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Communalism^[1] is a term with three distinct meanings according to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary'.'^[2] These include (1) "a theory of government or a system of government in which independent communes participate in a federation". (2) "the principles and practice of communal ownership". There is no indication whether communalism (sense 2) would apply in the "independent" communes described in the definition of communalism (sense 1). However, in practice, many experiments in utopian socialism did implement internal rules of communalist property ownership in the context of federated communalism. It is at least theoretically possible for a federation of communes to include communes which do not practice communalist rules of property, which is to say, that the overall national government may be a federation of communes, but that private property rather than communalist property is the order within each such commune. Karl Marx, often viewed as the founder of communism, criticized other socialists of his era, and made particularly blistering criticisms of utopianism which was generally conceived along communalist principles, both federational communalism and local property communalism.^[3]

Communalism in history[link]

Communalist experiments throughout history have often developed bitter animosities as the parties disputed about the exact issues underlying the confusion over definitions discussed above. The Paris Commune was one such case.^[4]

Communalism as ethnic allegiance[link]

The third definition^[5] is "strong allegiance to one's own ethnic group rather than to society." For reasons which have not been explicated^{[dubious – discuss]}, the term is associated with events in South Asia,^[6] but it is unclear what distinguishes the ethnic conflict there from ethnic conflicts in other parts of the world. India is largely English-speaking, but there does not appear to be any published research establishing that or any other fact as a basis for the pattern by which the term is applied to South Asian inter-ethnic strife rather than to events elsewhere.

Indian subcontinent[link]

In the Indian subcontinent, the term communalism has taken on a very different meaning, namely that of a religion—and, more specifically, ethnicity-based sectarianism promoting communal violence, espoused by many political movements.^{[citation needed]}

Political theory[link]

Communalism as a political philosophy was first coined by the well-known libertarian socialist author and activist Murray Bookchin as a political system to complement his environmental philosophy of social ecology.

While originally conceived as a form of social anarchism, he later developed Communalism into a separate ideology which incorporates what he saw as the most beneficial elements of left anarchism, Marxism, syndicalism, and radical ecology. Politically, Communalists advocate a stateless, classless, decentralized society consisting of a network of directly democratic citizens' assemblies in individual communities/cities organized in a confederal fashion.

This primary method used to achieve this is called libertarian municipalism which involves the establishment of face-to-face democratic institutions which are to grow and expand confederally with the goal of eventually replacing the nation-state. Unlike anarchists, Communalists are not opposed in principle to taking part in parliamentary politics -especially municipal elections- as long as candidates are libertarian socialist and anti-statist in policy.

See also[link]

• Communitarianism
• Hutterite
• Libertarian municipalism
• Murray Bookchin

References[link]

External links[link]

• African Communalism

Fuck Buttons
Fuck Buttons members Andrew Hung (left) and Benjamin John Power (right) in 2007
Background information
Origin	Bristol, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Drone music, post-rock, electronic, experimental
Years active	2004–present
Labels	ATP Recordings
Associated acts	Blanck Mass
Website	myspace.com/fuckbuttons
Members
Andrew Hung Benjamin John Power

Fuck Buttons performing at All Tomorrow's Parties, Mt Buller, Australia in 2010

Fuck Buttons are a two-piece electronic group formed in Bristol in 2004 by Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power.^[1]

Biography[link]

Hung and Power grew up in Worcester.^[2][3] Hung was influenced by Aphex Twin, while Power was a fan of Mogwai.^[3] They developed a friendship in 2004 while attending art school in Bristol,^[2] and began working together, initially to create the soundtrack to a film made by Hung.^[3] Immediately after forming, they played live whenever possible, and soon gathered a cult following. The duo use a variety of instruments including Casiotone keyboards and children's toys such as a Fisher-Price karaoke machine.^[3] Their name was chosen to sound "playful and abrasive".^[3]

Time Out magazine described the band's live sound as "adrenaline pumping, ear purging slab of towering, pristine noise…".^[4] The duo signed to All Tomorrow's Parties-affiliated ATP Recordings in 2007, and released a limited-edition 7" single named "Bright Tomorrow",^[1] which received complimentary reviews from such sources as Drowned in Sound, Pitchfork Media (who described it as "something like the sun rising over the ocean... then going supernova"^[5]), Mojo (it became their #1 Mojo Playlist Single for that month) and Stereogum.

Combined with an upsurge in reviews of their live performances at the Supersonic, Truck and Portishead-curated ATP festivals in the second half of 2007, this attention resulted in Fuck Buttons being included in many end of year newspaper, magazine and online articles predicting them as a 'Hot Tip' for 2008. These included New-Noise, who said that "rarely have two men sounded so much like the end of the world"^[6] and British newspaper The Observer, which called their sound "a joyous racket of swirling atmospherics and percussive gunfire" in an article highlighting them in a new wave of intelligent, literate British pop music.^[7]

Performing at Summer Sundae 2008

They started the year with a tour of slightly larger UK venues, supported by label-mate Alexander Tucker. This was done to build anticipation for their debut album, Street Horrrsing, which was released on 17 March. Produced by John Cummings of Mogwai^[1] and mastered by Bob Weston of Shellac, it was promoted through festival appearances (including a slot at this May's ATP vs Pitchfork festival) and a North American tour with Caribou. The band have also started to receive some airplay from mainstream BBC Radio stations, whose DJs often struggle to think of an alternative moniker to announce in place of the band's full name - it usually gets shortened to "F Buttons".

