Academic research on Rushdie's literary work sabotaged by Deoband Ulema

LUCKNOW April 24: Taking a strong exception to the UGC's decision to award post-doctoral fellowship on Salman Rushdie's writing, Darul Uloom Deoband has demanded "immediate remedial steps to correct the high impropriety". The Islamic seminary is apparently miffed by the topic - "Use of Magic and Realism in the major novels of Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth" - chosen by a scholar in the Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut.

"To glorify Rushdie is a an overt act of treachery and a government body like UGC should have used its imagination better. This step raises serious concerns about its style of functioning. Darul Uloom Deoband strongly condemns it," official spokesperson Ashraf Usmani said on Monday."Our stance on Rushdie has been clear. The author of 'The Satanic Verses' has blasphemed against Islam and hurt sentiments of devout Muslims all over the world," Usmani told TOI over phone. "Any attempt to glorify him or his writings would only lead to promotion and build up of his image. He deserves to be shunned. Moreover, 'The Satanic Verses' still carries a ban by Indian government and going by the law, he should be considered blacklisted. Meerut University and the UGC, who are apparently party in the grant of the fellowship, must cancel it with immediate effect," he said..
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-04-24/india/31392019_1_darul-uloom-deoband-salman-rushdie-satanic-verses

Deoband heat 'forces' university to scrap paper on controversial author Salman Rushdie:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2135170/Deoband-heat-forces-university-scrap-paper-controversial-author-Salman-Rushdie.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU) in Meerut has cancelled the post-doctoral fellowship of Prabha Parmar, who was awarded research work on the novels of three authors, including controversial writer Salman Rushdie. Darul Uloom Deoband had opposed any study on Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, which is banned in the country, though Parmer's ambit of research reportedly did not cover the novel.

But in an official communication dated April 23, 2012, sent to her, Prof. Arun Kumar, department of English, (CCSU), gave another reason for cancelling her fellowship: That she is on maternity leave and is yet to start the research work sanctioned by the UGC this January. 'This has reference to the UGC letter dated January 23, 2012, on the subject of the award for fellowship for the year 2011-2012 (Category OBC) for your topic Use of Magic Realism in the Major Novels of Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth in the subject of English. 'You joined the department on February 13, 2012, and on the next day asked for maternity leave for three months till May 13, 2012,' the letter read. 'You have technically not started your research work, which was approved by the UGC on January 23, 2012.'Please be informed that the department of English will not be able to provide any facilities for your fellowship,' it stated.

Not ready to speak on the issue, Parmar merely confirmed the receipt of the letter on Wednesday. But a source close to her said that the department had not raised any objection before some members of the university tried to create a controversy. Ashraf Usmani, chairman of Darul Ifta, fatwa department of Darul Uloom, Deoband, had said on Monday they were preparing to oppose the fellowship. 'The CCSU had allowed a student to do research on a book (The Satanic Verses) which was banned in India. 'This means that the ban on the book is mere eyewash and the government supports a student to read it and do research on it,' he had said. Expressing his satisfaction over the fresh decision, Usmani said: 'They stand corrected. We are happy about it.'

***************************
NB: Over the past four months, the Deoband Ulema has contributed to the climate of intolerance and religious bigotry in India. First by opposing Rushdie's presence at the Jaipur Literature Festival, and now by sabotaging a perfectly legitimate subject for research. In the first instance they succeeded by riding on the backs of various hooligans disguised as 'Muslim leaders', and now by presenting themselves as the self-appointed representatives of 'hurt sentiment' - that tried and tested weapon of communal politicians of all colours. (Witness the hue and cry over AK Ramanujan's Many Ramayanas). They want Rushdies work to be excluded from bona-fide literary research, even if the research does not explicitly take up The Satanic Verses. In Jaipur, there were threats of violence - with talk of 'rivers of blood' etc. The Ulema ought to have condemned such statements in clear and explicit terms, but we did not hear of it. We only heard of their sentiments. After this precedent, the Deoband Ulema can continue dictating our research programmes indefinitely.


By any sensible standard of reasoning, to research something does not imply 'glorification'. If I study various versions of the Ramayana, this does not imply that I'm glorifying this or that version. If I study the bombardment of Hiroshima, this does not mean I approve of atomic warfare. The study of Mein Kampf does not imply an admiration of Adolf Hitler. If I read Golwalkar's or VD Savarkar's writings, it does not follow that I sympathise with the RSS. Studying Pol Pot does not make the researcher a proponent of genocide. The Deoband Ulema should reflect on the damage they are doing to the very basis of academic research by citing 'hurt sentiment' to oppose a legitimate literary research programme.


It's ironic that in India today we can study the ideas of mass murderers, Nazis, fascists, racists, imperialists, communalists etc etc., but Deoband will not let us study Rushdie. Wonderful! I suggest the Ulema examine the compatibility of their religious norms and sentiments with the brutal treatment of Asiya Bibi, a worker and mother of five children, condemned to hang on mere hearsay; and the acquittal of the men who assaulted Mukhtar Mai. The intellectuals of Deoband need to understand that by raising such issues repeatedly, they contribute to the fascist degeneration of the Indian polity - Dilip


See also: Communalism feeds on itself:
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/01/communalism-feeds-on-itself.html

and: The purging of AK Ramanujan's Many Ramayanas:
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2011/10/delhi-university-and-purging-of.html

"With force I have subdued the brains of the proud" - Epitaph on the tomb of Cardinal Saint Roberto Bellarmino, Cardinal-Inquisitor who ordered Galileo to abandon his ideas on heliocentrism in 1616.


NEWLY POSTED PRESS STATEMENT: "WE CONDEMN THE ATTEMPT OF BODIES LIKE DEOBAND TO ENCROACH ON OUR ACADEMIC SPACE" - 27 April 2012

Resist the Climate of Intimidation in Academics

It is a matter of deep distress that a threat from Darul Uloom Deoband has forced Prabha Parmar , a research scholar at the Chaudhary Charan Singh University to change the topic of her post-doctoral research: Use of magic and realism in the major novels of Salman Rushdie,Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth. Taking strong exception to the UGC's decision to award a post-doctoral fellowship to the scholar on a topic that included Rushdie’s writings, Darul Uloom Deoband demanded “immediate remedial steps to correct the high impropriety.” Terming the award an act of ‘glorification’ of Salman Rushdie, the seminary asked for the writer to be blacklisted and for the award to be cancelled with immediate effect. The atmosphere of fear and intimidation created by this statement led Meerut University to cancel the fellowship. Later the scholar withdrew her research proposal.

