Author: Anand Philip

About Anand Philip

Website::Subscribe Feeds

Day of Awareness: Dec 17, Int’l Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

Posted on by Anand Philip

December 17th is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. The day was created by the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA (www.swopusa.org) to call attention to hate crimes committed against sex workers. This day has empowered workers around the world to come together and organize against discrimination and remember victims of violence. The assault, battery, rape, and murder of sex workers must end. Existing laws prevent sex workers from reporting violence. The stigma and discrimination that is perpetuated by prohibitionist laws has allowed and fostered this violence and harassment. Please join with sex workers around the world and stand against criminalization and violence committed against them.

Here’s a list of actions you can take (and not just during the week of December 17, but any time of the year) Please try to do at least one!

1. Attend an action or vigil to raise awareness about violence against sex workers. See the SWOP website (http://swopusa.org/dec17/locations.htm) for a list of events around the world.

2. Organize your own event. It could be political, educational, or something to memorialize missing and murdered sex workers.

3. Educate yourself about sex workers and their rights. Check the FIRST website (www.firstadvocates.org) and the websites of our Allies & Resources (www.firstadvocates.org/allies-and-resources)

4. Volunteer for, or make a donation to, a service organization that supports street-based sex workers (such as WISH: www.wish-vancouver.net, or PACE: www.pace-society.ca).

5. Make a donation to a sex worker rights group that advocates for sex workers (such as Maggies: http://maggiestoronto.ca/ or Stella: www.chezstella.org/stella/?q=en).

6. Join a group that supports or advocates for sex workers.

7. Write a letter to the editor, post a website comment, and/or talk to a friend or colleague to:
– Raise public awareness about the rights of sex workers.
– Combat the violence, stigma, and discrimination they face.
– Refute myths and misinformation about sex workers.

8. Write to your government representatives and ask them to stand up for the rights of sex workers.

9. Advocate to unions and labour organizations for the legitimization of sex work as work.

10. Talk to a sex worker with the assumption you will learn something from them.

11. Ask a sex worker how you can support them.

12. Send love to sex workers you know (or don’t know). Write an email, post on their Facebook wall, mail a card, send flowers or candy.

13. Offer support or condolences to the families and friends of sex workers who have been murdered or disappeared.

14. Do something at home that has personal meaning, such as a memorial bath or lighting a candle.

15. Tell others what you’re doing to honour sex workers on Dec 17, and encourage them to do something too.

16. Spread the word about International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, and send this event link to all your networks.

Thank you for supporting sex workers!

(This message is from the FIRST founders and advocates.)

More Info on Facebook

Social Network ; A review and some sociology

Posted on by Anand Philip

Why then is this movie important?  It is important because it chronicles not so much the technological revolution, but the desperate need for connectivity, for social networks on the part of millions of people, both in America and elsewhere in the early 21rst century. It aptly diagnoses the desperation of the young, the desperate need to be wanted, to be liked, to be ‘friended’.  In a world that lacks love, people will settle for ‘like’ or even just ‘connection’.  But when socializing and even sex becomes just ‘connectivity’ it has been cheapened and trivialized out of all recognition.  It has turned something beautiful into something sad and tawdry, and meaningless.  The paradox chronicled in this movie is in a world of ever increasing connection, there seems to be less and less real love.

Ben Witherington’s review of the Facebook movie. ‘Let’s Face It’– “Social Network” is stimulating.

A story about the founders of the social-networking website, Facebook. Who would pass a chance to keep in touch with long lost friends? But what is it that drives people to display their friendships- traditionally a private affair, for all the world to see is something worth thinking over. I doubt that all of social networking can be attributed to a desire to be loved, but familial bonds and community support is nothing like it used to be.  Keeping that in mind, looking outside families and communities for support is not surprising.

Other reasons why facebook and social networking is so popular are

1. People are capital, the number of friends on FB, the number or and quality of connections on linkedin etc point toward your social worth.

2. Information is capital – it has now become absolutely necessary to keep up with the world.  If you are not “in the know” then you are not important/cool/hip anymore.

