[sacw] SACW (1 August 01)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire
31 August 2001
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

----------------------------------------

[1.] Pakistan: Now dial 'K' for killers
[2.] Pakistan: Fakhra Younis is 22 years old. A few months ago, her=20
powerful husband Bilal Khar, a former member of a provincial assembly=20
and son of the ex-governor of Punjab, threw acid on Fakhra and=20
disfigured her for life
[3.] Pakistan India Solidaity conference] website is up & running
[4.] Mushirul Hasan on the recent Pak India Summit
[5.] The fear of Ideas: Is India a paranoid state?
[6.] India: Christians and The Saffron Noose
[7.] Two Exhibits in California:
- Echoes of Freedom: South Asian Pioneers in California, 1899-1965
- Silicon Raj: Making a Difference to America's Future

-----------------------------------------

#1.

DAWN
30 July 2001

Now dial 'K' for killers

A. B. S. Jafri

How many kinds there are of crime that may be committed in a city is=20
a question for which even seasoned criminologists may not have a cut=20
and dried answer readily available. For the lay citizen, however,=20
there may be a discernible distinction between a crime that is a=20
stray incident or another that may appear to be part of a chain, or a=20
familiar enough pattern. Another sinister factor that may be=20
recognizable will be a strong vested interest operating like a Mafia.
Take the car theft/snatching/ hijacking. In Karachi it is already an=20
established industry. Let's work at the rate of ten cars taken away=20
daily, each worth half a million rupees. This would mean a robbery of=20
five million rupees a day, 150 million a month, nearly 2 billion=20
rupees a year. There is no investment in this commerce. All profit,=20
no loss. After all, this mountain of money is going into some=20
pockets. Why is it so difficult for this society and state to think=20
what is all this tamasha about and who are the lead players?
Every other week or fortnight the press reports a gallant police=20
swoop on a gang of car lifters. The gang is busted. Wonderful. Then=20
what happens? Nothing. The car lifting goes on, despite the=20
gang-busting diversion of the police. When he was the prime minister,=20
Nawaz Sharif had declared that area police head shall be held=20
accountable for car lifting in his precincts. Nawaz Sharif has gone.=20
Car lifters are flourishing, presumably also the area police.
Accountability is the biggest game in town. There are accountability=20
courts all over. Some big fish are in the net. Some bigger ones have=20
slipped through to safety. This accountability culture reigns at very=20
high levels. It does not deign to descend to the level where the=20
ordinary citizens live and suffer in silence.
Car gangs are busted with an intriguing regularity. Recovery of=20
stolen cars is another mystery tale. A car recovered, mostly in bits=20
and pieces, never really reaches the owner. It remains between the=20
gang chief and the state functionary. Both are happy.
There are more murders in this city than anywhere in this Islamic=20
republic. These killings are of some three distinct sorts. Relatively=20
more notable are murders of men of piety by the janisars of the=20
counter piety. It is piety on both sides. Maulana Ludhianvi was one,=20
Maulana Quadri another. Second category would be notable political=20
figures. There was Mir Murtaza Bhutto, real younger brother of=20
another prime minister in power. Soon after that, a police officer=20
was done to death in his official residence. It was as if nothing=20
happened.
Then, there was the Hakim Said murder case. The prime minister of the=20
time, Nawaz Sharif took much interest in that killing. Nobody knows=20
for certain why. The late Hakim's interest was philanthropy and=20
promotion of education. No clash of interest with Nawaz by any=20
stretch of imagination.
Right now we have the shattering murder of a highly respected=20
technocrat, Shaukat R Mirza. This murder was committed in a manner so=20
brazen as to leave one breathless. The killing was carried out in one=20
of the posh but by no means lonely district of the city. As usual,=20
the killers did a thorough job. They had no difficulty in driving=20
safely home. Murder in Karachi is an enterprise safer than, say,=20
taking stroll on the sidewalk in your locality.
Shall we return for a moment to the accountability culture?=20
Impressive indeed is the way the Accountability ethics operates at=20
virtually the seventh heaven level in our society. Some secretaries,=20
bank presidents, generals of the army and admirals of the naval fleet=20
have been put in the dock. Jolly good. Why not a few town and=20
district level bureaucrats?
Nobody is seriously disputing the claims made by President Musharraf=20
and his government that the quantum of wrongdoing at the higher level=20
of governance has been contained. Very good. What about the quantum=20
of wrongdoing at the middle and lower level of public services which=20
touch (hurt would be more appropriate) the lives of all of us? If it=20
has not increased, wrongdoing at this level has certainly not shown=20
any decline.
The killings in Karachi are becoming more and more weird. With the=20
increasing intensity in sectarian turf conflict, the occasional=20
outburst of mutual killing among the pious presents no mystery. But=20
targeting technocrats is a new trend and a great deal more to be=20
dreaded for being so utterly unpredictable and difficult to explain.=20
One would be at the wits end to divine why anyone would be want to=20
kill a person like Shaukat Mirza with such a harmlessly illustrious=20
career and one that was so transparently clean and neat.
In Karachi now we have more police than ever. The Rangers, too, are=20
in strength. Private security agencies have multiplied beyond all=20
calculation. So has mounted the risk to life of decent people who are=20
notable only for doing a good job of whatever they have in hand. It=20
should be safe to assume that the professional killer in Karachi has=20
never had it so good.
Where does one go from here? Any answers?

