SANSAD News-release November 26, 2017

Canada Should Sign the Nuclear Ban Treaty

A screening of the new documentary on the devastating effects of nuclear weapons testing in Kazakhstan and the US, “Where the Wind Blew” was held at SFU Harbour Centre, Vancouver on November 24. The film was introduced by Dr. Jennifer Simons, founder and President of The Simons Foundation and followed by a panel of experts comprising Alimzhan Akhmetov, founder and director of the Centre for International Security and Policy, Astana, Kazakhstan, Paul Taylor, former Canadian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and M. V. Ramana, Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC. The event was organized by The Simons Foundation and the Institute for the Humanities, SFU, and was supported by SANSAD.

The following call to the Government of Canada to sign the Nuclear Ban Treaty was presented by Chin Banerjee, President of SANSAD and endorsed by people gathered for this event:

VANCOUVER DECLARATION ON THE NUCLEAR BAN TREATY

A Call on Canada to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

We, the undersigned citizens of Canada gathered in Vancouver, BC on November 24 to discuss the devastating consequences of the testing, development and use of nuclear weapons at this time when the world is facing the most urgent threat from the deliberate or accidental employment of these weapons, call on the Government of Canada to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The Ban Treaty has been agreed upon by the majority of the world’s nations and opened for signature on September 20^th, 2017 despite the opposition of all nuclear-weapons possessing states and their military allies.  We understand that, though neither possessing nor developing nuclear weapons, Canada has opposed the treaty because of its military alliances, compromising its long-held goal, shared with the global community, of a world without nuclear weapons.  We urge Canada to sign the treaty to add its voice to the considerable moral force of the treaty against the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences of the continued development and potential use of these weapons of mass destruction.

We believe moral force is a great power in defense of humanity. By signing the Ban treaty Canada will not only strengthen this force in the world but also show its commitment to the elimination of nuclear weapons and in good faith work to end NATO’s reliance on nuclear weapons and in order that NATO conforms both with the NPT and the Ban Treaty. Canada will then be able to join and lead other signatories in the further goal of a nuclear-weapons free world.

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South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, sansad.org

News-release IAPI-SANSAD joint statement September 19, 2017

Open doors for Rohingya refugees

Indians Abroad for Plural India (IAPI) and South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) condemn the Government of India’s endorsement of the Myanmar government’s treatment of the Rohingya minority that has been described by the UN as “ethnic cleansing” and the Hindu nationalist BJP government’s determination to expel the Rohigya refugees already in India as “illegal migrants”. 

Rohingyas are a historically persecuted Muslim minority in Myanmar, who have been denied citizenship and recognition as an ethnic minority though they have been settled in the Arakan district for hundreds of years, with the majority of them being settled there by the British after they conquered Arakan in early nineteenth century. They have been denied even the right to call themselves “Rohingyas,” being instead labeled “Bengalis” by the state. They have been subjected to genocidal violence since 2012, which has led to the fleeing of hundreds of thousands and the internment of thousands in camps in abysmal conditions.  Thousands have languished in camps in Bangladesh since 1976. Hundreds have perished at sea and hundreds captured and enslaved by pirates. They are a people without a state.

In the current spate of state violence, triggered as genocide often is by the attack of a group of Rohingya resistance, the military and Buddhist extremists have unleashed a terror that has led to hundreds of deaths and driven more than 400, 000 Rohingyas to already over-burdened Bangladesh. The attack on August 25 by Rohingya militants on a police outpost in northern Rakhine state that triggered this current violence and exodus has given both the Buddhist nationalist Myanmar and the Hindu nationalists of India the justification of framing this genocide/ethnic cleansing as a fight against Muslim terrorism. We deplore this familiar genocidal alibi that falls within the currently popular bogey of Muslim terrorism.

We deplore religious nationalism in Myanmar and India. We demand that the Modi government immediately stop its attempts to deport the Rohingya refugees. We demand that the Government of Canada take the strongest measures to stop the genocidal violence against Rohingyas in Myanmar and strip Aung San Suu Kyi of the honorary citizenship in Canada. We further demand that the Government of Canada use all diplomatic means to persuade India to respect its international commitments and refrain from violating international law by protecting rather than deporting the Rohingya refugees currently resident in India.

