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Outrage In India Over Arrests For Facebook Posts

Posted by Soulskill on from the freedom-of-poke dept.

concealment sends in an AP report about an uproar in India over citizens arrested for their Facebook remarks. Quoting: "As India's financial capital shut down for the weekend funeral of a powerful politician linked to waves of mob violence, a woman posted on Facebook that the closures in Mumbai were 'due to fear, not due to respect.' A friend of hers hit the 'like' button. For that, both women were arrested. Analysts and the media are slamming the Maharashtra state government for what they said was a flagrant misuse of the law and an attempt to curb freedom of expression. The arrests were seen as a move by police to prevent any outbreak of violence by supporters of Bal Thackeray, a powerful Hindu fundamentalist politician who died Saturday."

14 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Good thing we got these "real name" policies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...that help keep online interactions civilized! (Surely there's no need for anonymous speech in my society. And of course, if you've got nothing to hide... oops, maybe we do have some things to hide because they are a bunch of NUTS out there.)

    1. Re:Good thing we got these "real name" policies! by Quakeulf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I like anonymity in certain cases and would defend the right to stay anonymous, but when you cannot stay anonymous anymore the "oppressors" have won. Just like calling someone here on /. "Anonymous Coward" is a sign in itself of the general view on anonymous people which is quite immature, and ready for a change into something more neutral like "Anonymous".

    2. Re:Good thing we got these "real name" policies! by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just like calling someone here on /. "Anonymous Coward" is a sign in itself of the general view on anonymous people which is quite immature, and ready for a change into something more neutral like "Anonymous".

      My real name is not ultranova. Yes, shocking I know. But really, my real name is not ultranova. It's just an online pseudonym I use here, which lets me create a narrative about my posts here, and lets other people judge that narrative as they will. And it also allows me to see how that reaction is going, and should it turn unanomously negative - should I be modded down constantly - I could perhaps analyze the criticism and see if it has a point.

      So no, the thing about "Anonymous Coward" is not that anonymity is bad in the sense that you all should know my real name, no, it's about establishing an indentity within this forum and using that to have a debate. The day might come that ultranova disappears to the annals of history, but I, the real human being behind it, will still be here. And I'll remember all the criticism ultranova encountered, whether I agree with it or not. Contrast this with the Anonymous Coward, who can't learn for the simple reason that he can't easily track answers to himself.

      Anonymity is good, but pseudonymity is even better, at least as far as the purposes of Slashdot and public debate in general go.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Slashdot is becoming a long list... by hawks5999 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Slashdot is becoming a long list of arrests by the state for political speech on social media. The sad news is that there is so much to report. Keep bringing it to light /.

    1. Re:Slashdot is becoming a long list... by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, I hope it never gets to the point where we're so inundated with examples that we can't even muster a little outrage.

  3. Going to get worse ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lots of groups and countries are pushing for laws against the defamation of religion and blasphemy.

    But when you lose the right to say "well, see, I don't believe in your god, and I see no evidence for it" -- then society has been taken over my the most vocal (and in some cases violent) people.

    But, in some places, if I said "show me the evidence that Jesus was at least a historical person, let alone the son of god" ... or "Why should I believe that Mohammed was the prophet of god" ... there would be angry mobs ready to burn and stone me because I hurt their feelings. And in many countries, the police would be there to help them.

    We will be seeing more attempts by people to enshrine in law respect for their imaginary friend.

    1. Re:Going to get worse ... by Baloroth · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hey dumb dumb the arrest had nothing to do with Religion. Such bigotry on this site.

      It did, actually, although somewhat tangentially. The leader she was indirectly speaking out against was a leader of a fundamentalist religious movement with a long history of violence that is trying to expel foreigners and non-Hindu ideologies (they call themselves "Shiva's Army", if that tells you anything about their stance).

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    2. Re:Going to get worse ... by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Interesting

      While he opportunistically attached himself to Hindutva ideology in the latter part of his career, Thackeray was really more of an ethno-nationalist than a religious fundamentalist. He started out pretty explicitly as a Marathi nationalist, positioning himself as a hardline advocate for the Marathi ethnic group, and pushing for them to have a privileged position in local politics/economy, versus other Indians who came from ethnic groups not native to Maharashtra. But he wanted to go bigger, so he started playing up more Hindu symbolism at some point to break out of being seen as only a Marathi partisan, even though they remained the core of his followers.

      So in a sense it's religious, but afaict it's not religious in any sort of devout/belief sense, but more in the sense of symbols used to construct a nationality.

