II Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides
Sunday, January 25, 2009 5:00 PM - 7:15 PMDallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance211 N. Record St. Suite 100, Dallas, TX 75202-3361Website: www.HolocaustandGenocides.org
Admission is free - Your are invitedLimited Seating -
Please RSVP to: ConfirmAttendance@gmail.com
You may become a part of the history as this event is a stepping stone towards Peace in the Middle east.
Continued: http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Articles/Holocaust-and-Genocides-Press-Release-011709.asp
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
If My Vagina Could Speak...
|||||||||||||||||||| Mike Ghouse notes:
The following poem is a distress and an anguished call, a reflection of women's feelings. It is about the few ugly men in Gujarat like every place on the earth; No Gujarati should be offended by it, because it is not him, nor should Indian be offended by it, it is the criminal act of Criminal individuals. It has nothing to do with Hindus or Hinduism, it has everything to do with individual criminals, who are yet to be punished. If justice is not served, the law of Karma will eventually brings its own spiritual balance to a people. ||||||||||||||||||||
If My Vagina Could Speak...
South Asian Sisters presents Yoni Ki Baat
By Vandana Makker
This piece originally appeared in Samar 17
If your yoni could talk, what would it say? Would it complain about the treatment it's received? Would it sing a Bollywood song? Would it laugh, or weep, or shout with joy?
The yoni (Sanskrit word for "vagina") has long been held sacred in Hindu mythology, but, through years of patriarchy and colonialism, it has rarely been allowed to speak its mind. In 2003, South Asian Sisters, a collective of progressive desi women, decided that the yoni needed a chance to get on stage and tell its side of the story. Thus, "Yoni ki Baat" was born.
"Yoni ki Baat," which translates loosely as "Talks about the Vagina," was inspired by Eve Ensler's renowned show "The Vagina Monologues." Though Ensler's piece has been performed around the world, including Pakistan and India, South Asian Sisters felt that putting on a production of the original show simply wasn't enough. We needed to create a space in which South Asian women could express their own views on sexuality and their bodies - topics which are traditionally kept "hush-hush" in desi culture. As with "The Vagina Monologues," "Yoni ki Baat" also aims to end the silencing so common around violence against women, especially in South Asian culture.
Once the call for submissions was sent out over email, the entries began pouring in. Those of us who were working on the script were amazed at both the volume and the quality of the various poems, stories, and personal narratives that flooded our inbox (wink, wink). Clearly, desi women wanted to talk about sexuality, and the YKB call for submissions had opened the floodgates. There were pieces on abuse, masturbation, orgasm, menstruation, homosexuality, heterosexuality, incest, joy, discovery, and pleasure, to name just a few. Many pieces combined a number of these themes, and one even combined poetry with dance.
The performances themselves, which were held at the UC Berkeley campus in July, 2003, were extremely powerful in that they brought together the dynamism of the pieces, the performers, and the audience. Nineteen women took turns performing before a 500-plus audience, in a show that broke the barriers our culture often unwittingly creates for us.
The excitement of both the performers and the audience was palpable, says South Asian Sister Maulie Dass. "I thought it was overwhelming. It was like we all came out of the closet at the same time - the writers, performers, and the audience. We all were standing up for the yoni, whether it was just by our presence or our serious involvement. I have never, ever been in a more supportive environment on that grand of a scale in my entire life."
South Asian Sister Anjali Verma concurs. "The best part of YKB was its mission: to voice taboo subjects. [I enjoyed] being given the opportunity to express suppressed feelings and thoughts, and [meet] the fantastic group of women who came together for this great opportunity. The vibes, the comfort level, the closeness we all felt at an emotional, intellectual, and almost spiritual level was amazing. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain - a great group of friends, and an unforgettable experience overall."
"Yoni ki Baat" was South Asian Sisters' first solo foray into the thriving Bay Area South Asian progressive scene. Started in 1999 by Maulie Dass, the group slowly gained momentum with small meetings, which then led to collaboration with other groups which share common goals, such as Trikone (the South Asian LBGTQ organization), ASATA (the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action), Narika and Maitri (groups which support victims of domestic violence in the South Asian community), and several others. SASisters gained a great deal of visibility and interest through its participation in the March 2003 South Asian Progressive Collective Conference, held in San Francisco. "Yoni ki Baat," however, was the group's most intensive endeavor, and it not only appealed to audience members of both genders, but also drew responses from women who were interested in getting involved in the group.
One of the most common responses from audience members after the show was that the performance had created within them the desire to discuss the various topics raised through YKB. In February, South Asian Sisters organized a "Yoni ki Baat Day of Dialogue," in which women got the chance to do just that. The workshops and informal discussions throughout the day not only provided the opportunity for meaningful conversation, but also highlighted the need for future "Yoni ki Baat" performances.
Women of varying ages were also touched by the performances and the viewpoints they gave voice to. When Verma showed a videotaped copy of "Yoni ki Baat" to her aunt, "she pulled me aside and almost had tears in her eyes when she said that we brought out into the open sentiments she had held onto throughout her life. That humbled me, and reinforced the fact that we need to do this again, and again, and again!"
Submissions for this year's show are currently being accepted, and new writers are welcomed to share their work, and submissions can be written anonymously. Volunteers are also welcomed to help out with the entire production process.
"'Yoni Ki Baat' is more process-driven than product driven," explains Dass, "and because of that, you get to be more comfortable with yourself and those around you."
For more information about "Yoni ki Baat," and how you can get involved, email yonikibaat@yahoo.com. For more information about South Asian Sisters, visit http://sasisters.org.
The pieces submitted to "Yoni ki Baat" reflected the diversity of the sexual experience for South Asian women. Some pieces were intensely personal, and reflected a sense of anger and anguish, while others were more celebratory and humorous. The piece below is just one example of the talent and courage that desi women across the country shared with South Asian Sisters.
"Take Back the Light," written and performed by Shailja Patel, makes a strong political statement about violence against Muslim women in Gujarat at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists.
I want to celebrate my yoni,
but the drumbeat in my body
is Gujarat. Gujarat, where Hindu
fascists raped, murdered, mutilated
thousands of Muslim women.
I always gloried
in my Hindu tradition,
that made my body
sacrament, carved
yonis as temple
doorways, named
my pussy the substrate
of creation.
But I can't block
the screams from
Ahmedabad, Baroda,
as Hindu men
rip out my sisters'
vaginas. Can't paint over
avid faces of Hindu women
as they urge
their boys to finish, finish
her off! I hear bloodlust
bay in their cunts.
I used to be smug
when Catholic and Jewish friends
moaned their tradition
of guilt: the fall
of Eve, mortal
sin, shame
of the carnal, torture
of childbirth, woman's
punishment for sex.
I waved my Hindu
saffron banners:
Khajuraho, Ajanta
and Ellora. My
religious crest
was rampant devis
squatted to birth
the world. My
creation story was
shiv-shakti, the big bang
cosmic fuck! Sex
in my Hindu tradition
was woman's reward
(in advance) for pangs
of delivery.
But saffron now
is headbands on fascists
who march to murder. Chants
to Durga and Kali beat out
rhythms of genocide. Muslim
women's yonis
are the battleground
of monstrous ideologies
that turn India
to a charnel ground, my Hinduism
to a grinning corpse.
