[sacw] sacw dispatch #1 (17 Nov.99)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #1
17 November 1999
________________
#1. Religious Persicution continues under the BJP Govt.
#2. Letter by Rights Activist seeking recall of Indian Member of Parliament
#3. Cry of the Silence [from Bangladesh]
#4. Fire Breaks Out In Indian Nuclear Plant
#5. FOIL Statement on Southern Baptists move to convert Hindus
#6. Desh Pardesh Festival 2000
________________
#1.
Asian Age,
14 November 1999

Ahmadiyyas accuse BJP of persecution

Chandigarh: Followers of the 40 million strong Islamic Ahmadiyya (Qadiani)
sect have accused Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee=EDs government of
discrimination bordering on persecution, reports our special correspondent.
Representatives of the Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya told The Asian Age that a
large number of Ahmadiyyas resident in 165 countries across the world have
been denied visas to attend the 108th Jalsa Salaana or annual congregation,
which commenced at village Qadian in Gurdaspur district on Saturday. The
denial of visas to the Ahmadiyyas has had a serious impact on the usual
festivity that the village of Qadian witnesses each year.

VHP activists storm prayer, burn Bible

New Delhi: About 30 Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists stormed into a
Christian prayer meeting in the Khyala area of west Delhi on Saturday
evening and allegedly burnt copies of the Bible and pamphlets containing
religious material. Several persons attending the meeting were injured in
the scuffle with the activists. The incident took place around 8.15 pm. The
members of the Christian community had gathered in a park in C block of
Khyala to attend a prayer meeting. The meeting was being addressed by
=46ather S. John of the Independent Church when the group of slogan-shouting
VHP activists trooped in and disrupted the proceedings. Eyewitnesses said
that they snatched away pamphlets containing the teachings of Christ
written in both Hindi and English and burnt them. It is alleged that a copy
of the Bible was also set on fire. Those attending the prayers tried to
stop the activists, resulting in an altercation. Several persons received
minor injuries in the scuffle. The police said Father S. John, who lives in
the Hoshangipur area of southwest Delhi, has been conducting prayers in the
area for the last several days. The police said this is the second incident
in the area. A scuffle had broken out around the same time on Friday.
Catholic Church spokesman Father Dominic Emmanuel told The Asian Age that
he was informed about the incident in the night. "I am trying to verify the
facts. The person who called me appeared to be shaken and told me that some
VHP activists have attacked," he said. There were claims that the Holy
Cross was also damaged by the activists, but the police denied it. A case
of rioting and disrupting a peaceful religious gathering has been
registered at the Khayala police post. No arrests have been made till now.
________________
#2.
Press release
Bhatinda, Punjab, India - 15 November 99

I call upon all political parties, civil liberties and democratic and
womens organizations in Punjab state to launch a campaign to call back Mr.
Vinod Khanna Member of Parliament (MP) from Gurdaspur District from
Parliament for his reported role in attempt to hush up Mamta Kulkarni
abduction case at Ludhiana.

Ludhiana police had registered a criminal case against two persons
including the son of a BJP counselor for their bid to kidnap Mamta
kulkarni, a film actress, criminal trespassing and for trying to entice her
with intention of sexual offences on October 31 last. The police arrested
one accused while the second is still absconding.

The alleged role of Mr. Vinod Khanna MP in pursuing Ms. Kulkarni to
absolve the accused persons from the charges as registered in the First
Information Report (FIR) at Ludhiana, is highly condemnable, anti-women
and a boost to criminal- politician nexus. The nexus in the politicians and
criminals is eating into the very fabric of the democratic and moral life
of the society. It is a shameful act on the part of a peoples
representative. Such crimes against women might be considered " light
flirtation" in the film industry as said to have been commented by the
actress in the newspaper reports. But these crimes against women turn the
life of common women into a never-ending nightmare. The intervention of
VIPs and political leaders into getting the criminals go scot free is one
of the major reasons for ever increasing crime graph against women in
India.

