INDIAN INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH INTO TRUE HISTORY

 

NEWSLETTER NO. 46 OF 16 OCTOBER 2006

 

1. NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

1.1 Rationalism of Veer Savarkar.

1.1.1 Oxford University has received a copy of the above book by Shree Godbole. After studying it, Dr Owen of Department of Politics had requested Godbole to translate into English Savarkar’s 43 Newsletters from London and also his book Shatruchya Shibirat. Godbole agreed. The work was done and sent to Dr Owen on 28 May (Savarkar’s birthday). It was not just a case of translation from one language into another. It is a history of our freedom struggle against the British, a hundred years ago. Extensive footnotes and explanations are essential for understanding that history.

 

1.1.2 Shree Barjorbhai Avari, on behalf of Manchester Metropolitan University invited Shree Godbole to deliver a lecture on Rationalism of Veer Savarkar. Accordingly the lecture was delivered by Godbole on 1 June. Thirty-five people attended. It was well received.

 

1.2 CD on Taj Mahal

The first attempt was not very satisfactory. Mr Godbole is therefore preparing all the documents and one of his friends will produce a CD in London or in Hindusthan.

 

1.3 DVD in film on Savarkar

This is now available from all well-known music shops in Mumbai /Pune, price Rs 400. Godbole has some copies at his home in England.

 

1.4 Sources of Information

British Library, London

It may now be possible for you do some research from Public Library in your town or even from your own home.

Mr Godbole has managed to get access to issues of Times online (for the years1785 to 1985) from home, because his local public library subscribes to the British Library. This saves lot of money and time. Please enquire at your local public library for the appropriate procedure.

 

1.5 Misconception about Ravindranath Tagore

It is astonishing that many people still believe that Tagore composed the poem Jana Gana Mana for welcoming Emperor George the V and Queen Mary at the time of Delhi Darbar in 1911. Where did the rumour start?

 

One Mr Bal Jere of Mumbai wrote to Maharashtra Times (a Marathi paper) and made the above accusation. It was published on 3 May 1980. A reply by Purushottam Laxman or P.L Deshpande was published by the paper on 16 May 1980. In his letter Deshpade has given references from the papers - Amrit Bazar Patrika and Bengalee of Calcutta of 28 December 1911. He also refers to a letter from Tagore to Pulin Bihari Sen.

The information is contained in the book Mukkam Shantiniketan in Marathi published by Mauj Prakashan of Mumbai in June 2002. Godbole will be happy to send you a copy of Deshpande’s letter in Marathi, if you wish.

 

It is astonishing that our countrymen should be in the dark and harbour stupid notions about Ravindranath Tagore even after 25 years!!

 

 

1.6 Torture and the US Army

On 7 September 2006, Metro paper of London reported on page 2

 

US army outlaws torture

The US Army issued a new manual for dealing with prisoners which bans torture and degrading treatment. For the first time, the guide specifically mentions forced nakedness, hooding and other practices which became infamous during the War on Terror, most notably during the Abu Gharib jail scandal in Iraq. The updated field manual also bans beatings, sexual humiliation, depriving prisoners of food or water, threatening them with dogs, performing mock executions, giving them electrical shocks, burning them, causing other pain or simulating drowning. However, US interrogators may engage in ‘good cop, bad cop’ tactics, conceal their identities and separate enemy combatants so that they cannot co-ordinate stories.

 

This is a clear confession what the US Army was up to for last 200 years. It used heinous methods, even after it was supposed to abide by the Geneva Convention of 1864. And this is US Army. What horrors were committed by the CIA and other Intelligence Agencies in collaboration with puppet regimes of America, in the name of protecting world democracy? The mind boggles!

 

 

1.7 Centenary year

1.7.1 Golwalkar Guruji

Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, commonly known as Guruji was born in 1906, a hundred years ago. His thoughts were first published in 1966 in a book Bunch of Thoughts on the occasion of 60th birth anniversary of Guruji. He passed away in 1973. Second edition of Bunch of Thoughts was published in 1980.

 

After detailed study Godbole reviewed the book in his newsletter No 18 of 16 October 1989. A copy was sent to RSS Chief Balasaheb Devras in New Delhi and other Senior RSS workers. There was no reaction from any one of them.

 

In 1994 Deoras retired due to falling health and Prof Rajubhayya became RSS Chief. During one of his lectures he mentioned that The Bunch of Thoughts is our Geeta. This was reported in Sangh Sandesh published in Britain. After reading this, on 1 April 1994, Godbole wrote to Rajubhayya, “If this is the case, it has serious drawbacks.” Slowly, wheels started to move. On 26 October 1995 Godbole got a letter from Shree H V Sheshadri of Bangalore. He wrote, “This is to acknowledge and sincerely thank you for your letter of 1 April 1994 and your detailed suggestions and comments vis a vis “Bunch of Thoughts” ….. We are presently going through your constructive suggestions in a dispassionate manner. It was a fortunate coincidence that your communication reached me just in time to stop the ‘Bunch’ from going into print. Its composing has been completed and was waiting the striking order. I am really sorry for this inordinate delay in replying to your good self. I am extremely happy to know from Dr Tatvavadi whom I just met last week how deeply you are involved in the sacred task of Hindu Renaissance in U.K. - a mission dearest and nearest to all our hearts.”

