Upcoming speaking engagements in the Boston area

Posted on March 24, 2011 by beenasarwar

Upcoming public events in the Boston area that I’m participating in:

“Religion, Politics and the Rule of Law in South Asia”: Thursday, March 24, 2011 • 5:30 – 7:00 pm •  Carr Center Conference Room (Rubenstein Building, Floor 2, Room 219) • Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA

Noam Chomsky and Beena Sarwar: Days of Hope and Challenge: Thursday, April 14, 2011 • 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm • Boston University Law Auditorium • 767 Commonwealth Ave. • followed by reception at Sherman Union Backcourt • Boston

Boston Cares: April Social Cinema program: Screening of the documentary Bhutto (chronicling the life of Benazir Bhutto) • followed by discussion • Independent Lens series hosted in partnership with ITVS Community Cinema and City Year • Tuesday, April 19, 2011 • 6:00-8:00PM • Lavine Civic Forum in the City Year Headquarter building • 287 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02116

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Phenomenal response to the CFD mass letter campaign

Posted on March 13, 2011 by beenasarwar

KARACHI, March 12: Thousands of people from all walks of life joined hands with Citizens for Democracy (CFD), by participating and signing letters in the interfaith harmony drive “Silence Means More Blood” launched by CFD on Saturday, March 12, 2011. Karachiites signed some 15,000 letters that will be sent to the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice and all the Chief Ministers.

CFD activists explain the letter to Karachi citizens. Photos: K.B. Abro

A view of CFD's day-long stall in Karachi. Photo: K.B. Abro

“The response was phenomenal,” says CFD activist and journalist Farieha Aziz. “All four of our letter boxes were full even before the end of the day. We were able to engage with our fellow citizens from all walks of life – from professionals from different fields to labourers, rikshaw drivers and rehri walas. Everyone was asked to read the letter or it was read out to them, or they were told the gist of it before they signed. The energy and commitment of CFD members was amazing. They were out on the road stopping cars, talking to passers by, even in buses when they stopped, drawing people to the camp.”

 

Sabeen Mahmud writes that her mother and the writer Attiya Dawood went to the mandir nearby. “Very politically engaged group. Brought back 20 sigs.” Also see this moving video Sabeen made of the event, set to Habib Jalib’s poetry.

The campaign is ongoing. More details, and photos, at the CFD blog

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Mass letter signing campaign TODAY, Sat. March 12, 2011, 11am-7pm

Posted on March 12, 2011 by beenasarwar

Say No to Violence & to a Denial of our Civil Rights

Join CFD’s mass letter-writing campaign, for which people are gathering to add their signatures on letters addressed to the President of Pakistan, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Chief Ministers of all four provinces. “We are demanding from those in positions of power to take appropriate actions to reverse the erosion of our civil and human rights and to uphold the rule of law without fear or favour. Please join us in a mass letter campaign – we are your peaceful fellow citizens, struggling to survive with dignity, and yet trying to preserve our inalienable democratic rights. The purpose of this campaign is to allow all citizens to speak out in support of inter-faith harmony and to resist a growing climate of religious intolerance in Pakistan,” says a press release.

Support Citizens for Democracy, 11 am to 7pm  TODAY (Saturday, March 12, 2011) at Jahangir Kothari Parade (opposite Park Towers), Clifton, Karachi. Bring postage stamps and friends


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Revolution?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by beenasarwar

My two bits: Those calling for a ‘revolution’ in Pakistan to get rid of the current government and especially President Zardari might consider that THE reason Pakistan has been unable to move forward is that the political process is never allowed to continue. People tolerate military regimes for a decade or more, but get impatient with an elected government within months and don’t want to give it five years to complete its term and let the next be duly elected.

I endorse CFD’s one-point agenda – get religion out of politics.

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Citizens for democracy press statements

Posted on February 3, 2011 by beenasarwar

Press Statement: No one has the right to term someone else a ‘blasphemer’

Open letter to Chairman Senate: protest justification of murder

Great turnout, great resolve: Reference for Salmaan Taseer, Karachi

Ulema concede that debating or amending ‘blasphemy laws’ is not against Islam

Request for Suo Moto action against vigilantism, incitement to violence

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Khuda hafiz Nagori

Posted on January 16, 2011 by beenasarwar

Nagori in Karachi, Feb 2008

Irreverent, bold, and passionate – that’s how I remember Nagori, who was very much part of the struggle – and particularly supportive of the Women’s Action Forum – against Gen. Zia’s military dictatorship. The last time I met him was in Feb 2008 when he gave a wonderful presentation of his work before a small group of people.

