"FIGHTING INTOLERANCE SINCE 1699"

This brought a big smile to my face. I noticed that they even "ji'ed" Guru Gobind Singh ji.  This paper has class!

FROM:

 

 

Sikhs prove EDL wrong

A delegation of Sikhs marched proudly joining a big rally against the English Defence League (EDL) held in Luton.
They played the Dhol, a Punjabi war drum, as they entered the rally carrying a banner that read ‘Sikhs Against the English Defence League – Fighting Intolerance since 1699’, a reference to the establishment of martial Sikhism by the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

They were greeted with cheers by more than two thousand demonstrators gathered in the Park Square, in the centre of Luton, who gave the marching Sikhs a great applause.

This comes as a great blow to the English Defence League (EDL) as they had claimed that they are getting support from many Sikhs.

The demonstration by ‘Sikhs Against the EDL’ shows otherwise.

The Sikh protesters shouted slogans against Guramit Singh, one of the self-styled EDL leaders from Sikh background and called him a traitor.

They claimed that he had brought shame to the Sikh community and should be locked up due to some of his recent speeches.

Varinder Singh spoke on behalf of the Sikh delegation and pointed out that the Sikh community has a proud tradition of fighting Fascism in the Second World War. He asked, “Given our proud history, how can Sikhs not oppose the racism and Fascism espoused by EDL?”

Varinder Singh went on to condemn Guramit Singh (ethnic spokesperson for the EDL) and other racist traitors of Sikh origin joining EDL and expressed that these individuals should be held accountable.

Balwindar Singh Rana, also from a Sikh background said, “The Sikhs Against the EDL have launched a ‘Joint Statement’ which has already gained support from some of the major

Sikh and Hindu organisations, including many Sikh Student Societies, as well as many prominent individuals in this country.

People are waking up to the dangers of the racist poison that is being spread by the EDL and they will no longer fall for their ‘divide & rule’ tactics.”

He added:”In the ‘70s and ‘80s, whether we were Sikhs, Hindus or Muslim, we were all united against the racists and fascists of the National Front and the BNP. We now have to show the same unity again if we are going to halt this tide of racist hatred by the EDL.”

Salvinder Singh Dhillon from the Indian Workers Association pointed out that the rally was being attended by all communities was a proof that they all stand shoulder to shoulder against promotion of racism and fascism.

He said, “The poison of racism serves to divide people and weaken their common struggles against the attacks by the state on their livelihood, against imposition of tuition fees, and the pending massive spending cuts in social services, health and education.”

The rally was organized by Unite Against Fascism(UAF), a broad based organisation supported by numerous individuals and organizations including trade unions and members of parliament.

Various speakers expressed their opposition to EDL and the racist British National Party( BNP).

There was also a further protest in the Bury Park, near the Mosque, organized by the Muslim community and attended by nearly two thousand people.

"WHY KHALISTAN? WHAT'S WRONG WITH INDIA?"

Probably the question I get asked most often is: Why do you want Khalistan? What's wrong with India?


The answer to the first question can be short and sweet, or it can be long and complicated, but it always must involve the second. You could, of course, simply look at the blog header pictures. " But that was 25 years ago! Get over it!"

So I have decided to answer the second. I will be publishing articles, current articles, here that answer that question. I'm not sure exactly what I will come up with, but I rather imagine they will cover topics such as poverty, pollution, corruption, caste and the like. I can imagine that groups of people, such as Dalits, Muslims, Christians, even Naxalites will also turn up. I really don't know. We will find out together. I might anger some people. Correction, I will anger some people. I promise, though, that I will tell the truth as reported by the Indian press; I will not exaggerate. Where will this all end? I don't know. Really, I have no idea.

This I do know, we Sikhs built India before there was a country called "India." We were the ones who fought and died and were imprisoned, tortured and executed by the British in the freedom struggle so that Mohandas K. Gandhi and his followers could claim a "nonviolent independence."


