P. Sainath – upcoming talks in America

Posted on October 13, 2016 by beenasarwar

Sainath-MIT1aThe eminent journalist P. Sainath, author of the groundbreaking collection of reports Everybody Loves a Good Drought, is headed to the USA from his base in India. He will give a series of talks at various campuses about his work and the unique, empowering, online journalistic endeavour he launched last year, the People’s Archive of Rural India – PARI. Worth going to hear him speak if you are in the area. See my article about him: Travels though history with a rural archivist.

Campus times and dates below, with some posters by a PARI volunteer. Continue reading →

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Muslim Americans strongly condemn the horrendous crime in Orlando, express deepest condolences to the victims and their families

Posted on June 13, 2016 by beenasarwar
Returned from a long road trip today to news of the horrendous massacre in Orlando. As details emerge about the bloodshed and condemnations pour in, some Boston-area Muslim American organisations have issued the statement below, and Mayor Marty Walsh has announced a vigil in front of City Hall Plaza at 6 pm on Monday

PRESS STATEMENT (please share widely)

Shooting attack at gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida

Photo: Phelen M. Ebenhack / AP

Muslim Americans strongly condemn the horrendous crime in Orlando, express deepest condolences to the victims and their families

BOSTON: The community and leaders of the Islamic Mausemeen Center of New England, Imamia Muslim Foundation and Masumeen Trust join all Americans in condemning the senseless act of violence perpetrated in Florida today against fellow human beings. Such criminal acts against any human beings are against all belief systems of the world.

Continue reading →

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Sabeen Mahmud: Inclusive spaces and #tree4Sabeen

Posted on May 3, 2016 by beenasarwar

In Karachi last week, I wrote about Sabeen Mahmud and the Creative Karachi Festival held to commemorate her life and work. PRI published it with the title Remembering a Pakistani woman who died because she wanted everyone to have a space to speak freely along with my radio interview with Marco Werman of PRI’s The World. Below is the unabridged text including with more links and photos. Also see our friend Afia Salam’s tribute to Sabeen in The Wire, Why Sabeen Mahmud Will Always Matter.

ckf-stalls20partition

A poster with Sabeen’s photo at CKF 2016 on a divider between a stall and walkway at the Alliance Francaise. Photo: Beena Sarwar

Beena Sarwar

Early on Sunday morning in Karachi, a small, eclectic crowd converged at The Second Floor, the iconic coffee shop-cultural hub founded by my young friend Sabeen Mahmud in 2007.  Continue reading →

Filed under: Balochistan, Freedom of expression, Pakistan, Peace, Progressive politics, Resistance | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

India/Pakistan: ‘Peace is a process, not an event’

Posted on February 15, 2016 by beenasarwar

My first monthly column for Himal Southasian (Feb 2016 issue), a Kathmandu-based magazine I’ve been associated with since its launch in 1997. The headline derives from something I remember a Naga woman from India saying at a conference I attended in Colombo, Sri Lanka many years ago. I focus my piece on what links the Pathankot and Bacha Khan University attacks, Modi’s Christmas Day visit to Pakistan and beyond – the issue may have died out from the headlines, but remains relevant. Article below with additional links and photos.vxtvfzk
By Beena Sarwar

If Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stopover in Lahore to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on 25 December last year came as a surprise, the subsequent militant attack in India barely a week later on 2 January did not. Continue reading →

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Is resistance futile? Lahore church attacks and beyond

Posted on March 21, 2015 by beenasarwar
Lahore church blast protest. Photo: Mani Rana, Reuters

Lahore church blast protest. Photo: Mani Rana, Reuters

My article in Scroll.in a few days ago pegged on the Lahore church attack and the Global Vigils of Pakistanis against terrorism 

Citizens, artistes and courts are mounting new resistance to halt spread of terror in Pakistan

News about the suicide attacks at two churches in Lahore broke on the morning of Sunday, March 15, as Pakistanis were gearing up for a global vigil against terrorism in several cities around the world, to be held that day in the UK and USA, and in Pakistan on March 16.

Continue reading →

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