3. Everyone is an expert We love showing off our expertise, be it in selecting the best youtube video for our friends or posting the best limerick. On facebook, we have something of a captive audience, and posting cool stuff goes a long way to building our street cred.

4. Connecting with people is fun! let us not be too cynical and technical, I certainly enjoy knowing what my friend in the Netherlands is up to, even if don’t actively stalk her profile.

What do you say?

Has Feminism failed Women?

Posted on by Anand Philip

Feminism is failing in the war against women says Virginia Haussegger in a thought provoking article.

She writes

There is a totalizing ideology on the march across the world, and it’s anti-women. This is not about religion, piety or virtue. Rather it’s about misogyny and a global war against women. It’s about the rights and freedoms of women. The ownership and control over women’s bodies has become the chief battleground.

Examples abound that all the increase in salaries of women in the corporate world has not addressed what happens under the untouchable umbrella of social customs and cultural practices.

In India, we have more than enough of this happening. From governments being mum on ridiculous judgments of khap panchayats and dishonor killings to daily stories of abandoned and battered girl children, we have ample reason to sit up in alarm.

It is not not that the fight against brutality to women is a purely feminist responsibility, far from it. In her book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” Sheryl WuDunn proposes that the

Central moral challenge of this century is gender inequity

You should watch the whole video.

The important thing to learn from the video and from any work that highlights the issue of inequity is that gender inequity is not a womens problem only. Gender discrimination is the single greatest reason we are unable to face some of the greatest challenges of this decade like religious extremesm and HIV/AIDS pandemic.

While some of you might be skeptical that just educating and empowering women might be a panacea for all of worlds problems, for those who care to look and listen, (not just the video) the transforming power empowered women have on societies is fairly obvious.

I know that there are organizations like Bell bajao and CEHAT that work in the area of Domestic violence, but I am unaware of many others and whether these would call themselves feminist.

In the coming days I hope to gain some insight into the role of feminism in gender equity movement in India and hopefully a better understanding of how the feminist movement in India can take up this challenge with the urgency that it requires.

International Post Graduate Certificate course in Health and Human Rights

Posted on by Anand Philip

The 7th International Post Graduate Certificate course in Health and Human Rights will be organized from 10Th January to 19th January 2011, at Mumbai. The 10 days intensive course is organised in collaboration with the Department of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai. The main objective of the course is to prepare participants to understand and interact with the local, national and international systems relating health and human rights. And to have knowledge of (a) human rights standards (b) the supervisory mechanisms which encourage compliance; and (c) the ways in which practical
respect for human rights is fostered in concrete, practical terms.

The last date for submission of Application forms is 15th December, 2010.

For Application form and other details please visit www.cehat.org /

Be very very afraid

Posted on by Anand Philip

Mom has been calling me up everyday just to remind me that I should not go to work on 30th. Karnataka has declared a school holiday or a good 2 days “to keep the children safe”. My bank tells me that while it officially is working tomorrow, “we will have to look at the conditions” for me to pick up my ATM card. My pinter is working an extra shift tonight to finish work he is supposed to do tomorrow “kal ka kuch bol nahi sakte sir”.

While the home minister has boldly declared that he does not “foresee any problems” the CM’s of many sates have declared their inability to protect their law abiding citizens by declaring holidays. Tomorrow some hope for justice, some for retribution, and some just want it all over.

Violence lovers on both sides of the religious divide are looking for an excuse. Some will try to justify it as setting right the historical wrongs, one dead body in 2010 at at time.

Irrespective of your religion and political leanings, today is a day that any nation loving Indian needs to be ashamed. Ashamed that for 60 years we have voted into power people who played us on our fears and cultivated sectist fears. Ashamed that we have cultivated media that specialize in glorifying violence and shamed that we refuse to see that justice cannot be achieved by unlawful means

Religious goondagardi (extremism) ; green, saffron, pink or blue is not a just a political problem for it to be solved by parties, it is problem that needs to faced and tackled at the family level. The solution must be come at at the tea shop in the corner and the temple, mosque and church in the community. I hope we are not given anymore proof of this tomorrow than we already have.

