Monthly Archives: April 2021

John Rarere with wife Michelle and mokopuna. Photo / Supplied

By Te Aniwa Hurihanganui of RNZ

John Rarere's phone won't stop pinging. Over the last three months, it's been flooded with messages from relatives urging him and others to be wary of Covid-19 vaccines.

"They believe the Government is trying to scam everybody," he says. "Some of them think the vaccine will change their DNA or that it contains nanotechnology which will eventually give the Government the ability to control them."

Hamilton-born Rarere, now living across the ditch in Brisbane, has counted more than 40 of his New Zealand-based relatives sharing ideas like these all over social media. He's never seen anything like it before.

A recent post from a cousin falsely claims China is refusing to inoculate any of its citizens for safety reasons. It encourages people to cure themselves of the virus through "heat therapy", by inhaling steam from a boiled kettle, gargling hot water and drinking cups of hot tea four times each a day. On the fifth day, it says, "you are Corona negative".

Rarere laughs - he can't help himself sometimes. But the truth is he's afraid. He knows of two kaumtua who are also sharing misinformation online, and he's deeply worried they won't take the vaccine. He says the thought of them contracting the virus, and suffering, is inconceivable.

"It's really concerning," he says. "If whnau members are refusing to get vaccinated because of this information, that could influence even more at-risk kaumtua to do the same."

Research by Te Pnaha Matatini shows Mori in their 60s and 70s are twice as likely to die from Covid-19, but the hope is that vaccines will make sure we never see such tragedy play out.

By May, all Mori aged 65 years and older or with comorbidities will have access to the vaccine. But will they take up the opportunity? How do you convince Mori the vaccine is safe when there's a tidal wave of misinformation online telling them otherwise? And why should they trust a health system that continues to perpetuate poorer outcomes for their people?

Eric Teokotai, who works for the Waikato District Health Board, feels helpless watching his own whnau and friends fall down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole, but he sympathises with them too. He says many of them feel displaced and oppressed by the health system, and he doesn't blame them.

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"Very close friends say they're not going to get vaccinated and it comes down to the lack of trust in government processes and departments and agencies, and a history of government oppression and colonialism," he says.

"They'll say, 'nah, we don't trust the Government, it's colonial health issues that have caused damage and destruction to our people', and there's an element of truth in there. Mori are still suffering in health. We have the highest rates of cancer, obesity and even loss of hearing. You name it and Mori are right up there. The feeling is, why should Mori trust the Government now?"

Vaccine hesitancy has long been tied to distrust of colonial systems, says historian and researcher Rawiri Taonui.

"In circumstances where there's been marginalisation and experiences of racism, there's been an element of distrust over vaccines," he says. "Early on in the history of vaccination in Aotearoa, where Mori had a good relationship with Pkeh, they tended to take up vaccines. But in areas where the relationship wasn't so good and they were suspicious of the motives of Pkeh, they tended not to."

He says that's partly why there's a higher level of rejection of vaccinations today among Mori generally, including with infant immunisations and flu vaccinations among the elderly.

Some in Teokotai's whnau are vaccine hesitant for different reasons. Some are worried about the potential side effects of the vaccine, or the pace at which it has been developed and distributed across the world. One of them is his wife, who once had a severe allergic reaction to the Polio vaccine and needed to be hospitalised.

A March survey by Horizon Research and University of Auckland's School of Public Health suggests 9.4 per cent of the population will definitely say no to the vaccine. However, the number of Mori likely to say no has dropped from 27 to 18 per cent since surveys began last year, and that gives Teokotai hope.

He says with greater publicity about the vaccine, confidence should continue to grow. While he understands where much of the distrust stems from, he says Covid-19's threat to kaumtua is far too great, and the vaccine is their best shot at protecting them.

"I will keep engaging with whnau," he says. "And sometimes it's not good enough to say, 'go on the Ministry of Health's website'. You literally have to get that information and put it before them for them to decide whether they want to read it or not.

"I'll just say to them, 'look, you've taken the time to read the information you've given me, so how about you take the time to read this information?' Sometimes you'll get, 'oh, well, let me think about it'."

Teokotai has company. Mori health providers are determined to spread the word that the vaccine is reliable and safe and they're driven by dire statistics.

It's well documented that Mori are more likely to suffer more serious effects of the virus if infected than non-Mori. Researchers from Te Pnaha Matatini, the University of Otago and Auckland University say Mori are more likely to suffer serious effects of the virus because they are more likely to have the underlying health conditions which make surviving Covid-19 more difficult, including cardiovascular and respiratory conditions.

Of the 18 people in New Zealand who have been admitted to intensive care for Covid-19, half were Mori.

Within the next few weeks, Mori health providers will receive 40,000 vaccine doses for Mori aged 65 years and older or with comorbidities. The Government has already allocated a portion of these doses to some Mori health providers in South Auckland, and made $11 million available for providers to set up the infrastructure needed to carry out the work.