 

“The 3rd edition came out in 1996. In the Preface (page vi). The editor says,

" Shri V S Godbole of U.K has made a detailed study of the book and made suggestions for improvement. These have been incorporated in this edition."

Thus, we find that footnotes have been added on following pages :-

18. 120, 137, 156, 162,164, 192, 220, 222, 236, 242, 249, 289, 295, 315, 338, 344, 360, 367, 378, 398, 408, 466, 478, 489, 494, 524

At the end there an index has been added.

 

However, this is not sufficient. For example, on page 220 we are told that Beruari was a place in West Bengal and the episode took place in 1959. What does this mean to you ?

 

In light of this development, Godbole has revised his Review and given page numbers to suit the 3rd edition. In some places he has kept comments on 2nd edition and made comments on the 3rd one in italics. He will gladly send you a copy if you wish to read it.

 

1.7.2 Savarkar in London

By a strange coincidence Veer Savarkar came in July 2006, just a hundred years ago. He made tremendous contribution to India’s freedom struggle. There is so much information about him and his activities in contemporary British newspapers. This has not yet been compiled. If you are living in London you could easily help. Please contact Godbole if interested.

 

1.8 Old laws must go

On 13 March 2006 David Sharrock reported for The Times

Ireland casts off old laws

With the stroke of a legislative pen, the Irish Republic intends to shrug off the legacy of centuries of, colonial rule when it abolishes thousands of bizarre laws dating back to the Norman invasion and before.

 

Under a large-scale overhaul of the statute book, only 200 laws will be retained from the period between 1100 and 1800, when the  Act  of Union abolished the Irish parliament in Dublin after the 1798 rebellion against British rule.

 

The laws that will perish include such gems as the denial of a citizen's right to adulterate coffee with sheep dung, the burning of witches at the stake, and the entertainment of crowds with tiger fights.

 

Bertie Ahem, the Prime Minister, has announced that there will be a two-month public consultation period on the plan to dump the pre-independence statutes. Mr Ahem described ' the changes as the "single largest body of legislation to be repealed in this way in the history of the State".

 

He added: "As legislators, Governments tend to add to the statute book, but not to take away from it. There is a large volume of legislation that predates the foundation of the Irish State, much of which is now redundant and isn't really of any practical use. "The ability, not only of the public, but also of our legislators, solicitors and barristers to keep abreast of this legislation becomes more and more difficult each year, particularly as this legislation is not that easily accessible in paper format"

 

He added that all laws predating the foundation of the state would ultimately be repealed, and where there was a need to retain any pre-1922 statute it would be re-enacted in a more modem form.

 

Among those laws about to be consigned to history is the Tippling Act 1735, which prohibits a publican from pursuing a customer for money owed for any drink given on credit. The law was aimed at stopping landlords demanding ale money owed to them by servants who resorted to robbing their masters to pay their debts. Another — the Adulteration Of Coffee Act 1718 — made it illegal to debase coffee for profit. Among the substances used by unscrupulous traders to "pad out" the sacks of coffee was ground-up sheep dung.

 

As coffee went out of fashion, a similar law was introduced covering tea — the Adulteration of Tea Act 1776.

 

The Statute of Winchester of 1285 is known as the first "Police Act". It set up a Corps of Watchmen to arrest suspicious strangers.

Professor Tom Garvin of Uniersity College, Dublin, said: "There is a touch of shrugging off the last vestiges of the colonial ruler going on here. The English tried to make the Irish conform to their way of life."

 

 

1.9 Free trade rules 'claim 4,000 lives'

It is astonishing that despite our associations with the westerners for more than five decades, we are still blind to their design on Indians.

On 16 May 2005 Rachel Clifford reported for the London paper Metro (p13) -

 

More than 4,000 farmers in India have committed suicide because of free trade policies backed by Britain, a leading charity claims. Many have been saddled with spiralling debt because the ‘liberalising' reforms have made it harder for them to get bank loans, Christian Aid said.

 

It warned that opening up the country to the West meant multi-nationals were flooding the market with cheap imports forcing farmers to pay more for seeds,

fertiliser and power so they could compete

 

The reforms were introduced by the World Trade Organisation to promote free trade by persuading countries to abolish tariffs and other barriers.