We are a nation held captive by fear fulled by opportunist politicians and inept administration of justice. Fear is so common, that we forget how shameful it is. Our fears are that green and saffron will clash with swords and guns. We forget what the real fear should be, that it is the law abiding citizen that is afraid, not the thug, the rioter or the hatemonger. On either side of the religious divide, the criminal is eagerly and fearlessly waiting. No holiday for them tomorrow.

Innovation, Artemis Fowl & Dawkins; What I have been reading

Posted on by Anand Philip

The Other side of innovation by V GovindarajanOne of the things that have been holding my attention for quiet a while now is innovation in healthcare, and what a pleasant surprise to discover Prof. Vijay Govindarajan on HBR, where he talks about his idea of reverse innovation. Prof. Govindarajan was kind enough to send me a copy of his book for review and I must say I was blown by it. I have read quiet extensively on innovation, but almost none of the authors I have read so far give a structured, rational, and scientific approach to implementing of innovation. In his book The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge he has given us a great field guide on how to go about ensuring that the innovative idea doesn’t die on the drawing board. I will be posting a detailed review later, but to get an idea of what the book is like you can read his latest post on HBR  10 Tips for Creating Distinct-but-Linked Innovation Groups.

Related to, but not inspired by his idea of reverse innovation is this initiative by Open Source House, a team that conducted a competition for an open source house based on eight design principles. Interestingly prof. VG and Christian sarkar recently wrote about a 300 dollar home. His design wont win any competitions in its present form, but its a stimulant and so are the comments.The Art Of innovation by Tom Kelley

Not a co incidence, but I also managed to lay my hands on the classic The Art of Innovation by tom kelley of IDEO. as reputed, its an amazing read and reads like a lovely travelogue of a creative journey fueled by innovation.

I dont think I have said this before, but I LOVE Artemis fowl, who cares that its supposed to be teenage fiction. And so I was as delighted to come across the latest book The Atlantis Complex. it is written in the usual pan-novel humor style that Eoin Colfer is loved for.  The story is that

Artemis is suffering from Atlantis Complex, a psychosis common among guilt-ridden fairies – not humans – and most likely triggered by Artemis’s dabbling with fairy magic. Symptoms include obsessive-compulsive behavior, paranoia, multiple personality disorder and, in extreme cases, embarrassing professions of love to a certain feisty LEPrecon fairy.The atlantis complex by eoin colfer, an artemis fowl mystery

Unfortunately, (obviously) Atlantis Complex has struck at the worst possible time, a badass fairy is going to destroy the REAL Atlantis (don’t you love the coincidences and puns?).

While i loved the book, it is worrying that over the years Artemis is gradually becoming less and less devious, and I hope Mr. Colfer doesn’t forget that we love Artemis because of his dark side.The lone genius crusader with a borderline psychotic personality and the right tinge of pink is what made this teen criminal mastermind special. So Mr.Colfer don’t forget the criminal part of “criminal mastermind”, we cant have Fowl turn chicken can we?

Dawkins delusion a book by alister mcgrathI am yet to read Dawkin’s God Delusion, so I will not say too much about this one, but reading “The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine” by Alister McGrath was an enlightening experience. while the book was more of a brief review of Dawkin’s book, it made me realize that I want to read both Dawkin’s book and McGrath’s full length and better book on the topic.

Decoding Intolerance - hindu muslim riots in india a history and evaluationFinally, now I am reading Decoding Intolerance: Riots And The Emergence of Terrorism In India by PK Lahiri. I have only started reading the book, which documents the history, mechanism and possible solutions to the bloody wars that are called religious riots, but it seems like a good read.