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www.sansad.org

The following resolution was adopted at the SANSAD AGM on June 24, 2017:

We deeply mourn the passing of our dear friend and comrade Hassan Gardezi in April this year and wholeheartedly endorse the following obituary penned by Zahid Makhdoom:

DR. HASSAN NAWAZ GARDEZI

(19 February 1933 – 20 April 2017)

It is with extreme sorrow, the Committee of Progressive-Pakistani Canadians (CPPC), announce the passing of Dr. Hassan Nawaz Gardezi, one of the founding members of the CPPC. He truly had remained a lifelong and a tireless activist for justice, peace, secularism, and socialism, a huge inspiration to its members, friends, and associates. Death of a human being is always a sad affair. Somehow death of an individual always creates big craters in the lives of those who survive to see another day. But, when a person of such an intellectual and academic presence and stature, like Professor Gardezi, leaves from our midst the void left is simply impossible to bridge, the sorrow that follows exacts an enormous toll, the scars of the loss become indelible. Although his loss is impossible to even fathom, his contributions shall forever live to produce a universe of possibilities, a pathway to a just and a fair society.

Professor Gardezi had taught sociology to several cohorts in the reputable Canadian, American, and Pakistani universities. A large number of his students went on to become professors, journalists, writers, judges, lawyers, trade unionists. Many developed and maintained a lifelong relationship with him and his thoughtful spouse, Rosalie Gardezi. Whether in Pakistan or in Ontario or any place else that the Gardezis lived, their home was always a meeting place where intellectuals, activists, mandarins, and bohemians congregated. Lively discussions and debates were always welcomed. Hassan and Rosalie’s calming presence and amazing hospitality was a constant at these events.

After his retirement from being the head of the Department of Sociology at Algoma University at Sault Ste. Marie, Dr. Gardezi and Rosalie moved to Peterborough, Ontario. The choice of Peterborough was logical to them as their children were attending at the nearby universities. During his years of retirement, Hassan, maintained an exemplary life of an intellectual. Publishing regularly, attending and presenting papers at international conferences, engaging in activism for justice, peace, secularism, and socialism. He also wrote beautiful poems in his first language, Siraiki. He translated some classic Sufi tracts from the Siraiki language into the English language. His two-volume biography of Dada Amir Haider Khan, a leader of the Communist Party of India, presents a remarkable account of the emancipatory movements in the colonized South Asia and their nexus with the workers and peasant movements throughout the world.

As a visionary, Hassan always encouraged younger comrades and friends to organize. He indeed played a big part in organization of numerous organisations and associations struggling for just, fair, and peaceful society. Indeed, Hassan was instrumental in the organization of the CPPC. His vision is reflected in the mission of the CPPC. While we are still struggling to cope with the loss of this remarkable person, we continue to bask in the light of his vision, his compassionate and thoughtful fellowship and friendship, his unfathomable wisdom and generosity. Our hearts are with Rosalie and their beautiful children. May we all and may the Gardezis find peace.

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SANSAD News-release, June 28, 2017

Unite against progressing fascism in India

The following resolution  was adopted at SANSAD AGM June 24, 2017 and is being issued as a news release on June 28 in solidarity with “Not In My Name” rallies being held in Delhi and several other cities across India as well as London, Toronto, Boston, and Karachi:

Whereas the renowned social scientist and historian Partha Chatterjee recently stated that in Kashmir, India is witnessing its General Dwyer moment given the similarity between the British army’s justifications of its mass killings in Punjab in 1919 and the Indian army’s defense of its actions in Kashmir today,

and whereas within India as a whole today there is a similar moment of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass in Nazi Germany as the lynching of Ambedakarite Dalits and Muslims are normalised as everyday events and ordinary people desensitized as spectators,

and whereas since the coming to power of the present Hindu-fascist RSS led BJP Government in 2014 there has been an unrelenting attack on Ambedakarite student and youth movements, left and progressive political formations and Muslim minorities in general that stand in Hindutva’s way to discard the Indian constitution and turn India into a Hindu Rashtra,

and whereas India  is on the verge of a fascist takeover, with innumerable vigilante squads operating with impunity all over India under various names and organizing programmed spontaneity of mob violence against Muslim and Dalits, especially in states ruled by the BJP,

Therefore be it resolved that we call on networks of Ambedkarite Dalits, progressive people and persecuted religious minorities of South Asian origin in North America to organize against the fascist Hindutva takeover of the Indian state and in support of civil society organizations, academics, cultural groups, artists and activists in India who are resisting this murderous regime and its genocidal agenda.

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD): www.sansad.org