BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival Online for Free

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Stories of peer pressure, love, marriage, schools, siblings, friendship, passion, protest, cycling, and activism wrapped in to five beautiful short films made by a group of gay, lesbian and trans filmmakers. Now online for free. For the first time ever, in partnership with the British Council’s fiveFilms4freedom project, five short films from BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival are available to watch online, for free, worldwide. Click here to watch and click here to read more.

On a related note, there are a set of films being brought down to the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Chennai by three curators from Germany. They will present works addressing various kinds of conflict around issues of nationality, ethnicity, gender and sexual identity, family history and migration. They look into which cinematic languages are appropriate to show case stories of conflict and how cinema might shape our understanding of conflict. Everybody is welcome and entry is free. Here is the poster – (Event on Facebook)

identity and conflict einvite

Anugundu – The Atom Bomb | Documentary

Anugundu – The Atom Bomb ( Tamil with English subtitles) – YouTube. 48 minutes.

A film by Manila Mohan, a journalist with a Malayalam literary magazine, who visits the protesters in Koodankulam. The documentary details many pitfalls in the building and commissioning of the nuclear power plant in Idinthakarai, Koodankulam. It interviews many of the villagers, including women and children, who express concerns about their safety, the stupidity of such an unsafe technology, and question for whom is this development and electricity that the States promise.

Sea Siege in Koodankulam 08 October 2012

(Photographs by Amirtharaj Stephen)

Launching another phase of their anti-nuclear protests in Koodankulam, thousands of fishermen from Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts began a day-long siege by placing themselves in fiber boats surrounding the area shouting slogans from 500 metres in the sea. This is a token siege as they will not be allowed to get any closer to the power plant. PMANE convenor S P Udayakumar (quoted from Firstpost) said –

“We have been appealing to the state and central governments that this power plant is not in the best interest of safeguarding the livelihood interests of the people in the area”, he said.

Udayakumar added that the entire world was shunning nuclear power, and it was imperative that the government did not drag India in the opposite direction. “We are all for power and development but not this costly and dangerous exercise,” he said.

Speaking to the media even as the villagers of Idinthakurai prepare to launch a jal satyagraha 500m away from the site of the Kudankulam plant, PMANE convenor Udayakumar said that they were demanding that the heavy police presence at the village be withdrawn, and that charges against them be dropped.

NDTV reports –

The protesters are demanding the closure of the plant, citing safety concerns. The locals say they are worried about ecological damage by radioactivity which could affect the livelihood of thousands of fishermen around the plant. Activists have also cited the Fukushima disaster in Japan, triggered by a tsunami last year, to draw parallels about the dangers of a nuclear plant.

The villagers are also demanding the release of those arrested in an earlier protest, and taking back what they term as false cases against activists. They also want the police to be withdrawn from their villages.

The sea siege happened from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. on 08 October 2012. Over 5000 security personnel, including the Rapid Action Force, had been deployed, besides the five coast guard vessels monitoring the sea.

(click on image to view gallery)

Sea Siege. Koodankulam 08 October 2012. Photo credits: Amritharaj Stephen.

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy – Press Release September 12, 2012

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy
Idinthakarai 627 104

PRESS RELEASE
September 12, 2012

Let us Do Some Soul-search and Talk Again!

Just like a hapless wife brutally assaulted by her male chauvinistic and drunken husband, like an innocent little child beaten up by his abusive parent, our honest, hardworking, and pious people have been violated, their possessions vandalized, their 400-day long nonviolent movement vilified. By our own government! By our own Chief Minister who we brought back to power to rescue us from corruption, power abuse, nepotism, dynastic rule and double speak! An overwhelming majority of the Tamil voters including almost all the coastal communities voted for the Chief Minister’s party.

When the biggest nuclear power plants in the country or the largest nuclear power park is being set up on our seas that will have deleterious effect on our sea and seafood, land and crops, water bodies and ground water, on our livelihood and on our progeny, we have opposed peacefully, democratically and nonviolently. Don’t we have at least that much freedom in our country?

