tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12413927861944148992024-02-19T07:55:16.502+05:30NiwemangSwapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-92041665977466938592010-04-20T17:01:00.004+05:302010-05-09T18:34:47.632+05:30Working with the Roma People at the Gandhi School, Hungary<div style="text-align: left;">In this video below, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) Field Personnel Glen and Clista Adkins talk about their involvement with the Gandhi School, Hungary.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/toubUCHLCUU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/toubUCHLCUU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Gandhi High School in Pecs, Hungary, was founded with donations from several Romani organisations in 1992 to be the first Romani high school and has been running since 1994. It was named after the Indian Mahatma Gandhi, to emphasize the Indian origin of all Romani groups. The purpose of the middle school is to provide a school-leaving exam to improve the prospects of Romani children in Hungary and to foster pride in Romani culture. The school is financed by the Hungarian government with additional funds from the EU and donations. The school consists of 6 classrooms where about 250 male and female pupils study, mostly until the ages of 14 to 18. There are also programs for adult education. The first group of pupils who started in 1994 took their school-leaving exam in 2000 and of 18 pupils, 16 have applied to universities and 7 have been taken up. Less than 1% of Roma in Hungary are university graduates. Although the school is open to all, currently only five non-Roma are enrolled.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-73800178889791737392009-08-28T17:00:00.008+05:302010-04-01T12:55:12.012+05:30Romani children used in Nazi racial studies (Video)<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:12px;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:16px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Mulfingen, Germany</div><div style="text-align: justify;">probably 1943</div><div style="text-align: justify;">[Silent, 1:37]</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Eva Justin was an assistant to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ritter">Robert Ritter</a>, the Nazi "expert" on Roma (Gypsies). She studied these Romani (Gypsy) children as part of her dissertation on the racial characteristics of Roma. The children stayed at St. Josefspflege, a Catholic children's home in Mulfingen, Germany. Justin completed her study shortly after this film was taken. After the completion of her studies the 148 children used in the study were deported to the "Gypsy Camp" at Auschwitz on May 9, 1944. Soon after their arrival, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele">Josef Mengele</a> arrived at Auschwitz, some of the children were subjected to his experiments and most where eventually killed in the gas chamber. Justin was indicted and put on trial in 1960 for "deprivation of liberty resulting in death committed by an official of the state" (Freiheitsberaubung im Amt mit Todesfolge). She was not convicted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span></div></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-size:10px;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A5DDRy0I9rU&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A5DDRy0I9rU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span></span></span></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-80677701186219208212009-06-19T22:21:00.003+05:302009-09-03T19:07:34.272+05:30Roma Holocaust<div style="text-align: center;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JOdDB6YAeu4&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JOdDB6YAeu4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L7IMOFCj67Y&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L7IMOFCj67Y&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-52824943390992178692009-06-15T13:41:00.003+05:302009-09-03T19:07:56.766+05:30Purano manush<div style="text-align: justify;">The film 'Purano Manush' tells the stories of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people">Roma people</a> in Kosovo who have been displaced during 1999 Balkan war and their longings for a cultural home in ancestral land India.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=9216052010907905958&hl=en&fs=true" style="width: 400px; height: 326px;" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-77235468674318827972009-06-14T16:59:00.011+05:302009-12-22T11:32:49.732+05:30Rajasthani tribe's barbaric test to check wife's fidelity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.gulfnews.com/images/08/10/17/19_wo_india_chastity_4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 214px;" src="http://www.gulfnews.com/images/08/10/17/19_wo_india_chastity_4.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div id="img_Credit" class="ImageCaption" style="margin: 0px; width: 280px; height: auto;"> <p class="img_source" align="right"></p></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bagariya tribal women in the village of Badi Sadri, Rajasthan, have to prove they have been faithful to their husbands by dipping their hands in boiling oil for five seconds. It's a weird test: If you are chaste, your hands will come out unscathed from the bowl of boiling oil; if you suffer burns, you've been cheating on your husband.</span></blockquote><br />What's worse, it's an annual ritual. Every year, women in a tribal village in Rajasthan, western India, face this trial by fire - to prove their good character during the previous year.<br /><br />Every year, when the country celebrates the victory of good over evil by burning effigies of the demon king Ravana and his brothers, men in this village, in wanton disregard of human life, subject women to this barbaric test.<br /><br />This Dushehra, too, at least 20 women of the Bagariya tribe, in Badi Sadri village in Udaipur District, were forced to take this test. Fortunately, none of them got burned.<br /><br />The men broke into gay folk songs and cooked a meal for the tribe.<br /><br />On the morning of this festival, a wood fire was raised to boil mustard oil in 14 bowls outside a temple in the village. The women were then asked to immerse their hands one by one into the liquid, and to keep them submerged for five seconds.<br /><br />When they remove their hands, they are checked for burns. Those who suffer burns, have been immoral in the past year. The gravity of the burns dictates the degree of infidelity.<br /><br />"Our men mostly stay out during the nights for livelihood. We sustain on crime: thefts, loot. Therefore, it's quite likely women will fall for the other guy," Durgesh Bagariya, the tribe's head, defends this ritual. Yet he offers no reason for this test. Nor does he answer why men aren't subjected to the same test.<br /><br />Such tests are commonplace in the tribal areas of Udaipur and adjoining districts.