Via Sree Sreenivasan

Bollywood Dreams opens in NYC. The reviews, mostly unfavorable, are in. Read the NYTimes review which called the musical “This retooling of a hit from London feels trapped in a listless limbo between tipsy spoof and sober sincerity.” Other reviews can be found here.

Jonathan Torgovnik's book by the same name is available here on this site. The Digital Journalist published some of his images on their website.

Despite what Mr. Bush and his cohorts say, the war in Iraq is far from over. There have been some rumblings about it becoming another Vietnam. Perhaps one of the most significant factors in the defeat of the US in Vietnam was the constant stream of images (still and television) of America's war-dead being brought back in body-bags. Some 57,000 soldiers died in that war.

Day in and day out as Americans supped by their television sets or broke open a newspaper, images of a distant war rumbled the psyches of all Americans. The images fueled the protests against that abysmal and ill-timed war. We weren't winning the “hearts and minds” of people in Vietnam or back here in the US. As America's international policy was coming unraveled, the administration clearly saw their failure in curtailing media access to “sensitive” areas of the war. Since the end of Vietnam war in 1975, administration after administration, save for perhaps Jimmy Carter's, has practically hand-cuffed journalists to a line of thinking and delivery that prevents the general public from knowing the whole story. History has a funny way of repeating itself and the current administration knows it all too well.

As more and more Americans loose their lives in Iraq, I have been following the brewing controversy of showing or censoring images of American flag-draped coffins arriving on transport planes. The Seattle Times was perhaps the first newspaper to publish an image, shot by a contract worker for the Department of Defense, now distributed widely on the internet, showing soldiers busily tacking down the coffins in the bay of a transport plane. The response, according to Editor&Publisher, has been favorable. Mike Fancher, executive editor at The Seattle Times, defends his paper's use of the image as newsworthy. And, I have to agree.

The New York Times today reported that, “The Web site, The Memory Hole, had filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year, seeking any pictures of coffins arriving from Iraq at the Dover base in Delaware, the destination for most of the bodies. The Pentagon yesterday labeled the Air Force Air Mobility Command's decision to grant the request a mistake, but news organizations quickly used a selection of the 361 images taken by Defense Department photographers.”

The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times have their own take on the situation.

How these images play out with the American public is yet to be seen. Despite the controlled and perhaps programmed nature of the news in the US we are hearing reports that things aren't going well for the Iraqis and it is likely to only get worse as the US leaves at the end of June. Will they actually hand things off to the Iraqis? Will there be peace?

Via Sree Sreenivasan

Award-winning writer Githa Hariharan will be in NYC reading from her latest book In Times Of Siege at Barnes and Noble, Upper West Side, on Friday, April 23 at 7:30pm.

Githa Hariharan was educated in Bombay, Manila and the United States. She has written a number of novels, including the winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize, The Thousand Faces of Night, and a collection of short stories. In Times of Siege is her first novel to be published in the United States. She has also been included in several collections and anthologies, such as Salman Rushdie's Mirrorwork: 50 Years of Indian Writing 1947-1997. Hariharan lives in New Delhi where she works as a freelance editor, and is an active participant in movements for communal harmony and women's equality.

IN TIMES OF SIEGE (Pantheon Books/August 10, 2003/ $22.00), Githa Hariharan's first novel to be published in the United States, is a vivid and critical portrait of contemporary India and of the choices an individual must make when confronted with extremism, ignorance and prejudice.

Shiv Murthy is a meek, middle-aged history professor in New Delhi. When a friend's passionate and outspoken daughter, Meena, breaks her leg, she moves into his house, even though they barely know each other and his wife is visiting his daughter in Seattle. Taking care of Meena, and struggling with the feelings this young woman stirs in him, Shiv's life is thrown
into further turmoil when one of his medieval Indian history lessons-an essay on a 12th century reformer-poet who created “a new community, a new ethos, that provoked people to dare to experiment”-is challenged by a group of religious Hindu fundamentalists. The university responds by asking Shiv to apologize publicly.