So where does this leave
my Hindu yoni? She
sings herself beautiful
now. She grows
three lethal fangs to puncture
the necks of three demons:
fascism
fundamentalism
genocide.
She springs
7 sacred rivers
Om Gange cha Yamune chaiva
Godaveri, Saraswati,
Narmade Sindu Kaveri
to avenge every one
of her Muslim
sisters, she spews legions
of devis armed
with justice and truth.
She howls grief
to the burning skies
of Gujarat
where the carrion circle
for Nasreen, Farida
Zeenat, Aaliya, Zahra,
she is cunt
of rage and atonement, she
reclaims the holy doorways, she
will not
forget.
Vandana Makker is a high school English teacher, residing in San Francisco. She also works extensively with South Asian Sisters, a local women's collective.
http://www.samarmagazine.org/archive/article.php?id=157
The following poem is a distress and an anguished call, a reflection of women's feelings. It is about the few ugly men in Gujarat like every place on the earth; No Gujarati should be offended by it, because it is not him, nor should Indian be offended by it, it is the criminal act of Criminal individuals. It has nothing to do with Hindus or Hinduism, it has everything to do with individual criminals, who are yet to be punished. If justice is not served, the law of Karma will eventually brings its own spiritual balance to a people. ||||||||||||||||||||
If My Vagina Could Speak...
South Asian Sisters presents Yoni Ki Baat
By Vandana Makker
This piece originally appeared in Samar 17
If your yoni could talk, what would it say? Would it complain about the treatment it's received? Would it sing a Bollywood song? Would it laugh, or weep, or shout with joy?
The yoni (Sanskrit word for "vagina") has long been held sacred in Hindu mythology, but, through years of patriarchy and colonialism, it has rarely been allowed to speak its mind. In 2003, South Asian Sisters, a collective of progressive desi women, decided that the yoni needed a chance to get on stage and tell its side of the story. Thus, "Yoni ki Baat" was born.
"Yoni ki Baat," which translates loosely as "Talks about the Vagina," was inspired by Eve Ensler's renowned show "The Vagina Monologues." Though Ensler's piece has been performed around the world, including Pakistan and India, South Asian Sisters felt that putting on a production of the original show simply wasn't enough. We needed to create a space in which South Asian women could express their own views on sexuality and their bodies - topics which are traditionally kept "hush-hush" in desi culture. As with "The Vagina Monologues," "Yoni ki Baat" also aims to end the silencing so common around violence against women, especially in South Asian culture.
Once the call for submissions was sent out over email, the entries began pouring in. Those of us who were working on the script were amazed at both the volume and the quality of the various poems, stories, and personal narratives that flooded our inbox (wink, wink). Clearly, desi women wanted to talk about sexuality, and the YKB call for submissions had opened the floodgates. There were pieces on abuse, masturbation, orgasm, menstruation, homosexuality, heterosexuality, incest, joy, discovery, and pleasure, to name just a few. Many pieces combined a number of these themes, and one even combined poetry with dance.
The performances themselves, which were held at the UC Berkeley campus in July, 2003, were extremely powerful in that they brought together the dynamism of the pieces, the performers, and the audience. Nineteen women took turns performing before a 500-plus audience, in a show that broke the barriers our culture often unwittingly creates for us.
The excitement of both the performers and the audience was palpable, says South Asian Sister Maulie Dass. "I thought it was overwhelming. It was like we all came out of the closet at the same time - the writers, performers, and the audience. We all were standing up for the yoni, whether it was just by our presence or our serious involvement. I have never, ever been in a more supportive environment on that grand of a scale in my entire life."
South Asian Sister Anjali Verma concurs. "The best part of YKB was its mission: to voice taboo subjects. [I enjoyed] being given the opportunity to express suppressed feelings and thoughts, and [meet] the fantastic group of women who came together for this great opportunity. The vibes, the comfort level, the closeness we all felt at an emotional, intellectual, and almost spiritual level was amazing. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain - a great group of friends, and an unforgettable experience overall."
"Yoni ki Baat" was South Asian Sisters' first solo foray into the thriving Bay Area South Asian progressive scene. Started in 1999 by Maulie Dass, the group slowly gained momentum with small meetings, which then led to collaboration with other groups which share common goals, such as Trikone (the South Asian LBGTQ organization), ASATA (the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action), Narika and Maitri (groups which support victims of domestic violence in the South Asian community), and several others. SASisters gained a great deal of visibility and interest through its participation in the March 2003 South Asian Progressive Collective Conference, held in San Francisco. "Yoni ki Baat," however, was the group's most intensive endeavor, and it not only appealed to audience members of both genders, but also drew responses from women who were interested in getting involved in the group.
One of the most common responses from audience members after the show was that the performance had created within them the desire to discuss the various topics raised through YKB. In February, South Asian Sisters organized a "Yoni ki Baat Day of Dialogue," in which women got the chance to do just that. The workshops and informal discussions throughout the day not only provided the opportunity for meaningful conversation, but also highlighted the need for future "Yoni ki Baat" performances.
Women of varying ages were also touched by the performances and the viewpoints they gave voice to. When Verma showed a videotaped copy of "Yoni ki Baat" to her aunt, "she pulled me aside and almost had tears in her eyes when she said that we brought out into the open sentiments she had held onto throughout her life. That humbled me, and reinforced the fact that we need to do this again, and again, and again!"
Submissions for this year's show are currently being accepted, and new writers are welcomed to share their work, and submissions can be written anonymously. Volunteers are also welcomed to help out with the entire production process.
"'Yoni Ki Baat' is more process-driven than product driven," explains Dass, "and because of that, you get to be more comfortable with yourself and those around you."
For more information about "Yoni ki Baat," and how you can get involved, email yonikibaat@yahoo.com. For more information about South Asian Sisters, visit http://sasisters.org.
The pieces submitted to "Yoni ki Baat" reflected the diversity of the sexual experience for South Asian women. Some pieces were intensely personal, and reflected a sense of anger and anguish, while others were more celebratory and humorous. The piece below is just one example of the talent and courage that desi women across the country shared with South Asian Sisters.
"Take Back the Light," written and performed by Shailja Patel, makes a strong political statement about violence against Muslim women in Gujarat at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists.
I want to celebrate my yoni,
but the drumbeat in my body
is Gujarat. Gujarat, where Hindu
fascists raped, murdered, mutilated
thousands of Muslim women.
I always gloried
in my Hindu tradition,
that made my body
sacrament, carved
yonis as temple
doorways, named
my pussy the substrate
of creation.
But I can't block
the screams from
Ahmedabad, Baroda,
as Hindu men
rip out my sisters'
vaginas. Can't paint over
avid faces of Hindu women
as they urge
their boys to finish, finish
her off! I hear bloodlust
bay in their cunts.
I used to be smug
when Catholic and Jewish friends
moaned their tradition
of guilt: the fall
of Eve, mortal
sin, shame
of the carnal, torture
of childbirth, woman's
punishment for sex.
I waved my Hindu
saffron banners:
Khajuraho, Ajanta
and Ellora. My
religious crest
was rampant devis
squatted to birth
the world. My
creation story was
shiv-shakti, the big bang
cosmic fuck! Sex
in my Hindu tradition
was woman's reward
(in advance) for pangs
of delivery.