In fact, the Chief Minister sympathized with our cause in the beginning. She had objected to the Chennai visit of the nuclear-armed ship, the USS Nimitz; and she had opposed the India-US nuclear deal with so much conviction. Our team met with the Chief Minister twice and the Prime Minister once at her own personal initiative. The Chief Minister kept talking about solar power and other renewable sources of energy, kept demanding more electricity from the central pool and more finance for electricity projects in Tamil Nadu. She even said that she would be one among us in our struggle.

We took to the streets, voiced our concerns to the Central Government and asked them to stop the Koodankulam nuclear power project, change our energy policy and to save our natural resources. The District Collector, Dr. R. Selvaraj, entertained us in his office and served us tea and biscuits. The Superintendent of Police, Mr. Vijayendra Bidari, gave oral ‘go-ahead’ every time we sought permission over phone for our demonstrations, agitations and public meetings. But they kept on filing false cases on us all with serious charges such as sedition, waging war on the state and so forth.

The ‘love scene’ changed to ‘hate scene’ in March 2012! The script changed! The situation, the lighting, and the overall direction changed! The Chief Minister alleges that we are all in a ‘maya valai’ (mystical net). Maybe she is referring to nuclear radiation that is indeed like a ‘maya valai’ you cannot see, hear, smell, taste or touch.

Today we are surrounded by police, beaten up by police, harassed by police, accused of committing all kinds of crimes by police, arrested by police and above all, mentally, emotionally, spiritually assaulted by police. And the Chief Minister is the police minister!

We are all fisherfolks, shopkeepers, agricultural laborers, beedi-rolling women, and to be brief, working class people. We do not steal public money, we do not amass wealth through illegal business deals, and we do not plunder the nation’s natural wealth. But we are treated like criminals; dangerous, seditious, violent, vicious and wicked lawbreakers. Our leaders, who have been invoking the names and wisdom of Thiruvalluvar, Buddha, Mahavir, Ashoka, Guru Nanak, Mahatma Gandhi, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and Mother Teresa, are treated like dreaded terrorists. Our people who worship Sage Vishwamitra, Lord Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohamed are treated with contempt and dislike. The St. Lourdes Church at Idinthakarai has been desecrated by urinating and a holy statue destroyed. Naval boats are patrolling our seas; air force planes are hovering over our villages; the police are blocking our roads; we are short of food, water and other basic essentials; and the state is waging a war on us! But we cannot do a thing!

The global nuclear mafia sees our people as their sworn enemies. The KGB, the CIA and other international intelligence agencies consider us serious threats to their respective ruling cliques. The Delhi Government is infuriated with us as they are worried about their billion dollar nuclear business deals and commissions and kickbacks. The Tamil Nadu Government also tends to treat us like dreaded terrorists and dangerous criminals.

The police have shot down an unarmed civilian Anthony John at Manappadu coastal village. Several people including a small baby are said to be missing. Some 53 nonviolent protesters, men and women, are charged with sedition and waging war on the State cases and are languishing in distant prisons in Tamil Nadu. Thousands and thousands of families are living in fear and despair.

We do not expect or want any awards or accolades for practicing democracy and protesting in a nonviolent manner. But can’t we be treated with a little bit of humanness, civility and dignity? Who should we turn to? Who could we talk to? The Chief Minister may not even see this. Her arrogant upper caste advisors may say everything bad about us and our lower caste people.

We would request the Chief Minister to stop fuelling the KKNPP, remove police from our area, provide compensation for the people who lost their boats, vehicles and household items, and release those who are arrested.

We thank all the leaders and members of various political parties, social movements, lawyer associations, fishermen associations, student groups, labor unions, village committees and other organizations in Tamil Nadu and other states for organizing various demonstrations and agitations in support of our struggle. We would solicit their continued support for our struggle and for the above-mentioned immediate demands as well.

The Struggle Committee
People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy

Photographs from Idinthakarai, Koodankulam 09 and 10 September 2012

by Amirtharaj Stephen

for updates KOODANKULAM SPEAKS

Mass RTI Campaign Seeking Urgent Information Under Life and Liberty for Koodankulam

for updates KOODANKULAM SPEAKS

WHAT: Mass Right to Information Campaign seeking information within 2 days, invoking the “Life and Liberty” clause under Section 7 or RTI Act.