This is yet another assault on the space of scholarship and free enquiry which represents the essential character of a university. In recent months there have been many instances of academic institutions succumbing to threats issued by religious and sectarian bodies and withdrawing texts and films or modifying syllabi or curricula to please them. The point at issue is not the controversial nature of the text, because freely debating such texts is the very purpose of intellectual inquiry. Rather, the crucial point is the climate of intimidation and the thinly-disguised threat of violence that informs the language of those making such demands. They constantly remind us that their sentiments are inflamed enough to spark off bloodshed. They crush the spirit of inquiry by intimidating those who disagree with them. They assume the fake title of representatives of this or that community to enforce their claims. And our spineless authorities allow them to do this with impunity. This time it is the Deoband ulema who have claimed yet another academic victim.

We condemn the attempt of bodies like Deoband to encroach on our academic space. It is time for all Indian academicians and intellectuals who believe in the freedom of thought to firmly defend our right to free enquiry and the pursuit of knowledge. We appeal to Meerut University and the UGC to stand by the scholar and encourage her to pursue her research on a topic of her choice.

1.      Aditya Nigam, CSDS

2.      Amlan Dasgupta, Jadavpur Unv

3.      Aniket Alam, Senior Assistant Editor, Economic and Political Weekly.

4.      Anita Cherian

5.      Apoorvanand , Professor, DU

6.      Arma Ansari, ANHAD

7.      Arshad Ajmal, Sahulat, delhi

8.      Asha Bhagat

9.      Ashok Vajpeyi, poet, writer

10.  Biraj Patnaik, Right To Food campaign

11.  Dhruva Narayan, Managing Editor, Daanish Books

12.  Dilip Simeon

13.  Furqan Qamar, VC Central Unv of Himachal Pradesh

14.  Gauhar Raza, scientist, poet

15.  Gautam Bhan

16.  Harsh kapoor

17.  Irfan Khalifa, television journalist

18.  Ishwar Dost , Asst. Prof., CSSEIP, Goa University.

19.  J Devika, Centre for development studies, Trivandrum, Kerala.

20.  Jairus Banaji

21.  Jamal Kidwai

22.  Jyoti Punwani

23.  Jyotirmay Sharma

24.  Kausar Wizarat

25.  Kavita Panjabi, Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla

26.  Kavita Srivastava, PUCL National Secretary

27.  Khairunnisa Pathan, Parwaaj

28.  Khurshid Anwar

29.  Mahmood Farooqui, Dastango

30.  Mahtab Alam, civil rights activist and journalist

31.  Manoj Mitta, Journalist

32.  Mary E John,

33.  Mehtab Alam

34.  Moinak Biswas

35.  Momin Latif

36.  Mukul Sharma, Writer and Researcher

37.  Musab Iqbal, Editor, newzfirst.com

38.  Naseem Mansuri, Niswan

39.  Naseem Shaikh, Niswan

40.  Nasiruddin Haider Khan, Journalist

41.  Naveen Kishore

42.  Nayanjot Lahiri, professor, DU

43.  Nilanjana Gupta, Professor of English, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

44.  Nirantar, Resource Centre for Gender & Education

45.  Nivedita Menon, JNU

46.  Noorjahan Ansari, Niswan

47.  Noorjahan Diwan, ANHAD

48.  omair anas
,cwas/sis jnu

49.  Parthasarthi Bahumik, Jadavpur Unv

50.  Prof Rama Kant Agnihotri (Rtd., Univ of Delhi)

51.  Purwa Bharadwaj

52.  Ramchandra Guha

53.  Rehana Qureshi, Nyayagrah

54.  Rohan D'Souza

55.  S.Irfan Habib, historian

56.  Satya Shivaramn

57.  Satish Deshpande, DSE, DU

58.  Semeen  Ali

59.  Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, Anhad

60.  Shakeel Shaikh, Ahmedabad

61.  Shamina Diwan, Parwaaj

62.  Sharifa Chhipa, Niswan

63.  Sheba george, Sahr waru, Gujarat

64.  Shivam vij, journalist, delhi

65.  Shuddhabrata Sengupta, artist/writer

66.  Sohail Hashmi, Writer, Film Makerli

67.  Sucheta Bhattacharjee

68.  Usman Shaikh, Nyayagrah

69.  Waqar Qazi, Social Activist, Anhad, Gujarat

70.  Zafar Syed, banker, Mumbai

http://www.sacw.net/article2662.html

China's censors tested by microbloggers

In the opaque world of Chinese censorship, a few red lines shine through the murk. One of the clearest is: no gossip about top political leaders, their families or internal party affairs. But just as the authorities had vowed to tame China's rumbustious microblogs, they have seen an unprecedented wave of speculation and comment on the most sensitive subjects: political infighting, lurid allegations of murder and even (unfounded) claims of a coup. State attempts to control the web, including stern admonitions, large-scale deletions, real-name registration, website closures and even detentions have failed to rein in users. More intriguingly, some of the most startling rumours have proved at least partially true – leading some to wonder whether this is simply a battle between bold users and anxious censors, or something more complex.

The bombshells dropped by officials late on Tuesday – that the high-profile leadership contender Bo Xilai was suspended from his key political posts and that his wife, Gu Kailai, had been detained for the suspected murder of the British businessman Neil Heywood – mark China's biggest political upheaval for years. Yet microbloggers have received advance warning of almost every development in the unfolding scandal. Users detected the event that triggered it – the flight of Bo's ally and former police chief, Wang Lijun, to a US consulate – two days before the official admission. A post predicting Bo's dismissal as party secretary of Chongqing circulated widely two hours before the announcement. And claims that Gu had poisoned a Briton called Heywood emerged weeks before Tuesday's official statement.