______

2.

[31 July 2001]

Tortured at 22

By Massoud Ansari

Karachi, (WFS) -- Fakhra Younis is 22 years old. A few months ago,=20
her powerful husband Bilal Khar, a former member of a provincial=20
assembly and son of the ex-governor of Punjab, threw acid on Fakhra=20
and disfigured her for life.

While this is enough to make anybody angry, Fakhra's ordeal did not=20
end with this physical and emotional trauma - she has also been=20
denied justice. For starters, the government refused to give her=20
relevant documents for travelling abroad for treatment on the ground=20
that if her ordeal was leaked to the international media, it would=20
reflect poorly on the country.

The horrifying trial of Fakhra began in 1998 when she chose to marry=20
Bilal Khar. Raised on Karachi's infamous Napier Road - a red-light=20
area - Fakhra thought that her marriage would help her bury her past=20
and lead a better life. Says she, "I was unaware at that time that=20
Bilal had been married and divorced thrice."

Discovering that her husband was already married was the first shock=20
for Fakhra. The next shock came when a few months after her marriage,=20
Khar started torturing her physically and mentally. Fakhra, however,=20
tried to endure all the hardships, hoping that things would improve.=20
"But when I did not see any end to my nightmare, I escaped from our=20
house in Lahore and returned to Karachi in April last year," says=20
Fakhra.

Enraged by her act, Khar flew to Karachi and after tracking down=20
Fakhra started beating her and then in a fit of anger threw a=20
container of acid on her, disfiguring her for life.

This, however, was not the end of Fakhra's ordeal. Her family took=20
her to the nearest hospital and also lodged a police complaint=20
against Khar. The police, however, did not take any action against=20
Khar because he enjoys a position of authority and is connected to=20
high-level police officials in the country.

To make matters worse, after Fakhra was discharged from the hospital,=20
Khar approached her family and demanded that Fakhra be sent with him.=20
Fakhra's family gave in because they knew that they were in no=20
position to fight the 'influential feudal'. Khar moved with Fakhra=20
from one hotel to another for a couple of months and continued to=20
abuse her sexually and physically.

It was only when Khar's step-mother Tehmina Durrani intervened that=20
Fakhra's fate took a turn for the better. Durrani, a renowned=20
Pakistani writer and women's rights activist kept Fakhra with her and=20
tried to help her get medical treatment. When she went to Milan for a=20
routine business trip, Durrani spoke to doctors about Fakhra's=20
treatment after which she decided to approach the government and get=20
a passport for Fakhra so that she could go to Italy for treatment.

Durrani ran from pillar to post, but was unable to get Fakhra's=20
travel documents. The interior ministry refused to give her a=20
passport on the ground that they did not believe that Fakhra had=20
provided her father's right name. The government also advised Durrani=20
to get Fakhra treated in Pakistan.

