Poetry of Protest - 3

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson

Continuing from the series of Poetry of Protest Part 1 and Part 2, we are looking more in the power of protest. Protest is a sign of repression to overlook voice of love, reason and critical criticism. Looking for the identity, dignity, autonomy and culture in current scenario across globe, the inertia of the tradition can only be resisted by individuals of great integrity and confidence. Out of disobedience one starts being an individual.

We live in a arbit society where pregnancies, marriages and divorces of D-type celebrities became the national news but there comes a threshold where the public's right to be informed on the matters like naxalism and corruption takes back seats.With the loss of confidence, the capacity of outrage goes. We are living in the ages where even speaking against Sachin Tandulkar, Shivaji Maharaja and Dr. Ambedkar is considered sin leave aside deemed demigods. The one sided movement of striking a balance between freedom of speech and respecting cultural sensitivities has been a waste effort. History of liberty has preceded repressive culture and will survive them.

Most well-meaning citizens are alienated from the horrible plight of the exploitation, displacement and dispossession region. Even our outraged is selective as eloquently put by Shivam Vij - The Muslims are outraged by Satanic Verses and the Hindus by MF Husain's paintings and the Dalits by an Ambedkar cartoon and in each case we end up with censorship rather than freedom. We choose whose freedom we want to support. We are selective in our support and in our outrage.

How much of our past must we abandon? How much of present is worth carrying forward ? And where is our golden age lying.. in the past or in future.. surely not present with its complex realities. Not everyone can theoretically understand the complex reality but few has undeniable ability to put this in lyrics. To be logical is never meant to be right. That is why we all love poetry as this is full of emotion even playing with words for this. Only poets can write with an invisible, polite, but absolute aura that appeal to our irrational mind. Spirit of poets transcends the fabric of time, spreads through their best and worst times of the civilization. And they will always present to create an unanswerable dilemma for the powerful elders of a community. What people cannot ask and talk with each other, they will google secretly. They will inquire into the origins of power with an audacity of hope.

No repressed individual can be creative. I may sound radical but Pussy Riot's punk prayer or the rap of Afro-American is sign of pure protest poetry against their social and political regime. Even the time of bollywood's pop patriotism is gone with upcoming of new generation. We will track down every bit of words written by Gorakh Pandey, Baba Nagarjun, Muktibodh, Gaddar, Nirala and Dhoomil against our state because great literature rarely goes into oblivion.

1- Poets of Protest : This series delves into the soul of the Middle East with intimate profiles of poets who seek to interpret and inspire.

2- The poetry of revolution : Tunisia's uprisings were started neither by political action nor a military coup, but by a regime of banners and chants.

3- Only people who are very intelligent and very unhappy can write good poems. Poet's ability to shut off their part of the mind even while the world is in turn-moil. This mean that poet had no more connection with the present. The poet seek solace with in the past or future like a ghost.Such a heavy price for a piece of art. Only the purest poet like dervish allow poems in their heart at the time of their revolution. - Orhan Pamuk through Poet 'KA' in Snow.

Sometimes, I crib too much and behave like cynic. Yet, somehow I always feel inside that a voice of protest is more essential than being indifferent and ignorant to the whole scenario. Thanks to Annie Zaidi for quoting a great anecdote supporting my gut feeling from an article written by one of my favorite journalist Johann Hari :  "In 1966, the specialists at the Pentagon went to US President Lyndon Johnson – a thug prone to threatening to “crush” entire elected governments – with a plan to end the Vietnam War: nuke the country. They “proved”, using their computer modeling, that a nuclear attack would “save lives.” It was a plan that might well have appealed to him. But Johnson pointed out the window, towards the hoardes of protesters, and said: “I have one more problem for your computer. Will you feed into it how long it will take 500,000 angry Americans to climb the White House wall out there and lynch their President?” He knew that there would be a cost – in protest and democratic revolt – that made that cruelty too great. In 1970, the same plan was presented to Richard Nixon – and we now know from the declassified documents that the biggest protests ever against the war made him decide he couldn't do it. Those protesters went home from those protests believing they had failed – but they had succeeded in preventing a nuclear war. They thought they were impotent, just as so many of us do – but they really had power beyond their dreams to stop a nightmare."

