OCHS Weblog

REUTERS 10:36 a.m. January 29, 2007 

BRUSSELS – Germany will not push during its presidency of the European Union for an EU-wide ban on the swastika and will leave the decision to punish Holocaust deniers in the hands of member states, Berlin said on Monday. 

Germany said earlier this month it wanted to harmonise rules throughout the 27-member bloc for dealing with Holocaust deniers and for punishing displays of the symbol of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party, banned in Germany and several other states. 

But, setting out plans for an EU-wide anti-racism law on Monday, it said it would not seek to prohibit ’specific symbols such as swastikas’.It would also not try to push all EU states to say it is a crime to deny that 6 million Jews were exterminated during World War Two, a draft of Germany’s draft proposal for an EU anti-racism law said. 

Member states could decide not to make the denial of the Holocaust a crime ‘where the conduct is of a kind unlikely to incite to violence or hatred directed against a group or a member of a group,’ the draft showed. 

The German statement did not say why it had decided against pushing for EU bans on swastikas, but some other EU countries are wary of such legislation and so a community-wide ban may not be achievable. 

Denying the Holocaust is a crime punishable in European countries such as Germany, Austria and France with prison terms of as much as 10 years. 

But other countries do not consider it as a crime and have resisted moves for an EU-wide legislation. 

The Italian cabinet stopped short of making Holocaust denial illegal when it approved a draft law last Thursday imposing jail terms for racist or ethnically motivated crimes. 

The EU’s executive Commission proposed an EU-wide anti-racism law in 2001 but EU states failed to agree, struggling over the limit between freedom of expression and sanction of racism. 

One of the most contentious issues at the time was whether denying that the Holocaust had taken place was a crime. 

Germany’s new draft suggests that incitement to racism and xenophobia would be punishable by at least 1 to 3 years of jail in all 27 EU states, while leaving to each state to decide on the specifics. 

Watch Amitabh Bachchan recite the ‘India Poised’ anthem

http://www.indiapoised.com/video2.htm#m1

An interesting ‘call to arms’, a civilisation questioning its identity and a dramatic performance.

January 16, 2007  Kota (IANS) 

With the demand for English-speaking Hindu priests growing both in India and abroad, a Rajasthan organization has started teaching the language to local pundits. 

The pundits are being specifically taught the English translation and meaning of Sanskrit Vedic mantras or chants. The exercise would help the pundits provide their services to Indians living abroad as well as to non-resident Indians (NRIs) coming to get married here. According to tourism industry figures, over 30 NRI weddings were to be held in Jaipur between December 2006 and March 2007. 

A 20-day training module for priests that ended Sunday was held at the Jyoti Convent School in Kota. As many as 70 students, including some retired people, first chanted the Sanskrit mantra with their teachers and then learnt their English translation. The students are enthusiastic about their new classes. “We first chant the mantra in Sanskrit then learn its English translation. Indian culture is universal and should be preached in every language,” said one of them, Vinay Tiwari. 

The Rajasthan Sanskrit Academy and Sanskritam of Kota is undertaking the classes. The organisers feel that Indians living abroad are slowly drifting away from their own culture. They don’t know Sanskrit and it is difficult to make them understand Vedic mantras. But priests who can offer English translations would certainly help. 

“It’s the first time such an effort is being made,” said Sanjay Chawla, an English teacher. The students would be taught English translations of mantras required for general rituals and ceremonies, he said. 

Said R.M. Gupta, a US-based NRI: “It would help people like me who have come here to get sons or daughters married”. “In February last year, I had come to get my son married. Many friends and colleagues from the US and Britain came to attend the wedding. I had to arrange for a translator along with a pundit to help them understand the mantras. Now only a pundit would be sufficient,” he said. 

www.telegraph.co.uk

LONDON, ENGLAND, December 27, 2006: New lessons in Indian history announced today are anti-British according to a curriculum association. It accuses the Government’s curriculum advisers of a “politically correct” interpretation of Britain’s imperial past based on false claims about Winston Churchill. Chris McGovern, the director of the History Curriculum Association, says “The general tone of the unit is anti-British, with little about positive consequences of imperial rule.”

He has spotted errors of fact which portray Churchill in a bad light. The unit states that “Churchill’s view of Gandhi as a ‘half-naked fakir’ can be contrasted with the popular acclaim Gandhi received.” In fact Churchill said in 1931 that Gandhi was “posing as a fakir” and that he strode “half naked up the steps of the vice regal palace.” The term “fakir” was used derogatively at the time to denote a common street beggar who pretended to be a religious mystic by chanting ho ly names and scriptures. “In effect teachers are being encouraged to use made-up evidence which is very much in line with the approach of New History,” said Mr McGovern. A widely-used school text book covers the British Empire through the made-up words of what the dead might say if they could come back to life, he says.

Ken Boston, the QCA’s chief executive, says the unit is intended to help schools explore the impact of British rule in greater depth. “Given the mix of nationalities in England, it is important to foster understanding through learning. Children need to learn about British history, but also need to improve their knowledge of the events that shaped the world we live in,” he said. “Learning more about the recent history of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh can help children better understand the legacy of the British Empire, providing an important and valuable insight into the history of their own country.”