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Showing posts from August 17, 2004

The death of trade unions

With the exception of the trade unions of journalists, almost all trade unions have been eliminated, even the trade unions of journalists are ineffective - because the junta's interests are towards supporting the owners of large companies. All labour laws are inconsequential, people get jobs, there is no such thing as an appointment letter which states salaries and benefits. Some people are working but their pay is not assured, they might as well be slaves. The journalists cannot get decent increase in their salaries,because the owners of the publications are not willing to pay them. The maximum a full time working journalist can expect to receive is US$430, but the average is US$150 or less. The owners of publications have started TV and radio stations which cost millions of dollars to set up, but are unwilling to pay journalists nearly US$1000 per month, which is a reasonable amount, considering that everything has become so expensive. The situation is going from bad to wor...

Fear of statues

Prominent places in Karachi do not have statues, they have old military equipment of all the forces or rocks facings. Statues are not seen as work of art which should be placed in different places – statues are reviled, because it reminds them of Hinduism, because Hindu deities are depicted in statues. But not every statue is a Hindu deity – it is a work of art and should be appreciated as such. Paintings do not show people, instead of doing that, calligraphy is promoted and presented as art, which is patently absurd. The development of art is stunted because of religious bigotry and prejudice. Some religious fanatics will not pray, if they see a statue is in front of them, assuming that if a statue is in front of them and they pray, then they have made the statue their god – which is ridiculous. If they belief in the omnipresence of God, the statue in front of them is irrelevant and is not transformed into a deity. Religious fanaticism has no limits and apparently has no cure. Pain...