The dream that MLK articulated may seem distant, but we’re moving towards it

Posted on January 20, 2025 by beenasarwar

I began writing this piece some time ago, after watching Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin’ at a friend’s place in Chicago – appropriate because that’s where Dr. King did a lot of his activism. Today seemed like a good time to finish it.

There is more awareness about systemic racism, caste oppression, and gender rights than ever before but we have a long way to go to achieve the dream of equality, justice and human dignity embodied by Dr. Martin Luther King. Those who fear change will continue to fight it. The struggle continues

Personal Political
By Beena Sarwar / Sapan News

The third Monday of January, which falls this year on the 20th,  is a federal holiday in the U.S., in honour of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Born on 15 January 1929, Dr King was assassinated on 4 April 1968. A bill passed by Congress led to his birthday being commemorated  as a federal holiday on the third Monday in January since 1986.

The U.S. Presidential Inauguration also takes place on 20 January. This will mark the third time ever for a president to take the oath of office on the holiday designated for Dr Martin Luther King – the earlier two were President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama. 

Dr King’s children have urged supporters to hear what President Trump has to say, even if they do so later.

The ideals of equality, justice, human dignity, and peace that Dr King stood for remain relevant, opposed by those threatened by these concepts.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
A photo of a photo from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta, Georgia, by Matt Lemmon.
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Fact-checking starts with self-accountability

Posted on January 10, 2025 by beenasarwar

The recent disbanding of Facebook and Instagram’s third-party factchecking programme has raised fears about the kind of news and information that will shape public discourse. Whatever facts or non-facts get pushed out, it is up to us, citizens who are news producers and consumers through our social media apps, to be the change. The Social and Digital Media Ethics Code and Pledge, an initiative by Sapan News, is a step in this direction.

By Beena Sarwar / Sapan News

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta disbanding of Facebook and Instagram’s third-party factchecking programme, following the lead of Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, may well lead to strengthening a public narrative that further undermines values of humanity, inclusivity and democracy.  

This makes it all the more important for those of us who strive to uphold these principles and who value facts over opinion, to buckle down and do what we can to “hold the line,” to use the words of Filipina journalist Maria Ressa.

That is why we at Sapan News last year initiated a Social and Digital Media Ethics and Responsibility Pledge, which provides guidelines with resources to help social media and digital media users enhance their credibility. Endorse here

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Sapan shines at the WISCOMP Saahas awards in Delhi – a video and a report

Posted on December 29, 2024 by beenasarwar

Hello friends – I’m still in Boston, waiting for permission to visit India. The WISCOMP Saahas (courage) awards ceremony I wanted to attend on 16 December is over, but I am still like to go and visit my friends and family, and show my Sri Lanka documentary at various places including the Bangalore International Center, the IIC, Delhi, and in Chennai – police in all three cities have given clearance as far as I know.

Sharing the edited version of the WISCOMP awards ceremony below – they had taken it offline to edit out the Afghan and Bangladeshi activists who were kept anonymous. Don’t miss the inspirational speeches by the awardees and thoughtprovoking documentary on the courageous journalist Patricia Mukhim from India’s North-East (I love her singing in it and now I know where her love for plants and nature comes from).

Here is a report about the event in The Wire – I’m delighted they used a photo of featuring the wonderful community of Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan) Peacemongers who joined my dear friend and colleague, journalist Mandira Nayar on stage after she accepted the award on my behalf from Dr Syeda Hameed, a Sapan founder member and advisor. It was wonderful and moving to see Aekta Kapoor, Ruchira Gupta (also a Saahas awardee), Parshu Narayan, Reema Amin, and the veteran peace activist O.P. Shah from Kolkata come together – thank you WISCOMP for inviting them.

Other wonderful members of our community were present but remained seated, like the inspirational activist Harsh Mander of Carvan-e-Mohabbat, poet and writer Sagari Chhabra, and journalist and activist Rita Manchanda.

Mukta Lall, daughter of the poet Jagannath Azad, was also present but had to leave before my name was called. We’ve been been in communication with for years but never met. It was Mukta ji who provided me with a scan of her father’s Urdu poem that served as Pakistan’s first national anthem – well documented, although there is no official record.

An awards ceremony in Delhi I will miss

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An awards ceremony in Delhi I will miss

Posted on December 16, 2024 by beenasarwar

The event in India this afternoon represents a significant moment for Southasian solidarity. It also underscores the challenges in the region, including visa restrictions between Pakistan and India

I feel deeply honoured to be among the wonderful women being conferred the Saahas-e-Azim (Most Fearless) award by WISCOMP in Delhi today – Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace, celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Sapan founder member Dr Syeda Hameed

It is amazing that three of the awardees are from Pakistan – but sadly unable to be there at the ceremony, thanks to the visa issues between Pakistan and India.