<br /><br />A few years ago, a theft was reported. Instead of summoning the police, the village heads decided to subject all the men to a test to identify the thief. They boiled oil and made the men immerse their hands.<br /><br />Three were singed, and the villagers concluded them to be the thieves. The local police also accepted this theory, and the trio were arrested without any further investigation.<br /><br />But that was once-off incident. In Badi Sadri, it happens every year - ironically, on the day when the country burns the evil.<br /><br /></div>Source: <a href="http://www.gulfnews.com/World/India/10252608.html">gulfnews</a>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-70488956136388452322009-06-10T15:44:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.386+05:30Aren’t Indians the most racist of people on this planet?<div style="text-align: justify;" class="entry"> <p></p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><p>A Bollywood actress caught saying</p> <blockquote><p>so-and-so is amazing as a director. He can make even a black African look pretty”. </p></blockquote> <p>A Bollywood actor saying:</p> <blockquote><p>(I knew) it was time to leave Shanghai and Hong Kong after six weeks of stunt training and go home when his eyes started “turning into little slits like the Chinese”. </p></blockquote> <p>Source: http://www.asiansinmedia.org/news/article.php/television/1404</p> <p>As the BBC critic of Indian origin remarks, these are not unsurprising remarks. As most Indians know, we make these remarks all the time and either don’t realize these are offensive, or just don’t care. Why, we have names for such obscenities. We call our north-eastern country-men(and women), or just any person with mongoloid features “chinky”. We call any white-skinned person “firangi”. Any person of African origin is still called a “negro”, decades after this term has been replaced by “africans” or “african americans” in politer societies.</p> <p>The fact is that we Indians have more ways to divide and discriminate humans than any society in the world, but few Indians would admit to this. We discriminate by race,skin color,caste, religion, regionality(”madrasis”) … if there are any other ways to divide people that I can’t remember now, we probably do that too.</p> <p>However, nobody in India has the guts to address this problem. We let people openly advertise for “fair”, “brahmin” etc. brides and grooms in matrimonial listings in newspapers and online sites. There is still no government push for banning all temples from restricting who can enter by caste. There is no push to accommodate our north-eastern brothers and sisters into mainstream society. In fact, most of India would rather revel in “Gandhigiri” but blissfully ignore that <a href="http://www.tehelka.com/story_main17.asp?filename=Cr032506_Iroms_iron.asp" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/www.tehelka.com');">Iron Sharmila</a> , who has redefined Gandhian methods of struggle, even exists.</p></blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote></blockquote><p></p> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Source:</span> <a href="http://blog.sandipb.net/2006/12/28/arent-indians-the-most-racist-of-people-on-this-planet/">http://blog.sandipb.net/2006/12/28/arent-indians-the-most-racist-of-people-on-this-planet</a><br /></p><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-92074043000141409962009-05-29T13:35:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.386+05:30The forgotten internees: Japanese Latinos<div style="text-align: justify;">On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This allowed the military and INS to imprison any person of Japanese descent in camps often referred to as, "Department of Justice Internment Camps". Those Japanese who had recently immigrated were stripped of their legal status. Those who were naturalized were stripped of their citizenship, as were those born in the United States. </div><p style="text-align: justify;"> It was a dark reminder that sometimes the Constitution isn't enough. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> <b style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Reparations</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The reason we know about this undignified part of American history is the successful lobby for reparations, which put the story in front of the press, the Congress and the President. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 allowed for each imprisoned Japanese American or their heirs to receive $20,000. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Reparations are sometimes looked down on, but it goes beyond asking for cash. Apologies come easy and cheap. They provide a thin blanket for a cold storm and don't require any sincerity or penalty. Reparations acknowledge, in action, that a wrong was done and sometimes that the nation benefited at the expense of the livelihood of others. It also creates a future penalty for violations of human rights. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> This country disowned its Japanese American citizens as it created propaganda to demonize their entire ethnicity. In addition, they were bartered with like poker chips, exchanged with Japan for the freedom of American POWs. How much is that dignity and disruption in life and family really worth? </p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Japanese Latin Americans Left Out</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">One chapter that is often left out of the history of Japanese Internment Camps is the fact that the United States pressured Latin American nations to deport their Japanese, German and Italian citizens to the United States. German and Italian prisoners had additional access to court hearings, but still suffered greatly. There's some speculation that some German Jews from Latin America may have been traded with Germany.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://becerra.house.gov/NR/rdonlyres/14F268E0-D20E-454B-90B3-BCE4B73B358F/0/womenbyfence_med.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="http://becerra.house.gov/NR/rdonlyres/14F268E0-D20E-454B-90B3-BCE4B73B358F/0/womenbyfence_med.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:10;" ><span id="body"><span style="font-family:Papyrus;"><span style="color: rgb(25, 25, 112);font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:78%;" ><em></em></span></span></span></span></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Japanese Latin Americans leaving a temporary internment camp in the<br />Panama Canal Zone to join their relatives in U.S. internment camps.<br />April 7, 1942. Courtesy of San Francisco Public Library.<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:10;" ><span id="body"><span style="font-family:Papyrus;"><span style="color: rgb(25, 25, 112);font-family:Arial;" ><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><em></em></span></span></span></span></span></span></blockquote><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:10;" ></span><p style="text-align: justify;">At least 12 nations responded with Japanese and European prisoners, with two-thirds being Japanese and 80% originating from Peru. There were over 2,000 Japanese Latinos imprisoned in the United States; 800 were traded to Japan in exchange for prisoners. