India Approves Bill Granting Citizenship Based on Religion
- Thread starter 88m3
- Start date
it is WILDING out there!!!! 
An activist friend of mine, a well-known and respected Indian human rights lawyer, has been detained. I don't have any update on her situation and I don't know if she was targeted for arrest or just arrested because she was at a protest. They're been detaining human rights activists left and right, even academics.
The government has banned even peaceful protests from taking place, they've banned large assemblies of people, they've shut off internet service in all the hot spots.
Police just beating protesters like nobody's business.
There are people whose job descriptions may or may not lead them to be present in certain situations of violence and human rights shortcomings, and said people don't advertise that status or describe themselves in the first person. But if those people happened to be in one of those flashpoint protest cities recently, they might describe it like this:
The situation in the cities is surreal. Parts of the city are operating completely normally and other parts look like a ghost town. In some areas all the shops are closed, public transport isn't operating at all, no one is on the street. Other places it looks completely normal and you wouldn't know anything was going on other than the fact that everyone's topic of conversation is the same. But in just a hypothetical 2-mile ride from a residential neighborhood to a shopping district, you might see over 100 police in riot gear, a couple in groups of 20-25 but most spread out in smaller groups of 2-3-4. On the way back you might see 60 riot-gear ready cops marching together in file to God knows where.
The internet shutdown is one of the strangest things. The government simply decreed that internet is shut down in a lot of districts, in some cases indefinitely. Imagine if no one could communicate by whatsapp, facebook, you can't send or read any emails, you can't read any news updates on the situation except what you get via tv. There are ways around it (clearly
) but those ways aren't accessible to 95% of people and even the people who can get around the block can't do so on their mobile phones. At times the mobile service seems to be going out as well, but this is India so who knows whether that is intentional or not. People who have been at the protests describe it pretty much like the videos you see - some protests are nonviolent and some are violent, police are trying to keep all of them shut down whether they are or not and attacking both. In some cases protesters are being fired on by police, at least 3 have been killed. Government claims it has the protesters on CTV and will destroy their lives, auction off their property, etc.
Interesting to see what the developments are the next few days. The way this government has been operating it's difficult to see them backing down no matter what happens, but this is definitely new ground.
An activist friend of mine, a well-known and respected Indian human rights lawyer, has been detained. I don't have any update on her situation and I don't know if she was targeted for arrest or just arrested because she was at a protest. They're been detaining human rights activists left and right, even academics.
The government has banned even peaceful protests from taking place, they've banned large assemblies of people, they've shut off internet service in all the hot spots.
Police just beating protesters like nobody's business.
There are people whose job descriptions may or may not lead them to be present in certain situations of violence and human rights shortcomings, and said people don't advertise that status or describe themselves in the first person. But if those people happened to be in one of those flashpoint protest cities recently, they might describe it like this:
The situation in the cities is surreal. Parts of the city are operating completely normally and other parts look like a ghost town. In some areas all the shops are closed, public transport isn't operating at all, no one is on the street. Other places it looks completely normal and you wouldn't know anything was going on other than the fact that everyone's topic of conversation is the same. But in just a hypothetical 2-mile ride from a residential neighborhood to a shopping district, you might see over 100 police in riot gear, a couple in groups of 20-25 but most spread out in smaller groups of 2-3-4. On the way back you might see 60 riot-gear ready cops marching together in file to God knows where.
The internet shutdown is one of the strangest things. The government simply decreed that internet is shut down in a lot of districts, in some cases indefinitely. Imagine if no one could communicate by whatsapp, facebook, you can't send or read any emails, you can't read any news updates on the situation except what you get via tv. There are ways around it (clearly
) but those ways aren't accessible to 95% of people and even the people who can get around the block can't do so on their mobile phones. At times the mobile service seems to be going out as well, but this is India so who knows whether that is intentional or not. People who have been at the protests describe it pretty much like the videos you see - some protests are nonviolent and some are violent, police are trying to keep all of them shut down whether they are or not and attacking both. In some cases protesters are being fired on by police, at least 3 have been killed. Government claims it has the protesters on CTV and will destroy their lives, auction off their property, etc.Interesting to see what the developments are the next few days. The way this government has been operating it's difficult to see them backing down no matter what happens, but this is definitely new ground.
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We're on Day 5. For the most part protests have died down and normal day-to-day business has picked back up. They continue to keep the schools closed and the internet and text-messaging is still shut down. They still have the order in place that people are not allowed to gather in groups of 4 or larger, though it's not actually being enforced (it seems to be just a placeholder order so they can declare anything they want illegal at the opportune time and arrest everyone). Police are still hanging out in mobs at every major intersection but they're not really doing anything. I haven't heard about any major protests since Saturday.