But saffron now
is headbands on fascists
who march to murder. Chants
to Durga and Kali beat out
rhythms of genocide. Muslim
women's yonis
are the battleground
of monstrous ideologies
that turn India
to a charnel ground, my Hinduism
to a grinning corpse.
So where does this leave
my Hindu yoni? She
sings herself beautiful
now. She grows
three lethal fangs to puncture
the necks of three demons:
fascism
fundamentalism
genocide.
She springs
7 sacred rivers
Om Gange cha Yamune chaiva
Godaveri, Saraswati,
Narmade Sindu Kaveri
to avenge every one
of her Muslim
sisters, she spews legions
of devis armed
with justice and truth.
She howls grief
to the burning skies
of Gujarat
where the carrion circle
for Nasreen, Farida
Zeenat, Aaliya, Zahra,
she is cunt
of rage and atonement, she
reclaims the holy doorways, she
will not
forget.
Vandana Makker is a high school English teacher, residing in San Francisco. She also works extensively with South Asian Sisters, a local women's collective.
http://www.samarmagazine.org/archive/article.php?id=157
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas - Kwanza - Zartosht - Muharram - Yalda
DECEMBER FESTIVALS -2008
Christmas - Kwanza - Zartosht Diso - Muharram - Yalda
Summary of other Festivals of December in the link at the bottom of this page
"If your festival is missing, please share it with me and my world of friends"
Let's learn a little bit about our friends, neighbors and co-workers, and how they commemorate or celebrate their lives. Friendship is an amazing thing, it takes time to know, but when you do, a lot of myths about others disappear - and you find an amazing peace within you for knowing some one from some group, whom you thought otherwise..oh well, you got it. I have compiled, borrowed and added a few notes to learn and share about the following festivals and commemorations. It is not perfect but selected for a lay person to grasp it. For example the write up about Zartosht no-deso is very elementary to Zoroastrians but meaningful to others.
Please join us to reflect upon the Holocaust and Genocides. Let's make room in our hearts for the precious feelings for human helplessness. Kindly mark your calendars for 7:00 - 9:15 PM on Saturday, January 24th, 2009. Details at: www.HolocaustandGenocides.com or try .org
Click here to read the details of the festivals listed above:
http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Articles/December-Festivals-Christmas-Kwanza-ZortoshtDiso-Muharram-Z.asp
Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer on Pluralism, interfaith, terrorism, peace, interfaith, Islam, Multiculturism and India. He is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website www.MikeGhouse.net. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com
Christmas - Kwanza - Zartosht Diso - Muharram - Yalda
Summary of other Festivals of December in the link at the bottom of this page
"If your festival is missing, please share it with me and my world of friends"
Let's learn a little bit about our friends, neighbors and co-workers, and how they commemorate or celebrate their lives. Friendship is an amazing thing, it takes time to know, but when you do, a lot of myths about others disappear - and you find an amazing peace within you for knowing some one from some group, whom you thought otherwise..oh well, you got it. I have compiled, borrowed and added a few notes to learn and share about the following festivals and commemorations. It is not perfect but selected for a lay person to grasp it. For example the write up about Zartosht no-deso is very elementary to Zoroastrians but meaningful to others.
Please join us to reflect upon the Holocaust and Genocides. Let's make room in our hearts for the precious feelings for human helplessness. Kindly mark your calendars for 7:00 - 9:15 PM on Saturday, January 24th, 2009. Details at: www.HolocaustandGenocides.com or try .org
Click here to read the details of the festivals listed above:
http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Articles/December-Festivals-Christmas-Kwanza-ZortoshtDiso-Muharram-Z.asp
Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer on Pluralism, interfaith, terrorism, peace, interfaith, Islam, Multiculturism and India. He is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website www.MikeGhouse.net. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sonia Gandhi - Shahrukh Khan most influential leaders
Newsweek is one of the most respected Magazines that I have come to enjoy reading since my college days in early seventies. In this report about 50 Most influential or powerful people in the world, I was offended by the insinuation of the writer about Shahrukh Khan;Here it goes, " The magazine describes Shahrukh Khan, who occupies 41st spot, as the King of Bollywood. “.... Khan is huge in the Muslim world, even in Pakistan and Afghanistan..."
The writer's innuendo about "Muslim world" is wrong, as it has nothing to do with the Muslim world, Amitabh Bachhan was equally popular in his days and in the same places, and so were Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar and Raj Kapoor. To be fair he should have mentioned the religion of Sonia Gandhi to make a point about India that every one can make it. His intention may be good, but it is painting the wrong picture.
Every Bollywood actor was popular in those Nations regardless of their religion and it is wrong to suggest that he is popular in Muslim world because he is a Muslim".
By the way, these guys are popular in Russia, Thailand, Hong Kong, African and East European countries. Bollywood and Hollywood are the only excellent movie makers of the world.
Mike Ghouse
Pakistan's general 20th most powerful person in world
http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?id=3227
The Nation (Pakistan)
Publication Date: 22-12-2008
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is ranked among the “50 Most Powerful People of the World” selected by Newsweek, a leading American weekly magazine.
The list, carried in the magazine’s January issue, is led by President-elect Barack Obama, whose legacy, it said, will be decided by actions he takes over the next four years.
Indian Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan also made it to the list. Among others, it includes Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, United Arab Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
General Kayani is placed at 20 on the list. In theory, Newsweek says, he answers to President Asif Ali Zardari. But general Kayani and his troops remain the dominant power in what could be the “most dangerous country in the world”.
“He’s responsible for Pakistan’s nukes; for the battle against Al-Qaeda and its tribal allies along the Afghan border; and for managing tensions with neighbour India,” Newsweek stresses, noting that so far, the Pakistan Army has kept itself out of politics and seems focused on the battle against extremists. “In the wake of the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Kayani stood firm on Pakistan’s sovereignty while also taking measures against the alleged sponsors of the outrage,” it says.
“Kayani insists he’s a committed democrat, but he nevertheless argues that military interventions (there have been four since independence 61 years ago) are sometimes necessary to maintain Pakistan’s stability. He likens coups to temporary bypasses that are created when a bridge collapses on democracy’s highway. After the bridge is repaired, he says, then there’s no longer any need for the detour,” it added.
Obama, who tops the list, is followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Markel and powerful Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
A surprise inclusion in list, which the magazine admits is subjective, is Osama bin Laden, whom the Newsweek describes as “global terrorist”. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il also finds place in the list.
Placing Sonia Gandhi at 17th spot, the magazine says though Indian political scene is riven by factions, Congress remains the strongest national force and rules unchallenged. “In the world’s largest democracy, she is the queen.”
The magazine describes Shahrukh Khan, who occupies 41st spot, as the King of Bollywood.
“It’s not just that his romantic flicks make gazillions--it’s where those gazillions come from. Khan is huge in the Muslim world, even in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (The movies thrive on the black market.) Their main appeal is certainly the song-and-dance numbers, but Khan (a Muslim married to a Hindu) makes devoutly secular films where love trounces bigotry,” it says, adding that Sonia Gandhi gives Khan’s DVDs to visitors, especially Muslim ones. “Here’s hoping tolerance will leap from reel life to real life.”
For Osama bin Laden, who finds 42nd spot, the magazine says the manhunt may not have been successful, but it has driven him far underground.