 

But in India they have led to the privatisation of state-run organisations central to the farming industry. Some 45,000 public sector workers have lost their jobs

 

Christian Aid has attacked Britain for backing the reforms, which were also supported by the World Bank and the IMF It is calling on the Government to help Indian farmers by stopping British aid from being tied to policies of liberalisation or privatisation.

 

It said: ‘It is a scandal the British Government has backed policies and pumped British taxpayers' money into schemes which have contributed to poor Indian farmers killing themselves and Indian workers being laid off in huge numbers.'

 

But a spokesman for the Department for International Development said: 'The UK does not support unfettered free trade or forced liberalisation. As a long-term

objective the removal of trade barriers will benefit poor and rich countries '

 

 

1.10 Take law into your hands

In any civilised society, people should leave action against criminals to the Police. But when the police are found to be ineffective, people have to take Law into their hands. That is far better than watching the criminals getting away.

 

On 5 October 2004 The Daily Telegraph reported in its column World Bulletin

(p14)  Train passengers kill robbers

Angry passengers on a train turned the tables on six armed robbers in eastern India, beating them to death with sticks and umbrellas.

 

The thieves struck yesterday as the train approached a small station, Mayur Halt, north of Calcutta. Once the train came to a stop, passengers who had been victims of theft alerted other travellers, who chased the fleeing robbers and battered them to death, police said.                                          AP, Calcutta

 

2. AROUND LONDON TOUR OF PLACES ASSOCIATED WITH INDIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS

 

2.1 Tours

Four tours were organised by Mr Godbole

1st one was on 1 July 2006. In 2005 Godrej, a famous company from Mumbai had acquired a British Company in London. Mr Wakankar and his colleague came for an audit of that company. The tour was specifically arranged for them. Mr and Mrs Kelkar of Mumbai who happened to be in London also joined in. During the conversation Mr Kelkar said that when he was in school his Headmaster was none other than Godbole’s father.

 

2nd tour was on 26 August. One Mrs Ashwini Dadhe had recently completed a postgraduate course in Paediatric Dentistry of University College, London. Her parents had come to London for her convocation. She requested the tour for her and her parents. Mr and Mrs Bhave of Mumbai also joined.

 

3rd tour was on 7 September. Dr Shreerang Godbole, a Diabetes specialist from Pune had come with his friend to London for a medical conference. He requested the tour. Dr Godbole’s father Arvind Godbole was one of the doctors of Veer Savarkar.

Dr Meena Prabhu of London also joined. She had taken part in raising finds for producing the film on Veer Savarkar by Sudhir Phadake. She is also famous for her book Maze London (in Marathi)

 

4th tour was on 15 October. Dr Bedekar had lead a group of teachers from Maharashtra, on an exchange tour to schools in Worthing, Sussex. Due to visa problems in British High Commissions, the group consisted of three teachers. (tow from Solapur in Maharashtra, one from Vizagapattam). Shree Sonavane, a computer engineer from Ipswich also joined.

 

2.2 Lecture on the Tour

Maharashtra Mandal, London requested Mr Godbole to address their assembly on the occasion of Indian independence on 15 August 2006. He accordingly outlined the Special Tour and said, “ Savarkar came to London in July 1906, just a century ago and what tremendous changes he had caused to have taken place!! In 1906, Sun did not use to set on the British Empire. That was the reality of life. The British Navy was the mightiest in the world and ruled the seven seas. And yet a handful of youth led by Savarkar proclaimed - Swatantray Laxmi ki jai. We will achieve Absolute Political Independence!

 

So, why should we feel disheartened by the events of today? Come on this tour to seek inspiration from our forefathers. They did what they had to do. They did not wait for any followers. Savarkar organised a celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of the Indian war of Independence 1857. At that time he said - It is good that your are remembering our past heroes. But mere remembrance is not enough. What are YOU going to do today in their memory? Then one by one the participants started to take vows of sacrifices. Some said that they would not smoke, some would not go to theatre, some would not go to cinema etc and the money thus saved would be given to the National Fund.’

 

In a similar manner, let us ask ourselves, “What are we going to do today for our society?”

 

Strength of the audience was 80.

 

 

3. BEHAVIOUR OF CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS TODAY

 

3.1The Muslims

 

3.1.1 Treatment of Christian minorities in Iraq.

On 23 February 2005 Odisho Malko reported for the Guardian (p23) on Iraqi Assyrians who are victims of Kurdish ethnic cleansing. He says -

 

No votes in Nineveh

 

“Our people, the Assyrians, the original inhabitants of Iraq - whose empire pre-ceded Babylon, many of whom still speak Aramaic the language of Christ - have been robbed. Along with other minorities in the north of our country, the Turkmen, the Yezidis and the Shabak, we were promised democracy. But the ballot boxes never arrived.”

