Orissa: killing Christians to stop Tribals and Dalits from developing and achieving dignity

by P. Augustine Kanjamala, Svd
An expert sociologist talks about the motives behind the ongoing waves of violence against Christians—conversion to Christianity, education and emancipation allow Tribals and Dalits to escape slave-like conditions. Hindu fundamentalism is against the search for greater justice and wants to stop ongoing social transformations.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – Fr Augustine Kanjamala, a Verbite clergyman who teaches at the University of Mumbai, appeals to the Churches of the world to “express their protest to the government of India” which has remained “inactive” with regards to anti-Christian violence. He openly charges the Orissa state government for its increasingly explicit collusion with the pogrom currently underway against the community of faithful. According to Father Kanjamala a plan to cleanse Orissa of its Christian population has been in the making for years, especially in the district of Kandhamal (where most of the atrocities have taken place) where Christians now constitute around 5 per cent of the population. Conversions by, development for and emancipation of Tribals and Dalits are confronted by Hindutva conservatism.

“On 24 December 2007, while the Christians were getting ready to celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ, Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a member of a Hindu fundamentalist organization (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) and his supporters attacked and destroyed many churches and prayer centres. A large number of Christians were injured and made homeless in the communally sensitive district of Kandhmal, in Orissa state, eastern India.

Exactly eight months later, on 23 August 2008 when the same seer and the Hindu community were preparing to celebrate the birthday of Lord Krishna (Janmashtami) in Jalespata ashram (monastery), he and four of his disciples were gunned down by tribal revolutionary Maoists.

That it was a premeditated attack is evident from the fact that he was warned in advance and that government authorities were aware of it. A local TV Channel reported that the murderers left a note on the spot of the murder that this was a revenge killing for the last December attack on the Christians. (Asianews) Read the full story click below;

This is a must read story.

In the name of God

VIJAY SIMHA examines the consequences of lessons taught by men of religion, among the desperately poor in Orissa

WHEN THEY came for Narmada Digal, she wasn’t there. She had fled, five children and mother-inlaw in tow, to the safety of the jungles a kilometre away. So, they set about what she left behind. A framed picture of Jesus, a Bible in Oriya, utensils in the kitchen, some clothes, and linen. By the time Narmada tiptoed back, her home was gone. What was left was still hot from the ashes, and smoking. The neighbours came to commiserate. Narmada took a good look, stood erect, and pulled her sari over her head. She began to pray.

“Lord, forgive us our sins. Jesus, you are the only one. Save us from our misfortune. Free us, Lord.” The words are tumbling out. Narmada’s children have joined her. She is weeping as she pleads for deliverance. So is everybody else. It’s a simple bond that no human wrath can sever, a woman and her God. “I will die. But I won’t stop being a Christian,” Narmada says.

This is in the heart of Kandhamal, a district at the geographical centre of Orissa, ravaged by probably the worst fighting in India between Hindus and Christians. Kandhamal is young, constituted as recently as 1994. It has 2,515 villages spread over 7,649 sq km. The terrain is inaccessible, full of hills and narrow lanes crisscrossing the villages. There isn’t a single industrial unit here. There are no railway lines, and so no trains come here. Buses are rare. It’s so far behind that even the official website of Kandhamal says, “Overall, the district is ranked as a backward district in the state of Orissa .”

In this doleful land live close to eight lakh people. In terms of castes and tribes, the Kandha tribe constitute more than half the population of Kandhmal. The Panos, who are the dalits, form the next big chunk. The Kandha tribe is almost fully under the control of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an 83-year-old socio-political organisation, which is the fountainhead of many Hindu outfits in India. The Panos are where the Christian community gets its numbers.

In terms of population, nearly a quarter of Kandhamal are Christians, the rest almost wholly Hindus. The percentage of Christians in Kandhamal — 25 percent — is astonishingly high compared to the 2.44 percent for the whole of Orissa. In percentage terms, Orissa has the third-largest concentration of Hindus in India (nearly 95 percent in the 2001 Census). Muslims are barely two percent.

The rise in the number of Christians in Kandhamal is offering radical Hindu outfits like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) the perfect alibi to launch an aggressive anti- Christian movement. The movement has two aims: to reconvert Christians to Hinduism, and to stop the alleged slaughter of cows.

