specialfocus

Statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa about KZN “Much of the narrative around the events in Phoenix has been dominated by attempts to turn one race against another. It has been stoked by anonymous people on social media and in messaging groups making outrageous claims and calling for revenge … They will not succeed. South Africa has a proud history of principled non-racialism and working-class solidarity. African and Indian communities were united in the struggle against apartheid and, together with other communities, remain committed to a united and democratic society,” Ramaphosa said. The president blamed the tensions on people trying to cause mayhem and pursue their own goals by presenting criminal acts in racial terms. “In response to the fear and mistrust, the people of Phoenix and the neighbouring areas of Bhambayi, Zwelitsha, and Amaoti are working to repair the damage. …

The anti-Indian program of the Durban riots of 1949 let to death of 142 South African Indians and led to around 40 000 Indian refugees.

A popular Australian newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, needs to be sent a message on cultural insensitivity and hypocrisy. Not only do they run a cartoon showing Lord Ganesha being bashed, these chumps ran previous reports about Ganesha disrespected in Australia before. The cartoon deals with the repatriation of Indian Australians. Why the image of a spiritual and religious icon was shown being bopped on the head is confusing. Perhaps Australia has no features apart from Kangaroos, Koalas and Sheep that they think an animal icon is the same as the God why symbolises the removal of obstacles for actions? The Petition at Change.org Australia is a multi-cultural society, and no one has the right to disrespect any faith or religion. The Daily Telegraph have insulted Hindu Diety (Ganesha) which is utterly disrespectful to the faith of Hindus living in Australia and abroad. …

We started doing a review of the streaming films available – a best of Indian recent movies – and when we researched most of the big releases on Netflix we found that most of them managed to piss a lot of people off. Netflix came of age during the 2010s – the time of Donald Trump and then went ballistic during lockdown. Therefore it has the political nature of being careful what it puts out, being sensitive and occasionally sending messages. However, the messages that we see are not about uplifting the people of the subcontinent and diaspora, but little digs at the very identify of being Indian. We caucused some of our advisors and got similar views: in many cases they thought they were the only ones to see the portrayal. Some weren’t offended, but said they would be …

The New York Times sees itself as the news source of record and always has throughout its 170 year old history. Recently is has been difficult to discern journalism from activism as it supports a strong neo-liberal bias. As India struggles with the strong rise on Covid cases, the NYT has gone to town with the visuals of funeral pyres – the traditional cremation of Hinduism. While showing corpses is insensitive in itself, its images of American deaths during their peak are entirely sensitive and veiled, no hint of a corpse at all. Indian PM Narendra Modi is a divisive character in an already divided US. HIs strong Indian policies don’t suit the US economy and other allies and he won’t participate in the current way the politics is conducted in the West. It is therefore possible that the selection …

Overwhelming majority of yoga instructors and practitioners in USA and Alabama were non-Hindus and they usually stayed non-Hindus sticking to their own respective faith traditions even after years of yoga practice; Hindu statesman Rajan Zed stated after an Alabama yoga bill that would allow yoga in public schools ran into a roadblock on March 31.  Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, urged Alabama state senators to show maturity, wake-up to the needs of Alabama’s pupils and support introduction of multi-beneficial yoga in public schools ((banned since 1993).  Many Alabama public universities and city governments had already offered yoga and many Alabama churches had hosted yoga classes; reports suggest. Yoga was urgently needed to be incorporated in the lives of Alabama’s public-school students; Rajan Zed noted.  Read: Alabama bans yoga – worried that millions will convert to Hinduism… Zed …

The US state of Alabama has blocked a yoga bill that would have lifted a decades-old ban on the ancient Indian practice of physical yoga in public schools. This is after objections from conservative groups who feared that followers of Hinduism might start conversion amongst kids doing yoga. We wish this was an April Fool’s joke, but we respect the official window for news pranks, and a prank it ain’t. The Alabama Board of Education in 1993 had voted to prohibit yoga, along with hypnosis and meditation in public schools in the southeastern state. Last year in March, the Alabama House of Representatives voted 84-17 to pass the “Yoga Bill” which was moved by state legislator Jeremy Gray from the Democratic Party. The bill was then moved to the state Senate for approval, paving the way for it to become …

In a meeting with the Student Union at the University of London, Habib used the n-word multiple times to make a point. This did not go down well, cascaded into chaos and as a result Habib was suspended as director of the University’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Chair of the SOAS board of trustees, Marie Staunton, said that they were also committed to taking action after student complaints that other lecturers had in the past used the slur without reproach. Staunton said that she had agreed with Habib that he would step aside while the probe took place. 1. I notice some individuals deliberately misrepresented a conversation in a student meeting yesterday. The video is deliberately cropped in a way to misrepresent. Unfortunately many others have rushed to judgement without the full facts. So let me explain what …

Mediation was set up by the Equality Court (Chatsworth District) between Reverend Llewelyn Joseph of Revival Ministries and the South African Dharma Sabha and brought it to a satisfactory reconciliation. The Dharma Sabha put forward this case in 2020, supported by Indian Spice reporting and its own complaint, when statements made by Rev Joseph alleged that Kavady was a time when ‘that curse or those spirits are working in and through your home’. Both parties submitted to the Court that their religion support the nature of this mediation and peaceful settlement. Hinduism asserts that all religions are to be respected, intolerance not tolerated, forgiveness must be earned and apologies sincere; in turn, Christ exemplifies peace, reconciliation and forgiveness. Rev Joseph apologised unreservedly for his remarks, albeit taken out of context and professed great respect for the Hindu community as well …

Amazon Prime Video that aired the controversial series Tandav, has issued an apology to anyone who felt insulted with the depiction of Lord Shiva in a play within the show by Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub. “Amazon Prime Video again deeply regrets that viewers considered certain scenes to be objectionable in the recently launched fictional series ‘Tandav’. This was never our intention, and the scenes that were objected to were removed or edited when they were brought to our attention,” Amazon Prime said in a statement. he Allahabad High Court on Thursday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Aparna Purohit, the head of India Originals, Amazon Prime Video, in a case filed in Noida against makers of the web series ‘Tandav’ over the depiction of police, the Prime Minister and Hindu Gods and Goddesses. ‘Tandav Shiva apology’ A single-judge bench of Justice …