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Bulletin - 10 March 2010
Date: Wed, March 10, 2010 11:00 am
http://www.rationalistinternational.netIndia: Crescent Over HyderabadViolent protest led to arrest of three rationalists in controversy
over a book with Rushdie and Taslima texts
Matcha Laxmaiah, a poet, rationalist and civil rights activist in
Andhra Pradesh, who is well known under the pen-name Kratikar, has
been arrested in the last week of February for compiling and
publishing a book with the title ‘Crescent over the World
– Boon or Silent Holocaust’. The book, allegedly hurting
the religious sentiments of Muslims, contains articles written by
Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin, Aayan Hirshi Ali, Ibn Warrack and
other scholars criticising Islam. Following Krantikar’s arrest
in Khammam (AP), the police also arrested Dr N. Innaiah from
Hyderabad, chairman of CFI India, and Andhra Pradesh rationalist
leader Subba Rao, whose names were printed as distributors in the
book. Dr Innaiah, who himself has translated and published books of
some of the authors concerned in Telugu earlier, denied any
connection to Krantikar’s publication in a press conference,
after he was released on bail on 4th March.
Krantikar did not obtain bail and is still in jail. The charge sheets
against him and the two alleged distributors are expected on 11 March
2010 in Khammam.
Meantime, in Khammam, the police seized some thousand copies of the
two volume book from different places. The police commissioner
announced, they would try to get hold of those copies already
despatched to other districts also.
The arrests followed massive and violent protests by fundamentalists
in Khammam and in Hyderabad. It is alleged that the book contains
excerpts from Rushdie’s Satanic Verses and Taslima
Nasris’s Lajja as well as some of the controversial Danish
“Mohammed-Cartoons”. The Satanic Verses are banned in
India, Lajja (though claimed to be banned) is not. The issue was
raised in the AP state assembly by the fundamentalist All India
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM, 'Council of United Muslims').
Congress Chief Minister K. Rosaiah – with an eye on the Muslim
electorate – submitted to their demands and gave green light
for “stern action”. Though the radical AIMIM is small in
the national scale, it is wielding considerable power in Hyderabad.
Base for the single seat in the Indian Parliament that they are
holding since twenty five years, is their stronghold in the Charminar
area of the Muslim old city of Hyderabad. Here, they have absolute
majority, commanding around 75 per cent of the votes.
The AIMIM has recently made Hyderabad a dangerous place. In August
2007, three MLAs of the AIMIM led a physical attack on Taslima Nasrin
with bouquets, flower pots and chairs during a book launch at the
Hyderabad Press Club, organized by Dr. Innaiah.
To prevent fresh outbrakes of violence, the police sounded an alert
on Hyderabad and Khammam and deployed additional forces in
Hyderabad’s old city, where ‘imams’ or clerics,
during their Friday sermons, condemned the author and those who
supported him.
Turkey: Buried Alive for Her Family’s HonorMedine Memi was 16 years when a family council convicted her to death
in November 2009. They dug a two meter deep hole under the chicken
coop at their house and forced Medine, her hands tied on her back, to
sit in it. Then they buried her alive, throwing one spadeful of earth
after the other down on her, till she was completely covered and the
hole filled. Medine was not drugged, she died in full consciousness.
She tried to scream and struggled for air. Soil filled her mouth,
entered her windpipe, her gullet, her lungs and her stomach. She died
a slow and gruesome death.
There is nothing left in memory of Medine’s short life, not
even a photograph of hers existence. It is as if she never lived. One
of ten children, she was born in Kahata in the province Adiyaman in
south east Turkey and never left this place. She was not allowed to
go to school. Her father and grandfather used to brutally beat her up
when they suspected her to talk to village boys of her age. During her
last weeks, Medine feared for her life. She sought help in the police
station. She tried to lodge a complaint against father and
grandfather. She begged for protection and asylum. But she was forced
to go back to her tormentors. This repeated three times; after that
she was not seen again. In December, a neighbor got suspicious. The
authorities opened the newly cemented place under the chicken coop
and found Medine’s body. They arrested her father and
grandfather, but did not charge them so far.
