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Recent Resources for Feminists
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 July 28, 2008
The fort that has never been attacked. Built by the Hapsburgs in 1833, it is believed the Nazis hid the gold they looted during World War II here (AP)
SHORT STORY
The Briefing
By  Arundhati Roy, her first work of fiction since The God of Small Things in 1997 is an allegory, a powerful fable about Climate Change, the War on Terror and Corporate Raj
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My greetings. I'm sorry I'm not here with you today but perhaps it's just as well. In times such as these, it's best not to reveal ourselves completely, not even to each other.
If you step over the line and into the circle, you may be able to hear better. Mind the chalk on your shoes.
I know many of you have travelled great distances to be here. Have you seen all there is to see? The pillbox batteries, the ovens, the ammunition depots with cavity floors? Did you visit the workers' mass grave? Have you studied the plans carefully? Would you say that it's beautiful, this fort? They say it sits astride the mountains like a defiant lion.
I confess I've never seen it. The guidebook says it wasn't built for beauty. But beauty can arrive uninvited, can it not? It can fall upon things unexpectedly, like sunlight stealing through a chink in the curtains. Ah, but then this is the fort with no chinks in its curtains, the fort that has never been attacked. Does this mean its forbidding walls have thwarted even Beauty and sent it on its way?
Beauty. We could go on about it all day and all night long. What is it? What is it not? Who has the right to decide? Who are the world's real curators, or should we say the real world's curators? What is the real world? Are things we cannot imagine, measure, analyse, represent and reproduce real? Do they exist? Do they live in the recesses of our minds in a fort that has never been attacked? When our imaginations fail, will the world fail too? How will we ever know?
How big is it, this fort that may or may not be beautiful? They say it is the biggest fort ever built in the high mountains.
Gigantic, you say? Gigantic makes things a little difficult for us. Shall we begin by mapping its vulnerabilities? Even though it has never been attacked (or so they say), think of how its creators must have lived and relived the idea of being attacked. They must have waited to be attacked. They must have dreamt of being attacked.
They must have placed themselves in the minds and hearts of their enemies until they could barely tell themselves apart from those they feared so deeply. Until they no longer knew the difference between terror and desire. And then, from that knothole of tormented love, they must have imagined attacks from every conceivable direction with such precision and cunning as to render them almost real. How else could they have built a fortification like this? Fear must have shaped it; dread must be embedded in its very grain. Is that what this fort really is? A fragile testament to trepidation, to apprehension, to an imagination under siege?
It was built-and I quote its chief chronicler-to store everything that ought to be defended at all costs. Unquote. That's saying something. What did they store here comrades? What did they defend?
Weapons. Gold. Civilisation itself. Or so the guidebook says.
And now, in Europe's time of peace and plenty, it is being used to showcase the transcendent purpose, or, if you wish, the sublime purposelessness, of civilisation's highest aspiration: Art. These days, I'm told, Art is Gold.
I hope you have bought the catalogue. You must. For appearances' sake at least.
As you know, the chances are that there's gold in this Fort. Real gold. Hidden gold. Most of it has been removed, some of it stolen, but a good amount is said to still remain. Everyone's looking for it, knocking on walls, digging up graves. Their urgency must be palpable to you.
T hey know there's gold in the fort. They also know there's no snow on the mountains. They want the gold to buy some snow.
Those of you who are from here-you must know about the Snow Wars.
Those of you who aren't, listen carefully. It is vital that you understand the texture and fabric of the place you have chosen for your mission.
Since the winters have grown warmer here, there are fewer 'snowmaking' days and as a result there's not enough snow to cover the ski slopes. Most ski slopes can no longer be classified as 'snow-reliable'. At a recent press conference-perhaps you've read the reports-Werner Voltron, president of the Association of Ski Instructors, said, "The future, I think is black. Completely black." (Scattered applause that sounds as though it's coming from the back of the audience. Barely discernible murmurs of Bravo! Viva! Wah, Wah! Yeah Brother!) No no no...comrades, comrades...you misunderstand. Mr Voltron was not referring to the Rise of the Black Nation. By Black he meant ominous, ruinous, hopeless, catastrophic, and bleak. He said that every one degree celsius increase in winter temperatures spells doom for almost one hundred ski resorts. That, as you can imagine, is a lot of jobs and money.
