1984 Sikh Massacre Trials & Mistry's A Fine Balance

There have been new developments in India's investigation of a 1984 massacre of thousands of Sikhs.

Here's yesterday's BBC article "1984 India riots: Congress leader Jagdish Tytler probed:"

A court has ordered the reopening of a case against a Congress Party leader for his involvement in anti-Sikh riots in 1984.  Jagdish Tytler was originally cleared by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

More than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in 1984 after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Activists accuse Congress of turning a blind eye to the killings and inciting mobs. Mr Tytler denies any wrongdoing.

Lakhwinder Kaur, whose husband was killed in the riots, challenged a 2009 CBI report, arguing that the testimonies of two key witnesses had not been recorded. "The court today gave directions to the CBI to record the statements of the witnesses who had [allegedly] seen Tytler lead the mob," Harvinder Phoolka, lawyer for one of the riot victims, told reporters.

For a novel about the massacre and the events leading up to it, try A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry:

The setting of Mistry's quietly magnificent second novel (after the acclaimed Such a Long Journey) is India in 1975-76, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, defying a court order calling for her resignation, declares a state of emergency and imprisons the parliamentary opposition as well as thousands of students, teachers, trade unionists and journalists. These events, along with the government's forced sterilization campaign, serve as backdrop for an intricate tale of four ordinary people struggling to survive. Naive college student Maneck Kohlah, whose parents' general store is failing, rents a room in the house of Dina Dalal, a 40-ish widowed seamstress. Dina acquires two additional boarders: hapless but enterprising itinerant tailor Ishvar Darji and his nephew Omprakash, whose father, a village untouchable, was murdered as punishment for crossing caste boundaries. With great empathy and wit, the Bombay-born, Toronto-based Mistry evokes the daily heroism of India's working poor, who must cope with corruption, social anarchy and bureaucratic absurdities. Though the sprawling, chatty narrative risks becoming as unwieldy as the lives it so vibrantly depicts, Mistry combines an openness to India's infinite sensory detail with a Dickensian rendering of the effects of poverty, caste, envy, superstition,corruption and bigotry.

Muslim Extremists in Bangladesh & Anam's The Good Muslim

From today's Al Jazeera article "Bangladesh protesters demand blasphemy law:"

One person has been killed as hundreds of thousands of people continued protests in Bangladesh to demand that the government introduce an anti-blasphemy law that would include the death penalty for bloggers who insult Islam.

Nowsher Khan, a local leader of the Awami League was killed in Bhanga, a town south west of Dhaka on Saturday, when Hefazat-e-Islami party supporters clashed with Awami League supporters. The protest on Saturday, called the "long march", with many travelling from remote villages, was sparked after a group of bloggers allegedly began criticising conservative religious parties that are widely popular despite Bangladesh's secular constitution.

Allegedly backed by Jamaat-e-Islami party, Hefazat-e-Islam, an Islamic group which draws support from tens of thousands of seminaries, organised the rally in support of its 13-point demand including enactment of a blasphemy law to prosecute and hang atheist bloggers. Dhaka has been virtually cut off from the rest of the country since Friday afternoon, after secularists called a 22-hour nationwide strike to obstruct the march.

For a novel about Muslim extremists in Bangladesh, try The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam:

In the dying days of a brutal civil war, Sohail Haque stumbles upon an abandoned building. Inside he finds a young woman whose story will haunt him for a lifetime to come. . . . Almost a decade later, Sohail's sister, Maya, returns home after a long absence to find her beloved brother transformed. While Maya has stuck to her revolutionary ideals, Sohail has shunned his old life to become a charismatic religious leader. And when Sohail decides to send his son to a madrasa, the conflict between brother and sister comes to a devastating climax. Set in Bangladesh at a time when religious fundamentalism is on the rise, The Good Muslim is an epic story about faith, family, and the long shadow of war.

Creationism Trial & Lawrence's Inherit the Wind

So it looks like when Californians aren't fending for their lives across some dystopian civil war hellscape, they're trying to push American science back into the 19th century.  Hmmm...I think I'll take the hellscape, thanks.