Medical prosthetic arm from london of the 1800s

To finish of with, here is some steampunk-esq medical prosthesis goodness for you from the late 1800s. Medical Prostheis from 19th century London

I am elsewhere; Healthcare as social enterprise blog

Posted on by Anand Philip

Have started working for a company called 4B Healthcare. Am exploring the concepts of social enterprise and what role the market or a for profit model has in Healthcare for the poor or healthcare as a whole. my main outlet is the  Healthcare as Social Enterprise blog, courtesy, the company.
Some of the new posts there are

The question of whether a hospital can be self sustaining, high quality, affordable, and poor centric all at once is a knotty one.

Will using a For-profit model cause the company to drift into a money hungry monster most of the present day corporate hospital chains are?

Is the philosophy transferable on to a realistic business plan?

Can the business plan actually work?

will creating such a hospital system actually help the poor in a long term, meaningful way?

Obviously, I dont have all the answers, and while I believe in the idea fiercely and the people behind it are personal heroes, some things only time can tell. Oh, dont worry, the business plan exisits, a good one that too, and so far, it seems to be working quiet well.

for now, to make better sense of what i have been saying, perhaps you should head over to the site to get a picture of the philosophy and workings of 4B healthcare

Satyameva Jayate- The Truth about truth in India

Posted on by Anand Philip

“Satyameva Jayate” (satyam-eva jayate सत्यमेव जयते) (Sanskrit: “Truth Alone Triumphs”) is the national motto of India. It is inscribed in Devanagari script at the base of the national emblem. The origin of the motto is a well-known mantra 3.1.6 from the Mundaka Upanishad. Full mantra as follows.

satyameva jayate nānṛtaṁ
satyena panthā vitato devayānaḥ |
yenā kramantyṛṣayo hyāptakāmā
yatra tat satyasya paramaṁ nidhānam ||

In devanāgarī :

सत्यमेव जयते नानृतम् सत्येन पन्था विततो देवयानः ।
येनाऽऽक्रमन्त्यृषयो ह्याप्तकामा यत्र तत् सत्यस्य परं निधानं ॥

Meaning:

Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood.
Through truth the divine path is spread out by which
the sages whose desires have been completely fulfilled,
reach where that supreme treasure of Truth resides.

From: Wikipedia

In the last week or so, I am sure you have bemoaned the corruption and general mess that prevails in India at least once. Corruption is so ubiquitous so pervasive that many times, we hardly notice it.  And while speaking about corruption is easy, doing something about it is very hard. It requires courage, integrity and an immense store of patience. If you speak out against it, you will be admired in private, ridiculed in public and harassed throughout your life.  In spite of this, it is reassuring to see that there are individuals and groups all across India engaged in fighting corruption using various tools and mediums.

I hope to introduce, as I get involved, Various such groups. I would like to begin with

1. Sanjay Uchav- @Nobribe who writes on the No Bribe Website and runs the Corruption free India Facebook group. Follow the site for regular articles about fighting corruption and practical ideas about how to do it yourself. He also regularly points out to both corruption and anti-corruption news from across the country. Mr. Uchav fights corruption from Bihar. You can even  see and contribute to a bribery rate card to see what the prevalent “rates” in your area are.

2. Sanjeev sabhlok author of the fabulous book “breaking free of nehru”  and founder of The Freedom Team of India, a political party in its inception that dreams to bring clean governance to India. he has started a group called “Boycott  Corrupt Politicians” on facebook, and you can join for updates on how to join the good fight. More about him

Now for an Explanation of the Post title.

Over at No Bribe, a great new post is up, about what truth really means in india for example

  • Law will take its own course actually means that it would go round and round forever without ever converging on the issue.
  • We will look into the incident actually means that everyone will soon forget it.
  • We will not leave the matter alone actually means that the matter will be given a silent burial.

Head over there for the full article – The art of Double speak.

Jalliyanwalla Bagh Mein Vasant: A poem by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan

Posted on by Anand Philip

April 13th 1919, Amritsar, the city was celebrating Baisakhi a traditional festival on which people celebrate the beginning of the harvesting season by congregating in community fairs. Unfortunately the biritsh had passed martial law in most of punjab expressly forbidding the meeting of more than 5 people. About 2000 people were packed in the garden called jalliyanwalla, in defiance of the prohibitory orders.