Starting to piece together what went down the last week and it's pretty crazy. Somewhere between 700 and 3500 people were arrested, in many cases completely nonviolent activists, journalists, and human rights lawyers, including women. Several were beaten in custody.
Watch: Activist Sadaf Jafar recorded herself being arrested while protesting against the CAA
CAA protests: Lawyer Mohammad Shoaib detained by police at unknown location, say colleagues
Cop said he would tear out my beard, journalist Omar Rashid says after detention amid CAA protests
On Friday night there were crazy midnight raids, police breaking into the homes of "suspected miscreants" and ransaking the homes while beating/terrorizing the people inside.
Watch: A young woman narrates how police broke into her home and smashed everything
At least 15 protesters have been killed by police. The "pro" forces are marching in full support of the crackdown (apparently the ban on organizing/protesting doesn't apply to them). The slogan they're shouting is "Goli maaro saalon ko", which literally means "apply a bullet to the traitors." Everyone else is banned from coming together in groups of 4 or more but pro-government supporters can march through the streets by the thousands calling for violence.
Apparently there were even BJP politicians involved in the pro-government, anti-protester marchers. It's pretty insane, government is violently shutting down, arresting, beating nonviolent protesters against it but at the same time openly allowing mass protests and calls of violence from its supporters.
Starting to piece together what went down the last week and it's pretty crazy. Somewhere between 700 and 3500 people were arrested, in many cases completely nonviolent activists, journalists, and human rights lawyers, including women. Several were beaten in custody.
Watch: Activist Sadaf Jafar recorded herself being arrested while protesting against the CAA
CAA protests: Lawyer Mohammad Shoaib detained by police at unknown location, say colleagues
Cop said he would tear out my beard, journalist Omar Rashid says after detention amid CAA protests
On Friday night there were crazy midnight raids, police breaking into the homes of "suspected miscreants" and ransaking the homes while beating/terrorizing the people inside.
Watch: A young woman narrates how police broke into her home and smashed everything
At least 15 protesters have been killed by police. The "pro" forces are marching in full support of the crackdown (apparently the ban on organizing/protesting doesn't apply to them). The slogan they're shouting is "Goli maaro saalon ko", which literally means "apply a bullet to the traitors." Everyone else is banned from coming together in groups of 4 or more but pro-government supporters can march through the streets by the thousands calling for violence.
Apparently there were even BJP politicians involved in the pro-government, anti-protester marchers. It's pretty insane, government is violently shutting down, arresting, beating nonviolent protesters against it but at the same time openly allowing mass protests and calls of violence from its supporters.
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afterlife2009
Superstar
MIT put out a statement signed by 100+ profs and students, most of Indian origin:
Here is the full text of the statement:
Statement from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Affiliates
We, the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliates, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) stand in solidarity with the peaceful and historic student protests across nearly 100 campuses in India against the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). We strongly condemn the increasingly violent suppression of these citizens' protests at the Aligarh Muslim University, the Jamia Millia Islamia University, Jama Masjid, Delhi, Mangaluru, and across several cities in Uttar Pradesh that have left several dead. We praise the courage, dignity, humor, resolve, and dynamism with which the students and ordinary citizens continue their protest in the face of lathi (baton) charges, tear gas, police detentions, the suspension of the internet, the closing down of public transportation, and the imposition of section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedures, a colonial-era law used by the state to prevent public gathering of more than four people.
The Citizenship Amendment Act accelerates the path to citizenship for Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who entered India before 2014. Ostensibly introduced to protect these religious communities from "persecution", the Act does not in fact mention "persecuted religious minorities", identifying, instead, migrants belonging to the six religions, conspicuously excluding Muslims from its purview. By introducing religion as a marker for communities which will receive such state protection, the Act directly violates Article 14 of the Indian constitution that explicitly guarantees equality to all persons, both citizens and foreigners, within the territory of India. Second, the Act, in effect, redefines Indian citizenship on the basis of religion, breaking, completely, with the secular and inclusive foundation of the nation since it gained independence in 1947. The exclusion of Muslims from this new definition of Indian citizenship is reinforced by the identification of only Muslim-majority countries in South Asia, despite the presence of other persecuted communities within them, and many such refugees from other nations, such as Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The Act also includes an arbitrary cut-off date, 2014, for those who can apply for this fast-tracked citizenship. These places of origin and dates are suggestive of a continuous, 80-year-long history of persecution that stopped six years ago, neither of which claim has been substantiated or, indeed, is historically accurate.