Background of the Arab Revolution

When the Rebels become the tyrants, Revolution takes on a new meaning. We can consider Libya a perfect example of that. Still, US government is backing Libyan rebels to achieve democracy and liberty in their nation while supporting Arab league authoritarian rule in Saudi, Bahrain or Yemen. Why ? Only vested interests in Saudi and hidden agenda in Libya !

As pointed by a journalist : Libyan assets are mainly in the US and Europe, and they amount to hundreds of billions of dollars: the US Treasury froze $30bn of liquid assets, and US banks $18bn. What is to happen to interest on these assets? The absence of any specific arrangement assets are turned into a booty, an interest-free loan, in this instance, to US Treasury and US banks. And the logic of western policy is permanent support for the Saudi elite and its guarantee of “stability” and "oil"in the region.

Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies at Oxford University, coined the term refolution to describe the hybrid form of change that had taken place. These transformations were non-violent and pointed to the emergence of a new approach to transformation that involves reform and revolution.

We will go through Ten articles to understand the change happening in the Arab region deeply :

1- The Student Movement in 1968 : To examine the Arab student movement in 1968, Egypt and Lebanon provide the best insight because both countries saw the most sustained student activities of the era while also proving influential throughout the region because their universities enrolled students from all over the Arab world. Betty S. Anderson gives an excellent piece which helps put current movements in a longer time perspective.

2- Egyptian transformations: Mohammed Bamyeh is a professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh. Sociologist Mohammed Bamyeh was present at Tahrir Square throughout the Egyptian Revolution and was able to see the popular political will unfolding. Here he singles out key elements in the uprising and describes the social transformations they have brought about.

3- The West's 'double standards' in Middle East : Support for Bahraini government's crackdown on protests is a paradox as West supports Libyan rebels, activist argues.

4 - Don't Steal Our Revolution! : The Arab democracy movement sets great store by its independence and now fears that the intervention in Libya will come with a high price tag: it could rob their protest of its legitimacy. Layla Al-Zubaidi comments on the Arabs and the Libyan Intervention.

5- The Orientalist blindness and The Arab revolution and Western decline : Haaretz, A newspaper from Israel look in the matter with a new angle for most of the readers.

6- The Turkish Chimera :  Turkey's historical experience and political evolution differ in important ways from Arab countries'. As a result, the collapse of the old power structures in many Middle East countries is likely to be accompanied by considerable political turmoil and violence, writes F. Stephen Larrabee on Turkey and the ''Arab Spring'.

7- Imperial feminism, Islamophobia and the Egyptian revolution : An article by Nadine Naber who is an Assistant Professor in the Program in American Culture, Arab American Studies, and the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

8- A revolution against neoliberalism? : If rebellion results in a retrenchment of neoliberalism, millions will feel cheated. Walter Armbrust gives a detailed report. Dr. Walter Armbrust is Hourani Fellow and University Lecturer in Modern Middle East Studies at Oxford University.

9- Paradoxes of Arab Refo-lutions : A detail study on the possibility of various changes : ‘reformist change’, ‘insurrectionary model’ and ‘regime implosion’ by Asef Bayat. Dr. Asef Bayat is Professor of Sociology and Middle Eastern studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

10- Can “Leaderless Revolutions” Stay Leaderless: Preferential Attachment, Iron Laws and Networks : by Zeynep Tufekci.

"The one thing freedom lovers need is real community. Not just the community of Web yakking. Not just the community of common ideas and ideals. But a web of institutions that serve freedom's goals." — Would You Move to the State of the Free? (2001) Claire Wolfe

Islamic Countries and Revolution

People of the Middle East had been living under the tyranny of secular and corrupt governments, which were all supported by the United States and other Western countries. People have experimented with most other forms of governance. Where these experiments have failed to deliver and simultaneously education has been infused with religion, the attraction of the only untried one has increased. This context left them recourse to only one political alternative: religious fundamentalism.

Arab economy is based on oil and knowledge is not valued term their. That is why there academic does not have cultural inquiry and only revolve around theological discussions. The most educated young Muslims have lost the capacity to question the false Islamic history and ideology dished to them in academics. An Islamic country with ethnic, sectarian and religious diversity becomes a issue to fear within the Mullah and Army. And the worse response for any catastrophe is : ‘If only ...... imposes true Islamic system, we’ll be able to get rid of the hypocrisies committed in its name.