During this time, Fakhra's case remained unknown to everybody but=20
when Durrani failed to get any help from the authorities she decided=20
to hold a press conference and reveal the details of Fakhra's plight=20
to the media. "The government has been denying Fakhra her travel=20
documents because it fears that if her story caught the attention of=20
the international media, it would give a bad name to the country,"=20
says Durrani. She also alleges that another reason for Fakhra not=20
being given her travel documents is the influence that her husband=20
enjoys within the government.

It, however, took more than a month of public outrage expressed by=20
human rights activists through newspapers that Fakhra's travel=20
documents were finally given to her.

But though Fakhra is now free to travel abroad, doctors fear that=20
because of the delay in her treatment, it will be difficult to=20
provide her medical help. Fakhra can barely breathe and has lost=20
sight in her left eye, which specialists say will be difficult to=20
restore.

And even as human rights activists continue to pressurise the=20
government to take action against Khar, the authorities have not=20
responded. In such a scenario, it is difficult to say when and if=20
Fakhra will get the justice she deserves.

(Women's Feature Service)

______

3.

http://www.pakindpeace.org/

Dear Friends,

[The Pakistan India Solidarity conference] website is finally up & running!=
!

Check it out: www.pakindpeace.org

All those reluctant to take part in the actual, physical, paper=20
Signature Campaign for Peace may now please get all friends,=20
neighbours, colleagues, siblings, aunts & uncles, long lost cousins,=20
ex-spouses, etc. to log on and participate in the virtual Signature=20
Campaign for Peace....

Those of you who are part of newsgroups: spread the good word....

Those of you who have your own websites: provide a link to us...

Happy surfing, happy Clicking!

Regards

sonia

________

4.

The Indian Express
26 July 2001
The gains at Agra have eclipsed Shimla

Goodwill hunting

Mushirul Hasan

IN war both interests and ideas are pushed aside; hence, as an=20
exception to the rule, the great individuals then triumph. This is=20
the essence of what has gone on in the subcontinent since=20
Independence. Enough is enough. That's the common refrain in private=20
and public discussions. More than a week ago, we had a taste of the=20
people's sentiments in Agra. Talking to people who came to the dhaba=20
next to a graveyard on Fatehbad Road, the road leading to Amar Vilas=20
Hotel, I found the non-elitist segments of our society much less=20
susceptible to sabre-rattling. Two young graduates and an office=20
clerk working in Amar Hotel expressed their yearning for peace and an=20
immediate end to conflict. It reminded me of Ali Sardar Jafri's=20
moving lines =97 Khuda kare ke ye shabnam yuhi barasti rahe/ zameen=20
hamesha lahu ke liye tarasti rahe (may it become the Earth's lot to=20
be wet with dew/ by denying it human blood forever).

Why just the men at the dhaba? Indians and Pakistanis expressed=20
similar sentiments at the people's summit at Delhi's India=20
International Centre. This is not all. Amongst the 170-odd guests at=20
the Taj Palace Hotel on Saturday, I noticed a glimmer of hope and=20
optimism.
[...]

The silver lining is that the peace process initiated by the prime=20
minister and his foreign minister, who are unfairly placed in the=20
dock by self-appointed guardians of our national interest, is=20
irreversible. They and their Pakistani counterparts will meet again=20
not to thrash out the terms of a Versailles or Sevres-like treaty,=20
but to negotiate the subcontinent's future on equal terms. When that=20
happens, it will be time to keep one's fingers crossed. Never before=20
in South Asian history has the fate of so many rested in the hands of=20
so few. President K.R. Narayanan is wise and sagacious. He put across=20
this idea elegantly. "Tomorrow"=92 he told the Pakistani president,=20
"when you and the prime minister of India sit together in Agra, I=20
hope the face of the poorest person in the subcontinent will be=20
before you."=92

[...] .

=A9 2001: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All rights reserved=20
throughout the world.

________

5.

Daily Star (Dhaka)
1 August 2001
Op-Ed.