WHEN: 3 p.m. 10 September, 2012

WHERE: NPCIL Office. 51 Montieth Road

Egmore, Chennai 600 008

NPCIL proposes to commence initial fuel loading even as more than 20000 children, women and men are camped in the scrub jungle barely 500 metres from the nuclear power plant. International Atomic Energy Agency and India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board regulations require an exclusion zone of 1.5 km around the plant, within which no human population can be present.

In its hurry to commission the power plant and prove a point to its detractors, the Central and State Governments have thrown caution to the winds. In the event of a disaster during initial fuel loading, the NPCIL, the district administration and the people living in the vicinity are not equipped to cope. There are no medical facilities capable of handling radiological emergencies in the vicinity. Emergency drills have not been conducted in any sincere manner. The AERB’s stipulation on the minimum quantity of stand-by fresh water storage onsite has not been complied with.

The nuclear establishment’s “commission-first, safety later” is putting the lives of 1000s of people at risk. We request all concerned citizens to gather at NPCIL’s office at 3 p.m. with a Right to Information Application as follows:

DRAFT APPLICATION

To: Public Information Officer

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd

c/o Liaison Office, 51 Montieth Road

Egmore, Chennai 600 008

10 September, 2012

Sir/Madam:

Subject: Right to Information Application — Concerning Life and Liberty of more than 8000 people gathered near Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant — request for information within 2 days

More than 8000 people, including women and children, are currently camped outside the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tirunelveli. International Atomic Energy Agency and India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board regulations require an exclusion zone of 1.5 km around the plant, within which no human population can be present.

Given the above situation, the loading of fuel puts the lives of thousands at risk, and I request the below information to be given to me within 2 days as this information concerns the “life and liberty” of many thousand people.

1. Kindly list out the various recommendations of the AERB committee in its post-Fukushima review on safety and emergency preparedness, and the status of compliance to each recommendation related to the Koodankulam Power Plant.

2. Kindly state the AERB guidelines stipulating any restrictions for the total number of people present within the exclusion zone at the time of fuel loading or commissioning.

3. What is the minimum quantity of onsite water storage that has been mandated by AERB for KKNPP?

4. What is the total capacity of onsite water storage for KKNPP?

5. Kindly provide a list of medical facilities in Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi districts capable of handling a radiological emergency.

6. Kindly provide a list of places (in the following format) identified as temporary shelters for people in the event of a radiological emergency:

a) Name of Place, Address

b) Distance from Koodankulam

c) Capacity

d) Number of bathrooms

e) Number of latrines

f) Details of water facilities for bathing and toilets

g) Details of drinking water facilities, including capacity

Application fee of Rs. 10 is being presented as cash/postal order.

Sincerely,

POOVULAGIN NANBARGAL

MAY 17 IYAKKAM

the spirit of idealism

Alfredo goes to Madrid with a handmade marionette and a dream of creating “a performance which is freer, straight from the heart, capable of making people feel alive.” He quits school after a spat with a professor on his psychoanalytic methods, evocatively pronouncing why acting –

To do something for me and for others. Acting because it’s a form of human connection, a way to reach understanding and comprehension. That’s why… I’d love to change this fucked-up world. And I think there’s still time.

A Spanish filmmaker, Achero Manas, like a documentary, follows the life of this radical (yet fictional) street theatre group born from Alfredo’s ideals and friendships:

For a year now, we’ve found artistes all around the world struggling with survival, space, interaction and political dialogue. We saw photoshop memes, invisible men, large community darkrooms, walls with dreams and much more. This film envelops almost all of our dilemmas: Survival vs Ideals, Freedom vs Appropriate, Us vs. Law.

In retrospective, the film explores November’s dilemmas with commodification of art and the revolutionary potential of art for personal and social change.

You have to watch the film for Achero Manas’ impeccable storytelling, Oscar Jaenada’s and everyone’s performance, and for the various ideas and questions its throws at us.

The Art of Protest

2009, 3 mins

“The global antiwar-marches that preceded the invasion of Iraq in 2003 were the largest the world has ever seen. Similarly, the events that occurred in the build up to COP15 in December 2009 were the largest climate demonstrations ever held. It is then somewhat surprising that these protest had little or no effect on the decisions made by those in power. This short film is not meant as an attack on those who protest, nor is it a total condemnation on the act of protesting; a technique that been successfully employed by some of the most humbling figures in history. Rather, it is an attempt to explain how the act of demonstrating has been significantly changed by those in government, and by those who helm activist groups. The footage is from The Wave demonstration that took place in London on Saturday the 5th of December, 2009.”