The Syphnix silence of almost all political parties, democratic and rights
groups and womens groups on this issue is a matter of very grave concern
for whole of the society.

I appreciate the decision of the Ludhiana administration to go ahead with
arrest and investigation into the case inspite of the fax communication
from Mamta Kulkarni to Ludhiana Police absolving the accused of charges.

I particularly appeal to Ms. Luxmi Kanta Chawla (BJP, MLA) and Ms. Bimla
Dang (CPI leader) to raise their voice against role of BJP Member of
parliament in hushing up of this heinous crime, as they are at forefront of
fight for womens cause in Punjab.

I also appeal to the readers of SACW to send protest letters to Mr. Vinod
Khanna , MP [Mr. Vinod Khanna, Member of Parliament, Gurdaspur, Punjab,
India] condemning his role at the following address. (with a copy to
vineetag@c... and editor@t... and at postal
address:- Mr. Ved Parkash Gupta General Secretary, PUCL Punjab Branch
5042, Afim Wali Gali, Bhatinda, Punjab, India)

Dr. Vineeta Gupta
Social activist and Member National Council, Peoples Union for Civil
Liberties (PUCL),India
________________
#3.
News From Bangladesh
November 15, 1999
Commentary

Cry of the Silence
By A.H. Jaffor Ullah

"Justice is a machine that, when someone has given it a starting push,
rolls on of itself" -John Galsworthy

The women of Bangladesh who were violated by the military men of Pakistan
during 1971 were all but silenced for the last twenty-eight years. Why were
they silenced? Did anyone stick a gun at their head and ordered them to
remain silent all these years? No, it was our society that had silently
ordered our violated women not even to whisper and tell others about the
pain they had endured while the marauding soldiers from a distant land
scourged the country. Mind you, these unfortunate young women in 1971 had
fallen prey to the prurient desire of the Khan-Senas (Pakistani soldiers).
It is payback time now.

However, this is not 1972. That year was too painful for those pregnant
women who were carrying the heavy burden of a crime. You see-the vile
soldiers of Pakistani army impregnated quite willingly some of the violated
women. One by one, the innocent babies were born to these young women. Our
society was so cruel that no one really dared to speak about it; let alone
demur. It was a taboo even to talk about it; never mind the write-ups.
These violated women simply cried in silence. They were pilloried by our
society. That was not all. Some of these women were encouraged to give away
their babies. The western baby adoption agencies knew about this raping of
the Bangalee women. As a result, in late 1972 and well into early 1970s
quite a few of these "war babies" were put up for adoption in the foreign
land. These babies are no longer juvenile anymore. They are in their late
twenties now. Just yesterday (November 13, 1999), attending a Bangalee get
together in scenic Lake Ponchartrain Beach in New Orleans, I was told be a
local Bangalee professor that he knows a German professor who had adopted a
war baby from Dhaka in the seventies. The twenty-seven years old South
Asian-looking young lady is now living in Germany with her adopted parents.
Thousands of similar war babies are now entering into their adulthood
without ever knowing the painful circumstances of their conception. The
adopted parents of these war babies also find it queasy to talk about the
unpleasantness nature of their birth.

Mind you, not all the women who were violated conceived. The percentage of
violated women who were impregnated by the vile soldiers was very small.
However, what about those young Bangalee girls who were kept as "pleasure
girl" for whatever length of time during the nine-month period? How about
the young girls and young married women who were brought to makeshift army
barracks in rural Bangladesh for one purpose? Are we ever going to know the
real number of Bangalee girls who had to submit physically to the sexual
demands of these Pakistani brutes? Perhaps, never. I have seen the number
over quarter million Bangalee women mentioned in some articles. But
honestly, this number could be a conservative estimate. The real number
could far exceed this estimate of quarter million figures. The marauding
Pakistani soldiers were brutes in the true sense of the term. By raping the
Bangalee young girls, they indeed have raped the Bangalee nation. When
these soldiers eventually returned home after a brief sojourn in India, did
they tell their mothers and sisters hubristically how many Bangalee girls
did they violate? From the widespread nature of the incidence, this scribe
believes Pakistani high command in occupied land must have encouraged their
soldiers to rape young Bangalee girls to demoralize our citizens and to
break our indomitable spirit.