The fear of Ideas: Is India a paranoid state?

Praful Bidwai
Indira Gandhi gave India a bad name in the 1970s by policing=20
scholars' visas. Academics like Paul Brass paid heavily for this--as=20
did good scholarship. The NDA is doing the same--even more=20
hypocritically. Today, on the one hand, it endorses "globalisation"=20
at the expense of national sovereignty...On the other, it is=20
xenophobic about ideas.

NOW everyone knows the Indian government grossly mishandled the media=20
at Agra and lost the "information battle" to Pakistan. This is=20
fashionably attributed to a tactical "failure" to practise=20
"media-based diplomacy."

This criticism is largely valid. But the deeper failure isn't=20
tactical. It lies in the culture of excessive secrecy. The government=20
doesn't share what it knows with its own people, even after it=20
becomes public knowledge.

Mr Vajpayee first disclosed the 1998 nuclear tests' rationale not to=20
the Indian people, but to the President of the United States. Many=20
are the disasters, including Indira Gandhi's assassination, about=20
which our public learns first through the BBC. In line with this is=20
the babu's mortal fear of new or heterodox ideas.

Take Mr M.L. Sondhi's dismissal from the Indian Council of Social=20
Science Research (ICSSR). This happened two days after the Agra=20
Summit, to welcome which he had organised an India-Pakistan social=20
scientists' conference. The dismissal's grounds-- "loss of=20
confidence"; non-submission of accounts;-- and complaints of=20
"irregularities"smack of a vendetta.

In reality, Mr Sondhi-- a self-confessed sangh parivar member--was=20
sacked because he had antagonised powerful people, especially Human=20
Resources Development (HRD) Minister M.M. Joshi.

Mr Sondhi is complex "saffron liberal". One can't credit him with=20
academic excellence-- he can claim little recent work-- or tolerance.=20
A Jana Sangh MP in 1967, he is a political maverick and a bull in the=20
academic china-shop. He is known for his imperious style-- and his=20
contradictions.

Mr Sondhi advocates India-Pakistan reconciliation and underscores=20
India's "soft" face. Yet, he worships the Bomb.

He advocates free exchange of ideas, but opposes critics of=20
nuclearisation to the point of censoring them. (As earlier reported,=20
I was the target of his heckling in 1998--my sole experience of its=20
kind in two decades.)

Mr Sondhi's stewardship of the ICSSR was partisan. He ignored its=20
ill-funded 27 affiliate-institutes but started new projects. He blew=20
up money on grandiose seminars at five-star hotels even though many=20
ICSSR institutes can barely pay their wage bills.

If the HRD ministry was genuinely concerned about "irregularities",=20
it could have asked for an explanation-- and no more; for the ICSSR=20
is an "autonomous" body. But it was happy because Mr Sondhi's=20
"five-star" conferences were "Shyama Prasad Mukherjee seminars".

The ministry was complicit in Mr Sondhi's creation of a new Deen=20
Dayal Upadhyaya Institute of Social Justice, Manali, against the=20
Council's rules.

Mr Sondhi, for his part, went along with the Ministry's equally=20
partisan actions, including appointment of third-rate academics and=20
pamphleteers to the Council.

This mutual indulgence vanished when Mr Sondhi stopped playing Dr=20
Joshi's game. Matters came to a head as RSS appointees unfolded their=20
agenda: "proving" India's "Aryan" "greatness", and negating its=20
multi-cultural, multi-religious character.

This was academically embarrassing. Mr Sondhi got into an ugly scrape=20
with the "RSS cabal".

This was thus an intra-parivar fight over ICSSR spoils. Finally, the=20
HRD ministry, which had blatantly politicised the Indian Council of=20
Historical Research and inflicted Hindutva even on the natural=20
sciences, did a hatchet-job on Mr Sondhi.

One must condemn the rationale and manner of his sacking. This blow=20
to academic freedom expresses official intolerance of even mildly=20
liberal ideas.