"Because of the rumours of political struggle it has got hotter and hotter. You can't see any sign of people being unwilling to spread them," said Chinese writer and avid microblogger Michael Anti. International attention tends to focus on the Great Firewall, which stops Chinese citizens from reading sensitive content overseas, and constraints put on familiar western brands – the blocking of social media services such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, or the Chinese government's clash with Google, which saw the internet giant relocate search services to Hong Kong rather than continue to censor results.

But the world's largest internet population is far more interested in what happens on domestic sites – and particularly the "weibo" or microblog services, which boast about 300 million registered users. Microblogs, particularly Sina's Weibo, are where the clash of political controls, commercial interests and the urge of millions to share their thoughts on official scandals, or just last night's TV, play out.

"Weibo plays a much more important role in China than Twitter in the west, because of the heavy censorship imposed by the regime on the other media," said Beijing-based scholar Michel Bonnin...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/16/internet-china-censorship-weibo-microblogs

Britain destroyed records of colonial crimes

Thousands of documents detailing some of the most shameful acts and crimes committed during the final years of the British empire were systematically destroyed to prevent them falling into the hands of post-independence governments, an official review has concluded. Those papers that survived the purge were flown discreetly to Britain where they were hidden for 50 years in a secret Foreign Office archive, beyond the reach of historians and members of the public, and in breach of legal obligations for them to be transferred into the public domain.

The archive came to light last year when a group of Kenyans detained and allegedly tortured during the Mau Mau rebellion won the right to sue the British government. The Foreign Office promised to release the 8,800 files from 37 former colonies held at the highly-secure government communications centre at Hanslope Park in Buckinghamshire. The historian appointed to oversee the review and transfer, Tony Badger, master of Clare College, Cambridge, says the discovery of the archive put the Foreign Office in an "embarrassing, scandalous" position. "These documents should have been in the public archives in the 1980s," he said. "It's long overdue." The first of them are made available to the public on Wednesday at the National Archive at Kew, Surrey.

The papers at Hanslope Park include monthly intelligence reports on the "elimination" of the colonial authority's enemies in 1950s Malaya; records showing ministers in London were aware of the torture and murder of Mau Mau insurgents in Kenya, including a case of a man said to have been "roasted alive"; and papers detailing the lengths to which the UK went to forcibly remove islanders from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. (See http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/diego-garcia-chagos-islands-40-years-on.html)

However, among the documents are a handful which show that many of the most sensitive papers from Britain's late colonial era were not hidden away, but simply destroyed. These papers give the instructions for systematic destruction issued in 1961 after Iain Macleod, secretary of state for the colonies, directed that post-independence governments should not get any material that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government", that could "embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers", that might compromise intelligence sources, or that might "be used unethically by ministers in the successor government".

Among the documents that appear to have been destroyed were: records of the abuse of Mau Mau insurgents detained by British colonial authorities, who were tortured and sometimes murdered; reports that may have detailed the alleged massacre of 24 unarmed villagers in Malaya by soldiers of the Scots Guards in 1948; most of the sensitive documents kept by colonial authorities in Aden, where the army's Intelligence Corps operated a secret torture centre for several years in the 1960s; and every sensitive document kept by the authorities in British Guiana, a colony whose policies were heavily influenced by successive US governments and whose post-independence leader was toppled in a coup orchestrated by the CIA.

The documents that were not destroyed appear to have been kept secret not only to protect the UK's reputation, but to shield the government from litigation. If the small group of Mau Mau detainees are successful in their legal action, thousands more veterans are expected to follow... Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/18/britain-destroyed-records-colonial-crimes

Also see: http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/diego-garcia-chagos-islands-40-years-on.html

Web freedom faces greatest threat ever, warns Google's Sergey Brin

The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. In an interview with the Guardian, Brin warned that there were "very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world. I am more worried than I have been in the past … it's scary." He said the threat to the freedom of the internet came from a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication by their citizens, the entertainment industry attempting to crack down on piracy, and the rise of "restrictive" so-called walled gardens such as Facebook and Apple, which tightly controlled what software could be released on their platforms.

The 38-year-old billionaire, whose family fled antisemitism in the Soviet Union, was widely regarded as having been the driving force behind Google's partial pullout from China in 2010 over concerns about censorship and cyber-attacks. He said five years ago he did not believe China or any country could effectively restrict the internet for long but he had been proven wrong: "I thought there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle, but now it seems in certain areas the genie has been put back in the bottle." Although he said he was most concerned by the efforts of countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Iran to censor and restrict use of the internet, he also warned that the rise of Facebook and Apple, which have their own proprietary platforms and control access to their users, risked stifling innovation and Balkanising the web.

"There's a lot to be lost," he said. "For example all the information in apps – that data is not crawlable by web crawlers. You can't search it." Brin's criticism of Facebook is likely to be seen as controversial with the social network approaching an estimated $100bn flotation. Google's upstart rival has seen explosive growth, with more than 800 million members worldwide and one in two of all Americans with computer access signed up. Brin said he and co-founder Larry Page would not have been able to create Google if the internet was dominated by Facebook. "You have to play by their rules, which are really restrictive. The kind of environment that we developed Google in, the reason that we were able to develop a search engine, is the web was so open. Once you get too many rules that will stifle innovation."...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/15/web-freedom-threat-google-brin

Freedom of Expression Under Attack by the Catholic Church in India: Rationalist under threat of arrest for exposing the “miracle”

Dear friends,
On 10th March, Sanal Edamaruku, President of the Rationalist International, flew to Mumbai. The TV channel TV-9 had invited him to investigate a “miracle” that caused local excitement. He went with the TV team to Irla in Vile Parle to inspect the crucifix standing there in front of the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni. This crucifix had become the centre of attraction for an ever growing crowd of believers coming from far and wide. The news of the miracle spread like wild fire. For some days, there were little droplets of water trickling from Jesus’ feet. Hundreds of people came every day to pray and collect some of the “holy water” in bottles and vessels. Sanal Edamaruku identified the source of the water (a drainage near a washing room) and the mechanism how it reached Jesus feet (capillary action). The local church leaders, present during his investigation,  appeared to be  displeased. See the investigation in detail on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUqhq9MuRG8


