IROM SHARMILA: Interview by Kavita Joshi

UPDATE: This article was published in 2006. Irom Sharmila's hunger fast against the AFSPA has now continued over ten years.  

IROM's IRON IN THE SOUL
Young, stoic and dogged, Irom Sharmila has been on a fast-unto-death since November, 2000. She wants the repressive Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act repealed. The Act gives draconian powers to the security forces and has repeatedly been used with brazen brutality in the Northeast. For five years, she has been imprisoned and force-fed by the State for her ‘crime’. Filmmaker Kavita Joshi spoke to her in the hospital room in Imphal, her prison

An eye: piercing, intent. A nose, covered by a swatch of medical tape, as a yellow tube forces its way in. Lips, stretched tight as if in pain. A woman sits against a bare wall, huddled under a blanket, tightly hugging herself. This is my first impression of Irom Sharmila as I walk to her hospital bed. She is incarcerated at the security ward of JN Hospital in Imphal, Manipur, in custody of the Central Jail, Sajiwa. It takes her immense effort to speak, but she tries her best. “How can I explain? This is not a punishment. It is my bounden duty at my best level.”

Irom Sharmila has not eaten for over five years now. For this, she has been locked up in jail by the government under very dubious charges and is being forcibly nose fed. Since November 2000, Sharmila has been on a fast-unto-death, demanding the removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA).


FIND ALL ARTICLES ON IROM SHARMILA POSTED ON THIS BLOG, HERE

Support Irom Sharmila, Show Your Solidarity

This post is for those young people who watch Tales from the Margins and ask what they can do to support Irom Sharmila:

In November 2011, Irom Sharmila Chanu’s epic fast demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) will complete 11 years.

In these 11 years, the government has done everything in its power to isolate Irom Sharmila. It has kept her under arrest by claiming that her fast is an attempt to commit suicide, and therefore punishable by law. Though she is an under-trial and therefore entitled to visitors as per law, under the guise of her own security the authorities make this process very difficult. Special permission has to be sought from the state to meet Sharmila, and it comes after a wait of many days, if at all. Activists, eminent citizens and people close to her are often not given permission to meet her. All this, in an attempt to break her indomitable spirit.

When I had met Sharmila for the first time, she'd told me that one thing she missed was people - human contact. Show Irom Sharmila your solidarity - write to her. Let her know that you stand with her in this struggle for justice. Each letter is also a sign to the government that people across this country are against AFSPA. Send your letters, cards and messages of solidarity to:
      Irom Sharmila Chanu
      c/o Security Ward
      Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital
      Porompat, Imphal – 795001
      Manipur

Or you can also send your messages by email to:
writetosharmila@gmail.com
or writetosharmila@hotmail.com

A compilation of the emails is periodically printed and delivered to Sharmila as a book, by the Pan Manipur group.

NOTE: There is a more that each of us can do to support Sharmila and the campaign against AFSPA.  Watch this space, we will be updating this with more info. You can also watch My Body My Weapon, a short film on Irom Sharmila and the AFSPA available on this blog. The film is free to view, share on FB and embed on your webpages.

Starving to live, not die

When the Supreme Court has recognised the right to go on hunger strike, why is Irom Sharmila’s protest against impunity of the armed forces a criminal act?

reposted from The Hindu.

Read the rest here:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/starving-to-live-not-die/article4562373.ece?homepage=true

IROM SHARMILA: The Unlikely Outlaw

The immensity of Irom Sharmila Chanu's now six-year-old protest is matched only by the paralysing indifference of the State and the national media, says Shoma Chaudhury
An ordinary November evening in Delhi. A slow halting voice breaks into your consciousness. “How shall I explain? It is not a punishment, but my bounden duty…” A haunting phrase in a haunting voice, made slow with pain yet magnetic in its moral force. “My bounden duty.” What can be bounden duty in an India bursting with the excitements of its economic boom?

You are tempted to walk away. You are busy and the voice is not violent in its beckoning. But then an image starts to take shape. A frail, fair woman on a hospital bed. A tousled head of jet black curls. A plastic tube thrust into the nose. Slim, clean hands. Intent, almond eyes. And the halting, haunting voice. Speaking of bounden duty.

That’s when the enormous story of Irom Sharmila begins to seep in. You are in the presence of something historic. Something unparalleled in the history of political protest anywhere in the world ever. Yet you have been oblivious of it. A hundred TV channels. An unprecedented age of media. Yet you are oblivious of it.

