Brown civil liberties update

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From DNSI, three stories about both significant violence and institutional discrimination that we wouldn’t face if we were in the “mainstream.” For those of you who’ve asked if I still feel threatened as a brown Sikh living in America, the answer is, yes I do. Stories like this are why.

First, an 80 year old Sikh man was assaulted in California and fractured his pelvis:

The attack took place … on January 21 when Harbans Singh, a turbaned Sikh, was riding a bike from Guru Nanak Sikh Temple … to his home… According to Singh, four or five occupants of a maroon-colored Chevrolet Tahoe sports utility vehicle hurled rocks and racial epithets at him from the back. Fortunately, the rocks did not hit him, so he ignored it… The men were described as Hispanic or white between 25 to 30 years old, she said…

The vehicle overtook Singh’s bicycle and stopped at a corner, where one man got out and pushed Singh off his bicycle. A bystander called an ambulance, assuming this was an accident when she saw him lying on the road. [Link]

The attack is a major surprise given the size and deep roots of the Sikh community in the Yuba-Marysville area:

A hate crime against an 80-year-old Sikh in Yuba City in California has taken the community there surprise and shock, given that it is the first time such an incident has happened there, where 10 percent of the residents are Sikhs with a history of almost a century behind them in the city. [Link]

Now I know that people can be cruel and enjoy the suffering of others, but it makes my blood boil to think of people making sport out of causing harm to an 80 year old man!

Furthermore, the attackers were dangerously foolhardy. Yuba City is the closest you can come to rural Punjab in the USA. Although only 10% of the population, Sikhs have been there for a long time, and own a lot of the land. They are not afraid of asserting themselves. I hope the perpetrators turn themselves in or are caught by the police before somebody local catches up with them and meets out rough justice, village style.

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Hi, I’m Buddha. You can call me Bud.

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So it was only when I moved to the US (from France) at age 18 that everyone started calling me Sidd, following that American mania of shortening all names to one syllable. I accepted it without thinking, and eventually began using it to introduce myself. At least it spared me the Hermann Hesse questions. But I never felt like a Sidd.

It took me years to accept that the nickname was really bothering me; years more to realize I could do something about it. One day five years ago I sent an email to all my friends asking them to call me any nickname they liked, just not Sidd. It was a profoundly liberating moment. So much so that when I’m called Sidd now, which happens from time to time, it barely bothers me anymore.

But now comes this, and I’m starting to have ugly flashbacks:

SIDD, a new musical based on the novel “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse, will begin performances at Dodger Stages 5 (340 West 50th Street) on Thursday, February 23 @ 8:00 PM. With music & lyrics by Doug Silver and direction, book & additional lyrics by Andrew Frank, SIDD will have its official opening on Wednesday, March 22 @ 8:00 PM.

Oh boy. Here we go:

SIDD chronicles the extraordinary journey of a manÂ’s life from his youthful wanderings in his home village, through his many years living amidst the glamour jazz and corruption of the city, his encounter with Buddha and ultimately, his enlightenment that follows. SIDD features a diverse cast of seven accompanied onstage by piano, cello and percussion trio. The musicalÂ’s eclectic score draws on various influences from Richard Rodgers to reggae.

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The merchant of vices

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I’m going to let you in on a terrible vice of mine. It’s a habit that just may turn me into a pauper: photo surfing. Give me pretty women, aerial photography or Friendster, and I can blow hours just clicking through.

If you too are gluttinous in your vision, stay away from the photos of mutineer Preston Merchant. A documentary photog, Merchant apparently goes to every desi event and destination you’ve ever wanted to see:

Some of the photos that caught my eye:

Look, buddy, I’ve got Desai photos too… from, uh, outside the Rubin Museum (it was sold out ).

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Blasphemous bill ejected from Parliament

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Amidst the Danish toon non-troversy, the Muslim Council lost a vote in the UK parliament this week on a bill banning insults to religion (via Asians in Media).

