We are absolutely thrilled at the kind of support we have been getting from the various students communities. We proudly announce yet another partnership, this time with Manipal Institute of Communication. Mutiny is going to host a live event blog to be maintained by the students of the Institute. Please follow this space for more.

Besides these partnership during the events, we are also looking forward to establish a regular communication channel with the students communities via which they can send us their writings, views for both the print and web editions of Mutiny. More on this later.

Below is the press release of the annual communication festival Article 19

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That most sacred of non-religious Indian texts - The Constitution of India embodies under Article 19, the quintessential freedom of a democracy. The right to freedom of expression. Sprouting from that principle, the Manipal Institute of Communication, a constituent college of Manipal University, Karnataka, is hosting Article-19: its annual communication festival this year between February 26 and 28.

Sponsored by, among others, The Centre for Internet and Society, A-19, as the fest is popularly known, is bigger than ever before.

The likes of editors MJ Akbar and TJS George; blogger Chandrahas Choudhury; celebrated filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and journalist Annie Zaidi have graced previous editions of the fest. This year, as the chief guest of A-19, the multi-talented ad guru Prahlad Kakkar will participate in the festival. Further, A-19 will feature workshops, seminars and paper presentations on pressing issues in the media by notables like documentary filmmaker Mike Pandey, celebrated film editor Sankalp Meshram, CEO of Corporate Blogging Pvt. Ltd., Kiruba Shankar and broadcast journalist Sandhya Ravishankar.

The flagship event of A-19, as in the past editions will be the Express Awards - an effort to identify and award that one uncompromising thing irreplaceable in all the greatest works of art: Quality. There are ten categories under the awards, namely Radio Express, Ad (Print) Express, Ad (TV) Express, Animation Express, Graphics Express, Journalism (Print) Express, Journalism (Broadcast) Express, Photography Express, Film Express and Documentary Express. Interested participants may register their entries at the website http://www.article-19.com/.

Last year’s highly successful Manipal Media Students’ Convention will be featured this year as a part of A-19. MMSC aims to provide for an avenue for industry-academia interaction, thereby bridging the gaps between media education curricula and the media industry’s training needs. This is done by inviting media professionals for a no-holds-barred ‘unconference’ with the students attending the Convention. The theme for this year’s MMSC is Media Management. And if past experience is anything to go by, this year too we shall get to see some interesting intellectual fruition.

Also, as a special environment initiative, this year’s festival will see something never seen before in any university in India. Power Off for an Hour will see the entire university town of Manipal voluntarily shut down its power grid as a gesture to promote prudent energy consumption and propagate energy consciousness in India. As the ambassador for this cause, we could think of no one better than actor and social activist Rahul Bose, who will march with throngs of students in pitch darkness to promote social responsibility about power consumption.

Other sponsors are Union Bank, AirTel and Greenply.

So Ram Sene say they’ll get the dating couples married on Valentine’s day. So Muthalik is the real Cupid after all. He’ll get marriages solemnized by force and would also take them to marriage registrar. Yeah right, marriage registrar is Muthalik’s father’s servant. He is sitting there to attend to Muthalik’s psychological disorders.

In response came this brilliant idea from @priyaraju on Twitter. “Gay couples should hang out on V Day before Muthalik’s house. Let him marry them off & do something good for a change.” I so loved this idea really.

We have so many of these fascist elements in India who just go about blurting any kind of crap they want to and no body even says anything to them. They go about saying ‘we’d kill all non-Marathas’, ‘we’d beat up women if they wear a certain dress’; from sheer crime to unconstitutional propaganda, all is passed in the name of freedom of speech here.
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A few of us on Twitter and Blogaloreans list were discussing about what we can do about this Ram Sene issue and an idea struck us, in order to challenge the various threats from Mr. Muthalik and Ram Sene what we should do is dare him. He threatened us against celebrating valentines day, we want to challenge him by having a mass valentine’s day celebration.

An actual event started taking shape since then. A Free Hug campaign on 14th Feb 2009 in Bangalore. We would be out in groups offering free hugs to the people of Bangalore, carrying placards like, ‘Happy Valentines Day, I love you, Hug me, ‘Public Display of violence is not part of Indian culture’ etc. (The more and the more creative ones, the merrier) Exact venue and time not yet fixed but we’ll keep you posted.

