Farzana Versey's Writings
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Article
Jun.04.2011
Countercurrents
The curious case of Dr. Afia Siddiqui The mosquito hovered over skin and with one little prick it had sucked out blood, infected an innocent person who might suffer from malaria. If the person is poor and lives in inhabitable surroundings, it could prove to be fatal. The insect is not accused of violence.
Had it been ‘Lady Al Qaeda’, she might have raised...
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Article
Mar.14.2011
Feminists are in self-denial. They don’t wish to be associated with a stereotype. Fair enough. Then, why can’t we add fresh perspective instead of completely negating the terminology? This has provided a foothold for men. Male feminism goes contrary to women’s empowerment – it is an external support system that grants women freedom. In effect...
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Article
Feb.23.2011
It’s failed and all because of Islamic terrorism. Soon after British Prime Minister David Cameron pronounced the defeat of multiculturalism, it was but a matter of time before commentators would go on their ‘let’s separate the wheat from the chaff’ binge
Douglas Murray is director of the Center for Social Cohesion in London. In his opinion piece in Wall...
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Article
Apr.10.2010
Counterpunch
Mind your language
The White House Whitewash Jobby Farzana VerseyApril 9, 2010
Forked tongues are part of the political arsenal, therefore what the White House says and what the White House does rarely meet even the facile “Read my lips” dictum.
Hamid Karzai was the fattened cat of American foreign policy that intervened to transform their version of a tribal...
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Article
Nov.27.2009
Counterpunch
A Night With Shining Obama
The American East India Company
by Farzana Versey
Minutiae have rarely been of such importance. Or symbolic. A white tent might have been more appropriate for an Arab head of state, but it works just as well for a fairytale. There was special vegetarian food to tickle the guest’s palate. Most important of all is that the First Lady wore...
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Article
Sep.10.2009
Counterpunch
Orangi Versus DharaviA Tale of Two SlumsBy Farzana Versey
He parted the dull grey curtain with a flowery print. Inside, a group of men of all shapes, sizes, ages shuffled as images of entwined couples moaning flickered on a bulbous old TV screen. The moment some light slithered into the room, it was startled eyes and hands akimbo, almost in a ceasefire pose. I...
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Article
Aug.14.2009
Covert
The Indian Colonisers of India
By Farzana Versey
I miss those days. They would exclaim, “Oh, Indian!” and all you had to do was blush and give them some spiel about the Taj Mahal, rickshaw pullers, Tanjore paintings, the Kama Sutra. If you dressed the part, with hippie beads and prints dyed in colours designed to fade, then you had it made. You were just the...
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Article
Jun.26.2009
Counterpunch
Michael Jackson as Tramp: Man in the Mirror by Farzana Versey
There may never be a Graceland for Michael Jackson. He was the wrong kind of Bad. He could not be the rake you would love to hate. He did not have the charisma that made women go weak in their knees. If he ever took out his shirt to throw at the audience, they would see his skeleton covered with skin...
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Article
May.23.2009
Counterpunch
The Myth of Manmohan Singh The Follower as Leader by Farzana Versey
History is often about a play of words. The man of the moment who has taken the oath of office for the second term is an actor in search of ‘no character’. It is the invisibility of the persona that is his trump card.
It works in a situation where we are robotising the human. Indian democracy...
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Article
May.02.2009
Counterpunch
Pornography and PruderySex, Swat and Susan Boyle by Farzana Versey
One was touched by a man in an illicit relationship. The other has never been kissed. One is a teenager; the other a middle-aged woman. One was from a tribal area who went and did what she wanted; the other a talent contest participant from Britain who sang about a dream. One was flogged by...
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She writes with anguish and pessimism, a journey into hearts of darkness with no light at the end of that distorted prism, mainly because as she astutely observes, “every few years Pakistan writes a new fiction” to keep the embers alive. ”
—India Today
About Farzana
To be categorised is near-death. It would be nice to say that one is a literary vagabond, but it just does not convey fully the sense of rootlessness and ruthlessness one strives for constantly.
Have written opinion pieces, feature articles and interviews for...
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Farzana’s Favorite Books
Every writer, besides the ones I have listed, who has had something to convey that leaves me with the taste of bitter chocolate...that I like.