Not everybody is as pessimistic as Mr Voltron. Take the example of Guenther Holzhausen, CEO of MountainWhite, a new branded snow product, popularly known as Hot Snow (because it can be manufactured at two to three degrees celsius above the normal temperature). Mr Holzhausen said-and I'll read this out to you-"The changing climate is a great opportunity for the Alps. The extremely high temperatures and rising sea levels brought about by global warming will be bad for seaside tourism. Ten years from now people usually headed for the Mediterranean will be coming to the comparatively cooler Alps for skiing holidays. It is our responsibility; indeed our duty to guarantee snow of the highest quality. MountainWhite guarantees dense, evenly spread snow which skiers will find is far superior to natural snow." Unquote.
MountainWhite snow, comrades, like most artificial snows, is made from a protein located in the membrane of a bacterium called Pseudomonas syringae. What sets it apart from other snows is that in order to prevent the spread of disease and other pathogenic hazards, MountainWhite guarantees that the water it uses to generate snow for skiing is of the highest quality, sourced directly from drinking water networks. "You can bottle our ski slopes and drink them!" Guenther Holzhausen is known to have once boasted. (Some restless angry murmuring on the soundtrack.) I understand... But calm your anger. It will only blur your vision and blunt your purpose.
To generate artificial snow, nucleated, treated water is shot out of high-pressure power-intensive snow cannons at high speed. When the snow is ready, it is stacked in mounds called whales. The snow whales are groomed, tilled and fluffed before the snow is evenly spread on slopes that have been shaved of imperfections and natural rock formations. The soil is covered with a thick layer of fertiliser to keep the soil cool and insulate it from the warmth generated by Hot Snow. Most ski resorts use artificial snow now. Almost every resort has a cannon. Every cannon has a brand. Every brand is at war. Every war is an opportunity.
If you want to ski on-or at least see-natural snow, you'll have to go further, up to the glaciers that are wrapped in giant sheets of plastic foil to protect them from the summer heat and prevent them from shrinking. I don't know how natural that is though-a glacier wrapped in foil. You might feel as though you're skiing on an old sandwich. Worth a try I suppose. I wouldn't know, I don't ski. The Foil Wars are a form of high-altitude combat-not the kind that some of you are trained for (chuckles). They are separate, though not entirely unconnected to the Snow Wars.
In the Snow Wars, MountainWhite's only serious adversary is Scent n' Sparkle, a new product introduced by Peter Holzhausen, who, if you will pardon me for gossiping, is Guenther Holzhausen's brother.
Real brother. Their wives are sisters. (A murmur) What's that? Yes...real brothers married to real sisters. The families are both from Salzburg.
In addition to all the advantages of MountainWhite, Scent n' Sparkle promises whiter, brighter snow with a fragrance. At a price of course. Scent n' Sparkle comes in three aromas-Vanilla, Pine and Evergreen. It promises to satisfy tourists' nostalgic yearning for old-fashioned holidays. Scent n' Sparkle is a boutique product poised to storm the mass market, or so the pundits say, because it is a product with vision, and an eye to the future. Scented snow anticipates the effects that the global migration of trees and forests will have on the tourism industry. (Murmur) Yes. I did say tree migration.
Did any of you read Macbeth in school? Do you remember what the witches on the heath said to him? "Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until Great Burnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him?"
Do you remember what he said to them?
(A voice from the audience somewhere at the back says, "That will never be. Who can impress the forest, bid the tree unfix his earthbound root?")
Ha! Excellent. But Macbeth was dead wrong. Trees have unfixed their earthbound roots and are on the move. They're migrating from their devastated homes in the hope of a better life. Like people. Tropical palms are moving up into the Lower Alps. Evergreens are climbing to higher altitudes in search of a colder climate. On the ski slopes, under the damp carpets of Hot Snow, in the warm, fertiliser-coated soil, stowaway seeds of new hothouse plants are germinating. Perhaps soon there'll be fruit trees and vineyards and olive groves in the high mountains.
When the trees migrate, birds and insects, wasps, bees, butterflies, bats and other pollinators will have to move with them. Will they be able to adapt to their new surrounding? Robins have already arrived in Alaska. Alaskan caribou plagued by mosquitoes are moving to higher altitudes where they don't have enough food to eat. Mosquitoes carrying malaria are sweeping through the Lower Alps.
