Posted on March 30, 2017 by beenasarwar
Morse School students use ribbons to express their support for immigrant families.
I wrote this piece after a discussion with fourth and fifth graders at a public school in Cambridge MA; slightly different versions published in the Cambridge Chronicle and The News on Sunday. The students’ desire to be “in the news” reflects what I believe is one of journalism’s key roles – to ensure that the voices of the under-represented get heard. The selfie-culture sweeping the world isn’t just about narcissism. It speaks to the human need to be affirmed and remembered. I was here. See me. Hear me.
PERSONAL POLITICAL
By Beena Sarwar
“Did you see our ribbons? They are for immigrant families,” says Emma, one of half a dozen 9 and 10-year olds I’m talking to about journalism on a bitterly cold weekend in March.
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Filed under: Art and activism, democratic political process, Media, Uncategorized | Tagged: 24/7 news, Education, journalism, Media, public school, Trump | Leave a comment »
Posted on January 27, 2017 by beenasarwar
Reproducing below the letter sent by the Women’s Action Forum letter to the Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pakistan about the “disappeared” activists and the deliberate and sustained campaign against them in the media and on social media. This campaign, with its accusations of blasphemy and treason being leveled against the missing activists and those campaigning for their safe recovery poses a danger to those missing, their families and the human rights campaigners.
WAF urges that the state, its institutions and agencies be held responsible for the recovery of the missing bloggers/activists and inform what the investigation has yielded, and that the federation be held answerable for non-compliance of SC orders on the issue of enforced disappearances.
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Filed under: Blasphemy Laws, Freedom of expression, Human rights, Media, Violence in the name of religion | Tagged: Human rights, media trial, missing bloggers, social media, supreme court, WAF, women's action forum | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 24, 2016 by beenasarwar
Fact sheet on Kanak Dixit’s arrest – used as the basis for an online petition to CIAA Nepal Lok Man Singh Karki
Opposition to the current investigation by the CIAA into alleged corruption by Mr Kanak Mani Dixit is based on the grounds that the process has been flawed as demonstrated by facts:
1. Mr Kanak Mani Dixit had opposed the appointment of Lokman Singh Karki as the head of the CIAA (Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority) at the time of the appointment in 2013 on the grounds that Mr Karki had been indicted by the Rayamajhi Commission for suppressing the people’s movement: Under well-established principles of jurisprudence a judge or investigator with a personal bias or interest in a case should not be carrying out an investigation or pronouncing on a case, and in fact should recuse himself or herself from such a case to prevent prejudice. However though Mr Karki himself was the individual criticised by Mr Dixit, in a public campaign, Mr Karki continues to drive the investigations. Continue reading →
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Filed under: Human rights, Media, Southasia | Tagged: democracy, Free Kanak online petition, Kanak Dixit, Media, Nepal, vendetta | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 23, 2016 by beenasarwar
Kanak being arrested at a pro-democracy rally in Nepal, 2006. Photo by Shehab Uddin
Press Statement: media figures call for release of Himal Editor Kanak Mani Dixit
New Delhi, April 23 — Editors and media figures as well as intellectuals and scholars from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, UK, US, Australia and Sri Lanka have called for the release of Himal editor and prominent Nepali journalist Kanak Mani Dixit who was arrested yesterday in Katmandu by anti-graft officials.
The following is the text of the statement:
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Filed under: Freedom of expression, Human rights, Media, Southasia | Tagged: democracy, foe, journalists, Kanak arrested, Kanak Dixit, Media, Nepal | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 12, 2015 by beenasarwar
My article on a journalist, activist, humanist, friend, eternal optimist and conflicted human being who left us forever recently. Illustrations by Feica. Scroll.in published a slightly abbreviated version titled ‘Journalist, optimistic rebel who stood up to General Zia’s excesses’, breaking the text up with sub-heads that I’ve used in the full text below. Their intro: “Haider Rizvi was a Pakistani journalist and activist who passed away in Lahore on October 29. His three-decade-long journalistic career began in Pakistan. He moved to the US in the mid-1990s and covered the United Nations, before returning to Pakistan in 2013 and taking up a job as a lecturer. He was 52.”
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Filed under: Douglas Paul Smith, Human rights, Media, Obituary | Tagged: activist, Childrens People's Party, Gen. Zia, Haider Rizvi, Hum Shehri, IPS, Saqlain Imam | Leave a comment »
Posted on April 17, 2015 by beenasarwar
The Pakistan National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) on Thursday passed a controversial cybercrime bill that industry leaders and civil society members have been protesting against – see objections in the media release below as well as the warning sounded by Bolo Bhi, a net freedoms organisation. Two earlier news reports summing up the reservations: In Dawn – New cybercrime bill tough on individuals’ rights, soft on crime and in Express Tribune – Legislative bungling: In a bill about cybercrime, MoIT inserts clauses legalising censorship.
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Filed under: Media | Tagged: Activism, censorship, cybercrime, democracy | Leave a comment »
Posted on March 21, 2015 by beenasarwar
Jyoti Singh’s death has become a global symbol and the beginning of change. Here’s hoping she did not die in vain… ‘Not just India’s daughter‘: My article for The News on Sunday Special Report on the issue
India has been under the spotlight for the rape and gender violence since the horrific gang rape in Delhi on December 16, 2012. That night, a 23-year-old physiotherapist on her way home from the movies with a male friend was brutally gang-raped by six men in a moving bus in the national capital. She died of her injuries on December 29, 2012. Her friend who tried to save her was also brutally beaten but survived.
The BBC documentary, ‘India’s Daughter’ following up on a rape that shook not just India but the world, and the Indian government’s subsequent ban on the film has re-ignited hot debate on an issue that is relevant to far more than just India or India’s daughters. Continue reading →
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Filed under: Gender, Media | Tagged: Activism, BBC documentary, censorship, Dalit, Delhi gang rape, gender violence, India's Daughter, Mukhtiar Mai, south asia | 1 Comment »
