Is Prejudice a Mental Illness?

Stephen Soldz

Bigotry and extreme prejudice are repugnant to many, including the victims and those engaged in furthering progressive social values. Various attempts have been made to encompass that reaction in social mores and attitudes. A new approach among certain mental health professionals to get extreme prejudice to be declared a diagnosable mental illness included in the official list of diagnoses superficially bears promise in objectivizing that repugnance.

A recent article in the Washington Post, “Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness,” discusses this attempt to create a new diagnosis for extreme racism and other forms of extreme prejudice. It presents the argument of some that extreme prejudice is so compulsive and damaging to the prejudiced person that it should be viewed as a mental illness deserving its own diagnosis.

While radicals and progressives may be tempted to jump on this bandwagon as a weapon in their battle to have racism and prejudice recognized for the personal and social harm they cause, this effort is unjustifiable intellectually and is politically likely to backfire....(FULL ARTICLE)

www.dissidentvoice.org

An Open Letter To the Congress of the United States

Monica Benderman

...My husband sits in a military prison because he dared to speak the truth. This war did not need to happen. He didn't care if he had the support of the American people. He risked everything to tell the truth, his health benefits, his children's college education, his career, and everything he had worked for, including ten years of honorable service, and a combat tour in Iraq. The truth was more important to him, and he was sent to prison on trumped up charges because he was not afraid to stand alone and speak it. His command presented false testimony, manipulated evidence and lost witnesses and ultimately sent him to prison, to keep him from telling the truth. BUT he persisted – and today we persist together – the TRUTH matters – and in the end the TRUTH wins.

What are you doing to tell the truth? What are you willing to risk? Not one thing.
You sent our soldiers to war to protect your elected office. You banded together because you saw the polls and you knew it was what the American people wanted. Why did they want it? Because a president, vice president, secretary of defense, secretary of state and a myriad of tongue-wagging, drooling groupies all gathered together and told them this administration could be trusted. Somewhere in the mix, people forgot – POWER CORRUPTS – and most assuredly makes those who believe they have the power forget.

You forgot that the American people put their trust in you to lead them well, as one of us – with integrity, and honesty – with the TRUTH... Read the Full Text

Kevin Benderman Defense Committee
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HAROLD PINTER NOBEL SPEECH

'Clandestine in Goa'

Faizal Khan/UNI

He was a close friend of Salvador Allende once. Later he became a daring exile who defied General Pinochet and subject of a Marquez book. Today, he is one of the most famous Latin American directors ever.Chilean Miguel Littin has come a long way ever since that horrible moment in his life when his country's President and his own hero, Allende, was assassinated in a coup by Pinochet in 1973.

Ask him what he feels about slipping into Pinochet's Chile disguised as a wealthy Uruguayan businessman shooting a commercial for a French cosmetics company, and he starts to feel uneasy. ''It's all over. All that is past. I live in the future,'' Littin, who is in Goa as the chairman of the jury for the 36th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), told UNI.

Littin's emotions are understandable --- his best friend dead and gone, a decade-and-a-half in exile and his hatred for Pinochet. He shrugs his shoulders and starts to move away at the very mention of the Chilean dictator and you start to wonder whether this grey-haired man was the same person who shot footage inside Pinochet's private office.

Littin was the head of the Chile Films when 9/11 happened to his own country three decades before it happened to the United States, which was blamed for backing the General. As Communist leader Allende's friend, he was right on the top of the list of the 'most wanted' people after the coup on September 11, 1973. After he fled, he became one of the 'most wanted' exiles.

Twelve years after he left his country, Littin returned to Chile to direct three foreign film crews to tell the outside world what was happening under military dictatorship. Make-up artists altered his face and hairstyle and linguistic experts changed his Chilean accent. The result: his own mother did not recognise him in Chile.

For Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a fellow Latin American, Littin's 'illegal' film had behind it another film that would probably be never made. "This may not have been the most heroic action of my life, but it was the most worthwhile," Marquez quotes the filmmaker in the introduction to his book on the adventure --- 'Clandestine in Chile'. Chilean authorities impounded and burned 15,000 copies of the book in 1986.

Salman Rushdie called Littin's return to Chile an underground adventure, which ''contrives to represent and dramatize the heroic resistance of countless other Chileans, some successful, many other tortured or disappeared'' during Pinochet's rule.

