Anti-Communists For Communists!

The Hindustan Times reports on Mr. Prakash Karat's brave attempt to explain why the communists were defeated in the recent Parliamentary elections in India:

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Friday alleged that all imperialist forces had teamed up against the communists and were launching concerted attacks on the leftists in India.

"I have seen that many anti-communist groups have ganged up against us and they are launching concerted attacks on the CPI-M led government in West Bengal as well as in other parts of the country," CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat told a seminar on the occasion of commemorating the birth centenary of late communist leader EMS Namboodiripad in Kolkata.

Horror of horrors! Who could have imagined that the anti-communists would gang up against the communists? If only the anti-communist forces had ganged up for the communists, and supported the governments of Kerala and West Bengal, Karat & Co. would have won handily. Stupid imperialists!

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A Bit of Porn for the Gods

Indralok: c. 5110, Kali Yuga

Varuna woke up with a start. What's all that commotion about in the grand court of Lord Indra? Have the Asuras invaded us again? As he sleepily walked into the room, Varuna didn't see any Asura, only Indra and a few of his trusted Devas, milling around Lord Krishna with his mouth wide open.

Varuna: What's all this ruckus? Why are you guys peering into Lord Krishna's mouth?

Indra: Ah, Varuna, come on in. Sorry to have woken you up. We are just watching the prime time news broadcast from the earth. Here, take a peek, if you'd like.

Varuna [bends over and peers into Krishna's mouth]: What's going on here? Why are those girls plowing the field? Where are the farmers and their oxen?

Indra: Varuna, take a closer look. There's more to see than just a few girls where the oxen ought to be.

Varuna [bending over a bit more]: Jesus Christ... oops... Krishna, Krishna! Those kids are naked!

Indra [chuckling mischievously]: Yup, free porn, Varuna, free porn! Our divine courtesans, Ramba, Urvasi, and Thilothama are no match for these nubile beauties from the earth... ah, how they've made my day!

Varuna [frowning, and muttering to himself]: What a jerk! Why, he must have already forgotten what happened to him when he lured Ahalya in the disguise of her husband...

Indra: I heard you, Varuna. Don't be such a prude. Heavens won't crash if we watched a bit of harmless porn, will they? Besides, it's not that I have made those girls immaculately pregnant as I did Kunti.

Varuna: Alright, Indra, that's enough. Tell me, why are these girls plowing the field in the nude?

Indra: Actually, Varuna, it's all your fault. I tried to placate them with some sound and fury, but it signified nothing with you in deep slumber. And now these poor farmers think that they can shame us into sending their way a thunderstorm or two by... hehe... shaming their daughters! Shame us, eh... perhaps if they had paraded the boys naked... but that won't play well with the lascivious men among them, will it?

Varuna [sarcastic now]: Really, Indra, how can they? Whatever gave them the idea that they could shame you into anything, eh?

Indra: Spare the snark, Varuna. Don't forget that I am your Lord now. These fellows have been parading their daughters naked on the fields for centuries, perhaps, even millennia. They did it in c.3751, c.4123, c.4134, c.4145, ... Of course, we never blinked, but they insist on repeating the show. Makes me wonder if they are doing it for us, or for their own entertainment.

Varuna: Whatever happened to their code of honor, Indra? Aren't these the same fellows who'd mercilessly kill their daughters for merely eloping with beaus of their choice?

Indra: Honor killing? Tsk, tsk... well, my dear Varuna, between honor and your next meal, what would you have chosen, eh? Besides, whoever said that Athena and Saraswati have any hold on these village idiots? Check this out, these are the same fellows who will, in a blink, burn buses and stone restaurants to protest young girls and boys celebrating a day in honor of our friend, St. Valentine!

Varuna: And, molest the girls for drinking a cup of Soma! I know, I know. Aren't there laws against this sort of a thing in India?

Indra: Of course, there are, but you see, India, as it claims in its Constitution, is a secular, socialist state. That's a mouthful, but what it really means is that the poor and the minorities can do nothing wrong, while the rich and the majority can do nothing right.
If the government were to take action against some dumb tradition in one religion, then they'll be forced to take action against every dumb tradition in every religion. You and I know all too well that religions are brimming with dumb traditions and beliefs, especially among the poor. With a majority of Indians being poor, it means disaster at the polling station.
Whatever it is, it means free porn for us, don't you agree?

