V-Day: A World in Crisis

[AVENguy]

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/.../International/

http://allafrica.com/stories/200402140029.html

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-02/...ent_1314389.htm

http://www.canoe.com/CNEWS/World/2004/02/14/347926-ap.html

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/07...-name_page.html

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...ol=991929131147


(Last one is there for a bit of contrast, but thoughts on the western sexual/romantic system in a global context?)




2012 Mod Edit: Of the above linked articles, some will not work. These are the ones I could retrieve and the still active ones, which I'm saving in case they will be deleted in the future:

#1 The Globe and Mail:

Lovers assaulted on Valentine's Day

Saturday, Feb 14, 2004

Photo: Sebastian D'Souza/AFP
Activists of hardline Hindu party, Shiv Sena, burn heart-shaped placards to protest Valentine's Day. Shiv Sena strongly opposes the holiday, calling it a cultural assault on the Hindu way of life.





New Delhi, India — Lovers across India defied conservative social mores by holding hands, stealing kisses and partying on Valentine's Day — but some were beaten up by Hindu extremists who say the tradition goes against Indian values.

India is the origin of the ancient Kama Sutra sex manual, which is actually a religious text of Tantric Hinduism. Moreover, tales of lovers are lionized in both religious and secular folklore.

But most Indians shy away from public expressions of romantic love, like hugging, kissing or even holding hands. Police sometimes interrupt couples cuddling up in public.

Hindu nationalist groups say celebrations like Valentine's Day are trying to change that, exposing India's youth to what they say is western-inspired cultural corruption.

Valentine's Day celebrations are now spreading to smaller Indian towns. Its popularity is creeping toward that of the biggest Hindu holiday, Deepawali, celebrated by Indians of various religions. Business has soared at shops festooned with heart-shaped balloons and buntings.

“You are trying to transplant something absolutely western in the name of being modern,” said Sheshadri Chari, a national executive leader of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party.
“There are certain social values dear to us. What is acceptable to an American audience might not be acceptable to an Indian audience,” Mr. Chari said. “Will you like it if your parents hold hands and walk on the beach?”

Mr. Chari said he opposed street protests against the festival. Still, small groups of Hindu activists in some Indian cities went around neighbourhoods and shopping malls, smashing restaurant windowpanes, tearing up greeting cards and even burning effigies of St. Valentine.

Television channels showed young women and their dates being forced to go home, and males being pushed around, beaten and mocked on the roads by youths wearing headscarves coloured saffron, an important hue in Hinduism.

“Before we could understand anything, about a dozen activists entered the restaurant and started breaking furniture,” restaurant owner Shyamal Kaushik said in the northern city of Kanpur. “They also smashed windows, unfurled a saffron flag...and manhandled some guests.”

Despite the importance of love in Hindu religious doctrine, dating and sex are still taboo in some parts of rural India, where most marriages are arranged.

Lovers intermixing castes and religions have sometimes been attacked and lynched in small towns and villages.

Sociologist Nivedita Menon said Hindi nationalists were “afraid of love, because it is subversive, because it does not see whether your lover is from the same religion, or caste, or even sex.”

Hindu nationalists also oppose conversions by Christian missionaries and same-sex relationships.

“We will not allow westernization of Indian culture as Saint Valentine was a Christian, and celebrating Valentine's Day would be a violation of Indian culture,” said Vijay Tiwari of the aggressively pro-Hindu Shiv Sena party.

#2 allAfrica.com:

Ghana's HIV/Aids Boss On St. Valentine's Day

By Isaac Essel, 13 February 2004

This weekend, many Ghanaian young people and adults too would be celebrating the hyped up St. Valentine's Day. It is a day many people feel there would be a lot of casual sex.

Prof. Sakyi Amoah, has cautioned the youth not to abuse the day as a "day to let themselves go", He called on the general public to remember that it is in their own interest to protect themselves and avoid any activities that would lead to the contraction of the HIV/AIDS disease.


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#3 Xinhuanet:

Valentine's Day lures people to investigate spouse's fidelity

www.chinaview.cn 2004-02-14 21:38:53

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Valentine's day, originally a sweet time for lovers, has turned into a time to investigate marital faithfulness for some suspicious wives and husbands in China, who hire people to find evidence of extramarital affairs.