Littin, whose 2005 film 'La Ultima Luna' (The Last Moon) is part of the Cinema of the World section at IFFI, is living every moment of freedom in Chile. ''It's a democracy now. There is freedom of expression. The people can speak whatever they want to speak,'' says Littin, who likes India, the world's largest democracy, more than its films.

Miguel Littin

Miguel Littin Interview

Films NYT reviews

Art, Truth & Politics

Harold Pinter Nobel Lecture

...As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001.

We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true.

The truth is something entirely different. The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it.

But before I come back to the present I would like to look at the recent past, by which I mean United States foreign policy since the end of the Second World War. I believe it is obligatory upon us to subject this period to at least some kind of even limited scrutiny, which is all that time will allow here...

Click here for FULL TEXT

HAROLD PINTER

Pinter demands war crimes trial for Blair -- Guardian

Pinter rails against US in Nobel prize speech -- Telegraph

Filmmaker turns poster boy for IFFI

Tony Tharakan

When filmmaker Albert arrived for the 36th International Film Festival of India, he was amazed to find not a single poster of his Malayalam film 'Kanne Madanguka' had been put up at the venue. Although discouraged by the apparent mismanagement, the enterprising director decided to take matters into his own hands.

"I began putting up my film's poster when anotherman arrived and asked me to put up a poster. I had toexplain to him that I am a filmmaker, not a posterboy," recalls Albert. Despite the lack of publicity, 'Kanne Madanguka'opened to a full house at IFFI 2005, forcing thefirst-time director to tone down his criticism of theorganisers.

"It's no big deal. I have done similar things formy film even in Kerala. The film is my child and Ihave no complaints," the filmmaker, who uses only hisfirst name, said. The low-budget 'Kanne Madanguka' was shot in 15days and features newcomers in every sense of the word- with the director, scriptwriter and actors makingtheir debut with the film.

Inspired by a true story, the film narrates thedark tale of a ruthless society forcing girls to earntheir living through prostitution. The success of the film in the Indian Panorama section here has reinforced Albert's belief in himselfand he now plans to re-release it in Kerala.

"It was not marketed properly the first timearound and we think the film now has a better chancewith added publicity," he said. Next up for the Malayali director is ahard-hitting film which tries to analyse the reasonsfor the growing number of divorces and suicides inGod's own country.

"We boast of cent per cent literacy in Kerala. Atthe same time, we have the highest rate of divorcesand suicides. My new film will delve into reasons forthis," Albert said.

INSTANTS a poem by jorge luis borges

If I could live again my life,
In the next - I'll try,- to make more mistakes,
I won't try to be so perfect,
I'll be more relaxed,I'll be more full - than I am now,
In fact, I'll take fewer things seriously,
I'll be less hygenic,I'll take more risks,
I'll take more trips,I'll watch more sunsets,
I'll climb more mountains,
I'll swim more rivers,
I'll go to more places - I've never been,
I'll eat more ice creams and less (lime) beans,
I'll have more real problems - and less imaginaryones,
I was one of those people who live prudent
and prolific lives -each minute of his life,
Offcourse that I had moments of joy - but,if I could go back
I'll try to have only good moments,
If you don't know - thats what life is made of,
Don't lose the now!
I was one of those who never goes anywhere
without a thermometer,
without a hot-water bottle,
and without an umberella and without a parachute,
If I could live again - I will travel light,
If I could live again - I'll try to work bare feet
at the beginning of spring tillthe end of autumn,
I'll ride more carts,
I'll watch more sunrises and play with more children,
If I have the life to live - but now I am 85,
and I know that I am dying ...

biography -- jorge luis borges

quotations -- jorge luis borges

Premieres rock the boat at IFFI

Tony Tharakan

Premieres and controversiesseem to go together at the 36th International FilmFestival of India. The hubbub over 'Parzania' and'Apaharan' had hardly died down when the premiere offilmmaker Aditya Bhattacharya's 'Dubai Return' got off to a rocky start today (Dec 3).

The screening had been delayed by 15 minutes and the restive audience was in no mood to accord latecomers Bhattacharya, producer Manya Patil,filmstars Irrfan Khan and Ritu Shivpuri a patienthearing.

When an audience member vehemently asked the organisers to do away with the presentation ceremony,director Bhattacharya lost his cool and asked the protestor to "Go home." Organisers managed to salvage the situation andthe screening went on as scheduled but the director'soutburst managed to rub several people the wrong way.