I have read accounts of disgusting tales of Pakistani brutes; what they've
done in the nine-month period. In Comilla/Tripura boarder area when Mukti
Bahini (Bengali Freedom Fighters) and Indian soldiers liberated some
villages, to their horror they found some naked Bangalee women in a
deserted house. Horrified, the Indian officer-in-charge had to go first to
the village Bazaar to shop for Saris so that these unfortunate "pleasure
girls" could cover their bodies. What a shame! What a travesty of justice!
The Pakistani soldiers have broken all the records of misdeeds one can find
in the annals of mankind. The Japanese soldiers in Manchuria during War
World II had enslaved a large number of Chinese women as "pleasure girls"
but they had the decency to give them clothes to wear. To my knowledge, the
Korean women who were treated as "pleasure women" by Japanese soldiers
never had to endure this humiliation by denying them to wear clothes.
Pakistani soldiers are a class by themselves and no vile soldiers in the
world can break their records of brutality and meanness.

Early this year (1999), an account of Pakistani brutalities in eastern part
of occupied Bangladesh was narrated in all honesty by a Pakistani Brigadier
(Brig. Z.A. Khan). He had mentioned all the Bangalee killings in minute
details. He also talked about the drinking binge of some Pakistani army
officers. However, when it comes to describing rape and their treatment of
the Bangalee "pleasure women," he was positively tight-lipped. If, this
"heroic" soldier of Pakistan, who was merely a Lieutenant Colonel at the
time, had any ounce of honesty in him, he would have candidly talked about
the rampant raping of Bangalee girls by his soldiers and officers. However,
he didn't. This brings to the question of moral uprightness of Pakistani
soldiers. If you ask me whether these soldiers and their officers were
rational human being or not, I will answer that theirs treatment of
Bangalee girls tells me that they were brute and subhuman beings. What
vestiges of liberty and justice have they left?

During 1971, it was widely rumored that the inhabitants of Kurmitola had
targeted Bangalee girls who were singers and dancers of some repute in
Dhaka, i.e., who were radio and television artists. These girls were taken
to the army barracks in the outskirts of Dhaka in broad daylight and they
were kept there for days solely for the entertainment of the officers. Some
of the victims of Pakistani army are still alive and they are in their late
forties and early fifties. I am very hopeful that the victims who had been
crying all these years in silence would come forward to tell us their sad
tales. The tales of betrayal and the tales of subjugation, and violation.

On November 11, 1999, I read one of the leading English newspapers of Dhaka
in the Net. The news caught my attention immediately. The title read,
"Tormenting '71 Launched." Ms. Ferdousi Priyobhasini, an eminent sculptor
of Bangladesh had broken her vow of silence to formally testify how she was
brutally suppressed by Pakistani army during the nine-month war of
liberation. A book entitled "Tormenting 71" edited by Mr. Shahrier Kabir on
behalf of "Killers and Supporters of seventy-one Efface Committee." This
committee had also published a white paper on killers and supporters of
seventy-one about a decade ago where they have enlisted the names of the
killers and supporters of Bangalee intellectuals. This new book augments
their effort to bring those perpetrators to justice. After all, these
criminals have committed crimes against humanity during the nine-month
period.