From Monday's Guardian article “Creationist stakes $10,000 on contest between Bible and evolution:’

A California creationist is offering a $10,000 challenge to anyone who can prove in front of a judge that science contradicts the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis. Dr Joseph Mastropaolo, who says he has set up the contest, the Literal Genesis Trial, in the hope of improving the quality of arguments between creationists and evolutionists, has pledged to put $10,000 of his own money into an escrow account before the debate. His competitor would be expected to do the same. The winner would take the $20,000 balance. The argument would not be made in a formal court, but under an alternative dispute resolution model known as a minitrial. Mastropaolo said he would present the argument in favor of a literal interpretation of the creation story once he had found a willing scientist to argue that a non-literal interpretation of Genesis is more scientific.

This reminds me of something...oh yeah, it reminds me of a similar trial which largely settled this issue *ninety* years ago. Therefore I highly recommend that Dr. Mastropaolo, and anyone else looking for a good read, try Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee’s play Inherit the Wind:

One of the most moving and meaningful plays in American theatre--based on the famed Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, in which a Tennessee teacher was tried for teaching evolution… The accused was a slight, frightened man who had deliberately broken the law. His trial was a Roman circus, the chief gladiators being the two great legal giants of the century. Locked in mortal combat, they bellowed and roared imprecations and abuse.

Heliocentrists, you're next!

Honor Killings & Shafak's Honor

From yesterday's BBC article "Kashmir couple arrested over gruesome 'honour killing:'"

Police in Pakistan-administered Kashmir say they have arrested a couple on charges of murdering their own daughter in the name of honour. The couple admitted to killing the unmarried 18-year-old when they found out she was pregnant, police said. Villagers found the girl's chopped-up body parts in a river, and were able to identify her by the disembodied head. 

Such killings were once rare in Kashmir, but police say they are now happening much more frequently. This is the third reported "honour killing" in the region in five months. 

In October last year in the same Kotli district, police arrested a mother and father on suspicion of murdering their 15-year-old daughter by dousing her with acid in the name of "honour". The couple later told the BBC, while in police custody, that they had killed their daughter for looking at a boy...  

Honour killings are also on the rise across Pakistan, says the country's Human Rights Commission. In 2011 - the last year for which statistics are available - 943 women were killed, an increase of more than 100 on 2010.

For a novel on honor killings, try Elif Shafak's Honor. Here's the review from the Independent:

The first chapter of this novel begins with a daughter in mourning, and develops into an intricate story of an honour killing. We follow three generations of Turkish-Kurds as Shafak weaves her narrative twists, and combines times, places and linguistic inflections with extraordinary dexterity, from 1950s working-class Istanbul to 1970s Hackney and then Shrewsbury prison, 20 years later. This is a powerful tale of cross-cultural lives, motherhood, male violence and cycles of rage and revenge.

Myanmar Unrest & Connelly's The Lizard Cage

I've posted about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge, but haven't written much about what's going on in Myanmar.  Unfortunately, things seem to be taking a turn for the worse.

From yesterday's New York Times article "Myanmar’s Ethnic Minorities Grow Pessimistic About Peace:"

Ethnic conflicts have been described as Myanmar’s original sin, a legacy of hatred and mistrust that fueled more than six decades of intermittent civil war. But the ferocity of deadly rioting between Buddhists and Muslims last week has further underlined how ethnic and religious fissures in Myanmar pose serious impediments to democratic change in the country... Over the weekend, army units restored order to the streets of Meiktila, the city in central Myanmar where a three-day rampage through Muslim neighborhoods by Buddhist mobs left 32 people dead, according to a government tally that many witnesses say is an underestimate.