Once a glutton for publicity, he hasn’t shot a new video since September 2007, and no audio message from him has been heard since May 2008, it adds and quotes knowledgeable Taliban sources as saying “the sheik” (as acolytes call him) rarely has contact with even his top lieutenants, who are steadily being eliminated: in 2008, at least eight of the 20 most wanted Al-Qaeda operatives died in Predator attacks along the Afghan border.
“The underlings who have replaced them don’t match their brains or planning skills, Taliban sources say. But as the Mumbai attacks showed, Osama’s ideology continues to inflict monstrous harm,” it points out.
Awarding Chinese President Hu second place, Newsweek says he is a guy “you wouldn’t think twice about - cautious, colourless and corporate and in the past, he has lost spotlight to other world leaders with bigger egos and sharper elbows. “
But to underestimate Hu Jintao would be a monumental error. His position as China’s President makes him CEO of a financial juggernaut that’s projected to post USD 280 billion trade surplus this year. While the rest of the world plunges deeper into recession, Hu the Humble is emerging as the one who is holding the lifeline.”
The economic crisis and market meltdown has got “Economic Triumvirate” place among the top ten. They are central bankers: Ben Bernanke of the US Federal Reserve; Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank (ECB); Masaaki Shirakawa of the Bank of Japan; and, to a lesser extent, counterparts in China, India, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere.
“They are enormously powerful, and in 2009 they may determine whether the global economy avoids calamity, the magazine notes. Not since the early 1980s, when high inflation plagued many advanced economies, or perhaps the 1930s, has their role been so crucial as global economic growth is slowing to a standstill,” Newsweek says.
“Economists at Deutsche Bank forecast that the world economy will expand a meagre 0.2 per cent in 2009 - the worst year since at least 1950. In 2007, growth was almost 5pc. Without stronger growth, the slump might feed on itself and fuel economic nationalism,” it warns.
Giving reasons for placing Kim on the list, Newsweek notes that he is in bad shape after suffering a stroke but still presides over a handful of nuclear weapons, an arsenal of long-range missiles and a million-man army.
A weakened leader could in fact feel compelled to prove his toughness by threatening outside world. An in recent weeks Pyongyang has halted its rapprochement with South Korea and “torpedoed” talks aimed at getting it to give up its nuclear weapons. “Whether strong or weak, he’s still dangerous,” it observes.
Others on the list include the Dalai Lama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Gen David Petraeus, Iraqi leader Nuri al-Maliki, US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pope Benedict XVI, Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch and popular show host Oprah Winfrey.
The writer's innuendo about "Muslim world" is wrong, as it has nothing to do with the Muslim world, Amitabh Bachhan was equally popular in his days and in the same places, and so were Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar and Raj Kapoor. To be fair he should have mentioned the religion of Sonia Gandhi to make a point about India that every one can make it. His intention may be good, but it is painting the wrong picture.
Every Bollywood actor was popular in those Nations regardless of their religion and it is wrong to suggest that he is popular in Muslim world because he is a Muslim".
By the way, these guys are popular in Russia, Thailand, Hong Kong, African and East European countries. Bollywood and Hollywood are the only excellent movie makers of the world.
Mike Ghouse
Pakistan's general 20th most powerful person in world
http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?id=3227
The Nation (Pakistan)
Publication Date: 22-12-2008
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is ranked among the “50 Most Powerful People of the World” selected by Newsweek, a leading American weekly magazine.
The list, carried in the magazine’s January issue, is led by President-elect Barack Obama, whose legacy, it said, will be decided by actions he takes over the next four years.
Indian Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan also made it to the list. Among others, it includes Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, United Arab Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
General Kayani is placed at 20 on the list. In theory, Newsweek says, he answers to President Asif Ali Zardari. But general Kayani and his troops remain the dominant power in what could be the “most dangerous country in the world”.
“He’s responsible for Pakistan’s nukes; for the battle against Al-Qaeda and its tribal allies along the Afghan border; and for managing tensions with neighbour India,” Newsweek stresses, noting that so far, the Pakistan Army has kept itself out of politics and seems focused on the battle against extremists. “In the wake of the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Kayani stood firm on Pakistan’s sovereignty while also taking measures against the alleged sponsors of the outrage,” it says.
“Kayani insists he’s a committed democrat, but he nevertheless argues that military interventions (there have been four since independence 61 years ago) are sometimes necessary to maintain Pakistan’s stability. He likens coups to temporary bypasses that are created when a bridge collapses on democracy’s highway. After the bridge is repaired, he says, then there’s no longer any need for the detour,” it added.
Obama, who tops the list, is followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Markel and powerful Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
A surprise inclusion in list, which the magazine admits is subjective, is Osama bin Laden, whom the Newsweek describes as “global terrorist”. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il also finds place in the list.
Placing Sonia Gandhi at 17th spot, the magazine says though Indian political scene is riven by factions, Congress remains the strongest national force and rules unchallenged. “In the world’s largest democracy, she is the queen.”
The magazine describes Shahrukh Khan, who occupies 41st spot, as the King of Bollywood.
“It’s not just that his romantic flicks make gazillions--it’s where those gazillions come from. Khan is huge in the Muslim world, even in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (The movies thrive on the black market.) Their main appeal is certainly the song-and-dance numbers, but Khan (a Muslim married to a Hindu) makes devoutly secular films where love trounces bigotry,” it says, adding that Sonia Gandhi gives Khan’s DVDs to visitors, especially Muslim ones. “Here’s hoping tolerance will leap from reel life to real life.”
For Osama bin Laden, who finds 42nd spot, the magazine says the manhunt may not have been successful, but it has driven him far underground.
Once a glutton for publicity, he hasn’t shot a new video since September 2007, and no audio message from him has been heard since May 2008, it adds and quotes knowledgeable Taliban sources as saying “the sheik” (as acolytes call him) rarely has contact with even his top lieutenants, who are steadily being eliminated: in 2008, at least eight of the 20 most wanted Al-Qaeda operatives died in Predator attacks along the Afghan border.
“The underlings who have replaced them don’t match their brains or planning skills, Taliban sources say. But as the Mumbai attacks showed, Osama’s ideology continues to inflict monstrous harm,” it points out.
Awarding Chinese President Hu second place, Newsweek says he is a guy “you wouldn’t think twice about - cautious, colourless and corporate and in the past, he has lost spotlight to other world leaders with bigger egos and sharper elbows. “
But to underestimate Hu Jintao would be a monumental error. His position as China’s President makes him CEO of a financial juggernaut that’s projected to post USD 280 billion trade surplus this year. While the rest of the world plunges deeper into recession, Hu the Humble is emerging as the one who is holding the lifeline.”
The economic crisis and market meltdown has got “Economic Triumvirate” place among the top ten. They are central bankers: Ben Bernanke of the US Federal Reserve; Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank (ECB); Masaaki Shirakawa of the Bank of Japan; and, to a lesser extent, counterparts in China, India, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere.
“They are enormously powerful, and in 2009 they may determine whether the global economy avoids calamity, the magazine notes. Not since the early 1980s, when high inflation plagued many advanced economies, or perhaps the 1930s, has their role been so crucial as global economic growth is slowing to a standstill,” Newsweek says.
“Economists at Deutsche Bank forecast that the world economy will expand a meagre 0.2 per cent in 2009 - the worst year since at least 1950. In 2007, growth was almost 5pc. Without stronger growth, the slump might feed on itself and fuel economic nationalism,” it warns.