For Tranga Health chief executive Reweti Ropiha, meeting with Mori communities kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) is crucial. So he and other members of his 60-strong team at the Gisborne-based clinic are travelling the length of Tranganui a Kiwa, including to isolated rural communities such as Matawai, Whatatutu and Waituhi, to do just that.

"There's two things we need to consider. One is around the information coming through Facebook and the krero which is presenting a lot of anxiety," he says.

"And the second one is, as we engage with whnau, the experience we give them must be pristine. So when they leave the service and speak to their whnau, they provide the insight to give the confidence for their whnau to participate as well."

Ropiha says if there's a long waiting time, for example, that could potentially put people off.

"So you've got misinformation, yes, but we also need to give people a good experience."

Dr Mataroria Lyndon from Te Tai Tokerau has been attending community hui in his own rohe to provide a clinical perspective to the conversation. One common concern whnau raise is about the potential side effects vaccines could have, including the possibility of death.

"If anything, the vaccine actually prevents death. And that's the purpose of the vaccine, to protect us from Covid-19, both by reducing the risk of acquiring Covid, but also around preventing serious illness that leads to hospitalisation and death," he says.

"Some of the side effects are common with existing vaccines, like pain at the injection site, fatigue, you might get a headache or a minor fever. But that's the vast majority of the side effects. Now in terms of anaphylaxis, which is a major side effect or risk, that's very rare. In fact, Ministry of Health data shows only five out of one million people have a serious allergic reaction to the vaccine."

Lyndon says ensuring as many Mori as possible have this information ahead of the vaccine roll out is vital, and he is pleased the Government has set aside $24.5 million for a vaccine support service, which will make access to information and vaccines easier for Mori living rurally.

Whanganui-based iwi health provider Te Oranganui has re-established the communication team it pulled together during last year's lockdown to get the message out to its community that the vaccine is coming.

Its chief executive, Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata, says the provider is very aware of the influence misinformation is having on Mori, so Te Oranganui's strategy is to ensure they're approaching everyone's beliefs with aroha. Staff have been encouraged to let whnau know they are welcome through its doors at any stage of the vaccine process.

"It's important to have what I call 'a rolling door', that they may say no right now, but that as a consequence of ongoing conversations and as the vaccine continues to roll out throughout the country, that they still have opportunities to come back to us at a later date."

Despite the heightened risk Covid-19 poses to vulnerable tangata whenua, some Mori MPs have been reluctant to tell Mori they should be vaccinated. The Mori Party's Rawiri Waititi and Labour's Willie Jackson have said it's about mana motuhake and whnau have the right to choose.

But on a grey March day at a community hui at Terenga Paraoa Marae in Whangrei, surrounded by local Mori health workers, kaumtua, parents and children, deputy director-general of Mori Health John Whaanga takes a bolder approach. Standing at the front of the meeting house with his head up and eyes scanning the room, he doesn't hold back.

"I will be encouraging anyone I know and anyone I'm related to take the vaccination," he says loudly.

Whaanga has accompanied the Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare to the town as part of a nationwide "marae roadshow" to inform Mori communities about the vaccine and alleviate any concerns whnau have. He is the first speaker of the day to say outright that Mori should be vaccinated, and he does so with confidence.

"I grew up with a grandfather who lost three siblings to the Spanish Flu epidemic," he says. "And I grew up with elders who told me what it was like to live through polio and whooping cough. They were horrible. I have no doubt that if we look at the history of Mori health development, we can clearly show that vaccination has helped improve Mori health."

Some sitting around the wharenui look agitated, as though they could stand at any moment to interrupt. When Whaanga sits down, a few take up the opportunity to respond: Why are people losing their jobs because they don't want to get the vaccine? Are there enough vaccines to cover all kaumtua? Will I be able to get vaccinated even though I'm only 64?

Henare says they're all valid and important questions. He assures the community no one has or will lose their job because they don't want a vaccine, and the 40,000 doses currently being supplied to Mori health providers will be topped up when required. He says Mori health providers know their communities best, and he doubts kaumtua who aren't quite 65 will ever be turned away.

"If you're 65 and over, ka pai. But if you've come all the way from a place like Te Kao to get vaccinated and you're 62, I expect that in the way we look after and manaaki our whnau, our Mori health providers will be able to do that."

Henare says many of his own whnau are reluctant to take the vaccine because of the discrimination they've faced by the health system in the past, and he understands. All he can do, he says, is continue to be open and keep encouraging them to engage in the clinical advice.

For Teokotai, engaging with whnau has never been more important. He says lives are on the line.

"I'm keeping the communication lines open, keeping the aroha open and keeping the connection open. It's a matter of going, 'e hoa, whnau, cuz, how about this one here? Have you read this information?'".

- RNZ

Read this article:

Covid 19 coronavirus: Why should Mori trust the vaccine? - New Zealand Herald

KABUL, Afghanistan Farzana Ahmadi watched as a neighbor in her village in northern Afghanistan was flogged by Taliban fighters last month. The crime: Her face was uncovered.