I wonder how this fort that was built to withstand heavy artillery fire will mount a defence against an army of mosquitoes.
The Snow Wars have spread to the plains. MountainWhite now dominates the snow market in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. It is lobbying in India and China, with some success, for dam construction projects dedicated entirely to snow cannons for all-season ski resorts. It has entered the Dutch market for dyke reinforcement and for sea homes built on floating raft foundations, so that when the sea levels rise and the dykes are finally breached and Holland drifts into the ocean, MountainWhite can harness the rising tide and turn it into gold. Never fear, MountainWhite is here! works just as well in the flatlands. Scent n' Sparkle has diversified too. It owns a popular TV channel and controlling shares in a company that makes-as well as defuses-landmines. Perhaps their new batch will be scented-strawberry, cranberry, jojoba-in order to attract animals and birds as well as children. Other than snow and landmines, Scent n' Sparkle also retails mass market, battery-operated, prosthetic limbs in standard sizes for Central Asia and Africa. It is at the forefront of the campaign for Corporate Social Responsibility and is funding a chain of excellently appointed corporate orphanages and ngos in Afghanistan which some of you are familiar with. Recently it has put in a tender for the dredging and cleaning of lakes and rivers in Austria and Italy that have once again grown toxic from the residue of fertiliser and artificial snowmelt.
Even here, at the top of the world, residue is no longer the past. It is the future. At least some of us have learned over the years to live like rats in the ruins of other people's greed. We have learned to fashion weapons from nothing at all. We know how to use them. These are our combat skills.
Comrades, the stone lion in the mountains has begun to weaken. The Fort that has never been attacked has laid siege to itself. It is time for us to make our move. Time to replace the noisy, undirected spray of machinegun fire with the cold precision of an assassin's bullet. Choose your targets carefully.
When the stone lion's stone bones have been interred in this, our wounded, poisoned earth, when the Fort That Has Never Been Attacked has been reduced to rubble and when the dust from the rubble has settled, who knows, perhaps it will snow again.
That is all I have to say. You may disperse now. Commit your instructions to memory. Go well, comrades, leave no footprints. Until we meet again, godspeed, khuda hafiz and keep your powder dry.
(Shuffle of footsteps leaving. Fading away.)
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July 28, 2008
INTERVIEW
And A Fleece That's As White As Snow 'What does it matter if I fail?' asks the Booker winner on her second novel and of course, the first work of fiction since The God of Small Things
Outlook interviews Arundhati RoyThe Briefing, the first work of fiction by Arundhati Roy since The God of Small Things in 1997, was written for  ,one of the most important European Biennials of Contemporary Art, which opens on July 19 in northern Italy.
The Briefing will be performed with sound and light effects at Fortezza/Franzensfeste, a fort built in the Alps by the Hapsburgs in 1833. The largest fort ever built in the high mountains designed to withstand any kind of military assault, it has never been attacked, and was used as a military base for more than a hundred years, including by the Nazis. For 165 years it has remained closed to the public, surrounded by enigma. To mark the opening of Manifesta7, when the fort will be thrown open to the public for the first time, the curators invited Arundhati Roy and nine other eminent international writers, thinkers and artists to respond with texts to the enigma of the fortress, to meditate on the idea of a fort that has never been attacked.
Arundhati Roy's The Briefing is an allegory. Through its story about missing gold and the Snow Wars raging in the Alps emerges a powerful fable about Climate Change, the War on Terror and Corporate Raj. The Fort That Has Never Been Attacked is capitalism itself. A phantom narrator, a militant commander of indeterminate provenance and gender, briefs his/her comrades, preparing them for a mysterious mission.
This is your first piece of published fiction since The God of Small Things; and you are also writing your second book. How hard or easy is it to write fiction after a gap of over a decade?
Well this is only a little shard of fiction...I don't think we should make too much of it. It cannot in any way be compared to writing a novel...but writing fiction-shard or otherwise-is a delight. Like dancing after walking.
How do the two kinds of writing-fiction and non-fiction-challenge you, as a writer, in different ways?