Some hours later, in a live program on TV-9, Sanal explained his findings and accused the concerned  Catholic Church officials of miracle mongering, as they were beating the big drum for the drippling Jesus statue with aggressive PR measures and by distributing photographs certifying the “miracle”. A heated debate began, in which the five church people, among them Fr. Augustine Palett, the priest of Our Lady of Velankanni church, and representatives of the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) demanded that Sanal apologize. But Sanal refused and argued against them. The whole TV program is recorded. You can watch an abridged version of it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJ6_ftih0s


When they saw Sanal  refused to bow to their demands, they threatened to file a blasphemy case against him. And they did. Yesterday (10th April,2012) Sanal received a phone call from a Police official  of Juhu Police Station in Mumbai directing him to come to the said police station to face the charges and get arrested. He also said that FIRs have also been filed in Andheri and some other police stations u/s 295 of Indian Penal Code  on the allegations of hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community. Mumbai police has announced that they were out to arrest him. It is apprehended that he can be arrested any moment. The filing of FIRs by Mumbai police and threatening to arrest a well known rationalist who has been exposing miracles and superstitious beliefs  for more than  three decades is a serious attack on the freedom of expression. Clause (h) of Article 51-A of Constitution of India states that: ‘It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and spirit of inquiry and reform.’ In exposing the said miracle, Sanal was performing his fundamental duty enshrined in our constitution. It is distressing that the Mumbai police has chosen to harass and victimize him for doing his fundamental duty.


‘Sanal Edamaruku Defence Committee’ appeals to all progressive individuals and  organizations  to protest and oppose the reprehensible steps of the Maharashtra police in filing FIRs against Sanal and stand behind him in solidarity for the cause of  scientific thinking and freedom of expression


N.D.Pancholi; Convenor, Sanal Edamaruku Defence Committee; 11 April, 2012
PS. Please have a look at "www.rationalistinternational.net."
*************************************************
Also see:  INDIA: SELECTED POSTS FROM COMMUNALISM WATCH
=======================================
Riots in Hyderabad: Press Conference By Social Activists
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/riots-in-hyderabad-press-conference-by.html


India: Hindutva Far Right desecrated temple in Hyderabad to trigger riots
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/india-hindutva-far-right-desecrateed.html


India Supreme court asks Gujarat govt to stop probe against Teesta Setalvad
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/india-supreme-court-asks-gujarat-govt.html


BJP Led Madhya Pradesh State Subsidy for pilgrimages
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/madhya-pradesh-state-subsidy-for.html


CFP - Salvage and Salvation: Religion, Disaster Relief, and Reconstruction in Asia
http://communalism.blogspot.in/2012/04/cfp-salvage-and-salvation-religion.html


NB: Indian secularism - You tolerate my nonsense and I'll tolerate your nonsense. And we will together smash anyone who objects to nonsense. DS

An Open Letter to the Chief minister of West Bengal

By Ruchir Joshi:
Extract: ...Madam, perhaps it might be time for you to resign and go.


Had someone in your administration, whoever was in charge of fire safety, taken responsibility and resigned after the AMRI fire, it may not have come to this. Had you fought your own rising paranoia and kept from commenting after the Park Street rape, it may not have come to this. Had you realized that you had not only offended the modesty of a rape victim but the collective conscience of Bengal and unreservedly apologized to the woman, it may not have come to this. Had you not transferred the police officer who proved that rape, you could have perhaps escaped this situation. Had you kept from compounding your mistake by similar irresponsible and callous comments about other assaults on women, or on the murders in Burdwan, it may have been different now. Had you not treated every bit of tragic news as only a lens through which to gaze lovingly and protectively at yourself, you may still have kept some credibility. Had you avoided attacking newspapers and TV channels that were critical of you, you would have been left with some democratic honour. Had you not pushed out your own minister from the door of the runaway train of your rule, there would have been no mild photo-cartoon sent to 25 of the 90 million people you rule and no criminal over-reaction from your party goondas and your paaltu police. As it is, you now oblige us to remember that adage about history repeating itself, first as tragedy and then as a farce: if the Left Front was the tragedy, you — and since there is no one but you in your Trinamul, you, solely — are the macabre farce.


Madam, one of the most bizarrely funny things you’ve kept repeating during your election campaign and afterwards is how you want to turn Calcutta into London. Well, perhaps it’s high time we imported some aspects of London culture. For instance, let me tell you how the last four British prime ministers have been portrayed in cartoons in London newspapers: John Major, always wearing his underpants outside his trousers; Tony Blair, as a one-eyed monster, sometimes as a one-eyed poodle trotting after George W. Bush; Gordon Brown, as a square, financial thug and bouncer; David Cameron, repeatedly, as an empty, blown-up condom. Along with these, they have also repeatedly had George Bush as a rampant, psychopathic chimpanzee, (once actually wiping his bottom with the UN logo), they’ve had Nicolas Sarkozy as all sorts of ferret-like animals, Berlusconi as a lecherous octopus and, recently, Angela Merkel as a dominatrix in skimpy black leather costume and fishnet stockings, wielding a financial whip over the exposed backsides of other European leaders. Besides this, one of the most widely read British satirical magazines, Private Eye, almost always has actual photographs of leaders and royalty with fictional speech bubbles coming out of their mouths, saying the most outrageous things. Let me tell you, no one has ever sued about these portrayals, no one is beaten up, no one is arrested, no one even lodges a written protest.


