Campaign to stop Funding Hate
Saffron Dollar January-February 2005Campaign to Stop Funding HateMarch 3, 2005[Now on the web at: http://stopfundinghate.org/resources/Saff$/]
Friends,
It has now been ten weeks since the tsunami disaster- while the media has movedon from this disaster to the next news item, people affected by the tsunami arestill trying to piece their lives together. Not only are they dealing with theinefficiency of state agencies but also the sectarian zeal of communal groups.The first two reports present a follow up of tsunami relief efforts. The thirdreport concerns Indicorps, an organization that provides young Indian-Americansthe opportunity to spend time in India on 'development' projects. We report ona conference held at Yale University, where questions about Indicorps'affiliation with the Sangh came up.
Urgent Action Alert!
The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) has invited Narendra ModiasChief Guest at its annual convention on March 24, 2005. As Chief Minister ofGujarat, Modi's complicity in the 2002 Gujarat pogroms is well known. TheCoalition Against Genocide is an effort to protest this attempt to clean upModi's 'public image' by AAHOA and its allied organizations. Please visit thecoalition's website at http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org for details and signits online petition at http://www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org/petition.php As always, we welcome feedback and questions- please feel free to write to us atinfo@stopfundinghate.org.
1) Post-Tsunami Report
Ten weeks have passed since a tsunami hit the coastlines of ten countries inAsia and Africa. The official count of the dead stands at nearly 300,000 withtens of thousands more who will never be accounted for.
The news is no longer on the front-page and not unexpectedly, the large sums ofmoney pledged for relief and rehabilitation by the rich nations have remainedjust that; pledges, with no sign of actual moneys being transferred.
The local governments haven't done any better. Indonesia is using the tragedyto push its agenda of eliminating the so-called insurgency in the Aceh, the SriLankan government also appears to have missed the small window of peace withthe LTTE that had opened in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, and inIndia, the planned rehabilitation work in Tamil Nadu has somehow mutated into're-development' with the World Bank and the IMF stepping in.
But the people whose lives were shattered do not have the luxury of being ableto shift their priorities; they have to get on with the task of rebuildingtheir lives. So, all of you who were so generous with your time and with yourmoney, please do not stop. The needs on the ground are long-term and theresources required are enormous. Please continue to support the rehabilitationwork in all of the affected countries. Some of the organizations working inIndia that we have recommended before are the Tamil Nadu Science Forum, theNational Fishworkers Forum, Vidyarambam, APVVU (agricultural workers' union inAP), People's Watch and Bhoomika Trust. All of these organizations have along history of working closely with affected communities and a reputation forcomplete transparency and accountability.
At the same time, we also remind you that communal groups are also out in fullforce in the tsunami-hit areas, using the tragedy to establish themselves inthe affected communities. It happened following the Latur earthquake in 1993,it happened in the wake of the Orissa cyclone in 1999, and it happened againwhen the massive earthquake shook Gujarat in 2001. Not only do these groups,the RSS and its affiliates being the worst offenders, disburse relief unequallyamong various communities, but they cause fractures in the communities alonglines of caste and religion.
So we urge you to not turn off your generosity, but do continue to be vigilantto ensure that this immense tragedy does not provide another opportunity forcommunal groups to gain foothold in a plural society. For further informationon organizations, please visit our website (www.stopfundinghate.org).
2) Tsunami Relief, Dalits and marginalized coastal communities
While the Tsunami disaster brought untold death and destruction to hundreds ofthousands across the Indian Ocean Basin, some institutions have survivedintact, and are still at work. Varnashrama Dharma has survived the Tsunami andis continuing to wreak havoc on the lives of Dalit survivors through thecallous, mean and absolutely reprehensible actions of some individuals andgroups ostensibly conducting relief operations. Even while the scale of thetragedy motivates thousands of ordinary people to commit acts of tremendousgenerosity and compassion across religious and caste lines, why are othersstill shackled by the unjust demands of caste tyranny? Widespread reports ofrelief being denied to Dalit communities and overt discrimination againstDalits in the relief process are pouring in. The following news stories andreports offer a glimpse of the immense challenge facing Dalit communities inthe affected region, who have had to deal with both the cataclysm of theTsunami, and the ever-enduring tyranny of caste Hinduism.