Nationalism can flourish without democracy, but democracy cannot have its existence without nationalism. The West does not really fear the rise of a Muslim Brotherhood as an alternative to dictators, since that is a socio-political movement that can be contained in a crunch. It is worried about an explosion of governments that place the people’s interest above that of sectional regimes at home and their mentors abroad. It was this worry that prevented the West from intervening even when dictators looted their own nations.

Foreigners are often accused of "exploiting" suffering for profit or cheap publicity. It is not new that religious parties consider themselves to be the most competent judges in matters of their own suffering – if not in an artistic sense, than in a moral one. The problem in Islamic case is that , like any other religions, they do not like it when foreigners interfere with "their internal reform". The reluctance to admit that something is wrong with their religion  is completely missing.Same nationalistic dare speak up against the  many gross acts of violence and injustice that take place in its heartland.

How long could Islamic world go on loudly supporting the rising and rhetorical tide of anti-Americanism while at the same time be the first to stand the long queues outside American and European visa offices? It’s a vicious cycle that denies us the patience and logic to reflect upon internal mistakes instead of always being on the look out for ‘corrupt Muslims’, ‘heretics’, foreign agents and media-made punching bags to blame for economic miseries, political chaos and moral confusion on.

1- What can Egypt and Tunisia teach us?: The protests in Tunisia and Egypt have won the first of what will have to be many victories. Mubarak and Ben Ali have fled and dictators have fallen to people’s uprisings – the street and the public square have, at least for the moment, reclaimed their voice from the boulevards and corridors of power.

2- On May 13, 2010 Iranian journalist and dissident Akbar Ganji received the CATO Institute’s Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. Upon accepting the award, he discussed his ideas about Iranian democracy, liberty, and U.S. policy in the Middle East.

3- The blocked elite- The problem with most middle-class political movements is that they know whom they don’t want, but rarely do they know what they want.

4-Is there a revolution underway in Egypt? by Daniel Little: Is what is going on in Egypt today a "revolution"? What about Tunisia? And how about the Georgian "Rose" Revolution (2003) or the Philippine Yellow Revolution of 1986? Do these social and political conflicts and outcomes add up to a "revolution" in those societies? Are they analogous in any way to other revolutions in the post-World War II period -- e.g. Cuba, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe?

5-Pakistan after the Arab Insurrections By Anjum Altaf : What do the recent events in Tunisia and Egypt portend for Pakistan? The question is on many minds. One approach to attempting an answer might be to try and infer it from below by investigating the morphology of Pakistani society and noting any significant similarities and differences in the process.

People don't propose for the alternative or recognize the diversity within Islam; Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahemdi, Bahia or Shia has different interpretations of Islam. In the end we have to finally accept (on an official level) that we live in a land of manifold ethnicities and multiple interpretations of Islam.  Neuroscientist and best selling author Sam Harris has openly criticized the term Islamophobia in an article stating :

There is no such thing as Islamophobia. Bigotry and racism exist, of course—and they are evils that all well-intentioned people must oppose. And prejudice against Muslims or Arabs, purely because of the accident of their birth, is despicable. But like all religions, Islam is a system of ideas and practices. And it is not a form of bigotry or racism to observe that the specific tenets of the faith pose a special threat to civil society. Nor is it a sign of intolerance to notice when people are simply not being honest about what they and their co-religionists believe.

Poetry of Protest - 2

Tyrants always recognize the explosive potential of literature. An apparently harmless piece of text with simple words have power to make a common people realize his/her rights and dignity. I remember this year 2010 for mine introduction to Faiz Ahmed Faiz's poems. The book Dast-e-saba (The breeze’s hand) begins with a short introduction by Faiz himself, a small polemic on the responsibility of the artist. ‘The poet’s work is not only perception and observation, but also struggle and effort,’ Faiz writes :

A full comprehension of this ocean of Life through the live and active ‘drops’ of his environment depends upon the poet’s depth of perception. To be able to show this ocean to others depends upon his control over his art; and his ability to set in motion some new currents in the ocean depends upon the fire in his blood and the zeal of his passion. Success in all three tasks demands continuous toil and struggle.

One even as a writer also needs to give real direction to the country’s future—rather than posing neutral as a bystander. Poems and words are written to promote the values of equality, freedom of speech and human rights. Poetry is not any partisan propaganda. A person belonging to any political spectrum of nationalists, secularists, liberals, and leftists is moved by the power of poetry.