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">These Spanish-speaking Japanese suffered double humiliations. They were disowned by their own countries, deported to a foreign country and then further alienated in a nation whose language they did not speak. Many of their native countries were simply reacting to racism and jealousy of a successful demographic. Peru had many successful Japanese businesses and schools, which were easily grabbed once their owners and participants were deported. After the war, many Japanese Latinos were not permitted by their former countries to return. Because of their limbo status, many were imprisoned for much longer than other Japanese. Today, many of them still have tainted immigration records. </p><p style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: justify;"> Kidnapped Illegals</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Japanese Latinos were not included in the reparations. Janet Reno, who was US Attorney General and head of the Department of Justice at the time, interpreted the law to only apply to people who were citizens at the time of imprisonment. Because we forced these Japanese Latin Americans into our borders, Reno interpreted them as <i>illegal aliens</i>. Illegal aliens that our nation kidnapped and imprisoned in our borders. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> One of the indignities of seeking redress is the fact that you have to sue to get your government to acknowledge what is plainly wrong. To hear your government only apologize after being sued is disheartening. To have to go through it twice is even more painful. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">After a class action lawsuit was settled in 1998, it was decided that Japanese Latinos would only get $5,000. That's one fourth of what Japanese American citizens from the US received. In addition, there was no guarantee that it would be paid. Japanese Latinos were paid from a general fund only after Japanese Americans were paid their share. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"> The money ran out and only allowed for 145 Japanese Latinos to be paid from the fund.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.lasculturas.com/aa/aa060701a.htm">Source</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/18/opinion/ed-abductees18">Read More<br /></a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-46517921460114956822009-05-29T11:43:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.387+05:30We need slaves to build monuments'<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/10/07/Dub460x276.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 460px; height: 276px;" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/10/07/Dub460x276.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote face="times new roman" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 153);">"We need slaves," my friend says. "<span style="font-weight: bold;">We need slaves to build monuments. Look who built the pyramids - they were slaves</span>." </blockquote><br />It is already home to the world's glitziest buildings, man-made islands and mega-malls - now Dubai plans to build the tallest tower. But behind the dizzying construction boom is an army of migrant labourers lured into a life of squalor and exploitation.<br /><br />Click <a target="_blank" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/08/middleeast.construction" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker('/outbound/www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/08/middleeast.construction?ref=http_//images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http_//www.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/gd9125254for-g2-onlydubai-uae-7740.jpg_imgrefurl=http_//www.elephantjournal.com/2008/10/exploited-workers-in-labor-camps-build-ubai/_usg=_VRtE1do4QxNy9uq_pMoD5f2tyoE=_h=390_w=584_sz=71_hl=en_start=6_sig2=c-PBz5HtRhzXLrPuxcsXtQ_um=1_tbnid=W7gJcql2kRprpM_tbnh=90_tbnw=135_prev=/images_3Fq_3Dwe_2Bneed_2Bslaves_2Bto_2Bbuild_2Bmonuments_26hl_3Den_26client_3Dfirefox-a_26rlz_3D1R1GGGL_en_IN319_26sa_3DN_26um_3D1_ei=w30fSuK0DIWGkQWfp_CTBQ');">here</a> for the full article.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1G--pYzttkY&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1G--pYzttkY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-73386191106356482952009-05-16T00:08:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.387+05:30Man tried to hire prostitute for his teenage son in UK<div style="text-align: justify;">A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a court on Friday. </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons,was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child, the Press Association reported.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The court heard that the father, who came to Britain eight years ago, was arrested last July during an undercover operation by the city's vice squad.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Prosecutor Adrian Harris said the man and his son had approached the undercover officer whose code name was Sarah and beckoned her over .</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">He asked "Sarah" how much it would cost for her to have sex with his son and they agreed on a 20 pound fee. However, when the car pulled over, the man was arrested by plainclothes police officers.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">"The boy said that they had driven past the girl and his dad pointed to her and said '<span style="font-weight: bold;">will she do?</span>'" Harris said.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;">"He said 'yes' and they had turned round. He said his dad did this because he was still a virgin and he was taking care of that for him."</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">Judge Jonathan Teare said he would spare the father jail because of his excellent character and that he believed he did not mean any harm to his son.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">"You have a duty of care to your son and that is to look after his moral welfare, not as you might think to break him in to the ways of sex through a prostitute," he said.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;">The court was told the boy would continue to live with his father.</p>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-19427020041244984872009-05-08T05:58:00.001+05:302009-05-08T21:34:44.175+05:30Pakistani girl takes on the Taliban with her pen<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NhQvAEJEaiI&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NhQvAEJEaiI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="425"></embed></object>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-69913331352082683462009-04-29T11:41:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.387+05:30Hungarian Roma protest against racially motivated murders<div style="text-align: justify;"><span>A blood stain marks place where a member of Hungary's Roma community was shot and killed.