The government fears free communication between India and the world.=20
Take its two recent orders: one requiring citizens to report all=20
foreign guests to the police, and the other demanding advance=20
"security clearance" for international conferences of "a political,=20
semi-political, communal or religious nature" or related to human=20
rights.

The first order would even make President Narayanan guilty of not=20
reporting Gen Musharraf as his guest! And the second obnoxiously=20
violates academic freedom.

There has been a big uproar over the first order. But the Supreme=20
Court has upheld the second.

Therefore, all organisers of international seminars must obtain Home=20
and External Affairs ministry clearances for inviting participants=20
from Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Invitees=20
from elsewhere need prior Home Ministry approval. This can take=20
months and dozens of visits/letters.

This makes a mockery of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution=20
guaranteeing free expression. It is also incompatible with the spirit=20
of academic debate. Such debate is international in character, as is=20
scientific scholarship itself.

Indira Gandhi gave India a bad name in the 1970s by policing=20
scholars' visas. Academics like Paul Brass paid heavily for this-- as=20
did good scholarship. The NDA is doing the same-- even more=20
hypocritically.

Today, on the one hand, it endorses "globalisation" at the expense of=20
national sovereignty; it cannot even conceive of growth without=20
foreign capital. On the other, it is xenophobic about ideas. The=20
government fears free thought-- particularly when that defends the=20
popular interest.

Exclusivist attitudes come naturally when our post-colonial rulers=20
deal with progressive foreigners, as distinct from business people.=20
(Those applying for a "business" visa get it instantly!)

Take Ms Ali Sauer, a Canadian who has praised the Narmada Bachao=20
Andolan in Economic and Political Weekly; and US citizen Ann=20
Leonard-- formerly of Greenpeace, who has long campaigned against the=20
dirty global trade in toxic wastes.

Ms Sauer is being deported. Ms Leonard has been put on the "adverse" list.

Unless such mindsets change, we will become a backwater of=20
chauvinism. Enlightened intellectuals must reject such insularity and=20
support freedom of thought to the point of not just tolerating, but=20
sincerely respecting, heterodoxy. Conformism is bad for free=20
debate--and democracy.

So the recent judgment on Sahmat's Ayodhya exhibition, banned in=20
1993, is welcome. The Delhi High Court has pronounced that=20
"everything" about the ban was "indefensible". The exhibition=20
authentically depicted plural Ramayana traditions, including a=20
Dasaratha Jataka version which portrayed Sita as Rama's sister.

Much of the "outrage" against the exhibition's spirit of tolerance=20
was feigned. The silence of some intellectuals on the ban only=20
encouraged Hindutva. They should have spoken out. They always should

Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian columnist

________

6.

CHRISTIANS AND THE SAFFRON NOOSE
I. K. Shukla

That the muzzling of and mayhem against Indian Christians is=20
proceeding apace systemically is becoming brazenly evident day after=20
bloody day in talibanized Bharat. It stalks the land progressively=20
with more malign violence and more aggressive siege in every walk of=20
life. To be a non-Hindu is a crime in the HinduTaliban book. The 29=20
July statement of Indian Christian Council is an SOS not only=20
addressed to the fellow Christians but also to the collective=20
conscience of a nation (constitutionally a democracy) and a citizenry=20
avowedly deferential to and abiding by a Constitution.

Before we highlight the three issues raised in the statement it would=20
be salutary to remember that the statutory protections for=20
minorities codified in the Constitution did foresee potential and=20
prospective coercion and preempted the same with adequate safeguards.=20
Not only have these protections been given a short shrift, Christians=20
and other minorities have also been deprived of their inherent=20
rights as Indian citizens. These rights span and include human=20
rights mandated and covenanted by the United Nations. Thus the Bharat=20
of Non-Democratic Alliance is guilty on several counts and can be=20
hauled into many docks. Its defiance of the UNO in this instance, and=20
its faith in the US support against censure in that forum, both have=20
their antecedents in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia to name=20
only a few instances.