 

“The recent elections simply passed us by, our complaints ignored, our rights trampled, by people who should know better, because we shared their experience of repression under Saddam Hussein. As a result, no Assyrian representatives will be taking their place in the new Iraqi parliament.”

 

“Since the fall of Saddam, - systematic low-level ethnic cleansing has driven thousands of Assyrian Christians from their homes. Our churches have been fire-bombed and our women forced to wear the hijab. In northern Iraq much of this intimidation has come from the Kurdish militias. It  reached a climax on election day, when ballot boxes were prevented from reaching between 200,000 and 400,000 people. On the Nineveh Plains, the last area in Iraq where our people live in sizeable numbers, six Assyrian towns, Baghdeda, Bartilla, Karemlesh, Shekhan, Ain Sifne and Bahzan were prevented from going to the polls. The western media have made much of people in the Sunni heartlands being intimidated into not voting, or refusing to vote. It does not report that the Assyrian people and other minorities wanted to vote, but were stopped from doing so.”

 

“Reluctantly, many of our people believe that Kurdish political leaders want to exclude minorities such as the Assyrians and the Turkmen. The treatment of the Turkmen has so enraged Turkey that the leader of the opposition, Bulent Ecevit, has called for action to protect them. But no one is speaking up for us. No one has reported that tens of thousands took to the streets to protest at the great vote robbery. “

 

“We want to live in peace with our Arab and Kurdish neighbours, in a democratic, secular Iraq, free to practise our ancient religion and traditions. We want an Iraq free of outside forces and an end to civil conflict. But the election was rigged, and the Assyrians and other minorities demand that it is re-run in the contested areas. During the 1990s, Britain helped create a safe haven for the Kurds, some of whom have clearly forgotten what it is like to be a repressed minority. “

 

“To Tony Blair- and to his special envoy to Iraq, Ann Clwyd, who has a great deal of influence over the Kurdish leaders, we say: honour your promises. In the early part of the last century, British politicians made many promises to the Assyrian people that were never kept. This time we hope it will be different.”

 

“Before our ancient community is driven from Iraq for ever, Britain and her friends in the international community must act.”

 

Dr Odisho Maiko is president of the Assyrian National Assembly in Iraq

apdarmoo@aol.com

 

[Note - we feel sorry for the Kurds, because they had become a persecuted minority in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran after the end of World War II. But when their time comes see how they behave with Christian minorities ]

 

 

3.1.2 The Muslim problem in Britain.

 

At last the British journalists are waking up to the fact that the Muslims are a problem. On 24 January 2005 W.F Deedes wrote for the Daily Telegraph (p22) -

Labour’s attitude towards Muslims is simply insulting.

 

I wish I felt this Government had any look-ahead thoughts about our Muslim population, other than winning their votes. The failure here lies not on the Muslim side of the fence, but on our own. For, in our easygoing way, we are misleading Muslims into supposing that, because it is trendy to treasure diversity in our population, they are free to go their own way, to educate their children as they please, without obligation to Britain.

 

That line may win votes, but it also shows low regard for the Muslim world. .All minorities owe something to the nation in which they become resident; and it would show more respect for Muslims if we made that clear and told them how much we counted on their contribution. If we don't, I foresee trouble. Muslims will become, as they have done in some parts of the world, a law unto themselves. And that will strain tolerance here too far, and relationships will break down.

 

We are, moreover, getting to the absurd point where even to suggest that ethnic minorities owe us something is condemned as racist. I thought David Bell, the chief inspector of schools had a point when he urged the growing number of Muslim schools to ensure that their pupils learnt about democracy, our political institutions and other religions. I worry, he said, "that many young people are being educated in faith-based schools with little appreciation of their wider responsibilities and obligations to British society".

 

That this was instantly rapped by some as "racist" thinking is alarming. If the chief inspector of schools cannot thus express himself, we are for the dark. In fact, if is not for the chief inspector to set us thinking on the right lines here. It is for the Prime Minister.

 

Just where does New Labour stand on the obligations of minorities? Yes, it's a difficult subject to handle without getting into hot water, but it is intrinsic to our future and it is what prime ministers are there to clarify. Our own obligations to ethnic minorities have been clearly defined and are enforced by law. To imply that these growing minorities have no obligations, except to vote Labour next time round, is resoundingly to insult them.

 

 

3.2 The Christians

 

3.2.1 Bigotry of the Roman Catholic Church

 

Neil Sears reported for the Daily Mail on 13 October 2004 (p3) He wrote -

School sacked me for having a civil wedding

 

For six months Davina Lingard dreamed of her wedding at a grand country house. As her big day drew near, she spoke excitedly about her plans at the primary school where she taught. But the staff there didn’t share her delight. Instead, they allegedly warned it could cost her job. After two discussions with the headmaster about her decision to marry in a civil ceremony instead of a church, her contract was not renewed.