The non-fiction is wrenched out of me-it is a more immediate and more direct response to what's going on around us.... It's about using language as a weapon. In fiction, language is, or should be, a wand. Fiction is more subversive...more mysterious. You need more than just a lot of anger, a lot of research or a lot of hard work to write good fiction. That's why it's art. Everyone can't do it. Even those who did it well once cannot necessarily do it again.
Has this long period of writing non-fiction changed or shaped the way you approach fiction?
I hope it has. It would be a terrible bore to remain unchanged.
When did you start working on this story? How long did it take to write it? Did you make several drafts? Did you write it in a concentrated stretch, or work on it in fits and starts? Did you discuss it with other people, or was it a solitary task?
This one? Just a few days...but it's an allegory about things that have taken me years to understand. No...not too many drafts, but a lot of minute fine-tuning. Yes I did discuss it...briefly...with the curators who thought up this fascinating scenario-who came up with the idea of using this old fort in this way...and with a friend.
What made you respond to the enigma of a fortress that has never been attacked with a fable in which capitalism appears to be the central character?
How could I not respond-it's such a lovely idea, I so enjoyed doing it. It pushed me out of my own skin in a way. It was a challenge. At the time I was writing it, a friend of mine who practises ecological restoration told me about how ski resorts have started manufacturing artificial snow. I began to research it-and the story of the Snow Wars emerged....Capitalism's answer to climate change-buy more, sell more, fool everybody for a little while longer. It seems to be the answer to everything actually....
What is your second book about? Is it as influenced by the issues you have taken up in your activist writing as this short story appears to be? When is it likely to be completed?
I really can't talk about it. If I do it will get up and go away.... When will it be completed? Who knows....
In an interview with Outlook after The God of Small Things, you said that being published was "terrifyingly public". Is publishing fiction after 11 years "terrifying"? Do you feel intimidated by the weight of expectations generated by the success of your first book? Is there a fear of failure?
Publishing this little piece is not terrifying...but yes, a second novel is difficult. Because I don't think there's any point writing anything if you don't take risks. And taking risks means you can fail...but then, if you look at it in geological time, what does it matter if I fail?
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 July 18, 2008
Indigenous grandmas nearly kicked out of Vaticanby: Rob Capriccioso
 Photo courtesy Marisol Villanueava
Thirteen indigenous grandmothers, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, initial greeting at the Vatican was not pleasant.
The group was almost kicked out while performing a prayer and waiting to speak with Pope Benedict XVI.
ROME - They went to pray. They went to see Pope Benedict XVI on his home turf. They went to ask that he rescind historic church doctrine that played a role in the genocidal onslaught of millions of indigenous people worldwide.
For 13 indigenous grandmothers, accomplishing only one of their three goals wouldn't have been so bad - had they also not been harassed by several Vatican policemen who claimed the women were conducting ''anti-Catholic'' demonstrations.
The elders, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, convened in the morning hours of July 9 at St. Peter's Square. After setting up an altar cloth, candles and sacred objects, including feathers and incense, they began holding a prayer and ceremony circle. Nine-year-old Davian Joell Stand-Gilpin, a direct descendant of Chief Dull Knife of the Lakota Nation, was brought along by one of the grandmothers to participate in traditional regalia.
Soon, however, four Vatican police officials asked the women to stop the prayer ceremony, claiming their prayers were in contradiction to the church's teachings - despite the two crosses on the alter cloth and some of the members being practitioners of the Catholic faith.
The officials told Carole Hart, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer and filmmaker traveling with the grandmas, that the group was in violation of Vatican policy. They said a permit Hart had obtained in order to document the prayer gathering was only relevant in terms of filming, but did not allow the women to pray, sing or burn incense.
The police said the actions of the grandmothers were ''idolatrous.''
Through the course of obtaining the permit, Hart had written to Vatican officials explaining that the grandmothers would be conducting a prayer ceremony at the site.
''We stuck to the fact that we were legitimately there with this permit,'' Hart said. ''The grandmas did not back down.''
Still, the police urged the grandmothers to move on; but Hart and the group appealed the decision to a higher authority. Finally, the police brought back a law official who assessed the situation. Upon seeing 13 indigenous elder women and hearing one of their songs, the official concluded there was no problem with the ceremony.
The official also ultimately invited the grandmothers to enter St. Peter's Basilica to rest and pray.
