antifascism, event, south asia - August 8, 2024

[MTL, Aug. 15] The Struggle Must Continue: Hindutva fascism in India and in the Diaspora, and its impacts on minorities

* Version française ci-dessous.
* Traduction chuchotée disponible lors de l'évènement.

August 15th 2024
6:30pm EDT
J.A. DèSeve Cinema, Concordia University
J.W. McConnell Building (Library building)
LB-125, 1400 De Maisonneuve Ouest
Montreal (Tiohtiake)

Facebook event

With speakers:

* Afreen Fatima
* Fahad Ahmad
* Mayur
* Teesta Setalvad

(Bios below)

After ten years of a Hindu Supremacist government in power in India, the ruling fascist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finally lost their outright majority when 640 million people went to the polls earlier this year. They lost a whopping 63 seats, dropping down to 240 out of 543. Despite these uplifting electoral results, the BJP remains at the helm and there has been no slow down of the horrors inflicted on India’s minorities, nor is it expected. Political analysts decry the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has become deeply ingrained socially and institutionally in India over the past decade.

The Hindu right is still very much in power, as is existing systemic violence such as lynchings, house demolitions, and structural discrimination against Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis (indigenous peoples), Christians and Sikhs. Constitutional guarantees of special status for Kashmir was already revoked in 2019 and the revocation is still in place. Enormous economic inequality, climate catastrophe, and increased militarization in the country amplify the exclusionary politics and normalization of authoritarian governance under the BJP. These systemic discriminations and forms of caste, religious, and ethnic oppressions persist and need to be dismantled [1].

Not as widely known is that the ideological parent of the BJP is the world’s largest and most enduring fascist paramilitary organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which was founded in 1920 [2]. Just over a month after the elections, the RSS proudly announced that over 100,000 youth join their ranks every year [3]. It thus can’t be emphasized enough: the struggle must continue.

How does this impact us here in North America and our organizing against these forms of oppression in the diaspora?

Hindu supremacy or Hindutva ideology is both present and well-established here in North America. The BJP receives considerable financial support from diasporic Indian-origin communities, including in so-called Canada. Last fall, Hindutva defenders in so-called Canada presented a parliamentary petition signed by over 25,000 people with a call equivalent to that of ‘white lives matter,” in which upper-caste Hindus claim to be subject to “anti-Hindu” discrimination as a result of successful campaigns to fight casteism in schools and combat increasing Islamophobia [4]. This tactic mirrors that of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, under which false claims of anti-Semitism are made to shut down any critique of the state of Israel. While this petition was thwarted [5], the Hindu right remains very active in every area of civic life, from our communities, universities, and school campuses to businesses and elected officials across North America [6], preying on the ignorant by exploiting EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion) principles.

We gather for this event in time for India’s 77th Independence Day to better understand the context and impacts of India’s recent election results as well as the implications here in our communities, and ways in which we need to continue organizing together.

Speakers will bring a perspective from the ground, covering what the Indian elections means and discuss the implications for minorities in India. Insights and analyses of Hindutva activity in North America/so-called Canada will also be covered and speak to ongoing struggles against the ideology of hate. They will also speak of the organizing carried out over the years to build power, in our communities, and across movements and what needs to be done going forward.

Co-organized by:
SADAC - South Asian Diaspora Action Collective
CERAS - South Asia Forum

Endorsed by:
Academics for Palestine - Concordia
Alternative Montreal
Concordia Student Union (CSU)
India Civil Watch International (ICWI)
Hindus for Human Rights-USA
Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste
Justice for All Canada
Kersplebedeb (Leftwing Books)
Le collectif des femmes pour la Palestine
Qpirg Concordia | GRIP Concordia
QPIRG | GRIP McGill
Rang Collective
Sadan- South Asian Dalit Adivasi Network-Canada
Solidarité sans frontière/Solidarity across border/Solidaridad sin frontera
SSMU External Affairs
Tadamon!
The Polis Project
Women of Diverse Origins / Femmes de Diverses Origines

Speaker Bios:

* Afreen Fatima:
Afreen is a researcher associated with The Polis Project. She is the National Vice President of the Fraternity Movement and co-founder of Muslimah, a community study group for young Muslim women in India. Formerly, she was elected the councilor of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and President of Women’s College Students Union, Aligarh Muslim University. She is vocal on issues of minority rights, women’s rights, representation, identity, and Islamophobia. Afreen Fatima, joining online, will discuss the implications of the election results for minorities in India.

* Fahad Ahmad:
Fahad is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University and Chair of the Academic board of the Structural Islamophobia Research Lab at the Institute of Islamic Studies in University of Toronto. He is also the co-editor of the book series, Dimensions: Islam, Muslims, and Critical Thought, at University of Toronto Press. Fahad is an interdisciplinary scholar interested in racialized practices of national security; systemic Islamophobia; civil society and resistance; and the political economy of philanthropy.
His scholarship is informed by 15 years of work experience in community and nonprofit organizations in Canada and the U.S. He has been engaged in anti-Hindutva organizing in North America since the early 2000s.

* Mayur: Speaking on Dalit - Bahujan issues

* Teesta Setalvad:
Teesta is a senior journalist (Communalism Combat, www.sabrangindia.in, www.sabrang.com) and human rights defender best known for her decades long campaigns against communal hate and violence. She is also known for her strategic legal interventions to defend the rights of the oppressed, the wronged and the marginalised. She is currently Secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace (cjp.org.in) and also Vice President of the All India Union for Forest Working Peoples (AIUFWP) apart from being President of the Gauri Memorial Trust. Read full bio here: https://tinyurl.com/TeestaBio
Teesta, joining online, will speak on what the results of the Indian elections meant, providing a forward looking view.

[1]: https://thewire.in/.../opposition-must-renew-fight...
[2]: https://www.facebook.com/events/1048572732465962 (see description)
[3]: https://www.hindutvawatch.org/young-people-attracted-to.../
[4]: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/petition/details...
[5]: https://docs.google.com/.../1ZOVnfJLJ6pf7I.../edit...
[6]: https://www.nccm.ca/rss-in-canada/

Also see:
Electoral Setbacks for BJP Won’t Unseat Hindutva Fascism in India https://truthout.org/.../electoral-setbacks-for-bjp-wont.../
“India has walked back from the brink but our democracy is still in danger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC6ZZkdIfWU
RSS, Hindutva and the Ongoing Nakba https://www.alterinter.org/...
Azad Essa, book: Hostile Homelands:The New Alliance Between India and Israel https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745345017/hostile-homelands/

En Français: https://docs.google.com/.../1PqTElXDD0wUafr3fWGS1.../edit...