1- Resistance Songs of IPTA: A Revolutionary Legacy :- Sumangala Damodarane is collecting, archiving, reviving and documenting IPTA protest music. Members of this progressive artists association had written, composed and sung songs in many Indian languages.



2- Jugalbandi: Indian Ocean’s common minimum programme :- Indian Ocean member give us insight of the act of balancing politics and music in India’s best-known progressive band.

3- Amardeep Singh who teaches post-colonial literature at Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has made notes on the role played by Arabic poetry in the uprisings.

Protest poetry and music sometimes rises to the surface during popular uprisings, crystallizing popular sentiments -- one thinks of Victor Jara in Chile, Nazim Hikmet in Turkey, Faiz Ahmed Faiz in Pakistan, or Woody Guthrie in the United States. At times like these, the right poetry and song doesn't merely describe how people are feeling; it can actually act as an intensifier that guides a protest movement, helping it spread and solidify.

4- The Poetry of Revolt : Elliott Colla ,an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University tracks about the actual poetry that has played a prominent role in the outset of the events at Egypt.

It's People, Stupid

Long before internet, Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader. Times are changing now with the tools of information, it's a revolution of facebook generation.

So was it Wikileaks, Facebook, or Twitter that is toppling dictators in Middle East? The people's revolution for liberty is spreading like a domino effect in the Arab world with the help of 1,000 satellite channels. The tools to report the struggle on internet like social networks, blogs, text messaging and mobile phone video clips that can be swiftly uploaded to YouTube are triggering the voice of people.

Those of us far from these upheavals face a powerful responsibility of making these voice heard on the global stage. The inspiration for next popular protest can come from anywhere in the world and people will not only aspire for liberty and freedom but will also know through TV, radio, press and Internet.

Theocracy has arrived in the Iran through popular tapes of Ayotullah Khomeni and so was the protest of Green revolution was sparked through Internet connection. What has started from eastern European countries have come to Islamic countries in thirty years.

In a society that does not tolerate social and cultural views that challenge the status and authority, the Internet presents Anonymity and Security ; Internet provides a platform for the exchange of views with like-minded individuals and for the establishment of local, national or international networks of the people.

By the time the dust settles and the smoke clears, plenty more incriminating pictures and videos will appear, chronicling a popular revolution in the making with all its glorious moments and its dark phases. For documenting everything from the colorful protests in Tahrir Square as well as Tunis, the huge marches of millions in Alexandria and Cairo, the awful scenes of cars running over pedestrians, we owe our thanks to many people whose names we will never know.

Leaders get power from the people that they lead on trust. If the people lose trust in the leader, no power can put the ruler on the throne forever. We have to be cautious that it is not a social change, but a step towards political democracy. It's not only the victory of the technology over censor , it is the victory of the people and liberal values.  I will quote here two paragraphs written by Linda Herrera about the use of technology in the revolution :

"Many have since asked: Is this a “Facebook Revolution?” It is high time to put this question to rest and insist that political and social movements belong to people and not to communication tools and technologies. Facebook, like cell phones, the internet, and twitter, do not have agency, a moral universe, and are not predisposed to any particular ideological or political orientation. They are what people make of them.

Facebook is no more responsible for Egypt’s revolution than Gutenberg’s printing press with movable type was responsible for the Protestant Reformation in the fifteenth century. But it is valid to say that neither the Reformation nor the pro-democracy rights’ movements sweeping Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, and much of the region would have come about at this juncture without these new tools. Digital communications media have revolutionized learning, cognition, and sociability and facilitated the development of a new generational behavior and consciousness. And the old guard simply do not get it."

What is happening in Egypt is not a Facebook Revolution. But it could not have come about without the Facebook generation, generation 2.0, who are taking, and with their fellow citizens, making history.The revolution is here to stay and more power will flow towards people only. The way ahead lies through peaceful protest against extremism and opportunism in democracy. Iran, Kashmir, Tunisia and now Egypt.... Protests are here to stay. Winds of change have start blowing in Yemen, Algeria, Gabon :-)

Understanding Islamic Culture -4

Continuing from 1, 2 ,3 -

The people's uprising in Tunisia, Egypt or Yemen is not just about the state of the economy, but also about civil rights and dignity. The Arab regimes have exploited 'threat of terrorism' fears and blew them out of all proportion in order to justify its repressive policies and garner support for them. The revolt is an expression of the frustration at social injustice.