Madam, as one who had set such high hopes in you, I might be speaking for millions like myself: you need to resign and go, leaving us at the beginning of this Bangla new year to recover the best we can. May I suggest that after you resign, you plan a short or long visit to London? You will find they actually do dynamic new things to the city, like the huge Crossrail construction that’s now in progress, but that no one, neither premier nor mayor, can unilaterally decide to paint the city a bilious blue. You will also find they take rape and assault very seriously over there, and cartoons very lightly indeed. As you take in the reality of this culture and the courage of this freedom of speech, may I hope that you will begin to realize why you never deserved - forget being a world or national leader  -but why you never actually deserved to be in charge of a state such as Bengal for even thirty-four days? Full text: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120415/jsp/opinion/story_15374261.jsp#.T4p0jrMtjxo


Also see: The golden banana by Indrajit Hazra: ..the news from the village of Kolkata about a professor and his neighbour having to spend a night in jail for forwarding an email containing a photo-cartoon criticising Mamata Banerjee and her flunkey Mukul Roy is noteworthy, as it finally confirms two things: one, that 34 years of Left Front-rule in Paschim Bonkers has left the new chief minister damaged; and two, in the Bananarjee Republic, you better stick to jokes the CM can giggle to. The photo-cartoon sent by Jadavpur University prof Ambikesh Mahapatra in the presence of Subrata Sengupta is difficult to explain to a non-Bengali  unfamiliar with the Satyajit Ray film, Shonar Kella (The Golden Fortress). For starters, one non-Bengali friend asked me why Ray had made a film about a golden banana in the first place, hinting that the obvious lewdness the lampoon must contain has, in turn, led to Mahapatra being booked under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code ("word, gesture or act insulting the modesty of a woman").
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/ColumnsRahulSharma/The-golden-banana/Article1-840661.aspx

Delhi Police & Art: Alliance Francaise' Statement on the closure of Sunil Gupta's photo-exhibition

This is a statement issued by the Alliance Francaise de Delhi, in consultation with the President of the Alliance Francaise (Delhi) and the Cultural Committee of the Governing Body, following the premature and undue closure of the photographic exhibition by Sunil Gupta entitled Sun City and Other Stories.


To begin with, we would like to assert that ever since it was established, the Alliance Francaise has always supported and endorsed cultural activities associated with the Freedom of Speech and Expression. It was in this spirit that we offered and used our institutional resources to organise the mentioned exhibition by well-known photographer and artist, Sunil Gupta. The exhibition was in fact inaugurated at 7.30pm on Friday, 23 March 2012 and was attended by over a hundred persons, including a cross-section of important personalities and luminaries. However, within two hours of its opening, a contingent of six policemen entered the gallery premises and insisted that the exhibition be closed. It was later intimated that the exhibition was in violation of Sections 188 and 292 of the Indian Penal Code. The Alliance Francaise used available means to resolve the matter and continue with the show. However, on continued persistence from the police, the Alliance was compelled to close the exhibition, which was done under duress and protest in the presence of the artist.


Following this unfortunate episode, because the Alliance believed it should still support the freedom of artistic expression, consulted the artist and its President, and decided to re-open the exhibition on Wednesday, 4 April 2012. The Alliance, therefore, re-fabricated the exhibition again at significant expense and even provided for additional security measures. However, prior to the second opening, a similar pattern ensued with intimation from the police that they would not permit the exhibition in its original form as they were bound to receive complaints and agitations regarding the nature of the exhibition.   At this point, to avoid any further controversy or damage to the artwork and premises, the re-opening was cancelled. It is pertinent to point out that even though the police had publicly stated that the content of the exhibition was not objectionable or unlawful, their verbal direction to the Alliance was to the contrary and was the governing factor in the decision to cancel the show.


We would like to re-state that the Alliance firmly believes in the Freedom of Expression. However, as a cultural institution, it has to be mindful of local cultural sensitivities.  While it does not accept the conclusion of the police - that the content of the exhibition is obscene - the Alliance was constrained to adhere to the directions of the police. In addition, even though the legality of the police action is questionable, their intimidatory tactics on both occasions sufficiently justify the Alliance Française decisions.


The Alliance Francaise has taken this time to gather the necessary information regarding what has happened, and to seek legal advice to get clarity on its rights and duties so that such unfortunate situations are avoided in the future. We hope that you appreciate the difficult and unprecedented position the Alliance was placed in and the steps that are now being taken to preserve the integrity of art and culture in India by this institution - Governing Body of Alliance Francaise De Delhi.
http://delhi.afindia.org/sites/default/files/afd_0.htm

See also: Police force closure of photo exhibition: The police have forced closure of an exhibition of eminent photographer Sunil Gupta at Alliance Francaise 
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article3257108.ece


NB: For a personal account of intimidation by moral/political police (both in and out of uniform), see: http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2011/12/venue-for-speech-on-tamas-chronicle-of.html

Twenty years after - the destruction of books in Sarajevo, 1992

Approximately 1,200,000 book items and 600 sets of periodicals were destroyed... the Nazis burned about twenty million books. But in about 45 different places. August 27, 1992 in Sarajevo may have been the biggest book burning in history. In one day, and one night: a million and a quarter books...

April 22, 1992. Again the daily routine of bombardment all across the city. At about 9:30 p.m., an 82mm mortar shell explodes in our garden, shattering the windows of the living room where we sit. Tiny particles of glass fill the air. We feel a warm blast, and smell the intense smell of explosives and melted glass. Are we still alive? For a moment, which seems to last about an hour, we do not know...Then yes. We have survived. The next morning we notice that the blast had knocked a special book off its shelf: the letters of 1926 between Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetayeva and Rainer Maria Rilke. It is the first book I ever gave to my own Marina. Picking it up from the floor, we are terrified to find a large piece of shrapnel embedded in the cover. And yet, we are grateful, because a kind of miracle has occurred. From this morning on, we call this collection of poets’ letters The Book That Saved Our Lives.


Kemal Bakaršić (d. 2006) stands in the ruins of the once fabulous National Library


May 17, 1992. The aggressors have deliberately destroyed the Oriental Institute in Sarajevo. The loss cannot be measured or ever repaired. In less than two hours, 5,000 unique manuscripts, Turkish, Persian and Arabic, over a hundred plat books from Ottoman times (books that can no longer show that Slavs professing Islam have lived in Bosnia for many centuries), other records of the Ottoman rule numbering some 200,000 pages, 300 microfilm files of Bosnian writings from other manuscript libraries, the 10,000 volumes of the Institute's research library, and 300 sets of periodicals ... All lost in flame.


