I would like to reply to your email at length, but I want to think through what I want to say. As much I want to think through what Pranesh has been talking about. But there is one thing that I have to immediately point out. LTTE is a very different form of struggle and organization and it cannot be compared blanket with terrorism, and other kinds of violence. I have very close Sri Lankan friends, and "educated", whose family members have been killed in LTTE blasts and violence, and who still support the LTTE. The instance you cited of the person giving money to LTTE is a very very different kind of a phenomenon and it has a different kind of political economy attached to it.
On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 6:38 PM, Kiran K Karthikeyan < kiran.karthike...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > And that will also influence your judgements. Clap, clap, clap. Applause, > > applause, applause. > > > Fine..I'll take the bait... > > And how else do you propose I avoid being harassed by the police when it > turns out that the person I rented out the flat to is a suspected > terrorist. > > I didn't say I would pass judgment that he/she is a terrorist just on the > basis of their Muslim name, just that I would be more wary. Since you've > culled out other parts of my post - I'll restate. I didn't say I wouldn't > rent to a Muslim, just not to somebody I didn't know at all or wasn't > referred to me by somebody I know. > > Contrary to how you make it sound, I *don't* avoid Muslims like the plague. > But neither do I want to be the open-minded stereotype-rejecting > progressive-thinking idiot. > > What you might not have guessed from my name is that I am from Kerala. The > place where my family stay in Cochin is a predominantly Muslim area, its > called Kakkanad which means land of Muslims. We have Muslim neighbors. > Their > son, after attending a madrassa for a few months changed into a different > person and started beating up his parents and sisters (they themselves > admit > that this was the reason, or at least it is after this that he changed). I > wonder what happened to the other kids who attended the same madrassa. > > I remember a whole bunch of people being beaten black and blue in Palghat > (where I did my engineering) because they went for an ill-advised "victory > march" through a Muslim neighbourhood after India beat Pakistan in cricket! > :). > > In my college, a few of my Muslim friends were no longer invited to the > meetings of some Islamic Students Association (not sure of the name) > because > they used to drink. Incidentally, almost all of the Muslim students were > part of this so called association except for maybe a handful. > (Incidentally, Kerala has 15% reservation for Muslims in professional > colleges and there were about a thousand students in my college apart from > those who get in through the general quota, just to give you an idea of the > numbers). > > So, you might be one of those who rejected that identity (like my friends), > and so you do have the right to be offended and which is why I apologized. > > Incidentally, somebody I met at a random party and became friends with a > few > weeks ago, admitted last weekend that he had contributed money to the LTTE. > This guy went to BITS and an IIM. So if a good education does not take this > out of you, why do you expect that it will remove all stereotypes (assuming > you weren't baiting me with that oft-used provocation too)? > > Kiran > -- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher Between Places ... http://zainab.freecrow.org