Every woman should cover their eyes, Ms. Ahmadi recalled one Taliban member saying. People silently watched as the beating dragged on.

Fear even more potent than in years past is gripping Afghans now that U.S. and NATO forces will depart the country in the coming months. They will leave behind a publicly triumphant Taliban, who many expect will seize more territory and reinstitute many of the same oppressive rules they enforced under their regime in the 1990s.

The New York Times spoke to many Afghan women members of civil society, politicians, journalists and others about what comes next in their country, and they all said the same thing: Whatever happens will not bode well for them.

Whether the Taliban take back power by force or through a political agreement with the Afghan government, their influence will almost inevitably grow. In a country in which an end to nearly 40 years of conflict is nowhere in sight, many Afghans talk of an approaching civil war.

All the time, women are the victims of mens wars, said Raihana Azad, a member of Afghanistans Parliament. But they will be the victims of their peace, too.

When the Taliban governed Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, it barred women and girls from taking most jobs or going to school, and practically made them prisoners in their own homes.

After the U.S. invasion to topple the Taliban and defeat Al Qaeda in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Western rallying cry for bringing womens rights to the already war-torn country seemed to many a noble undertaking. The cause helped sell the war to Americans who cringed at the sight of a B-52 carpet bombing insurgent positions.

Some schools reopened, giving young women and girls a chance at education and careers that many before them didnt have. But even before American troops touched Afghan soil, some women had already risked their lives by secretly pursuing an education and teaching themselves.

Over two decades, the United States spent more than $780 million to promote womens rights in Afghanistan. The result is a generation who came of age in a period of hope for womens equality.

Though progress has been uneven, girls and women now make up about 40 percent of students. They have joined the military and police, held political office, become internationally recognized singers, competed in the Olympics and on robotics teams, climbed mountains and more all things that were nearly impossible at the turn of the century.

As the conflict dragged on over 20 years and setbacks on the battlefield mounted, American officials and lawmakers frequently pointed to the gains of Afghan women and girls as proof of success of the nation-building endeavor some measure of progress to try to justify the loss of life, both American and Afghan, and billions of dollars spent in the war effort.

Even in the twilight weeks before President Biden made his final decision to pull out all U.S. troops by September, some lawmakers and military officials argued that preserving womens rights was one reason to keep American forces there.

I remember when Americans came and they said that they will not leave us alone, and that Afghanistan will be free of oppression, and will be free of war and womens rights will be protected, said Shahida Husain, an activist in Afghanistans southern Kandahar Province, where the Taliban first rose and now control large stretches of territory. Now it looks like it was just slogans.

Across the country, schools are now being forced to contemplate whether they will be able to stay open.

Firoz Uzbek Karimi, the chancellor of Faryab University in the north, oversees 6,000 students half of them women.

Female students who live in Taliban areas have been threatened several times, but their families send them secretly, Mr. Karimi said. If foreign forces leave early, the situation will get worse.

Human rights groups, nongovernmental organizations, schools and businesses are left trying to figure out contingency plans for female employees and students should the Taliban return to power by force or through an agreement with the Afghan government.

In his announcement on Wednesday, Mr. Biden said the United States would continue to prioritize womens rights through humanitarian and diplomatic assistance.

But even now, the gains for women in some places over the past 20 years have been fleeting and unevenly distributed despite the millions invested in womens rights programs.

In Taliban-controlled areas, womens education is extremely restricted, if not nonexistent. In some areas in the countrys east and west, the Taliban have opened schools to girls who can attend until they reach puberty, and in the north, tribal elders have negotiated to reopen some schools for girls, though subjects like social science are replaced with Islamic studies. Education centers are routinely the targets of attacks, and more than 1,000 schools have closed in recent years.

It was my dream to work in a government office, said Ms. Ahmadi, 27, who graduated from Kunduz University two years ago before moving to a Taliban-controlled village with her husband. But I will take my dream to the grave.

If there is one thing that decades of war have taught Afghans, it is that conflict was never a good way to achieve human or womens rights. Since the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, war has continuously fueled more war, eventually undermining any humanitarian achievements.

Under the U.S. occupation, education opportunities, cultural shifts, employment and health care have benefited some and barely affected others, especially in rural areas. In those places, some of the wars most brutal chapters played out with many civilians dead and livelihoods devastated.

Often, womens opinions are unclear in these parts, where roughly three-quarters of Afghanistans 34 million people live, and are often unreachable because of geographical, technological and cultural constraints.

Despite real improvements, Afghanistan remains one of the most challenging places in the world to be a woman, a U.S. government watchdog report released in February said. U.S. efforts to support women, girls and gender equality in Afghanistan yielded mixed results.

Still, the Talibans harshly restrictive religious governing structure virtually ensures that the oppression of women is baked into whatever iteration of governance they bring.

