Journeys to democracy

I woke up on Wednesday morning wondering if people would take time out to be still for 10-15 min on the same day, to collectively visualise peace, to engage in prayer, meditation, or just breathe and be calm in the midst of strife and violence. And maybe that stillness, if echoed by around the world on the same day will have an effect.

This developed into the global virtual vigil by Southasia Peace Action Network, or Sapan, taking place this Sunday across different time zones. We asked people to spare 10 minutes to #be4peace, in their own way, anytime between 10am-12 noon in their own time zones.

Old friend and fellow peacemonger Mazher Hussain in Hyderabad, India, who runs the Confederation of Voluntary Associations, India, activated his contacts. Interfaith scholar and activist Urmi Chanda in Mumbai made a visual, tweaked by another volunteer, Srinivas at COVA.

By Saturday night, over 40 organisations had endorsed the call, along with dozens of peacemongers around the world, from Australia to the U.S. west coast. We even got pledges from Tel Aviv, France, and Croatia. See list of public endorsements at the Sapan website.

On another note, I am thrilled that the latest Sapan News features includes a piece by Rumi Nagpal, a high school student in Colombo on learnings from an uprising and his late grandmother who was a theatre artist. And Rajeev Soneja in Boston shares his take on India-Pakistan cricket drawing from a great archive of cricket books, with some historic photos shared by my old friend, news photographer Rahat Ali Dar in Lahore.

Lastly, sharing below a compilation of what I’ve been reading and watching, in no particular order.

• Ceasefire – Stop this War! – online petition by Avaaz. Over 900,000 had signed since this appeal was posted on 30 Oct. 2023.
• Israel, It’s Time to Consider a Cease-fire – Opinion by Thomas Friedman in New York Times, 29 Oct. 2023, calling out Netanyahu’s “half-baked plan”. The Indian example would serve Israel well, he argues “Because targeted use of force with limited, achievable goals may serve Israel’s long-term security and prosperity more than an open-ended war to eradicate Hamas.”Why did they change the original headline?
• Video: 87-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Condemns Israeli Assault & Calls for Peace. Marione Ingram has been protesting outside the White House calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. She remembers her Jewish mother’s attempt to commit suicide, being called hateful names by playmates, losing family members to the Nazis, and surviving the Allied bombing of Hamburg as a child. – Democracy Now, 8 Nov. 2023

• Video: Hungarian-Canadian physician Dr. Gabor Maté talking to his daughter Hannah about Israel/Palestine – October 28, 2023
• Letter to the Children of Gaza – TheChris Hedges Report.
• A Prayer, Chant and Protest Song: Faith Communities Must Resist Their Extremists – Sunita Viswanath of Hindus for Human Rights in The Wire, 30 Oct.
• Hindu religious leaders in India pray for #ceasefire in Palestine. They are also joining the #be4peace initiative.
• A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation, by Dr Fady Joudah in Literary Hub, 01 Nov. 2023. A heart-wrenching poetic essay by a Palestinian physician and poet in Houston, who has worked with Doctors Without Borders, a friend of my sister Sehba Sarwar. She says 49 of his family members have been killed over the past month in Israel’s attacks on Gaza. I smelt blood while reading it.
• From my hometown in Gaza, the unthinkable news: 36 of my family members are dead | Ghada Ageel | The Guardian, 01 Nov. 2023
• Gazalament – a poem by dear friend Kavita Ramdas in The Wire, 04 Nov. 2023. ‘When the fire stops raining from the sky, someone has to clean up. As always, the women come saying, I am. Here.’
• Grief, Death, and Destruction in Gaza Through Photos | TIME – 18 Oct. 2023. The issue also carries heartbreaking stories about the hostages taken by Hamas and those killed in its Oct. 7 attacks – which does not justify what Israel is doing now.
• “Not in Our Name”: 400 Arrested at Jewish-Led Sit-in at NYC’s Grand Central Demanding Gaza Ceasefire | Democracy Now! 30 Oct. 2023.
• Protesters try to block a U.S. military cargo ship from heading to Israel – Al Jazeera Instagram reel, four days ago. The ship did eventually leave harbour. The protests in Oakland and Tacoma, CA, were coordinated under the banner of #BlockTheBoat – More at: Pro-Palestine Protesters Delay US Military Ship They Say Is Delivering Weapons to Israel – Vice, 7 Nov. 2023
• Top UN official in New York steps down citing ‘genocide’ of Palestinian civilians | The Guardian, 31 Oct. 2023
• Israel Can’t Imprison Two Million Gazans Without Paying a Cruel Price – Israeli journalist Gideon Levy in Haartez, 09 Oct.
• Video interview of human rights lawyer Michael Sfard in Democracy Now, titled after his opinion piece, Israelis Must Maintain Their Humanity Even When Their Blood Boils, Haartez, 11 Oct., 2023.
• “Life Line to Gaza”: A Poem by Ru Freeman ‹ Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2023
• Malinda Words – lyrical writing by the Sri Lankan poet and freelance columnist Malinda Seniviratne who is also volunteering with Sapan News. A couple of samplings: The truly besieged, The most pernicious human shield.
• Palestinian journalist Taghreed Khodary speaks to BBC about genocide in Gaza – Oct. 2023. A dear friend from my Nieman year at Harvard.

• Amid Israel-Hamas War, Revisit ‘Shattered Dreams of Peace’ – documentary – PBS FRONTLINE
• Video: British Jewish Zionist MP Gerald Kaufman says Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza: “My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The current Israeli Government ruthlessly and cynically exploit the continuing guilt among gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians. The implication is that Jewish lives are precious, but the lives of Palestinians do not count.” This is from 2009, being shared around via WhatsApp as if it’s recent. And it could well be.
• Statement on the Israeli-Hamas War – Oct. 8, by Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, started by Joseph Gerson. We met in Japan in 1998 after India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons. He headed the Quaker peace organisation American Friends Services Committee in Boston, and recently launched CPDCS.

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Filed under: Art and activism, Cricket, Peace, Politics, Progressive politics, Resistance | Tagged: #be4peace, Gaza, global vigil, interfaith, nonfiction writing, poetry for peace |