Currently, There is no organised political opposition except Islamic movement. The regime has systematically destroyed all peaceful alternatives, from the democratic parties to the political Islamists. All of this has happened over the course of time when manipulative world power were busy in supporting dummy dictators.

I am proceeding on 4th part of essay series to understand the reason behind such events with these articles explaining background and reason for this sudden arrival of wind of change;

1- Predicting a "de-Islamicised Muslim World" : Alphabetisation and a decline in the birth-rate. Courbage and Todd believe these two factors will lead the Islamic world into modernity – and away from religion. With their analyses the two French demographers add a new dimension to the ongoing debate over the clash of civilisations. Maik Meuser reports.

2- "Modernity, Democracy Are Only for the Privileged": The Egyptian scholar Hamid Abu Zayd criticizes the age-old border between the wealthy North and the impoverished South. It still exists, despite globalisation. Universal human values, however, cannot be a privilege restricted to the West

3- Recurring Revolts: In his essay, the renowned Moroccan philosopher Mohamed Sabila describes the generation gap in the three Maghreb states and the social plight of young people, who have turned away in disappointment from the political dogmatism of their parent's generation.

4- Acts of self-immolation have set off waves of protest across Tunisia and Egypt. Amira Muhammad spoke to Ahmed Okasha, president of the "Arab Federation of Psychiatrists" about how Arab psychologists are interpreting this protest phenomenon.

5- The Syrian philosopher Sadiq Al-Azm is one of the highest-profile and most strident critics of the Arab world. To this day, his ideas are between all fronts, making him enemies of both Islamist and secular dogmatists. Sadiq Al-Azm is soon to celebrate his 75th birthday. A portrait by Kersten Knipp

Understanding Islamic Culture -2

Continued from the Part 1,

When there is no cultural, political or social movement in a country, alternative forces emerge. That's why I believe that the intellectual life of the Islamic republic has virtually ground to a halt. The fear of causing offence has helped undermine progressive trends in Islam and strengthened the hand of religious bigots. Secular Muslims have come to be regarded as betraying their culture, while radical Islam has become not just more acceptable but, to many, more authentic. There is less need to quote Quran and Hadith again and again for better understanding of Islamic doctrines. This trend has led to cherry-picking whichever paraphrase or translation supports whatever point one attempts to convey through holy book.

Here, we have to understand the relationship between the Muslim and the non-Muslim world. The idea of two separate worlds divided from one another is wrong and violent repression is the seed of terror and militant Islamism in the Islamic world. Let us continue with more practical deabtes happening about Islam in different part of the world.

1- Understanding Islamic Feminism: Interview with Ziba Mir-Hosseini. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand she talks about the origins and prospects of Islamic feminism as an emancipatory project for Muslim women and as a new, contextually-relevant way of understanding Islam.

2- Has Islam a Place in a Modern World? : Bettina Robotka  discuss about the question of whether there is any positive role for Islam or for religion as such in a modern world is gaining urgency in the light of an ongoing “War against (Islamic) terror” and the spread of militant and conservative interpretations of Islam.

3- Democratic Change Must Come from Within: The prominent political scientist Amr Hamzawy tells Bassam Rizk why democratic change and the strengthening of civil society in the Arab world can only come from within. Interview by Bassam Rizk.

4- The Acceleration of History: Contrary to the European experience, secularization in the Islamic world preceded a religious reformation – with profound negative consequences for political development in Muslim societies. An essay by Nader Hashemi on Islam and democracy.

5- Re-Inventing the Taliban: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, a young director originally from Pakistan, traveled back to her country to document the growth of Islamic fundamentalism there. Silke Kettelhake reports.

6- Mr. Tarek Fatah joined Globe and Mail opinion piece to take questions about Islamic radicalism, the doctrine of jihad, Pakistan and the global tide of extremism.