Varuna: Speak for yourself, Indra. I am disgusted, and I am going back to sleep. Keep it down for a few years, okay?

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Your Life Under Sharia - IV

As a woman in India, if you had the misfortune of being caught with a glass of beer in a Mangalore bar, the self-appointed moral police, Sri Ram Sena, could assault you with impunity to protect "the Indian culture". The law, however, is on your side. Vote bank accounting may interfere with the enforcement of the law, but in these days of instant news reporting, it's a fair bet to expect that at the very least, the perpetrators will be charged. Not if you are in Malaysia, though.

Flogging: An Iranian boy is punished for breaching the Sharia law possibly drinking beer or a similar crime.

The Associated Press reports:

An Islamic court in Malaysia has sentenced a Muslim woman to be flogged with a rattan cane for having a beer in a nightclub, a court official said Tuesday.

It is rare for a woman in Malaysia to be sentenced to caning — a punishment usually reserved for men in various crimes ranging from rape to bribery.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced Monday to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,400) for consuming alcohol, said a Shariah High Court official who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to make public statements...

Consuming alcohol is a religious offense in Malaysia only for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population. Offenders are prosecuted in Shariah courts, which handle cases mainly related to family and moral issues for Muslims.

Most offenders are fined, but the law also provides for a three-year prison term and caning...

Ms. Shukarno must be grateful that she drank beer in this part of the "Muslim world" which shares with the civilized world the "principles of of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings" that are the hall marks of Sharia. The punishment would have been worse in some other parts of the "Muslim world", where they share a wider array of principles in common with the civilized world, barring the singular exception of the right to drink a glass of beer, of course!

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The Shadow of the Moon

Solar eclipse is seen in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, at 8:33 a.m. on Wednesday, July 22, 2009. Photograph: Wang Peng/AP

From the Associated Press:

The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century pitched a swath of Asia from India to China into near darkness Wednesday as millions gathered to watch the phenomenon.

But millions more, gripped by fear, shuttered themselves in. India abounds in superstitions and fables based on Hindu mythology, one of which says an eclipse is caused when a dragon-demon swallows the sun.

The eclipse is caused when the moon covers the sun completely to cast a shadow on earth...

Why blame the poor Hindus? Shadows cast by the moon are ominous, indeed!

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A Liberating Compulsion

Close on the heels of the recent arrest and flogging of 10 Sudanese women for violating the Sharia law by wearing trousers and blouses in a Khartoum restaurant, Dutch media outlets quoted unconfirmed sources yesterday to confirm the arrest of several women in Amsterdam restaurants for not wearing the Klederdracht [traditional Dutch dress]:¹

In an early morning swoop, the Dutch police raided multiple restaurants in Dam Square and arrested more than a dozen women for wearing trousers. The raid follows the passage of a controversial legislation last week in the Staten-Generaal [parliament] that banned Dutch women from wearing in public anything but Klederdracht. All other wear — trousers, mini-skirts, halters, etc. — were declared as unbecoming and indecent. The punishment for non-compliance will be public flogging with up to 40 lashes for first time offenders and 100 lashes for repeat offenders. The new law, as previously expected, has no provision for any dress code for men.

Lubina Pauline Dressusbuoys, a renowned Dutch feminist, was arrested along with five other girls in Cafe Hollander. "I was wearing slacks and a tee-shirt and the 5 girls arrested with me were wearing pants and shirts just like me; the only difference was that they confessed to their 'crime' and were lashed on the spot. I decided not to confess but take up the issue through my lawyer. I am ashamed to be a citizen of of Netherlands", she reacted angrily to the arrest.

I happened to be in Amsterdam on that fateful day and was able to talk to a few women about the new law. Not all were as unhappy with the law as Ms. Dressusbuoys was. Elisabeth van der Veils, who identified herself as a staunch feminist, dismissed the new law with a wave of her hands:

Remember what Jill Nelson wrote in her MSNBC column, Ugliness of a Beauty Contest? "As far as I'm concerned it's equally disrespectful and abusive to have women prancing around a stage in bathing suits for cash or walking the streets shrouded in burkas in order to survive", she had written, mincing no bones when comparing a beauty pageant in Nigeria to the burka.