 

Mrs Lingard, 26, Insists that her decision to go ahead with her wedding at Duffryn Gardens country house near Cardiff cost her, her first job in teaching.

 

She is now working as a secretary and considering taking the school - St Peter's Roman Catholic primary in Roath - to an employment tribunal claiming  discrimination. 'When I was teaching at the school I was excited about getting married to the man I love and told people about it,' she said.

 

'Dufftyn Gardens Is a beautiful place and it's where I wanted my dream wedding. But then I was advised by a senior member of staff that if the school found out it was a civil wedding there would be consequences.'

 

She said headmaster Mike Flynn questioned her about her wedding plans and warned she would breach her contract if she had a civil ceremony. 'Before Easter the head called me in and said he wanted to talk about a "sensitive issue", which turned out to be my wedding. He said a member of staff had raised concerns about the type of service I was having. 'And when I told him it was a civil service he advised me to speak to the school priest, and to think hard about turning away from the Catholic faith‘.

‘I was shocked and upset - I didn't think these sort of things happened in this day and age. But I was not prepared to change my wedding plans for anyone. I am a Catholic but I have Issues with the faith and I was desperately unhappy to have this ultimatum given to me.’

 

Mrs Lingard said she made it clear she was not going to have a church wedding. When she returned to the school after the Easter holidays, with her wedding still weeks away, she was told her contract would not be renewed.

 

She did not have a permanent contract and the school claimed it had to make financial cut-backs. But she is convinced her wedding was the real reason.

 

 'Another temporary teacher in the same division as me was kept on. But because she had more experience than me she would have cost the school more,' she said. 'She had got married in the local parish church. I am convinced that I was forced out because of my choice to marry outside of the Catholic church.

 

Mrs Lingard, of St Pagans, of Cardiff, has no regrets about marrying husband Simon, 27, a cycle mechanic, in exactly the way she planned.

'I wasn't going to be pressured into a wedding day I didn't want,' she said.

'And it was a lovely day. A number of pupils turned up with their parents, so clearly they didn't have an issue with it.'

 

She is distraught at the loss of her job at the 500-pupil school.

'It was my dream job but it turned into a nightmare and I don't know whether or not to teach any more,' she said.

 

Dr Elizabeth Edwards, chairman of the school governors, said: 'We are a Catholic school. Parents send their children to us to receive a Catholic education. There is an expectation that all our staff accept the mission statement of the school. It would be inappropriate to discuss the details of a contractual arrangement that existed between the governing body and any former employee with a third party.'

 

Headmaster Mr Flynn said he had discussed the wedding with Mrs Lingard but insisted the decision to let her go was based on 'financial imperatives. These are legitimate and valid reasons,' he added. 'She's a very good teacher. Her contract wasn't renewed, but that's not unusual.' 

 

n.sears@dailymall.co.uk

 

 

4.Research findings

 

4.1 Treatment of women in the European societies today.

4.1.1 How are Women treated in the British society today?

 

Despite our association with Britain for more than 200 years, we know very little about Social History of Britain, especially the position of women in Britain.

 

On 27 May 2004 Sharon Hendry reported for the Sun (p14)

1 in 6 mums-to-be battered by lover.

 

One In six pregnant women are being beaten by their partners, a shock study revealed yesterday. And domestic violence is also one of the biggest KILLERS of mums-to-be

 

Horrifying figures show 12 per cent of maternal deaths follow abuse during pregnancy. Government statistics reveal that a third of domestic abuse starts when the woman becomes pregnant.

 

One told of a terrible catalogue of abuse which  started when she was three months pregnant. Sandra Horliey OBE, director of domestic violence charity Refuge, said: "He punched her in the stomach and stubbed cigarettes on her breasts. Her baby was born prematurely with three fractured limbs."

 

Last night Frances Day-Stirk, of the Royal College of Midwives, who compiled the study said, "This is an increasingly common occurrence." The 700 UK midwives quizzed said pregnancy was often the trigger for abuse. A fifth said at least one of their expectant -mums was a victim of violence.

 

Midwife Astrid Osbourne, of University College London Hospitals, warned: "It makes you more vulnerable to die as your health is not as robust."

 

The 24-hour Domestic Violence Helpline is 0808 200 0247.

 

--------

The paper also wrote -

At 18 weeks the baby started kicking. At 22 weeks so did the father.

Shocking… Government ad warns of abuse

Horror Facts

* More than a third of domestic abuse starts when women are pregnant.

* 12 per cent of women who died during or after pregnancy reported some form of abuse during pregnancy.

* Domestic violence in pregnancy is linked to repeated miscarriages, severe haemorrhage, premature labour, placenta damage, low birth weight and foetal fractures.