</span><br /><br /><span>His was the seventh Roma death in Hungary in a year and the third fatal shooting targeting the Roma community in the past five months.</span><br /><br /><span>In March a father and his five year old son were killed as they ran from their home which had been set alight.</span><br /><br /><span>The incident mirrored a similar attack on a man and woman in November.</span><br /><br /><span>Police are so concerned over the spate of attacks they have offered a 222,000 dollar reward for information.</span><br /><br /><span>Meanwhile the Roma community staged a protest in the Hungarian capital Budapest. Speakers criticised the the criminal justice system and people's complacency over the attacks.</span><br /><br /><span>Roma people say the marches of the far right radical extremist organization, Magyar Gárda (Hungarian Guard) have legitimized the anti-Roma feelings in society by openly talking about what they call Gypsy crime.</span><br /><br /><span>Hungary has one of the largest Roma communities in eastern Europe, which makes up between 5 and 7 percent of the population. They have remained on the margins, lacking jobs, wealth and proper education for decades.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-jsq1tqmmzA&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-jsq1tqmmzA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></span></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-80031071122809832422009-04-26T20:52:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.387+05:30Slovak Police Brutality against Roma kids (Video Included)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTwqFtfbtAm1_DGrd87CvK054Qdpd3PHyC2g1hVc5kjmlTNvZIjNLpFHuTNyGTXdb7CEur9TqvZ7DubUumN8LM0o1bF4Ac1Fp2iQXwX2dyRS6qZMCnE7M11g6fFFptrXgrxO-T6fnh_w/s1600-h/Abuse+Of+Roma+Kids.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTwqFtfbtAm1_DGrd87CvK054Qdpd3PHyC2g1hVc5kjmlTNvZIjNLpFHuTNyGTXdb7CEur9TqvZ7DubUumN8LM0o1bF4Ac1Fp2iQXwX2dyRS6qZMCnE7M11g6fFFptrXgrxO-T6fnh_w/s400/Abuse+Of+Roma+Kids.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329023808244751794" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The policemen in the eastern city of Kosice, Slovakia forced the six Roma boys aged 11 to 16 to <span style="font-weight: bold;">punch each other in the face, kiss each other and strip naked</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The officers also let loose unmuzzled dogs at the boys, and some of the children were bitten.</span><br /><br />The policemen recorded “humiliating scenes” with their mobile phones and cameras, laughing and encouraging the children to punch each other.<br /><br />Referring to the recording, the daily wrote that the police had shouted and called names at the boys and ordered them to undress. The video was released on 8 April, 2009, a day before International Roma Day, a day to raise awareness of anti-Roma discrimination.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibcxvioLHihM5HTW0kHXYupb8yz800Ap9ZtdslDnsk2ctL7o6cAC07dCt5NWQtGJKSSNEbV7yAdhZwNWqWkwUHORNba9o3285z_y8WnaoAPpbRI6Wj2x_l1zNJjD1mXmxi4yO8-RUt3LU/s1600-h/The+boys+were+made+to+slap+each+other+in+the+face.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 327px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibcxvioLHihM5HTW0kHXYupb8yz800Ap9ZtdslDnsk2ctL7o6cAC07dCt5NWQtGJKSSNEbV7yAdhZwNWqWkwUHORNba9o3285z_y8WnaoAPpbRI6Wj2x_l1zNJjD1mXmxi4yO8-RUt3LU/s400/The+boys+were+made+to+slap+each+other+in+the+face.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329025583992559202" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The worst case of Slovakian police brutality against the Roma so far occurred in July 2001, when 50-year-old Karol Sendrei was taken to a police station, handcuffed to a radiator and beaten throughout the night. He was discovered dead in the morning with the post-mortem detailing damage to his vital organs from kicks and punches.</span><br /><br />The Roma, who make up approximately 6 percent of Slovakia’s population, are targets for abuse in many Eastern and Central European countries where they are a substantial minority.They have long suffered from discrimination in areas such as jobs, education and housing, which has in some places become worse in the current economic crisis.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WATCH VIDEO</span><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='416' height='346' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzNf6XqWBG7alN42NgsckOCoM0iuoBq6wGTsla7LXKqh6aIkXT2nDxOHy5JUdqODWQZYiFiJ2s8K24Vp65xdQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-90280901900014241382009-04-21T21:11:00.001+05:302009-04-21T21:13:04.951+05:30India: First woman Qazi conducts 'nikah' (marriage)<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g35Lhqmsc7k&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g35Lhqmsc7k&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-74890659829063642772009-04-17T21:01:00.006+05:302009-04-17T21:21:44.479+05:30An American Woman's Overcoming of Racial Prejudice<span style="font-weight: bold;">'I'd be beaten if I went with a black man'</span><br /><br />In Cleveland, USA Linda Perry Jent describes how she overcame the racial prejudice of her father.<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8GUy-CAVMn8&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8GUy-CAVMn8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-4818548594635128302009-04-17T16:14:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.387+05:30Moral Police - India's Shame<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8bZizjLfeuc&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8bZizjLfeuc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="460"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bZizjLfeuc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fpost-edit.g%3FblogID%3D1513292608734760903%26postID%3D2097195519564156760&feature=player_embedded">Incidents of Hatred on Valentines Day: Shameful actions of Police and 'Moral brigade' in India</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lEbD2aXs-XU&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lEbD2aXs-XU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="340" width="460"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEbD2aXs-XU">Girls assaulted in Mangalore pub by Sri Ram Sena</a>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-27091289116528419192009-04-16T01:28:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.387+05:30Sikh families leave Orakzai after Taliban demand jizia<div style="text-align: justify;">As the rule of Islam spread beyond the borders of Arabias, Muslim rulers found it impossible either to convert the entire population or to exterminate the whole. The solution was found by admitting the non-Muslims to the status of Zimmis. Zimmis are those non-Muslims whose life is held under a contract. Jizia tax(a capitation tax/head tax imposed on free non-Muslims living under Muslim rule) used to be imposed on non-Muslims as a punishment for their unbelief and in order to humiliate themJizia tax is back.Now this Jizia tax is back into action.