Another disturbing aspect of the Tsunami relief operations is the purportedefforts of the Tamil Nadu government in tandem with elite local and globalinterests to use the tragedy to impose a permanent dislocation of thetraditionally marginalized fishing communities throughout coastal Tamil Nadu. This heinous effort taken together with the continued discrimination of Dalitsrepresents a stunning failure of India's state and civil society institutionsto ensure the safety, wellbeing and dignified livelihoods of millions of Dalitsand the marginalized fishing communities of coastal India. We condemn thebarbaric persistence of anti-Dalit social institutions and practices, and callon all well-intentioned people to apply the necessary pressure on state andcivil institutions conducting relief to cease and desist from such tyrannicalefforts as enforced displacement. Relief should neither be used as an excuseto consolidate the Hindutvadi menace, nor for the continuation of caste tyrannyand outright class war against the poor victims of the Tsunami. The parasiticforces of society, whether Hindutvadi fascists, entrenched defenders ofBrahmanical caste tyranny, or opportunistic predatory agents of local andglobal economic interests, should be opposed with the same intensity by allthose who value secularism, democracy and social justice.
For more information, please see the following reports:Shunned, these Dalits gather tsunami dead, Indian Express (January 03, 2005)http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=40270
Tsunami can't wash this away: hatred for Dalits, Indian Express (January 07,2005)http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=62212
Dalits Fight Tsunami Daily, Udit Raj (January 13, 2005)http://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-uditraj130105.htm
Dark Clouds: A new Government order to scatter Tsu! nami survivors in TamilNaduby Babu Mathew (January 16, 2005)http://www.sacw.net/Nation/BabuMathew16Jan05.pdf
3) Indicorps and its Sangh affiliations
The South Asian Conference Council (SACC) at Yale University organized aconference on solidarity in the South Asian community. The objective was toincrease social activism in the South Asian student community. The conferenceincluded panels on youth activism and workers rights and brought together somevery progressive activists in the community (such as Nahar Alam from Andolan,Saru Jayaraman from Restaurant opportunities Center of New York, ChandraBhatnagar from the ACLU to mention a few). In conflict with this progressivelist of speakers, the organizers also invited Sonal Shah, vice president ofGoldman Sachs and co-founder of Indicorps. According to their website,"Indicorps is a non-partisan, non-religious, non-profit organization thatencourages Indians around! the world to actively participate in India'sprogress." While some of the organizations that Indicorps works with are indeedsecular and progressive, at issue was their affiliation with organizations ofthe Sangh parivar. These connections range from personal affiliation of SonalShah with the VHP-A (seehttp://www.vhp-america.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13),institutional affiliation of Indicorps with IDRF (IDRF is one of Indicorps'supporters; seehttp://www.indicorps.org/index.cfm?function=supporters&level=1), Indicorps'involvement with Sangh parivar projects such as Ekal Vidyalaya (seehttp://www.indicorps.org/index.cfm?function=partners&level=1). Perhaps mostquestionable was Indicorps' decision to accept an award from the "butcher ofGujarat" Narendra Modi in November 2004, at a time when numerous human rightsactivists have been threatened from continuing their work(http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/india/gujarat/).
The conference organizers allowed a couple of progressive youth collectives(Organizing Youth! and Youth Solidarity Summer) to read a statement and askIndicorps to explain their association with the Sangh Parivar. Far fromexplaining, Sonal Shah admitted her affiliation to the VHP-A, claimed that shewould take money from anyone (including the KKK!), and used a young Muslimvolunteer to claim that Indicorps was in fact secular. Such is not the kind ofsolidarity that one expects from a non-partisan, non-religious organization. Infact, based on the evidence and Sonal Shah's admission, Indicorps can be listedas one of many front organizations of the Sangh parivar in the US. Soon afterthis public discussion, the Patriotic Sons of Mother India (a virulent Sanghoutfit) posted a defence of Indicorps by attempting to defame Youth SolidaritySummer as anti-India and anti-Hindu- typical reaction from the Sangh for one oftheir own!