Giving reasons for placing Kim on the list, Newsweek notes that he is in bad shape after suffering a stroke but still presides over a handful of nuclear weapons, an arsenal of long-range missiles and a million-man army.
A weakened leader could in fact feel compelled to prove his toughness by threatening outside world. An in recent weeks Pyongyang has halted its rapprochement with South Korea and “torpedoed” talks aimed at getting it to give up its nuclear weapons. “Whether strong or weak, he’s still dangerous,” it observes.
Others on the list include the Dalai Lama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Gen David Petraeus, Iraqi leader Nuri al-Maliki, US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pope Benedict XVI, Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch and popular show host Oprah Winfrey.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Indian Muslims - one of a kind
The times of India Article "The distinctiveness of Indian Muslims is asserting itself again." follows my commentary.
I applaud Times of India for consciously making an effort to reflect the views of the moderates of India who make up perhaps 98% of the population across the board. They want to get along with all and silently act, talk and think of goodwill for every Indian; they are the peace makers.
The article by Harbans Mukhia is a reflection of those peace makers; it is written with the purpose of mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill.
The battle cry of the insecure members of our society who are less than 1/10th of 1% of our population is to spread hate so they can make a political capital out of it; they are the surrogates of our past colonial masters who believed in dividing and weakening India. The Indians be it Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and others have seen this time and again and have rejected that extremist ideology.
I am pleased to see Muslims of India sending a strong, firm, clear and emphatic signal to the terrorists; "when you die you will not even get burial grounds and you will become the curse of people", and 6000 Ulema's coming together for the express purpose of condemning terrorism must be lauded and encouraged.
Times of India will continue to keep its lead, as long as it promotes articles that unite India. Every Indian hankers for one India, and it is there and I am glad to see their view reflected in the leading paper of India. This is what it takes to lead. Keep it up!
Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
The distinctiveness of Indian Muslims is asserting itself again.
TOP ARTICLE One Of A Kind
Harbans Mukhia
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editorial/COMMENT_One_Of_A_Kind/articleshow/3863570.cms#write
The distinctiveness of Indian Muslims is asserting itself again. Over the past few months, Muslim theologians distanced themselves from what has come to be branded "Islamist terror" in the media followed by an organised expression of unqualified disapproval by as many as 6,000 Ulema (Muslim Clergy) from around the country gathered in Hyderabad specifically for the purpose. This highlights the distinctiveness of Indian Muslims which has evolved through centuries of Indian history. There is probably no other instance of the Ulema rising up in protest against terrorism on this scale anywhere else in the world. And in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, ordinary as well as elite Muslims also gave public vent to their outrage.
To appreciate this distinctiveness, it is instructive to look at the process of conversions to Islam that took place in India. The Muslims inhabiting the Indian subcontinent comprise the largest concentration of the community in the world. The easiest assumption is that conversions were effected by the might of the medieval Muslim state in India over the six centuries that it ruled. Yet, interestingly there is not a single book on the subject of conversion in India as a whole. There are two books on the subject in Kashmir, another on Bengal. That's it. The reason is that there is not enough historical evidence to substantiate a book length work. This in turn implies that conversion did not take place at the hands of one agency or at one go or for one reason, either by the use of force or temptation or persuasion. For, if such had been the case, there was no way it could have escaped being recorded either by Islamic scholars or their opponents.
Indeed, the geographical distribution of the density of Muslim population in the subcontinent flies in the face of the notion that the medieval Indian state could have been even the chief agency of conversion. The highest density is located in four geographical peripheries of the subcontinent: the Kashmir valley in the north, Pakistan in the west, Bangladesh in the east and in the Malabar region down south. That is where the Muslims are, and were, in a majority. These were also the political peripheries of the medieval Muslim state. Kashmir had turned to Islam long before the medieval Indian state reached there in Akbar's reign. West Punjab was a land where the hold of the medieval state was forever disputed and tenuous. East Bengal was seldom under the control of Delhi or Agra either and the Muslim state's reach never extended to Kerala anyway.
On the other hand, in the heartland of the Muslim empire Bihar, UP, Delhi, East Punjab for nearly six centuries the Muslims never exceeded around 15 per cent of the total population. Significantly, the massive conversions amounting to about a 50 per cent rise from about one in six to one in four of the population occurred between the second quarter of the 19th century and 1941, the last census before the partition, when the British ruled here. And overall, a fraction less than 25 per cent of the population had converted from the arrival of Islam in India to about the time of the partition.
Massive as these conversions are, two things stand out: if the medieval Indian Muslim state had taken upon itself the role of the religious zealot, it could not have been satisfied with converting just about one in every six inhabitants; and, the process of conversion was so slow, spread out over such long stretches of time and almost imperceptible that medieval historians and litterateurs, both Hindu and Muslim, failed to notice and record it, except as sporadic events.
It is this slow, stretched out process that explains the persistence of a wide spectrum of pre-Islamic, sometimes even anti-Islamic, customs, ceremonies, values and mores among the converts. Historian Ghulam Ahmad Tabtabai, writing in the 1780s, noted that the Muslims celebrated Holi as much as the Hindus. And Mirza Qateel a little later said that except for the Afghans and fanatics among Muslims, everyone played Holi and celebrated Diwali. But much more significant is the fact that militancy has never found much civil support either among the Hindus or Indian Muslims. It, therefore, becomes understandable that all the assaults on temples, mosques and dargahs in the past few years with the clear intention of inflaming communal passions and inciting violence have failed to provoke a single incident of rioting.
The Indian Muslims are thus a part of that all encompassing civilisation of which tolerance of difference is a central feature. The offence that Islamic militants have caused to this civilisation and to the Muslims in the process is now being confronted with protests from within the community.
One happy result of these happenings is the gradual lifting of the siege mentality with which Indian Muslims have lived for a long time. The seeping realisation that peace lies in reaching out, rather than sulking in isolation from the other communities, bodes well for us all. It has the capability to erode the hold of other forms of communalism as well.
The writer was professor of history at JNU, New Delhi.
I applaud Times of India for consciously making an effort to reflect the views of the moderates of India who make up perhaps 98% of the population across the board. They want to get along with all and silently act, talk and think of goodwill for every Indian; they are the peace makers.
The article by Harbans Mukhia is a reflection of those peace makers; it is written with the purpose of mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill.
The battle cry of the insecure members of our society who are less than 1/10th of 1% of our population is to spread hate so they can make a political capital out of it; they are the surrogates of our past colonial masters who believed in dividing and weakening India. The Indians be it Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and others have seen this time and again and have rejected that extremist ideology.
I am pleased to see Muslims of India sending a strong, firm, clear and emphatic signal to the terrorists; "when you die you will not even get burial grounds and you will become the curse of people", and 6000 Ulema's coming together for the express purpose of condemning terrorism must be lauded and encouraged.
Times of India will continue to keep its lead, as long as it promotes articles that unite India. Every Indian hankers for one India, and it is there and I am glad to see their view reflected in the leading paper of India. This is what it takes to lead. Keep it up!
Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
The distinctiveness of Indian Muslims is asserting itself again.