I hate to go on with this, with this bibliometric accounting of the destruction of two years of terrorism in the Sarajevo ghetto. I hate myself, and deeply regret that the figures are not part of a program of recovery. They are, rather, merely history. On August 27, 1992, in the early morning, the National Library was deliberately attacked and burned. Twenty-five mortar shells struck the building, launched from four positions in the surrounding hills. In support of the attack, forty shells were dropped on adjacent streets, preventing the fire brigade from coming into action. The odd thing about this supplementary attack is that the aggressors had cut off the water to the district before the attack, so there was no need to bomb the fire brigade. But they did it anyway.


The attack lasted less than half an hour. The fire lasted into the next day. The sun was obscured by the smoke of books, and all over the city sheets of burned paper, fragile pages of grey ashe, floated down like a dirty black snow. Catching a page you could feel its heat, and for a moment read a fragment of text in a strange kind of black and grey negative, until, as the heat dissipated, the page melted to dust in your hand. Approximately 1,200,000 book items and 600 sets of periodicals were destroyed. Administrative documents and the card catalog, computer equipment, microfilm and photograph laboratories, the rare book and other special collections, and the university library, which was housed in the same building.


It seems the Nazis burned about twenty million books. But not in one place (rather, in about 45 different places). August 27, 1992 in Sarajevo, then, may have been the biggest book burning in history. In one day, and one night: a million and a quarter books. So. We have to deal with these criminals. I don’t know what the best term is. “Aggressors?” But I think the aim of this kind of aggression, against museums, against libraries, is to erase our remembrance of who we are. Why else would someone want to burn books? Simply to create the situation where the people of a society have no memory of their past... 
Read more: http://www.newcombat.net/article_thelibraries.html

About The New Combat: COMBAT was a French newspaper first published underground
by the resistance network Combat during the Nazi occupation. Albert Camus was the chief editor from late 1943 until the newspaper was sold in 1947.


Also see: Burning of Jaffna library, May 31, 1981 (At the time of its destruction, the library was one of the biggest in Asia, containing over 97,000 books and manuscripts):
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/sri-lanka-thirty-one-years-after.html

US Threat to Internet freedom

More than two years after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her first speech declaring "Internet freedom" to be a major component of U.S. foreign policy, it turns out that many of the most sophisticated tools used to suppress online free speech and dissent around the world are actually Made in the USA... the U.S. government is the biggest and most powerful customer of American-made surveillance technology..

Inconveniently, governments around the democratic world are pushing to expand their own censorship and surveillance powers as they struggle to address genuine problems related to cybercrime, cyberwar, child protection, and intellectual property. Even more inconveniently, the U.S. government is the biggest and most powerful customer of American-made surveillance technology, shaping the development of those technologies as well as the business practices and norms for public-private collaboration around them. As long as the U.S. government continues to support the development of a surveillance-technology industry that clearly lacks concern for the human rights and civil liberties implications of its business - even rewarding secretive and publicly unaccountable behavior by these companies - the world's dictators will remain well supplied by a robust global industry.

American-made technology has turned up around the Middle East and North Africa over the past year -- from Syria to Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, from pre-revolutionary Tunisia to Egypt -- in contexts that leave no doubt that the software and hardware in question were being used to censor dissenting speech and track activists. While much of this technology is considered "dual use" because it can be used to defend computer networks against cyberattack as well as to censor and monitor political speech, some members of Congress are seeking to prevent its use for political repression...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/03/The_Worlds_No_1_Threat_to_Internet_Freedom

SRI LANKA: Ministers threaten dissident journalists with violence

Minister Mervyn Silva, addressing a public rally, threatened to ‘break the limbs’ of government critics ‘in public’. He also gloated that he was responsible for an attack on the former president of the Sri Lanka Working Journalist Association (SLWJA), exiled journalist Poddala Jayantha, who was abducted and had both his legs broken.


April 2, 2012: The Alliance of Media Organizations is disturbed by the recent wave of hate speeches and slanderous personal attacks directed against media personnel and human rights activists in the country, in the aftermath of the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka. Last week, Minister Mervyn Silva, addressing a public rally, threatened to ‘break the limbs’ of government critics Sunanda Deshapriya, Nimalka Fernando and Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu ‘in public’. He also gloated that he was responsible for an earlier attack on the former president of the Sri Lanka Working Journalist Association (SLWJA), exiled journalist Poddala Jayantha, who was abducted and had both his legs broken by his abductors.

On 27 March, Minister Silva reiterated his threat and suggested that ‘traitors be executed’. In a climate of increasing intolerance and jingoism, state media are conducting a malicious smear campaign against critics of the current regime, including media activists. SLWJA President Gnanasiri Koththigoda, for instance, has been targeted in a sinister character assassination campaign by the government controlled television channel, ITN.

On its news telecast on 22 March, ITN stated it would soon be exposing a ‘traitor’, while showing pictures of Koththigoda in the background. The news anchor noted that a group of ‘media traitors’ had earlier fled the country, and added that the government controlled news channel would soon be exposing another ‘traitor’ who had been aiding and abetting the Tamil Diaspora through his news reporting from Colombo.

On 23 March, Koththigoda complained to Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene about the malicious personal attack levelled against him by ITN. Minister Abeywardene contacted Sudarman Raddeligida, the disgraced news director of the ITN who had previously unsuccessfully contested to be elected to Parliament on the ruling party ticket. After a conversation with Raddeligoda, the Minister assured Kottegoda that all personal attacks would cease forthwith. However, in spite of such assurances, ITN has been continuing with its smear campaign against Koththigoda.

The ITN programme is part of a government orchestrated campaign of discrediting dissenting voices. Given the degree of impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of attacks against media, as evidenced by Minister Mervyn Silva’s crowing about of the attack on our colleague Poddala Jayantha, the Alliance of Media Organizations is deeply concerned about the recent personal attacks directed against media personnel and rights activists including our colleague Gnanasiri Koththigoda. We are worried such attempts at character assassinations could well be a precursor to something far more ghastly.

