Ravi was a Chrsitian. She became a Hindu after marriage. Many Hindu girls joined christianity after marriage. Nobody called such things as Hindu jihad or Christian jihad.
But when the same thing happens in Islam, it is love jihad. Is that true?
The assumption here is that all Muslims are bad people? Are they? Not at all.
These girls who convert to Islam can return to their former religion, any time they want. Then what is the problem? After becoming a Muslim, one is not put in jail. They are free as every one else. They can leave any time.
Islam is not a prosylitising religion as Christianity. Of course anyone can join Islam. What will it gain from a few women converting? Nothing at all.
The court should have called at least a dozen women who married Muslims to verify the facts.
The people, the political parties and the government are capable of dealing with social problems. The court should better keep quiet.