Irom Sharmila, 34, has not eaten anything, or drunk a single drop of water for six years. Six years. She has been forcibly kept alive by a drip thrust down her nose by the Indian State. For six years, nothing solid has entered her body. Not a drop of water has touched her lips. She has not combed her hair. She cleans her teeth with dry cotton and her lips with dry spirit so she will not sully her fast. Her body is wasted inside. Her menstrual cycles have stopped. Yet she is resolute. Whenever she can, she removes the tube from her nose. It is her bounden duty, she says, to make her voice heard in “the most reasonable and peaceful way”.

Yet we have remained oblivious to it. The Indian State has remained oblivious to it.

The Fake Encounter of Chongkham Sanjit, Manipur

MURDER IN PLAIN SIGHT
In Manipur, death comes easy. In this damning sequence of photos, a local photographer captures the death of a young man, killed in a false encounter by the police in broad daylight, 500 metres from the state assembly. How can a State justify such a war against its own people, asks TERESA REHMAN, here:

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main42.asp?filename=Ne080809murder_in.asp

Irom Sharmila back in custody

Irom Sharmila back in custody -The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, March 10: As expected, hunger striker Irom Chanu Sharmila, who was released from the security ward of JN Hospital on March 8 afternoon, has been rearrested today on the same charge of attempting to commit suicide.

Sources said Sharmila has been rearrested today at about 5.30pm from PDA complex, Porompat where she has been continuing her fast unto death stir in demand for repeal of the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Mention may be made that Sharmila went straight to PDA complex moments after she was released from JN Hospital (security ward) on March 8 and continued her stir at the spot where the Sharmila Kanba Apunba Lup had been conducting relay hunger strike in support of her cause.

In the meantime, the Sharmila Kanba Apunba Lup, which has been staging relay hunger strike for the past 420 days in support of Sharmila and to save the life of the hunger striker has submitted memorandum to the Governor, Chief Minister, Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly and Opposition leaders urging them to take action to repeal AFSPA, save Sharmila and restore Right to Life of the people.

Best Documentary award for Tales from the Margins; and other screenings

Tales from the Margins wins the
Best Documentary award at the
YNW Film Festival 2008, Sri Lanka

The festival was held at Maharagama, Sri Lanka from 26th to 30th Dec 2008.
The jury was headed by noted filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan.

Tales from the Margins awarded at Docudays Ukraine

Tales from the Margins recently won the Jury Prize at the Human Rights competition, Docudays Ukraine.

This is the 5th award that the film has won, after the Silver Remi at WorldFest Houston 2007, the Special Jury Mention at the Medias Nord Sud Geneva 2007, and two awards by UGC CEC India.

EXCERPT FROM THE DOCUDAYS WEBSITE
head of the jury of Human Rights competition Alla Tytyunnyk
Prize of the jury of Human Rights competition
Film “Tales from the Margins”, director Kavita Joshi
“for not accepting violence”

Tales from the Margins shows in Norway

Tales from the Margins
(23 min / short doc / India / 2006)

shows at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, Lillehammer
on 12th September 2008, 9:00 AM

and at the Freedom House in Oslo
on 16th September 2008, 4:00 PM

Tales from the Margins: shows at UC Berkeley

Tales from the Margins
(23 min / short doc / India / 2006)

shows on Saturday, September 6th, 4-6 pm
at 110 South Hall, UC Berkeley

as part of the film festival,
Human Rights in South Asia,
organised by AID Berkeley

Even as India celebrates 61 years of freedom from colonial rule, we must remember that the battle for freedom did not end in 1947. Many communities in India, and in the other South Asian countries, continue to struggle for political and economic equality. The films being screened this weekend depict peoples' struggle... Read more

Tales from the Margins: now showing in London

TALES FROM THE MARGINS
now shows in London, on 22nd July 2008, at 17:45 PM, at
The Flea Pit,
49 Columbia Road, London E2 7RG.
Ticket Price: Entry: £5 per evening of films or £8 for both evenings.
http://www.thefleapit.com/

The screening is a part of the travelling Persistance Resistance film festival of contemporary political documentaries from India.

Viewers can also see other documetaries incuding Waiting (Atul Gupta and Shabnam Ara); Q2P (Paromita Vohra); 7 Islands and a Metro (Madhushree Datta); Manjuben Truckdriver (Sherna Dastur); and other films...