Lately, the world is changing very fast indeed for the better. The top
killers of 1970s who did not mind moving about freely from continent to
continent in search of better healthcare are not dreading about their
future trips. A case in point is the "sad" saga of General Augusto
Pinochet, the despotic rulers of Chile in 1970s and 1980s. The octogenarian
retired General ordered the killing of a thousand or so young people who
didn't like his takeover of Chile by force. He thought the world has
forgotten the crime he committed some quarter century ago. But the world
has changed for the better. The old General will have to face the law in an
obscure Spanish court. On November 15, 1999, US News published a report
entitled "A safe haven, but for whom??" In that report, Ms. Chitra Ragavan
of U.S. News wrote about the account of some "New Nazis," who aren't Nazis
at all. Her article contends that over the years U.S. has become a safe
haven for war criminals from rest of the world. Criminals of all sorts
especially those who committed crime against humanity in war-torn Somalia,
Haiti, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, etc. had come
to the U.S. in the guise of refugee and political amnesty and are now
roaming freely here. I am sure hundreds of criminals who had committed
crime against humanity in nine-month period during 1971 in occupied
Bangladesh have now settled in America. Some of them even have violated the
Bangalee women at the time.

Bangalees should draw inspiration from all new developments that are taking
place in the western world. The U.S. has passed a law that would make
easier for law enforcement authorities to go after the criminals who
applied for political asylum or simply came because their relatives had
sponsored their cases.

What is needed urgently in Bangladesh is statement from the violated women
so that names of the violators could be compiled with as much as details as
possible the crime perpetrated against these women. Armed with the
testimony of the violated women, the government of Bangladesh should come
forward and ask the world community to arrest those criminals. Whether the
government of Bangladesh has the resolve to bring these criminals to
Bangladesh is an open question. This scribe is yet to see any inkling from
Prime Minister Hasina Wazed administration that could be translated to mean
an interest the government has to take these brutes to court. I hope the
government of Bangladesh would see the silver lining on the dark cloud of
our inability to make amends to the injustice done to the violated women of
Bangladesh. Isn't it an irony that the last two Prime Ministers of
Bangladesh were women, however, none of the two cared enough to ask
international justice to bring the violators of Bangalee women to justice.
Strange as it may sound, these two ladies were too preoccupied with the
deaths of theirs loved one. To them, the violators of Bangalee women did
not mean much. Or else, they would have talked about it by now.

Quite honestly, the deafening silence of the violated Bangalee women had
been too painful for us all. I, for one, am relieved to see that some proud
women are coming forward to tell their sad tales to the world body.
=46inally, the cry of their silence is being heard now-loud and clear. The
big question before us is-what are we supposed to do now?

(A.H. Jaffor Ullah writes from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. His e-mail
address is: jhankar@b... )
________________
#4.
Times of India 13 Nov. 1999

=46IRE BREAKS OUT IN KAIGA PLANT DOME

The Times of India News Service

KARWAR: A fire broke out in the first dome of the Kaiga atomic power
project on Thursday, leading to a loss of Rs 35 lakh. However, there was
no loss of life.

It is learnt that the welding work on the top of the reactor dome Number
One was going on and the sparks from the welding work made the
highly-inflammable paint tins stored inside the dome catch fire.

More than 100 workers who were there when the fire erupted felt
suffocated but managed to escape to safety. The fire brigade put out the
fire.

It may be recalled that in 1994, there was a partial collapse of Unit 1
which is yet to go critical whereas Unit 2 has already gone critical. It
is learnt if the accident had happened in Unit 2, it could have led to a
major nuclear accident.

Meanwhile R C Kawal, chief construction engineer of Kaiga atomic power
project clarified that the fire was noticed on the ground floor of
building-1 where constructions work was in progress.

