Finally, people are coming together to voice their concern against rising intolerance and moral policing. A forum is being created to facilitate exchange on issues of morality, personal liberty and freedom of speech and expression in Chennai.
I did a story on the meeting that happened on Friday evening.
Those interested can register by emailing sanerchennai [at] yahoo [dot] com. There is a meeting scheduled to happen at the Asian College of Journalism on October 15, 10 a.m. Please land up for the first brainstorming session to discuss modus operandi. How do we carry out the campaign for civil rights and personal liberty? How do we engage people involved — the lawmakers, the police, the state and the judiciary — in a discussion to create a progressive society free from Taliban-like legislation?
The forum has over 60 volunteers already, including noted lawyers, doctors, businessmen, journalists and even students. One thing we discussed in the meeting was the need to mobilise young people for the movement, especially because they are the most affected and hence have an active role to play considering the future of the civil society.
If we want to be a modern evolved society, we cannot stop with protests and online bitching, we need to engage people involved in a dialogue and reason it out with them. For which, we need to become a significant body that represents the voice of a silent majority. We need to be able to deal with hypocrites and arm-twist them into making them see sense. It is a tough task cuz most of them know they have different sets of rules for men and women. The only to do this is to become a significant mass, a body whose opinions they cannot ignore, a body that reflects sentiments of a significant vote bank. We need to get them on TV and influence more like-minded people to make themselves heard, through electoral franchise or moulding public opinion. There were some fascinating points that came up during the meeting, sure-fire strategies to preserve personal liberty and freedom of speech and expression.
For which, we need you, you, you, you and you to join. The stronger we are, the more power we weild. Let’s show them who rules in a democracy — we, the people!
MADRAS INK. 
I raise my hand!!!
Joining this forum!!
Will chat online!!
abhi
good one.i’ll make it to the forum.
in addition to this I want all chennai-ites to unite and raise our voices against the I & B ministry for imposing CAS.We failed to do this in 2003 while the other 3 metros did so and eluded CAS.could u help me with this?
Excellent effort..i would have joined if i was in india..but nonethless good luck with it..democracy rules and its for the peole to uphold it.hey i got an idea i want the women of anna universiy to protest against mens english way of clothing..they should clain they are distracted by the pants of the chancellor the butt and the stuff and his arms in the shirt ..so he should wear only loose white shirts and veshti..this goes for all the male staff..lets see em do that..bring it on!!
Girish.
Excellent Sudhish. Way to go. I am glad these things are happening in Chennai. I read your report in the Hindu. Geetha Doctor’s point was right on target.
Though I am not in India, I’d like to become a part of this movement. I’ve sent an email to the id you had given.
Thank you
hi sudhish, nice blog. heard about your blog through narayanan sir’s blog.
glad you are doing something about the state of things in chennai. i am sure if you pay a few people the current going rate and supply them with a few brooms, they will camp outside any persons house or hotel and protest.
😦
*is poked here by someone who was poked by abhi!*
I would, but no longer on list of current Chennaites… But I can and will spread the word.
I’m from VIT. Lauded “cosmopolitan” college – that suspended a girl (but they were fair, it’s not going to go on the record) for complaining (officially – “encouraging”) about a guy who was sms-stalking her. Wow. Both guy and girl suspended for same lenght of time.
AU can’t beat that. Yet.
what’s with the exclamation mark after every other blog title?
buddy,
hope you know about this….
http://www.desipundit.com/2005/10/08/lies-damned-lies-and-fake-blogs/
http://sambharmafia.blogspot.com/2005/10/join-fight-against-iipm-and-string-of.html
can you join hands ??
it would be wonderful if you could pull the Mainstream media into it…that would be real fun…
Thanks,
Kiran
facilitate exchange on issues of morality, personal liberty and freedom of speech and expression in Chennai
y is it chennai-centric? isnt it abt the situation in the entire state?
I think the media has blown up this issue out of proportions…We must ignore these silly Tamil magazines making silly comments about a reputed actress. Why are Chennaites overreacting?
Opposing the Anna University’s imposition of dress code on women students makes more sense since it is a direct way of curbing the women students freeedom but the Khushboo issue is silly and it need not create such a furore.
And truly one’s stance on morality must go far beyond concerns about clothing and matters related to sex; it is the way of thinking that truly matters…if it is the question of freedom in civil society then there are more pressing issues to be addressed than these…
abhi and sheks:
see u at acj!
venkitu, sundar and girish:
thank u for the support. im sure we cud still record ur voice cuz we do plan to do some activity on the net.
camphor:
vit?? vellore??
wat morons!
tilotamma:
u’re following my blog a lil too close for comfort… its part of the suderman stylebook! 🙂
kiran:
yes, i read abt it… im sure there’s adequate support for rashmi and u’re only giving some moth… er… ok let me not swear… anonymous bloggers too much credit by running a campaign… second its a nobrainer of a case… any beginner lawyer can screw IIPM’s case…
if need arises, u can count me in to gather more support! 🙂
capriciously_me:
like they say, charity starts at home. we are a small group of people who want to ensure that our society is protected… we cannot speak for the rest of the state cuz we know very little about the civil society outside madras… why try and tell them to be like us and cloak them with our ideas of morality… let them be… all we are asking for is to let us be as well! personal liberty…
plus, these things need to be addressed by people who are affected… so let the affected speak out! today, we are doing it in chennai… im sure if and when the need arises, residents of affected cities will take the initiative to fight for their civil rights… hope that clarifies…
anonymous:
u ungrateful dog/bitch since i cant judge ur gender with an anon nick… if not for the media, there has been very little activism from any quarter… have u seen students take out rallies to oppose dress code?? have u been victim of invasion of privacy and was it ur face in the papers with someone judging ur morals???
the people who appeared in the paper cudve very well been you.. thats wat makes it this scary…
and this forum is to get to the root of the issue: the mindset… and that can be changed only thru dialogue… did u even read the post?? and if u see pressing issues, how about addressing them and doing something abt them instead of posting stupid ass anonymous comments here??
Hi Sudhish:
Did you get a chance to look at my post on this? Check it out 🙂
Hey Sudish!
I too feel so bad about this moral policing that is gaining momentum in our city and the need to speak against it with voice but nor force. I was looking out for a forum where we could discuss such issues. We need a cosmopolitan city, and at the same time, if rules are relaxed, our guys try to bend or break them. I have a lot to speak. Is the upcoming discussion, an open forum? May I join too? I am too much interested to be a part of the forum!!
yes it is an open forum. the more the participants the better. bring ur friends too. ACJ 10 a.m. Saturday.
Hi Sudish, long time…
I wanted to be at the ACG, but the MCC Madras Alumni AGM happened on the same day.
Anycase, sent a mail to Giri about my support.
Cheers and Keep the Part Alive…