TOP ARTICLE One Of A Kind
Harbans Mukhia
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editorial/COMMENT_One_Of_A_Kind/articleshow/3863570.cms#write
The distinctiveness of Indian Muslims is asserting itself again. Over the past few months, Muslim theologians distanced themselves from what has come to be branded "Islamist terror" in the media followed by an organised expression of unqualified disapproval by as many as 6,000 Ulema (Muslim Clergy) from around the country gathered in Hyderabad specifically for the purpose. This highlights the distinctiveness of Indian Muslims which has evolved through centuries of Indian history. There is probably no other instance of the Ulema rising up in protest against terrorism on this scale anywhere else in the world. And in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, ordinary as well as elite Muslims also gave public vent to their outrage.
To appreciate this distinctiveness, it is instructive to look at the process of conversions to Islam that took place in India. The Muslims inhabiting the Indian subcontinent comprise the largest concentration of the community in the world. The easiest assumption is that conversions were effected by the might of the medieval Muslim state in India over the six centuries that it ruled. Yet, interestingly there is not a single book on the subject of conversion in India as a whole. There are two books on the subject in Kashmir, another on Bengal. That's it. The reason is that there is not enough historical evidence to substantiate a book length work. This in turn implies that conversion did not take place at the hands of one agency or at one go or for one reason, either by the use of force or temptation or persuasion. For, if such had been the case, there was no way it could have escaped being recorded either by Islamic scholars or their opponents.
Indeed, the geographical distribution of the density of Muslim population in the subcontinent flies in the face of the notion that the medieval Indian state could have been even the chief agency of conversion. The highest density is located in four geographical peripheries of the subcontinent: the Kashmir valley in the north, Pakistan in the west, Bangladesh in the east and in the Malabar region down south. That is where the Muslims are, and were, in a majority. These were also the political peripheries of the medieval Muslim state. Kashmir had turned to Islam long before the medieval Indian state reached there in Akbar's reign. West Punjab was a land where the hold of the medieval state was forever disputed and tenuous. East Bengal was seldom under the control of Delhi or Agra either and the Muslim state's reach never extended to Kerala anyway.
On the other hand, in the heartland of the Muslim empire Bihar, UP, Delhi, East Punjab for nearly six centuries the Muslims never exceeded around 15 per cent of the total population. Significantly, the massive conversions amounting to about a 50 per cent rise from about one in six to one in four of the population occurred between the second quarter of the 19th century and 1941, the last census before the partition, when the British ruled here. And overall, a fraction less than 25 per cent of the population had converted from the arrival of Islam in India to about the time of the partition.
Massive as these conversions are, two things stand out: if the medieval Indian Muslim state had taken upon itself the role of the religious zealot, it could not have been satisfied with converting just about one in every six inhabitants; and, the process of conversion was so slow, spread out over such long stretches of time and almost imperceptible that medieval historians and litterateurs, both Hindu and Muslim, failed to notice and record it, except as sporadic events.
It is this slow, stretched out process that explains the persistence of a wide spectrum of pre-Islamic, sometimes even anti-Islamic, customs, ceremonies, values and mores among the converts. Historian Ghulam Ahmad Tabtabai, writing in the 1780s, noted that the Muslims celebrated Holi as much as the Hindus. And Mirza Qateel a little later said that except for the Afghans and fanatics among Muslims, everyone played Holi and celebrated Diwali. But much more significant is the fact that militancy has never found much civil support either among the Hindus or Indian Muslims. It, therefore, becomes understandable that all the assaults on temples, mosques and dargahs in the past few years with the clear intention of inflaming communal passions and inciting violence have failed to provoke a single incident of rioting.
The Indian Muslims are thus a part of that all encompassing civilisation of which tolerance of difference is a central feature. The offence that Islamic militants have caused to this civilisation and to the Muslims in the process is now being confronted with protests from within the community.
One happy result of these happenings is the gradual lifting of the siege mentality with which Indian Muslims have lived for a long time. The seeping realisation that peace lies in reaching out, rather than sulking in isolation from the other communities, bodes well for us all. It has the capability to erode the hold of other forms of communalism as well.
The writer was professor of history at JNU, New Delhi.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
In Defense of Sonal Shah
Eboo, Thanks for writing about Sonal. We are learning first hand accounts of her work, her quality as a human,and her humanatarian work is simply adorable and laudable.
Thanks to Vijay for questioning about Sonal, had he not done that, we would not have discovered this diamond and none of the people would have written about her and we would have missed so much about her. Vijay fulfilled his obligation for democracy to find out about her, and it was the right thing to do. That's how a democracy works and diamonds are discovered.
Mike Ghouse
In Defense of Sonal Shah
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/eboo_patel/2008/12/sonal_shah_indian-american_in.html
Eboo Patel
When I heard that Indian American Sonal Shah was named to be part of
the Obama transition, I thought to myself, 'What a perfect pick.
President-elect Obama couldn't have chosen a better exemplar of India,
or America.'
Now, according to India Abroad, a handful of groups are trying to link
Sonal with the nefarious forces of Hindu nationalism.
Let me be very clear about something: I consider the Hindu right (an
alphabet soup of totalitarian groups which includes the VHP, the BJP,
the RSS and the Bajrang Dal) a serious danger - to the safety of
Muslims and Christians, to the ideals of Hinduism and India, and to
the possibility of pluralism. I devoted significant parts of my book
Acts of Faith to exposing their recruitment of young people for the
cause of Hindu extremism.
But to link Sonal to their activities is frankly offensive.
A few years ago, I was flipping through a stack of old India Abroad
newspapers at my wife's parents' home, when I ran across a story about
Sonal Shah. A young Indian American woman, she had been named India
Abroad's "Person of the Year" for founding Indicorps.
The more I read, the more I found myself impressed.
First of all, Sonal has denounced Hindu nationalism in no uncertain
terms, stating: "my personal politics have nothing in common with the
views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization".
Second, the evidence linking Sonal to Hindu extremism is laughably
thin. It amounts to Sonal passing a Hindu nationalist on the street
and not performing a citizen's arrest.
Some of Sonal's accusers are pointing fingers in the name of defending
Indian Muslims. They correctly say that the Hindu right was
responsible for a pogrom against Muslims in the state of Gujarat,
which resulted in the heinous murders of one to two thousand people in
2002.
Well, I'm a Muslim from India. I have Muslim family in Mumbai and
Gujarat who have personally felt the destruction of Hindu nationalist
violence. And I don't feel defended by these accusations.
In fact, they strike me as particularly disturbing precisely because
I'm a Muslim.
Here's why: the mode of the attacks is guilt by association, which
goes something like this. Person X was in a room when Person Y said
something offensive, and Person X didn't immediately issue a statement
denouncing Person Y, therefore Person X should be held responsible for
Person Y's crimes (all of them).
I recognize that tactic - that's how good American Muslims get smeared
all the time.
Well, I hope the hatchet job doesn't work on Sonal. Her talents have
benefited many many people.
I first read about Sonal a few years ago in India Abroad. She had been
named India Abroad's "Person of the Year" for founding Indicorps.
The more I read, the more I found myself impressed.
Sonal not only had big dreams, she had the commitment to make them
reality. Indicorps sent diverse groups of young Indian Americans back
to their homeland for an extensive period of service with Indian-based
nonprofits. Indicorps members have included Muslims, Hindus,
Christians and Jains. They have worked on projects ranging from making
musicals with slum children to deepening wells in villages to
launching a rural design school for artisans.
