Parched in Palestine: Resisting Water Apartheid 

The Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine and 1for3.org are organizing a webinar as a lead-up to the 2022 World Water Day.

Saturday, March 19, 1:00 – 2:30 PM (Eastern Time in USA & Canada)

The webinar will focus on Israel’s water apartheid policies and how the effort to drive Palestinians from the land is being resisted.

Speakers include:
Jehad Abusalim, Gaza-born Education & Policy Coordinator at American Friends Service Committee

Nidal Al-Azraq, a Palestinian refugee who is Executive Director of US-based 1for3.org

Shatha Al-Azzeh, Director of the Environment Unit at Lajee Center, Aida Refugee Camp

Mohammed Obidallah, water and environmental management expert in Battir Municipality

Lubnah Shomali, human rights defender and advocacy manager at Badil Resource Center

Also featured: short videos highlighting new forms of resistance that are taking shape.

To Register: https://bit.ly/3M69wOo

Co-sponsors: Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, Black and Pink – MA, American Friends Service Committee – New England, Cambridge/Bethlehem People-to-People Project, City Life/Vida Urbana, Deeper than Water Coalition, Dorchester People for Peace, Eyewitness Palestine, Grassroots International, Green Roots, Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston, Human Rights Awareness: Palestine Israel, Massachusetts Peace Action, North American Indian Center of Boston, Peace & Social Justice Committee of Friends Meeting Cambridge, Social Justice Group – UU Church in Harvard, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, United American Indians of New England, Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice & the Environment.

South Asian Diaspora Organizations Condemn Anti-Hindu Violence in Bangladesh

October 19, 2021

Endorse the Statement Here

We are horrified by the violence committed against Bangladesh’s Hindu community during and after the festival of Durga Puja.

In recent days, Bangladeshi Hindus, who make up around 10 percent of the country’s population, have faced the worst violence in years. The violence erupted on October 15, after a photo went viral on social media, showing a copy of the Qur’an placed at the knee of a Hanuman statue in Cumilla district. In reaction, Muslim mobs attacked Hindu homes, shops, and shrines. This violence spread from the southeast to cities such as Dhaka and Feni, all the way to the northern Rangpur districts. According to the Guardian, over 80 pandals set up for Durga Puja were attacked. In Rangpur district, a mob burned over 20 Hindu homes. According to Amnesty International, seven people have been killed and hundreds injured.

We understand these attacks as part of a growing trend of violence against minorities across South Asia. From Afghanistan to Pakistan to India to Sri Lanka, we have seen how a rise in majoritarian politics and misinformation spread via social media are directly connected to increasing attacks on marginalized communities. We know violence in these countries is mutually reinforcing; attacks on a minority in one country often trigger counter-attacks in another.

Just as we condemn Hindu majoritarian violence against India’s religious minorities and oppressed castes, we stand with Bangladesh’s religious minority communities: Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, atheists, and others, many of whom are also Dalit and oppressed caste communities. We are glad to see that Bangladeshi civil society groups — Hindus, Muslims, and others — have held mass rallies condemning these recent attacks.

We join our comrades at Naripokkho, the Bangladesh Development Initiative, as well as Amnesty International and the United Nations, in demanding accountability and transparency from Bangladesh’s government. Unlike in India, where the ruling party and state institutions are often complicit in attacks against minorities, we are relieved that Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and senior government officials have strongly condemned the attacks. We understand that around 450 people have been arrested in the aftermath of the attacks, and authorities have filed over 70 cases so far. The Ministry of Home Affairs has also transferred police officials who failed to stop the violence.

However, there is much more that must be done. Historically, attacks on Bangladesh’s minorities have rarely been prosecuted. We hope that this time, Bangladesh’s government will ensure justice for all who have suffered in these attacks.

Endorse the Statement Here

Signatories, in alphabetical order:

  1. Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, USA
  2. Aotearoa Alliance of Progressive Indians, New Zealand
  3. AwaazNetwork Facebook Page, UK
  4. Bangladeshi Youth for Social Justice – Toronto, Canada
  5. Boston South Asian Coalition, USA
  6. Coalition Against Fascism in India, USA
  7. Hindus for Human Rights – Australia & New Zealand
  8. Hindus for Human Rights – USA
  9. Hindus for Human Rights – UK 
  10. Indian American Muslim Council, USA
  11. India Solidarity Germany
  12. Peace Vigil
  13. Poetic Justice Foundation, Canada
  14. Red Baraat, USA
  15. Students Against Hindutva Ideology, USA
  16. The Humanism Project, Australia
  17. The London Story, Netherlands