General Dyer, who later said;

I think it quite possible that I could have dispersed the crowd without firing but they would have come back again and laughed, and I would have made, what I consider, a fool of myself. –

ordered his brigade to open fire at the unarmed gathering.

The garden is surrounded by walls and has only one narrow entrance and so served as a death pit with no escape from the machine gun fire that followed the orders.

1579 was the body count by the civil surgeon.

In the memory of this incident, Subhadra kumari Chauhan wrote this touching poem.

यहाँ कोकिला नहीं, काग हैं, शोर मचाते,
काले काले कीट, भ्रमर का भ्रम उपजाते।

कलियाँ भी अधखिली, मिली हैं कंटक-कुल से,
वे पौधे, व पुष्प शुष्क हैं अथवा झुलसे।

परिमल-हीन पराग दाग सा बना पड़ा है,
हा! यह प्यारा बाग खून से सना पड़ा है।

ओ, प्रिय ऋतुराज! किन्तु धीरे से आना,
यह है शोक स्थान यहाँ मत शोर मचाना।

वायु चले, पर मंद चाल से उसे चलाना,
दुःख की आहें संग उड़ा कर मत ले जाना।

कोकिल गावें, किन्तु राग रोने का गावें,
भ्रमर करें गुंजार कष्ट की कथा सुनावें।

लाना संग में पुष्प, न हों वे अधिक सजीले,
तो सुगंध भी मंद, ओस से कुछ कुछ गीले।

किन्तु न तुम उपहार भाव आ कर दिखलाना,
स्मृति में पूजा हेतु यहाँ थोड़े बिखराना।

कोमल बालक मरे यहाँ गोली खा कर,
कलियाँ उनके लेये गिराना थोड़ी ला कर।

आशाओं से भरे हृदय भी छिन्न हुए हैं,
अपने प्रिय परिवार देश से भिन्न हुए हैं।

कुछ कलियाँ अधखिली यहाँ इसलिए चढ़ाना,
कर के उनकी याद अश्रु के ओस बहाना।

तड़प तड़प कर वृद्ध मरे हैं गोली खा कर,
शुष्क पुष्प कुछ वहाँ गिरा देना तुम जा कर।

यह सब करना, किन्तु यहाँ मत शोर मचाना,
यह है शोक-स्थान बहुत धीरे से आना।

Many died to grant us freedom, let us be careful lest we live ungrateful to their sacrifice.

Jai Hind.

He is NOT a nice guy

Posted on by Anand Philip

Update: 30/8/2010 : It was brought to my notice that my view on the abuse-perpetrator is a bit misleading. Not all people who abuse their partners have a substance abuse problem or stressor, more over they do not abuse BECAUSE of these stressors. Men behave the way they do because that’s how they’re socialized and because society condones their behavior. While the above might contribute in their violence, the act of violence is a behavioral problem, not primarily an environmental

Some time ago a friend of mine told me about a friend of hers who was in an abusive relationship. This girl’s boyfriend would smack her around even in front of her friends and humiliate her in public but the girl “refused to see light” and stuck to the guy. It might have been the horrified look on my face, of her continued vilification of a friend which made her hastily add “but he is actually a nice guy”.

Abuse in relationships is an underplayed reality. This is because most of the time there is a certain criminal-victim exchange happening, people dont talk about it directly, but the defensive ejaculation by my friend is a small evidence for it. She knows that the guy beats her friend, she has seen her humiliation and tears, in spite of which she thinks he is “nice”. To her credit, among all the abused girls friends, she is the only one who has had the courage to stand up to the guy and ask him to back off in such situations. Yet, even she is unsure of what to do and what to believe.

What she means by “nice” is, when he is not beating up his girlfriend, he is pleasant, often doting towards her, works hard, is not beating up other people.

The had truth is, we believe that the girl deserved it. Else, why would a bunch of doctors who have witnessed a crime happening continue to hide behind the weak excuse of it being a “personal matter” and “she needs to help herself”.