7- Full Equality before the Law for All Religions: French political scientist Olivier Roy is one of the foremost European experts on Islam. Eren Güvercin spoke with Roy about the current Islam debate in Europe;

Understanding Islamic Culture -1

Today Muslim world is deeply divided along the lines of separation between passionate liberalism and firm conservatism. Most of the Muslims do not debate with Non believers on Islam. They react and then huddle up behind flimsy and lopsided historical and national narratives about what being a Muslim is all about. That doesn't solve the problem of stereotyping of Muslims. I personally assume, Muslims as individuals capable of accepting cultural norm of others very easily and Islam as an institution going towards reform very slowly. This article is not be beginners guide for learning about Islamic cultural aspect. It is the first part of our essay that is focusing on current cultural environment in Islamic world. For beginners [History of Islam]

Arab world is the cradle of Islam and all the problems emerged in Islam can be studies better by understanding the mindset of Arab region. Arab countries are depending too much on religious books and have failed to educate a generation on rational and scientific thinking. When there is no cultural, political or social movement in a country, alternative forces emerge. That's the reason the Arab's secular renaissance has failed to take hold. Let us begin with few interviews :

1- In an exclusive interview, Tayyib Tizini, Professor of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Damascus, holds the view that the current strength of radical Islamist movements in the Arab world is the product of a lack of freedom.

2- In an exclusive interview, Tariq Ali, author of "The Clash of Fundamentalisms" and renowned critical intellectual, talks about Islam and the West and about reforms in the Islamic world.

3- The Arab world is marked by polarisation: between the elites and the masses, between town and country, between rich and poor. Development will not be possible as long as this polarisation exists. As the Lebanese writer Karam al-Helou notes, this blockade of progress threatens to destroy the Arab world from inside.

4- In a January 2008 interview with the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Georges Tarabishi, a prominent liberal Syrian intellectual living in France, spoke about democracy in the Arab world, the fundamentalist challenge, and secularism. He argued that just as secularism emerged in Europe as a remedy to Protestant-Catholic sectarianism, so it is needed in the Arab world to overcome sectarian divisions and pave the way for a democratic future.

5- Are Sharia Laws and Human Rights Compatible? In their correspondence, Emran Qureshi (journalist and expert for Islam and human rights) and Heba Raouf Ezzat (lecturer for political science and womens' rights activist) discuss the role of the sharia in Islamic countries and in how far sharia laws are compatible with human rights.

Dumpimg Ideas & Weblinks

Talking of ‘IP’, here’s what Krzysztof Zanussi has said about it. (Source)

“Intellectual property, to me, is important because I benefit from it when sometimes, author’s rights are paid to me. However, I doubt it from the moral point of view that intellectual property should ever be protected. I want to be popular and I want my work to be accessible to anybody who wants to read it.

When I saw pirated cassettes of my films in Russia I wanted to embrace the seller because they bhad taken pains to make it accessible. I found pirated DVDs of my films in China and was proud. I probably lost some money, but what a joy. There is a contradiction between my desire to be accessible to anybody who is interested in my work and my greed to be paid for it. I was paid for making the film.

In fact any intellectual who is defending his property has already been paid for it, and now we want something extra. I am not in a position to find a solution to this issue. I have participated in a number of sessions about author’s rights and I have seen pressure being mounted on poor countries like Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan. Steven Spielberg feels victimized because his author’s rights have not been respected in these countries.

I do not feel emotionally towards the law. I am for the people who want to see these films free. They have been deprived of money and Spielberg is very well off anyway. So my sense of justice and my sense of law are in collision. As an artist, I have the right to point out this problem.”

I have seen much of the good works of American and world cinema through torrents. The huge amount of download culture in college has helped me a lot in making collection of pirated dvd gems. I oppose intellectual piracy of the bollywood copy cats, still watch cinema with the help of piracy. As an artist, I have the right to point out this dilemna. I need suggesation in this case from the blog readers (if any) as it is hypocrite in practice. And funny thing is that, I am currently doing a distance learning course on IP rights. Where I stand in this ethical fight of copyright and copyleft (this terminology exist) ? Few noteworthy reading weblinks

1- Rethinking handloom -A look at cotton handloom industry of India. Weavers are children of a lesser god in India.
2- Why Arabs lose wars? - A look from the POV of retired U.S. Army colonel.
3- The return of history and the end of dreams - It emphazises that history repeats itself by looking at current world power order.
4- Unto This Last (1860): Four Essays On The First Principles Of Political Economy by John Ruskin. It is said to have influenced Mahatma Gandhi on his views on economics and society.
5- A take on Sach ka Samna by Santosh Desai.
6- The other side of education and Education's five fault lines .

This weblinks are motivated by line - 'Empty yourself totally, Become a Nothingness, Only then you would feel a sense of Completeness'.