* Injuries to the mother can lead to rupturing of the uterus, liver or spleen.

* Abusers focus attacks on abdomen, breasts and genitals.

 

The paper published just one typical case.

 

Maria's 9 years of hell with ex

 

Thousands of women have revealed horrific tales of abuse since The Sun launched a campaign to end domestic violence.

 

Maria Bloomer. 42, tells Sophie Stuart how nine years of attacks by brutal ex Kevin began when she was pregnant.

 

Maria met Kevin Bloomer in1991 in the pub where she was a barmaid. She was attracted to his cheeky personality. But he showed his violent side when she was expecting their first son in 1992. She says: "I think me getting pregnant was the trigger for Kevin’s violence. The first time he attacked me was when I was four months pregnant.”

 

“We were in a restaurant with another couple. They had a row and her partner stormed out. “

 

Punched

"I said she shouldn't stand for it. Kevin told me to shut up. Suddenly he punched me in the face across the table.”

It was the first of many assaults Kevin  inflicted over nine years on Maria from Lye, West Midlands. He even attacked her in the street for walking too far ahead.

 

The final straw came when Kevin, 42, slashed mum-of-five Maria in the face with a bread knife. She had 35 stitches.

 

He was Jailed for 13 months for GBH (grievous bodily harm) in December 2001.

(Our Notes -

1. We would not be surprised if he got out after 6 months.

2. Why don‘t we read about such cases in Indian papers?

3. If this is position of women in British Society in  2004, what was their position in 1818 when the Marathas lost to the English East India Company? Is it not time we learnt the truth? Our defeat had nothing to do with the position of women in our society. We were weak in Militarily Affairs. That is the truth.)

 

4.1.2 Domestic violence in Sweden

Are conditions any different in Sweden? No. On 5 October 2004 Julian Isherwood, a Scandinavia Correspondent reported for the Daily Telegraph (p14)

 

“A group of Swedish politicians is proposing to hit men with a domestic violence tax, in order to pay for the costs to society of abuse against women.”

 

“Sweden's parliament will open debate today on the Left Party proposal, which follows an Amnesty-International report this year which found that violence against women increased almost 40 per cent during the 1990s and that 20 to 40 women are battered to death in Sweden each year.”

 

"It must be clear to all we have a gigantic social problem and cost in men's violence towards women and we must discuss how we are going to pay for it," said Gudrun Schyman, the party's former leader, and one of several female MPs who have signed the motion.”

"We have to have a discussion so that men understand that they have a collective financial responsibility," she added.

 

“The Left Party says the idea of men collectively paying for the social costs of violence towards women is no different in principle than the fact that poor people pay less tax than rich people. The Left Party, which has 30 members in the 349-seat Swedish parliament, supports the Social Democratic minority government, giving it enough votes to muster a majority. In order to gauge what the tax should be, it is proposing to appoint a taskforce to establish the cost of treatment of women who are victims domestic violence. “

 

“The Left Party motion, tabled by party's feminist council, of which Ms Schyman is a member, is unlikely to win a majority in parliament although many women MPs are 'expected to vote in favour of it. Female members account for 45 per cent of the parliament, the highest proportion of women MPs in the world.”

 

“In 2003, 22,400 cases of violence against women were reported to police, but the country's Council for Crime Prevention said the number could be higher because many women do not report abuse.”

 

“Sweden already has the highest taxes in Europe, with a person earning a monthly salary of 30,000 kronor (£2,280) paying 35 per cent tax.”

 

 

4.2 Protestant Church in England and the Jews

 

On 23 April 2004 Nicholas Wapshott reported for The Times (p11)

The wartime diaries of James Grover McDonald reveal the anti-Semitism of public figures,

 

Archbishop of Canterbury ‘blamed the Jews for excesses of the Nazis’

 

Cosmo Gordon Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1928 to 1942, said shortly before the Second World War that he believed German Jews had brought on themselves the hatred of Hitler, according to diaries released for the first time. The High Commissioner for Refugees, James Grover McDonald met Archbishop Lang and recorded in his diary his suggestion that the Jews themselves "might be responsible for the excesses of the Nazis".

 

Mr McDonald served at the League of Nations between 1933 and 1935. He met similar indifference to the plight of German Jews from Nancy Astor the Conservative MP who led the "Cliveden Set" which had advocated the appeasement of Hitler's expansionist territorial demands.

 

"Did I not after all believe that there must be something in the Jews themselves which had brought them persecution throughout all ages?" he recorded her asking in his diaries, presented to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington yesterday. "Was it not in the final analysis their responsibility?"

 

"To this thesis I took violent exception," he notes.

 

Mr McDonald, whose mother was German and who later became America's first ambassador to Israel, also records telling Franklin D Roosevelt as early as 1933 that the lives of German Jews were endangered by the Nazis. President Roosevelt was sympathetic and "had a plan in mind to reach over the head of Hitler to the German people".