CAMPAIGN TO STOP FUNDING HATE
--------------------------------------------------------------------This message is sent to you because you endorsed the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate. If you do not wish to receive any further messages from us please send a message to unsubscribe@stopfundinghate.org with "Unsubscribe" in the subject field. --------------------------------------------------------------------For information about the campaign: info@stopfundinghate.org Feedback on our news updates: news@stopfundinghate.org Visit our website: http://stopfundinghate.orgSaffron Dollar on the web: http://stopfundinghate.org/resources/Saff$/&#
Friends,
It has now been ten weeks since the tsunami disaster- while the media has movedon from this disaster to the next news item, people affected by the tsunami arestill trying to piece their lives together. Not only are they dealing with theinefficiency of state agencies but also the sectarian zeal of communal groups.The first two reports present a follow up of tsunami relief efforts. The thirdreport concerns Indicorps, an organization that provides young Indian-Americansthe opportunity to spend time in India on 'development' projects. We report ona conference held at Yale University, where questions about Indicorps'affiliation with the Sangh came up.
Urgent Action Alert!
The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) has invited Narendra ModiasChief Guest at its annual convention on March 24, 2005. As Chief Minister ofGujarat, Modi's complicity in the 2002 Gujarat pogroms is well known. TheCoalition Against Genocide is an effort to protest this attempt to clean upModi's 'public image' by AAHOA and its allied organizations. Please visit thecoalition's website at http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org for details and signits online petition at http://www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org/petition.php As always, we welcome feedback and questions- please feel free to write to us atinfo@stopfundinghate.org.
1) Post-Tsunami Report
Ten weeks have passed since a tsunami hit the coastlines of ten countries inAsia and Africa. The official count of the dead stands at nearly 300,000 withtens of thousands more who will never be accounted for.
The news is no longer on the front-page and not unexpectedly, the large sums ofmoney pledged for relief and rehabilitation by the rich nations have remainedjust that; pledges, with no sign of actual moneys being transferred.
The local governments haven't done any better. Indonesia is using the tragedyto push its agenda of eliminating the so-called insurgency in the Aceh, the SriLankan government also appears to have missed the small window of peace withthe LTTE that had opened in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, and inIndia, the planned rehabilitation work in Tamil Nadu has somehow mutated into're-development' with the World Bank and the IMF stepping in.
But the people whose lives were shattered do not have the luxury of being ableto shift their priorities; they have to get on with the task of rebuildingtheir lives. So, all of you who were so generous with your time and with yourmoney, please do not stop. The needs on the ground are long-term and theresources required are enormous. Please continue to support the rehabilitationwork in all of the affected countries. Some of the organizations working inIndia that we have recommended before are the Tamil Nadu Science Forum, theNational Fishworkers Forum, Vidyarambam, APVVU (agricultural workers' union inAP), People's Watch and Bhoomika Trust. All of these organizations have along history of working closely with affected communities and a reputation forcomplete transparency and accountability.
At the same time, we also remind you that communal groups are also out in fullforce in the tsunami-hit areas, using the tragedy to establish themselves inthe affected communities. It happened following the Latur earthquake in 1993,it happened in the wake of the Orissa cyclone in 1999, and it happened againwhen the massive earthquake shook Gujarat in 2001. Not only do these groups,the RSS and its affiliates being the worst offenders, disburse relief unequallyamong various communities, but they cause fractures in the communities alonglines of caste and religion.
So we urge you to not turn off your generosity, but do continue to be vigilantto ensure that this immense tragedy does not provide another opportunity forcommunal groups to gain foothold in a plural society. For further informationon organizations, please visit our website (www.stopfundinghate.org).
2) Tsunami Relief, Dalits and marginalized coastal communities
While the Tsunami disaster brought untold death and destruction to hundreds ofthousands across the Indian Ocean Basin, some institutions have survivedintact, and are still at work. Varnashrama Dharma has survived the Tsunami andis continuing to wreak havoc on the lives of Dalit survivors through thecallous, mean and absolutely reprehensible actions of some individuals andgroups ostensibly conducting relief operations. Even while the scale of thetragedy motivates thousands of ordinary people to commit acts of tremendousgenerosity and compassion across religious and caste lines, why are othersstill shackled by the unjust demands of caste tyranny? Widespread reports ofrelief being denied to Dalit communities and overt discrimination againstDalits in the relief process are pouring in. The following news stories andreports offer a glimpse of the immense challenge facing Dalit communities inthe affected region, who have had to deal with both the cataclysm of theTsunami, and the ever-enduring tyranny of caste Hinduism.
