tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537Mon, 30 Dec 2024 06:55:21 +0000CLR JamesMusharrafPakistanPaulo Freireactivismfreedomhopeimperialismpedagogypoliticswar on terror7/79/11AfricaAli Shari'atiAyn al-Quzat HamdaniChief Justice of PakistanChristopher AlexanderCésaireEducationEmergencyFiskIPSSImran Khan arrestIrfan MalikIslamKarachi societyLoveLt. Mohsin NaqviMakliMartiniqueNegritudeNeo-liberalismNestleNicole KidmanPakistan ArmyPalejoPunjabSean PennSindhThe InterpreterThe Timeless Way of BuildingWelfare StateWorld BankWorld Trade Centeramnesiaanti-warassemblyboogie woogieboycottbratsconcrete junglecorporatecorruptiondemocracydemonstrationdreamexterminationfiling of nomination papersforgivenessfree speechheritagejeunesse doreejusticeletting gomind gamemissing personsmultinationalsoppressionpassionpolice brutalitypolitical schoolpowdered milkpresidential electionsprivatisationragereformresistancesilencesovereigntythe colour khakitolerancetruthwhite man's burden(has moved to tobateksinghdisplaced.wordpress.com)http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Unknown)Blogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-3794290690353056658Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:23:00 +00002010-01-01T13:35:58.623+01:00boycottcorporatemultinationalsNestlepowdered milkOne simple man from Sialkot had the guts to take on a murderous multinational like Nestle. Here in Lahore, MBA-holders from “prestigious” institutions, such as my alma mater LUMS, feel proud to work for the same company. A respected company Syed Aamar Raza joined Nestlé Milkpak as a Medical Delegate in December 1994 at the age of 24. It was a dream come true to work for a multinational http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2010/01/nestle-boycott.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-6727732602002887025Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:10:00 +00002009-11-05T14:16:50.836+01:00“Remember, Remember, the fifth of November*” Hassan Rehman "It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or when the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2009/11/remember-remember-fifth-of-november.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-5957393081901313456Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:08:00 +00002009-09-25T09:10:55.588+02:007/79/11exterminationragesilenceWorld Trade CenterBefore I start this poem, I'd like to ask you to join me In a moment of silence In honor of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September 11th. I would also like to ask you To offer up a moment of silence For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes, For the victims in both http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2009/09/moment-of-silence-before-i-start-this.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-3481031427831586247Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:50:00 +00002009-02-22T20:41:53.404+01:00dreamhopePaulo FreirepedagogyExtracts from Chapter 3 of Paolo Freire's Pedagogy of Hope:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I have never labored under the misapprehension that social classes and the struggle between them could explain everything, right down to the color of the Sky on a Tuesday evening. And so I have never said that the class struggle, in the modern world has been or is "the mover of history". On the other hand, still today. http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2009/02/pedagogy-of-hope.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-8607328916415175968Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:53:00 +00002009-02-19T18:40:52.211+01:00CLR JamesfreedomhopeimperialismoppressionPaulo FreirepedagogysovereigntyIn January, I read CLR James' The Black Jacobins - Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, the definitive account of the uprising of the slaves of San Domingo (now Haiti) that led to the eventual abolition of slavery all over the world. I couldn't put it down - stayed glued to to it for two days straight. Intense experience. Obviously, I need to re-read it, this time in a calmer http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2009/02/pedagogy-of-oppressed.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-2121584582822386840Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:41:00 +00002009-02-19T17:11:38.710+01:00CLR JamesCésaireMartiniqueNegritude...my Negritude is not a stone, its deafness a sounding board for the noises of the daymy Negritude is not a mere spot of dead water on the dead eye of the earthmy Negritude is no tower, no cathedralit cleaves into the red flesh of the teeming earthit cleaves into the glowing flesh of the heavensit penetrates the seamless bondage of my unbending patienceHoorah for those who have http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2009/02/aime-cesaire.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-2661181005348205363Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:08:00 +00002008-11-29T16:20:45.808+01:00"If we are only judged by our worst moment, there would be no need for the song Amazing Grace."-- A Bend in the River"It is what they do that makes them good or bad. A moment of love, even in a bad man, can give meaning to a life. None of us knows whose path will lead us to God."