I started recommending Indicorps to idealistic young Indian Americans.
Most of them already knew about it. They felt like it was "their"
Peace Corps - an opportunity to connect their Indian heritage and
American citizenship through the common value of service.
I started thinking of Sonal Shah in the same way that I think of
people like Wendy Kopp (who founded Teach for America), Michael Brown
and Alan Khazei (who founded City Year) and Vanessa Kirsch (who
founded Public Allies and New Profit) - as part of a new generation of
service leaders.
Then something startling happened: I met Sonal (through the Clinton
Global Initiative), and found her to be even more impressive in person
than she was on paper. I watched people in meetings continually defer
to Sonal and ask her opinion, and I watched Sonal deftly turn the
tables and find a way to do more listening than talking. I discovered
that Sonal's expertise was both wide and deep, and that she commanded
respect from a broad range of ethnicities and across the political
spectrum. Most of all, I appreciated Sonal's combination of humility,
spirituality, intelligence and idealism.
That's the best of India, I thought; and the best of America.
Thanks to Vijay for questioning about Sonal, had he not done that, we would not have discovered this diamond and none of the people would have written about her and we would have missed so much about her. Vijay fulfilled his obligation for democracy to find out about her, and it was the right thing to do. That's how a democracy works and diamonds are discovered.
Mike Ghouse
In Defense of Sonal Shah
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/eboo_patel/2008/12/sonal_shah_indian-american_in.html
Eboo Patel
When I heard that Indian American Sonal Shah was named to be part of
the Obama transition, I thought to myself, 'What a perfect pick.
President-elect Obama couldn't have chosen a better exemplar of India,
or America.'
Now, according to India Abroad, a handful of groups are trying to link
Sonal with the nefarious forces of Hindu nationalism.
Let me be very clear about something: I consider the Hindu right (an
alphabet soup of totalitarian groups which includes the VHP, the BJP,
the RSS and the Bajrang Dal) a serious danger - to the safety of
Muslims and Christians, to the ideals of Hinduism and India, and to
the possibility of pluralism. I devoted significant parts of my book
Acts of Faith to exposing their recruitment of young people for the
cause of Hindu extremism.
But to link Sonal to their activities is frankly offensive.
A few years ago, I was flipping through a stack of old India Abroad
newspapers at my wife's parents' home, when I ran across a story about
Sonal Shah. A young Indian American woman, she had been named India
Abroad's "Person of the Year" for founding Indicorps.
The more I read, the more I found myself impressed.
First of all, Sonal has denounced Hindu nationalism in no uncertain
terms, stating: "my personal politics have nothing in common with the
views espoused by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or any such organization".
Second, the evidence linking Sonal to Hindu extremism is laughably
thin. It amounts to Sonal passing a Hindu nationalist on the street
and not performing a citizen's arrest.
Some of Sonal's accusers are pointing fingers in the name of defending
Indian Muslims. They correctly say that the Hindu right was
responsible for a pogrom against Muslims in the state of Gujarat,
which resulted in the heinous murders of one to two thousand people in
2002.
Well, I'm a Muslim from India. I have Muslim family in Mumbai and
Gujarat who have personally felt the destruction of Hindu nationalist
violence. And I don't feel defended by these accusations.
In fact, they strike me as particularly disturbing precisely because
I'm a Muslim.
Here's why: the mode of the attacks is guilt by association, which
goes something like this. Person X was in a room when Person Y said
something offensive, and Person X didn't immediately issue a statement
denouncing Person Y, therefore Person X should be held responsible for
Person Y's crimes (all of them).
I recognize that tactic - that's how good American Muslims get smeared
all the time.
Well, I hope the hatchet job doesn't work on Sonal. Her talents have
benefited many many people.
I first read about Sonal a few years ago in India Abroad. She had been
named India Abroad's "Person of the Year" for founding Indicorps.
The more I read, the more I found myself impressed.
Sonal not only had big dreams, she had the commitment to make them
reality. Indicorps sent diverse groups of young Indian Americans back
to their homeland for an extensive period of service with Indian-based
nonprofits. Indicorps members have included Muslims, Hindus,
Christians and Jains. They have worked on projects ranging from making
musicals with slum children to deepening wells in villages to
launching a rural design school for artisans.
I started recommending Indicorps to idealistic young Indian Americans.
Most of them already knew about it. They felt like it was "their"
Peace Corps - an opportunity to connect their Indian heritage and
American citizenship through the common value of service.
I started thinking of Sonal Shah in the same way that I think of
people like Wendy Kopp (who founded Teach for America), Michael Brown
and Alan Khazei (who founded City Year) and Vanessa Kirsch (who
founded Public Allies and New Profit) - as part of a new generation of
service leaders.
Then something startling happened: I met Sonal (through the Clinton
Global Initiative), and found her to be even more impressive in person
than she was on paper. I watched people in meetings continually defer
to Sonal and ask her opinion, and I watched Sonal deftly turn the
tables and find a way to do more listening than talking. I discovered
that Sonal's expertise was both wide and deep, and that she commanded
respect from a broad range of ethnicities and across the political
spectrum. Most of all, I appreciated Sonal's combination of humility,
spirituality, intelligence and idealism.
That's the best of India, I thought; and the best of America.
Indian Muslims Mark a Somber Eid
Ahsaan Qureshi is right, it was not a festival to celebrate, it was gloomy all over.
The moderates make up over 95% of any group, be it Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddishts, Jews or any one and usually their focus is two square meals, family, schooling and health. Thank God they are speaking up now. With their involvment the extremist find themselves less and less space from them to crawl.
Mike Ghouse
# # #
In India, Muslims Mark a Somber Eid
Celebrations Subdued After Mumbai Siege
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 10, 2008; A18
MUMBAI, Dec. 9 -- Ahsaan Qureshi, one of India's most popular comics,
usually hosts a posh party to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
His wife gets her hands decorated with red swirls of henna. His
children dress in their swankiest clothes, eating sweets and setting
off firecrackers late into the night. Family friends come over and
dine on vats of biryani, an Indian version of jambalaya.
But after a series of coordinated attacks late last month across
Mumbai, India's financial capital and largest city, Qureshi, 45, like
many of the country's 140 million Muslims, held a much more subdued
Eid on Tuesday, mainly out of respect for those who died in the
three-day siege.
"There is no glitz and glamour this year," said Qureshi, who was a
star on the "Great Indian Laughter Challenge" stand-up show and has
been featured in several Indian films. "I speak for many Muslims when
I say we are all in a great deal of pain. It's not a happy Eid."
From the ancient walled city of Jaipur in the northwest to the streets
of Kolkata in the east, India's Muslims have held somber vigils to
show their solidarity in condemning the attacks.
This week, leaders of the All India Organization of Imams of Mosques
asked Muslims to wear black bands on their shoulders as a symbol of
loyalty to their homeland. Muslim groups in Mumbai, meanwhile, have
brought tea and cookies to many of the victims still recuperating at
the city's hospitals. "Long live Mother India" and "Our country's
enemies are our enemies," one group of young Muslim students called
out during an Eid candlelight gathering to protest the attacks.