Early reviews of Street Horrrsing were very positive; it was named Underground Album of the Month by Mojo Magazine, who called it "a 50-minute melange of iridescent synths, psychedelic drone, distorted vocals and tribal rhythm". Pitchfork Media awarded it with an 8.6 out of 10 rating which placed it in their "best new music" section. Positive reviews also featured in The Times, The Observer, The Wire, NME, Rock Sound, Kerrang!, Uncut, Sydney Morning Herald, and many other music publications and websites. It was also chosen for the shortlist of The Guardian's First Album awards.^[8]

In September 2008, the second single from Street Horrrsing was released in the form of a 12"/digital release of "Colours Move" backed by an Andrew Weatherall remix of "Sweet Love For Planet Earth". The single was launched at London's Rough Trade East where both Fuck Buttons and Weatherall performed on Monday 1 September. In September and October 2008, they supported Mogwai on tours of the UK, USA and Canada. A limited split EP was sold during this tour, containing a Mogwai remix of "Colours Move" and Fuck Buttons' cover of "Mogwai Fear Satan".

In 2009, the band appeared at the Australian All Tomorrow's Parties event, alongside acts such as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Necks and Spiritualized. They released their second album, the Andrew Weatherall-produced Tarot Sport in October 2009.^[1] It has been well received, with Rock Sound giving it an 8 out of 10 rating and hailing its consistency ("the continuity gluing them together confirms a genuine full-length article to brandish at all those gun-jumping ‘The album is dead’ doomsayers"),^[9] while Allmusic gave it a 4-star rating, describing it as "an impressive step forward for Fuck Buttons".^[10] Discussing it with Exclaim! magazine, the band admitted that "direction is not something we are conscious about because it doesn't fit into our creative process. We just want to keep being content and surprising ourselves".^[11] The group are confirmed to play the ATP New York 2010 music festival in Monticello, New York in September 2010. Most recently, the group served as the opener for the entire duration of the Pixies' 2010 Doolittle Tour.

Discography[link]

• Street Horrrsing (CD / 2×LP, ATPR, 2008)
• Tarot Sport (CD / 2×LP, ATPR, 2009) UK #79, U.S. Dance #9, U.S. Heatseekers #18^[12]

Singles[link]

• "Let's See If There Are Any Ghosts In Here, Yeah?" (CD-R Single)
• "Bright Tomorrow" (limited picture Disc 7″ single, ATPR, 2007)
• "Colours Move" (12″/download single, ATPR, 2008)
• "Surf Solar" (7″/download single, ATPR, 2009)
• "Olympians" (12"/download single, ATPR, 2010)

Remixes[link]

• "If I Had a Heart" - Fever Ray (2008)
• "Virginia State Epileptic Colony" - Manic Street Preachers (2009)
• "Kaili" - Caribou (2010)
• "Tornado" - Jónsi (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fuck Buttons

• Official website
• ATP Recordings Page
• Fuck Buttons interview on musicOMH.com
• Fuck Buttons interview in French on www.lesoir.be
• Fuck Buttons interview on www.noahm.com
• Benjamin Power interview on stereocache.com
• Fuck Buttons Article
• Live at CTM.09 Festival in Berlin

Swaminathan Gurumurthy (Tamil: சுவாமிநாதன் குருமூர்த்தி;Hindi: स्वामिनाथन गुरुमूर्ती) is the co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, a journalist and a chartered accountant in India.^[1]

He is a strong proponent of the traditional Indian economic wisdom that was a part of every home and village model but he was also associated with some of the biggest corporate deals in India.^{[citation needed]}

Early life and education[link]

Gurumurthy was born in a small village, 160 kilometres South of Chennai (formerly Madras). He had his schooling in a local school and higher education at the Vivekananda College, Chennai. Unable to realize his dreams to study law, he chose to become a Chartered Accountant. After completing the course in 1972, he joined an auditing firm and was allotted the job of maintaining the books of some of the companies of the press baron, Ramnath Goenka. Impressed by this young accountant, in 1975, Goenka offered a job, which Gurumurthy declined.^{[citation needed]} In 1976, he started his own firm, Guru & Varadhan, which was financially supported by the Goenka family.^{[citation needed]} He was drawn into RSS since his college days and continues his affiliation with the organisation and has had an important role in many assignments. He is a leading member of the think-tank of Sangh Parivar.

