In Memory of the Gurdwara Killings in Wisconsin and the attacks on mosques in the US

SANSAD Public Forum

Saturday, September 8, 2012
2.00 pm- 5.00 pm
Room 2245
Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre, 515 W Hastings Street, Vancouver

Panelists:
Harsha Walia (noii), Indira Prahst (Langara College), Itrath Syed (Simon Fraser University), Tony McAleer (former Skinhead; Life After Hate)
Moderator: Summer Pervez (Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

The racist killings of 6 people in the Oak Creek Gurudwara on August 5 shocked people across the world and drew widespread condemnation. This was followed by attacks on several mosques, including the burning of a mosque in Missouri. These attacks are the culmination of hundreds of attacks on the Sikh and Muslim communities in the US since Sept 11, 2001. These racist attacks need to be placed in the perspective of the wider social and political scene that enables them. We must think of what we need to do to end such violent expressions of hate and the systemic construction of threatening aliens among us.
For more information contact: Chin Banerjee: 604-421-6752
Supported by: Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians (CPPC) and SFPIRG.

SANSAD Public Forum

Sunday July 29, 2012
4.00 pm-6.00 pm
Café Kathmandu, 2779 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

It is unfortunate that the South Asian community is generally poorly informed and not responsive to the issues of the First Nations in Canada. South Asians, who have historically experienced and struggled against colonialism in their homeland and honour the heroes of this struggle could be expected to empathize with the original and continuing victims of colonialism in Canada.  And as a people who have experienced, struggled against, and continue to struggle against racism, they could be expected to stand in solidarity with the aboriginal people who continue to be the greatest victims of racism in Canada. But the enjoyment of benefits based on the dispossession of the aboriginal people has made us stay away from the concerns of the First Nations. How can we overcome our complicity in injustice and learn to stand in solidarity with oppressed aboriginal people? South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy invites the public to a discussion and exploration of this urgent question.

Panel
Joint Keynote Speakers:  Dr. Ronald Ignace (former Chairman of Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, Chief of Skeetchestn Band and Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University) and Dr. Marianne Ignace (Professor of Anthropology and First Nations Studies, SFU)

Raj Chouhan (MLA Burnaby-Edmonds)
Gurpreet Singh (Host of Radio India)
Sadhu Binning (Poet and writer)
Moderator: Zahid Makhdoom

For more information contact Chin at 604-421-6752

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.