<br /><br /><blockquote>HANGU: Sikh families living in Orakzai Agency (Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan) have left the agency after the Taliban demanded Rs 50 million as jizia (tax) from them, official sources and locals said on Tuesday.<br /><br />Residents of Ferozekhel area in Lower Orakzai Agency told Daily Times on Tuesday that around 10 Sikh families left the agency after the demand by the Taliban, who said they were a minority and liable to pay the tax for living in the area in accordance with sharia.<br /><br />Locals said the Taliban had notified the Sikh families about the ‘tax’ around a week ago. They said of the 15 Sikh families in Ferozekhel, 10 had shifted while the remaining were preparing to do so.<br /><br />The locals said the families were impoverished and had left the area to avoid any Taliban action.<br /><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009/04/15/story_15-4-2009_pg7_5">Daily Times</a></blockquote><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cak-Yktsf-c&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cak-Yktsf-c&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></div></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-74913903275757614962009-04-15T19:18:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.388+05:30Taliban executed couples for adultery<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45663000/gif/_45663487_afgh_iran_226.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 170px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45663000/gif/_45663487_afgh_iran_226.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>The Taliban has publicly executed a young unmarried couple in southern Afghanistan. The woman, 19, and the man, 21, were accused by the militants of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided that the two should be killed, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the governor of the southwestern province of Nimroz. Terming the brutal incident an ‘insult to Islam’ he said local religious leaders had ordered a death sentence for the couple.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="desc_item" style="display: inline;">The two had fled their homes and hoped to travel to Iran, but their parents sent villagers to bring them home, said Sadiq Chakhansori, the chief of Nimroz' provincial council. Once back home, the pair was either turned over to the Taliban by their parents or the militants came and took them by force, the officials said, providing slightly varying accounts.</span><br /><br />A similar incident happened in <span>Hangu district of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, which is outside the purview of Pakistan government.<br /></span><br /><span>A man and a woman, who were accused of committing adultery, were gunned down by the Taliban in northwest Pakistan a few days ago.<br /><br />The chilling video footage of the execution was sent to the Dawn newspaper yesterday. It shows a Taliban firing squad killing the man and woman, both apparently in their forties, after accusing them of adultery.<br /><br />They were shot dead in the presence of their relatives. The newspaper quoted its sources as saying that the incident took place in Hangu district of North West Frontier Province.<br /><br />In this video, the woman is heard appealing to the Taliban militants for mercy. Have mercy on me, please have mercy. The charges against me are false and no man has ever touched me, she is heard saying.<br /><br />The couple try to flee when they realise what is about to happen.But the militant first shoot the woman by firing two bullets in her chest and later open a burst of Kalashnikov fire at both the woman and the man, leaving them bleeding in the dirt. But the woman is still seen breathing, and the Talibans start yelling that she is alive and issuing orders to "kill her, kill her".<br /><br />Sources told the channel that the Taliban had asked the relatives of the woman and the man to present the two before them for questioning at a specified place. The relatives brought both of them to the Taliban, who killed them in cold blood.</span><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cn3mTAh7_F4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cn3mTAh7_F4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /></div><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-25630821150783855512009-04-04T12:02:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.388+05:30Witchcraft Murders: Five people suspected of witchcraft burnt alive in Kenya<div style="text-align: justify;">Incidents of witches being killed or burned alive is no more a strange fact. A large number of men, women and children are branded as witches and then killed through out the world.But this time this horrific incident was caught on a video of people beating and burning alive alleged witches in Nyamataro, near Kisii town in Kenya. The victims were older people (80 years and above), and four of the five were women.Last year, on May 2008,<b> eleven elderly people accused of being witches have been burned to death. </b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This graphic, inhumane murder and burning of victims captured on the video left me stunned and horrified. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Some of the victim tried to crawl out of the ditch where they were being burned,but they beaten mercilessly, kicked and dragged back.</span> The human cruelty captured in this video clip is beyond belief.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='460' height='366' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxwak0rqhocYwLs4B1d1WI3YEXgzueqopIsGtEyxY4v-78-Nz7wM0b78My3BFV_PsRrCiSdm5u_3SQxpq-TbQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-59098613787561120752009-04-03T21:47:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.388+05:30Taliban publicly whipped a girl in Swat<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgjFhbdiXN_LQLBbYhfJorZQ-nqHuiwNWCs-FvZReFpZF0Fc-yVA0YjynEDw1XFCVbR7wf5RcVmNwCLyFjF2ghCon5iz43N5TAWI3Z7TSaLGui0qnF9hY-YPstrNTHObk_Og_pWw1QKc/s1600-h/Taliban+publicly+whipped+a+girl+in+Swat.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 349px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPgjFhbdiXN_LQLBbYhfJorZQ-nqHuiwNWCs-FvZReFpZF0Fc-yVA0YjynEDw1XFCVbR7wf5RcVmNwCLyFjF2ghCon5iz43N5TAWI3Z7TSaLGui0qnF9hY-YPstrNTHObk_Og_pWw1QKc/s400/Taliban+publicly+whipped+a+girl+in+Swat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320502643693418114" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=504_1238691910">Video Link</a><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 10"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A 17-year-old screaming, burqa-clad girl was whipped by Taliban fighters in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s <st1:place><st1:placename>Swat</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place> for coming "out of her house with another guy who was not her husband", a two-minute video shot through a mobile phone showed. The video showed the girl face down on the ground. Two men held her arms and feet while a third, a black-turbaned fighter with a flowing beard, whipped her repeatedly.