Sapan News qualifies for NewsMatch! Help us reach our goal by year-end

Posted on November 27, 2024 by beenasarwar

Hello everyone! We are excited that Sapan News qualified for  NewsMatch for the second year running. This is a collaborative fundraiser run by the Institute for Nonprofit News, a professional journalists’ body to which only half the media outlets that apply get accepted. The initiative supports 475 independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan newsrooms dedicated to public service like Sapan News. 

Until December 31, 2024, NewsMatch will match every dollar donated to Sapan News, up to $15,000. That means all donations made by year end will go twice as far. ‘

Donate now!

This will enable us to continue the Sapan News mission of furthering the narrative of peace, dialogue, and regionalism, to provide nonpartisan journalism with context and nuance, with voices from the community and on the ground who go into the why and how beyond the headlines.

Some Sapan News features and what we stand for
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Boston area screening of ‘Democracy in Debt’ documentary, Sunday 24 November

Posted on November 22, 2024 by beenasarwar

COMMUNITY INVITE: If you are in the Boston area, you are invited to a screening of my documentary film ‘Democracy in Debt: Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines’ (25 min), followed by a discussion, at the Cambridge Public Library on Sunday 24 November, 2-4 pm. If you are not here or unable to join, please tell people you know who might like to:

‘Democracy in Debt: Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines’ 
A film by Beena Sarwar
Sunday 24 November, 2-4 pm
At Cambridge Public Library.

 Trailer: ‘Democracy in Debt: Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines’ 

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The film will be followed by a discussion moderated by Pratyush Bharati of the Boston South Asian Coalition. Discussants include Bangladesh origin activist Hayat Imam of the Massachusetts Peace Action, Sri Lankan human rights lawyer Thyagi Ruwapathirana, a fellow at the Harvard Law School, and the filmmaker Beena Sarwar, a journalist and peace activist from Pakistan.

The film, supported by the Pulitzer Center, has been screened in over 60 locations in some 16 countries across 5 continents so far, followed by engaged discussions on the issues it raises. More information here. 

The event is free and open to the public. RSVP here.

Hosted by the Southasia Peace Action Network and Sapan News Network in collaboration with the Boston South Asian Coalition and South Asia Center, Boston

Those wishing to watch the film through the Global Community Screenings series are welcome to participate by filling in the form at this link. 

Support non-profit journalism. Help Sapan News meet its NewsMatch challenge and raise $15,000 by year end. All donations to Sapan News are tax-deductible.

Donate To Sapan News

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How can India and Pakistan ‘win without fighting’?

Posted on November 19, 2024 by beenasarwar

The keynote speaker at TCF Boston fundraiser this year was Indian – and it wasn’t ‘bad news’. On the contrary. Check out Shashi Buluswar‘s cricket documentary that I’ve included in the article. Plus a discussion with ‘peacemongers’ hosted by a center in Kolkata the same day. Why can’t our political leaders take a leaf from Mani Shankar Aiyar’s relationship with his old friend Javed Jabbar, a self-proclaimed “chauvinist and narrow-minded Pakistani” — they disagree on almost everything yet are “the closest of friends”. (Note: for more photos, go to the piece published on Sapan News)

Shashi Buluswar: Cross-border solidarity. Photo by Bobby Guliani/Corporate Photographers

PERSONAL POLITICAL
By Beena Sarwar

“By now you will have got the bad news,” said the keynote speaker after being introduced. “I’m Indian”.

There was laughter and warm applause from the largely Pakistani or Pakistani-origin audience.

Not only was it not ‘bad news’, but the speaker’s support for the cause he was advocating for, beyond borders and boundaries, was even more appreciated because of his Indian origin.

Going by the media – and social media – you’d think we all hate each other. Not true.

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