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FOR PUBLICATION
AHRC-ART-063-2009
November 16, 2009
An Article Series on Human Rights and Culture by the Asian Human Rights Commission
HUMAN RIGHTS & CULTURE - Vol. 2, ISSUE NO. 28
Welcome to Vol. 2, Issue No. 28. In this issue we have a poem by Ms. Airyn Lentija, The Crouching Eagle. We then have the article, Khabar Lahariya ¡V ¡§New Waves¡¨ which describes the efforts of a group of Dalit women to create their own newspaper. This article was kindly submitted by WUNRN. We then continue with our series of human rights quotations and this is followed by Human Rights Activists ¡V Fr. Roberto Reyes ¡V The Running Priest.
Publications -- We are pleased to announce the release of two publications, the latest issue of Article 2 and Ethics in Action. Details of the two magazines may be found in our publications section.
As always, the AHRC is grateful to all our contributors and we would like to remind our readers that your comments on this issue and contributions for future issues may be sent to ahrc@ahrc.asia.
You may view the previous issues at: http://newsletters.ahrchk.net/hrc/.
******HUMAN RIGHTS & CULTURE******
The Crouching Eagle
Airyn Lentija
Under the clouds
The mob set fire
move to the beat
of a broken drum
And street-corners
The fractured homes
Torned by the wind
on winters end
Some dead leaves fall
and bite the dust
Digging their tomb
as years gone past
Few wear their mask
to dodge the truth
Some washed their hands
to save their tooth.
I saw this all
around the clock
And tried to snap
or twist my back.
A trick of thought
of deceitful hell.
Contort me not!
This couching eagle
will stand once more
wings healed,reveal
now watch me soar.
 Ms. Airyn Lentija works as a domestic helper in Hong Kong. She has enjoyed reading and writing poetry since her days in elementary school. This is Airyn¡¦s third submission and we look forward to receiving more of her work in the future. Further details of Airyn¡¦s work may be found at: http://poetsforhumanrights.ning.com/profile/airyn?xgs=1
******HUMAN RIGHTS & CULTURE******
Khabar Lahariya - "News Waves,"
India - Dalit Women Find Their Voice Through a Newspaper
 Indian tribal and so-called untouchable women, overcoming social hurdles, write and run their own weekly newspaper in northern India. Their own stories are as compelling as their reports.
Shanti, left, Meera and Prema meet at the office of Khabar Lahariya, India's first newspaper run by tribal and Dalit women. It recently won a UNESCO award for promoting literacy. (Mark Magnier / Los Angeles Times)
By Mark Magnier
October 24, 2009
Reporting from Banda, India - The pen, it's sometimes said, is mightier than the sword. For these women, it's also a ticket to respect.
Khabar Lahariya, or "News Waves," is India's first newspaper written, read and run by tribal women and those from the Dalit, or so-called untouchable, caste.
While most readers know only of the politics, crime or education news in the 8-page weekly, each of the writers has a story of her own about struggling against life's harsh challenges.
Many of the dozen or so women on staff were beaten or sexually abused as children, married off young, endured abusive marriages and fought mightily for an education and a divorce. Often, the newspaper provides them with a voice on important issues for the first time in their lives along with a sense of confidence and purpose.
The paper is also a labor of love. Not only do the women write the stories, which appear in a local minority language, Bundeli, they edit, handle layout, proofread and solicit ads for its two editions. And staff members, paid between and 0 a month, spend several days each week lugging copies to distant villages, some accessible only by hiking trails, to flog what they've produced.
"We take buses, cars, motorcycles until the road stops, then we walk," said Meera, 23, who like many here uses only one name, while sitting beside a whiteboard with the week's stories mapped out. "It's hard enough to reach many of these remote areas. Then you have to stay and sell the papers."
In the remote communities, they pick up stories from readers or from residents petitioning for justice in courts and government offices. Thus armed, they return to their weekly editorial meeting with a minimum of five ideas and hash out among themselves what stories will make it into print.
The paper's recent stories included alleged bribery at health clinics, a bureaucrat reported to be siphoning off money meant for widows and a piece on the brother of a powerful politician who built a house, blocking water that had gone to Dalit farmers nearby and destroying their livelihood.
A few years ago, the paper did a story on a groom who had refused to marry his fiancee because her family wouldn't give him an appliance he wanted. Their story -- under the headline "Do you want a wife or a TV?" -- got huge attention. Today the couple are happily married and joke about the incident.
The 4-cent cover price for Khabar Lahariya may seem like a pittance. But here in rural Uttar Pradesh state, where poverty is widespread and Internet use is not, this often represents a huge sum.
Sometimes the staff members barter copies of the newspaper for food or firewood. They might even give away free copies if someone is impoverished but seems particularly interested.
Staff members estimate that each of the 4,000 weekly copies is read by, or to, at least 10 other people, a function of the area's limited literacy and extreme poverty.