In a press release he said, the fire broke out in the closed room of a
contractor due to storage of paint tins and the fire was extinguished
within half an hour. He clrified that the fire did not take place in the
Reactor dome 1 and added the turbine building was away from the Reactor 1
and the fire was limited to one room of the turbine building only.
________________
#5.
STATEMENT FROM THE FORUM OF INDIAN LEFTISTS (FOIL), USA (NOVEMBER 1999).
=46or more information, contact Murli Natarajan (murlin@h...) or Vija=
y
Prashad (vprashad@t...):
On Tuesday, October 19, 1999, the International Mission Board of the
Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) released a statement instructing their
followers to "pray that the world's Hindus might be convicted of sin and
see Jesus is the Light of the World" (www.sbc.net/bpDownload.asp). This
statement has been timed to coincide with one of the most popular festivals
celebrated by Hindus, Deepavali or Divali (Festival of Lights). Supporting
this statement is a nine-page prayer booklet, "Divali: festival of Lights.
Prayer for Hindus" that aids those who wish to pray for Hindus during
Divali celebrations (www.imb.org/frontpage.htm). Along similar lines, the
SBC booklet "Days of Awe: Prayers for Jews" also calls on Christians to
pray for Jews from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur, while a third pamphlet
"Ramadhan Prayer Guide: Prayers for Muslims" which calls for Christians to
pray for Muslims will be re-released during the coming month of Ramadhan.
Still another pamphlet directed towards Buddhists is planned by the SBC.

We, the signatories to this letter, are a collective of various individuals
and groups committed to the promotion of secular, democratic and
egalitarian principles in the social, economic and political life of South
Asians. We believe that the SBC pamphlets promote ignorance, divisiveness
and intolerance and concur with Keith Parks, the former president of the
SBC's International Mission Board, when he criticizes the campaign for
"launching a new crusade that's confrontative and abrasive," and
underscores the importance of not caricaturing other religions, insisting
that it is "essential that a Christian's descriptions of other faiths be
acceptable to members of those faiths" (1).

It is worth recalling the fact that the SBC argued in the 1950s that racial
integration was a sinful idea since "the Good Lord set up customs and
practices of segregation" (in the words of John Buchanan of Birmingham).
Even as recently as last year, the SBC at their convention amended their
statement of beliefs to include a declaration that a woman should "submit
herself graciously" to her husband's leadership and her husband should
"provide for, protect and lead his family." We call upon the SBC leadership
to re-evaluate its position on other religions, as well as its position on
women's subordination, in the same spirit that led the SBC to adopt a 1995
resolution repudiating its past advocacy of slavery and lack of support for
civil rights. Many of us come from diverse backgrounds and were raised as
Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jews, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians,
etcetera, and have a secular commitment to equal treatment of, and respect
for, members of all religious communities. We wish to affirm religious
diversity and tolerance as important strengths of South Asian society and
cultures. These values are being steadily undermined by the current
government of India, whose complicity in the attacks against Muslims,
Christians and Dalits has been well documented (2). Despite this climate of
intolerance there have been many dialogues between followers of different
faiths (3). We support the efforts of the citizens of India who continue to
affirm tolerance for different religious and cultural practices.

Just as we cannot condone the call by Hindu fundamentalist organizations to
"reconvert" Christians and Muslims to Hinduism in India, we cannot condone
the Baptist call to "pray" for Hindus, Muslims, Jews or Buddhists to
convert to Christianity in the U.S. While prayer for another person or
groups of people may be commendable, attempts to clothe bigotry and
ignorance with a veneer of theological and cultural analysis is not.
Unsurprisingly, the SBC leadership, like the BJP leadership in India, has
taken recourse to familiar methods used by religious fundamentalists the
world over: paternalistic intolerance combined with a superficial
understanding of history and society.

The SBC "Prayer for Hindus" booklet does not show any comprehension of the
complex nature of the different theological and philosophical schools that
have come to be known as Hinduism. More troubling is the authors' use of
Hindu fundamentalist interpretations of history to suit their own needs.
Thus they uncritically accept and reproduce the mythology of a "Hindu"
resistance led by the Maratha ruler Shivaji against "Islamic" Mughal rulers
of India in the seventeenth century even while calling for active
conversions of the Hindu Marathas (4). The booklet sometimes veers toward
the absurd; for instance, while describing Bangalore "the Silicon Valley of
Asia," it calls upon Southern Baptists to pray that all educated Indian
computer scientists become "open to the Truth." Moreover, there is not even
a pretense of an understanding of, or respect for the cultural context of
Indian Christianity. Nor does the booklet display any knowledge of the
historical diversity of Christianity in India, which includes Roman
Catholics, Syrian Christians, Anglicans, Methodists, Episcopalians,
Baptists, Presbyterians, and other Protestant denominations. Indians of all
faiths and creeds have historically been tolerant and accepting of
Christianity in India. It is not Hinduism that has led to attacks on Indian
Christians, but the communal practices of the Hindu fundamentalist
organizations and political parties, which have been well documented by
human rights organizations (5).