The Talibans idea of justice for women was solidified for Ms. Ahmadi when she saw the insurgents beat the unveiled woman in front of her in Kunduz Province.

For many other Afghan women, the governments judicial system has been punishment of a different kind.

Farzana Alizada believes that her sister, Maryam, was murdered by her abusive husband. But a police investigation of any sort took months to start, thwarted by absent prosecutors and corruption, she said. Ms. Alizadas brother-in-law even pressured her to drop the charges by accusing her of stealing. The police asked her why she was pushing the case if her sister was dead.

Domestic violence remains an enduring problem in Afghanistan. About 87 percent of Afghan women and girls experience domestic abuse in their lifetimes, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

I lost all the hope I have in this government. In some cases, maybe the Taliban is better than this system, Ms. Alizada said. No one is on my side.

Ms. Alizadas sentiments were similarly portrayed in Doha, Qatar, at the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Despite months of negotiations, there has been little progress, especially when it comes to discussing womens rights, which neither side has made a priority.

At a separate peace conference held in Moscow in March between the Afghan government, political power brokers and the Taliban, only one woman, Habiba Sarabi, was on the 12-member delegation sent by the Afghan government. And only four are a part of the 21-person team in Doha.

Moscow and Doha, as well, with its small number of women representatives laid bare the thin veneer of support for genuine equality and the so-called post-2001 gains when it comes to who will decide the countrys future, said Patricia Gossman, the associate Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

But one of the gains that is almost indisputable has been Afghanistans access to the internet and the news media. Cellphone coverage extends across much of the country, meaning that Afghan women and girls have more space to learn and connect outside their familial bubbles and villages. The Afghan news media, too, has blossomed after large investments from foreign governments and investors, and many women have become nationally known journalists and celebrities.

But even their futures are uncertain.

Lina Shirzad is the acting managing director of a small radio station in Badakhshan, in Afghanistans restive north. She employs 15 women and fears, given the growing insecurity, that they will lose their jobs. Even some of the larger national outlets are looking to relocate employees or move some operations outside the country.

With the withdrawal of foreign forces in the next few months, these women that are the breadwinners for their family will be unemployed, Ms. Shirzad said. Will their values and achievements be maintained or not?

Fahim Abed contributed reporting from Kabul, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar.

Read more:

Afghan Women Fear The Worst after U.S. Withdrawal - The New York Times

Why does Ottawa still refuse to take Canadas side? Why, after all the brute diplomacy and bullying of Canadian citizens, does this government continue to appease Beijing?

The Halifax Security Forum planned to give an award to the president of Taiwan for her leadership in the face of Chinas hostile government. Canadian officials allegedly threatened to pull support and funding from the event when they learned of this.

If this was indeed the case, Canadas actions went beyond the scope of mere careful diplomacy. Threatening the Halifax Security Forum for recognizing Taiwans president, if true, was naked appeasement of a regime both hostile and antithetical to a democratic Canada.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau sidestepped giving clear answers to questions regarding the alleged threat. Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan denied there had been a threat, but subsequently demurred on the topic of renewing funding for the next Halifax Security Forum. Sajjan also refused to support or oppose the awarding of the Taiwanese president. These are the same cabinet members who refrained from voting on a parliamentary resolution condemning Beijings oppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Whether a threat was made or not, there was an opportunity to assert Canadas commitment to its democratic allies. The government failed to take it.

A government that publicly commits itself to defending democracy and self-determination, like the current Canadian government, would not shy away from standing up for Taiwan.

We need to get to a place where Indigenous peoples in Canada are in control of their own destiny, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2018. There is no good reason why the prime minister should not apply that same mentality to Taiwan or even Hong Kong. The president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, leads a party committed to the principle of geographic separation from China and political independence for Taiwan, not reunification with the mainland. The principle of supporting self-determination is compromised if selectively applied by the Canadian government.

Taiwan is not a rogue province. It has functioned as an independent country since the end of the Chinese Civil War. Canada and Taiwan have bilateral trade relations and all the other trappings of an international relationship between fully legitimate states. The refusal to officially treat Taiwan as a truly independent country is diplomatic posturing, not a reflection of reality.

Ottawa seems intent on avoiding any actions that would lead to retribution from Beijing. If Canada continues to back off from confrontation, it will make no difference in how the Chinese government treats Canada. Beijing has no goodwill toward Canada or its citizens. It actively tries to undermine the political system of Canada and the rights to free speech of Canadian citizens.

CSIS warned that China, along with Russia, have infiltrated the Canadian political system to lobby against opposition to those countries governments. Canadian citizens of Chinese descent are subjected to menacing late night calls if they speak up against the brutality of the Beijing government. Their families in China are threatened with disappearance, injury and death if those Canadian citizens continue to exercise their democratic rights. Citizens of a free, democratic nation are being bullied into silence by a faraway authoritarian regime. This should be a pressing concern for the current government.