The newsstand price covers less than 20% of the operation's ,000 annual operating budget. The difference is covered by Nirantar, a New Delhi-based civic group specializing in gender, literacy and development issues. The group conceived of the project and believes it can serve as a model for other communities in India. A few weeks ago, the project won a UNESCO literacy prize.
Khabar Lahariya focuses its articles on issues of importance to Dalit, tribal or other underprivileged communities not covered elsewhere. When Dalits are featured in the mainstream press, reporters said, the approach is often sensational and superficial.
At the core, the women seek to help their mostly downtrodden readers know their rights, understand what government programs are available and teach them how to apply for assistance.
Meera, 38, who has the same name as her fellow editor, said the staff faced huge resistance when the newspaper launched in 2002. Feudal kingpins long used to subjugating their workers; landlords who didn't want their exploitative practices revealed; corrupt officials; even journalists, who are often part of the old boys' club -- all resented their appearance on the scene.
The younger Meera said she had argued extensively with her father and husband before they let her earn a master's degree in political science and take the newspaper job.
The women say the newsroom structure remains loose and titles are often trumped by a system of respect among equals. A key point in many of the women's lives came when they realized, usually at some point in primary or middle school, that as Dalits they'd been born at the bottom of India's social pyramid.
For the younger Meera, the painful awareness came when she realized the teacher in her remote village never drank the water she offered him and would accept it only from higher-caste students.
Reporter Mithlesh, 44, remembers noticing that her primary school teacher segregated the "sweeper," or lower-caste, children from the rest, encouraging the higher-caste kids to wash their clothes if a sweeper's child touched them.
Shanti, another staffer, said her family was so poor and of such a low status that she never attended school. At 32, she divorced an alcoholic husband who regularly beat her, taking their five children and starting her education from scratch. Now 40, she's supporting the family with her newspaper job and ensuring her children are educated.
"Now I can read and people don't cheat me anymore," she said.
Caste is a social institution and it's probably here to stay, the women said. But if you're educated and know your rights, people are more respectful. As Indian society changes, affected by urbanization and internal migration, a more liberalized economy and political shifts, the grip of this restrictive system is slowly weakening.
Dalit women say they can be their own worst enemies given that caste distinctions are ingrained from birth. Then there's the prevalent belief that individuals somehow deserve their fate because of good or bad karma carrying over from the last life.
"I don't think I did anything wrong in my last life," the younger Meera said. "I'm a human."
Disha Mullick, a Nirantar program coordinator based in New Delhi who helps train prospective reporters, said the social pressure to "stay in your place" extends to those holding staff jobs. In spite of the opportunities that come with working at the newspaper, there is a huge turnover. Many women leave after a few weeks or months, uncomfortable with taking a more assertive role.
But for many of them, the very act of doing a job at which they ask challenging questions of high officials, rich locals and derisive politicians is empowering, the women said. Learning how to use technology is also pretty nifty, some said.
"This job has really helped me stand up and be independent," said Kavita, 30, another co-editor. "A year ago, I never even imagined something like a computer or the Internet existed. This Google is amazing. You can read other newspapers just like that."
Readers have responded and circulation is growing, up from 2,500 a few years ago.
"Other papers aren't printed in our language and don't write about local news we're most interested in," said Balbir Singh, 36, owner of a small shop in Jauharpur. "This really feels like our own. I just wish it were more than eight pages so I'd have more to read."
This article was kindly submitted by WUNRN - http://www.wunrn.com
Further details of the article may be found at: http://www.latimes.com:80/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-india-caste25-2009oct25,0,1539664.story?track=rss
******HUMAN RIGHTS & CULTURE******
Human Rights Quotations
In the construction of a country, it is not the practical workers but the idealists and planners that are difficult to find
Sun Yat-sen
The man of power is ruined by power, the man of money by money, the submissive man by subservience, the pleasure seeker by pleasure.
Hermann Hesse
We are all murderers and prostitutes --no matter to what culture, society, class, nation one belongs, no matter how normal, moral, or mature, one takes oneself to be.
R. D. Laing
******HUMAN RIGHTS & CULTURE******
Human Rights Activists - Fr. Roberto Reyes - The Running Priest
 Whether you address him as ¡¥Robert¡¦, ¡¥Roberto¡¦ or ¡¥Father Roberto¡¦, Fr. Roberto (as I call him) is all things to all men. I might be getting myself into trouble with the Catholic Church if I said that Fr. Roberto was a humanitarian first and a priest second, but the fact remains that Fr, Roberto is there for the people, catholic or otherwise; a priest, a confessor, but first and foremost, a friend.
Fr. Roberto was born in Tondo, Manila, the eldest of four children. His parents, now retired, were an accountant and a school teacher. In 1970, Fr. Roberto entered the San Jose Seminary School in Novaliches, Quezon City and eventually became a priest. After serving in numerous parishes, he became head of the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice at the University of the Philippines.
