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South Asia Solidarity Group video channel

South Asia Solidarity Group

Watch our event 'From Ayodhya to Leicester: revisiting Ram Ke Naam with Anand Patwardhan on the 30th Anniversary of the Demolition of the Babri Masjid' held on Sunday 11 December 2022, 2.30pm UK; 8pm India.

Ram ke Naam is an award winning film about the demolition of the 500 year old Babri Masjid in the city of Ayodhya by Hindutva mobs on 6th December 1992. The was not only an act of profound violence in itself but was preceded by a Rath Yatra, a so-called religious procession, through the heart of India which whipped up anti- Muslim hate and violence as it travelled through villages and towns. The demolition of the Masjid was followed by riots across India in which some 2500 people lost their lives. It was also a major factor in the rise of a Hindu and Brahminical-supremacist movement and the coming to power of the BJP.As the film also shows Hindutva has long been a world-wide movement which has long drawn moral and financial support from the diaspora.

Anand Patwardhan’s iconic film 'Ram ke Naam' (In the Name of Ram) examines the period immediately prior to demolition through the eyes of ordinary people in and around Ayodhya. What did they think of the Hindutva mobilisations entering Ayodhya and of their aim to build a temple to Ram where the Mosque stood.

At this online event we will show clips from the film and acclaimed director Anand Patwardhan will reflect on its significance in 2022, in conversation with poet and activist Shareefa Energy and Dr Kalpana Wilson of South Asia Solidarity Group.

Chaired by Naeem Badiuzzaman, Strive UK
Organised by South Asia Solidarity Group and Strive UK
#RecallingBabri

Teesta Setalvad speaks on the significance of the 30th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition ahead of our event this weekend.

Signup to 'Ayodhya to Leicester' via our social media where we will be revisiting the award winning film Ram Ke Naam with its maker Anand Patwardhan on the 30th Anniversary of the Demolition of the Babri Masjid.

In the wake of the violence in #Leicester, we call for peace and unity among all South Asian communities in Leicester and across the UK. We stand together as South Asians of all faiths and none and strongly condemn all the incidents in which individuals have been targeted for their religion, places of worship have been targeted, and fake news has been circulated to provoke conflict. We echo the sentiments in the recent joint statement of Hindu and Muslim faith leaders in Leicester who state that ‘We arrived in this city together, we faced the same challenges together, we fought off racist haters together and collectively made this city a beacon of diversity…we together call upon the inciters of hatred to leave our city alone’.
While many media outlets are still claiming that the conflict in Leicester began with the India-Pakistan cricket match on 28th August, we are clear that this conflict between Hindu and Muslim communities has been deliberately imported to Leicester over a longer period by right-wing Hindu supremacist political organisations linked to the Indian government.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (#RSS) – an avowedly fascist organisation which was formed in 1925 modelled on Mussolini’s Blackshirts, and its overseas wing the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (#HSS), is at the heart of this network of organisations. The RSS promotes a Hindu supremacist ideology in which India’s Muslims are demonised and scapegoated as the enemy within. India’s Prime Minister Narendra #Modi is a lifelong member of the RSS, and since he came to power India has seen an epidemic of mob lynchings of #Muslims, Christians and Dalits, orchestrated and state-sponsored pogroms of Muslim communities, and government bulldozers demolishing the homes of those Muslims who dare to protest. In all of these the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ has been a war cry used by Hindu-supremacist stormtroopers while carrying out the attacks. It was chilling to hear this same slogan being raised by the hundreds of masked and hooded men, many brandishing weapons, who marched through an area of Leicester where many of the residents are Muslim on Saturday 17 September.
Many of those who took part in this march were brought from Wembley and Harrow in London, Birmingham and other places outside Leicester in coaches and it is believed that in the days prior to the demonstration Hindutva activists from these other cities had been giving street-fighting training to young Hindu men in Leicester. The RSS also have the support of Islamophobic British #fascist groups, Britain First, English Defence League and Patriotic Alliance and there were reports of their members taking part in the march.
The violence in Leicester is not primarily a result of the presence in the city of more recent working class migrants from India, as some are claiming – it is planned and orchestrated by organisations which are well-established in the UK and are part of the international network of Hindu supremacist groups.
There is a long history of Hindu supremacist activity in the UK. The RSS systematically set up, or took over, a host of organisations in the UK, including the Hindu Council UK; the National Hindu Students Federation; the National Council of Hindu Temples; and the charity Sewa International, which was exposed in 2002 for channelling funds to organisations which carried out violent communal attacks in Gujarat. But people living in Leicester testify, despite the earlier activities of the pro-Hindutva groups, the city remained peaceful with good relationships between Hindu and Muslim communities. They say that what is happening now is a new phase of RSS activity. While old activities - fundraising, building and strengthening Shakhas (ideological and physical training centres), influencing both the Conservative and Labour parties, and making online threats against anyone who does not agree with them - continue, they now have a new aim of provoking communal conflict on the streets in Britain itself.
This is why progressive South Asian groups and individuals peacefully protested outside the Indian High Commission on Thursday 22 September. Our message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party, the #BJP and his organisation, the RSS, is: Stop Dividing Our Communities! The diverse, multi-faith South Asian diaspora in the UK must stand together against fascism in all its forms, as it has always done.

