Friday, October 14, 2005

 

protest

Here is ( a very hurried) roll-call post on the proposed protest march.
A lot of people have said yes in the mails- since it is rather difficult to kep track there, I suggest that everyone willing to join in leave a comment here, so it's all centralized.
Moreover, as I've said in my mail to blogbang, we need a core team to co-ordinate this effort, and I suggest this core team be formed and meets by day after tomorrow morning if not tomorrow evening to chalk out a clear POA. So, if you are willing t5o be one of the chief perpetrator and can help with someting in particular, do holler here, and let's fix up the venue quick. Call me if you want: 9243122682.
Things to be discussed and formulated:
1) exactly how to keep the law in the loop
2) should we start from PTI and end at IIPM or how else can we go about it.
3) how to keep the media, especially visual media in the loop, so that, if they refuse to take the letter, which I'm sure is what the case will be, we can submit it to the media in a press conference.
4) mailerdemon has offered to design badges etc. for us. mdemon, please just cross-post your comment here.
5) most importantly, the date of the protest.
6) anything else i might have forgotten


UPDATE:
I suggest we (whoever wants to take a very active role in this) meet up tomorrow, at eleven at Barrista, St. Marks' Road. The agenda is to finalize date, time and exact mode of protest: from where to march. I think after the march we should call a press conference at PTI where we can formally hand over a copy of the letter of protest to the media. Also, medemon pleaase try to make it as you said you have some ideas about this. Sunu, mandar, swar- please make it. chamique, you too. Vignesh is unfortunately out of the country, but he has promised virtual support. Does anyone know how to get in touch with the police. We also need to discuss media management tomorrow, both print and visual.


UPDATE 2:
there was a meeting yesterday attended by arka, chamique, bem, sunu and mailer demon (who's been nice enough to agree to design nice arm-bands etc. for the demonstration.
Things discussed were:
1) Why this protest? Is it just an emotional response? What will it accomplish?
The general agreement: the fundamental issue at stake here is the freedom of expression. It was also discussed that freedom of expression is not a blanket endorsement of libertarianism, but that it implies the right to voice one's rational opinions, and that is what had been repressed in Gaurav's case. As an extesnion, it was a moment of truth for the blogging community, something which affected our identites as bloggers qua bloggers. Hence, this demonstration, more than anything, is to be symbolic statement- of our identities as bloggers, and of the fact that we take our role seriously and responsibly, and are willing to stand by our words.
It was also decided to highlight the fact that blogging now plays a mature and responsible role in dissemination of information and in coming to the aid of society at large, sometimes in ways that mainstream media cannot. (for instance the role played by bloggers in the tsunami crisis, in Iraq, after the London blasts, the Mumbai rains). In the same spirit, this too was an attempt by a blogger to voice his opinions and make society at large aware of what he thought to be unscrupulous practices by a so called educational institution. The price he has had to pay for that is unacceptable.
It was also discussed that after the initial flurry of posts, etc., the three people at the centre of it all, gaurav, rashmi, and varna, shouldn't suddenly find themselves alone and friendless. Hence, this is also to be a show of solidarity towards them.
Now about the when and the how.
THE DEMONSTRATION IS TO BE ON MONDAY THE 24,TH. IT WILL BE A SILENT SIT-IN DEMONSTRATION. WE ARE YET TO FINALIZE THE EXACT MECHANISM, BUT THE TENTATIVE PLAN IS THAT WE'LL SIT IN FRONT OF IIPM BANGALORE IN THE MORNING FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR, AND LATER ADDRESS THE MEDIA AT A DIFFERENT VENUE, WHERE WE SHALL HAND OVER A FORMAL STATEMENT, TO BE SIGNED BY ALL MEMBERS OF BLOGBANG, AND ALSO A MEDIA RELEASE.

Before this, by thursday, we shall give out a pre-release to the media. I, chamique and bem will co-ordinate the writing efforts.

It is also requested that all members of Blogbang carry the media-releases and the statement on their blogs
Other things that were decided: We shall speak to legal entities and the law enforcement authorities. We shall also, by co-ordinating with the media, try to make non-bloggers aware of this, especially, we shall try to garner support from well-known people in other creative fields (theatre, literature and the arts) academics (real management gurus for instance), and also take this to the campuses, especially journalism colleges and departments of journalism in mainstream colleges. To this end, I have already spoken extensively to one of the foremost newspapers from the mainstream media, and efforts to get in touch with the visual media are underway.
One last, and very important thing: A lot of people have already expressed their willingness to be a part of this. Many of you have already commented. If you are convinced that you want to join, in addition to leaving your name here, I request you to mail me your name and number at arka.01@gmail.com. This is just so that we have a way to co-ordinate and keep in touch, especially on d-day. please mark your mails as "protest" in the subject line. Once you have committed, please do not back out.

Comments:
Overwhelming geographical dislocation inhibits one from participating in this stellar effort. As a heads up though, keeping the law in the loop shouldn't be too tough - quite a few of our blogger gang have participated in protests and such. Ditto for the media coverage, with a considerable percentage of the bloggers being journalists and reporters.

Anyhoo, as I said to Arka, anything I can do remotely, I would love to.

Keep the faith.
 
awesome.....

Mr Pony tail...this time...tried to taken on the wrong set of people...

count me in....

o3.indiatimes.com/chicchatting
mail me at s.anish.kumar@gmail.com
 
I am a designer by profession, and can help you to make a few posters/ placards, but not limited to that. I would be glad to offer my services, in all possible ways. Just let me know.
 
