SANSAD Public Forum with David Barsamian

April 15, 2012
2.00 pm-5.00 pm
Room 1700, SFU Harbour Centre
515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC

David Barsamian is the founder and director of Alternative Radio, the independent weekly audio series based in Boulder, Colorado, a nationally syndicated program carried by 125 radio stations.

He has interviewed and authored books with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Eqbal Ahmad, Tariq Ali, Arundhati Roy and Edward Said. His best-selling books with Chomsky have been translated into many languages. His latest books are How the World Works and What We Say Goes (both with Noam Chomsky) and Targeting Iran. David’s interviews and articles appear in The Progressive, Z and other publications.

Barsamian is winner of the Media Education Award, the ACLU’s Upton Sinclair Award for independent journalism, and the Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. The Institute for Alternative Journalism named him one of its Top Ten Media Heroes.

Barsamian, who had visited India many times in the last 40 years, reporting on conditions, learning Urdu and playing sitar, was deported on arrival in New Delhi on September 23, 2011 and prevented from carrying out scheduled interviews in regard to the  thousands of recently discovered unmarked graves in Kashmir and with Dr. Binayak Sen, who had been imprisoned for years as a Maoist-sympathizer for rendering medical assistance to insurgents in India’s tribal areas.

David Barsamian will discuss world affairs, the economic crisis and global rebellions, the state of journalism, and censorship.

For further information contact Chin Banerjee: 604-421-6752.

Co-sponsored by Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians (CPPC) and Progressive Nepali Forum in Americas (PNEFA).

SANSAD Public Forum

July 17, 2011
3.00 pm-5.00 pm
Café Kathmandu
2779 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC

Moderator: Mr. Zahid Makhdoom
Panelists: Ms. Itrath Syed
Mr. Harinder Mahil
Dr. Graham Fuller

“Islamophobia,” the construction of all Muslims as the “Other” of Western and all non-Islamic civilizations and subjecting them to various discriminatory practices, has been growing since the end of the Cold War and risen steeply since the bombing of the World Trade Centre in September 2001. Rooted in the historical discourse of the West in the way it defined itself against “others” that were demonized and excluded from civilization, it has gained enormous force from the interests of Zionism and the state of Israel and from the world-wide “War on Terror” that was unleashed by the Bush Administration in the US following the events of 9/11. Today Muslims are subjected to racial profiling and required to prove their innocence and citizenship by apologizing for all violence conducted in the name of Islam.

SANSAD invites you to join the conversation on this urgent topic following its Annual General Meeting. As seating is limited, please inform Chin at cbanerjee@telus.net if you are able to attend.

SANSAD Public Forum with Dr. Chitra Tiwari

Sunday June 26, 2011, 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Room A136A
Langara College, 100 W 49th Ave, Vancouver

Nepal has just averted a constitutional crisis by extending the deadline for its constitution writing by three months to August 28.
Five years ago, in April 2006, the ten-year-old insurgency led by the Maoists came to an end with a 22-point agreement among the democratic political parties that aroused the hopes of the people of Nepal for a new Nepal. It also marked a great moment in the history of people’s struggles because an armed struggle that was poised for military victory chose to adopt the peaceful path of democratic transformation on Nepal’s society. This was historically unprecedented and unimaginable.
Nepal abolished its monarchy and established itself as a republic. It held elections to a Constituent Assembly, in which the Maoists emerged as the largest party in May 2008. And yet, thanks to continued foreign intervention by the Indian State, to the great disappointment of Nepali people, the Constituent Assembly failed to meet its already extended deadline of May 28.

Nepal faces a crisis on many fronts. The people of Nepal suffer from extreme impoverishment and inequality. The United Nation’s World Food Program, which has been feeding close to a million people in remote areas in Nepal, is cutting down its program to feeding only 100,000, leaving the rest to face starvation because of lack of donations. The key issue in the crisis in constitution-making is finding common ground among political actors of Nepal on the fate of the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA): either liquidating it or integrating it into the Nepal Army (NA). Though the leadership of the Maoists is willing to facilitate merger of PLA into NA as proposed by NA, there are bitter dissents within the party in this regard.
What happens in Nepal is a matter of grave concern for the people of Nepal and all who sympathise with their well being and aspirations. But it is also of great interest to all progressive people concerned with the questions of the right solution to problems of social justice.

Dr. Chitra K. Tiwari is a free-lance journalist and political analyst specializing in South Asian affairs. He has taught at Nepal’s Tribhuvan University and holds a Ph.D. in international affairs and political science from George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Organized by South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) and Progressive Nepali Forum in Americas (PNEFA); co-sponsored by School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University and Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Langara College. For more information contact Abi: 604-506-9259

Commemorating Lost Lives and Hopes

On the anniversary of the independence of Pakistan and India

Public Educational Forum on South Asia Today

Fraser Valley Peace Council (FVPC) and South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD)
Present a two-day event

Talk by Dr. Hassan Gardezi

“Discovery of Independence: South Asia at 63”

August 14, 2010 (2.00 pm-5.00 pm)
Newton Library Hall
13795-70th Avenue, Surrey, BC

Also

THE SKY BELOW

A Best Film Debut Award winner documentary on the Partition of India and Pakistan by
Sarah Singh
August 15, 2010 (2.00 pm-5.00 pm)
Simon Fraser University-Surrey Campus (SUR 2600)
13450 102 Avenue, Surrey, BC

Sarah Singh will be present at the screening to introduce the film and conduct a discussion with the audience.

Admission by donation

In partnership with South Asian Film Education Society, Pakistan Action Network, Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group, Simon Fraser University, and Progressive Intercultural Community Services

For more information contact: Chin Banerjee 604-421-6752 or Supriya Bhattacharya 604-937-396 or Shahzad Nazir Khan 604-613-0735