The fantasy of an amicable relationship with a benign Peoples Republic of China has to end. Canada will not be treated as an equal by Beijing. China is vastly more powerful, economically and militarily, than Canada. It makes no sense for China to do so. The Chinese government is not our friend, and will not be regardless of how much appeasement takes place.

Ottawa has the ability to assert that Canada will not be bullied by undemocratic regimes. Australia, India and Taiwan have shown they will not be cowed into a reluctant submission to Beijing. The ambiguous stance of the current government is not enough and that deficiency will hurt Canada more as Beijings power grows.

Canada must join that list of countries who will stand up to Beijing, or history will show Canada wavered at a time when the strength of democracies was tested harder than at any other time this far into the 21st century.

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Geoff Russ is a history graduate, a journalist at The Source and Spheres of Influence, researcher at On This Spot and former member of the Conservative Party of Canada.

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Opinion | Ottawa on the wrong side of history on China - TheSpec.com

For over seven decades now, films have been an active medium of politicisation. Renowned director Vetrimaran said that there are no exclusive art film audiences and commercial film audiences per se in Tamil Nadu. The same set of people are the viewers, and thereby there is often blurring of such a difference.

Of late, there are two sets of concerns emerging in the film space. One, a set of films have turned out to be outcomes of lazy and misinformed politics and therefore dissemination of such political ideas is a worrying trend.

Two, many a time, the makers of the films, writers and/or directors wish to shy away from claiming the existence of a political quotient in their films. However, the director of the movie in question, Mari Selvaraj, is one among the few who explicitly claim to be disseminating socio-political and cultural ideas through their movies.

Karnan, his recent directorial venture with Dhanush, Lal Paul, Natarajan Subramaniam, Rajisha Vijayan, Yogi Babu and others is one such meticulously woven film. The movie seeks to articulate and mainstream the politics of the marginalised communities and radically locates such politics in dignity, recognition, and socio-economic mobility.

At the same time, the movie cautions against the furthering of the politics of the marginalised through regressive ritual pride and violence as pivots. The title, which is the name of a vital character of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, deftly captures the essence of the current marginalisation, that is, denying rights to the capable on the basis of birth.

The movie is set in the late 1990s in the south of Tamil Nadu the time and place that were rife with clashes between the Thevars, a shudra caste group, and the Devendra Kula Vellalars (DKVs), previously called the Pallars, a formerly untouchable caste group.

Also read:Kabali Destabilises the Established Idioms of Tamil Cinema

While the movie is filled with subversive references and metaphors for the keen eye, the director has been unapologetic with the music in the film and food, two proxies of dominance that many woke progressives fail to understand or worse, perpetuate.

A prevalent example is how a specific variety of upper caste music and vegetarian food are promoted as markers of Tamil identity whereas the state is a site of hundreds of folk art forms and nine out of ten people are meat-eaters. The movie celebrates sub-regional folk arts and the local meat-based cuisine.

Metaphors, and a cry for dignity, power and mobility

The site of the movie is Podiyankulam, an ostensible pseudonym for Kodiyankulam, a Dalit village that was subject to police brutality in 1995. The movie gives ample screentime to metaphors without demur.

The bus stand in the movie serves as a metaphor for mobility, recognition by the state, and access to state resources. While the state in theory functions to provide its resources to its subjects equally, the movie expounds on how access to the state resources are restricted to and by certain communities, many a time by hampering the communication channels available to the marginalised.

Another captivating metaphor is that of a donkey foal whose forelimbs are tied, allowing for only confined movements, first introduced in the movie after a triumphant celebration by the people of Podiyankulam.

The above is a practice used by tamers to instill obedience during the domestication of donkeys, a similar tactic is alluded to in the movie in a discussion among the folks of the affluent neighbouring village/town by restricting mobility of the oppressed.

A still from Karnan movie. Photo:Twitter/@mari_selvaraj.

The recurring masked figure or uruvam in the movie is a representation of the suppressed anger and sorrow that is harboured by not just the protagonists family but by the entire village as the misfortune that sets the foundation for the movie could have happened to anyone belonging in a similar setting.

The state in the movie is shown as a metaphor for caste oppression, a system put in place to maintain the status quo, with checks and balances, be it the denial of a basic amenity like the bus stop or the unwillingness to negotiate with the aggrieved. The antagonist Kannabiran, a senior police officer of the region, serves as a vessel of the same. Instead of a dominant caste village head as the antagonist, Mari Selvaraj has successfully mainstreamed issues that involve systemic oppression. Using police violence as a conveyor of the same has served well in establishing an emotional connection and relatability with the wider audience given Tamil Nadus recent experience with custodial deaths in Sathankulam.

When houses are ransacked and certificates are torn, that is, markers of mobility are destroyed, violence becomes the only recourse to the oppressed. Anger and retaliation are shown as means to secure recognition and respect. The use of the villages sword or ur-vaal to kill serves as a symbol of the collective anger of the marginalised against the discriminatory system represented by the antagonist.