An 81-year-old RSS activist, Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati, was heading the VHP movement in Kandhamal. He operated largely from two ashrams 150 km from each other. He was a member of the VHP’s Kendriya Margadarshak Mandal, a powerful decisionmaking panel. On August 23, Saraswati was gunned down in one of the ashrams at night while celebrating Janmashtami. It was the tenth attempt at killing Saraswati, a figure disliked by the Christians, but revered by a band of fanatic Hindu male followers in his ashram.

Full article (with pictures): In the name of God

Source:Tehelka

INDIAN CHRISTIANS/ Response to KANDHAMAL

IS CLSOING CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT INDIA A CORRECT RESPONSE for KANDHMAL?
“Forgive my trespasses as i forgive those who trespass against me” This is part of our Lord”s prayer and we Christians say it by rote, that when i became an adult i found it increasingly difficult to say it without having a guilty conscience.So i admire those Christians who can forgive those who trespass against them. When Gladys Stains could forgive or Pope Paul asked for forgiveness of his attacker this normally gave raise to admiration.That is why Gandhiji was admired by most of the christian world .As a person who stayed in orissa for nearly 17 years i found them to be the most simplest of Indians. We never felt discrimination,insecure etc during our 17 years of stay. In fact Orissa was tolerant of Muslims also as i know Dr.Khan was a revered figure in our chowdwar area.So it came as shock when one Stains and his children were burnt alive by Dara singh. But His wife”s reaction was admired by all.It was considered an isolated incident.
So when one Mr.John Dayal started frequenting Orissa and later became head of ALL india christian council and was nominated as member of Minorities commission, i could anticipate some sort of DISAFFECTION being created amongst Christians of India.He as member of Minorities commission was not promoting brotherhood amongst all religions but was working as a sectarian leader and was promoting even unethical issues like reservation for Dalit Christians.
Dr.PAUL opposed reservation for Indian Christians offered in 1931 round table by Indian national congress.He said that Indian Christians will work,die and live like his Hindu brothers in an Independent India.If today Antony,George Fernandes or Rajashekahar reddy are considered congress or NDA leaders but not Christian leaders ; one must thank the vision of Mr. Paul.
Kandhmall was waiting to happen with Swami Lakhsananda taking up the work replicating what christian missionaries used to do before.He being a VHP leader must be getting funds from Hindu NRIs as is the case with christian NGOs LIKE WORLD VISION.The problem i see with many of my RSS friends is that they feel “PATRIOTISM IS THE MONOPOLY OF HINDUS”. For christian evengalists, this is a new type of challenge. An 80 year old Hindu Swami is practising what they were doing before all these 200 years. Instead of taking up this challenge they were resorting to RESERVATION as a cure for their challenge. Even if Ranganath Mishra commission report is accepted, the challenge posed by late Swami Lakshmananda is going to haunt the christian evangelists.This challenge is going to face them throughout India especially in Tribal regions where RSS is sending its pracharaks with funds from NRIs.
But was this situation exploited by our enemies? Like the Anjumaan did in Bangalore to malign BJP by throwing grenades in churches on instruction from ISI.Only the capture of real culprits will reveal the MOTIVE behind this murder.
Indians throng Ajmer Urs,Velanganni shrine when they are faced with insurmountable personal problems. I got special flowers offered at Lakshman Jhoola of Jammu,Vibhuthi from Saibaba,apart from water from St.Lourdes,and sand from river Jordan.I even got the famous Leper Baba of Choudwar Orissa to perform Puja when my only daughter was afflicted with Schizophrenia.I didn”t feel any dichotomy in doing these things while being an Indian Christian. The VHP people must think that these Hindus going to Velanganni shrine or perform Ajmer Urs in the light of their personal problems.Basically they shop for Gods as they do systems of medicine HOPING FOR A MIRACLE.

I received the following email from a Veer Savarkar fan Dr.Godbole of Pune and i found the analysis of Orissa problem quite revealing. I may not agree with his comments on Gladys Staines but otherwise
he expresses the fears of Hindus about conversion very well as well as its political connections.

The gruesome murder of 84-year old Swami Laxmanananda in Kandhamal, Orissa, has exposed the ease with which evangelical groups can access guns, grenades, and other murderous weapons in the pursuit of their agenda to impose their own religion by annihilating local faiths and cultures everywhere.