      --
      10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    3. Re:Going to get worse ... by neosaurus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm from the region. FWIW that post had nothing to do with religion and Shiv Sena are a chauvinistic bunch of goons in the guise of politicians who are against everything and everyone who is not a native of their state irrespective of religion. They pander to the lowest common denominator and frequently vandalize all around the state and force city shutdowns with political clout and blatant violence. Unfortunately even the Central government has been responsible for similar arrests and attempts to curb free speech and expression in the recent past.

    4. Re:Going to get worse ... by Nostromo21 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I recall something similar happening & in almost exactly the same way, in Germany in the mid/late 30s...hmmm...if only I could put a finger on it...

      Good posts & very informative guys (+1 if I had mod points), as far as Indian politics go, cheers. ;)

  4. dual outrage! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    (1) I'm outraged that people are being arrested for shit they say on Facebook.

    (2) I'm outraged that the entire world seems so stupid as to think it's a good idea to tie real identities to everything they say online SO THAT people who want to use that speech against them are able to. (Never mind that the stupid shit you might have said at 17 will still be there nice and searchable when you are 52 and trying to become mayor).

    Report: Every Potential 2040 President Already Unelectable Due To Facebook>

    1. Re:dual outrage! by ultranova · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They call you Anonymous Coward for a reason. You're outraged that some people in the world seems to have more guts than you do.

      Mighty words for "sydneyfong".

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  5. Shivaji Bhosle Was Historical Figure, Not Deity by sanman2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here, get an education - you ignorant gringo tourist:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivaji

    Shivaji Bhosle was a local freedom fighter from Maratha history, akin to Robin Hood. He fought to protect the rights of local Marathas, waging hit-and-run battles against the Moghul Empire and standing up for the local people against the tyranny of Moghul invaders from the north over his native Maharashtra.

    Bal Thakre and his supporters are also Maharashtrians, and Thakre formed the Shiva Sena ("Army of Shivaji") to stand up for the rights of his local Maharashtrian ethnic group, who were being bullied and pushed around by all the carpetbaggers flooding into his local area from across the country.

    You see, the ruling Congress One Party State has been in power for 53 out of 65 years in New Delhi, ruling the country like an Emperor, caring very little for development of the local people. The Congress Party were basically founded by North Indians and are centred around their ethnic group, and they look down upon non-northern ethnic groups including Maharashtrians, insisting that everyone else assimilate into North Indian culture. The Congress Party has only been interested in hanging onto power and never cared to really foster development around the country, so what few big cities India has have then turned into dumping grounds for people from all over, who then flood into these sole few overcrowded localities, like India's largest city of Mumbai. All this does is keep compressing the people who already live there.

    I'm a North Indian myself, but I have enough decency to at least be self-aware of how shabbily my ethnic group treats others in India, since we are in fact the dominant ethnic group in the country. Of course, most of the Indian media are from my ethnic group, and my Hindi language is also the dominant language of the country, so nautrally we always get to tell the story from our viewpoint, while conveniently glossing over the views of others. Our narrative is therefore the dominant narrative, while others are quickly labeled "extremists", etc to delegitimize their viewpoint. That's the mutual admiration society and the fool's paradise we like to foster for ourselves.

    The Shiv Sena is not a theological organization, but simply born out of a backlash against the massive influx of people from outside the region. We Northies just like to say they're fundamentalists -- it's much easier to dismiss your antagonist as a "fundamentalist redneck" than to actually try to take a closer at their grievances, because nobody likes to see their own warts by holding up a mirror to themselves.

    We get ample help from ignorant people like yourself, who'd ignorantly and uncritically parrot anything sensationalist claims they read or hear, without having any actual familiarity with the local politics.

  6. Shivaji - India's Robin Hood by sanman2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here ya go, Prof Chomsky - here are some pictures of statues built in homage to Shivaji, India's own Robin Hood, who fought for the weak and the oppressed - a real actual person from history, and not a fictional multi-limbed mythological deity:

    http://www.indialine.com/travel/maharashtra/shivajiheritage.html

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/subratomitra/6073279079/

    http://500px.com/photo/5242560

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shivaji_Statue_Apollo_Bunder_Front_View.jpg

    http://www.panoramio.com/photo/27769369

    Shivaji's dog:

    http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/raigad-fort/picture-gallery/Statue-of-Shivaji-pet-dog-Waghya.php

    Yes, he even made it to California:

    http://ekmarathimanoos.blogspot.ca/2011/11/american-shivaji.html

    Just please don't go around telling people that Jesus Montero was a central figure in the Bible, rather than a baseball player.