For Screening Schedule 22 July, click here
For 23 July, click here

Tales from the Margins: Screening in Kyiv

Tales from the Margins
(23 min / short documentary / India / 2006)

will be showing at the
5th International Human Rights Film Days - Ukrainian Context
on 29th March 2008, in Kiev

http://www.docudays.ua/

Tales from the Margins: screening in Toronto

SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre)
and Pleasure Dome present

Tales from the Margins
(23 min / short documentary / India / 2006)

in MONITOR 4: New South Asian Short Film and Video
Curated by Oliver Husain

Wednesday, February 20th 2008 at 7 PM
Innis Town Hall
2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto

MONITOR 4 is SAVAC’s annual experimental film and video screening, presenting new, award winning work from India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Canada. This 90 minute screening gives a glimpse of the critically engaged, political, poetic and humorous work being produced by South Asian artists today.

Curated by German-born, Toronto-based video and performance artist, Oliver Husain, MONITOR 4 presents works by artists Ferwa Ibrahim, Amit Dutta, Kavita Joshi, Azharr Rudin, Saba Khan and Debashis Sinha. Highlights include Amit Dutta’s FIPRESCI award-winning film Kramasha, a sumptuous dreamscape of an Indian village; Azharr Rudin’s independent and experimental video of small town boys in the big city of Kuala Lumpur; and Kavita Joshi’s harrowing documentary on women’s grassroots activism in Manipur.

Following the screening, Oliver Husain will lead a panel discussion with film critic Cameron Bailey, artist Debashis Sinha, and Independent curator Jacob Korczynski.

http://www.savac.net/

Tales from the Margins: shows in Mumbai

Tales from the Margins
(23 min / 2006 / India / short documentary)

will be screening at the Mumbai International Film Festival
for Documentary, Short and Animated Films, or
MIFF 2008, as part of the National Competition.

On Thursday 7th Feb 2008, at 1:20 PM
at the Godrej Theatre, NCPA Mumbai

Irom Sharmila's Health Deteriorating: The Telegraph

Hospital buzz on Sharmila’s health
OUR CORRESPONDENT

Imphal, Jan. 4: Hospital authorities are worried over the “deteriorating” health of Manipur’s human rights crusader Irom Sharmila who has refused nasal feeding for the past 12 days.

Sharmila, who has been on a fast unto death since November 2000, is surviving only on nasal feeding for more than seven years now in the security ward of Imphal’s Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital.

read more here:
The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) Northeast Hospital buzz on Sharmila’s health<B> Irom Sharmila. </B>A file picture

Tales from the Margins: Faculty of Law, Toronto

Tales from the Margins
[23 m / 2006 / India / short documentary]

will be screening in Toronto
on 7th Dec 2007, 5 PM

at Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
84, Queens Park
Room FLA (basement)

For more info, pl Download Presskit using the SIDEBAR on the right

Tales from the Margins screening in Jammu

TALES FROM THE MARGINS
(short doc / India / 2006 / 23 min)

will be screening on 29th nov 2007, at 3.45 PM
at the General Zorawar Singh Auditorium Complex, University of Jammu

as part of the Rhythms of Peace Festival
(28th - 30th November 2007)

Presented by the Intl. Resource Cell, University of Jammu
& the
Kriti Team

Tales from the Margins at L’Alternativa Barcelona

Tales from the Margins
(23 min / 2006 / India / short doc)

will soon be shown at L’Alternativa 2007,
the 14th Barcelona Independent Film Festival.

It will be screened on
Sunday 18th november at 21.15h
at Pantalla Hall, in a selection on "filming conflict".

The film is part of a thematic programme that presents an international selection; one of its main characteristics is the discovery of new, unusual, investigative film and video.

read more here:
http://alternativa.cccb.org/2007/en/pphh/docs.php

Tales from the Margins shows at DOK Lepzig

Tales from the Margins
(23 min / 2006 / India / short documentary)
will be screening at the
50th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film

After IDFA, DOK Leipzig is one of the largest documentary and animation film festivals in Europe.

Tales from the Margins will be shown as part of the International programme
on Friday 2nd November, at 17.00 hrs
at the CineStar 7

and on Sunday 4th November, at 20.00 hrs
at the Wintergarten

To find out more:
http://www.dok-leipzig.de

Tales from the Margins screening at Film South Asia 2007

Tales from the Margins
(short doc / 23 min / 2006 / India)

will be showing at the
Film South Asia 2007 in Kathmandu, Nepal

on 11th October 2007, 6:15 PM
Hall B at the Kumari Cinema,
Kathmandu

Read More here:
http://www.himalassociation.org/fsa/

Read a review of Film South asia 2007, here:
Film Feast in the Mountain Kingdom