No one takes seriously the administration claim that the murder is the handiwork of Maoists. It is another matter that in Kandhamal there is little to differentiate Christians and Maoists – the cadres reputedly overlap, and both share the common goal of uprooting Hindu dharma. Indian media followed the Western media in raising a hue and cry over the murder of evangelist Graham Staines, but did not show the same respect to the octogenarian Swami who devoted his life to the welfare of the most downtrodden tribal communities.

The media gave space to the asinine remarks of Australian evangelist Gladys Staines, who has no locus standi to comment on the internal affairs of India , and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was quick to give audience to well-organised Christian leaders after the Bishop of Rome expressed displeasure over native Hindu reaction to grave provocation. The Italian origin and Roman Catholic faith of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi cannot be overlooked in this context – it constitutes a sub-text to the Christian vociferousness, which seeks to drown out the fact that the Krishna Janmasthami murders in the ashram premises was an exceedingly well-organised and premeditated crime.

The tremendous and spontaneous Hindu reaction – paralleling the upsurge over the Amarnath yatra land issue in Jammu – has taken the nation by surprise. But the root causes of the Orissa unrest have been completely glossed over by the media.

Kandhamal is part of the erstwhile undivided district of Phulbani; it was carved into a separate district on 1 April 1994. It derives its name from the Kandh (Kondha) tribes who dominate the area, comprising approximately 51.96% of the 6.5 lakh population of the district. Kandhs are Hindus and enjoy Scheduled Tribe status.

The other community with a significant local presence is the Panas, a Scheduled Caste, who constitute about 16.89% of the district population. The Panas are overwhelmingly Christian and are educationally, economically and politically more advanced. They were the prime targets of the pioneering Christian missionaries who settled in Katingia village of Daringibadi block of Kandhamal in 1883. The Kandh tribe led by Chakara Bisoi, Dohara Bisoi, Dina Kondh and Lochana Kondh valiantly fought the British in 1857, and it was only in 1884 that the British finally managed to subdue this region with the help of converted Panas from present-day Ganjam and Nayagarh districts bordering Kandhamal.

Through untiring efforts spanning four decades, Swamiji succeeded in awakening the Kandhs. This in turn posed a major threat to the political and economic hegemony of the Church. The converted Panas are highly placed in Government and politics. Rajya Sabha MP Radha Kant Nayak is a converted Pana and a blue-eyed boy of the Congress president. He doubles up as chief of the local chapter of World Vision, a highly energetic Christian outfit. Nayak is also connected with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). He uses his MP’s fund to distribute largesse to converted Panas through his own NGO called ‘Nishwas’. His alleged role in the murderous attack on Swami Laxmanananda on 24 December 2007 has not been probed to the satisfaction of the local populace.

Christian bureaucrats like Issac Behera and retired IPS officer John Nayak, Lok Sabha MP Sugrib Singh, and former Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabh Behera are other heavyweights who are hand-in-glove with missionaries. The Church reportedly gets massive funds from USA , Italy , Australia and several European countries, and Swami Laxmanananda’s demand for an enquiry into the quantum of foreign funds flowing into the region and their utilization should in the fitness of things be accorded the status of the last testament.

There is a long-standing dispute between converted Panas and Hindu Kandh tribals. Under the law, Panas cannot own forest land as they are not Scheduled Tribes. Throwing legality to the winds, several converted Panas have illegally grabbed forest land. Kandhs who have been rendered landless are forced to work as farm labourers on lands illegally occupied by Panas. Seething discontent over this state of affairs first manifested in the 1994 Kandh-Pana clashes that left 50 persons dead.

Despite a High Court order to evict encroached land, Christians continue to illegally occupy the land. Being Scheduled Castes, Panas are legally not allowed reservation benefits after conversion. One way they get around this law is by concealing their conversion. Radha Kant Nayak, a 1962 batch IAS officer, is widely reputed to have gained entry into the IAS through Scheduled Caste quota by fraudulently concealing his convert status. The growing clamour for public scrutiny of such cases is said to be behind the setting up of the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission, which expectedly recommended reservation benefits for all SC converts.

Another way to beat this law is by securing Scheduled Tribe status. This will enable Panas to enjoy reservation even after conversion, as an oversight in the Constitution did not deprive ST converts of reservation rights. Naturally, Church-inspired organizations such as the Phulbani Kui Jana Kalyan Sangh are clamouring for Scheduled Tribe status for Panas.