We have worked hard. After Partition, our hearts broken by the broken promises of Nehru and Gandhi, we picked up the pieces and marched forward to benefit the nation that had betrayed us. Our farmers in Punjab have fed the nation. Our soldiers have defended the nation. Our businesspeople have largely sustained the economy of the nation.


For these contributions, we are being treated to Sardar jokes, being portrayed in Bollywood as thugs and buffoons, being condemned as terrorists and, in general, being disrespected.

In short, we have lived this old saw:

WE THE WILLING LED BY THE INCOMPETENT HAVE BEEN DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE
UNGRATEFUL. WE HAVE BEEN DOING SO MUCH WITH SO LITTLE FOR SO LONG, WE ARE NOW
QUALIFIED TO DO EVERYTHING WITH NOTHING.

Some of us are sick and tired of all this.

That said, this article came to me through IHRO a couple days ago. It is about a tribal woman in Assam who has shown great courage and class in not letting herself be humiliated into silence. Let it be the first in this series.

Stripped Assam woman in poll bid

By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta

A tribal woman who was stripped and assaulted in India's north-eastern state of Assam is to contest the parliamentary elections.

Laxmi Oraon has been nominated by the regional Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF).

She was stripped by locals when she took part in a rally in 2007 demanding better tribal rights.

Pictures of Ms Oraon running naked across a market in Assam's capital Guwahati caused outrage in India. (Note: To preserve the dignity of the lady, I haver chosen not to use these pictures.)

Ms Oraon had joined the rally in November 2007 along with thousands of Adivasi tribespeople, who mostly work as labourers in Assam's 800 tea gardens.

The rally turned violent and the Adivasis started vandalising shops and beating up policemen and locals before they were overwhelmed by a huge number of local people.

Ms Oraon was stripped and beaten before an Assamese man took off his T-shirt, covered her and dragged her to safety.

'Taunted and teased'

Nearly 16 months later, Ms Oraon has been offered a ticket to contest the Tezpur parliamentary constituency.

"She is a symbol of Adivasi exploitation, of minority exploitation in Assam. We want her to contest the parliament polls on our ticket and she has agreed," AUDF general secretary Hafiz Rashid Choudhury said.

Ms Oraon said while accepting the nomination: "I may not win but I want to make a point. That the Adivasis will no longer take the exploitation lying down."

The AUDF is a Muslim-dominated party but claims to represent other minorities in Assam - among them the Adivasis, whose ancestors were brought from central India to work in Assam's tea estates by the former British rulers.

Assam's ruling Congress party claims to represent minorities fairly, but the AUDF has increasingly sliced into the Congress area of influence among the minorities, especially the state's 30% Muslim population.

"Our party has been set up to represent the interest of all minorities, so we cannot ignore the exploitation of the Adivasis," Mr Choudhury says.

"And Laxmi is a living symbol of this exploitation."

After her humiliation, Ms Oraon has often appeared in the media - particularly in the state of Jharkhand, where her ancestors came from.

She was an honoured guest at the launch of a book by the leader of the Jharkhand Disom party, Salkhan Murmu, in Jharkhand's capital Ranchi last April.

Ms Oraon also finished her school leaving examinations last year.

"My humiliation did not end with the stripping and beating. It followed me to the examination centre, where I was taunted and teased," she told journalists.

Ms Oraon and her family have accused the ruling party of trying to "bribe" her to stay quiet after the stripping episode. Congress firmly denied the charge.

It says it handled the issue fairly, setting up a judicial inquiry commission to identify the culprits and punish them.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7934133.stm

Published: 2009/03/10 09:20:29 GMT

© BBC MMIX

IT'S SCREW THE HOMELESS DAY IN SEATTLE

or...POLICE DESTROY SHANTYTOWN IN SEATTLE, AMERICA

Latest news, as of two hours ago.

