Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 11:45:26 +0100
From: Enrica Garzilli <garzilli-AT-shore.net>
Subject: Re: **Bride burning and dowry death conference at Harvard**



Partha Banerjee wrote:
> 
> Dear Enrica,
> 
> I am glad that you are on their list of speakers. But the Indian left is
> totally excluded by the organizers. And I think, deliberately. As you know,
> this is almost a one-man show. This person has a lot to say as to who is
> invited and who is not. If you are not in his "good-book", you are out.
> It's that simple.

That's perhaps true. However, my name is there. And he knows very well
that I cannot be manipulated so easily (not even Harvard could do it,
when I was a Lecturer there...:)).
 
> Of course, non-Indians (specially whites) are always welcome by most
> Indians, as you know. Regardless of their political affiliation. This is
> not a racist comment against whites. This is an observation about the
> so-called mainstream Indian immigrants.

The point is: how is useful to invite a certain person. This is true for
every conference organized by anybody. There are always people who are
invited because their names are more "relevant" than other names.  Or
because they can reciprocate the favor. 
Regardless how much he/she is good, informed, or is black or white.
 
> As far as the conference organizers, how many lives have they saved so far
> since they first hosted it at Harvard back in 95? I would be willing to
> know.

Partha, our (at least mine) aim and my "mission" is to study and to
inform. Whoever makes culture as his/her first job -- intentionally --
rarely takes the gun, or personally goes to families to prevent, or to
organize women "in person". One cannot expect scholars to be also
guerrilleros.
I for example discovered long ago that words kan kill (my body, my jobs
-- against myself) and can heal. And I am much better with those than
with many other things. But i put my nose here and there, and I speak
up. Believe, not many people like this... E.g., I was very hard done for
this at Harvard...
To stop the bride-burning situation everybody should work, together.
Each of us in our field and by our means.
As for Indians, BTW, my friend Rani Jetmalani, who was invited and who
had to refuse due to serious health problem, works for free for
jeopardized women and in law suites where women are involved. She does
really a lot *for free* in Courts and near the Indian Governement. You
know very well she is "liberal". She also was one of the representatives
at the Beijing meeting. Her husband does the same, and for free. They
live in India and work in India. They are activists in India.

I also spoke in a MIT meeting sponsored by a nice of Advani. So what?
Should I talk only to the few "initiated" who think like me? On one side
the organizer(s) were also not happy at all of what I said, on the other
a hungry Indian woman (supposidely, a scholar) came just after my speech
-- she had heard nothing -- and attacked me to be right-oriented and so
on. That's silly. And my presence made everybody unhappy. So what? 

One should go there, to the heart of the problem, in India, to have some
power at least to inform. There where right-oriented people or right
wing parties are more active, present, and the problem is really a
problem.

I live the fact that right wing people speak in this conference a nice
provocation, and the fact you discussed with them a even better fact. At
least, things do not happen silently with the complicity of everybody.
You have been useful to the news. This is important if you want common
people to have a political consciusness on dowry deaths (1st step before
action).

BTW, I also was not invited to the 3rd Conference in England. I was not
even informed by anybody.....:) 

Enrica
--
Dr. Enrica Garzilli                 University of Perugia (ITALY)
Istituto di Linguistica                      Piazza Morlacchi, 11
06123 Perugia                  Tel./Fax: +39-75-585 3755 (office)
Editor-in-Chief, 
Intl. Journ. of Tantric Studies, Journal of S. Asia Women Studies
htpp://www.asiatica.org/
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