Moreover, the delimitation of constituencies has resulted in the reservation of the lone Lok Sabha and all Vidhan Sabha Assembly segments for Scheduled Tribes. The posts of President of the Zilla Parishad, Block Chairmen and majority of elected Zilla Parishad members and posts in Panchayati Raj institutions have also been reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The flip side of this is a loss of political and social relevance for the Christian Panas and the Church. Hence the sense of urgency in the demand for Scheduled Tribe status for Christian Panas.

The Kandhs speak the Kui dialect, which is also known to the majority of Panas. Disregarding the fact that ‘Kui’ is a dialect, not a community, Panas are falsely claiming to be Kuis and demanding ST status!

In 1981, the J.B. Patnaik government bowed to the Christian lobby and recommended that Kuis be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes. The Christian lobby won a major victory in 2002 when a Presidential order included Kuis in the list of STs. The Phulbani Kui Jana Kalyan Sangh promptly filed a writ petition in the High Court claiming that in Kandhamal district, Kuis were wrongly listed as a Scheduled Caste instead of Scheduled Tribe in land revenue records and consequently deprived of Constitutional concessions granted to STs.

Finally, the High Court asked the State Government to take a decision in the matter. Mercifully, the State Government submitted that as the Record of Rights of the Panas did not mention them as a Scheduled Tribe, their demand could not be met. The Orissa Government has consistently maintained that “this demand is not based on historical and anthropological facts.”

Kandh organizations such as Phulbani Kui Seva Samiti, Nikhil Utkal Kui Samaj, Kui Kul Samiti and Kui Sanskritik Parishad are struggling to stave off the Pana demand for Scheduled Tribe status. They have formed an umbrella organization called Kui Samanvaya Samiti to safeguard the rights of Kandhs.

More than anyone else, Swami Laxmanananda was a symbol of Kandh hopes and aspirations. The missionaries knew that the resurgent Kandh Hindus could force them to close shop. With Swamiji out of the way, the Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, Msgr. Raphael Cheenath could afford to indulge in some bluster. Speaking after Swamiji’s murder, Cheenath bragged that the roots of the Church in these parts were deep and that the Church would continue to provide light for generations to come.

In Jammu , Hindus have risen in the defence of Dharma, throwing up new leaders in the process. Orissa – land of Jagannath , Lingaraja, Kalinga-Jina – cannot lag behind. It owes this much to Swamiji.

Dr. Godbole is a Pune-based endocrinologist, social activist and author.

Most of the Problem with VHP activists is the leadership of SONIA GANDHI, AN ITALIAN ORIGIN CATHOLIC of congress party.They found to their horror that she gave up Prime minister ship for a Sikh colleague while some of their own are unable to show the kind of sacrifice which is common to Indian ethos.When they get emails from abroad about some 8000 Hindu temples being destroyed by Muslim invaders and how forcible conversion was carried out by them and how Christian missionaries converted the locals, they just fume.They are unable to understand that in spite of aggressive conversion by even Aurangzeb, people chose to pay zizia and stay Hindus in face of SUPERIOR FORCE. 200 years of British rule has left 2% of population as Christians if one believes the allurements of money and force and deception.

Personally for me the BIGGEST SECURITY IS A SELF RESPECTING HINDU NEIGHBOUR WHO DOES NOT FEAR CHRISTIAN CONVERSION OR MUSLIM ORTHODOXY WHO IS PROUD OF HIS OWN ANCIENT RELIGION TO WHICH EVERY INDIAN CHRISTIAN OR INDIAN MUSLIM TRACES HIS ORIGIN.

As a young recruit posted in chushul and standing in front of the memorial for Maj Shaitan Singh who died in Rezangla, i saw the withering bouquet left by late AirVice marshal Pinto who died along with 4 more generals in a helicopter crash.

The epitaph in the memorial said something similar

“WHAT IS GREATER HONOUR THAN FOR A MAN TO DIE FOR THE ASHES AND GRAVES OF HIS FOREFATHERS,

OR THE TEMPLES OF HIS GODS ?”