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>“Please! Enough! Enough”</b> the girl is heard crying. <b>"Please stop it,"</b> the girl begged repeatedly. <b>"Either kill me or stop it now."</b> After 34 lashes the punishment stopped and the wailing girl was led into a stone building.</span> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">What is her crime??According to local reporters the girl was whipped because she came out of her house with a man who was not her husband. But some residents have revealed a local Taliban commander ordered the beating to get revenge after the girl refused to accept his proposal of marriage.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Pakistan government ceded authority of Swat valley to the Taliban under a peace deal(?), giving them almost a free hand to impose their puritan Islamic rule on the around 600,000 people of Swat and its seven neighbouring districts.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-88420615818990169062009-03-31T22:52:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.388+05:30Sierra Leone: Women journalists stripped and paraded naked<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Four women journalists were stripped naked in public in Kenema, Eastern <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone">Sierra Leone</a> where they were covering events to mark the International Day against female circumcision (genital mutilation).They were snatched by members of a secret society, forcibly stripped and made to parade naked through the streets on February 9, 2009. They were only freed after the intervention of the police and human rights organizations. They were accused by their aggressors of reporting against female circumcision which is considered an insult to their culture.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://africa.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-condemns-strip-humiliation-of-women-journalists-in-sierra-leone">Read more</a></div></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-10069035446117165352009-03-27T22:13:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.388+05:30South African women fall victim to 'corrective rape'<div style="text-align: center;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">The partially clothed body of Eudy Simelane, former star of South Africa's acclaimed Banyana Banyana national female football squad, was found in a creek in a park in Kwa Thema, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Simelane had been gang-raped and brutally beaten before being stabbed 25 times in the face, chest and legs. As well as being one of South Africa's best-known female footballers, Simelane was a voracious equality rights campaigner and one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian in Kwa Thema.</div></blockquote><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36AjuHui0Crajpw_oerG6AOYPTvD69RuhLtXtaZLjO-E0Uz7evk3bv1FNcEqqWFDm4KXOabZu_OyI7jmtkBUEsyFOuZJVqShRs6_AC_qvy2ysMvj4hiRdk79H3rLuqlYJW6QX5mffxZg/s1600-h/Eudy+Simelane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36AjuHui0Crajpw_oerG6AOYPTvD69RuhLtXtaZLjO-E0Uz7evk3bv1FNcEqqWFDm4KXOabZu_OyI7jmtkBUEsyFOuZJVqShRs6_AC_qvy2ysMvj4hiRdk79H3rLuqlYJW6QX5mffxZg/s320/Eudy+Simelane.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Eudy Simelane (Right)<br /></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;">Her brutal murder took place last April, and since then a tide of violence against lesbians in South Africa has continued to rise. Human rights campaigners say it is characterised by what they call "corrective rape" committed by men behind the guise of trying to "cure" lesbians of their sexual orientation.</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/mar/12/south-africa-corrective-rape">Watch Video - Interviews with South African victims of 'corrective rape</a><br /><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-28464190721788334302009-03-25T05:57:00.008+05:302009-04-14T21:07:50.400+05:30First All-Female U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Liberia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/images/255083/4_21_011907_female_peacekeepers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://www.foxnews.com/images/255083/4_21_011907_female_peacekeepers.jpg" style="cursor: move;" border="0" height="325" width="420" /></a></div><div class="caption" id="gallery_caption"><blockquote>Indian female soldiers of Rapid Action Force ahead of departure to Liberia as U.N. peacekeepers.(photo:AP/Fox News)</blockquote></div><div class="caption" id="gallery_caption"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://downloads.unmultimedia.org/photo/medium/205/205863.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://downloads.unmultimedia.org/photo/medium/205/205863.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://downloads.unmultimedia.org/photo/medium/205/205863.jpg" style="cursor: move;" border="0" height="420" width="277" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size:small;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:small;">Members of the all female Indian Formed Police Unit of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) get ready to receive medals of honour, in recognition for their service. (</span>UN Photo/Christopher Herwig)</blockquote><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://downloads.unmultimedia.org/photo/medium/205/205864.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://downloads.unmultimedia.org/photo/medium/205/205864.jpg" style="cursor: move;" border="0" height="277" width="420" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:small;">Members of the all female Indian Formed Police Unit of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) perform martial arts exercise prior to receiving medals of honour, in recognition for their service. (</span>UN Photo/Christopher Herwig)</blockquote></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://downloads.unmultimedia.org/photo/medium/205/205865.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://downloads.unmultimedia.org/photo/medium/205/205865.jpg" style="cursor: move;" border="0" height="277" width="420" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:small;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:small;">Members of the all female Indian Formed Police Unit (FPU) of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) stand ready to receive medals, in recognition for their service. (</span>UN Photo/Christopher Herwig)</blockquote></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-89598710814951043332009-03-24T18:02:00.001+05:302009-09-03T19:04:07.307+05:30A forgotten story : Slavery in Romania<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Sclavi_Tiganesti.