While activists across India observed August 25 as Kandhmal Day in commemoration of the victims of anti Christian pogrom in 2008, a conversation was held at the University of British Columbia (UBC) on growing attacks on religious minorities under Modi government. Held at the CK Choi Building in UBC, the conversation was between visiting journalist from India Rana Ayyub and[Read More...]
The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” –George Orwell Too much of the thinking about Muslim rulers is now being shaped along predictable, clichéd lines. This is true of all shades of opinion, perception and scholarship. There is evidence from a number of established scholarly discourses that the[Read More...]
The visiting journalist from India Rana Ayyub has been denied an opportunity to address the congregation at the Ross Street Sikh temple in Vancouver, Canada. Ayyub has published Gujarat Files, a book based on her undercover investigation of the complicity of the government in anti Muslim pogrom of Gujarat in 2002 and the killings of the Muslim men in staged[Read More...]
To the believers in reactionary ideologies, one’s position in life or social identity based on social background in life is the primary determinant of one’s political beliefs. This is true to some extent, but beliefs in more progressive ideologies or political beliefs can enable one to break away from this pattern is a reality. It has to do with a[Read More...]
The increasing tendency towards seeing people in terms of one dominant ‘identity’ (‘this is your duty as an American’, ‘you must commit these acts as a Muslim’, or ‘as a Chinese you should give priority to this national engagement’) is not only an imposition of an external and arbitrary priority, but also the denial of an important liberty of a[Read More...]
On the eve of 71st anniversary of India’s Independence, the government of UP led by a senior leader of Hindu Mahasabha and RSS, Mahant Adityanath Yogi, came out with a stunning order for madrasaas (Islamic seminaries). They were ordered to compulsorily observe the Independence Day, August 15, and the same had to be video-graphed to be sent to the administration[Read More...]
70 years of freedom have passed. It is time for us to reflect on what it meant people of India – Dalits, Adivasis, minorities and other marginalised sections. Do we really have the moral strength to face another Kandhamal massacre in India? If not, it is too important that we remember and observe Kandhamal Day on August 25, 2017 and[Read More...]
Courageous author and journalist Rana Ayyub – who exposed the involvement of the Indian officials in the systematic killings of Muslims was honoured by Radical Desi in Surrey on Saturday. She was presented with Courage in Journalism Award at a well attended event held at Dr. Ambedkar room in the Surrey Central Library. Those who presented her the award included[Read More...]
A broad coalition of citizens and organisations came together today under the banner of Sajha Kadam to discuss the menace of growing communalism in Jharkhand and possible responses to it. The threat of communalism, evident in recent lynching incidents, was seen in the context of other threats to the right to life, including attempts to dilute people’s rights to land,[Read More...]
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has launched a private security firm “Parakram Suraksha Private Ltd’. The aim of the company ensuring security and developing military instinct. According to Acharya Balakrishna, CEO of Ramdev’s Patanjali, “Security is a very important issue either for a man or a woman. Our aim is to prepare individuals for self and country’s security and for this[Read More...]