Ironically as Kandhmal was burning the body of Col J.Thomas , A KERALITE JACOBITE arrived in Bangalore for burial while the body of NK.Mukesh kumar reached his native place in far away UP.The enemies of India don”t see the religion,caste,state of India, they only see INDIANS. WHEN WILL INDIANS SEE OTHER INDIANS SAME WAY AS OUR ENEMIES?

http://captainjohann.indiainteracts.com/2008/09/06/indian-christians-response-to-kandhamal/

‘Anti-Christian’ violence in India flayed

British Indian Muslims on Monday strongly condemned the “anti-Christian” violence and the “harassment” of the community in the Indian state of Orissa.

“Attacking and harassing religious minorities under trumped up pretexts are the sole motto of fascist Hindu organisations and the central and state governments appear to be helpless before them,” the Council of Indian Muslims (CIM) chairman Munaf Zeena said in a statement.

He said “to add insult to injury instead of taking any action against the perpetrators, Education Ministry of Orissa has issued show cause notices to Christian schools that were closed in protest against attacks on Christians.

“We are on record to have condemned violence against anyone and we deplore the killing of Swami Laxmananda Swraswati and demand action against his murderers”.

The body demanded “immediate action against VHP activists, restore the confidence of Christian community and withdraw notices issued to their schools that were closed”.

Zeena also condemned the “anti-Muslim” violence in Azamgarh in UP in which two persons were reported killed and several injured. (Hindustan Times)

Guest Commentary: Anti-Christian Violence in India: A Perennial Calvary

By Santhosh Sebastian Cheruvally
9/10/2008

Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

“In the wake of this latest violence, it seems that for Christians in Orissa and elsewhere in India, their daily life and existence have become a Perennial Calvary.”

 

Even in Refugee camps, suffering Christians are being harassed by Hindu extremists and being coerced into what the radicals call “re-conversion” under dire threat to life, limb and freedom.
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ROME (Catholic Online) – This article is based upon a talk given at St. Paul’s Pontifical College in Rome after the first cycle of anti-Christian violence was unleashed by Hindu fanatical organizations in Orissa, India last Christmas season. The second cycle of anti-Christian violence,apparently perpetrated by the same Hindu fanatical organization, was unleashed after the condemnable murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader of the Kandhamal area.

The violence is a sign of growing venomous hatred against the Christian community in India among Hindu extremists. In a preplanned, nonsensical and very undemocratic manner, Christians were wrongly accused of the murder. As citizens they have a right to the constitutional protections of the legal system of this Nation. Their poor treatment raises serious questions concerning the democratic structures of India. In my speech I observed that ‘Christians do not celebrate Good Friday on Christmas Day. But for the Christian brothers and sisters in the district of Kandhamal and its adjacent areas in Orissa, India, Christmas turned out to be a Good Friday, ‘a veritable Calvary’!’ Now, in the wake of this latest violence, it seems that for Christians in Orissa and elsewhere in India, their daily life and existence have become a Perennial Calvary!

Orissa has a dark history of communal violence and hatred. There is the burning to death of Graham Staines and his two young sons in 1999. His family was engaged in the care of leprosy patients. However, this time, the intensity of the violence has grown into inhuman and unimaginable proportions. It has also done great damage to the age old coexistence and diversity of India, both at home and abroad. The gang raping of nuns, burning alive of human beings, destruction of churches, setting fire to the orphanages and houses of the poor, beating up and public humiliation of priests are not marks of a humane culture and true democracy. Yet in India, they thrive and survive!

The trump card of forced conversion has also been played by the fanatics this time. Certain media ‘analysts’, of a pro-Hindu fundamentalist nature, have been vocal in demonizing missionaries and even the Pope, who is the supreme spiritual head of the Catholic Church. A close scrutiny of these articles reveals them to be a bundle of lies patched together. They forget centuries of differences coexisting. Some portray missionaries as only engaged in the tribal areas; conveniently forgetting the fact that majority of urban India is served and supported by the missionaries and benefits from their energy through a chain of elite schools and affordable hospitals.

The fanatics have tried to portray the missionaries as devilish, making others forget they are sons and daughters of this country and are constantly engaged in groundbreaking humanitarian services for the promotion of human dignity. The perpetrators appear to be right wing Hindu radical organizations such as VHP, RSS, Sangh Parivar and Bajrang Dal. The hate talk continues as reports show that the security situation is vulnerable. That is despite the lofty assurances of the central and state governments. Because of the helplessness felt by the Christian community at the hands of the prevailing governments, the archbishop of Cuttack-Bhuvaneshwar was forced to approach the Supreme Court seeking a CBI enquiry into the masterminding and commitment of violence against the Christians. A question must be asked here: was not this tragedy avoidable if the governments had acted in time? This must be answered by the citizens of India who still have faith in the power of the constitution of this Nation. The nature of the problem of the ongoing antichristian violence calls for a deeper reflection at three levels.