My appeal is to all the girls, women, moms, grand moms, sisters, daughters, girl friends and wives alike to join us in this campaign. (Pardon me for making this appeal to girls only, but I trust that men would certainly be there in support of this)

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So, here’s what has happened before. Sandil wrote this post about how he refused to accept Republic day wishes from a person who is himself guilty of violating fundamental rights of other citizens. The man in question is someone who wrote very violently against the Muslim community under the pretext of Freedom of Speech. Sandil’s point - you cannot violate another’s right to practice free religion and live with dignity just because you have a right to express. You cannot exercise your right if it clashes with another’s. For eg. Raj Thackeray shouldn’t be allowed to go about spreading hatred for North-Indians under the garb of freedom of speech.

Rohit crosslinked to it and gave his counter opinion here. (I linked Rohit’s post because incidentally he happens to have represented the 18 odd mutineers who commented on Sandil’s post. According to Rohit exercise of one’s fundamental right can never technically clash with another’s. Everybody has an opinion and they are allowed, by the Constitution to make it heard / read etc. As long as the likes of Raj T’s are not doing anything illegal we cannot complaint. An example cited by him goes something like this - my liking for Nandita Das cannot restrict another’s right to dislike her. So it is unless the MNS takes law in its hand, go about vandalizing /beating etc. it is within its fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.

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When: Today

Time: 5pm

Venue: Gandhi Statue, MG Road, Adjacent to Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.

Called by: Various Women’s Rights organisations in Bangalore.

Call me for directions: 9900119681

All you people talking about hope, men in particular, blaming me of being cynical and inflammatory, this is your chance to prove that with your talks of hope you actually intend to do something. Whatever little that may be. I would at least go out of the comfort of my AC office and stand with my fellow women activits, what are you doing with your talks of hopes?

PS. I already heard some of the self-deceptive hypocrites telling me, such meeting or demonstration woudln’t help the situation. Right, blogging woudln’t help, going out and demostrating wouldn’t help, lighting candles wouldn’t help, pray tell me what would?

We saw the re-runs over and over again on all the channels. Bunch of men going about hitting some girls openly. One girl was seen running out of the gate and a man slapped her, another girl fell on the floor and was kicked, another girl seen sitting on a sofa a man seen pulling her by hair and then slapping her, another girl was pushed from the back so she would fall.

These men just walked into a pub in Mangalore and started physically assaulting the women hanging out there having a drink or two. Anonymous girl on NDTV said the men called them names like prostitute, whores.

The men in question all members of right wing Hindu group called Sri Ram Sena. CM of Karnataka only reacted only after 48 hours. Home minister said it is being blown out of proportion, top cop in Bangalore blamed media for being busy recording the horror instead of calling police (although in the video we can see cops). Pramod Muthalik is the man behind this Hindu terrorist group.

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We are much pleased to find that Mutiny has been nominated for the Best Small blog award at the 2008 Weblog awards.

The Weblog Awards are the world’s largest blog competition with over 545,000 votes cast in 2007 edition and nearly two million votes cast in all editions since 2003.

For The 2008 Weblog Awards open and public nominations in 48 categories began on November 3, 2008.  [From their about page]

Mutiny readers commentators subscribers, please vote for Mutiny. Even though its a bit too late but let’s give it a shot…what say? 

Click here to Vote for Mutiny

NOTE: Polls close Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 10:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

It has been a long wait, we know, but the good news is that Mutiny’s 2^nd edition, December 08 has finally been published, printed and dispatched to all its subscribers. If you are one of the paid subscribers of the print edition and have not yet got your copy do write to us. We’ll check with our courier services.

I want to take a moment to thank each of our paid subscribers for being the greatest strength behind the print edition. As Chacko has rightly put in the Dec editorial, “The fact that you are reading this issue is a testimony to the fact that there are a lot of you out there who want us to succeed.” Each one of you is our greatest patron for you have put faith in us and subscribed to Mutiny at the very launch.  Thank you all on behalf of the whole team.