The scope and scale of the CAA must be understood in conjunction with the National Register of Citizenship (NRC), an administrative undertaking to create a registry of all existing Indian citizens to enable the government to "weed out", in its own words, "infiltrators" and "termites", that is to say undocumented migrants. This show of citizenship would require a series of unspecified documents relating to birth, parentage, and grandparents. If implemented, the NRC could make stateless those who are unable to produce these papers. While Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh would be protected by being granted citizenship under the CAA, an overwhelming number of Muslims, who have lived within the territory of India for generations as well as more recent migrants, could be rendered stateless.
The preamble of the constitution declares India to be a secular, democratic republic. It is the enormity of the CAA and NRC combined that would irrevocably redefine Indian citizenship and nationhood by turning away from the plurality and diversity - the guiding principles of the constitution and the state that have been celebrated and kept in balance for nearly 70 years - that has mobilized students to call for the withdrawal of the CAA and the NRC. The sheer diversity of students and citizens who have taken to the streets from liberal arts, engineering, law, public, and private colleges across India, from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Kochi, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Kanpur, Aligarh, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Pune, Shillong, Itanagar, and Silchar, to name a few, is a testament to the democratic and secular foundation of the country that constitutes the fabric of India and which is under imminent threat. We, the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliates at MIT, many of whom are associated with India professionally and personally, stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of students and citizens protesting in India and join their demand for the withdrawal of the CAA and NRC.
The comments on Yahoo were trash af.
Most liked comment right now:
"It is so sad that the MIT students, faculty issued the statement without knowing on CAA & NRC. They put MIT on lower side institute. I hope, they will issue a statement after fully known CAA & NRC at least to keep the MIT a standard institute."
Pretty much all the other comments are "Muslims are evil infiltrators!" or "But the USA passes anti-Muslim laws too!"
Here is the full text of the statement:
Statement from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Affiliates
We, the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliates, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) stand in solidarity with the peaceful and historic student protests across nearly 100 campuses in India against the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). We strongly condemn the increasingly violent suppression of these citizens' protests at the Aligarh Muslim University, the Jamia Millia Islamia University, Jama Masjid, Delhi, Mangaluru, and across several cities in Uttar Pradesh that have left several dead. We praise the courage, dignity, humor, resolve, and dynamism with which the students and ordinary citizens continue their protest in the face of lathi (baton) charges, tear gas, police detentions, the suspension of the internet, the closing down of public transportation, and the imposition of section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedures, a colonial-era law used by the state to prevent public gathering of more than four people.
The Citizenship Amendment Act accelerates the path to citizenship for Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who entered India before 2014. Ostensibly introduced to protect these religious communities from "persecution", the Act does not in fact mention "persecuted religious minorities", identifying, instead, migrants belonging to the six religions, conspicuously excluding Muslims from its purview. By introducing religion as a marker for communities which will receive such state protection, the Act directly violates Article 14 of the Indian constitution that explicitly guarantees equality to all persons, both citizens and foreigners, within the territory of India. Second, the Act, in effect, redefines Indian citizenship on the basis of religion, breaking, completely, with the secular and inclusive foundation of the nation since it gained independence in 1947. The exclusion of Muslims from this new definition of Indian citizenship is reinforced by the identification of only Muslim-majority countries in South Asia, despite the presence of other persecuted communities within them, and many such refugees from other nations, such as Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The Act also includes an arbitrary cut-off date, 2014, for those who can apply for this fast-tracked citizenship. These places of origin and dates are suggestive of a continuous, 80-year-long history of persecution that stopped six years ago, neither of which claim has been substantiated or, indeed, is historically accurate.
The scope and scale of the CAA must be understood in conjunction with the National Register of Citizenship (NRC), an administrative undertaking to create a registry of all existing Indian citizens to enable the government to "weed out", in its own words, "infiltrators" and "termites", that is to say undocumented migrants. This show of citizenship would require a series of unspecified documents relating to birth, parentage, and grandparents. If implemented, the NRC could make stateless those who are unable to produce these papers. While Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh would be protected by being granted citizenship under the CAA, an overwhelming number of Muslims, who have lived within the territory of India for generations as well as more recent migrants, could be rendered stateless.
The preamble of the constitution declares India to be a secular, democratic republic. It is the enormity of the CAA and NRC combined that would irrevocably redefine Indian citizenship and nationhood by turning away from the plurality and diversity - the guiding principles of the constitution and the state that have been celebrated and kept in balance for nearly 70 years - that has mobilized students to call for the withdrawal of the CAA and the NRC. The sheer diversity of students and citizens who have taken to the streets from liberal arts, engineering, law, public, and private colleges across India, from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Kochi, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Kanpur, Aligarh, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Pune, Shillong, Itanagar, and Silchar, to name a few, is a testament to the democratic and secular foundation of the country that constitutes the fabric of India and which is under imminent threat. We, the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliates at MIT, many of whom are associated with India professionally and personally, stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of students and citizens protesting in India and join their demand for the withdrawal of the CAA and NRC.