War with Reliance[link]

He was unhappy with the aggressive empire building by Dhirubhai Ambani and believed Ambani's business practices were unhealthy for the nation. Goenka entrusted Gurumurthy with fighting what he considered the Goliath of Reliance. His articles in The Indian Express created stirs in the corporate world, which exposed the conglomerate and troubled Reliance.^[2] All his articles were based on extensive study. The articles meticulously pointed out many of the irregularities in the Reliance Group of Companies . One of his articles, co-authored by Arun Shourie claimed Reliance was operating an entire plant with the machines that were actually imported as spare parts, paying lower Customs Duty, and doubling its production.^[3]

Besides, he exposed how Pranab Mukerjee, the then Finance Minister of India helped Reliance against Bombay Dyeing through differential taxation in textile industry.^{[citation needed]} As a result Bombay Dyeing was almost decimated.

Views[link]

After this, Gurumurthy wrote on the Bofors issue and later regarding the Swadeshi Movement. Later many of his articles in The New Indian Express highlighted the disadvantages of globalization.^[4] His articles espoused the cause of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the concept of a united India.^[5]

The Mole controversy[link]

He came to the limelight again, when he publicly accused two of the then senior Indian bureaucrats of being American moles. He indirectly named them in the New Indian Express Article titled "US plots Gujral-Sharif show" dated 20-09-1997.^[6] Later, in his article "Not one mole, Mr Prime Minister and Mr Jaswant, but Two!" dated 27-07-2006, he explicitly named Dr. V S Arunachalam and Naresh Chandra Saxena as the two moles.^[7]

Views on the Sankararaman murder case[link]

Later he wrote extensively on the infamous Sankararaman murder case, in which Sankaracharya of the Kanchi Mutt was the prime suspect.^[8]

Corporate roles[link]

Gurumurthy is known to have played a pivotal mediating role to resolve the feud between Bajaj Auto Ltd Chairman Rahul Bajaj and his younger brother Shishir who controls Bajaj Hindustan Ltd and has a stake in Bajaj Auto and other group firms.^[9] However he has not voiced anything when the Reliance Empire got divided between the brothers in feud.

He also played a major role in the transfer of L&T's cement division to Aditya Birla Group.^[10] In 2004 Gurumurthy also ended another corporate stalemate when he persuaded non-resident Indian investor C Sivasankaran to divest his 33 per cent holding in the Tuticorin-based Tamilnad Mercantile Bank for Rs 130 crore (Rs 1.3 billion)

Black money row[link]

He was the convenor of the task force conceived by the BJP to assess black money illegally deposited by indian politicians and businessmen in foreign banks.^[11] He has criticized the UPA government for its alleged failure in recovering black money back to India.^[12]

Swadeshi Jagran Manch[link]

He is a staunch proponent of the Swadeshi model of economic development and is a leading light of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which is currently spearheading the agitation against the evils of modern economic policies.

Besides politics, he also enjoys considerable clout in corporate circles.^{[citation needed]}

His role on Reliance issues adopted in cinema, R. Madhavan played his role as Shyam Saxena in the movie Guru.

Notes[link]

1. ^ "Bhatt vs Gujarat govt: Hacked email vs email". http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bhatt-vs-gujarat-govt-hacked-email-vs-email/827972/0. Retrieved 2011-08-08. 
2. ^ Hamish McDonald (1999). The Polyester Prince: The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86448-468-7. 
3. ^ "The two faces of Dhirubhai Ambani". Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. http://www.india-seminar.com/2003/521/521%20paranjoy%20guha%20thakurta.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
4. ^ "A Debate On GATT". 1994-01-15. http://www.vigilonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=826&Itemid=42. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
5. ^ "S. GURUMURTHY". http://www.fravahr.org/spip.php?auteur142. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
6. ^ "US plots Gujral-Sharif show". 2007-09-20. http://members.fortunecity.com/athreya/ie200997.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
7. ^ "Not one mole, Mr Prime Minister and Mr Jaswant, but Two!". 2006-07-27. http://www.gurumurthy.net/articledisplay.pl?2006-07-27. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
8. ^ "The Bitter Pill the Police had to Swallow". http://www.kanchi-sathya.org/tidbits17022005.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
9. ^ "How Gurumurthy resolved the Bajaj feud". 2003-06-17. http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/jun/17spec.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
10. ^ "S Gurumurthy is the man behind L&T deal". 2003-06-19. http://www.gurumurthy.net/articledisplay.pl?2003-06-19. Retrieved 2008-12-17. 
11. ^ http://epaper.expressbuzz.com/NE/NE/2011/02/20/ArticleHtmls/20_02_2011_001_081.shtml?Mode=1
12. ^ http://www.rediff.com/business/report/bjps-23-point-charter-to-get-back-black-money/20110205.htm

External links[link]

• indians-stashed-rs-688000-cr-illegally [1]
• Gurumurthy.net
• Transcript of the chat with S. Gurumurthy on Aug 15 1997: Rediff.com
• Ramnath Goenka's trusted advisor: A Photo
• Articles published in the Indian Express from Jan 10, 1997
• Speeches by S. Gurumurthy
• Interview to rediff on Solving TMB Tussle
• Interview with Mr. S. Gurumurthy in indiainteracts.com
• Audio of S. Gurumurthy on Indian Entrepreneurs (in Tamil), 7th July 2007
• Audio of S. Gurumurthy on Life after Marx and Markets (in English), 1st September 2007
• http://www.gurumurthy.net/indexing.pl?Politics