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 342px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Sclavi_Tiganesti.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">An 1852 poster advertising an auction of Roma slaves in Bucharest, Romania. </span></blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><b></b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Slavery of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_%28Romani_subgroup%29">Roma</a> people (Gypsies) existed on the territory of present-day <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romania">Romania</a> from before the founding of the principalities of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallachia">Wallachia</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldavia">Moldavia</a> in 13th–14th century, until it was abolished in stages during the 1840s and 1850s.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span class="image_caption"></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;">The slaves were considered personal property of the master. They were objects of exchange, sometimes sold by weight; a Rom could be sold for a smaller price than two copper pots, a Roma child could be bought for a smaller price than a cow, because she was not yet good capable of working full-time. Masters offered Roma girls as pleasure toys to their guests; they had the right of life and death over the slave.<br /><br />The master was allowed to punish his slaves physically, through beatings or imprisonment. 1821, at a time when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyars#Boyars_in_Wallachia_and_Moldavia">Boyars</a> in Moldavia fled their country to escape the Eterist expedition, Austrian authorities in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukovina">Bukovina</a> were alarmed to note that the newly-settled refugees made a habit of beating their slaves in public, and consequently issued an order specifically banning such practices. A dispute followed, after which the Boyars received permission to carry on with the beatings, as long as they exercised them on private property.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></span></span></div></div><span style="font-size:100%;"></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3cJ00ASIfTTQ963fIKRakLgP2I_bAR1iZBxwkRB695wYajyg-gLSuFqebjNeglBNrG6f8eQkSwv6G-rYOSAt54fK7MJiRmR1W408ueP__PIdW-kNUf6hRr-4GU8QXzD4RMdebdj3j6U/s1600-h/Shatram.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD3cJ00ASIfTTQ963fIKRakLgP2I_bAR1iZBxwkRB695wYajyg-gLSuFqebjNeglBNrG6f8eQkSwv6G-rYOSAt54fK7MJiRmR1W408ueP__PIdW-kNUf6hRr-4GU8QXzD4RMdebdj3j6U/s400/Shatram.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316747352801875810" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote style="text-align: center;">A <span style="font-style: italic;">Shatra </span>or Roma(Gypsy) slave village, Romania, 1850s.<br /></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Slavery was officially slavery was abolished in 1856. However, Roma people continued to suffer well after the abolition of slavery. They were evicted from their masters’ lands and their huts, with no means of survival, and no resources to carry on with their lives. Many of them went back to their former masters, begging for food and shelter in exchange for hard work. That way, they continued to be half-slaves, servants in the masters’ houses or working on the land, with no access to development resources or to school education.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>In a gradual, step-by-step process, Roma began to lose their cultural identity and internalise their inferior status in society. Ashamed of themselves, perceiving their ethnic identity as damnation, they were stigmatised and excluded from the society of their former masters. Roma thus became a scapegoat for all the frustrations and failures of Romanian society. </blockquote><br /></div><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-18301229320825112572009-03-22T17:18:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.388+05:30Sterile Dreams: Forced Sterilization of Romani women in Slovakia and Czech Republic<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.radio.cz/pictures/romove/kocarek1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 328px;" src="http://img.radio.cz/pictures/romove/kocarek1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Romani women are being coerced or forced to undergo sterilization procedures in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia">Slovakia</a>’s government-run health facilities, according to a new report released today by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Poradna pre obcianske a ludské práva, in collaboration with Ina Zoon. Two hundred and thirty in-depth interviews were held with Romani women in 40 settlements in eastern Slovakia. The investigative report documents grave human rights violations against Romani women in Slovakia, including about 110 cases where women were forcibly or coercively sterilized, or had strong indications that they had been sterilized. The report also documents extensive racism and verbal and physical abuse towards Romani women in public hospitals, including the denial of patient access to their own medical records and segregation in patients’ rooms, maternity wards, restrooms and dining facilities.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.radio.cz/pictures/zdravi/nemocnice.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 232px;" src="http://img.radio.cz/pictures/zdravi/nemocnice.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Agata, 28, from Svinia,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Slovakia</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" > talks about being Coercively Sterilized</span>:<br /><blockquote>"Doctors came and brought me to the operating room [for a C-section] and there they gave me anesthesia. When I was falling asleep, a nurse came and took my hand in hers and with it she signed something. I do not know what it was. I could not check because I cannot read, I only know how to sign my name. When I left the hospital, I was only told that I would not have any more children…I was so healthy before, but now I have pain all the time. Lots of infections…"</blockquote><br /><strong>Alexandra from Richnava,</strong><span style="font-weight: bold;">Slovakia</span><strong> talks about Racial Segregation in Slovakia’s Public Hospitals</strong>:<br /><blockquote>"In Krompachy hospital, there are separate rooms for Roma—there are three Gypsy rooms, one shower and one toilet for us while white women have their own toilets. White women can go to the dining room but Roma cannot eat there. In Gypsy room, there is not even a dust bin. It is like in a concentration camp there."