The comments on Yahoo were trash af.
Most liked comment right now:
"It is so sad that the MIT students, faculty issued the statement without knowing on CAA & NRC. They put MIT on lower side institute. I hope, they will issue a statement after fully known CAA & NRC at least to keep the MIT a standard institute."
Pretty much all the other comments are "Muslims are evil infiltrators!" or "But the USA passes anti-Muslim laws too!"
Police just beating protesters like nobody's business.
@FAH1223 , @ADevilYouKhow, @88m3, @mitter, @19-, @mbewane , @hashmander, @analog, really hoping y'all saw those videos. Especially the 1st and 3rd.
we live in interesting times brehs and brehettes. it's so easy to appeal to humanity's worse instincts.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
honestly heartbreaking we have our own significant issues with the police here but in a lot of poorer countries abroad they murder and maim with near total immunity.
A few updates on variety of issues:
Congress activist Sadaf Jafar, who was livestreaming herself acting as a simple observer during the protest, has been arrested and charged with rioting and attempted murder
In Uttar Pradesh alone at least 1,100 people were arrested, 5,558 kept in "preventative detention", and 18 protesters killed. Even elderly women have reported being beaten or having their property destroyed by police
An 11-year-old boy was overrun and killed by the fleeing crowd after police began savagely beating nonviolent protesters who were simply standing and chanting slogans in a narrow alley
Numerous videos have shown police randomly breaking people's cars and destroying private property (I know some people this happened to, they weren't even Muslim, they were just super poor Hindu migrants who happened to live in an area close to where some protests occurred)
UP's CM Yogi Adityanath calls his crackdowns a "shining example" of how protests should be handled because "everybody has fallen silent after seeing the strictness of the Yogi Adityanath government"
One university has launched a probe to determine whether the classic Urdu protest poem "Hum dekhenge" is 'anti-Hindu' (It was originally written by an atheist pro-democracy advocate to protest a fundamentalist islamic government in Pakistan and since used regularly in protests in both Pakistan and India).
In some villages even random Muslim men with no involvement in protests have been required to post 50,000 rupee bonds and appear in court every two weeks for the next six months "as assurance they will not protest"
Some major political leaders are declaring that they will refuse to fill out the registry forms: "BJP won't decide if we are Indians or not"
Under pressure the Modi government has begun claiming that the national NPR will not be an NRC, despite having repeatedly stated beforehand that it will be on the BJP's own Twitter feed and speeches as recently as December 9th
Congress activist Sadaf Jafar, who was livestreaming herself acting as a simple observer during the protest, has been arrested and charged with rioting and attempted murder
In Uttar Pradesh alone at least 1,100 people were arrested, 5,558 kept in "preventative detention", and 18 protesters killed. Even elderly women have reported being beaten or having their property destroyed by police
An 11-year-old boy was overrun and killed by the fleeing crowd after police began savagely beating nonviolent protesters who were simply standing and chanting slogans in a narrow alley
Numerous videos have shown police randomly breaking people's cars and destroying private property (I know some people this happened to, they weren't even Muslim, they were just super poor Hindu migrants who happened to live in an area close to where some protests occurred)
UP's CM Yogi Adityanath calls his crackdowns a "shining example" of how protests should be handled because "everybody has fallen silent after seeing the strictness of the Yogi Adityanath government"
One university has launched a probe to determine whether the classic Urdu protest poem "Hum dekhenge" is 'anti-Hindu' (It was originally written by an atheist pro-democracy advocate to protest a fundamentalist islamic government in Pakistan and since used regularly in protests in both Pakistan and India).
In some villages even random Muslim men with no involvement in protests have been required to post 50,000 rupee bonds and appear in court every two weeks for the next six months "as assurance they will not protest"
Some major political leaders are declaring that they will refuse to fill out the registry forms: "BJP won't decide if we are Indians or not"
Under pressure the Modi government has begun claiming that the national NPR will not be an NRC, despite having repeatedly stated beforehand that it will be on the BJP's own Twitter feed and speeches as recently as December 9th
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A few of the worst quotes from that last link, from Home Minister Amit Shah (who is basically the Stephen Miller of India but with even more power). Remember, these are public speeches that they're giving themselves and broadcasting via social media. They're not trying to hide it at all:
Supposed to go to India in a few weeks. Hope everything is chilling out