Another disturbing aspect of the Tsunami relief operations is the purportedefforts of the Tamil Nadu government in tandem with elite local and globalinterests to use the tragedy to impose a permanent dislocation of thetraditionally marginalized fishing communities throughout coastal Tamil Nadu. This heinous effort taken together with the continued discrimination of Dalitsrepresents a stunning failure of India's state and civil society institutionsto ensure the safety, wellbeing and dignified livelihoods of millions of Dalitsand the marginalized fishing communities of coastal India. We condemn thebarbaric persistence of anti-Dalit social institutions and practices, and callon all well-intentioned people to apply the necessary pressure on state andcivil institutions conducting relief to cease and desist from such tyrannicalefforts as enforced displacement. Relief should neither be used as an excuseto consolidate the Hindutvadi menace, nor for the continuation of caste tyrannyand outright class war against the poor victims of the Tsunami. The parasiticforces of society, whether Hindutvadi fascists, entrenched defenders ofBrahmanical caste tyranny, or opportunistic predatory agents of local andglobal economic interests, should be opposed with the same intensity by allthose who value secularism, democracy and social justice.
For more information, please see the following reports:Shunned, these Dalits gather tsunami dead, Indian Express (January 03, 2005)http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=40270
Tsunami can't wash this away: hatred for Dalits, Indian Express (January 07,2005)http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=62212
Dalits Fight Tsunami Daily, Udit Raj (January 13, 2005)http://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-uditraj130105.htm
Dark Clouds: A new Government order to scatter Tsu! nami survivors in TamilNaduby Babu Mathew (January 16, 2005)http://www.sacw.net/Nation/BabuMathew16Jan05.pdf
3) Indicorps and its Sangh affiliations
The South Asian Conference Council (SACC) at Yale University organized aconference on solidarity in the South Asian community. The objective was toincrease social activism in the South Asian student community. The conferenceincluded panels on youth activism and workers rights and brought together somevery progressive activists in the community (such as Nahar Alam from Andolan,Saru Jayaraman from Restaurant opportunities Center of New York, ChandraBhatnagar from the ACLU to mention a few). In conflict with this progressivelist of speakers, the organizers also invited Sonal Shah, vice president ofGoldman Sachs and co-founder of Indicorps. According to their website,"Indicorps is a non-partisan, non-religious, non-profit organization thatencourages Indians around! the world to actively participate in India'sprogress." While some of the organizations that Indicorps works with are indeedsecular and progressive, at issue was their affiliation with organizations ofthe Sangh parivar. These connections range from personal affiliation of SonalShah with the VHP-A (seehttp://www.vhp-america.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13),institutional affiliation of Indicorps with IDRF (IDRF is one of Indicorps'supporters; seehttp://www.indicorps.org/index.cfm?function=supporters&level=1), Indicorps'involvement with Sangh parivar projects such as Ekal Vidyalaya (seehttp://www.indicorps.org/index.cfm?function=partners&level=1). Perhaps mostquestionable was Indicorps' decision to accept an award from the "butcher ofGujarat" Narendra Modi in November 2004, at a time when numerous human rightsactivists have been threatened from continuing their work(http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/india/gujarat/).
The conference organizers allowed a couple of progressive youth collectives(Organizing Youth! and Youth Solidarity Summer) to read a statement and askIndicorps to explain their association with the Sangh Parivar. Far fromexplaining, Sonal Shah admitted her affiliation to the VHP-A, claimed that shewould take money from anyone (including the KKK!), and used a young Muslimvolunteer to claim that Indicorps was in fact secular. Such is not the kind ofsolidarity that one expects from a non-partisan, non-religious organization. Infact, based on the evidence and Sonal Shah's admission, Indicorps can be listedas one of many front organizations of the Sangh parivar in the US. Soon afterthis public discussion, the Patriotic Sons of Mother India (a virulent Sanghoutfit) posted a defence of Indicorps by attempting to defame Youth SolidaritySummer as anti-India and anti-Hindu- typical reaction from the Sangh for one oftheir own!
CAMPAIGN TO STOP FUNDING HATE
--------------------------------------------------------------------This message is sent to you because you endorsed the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate. If you do not wish to receive any further messages from us please send a message to unsubscribe@stopfundinghate.org with "Unsubscribe" in the subject field. --------------------------------------------------------------------For information about the campaign: info@stopfundinghate.org Feedback on our news updates: news@stopfundinghate.org Visit our website: http://stopfundinghate.orgSaffron Dollar on the web: http://stopfundinghate.org/resources/Saff$/&#
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