Dilip Simeon's blog

NB : Of late some Indian commentators have warmed up to the current Japanese government, especially attracted by the atmosphere of robustness around Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. One element in this atmosphere is Abe's stance towards Japanese war crimes in the second world war. Foremost among these is the attempt to turn back the Kono  Declaration,  which owned responsibility towards the Japanese armed forces'  widespread use of sexual slavery - the issue of 'comfort women'. It is noteworthy that dodging responsibility is a habit with some strong political leaders  -  DS Tessa Morris-Suzuki Addressing Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’ Issue From an Academic Standpoint   Contesting the Kōno Statement:  On 4 August 1993, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Kōno Yōhei issued an official declaration on the issue of the so-called 'comfort women' - women recruited to work in a large network of brothels operated by the Japanese military during the Asia-Pacif...

The BJP and Justice, Chapter 2 In the new climate of public opinion i t has become a practice  to oppose 'development' to justice, as if the two are unconnected to each other. Truth and non-violence seem to have become irrelevant. But economic development without justice has already led to terrible consequences -arising from tyranny in land acquisitions, thousands of Adivasis languishing in jails ; forced displacements of the urban poor, violence of contractors and the land mafia, indiscriminate construction of dams and roads (such as in Uttarakhand ), etc. When injustice is resisted, freedom of speech and the right to organise become crucial for democracy. Hundreds of RIT activists have been attacked and/or murdered for their pursuit of truth and justice. (Maharashtra is first on the list, Gujarat second). Development, justice, truth and non-violence are linked together. The new government has started off by announcing its contempt for truth and justice. The BJP...

The sweeping electoral victory of the BJP in India is the latest expression of the world-wide advance of a new power bloc which promises to impose a New World Order harnessing ethno-religious fanaticism and narrowly trained technocrats to capitalist absolutism . See also - Turkey: Erdogan's Theological Justification for His Dictatorial Stance The far-right is no longer at the margins of western political discourse. It is center-stage. It is no longer dependent on contributions by local militants; it receives financing from the biggest global corporations. It is no longer dismissed by the mass media. It receives feature coverage, highlighting its ‘dynamic and transformative’ leadership.  Today capitalists everywhere confront great uncertainty, as markets crash and endemic corruption at the highest levels erode competitive markets. Throughout the world, large majorities of the labor force question, challenge and resist the massive transfers of public wealth to an ever reduced ...

Defenders of Pakistan's blasphemy laws say the rule of law prevents rule by mob.  The May 7 murder of human rights lawyer Rashid Rehman - to prevent him from defending a young professor accused of blasphemy - shows the hypocrisy of such a defence , On April 9, Rashid Rehman, director of the Multan office of the  independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan  (HRCP), appeared in Multan Central Jail on behalf of  Junaid Hafeez , an adjunct teacher at the local university who was falsely accused of blasphemy.  The trial was held inside the jail because of the  risk that Hafeez would be killed  if it were held in a building open to the public.  Rehman moved that the case be dismissed as fabricated.    As he stood before the judge,  two prosecution lawyers and an unidentified third party approached and said that, if he did not drop the case, "You will not come to court next time because you will not exist any more."  Re...

'Modi had 71 BJP MP's in Uttar Pradesh to choose from for ministerial office and he chose to make Sanjeev Baliyan, the MP from Muzaffarnagar, a minister of state. Baliyan was accused of violating prohibitory orders & promoting enmity between communities in Muzaffarnagar in September 2013. Thus not only did the BJP win western UP on the back of communal rioting, one of the riot-accused is now part of Narendra Modi’s first ministry. The BJP has argued that Baliyan was framed by a hostile state government and.. that he hasn’t been convicted of a crime.... Maya Kodnani, who was widely believed to have been involved in the killings in Naroda Patia in 2002, was made minister of women and child development in 2007, five years after the riots. She served for two years till her past caught up with her; she was convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder in 2012 and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. A Modi sarkar looking to put its sectarian past behind it, wouldn’t h...