Supporters of the bill wanted to ban anti-Muslim ads by right-wing political parties. They also argued Hindus and Muslims deserved the same protection against incitement to violence already granted to Sikhs, Jews and Christians under racial hatred and blasphemy laws.

Opponents, such as comedian Rowan Atkinson, said the bill was a sop to Muslim voters, was overbroad and would also ban religious satire like Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. The bill passed in a weakened form with only the hatred and incitement to violence planks intact. Incidentally, Mr. Bean is married to a desi woman.

Salman Rushdie… “There are moments when one is profoundly grateful for, and proud of, British Parliamentary democracy. This is one of them…”

Hanif Kureishi… “This is an amazing result and a great achievement for writers and intellectuals when they unite…”

Hari Kunzru… “I was very happy to wake up to this news. The Government’s loss is Britain’s gain… This defeat should be another signal to the Government that in its disregard for civil liberties, it’s losing touch with the mainstream of British opinion…”

[PEN…] “… It will now be criminal to publish posters showing women of many colours in hijabs with the slogan ‘Muslims go home…’ ” [Link]

That blasphemy laws still exist on Britain’s books, pushed by the government church and enforceable by the state, makes me doubly glad of the upcoming 230th anniversary of American independence.

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Artist attacked for blasphemy (Updated with images)

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I was just reading about a painter whose work was called blasphemous and whose house was attacked by a mob of 90 militants as a result. They also attacked an art gallery that was showing his paintings and destroyed 28 of his canvasses. Two other painters whose work was displayed with his at a different gallery were also attacked. He has been the subject of repeated police investigations in the past, and was just booked by the police yesterday for offending religious sentiment.

It might surprise you to know that this is not a story of Islamic intolerance. Instead, this is a story about Hindu religious sensibilities offended by the work of one of India’s most famous painters, Muqbool Fida Husain, a man whose paintings were recently auctioned by Christie’s for $2 million a canvas.

Hindu groups objected to Husain’s pictures of Saraswati, Durga and Draupadi naked in 1996, when militants rioted, and are currently objecting to a painting of “mother India” naked:

Acknowledged as one of the living legends of Indian art, Maqbool Fida Hussain created a public furore by painting Hindu goddesses in the nude in 1996…. Hussain later apologised and said he had not meant to hurt the sentiments of any religious group. He even expressed his willingness to go before a committee of three persons – an art critic, a lawyer and a representative of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad – that could scrutinise his entire collection. Hussain said he would immediately destroy anything that the committee found objectionable. That suggestion was brushed aside as members of members of hard-line Hindu organisations ransacked the painter’s house in Mumbai and also manhandled artists outside a gallery in Delhi that had Hussain’s works on display. [Link]

… the Shiv Sena … endorsed the Bajrang Dal’s attack on Husain’s home… Bal Thackeray said: “If Husain can step into Hindustan, what is wrong if we enter his house?”… [Link]

IN the October 11, 1996 incident, a group of Bajrang Dal activists forced their way into the Herwitz Gallery in Ahmedabad’s Husain-Doshi gufa, the well-known art complex. Armed with tridents and wearing saffron scarves, they intimidated a lone guard and destroyed about 23 tapestry items and 28 paintings which were on display there. The work destroyed included Husain’s series on Hanuman, a depiction of the Last Supper and the famous Madhuri Dixit series. [Link]

WARNING: Thumbnail versions of the offending images below the fold, click to see larger versions

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In the Land of the Arizoni

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In case you missed cliche-ridden, inaccurate and hackneyed writing, my little sister hooks you up with some more– a LOT more (thanks, Veena).

Apparently, a goth belly dancing teacher who also loves participating in renn-faires has conceived, choreographed and executed a Bolly-flavored show in the state represented by the greatest Senator in the U.S. That’s cool– mad love to any gori who loves the brown enough to be down (shout out to our Andrea, who sings in Hindi so beautifully) but the…erm…journalist who wrote this article? I sentence him to a meeting between his ear and my super-vindictive fingers.