Despite their short-term success, the ultimate goal of the grandmothers - to hand-deliver a statement to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to rescind several controversial papal bulls that played a part in the colonization of indigenous lands - was thwarted.
Documents from the 15th century, such as the papal bulls, show the papacy played a role in the genocidal onslaught that affected millions of indigenous people on the North American continent. In 1455, for instance, Pope Nicolas authorized Portugal ''to invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans'' along the west coast of Africa, enslave them and confiscate their property - which set the tone for European interaction with the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
Just a short time before the grandmothers left for their long-planned journey to Rome, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be leaving the Vatican to rest at his summer home, called Castel Gandolfo, in preparation for a trip to Australia.
The pope had originally been scheduled to be in residence July 9. Laura Jackson, the grandmothers' publicist, described the pope's decision to leave the Vatican as a ''sudden cancellation'' and noted that the grandmas held tickets to a scheduled public audience he was to have held that day.
While Castel Gandolfo is less than 20 miles away from the Vatican, the grandmothers ultimately decided not to make the journey to the pope's summer getaway despite some in their inner circle encouraging them to pay an unexpected visit.
Hart believes the grandmothers chose to focus on St. Peter's Square because it's part of the Vatican and is a strong symbol of the pope.
''As women of prayer, I think they felt that bringing their prayer there, on the very ground on which the church as an institution stands, as close as they could get to the heart of the church, would have a great effect on what will happen next,'' Hart said. Additionally, the women had no guarantee that they would even be able to enter the grounds of the pope's summer residence.
Instead, the elders left a package with one of the pope's personal guards at the Vatican. The package contained a written statement the women had sent to the Vatican in 2005 decrying the papal bulls, to which the Vatican never responded. It also contained a new 632-word statement to the pope asking him to repeal three Christian-based doctrines of ''discovery'' and ''conquest'' that set a foundation for claiming lands occupied by indigenous people around the world.
''We carry this message for Pope Benedict XVI, traveling with the spirits of our ancestors,'' the women said in their new message. ''While praying at the Vatican for peace, we are praying for all peoples. We are here at the Vatican, humbly, not as representatives of indigenous nations, but as women of prayer.''
The package was given to the pope's guard via a traditional Lakota manner, by extending it to him three times with him then accepting it on the fourth attempt. The entire process was captured on film, and is expected to be made into a documentary by Hart in the coming year.
It is unknown whether the pope has yet personally received the package, but legal scholars and Native activists in the U.S. have nonetheless been paying close attention to the grandmothers' journey.
''I think the trip is very significant,'' said Steven Newcomb, co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute and author of the book, ''Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery,'' and an Indian Country Today columnist.
''These are women who are very much grounded in their own languages and traditions. They're able to raise visibility of the issue in ways that others are perhaps less effective.''
The grandmothers from the U.S. who sit on the women's council are Margaret Behan, of the Arapaho/Cheyenne of Montana; Agnes Baker Pilgrim, of the Takelma Siletz; Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance, both Oglala Lakota of Black Hills, S.D.; Mona Polacca, Havasupai/Hopi; and Rita Pitka Blumenstein, Yupik Eskimo.
All of the grandmothers are currently in private council in Assisi, Italy, and are expected to be returning home by early August.
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 Volume 25 - Issue 15 :: July 19-August 01, 2008
GENDER ISSUES
The real victim T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
Campaigns to amend Section 498A of the IPC citing misuse of the anti-dowry law are being strengthened in many parts of the country.
MEMBERS OF THE Save Indian Family Foundation staging a protest against Section 498A of the IPC and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, in New Delhi in August last year (V. SUDERSHAN )
ON June 25, a round table organised by the Ministry for Women and Child Development and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) on building partnerships with men towards women’s empowerment and gender equality had an ironic interruption from a group of men claiming to be victims of Section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which relates to dowry harassment. Demanding that they be heard by Union Minister Renuka Chowdhury, they shouted slogans within the premises of the India Islamic Centre where the conference was being held.
The protesters, wearing black badges, represented organisations such as the Save Family Foundation, the Delhi Pariwarik Suraksha Samiti, the Lucknow-based Pati Pariwar Kalyan Samiti and the Kolkata-based Bharat Bachao Sangathan. They demanded that the existing law be redrafted since, according to them, their families, including women, had been arrested by the police on false charges of taking dowry – all under the garb of implementing Section 498A. Under this section, the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty was liable to be punished with imprisonment up to three years and a fine.
