Secularism vs Individual Rights in Karnataka + Cost of Living in Spain + More
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Secularism vs Individual Rights in Karnataka + Cost of Living in Spain + More
On this 5th edition of the discursus Protest Analytics newsletter — March 22, 2022
Where I live, in Québec, we are very aware of the tension created by enforcing secularism. The province passed a law that prohibits the wearing of religious symbols when working in a role of authority. This law, which is supported by a majority of Québec citizens on one side, has been condemned by minority groups and many in the rest of Canada as an attack on their individual rights.
India is going through a similar crisis, where a pre-university college enforced the wearing of its school uniforms, which essentially meant banning the wearing of hijabs in class. The Karnataka state government eventually passed a law to impose the same restriction to all schools, which sparked protests as well as counter-protests in Karnataka, but also elsewhere in India.
This edition focuses on the confrontation between individual rights and secularism, as it is currently unfolding in India but that is also representative of similar confrontations elsewhere.
Olivier
Weekly Dashboard
But before we get to this week’s feature protest, here’s an overview of the protests that have been happening throughout the world in the past 7 days. Please visit the interactive version of that dashboard on Tableau Public for more in-depth data.
Feature Protest — Secularism vs Individual Rights in Karnataka
Dynamics and Timeline
Here first are the actors, relationships and narratives that forms the dynamic of that protest movement.
And here’s a timeline of the main events that punctuated that movement.
Analytics
Here first is the number of articles that were sourced since February 1st, 2022…
This is a map of the events that were covered by the above articles…
Those are the actors in conflict…
Those are the actor types in conflict…
Selection of Articles
“Children don’t go to schools to practice religion: Karnataka Home Minister after row over hijabs, saffron shawls” — From the Deccan Herald, https://www.deccanherald.com/state/top-karnataka-stories/children-dont-go-to-schools-to-practice-religion-karnataka-home-minister-after-row-over-hijabs-saffron-shawls-1077671.html
“Another college in India’s Karnataka denies entry to students wearing hijab” — From Dawn, https://www.dawn.com/news/1673269/another-college-in-indias-karnataka-denies-entry-to-students-wearing-hijab
“Hijab row: Karnataka bans clothes that affect ‘public order’ in a fresh order” — From Scroll.in, https://scroll.in/latest/1016735/hijab-row-karnataka-bans-clothes-that-affect-public-order-in-a-fresh-order
“Hijab ban stirs protests in the Indian state of Karnataka” — From Global Voices, https://globalvoices.org/2022/02/14/hijab-ban-stirs-protests-in-the-indian-state-of-karnataka/
“Karnataka colleges shut for 3 days as hijab row turns violent” — From The Times of India, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/karnataka-colleges-shut-for-3-days-as-hijab-row-turns-violent/articleshow/89439196.cms
“Hijab row: Karnataka HC hearing today; protests intensify; key updates” — From Business Today, https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/in-focus/story/hijab-row-karnataka-hc-hearing-today-protests-intensify-key-updates-321959-2022-02-09
“Avoid religious clothing till matter is disposed: Karnataka HC to students” — From Coastal Digest, http://www.coastaldigest.com/news-top-story/avoid-religious-clothing-till-matter-disposed-karnataka-hc-students
“Dozens arrested as tensions boil in New Delhi over government hijab ban” — From Press TV, https://www.presstv.ir/detail/2022/02/11/676592/new-delhi-government-hijab-ban
“Hijab row: Karnataka HC order challenged in Supreme Court” — From The Free Press Journal, https://www.freepressjournal.in/legal/hijab-row-karnataka-hc-order-challenged-in-supreme-court
“58 girls suspended from college in Karnataka for wearing Hijab, holding protest” — From Times of India, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/58-girls-suspended-from-college-in-karnataka-for-wearing-hijab-holding-protest/articleshow/89691324.cms
“Hijab row: Plea moved in Supreme Court challenging Karnataka HC order” — From WebIndia123, https://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/india/20220315/3919769.html
“2 held for ‘death threats’ to judges over hijab verdict” = From The Times of India, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/2-held-for-death-threats-to-judges-over-hijab-verdict/articleshow/90328254.cms
Elsewhere around the world
🇱🇰 “Protests hit Sri Lanka’s capital amid severe economic crisis” — From AP News, https://apnews.com/article/business-sri-lanka-colombo-economy-eae5d74647964d0a3fefdbae219bc6cd
🇨🇺 “128 Cuban Protesters Given Sentences of 6 to 30 Years” — From VOA News, https://www.voanews.com/a/cuban-protesters-given-sentences-of-6-to-30-years-/6489001.html
🇺🇸 “Trucker convoy blocks traffic throughout Washington after permit denial” — From The Washington Times, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/mar/17/trucker-convoy-blocks-traffic-throughout-washingto/
🇪🇸 “Thousands protest over soaring prices across Spain” — From France24, https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220319-thousands-protest-over-soaring-prices-across-spain
and
“Spain hit by yet another mass protest over rising prices” — From France24, https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220320-spain-hit-by-yet-another-mass-protest-over-rising-prices
🇵🇱 “Ukrainian Anti-War Activists Block Trucks At Polish-Belarus Border” — From Radio Free Europ, https://youtu.be/-yMBKFiwopw
Updates from the discursus project
We’ve been working on defining a new semantic layer for discursus. We define that semantic layer as the skeleton of the phenomenon / domain we want to provide an abstraction for. It has entities and relationships, and those have attributes that change in time.
The first image is the abstraction that would roughly represent the domain we’re trying to map with discursus. The top layer is the protest movement phenomenon itself, whereas the bottom layer is how that phenomenon is being reported.
The bottom layer is how the phenomenon is being reported, whereas the top layer is what really happened. Obviously, we don’t have access to that top layer directly, we can only use the observers as a proxy to what really happened. All the challenge is going to be there — how can we reconstruct the actual phenomenon by using the observer artifacts as our raw material. That definitely means we’ll also need to take into account observer biases eventually.
The second image is what the data warehouse entities will look like at the end of the next core release.
Thoughts, suggestions? Drop me a line!