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.

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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 »

Something to celebrate

Posted on August 15, 2015 by beenasarwar
Celebrating Indian and Pakistani Independence Days with Karachi Truck Artist Haider Ali and friends at Dover Rug (L-R): Ken Shulman, Hardeep Mann, Haider Ali, Mahmud Jafari, Jaspal Singh. Photo: Beena Sarwar

Celebrating Indian and Pakistani Independence Days with Karachi Truck Artist Haider Ali and friends at Dover Rug (L-R): Ken Shulman of Away Games, Hardeep Mann, Haider Ali, Mahmud Jafari, Jaspal Singh. Photo: Beena Sarwar

A friend points out that my last few posts have been about death and loss. Then with Pakistan and India’s Independence Days coming up (Aug 14 and 15 respectively) someone asked, ‘What’s there to celebrate?’ My response: Yes, there is much to mourn, and sometimes there doesn’t seem to be that much to celebrate. As Jimmy Engineer says, the fight between good and evil is an eternal one. Doesn’t mean we stop living. When Indians and Pakistanis jointly Celebrate India, Pakistan Independence Days for Peace, Aug 14-15, 2015, it symbolises the desire to own an occasion that has been appropriated by hyper-nationalist, jingoistic war-mongers. Through this joint commemoration and greeting and wishing each other, we defy our government and security establishments’ efforts to create a negative narrative about ‘the other’. That, surely, is something to celebrate. Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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