The Minister, who was livid at first with the representatives for attempting to disrupt the meeting and for making derogatory remarks about women in government positions, later gave them a hearing; she, however, declined to interfere with the law as it existed, arguing that the law did not discriminate, nor was it designed to be misused.
This is not the first time that a clamour has been kicked up over Section 498 A. And the protests are not confined to Delhi. They have become more strident in the recent past with several organisations, having websites of their own, actively campaigning against the law. One such website is www.498a.org dedicated to the fight against the dowry law. The Save Indian Family Foundation also makes similar campaigns against the law
( http://www.saveindianfamily.org/).
From the experience of women’s organisations, the few cases of misuse that may have occurred are an exception rather than the rule. Women’s organisations that have been dealing with violence over the years believe that had the law been actually put to good use, there would be fewer instances of harassment of and violence against women over dowry and fewer dowry deaths. They feel the unabated violence in the name of dowry continues because dowry prohibition laws have not been very effective. It was surprising that the Minister even agreed to meet representatives of anti-dowry law organisations, especially as statistics, national as well as State-wise, show an escalation in the demand for dowry and in dowry-related violence and deaths. Crime records from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the National Commission for Women (NCW) and several research studies on domestic violence show that, if anything, cruelty towards women in India on account of dowry demands has gone up in the past two decades. It is a well-known fact that the increasing desire for a male child and the rejection of the girl child in the womb itself and the consequent female foeticide, which has contributed to the adverse child sex ratio in the country, have a lot to do with the burgeoning demand for dowry.
The provocation
However, the immediate factor that fuelled the demand from these outfits is an order passed by Y.S. Dadwal, the Chief Police Commissioner of Delhi. On June 22, Dadwal issued a circular stating that no arrests would be made in cases of alleged dowry harassment without prior investigation, in order to prevent misuse of the anti-dowry law. No arrests, he said, would be made under Section 498A (matrimonial cruelty) without the prior written approval of the area Deputy Commissioner of Police. As per the circular, only the main accused would be arrested, instead of the previous practice of booking all the relatives of the accused. The circular stated: “Arrest of the accused should be an exception, not a rule. From the allegations set out in the FIR and other subsequent allegations or material collected during investigation, if necessary, only the prime/main accused whose primary role in the commission of the offence has been established should be arrested and that too after the prior written approval of the DCP.”
The list of complaints received by the Delhi Police in 2007 had around 4,400 distress calls made to various police stations, of which 25 per cent pertained to domestic violence and about 17.42 per cent related to rape and sexual assault. The circular also coincided with the results of a survey conducted by a research organisation, which showed that 6 per cent of the complaints in cases of dowry harassment were aimed at settling scores and getting even with the in-laws. This meant that 94 per cent of the cases were genuine.
The police chief’s circular is based on a May 2003 judgment of the Delhi High Court on Sections 498A and 406 of the IPC, which suggested that offences under the two sections be made bailable and compoundable. The judgment said that misuse of these sections was hitting at the foundation of marriage itself and had not proved “so good for the health of society at large”. The same year, the Delhi Commission for Women reported that 80 per cent of all the complaints it handled pertained to dowry demands and harassment. The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), which has condemned Dadwal’s order, had protested even then stating that to suggest that these offences be made bailable was to undermine the violence suffered by Indian women daily.
AIDWA has pointed out that while other sections of the IPC were misused, none had wanted them altered. In 2003, AIDWA had written to the then Chief Justice of India, Justice V.N. Khare, that a survey of judgments under Section 498A showed that most High Courts had only punished the grossest forms of violence and cruelty and that Section 498A had been interpreted in an extremely narrow manner in most judicial pronouncements. The organisation stated that it was not Sections 498A or 405 that hit the foundation of marriage but the violence and inequality faced by women. “We appeal to you not only to find ways and means to gender sensitise the judiciary but also to ensure that an important criterion in the selection of judges be their commitment to the cause of women,” AIDWA had written then.
