Suchergebnisse

Transcript of papers, presented at two days international seminar titled 'Vartamāna Vaiśvika Paridr̥śya meṃ Mahātmā Gān̐dhī kī Prāṃsagikatā' (Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in Present Global Perspective) organised by L.S.M. Government Post Graduate College, Pithorāgarh, India, during 17-18 November 2019

For thousands of years India's Dalits were abhorred as "untouchables," denied education and treated as bonded labour. By 1923 Bhimrao Ambedkar broke the taboo, won doctorates abroad and fought for the emancipation of his people. He drafted India's Constitution, led his followers to discard Hinduism for Buddhism. His legend still spreads through poetry and song. In 1997 a statue of Dr. Ambedkar in a Dalit colony in Mumbai was desecrated with footwear. As angry residents gathered, police opened fire killing 10. Vilas Ghogre, a leftist poet, hung himself in protest. Jai Bhim Comrade shot over 14 years, follows the poetry and music of people like Vilas and marks a subaltern tradition of reason that, from the days of the Buddha, has fought superstition and religious bigotry

Made in the aftermath of Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests, Ribbons gives new meaning to an old film song by Kishore Kumar--a kind of "Imagine" composed before the days of John Lennon. With guest appearances by well-known movie stars like Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, Kittu Gidwani and Chandrachur, the film was made to counter a pro-nuke music video made by the political party in power

This film documents the violence and terror in Punjab, India--a land torn apart by religious fundamentalists and a repressive government. After examining the political turmoil of the late 1970's and the rise of Sikh fundamentalism, the film focuses on the legacy of Bhagat Singh, a young socialist executed by the British in 1931 at the age of 23. Singh has since become a legend. Today the State eulogizes him as a nationalist while Sikh separatists portray him as a Sikh militant. In fact, Singh was neither. Just prior to his death he wrote a book which he entitled "Why I Am An Atheist." In strife-torn Punjab a band of brave Sikhs and Hindus carry Bhagat Singh's secular legacy from village to village. In the religiously charged countryside ideas of internationalism and secularism now carry a price