Ironically, the SBC pamphlets resonate with the increasingly intolerant
practices and policies of the Hindu rightwing government and its cohorts in
India (6,7). In this context, the response of many Indian Christians who
have distanced themselves from the SBC literature is to be applauded. We
strongly condemn all acts of religious bigotry and intolerance. At the end
of the millennium, we challenge leaders of religious institutions and
progressive people of all faiths to propagate words and deeds that will end
and not perpetuate hatred and ignorance.

Signatories :
Abhijit Shankar
Aditya Mishra
Amitava Kumar
Aparna Sindhoor
Ayaz Ahmed
Basav Sen
Biju Mathew
Chukka Srinivas
Harsh Kapoor
Jayanta Dey
Jyotika Virdi
Kamala Vishweswaran
Kaushik Ghosh
Malick Badal
Maya Yajnik
Mir Ali
Murli Natrajan
Nandita Ghosh
Partha Bannerjee
Pradeep Sopory
Pratyush B
Priya
Rajni Srikanth
Raju Sivasankaran
Raza Mir
Rini Bhattacharya Mehta
Sangeeta Rao
Sangita Singh
Sanjay Asthana
Satish Kolluri
Sreenivas Parachuri
Srilata Gangulee
Sujata Moorti
Vijay Prashad
Vinod Mubayi
Wasim Khan
Citations:
(1) "Ex-Southern Baptist Leader Chides Church," By JULIA LIEBLICH AP
Religion Writer. New York. OCTOBER 23, 1999.
(2) Frontline article-Need cite.
(3) Consider for example, the meeting of leaders like the Archbishop of
Delhi Alan de Lastic, Jagatguru Shankaracharya Madhvnand Saraswati Maharaj
and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan in Delhi on Oct. 24, at the invitation of the
Spiritual Foundation for Peace, and their affirmation that "people of
different faiths have lived together (in India) in peace and harmony for
ages" as part of India's "sacred heritage." Reverend Valson Thampu, a member
of both the Foundation and the Delhi Minorities Commission, said that the
meeting was to enable religious leaders to come together "so that religion
provides empowerment for peace rather than a call for war." The group passed
a resolution welcoming the Pope's upcoming visit to India, where he plans to
take part in Divali celebrations, and called upon "religious leaders to
restore the focus on social justice in public life and to effect a
reorganisation of national priorities accordingly."
(4) Page 4 of the SBC booklet. See the article on Shivaji and his
complexities at http;//www.foil.org/history
(5) The Human Rights Watch Report released on September 30, 1999, condemns
the Indian government for orchestrated violence against Christians. The full
text of the report is available online at Error! Bookmark not defined. The
password is Smita. See also the U.S. Department of State Annual Report on
International Religious Freedom for 1999: India Released by the Bureau for
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Washington, DC, September 9, 1999. For
the entire "Annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom,"
please see
http:/www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/irf/irf_rpt/index.html
(6) For instance, hate-spreading pamphlets issued by groups like the Hindu
Jagran Manch as documented in a report (titled after a slogan of the
religious extremists), 'Hindu Jago, Christy Bhago! Violence in Gujarat: Test
Case for a Larger Fundamentalist Agenda' put out by the National Alliance of
Women. Says one pamphlet: "The priests of the Christian religion are scared
of the awakening of patriotic Hindus and have begun insulting the holy
people and volunteers of the Hindu Jagran Manch through daily papers. This
is an insult to the whole of Hindu society. It is indeed the sacred duty of
the Hindu religion to teach the bold Christian priests a lesson and to put
them in their place." The National Alliance of Women report -- well
documented, but looking only at Gujarat-can be got at Rs 100 from NAWO, U9
IInd Floor, GreenPark Extension, New Delhi 110016. Fax (+91 11) 617 8622 Tel
617 1446
(7) See report, 'Then They Came For The Christians' published by the All
India Federation of Organisations for Democratic Rights, a citizens group
operating from the Indian city of Bombay. Also see Communalism Watch and
Governance Monitor September 1999 (#2) http://www.saccer.org, "FROM BEHIND
THE SMOKE-SCREEN: FACTS OF THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN HATE CAMPAIGN" by Frederick
Noronha. AIFOFDR's report is available at Rs 30 from AIFOFDR, RajaniX Desai,
8D B1, Harbour Heights, Bombay / Mumbai, India 400005.
______________
#6.
Desh Pardesh 2000 invites South Asian artists to submit work for
presentation at our 10th annual International Festival of Arts, Culture and
Politics, which takes place in Toronto June 6-11, 2000.