The Coptic Christians in Egypt have suffered relentless persecution=20
by extremist Islamists for decades on end, but the US largesse to=20
Egypt remains undiminished, second only to that of Israel. Not even=20
a note of concern has emanated from Washington in their behalf. Hence=20
Cairo remains equally nonchalant, and the orgy of violence and=20
vandalism against Christians goes unpunished and continues unabated.=20
Similarly, were US even minimally concerned with the monstrous abuse=20
of human rights in Afghanistan, long ago it would have imposed severe=20
sanctions, declared it a terrorist or rogue state. Nothing of the=20
sort happened, nor will. As for Saudi Arabia, still under tribal=20
laws, where chopping of hands and public beheading are the norm, US=20
finds there no humans worthy of any rights.

The triad of persecutions that the Indian Christian Council has=20
pinpointed are: new threats to religious freedom, victimization of=20
Christians in Orissa, draconian laws on the anvil inhibiting their=20
foreign funds, and the VHP goons in Varanasi detaining five=20
Christians and getting away with their vigilante gangsterism scot=20
free.

The Varanasi hoods taking law in their own hands are acting in=20
concert, not as deviants. The latest example of a similar defiance=20
of law happened in the village Korua, district Kota, Rajasthan.
A Christian ashram catering to 1500 destitutes under Bishop M. A.=20
Thomas has been subjected to vandalism and threats of his murder. In=20
Orissa, 17 Dalits opting for Christianity have been forcibly=20
converted to Hinduism by RSS riff raffs, the state administration=20
colluding, and the so-called Shankaracharya of Puri presiding over=20
this violation of human rights and freedom of religion.
The blatant collaboration of the state machinery - overt, illegal,=20
and inhuman - is as astounding as it is abhorrent. The sanction for=20
this pathological and recidivist flouting of law of the land silently=20
streams out from New Delhi. The Non-Democratic Alliance is openly=20
encouraging such crimes all over India and promoting it as a norm by=20
rewarding it with glorification or coddling.

A private member's bill in the Lok Sabha against conversion is both=20
discriminatory and redundant. There is already legal remedy available=20
in our penal code against forced conversion. But the new
bill would selectively prejudice and criminalize certain choices of=20
religion, and facilitate others as
fair and proper. If this behavior is seen in perspective it would=20
become apparent why the Non-Democratic Alliance has embarked on=20
revising (read, rewriting), not amending, the Constitution.
What can be done wholesale at one go by subverting the Constitution=20
and deceptively calling it revision can't be left to the mercy of=20
retail amendments entailing delay through parliamentary scrutiny and=20
inhibitory curbs.

Secularism, pluralism, and egalitarianism- the warp and woof of=20
modern democracy- have to be scrapped as per the BJP agenda.=20
Collaterally, recall with a thundering burst of laughter the NDA=20
Manifesto (1999) which talked of "reconciliation and accord based on=20
our commitment to probity, transparency of decision-making and=20
corruption-free governance." It is discord, dishonesty and=20
defalcation, demolition, opacity, stealth and scam, violence and=20
vice, falsehood and fanaticism, blood and fire that would be=20
remembered to have distinguished the Non-Democratic Alliance's term=20
in office.

And, the dragnet now stretching further afield stipulates amending=20
the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Just as the Orissa=20
government's Freedom of Religion Act, in fact, forbids and punishes=20
freedom of religion, so does New Delhi's proposed amendment to FCRA=20
aim at starving the Christian and minority institutions of=20
sustenance. This blatantly serves saffronization of society in two=20
ways:1. With Christian outfits bereft of their financial lifeline=20
Hindutwa would have killed competition and ensured monopoly. 2. It=20
will enable Hindutwa to maintain ancient helplessness, ignorance,=20
illiteracy, death and disease, superstition and status quo. In short,=20
Dalits, tribals, and women will continue to be enslaved for the=20
profiteering predators of the privilege-battened upper castes. That=20
is, destitution of the masses will stay put. Doesn't the universal=20
neo-colonialism (globalization) also aim at the same? Hindutwa has,=20
in consonance with its fascist ideology and its founding fathers'=20
predilections, alien allies.