Talking to Frontline, the Delhi police spokesperson said that the circular was based on several court orders. In fact, similar pronouncements on the misuse of Section 498A had been made by the Andhra Pradesh High Court and the Bombay High Court. In 1990, the latter court, in an order, held that “it is not every harassment or every type of cruelty that would attract Section 498A IPC – beating and harassment must be to force the bride to commit suicide or to fulfil illegal demands.” In 2002, a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court held that harassment itself was not cruelty unless there was a demand for dowry for conviction under Section 498A.
Sudha Sundararaman, general secretary of AIDWA, said that if at all there was misuse of the law, the police had to be blamed for it and not the law itself. “All statistics point out that instances of dowry violence is going up. There is a definite backlash as more and more women are coming out and complaining about their situations. On the other hand, there are people who feel that violence is quite acceptable. Sometimes, they also have links with the police and the system. Their voices, rather than of those beaten up and killed on a regular basis, are heard,” she said. She mentioned a very recent instance in the national capital where a woman was murdered for not being able to procure Rs.20 lakh so that her husband could run his business. “She did not file a case of dowry harassment and ended up dead like so many other women, who go to the police as a last resort,” she said.
A scene from a street play organised in Thrissur in March by the Kerala Women’s Commission to protest against the dowry system (K.K. NAJEEB)
Sahba Farooqi, general secretary of AIDWA’s Delhi unit, said that each DCP wanted fewer cases in his area of jurisdiction. Hence, she said, getting a complaint registered under 498A was a monumental task . “Every week, we get four or five dowry harassment cases. The women come to us after being turned away by the police,” she said, quoting a recent case where a Delhi resident had been told by the city police to file her complaint in Gurgaon, Haryana, because her matrimonial home was there. She said that the efforts of the Crime Against Women Cells were more towards reconciliation rather than in taking any serious cognisance of the complaints made. Often the women are persuaded to drop their complaints.
Between 2004 and 2007, complaints of dowry harassment constituted the bulk of the complaints received by the NCW. A substantial increase in dowry harassment cases was observed in each passing year; a fairly large number of the cases reported police apathy.
The NCRB in its crime data for the year 2006 recorded an almost 12 per cent increase in cases of dowry death (Sections 302/304B, IPC), 8.2 per cent increase in torture incidents (Section 498A) and a 40.6 per cent increase in cases registered under the Dowry Prohibition Act in 2006 over 2005. These figures do not in any way show that there has been a decline in cases of dowry harassment.
It was after a long and protracted struggle by women’s organisations that the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, was amended and new sections on cruelty and dowry-related murder were inserted in the IPC in 1983. The definition of cruelty was widened to include not only harassment relating to dowry but also other kinds of domestic violence. With the passage of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, women’s organisations have seen more and more women come out of the closet to register complaints of violence and abuse.
The campaigns against the misuse of the law has to have some substantive basis, but at least for now, there does not seem to be any. •
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Sydney Morning Herald ~~ Wednesday July 16 2008
 , grieving father to tell Pell
By Tom Arup
THE parents of two girls who were repeatedly raped by a Melbourne priest are flying to Sydney from London to face Cardinal George Pell in time for Sunday's World Youth Day final Mass.
Anthony Foster, whose daughters were raped by Kevin O'Donnell when they were in primary school, alleges Cardinal Pell stalled the family's compensation claim against the Catholic Church when he was archbishop of Melbourne.
Earlier this year, the eldest daughter, Emma, took her own life after a long battle with drug addiction, which Mr Foster attributed directly to her rape as a schoolgirl. His second daughter, Katherine, who developed a heavy drinking habit, was hit by a drunk driver in 1999 and left physically and mentally disabled and requiring 24-hour care.
Last night, Mr Foster told the ABC's Lateline program that last week's revelations that Cardinal Pell allegedly obstructed a sexual abuse case against another priest had sparked him into action.
He said he hoped he could support others with sexual abuse claims and change the church's attitudes to compensating victims.
"I want them to set up a system that provides a life-time help to victims, that begs forgiveness to victims," Mr Foster said.
Mr Foster said an apology by the Pope to victims of sexual abuse in the church would not be satisfactory unless it was backed up by structural change.
"An apology is not enough unless it is backed up with action, unless he removes all obstacles to continuing support for victims," Mr Foster said.
"They should come to us and beg for forgiveness."
His daughters were raped over five years by O'Donnell when they attended Sacred Heart Primary School in Oakleigh between 1988 and 1993.