Protest outside World Bank 9 September 2022
Asad Rehman, director of War on Want

“1200+ people dead, 10m displaced, 33m affected, 800K livestock dead, 1m homes washed away, 200+ bridges collapsed. The planet is being killed today, not tomorrow, in front of our eyes. Pakistan had the hottest city on earth, Jacobabad at 51 degrees celsius in May 2022. It experienced forest fires, melting glaciers and now has the worst floods in living memory. It’s at the epicentre of climate catastrophe. Cancel the debt, give Pakistan climate compensation now.”
Claudia Webbe, Member of Parliament for Leicester East

We stand with the people of Pakistan who are calling for:

1. The unconditional cancellation of all debt, illegitimately owed to the World Bank, IMF and all creditors to Pakistan

2. An end to fossil fuels and a just transition to renewable energy globally

3. Climate reparations to Pakistan and the Global Majority for loss and damage, and for the trillions of dollars plundered through colonialism and its enduring legacy, capitalism.

A preventable humanitarian crisis
Pakistan is in the midst of an unprecedented climate catastrophe caused by rich nations. Pakistan has 7253 glaciers the most outside of the arctic polar region - they’re all reportedly melting fast. Monsoon rains in the country are 2.87 times higher than the national 30-year average — the UN calls it a “monsoon on steroids.” It is estimated that the widespread destitution and devastation caused by the floods will cost Pakistan at least 10 billion dollars. Moreover, over 2 million acres of agricultural land have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of livestock have been destroyed, triggering fears of massive food shortages in the coming months. People are going hungry and in need of urgent medical attention. At least 35 million people are displaced (roughly 90% of the population of Canada). Major parts of the affected regions are areas with vulnerable and marginalised communities, such as in Balochistan: the floods have increased inequalities, there’s a lack of access to humanitarian support, and they’re facing discrimination and repression.

Politically made destitution and environmental destruction
Pakistan causes just 0.4% of all global CO2 emissions, but is the 8th most vulnerable country to the climate crisis. In fact, while rich countries are responsible for over 90% of excess carbon emissions above the safe planetary boundary, countries like Pakistan have not even fully used their fair share of emissions. Yet, while some countries and companies in the Global North are wreaking havoc on the planet, countries like Pakistan are bearing the brunt of others’ criminal recklessness and unfettered greed. Unaccountable and destabilised Pakistani Governments were given huge loans as part of the West’s Cold War strategy to crush socialist movements and restructure Pakistan’s economy to enable foreign capital and companies to continue exploiting and plundering it following colonial rule.
#PakistanIsOurStory
#ClimateReparationsForPakistan
#EndFossilNow
#FloodinPakistan
#ClimateSolidarity

Protest outside World Bank 9 September 2022
Dr Ahmad Mahvish
South Asia Solidarity Group and Women Democratic Front

“1200+ people dead, 10m displaced, 33m affected, 800K livestock dead, 1m homes washed away, 200+ bridges collapsed. The planet is being killed today, not tomorrow, in front of our eyes. Pakistan had the hottest city on earth, Jacobabad at 51 degrees celsius in May 2022. It experienced forest fires, melting glaciers and now has the worst floods in living memory. It’s at the epicentre of climate catastrophe. Cancel the debt, give Pakistan climate compensation now.”
Claudia Webbe, Member of Parliament for Leicester East

We stand with the people of Pakistan who are calling for:

1. The unconditional cancellation of all debt, illegitimately owed to the World Bank, IMF and all creditors to Pakistan

2. An end to fossil fuels and a just transition to renewable energy globally

3. Climate reparations to Pakistan and the Global Majority for loss and damage, and for the trillions of dollars plundered through colonialism and its enduring legacy, capitalism.