-- Blood Diamondhttp://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/11/transformation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-1638897832311651294Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:32:00 +00002008-11-10T16:02:41.071+01:00Christopher Alexanderfreedomletting gopassionThe Timeless Way of BuildingThis wild freedom, this passion, comes into our lives in the instant we let go. It is when all our forces can move freely in us. In nature, this quality is almost automatic, because there are no images to interfere with natural processes of making things. But in all of our creations, the possibility occurs that images can interfere with the natural, necessary order of a thing. And, most of all, http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/11/this-wild-freedom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-5027510466475236067Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:48:00 +00002008-10-18T12:09:17.095+02:00corruptionheritageMakliPalejoSindhI asked a friend's uncle, who is fairly active in local politics in Sindh, to ask around about the Makli business.He was in Thatta last Sunday and had the opportunity to talk to people on both sides of the issue.Palejo recently built something like a dyke to protect his land during heavy rainfall. Dr. Awab reported on his blog (see link above) that it was a drain. In any case, some kind of http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/10/update-on-makli.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-4009085683884255425Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:16:00 +00002008-10-14T05:25:46.142+02:00AfricaforgivenessNicole KidmanSean PennThe Interpretertruthwhite man's burdenSo many things about the 2005 film The Interpreter really bugged me - it was too typically Hollywood in its soundtrack and pan shots, the way it lionised Sean Penn (then in the limelight for all the accolades he was winning for Mystic River) the character actor, rather than letting him act out his role, and perhaps most of all, the fact that the camera just couldn't seem to get over the fact thathttp://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/10/truth-forgiveness.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-98688154625176294Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:33:00 +00002008-10-04T13:16:20.181+02:00IPSSpolitical schoolpoliticsThe school consisted of four sessions spread out over two days, the 23rd and 24th of August, '08.I was lucky enough to be invited and found it a great forum for interacting with scholars and thinkers I'd heard much of (a few I'd even read) but never met or certainly not in a setting where they were so accessible.One of the nice things about the school was that it was organised specifically with http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/10/ipss-political-school-summer-2008.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-6171757205114188998Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:42:00 +00002008-10-03T08:15:32.374+02:00Ali Shari'atiAyn al-Quzat HamdaniFiskIslammind gamereformtoleranceA friend wonders why we are afflicted with a feeling of being abnormal, of being cut off from those around us. I was reminded of something I read recently:Seeking refuge in history, out of fear of loneliness, I immediately sought out my brother Ayn al-Quzat, who was burned to death in the very blossoming of his youth for the crime of awareness and sensitivity, for the boldness of his thought. Forhttp://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/10/dasht-e-tanhai.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-7663389738467588356Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:18:00 +00002008-09-26T19:37:13.114+02:00assemblydemocracyfree speechRussian meetings and conventions are organized after the Continental model rather than our own. The first action is usually the election of officers and the presidium.The presidium is a presiding committee, composed of representatives of the groups and political factions represented in the assembly, in proportion to their numbers. The presidium arranges the Order of Business, and its members can http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/09/parlimentary-procedure.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-4015275782708743679Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:18:00 +00002008-09-24T22:02:30.506+02:00anti-warimperialismLt. Mohsin NaqviPakistan Armythe colour khakiwar on terror(4) Me:Never made it to MIT or Harvard ( ;) ), but here's my two cents:I am complicit in the "war on terror" inasmuch as I didn't work hard enough to start a genuine anti-war movement, neither in 2001 nor in 2003. I believed in 2001 that the "sab say pehlay Pakistan" slogan was sheer bollocks, but I didn't have the balls to act according to my beliefs.I have never paid any taxes to the US, but I http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/09/conversations-read-bottom-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-2345289588148724669Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:32:00 +00002008-09-24T15:35:25.586+02:00boogie woogiebratsjeunesse doreetrying to explain or just plain communicate the urge to boogie (abhi! yahaan!), I sent a friend this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq1MTRfiXMUshe cranked it up a notch, sending back links to these hilarious videos:http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=RqzR-KwjlrIhttp://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=rIFh1ydXWmghttp://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/09/boogie-shoes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-4238124714693890072Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:28:00 +00002008-09-17T20:33:02.824+02:00activismamnesiaMusharrafpoliticsThis one, for example, covers all the relevant issues without so much as pausing for breath:"For god sakes wake up you slumbering fools. Musharraf’s exit does not have to mean the return of another evil period for us. Why cant we make it mean something more and bring in more educated people into the services and politics. Talk, speak out, and demand action and accountability so that these goons http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/09/some-rants-are-just-too-good.