In 1996 O'Donnell was convicted of abusing 11 boys and one girl, aged between 8 and 14, between 1946 and 1977, and sentenced to 15 months in prison. He died after his release in 1997.
Initially offered $50,000 by Cardinal Pell under his "Towards Healing" program, the Fosters pursued their case via the legal system for eight years, culminating in a six-figure settlement with the church in 2006 - one of the largest of its kind in the country.
In 1998, when Emma was 16, Cardinal Pell wrote to her, saying: "It is my hope that my offer will be accepted by you as a preferable alternative to legal proceedings and that it too will assist you with your future."
"On behalf of the Catholic Church and personally, I apologise to you and to those around you for the wrongs and hurt you have suffered at the hands of Father Kevin O'Donnell. I offer you my prayers."
Mr Foster last night claimed this apology was removed by lawyers for the church in 2002 during the court case over compensation.
"Emma carried the pain of her abuse for all her life until it ended recently," he told the ABC. "We really want to make sure that in her name and her memory something is done for other victims."
A spokesman said the church did not have enough time to respond to the story last night or whether Cardinal Pell or the Pope will meet Mr Foster.
Last week Cardinal Pell was accused by Anthony Jones of attempting to cover up a non-consensual sexual experience with Father Terrence Goodall, by ignoring the results of a church investigation.
Cardinal Pell denies the accusations and has referred the case to an independent panel.
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 Monday July 14 2008
Pope Arrives in Australia without Indigenous Welcome
No Aboriginal Australians were present at the whites-only reception of the Catholic Pope in Sydney yesterday.
(mathaba.net) -- After a 20-hour flight and good sleep in his special Alitalia aircraft bed, and a stop over in Darwin, the Roman Catholic Pope landed in Sydney, Australia.
He was received by the settler-colonial regime's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the unpopular new South Wales premier Morris Iemma, the leading Catholic elite and other alien dignitaries.
The world's oldest people, the Australian Aboriginals, and original inhabitants of Australia, were absent from the reception. The Catholic Church was responsible for much of the abuse experienced by black Australians.
The Pope arrived amid renewed uproar over lies told by the Church's local elite concerning knowledge of homosexual abuse of children by a Catholic priest in Australia.
The Pope arrived amid renewed uproar over lies told by the Church's local elite concerning knowledge of homosexual abuse of children by a Catholic priest in Australia.
The expected numbers of spectators of the Pope's visit to attend and address the Catholic 'world youth day 2008' in Sydney have been constantly downsized from two million to half a million and today revised to 400,000.
Real numbers expected to turn out are 200,000 or less, but the government of Morris Iemma is keen to exaggerate the numbers to show case Sydney's further ability to host large international events.
Insulting Catholics with verbal or other abuse has also been sought to be made illegal by the Iemma regime, in an era of increasing assaults on human rights and freedoms and widening of government interventions into private lives in Australia.
Many happy young Christians from around Australia and the world have arrived in Sydney to attend the events and line streets to welcome the Pope, singing and dancing.
The coming days will reveal to what extent the Pope will address the suffering of countless millions in Africa and Asia under Anglo-American wars and occupations as well as brutal assaults against nature, bio-diversity, environment, health, democracy, human rights and freedom.
These assaults against every moral teaching and principle of Christ are being actively assisted by the Australian regime which hosts US military spy and communications bases used to facilitate these crimes against humanity and all future life.
Assorted communists, homosexuals, pro-death and nihilistic groups as well as other fringe activists have mounted various protests and media stunts for the occasion.
The event is believed by Mathaba analysts to be the last world youth day opportunity for the Pope to call for the criminalisation of war, and frankenstein science, and a stand against greed, immorality and blindness by the world youth to reality, if the major disasters predicted for the coming year are to be averted.
The lifting of blindness would however require a direct non-ambiguous denunciation of the United States of America in particular for its outstanding achievements in dwarfing all other nations of the world in militarisation, waste, pollution, violence, aggression, torture, economic melt-down, media propaganda lies and weapons of mass destruction.
Millions are hoping the Pope will be forthright in the required truth-telling to power if sufficient numbers of people are to be alerted to the dangers and called upon to oppose manifestations of Satan as per the example of Christ and other Holy Prophets of God.
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