I completely agree with Ms. Nelson here. The law is not draconian or anti-women. How can you say there is compulsion in dress code when I have chosen to voluntarily comply with this new law? It's like there is no compulsion in a religion, as long as you follow that religion.

Flouerana Van Clog was equally vehement, denying that the law singled out women:

So what if the law curtailed our right to choose our dress, but not that of men? Really, what's the harm in taking us back a few centuries, eh? Most women perceive the Klederdracht as liberating. It frees us from those ogling men who could no longer look upon us as an hourglass shaped piece of meat. Granting the men the right to wear what they please is a small price to pay for this.

Besides, boys will be boys, and girls will be girls. It's how God intended us to be.

A wide eyed student, who had just returned from Italy after protesting at the G8+G5 meeting and wished to remain anonymous, exclaimed excitedly,

As Piet Hein Donner had said, "The majority counts. That is the essence of democracy." We have this Klederdracht law, obviously because a majority of our people want it. I can see that you are worried because it hurts the capitalist pigs and their American empire who are profiteering from the oppressive globalization.

Who needs variety in dress? Millions of poor women in Indonesia go through their entire life with just one half of a sarong, I hear. I am perfectly happy with a couple of Klederdracht that I could wear through the year. Besides, it will solve the world hunger problem and help us forestall climate change.

Ah, a Gandhi and Gore in the making!

Shaking my head in bewilderment, I walked slowly towards Bijenkorf. I was going to purchase for my wife an evening gown, designed by my friend from the Copenhagen Academy of Fashion Design, inspired by the frescoes of Ajanta, show-cased in Paris, crafted in Beijing in Egyptian cotton, and sold in Amsterdam — an obscene symbol of globalization and Western imperialism, of course! Perhaps, I should purchase a traditional Indian sari instead, I thought. It might help alleviate world hunger and liberate Indian women.

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¹Fiction, not fact.

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The Core of Economic Meltdown

How the wise ones invested your money in wedding cakes... er, pardon me ... mortgage backed securities, oil backed securities, ...

A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say. Thanks, xkcd!

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Gay Ho!

It's a victory for secular democracy in India.

In a landmark judgement, the Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah of the Delhi High Court, along with Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, ruled in favor of the petitioner, Naz Foundation, and held that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in its current form violated the constitutional provisions of Article 21, Article 14, and Article 15, "insofar it criminalize[d] consensual sexual acts of adults in private". The ruling brings cheers not only to the LGBT community, but also to anyone who believes that liberty and equality before law cannot be held hostage in perpetuity to irrational beliefs and values.

The justices dismissed the government's arguments that homosexual conduct must be construed as unnatural and antihetical to the social traditions, and its dubious concerns about the spreading of diseases, as contrary to scientific findings and historical facts. Most importantly, the High Court, in holding Section 377 as in violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens, upheld the primacy of constitutional morality over popular morality:

Moral indignation, howsoever strong, is not a valid basis for overriding individual's fundamental rights of dignity and privacy. In our scheme of things, constitutional morality must outweigh the argument of public morality, even if it be the majoritarian view...

The nature of the provision of Section 377 IPC and its purpose is to criminalise private conduct of consenting adults which causes no harm to anyone else. It has no other purpose than to criminalise conduct which fails to conform with the moral or religious views of a section of society. The discrimination severely affects the rights and interests of homosexuals and deeply impairs their dignity.

Quoting from the Constitutional Assembly Debates, the Justices wrote:

While moving the Draft Constitution in the Assembly [Constitutional Assembly Debates: Official Reports Vol.VII: November 4, 1948, page 38], Dr. Ambedkar quoted Grote, the historian of Greece, who had said: "The diffusion of constitutional morality, not merely among the majority of any community but throughout the whole, is an indispensable condition of government at once free and peaceable; since even any powerful and obstinate minority may render the working of a free institution impracticable without being strong enough to conquer the ascendancy for themselves."

After quoting Grote, Dr. Ambedkar added: "... The question is, can we presume such a diffusion of constitutional morality? Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic."

Well, it has been more than 60 years since then. I sincerely hope that the people of India have had the time to learn what it means to be a democracy, and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government pays heed to Dr. Ambedkar's admonition, if and when the religious fundamentalists challenge the judgment in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, it's time to open the champagne bottle. Here's to Justices Shah and Muralidhar!

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