1. As a Political and Social Problem

The Christians in India are law abiding citizens. India guarantees the freedom to practice and propagate one’s faith. They are attacked without respect for Indian law or human dignity. Hence this amounts to a constitutional violation of the rights of an entire community. It is therefore highly condemnable and an offense under Indian law. Accordingly, the Church has drawn the attention of the authorities at the state and central level. The Church feels that the ‘inaction’ of the state machinery to intervene effectively and pacify the situation, despite the repeated representation of these concerns, was akin to a political condoning of the actions. As a socio-political problem, various political parties and national organizations for minority and human rights, along with other NGOs, have strongly reacted and sought swift action.

2. As a Christian Missionary Issue:

The Christians are falsely accused and brutally targeted specifically because of their Christian faith. At this level, our response must be spiritual, praying for the suffering communities and for the perpetrators, as we pray for our enemies. As Christians when are attacked, in our martyrdom of suffering, we are bound to witness to the Love and Forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church in India, from the South to the North and East to the West has demonstrated spiritual and charitable solidarity. Thus, the ongoing sufferings of these innocent and poor Christian brothers and sisters continue to augment our faith and sense of ecclesial identity and shared mission. This is obvious from the recent pastoral words of Archbishop Cheenath and Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, CssR.

3. As an Ideological Problem. The Need for a theological and philosophical Response

We will examine these elements in my next installment.

Santhosh Sebastian Cheruvally belongs to the diocese of Gorakhpur and holds a doctorate in Christology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.

– – –

Deacon Keith Fournier asks that you join with us and help in this vital mission by sending this article to your family, friends, and neighbors and adding our link (www.catholic.org) to your own website, blog or social network. Let us broadcast, we are PROUD TO BE CATHOLIC!

Violence will be met with violence, warns Togadia

Wednesday, 10 September , 2008, 10:12 Last Updated: Wednesday, 10 September , 2008, 11:53

New Delhi: Unfazed by the criticism his group has faced over the violence in Orissa, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Praveen Togadia has said that violence against Hindus will be met with violence. Even as he denied the involvement of the VHP, the radical Hindu group, in the attacks on the Christian community and churches in the state, he insisted that Hindus had the right to retaliate.

(Sify.com)

Scientists fire up giant atom smasher

CERN, Switzerland (CNN) — Deep beneath the border of France and Switzerland, scientists Wednesday fired up one of the most ambitious experiments ever conceived, firing protons around a 27-kilometer (17-mile) tunnel to try to unlock the secrets of the universe.

The experiment will look at how the universe formed by analyzing particle collisions.

The Large Hadron Collider — a $9 billion particle accelerator designed to simulate conditions of the Big Bang that created the physical Universe — was switched on at 0732 GMT to cheers and applause from experts gathered to witness the event.

In the coming months, the collider is expected to begin smashing particles into each other by sending two beams of protons around the tunnel in opposite directions.

Skeptics, who claim that the experiment could lead to the creation of a black hole capable of swallowing the planet, failed in a legal bid to halt the project at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Others have branded it a colossal waste of cash, draining resources from its multinational collaborators that could have been spent on scientific research with more tangible benefits to mankind.

Sound off: What do you think of the experiment?

The collider will operate at higher energies and intensities in the next year, potentially generating enough data to make a discovery by 2009, experts say.

They say the experiment has the potential to confirm theories that physicists have been working on for decades including the possible existence of extra dimensions. They also hope to find a theoretical particle called the Higgs boson — sometimes referred to as the “God particle,” which has never been detected, but would help explain why matter has mass.

Thecollider will recreate the conditions of less than a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, when there was a hot “soup” of tiny particles called quarks and gluons, to look at how the universe evolved, said John Harris, U.S. coordinator for ALICE, a huge detector specialized to analyze that question.

Since this is exploratory science, the collider may uncover surprises that contradict prevailing theories, but which are just as interesting, said Joseph Lykken, theoretical physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

“When Columbus sails west, he thought he was going to find something. He didn’t find what he thought he was going to find, but he did find something interesting,” said Lykken, who works on the Compact Muon Solenoid, one of six experiments inside the collider complex.