Also read:The Anti-Caste Film in English Is a Genre in the Making

The movie culminates with the protagonist reflecting on how their means to mobility and their needs are turned a blind eye to and instead only subservience is expected of them. The two scenes revolving around the names of people belonging to both the caste groups serve well to expose the insecurities that exist in proximate caste groups that believe in rights that are imputed to ones birth. A riveting dialogue by the protagonist goes, Kandiahs son could be named Kannabiran but Madasamys son should not be named Karnan?

Karnan as a caution to the DKVs move to Hindutva

A considerable chunk of the Devendra Kula Vellalars is seen to be rallying behind the BJP and the Hindutva construct. Since the run-up to the 2019 elections, the BJP has been vocally supportive of the demand to rename the Pallars as Devendra Kula Vellalars. The leaders of two parties claiming to represent the DKVs, Puthiya Tamizhagam Party led by Dr. Krishnasamy and Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam led by John Pandian have expressed their explicit support to the BJP and its ideology.Dr Krishnasamy went one step ahead and claimed to not owe his allegiance to the BJP but to the RSS.

The decade of the 1990s saw a fissure among the SCs owing to differences in aspirations. The DKVs have not foregrounded victimhood but a glorious past of valour and prosperity as markers of their identity, thereby making them vulnerable to the Hindutva appropriation, one that just provides them cursory respect and recognition.

While the BJP-led Union government has accepted the renaming demand, Krishnasamy and Pandian have also been critical of the affirmative action policies at varying degrees as they have held pride above all.

In contrast, Mari Selvaraj deftly problematises the communitys present instead of its past. While he echoes the demand to be named and called better, he firmly holds on to the issues of redistribution of state resources, educational mobility, and the vocabulary of social justice.

Moreover, the movie moves beyond a narrow inter-caste antagonism framework towards a broader matrix of securing recognition, redistribution, and representation for the marginalised in avenues of power.

Vignesh Karthik K.R. is a doctoral researcher at the Kings India Institute, Kings College London. He tweets at @krvtweets. Ajay Chandra is a political analyst based in Chennai. He can be reached at ajaycvu@gmail.com.

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Tamil Movie 'Karnan' Serves a Note of Caution to Mainstream Politics of the Marginalised - The Wire

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Opinion: Governments are developing action plans but for the women and girls in danger, we are not making progress quickly enough.

Author of the article:

Since the start of the pandemic, we have been asked to stay home as much as possible a critical measure to stop the spread of COVID-19. But not everyone is safe in their own homes. During the pandemic, domestic violence against women has increased as much as 20 to 30 per cent in parts of the country.

Most women experiencing abuse now have longer, closer contact at home with their abusers, and less in-person access to friends, family and other support systems.Women are losing jobs and income faster than anyone else. How can they leave?

The federal and provincial governments are developing action plans to address the shadow pandemic of gender-based violence. For the women and girls in danger, we are not making progress quickly enough. We need action now.

To be effective, B.C.s plan needs to be coordinated among all levels of support, from non-profits providing services, to the justice system to government. It needs to address the immediate safety needs of women experiencing abuse and the financial barriers to leaving. It needs to reach the public through evidence-based education and awareness campaigns.

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There must also be meaningful acknowledgment that gender-based violence intersects with other forms of discrimination and oppression, creating additional barriers for those who experience the greatest challenges accessing resources that could help.

Finally, this plan needs to be sustainable, with long-term investment and clearly defined, measurable goals that are revised every two years.

Our provincial action plan needs to ensure that staff across the justice system are educated on gender-based violence and trained in best practices to ensure that victims are treated with appropriate and sensitive responses.

Addressing safety also means increasing funding for Legal Aid to ensure all women experiencing intimate partner violence have access to a lawyer for the duration of any family law proceedings.

Intimate-partner violence impacts women regardless of socio-economic status, but women who have lower incomes face substantial financial challenges to leaving. They need support reconstructing their lives. This can include access to a livable income, to transportation, career training, job-related expenses, child care, supplies and services for children, and a safe, affordable place to live.

There has been some progress provincially on income assistance rates, child care and housing. While it was encouraging to see the $175 increase in income and disability assistance rates, it is still not a livable amount. Rates need to reflect the actual basic cost of living in British Columbia and be indexed to inflation to remain at a livable amount.

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Without a place to live, women with children are often forced to return to an abusive partner. BC Housings Womens Transition House and Supports Program has been working with organizations like YWCA Metro Vancouver to build new first- and second-stage transition houses, and long-term housing for women with children. This work must continue.

The pandemic has shown us how critical child care is to our everyday lives, especially a womans capacity to work. Expanding affordable child care must be a priority for the provincial government. To do this, they must also address the ongoing recruitment and retention challenges facing the child care sector.