Water is a Human Right

Water, Health and Human Rights: Marking World Water Day, from the U.S. to Palestine

Hosts: Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, Palestine Museum US

Zoom registration:
bit.ly/water-day-2021 This World Water Day event will feature:
Keynote: Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)

Monica Lewis-Patrick, We the People of Detroit
Mahtowin Munro, United American Indians of New England
Wayland ‘X’ Coleman, Deeper than Water
Jehad Abusalim, American Friends Service Committee
Nidal al-Azraq, 1for3.org

Co-sponsoring groups:
1for3.org, Adalah Justice Project, Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, American Friends of the Palestinian House of Friendship, American Friends Service Committee, BDS Boston, Black and Pink Massachusetts, Brooklyn For Peace, Cambridge/Bethlehem People-to-People Project, Cambridge United for Justice with Peace, Centre for Faith, Art & Justice, Dorchester People for Peace, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Eyewitness Palestine, First Baptist Jamaica Plain, GreenRoots, Grassroots International, Human Rights Awareness: Palestine Israel/ MA 3rd Congressional District, Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine, JVP Action, JVP Boston, JVP New Haven, Massachusetts Peace Action, Middle East Peace & Justice Coalition of Western Mass, Palestine Education Network, Palestine Foundation, Palestine Museum, Peace and Social Justice Committee of Friends Meeting at Cambridge, Rebuilding Alliance, Tree of Life Educational Fund, Tufts SJP, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East – MA Chapter, United American Indians of New England, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, Virginia Coalition for Human Rights, Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, We the People of Detroit.

One -Year Anniversary Rally against NRC/CAA – Dec 12, 2020

Where: Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.

When: Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 4:00 PM EST

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) of India requires people to produce documents of ancestry to be enlisted as Indian citizens. If they are not able to do so, they are to be considered illegal.

Given that such documents are rare for most people, many can lose citizenship.

The bill is coupled with the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Those who cannot prove their citizenship can yet obtain citizenship through this bill – except if they are Muslims.

On the one-year anniversary of this bill, we will gather in Harvard Square to protest and to demand:

Repeal Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019
Withdraw National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR)
Release all anti-CAA activists and Political Prisoners, including Bhima Koregaon 16, who are falsely charged
Arrest all the perpetrators of the Delhi Pogrom

Please join us. Do bring along your poetry, speeches, slogans, and placards of resistance!

Click here for Facebook Event

Addendum:

Brief documentary edited by renowned film maker Anand Patwardhan:

The Servants of God’s Creations in today’s India

Sponsors:

Boston South Asia Coalition
Coalition Against Fascism in India
Hindus for Human Rights
Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia

A statement expressing solidarity with the Farmers’ Protest – Nov 27, 2020

Humein Covid se darr nahin lagta, lekin humaare saath jo bhed-bhaav ho raha hai, us se lagta hai” (“We are not afraid of Covid, we are afraid of the discrimination against us”) – NDTV, Nov 27, 2020

The Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia stands unequivocally in support of farmers protesting the three recently passed agriculture-related bills in India.

The protest, which took over two months to plan, has been endorsed by more than 500 farmers’ organizations across the country. 

We stand in solidarity with these farmers’ demand to repeal the new farm bills: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance, and The Farm Services and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act. These Acts will deprive farmers of the guaranteed minimum support price for their produce and open the flood gates to the entry of big private capital in India’s agricultural sector. Privatization of key aspects of agricultural production and distribution will play havoc with the already fragile food security situation in the country.

The Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia joins the farmers in demanding that these three agriculture-related bills be immediately repealed.

Read details of each bill issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice

Indian Diaspora in US Stand In Solidarity with the Farmers

NRIs Rally in Support of Punjab Farmers Over Contested Farm Bills

A selection of news outlets covering the farmers’ protest:

A letter to the Prime Minister by the National Alliance of People’s Movements

Delhi Is Cut Off From Ground Reality – Farmers’ Protest Is Proof

Farmers allowed to protest in Delhi after tear gas & water cannons, but will remain at border

Centre Relents, Allows Defiant Farmers to Enter Delhi After Massive Stand-Off on Border

Congress, Aam Aadmi Party Workers Vie With Each Other to Help Protesting Farmers

Global Diaspora Alliance Protest

On October 25, 2020, a protest against fascism in India held by various solidarity groups across the world took place. Here are some posters and glimpses from the protest. Scroll down further to view the message of solidarity and the alliance twitter feed.