Why should the layperson care about this particular exploration? Years ago, when electrons were first identified, no one knew what they were good for, but they have since transformed our entire economy, said Howard Gordon, deputy research program manager for the collider’s ATLAS experiment.

“The transformative effect of this research will be to understand the world we live in much better,” said Gordon, at Brookhaven National Laboratory. “It’s important for just who we are, what we are.”

Fears have emerged that the collider could produce black holes that could suck up anything around them — including the whole Earth. Such fears prompted legal actions in the U.S. and Europe to halt the operation of the Large Hadron Collider, alleging safety concerns regarding black holes and other phenomena that could theoretically emerge.

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Although physicists acknowledge that the collider could, in theory, create small black holes, they say they do not pose any risk. A study released Friday by CERN scientists explains that any black hole created would be tiny, and would not have enough energy to stick around very long before dissolving. Five collider collaborators who did not pen the report independently told CNN there would be no danger from potential black holes.

John Huth, who works on the collider’s ATLAS experiment, called such fears “baloney” in a recent interview, and noted that in normal physics, even if the black hole were stable, it could just pass through the Earth without being detected or without interacting at all.

“The gravitational force is so weak that you’d have to wait many, many, many, many, many lifetimes of the universe before one of these things could [get] big enough to even get close to being a problem,” said Huth, professor of physics at Harvard University.

UVM physicist: CERN study doesn’t pose danger

By Dawson Raspuzzi Herald Staff

A cyclist passes by the wooden globe at the entrance of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Photo: The Associated Press Contrary to rumors, the world will not end today, according to Dennis Clougherty, chairman of the physics department at the University of Vermont. Fear has spread to some extent — as scientists launch an experiment today in a 17-mile-long tunnel beneath the French-Swiss border in hopes of finding evidence of extra dimensions, invisible dark matter and an elusive particle called the “Higgs boson” — that the test will ultimately be the last on Earth. Organized by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, recognized by its French acronym CERN, the Large Hadron Collider will re-enact the “Big Bang,” the theory that a colossal explosion created the cosmos, on a small scale. Scientists hope the most expensive physics experiment in history, weighing in at approximately $10 billion, will help explain the origins of the universe. Some skeptics have expressed concern to the media that the proton collisions could unleash microscopic black holes with a gravitational pull so strong they would suck in planets and stars. In an e-mail, Clougherty said the world’s most powerful atom-smasher will do no such damage, but instead it will “usher in a ‘golden age’ in particle physics where some of the most fundamental questions confronting science will be finally answered.” Clougherty said of the number of LHC studies in recent years that looked at safety issues, every potential danger was disqualified by thorough analysis. The most recent study done by Dr. Steve Giddings, a former colleague of Clougherty’s, also dismissed the potential of Sept. 10 being the last day on Earth. “(Giddings) concluded that the potential formation of microscopic black holes will pose no danger and that the related effects will have no significant consequences,” Clougherty said. Clougherty pointed out that every day the atmosphere is “under bombardment with higher energy cosmic rays,” so if there were dangers from the experiment scientists would already know what they were. Clougherty said he and the greater physics community are excited by the discoveries undoubtedly unleashed when the experiment is fully operational. Some theorists have said the microscopic black holes produced by the LHC might be trapped inside the Earth’s gravitational field — eventually swallowing the planet. CERN chief spokesman James Gillies told The Associated Press the theory is nonsense. John Ellis, a British theoretical physicist at CERN, told The Associated Press that although theorists assume the collider will create microscopic black holes in the first place, it is unlikely. Ellis also said even if they did appear, the black holes would instantly evaporate. Contact Dawson Raspuzzi at dawson.raspuzzi@rutlandherald.com.

rutland Herald

The end of the world?

Probably not.

Today (Wednesday, well it is for me anyway), we see the first beam test of the LHC, the Large Hadron Collider, in the CERN’s labs in Switzerland. The point of this, quite frankly, bloody huge experiment is to try and recreate the Big Bang on a small scale, to then see how the Universe was created.

Sounds a little dangerous and there has been much controversy over how safe this is, but we’ll get to that later. By creating a really tiny Big Bang, they’ll hopefully see how the Universe started and trace back to the very start, even before the biggest implosion/explosion the Universe has and probably will ever see.