Isa Daudpota sent this brief slide show of three photos of Nagori with the note: “The hand with the cacti is Nagori’s. I took it on the Khi-Hyd highway. My photo with him was taken at Aijaz Qureshi’s house. Continue reading →

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Statement: Citizens for Democracy

Posted on September 24, 2010 by beenasarwar

Several concerned citizens of Pakistan drafted this statement, endorsed by the signatories below.  It was published in various newspapers on Sept 24. See report in Dawn and at South Asian Media Net. Update: advertisements in Jang and News today, Sept 27, 2010. Please endorse if you agree.

Sept 23, 2010

We the Citizens for Democracy:

  • Concerned about an all-sided institutional, financial and societal destabilization in a terrorism-ridden country reeling under the unprecedented havoc caused by the floods;
  • Alarmed at strategic and political uncertainty, reinforcing hopelessness and chaos, due to an ongoing power-struggle among various institutions of the state;
  • Reiterate our full faith in constitutional, democratic and representative system that ensures freedoms and fundamental rights, an independent judiciary, a free and responsible media and above all sovereignty of our people reflected through federal and provincial legislatures;

    • Continue reading →

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PWA 75th Anniversary: Fifth Progressive Writers Conference, Birmingham

Posted on September 5, 2010 by beenasarwar

5th Progressive Writers Conference – Birmingham: Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Progressive Writers Association (PWA) – Progressive Writers Association UK in collaboration with South Asian Peoples Forum and Indian Workers Association cordially invites you to a public meeting to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Progressive Writers Association (PWA). Saturday, 18 September 2010…

Continue reading →

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Melting-pot constituencies: ‘Karachiwala: A subcontinent within a city’

Posted on June 5, 2010 by beenasarwar

Karachiwala: A subcontinent within a city
 By Rumana Husain
With essays by Arif Hasan, Dr Hamida Khuhro, Luthfullah Khan, S. Akbar Zaidi and Zubeida Mustafa
 Designed by Asma Husain
Pages 330; hardcover fully illustrated with maps, photos, foldout pages
Price: PKR 2900 (USD 35)
Published by Jaal, Karachi , 2010

Excerpt from my review in Himal Southasian:

This is not just a book about how the city grew uncontrollably after 1947, with the influx of a million or so refugees seeking economic opportunity as much as refuge. Rather, this is very much the human story of a city that is a microcosm of Pakistan, where locals were long ago outnumbered by migrants or their descendents – not just from across the border, but from all over the country. As the author delves into the homes and lives of some 80 of these families, it is apparent that they have retained much of their distinct cultures – although, with the younger generations growing up in this ‘melting pot’, borders and boundaries have started to blur. Interestingly, some among the youths have embraced features of their religious identity that their parents had shrugged off. There is, for instance, the young Sikh who proudly sports a turban and beard that his father had cast aside; or the young Bohra woman who, after getting married, prevailed upon her husband and his parents to adopt a more religiously conservative lifestyle, even getting her mother-in-law to shed the sari in favour of the rida, the Bohri burqa…

This is Rumana Husain’s Karachi, and the Karachi of countless others. Through its diverse population, Karachiwala humanises and makes accessible this vibrant, cosmopolitan megalopolis – an on-the-ground retort to what most Western news reports reduce merely to a ‘port city in the southern province of Sindh’ in ‘nuclear-armed, Muslim-majority Pakistan’. In this, Karachiwala is more than just another well-designed coffee-table book: although ostensibly apolitical, it is a strong political assertion of multiple identities. Above all, it is a labour of love for all that the city and its denizens represent.  ………..READ MORE

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Remembering Doc; Farewell Mansoor Saeed

Posted on May 26, 2010 by beenasarwar

Here is the message I  tweeted this morning: “We remember departed loved ones every day. So why does the ‘barsi’ assume such significance? Doc, yr guiding spirit & love always with us”. He was never one for observing death anniversaries etc – but somehow, the date marks a landmark it’s hard to ignore. Good time to read again ‘Keep the fire burning’ by Zakia Sarwar on the Dr Sarwar blog

Mansoor Saeed - by Sohail Hashmi, New Delhi, 2009

Here’s another tweet I sent later: “Memorial meeting for Mansoor Saeed of CPP, PMA House, Karachi, May 28, 5 pm. Bereaved: Sania, Abida, Ahmer & Pk’s progressive community”…

I was in Delhi last week for the Aman ki Asha economic conference, which went really well. On my last day there, Sunday, I was invited to a small discussion organised by Prof Chaman Lal at JNU, Delhi (Chairperson, Centre of Indian Languages &s an authority on Bhagat Singh). Among the friends there was Sohail Hashmi Continue reading →

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