Slashdot Mirror
Concern Over India PM's Silicon Valley Visit
New submitter SAsiaFaculty writes: India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will visit Silicon Valley on September 27, 2015 to promote his vision of "Digital India." Mr. Modi was denied the right to visit the United States from 2005 -2014 because of his role as the chief minister of Gujarat in the violence that rocked the state in 2002 when 1,000 people died. The visit, his second to the United States since becoming Prime Minister, has generated enthusiasm in India and in the Indian community in the United States. It has also elicited a cautionary statement with more than 135 signatures from faculty who teach and do research about South Asia at U.S. universities.
The letter urges Silicon Valley leaders to be mindful of their corporate responsibility and ensure that Mr. Modi's Digital India project promotes transparency, protection of human rights and civil liberties and intellectual freedom. Aspects of the "Digital India" program have raised questions in India about the lack of privacy safeguards and the possibility of enhanced surveillance and the repression of Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights. A response to comments critical of the statement has been posted on the AAUP site.
The letter urges Silicon Valley leaders to be mindful of their corporate responsibility and ensure that Mr. Modi's Digital India project promotes transparency, protection of human rights and civil liberties and intellectual freedom. Aspects of the "Digital India" program have raised questions in India about the lack of privacy safeguards and the possibility of enhanced surveillance and the repression of Indian citizens' constitutionally protected rights. A response to comments critical of the statement has been posted on the AAUP site.
The letter urges Silicon Valley leaders to be mindful of their corporate responsibility and ensure that Mr. Modi's Digital India project promotes transparency, protection of human rights and civil liberties and intellectual freedom.
To be fair, it would be nice if Silicon Valley leaders themselves cared a bit more about those things, too. The start-up, VC-driven culture in the Valley isn't exactly known for its nuanced interpretation of things like privacy, security, and honesty with customers about where things are going and how much of what they're buying into will still be there later.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Anyone else have a problem this was submitted by, not just a brand new user, but someone who is clearly one of the 135 signatures below that cautionary statement? The fact that it's batshit obvious this is a one-sided story, (username "SAsiaFaculty" was a bit of a tell) doesn't somehow excuse the fact that it's biased. It's one thing when a user links to their blog for a review of a piece of hardware, but when people write opinion pieces and make it look like regular news, that's fucked up. Even for /.
> The modern KKK may be odious, but they don't go around beheading people.
The KKK is only better than ISIS in that they never had total control of territory like ISIS. If you take note of the carnage of christian fundamentalism in the not-too-distant colonial era, ISIS isn't even that brutal - blowing people off cannons, slitting throats of fellow christians for being of a different sect, plenty of slave rape etc etc. Yes, that was all in the past. And no, it is not proper to compare the maturity of people from an advanced & prosperous country, with those at a very different stage of development.
> The BJP is aggressively forcing Hindu traditions onto non-Hindus.
The national government isn't. A few local governments are... mostly for reasons of populism (a milder equivalent in US is Ten Commandments everywhere). Strictly speaking, there are plenty of instances and even recommendations to eat beef in Hindu scriptures and the case is being made. India isn't like Ireland denying life-saving abortions to non-christians, because it is a "catholic country".
> When muslims object, they are told to "go to Pakistan".
The statements of a few colorful demagogues do not constitute official policy. No one is forcing muslims to leave the country. India is the only country in the neighborhood where the population of its minorities as a %, actually increased. In all the rest, it declined. India has special laws that give additional support to minorities. But no, you prefer to miss the big picture and insist on focusing on non-representative and colorful press reports because it suits your prejudices. You probably also think India has a special rape problem.
> How is that different from the KKK saying that black Americans should "go back to Africa"?
Different by not sustaining a campaign of physical intimidation like KKK did?
> Saying that non-Hindus are not "real" Indians is no better than saying non-whites are not "real" Americans.
Actually, even the proponents of Hindutva say that non-Hindus are sons of the soil, as long as they acknowledge their ancestral roots and a common civilization. Hindutva is about nationalism, more than religion. The angst comes from the partition and the colonial experience, not religious fundamentalism. India had a tradition of such harmony where muslims wrote epic poems on hindu mythical figures and hindus went/and still go to muslim mystics and shrines. After the painful partition, the balance of trust was damaged between the communities.