A preventable humanitarian crisis
Pakistan is in the midst of an unprecedented climate catastrophe caused by rich nations. Pakistan has 7253 glaciers the most outside of the arctic polar region - they’re all reportedly melting fast. Monsoon rains in the country are 2.87 times higher than the national 30-year average — the UN calls it a “monsoon on steroids.” It is estimated that the widespread destitution and devastation caused by the floods will cost Pakistan at least 10 billion dollars. Moreover, over 2 million acres of agricultural land have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of livestock have been destroyed, triggering fears of massive food shortages in the coming months. People are going hungry and in need of urgent medical attention. At least 35 million people are displaced (roughly 90% of the population of Canada). Major parts of the affected regions are areas with vulnerable and marginalised communities, such as in Balochistan: the floods have increased inequalities, there’s a lack of access to humanitarian support, and they’re facing discrimination and repression.

Politically made destitution and environmental destruction
Pakistan causes just 0.4% of all global CO2 emissions, but is the 8th most vulnerable country to the climate crisis. In fact, while rich countries are responsible for over 90% of excess carbon emissions above the safe planetary boundary, countries like Pakistan have not even fully used their fair share of emissions. Yet, while some countries and companies in the Global North are wreaking havoc on the planet, countries like Pakistan are bearing the brunt of others’ criminal recklessness and unfettered greed. Unaccountable and destabilised Pakistani Governments were given huge loans as part of the West’s Cold War strategy to crush socialist movements and restructure Pakistan’s economy to enable foreign capital and companies to continue exploiting and plundering it following colonial rule.
#PakistanIsOurStory
#ClimateReparationsForPakistan
#EndFossilNow
#FloodinPakistan
#ClimateSolidarity

Claudia Webbe, Independent Member of Parliament for Leicester East addresses hundreds of people from more than 20 diaspora groups from across the country. The protestors demanded that the British government stop enabling the genocidal fascist regime of Narendra Modi, that the international community act to prevent the impending genocide of the Muslim minority, and demanded the immediate release of Teesta Setalwad, Mohammed Zubair, RB Sreekumar, Umar Khaled and all anti-CAA protestors, the Bhima Koregaon accused and all political prisoners.
#resisthindutvafascism #IStandWithZubair #freeteesta #FreeZubair #TeestaSetalvad #StandWithAfreenFatima #UmarKhalid.

Other speakers at the rally included Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East, Sonali Bhattacharyya National Secretary Momentum, and many others.
After gathering at 10 Downing Street, the protestors marched to the Indian High Commission.

Further background:
India is witnessing a normalisation of genocidal violence against religious minorities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalits are discriminated against, demonized and killed with impunity – against a backdrop of state inaction and well-documented state complicity. There have been pogroms against Muslims in Gujarat (2002), Christians in Odisha (2008), Muslims in Uttar Pradesh (2013), and in Delhi (2019). 90% of religious hate crimes in India in the last decade have occurred since #Modi came to power.
We have tragically been numbed to the shocking instances of
* Muslims were killed and gang-raped for their choice of food.
* Muslim school children are kicked out of schools where they have been studying for years for their choice of dress.
* Muslim families were evicted from their homes which were also demolished.
* Ten Dalit women were raped every day in India last year- highlighting how consistently over the years these are the most vulnerable among rape victims across India.
* Millions of Muslims are under the threat of losing their citizenship under discriminatory citizenship laws.
* Lynching by mobs- numerous occurrences making this an everyday tragedy for Muslims.
* Muslim women auctioned online
* Muslim houses of worship were demolished with no punitive action or compensation.
* Abusing the Prophet on live national television by the spokesperson of the ruling party.
* Hate speech and threats of rape from public and religious platforms.
* Boycott of Muslim traders.
* Christians were falsely accused of forced conversion and churches were attacked.
* Muslim men and women are arrested and jailed for years without trial and when acquitted there is neither compensation nor apology
Church staff attacked, pastor’s daughter was molested.
* Gang rape and murder of Dalit girl whose body was forcibly cremated, journalist and student activist who went to report on the case arrested.
* Revising history by removing Muslims from the list of freedom fighters.
* School books were rewritten with the narrative of Muslim rulers are invaders.
* Bollywood’s (i.e. India’s biggest cultural export) state supports Islamophobic movies.

The country’s famed example of unity in diversity and model of co-existence sadly is now a chapter in a not-too-distant history and is being compared with Germany. It’s our responsibility as conscientious global citizens to lend and amplify the voices of these oppressed and marginalised communities in India that are now at risk of genocide.

This protest march was on the 3rd of July 2022 in London, and began opposite 10 Downing Street and ended at Aldwych outside the High Commission of India.

