Attack on Women at an Indian Bar Intensifies a Clash of Cultures

[groovedaddy]

NEW DELHI — A mob attack on women drinking in a college-town bar has set off the latest battle in the great Indian culture wars, uncorking a national debate over moral policing and its political repercussions, and laying bare the limits of freedom for young Indian women.

The latest Old versus New India hubbub began one Saturday last month when an obscure Hindu organization, which calls itself Sri Ram Sena, or the Army of Ram, a Hindu god, attacked several women at a bar in the southern Indian college town of Mangalore and accused them of being un-Indian for being out drinking and dancing with men.

The Sena had television news crews in tow, so its attack on the women at the bar, called Amnesia — the Lounge, was swiftly broadcast nationwide.

The video, broadcast repeatedly since then, showed some women being pushed to the ground and others cowering and shielding their faces. It was unclear whether they were trying to protect themselves from their assailants’ fists or the television cameras or both. None of them have come out publicly since then, and it is unclear whether anyone was seriously hurt.

Eventually, more than 10 members of the Sena were arrested, only to be released on bail in a week. Since then, they have promised to campaign against Valentine’s Day, which they criticized as a foreign conspiracy to dilute Indian culture, and they said they did not disapprove of men drinking at bars.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/world/asia/09india.html?th&emc=th

[ogneopasno]

1. Actively and regularly assaulting half your population isn't culture, it's misogyny.

nt