The Special NIA Court has granted temporary bail for two weeks to researcher Rona Wilson, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon- Elgar Parishad Case, his father’s demise on August 18, 2021. Special Judge DE Kothalikar directed him to be released on bail between September 13 – 27 on furnishing a PR Bond of Rs 50,000 with 2 sureties. Read more
Objective: A one-stop-shop for Indian activists to connect with International efforts to combat social media-based hate speech, and for an international audience/stakeholders to join with such efforts in India.
Who we are?
A group of activists, tech and non-tech enthusiasts, concerned beings who believe in the power of social networks and want it to be an enabling and equalizing platform that promotes humanistic values of justice and equality, rather than aping the old media in its pursuit of profit even at the cost of social progress and amity between peoples.
Comprising mostly of diasporic South Asians, this group’s particular focus is on FB’s activities in India. (or something high-sounding like this…)
What is ICWI’s Social Media and Hate Speech campaign?
[Plug in the schpiel about how FB and other platforms are being used to spread hate in India and FB is complicit through acts of omission (not taking cognizance of such content on its platform) and commission (allowing hate groups to use the platform, being fully aware of their antecedents- Bajrang Dal?)]
ICWI’s FB Plus campaign works with……
The Anti-Caste Campaign aims to call attention to the continued structural oppressive operations of the 3000 year old caste system and to specific caste-based atrocities in contemporary India and in the U.S.A.
“….turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.”
—Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste
What is the Indian caste system?
The caste system is a social hierarchical structure that perpetuates discrimination and stigmatization based on a caste status or caste identity. A caste identity is hereditary and a permanent social identity of a person. There is no scope for upward mobility in the caste hierarchy, caste identity is entirely different from class identity. Caste is an integral part of Hindu religion and justified by religious texts such as the Rig-Veda and Manusmruti, which are ancient Hindu scriptures. Caste serves to perpetuate the economic and social suppression of large sections of the population, specifically, Dalits and tribal peoples. Today, this graded inequality is rooted in a fundamentalist form of right-wing Hinduism known as Hindutva. Ideologically, the caste system justifies the practices of segregation, stigmatization, and violence against Dalits, Adivasis (indigenous), and non-Hindus as part of dharma or natural law.