Addressing gender-based violence at its core must be the ultimate goal of the plan. Changing attitudes will take time and require a well-executed and properly funded plan, including education programs for youth and government public awareness campaigns. We also need to ensure that any programs offered to the perpetrators of violence against women are evidence-based.

The Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountabilitys recent report found that 160 women and girls were murdered in Canada last year. Half of these women were killed by a current or former intimate partner. Those who were killed by strangers were often marginalized because they were poor, racialized, or were sex workers. Twenty per cent of women and girls killed last year were Indigenous.

When it comes to COVID-19, most of us have been supportive of government funding and action to tackle the problem to keep everyone in B.C. safe. We have listened to the experts and changed our behaviours.

We can do the same to address gender-based violence so that we dont have to read about another person whose life has been stolen simply because she is a woman.

Lisa Rupert is vice-president for housing and violence prevention with YWCA Metro Vancouver.

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Lisa Rupert: We need action now to address shadow pandemic of gender-based violence - Vancouver Sun

A new and rapidly growing popular rebellion is affecting the Iranian regime. On March 11, a statement signed by 640 eminent Iranians, some living within and some outside Iran, was posted on-line in English and Persian with the hashtag #No2IslamicRepublic. It marked the launch of a new anti-government movement.The founding statement called for the overthrow of the Iranian regime, describing it as the biggest obstacle in the way of freedom, prosperity, democracy, progress, and human rights. The signatories urged Iranian activists to unite, to make #No2IslamicRepublic their national solidarity objective, and to create a massive movement that can purge Iran from this dark and corrupt regime. Many ordinary Iranians posted images on social media of murdered and executed dissidents and political prisoners, along with other examples of social and cultural oppression by the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979.Since the launch, the number of adherents has mushroomed into the tens of thousands, and the campaign has succeeded in uniting opposition elements outside the country that have previously failed to coalesce. As the number of signatories rapidly rose, it became clear that they were drawn from many sectors of Iranian society: political and civil rights activists, artists, athletes, authors and university professors, among others. One of the best-known is filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad, who has spent years in and out of prison for his outspoken criticisms of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was joined by five female advocates for democracy and womens rights who were arrested and jailed in 2019 after signing an open letter calling for Khameneis resignation.

The #No2IslamicRepublic campaign is supported by many Iranians abroad who are household names in Iran singers, a composer, an award-winning filmmaker, a historian, a feminist sociologist, womens rights activists and even former Ontario cabinet minister Reza Moridi.

The most public face of the campaign is Reza Pahlavi, the deposed Shahs son and Irans last heir to the throne before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1979. The 60-year-old Pahlavi heads the National Council of Iran for Free Elections, which has been acting as a government-in-exile. Just recently he announced a major change in the objective of his organization.

Setting aside his previous intention to reestablish a constitutional monarchy, Pahlavi now supports the establishment of a democratic republic to replace the revolutionary regime. This has meant that a rival body operating its own government-in-exile, an organization calling itself The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has been able to come together with Pahlavi under the umbrella of the #No2IslamicRepublic campaign.

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From the regimes point of view, the campaign could not have surfaced at a more inconvenient time. Iran is in the midst of a delicate diplomatic game of poker with the US over reopening the nuclear deal. Is Iran going to agree to observe the terms of the original deal, which the US demands as the price of returning to the table, or is Washington going to lift all the sanctions imposed during the Trump era, which is Irans precondition? A full-scale public rebellion inside Iran, not only against the government but against the republic itself, would severely weaken the regimes bargaining position.

THE SITUATION is made even more unstable because new Iranian presidential elections are scheduled for June 18, and activists are seizing the opportunity to condemn the faux democracy that has been imposed on the country. Iranians know that nothing happens in the state without the approval of the supreme leader, and that Hassan Rouhani is president only because it suited Ayatollah Khamenei in 2013 and again in 2017 to have him as a moderate figurehead.

Moderation may be far from how the regime intends to deal with the current insurrection. Present indications are that a military hard-liner is likely to succeed Rouhani, who is serving his final term. As with all elections in Iran, potential candidates must be vetted by the Guardians Council, whose members are directly and indirectly appointed by Khamenei, and the supreme leader is reported to have said publicly that the country should be led by a relatively young and ideologically hard-line president.

The Islamic Republic is currently weaker than it has been for decades. Ex-president Donald Trumps maximum pressure policy, applied for years, succeeded in reducing the regimes power, both economically and politically. Yet President Joe Biden, determined as he is to resurrect ex-president Barack Obamas failed policy of seeking engagement with Iran, is unlikely to offer any support, overt or covert, to this latest effort to substitute a genuine democracy for the rigid, unpopular and failing theocracy currently imposed on the Iranian people.

If Biden does turn his back on Irans popular uprising, it would be a case of history repeating itself.

The patently manipulated 2009 reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iranian president gave rise to an upsurge of popular anger. The public believed that the poll had been subject to vote rigging and election fraud. Ordinary Iranians took to the streets in their millions in what came to be known the Green Movement.