Myanmar was also in the news earlier this month due to protests against Aung San Suu Kyi. Here's the NYT article "Burmese Laureate Heckled Over Backing Copper Mine:"

Hundreds of angry farmers heckled and walked out on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese politician and Nobel laureate, during a visit on Thursday to villages in central Myanmar that might be displaced by a copper mine. The hostile reception, a stark contrast to the adoring crowds that greeted her after her release from house arrest more than two years ago, underscores the rockiness of her transition from international symbol to elected official.

To learn more about Myanmar (aka Burma) and its conflicts, read The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly:

Teza once electrified the people of Burma with his protest songs against the dictatorship. Arrested by the Burmese secret police in the days of mass protest, he is seven years into a twenty-year sentence in solitary confinement. Cut off from his family and contact with other prisoners, he applies his acute intelligence, Buddhist patience, and humor to find meaning in the interminable days, and searches for news in every being and object that is grudgingly allowed into his cell. Despite his isolation, Teza has a profound influence on the people around him. His very existence challenges the brutal authority of the jailers, and his steadfast spirit inspires radical change.

Nuns & Salzman's Lying Awake

The slew of Pope-posts continues!  (See papal election, Pope and Dirty War, Pope and environmentalism.)

From Saturday's BBC article "Pope Francis wants 'poor Church for the poor':"

Pope Francis has said he wants "a poor Church, for the poor" following his election as head of the world's 1.2bn Catholics on Wednesday. He said he chose the name Francis after 12-13th Century St Francis of Assisi, who represented "poverty and peace". He urged journalists to get to know the Church with its "virtues and sins" and to share its focus on "truth, goodness and beauty". Pope Francis takes over from Benedict XVI, who abdicated last month.

What a change from Pope Benedict! In case you've forgotten, about a year ago Benedict slammed nuns for focusing too much on the poor. Here's the New York Times article on that incident, "Vatican Reprimands a Group of U.S. Nuns and Plans Changes:"

The Vatican has appointed an American bishop to rein in the largest and most influential group of Catholic nuns in the United States, saying that an investigation found that the group had “serious doctrinal problems.”...“I’m stunned,” said Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby founded by sisters. Her group was also cited in the Vatican document, along with the Leadership Conference, for focusing its work too much on poverty and economic injustice, while keeping “silent” on abortion and same-sex marriage.

So what is a nun's life like?  Here are three novels on the subject:

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman:

Mark Salzman's Lying Awake is a finely wrought gem that plumbs the depths of one woman's soul, and in so doing raises salient questions about the power-and price-of faith. Sister John's cloistered life of peace and prayer has been electrified by ever more frequent visions of God's radiance, leading her toward a deep religious ecstasy. Her life and writings have become examples of devotion. Yet her visions are accompanied by shattering headaches that compel Sister John to seek medical help. When her doctor tells her an illness may be responsible for her gift, Sister John faces a wrenching choice: to risk her intimate glimpses of the divine in favor of a cure, or to continue her visions with the knowledge that they might be false-and might even cost her her life.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden:

This extraordinarily sensitive and insightful portrait of religious life centers on Philippa Talbot, a highly successful professional woman who leaves her life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community. In this gripping narrative of the crises surrounding the ancient Brede abbey, Rumer Godden penetrates to the mysterious, inner heart of a religious community—a place of complexity and conflict, as well as joy and love.

The Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme (warning: the novel was written in the 1950s and contains racist depictions of the Congolese):

The lead character of the book, Sister Luke (pre-convent name Gabrielle Van Der Mal), finds her faith tested in Africa where she finds herself at odds with headstrong Dr. Fortunati, operator of a remote Congo hospital, with whom she gradually builds respect, and again during World War II, when she is ordered not to take sides. Ultimately, Sister Luke is forced to decide whether to remain in the convent or return to the outside world. Gabrielle/Sister Luke is stretched between her desire to be faithful to the rule of her congregation and her desire to be a nurse. As a nun she must remove all vestiges of "Gabrielle Van Der Mal" and sublimate herself into the devoted bride of Christ. As a nun there is no room for her personal desires and aspirations. Ultimately, the conflict between her devotion to the Church and the nursing profession, juxtaposed with her passionate Belgian patriotism and her love of her father (killed by Nazi fighter planes while treating wounded) bring her to an impasse...