It was in the year 2000 that Fr. Roberto was to earn the nickname, the Running Priest when he did solo marathons to drum up support for a campaign to force the then President Joseph Estrada to step down. During that period he spoke at Catholic schools and universities, on issues of political reform and good governance and it was not long before his personal convictions got him into trouble.
In 2002, Fr. Roberto surrendered to the police to face libel charges filed by Cagayan Representative Jackie Ponce Enrile, whom he allegedly implicated in the murder of his nephew during Martial Law. He was immediately freed after two days of incarceration through the help of the members of Parish of the Holy Sacrifice.
More recently he has been involved in numerous protest activities supporting the call to remove President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from office. At the peak of his protest activities against Arroyo's government, he was advised by his superiors to take indefinite leave of absence. He went to southern China and spent a year teaching English. A year later, he moved to Hong Kong and taught anthropology of religion in a university before joining the Asian Human Rights Commission in 2007.
Throughout this period Fr. Roberto Reyes remained involved in missionary work, including administering to sick and dying overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). His experience was chronicled in a book "Vincent, Dying and Living," which contains his personal reflections and recollections as he detailed the struggle of his brother who died of lung cancer, as well the struggles of many OFWs in Hong Kong whom he had met and ministered to in the last days of their lives. It was during this time that I personally came to know Fr. Roberto and realised the depth of his compassion and commitment when he ministered, and continues to minister, to my wife, Quirina, who is an end-stage renal patient.
On November 29, 2007, Reyes was arrested and imprisoned for 15 days at Camp Crame for his participation in an attempted coup d' etat known as the Manila Peninsula Rebellion. In 2008, a year after his incarceration, while associated with the Asian Human Rights Commission, he published his prison journal entitled, Prisons... Manila Pen and Beyond, in which he narrated his memories on the fifteen days he spent in prison.
In September 2008, Reyes launched his website, Parokya sa, the first virtual parish in the Philippines, where his reflections on daily Bible readings, his homilies during Sunday masses, and inspirational messages are posted and shared with everybody. It is Fr. Roberto¡¦s wish to reach out to the millions of Filipinos working overseas in various parts of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. The Philippine Online Chronicles, a weekly online publication managed by Vibal Foundation, hosts the website.
(Text by Stewart Sloan ¡V additional information courtesy of http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Roberto_Reyes)
Please also visit Fr. Roberto¡¦s websites at: http://kapadyak.ning.com/ and http://www.thepoc.net/poc-presents/parokya-sa-web.html
******HUMAN RIGHTS & CULTURE******
Publications
 Article 2, Vol.8. No.3 is now available.
Article 2 is a quarterly publication of the Asian Legal Resource Centre
This issue covers selected articles on politics, human rights & the rule of law in South Asia such as Sri Lankan politics, from primary school to kindergarten Basil Fernando, Executive Director, Asian Human Rights Commission & Asian Legal Resource Centre, Hong Kong,
White elephants for India's low caste millions, Bijo Francis, Programme Officer, Asian Legal Resource Centre, Hong Kong, A law to protect only one Bangladeshi family Rater Zonaki, Human Rights Defender, Bangladesh and Thankless tasks: Rights defenders in Sri Lanka & Pakistan Jo Baker, Journalist & Programme Coordinator, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong
Further information on Article 2 may be found at: www.article2.org
 We are also pleased to announce that the next issue of Ethics in Action is now available. In this issue, Vol. 3 No. 5, we have an article on the appeal to help flood victims in the Philippines; there is a report on the abuse and humiliation of three Pakistani women and how the case casts shame on the country's justice system; and also in Pakistan the issue of love marriages - women and the rule of law. The continuation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act in Sri Lanka is a crime against the country's children and the terrible situation in the Philippines that makes it necessary for the Police to offer guns to journalists at risk are just some of the articles included in this issue.
The online version of Ethics in Action can be found at www.ethicsinaction.asia
******HUMAN RIGHTS & CULTURE******
The Asian Human Rights Commission is regularly issuing this article series on Human Rights and Culture in which various cultural expressions, poems, stories, pictures and other forms of cultural expression that are based on the theme of justice, will be published. A pivotal issue in modern literature is justice, particularly the enormous unleashing of injustice under fascist, communist and other authoritarian regime including those that pursue an unbridled market economy have generated responses from created writers. This search for justice is at the very essence of being human. Human beings are part of nature and part of each other. Perhaps the lines of John Donne are most relevant: ¡§... any man¡¦s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde;¡¨
Contemporary mass culture promotes violence and destruction. There are those who are opposed to mass culture and want to reclaim the best traditions of human culture within which justice remains a core issue. This column will provide space for those who wish to share their creative initiatives.
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
Posted on 2009-11-16
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