The Wanma Law Firm based in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, saw a peak business season again this year several days before Valentine's Day, with more married persons asking for help in investigating their partner's fidelity.

Xu Min, Wanma's director in charge of such investigations, said male customers have risen from the previous 30 to 40 percent of the total, but refused to give the specific number because of the private nature of the business.

Cases accepted by his firm show that husbands under suspicion were usually beyond 35 years old and the target wives were often between 30 to 35 years old.

"The customer group has expanded from wealthy bosses to ordinary people with average incomes, which now take up 70 percent of the total," Xu said, noting each investigation takes 7 to 10 days and costs about 20,000 yuan (2,418 US dollars), five to six times an ordinary person's monthly pay.

Though the newly-emerged business is thriving and highly profitable, private investigators are still reluctant to accept such cases due to the toil of 24-hour catlike tailings and the risk of being beaten up if discovered by some vigilant spouses under investigation.

Some unmarried young people involved in such investigations have lost their confidence in marriage.

"The results confirm over 80 percent of the surveyed have extramarital affairs," Xu said.

The love affairs outside marriage have stirred loyalty crises among some Chinese couples in recent years. Suspicious wives and husbands find it a good opportunity to catch their spouses with their other lovers on Valentine's Day, which will win them an upper hand in dividing property in divorce, if necessary.

Last year, Beijing saw 53,000 couples divorced and Shanghai hadover four couples out of every 1,000 divorced, the highest divorcerate in the country and 20 times more than 20 years ago.

Wu Qiantao, an ethics professor with the People's University ofChina, considered the loyalty crisis a result of weakening sense of family responsibility.

"Great changes have taken place in people's mentality in the past two decades since China carried out the reform and opening uppolicy," he said.

"Many Chinese have misunderstood the Western style of romance. The swelling self-centered values in today's utilitarian society also makes people more willing to indulge in their own emotions rather than focusing on their family duties," Wu said.

The doubt over marital fidelity can also be traced to the increasing cases of paternity tests recently reported by the Jiangsu Provincial Hospital in east China.

In the week following the traditional Spring Festival ending onJan. 28, the paternity test center under the hospital received nearly 20 families requiring a DNA check.

Since its establishment in May 2001, the center has handled some 300 such cases and is expected to accept 500 cases this year alone.

Dr. Su Enben with the center revealed that over 90 percent of applicants were suspicious fathers and the majority of them are wealthy people as well as migrant rural workers, who are usually away from home for long lengths of time to take up urban jobs.

Rich men having kids with their mistresses wanted to confirm the blood relationship so that they could bequeath property to the kids securely, Su said.

Many migrant rural workers also doubted the fidelity of their wives, thinking a DNA test would be more accurate than just judging from the physical resemblance between them and their children, he said.

Though 85 percent of the tests have confirmed the legitimacy of the kids, experts still consider it a reflection of unstable family relationships.

The majority chose divorce after the kids were found to be not their own. "It's understandable. It shows they value the pureness of marriage and their choice should be respected," said Li Yinhe, an expert on marriage problems with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"But kids are left as the last and bitterest victims of the waning loyalty to marriage," Li said.

#5 WalesOnline:

Students injured in Valentine's Day clash

Feb 14 2004

Two students were injured in a clash today in a university classroom in Karachi between students celebrating Valentine's Day and others who objected to observance of the holiday as an unwelcome Western import.

One young man said "Happy Valentine's Day" to a girl, drawing the anger of others who did not think the holiday has a place in Pakistan, and leading to a fist fight at Federal Government Urdu Science University, said Khalid Sheikh, a local police official.

About 50 Muslim hard-liners protested elsewhere in the southern port city against Valentine's Day.

The News daily newspaper dressed up its front page with hearts and a red background today - but an opinion column on the same page blasted Valentine's Day as endorsing a "culture of free sex and immoral male-female relations".

"Being totally irrelevant to the nation's history or its dominant faith, Valentine's Day is not only a mismatch to our cultural and religious traditions but also is in direct friction with them," the editorial said.

Observance of Valentine's Day has grown in recent years in Pakistan. Red, heart-shaped balloons and cards for sale are a common sight.