I wanted novels about modern (20th/21st century) nuns. There are plenty more novels on nuns set in earlier times. The blog Book Group of One has a good list in its post about Nun-Fiction. Another interesting blog post about nun novels is Faith and lies: Two fascinating novels about nuns on Tor.com.

Pedophile Priest Scandals & Haigh's Faith

Since the papal conclave has been in the news recently, there have been a few article highlighting the Catholic church's ongoing sex abuse scandal.  For example, here is yesterday's Guardian article "Catholic church sex abuse ruling could cause big spike in compensation claims:"

The Catholic church could facing spiralling compensation costs after an attempt to avoid liability for abuses committed by priests and nuns was dismissed by the UK supreme court.... Lawyers for the trustees of Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust had appealed against a decision in the court of appeal that they had a duty to compensate a young girl for alleged beatings inflicted by a nun and sexual abuse perpetrated by a priest as long ago as the 1970s... The claim was brought by a 48-year-old woman known as JGE, who cannot be named for legal reasons. She said that as a child she was beaten by a nun at a convent-run care home and later raped and sexually assaulted by a priest.

For a novel about the Catholic child molestation scandals, try Jennifer Haigh's Faith. Here's how the book was described by Goodreads user Jeanette:

The plot crisis occurs in 2002, when the pedophile priest scandal has rocked the Boston Archdiocese. Father Arthur Breen's family is shocked when he is accused of molesting a little boy with whom he has spent a lot of time alone. Arthur's half-sister Sheila McGann narrates the family's history as it relates to the present situation. Their background determines how each family member reacts to the allegations against Arthur.

Afghan Women's Rights & Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns

Sad news out of Afghanistan this week:

Taliban targeting Afghan women and government workers, UN report finds. The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan has decreased for the first time in six years, said the UN, but targeted killings by insurgents – particularly of women, girls and government employees – increased dramatically.... the report showed a 20% increase in the number of women and girls killed or injured. Deliberate targeting by the Taliban and other insurgents also tripled in 2012, said the UN. Most were hit while in their homes or working in fields. Of the 854 female casualties, 504 were a result of insurgent attacks, while foreign and Afghan troops were responsible for 155 deaths and injuries. The Guardian, 19 February 2013

And it looks like a law banning violence against women is facing serious opposition in the parliament:

The Afghan Battle Over A Law To Protect Women. Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a decree in 2009 banning violence against women. But the parliament, which is currently on its winter recess, has been unable to pass it and give it permanence as a law. There's major disagreement on key provisions where Islamic and secular law come into conflict. And activists say the gains made in women's rights since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 are slipping away. Masooda Karokhi, a female member of parliament, has been pushing to get the proposal through the male-dominated legislature. NPR, 20 February 2013

A relevant book I just finished is Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, which follows the lives of two women in 1990s and 2000s Afghanistan as they experience the Soviet invasion and withdrawal, the ensuing battle between warlords, the Taliban takeover, and life following the defeat of the Taliban.  Here's the book jacket description:

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan's last thirty years, from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding, that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives, the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness, are inextricable from the history playing out around them.

Abstinence Education & Perrotta's The Abstinence Teacher

For the "it's news to me" file, here's a week-old U.S. News report "Congressmen Introduce Sex Ed Reform Bill:"

On Valentine's Day 2013, Illinois Reps. Randy Hultgren, a Republican, and Daniel Lipinski, a Democrat, re-introduced the Abstinence Education Reallocation Act, which would reform federal funding of sex education. An earlier version of the bill would have allocated $110 million in annual federal funding to educational programs that include a focus on forgoing sexual intercourse until marriage.