Why should the majority of Indians, and not just the beleaguered=20
Christians, stir themselves into action even as belatedly as now?=20
Because our freedom is in peril. Because totalitarianism and=20
exclusivism are repugnant to Indian ethos, human freedom, and=20
rationalism. Never in its history was India univocal , unilinear,=20
uniform, or monochrome. Numerous streams of thought and creative=20
imagination have historically flourished here simultaneously in=20
freedom and fulness. To deny ourselves this heritage will turn us=20
into paupers and pygmies. In brief, to quote Romila Thapar, Hinduism=20
as it evolved, was "not a linear progression from a founder through=20
an organizational system with sects branching off", but the "mosaic=20
of distinct cults, deities, sects, and ideas and the adjusting,=20
juxtaposing and distancing of these to existing ones, the placement=20
drawing not only on beliefs and ideas but also on the socio-economic=20
reality."

Shall we allow the barbarians to destroy this mosaic? Shall we=20
suffer the rainbow, that our history is, defiled and demolished like=20
the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya?
=20
29July2001

________

7.

Echoes of Freedom: South Asian Pioneers in California, 1899-1965
An Exhibition in the Brown Gallery of the Doe Library, University of=20
California, Berkeley, July 16-September 30, 2001

On 6 April 1899, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that four=20
well-built, vigorous men wearing turbans had arrived at the docks in=20
San Francisco. They were followed by many immigrants from India in=20
search of economic advancement and adventure. These newly arrived=20
immigrants worked in the lumber mills, on railroad lines, and in the=20
factories of the Pacific West Coast. But most of them had been=20
farmers and landowners in India and were naturally drawn to the=20
farming. By 1920, in spite of the prejudice and opposition they=20
encountered, the Indian immigrants in California owned 2099 acres and=20
were leasing 86,340 acres of farmland in the Imperial and Sacramento=20
Valleys. At the same time students from all over India were coming to=20
study in the United States, particularly to the Pacific Coast and=20
about thirty Indian students were enrolled each year at the=20
University of California, Berkeley. Echoes of Freedom: South Asian=20
Pioneers in California, 1899-1965, the exhibit that opens in the=20
Bernice Layne Brown Gallery on July 16, tells the story of these=20
early immigrants--their struggle for the independence of India, for=20
the right to U.S. citizenship, and for the liberalization of laws=20
that stifled Asian immigration--through photographs, early accounts,=20
documents, and publications drawn from the=20
<http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/>South/Southeast Asia Library's=20
rich archive of material on South Asians in North America.

Silicon Raj: Making a Difference to America's Future
Photos by Rick Rocamora
An exhibit the Brown Gallery Hallway, University of California,=20
Berkeley, July 16-September 30, 2001

After 1965, liberalized immigration laws led to a dramatic increase=20
in immigration from all over South Asia. In California, where early=20
Indian pioneers were concentrated in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and=20
Imperial Valleys, the new immigrants--often skilled in science,=20
technology, and medicine--gravitated to the urban areas, particularly=20
Silicon Valley, emerging in recent years as successful entrepreneurs=20
and professionals. "Silicon Raj: Making a Difference to America's=20
Future"-- photos by award-winning Bay Area photographer Rick=20
Rocamora--captures scenes from the life of this evolving community=20
ranging from San Jose meetings of The IndUS Entrepreneurs, to hatha=20
yoga classes in Santa Clara, to the candlelight protest at Pasand=20
Restaurant in Berkeley organized by the Alliance of South Asians=20
Taking Action. In "Silicon Raj," Rocamora has been guided by a=20
passion for the truth and a hope that his photographs will made a=20
difference to the community whose history he is recording. Presenting=20
the two exhibits side-by-side brings to light the many ways the=20
success of the new immigrants builds upon the achievements of the=20
early pioneers and how common themes of challenge and achievement run=20
through these two different phases of the South Asian American=20
experience.

The Brown Gallery is open Mondays-Thursdays 9 am-9 pm;=20
Fridays-Saturdays, 9 am-5 pm; Sundays, 1 pm-9 pm. For further=20
information contact Suzanne McMahon, 510-643-0849,=20
<mailto:smcmahon@l...>smcmahon@l...

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