 

"McDonald conveyed the severity of the Nazi hatred towards Jews and he found Roosevelt keenly aware of the nature of the regime and the crisis," said Severin Hochberg, a historian at the museum who has read the cache of 10,000 typed pages. He told the President that the Nazis’ first priority wasn’t just to purge communists and socialists but that from the very beginning they were against Jews.” The Holocaust saw six million Jews die at the hands of the Nazis between 1933 and 1945, culminating in the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe".

 

President  Roosevelt, criticised by historians for not doing enough to facilitate more immigration into America by German Jews fleeing Nazism, was hampered by domestic political considerations. But McDonald reveals he did press officials into increasing the limit on refugees arriving from Germany.

 

"My father found that Roosevelt was very interested and aware and would have liked to help, but there were real political problems," said Barbara McDonald Stewart, 77, the diplomat's daughter, who presented the diaries to the museum. "It was the Depression, and how many refugees could he allow to immigrate when millions were out of work in America?"

 

Mr McDonald met many world figures including Hitler, Herman Goering, Benito Mussolini and Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII.

 

McDonald found Hitler openly anti-Semitic. "As to Jews," said Hitler, "why should there be such a fuss when they are thrown out of places when hundreds of thousands of Aryan Germans are out on the streets. No, the world has no ground  for complaint Germany is not fighting merely the battle of Germany. It is fighting the battle of the world."

 

McDonald recorded in his diary: "The man does have the eyes of a fanatic, but he has in addition, I think, much more reserve and control and intelligence than most fanatics."

 

McDonald found Goering regretful that the Nazi rise to power had not been more violent "We had two alternatives," said Goering. "We chose the bloodless one. Now whenever an individual is hurt there is an international sensation. Had we let the blood run for a few days during the revolution, that would have been finished."

 

When in 1933 McDonald met with Cardinal Pacelli, he found him more concerned about the plight of Bavarian Catholics than of German Jews. The

indifference to Jews apparently continued when as Pope Pius XII he refused to employ the authority of the Catholic Church to halt the ill treatment of Jews.

 

 

4.3 Secrets Of The Saudi State

On 5 March 2002, at 9 p.m. Channel 4 presented a programme on Saudi Arabia.

 

DEBORAH DAVIES goes undercover in Saudi Arabia to discover how foreigners are treated when they break the rules and practise their own faiths instead of Islam.

 

She hears of horrific prison conditions and we get to see the kind of poverty that isn't normally associated with the country. (poverty in Saudi Arabia?)

 

 

4.4 Truth about Churchill

On 24 January 2005 UKTV History broadcasted a programme at 10 p.m. in the series Churchill Week

The details of the programme as reported in the papers are -

To mark the 40th anniversary of the death of the wartime prime minister, UKTV History is screening Martin Gilbert’s seminal four-part series Churchill on Tuesday to Friday, and tonight Gilbert’s absorbing film Into the Wilderness, a look at the leader’s troubled progress through the 1930s. His refusal to countenance Indian self-rule set him on a collision course with the Establishment. That Hitler’s nemesis should have been hobbled by his own brand of racist thinking is one of history’s deepest ironies.

 

 

4.5 Fascists in England in the 1930s

On 9 March 2005, the London paper Metro published reviews of three books. The review of Hurray for the Blackshirts. by Claire Allfree reads -

 

Anyone who thinks BNP (British national Party) leader Nick griffin is an aberration should read Hurray for The Blackshirts! In which Martin Pugh reminds us fascism was rife in inter-war Britain. During the 1930s, Oswald Mosley's British Union Of Fascists  ran several high-profile campaigns against foreign big business (and workers) and exploited the endemic anti-Semitism in London's East End. It was helped enormously by positive editorials in The Daily Mail (from which the book takes its title); a mass rally in Olympia attracted 12,000 people and several far-Right Tory MPs affiliated themselves with the movement. World War II put an end to Mosley’s far-from unrealistic hopes of government, thanks to mass employment and the identification between the Blackshirts and Hitler. Pugh's book is dense and demanding but it's a timely analysis of the myth that extremism has never held much sway in British politics.

 

 

4.6 Plight of Australian Aborigines

 

On 23 July 2004 Katie Splevins reported for the London paper Metro (p15)

She writes about the plight of Australia’s Aboriginals. She says -

 

Silenced again: Will the aboriginals be allowed to shape their own future?

 

Once a year, Naidoc Week in Australia celebrates Aboriginal culture. Organised by the National Aboriginal Islander Day Observance Committee, it is an important initiative: persecution of its indigenous peoples by European invaders remains a tragic stain on Australian history. But controversy overshadowed this recent event as indigenous Australians awaited the fate of a commission that has so far given them a voice.

