Today in Labor History December 3, 1984: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killed over 3,800 people and injured up to 600,000 more. Up to 16,000 people died, in total, over the years following the disaster. The Government of Madhya Pradesh has paid compensation to family members of 3,787 of the victims killed. Numerous local activist groups emerged to support the victims of the disaster, like Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, who won the Goldman Prize in 2004. Many of the activists were subjected to violent repression by the police and government. Larger international groups, like Greenpeace and Pesticide Action Network also got involved. The disaster has played a role in numerous works of fiction, including Arundhati Roy’s “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness” (2017) and Indra Sinha’s “Animal’s People” (2007). It has also been referenced in music by the Revolting Cocks “Union Carbide” and the Dog Faced Hermans ”Bhopal.”
India: Authorities pursue charges against writer Arundhati Roy over 2010 speech
‘The sudden and unjust decision to pursue new charges against Arundhati Roy over a speech given in 2010 is a blatant attempt at intimidation and yet another example of how India’s legal system is being weaponised against critical voices. We call for an immediate halt to the legal proceedings and for an end to the weaponisation of India’s legal system’, said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s #WritersInPrison Committee.
Arundhati Roy was awarded the 45th European Essay Prize for lifetime achievement on the occasion of the French translation of her essay Azadi – Liberté, Fascisme, Fiction on September 12. https://youtu.be/LE3qgBW_u7M
"What’s happening in India is not that loose variety of internet fascism. It’s the real thing. We have become Nazis. Not just our leaders, not just our TV channels and newspapers, but vast sections of our population too".
'Hands Off Arundhati Roy!': Progressive Voices Decry Possible Prosecution of Indian Author
"You have no idea what you will unleash is you pursue this political prosecution aimed at silencing your most eloquent critic," Canadian author Naomi Klein warned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
@DocCarms
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Intelligence and insight are crimes in India?
Oh no! Not in this article.
#TheGuardian#BothSides this, writing,
"Roy, 61, is one of India’s most famous living authors but her writing and activism, including her criticism of the prime minister Narendra Modi’s government, have made her a polarising figure in the country."
The country is fascist and going worse but we'll #Euphemate that into, Roy being "a polarising figure".
Delhi LG approves prosecution of Arundhati Roy, Kashmir professor in 2010 ‘provocative speeches’ case
The FIR against Ms. Roy and former professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain was registered following the orders of the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi.
What Arundhati Roy and the secular intelligentsia get wrong about Modi’s India
It is not that violence against minorities is not a serious issue, but that outrage while doing nothing has invisibilised the restructuring of the country, writes Amrita Shah.
Arundhati Roy speaks and writes about the decline of Democracy and the rise of sectarianism, inequality and political violence in India but her words apply equally well to many other countries today.
What lessons can we learn and apply to our own fragile Democracies?
Arundhati Roy:
"It is no longer just our leaders we must fear, but a whole section of the population. The banality of evil, the normalisation of evil is now manifest in our streets, in our classrooms, in very many public spaces."
"It would be presumptuous, arrogant, and even a little stupid of a writer to believe that she could change the world with her writing. But it would be pitiful if she didn’t even try."
Innocent Muslims being murdered in India due to Hindu radicalism
ITV News reveals the impact of the dangerous rise of Hindu radicalism, inspired by - critics tell us - Prime Minister Modi & his party, as John Ray reports.