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-8215876914713675289Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:24:00 +00002008-09-18T12:00:28.134+02:00Freida Lawrence wrote the foreword to the first published version of Lady Chatterley's Lover. The second part of the foreword deals with her husband."It is hard for me to write about Lawrence," she starts out. She picks up the thread again with, "I will try. I believe the spring of his being was love for his fellow men, love for everything alive, and almost all creatures were more alive to him http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/09/dh-lawrence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-1882974669490550257Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:00:00 +00002008-11-07T04:15:25.176+01:00Lovemissing personsresistancewar on terrorI can take a lot but not this:Not an aged mother forced to come out on to the streets to demand justice for her missing son. To this, I have no answer. In the face of this, any criticism - rank reformism, "bleeding heart", non-representative nature of the lawyers' movement - becomes irrelevant, pointless.Not this.http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/07/lakht-e-jigar-this-is-what-they-have.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-5474537477744597192Sun, 04 May 2008 19:21:00 +00002008-05-29T04:57:28.475+02:00EducationNeo-liberalismPakistanprivatisationPunjabWelfare StateWorld BankA correspondent brought my attention to the newly released World Bank report on the state of rural education in Pakistan:From: World Bank South Asia <enora@worldbank.org>Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 7:48:36 PMSubject: Dramatic Increase in Private Schools in Pakistan: World Bank ReportA new report released today by the World Bank calls for a reevaluation of education policies in the context of a http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/05/pushing-neo-liberal-agenda-this-is-how.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-4952149670263668390Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:32:00 +00002008-04-15T21:16:11.105+02:00It's been quite a while... this blog started out as a replacement/continuation of my first essay on chowk... but somehow, the sharp edge of despair - that, with me, often acts as a motive force to write - got dulled, was lost in the routine of pretending to grow up, putting on the disguises of respectability, tempering my anger.But the "winter of our discontent", as the fashion editors at The http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2008/04/changes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-5564556706692730686Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:56:00 +00002007-11-16T10:04:33.684+01:00I was chatting with a friend, discussing the big protest in London by the Pakistani community.The discussion came around to Hina Jilani and how so many people attended out of respect for her work.My friend, in a fit of ire, goes, "But what is she doing outside when her sister is in jail in Pakistan?" My friend can exaggerate a little when annoyed (Asma Jahangir is under house arrest, not in jail)http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2007/11/choices-choices.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-404620591568531519Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:10:00 +00002007-11-15T12:26:31.309+01:00demonstrationEmergencyImran Khan arrestPakistanpolice brutalityUpdate from Ailee who is at Barkat Market for the demonstration against the arrest of Imran Khan:1. Extensive baton-charging by police who, in any case, outnumber the demonstrators.2. The strategy of the police is decide on a couple of targets and then go after them in a brutal manner.3. Aileee himself is still unhurt and safe.4. This part not perfectly clear: There are even tussles going on http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2007/11/protest-at-barkat-market-lahore-update.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-4953013042402139372Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:26:00 +00002007-09-29T21:32:50.136+02:00filing of nomination papersMusharrafpresidential electionsin Islamabad... and that too at a totally unnecessary moment, when the Supreme Court and the Election Commission had already decided in favour of power... arrogance, jubilation at their fresh 'victory' or just plain stupidity? what was it that led to the totally un-provoked beating of senior (in fact, elderly) lawyers as well as journalists in front of the Election Commission?aaj bazaar mein...http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2007/09/gloves-came-off-today.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-2303661520666399358Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:30:00 +00002007-09-19T21:33:39.638+02:00concrete jungleIrfan MalikKarachi societysheer revulsion, laced with stylehttp://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2007/09/fault-dear-brutus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18743537.post-6989803890681639942Fri, 04 May 2007 18:57:00 +00002007-05-04T20:59:11.799+02:00activismChief Justice of PakistanjusticeSo, here's the deal:Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice of Pakistan ("non-functional"), will address the Lahore Bar Association tomorrow at 5 PM.He is travelling by road, in virtual defiance of the veiled threats by the Government (worded as an inability to guarantee his security).Apparently, when he last went to Peshawar, the 2.5 - 3 hour journey took him 9 hours!So, realistically, http://tobateksingh.blogspot.com/2007/05/non-functional-cj-in-lahore.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0