The displays of solidarity come amid fresh fears of sectarian strife
between India's Muslim and Hindu communities. Communal riots have
plagued Mumbai before, particularly in December 1992 and January 1993,
when hundreds of people died. Riots in the western state of Gujarat in
2002 left more than 1,000 Muslims and Hindus dead in the worst display
of sectarian violence since the bloody partition of the Indian
subcontinent in 1947. In recent months, a series of deadly bombings
have been linked to either Muslim or Hindu extremists.
Indian Muslims -- who represent about 10 percent of the country's
population -- are by and large eager to separate themselves from the
alleged Islamist extremists who carried out last month's Mumbai
attacks. They are also quick to point out that a third of the 171
victims were Muslim.
"Muslims in India are a suspect and separate minority," said Vivek
Kumar, a sociology professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New
Delhi. "Islam is a huge part of India's history, its architecture.
But, of course, Muslims are deeply rattled now. They fear they will be
branded Pakistani."
Muslims around the world usually celebrate Eid by slaughtering sheep,
goats and cows to commemorate the prophet Abraham's willingness to
sacrifice his son, Ismail, on God's command. This year, Muslim leaders
asked that no cows be killed out of respect for the Hindu belief that
cattle are sacred. Muslim leaders have also refused to allow the
bodies of the nine fighters killed in the attacks to be buried in
Islamic cemeteries. In sermons and in street demonstrations, Muslims
have said they, too, want tougher laws and a stepped-up fight against
terrorist attacks.
"We are calling for justice in Pakistan just as much as anyone," said
Abbasali Jannati, 33, a Muslim home designer, who spent a recent
afternoon walking through the Colaba neighborhood, the location of
many of the attacks.
In Gujarat, six years after the sectarian violence, Muslims remain
angry and aggrieved. Many who lost their homes in the riots are now
living in India's largest Muslim ghetto. The violence erupted after 59
Hindus were burned to death on a train as they returned home from a
pilgrimage. At the time, Muslim extremists were blamed for the fire.
But the cause of the blaze remains in dispute, and one government
panel has said it was an accident.
At mosques in Gujarat on Tuesday, worshipers observed a moment of
silence, said Chiraag Sheik, a Muslim social activist.
Muslims in India tend to be poorer than their Hindu neighbors. Some
Muslims complained this week that they were having trouble renting
houses, and others said they were being watched closely when entering
businesses.
Near an Islamic prayer cap store and in front of a popular mosque in
Mumbai, friends gathered in a narrow alleyway after prayers to console
Mohammed Rafique, 45, who had been at the landmark Taj Mahal Palace &
Tower hotel, the scene of much of the carnage.
"We all have felt the horror," said Rafique, a driver, who was inside
the hotel to help organize a wedding party. "I just hope my Hindu
brethren don't blame us. We have suffered greatly, too."
Special correspondent Pragya Krishna in New Delhi contributed to this report.
The moderates make up over 95% of any group, be it Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddishts, Jews or any one and usually their focus is two square meals, family, schooling and health. Thank God they are speaking up now. With their involvment the extremist find themselves less and less space from them to crawl.
Mike Ghouse
# # #
In India, Muslims Mark a Somber Eid
Celebrations Subdued After Mumbai Siege
By Emily Wax
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 10, 2008; A18
MUMBAI, Dec. 9 -- Ahsaan Qureshi, one of India's most popular comics,
usually hosts a posh party to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
His wife gets her hands decorated with red swirls of henna. His
children dress in their swankiest clothes, eating sweets and setting
off firecrackers late into the night. Family friends come over and
dine on vats of biryani, an Indian version of jambalaya.
But after a series of coordinated attacks late last month across
Mumbai, India's financial capital and largest city, Qureshi, 45, like
many of the country's 140 million Muslims, held a much more subdued
Eid on Tuesday, mainly out of respect for those who died in the
three-day siege.
"There is no glitz and glamour this year," said Qureshi, who was a
star on the "Great Indian Laughter Challenge" stand-up show and has
been featured in several Indian films. "I speak for many Muslims when
I say we are all in a great deal of pain. It's not a happy Eid."
From the ancient walled city of Jaipur in the northwest to the streets
of Kolkata in the east, India's Muslims have held somber vigils to
show their solidarity in condemning the attacks.
This week, leaders of the All India Organization of Imams of Mosques
asked Muslims to wear black bands on their shoulders as a symbol of
loyalty to their homeland. Muslim groups in Mumbai, meanwhile, have
brought tea and cookies to many of the victims still recuperating at
the city's hospitals. "Long live Mother India" and "Our country's
enemies are our enemies," one group of young Muslim students called
out during an Eid candlelight gathering to protest the attacks.
The displays of solidarity come amid fresh fears of sectarian strife
between India's Muslim and Hindu communities. Communal riots have
plagued Mumbai before, particularly in December 1992 and January 1993,
when hundreds of people died. Riots in the western state of Gujarat in
2002 left more than 1,000 Muslims and Hindus dead in the worst display
of sectarian violence since the bloody partition of the Indian
subcontinent in 1947. In recent months, a series of deadly bombings
have been linked to either Muslim or Hindu extremists.
Indian Muslims -- who represent about 10 percent of the country's
population -- are by and large eager to separate themselves from the
alleged Islamist extremists who carried out last month's Mumbai
attacks. They are also quick to point out that a third of the 171
victims were Muslim.
"Muslims in India are a suspect and separate minority," said Vivek
Kumar, a sociology professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New
Delhi. "Islam is a huge part of India's history, its architecture.
But, of course, Muslims are deeply rattled now. They fear they will be
branded Pakistani."
Muslims around the world usually celebrate Eid by slaughtering sheep,
goats and cows to commemorate the prophet Abraham's willingness to
sacrifice his son, Ismail, on God's command. This year, Muslim leaders
asked that no cows be killed out of respect for the Hindu belief that
cattle are sacred. Muslim leaders have also refused to allow the
bodies of the nine fighters killed in the attacks to be buried in
Islamic cemeteries. In sermons and in street demonstrations, Muslims
have said they, too, want tougher laws and a stepped-up fight against
terrorist attacks.
"We are calling for justice in Pakistan just as much as anyone," said
Abbasali Jannati, 33, a Muslim home designer, who spent a recent
afternoon walking through the Colaba neighborhood, the location of
many of the attacks.
In Gujarat, six years after the sectarian violence, Muslims remain
angry and aggrieved. Many who lost their homes in the riots are now
living in India's largest Muslim ghetto. The violence erupted after 59
Hindus were burned to death on a train as they returned home from a
pilgrimage. At the time, Muslim extremists were blamed for the fire.
But the cause of the blaze remains in dispute, and one government
panel has said it was an accident.
At mosques in Gujarat on Tuesday, worshipers observed a moment of
silence, said Chiraag Sheik, a Muslim social activist.
Muslims in India tend to be poorer than their Hindu neighbors. Some
Muslims complained this week that they were having trouble renting
houses, and others said they were being watched closely when entering
businesses.
Near an Islamic prayer cap store and in front of a popular mosque in
Mumbai, friends gathered in a narrow alleyway after prayers to console
Mohammed Rafique, 45, who had been at the landmark Taj Mahal Palace &
Tower hotel, the scene of much of the carnage.
"We all have felt the horror," said Rafique, a driver, who was inside
the hotel to help organize a wedding party. "I just hope my Hindu
brethren don't blame us. We have suffered greatly, too."
Special correspondent Pragya Krishna in New Delhi contributed to this report.
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