Perfect companion novel? The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta:

Thanks to an off-hand remark made during a class discussion of oral sex, sex-ed teacher Ruth Ramsey finds herself a target of the Christian evangelicals who are increasingly influencing the schoolboard of suburban Stonewood Heights. Forced to attend remedial sessions with a smug “Virginity Consultant,” Ruth is isolated and alone, caught in the polarized red-versus-blue landscape of present-day American suburbia.  Then one morning at her daughter’s soccer game, Ruth meets Tim Mason, a cute forty-something volunteer coach. Ruth feels an instant attraction to Tim, but when he draws the girls together for a spontaneous prayer circle after the game, she angrily yanks her daughter away from the proceedings, placing herself once again in the sights of the evangelicals.

Upcoming Papal Election & Tobin's Conclave*

This morning I read that Pope Benedict XVI is retiring. The race was on to find a papal novel! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything amazing.

 Dan Brown's Angels and Demons is centered on Vatican politics, but it also features evil albino henchmen serving, if I remember correctly, Illuminati-like overlords.  I was looking for a book which stuck a little closer to reality, so that ruled Brown out.  

Andrew Greeley's White Smoke is just what I was looking for plot-wise:  ambitious cardinals vying for the papacy.  Unfortunately, Greeley's writing is atrocious.  Here's a (mercifully) brief sample, an exchange between the journalist Dinny and his editor (who always speaks in exclamations!):

Despite myself and despite the damage that air travel does to my organism, my heart was beating faster. Maybe, like my editor had said, this would be the most exciting story I had ever covered .
"Even more than Rwanda?" I had demanded.
"Absolutely!"
"No way," I had replied as I listlessly rose from my chair. "Nothing more than the Democratic convention. Or maybe even the Republican convention."
"Dinny!" he had shouted at me. "Cut the bullshit! You're dying to go!"
"All right, I'll go home and pack."

I don't know what bothers my organism more! The excessive exclamation marks, the lame joke, or maybe Dinny's immediate change of heart with next to no explanation?! Shoot me now!

Marginally better is Greg Tobin's Conclave:

Born and raised in suburban New Jersey, Timothy John Mulrennan has known since childhood a deep and abiding faith in his God and his Church that leads him to a career as a priest-and propels him onto the stage of...the election of the first Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic church of the third millennium.

Along the way he encounters some of the most remarkable characters in contemporary fiction: Henry Martin Vennholme, leader of the conservative lay movement called Evangelium Christi, and Mulrennan's bitterest enemy within the church...Cardinal Leandro Biagi, a wily and urbane politician who would be at home in the time of the Medicis and Borgias...

I think you get the idea. The question is, how much bad writing/plotting are you willing to wade through to get a fictional account of a papal election? In my case, not much. The only part of this book I can recommend in good conscience is the fast-paced chapter twelve, in which we witness papal election plotting, the entry of a dark horse candidate, and the election's outcome. In sum, it's a bad book (hence the asterisk in this post's title) with one chapter that stands out as the best fictional depiction of a papal election I've been able to find.

Other recommendations of novels/short stories welcome!

Egypt Turmoil & Aswany's Yacoubian Building

From today's Al-Ahram article "Opposition forces set for protests against Morsi government Friday:"

A number of political parties and groups are mobilising for mass anti-government protests on Friday... The call comes after widely published reports of human rights violations against protesters involved in recent anti-government protests, including reports of torture.

A great way to get some insight into the tensions between the supporters and detractors of Egypt's Islamist President Morsi is to read Alaa Al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building, a well-written novel with a cast of characters drawing from nearly all segments of Egyptian society:

All manner of flawed and fragile humanity reside in the Yacoubian Building, a once-elegant temple of Art Deco splendor now slowly decaying in the smog and bustle of downtown Cairo: a fading aristocrat and self-proclaimed "scientist of women"; a sultry, voluptuous siren; a devout young student, feeling the irresistible pull toward fundamentalism; a newspaper editor helplessly in love with a policeman; a corrupt and corpulent politician, twisting the Koran to justify his desires. These disparate lives careen toward an explosive conclusion in Alaa Al Aswany's remarkable international bestseller. Teeming with frank sexuality and heartfelt compassion, this book is an important window on to the experience of loss and love in the Arab world.