The gruesome murder of Medine is no single case. 'Honor killings'
have reached record levels in Turkey. Official government figures
confirm more than 200 cases every year, half of all murders committed
in the country. The estimates of human rights groups are far higher.
Investigations are generally difficult; many of these murders remain
family secrets. In the Kurdish dominated south east of Turkey, the
region of Medine’s home province Adiyaman, the concentration of
‘honor killings’ is the highest. Decades back, Adiyaman
has been a stronghold of the Islamic fundamentalist Naksibendi sect
that was banned in 1925 by the founder of modern Turkey, Ataturk, but
seems to gain new ground in recent years.
In 2005, with the reform of the Turkish Penal Code, life sentences
for ‘honor killers’ have become mandatory. Earlier they
often escaped with reduced sentences, if any, claiming they have been
“provoked”. Even now, many ‘honor killers’
benefit from improper investigations and leniency of the authorities,
as many police officers, prosecutors and even judges share their
views. Even in prison, they still use to enjoy high respect and
privileges. As a strategy, many family councils order the youngest
male member to commit the murder, taking advantage of juvenile law.
The government’s recent efforts to take harder legal action
have resulted in a new twist: while the number of ‘honor
killings’ seems to go down, a wave of ‘honor
suicides’ can be observed. To escape legal prosecution,
families force their victims to kill themselves.
‘Honor killings’ are committed in many countries around
the world. According to UN estimates, there are more than 5000 cases
every year. But that may be only the tip of the iceberg. While the
majority of them seems to have a fundamentalist Islamic background,
similar barbaric traditions are active among Hindus, Sikhs and
Christians (for example in Sicily).
Italy: Recession Gloom sparks Astrology BoomAs Italy is struggling to cope with its worst recession since the
Second World War, a new study by the European Consumers Association
reveals that Italians are increasingly relying on astrologers and
fortune tellers rather than bankers to get advice in financial
matters. With unemployment and worry about the state of the economy
on the rise, the annual budget for magical remedies is touching 6
billion euros, says the study that has been carried out in
cooperation with Telefono Antiplagio, a voluntary service that
collects reports from victims of con artists.
It’s roaring business for the estimated 20,000 wizards in the
country, who make their living out of the widespread superstition and
gullibility of their fellow citizens. According to the study, each day
more than 30,000 Italians – 53 per cent of them women - shed
away money for occult services. The usual fees being some 50 euros,
prices are going up to about 600 euros. The poor and under-developed
south is the most superstitious part of the country, but the wealthy
northern and central regions are spending most generously on
occultist financial advice. The Lombardy including Italy’s
financial capital Milan tops the list with 90 million euro per year,
closely followed by Lazio, the region around Rome.
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RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL
President: Sanal Edamaruku
Honorary Associates:
Dr. Pieter Admiraal (The Netherlands), Prof. Mike Archer (Australia),
Katsuaki Asai (Japan), Jocelyn Bézecourt (France), Prof. Colin
Blakemore (UK), Dr. Bill Cooke (New Zealand), Dr. Helena Cronin (UK),
Prof. Richard Dawkins (UK), Jan Loeb Eisler (USA), Pekka Elo
(Finland), Prof. Antony Flew (UK), Tom Flynn (USA), Jim Herrick (UK),
Christopher Hitchens (USA), Ellen Johnson (USA), Prof. Paul Kurtz
(USA), Lavanam (India), Dr. Richard Leakey (Kenya), Iain Middleton
(New Zealand), Dr. Henry Morgentaler (Canada), Maryam Namazie (Iran),
Dr. Taslima Nasreen (Bangladesh), Steinar Nilsen (Norway), Prof.
Jean-Claude Pecker (France), James Randi (USA), Prof. Ajoy Roy
(Bangladesh), Dr. Younus Shaikh (Pakistan), Barbara Smoker (UK),
Richard Stallman (USA), Prof. Rob Tielman (The Netherlands), David
Tribe (Australia), K Veeramani (India), Bary Williams (Australia),
Prof. Richard Wiseman (UK), Prof. Lewis Wolpert (UK). Deceased: Sir
Hermann Bondi (UK), Prof. Vern Bullough (USA), Joseph Edamaruku
(India), Dr. G N Jyoti Shankar (USA).
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