Today I am backflashing to my activist days in the 1960s and 1970s. In just one day, today, I have been protesting an unjust war, writing letters - e-mails, actually - about that Wall Street bail out to rescue greedy capitalists and now, advocating for the homeless. Then Bhenji Shanu Kaur wrote a comment, "Right on!" I am tempted to respond with the typical 1960-70s "Power To The People!" Tempted, but I'll refrain, as most of my readers were born at least a decade after all this excitement.

Today, in the 'richest country in the world' I am watching a tent city that was becoming a shanty town being destroyed by the police. As I write, the first homeless people here are being arrested and taken to jail I see a cop entering a pink tent. (These pink tens were given to the homeless by the Girls Scouts of America, donated from a breast cancer march, hence the colour pink.)

The residents have named their settlement "Nickelsville," after Greg Nickels, mayor of Seattle. I have even found a website about this called, "Welcome to Nickelsville."


Earlier today, their port-a-potties, the toilets were removed, much to the dismay, especially, of the women.


Some residents had started constructing semipermanent structures out of donated lumber. All this on city-owned vacant land.

Unlike some of the other sweeps arresting the homeless, the arrests are going peacefully, the police not being violent and the homeless, who have chosen to stay and be arrested, going peacefully as they are arrested. Of course, this is all on live TV. Now the broadcast station is ending its coverage; they are switching to cable coverage, much less visible, but still live on TV. I think I'll stay and watch, skip the courtroom shows that are usually on at this time.

This has been a bit disjointed, I realise; a write-as-it-happens report tends to be. Now the cable news in talking about the presidential debate tonight, so there is no live coverage right now. I assume, though, the reporters are still there taping.

To go to the beginning. It is estimated that there are about 2000 homeless people - I believe that to be a very low estimate, as homeless people are very hard to count - in Seattle. This may seem a small number compared to India, but the United States of America is not India. There are sufficient funds here to provide decent housing, food, health care, all the necesseities of life to all the people. Of course, financing America's foreign adventures is leeching a tremendous amount of resources from the country. This action today is a political protest. The residents of Nickelsville were given warning to move. The cry of "Move where?" led to this protest. There is a nearby parking lot, belonging to the state, not the city, where some have set up their tents, after the governor, Christine Gregoire, told them they could stay there 5-7 days. Then what?

Now we have the Wall Street meltdown to contend with, as well. According to President Cokehead Warmonger, Congress is supposed to allocate $700,000,000,000 (IR32,525,500,106,820 - I realise the commas are in the wrong places for Indian numbers. Live with it. This is a copy/paste from the Yahoo currency converter. I include the link because it is a useful converter of many different currencies.) to bail out big companies. As I understand it, this bill will not stop foreclosures on people's homes as much as it will aid the already super-rich. This remains to be seen.

Back to these homeless people in America, hundreds of thousands or even millions? Many, many, maybe most are mentally ill people who are unable to financially support themselves in a capitalist economy. Some are criminals who have served their sentences and now cannot find employment. The remainder are people who just don't have the resources to pay rent. Most of these people are men and women - and their children - who lost their jobs, for one reason or another and then lost their homes, either from in ability to pay rent or through foreclosure when they couldn't pay the mortgage. Some of these people have exhausted their savings, but most are people who survive from one check to the next, like me. "There but for the grace of God go I." OK, I admit I exaggerate a bit; my family would never permit me to live in a tent city or in a cardboard box under a bridge. But I hope the point has been made. Shall we all sing a rousing chorus of 'We Shall Overcome'? No, actually
I think "We Shall Not Be Moved" fits this one better. (That link contains a lot of great folk and protest songs.)


We shall not, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

We're young and old together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

CHORUS

We're women and men together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

CHORUS

We'll live in peace and dignity, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved

We're black and white together we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved

yes, everyone together we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved


We'll overcome Greg Nickels, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved .


Feel free to write your own verses; as you can see, I have.

Most of the homeless, whether mentally ill or unemployed or underemployed, are just people who have committed the ultimate crime in America - worse than murder, rape, child molestation, worse than the vilest crimes - these are people who have no money.

I feel ill.

--
WHY TRY TO FIT IN? YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!