IROM SHARMILA'S ELEVEN-YEAR FAST

Artwork by Musrat Reazi

Life at the end of the Ninth Wave/beginning of Tenth Wave (?) has been hectic. Several weeks of getting the vahini (vehicle) back up to reliability, plus work on upcoming classical music concert promotion, has consumed all of the 'spare' time around these parts. It's also snowing quite heavily today, and most of that prep has been completed. I've wanted to continue with the honoring of and descriptions of the guru-shishya parampara process as personally experienced in this life, and that will definitely happen, however I was made aware of the story described below and feel it is extremely relevant to so many of the other events taking place globally and locally, and effecting most of our lives on multiple levels, especially those of the awakened and extraordinarily articulate griot-and-prophet clans of the Love Tribe found on these blog cyber-shamballa pages.

The people of the tribal North-Eastern states of India have some very unique cultures, and those cultures were blessed with a fair amount of isolation for thousands of years. Now that isolation is severely compounding the oppression they have been experiencing, most egregiously since India's independence, at the hand of the thoroughly corrupt and despicable Indian government. The divide-and-conquer policies of the British, both the East India Company and the christian missionaries, played a big part in setting the stage for the ongoing genocides of the last 60 years. The ugly vile christianization has increased exponentially since the 1960s against the indigenous animist Tribals. Many of the tribes only converted to "Hindusim" in the 19th Century, like in the State of Manipur. I have equal revulsion toward fundamentalists of christian, hindu, buddhist, jewish, islamic and all other 'religions', so just sayin', I'm an equal-opportunity religion-basher here.

from IROM SHARMILA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN GROWING IN INDIA
"The iron lady of Manipur, Ms Irom Sharmila Chanu of Manipur is one of the civil rights activists in India better known for her relentless campaign for the the repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Irom Sharmila has been on hunger strike since November 2, 2000 demanding that the Indian government repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958 (AFSPA). She has refused food and water for more than 500 weeks, making her the longest hunger striker in the world....

Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) continues to be the most potent repressive tool of the Indian state that empowers even a non commissioned officer of the armed forces to kill on mere suspicion and provide legal immunity from prosecution, thereby causing untold misery and agony among the peoples of the affected regions....

The imposition of AFSPA is synonymous to heavy militarization in the states where it is promulgated leading to gross civil and political rights violations including enforced disappearances, extra-judicial execution, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence against women, arbitrary arrest and detention....

The Ordinance after a brief discussion in the Parliament was endorsed and got the status of Act on August 18, 1958, despite stiff resistance from various quarters who challenged it as a martial and draconian law....

Since then it has been in force in one part or the other of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir (since 1991)."

Irom Sharmila has refused food and water for a full 11 YEARS, being force-fed in a hospital-jail situation by the Indian government, and brought to court every two weeks to relent, which she refuses. She is given practically NO VISITORS, and NO OUTSIDE TIME - for 11 years, worse treatment than the most violent criminals get. You see, it is ILLEGAL IN INDIA TO COMMIT SUICIDE, even though hundreds of thousands of farmer have suicided due to satanic MONSANTO. Makes sense, right? 

Since we're already in upside-down-world, I wish the poles would just go ahead and shift....

I bring this to your attention for the many interesting moral and spiritual dimensions, not least of which is the perseverance and commitment exhibited here. Humanity all over the world have opted out of their own spiritual responsibilities and left it up to individuals like this lady (and many others) to be their 'reality-show' heroes who are living fully to serve Life and Mother Earth, while the rest keep workin' for/supporting the shitstem, for their material 'rewards', and sign petitions, donate to charities, and occasionally chant slogans on a free weekend.

More coverage from the Indian newspaper The Hindu: IROM SHARMILA'S FAST ENTERS 12TH YEAR. Actually, Indian press has hardly ever covered her story, but had to because of the 11-year milestone this week. She has been fasting all this time with miniscule support, and about zero international (or national) exposure of her situation or the plight of the Peoples of Northeast India. The UK Independent doesn't even have the decency to get the fact of 11 years correctly - they repeatedly say she has completed "10 YEARS"/"A DECADE". You can't make this shit up. The longest fast in the world.....in India.....land of Gandhi......can't...get...mind...around...it.

Poem by Irom Sharmila - 

This adjoining night of two centuries
I hear all heart touching sounds in my ears
Thee, the beloved Goddess, called Time
Your poor girl is stirred at this hour
This late night makes me so restless
Cannot forget the world of captivity
Those shedding tears
When birds flap their wings
Those asking
'What these walkable legs for?'
Those saying
'These eyes are useless'
Oh Prison! you go just vanish
So cruel is the strength of yours
Of iron bars and chains
Tear many a lives untimely

 Other words - 

"Living together with the beauty of united seven different colors of rainbow, living with open and transparent hearts and minds and sharing pain and pleasure is the mantra of the universe and it will enable our mother nourish us properly."

"Acting against the nature and its laws and forgetting love and sympathy adopting selfishness and jealousy, we are only committing suicidal attitude and action."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As we proceed to Occupy the various places of importance to our transition to our anticipated natural world order and our birthright, while we identify the 1%-ers and their crimes, we would do well to celebrate and honor those whose great sacrifices sometimes fail to yield 'results' but occasionally tip the scales and become the proverbial straw that sets into motion the spontaneous awakenings. Their stories need to be passed to the youth and posterity, and we need to stop "stand aside and look"......
 
So, anyway, here are some pics of the cultural aspects of Manipur - The classical and folk Manipuri Dances and the traditional Pung Cholom drumming-dance