Defending himself at a press conference laterthis evening, Bhattacharya said the man's behaviour had upset him. "A movie theatre is like a temple and that man was disturbing the sanctity of the temple for me," he said.

IFFI 2005 has been plagued by similar instancesof world premieres being beset by altercations. Earlier this week, 'Parzania' a controversialfilm based on the post-Godhra riots led to a fracasinside the auditorium after some persons alleged thefilm was biased and portrayed the Hindu community in a bad light.

Filmstars Sarika and Om Puri could only stand andwatch as certain members of the 300-strong audienceraised slogans against director Rahul Dholakiafollowing the screening. Two days ago, irate scribes and spectators ventedtheir anger on 'Apaharan' director Prakash Jha, actors Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu after they arrived anhour late for the screening.

The commotion only ended after Jha, Devgan and Basu apologised to the audience and left the auditorium.

Scribes allege discrimination at IFFI

Tony Tharakan

Media personnel at theInternational Film Festival of India here today voicedconcern over several "outside agencies" being handedthe mandate of fixing up interviews with celebrities.
"It has been seen that these outside agencies arediscriminatory and have allowed only select mediaorganisations access to celebrity delegates forinterviews," several journalists told Directorate ofFilm Festivals (DFF) Director Afzal Amanullah at a feedback session here today.

"The same situation exists when it comes to filmparties wherein invitation cards are given only to afew journalists," they claimed. The journalists demanded that media interactionswith celebrity delegates should be set up only throughthe Press Information Bureau.

"If any outside agency is to be involved, itscommitment has to be fixed in consonance with theoverall control and functioning of the PIB," they said. Refuting the charges, Amanullah said only the PIBhad the mandate to fix up interviews with celebritydelegates at the film festival. However, the DFF chief said that he would lookinto the matter.

Motorcycle taxis lifeline for IFFI delegates

Stuck in Goa with notransport and little money to spare? Flag down amotorcycle taxi and snatch a pillion ride to anywherein the state. Hundreds of visitors at the International Filmfestival of India are doing just that - forking outfrom just Rs 10 upwards to reach their destinations inGoa.

The two-wheeler taxi, known locally as the Pilot,is the most popular mode of transport in a statenotorious for its abysmal bus service. "Try and take the motorcycle taxi. It's much morereasonable," Goa Secretary for Information andPublicity, Debashree Mukherjee, advises delegates atthe International Film Festival of India here.

Ideal for short distances, the yellow-huedmotorcycle taxis are a welcome alternative to buses and autos in Goa. Even Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane agrees it'snext to impossible to find a bus in the evenings whileseveral delegates complain of the times auto-drivershere have fleeced them.

'Apaharan' premiere at IFFI rocked by ruckus

Tony Tharakan

The world premiere offilmmaker Prakash Jha's film 'Apaharan' at theInternational Film festival of India was marred by afracas this evening after the director and filmstarsAjay Devgan and Bipasha Basu arrived an hour late forthe screening.

Irate scribes and spectators vented their anger onthe trio and the commotion only ended when Jha, Devganand Basu apologised to the audience and left theauditorium. The screening, already delayed by an hour, wasstarted only to be interrupted ten minutes later.

Organisers were miffed with television crews whowere filming scenes from the movie despite beingwarned not to do so. The screening resumed only afterthe braodcast journalists left the auditorium. The high-profile premiere, seemed doomed from thestart, with more than five hundred people being giveninvitations in a 300-seat auditorium, which resultedin the hall being jampacked and many people with validinvites being turned away by organisers.

Several people had been waiting in line at theINOX multiples here since five in the evening for themovie which was scheduled to begin an hour later. Confusion reigned supreme with mediapersonswaiting in one auditorium for the stars of the filmeven as the celebrities were ushered into theadjoining hall which was screening the filmsimultaneously.

UK tourist in Goa to relive 'Taal' heyday

Tony Tharakan

Seven years ago, a Britishtourist in India walked on to the set of SubhashGhai's 'Taal,' worked as an extra for a day and walkedaway. Circa 2005, Pip Gascoigne is back. In Goa for theInternational Film Festival of India, the 41-year-oldhopes to hobnob with the stars once again.

He hadn't realised it at the time but the two-bitsequence in the Bollywood blockbuster was to be hisclaim to fame years later. "One day I was walking down a street in New Delhiand this kid kept pointing to me and mouthing 'Taal,'"says Gascoigne.