From the Phoenix New Times:

Once upon a time (okay, about a month ago), there was a woman named Samantha Riggs who so loved Hindi films (otherwise known as Bollywood, India’s global cinematic export) that she staged a tribute, Bollywood Love Rules…
The lead character of Riggs’ production, Varsha, floated across the stage cradling an oil lamp, which signified her love, and she and her chorus danced in complex formations to a deep, resonant beat, wiggling their hips and snapping their wrists with the attitude of the best Bollywood dancers in all the world.

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Ready for the most egregious paragraph? I’m not. And I’ve already read it. Twice. Deep breath

Now, one might think Samantha Riggs and her ensemble cast must be of Indian heritage. But, in reality, their pale faces reveal they’re just a bunch of American girls, more like goth chicks than the daughters of goat herders from Delhi. Bollywood Love Rules would likely be a smash hit back in India. As it is, onstage at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts on a night in early January, the hundreds in the audience — some Indians, some not — don’t seem to care that they’re not in the land of the Punjabi.

Kindly excuse the vein popping out of my forehead and we may commence. FIRST of all, I’m an American girl too, asshole. I think what you meant was, “the performers are not desi”. SECOND, I know dozens of people from Delhi, some of whom I am closely related to– and none of them, family or not, herd goats. Finally (not really, but for the purposes of this paragraph, sure why not) those Arizonans don’t seem to care that they’re not in the land of the PunjabiS, BengaliS, KashmiriS, GujuratiS, MalayaleeS. Tell me, my trite friend, where is the Land of the Punjabi? Is it in the same nation as the Land of the Malayalam? Continue reading →

Re-cap of the SAAN conference

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As mentioned before, this past weekend I was invited to speak at the South Asian Alliance Network conference at the University of Michigan. The conference organizers, in what MUST have been a drug-induced haze, asked me to give the kickoff address for the day. The speaker’s packet that I was sent contained a brief note about what the kickoff speech should include. Here is an excerpt:

Attendees of my workshop (a.k.a victims)

This is a brief overview of what we would like you to discuss in your kickoff address. Please use your own expertise and background when creating this speech. The goal of this speech is to excite the participants for the upcoming day; the points that follow are simply ideas that are intended to guide your thought process.

  • An anecdote to energize/excite participants for the day ahead

  • Inspirational quote/saying

Whoa! As you can imagine I was nervous as all hell. I haven’t had to inspire or excite people since…well, ever I guess. The speech went alright however, and I did not trip getting on OR off the stage. I was then going to Live Blog the conference for the consumption of SM readers, but it was so damn engrossing that I kept my laptop in its case, and decided to selfishly attend the workshops instead. My workshop was titled “Get up, get out, and get moving”:

Authors, comedians, lyricists, poets, painters, and sculptors – the list goes on – are all part of the process to develop society. This workshop explores how these individuals find the inspiration to carry out such enormous tasks and whether these professions well-suited to activism. Learn from the very real stories of these accomplished individuals who have a dynamic role in society.

Obviously I fell into “the list goes on” category . It was a good workshop. I miss being an undergrad. These attendees were all smart as hell and a lot more engaged than I remember being. I think I have come to see the University of Michigan as a Utopian bubble where anything is possible, especially if you are a member of the South Asian community. I am going to make a bold (albeit biased) prediction that 20 years from now there will be many South Asian alumni from Michigan that are running this country. To give you an idea of how special this conference was, there was EVEN Ohio State representation.

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Meth Merchants out of options

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There have been new developments in the Operation Meth Merchant case that we have been following (see related posts at bottom) here at SM:

The infamous Operation Meth Merchant case in Georgia took an unexpected turn with as many as 23 of the accused pleading guilty and two more cases being dropped. Seven of them have already been sentenced to jail time.

“Different people pleaded guilty for different reasons,” said Deepali Gokhale, organizer of the Racial Justice Campaign against Operation Meth Merchant, an apex body of several organizations.