We seek work in all artistic mediums and cultural disciplines, from South
Asian artists, curators, activists, critics and cultural producers.
Submissions may include film, video, new media, installation, academic
papers, multi-disciplinary collaborations, workshops and panels. (All
visual artists should contact the South Asian Visual Arts Collective
(SAVAC), at the Desh address below or at (416) 340-1452.)

To submit work, complete details below and return, via email
(desh@i...) or post:

Desh Pardesh Festival 2000
401 Richmond St. W. Suite 450 Toronto, Ontario M5V 3A8 Canada

The deadline for receipt of applications is FEBRUARY 1, 2000. This
deadline is firm and will not be extended; if you know that you cannot
submit completed work PRIOR to Feb. 1, please contact us in advance for
more information.

APPLICATION TO PRESENT AT DESH PARDESH 2000

Please read carerfully and submit ALL required information.

Name:
Address:
Phone:
=46ax:
Email:

ALL applicants are required to submit the following:
1. A $5 cheque for processing fees; $10 if you would like your work
returned.
2. A biographical statement which can be used in our program and for
promotion, about 50-100 words.
3. A page or two describing your work and explaining why it is suitable to
the Desh Pardesh festival.

Please clearly indicate which jury you would like your work to be evaluated
by:
1. Dance, Theatre, Performance
2. Film/Video
3. Literature, Poety, Written or Spoken word
4. Music
5. New Media

There are different submission requirements for each discipline. Please
read carefully and submit ALL materials required in your area.

1. Dance/Theatre/Performance
- A representative 5-minute demo-tape of your work in VHS format
- A written summary detailing number and names of participants, length,
specific technical requirements (lighting, sound, space) of proposed
performance
- For theatre, a script of proposed piece

2. Film/Video
- A VHS tape of proposed pieces. You may send more than one work on each
VHS tape
- Label all tapes clearly, with the following information: title, director,
running time, format.

3. Literature/Poetry/Written Word
- Send 5 separate copies of each piece. You may send samples of work if
complete pieces are lengthy.
- For spoken work, a cassette of your performance

4. Music
- A CD, cassette tapeof your work and of the pieces you would like to
perform
- Include a written summary detailing number of musicians, instrumentation,
length and specific technical requirements (lighting, sound, space) of
proposed performance.

5. New Media
- Slides photograph or video samples of your work
- A detailed description of technical requirements and size of the
production

=46or further information, email desh or call.

desh pardesh & SAVAC
Culture. Politics. Activism.
401 Richmond St. W Suite 450
Toronto, ON Canada M5V 3A8
tel:416.340.0485 / fax:416.340.1418
http://home.ican.net/~desh

______________________________________________
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(http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex) since1996.
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