"It was then that I realised the power of cinemain India. My face was shown in the movie for someseconds and yet this kid managed to identify me fromamong the thousands of foreigners around," he says. Gascoigne, who has his own construction businessin London, had been introduced to the casting agent of'Taal' by a mutual friend and decided to do the moviefor a lark.

"It certainly wasn't for the money although theydid paid me Rs 3,500 for the day's work. I just wantedto have some fun," he says. The Briton did two scenes in the movie for whichhe had to cut his hair short and put on a fakemoustache. For his first scene, Gascoigne was requiredto make some women members of the cast laugh. "I have no idea who they were but Aishwarya Raiwas certainly not one of them," he says.

"I was supposed to be talking and making themlaugh in that particular sequence. I didn't know howto do that so I ended up telling them some jokesinstead," he adds. Gascoigne's second scene featured a close-up ofhim speaking to actor Anil Kapoor.

"I realised how professional the Indian actorsare. They do so many takes to get the perfect shot,"he said adding that he got the scene right afterseveral takes. A white suit specially stitched for him has beenkept by Gascoigne as a reminder of his short stint inBollywood.

Back in London, he watches Hindi movies on cabletelevision, harking back to the one moment when heshared screen space with Indian filmstars. Now in Goa for IFFI 2005, Gascoigne hopes to getanother chance to perform under the arclights.

Indian documentary to premiere in New York

Tony Tharakan

IFFI's loss is New York'sgain. An Orissa filmmaker's documentary which didn'tmake it in time for the International Film Festival ofIndia will now be screened at the Big Apple. Santosh Gour's 'Sakhi Pila' (Odissi Boy Dancer) is part of the South Asian International Film Festivalbeginning in New York on December 7, and has baggedthe rare honour of being screened at Ziegfeld - thelargest movie theatre in the US.

The 35-minute documentary in English depicts thecenturies-old Gotipua tradition of boys dressing up aswomen and dancing in the temples of Orissa. Shot on a limited budget of Rs 20 lakh in Puri,Konark and Bhubaneswar last year, the film waspremiered at the Ebensee International Film Festivalat Austria where it caught the eye of SAIFF organisers.

Gour now has bigger plans up his sleeve for 2006. "I am currently working on a feature film to beproduced by a Spanish producer which deals with thetravails of a village youth who arrives in the big badworld of Mumbai," the ex-FTII graduate told PTI.

'Sadheikala Chhau dance' - Gour's documentary onthe Chhau dance form of Orissa is ready for release.The filmmaker is currently working on three otherdocumentaries to be completed in the coming year. Gour has previously shot eight films in the 35 mmformat making his directorial debut with 'The SilentDusk' in 1993. Retrospectives of his films were heldat Cologne in Germany and Jamshedpur in 2002.

MIFF 2006 does away with censor stipulation

Tony Tharakan

In a major victory forvotaries of free expression, films selected for theMumbai International Film festival will no longer haveto produce a censor certificate to be eligible for thebiennial event. "The film festival has done away with thecriterion of having a Censor Board certificate forsubmitting entries," Festival Director Raghu Krishna told reporters here today.

Last year's edition of MIFF had been mired incontroversy after several filmmakers withdrew theirsubmissions from the festival and held a parallel filmfestival titled 'Vikalp'. The 2006 Mumbai International Film Festival willkick off on February 3 and is the ninth in the seriessince its inception in 1990.

Organised by the Films Division of the Ministryof Information and Broadcasting, the festivalshowcases documentaries, short films and animationfilms from around the world. "We are attempting to show films which are notshown anywhere. This year, there are 186 entries inthe international category and 388 submissions in thenational competition," Krishna said.

Outstanding films in various categories areselected by an International Jury for Golden andSilver Conches with cash prizes aggregating to Rs 27.5lakh. "This year, the panel for the internationalsection includes filmmakers Lisa Goldwin, Sato Makoto,Lasse Noukharinen and John Akomfrah. An Indianfilmmaker will also be part of this jury," Krishna said.

"Filmmakers Gautam Bora, K Hariharan and ManjiriDutta will be judging the national competition," headded. A veteran documentary filmmaker will be conferredthe V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award during thefestival.

MIFF 2006 will include retrospectives on filmsfrom the SAARC nations, Iran, Germany as also specialscreenings of Oscar winners and nominees. A collection of films on various dance forms will also be showcased at the festival.

According to Krishna, the festival aims to serveas a platform where the filmmakers can meet, exchangeideas, explore the possibility of co-production andmarket their films.