We call on the government to end the manifold threats directed against its critics, including media personnel. We believe it would be in the interest of Sri Lanka, should the government direct its energies to foster a more tolerant and pluralistic society.

Sunil Jayasekara: On behalf of the Alliance of Media Organizations
http://www.lankanewsweb.com/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1637:smear-campaign-against-dissident-voices&catid=1:general&Itemid=29

China unveils new legislation on police powers of detention

"The real issue is not what the laws say, but how they are enforced," Pu Zhiqiang

China has unveiled legislation enshrining police powers to hold people at unknown locations, but has removed a controversial secrecy clause after an outcry. Experts had warned that the original draft would have legalised disappearances by allowing police to hold some suspects for up to six months without informing their families.

The revisions to the criminal procedure law were unveiled at the National People's Congress on Thursday, and will be passed by what is essentially a rubber stamp parliament. Lawyers have welcomed other elements offering additional protection to suspects. Reformers have long battled for such measures – which include improving legal access, increasing protection for juveniles and outlawing evidence gathered through torture – although many are sceptical about how they will be observed.

"The real issue is not what the laws say, but how they are enforced," Pu Zhiqiang, a Beijing lawyer who has taken on sensitive cases such as those involving dissidents, said. "The pattern is that the Communist party can play by rules when there aren't special circumstances – but whenever there are special circumstances, it doesn't have to play by them."

Police later arrived at Pu's office, preventing him from granting further interviews. Many of the dissidents detained in a sweeping crackdown last year, including the artist Ai Weiwei, appear to have been held under "residential surveillance" at unknown locations. Some experts believe that is illegal, while others say the existing law does not spell out whether the measure should only apply at someone's usual residence.

"The law has not only not changed to prevent that practice but has embraced it, and that is what I find disturbing," Joshua Rosenzweig, an independent human rights researcher in Hong Kong, said. Many of those held last year said they suffered beatings, sleep deprivation and other abuses.

The new law states that police have the right to hold suspects or defendants at places other than their home or an official detention centre if they are "involved in crimes concerning state security, terrorism or especially serious corruption and notification of where they are residing could obstruct investigations"...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/08/china-legislation-police-powers-detention

Journalist seeking truth about Khmer Rouge 'fears for his life'

Award-winning film-maker Thet Sambath – whose 2009 documentary about the Khmer Rouge, Enemies of the People, was shortlisted for an Oscar – claims that uniformed soldiers and plainclothes "spies" working for the Cambodian government have repeatedly followed, harassed and chased him by car and motorbike, with the intention of "making [him] disappear". "They are concerned I will reveal their true crime [through the new film] and … [that] their reputation will be destroyed," Sambath said. "I know too much about what really happened. They want me dead."

Sambath, a senior reporter for the Phnom Penh Post, said the harassment started in May 2010 after news reports circulated internationally about Enemies of the People. Largely regarded as a political and historical watershed, it is the only Khmer Rouge documentary with testimony from the regime's no 2 and ideological leader, Nuon Chea, whom Sambath spent 10 years tracking down and interviewing.

In the film, Chea admits he and Pol Pot decided to "kill and destroy" party members they considered enemies of the people, while lower-ranking cadres demonstrate, in graphic detail, how they implemented orders to slit the throats and dump the bodies of those targeted. The film created a huge stir abroad and locally, winning the Sundance jury prize as well as some 30 other awards, and stimulating dialogue about a traditionally taboo subject in Cambodia itself. But Sambath's follow-up film poses a greater concern for the future of the nation, he says.

"The first film explained 'how' the Khmer Rouge did the killing, now this film looks at 'why'," says Sambath, 45, of the tentatively titled Suspicious Minds. "And the answer is not the same as what the Cambodian government has been telling the public for all these years. The real story is politically huge. It will make everyone in Cambodia come out and talk, and the government will have to explain why they lied."

Pol Pot has long been regarded as the mastermind behind the genocide that claimed nearly a third of Cambodia's population by 1979. Through interviews with regional and senior former leaders, Suspicious Minds, however, argues that it was caused by political infighting within the party, with attempted military coups and assassinations, and massacres in villages aimed at creating an unstable government and ousting Pol Pot from office.

"The reality is that the party was split beforehand and the split of the party caused the Killing Fields," says Rob Lemkin, an Oxford-based film-maker who co-directed Enemies of the People and is producing Suspicious Minds. In uncovering the truth about the brutal regime which, in its short reign from 1975-79, killed off 1.75 million people, Sambath says he has turned himself into the unwitting target of a government still manned by former soldiers. He says he has faced police checkpoints outside his house in Phnom Penh, intimidation from armed thugs and "car chases like in Hong Kong films" deep in the wilds of rural Cambodia, where he conducts most of his interviews... Read more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/25/journalist-khmer-rouge-fears-life

America's Authoritarian Turn : Speaking truth to power becomes a crime.

Ever since the rise of Occupy, corporatist authorities have been trying to figure how to squash our emerging social movement. First they tried a media blackout, but when over 700 nonviolent meme warriors were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge our Gandhian ferocity catalyzed a thousand encampments and the 1% could ignore us no more. Next elites tried the Bloomberg model of midnight paramilitary raids backed up by excessive force and sometimes-lethal munitions. That worked well to evict encampments in New York City, Oakland and nationwide … but it backfired when occupiers became diffuse, appearing at scripted events and interrupting the spectacle of corporate-funded politics with mic checks of truth. Now they are trying the new tactic of “lawfare” – using draconian laws to squash free speech in a last ditch effort to put an end to people power.

A week before the G8 Backdown, the US House of Representatives voted in near unanimous consensus in favor of an authoritarian law, H.R. 347, that makes it a federal crime to disrupt “Government business or official functions” or to enter any building where a “person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting.” In other words, to mic check Obama is now a federal crime punishable by a year in prison. And so too is the banner drop if it takes place in any building that a “protected” person might be visiting in the future, even if jammers don’t know it. And so is the anti-globalization tactic of blocking road access to a meeting of world elites, there is a special clause about that too. Obama signed the bill into law on March 9.