Shiv asks himself, “Why pretend you are a professor if you can't stand up to someone telling you what to think? How to think? … Do you imagine an ordinary man cannot be a hero?” Influenced by Meena and her political convictions, Shiv responds by taking an entirely unexpected and uncharacteristic plunge into the political world: he defies the university and the extremists. Though not confident he has the courage or strength, Shiv does speak up in times of siege, against a world that knows only black and white, us or them.

Via Sree Sreenivasan

“I definitely have a faith, it's internalized.”

Read Vibhuti Patel‘s in-depth interview with photographer Dinesh Khanna about his latest book project – Living Faith. The introduction to Khanna's book on India's faiths is written by the well-known travel writer, Pico Iyer.

Several years ago, I noticed Khanna's coffee table book, Bazaar. Despite having lived in India for 12 years, I was moved and somewhat surprised by the liberal use of color in India. Somehow, just as everything seems to work amidst the apparent chaos that is India, swathes of different hues gel together amicably in the end.

Breakthrough.TV is looking for a program coordinator in their New York office. Application Deadline May 21st, 2004.

The Organization:
Breakthrough is an international non-profit organization that uses popular culture to promote values of dignity, equality and justice. We have affiliate offices in New York and New Delhi.

Working across five program areas (women©ˆs rights, religion & peace, racial & ethnic justice, caste discrimination, sexual & reproductive rights), Breakthrough encourages individuals and communities to get involved in building a culture of human rights through four avenues:

·   Mass media to create radio, music, art, television for social change
·   An interactive website ú www.breakthrough.tv
·   Forums and workshops
·   Multi-media educational materials

Breakthrough has produced the award winning Mann ke Manjeere: An Album of Women©ˆs Dreams along with two music videos, which are widely used globally for human rights education. Other productions include Junoon for Peace, a DVD for peace post-9/11; Bringing Durban Home: Combating Racism Together, a short video about the UN World Conference Against Racism; and Haman Hain Ishq and Baagon Na Jaa, a music album and video promoting religious harmony. Our most current US campaign, SPEAK UP! ACT UP! For a New America focuses on immigrant youth and civic engagement.
Breakthrough has also organized numerous concerts, film festivals and performances to present a human rights vision. We are active in creating educational materials, including a curricular toolkit on racial/ethnic justice and human rights. We conduct frequent workshops for students and training for teachers on social justice and human rights issues. For more information, visit www.breakthrough.tv.

The Position:

Breakthrough is seeking a Program Coordinator located in New York to assist with education and outreach activities across program areas.

Responsibilities:

The Program Coordinator will work under the supervision and management of the Executive Director and in close consultation with the New York and Delhi teams of Breakthrough. In addition, s/he will:

·  Manage Breakthrough©ˆs public education activities across all program  areas, comprised of
o     Planning and implementing public education events through print, video and audio media in collaboration with artists and media professionals
o     Conducting and compiling research to develop educational materials for use in our education and outreach activities and website.
o     Facilitating workshops and training with educators, students, NGOs, and other civil society groups to engage them in promoting human rights.
·  Assist in a range of organizational support tasks including bookkeeping, fundraising, volunteer management, and other administrative tasks
·  Develop and maintain relationships with educators, professional groups, NGOs and other individuals and organizations
·  Learn about issues of concern to Breakthrough to ensure that education activities reflect the human rights values we aim to communicate

Qualifications:
·  Three to five years experience in training and education, and/or media/advertising
·  Excellent research and writing skills
·  Commitment to and/or experience in promoting human rights and social justice
·  Willingness to learn about issues of particular concern to Breakthrough
·  Excellent computer skills including web site administration
·  Excellent communication skills and the ability to present concepts and creative briefs to students, educators and a wide range of constituencies
·  Flexibility and willingness to contribute to all areas of operation in a small organization
·  Responsible self-starter who is able to work autonomously and meet deadlines
·  Prefer Masters degree in relevant field
·  The following technical/creative skills are a plus: video editing (Final Cut preferred), graphic design, web design

Salary and Benefits:

Salary and benefits will be commensurate with experience based on standard non-profit salary ranges.
Breakthrough is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, caste, class, disability, marital status, religion or sexual orientation.

To apply send a resume and a cover letter clearly stating your reasons for applying for this position to charlotte@breakthrough.tv by May 21st, 2004. NO PHONECALLS PLEASE.