I Write What I Like

Every morning, a dream means you have to convince yourself to chase it. Something forces us back to sleep; other than the weekend we spent completely in bed, because the sky was pouring in, the roads were flooded, and the electric cables were floating to nowhere. What are we actually scared of when our heads are full of ideas and our hands are itching so badly? Death? End of the World? Or is death and the end of the world as much a part of life like these seconds we spend breathing?

Something to read:

*The following is an excerpt from I Write What I Like (Steve Biko 1946-77), a selection of his writings edited by Aelred Stubbs C.R.

On Death

These words, extracted from an interview with an American businessman given some months before Steve’s final detention and death, but not printed in The New Republic until 7 January 1978, need no further comment.

You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can’t care anyway. And your method of death can itself be a politicizing thing. So you die in the riots. For a hell of a lot of them, in fact, there’s really nothing to lose – almost literally, given the kind of situations that they come from. So if you can overcome the personal fear for death, which is a highly irrational thing, you know then you’re on the way.

And in interrogation the same sort of thing applies. I was talking to this policeman, and I told him, “If you want us to make any progress, the best thing is for us to talk. Don’t try any form of rough stuff, because it just won’t work.” And this is absolutely true also. For I just couldn’t see what they could do to me which would make me all of a sudden soften to them. If they talk to me, well I’m bound to be affected by them as human beings. But at the moment they adopt rough stuff, they are imprinting in my mind that they are police. And I only understand one form of dealing with police, and that’s to be as unhelpful as possible. So I button up. And I told them this: “It’s up to you.” We had a boxing match the first day I was arrested. Some guy tried to clout me with a club. I went into him like a bull. I think he was under instructions to take it so far and no further, and using open hands so that he doesn’t leave any marks on the face. And of course he said exactly what you were saying just now: “I will kill you.” He meant to intimidate. And my answer was: “How long is it going to take you?” Now of course they were observing my reaction. And they could see I was completely unbothered. If they beat me up, it’s to my advantage. I can use it. They just killed somebody in jail – a friend of mine – about ten days before I was arrested. Now it would have been bloody useful evidence for them to assault me. At least it would indicate what kind of possibilities were there, leading to this guy’s death. So I wanted them to go ahead and do what they could do, so that I could use it. I wasn’t really afraid that their violence might lead me to make revelations I didn’t want to make, because I had nothing to reveal on this particular issue. I was operating from a very good position, and they were in a very weak position. My attitude is, I’m not going to allow them to carry out their program faithfully. If they want to beat me five times, they can only do so on condition that I allow them to beat me five times. If I react sharply, equally and oppositely, to the first clap, they are not going to be able to systematically count the next four claps, you see. It’s a fight. So if they had meant to give me so much of a beating, and not more, my idea is to make them go beyond what they wanted to give me and to give back as much as I can give so that it becomes an uncontrollable thing. You see the one problem this guy had with me: he couldn’t really fight with me because it meant he must be hit back, like a man. But he was given instructions, you see, on how to hit, and now these instructions were no longer applying because it was a fight. So he had to withdraw and get more instructions. So I said to them, “Listen, if you guys want to this your way, you have got to handcuff me and bind my feet together, so that I can’t respond. If you allow me to respond, I’m certainly going to respond. And I’m afraid you may have to kill me in the process even if it’s not your intention.”

Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977 was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. On the 18th of August, 1977, Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 and interrogated by officers of the Port Elizabeth security police including Harold Snyman and Gideon Nieuwoudt. This interrogation took place in the Police Room 619. The interrogation lasted twenty-two hours and included torture and beatings resulting in a coma. He suffered a major head injury while in police custody, and was chained to a window grille for a day. On 11 September 1977, police loaded him in the back of a Land Rover, naked and restrained in manacles, and began the 1100 km drive to Pretoria to take him to a prison with hospital facilities. However, he was nearly dead owing to the previous injuries. He died shortly after arrival at the Pretoria prison, on 12 September. Read more on Wikipedia.

Get the book on Amazon or Flipkart. Read more about Steve Biko in the Steve Biko Foundation website.