The protesters at the rally showed that the victims and those resisting this fascist violence in India are not alone and stood in solidarity with them.

Help us raise public awareness and get our lawmakers to condemn the Indian government led by Prime Minister Modi and to accept our demand to actively monitor the support networks in the UK and legislate to block funding to these Hindutva groups by sharing this video and joining us on social media.

Kalpana Wilson, of South Asia Solidarity Group addresses hundreds of people from more than 20 diaspora groups from across the country. The protestors demanded that the British government stop enabling the genocidal fascist regime of Narendra Modi, that the international community act to prevent the impending genocide of the Muslim minority, and demanded the immediate release of Teesta Setalwad, Mohammed Zubair, RB Sreekumar, Umar Khaled and all anti-CAA protestors, the Bhima Koregaon accused and all political prisoners.
#resisthindutvafascism #IStandWithZubair #freeteesta #FreeZubair #TeestaSetalvad #StandWithAfreenFatima #UmarKhalid.

Other speakers at the rally included Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East, Sonali Bhattacharyya National Secretary Momentum, and many others.
After gathering at 10 Downing Street, the protestors marched to the Indian High Commission.

Further background:
India is witnessing a normalisation of genocidal violence against religious minorities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalits are discriminated against, demonized and killed with impunity – against a backdrop of state inaction and well-documented state complicity. There have been pogroms against Muslims in Gujarat (2002), Christians in Odisha (2008), Muslims in Uttar Pradesh (2013), and in Delhi (2019). 90% of religious hate crimes in India in the last decade have occurred since #Modi came to power.
We have tragically been numbed to the shocking instances of
* Muslims were killed and gang-raped for their choice of food.
* Muslim school children are kicked out of schools where they have been studying for years for their choice of dress.
* Muslim families were evicted from their homes which were also demolished.
* Ten Dalit women were raped every day in India last year- highlighting how consistently over the years these are the most vulnerable among rape victims across India.
* Millions of Muslims are under the threat of losing their citizenship under discriminatory citizenship laws.
* Lynching by mobs- numerous occurrences making this an everyday tragedy for Muslims.
* Muslim women auctioned online
* Muslim houses of worship were demolished with no punitive action or compensation.
* Abusing the Prophet on live national television by the spokesperson of the ruling party.
* Hate speech and threats of rape from public and religious platforms.
* Boycott of Muslim traders.
* Christians were falsely accused of forced conversion and churches were attacked.
* Muslim men and women are arrested and jailed for years without trial and when acquitted there is neither compensation nor apology
Church staff attacked, pastor’s daughter was molested.
* Gang rape and murder of Dalit girl whose body was forcibly cremated, journalist and student activist who went to report on the case arrested.
* Revising history by removing Muslims from the list of freedom fighters.
* School books were rewritten with the narrative of Muslim rulers are invaders.
* Bollywood’s (i.e. India’s biggest cultural export) state supports Islamophobic movies.

The country’s famed example of unity in diversity and model of co-existence sadly is now a chapter in a not-too-distant history and is being compared with Germany. It’s our responsibility as conscientious global citizens to lend and amplify the voices of these oppressed and marginalised communities in India that are now at risk of genocide.

This protest march was on the 3rd of July 2022 in London, and began opposite 10 Downing Street and ended at Aldwych outside the High Commission of India.

The protesters at the rally showed that the victims and those resisting this fascist violence in India are not alone and stood in solidarity with them.

Help us raise public awareness and get our lawmakers to condemn the Indian government led by Prime Minister Modi and to accept our demand to actively monitor the support networks in the UK and legislate to block funding to these Hindutva groups by sharing this video and joining us on social media.

The Kashmir Files: Turning Tragedy into Propaganda
What is the reality of the period portrayed in the film The Kashmir Files?
Why is the Modi government endorsing and aggressively promoting the film?
What are the uses of propaganda in the build-up to a genocide?
Join a panel discussion with
Sanjay Kak, author, activist and filmmaker
Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Senior Editor, The Wire
Kawalpreet Kaur, Lawyer with Human Rights Law Network; National Vice-President, All-India Students' Association
Organised by South Asia Solidarity Group and Jammu Kashmir Law and Public Policy (JKLPP).
Apologies for the short loss of video at the start.

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About SASG

South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG) is an anti-imperialist, anti-racist organization based in Britain. We are committed to supporting, publicising, and building solidarity with people’s struggles for justice and democracy and against exploitation, gender and caste based oppression, imperialism, war and the so-called ‘war on terror’ in the countries of South Asia.

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