Dear London reader, Pamela,
Well, some of the people *are* rising against their government (e.g. there are 857 members on the SACW - South Asia Citizens' Wire yahoo groups list), but a lot of the propaganda that most South Asians are subjected to is simply what bounces back to them from the Western mainstream media. In fact, some of the major free-to-air television networks in India are directly owned by the Global Minister of Communication, Sir Rupert Murdoch, with his Star Channel television network.
Don't think the South Asians are sitting back helplessly. South Asian activists are incredibly energetic, politically astute and committed. But the power of Western media feeds back to discourage and program the elites and the masses who otherwise would oppose the absurd testosterone-filled grunts and cries of the male geriatrics in the Centre who are too shy to buy Viagra and instead are calling for (another) holy war.
This suggests an obvious way to support the pro-peace activists:
Why don't you help the Indians and Pakistanis "rise against their governments" by getting people in the UK (uk.indymedia or why not try the Guardian or the Observer, or maybe even the BBC) to read and publicise the information which *is* easily available electronically?
Pak+Indian peace marches Sat 29 + Mon 31 Dec http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=442 Why are our defence experts are always wrong? http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=440 Peace Demo Delhi 11am-1pm Tue 25 Dec http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=435 Indo-Pak Peace News Board http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=434 South Asia Citizens' Wire: Description Category: Peace and Nonviolence Postings to counter fundamentalist politics, defence of secular spaces, initiatives in the women's movement, labour and peace campaigns internationaly (but with particular reference to South Asia); Media reports, articles etc. Group Moderator: act-owner@egroups.com Members: 857 Founded: Sep 5, 1998 Language: English Group Settings: Listed in directory . Restricted membership . Only the moderator may post . Public archives . (And the moderator is taking a week's holiday...) Post message: act@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: act-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: act-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: act-owner@yahoogroups.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/act/As another answer to London reader's question, here is a concrete proposition (among others) for a solution to the conflict, by Justin Podur http://www.zmag.org/southasia/podkashmir.htm from the ZNet South Asia site.
This 1993 interview with the late Eqbal Ahmad (from Pakistan) is also very interesting http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/barahmeint.htm.
And, of course, you could ask the Kashmiris what they think:
Geek generation in gestation in Kashmir http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=441
Regarding responsibility for 12/13, the Madurai Collective wrote a very interesting analysis:
9/11 versus 12/13 -- The "Engineered" Threat
by madurai collective 11:33pm Wed Dec 19 '01
http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=425
This is all high quality stuff. Please redistribute it widely in the UK!
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