</blockquote><blockquote><p><strong><em><span class="bodyfnt"> </span></em></strong></p></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"></div>Romani women in Slovakia continue to be subject to grave violations of their human rights, particularly their reproductive rights, even though a communist-era law offering monetary incentives for sterilization has been rescinded. A three-month fact-finding in late 2002 by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Poradna pre obcianske a ludské práva (Centre for Civil and Human Rights), a Slovak human rights organization, reveals that not only do coerced and forced sterilization practices continue in Slovakia, so too does the widespread abuse and discrimination against Romani women in the country’s maternal health services. We conducted extensive interviews with more than 230 women in almost 40 Romani settlements throughout eastern Slovakia, the region with the highest concentration of Roma.<br />The interviews revealed numerous instances of coerced, forced and suspected sterilization of Romani women, along with physical and verbal abuse, racially discriminatory standards of care, misinformation in health matters, and denial of access to medical records.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Watch Video</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >s</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span>:</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdMW7c1DFuw&feature=channel">Trial of A Child Denied</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdMW7c1DFuw&feature=channel"> </a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7P4-SXhbAA&mode=related&search=Emilie%20Love%20story%20Prague%20Jehan%20Harney%20connecting%20spiritual">Sterile Dreams</a></span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdiernxnqa8mAqWtF1DJ9MIeX4NJgdc3smSyT-S2Ht5PTdvN2we7E_YNOqmd6Qjm_vrPPP7zoRftuPWGDmP-Yl1Uv5zX4Rawax8mndw5PSAmv01LHX7sIrHPPxcCOKAGe3ZnJQSd5bEpc/s1600-h/Iveta+Cervenakova.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 274px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdiernxnqa8mAqWtF1DJ9MIeX4NJgdc3smSyT-S2Ht5PTdvN2we7E_YNOqmd6Qjm_vrPPP7zoRftuPWGDmP-Yl1Uv5zX4Rawax8mndw5PSAmv01LHX7sIrHPPxcCOKAGe3ZnJQSd5bEpc/s320/Iveta+Cervenakova.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319697924951777586" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Iveta Cervenakova, was forcibly sterilized after the birth of her second daughter 12 years ago. She was among possibly as many as a quarter of a million Roma (Gypsy) women sterilized against their will in the Czech Republic.<br /></span></blockquote>Since the end of the cold war and the opening up of central and eastern European countries in 1990, the living conditions of the Roma and Sinti minority have drastically deteriorated as a result of nascent racism. However, racist-motivated violence and discrimination against Roma and Sinti have significantly increased in a large number of countries in western Europe. As The New York Times correctly observed in a commentary in March 1996, members of the minority are today subjected to marginalization and racism to an extent that corresponds to the situation of African-Americans in the United States up until the mid-1950s.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />A notable cause for the continued marginalization and discrimination of Roma and Sinti is the structures of prejudice and racist clichés, which have been substantially influenced by the misanthropic racial ideology of the National Socialists and the associated fascist regime. In view of these ideological lines of continuity, it is hardly surprising that Roma and Sinti minorities are not only socially disadvantaged to a considerable extent but are also repeatedly the victims of open violence. The authorities in eastern and western Europe have recorded a drastic increase in racist violence against minorities by neo-Nazis; however, such attacks increasingly emanate from the security forces themselves. Only rarely can the perpetrators expect consistent prosecution and conviction by the police and legal authorities. As an example, the police officers responsible for the obviously racist-motivated murders of two Bulgarian Roma in 1996 were not punished by competent authorities; only after a judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in 2005 was the Bulgarian State obliged to investigate the racist background to this crime. The Court issued a similar adjudication in a comparable case, also in Romania; in all probability, however, the perpetrators will escape criminal prosecution appropriate to a State governed by the rule of law.<br /></div><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241392786194414899.post-40460804947545536002009-03-19T23:06:00.000+05:302009-06-14T13:10:54.389+05:30Racism still alive in the "Rainbow Nation": White students force black cleaners to drink urine soup<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivvJ1k2Gn-V864DaUZNcYvwZUz22TX7UFeKOvFNYH1US3-bDdpWHzGyAgwd4cOjbvijNcdXadYZe6sbgnpxYgDIuNGHt7JEcBSZ0F4EA1KClmeGTUYDXxgzc42h3y_znsjzGa4x0eQVk8/s1600-h/Racist+video+spurs+protests+in+South+Africa.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 385px; height: 185px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivvJ1k2Gn-V864DaUZNcYvwZUz22TX7UFeKOvFNYH1US3-bDdpWHzGyAgwd4cOjbvijNcdXadYZe6sbgnpxYgDIuNGHt7JEcBSZ0F4EA1KClmeGTUYDXxgzc42h3y_znsjzGa4x0eQVk8/s400/Racist+video+spurs+protests+in+South+Africa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319408865031730626" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><blockquote>The alleged victims vomited after being made to eat fouled food<br /><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7260000/newsid_7268000?redirect=7268058.stm&news=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1&asb=1">Watch Video</a><br /></blockquote><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Several white students in South Africa face criminal charges after allegedly forcing black campus employees to eat food that had been urinated on. A video has surfaced last year (Feb 2008) which appears to show the students forcing elderly workers to eat dirty meat and drink soup into which they had urinated.<br /><br /></div>A violent backlash against the film caused all classes to be suspended yesterday as hundreds of staff and students marched in protest. Police fired stun grenades to disperse an angry crowd gathered outside the whites-only halls of residence where the film was shot. A narrative in Afrikaans indicates the video was recorded in protest at a new university integration policy to integrate black and white students in the same residences at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein.<br /><br />In the video the white students, who make no attempt to hide their faces, order the black cleaners at the whites-only Reitz hostel to down full bottles of beer. They then lead them to a playing field where they are told to display their athletic skills. In the final extract a white man urinates on food and into a plastic soup container. Then, shouting: Take! Take! in Afrikaans he apparently forces the campus employees to eat the dirty food, causing them to vomit.<br /><br /><br /></div>Swapna Sarit Routhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12762177919488069851noreply@blogger.com0