“Those living undocumented pleaded guilty, because in any case they would be deported,” Manny Arora, an attorney, said. Two of his clients pleaded guilty. Some pleaded guilty because the evidence against them was very strong and there was no chance for them in a trial which could have brought stiffer sentences.

One person with a green card was also among those pleaded guilty, Gokhale said. He could be deported because pleading guilty to felony charges is sufficient cause… Since all three were undocumented, the immigration authorities, specially invited by the prosecutor, were waiting to take them immediately to an immigration detention center. Pravin Patel’s wife and four-month old baby were taken to Chicago by her brother.

Though these men said they would leave on their own, the immigration officials did not agree. “INS interfered and used the mandatory detention provision to take them into custody. They may be in custody for up to eight weeks before being formally deported,” Arora said. [Link]

This is quite a convenient situation for the Feds. They don’t need to prove that the actual Meth case was legitimate, and not racially motivated. They can simply coerce a guilty plea. If you are one of the accused and are going to be deported anyways, then pleading guilty will at least move your case through the system more quickly. Even then, you will face jail time before the deportation paper work goes through. Illegal immigration laws should not be enforced in this manner which singles out a particular minority.

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Provocation

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ItÂ’s easy to condemn the vandalism, the hatred and the violence. I am sure everyone here joins in this condemnation.

But there’s still the uncomfortable fact that many European opinion-makers are reveling in provocation – not only reprinting the cartoons but piling on new offense.

In France the right-wing tab France-Soir already ran the pics. Now Charlie-Hebdo [no website], a leftist satirical weekly with roots in the May 1968 student rebellion, runs the Danish portfolio and its own, new, cover illustration that you can see here. Titled “Mohammed overtaken by fundamentalists,” it shows the usual dark-and-swarthy Prophet with his head in his hands, exclaiming (using the rude word cons): “It’s hard being worshipped by idiots!”

Meanwhile the editor of Jyllands-Posten has decided that not content with offending Muslims, he also wants to offend Jews; and announces, in a particularly tasteful comparison, that accusing him of provocation is like accusing a woman of causing her own rape: Continue reading →

Going nukular

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The latest New Yorker is running a scary story on just how close India and Pakistan got to war in 2002 after the Dec. 13, 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. ‘The Stand-Off’ is written by Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden. It’s not online yet, but here’s a related interview. Some of the eyebrow-raising details:

  • Pakistani nuclear scientists have admitted to meeting with bin Laden; it’s not clear if it was during bin Laden’s U.S.-backed Afghan war phase or afterwards
  • The Parliament attackers had a car bomb big enough to kill most of the Indian Parliament. The MPs escaped only by chance, because the Vice Presidential motorcade happened to be blocking the Parliament entrance and the car bomb couldn’t get inside.
  • The U.S. pressured India to back off from retaliating so that Pakistan could supply troops to police the Afghanistan border
  • The U.S. turned down basing rights offered by India during the Afghanistan bombing so as not to offend Pakistan
  • Both countries feel betrayed by the U.S. after the 2002 border standoff: India because Musharraf has reduced but not stopped jihadi groups, and Pakistan because of warming U.S.-India ties
  • Disappointed by the political restraint in 2002, the Indian military has adopted a ‘cold start’ doctrine, a rapid reaction plan that kicks in before the U.S. and Britain start applying pressure; this increases the risk of war
  • American diplomats think India has an imprecise understanding of what would trigger nuclear escalation; it’s in Pakistan’s interest to convey the impression that that threshold is low
  • American analysts think that, like most countries, Pakistan would actually use its nukes if it felt its national survival were threatened
  • Under the U.S. interpretation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it’s illegal to give nuke safety tech like PALs (coded controllers) to India and Pakistan, even though they reduce the chance of accidental launch
  • The Pakistani military says it follows standard procedures to secure its nukes in central locations; they’re most vulnerable to being hijacked once deployed in the field
  • American analysts estimate both countries have around 100 nukes, and Israel twice that

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