The Obama administration eager, perhaps determined, to engage with Iran regardless of the cost did precisely nothing to support the protest. The message the ayatollahs took was that the US would look away no matter what they did to stamp out their domestic opposition. As a result, the Green Movement was ruthlessly suppressed, and its leaders were either imprisoned or eliminated.

Widespread popular discontent with Irans revolutionary regime rumbles away below the surface, and there have been other opportunities such as in the popular uprisings in 2019 and 2020 to endorse it, but neither the US nor any Western nation has ever offered overt support. The reluctance is perhaps understandable. Past efforts at encouraging or supporting regime change, even in flagrantly anti-democratic countries, does not have a notably successful track record.

To attempt the overthrow of an established regime that has all the engines of the state and the military under its control is a formidable, perhaps foolhardy, enterprise. Yet this #No2IslamicRepublic campaign has just that objective.

Unless, or until, it seems to be succeeding, experience tells us that it can expect little by way of outside support.

The writer is Middle East correspondent for Eurasia Review. His latest book is Trump and the Holy Land: 2016-2020. He blogs at a-mid-east-journal.blogspot.com

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How secure is the Iranian regime? - The Jerusalem Post

The U.S. human rights group Jewish Voice for Peace Action on Thursday endorsed a bill introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum that would place conditions on the billions of dollars in annual military aid given to Israel in a bid to stop its government from using the funds to kill, torture, imprison, displace, or otherwise harm Palestinian children and families.

"It could not be clearer: Congress needs to stop funding the Israeli government's oppression of Palestinians."Beth Miller,JVP Action

McCollum's (D-Minn.)bill (pdf) would prohibit Israel from using U.S. taxpayer dollars to "support the military detention of Palestinian children, the unlawful seizure, appropriation, and destruction of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank, or further annexation of Palestinian land in violation of international law."

Additionally, it would require the U.S. secretary of state to certify to Congress that U.S. funds are not being used for these illegal purposes.

Beth Miller, senior government affairs manager at JVP Action, said in a statement that the bill "could not come at a more critical moment. The pandemic has exposed and intensified brutal systemic injustices around the worldand Israel is no exception."

"The Israeli military has continued to imprison Palestinian children and, horrifyingly, at a time when we are all asked to stay at home, the Israeli government has actually increased the rate at which it is demolishing Palestinian homes," she added. "It could not be clearer: Congress needs to stop funding the Israeli government's oppression of Palestinians."

Israel currently receives about $3.8 billion in annual unconditional military aid from the United States.

Proud to introduce new legislation: Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act. It's time for Congress to support peace & justice for Palestinians and Israelis.

Read my full statement here: https://t.co/mi5XfQ18Jj

Rep. Betty McCollum (@BettyMcCollum04) April 15, 2021

"U.S. assistance intended for Israel's security must never be used to violate the human rights of Palestinian children, demolish the homes of Palestinian families, or to permanently annex Palestinian lands," McCollum said in a statement introducing the bill. "Peace can only be achieved by respecting human rights, especially the rights of children, and this includes the U.S. taking responsibility for how taxpayer-funded aid is used by recipient countries, Israel included."

"Congress must stop ignoring the unjust and blatantly cruel mistreatment of Palestinian children and families living under Israeli military occupation," McCollum continued. "I strongly believe there is a growing consensus among the American people that the Palestinian people deserve justice, equality, human rights, and the right to self-determination."

"The unprecedented endorsement of this bill by human rights organizations as well as Christian, Jewish, and Muslim organizations is indicative of an energized movement in support of human rights for Palestinians," she added. "It is time for Americans, especially Members of Congress, to stand with Palestinians and Israelis who seek a future of peace and justice."

Thank you, Betty McCollum, for being a tireless advocate for Palestinian rights. We hope that your support for Palestinian justice, freedom, and equality will inspire other members of Congress to speak truth to power about Israeli occupation and apartheid. #FreePalestine https://t.co/NKU5xdRimB

CODEPINK (@codepink) April 15, 2021

Co-sponsoring McCollum's bill are Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Cori Bush (Mo.), Andre Carson (Ind.), Danny K. Davis (Ill.), Jess "Chuy" Garca (Ill.), Ral Grijalva (Ariz.), Marie Newman (Ill.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Bobby L. Rush (Ill.), and Rasida Tlaib (Mich.)the first Palestinian American elected to Congress.

The bill comes days after a 14-year-old Palestinian boy lost an eye after he was shot in the face by Israeli occupation forces in the illegally occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

According to the rights group Defense for Children InternationalPalestine, Israeli forces killed seven Palestinian minors in 2020, while the Israeli human rights defenders B'Tselem said 157 Palestinian minors were imprisoned by Israeli authorities as of the end of last September.

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Jewish Voice for Peace Action Endorses McCollum Bill Placing Conditions on US Aid to Israel - Common Dreams