History shows that using authoritarian laws to silence the authentic, legitimate concerns of the people always boomerangs into a fatal loss of legitimacy. Governments derive their authority and right to exist from the people and when the people are ignored and beaten back regimes fall. Read more about H.R. 347 at the dailyagenda.org & the lawfareblog.com and then brainstorm below on how Occupy can outmaneuver this new tactic of repression. 
http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/americas-authoritarian-turn.html

Learning How to Argue: Interview with Chinese intellectual Ran Yunfei

"They say I’m a running dog of the Americans. But I’m just my own running dog."


One of China’s most outspoken public intellectuals, Ran Yunfei was detained last year after calls went out for China to emulate the “Jasmine Revolution” protests sweeping North Africa. He was held without trial for six months until last August. Interestingly, prosecutors turned down police requests for Ran to be formally charged, sending the case back to police with requests for more evidence. When police failed to come up with more evidence, he was then held under house arrest until early February.

Ran works for the government-run Sichuan Literature, where he writes often about classical Chinese. He is also the author of over a dozen scholarly books, including a meticulous history of a local temple, The Lungs of Old Sichuan: The Temple of Great Charity, which was released after he was detained last year. But it was his blogging—where he sometimes goes for the jugular, mixing humor and exaggeration—that got him into trouble. After anonymous calls were made on overseas exile Chinese websites for a Jasmine Revolution in China, Ran wrote China needed reform or would end up like the North African states that were then in turmoil. (He also has an account on Twitter (@ranyunfei) with 57,000 followers—viewable in China only with a VPN or proxy—and another blog on a permitted Chinese microblog, Sina Weibo with 70,000 followers.)

Most recently, Ran, who is 47, has been concerned with freedom of expression and what he sees as a need for a change in the country’s moral education. Born in a rural county that is now part of the city-state of Chongqing, he is a member of the Tujia ethnic group, one of China’s 55 recognized minorities...

Ian Johnson: Since you were detained last year, the word on the street has been that police thought you were involved in the Jasmine Revolution here in China. Of course there was no revolution here—not even really a protest movement inspired by North Africa. So what were they worried about?

Ran Yunfei: They’re worried about networks. But the thing is, I’m not someone who’s often in touch with others. They asked if I was in touch with Wang Juntao (the famous Tiananmen uprising leader) and other (leading dissidents). I said: none. I really am not in contact with anyone. I’m just me with my views. I think the guobao (State Security agents) eventually believed me but at first they couldn’t. They think everyone is linked up.

What did you do in jail?

Mostly I read. Books like the Bible are banned because they think it’s against the government. But they allowed me to read all the classical Chinese literature I wanted. What they didn’t realize is that classical Chinese also has some (subversive) ideas. But they can’t understand classical Chinese so they let me read what I wanted.

It’s interesting that despite all these troubles you still have a job with a government-run publication. How can that be? Do the authorities see it, in effect, as a way of paying you off?

No, the money is almost nothing and I rarely go to work. It’s a management technique. If something happens, then they don’t have to deal with you directly; they let your relationships and obligations put pressure on you. Let’s say you have a good boss, you like him and then he’s under pressure. They ask him to deal with you and then he asks you…well, what do you do? So they say, “Hey, what’s up with Ran?” Then they ask you and then chat with you about how [whatever you are doing] is going to hurt your boss and then you feel, well, do I want to hurt him?..


You’re working on a new book about education in China. What’s the link between belief and education?

You have a society where the educational materials are all about loving the party—of course it leads to a spiritual crisis.

How?

Everything they teach you to admire is jiade (fake). Right now they’re pushing Lei Feng (the Communist hero who was a model of selflessness) again. But everyone knows that Lei Feng is made up. All of their model heroes are false: Wang Jie, Liu Wenxue, Lai Ning: fake fake fake. So when they teach morality their teaching tools are fake. Completely fake. After a while the students learn that Lei Feng is a fake. He existed but all the stories are made up. It’s destructive—it destroys everything you’ve been taught. You feel that nothing is real. How can they teach virtues? It’s impossible. The problem is they don’t have a bottom line. There is no bottom line in society. You find out that the things you’re supposed to admire the most are untrue. So it seems nothing is real. So the only way the party can succeed is by cheating you. That becomes their biggest success. That’s who you’re ruled by.

How do you combat that?

You have to learn how to argue. Too few public intellectuals in China have learned to argue logically. They don’t know how and end up cursing each other all the time.

Like Ai Weiwei?

Old Ai reacts excessively. Like that guy from Global Times (a nationalistic newspaper that criticized the famous artist). The editor called Ai names, but then Ai put a recording of his telephone conversation online. That’s just not right. You can call me names but it doesn’t give me the right to disclose private conversations. This country makes you angry but you should be angry at the government or the system. Don’t destroy your own standards. To defend freedom you can’t use methods that destroy freedom. The main point of most discussions in China is to make someone so angry: “Hahaha, I’ve got you, take that!” “[I] Tweak your nose, spit in your face. Na na na na na!” That’s an argument? No...

People are saying that this year might be a year of reform. The leadership will change in the autumn and there seems to be more recognition about the need for reform in official thinking. There was a widely read People’s Daily editorial last week calling for more reform.

I saw it but you have to understand that People’s Daily always has some articles like this to give intellectuals false hope. They are talking about reform. EvenGlobal Times talks about it. They see there are problems but I’m doubtful it will lead to political reforms. Maybe some more economic reforms.

The good news is that blogging and the Internet have damaged the CCP’s monopoly on information. So change is happening slowly, from the grassroots. But the damage of years of living under this system is profound. You, as a foreigner, can live here and learn to use chopsticks and learn Chinese perfectly but you might not know how Chinese people think, especially in sensitive areas. If you ask ordinary people about a sensitive thing, how they react is different than how you’ll react. It’s hard for you to imagine their sense of fear. You might be expelled but it’s not like being here. The system of language has to be analyzed. The CCP created a parallel language system (of untruth) that is on an equal basis with the language of truth. You have to analyze what it’s like to grow up in this kind of an unfree country. This is the only way to really know this country...

Read more: http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/mar/02/learning-how-argue-interview-ran-yunfei/