I’m also delighted that several awardees are Sapaners – from the Southasia Peace Action Network.

The highest award, the Saahas Shresta (Great Courage), goes to the journalist and activist Patricia Mukhim, Editor of Shillong Times and a Sapan News advisory council member. The jury termed Mukhim a “tireless advocate for communal harmony and gender equality” with “ceaseless positive energy in countering violence”.

Further delighted that our dear mentor Dr Syeda Hameed is a guest of honour conferring the awards, and that our lovely friends Kavita Srivastava and Mandira Nayar will be there to receive the honour on behalf of Saeeda Diep and me.

The large Sapan presence and contingent in this event includes four of the awardees, a guest of honour, and two accepting the awards, as Pragyan Srivastava wrote today for Sapan News

Saahas Awards to honour courageous changemakers across Southasia

Patricia Mukhim, Ruchira Gupta, Beena Sarwar, Saeeda Diep. Collage by Pragyan Srivastava.

Read the article

The Pakistanis besides myself are Sapan founder member Saeeda Diep, “peace activist and human rights advocate from Pakistan, championing the rights of religious minorities, especially Hindus through a gender lens” and Mossarat Qadeem, a university professor turned activist, being honoured for her work through her Paiman Trust which “empowers women and radicalised youth in conflict zones to become agents of peace and reconciliation”.

The fourth Saahas-e-Azim awardee is Ruchira Gupta, “globally renowned journalist, filmmaker, and activist, dedicated to eradicating sex trafficking and empowering women”, a Sapan member from India.

Thanks also to our great friends and Sapaners Aekta Kapoor and Sagari Chhabra for the nominations.

(ends)

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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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Three films and a play: Boston area events plus my notes on recent Sapan News features

Posted on September 29, 2024 by beenasarwar

Film screenings by Anand Patwardhan in Cambridge MA TODAY and tomorrow. My documentary at Tufts on Wednesday. The sublime musical play ‘Madho’ at Wellesley next weekend. The latest Sapan Alliance newsletter has more events and info about other events, including in Colombo. Scroll below for my conversation with Mayank Chhaya on the Sri Lanka elections, plus pix from ‘Democracy in Debt’ Global Community Screenings – some 40 events in 14 countries across 5 continents – and my notes on recent Sapan News features.

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A South Asia theatre festival in Boston

Posted on September 23, 2024 by beenasarwar

Off-Kendrik started over 16 years ago, “committed to building a broad platform for South Asian theatre groups and the next generation of South Asian Americans through theatre and storytelling”. 

PERSONAL POLITICAL
By Beena Sarwar

I went to see ‘Madho’ last night with my mother at the Third South Asia Theatre festival, SAATh 2024, in the Boston area. A musical play set in Lahore, it is written and directed by Sarbpreet Singh, an engineer by profession whose passion is music and storytelling.

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Local votes to regional destiny? The future of democracy in South Asia

Posted on July 28, 2024 by beenasarwar

I meant to share this when it was first published on Sapan News recently, my article co-authored with Dr Serena Hussain and Vishal Sharma, but was caught up with the Colombo screening of my Sri Lanka documentary. Thought I’d post now – the piece is still relevant especially given a recent article in an influential foreign policy magazine debunking the idea of Southasia

Images from various SAARC summits sourced from copyright-free photos. Collage by Pragayan Srivastava

Why the regimes ushered in through the democratic political process need to collaborate for a better future for the peoples of the region

By Dr Serena Hussain, Vishal Sharma and Beena Sarwar

The recent elections in Britain, France, and India are a reminder of the power of the people – and also of the importance of regional cooperation.

Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto with her Indian counterpart Rajiv Gandhi at 1988 SAARC Summit in Islamabad. Source: Dawn

The Indian elections were the third electoral exercise in South Asia this year, after Bangladesh in January  and Pakistan in February. Sri Lanka is also required to hold presidential elections before October.

As part of the democratic political process, elections determine the leadership that will shape not only a nation’s destiny, but also in closely connected regions.

The governments may choose to be isolationist, or follow the will of foreign powers, or cooperate and collaborate with neighbouring nations. Can and will South Asia’s regimes cooperate to promote regional peace, prosperity and progress as they have done in previous decades such as, during the 1950s, 1980s, and 2000s?

Such collaboration is essential for the sake of the peoples of the region.

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