Some background: we already have a “Standard Model” of physics, the basic core elements of everything we see and touch, including nuclei, atoms, photons, quarks, electrons and suchlike. However the problem these physicists face is knowing where these originally came from. They have this theory that they all came from one bigger particle, called the “Higgs boson”, named after Prof. Peter Higgs who first thought it up.

So after nearly a decade of work, construction, digging and thinking, they’ve created the biggest and most advanced particle accelerator the world has ever seen. Today, they’re turning it up to “11″.

If my 5 year old god daughter said to me, “Uncle Zack, can I have a Lego playset with horses?”, I’d say, “yeah why not sweetpea.” On the other hand, had she said, “Uncle Zack, can I have a Lego playset with horses that might end the world?”, I’d probably say, “how about a new bike instead?”

To be honest, it’s almost an impossibility that anything other than a few protons can get destroyed by the LHC. Prof. Brian Cox, who recently presented a BBC documentary about the LHC, as well as being the “inspiration” for this article, spoke to the BBC about these conspiracy theories about the end of the world:

“I am in fact immensely irritated by the conspiracy theorists who spread this nonsense around and try to scare people. This non-story is symptomatic of a larger mistrust in science, particularly in the US, which includes intelligent design amongst other things.

The only serious issue is why so many people who don’t have the time or inclination to discover for themselves why this stuff is total crap have to be exposed to the opinions of these half-wits.”

I mean, that’s pretty much the jist of the whole thing. They’re recreating the Big Bang on a very small scale, to find a God particle called the Higgs boson which may or may not exist, but will essentially be the golden finding of all physics ever found, and may help us understand what mass is all about – maybe even find something climate-change-ish in the process.

Just by the off chance we are all about to die, better time than any to quickly get some things off my chest:

• Mum, between the ages of about 12 to 17, I’d been stealing incremental amounts of money from your purse.
• Dad, I know your bank account details, and have been stealing incremental amounts of money from your account.
• I hate computers with an absolute passion. Sure I use them all the time, I’d be lost without them and I’m bloody good with them – but they really do drive me mad to the point I threw my laptop out the window.
• I’ve never used a Mac computer for more than 25 minutes in my entire life.
• Linux still confuses me.
• Facebook scares me because it seems to know everything about everybody.
• My mother actually wants me to marry another ZDNet blogger, after saying she was one of the most beautiful women she’d ever seen. She’s certainly not wrong there.
• Even though I hate everything about the iPod; the culture, the arrogance of having one, the technology and the fact you have to use iTunes with it, I still desperately want one.
• The Live Search team at Microsoft UK use Google as their search engine. Fact.
• I currently only have 42 songs on my Windows Media Player playlist which I just keep on repeat, regardless of having over 5GB of music on my server.
• I am (or would have been?) changing courses from Computer Science to Criminology & Social Policy because I just don’t feel geeky enough.
• I always have, and probably always will love Windows Vista. It never breaks, just sometimes goes a little slow on my desktop computer.
• I haven’t ever legally bought any software, game, or music online. [hint hint]
• A couple of years ago, I personally pissed off Bill Gates.

Again I reiterate the likelihood of us all being crushed into something smaller than a period point is less likely than zombies roaming the Earth and only feasting on the brains of idiotic politicians called George.

So, potentially my final words I shall ever write: Emily, give me back my Family Guy DVD, you thieving cow

Update: great news! Just had an email through from an academic over in Hawaii saying that the world will indeed end today, but because the LHC will somehow cause a huge supernova. Whilst I emailed back telling him to essentially calm down and to get an early night’s sleep, some of his predictions have been published on the web.

(http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration/?p=441)

This Machine Is the Future of Physics

The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most-powerful atom smasher, is an engineering marvel constructed hundreds of feet underground.

Composed of millions of individual pieces, the collider uses more than 9,000 magnets to accelerate two beams of protons to almost the speed of light. When the beams collide, they shatter into their constituent parts, allowing scientists to glimpse particles that don’t exist in standard environments.

The hard part, actually, becomes finding the rare and important particles among all the normal ones created in smashing atoms. Toward that end, physicists designed cathedral-size experimental chambers that feature some of the most-precise measurement tools ever created by man. One scientist described them as 150-megapixel digital cameras taking snapshots 600 million times a second.

In this gallery, we take you on a quick tour of the world’s most complex scientific machine.