I am willing to concede that ignorance about how to deal with the situation contributes to such beliefs and that most people have no idea how such relationships end or what harm they do to the people involved. Before I get into statistics, here is the basic thing to keep in mind :

The DEFINITION of a good person excludes someone who beats up his girlfriend/ wife. So think this, he is the enemy, the bad person, the criminal, He is NOT a nice g uy. Someone who runs a brothel and uses the profits to educate slum kids is TWICE a sinner, first for running the brothel and killing the souls within it and second for poisoning the children he feeds. He is NOT a nice guy.

Now, the Science and statistics.

Physical abuse has not just physical effects, it affects the woman’s mental emotional and social health also.

A significant portion of women who have been abused do not seek medical help for the injuries themselves, but those who do, present with non specific and chronic pain and bruises from having “bumped into something”. Women who suffer long term abuse, and are battered are found to have more injuries in the head, face, neck, thorax,  breasts, and abdomen when compared women injured in other ways. 1

Many women also have to put up with forced sex from intimate partners, which results in sexually-transmitted diseases, bleeding or infection, fibroids, genital irritation, pain on intercourse, and urinary-tract infection. Studies show that the odds of having gynecological problems is upto 3 times more in victims of physical abuse.

Mental effects of abuse are quiet profound too, some studies have shown that the risk of depression and post traumatic stress disorder was higher for abuse victims than even those who have had childhood sexual abuse.

  • Fractures
  • Miscarriage
  • Depression
  • Major Surgery
  • lacerations requiring stitches
  • Sexually transmitted infections including HIV
  • Loss of vision/hearing

These are some of the prominent outcomes of intimate partner violence that most studies find. 2

In more than half of the cases of abuse, children are witnesses to it. And in upto 5% cases even the children are abused by the partners.

A study from rural south India showed that thirty-four percent of the women surveyed reported having ever been hit, forced to have sex by their husbands or both. Women belonging to lower caste, poorer households, having greater economic autonomy, and whose husbands consumed alcohol were more likely to report violence. Women’s economic autonomy and husbands’ alcohol consumption were significantly associated with violence,independent of caste and economic status. 3

Why does she not realize, react and seek help?

This is typical of a situation in abusive relationship. The reasons are a complex mixture. Many times health care workers who are the first to see the results of intimate partner violence fail to identify it or do nothing about it. This and the social approval for domestic abuse ensures that she “normalizes” the abuse. She is deluded, as people around her that she deserves it, or that he is otherwise nice, or that there is nothing that can be done to help her.

We need to realize that at this stage, it is no longer a personal matter, it is public. We need to step in. Perhaps there is a stressor, maybe the guy is mentally unstable, or there might be substance abuse, or maybe he is just a jerk, whatever be, if we stand by looking, we are accomplices to the slow murder of usr friend, soul first then her body.

Does she deserve it?
Is there any excuse for beating up ones spouse/girlfriend? Suppose she did provoke him, does that mean she should be beaten up?

Let me tackle the “its their personal matter” excuse again

If you see a robber getting into the house next door, do you go back to sleep because it’s a personal matter?

There is absolutely no difference, abusing ones mate is a crime and cases can be registered under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. Not just that, abuse, as you have seen above, has far reaching consequnces. If you know about it, you should react to it, you might be rejected or ridiculed or even shouted at but not doing anything is akin to abetting murder.

She cannot help herself, people like us who compose the society further make it difficult for her to come out, also she is probably lead to believe that it is her fate or that its ok.

He is not a nice guy.

photo by eyesonmephotography

References

1 Health consequences of intimate partner violence Jacquelyn C Campbell Lancet 20012; 359; 1331-36
2 Berrios DC, Grady D: Domestic violence-Risk factors and outcomes. West J Med 1991 Aug; 155:133-135
3 Krishnan, Suneeta(2005)'Gender, Caste, and Economic Inequalities and Marital Violence in Rural South
 India', Health Care for Women International,26:1,87 — 99