In the December edition we have mostly discussed the topic of regionalism. Joseph Thomas wrote how people stand divided on petty grounds even within the state of Kerala, united India is a distant dream. We have a rock star giving his take on ‘Rock On’ the truth of Music industry. There’s also a Mutineer’s view on the ‘No smoking law’; a photo feature and travel write up on Badami the forgotten land in Karnataka.   

We are absolutely thrilled to receive feedback from our readers. Please continue sending criticism, feedback, suggestion, ideas etc and help us grow. Let me also share some of them with you.

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The Iraqi journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, 28, a correspondent for Al Baghdadia, an independent Iraqi television station, stood up about 12 feet from Mr. Bush and shouted in Arabic: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” He then threw a shoe at Mr. Bush, who ducked and narrowly avoided it.

Ok everybody got him wrong, arrested him and put him behind bar and what not, some how I have a feeling he meant no harm. All that the Iraqi journalist was trying to do was catch George Bush’s attention. May be, like the prince charming, he was trying to find his Cinderella by showing the shoes.

Jokes apart it is so ridiculous and shameful. How is this incident any different from a bunch of students spitting on an SAR Geelani, a professor sitting on the panel in the middle of a seminar in Delhi University.

Anger and rage are deadly things, we never know what they may lead to. One loses control over his mind in anger and that’s why even in law, a certain general defence is granted to crimes committed in a fit of rage. However nothing that is done with a cool mind and premeditation can be called an act in a fit of rage. These incidents, of shoe throwing and spitting are certainly not done in a fit of rage. If these so called protesters claim that it was their pain and passion that led them to do such ghastly acts, I’d say, “What shit load of crap.”

President Bush is an elected representative of a free democratic nation and if not anything he is a fellow human. What makes another human to stoop so low in gimmicks in order to voice his protest. Wasn’t his ‘pen’ powerful enough that he had to display such vulgar lack of tolerance. What was he thinking? Is that the way civilized people should communicate?

As time goes, as we have more mass murderers carrying guns and grenades and openly defying a nation’s sovereignty, I realize that the only things that can keep us alive is tolerance and calm. I too used to be an angry person as a teenager. Hot blood rebel mind and all that. I used to make fun of Gandhiji because I thought he was too timid and weak. But today I realize that we’d all simply perish in no time if we all were to lose the non violence and tolerance that Gandhiji preached and inculcated.

Back home, the kind of nationalism we are trying to show by denying Kasab, the only terrorist caught alive in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, a right to seek legal assistance is not just lack of tolerance but being plain dumb. A court cannot do a trial unless there are two parties to argue the case. If no lawyer would defend his case he might just get away on mere technicality. Right to legal defence is a fundamental right in our Constitution. By not letting the lawyer defend Kasab we are running into the risk of Kasab filing writ petition and complicating the matter further.

We seem to have forgotten the simplest of lessons we learnt in our primary school days, two wrongs can never make a right. Whether George Bush or Kasab or Geelani, no civilian has the right to take an extra judicial decision and inflict a punishment on them. The law of the land should be the same and every single person must abide the law.

To All in Bangalore,

Mutiny Founder, the much hated and the equally loved Chacko is in town this Saturday, 13th December.

We thought this is a good excuse for all of us to meet. We have lived long enough in the virtual world, we have done it all, we loved, we hated, we survived through thick and thin (ok, you’d know what I am talking about if you are a regular at Mutiny, particularly the comments bit). Now its time for the Titans to meet in flesh and blood, hear the roars for real and…well say hello and drink some coffee. Ah well, beer too, may be.

So, this is going to be a casual meet, no fancy agenda except that we want to hear from you on, “where do you wish to see Mutiny 5 years from now: from blog to magazine, next is what?”

Come with bags full of bouquets and brickbats, come with either of them or even neither, come with thoughts, ideas whatever it is you have in mind for Mutiny, or simply drop by to say hello

Saturday, 13th December 2008

5 pm, Cubbon Park, at the Bandstand (here’s a pic of the octagonal Bandstand)

Please do confirm your attendance to me, sanjukta[at]mutiny.in with your name and contact number, so that we’d know how many of you are able to make it, and then we’d look through our wallets to see if we can buy you all a coffee or a beer. Also, in case of last minute change of venue, we’d inform you. So please do confirm.

See you all then.