PTI to IIPM is insane if its a walk... we shld make a mark by doing it in a strategic place... PTI and IIPM both are good options but alas both are far away from each other...
also i think the idea of meeting to decide the agenda is cool...
arka i suggest you call for a meet to decide the agenda ... instead of doing it online and then just put in the details...
i'm sure people will join in...

we could use help from (media) students if we want number...
 
This sure would be the best thing we could do. Count me in for anything. Not too sure bout the geography of this city...but walking for a cause is absolutly fine with me ~~~
www.arvindiyer.blogspot.com
arvindraman1@gmail.com
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
police wont be a problem as long as we are non-violent and follow street rules they have. i have participated in a protest march in Delhi where some broke the rules. lathi-charge, tear gas etc followed and i also got lathi-ed! so u have an experienced protest marcher here. cya tmrw.
 
count me in

akash
 
Maybe we could formulate a press release of sorts? A curtain raiser to the protest? Inviting anyone who's interested?
See you guys there, then.
 
People, let me know what you decided after meeting on Saturday. I can put you in touch with a few lawyer friends who are sure to know how to get in touch with the police (and basically all issues legal and law enforcement related).
 
What is the POA for getting the whole Blogbang team to sign the release?
 
Hi first time to your blog ... I think there are more important issues to be talked about first ... my ideas neways

1. degradation of society because of ubiquitous semi porn in the media

2. education on importance of education

you could have me in the loop ... my email is ksaravanakumar@gmail.com
 
There are lot of issues I have ... maybe I'm busy to write them up here now ... but neways we'll discuss for the better of society
 
How about plan of including reducing the number of drunkards in the society
 
I don't mean it from the government point of view ... but from a personal point of view ... each blogger takes up responsibility of educating the masses ... getting information and posting positive things
 
akash,
please send me a mail with your cellphone number to arka.01@gmail.com with 'protest' in the subject line if you've decided you'll join the march.
 
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/globalvoices/2005/10/18/india-protest-march/

Check the link out. You guys are getting a raw deal globally. Anwyay, copying the details of the link. Best wishes... (you would need it)

October 18th, 2005 at 12:18 pm K.Krishnamoorthy:
PROTESTING THE PROTEST MARCH

Even though IIPM surely needs to learn from the mishandling of the situation, the protest march idea of these bloggers is hilarious! It would be interesting to ask these self-proclaimed protectors of “freedom of speech and expression” how many times have they organized such protest marches for removing poverty in India, for ensuring the people don’t die because of dying, for committing to removing illiteracy in even their own city!

It would be interesting to know the answer because under the pretext of marking out freedom of speech, all these bloggers are doing is trying to come in the media for a cause which is unbelievable unlettered.

Accepted, there are management institutes and management institutes. But really, so are car manufacturers. I am sure that the next issue this group of bloggers would find would be to have a protest march to protest the lack of aesthetic competence in designers of Aston Martin.

This peace march displays the illiteracy prevalent even in literate masses. The right to organize such a peace march should be exercised only after each member of the peace march has sworn that he/she has spent at least one day in their lifetime doing social work. Because the irony of such incompetence is that not one person will have the committment to stand up to this claim.

Tsk, tsk… But of course yes. Bloggers can claim whatever they wish to, can’t they! And I am sure that the moment this comment is published, there would be a thousand so-called protest marchers who will claim that IIPM should first learn to do social service. Or better, yours truly should learn to do social service. What the heck! Go have the protest march. What better a way than this to shore up the free time of a group of unintellectual unemployed illiterates.

Say what, just give me the time and venue. I’ll be there too buddies; because you know what, I am unemployed, and being a graduate, even I am as good as an illiterate. And the fact that I have devoted so much space to protest a protest march, shows how unintellectual even I am.

So buddies, can I join the club?
 
And I'll make sure whatever media is there, all of them get multiple copies of the above criticism of your protest march...
 
Anonymous,
I am indeed, a social worker.
If you'd like to wax eloquent about the problems of this country, do go on. There are laudable efforts by a tremendous number of people who are workers for those less fortunate. Those without electricity and who have no idea what ethical journalism and free speech are.

(And there will be no 'marching'. You can contact the organisers for details if you'd like to know more.)
 
If all this started because of OUTLOOK speaking out, what puzzles me is For the past 2 years they (OUTLOOK) have been carrying and endorsing IIPM's advertisments in their magazine and even rated them.. hummm and now all of a sudden they have realised that the advertisements were unethical and are fighting for the public against smart misleading advertisments - sounds like a political TAMASHA.. Or is it simply a reaction because IIPM entered their space via Business and Economy, ...I have been doing a little research of my own and this is what i found out . OUTLOOK C-fore had rated IIPM - Mumbai 21st or so in the rankings published (2003), well whats new in that you may ask-----------!!!!!!!!!!!! "THE GOD DAMN INSTITUTE STARTED FUNCTIONING in mumbai 2 MONTHS AFTER THE SURVEY WAS PUBLISHED IN OUTLOOK".. Now i question the credibility of C-FORE and OUTLOOK and this whole controversy!!!!!!!!!!!! KNOCK KNOCK..... Lets plan a march in front of OUTLOOK-C-FORE OFFICE instead.. What Say?????
BREAKING NEWS : JAM magazine sent across a slashed advertising rates proposal seeking IIPM ads in their magazine.... Well can you imagine how will a person react when the offer was put on hold ? ? ? ? ? FREE SPEECH FOR THE DUMB !
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY SO FAR . . .
 
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