 

A step backwards

Australia's government wants to abolish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (Atsic), an elected body representing the interests of Australian indigenous people. If Atsic goes, it takes with it the right of these people to determine policies on their own affairs. All indigenous-specific programmes will return to mainstream government departments, while Aboriginal representation on key bodies governing health, land rights, environment and heritage protection, and human rights monitoring, will be removed.

 

Predictably, the move has sparked outrage. 'First, the government took away our land, then our families and now our last glimmer of hope - our voice,' says Aborigine Cecil Bowden, 63, from New South Wales. Hilary Blackman echoes his sentiment. The communications manager at Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, an independent support group for indigenous Australians, says: 'Atsic lets them make and implement decisions on their own behalf. That it might be removed is unthinkable.'

 

Set up in 1990, Atsic staff once numbered more than 1,000 and administered £390million in public funding. But the government, led by prime minister John Howard, claimed the group didn't deliver value for money.

 

A review in April found Atsic's credibility was in crisis and claimed it lacked vision and strategy. Blackman admits there was trouble. 'Atsic has been plagued by problems, not least the office bearers,' she says. This crisis of confidence emerged under the leadership of chairman Geoff Clarke, who was suspended for obstructing police.

 

However, many argue the real problem was the imposition of a Western-style democratic process. ‘These families stick together,' says Bowden. 'So if someone is given funds and their family has nothing, they help them out. Atsic was in need of restructuring, not abolition.'

 

With healthcare in Aboriginal communities poor - child malnutrition rates parallel those in Third World countries - and joblessness high, concern exists for the future of Atsic-funded groups. 'The employment situation for indigenous people in rural towns will deteriorate overnight,' says Olga Havnen, a manager for the Fred Hollows Foundation, a charity for indigenous peoples.

 

Granted a reprieve

Although Atsic's budgets have been slashed and staff sacked, a senate inquiry - sparked when the opposition blocked the abolition - so far has stalled the group's demise.

 

Ironically, the opposition, too, plans to axe Atsic if it wins the next election. While it vows to replace it with an independently elected body, rather than the suggested 'appointed group', neither is satisfactory to the Aboriginals.

 

Indigenous people are being manipulated in the lead-up to the general election, says professor Mike Dodson, chairman of Indigenous Studies at Australia's

National University. 'We've become pawns in an obscene electoral bidding process,' he says. 'Whatever happens, we must rise up from the ashes and

come back with a national, indigenous, political voice.'

 

>>>

 

Stolen generations

* Since their arrival in 1788, European settlers have clashed with Australia’s native population.

Between the 1930s and 1950s, settlers unhappy about the number of mixed race children started to forcibly moving ‘half-caste’ and ‘Aboriginal’ children into white families and orphanages to ‘assimilate’ them into white culture and breed out their Aborginilaty. Isolated from their culture, these children became known as the Stolen Generations.

 

Between 10 and 30 percent of indigenous children were removed from their homes, many ending up as servants and victims of abuse. A national apology was recommended as a vital step in the reconciliation process and a National Sorry Day was established. Today, Aboriginal people are forced to rely on welfare programmes and continue to live in relative poverty.

-------

It shows the picture of an Australian Aboriginal, Nancy de Vries holds a sorry book given to her on National Sorry Day. She was one of many children removed from her parents and adopted by a white family according to the government policy of the time.

 

[Note - This just shows how little we know about the events in the outside world. We need to give such events wide publicity.]

 

 

5. Why we cannot tell the truth

 

On 16 September 2004, Sarah Hills reported for the London paper Metro (p18). She says -  Churchill covered up V2 rocket blitz

 

Deadly V2 rockets devastated London during World War II - but the public was at first told the damage was caused by gas explosions.

 

Winston Churchill was terrified of the panic that might ensue if people learned the Germans possessed such awesome technology. So his government launched a major cover-up campaign to fool the country documents revealed yesterday. News was heavily censored and propaganda was broadcast informing the nation that the explosions were not connected to the war or Germany

 

Historian Dr Stephen Twigge said: 'V2s were particularly accurate. There was concern that because there was nothing the defence could do to stop the rockets there might well be panic. The press were told to refer to the V2s as exploding gas mains. It stopped morale going down until the British had a strategy for dealing with them.'

 

The cover-up was revealed in previously top-secret files released from the National Archives.

The V2s, the forerunners of modem inter-continental ballistic missiles, were launched from Germany and could hit their targets in minutes.

 

The first attacks on London were in September 1944 at Chiswick and the Chrysler Works in Kew.

 

Churchill initially used the gas cover story because it was not certain if the rockets were responsible. But he continued the deception because he had just announced the battle for London was over and there was now new defence strategy in place.

 

Weeks later, on November 10, Churchill publicly admitted the truth.